sunday morning target dodgers - an mvp and - hey, isn't that the cartoon rooster?

this sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set features a good mix of players from throughout the franchise's history.  have a look.

don bessent

the dodgers took bessent from the yankees in the early 1950's, and he made his big league debut for brooklyn in 1955.  he was 8-1 with a 2.70 era in 24 games (22 of which were relief appearances) for the dodgers that year, and then pitched in 3 world series games against the yankees, and sported a perfect era while doing so.  in 1956, bessent lowered his regular season era to 2.50 over 38 games, all as a reliever.  he again pitched in the fall classic against the yankees, and was the winning pitcher in game 2.  bessent moved to los angeles with the team, but 1958 was his final season in the big leagues due to a shoulder injury.

bruce caldwell

caldwell played in 18 games for the 1928 cleveland indians (he's a member of the indians in the photo used for his card), and next appeared in the majors for the 1932 brooklyn dodgers.  he played in only 7 games for the dodgers, and had just one hit in 13 plate appearances for the club.

jake daubert

daubert played for the superbas/dodgers/robins from 1910 through 1918, and was the team's first baseman in each of those seasons.  in 1913, daubert led the national league with a .350 average, and was voted the league's most valuable player as a result. he led the league with a .329 average the following year, and his .316 average in 1916 was the second highest in the league. that year, daubert helped the robins win the pennant, although he hit only .176 in the world series against babe ruth and the red sox (he was 0 for 5 against ruth in game 2).  daubert left brooklyn for cincinnati in 1919, and won a world series ring with the reds that year thanks in part to the black sox scandal.

tim flood

flood spent two seasons with the superbas - 1902 and 1903 - during which he hit .231 over 221 games. i do not believe that he played ball in his suit and tie.

mike garman

garman was a reliever on the team of my youth. acquired in the rick monday trade, garman pitched for the dodgers in 1977 and part of 1978 (before he was traded to montreal).  he had a 2.73 era with 12 saves during the 1977 regular season, and then threw 5.1 scoreless innings over four games in the 1977 postseason, earning a save in the nlcs game 3 'black friday' game against the phillies.

tim leary

in 1987, leary's first season with the dodgers, he posted a record of 3-11. in 1988, leary again had 11 losses, but this time, he also had 17 wins. used almost exclusively as a starter in '88, leary responded with a 2.91 era, 9 complete games, and 6 shutouts.  it was enough for him to be named the sporting news' comeback player of the year in the national league.  leary also won the silver slugger award that year, due in part to his .269 batting average, as well as his key 11th-inning walk-off pinch-hit single against the giants on august 13, 1988.  leary was bumped from the starting rotation once the world series rolled around due in large part to orel hershiser pitching on short rest, but he did relieve in two fall classic games, including a stellar scoreless three innings in game 1.

danny mcdevitt

mcdevitt pitched for the dodgers from 1957 through 1960.  he was originally used primarily as a starter, but the team eventually came to use him more in relief towards the end of his tenure with them. in 1959, mcdevitt won 10 games, but he did not pitch in the world series against the white sox that year.

bernie neis

neis was a rookie with the robins in 1920 when they won the pennant.  he had hit .253 during the regular season, but was 0 for 5 in the world series.  neis remained with the robins through the 1924 season before going on to play for the braves, indians, and white sox.

ivy olson

olson was the robins' shortstop on both of their pennant winning teams - 1916 and 1920. he was acquired by the club late in the 1915 season, and he remained with them through the 1924 campaign. in between, he played in 1053 games for brooklyn, and had 1100 hits as well. his 164 hits in 1919, in fact, led the league. olson hit .250 in the 1916 world series (he was 1 for 2 with a walk, a strikeout, and two sacrifices against babe ruth) and .320 in the 1920 fall classic.

claude osteen

what a great shot of osteen in dodger stadium, with the left field pavilion and old (pre-diamond vision) scoreboard.  osteen came to the dodgers from the senators in the frank howard trade, and he remained until he was dealt to houston for jimmy wynn after the 1973 season. during those 9 seasons with the dodgers, osteen posted a record of 147-126 during the regular season, with three all-star selections and two 20-win seasons.  he threw a shutout in the 1965 world series against the twins, and took a hard luck loss in the 1966 world series against the orioles, allowing just a solo home run to paul blair that allowed the o's to win the game 1-0.

johnny peacock

peacock was acquired by the dodgers during the 1945 season from the phillies in exchange for ben chapman (who would later manage the phillies and berate jackie robinson during the 1947 season). peacock was needed due to mickey owen having joined the navy in may of '45.  peacock played in 48 games for the dodgers that year, hitting .255.  it was the last big league action of peacock's career.

goody rosen

goody rosen played for the dodgers for 5-plus seasons, garnering some mvp votes in 1945 (he finished 10th).  there's a little more to rosen's story, but i'll save that for a future post.

john shelby

t-bone was traded to the dodgers early in the 1987 season as the team needed a center fielder. kenny landreaux had moved to one of the corner spots, and mike ramsey, who had started the season in center, was hitting just .232 after 38 games.  shelby showed up and hit .277 with 21 home runs in 120 games for the dodgers over the remainder of the season. in 1988, he cooled off a bit, hitting .263 with 10 home runs, but he solidified the position enough to help the club win the world series, and the second ring of his career.

gordon windhorn

this guy makes me think of the looney toons cartoon rooster, but the rooster's name is foghorn leghorn, not gordon windhorn.  besides, i know about windhorn because he's got a card in the 1962 topps set that lists him as a member of the kansas city a's while showing him in dodger duds.  those duds, by the way, are more suited to a baseball card than the shirt he's wearing above.  and what exactly is he doing in that photo - talking into his dick tracy wristwatch communicator?  it's curious that this was the best photo available considering that windhorn spent the majority of the 1960 and 1961 seasons in the dodger minor league system, as well as 34 games at the big league level with the dodgers in 1961.  during that time, windhorn hit .242 and slugged his only two career home runs - the first of which was an 11th-inning walk-off pinch-hit job against the phillies.

pete wojey

wojey pitched in 14 games for the 1954 dodgers. he was 1-1 with a save in those appearances, with a decent 3.25 era.  he spent all of 1955, however, in the minors and was traded to detroit after the season ended.  he had been 34 when he finally made his big league debut with the dodgers, and he was 37 in 1957 when he pitched in his fourth and final game for the tigers.

the age of bessent

i really do appreciate don bessent's 1959 topps card.

the vast majority of the dodger team set from that year is featured with yellow backgrounds.  yes, there is some green and some pink, and even an orange, but bessent's card is the one that really stands out in that sea of yellow.

even his facsimile signature is interesting since he went by his middle name (donald), but signed using his first name (fred) for topps. to make things even better, the 1959 card is his final tribute, and luckily for us, topps was putting full career stats on the back in 1959.

bessent was originally signed by the yankees, but after he hurt his back and missed the 1952 season, he was selected by the dodgers in the minor league draft.  he debuted in july of 1955 and went on to pitch in three of the world series games that year against the yankees, allowing no runs in 3.1 innings of work.  he also pitched in the 1956 fall classic, and earned a win as the text on the back of his 1959 card mentions.

out on the west coast in 1958, bessent became the first relief pitcher in los angeles dodger history when he relieved don drysdale in the los angeles dodgers' first game, which was played in san francisco on 4/15/58.  later in the season, bessent was injured again, and he wound up spending the next three years back in the dodgers' minor league farm system.  then, in 1962, he played his last year of minor league ball, splitting time between the indians' and orioles' organizations but did not make it back to the big leagues.

i wasn't prepared for sandy

no, i'm not on the east coast where hurricane sandy is bearing down (i hope everybody is doing ok).  the title of this post refers to what i saw at last weekend's card show.  so, to kill the suspense, i might as well lead off with my big pick up from the show - a 1955 topps sandy koufax card

i don't think i ever really considered owning this card before saturday.  i mentioned last week that i had completed the topps dodger team sets for the 1960's, but what i didn't say is that i had a fairly loose thought that my topps dodger team set collecting would eventually be complete only back to 1956, due in large part to this card.  now i have to reconsider things.  i had set my budget before heading out, but seeing sandy in the bargain bin (although it was the higher end dealer's bargain bin) made me throw my financial planning out the window.  at $85, sandy was $5 over what i had given myself to spend at the whole show.  still, i wound up only about $45 over my budget for the show, which isn't too bad when you consider the fact that i was able to get quite a few other vintage cards, too.

i picked up a few 1956 topps cards that i needed - don bessent

and carl erskine among them.

i also grabbed a billy loes

which was a slight upgrade for me, as well as an ed roebuck

that i thought i owned but actually didn't.  the '56's were $4 each, or 3 for $10.  i bought five, with the other two being double play cards.  that is, the secondary photo features the turn at second base.  heeeeeeeere's johnny

logan, that is.  looks like johnny is having a hard time getting the ball out of his glove to complete the double play.  credit the guy sliding in.

then there is this frank thomas

featuring thomas sliding in, trying to break up two.  i would bet dollars to donuts (what does that even mean?) that the fielder avoiding the slide is the dodgers' own jim gilliam.

quick - who was the last dodger to lead the league in batting average?  that's right, it was tommy davis, seen here on his 1964 topps stand ups card

complete with vintage scotch tape on the edges.  two bucks for tommy.  eddie murray should have won the batting title in 1990, but willie mcgee was traded to the american league just in time.

here's a 1994 upper deck fun packs mike piazza card

that i pulled from the 6/$1 bin.  it's heat activated, apparently, with a cartoon play at the plate scene that becomes visible when you apply heat.  yes, 18 cents is about right for that kind of nonsense.

here's another card i pulled from the 6/$1 bin, a 1994 ted williams rusty staub card

i probably won't wind up keeping the card, but it is really nice.  the expos' wool baby blues really pop on this card.  if only it were a manny mota or maury wills card from their time with the expansion expos.

the last card i'll show goes toward my 1974 topps set.  it's willie mccovey's washington nat'l league variation

it cost me $4, i believe.  not too shabby, considering mccovey's regular san diego card will probably cost me more when i am able to track one down.

i was a bit surprised that there weren't more dealers at this show.  this one is held quarterly as opposed to the monthly show in bloomington.  i was hoping it would pull in more of the dealers who work the big annual show in march/april, but there was only one guy there who i didn't recognize from the monthly shows.  he had some pretty good cheap common boxes (i picked up a few other '74 topps cards for my set at twenty cents a pop), but was going by the book for his star cards.  i think i will pick up a winfield rookie for under $20 online, rather than pay him the $35 he wanted.

or maybe i'll find one at a reasonable price at the monthly show this coming weekend, if i decide to go.  if i do go, i'll have a reduced budget thanks to sandy.  unless duke or jackie happen to show up.  then, all bets are off.