sunday morning target dodgers - russell and yeager, but not that russell or yeager

happy mother's day!  here are some more cards from a sheet of 15 that was part of the 1990 target dodgers giveaway set.

bob aspromonte

aspromonte was a brooklyn native who signed with the dodgers in 1956, and actually got an at bat that same year as an 18-year old.  he next appeared in the big leagues for the los angeles dodgers in 1960.  after playing in 68 games for the dodgers over the 1960 and '61 seasons, aspromonted was picked by the houston colt .45's in the expansion draft, and he went on to play for that franchise for several seasons.  in fact, he was their franchise's inaugural third baseman, first batter, first batter to get a hit, and  first batter to walk.

ike boone

boone played for brooklyn from 1930-1932.  he appeared in 59 games over that span, hitting .268 with 3 homers and 15 rbi.  in his two full seasons in the majors (with the red sox in 1924 and 1925), boone had hit .337 and .330, respectively. that's not too surprising i suppose, since his career minor league batting average was around .370 over 13 seasons.

eddie brown

brown - nicknamed 'glass arm' for some reason, played for the robins in 1924 and 1925.  he hit .308 in 114 games the first year, and .306 in 153 games the next.  in 1926, brown was playing for the braves, and he hit .328 while leading the league with 201 hits.

george culver

culver had a 9-year major league career, spent mostly in the bullpen.  the dodgers picked him up towards the end of spring training in 1973, and culver pitched in 28 games for them that year - his second-to-last in the majors.  he was 4-4 with 2 saves and a 3.00 era through august 1, but was put on waivers and claimed by the phillies a few days later.

sid fernandez

el sid was thought to be the next fernando valenzuela by some dodger fans in 1983. he was a lefty, but whereas el toro was from mexico, fernandez was from hawaii.  he made two appearances (one start) for the dodgers in '83, going 0-1 with a 6.00 era.  after the season, the dodgers traded fernandez to the mets in the deal that netted them bob bailor and carlos diaz.  fernandez had his best seasons with the mets, helping them to a world championship in 1986.

mickey hatcher

hatcher was a dodger double dipper - you can read all about it here - who seemed to have some bad luck before helping the dodgers win the world series in 1988.  in march of 1981, the dodgers traded hatcher to minnesota, and then went on to win the world series.  six years later, the twins released hatcher, and then they, too, went on to win the fall classic.

johnny hudson

they called him…mr. chips, supposedly because he was a good person to have around when the chips were down according to baseball reference. hudson was a member of the dodgers from 1936-1940, and he appeared in the first night game at ebbets field, which was also the second of johnny vander meer's consecutive no-hitters (hudson was 0 for 1 with a strikeout) in 1938.

chief meyers

meyers was a catcher who had two top-five mvp finishes for the new york giants in 1912 and 1913. he joined the dodgers in 1916, and helped them win the pennant.  meyers was 2 for 10 against babe ruth's red sox in the world series that year, and he returned to the robins for the 1917 season.

fred norman

this may well be the only dodger card of fred norman featuring him in a dodger uniform.  he's still wearing his dodger jersey on his 1971 topps card, but his team affiliation is noted as the cardinals, as he pitched in one game for saint louis in 1970 after they claimed him on waivers from the dodgers late that september.  he had only made his dodger debut earlier that season, and his 1970 topps card shows him wearing a jersey that i believe to be from the kansas city a's (his previous major league team) although he is listed as a dodger. i believed that, but i was wrong - he's wearing his spokane indians minor league jersey on his 1970 topps card (thanks eric).

phil ortega

i can't believe i haven't featured a dodger card of phil ortega on the blog before.  i included him in a post about the frank howard to the senators trade that took place following the 1964 season, but he was a senator on his 1965 topps card that was featured in that post.  ortega was 7-13 with the dodgers over parts of five seasons prior to the aforementioned trade.

jim russell

jim (not bill) russell was with the dodgers in 1950 and 1951. he hit .216 over that span, although that average is somewhat skewed by his 0 for 13 season in 1951.

dick scott

scott pitched for the dodgers in 1963, although not in the world series.  he made an appearance in nine games for the dodgers that year, and he recorded a couple of saves.  after the season, scott was traded to the cubs (that explains his jersey in the photo that was used for the card), and 1964 turned out to be his last in the majors.

don stanhouse

stan the man unusual  was the closer for the american league champion baltimore orioles, when the dodgers signed him to a free agent contract for the 1980 season.  it was a bust of a signing, as stanhouse pitched in just 21 games for the dodgers, amassing an era of 5.04 in 1980.  he didn't pitch at all during the second year of the contract in 1981, and he attempted a comeback with the orioles in 1982.  the dodgers were on the hook for over $400k a year through 1984, however, and some feel that the failed free agent signings of stanhouse and dave goltz made the dodgers gun shy on the free agent market for a few years - until they signed kirk gibson in 1988.

sammy strang

strang was with the brooklyn superbas in 1903 and 1904.  he was their primary third baseman in 1903, hitting .272 in 135 games that year, but he was moved to second base in 1904, and played in only 63 games while hitting .192 in doing so.

joe yeager

joe (not steve) yeager did indeed play both the field and pitch while with the brooklyn franchise from 1898 through 1900.  he was 12-22 on the mound in 1898 when he completed 32 of his 33 starts (he also pitched as a reliever in 3 games) with an era of 3.65, and he also played some shortstop, outfield, and second base. in 1899, yeager played more games at short (11) than he did at pitcher (10), but in 1900, he pitched in two of the three games in which he played.

that's it for this week - take your mom to brunch if you can!

sunday morning target dodgers - featuring a trojan dodger

there's only one los angeles dodger on this particular sheet of cards from the 1990 target 100th anniversary set, yet the best known person on the sheet is known for wearing a different uniform in la.  oh, and there are only 14 people in this post because one of the guys on the sheet was a double dipper - he gets a separate post later.  enjoy.

leon cadore

cadore is known primarily as the brooklyn robins pitcher in the famous 26-inning, 1-1 tie with the braves during the 1920 season (friday was the 95th anniversary of the feat).  however, in addition to pitching 26 innings that day, cadore won 68 games during his 9 seasons with the robins, and appeared in one game of the 1920 world series against the indians as well.  still, that marathon game is his claim to fame, and it even got him a card in the 1961 topps set, which is nice.

andy carey

carey spent 10 seasons in the american league before joining the dodgers in 1962. he won three world series rings with the yankees (in 1953, 1956, and 1958 - although he did not play in the '53 series), and appeared in two other fall classics (1955 and 1957) as well.  with the dodgers, carey hit .234 in 53 games during the 1962 season, which was the last of his career.

raoul dedeaux

known better as 'rod', dedeaux was the legendary manager of the usc trojans baseball team from 1942-1987 and of the us olympic team in 1984 (earning himself a card in the 1985 topps set as a result). before all of that, however, dedeaux was a baseball player, and he appeared in two games for the brooklyn dodgers in 1935.  he was 1 for 4 with an rbi at the plate as a major league player, but went on to collect over 1,300 wins and 11 collegiate titles as the coach at southern cal.

carl doyle

doyle pitched for the dodgers in 1939 and part of 1940. he had a sparkling 1.02 era over his five games pitched in 1939 (including a shutout of the phillies), but he had just a 1-2 record to show for it. in 1940, he pitched in 3 games for the dodgers and had an era of 27.00 before he was traded to the cardinals in the ducky medwick deal.

dick durning

durning pitched in two major league games - one in 1917 and one in 1918.  both came as a member of the brooklyn robins, both were in relief, and both were as the final pitcher of the game. in his big league debut, durning pitched a perfect inning.  in his final appearance, he allowed 5 runs to score (3 earned) with 3 hits and 4 walks allowed over two innings.  perhaps he should have quit while he was ahead.

chauncey fisher

fisher pitched for the bridegrooms in 1897. he was 9-7 that year with a 4.23 era.  fisher also pitched for the reds, giants, cardinals, and cleveland spiders during his career.

nig fuller

fuller appeared in three games over a 12-day span in 1902 with the superbas, and was 0 for 9 with an rbi and a sacrifice in them.

carden gillenwater

gillenwater spent time in the major leagues over five different seasons, playing for four different teams. one of those teams was the 1943 brooklyn dodgers, for whom he played in 8 games and hit .176.

ed konetchy

a good fielding first baseman, konetchy spent the first 7 years of his career (1907-1913) with the cardinals, where he put up numbers that topped the franchise leader board in many categories until rogers hornsby surpassed them.  one number, his 151 steals as a cardinal, stood until lou brock passed him in the 1960's.  he joined the robins in 1919 after spending time with the pirates, braves, and one season in the federal league. konetchy helped the robins reach the world series in 1920 by hitting .308 in the regular season, although he hit just .174 in the fall classic.

john mcdougal

mcdougal made his big league debut with the brooklyn grooms in 1895, earning what today would be considered a save despite allowing four runs over three innings of work.  he did not pitch in the big leagues again until 1905, when he was a member of the cardinals.

darby o'brien

o'brien was a member of the 1890 brooklyn bridegrooms in their inaugural year as a national league team. he had joined the club in 1888, actually, and remained a member of the team through 1892. he hit .314 for the national league champion bridegrooms in 1890, but well below .200 during the postseason exhibition that year.

charlie schmutz

schmutz pitched for the robins in 1914 and 1915.  he was 1-3 in 18 games during the 1914 season, and had no record in the lone appearance he made in 1915.

tommy sheehan

sheehan spent the 1908 season as a member of the brooklyn superbas following a couple of years with the pirates and a single game with the giants back in 1900.  he appeared in 146 games, a career high, but hit only .214.  actually, that .214 clip was slightly better than the team's average of .213, so maybe i shouldn't say 'only' when referring to the deadball era.

danny taylor

taylor joined the dodgers in may of 1932 after starting the season with the cubs, for whom he had played since 1929 (he also had a cup of coffee with the senators in 1926). taylor patrolled the dodger outfield through july of 1936, and had an even .300 batting average over his tenure with the club.

sunday morning target dodgers - the barber, steady eddie, and a hitless wonder

you know the drill.

we begin with a hall of famer - dave bancroft

bancroft was the shortstop for the 1928 and 1929 robins.  he had previously spent five-plus years with the phillies, three-plus with the giants, and four with the braves before signing with brooklyn in october of 1927.  considered one of the finest fielding shortstops of all-time, bancroft was near the top of the defensive categories for shortstops in 1928 when he played in 149 games at short - the most in the league.  he appeared in 102 games for the 1929 robins before returning to the giants to close out his career in 1930.

bill bergen

bergen averaged about 90 games per season for the 8 campaigns in which he was a catcher on the brooklyn roster, yet he never hit above .190 in any season.  in fact, he hit above that mark only once in his career, and it was in 1903 in his last of three seasons with the reds. following that career year, bergen joined the superbas and was able to stay in the league thanks to his defensive abilities.  bergen holds the record for longest hitless streak by a position player at 0 for 44 (tied recently by craig counsell, himself a former dodger), and has the lowest career batting average (.170) of any player with more than 2000 plate appearances.

tony brewer

brewer began his career on an 0 for 10 skid in august of 1984 before getting an rbi double in a game against the phillies.  he then went 0 for 20 before collecting his next hit - a pinch-hit single against the astros on september 24.  following an 0 for 3 game after that, he went 2 for 3 with a home run in the last game of the season, which also turned out to be the last game of brewer's big league career.

ron fairly

fairly spent the first 11-plus seasons of his 21-year big league career with the dodgers; playing not too far from where he had played his college ball under former dodger rod dedeaux at usc. debuting in 1958, he played in 1,306 games as a dodger, spending time at every outfield position and first base.  he hit an even .300 in the four world series in which he appeared, although his 1965 series performance was the best of his career - he hit 2 home runs, 6 rbi, and a .364 average against the twins as the dodger right fielder in that fall classic.  fairly was traded to the expos during the 1969 season in the deal that brought maury wills and manny mota to the dodgers (back to the dodgers, in wills' case), and he went on to play for the cardinals, a's, blue jays, and angels as well.

tim harkness

harkness was 4 for 8 with 3 walks and two doubles in his first 11 plate appearances in the major leagues.  those appearances came as a member of the 1961 dodgers during a september call-up.  back with the dodgers in 1962, harkness hit .258 with a couple of doubles and home runs over 92 games. after the season ended, the dodgers traded him to the mets for bob miller.

cleo james

james began his big league career in 1968 with the dodgers, appearing in 10 games and going 2 for 10, primarily as a pinch-hitter. the cubs picked james in the 1969 rule v draft, and he went on to play for them into the 1970's.

ray lucas

lucas had pitched in 10 games over three seasons with the new york giants prior to pitching for the dodgers in 1933 and 1934.  he appeared in two games in '33, and then 10 in '34. he earned the only decisions of his career in 1934 - a win and a loss - while making his only two starts as well.

sal maglie

maglie was known as 'the barber' thanks to his tendency to pitch high and tight (and thus deliver a close shave) to batters who crowded home plate. he began his career with the new york giants, and was part of their 1954 world championship team prior to joining the dodgers during the 1956 season. he went 13-5 for the dodgers, even pitching a no-hitter against the phillies, as the team won the national league pennant by one game over the milwaukee braves. in the world series, maglie was on the losing end of don larsen's perfect game.  maglie remained with the dodgers and pitched well for them in 1957, but he was claimed on waivers by the yankees in september, and thus ended his dodger tenure.

ralph miller

miller pitched for the bridegrooms in 1898. he was 4-14 in 23 games. he completed 16 of his 21 starts, and walked (86) twice as many men as he struck out (43). he moved to the baltimore orioles in 1899, and that was the end of his big league career.  miller was the first major leaguer to live to be 100 years old, and so it was thought that he was the last surviving ballplayer from the 1800's when he died in 1973. however, charlie emig, himself a centenarian, lived into 1975.

eddie murray

the hall of fame first baseman finished his career with a short stint as a dodger in 1997.  before that, however, he had spent three years in los angeles with much success.  joining his hometown team in 1989 as a free agent, murray hit 20 home runs with 88 rbi. his batting average was just .247, but the following year, he hit .330 to lead the major leagues, although willie mcgee won the national league title thanks to his .335 average at the time he was traded from the cardinals to the a's.  murray left the dodgers after the 1991 season just two home runs shy of 400. he achieved that milestone in 1992 with the mets.

ed palmquist

back-to-back ed(die)s! palmquist gave up home run number 16 to roger maris as a twin in 1961, but before that, he pitched for the dodgers. making his debut in 1960, palmquist had an era of 2.54 in 22 games of relief for the dodgers. the following year, he appeared in five games as a dodger before he was traded to minnesota in may.

duke sims

duke sims had a hairy chest.  he also joined the dodgers by way of a trade with the indians prior to the 1971 season. after hitting .274 in 90 games for the dodgers that year, sims began the 1972 season by hitting .192 in 51 games and was picked up on waivers by the tigers in august.

tuck stainback

george tucker stainback came to the dodgers in 1938 via a midseason trade with the phillies. he had previously played for the cubs, and actually began the 1938 season with the cardinals.  over the next season and a half, stainback hit .289 in 103 games for brooklyn. they sent him down to the minors to start the 1940 season, however, and his contract was eventually purchased by detroit later that year.

elmer stricklett

sometimes referred to as the inventor of the spitball (there seems to be some conflicting information on that topic, so i don't know whether he was or not), stricklett appeared in one game for the 1904 chicago white sox before joining the brooklyn superbas for the 1905 season.  he was 9-18 that year, and 14-18 the next for brooklyn.  in 1907, his final big league season, stricklett went 12-14 despite a 2.27 era for the superbas. stricklett was eventually blacklisted from the major leagues after spurning an offer from the superbas to return from the 'outlaw' california league for the 1909 season, instead returning to the team for which he played during the 1907 and 1908 seasons. he attempted to return to brooklyn in 1912 after being reinstated, but did not make it back to the majors, thus finishing his career with a 35-51 record and a 2.84 era.

ed wheeler

wheeler had 12 hits (all singles) in 96 at bats for the 1902 brooklyn superbas. he also made 19 errors in 128 chances while playing third, short, and second base.  that was his only year in the major leagues.

more to come next week. i hope.

sunday morning target dodgers - i didn't know jacklitszch

the secondary title of this post should make sense about half way through.  here are 15 cards from a sheet that was part of the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set given out at dodger stadium 25 years ago.

lady baldwin

i almost went with 'dude looks like a lady' for the secondary title, but there are so many people on this sheet that i didn't know of (thanks baseball reference) that the other title won out.  baldwin, given name charles, was a member of the 1890 brooklyn bridegrooms.  that was their first year as a national league club (hence the 100th anniversary set in 1990), and he pitched in 2 games for them. he had also been used as an outfielder occasionally earlier in his career (even as he won a record 42 games in 1886), but he was soley a pitcher for brooklyn.  after appearing in those two games, in which he was 1-0 with a 7.04 era, he joined buffalo in the players league for the remainder of the season.

win ballou

ballou was a member of the 1929 robins. he had previously pitched for the senators and browns before joining brooklyn.  for the robins, he was 2-3 in 25 games and his big league career came to a close. he continued to pitch in the pacific coast league, however, and thus we have the photo used for his card above.

boom-boom beck

our first dodger of the day, beck was known as walter until one day in 1934 when casey stengel tried to remove him from a game. instead of handing the ball over to his manager, beck threw it into right field where it caromed off of a tin facade, making a fair amount of noise. supposedly, dodger outfielder hack wilson had not been paying attention and thought that it was a batted ball, so he tracked it down and threw the ball in to the infield.  anyway, boom-boom pitched for the dodgers in 1933 and 1934, losing 20 games in '33.  he had to wait until 1939 to appear in the majors after the '34 season, but he did make it back, this time with the phillies.

greg brock

the usurper.

i thought about leaving it at that, but brock deserves better.  he was the heir apparent at first base when steve garvey left town, and his gaudy numbers from albuquerque in 1982 (44 homers, 138 rbi, and a .310 average) gave dodger fans hope.  brock hit 20 homers in his rookie season, but drove in only 66 and hit just .224.  he finished 7th in the rookie of the year voting, breaking the 4-year hold the franchise had on the award.  the dodgers did make it to the nlcs in his rookie year, and again in 1985 with brock at first, but he was eventually traded to the brewers after the 1986 season.

red downs

downs played in 9 games for the 1912 dodgers. he hit .250 in 34 plate appearances, before he was claimed by the cubs in may.

bones ely

ely had a sweet mustache, let's get that settled up front. he was an infielder with the 1891 brooklyn grooms who appeared in 31 games and hit just .153 in them. a couple of years later, he returned to the majors as a shortstop with the cardinals and after that, with the pirates - eventually becoming known as the man that honus wagner replaced at short for pittsburgh.

roy evans

it's too bad evans played for the superbas in 1902 and 1903 - well before the time of roy rogers and dale evans, because i'm sure he would have been called trigger if he had played during the heyday of the king of the cowboys.  or maybe not.  as it is, evans was 10-15 for brooklyn with an even 3.00 era during his time on their staff.

fred jacklitzch

it is true - i didn't know jacklitzsch before this, just as i didn't know about any of the guys above except for greg brock.  but, thanks to bbref.com, not i do.  jacklitzsch (which is more difficult to spell that grudzielanek or yastrzemski, in my opinion), even when baseball reference spells it without the 'z', played for brooklyn in 1903 and 1904. he caught, but also played second, first, and the outfield, hitting .257 in 86 games for the club.

frank kane

i believe that this photo of someone is blurry for a reason. the only frank kane that comes up in baseball reference's database was an outfielder for the 1919 new york yankees who also played in the federal league for the 1915 brooklyn tip-tops.  this set has nothing to do with brooklyn's federal league team.  there is no frank kane or kahn or cain or cane listed in the dodger franchise player roster.  i looked at the back of the card, and it says that kane did indeed play for brooklyn (the robins, not the tip-tops) in 1915.  apparently target didn't know jacklitszch about this guy and added him to the set erroneously.

john kelleher

after first appearing in the majors at the age of 18 with the 1912 cardinals, kelleher got his next opportunity as a member of the 1916 brooklyn robins. he appeared in 2 games, and was 0 for 3 at the plate. he did not appear in the postseason.  he next showed up in the majors with the cubs in 1921.

lou koupal

koupal spent 1928 and the first part of the 1929 season with the robins. he was 1-0 in 17 games in 1928, and 0-1 in 18 games in 1929.  his record, and departure from the club by way of a trade with the phillies, may have had something to do with a 2.41 era in '28 and a 5.36 era for brooklyn in '29.

curly onis

onis is the rare player (roy gleason is another) to have a career 1.000 batting average in the major leagues.  he appeared in just one game during the 1935 season, getting a single in his only at bat.  he is further distinguished by having a higher career batting average than fielding average, as he made an error on one of his two chances in the game, ending with a fp of .500.

bill sayles

sayles' two-year big league career came to an end with 5 games with the 1943 brooklyn dodgers. sayles earned no decisions in those games, but compiled a 7.71 era with 10 walks and 5 strikeouts.

tommy tatum

tatum had a cup of coffee with the 1941 brooklyn dodgers (he appeared in 8 games and was 2 for 12 at the plate) before serving in world war ii.  he returned to the dodger organization in 1946, and earned a call-up to the big club in 1947.  however, after playing in 4 games and going hitless in his 6 at bats, he was lost to the reds who purchased his contract.

earl yingling

believe it or not, earl here is not the only major league player to have the surname 'yingling'.  from the looks of it, however, he may have been the only one to not have any eyes.  yikes.  yingling pitched for the dodgers in 1912, and the superbas in 1913, posting a record of 14-19 and a 3.11 era in his 51 games for the franchise.

that's all for this week - hopefully next week's sheet will have a few more recognizable names.