the 1978 topps dodgers in 1995 were nonexistent

and so it came to pass that the last of the 1978 topps dodgers to be an active player in major league baseball, charlie hough, whose 25-season career ended with a need for a hip replacement in 1994, did not receive a card from topps in 1995.  1995 was the first topps flagship set without a member of the team of my youth since 1962.  that's crazy business, but that's what happens when you put manny mota's and charlie hough's careers together.

anyway, here's the 1995 topps charlie hough card that should have been

it turned out ok.  the '95 design is tough to play with.  plus, the photo selection could have been better - hough's throwing a fastball in that photo, not a knuckler.

here's the back, with all the career stats befitting a final tribute

i did my best with the diamond vision inset.  the only thing not represented at all on the back is the topps watermark under the stats.  here's the back of dave weathers' 1995 topps card that i used as a base for the hough

i lifted it from comc as i was too lazy to go dig for one in the basement.

while topps ignored hough, upper deck gave him a spot on the checklist.  no 'final tribute' shield, but still.  here's his 1995 upper deck card

with a knuckler grip photo!  and the back

hough went out with four straight losing seasons, but finished with an even 216-216 record.

upper deck came through again with a card for hough in their 1995 collector's choice set - front

and back

nice to see the full career stats, plus a photo of hough with a batting helmet on!

now that the 1978 topps dodgers as players are finished, we will be left with just 1978 topps dodgers as managers (except, perhaps, for the random flashback or some other type of subset card).  in 1994, there were again three 1978 topps dodgers managing in the majors, and they, once again, were not recognized by topps in the following year's set.  so, i made a 1995 topps card that should have been for tom lasorda

and, just like with the 1994 cards that should have been, i didn't care much for it.  i decided instead to use the mid-year all-star card from 1995 topps traded (hello hideo nomo!)

and do something along those lines for the managers.

lasorda again shares space with dusty baker, who was in his second year of managing the rival giants

1995 was lasorda's final full season as the dodgers' manager.  he guided them to a 78-66 record in the shortened season (remember, the start of the season was delayed by the lingering players' strike) and won another national league west division title in the process.  it was the dodgers' first trip to the postseason since 1988 when they won it all, but this time they were swept in the nlds by the reds, three games to none.  as for baker's giants, they finished in last (fourth) place in the newly realigned nl west, 11 games behind lasorda's club.

as for the other member of the club, johnny oates was fired by the orioles and so moved on to manage the rangers in 1995.  i put him on a card with the guy who replaced him in baltimore, former dodger phil regan

in his first year in texas, oates led the rangers to a 74-70 record, finishing four games behind the mariners and angels, who sat tied atop the american league west at the end of the 144 game schedule.  so, technically, after the one-game playoff, the rangers were 4.5 games back, but still, oates helped the club that was 10 games under .500 when the strike began in 1994 turn things around.  as for the orioles, they finished behind the red sox and yankees in the al east, and were 3 games behind the rangers in the wild card standings.

i've got more managerial cards that should have been to make for 1996 so stay tuned...

good one, goodwin

[this is the thirty-seventh installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  and orel hershiser.]

tom goodwin came to the dodgers in the first round of the june 1989 draft.  just over two years later, he debuted against the cubs and hit a single in his first big league at bat.  goodwin played in a total of 103 games for the dodgers from 1991 through 1993, but was unable to secure a starting spot in la.  here's his 1993 topps card, by the way.

before the 1994 season, goodwin was picked up on waivers by the royals.  he spent almost the entire season in the minors - seeing action in only two big league games that year.  in 1995 however, he became the royals' starting center fielder and finished 9th in the american league roy voting.  here's his 1995 topps traded card

goodwin hit .288 in 1995 and then .282 in 1996 for kc, stealing 116 bases over those two seasons.  he split 1997 between kansas city and texas, where he played through the 1999 season.  he signed a free agent deal for 2000 with the rockies but was traded back to the dodgers at the deadline that season.  here's his 2000 fleer tradition update card as proof of his double dipping.

in his second tour of duty with the team, goodwin played in 161 games and stole 38 bases.  unfortunately, the dodgers wound up releasing him just before then 2002 season started.  he wound up playing in san francisco where he tormented the dodgers in a couple of july games when the two teams were neck and neck in the standings.  to make matters worse, the dodgers were paying the majority of his salary.

anyway, goodwin is currently the first base coach for the mets.  that's where i sent a few cards in the hopes he would sign.  he did, quite quickly.  here's his 1991 upper deck final edition card

a 1993 fleer card

1993 topps

and 1993 topps stadium club

all cards from his first turn as a dodger. thanks tom!

rudy!

[this is the twentythird installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, and dioner navarro.]

you might argue that rudy seanez is really a dodger 'triple dipper'.  you might be right.  but, i am making the rules about these posts, and i am only considering players who have appeared in a big league game as a dodger before leaving the organization and then returning.  that's why guys like denny lewallyn and joe moeller qualify (even though they didn't appear in a game for the other team they were acquired by in between terms with the dodgers) and guys like ted lilly and ron coomer don't count.

seanez, who was acquired from the indians by the dodgers in 1991 in exchange for mike christopher and dennis cook, didn't appear in the bigs for la until 1994.  by then, he had spent time in the rockies' and padres' systems including some time in the majors with the pads.  in fact, seanez was the guy the dodgers sent to the rockies in 1992 for jody reed.

seanez spent 2 seasons in the majors with the dodgers, going 2-4 with 3 saves in 54 innings of work over the 1994 and 1995 seasons.  here's his 1995 topps traded card

seanez spent 1996 in albuquerque with the dodgers' aaa team, and then became a free agent at the end of the season.  he signed with the mets, who traded him to the royals in may of 1997 before he appeared in a game for them.  he didn't pitch for kansas city in the bigs, either.  he finally landed with the braves for the 1998 season, and put together his best years there.  he went 12-6 with 7 saves and a 3.30 era in 125 games for bobby cox from 1998 through 2000 (plus a month of 2001 when he became a braves' double dipper).
fast forward to 2006 and seanez is in boston as evidenced by his 2006 upper deck card

seanez had also pitched for boston in 2003.  in between, he spent time in the cubs organization, and then pitched in the majors for the royals, marlins and padres (for the second time).  the red sox released seanez in august of 2006 and the padres brought him in for a third time (a padres' triple dip!).  as a result, seanez was on the mound in the bottom of the 10th in the 4+1 game and walked kenny lofton before giving up the walk-off homer to nomar.  thanks rudy!

in gratitude, the dodgers brought seanez back to chavez ravine after the '06 season.  he spent 2007 in dodger blue, and was one of their most reliable relievers.  he posted a 6-3 record with one save and a 3.79 era in 73 games.  he was rewarded with a card in upper deck's 2008 set

he re-signed as a free agent in early 2008, but was cut by the dodgers in spring training.  seanez quickly signed with the phillies, and pitched for them during their run to the nl east title.  unfortunately, he was not on the postseason roster.  i am guessing he still got a ring, though.

seasnez finished his big league career with the angels in 2009, although he didn't appear in a game for them.  let's recap - that's a 17 season career in which he appeared in a game for 9 teams and was part of 13 organizations, including multiple stints with the dodgers, royals, braves, padres, and red sox.  and he wasn't even a lefty!

here's to you rudy seanez!

the evolution of the center fielder, part 2

here's part 1, if you want to catch up.  with rudy law in tommy's doghouse, the dodgers were in need of a new center fielder for the 1981 season.  so, they sent mickey hatcher and a couple of minor leaguers to the twins right at the end of spring training to get...

ken landreaux (1981-1985)

landreaux, shown here on his 1984 topps card, had previously been traded for rod carew (with 3 other players).  he arrived in los angeles and was firmly entrenched in center for the next 5 seasons.  in 1981, he hit only .251 but did not make an error all season (219 total chances in center).  his hitting woes followed him into the postseason, and by the end of the nlcs against the expos, landreaux had lost his position to pedro guerrero and derrel thomas.  he would still enter most games as a late inning defensive replacement, and his most memorable play of the year was his catch of bob watson's flyball to end the 1981 world series.

despite the postseason setback, landreaux was still the dodgers' guy in center.  over the next 4 seasons, he hit .271 and averaged 138 games played.  in the 1985 nlcs against the cardinals, landreaux hit .389 with an ops of .977.  he remained with the dodgers through the 1987 season, but gave way as their primary center fielder to reggie williams in 1986.

reggie williams (1986)

williams (shown on his 1987 donruss card which includes the dodger stadium pavilion in the background)gained a roster spot when pedro guerrero went down with an injured knee as the result of a slide gone bad in spring training.  he wound up making 64 starts in center to landreaux's 62.  overall, williams played in 128 games (landreaux appeared in 103) and hit .277 with 4 homers and 32 rbi.  the dodgers were actively looking for a long term replacement in center, and finally landed one when they acquired john shelby from the orioles

john shelby (1987-1989)

the dodgers started the 1987 season with mike ramsey in center.  reggie williams was still around, but he was hitting well below .200 in a part-time role.  so, in may of '87, the dodgers sent tom niedenfuer to baltimore in exchange for t-bone, shown on his 1989 upper deck card.  i recall at the time shelby was surprised to be handed the dodgers' center field job right away, but he earned it in a hurry.  in 120 games, shelby hit 21 home runs and drove in 69 runs.  that turned out to be his career year, but he still managed to hold on to the job through 1989 (although he made only 86 starts in center in '89).  after his poor '89 season, the dodgers moved shelby in early 1990 to detroit and as a result, had a center field by committee, headed by an unlikely outfielder

kirk gibson (1990)

gibson, featured on this fantastically blue 1990 donruss baseball's best card, was still recovering from injury at the start of the season.  with gibby out, shelby played center until he was traded and then stan javier took over.  jose gonzalez also got some playing time.  the dodgers had kal daniels (acquired during the '89 season) and hubie brooks (a newly signed free agent) at the corner outfield spots, so gibby moved to center when he returned to the lineup in june.  he started 69 games in center and only 11 in his normal stomping grounds of left field. clearly, gibson was not the answer to the center field question, and the search was on once again.

brett butler (1991-1994)

butler, shown here on a 1994 bowman (foil) card, joined the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 1991 season.  both brooks and gibson were gone, but daniels was still in left and darryl strawberry was taking over in right.  there was no question who the center fielder would be - butler played in 161 games and hit .296.  he led the league in runs (112) and walks (108) and finished 7th in the mvp voting.  in his 4 years as the dodgers' center fielder, he missed just 15 games.  his full season averages over that span (remember - 1994 was the strike season) were 99 runs scored, 41 steals and a .303 average.  it had been a long time since the dodgers had that kind of production from their center fielder, and that's why dodger fans were pretty upset when fred claire let him go to the mets as a free agent after the 1994 season.

roberto kelly (1995)

at the beginning of the 1995 season, roberto kelly was a brave.  he was traded to the expos in april and then flipped to the dodgers in may.  that's his 1995 topps traded card shown above.  the dodgers had moved raul mondesi to center to start the season, but put him back in right when kelly was acquired (they sent their right fielder henry rodriguez to montreal in the deal that brought kelly to la).  as a dodger, kelly actually played more left field than center field.  he made 59 starts in left and only 48 in center.  that's because the dodgers re-acquired butler in august, and he reclaimed center and kelly moved to left.  still, kelly's 48 starts qualifies him as the dodgers' primary center fielder in 1995.  with butler back in the fold, the dodgers let kelly walk as a free agent after the season.  however, butler's health problems allowed someone else to claim center field in 1996.  and by someone else, i mean one heck of a committee.  still, one guy made more starts than anyone else and that guy was... 

wayne kirby (1996)

butler started the season back in his familiar center field position, and played through may 1 without missing a game.  he was then diagnosed with cancer, and left the team to seek treatment.  with butler battling cancer, the dodgers turned to chad fonville and then to roger cedeno to fill the void.  that didn't go too well, and, dissatisfied with cedeno's performance, the dodgers selected wayne kirby (seen here on his way cool 1997 fleer ultra card) off of waivers from the indians in june.  kirby wound up making 44 starts as the dodgers center fielder.  butler made 34 starts, including 5 at the end of the season when he returned from treatment, while cedeno had 33.  to round things out, chad curtis made 20 starts in center, rookie of the year todd hollandsworth made 17, and chad fonville made 14. kirby was back with the dodgers in 1997, but in a limited role.  that's because brett butler really did reclaim the center field spot in '97.  sort of.

brett butler (1997)

in what would be his final season, butler played in 105 games, but made only 47 starts in center.  by the end of the season, he had been moved to left.  still, those 47 starts led all dodgers.  the other dodger center fielder starters were otis nixon (41), roger cedeno (39), todd hollandsworth (25), and an assortment of other players like darren lewis had the rest.  butler, shown above on his 1997 upper deck card, was given one last start in center on the last day of the season.  he went 1 for 4 with 2 rbi - his final hit was quite fittingly a triple.

with butler retired, the dodgers once again turned to raul mondesi to fill his shoes in center, just as they had back in 1995.  this time, mondesi stuck, but only after a couple other guys had failed.

raul mondesi (1998)

mondesi, shown on a 1996 bowman's best 'best cuts' insert card, made 94 starts in center to go with his 53 starts in right during the dodgers' 1998 campaign.  trenidad hubbard began the season as the dodgers' center fielder, but was replaced by roger cedeno in late april.  cedeno only lasted until mid-may before mondesi took over.  mondesi finished the season with 30 home runs for the second year in a row, and hit .289 when playing center.  still, he would be put back in right in 1999 as the dodgers' revolving door in center continued to spin.

part 3, coming soon...

double dippers - the first edition

with all of the fuss (there was fuss, wasn't there?) surrounding the return to the dodgers (for the third time) of juan castro, and the re-acquisition of former prospect ted lilly, i am going to start a new feature here called 'double dippers'.  these are the players who played for the dodgers, left for whatever reason, and then came back to play for the dodgers once again, not unlike george costanza's chip.  fyi, lilly actually doesn't qualify because he never pitched for the dodgers the first time around.  ron coomer, the coomdog, also falls into the lilly category.  i am also not going to count guys like tommy lasorda or charlie hough or claude osteen or ron perranoski or any of the other folks who left the dodgers to play for other teams but returned as coaches.  finally, willie crawford and ramon martinez (pedro's brother, not the other one) are also disqualified because, although they signed contracts with the dodgers to return to their roots, they never played for them a second time around.

anyway, i came up with a list of about two dozen players who did double dip off the top of my head, plus a few more that i had an inkling of but needed the brains of baseball reference to confirm.  here's one of the first guys i thought of:

brett butler.

shown here on his 1993 upper deck card,

butler's first go around with the dodgers lasted from 1991 through the 1994 season.  during that time, butler hit .303 with an obp of .402 and scored 357 runs.  the dodgers allowed butler to leave as a free agent after the 1994 season so that they could begin the roger cedeno experiment.  butler signed with the mets as evidenced on this 1995 topps traded card.

in new york, butler was batting .311 with 54 runs scored in 90 games when the dodgers reacquired him.  it kind of reminded me at the time of what happened a year or so earlier with the la kings when they sent marty mcsorley away only to bring him back because of fan uproar and the sense that they lost more than they gained by getting rid of him in the first place, even though you knew things weren't going to be the same.  and they weren't.  butler hit only .274 for the dodgers the rest of the way in '95, although they won the west and made the postseason for the first time since 1988.

here, on butler's 1996 topps card

you can see he is wearing number 12 instead of his familiar 22.  that's because chad fonville took butler's number (and his role of team sparkplug) and for whatever reason didn't give it up when butler came back.  in 1996, butler was diagnosed with cancer and missed most of the season.  his return in september was spectacular - in a game i watched with amazement, butler walked to open the bottom of the 8th in a tie game.  he stole second, went to third on an error and scored the eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly.  butler was back.

since he was only gone part of one season, the dodgers didn't miss out on a whole lot of production.  still, his career totals with the dodgers would have topped 850 games, 500 runs, 950 hits, and 200 stolen bases had his numbers with the mets been achieved in la instead.

here's to you brett butler, double dipper!