vintage - old and new - from the card show

when is vintage old and new, you might ask?  well, when topps buys back its old cards, stamps 'em, and puts them in packs of 2015 cards, they are both new and old.  such is the case with these three cards - 1974 topps charlie hough

1979 topps vic davalillo

and 1979 topps lance rautzhan

i bought them at the card show a couple of weeks ago,  they were twenty cents apiece.

i spent a little bit of time in the vintage bargain bin, picking up some set needs.  i needed this 1971 topps yankee team card

and this al kaline card from the '71 set

was the lowest numbered card on my want list.

i picked up $10 worth of 1965 topps cards, the best/worst of which was this juan marichal card

fifty cents for marichal.

after paying up one dealer for some of the vintage, he threw a 1957 topps ted williams card down on the table.  did i mention i was collecting the 1957 set?  the card is trimmed and notched, but hey - it's ted williams and card number 1 in the set.  i bit.

it's the first williams card that i own from his playing days, and should be the last.  i was stoked to find one that fits my collection for less than the price of something that costs $10.01.

there were more cards obtained at the show, but those were via trade.  i'll show some of them on friday.

sunday morning target dodgers - from abrams to zahn

let's go from a to z with this sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger set.

cal abrams

abrams was a part-time player who debuted as a dodger in 1949.  he peaked in 1951when he hit .280 in 67 games. with a fantastic obp of .419  the following year, the dodgers traded abram to the reds after he had appeared in just 10 games for the blue.  abrams was reportedly buried in his brooklyn dodgers uniform following his death in 1997.

jack billingham

billingham was 3-0 with 8 saves and a 2.14 era as a rookie for the dodgers in 1968, however, he was lost to the team when the expos selected him in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season.  montreal was forced to flip billingham to the astros before the season began because donn clendenon refused to report to houston after he was traded as part of the package that netted the expos rusty staub.  eventually, billingham made his way to the reds, where he won back-to-back world series titles in 1975 and 1976.

ben cantwell

cantwell's career began in 1927 with the new york giants, although he spent most of the next 10 years with the boston braves during which time he won 20 games once and also lost 25 games in a single season.  in 1937, he returned to the giants, but was claimed by the dodgers after one bad start.  with brooklyn, cantwell had no record as he appeared in 13 games, all as a reliever.

vic davalillo

davalillo was one of the professional pinch-hitters employed by the dodgers when i began my fandom.  he and manny mota filled that role on the dodgers (davalillo from 1977-1980), and it was davalillo's pinch-hit bunt that got things going with 2 outs in the 9th on black friday in philadelphia during the 1977 nlcs.

johnny gooch

gooch spent time with the robins during the 1928 and 1929 seasons. he was acquired by the robins via a trade with the pirates during the '28 season, and was traded away to the reds early in the '29 campaign.  as a robin, gooch played in 43 games and hit .314.

babe herman

the robins'/dodgers' babe.  one of them, anyway.  herman was a franchise double dipper who had his best years as a robin, hitting .381 in 1929 and a franchise record .393 in 1930, but finishing second in the batting average race both years.

john hummel

hummel, who played with the superbas/dodgers/robins from 1905 through 1915, was best known as being one of the first utility players in the major leagues.  he played everywhere but pitcher, catcher, and third base, and did spend a couple of seasons as brooklyn's primary second baseman.

max macon

macon joined the dodger system in 1939 following his first taste of big league ball in 1938 with the cardinals for whom he pitched and played the outfield.  he didn't appear as a dodger until 1940, and even then he played in just two games, both as a pitcher only (he was 1 for 1 at the plate, by the way).  macon returned to the majors as a dodger in 1942, and was used as a pitcher and pinch-hitter.  he pitched in 14 games and had an era of 1.93 while he pinch-hit 12 times and was 5 for 11 in that role.  macon pitched (and hit) for the dodgers again in 1943 before being selected by the braves in the rule v draft following the season's conclusion.

fritz ostermueller

ostermueller spent the first part of the 1943 season with the browns, but was traded to the dodgers in july.  he was 1-1 in 7 games for the dodgers over the remainder of the season, and was 2-1 in 10 games for the dodgers in 1944 when he was dealt to the pirates at the end of may.

paul popovich

popovich was traded to the dodgers by the cubs for lou johnson following the 1967 season.  he spent 1968 with the dodgers, playing in 134 games and batting .232.  the dodgers traded popovich to the expos a couple of months into the 1969 season in the deal that brought manny mota and maury wills to the dodgers (back to the dodgers in wills' case).  the expos flipped popovich to the cubs that same day, so popovich was around to witness the infamous collapse of leo durocher's cubbies.

dave sells

sells joins rick waits and davey lopes as players whose names make full sentences.  sells spent the majority of his career with the angels, pitching in 85 of his 90 big league games for the halos.  the other five were spent as a dodger during the last part of the 1975 season following a trade that sent jim brewer to the angels.  sells was 0-2 for walter alston's team in those five games, and he spent the following season in triple-a albuquerque.

bill skowron

skowron spent just one season with the dodgers - 1963 - and he helped his new team defeat his former club in the world series.  skowron hit .385 in the 1963 fall classic for the dodgers against the yankees, with whom skowron had won four rings, including the previous two seasons.  following the series, skowron was picked up by the senators who later traded him to the white sox.

rick sutcliffe

sutcliffe, who made his big league debut in 1976, was the first dodger to win the rookie of the year award since ted sizemore (1969) when he claimed it in 1979 (the longest stretch the dodger organization had ever gone without one of their players winning the award).  even so, sutcliffe seemed to be in tommy lasorda's dog house, and he was used mainly as a reliever the following two seasons.  sutcliffe trashed lasorda's office after being left off of the 1981 postseason roster, and was traded to the indians soon thereafter.

jimmy wasdell

wasdell was a member of the dodgers in 1940 and 1941.  he hit .289 in 171 games for the dodgers over those two seasons, and he saw some action in the 1941 world series as well.

geoff zahn

zahn was a member of the dodgers' famous 1968 draft class.  he made it to the bigs in 1973, going 1-0 in his six appearances that season.  in 1974, zahn pitched in 21 games for the nl champs, but did not appear in the postseason.  he started the 1975 season with the dodgers, but was traded to the cubs in the burt hooton deal early on.  i approve of that deal.

see you back next week with another sheet from the 1990 target dodgers set...

more from the garvey oddball binder - 1984 union oil dodgers most memorable moments sheets

here are some more sheets from my steve garvey oddball binder.  these come from the 1984 union oil dodgers most memorable moments set.  similar to the 1982 volpe portraits, these were available at your local southland 76 station (murph was the proprieter in the commercials, i believe).  there are some good moments captured in these sheets, including bob welch's strikeout of reggie jackson in game 2 of the 1978 world series and roy campanella night at the coliseum in 1959.  

garvey shows up on 5 of the 16 sheets in the set, and those are the ones in the binder.

30-home run quartet

in 1977, garvey, dusty baker, reggie smith, and ron cey became the first four teammates to hit 30 home runs in the same season.  topps didn't make a card (so i did), but seven years later, union oil came through with a sheet.

1977 nlcs

garvey shares space with teammates cey, baker, bill russell, davey lopes, vic davalillo, tommy john, manny mota, and don sutton.  cey is front and center on the sheet, but dusty baker was the series mvp with 2 homers and 8 rbi.  the majority of the text on the back pertains to game 3 of the series (black friday as it's known in philadelphia) wherein the dodgers used a bunt single by davalillo, a double by manny mota, and an infield single by davey lopes to tie the score, all with two outs.  an error and a bill russell single later, and the dodgers had taken a two games to one lead in the series.

the 10th player

this sheet is a tribute to dodger fans, with garvey, cey, sutton, mota, jerry reuss, and joe ferguson appearing on the front.  the fan tribute is centered around the end of the 1980 season when the dodgers were three games out of first with three to play.  as luck would have it, the astros were coming to town. the dodgers swept the series behind some big home runs by ferguson, garvey, and cey, but lost game 163 as the astros advanced to the postseason for the first time.

1981 world championship

garvey shows up on this one as part of the three-steves celebration - jumping in the air after the dodgers' game 6 win with steves howe and yeager.  also appearing on the sheet are series co-mvp's cey, yeager, and pedro guerrero.  tommy lasorda and nlcs hero rick monday round out the sheet commemorating the dodgers' first world championship since 1965, and first reached by beating the yankees since 1963.

record setting infield

this is, quite obviously, my favorite sheet.  it's all about the infield.

more garvey goodness to come; stay tuned.

another vic davalillo ebay success!?

i recently picked up another copy of a signed 1978 topps vic davalillo card

i was reeled in by the low price siren's song, i guess.  it was an impulse purchase in order to obtain a copy for my partially signed 1978 topps set, since i already had one for my modest 1978 topps dodgers autograph project.  the signature looks more like 'w/ armadillo', and really doesn't look much like his certified auto on this 2010 venezuelan autografo card (which i unfortunately do not own)

that one is a bit more similar to the first 1978 topps card i picked up.

it's the card up top, however, that has the jsa hologram thingy.  i'll remain skeptical, but not down right cynical.  to cleanse the palette, here's davalillo's 1978 sspc card

just because.

maybe someday i will find a 1978 topps card signed by ed goodson that i can question the authenticity of, but in the meantime, i'll update my modest 1978 topps dodgers autograph project - here's the tally:

team card (red adams) - through the mail success!
team card (mark cresse) - through the mail success!
team card (john hale) - through the mail success!
team card (peter o'malley) - through the mail success!
team card (boog powell) - through the mail success!
dusty baker - through the mail success!
glenn burke - ebay success! and another ebay success!
ron cey - through the mail success!
vic davalillo - ebay success! and another ebay success!
terry forster - ebay success! and through the mail success!
mike garman - through the mail success!
steve garvey - through the mail success!
ed goodson
jerry grote - through the mail success!
burt hooton - through the mail success!
charlie hough - through the mail success!
tommy john - in person/through the mail success!
lee lacy - through the mail success! and in person success!
tom lasorda - ebay success! and through the mail success!
dave lopes - through the mail success!
ted martinez - ebay success!
rick monday - in person/through the mail success!
manny mota - through the mail success!
johnny oates - ebay success!
doug rau - through the mail success!
lance rautzhan - through the mail success!
rick rhoden - through the mail success!
bill russell - through the mail success!
reggie smith - through the mail success!
elias sosa - through the mail success!
don sutton - through the mail success!
steve yeager - ebay success! and through the mail success!
nlcs (davey lopes) - through the mail success!

28/29 = 97%

yes, i am still waiting for mr. goodson.

vic davalillo (among others) was missed in 1981 topps

he wasn't alone, either.  even though both davalillo and manny mota were active in 1980, mota was absent from a topps set for the first time since 1963.  that was also the first year davalillo was featured in a set, although he missed out from 1975 through 1977 while he was playing in mexico, and was last included in a topps set in 1979.  you saw (i hope) the 1980 card i created for davalillo to fill the void that year, and now i present the 1981 topps vic davalillo card that should have been.

the photo i used was taken from one of the dodgers' photo albums from the late 1970's.  here's the back, with his complete career stats - a true final tribute.

whoever set that type must have been drunk.

davalillo actually had a final tribute card in 1981, thanks to fleer which included cards for both davalillo (front)

(back)

and mota

in their 1981 set.  mota also got some love in the 1981 donruss issue.

but alas, there was not topps card for the (at that time) man with the most career pinch hits.  you'll note that donruss lists him as a coach, so i made two versions of the 1981 topps manny mota card that should have been - coach

and player

mota did nothing but pinch hit once he was reinstated late in the 1980 season.  he would retire again after the season, but, as the back of his 1981 donruss card predicted,

mota was called into duty by the dodgers once again, although it wouldn't be until 1982.

last but not least, jerry grote also came out of retirement to play in 1981, and should have been included in the 1981 topps traded set (in my opinion).  i mean, if doug rau gets a card despite not playing in a game after june of 1981, then grote deserved to be in there.  although not at the expense of the only doug rau as an angel card - that would not have been good.
here is the 1981 topps traded jerry grote card that should have been.

that's grote's image from his 1979 topps card.  i reversed it and added the 'kc' to his cap.  like mota, grote first entered the topps set in 1964. and, like davalillo, he was not part of the 1977 or 1980 sets thanks to a couple of bouts with retirement.  he missed the entire 1979 and 1980 seasons before agreeing to terms with the royals for the 1981 campaign.  they wound up releasing him in august, but he signed on with the dodgers (who had released joe ferguson earlier in the year) to help back up steve yeager and mike scioscia.  as a result, grote won his second world series ring as the dodgers beat the yankees in the fall classic, even though his second turn as a dodger amounted to just 2 at bats in 2 regular season games.

so, now we are caught up with how things were and how they should have been for the 1978 topps dodgers in 1981.  we'll move on to 1982 soon.

hey topps, you missed a couple back in 1980

if you've been following along with the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers, you know that in 1980, topps produced cards for 21 of the 27 subjects featured in the 1978 set.  ed goodson had retired, as had mike garman, and jerry grote didn't play in 1979.  that still leaves three players unaccounted for.  so, i made some cards that should have been.

vic davalillo was still with the dodgers in 1979, and continued playing into 1980.  his 1980 card that should have been

didn't get a back because it would not have been a 'final tribute' and i didn't feel like messing around with 15 years of stats.  i used a photo from one of the dodgers' photo albums from the late 1970's and moved his autograph around.  it came out pretty well, i think.  davalillo was 1 for 3 as an outfielder for the dodgers in 1979, and 6 for 24 with two walks as a pinch hitter.  he did not strike out in any of his plate appearances.

glenn burke finished his big league career in 1979 as an oakland athletic

although he returned to the club in 1980 after 'retiring' during the 1979 campaign.  by all accounts, billy martin did not take kindly to burke in spring training, and the outfielder wound up spending the season at aaa ogden, never getting a call-up.  burke retired for good after the 1980 season.  so, 1980 would have been burke's final tribute and that is worthy of a card back.

it's card 728 since the davalillo would have been 727.  the cartoon was kind of tough - a fair amount of manipulating the hands.  still, i thought it appropriate that the card reference the unorthodox greeting burke gave to dusty baker after johnnie b hit his 30th home run of the 1977 season.  burke, it should be noted, followed up with a homer of his own.

the third player missing from the 1980 set is lance rautzhan.  rautzhan started the 1979 season with the dodgers, but had his contract purchased by the brewers in may.

he had a tough season, and appeared in only 3 games for the brew crew at the big league level.  he also gets a card back, as 1979 was the last year that rautzhan pitched in the big leagues

that was a pretty standard cartoon in 1980 - a pitcher who pitched in the postseason.  i reversed the image of someone's cartoon (rawly eastwick, i think) to make it a southpaw pitcher, when i could have just used bill lee's cartoon.  there is one falsehood on the card, and that is the title of 'complete major and minor league pitching record.'  rautzhan pitched in the minors during the 1980 season, but never made it back to the majors, so at least the big league totals are final career stats.  in hindsight, i wouldn't have bothered with the minor league stats if i had thought about how painstaking it was going to be.  in case you're wondering, i took the photo from the 1978 dodger photo album and photoshopped in the brewers' hat.

so, there you have it.  all 27 dodgers featured by topps in 1978 have been accounted for in terms of 1980.  coming soon, the 1981 posts.  i think there are only two cards that i will need to make to complete that story.  unfortunately, they both had long careers which means pain in the ass card backs.