sunday morning target dodgers - the penultimate sheet edition

so far, i've shown 1,060 cards from the 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary giveaway set.  that means that there are only two more sheets of 15 cards to show.  here's the next to last sheet:

ed goodson

when i started following the dodgers in 1977, i recognized that ed goodson had the unenviable job of being a backup first baseman on the team for which steve garvey played.  goodson played in the field in only 17 games for the dodgers in '77 (13 at first, including one complete game in which garvey only appeared as a pinch hitter, and 4 at third).  however goodson did play several games at third base for the blue in 1976 after being acquired along with dusty baker from the braves.  still, he was used primarily as a pinch-hitter in his two seasons with the club, hitting .273 in 62 plate appearances in that role in '76, but just .182 in 45 pinch-hitting plate appearances in '77.

dixie howell

not to be confused with another dixie howell who played at the same time, the dodgers' howell was originally signed by the team in 1938.  he didn't reach the big leagues until 1947, however, following a trade with the pirates.  he eventually returned to brooklyn in a 1952 trade, and played for the dodgers in 1953, 1955, and 1956.  howell did not appear in the world series in any of those seasons, and he hit just .250 in 24 regular season games for the dodgers.

lyn lary

as lary's 12-year big league career was coming to a close, he played for three teams during the 1939 season. he began the year with the indians and finished it with the cardinals, but in between, he played in 29 games for the dodgers.  he hit .161 with a double, triple, and a single rbi for the man who holds the yankee season record for rbi (107) by a shortstop.

al lopez

hall of fame catcher al lopez caught more games than anyone else up until bob boone broke his record in the late 1980's.  of his 1.918 games caught, close to 750 came with the robins/dodgers from 1928 through 1935.  he played in a total of 762 games for the franchise over that timeframe, but spent a few complete games in the infield and had some other appearances as a pinch-hitter.  he hit .279 for brooklyn overall, and hit the last 'bounce' home run in major league history in 1930 while with the robins.

lee magee

magee's given last name was hoernschemeyer, which is longer than hollandsworth and would have been the longest surname in franchise history.  however, he opted for magee.  playing for brooklyn towards the end of his career, magee began the 1919 season with the robins, and hit .238 in 45 games. he was traded to the cubs in june after the robins' organization heard rumblings of his association with gamblers and rumors of magee betting against his team while he was with the reds in 1918. following the 1919 season, magee did admit that he had bet on a game (he claimed he bet on the reds while other evidence showed he had bet against them and did indeed try to throw the game) and he was banned.  a few months later, the black sox scandal was brought to light.

mike a. marshall

marshall, or general soreness, never faced the other mike marshall, although their careers did overlap in 1981.  this mike marshall was one of the dodger prospects that i, along with legion other dodger fans, were anxiously awaiting in 1981.  he had hit .373 in triple-a albuquerque with 34 homers and 137 rbi that year (good enough to win the pcl triple crown), and received a september call-up.  yes, even though he was a first baseman and i was a huge fan of steve garvey, i wanted to see marshall in the majors.  i figured the dodgers would move him to the outfield anyway, which they eventually did.  however, they also let garvey go after the 1982 season.  whatever, marshall stayed with the dodgers through the 1989 season, after which he was traded to the mets.  he had struggled with injuries throughout his career (even reportedly sitting out a game due to general soreness), but did lead the 1988 dodgers with 82 rbi.  my lasting mike marshall memory comes from 1988.  i was at the dodger/met game on august 24 that year.  orel hershiser was 17-7 going into the game, and the mets were the best team in the national league. me and some friends were able to wrangle tickets a few rows up from the dodger dugout from another friend's dad (a longtime season ticket holder) and headed to the game.  marshall hit an rbi double off of future dodger bob ojeda in the fourth to score the first run of the game.  hershiser was dealing zeroes through seven, and it was feeling very much like a playoff game.  leading off the top of the 8th, mookie wilson hit a fly ball to right that i believe marshall misplayed.  wilson wound up on third with a triple, and the mets scored two runs that inning and beat orel and the dodgers 2-1.  it turned out to be the second of hershiser's eight straight complete games as well as his last loss of the regular season, and it was during his next start (in the 5th inning, to be exact) that the bulldog began his record breaking scoreless streak.

russ meyer

meyer pitched for the dodgers from 1953-1955, and he appeared in both the '53 and '55 world series.  in the latter, meyer threw 5.2 innings of scoreless relief in game 6.  he was 32-13 for the dodgers during the regular season over those three years, despite an era of 4.47.

dee moore

moore's big league career began in 1936 with the reds. he pinch-hit in a couple of games, but in his first appearance as a defensive player in a major league game, moore was not catching, but pitching.  he threw five innings in relief (allowing an unearned run) and later was the starting pitcher in the reds' final game of the season, pitching two scoreless innings.  moore didn't pitch in the majors again after that, and after being out of the big leagues for a few years, he found himself with the dodgers for the start of the 1943 season.  he hit .253 in 37 games for brooklyn as a catcher and third baseman before the phillies selected him on waivers.

walt moryn

the pride of saint paul, minnesota, moryn was signed by the dodgers in 1948 and eventually got to play in his home town when the dodgers moved their triple-a affiliate from montreal to the saintly city.  he was called up to the show by the dodgers in 1954 and again in 1955, although he didn't see playing time in the world series in '55.  following the 1955 season, moryn was traded to the cubs where he was an all-star in 1958.

john purdin

purdin pitched for the dodgers in 1964 and 1965, and then again in 1968 and 1969 after being held in the minors in 1966 and 1967.  the second appearance of his career, his first career start, resulted in a two-hit shutout of the cubs on september 30, 1964, and he earned his second win a few days later on the last day of the season.  purdin won two games again in 1965, but his era jumped from 0.56 to 6.75, and his next two seasons were spent in the minors. purdin spent all of 1968 with the big club, winning (again) two games - this time with a more respectable 3.07 era.  1969 was his last season in the majors, and purdin was held decision-less for the first time, appearing in only nine games for the dodgers.  purdin wound up with the white sox (and was included in the 1971 topps set), but he never returned to the majors after the 1969 season.

vicente romo

there was no romo-mania in 1968 when romo made his big league debut with the dodgers, or in 1982 when he returned to the club to fulfill his double dipper destiny. i wrote about the adventures of romo here, if you are interested in learning more.

harry smythe

smythe began the 1934 season with the yankees, but was acquired by the dodgers in late may. with brooklyn, he pitched in 8 games, winning one and losing one.  smythe then returned to the international league where he continued his previous success, and ultimately was elected to the il hall of fame.

joe vosmik

after spending the entire 1930's playing in the american league, vosmik brought his .311 lifetime average to brooklyn where he promptly hit a respectable .282 in 116 games.  in 1941, however, vosmik was batting just .196 after appearing in 25 games and was released by the dodgers.

hank webb

acquired from the mets for rick auerbach, webb pitched in 5 games for the 1977 dodgers (which means i created a 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been for him). in 8 innings of relief work over the course of those 5 games, webb allowed only two runs but earned no decisions.  webb's son, ryan, was acquired by the dodgers in april, but was released soon thereafter and is now pitching for the indians.

whitey witt

witt was the third outfielder in the yankee outfield of the early 1920's, playing alongside babe ruth and bob meusel until earle combs came along in 1925.  he was released by the yanks on july 4, 1925, and was later signed by the brooklyn robins.  witt played in 63 games for brooklyn in 1926, hitting .259 with just 2 extra base hits.

i'll have the final sheet of the set next week. stay tuned...

you would not believe the joy i did receive! - a 1978 topps ed goodson autograph success!

i am still a bit shocked that i own this card.

look at that! a 1978 topps ed goodson card, signed by the man himself.  supposedly, anyway.  a couple of months ago, a signed 1977 topps goodson card was up on ebay for a short time before someone snagged it with a buy it now.  that was the first time i had seen a signed '77, which was one more time than i had seen a signed 1978 version.  i had previously seen a few signed '73 and '74 cards, plus the 1976 topps card i purchased.  but no 1978 cards - the one card i needed to complete my modest 1978 topps dodger autograph project.

i have had for quite a while now several alerts and searches set up to let me know if and when this card (or an opportunity to have goodson sign a card) became available, although i had never had a solid lead.  some nibbles, but no bites.  then, in early april, there it was.  i contacted the online store and quickly arranged to purchase the card.  it comes from a large autographed card collection purchased in goodson's neck of the woods which lends to the authenticity as far as i am concerned.

i must admit that there is a slight sense of 'what now?' that followed my initial elation.  the feeling is somewhat similar to what i felt when i completed my 1960's topps dodger team sets.  i know i will never complete the 1950's team sets, so what now?  i have thought about maybe trying to get copies of my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set signed (i actually have quite a few already), but i don't know how to track down the likes of myron white or gerald hannahs, and enzo hernandez passed away recently so there is literally no way to make that happen.

don't get me wrong i am over the moon to have this card in my collection - it really ties the whole thing together.  big thanks to b&c sports!

now, for the final time, 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 - online success!
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!

29/29 = 100%

no more waiting for mr. goodson.

ed goodson goodies

i'm still lacking a 1978 topps signed ed goodson card, so i have been keeping an eye out.  i have actually received a few emails from people who have connections or leads on goodson (which i greatly appreciate), but it would seem that he is fairly adamant about not signing as these leads unfortunately don't actually lead to anything.

i haven't given up hope though, and am regularly checking a few sources for signs of a signing.  i also have a search saved on ebay for 'ed goodson'.  that's how i came to find that topps was giving goodson some love from their vault.  they recently sold a bunch of negatives, including the original image that was used to create his 1976 topps card.

no surprises there, as we all knew that there was a braves jersey lurking above the turtleneck.  speaking of that 1976 card, i did find one purported to be signed by the man himself.

i was able to get it surprisingly cheaply.  it's not the most fluid signature, but it is probably as close as i will get to the real thing on a 1978 topps card.  from what i have seen, goodson seems to have stopped signing right around the time his career ended.  i don't know if i have even seen a 1977 card signed by him.

i also picked up a signed index card.

i was thinking of trimming it down and putting it in the binder with my other 1978 topps dodger autographs.  right now i have an unsigned copy of his card in that binder, and it looks kind of strange. not that a trimmed down index card would look any better.

the two autos i purchased are hopefully legit, but i really don't know.  i do know that this one is real, but i didn't attempt to buy it.  it's a contract between topps and goodson, also recently sold from the topps vault

i think the two that i bought are reasonably similar, so i will believe they are real.

topps also sold some unused photo negatives of goodson from their vault.  these would have been taken at or around the same time as the photo used on his 1977 topps card

and 1978 topps card

i have to say i was somewhat surprised that these sold.  i have always assumed that the people who buy these images are planning to print and sell them, and that the people who purchase the prints are looking to have them signed.  i certainly hope that's the case here, and that whoever bought the negatives has a line on a goodson signing.

remember - if you, or anyone you know, has information about an ed goodson signing (or signed 1978 topps card), please let me know!

and for one brief moment, they were all together. the 1978 topps dodgers in 1978

although i am splitting them into two posts.  go figure.

two new players were featured for the first time in 1978 - glenn burke and lance rautzhan.  let's start with them.

glenn burke

burke debuted for the dodgers in 1976, but didn't show up on a card until 1978.  by that time, he had appeared in 108 games for the blue and was hitting about .250.  he also had greeted dusty baker at home plate after a home run with what many consider to be the first 'high-five'.  not too far into the 1978 season, burke found himself in tommy lasorda's doghouse (quite possibly due to a friendship that burke, a gay man, had formed with tommy's son, also gay (although tommy doesn't admit it)) and was traded to the a's for billy north.  in oakland, burke played in 78 games and had 15 stolen bases.  he finished the season hitting .233.
lance rautzhan

rautzhan had first appeared for the dodgers in the middle of the 1977 season.  he wound up winning 4 games and saving 2 others before the year was done, and then picked up a win in the nlcs against the phillies.  in 1978, rautzhan lowered his era to 2.93 and went 2-1 with 4 saves.  he made three appearances in the postseason, including two in the world series against the yankees, but did not figure in any decisions.
a few other players returned to the topps set after their absences - vic davalillo, jerry grote, and ted martinez.

vic davalillo

davalillo was plucked from the roster of the aquascaliente team in the mexican league late in the 1977 season.  the 40-year old wound up appearing in 24 games for the dodgers, hitting .313 overall and .286 (4 for 14) as a pinch-hitter.  his biggest hit of the season, of course, was his bunt against the phillies in the 'black friday' game.  down by two runs with two outs and nobody on base in the 9th inning of game 3, davalillo bunted for a hit to start the winning rally.  he then went 1 for 3 in the world series, appearing in three of the six games against the yankees.  in 1978, davalillo was back for the whole season.  he hit .312 overall and .255 (12 for 47) as a pinch-hitter.  his lone home run of the season, and the final one of his career, came as a pinch-hitter against the mets in august.  davalillo did not match his postseason highlights from the previous season, as he appeared in only two games of the world series, going 1 for 3.
jerry grote

grote had been acquired by the dodgers from the mets at the end of august in 1977.  he hit .259 in 18 games for the blue, and then was 0 for 1 with a walk in the postseason.  in 1978, grote hit .271 in 41 games and appeared in three postseason games, including two in the world series, but did not get an at bat.  i do recall that grote was on deck when bill russell singled in the run that clinched the pennant for the dodgers in game 4 of the nlcs.  grote became a free agent after the season ended, and essentially retired.  sort of.
ted martinez

martinez spent the entire 1976 season in the minors, after which he was selected by the dodgers in the rule 5 draft.  he then appeared in 67 games for the dodgers in 1977, batting .299 along the way.  he did not appear in the postseason, however, nor did he do so in 1978.  during the '78 regular season, martinez saw action again at third, short, and second, and hit .255.  he also hit the final home run of his career, a three-run shot off of mario soto in late september.

there were also some other veterans who appeared as dodgers for the first time in 1978 - terry forster, mike garman, rick monday, and johnny oates.

terry forster

this card of forster, with the horrific airbrushing, means that we were denied a terry forster pirates card by topps.  remember, forster was still shown as a member of the white sox in 1977.  forster joined the dodgers as a free agent after the 1977 season ended, and went on to have a great season in 1978.  he was 5-4 with 22 saves and a 1.93 era in 47 games for the dodgers.  he also went 4 for 8 at the plate, raising his lifetime batting average to .424 (24 for 59).  he pitched 5 scoreless innings in the postseason, including 4 (with 6 strikeouts) against the yankees in the world series, but he did not get an at bat in either the nlcs or the fall classic.

mike garman

garman was 0-1 in 10 appearances to start the 1978 season for the dodgers, and then was traded to the expos for gerry hannahs and another player.  in montreal, garman appeared in 47 games, and was 4-6 with 13 saves and a 4.40 era.  he made the final appearance of his career on september 29th against the phillies, when he blew a save opportunity by allowing an rbi single to dane iorg.  the final batter garman faced in his career was ted simmons, who followed iorg with a walk.  the expos released garman towards the end of spring training the following year.
rick monday

mo got some mustard from a dodger dog on his chin apparently.  man, how we laughed at this card when we first saw it after an afternoon 7-11 run back in the old neighborhood.  anyway, monday played in 119 games in 1978, one more than he had in 1977 and more than he would in any following season.  he hit 19 homers (including the 200th of his career off of atlanta's jim bouton) and was voted to start in the all-star game, even though bill north had kind of taken over in center field.  in the game, monday started in right field, with greg luzinski in left and george foster in center, and he went 0 for 2.  in the postseason, monday had two hits in each series, appearing in all but one game in each the nlcs and the world series.  
johnny oates

even with three other catchers on the roster, oates managed to get into 40 games (18 of which were starts behind the plate) for the dodgers in 1978.  he even threw out 32% of the runners who tried to steal against him. oates hit .307 with 6 rbi in 70 at bats, and then was 1 for 1 with a walk in the world series.
finally, one of the 1978 topps dodgers got a final tribute in 1978, having played his last game in 1977.  that would be ed goodson.

let's have a look at those career stats.

godspeed, mr. goodson.

i'll cover the rest of the team in the next post.

lee lacy's abbreviated atlanta adventure

[this is the thirty-second 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, and jesse orosco.]

leondaus lacy was drafted by the dodgers in 1969 and made his big league debut for them three years later.  here he is on his 1975 topps card, with dodger stadium serving as the backdrop 

unfortunately for lacy, dave lopes was coming onto the scene at the same time, and lacy wound up as the odd man out.  still, he carved out a niche for himself as a valuable utility player, spending time at second, third, short and all three outfield positions for the dodgers during his first go-around with them.  during that same time, lacy appeared in 266 games and posted a .274 batting average in over 800 plate appearances.

after the 1975 season, a season in which lacy appeared in over 100 games for the first time and posted a line of 7/40/.314, he was packaged with jim wynn, jerry royster, and tom paciorek in a deal with the braves that sent dusty baker and ed goodson to los angeles as documented by this 1976 topps traded card

in atlanta, lacy was installed as the everyday secondbaseman, and was batting .272 in late june when the dodgers re-acquired him (along with elias sosa) for reliever mike marshall.  he had played in only 50 games for the braves before al campanis brought him back.

back in los angeles, lacy spent most of his time over the remainder of the 1976 season filling in as an outfielder.  he stayed with the dodgers through the 1978 season before leaving for pittsburgh as a free agent, and, after 3 failed attempts with the dodgers, lacy finally earned a world series ring with 'the family' in 1979.

here's to you lee lacy, a dodger double dipper!

one year from their destiny - the 1978 topps dodgers in 1977 (part 1)

1977 was the year i first started following baseball and the dodgers in particular.  it was also the first year i opened a pack of baseball cards.  one pack was all i opened that year before spending all my allowance on packs of cards in 1978.

here's a look at what the 1978 topps dodgers were doing in 1977.  starting with johnnie b. baker.

with newly acquired rick monday in center, the dodgers moved dusty to left in 1977.  he wound up having a great year, with 30 home runs, 86 rbi, a .291 average and an ops of .876.  it took dusty all season to get to 30 homers, joining teammates steve garvey, ron cey, and reggie smith as the first foursome in history to each belt 30 in a season.  baker's 30th came on the last day of the season, and was one of 3 solo home runs the dodgers hit off of jr richard in the 6th inning.  glenn burke followed dusty's blast with one of his own (manny mota had homered earlier in the inning), and legend has it that burke gave dusty the first 'high-five' prior to his at bat. 

baker hit .357 in the nlcs against the phillies in the 1977 postseason.  he had 2 home runs and 8 rbi and was named mvp of the series.  in the world series against the yankees, baker he hit another homer and drove in 5 runs while hitting .292 in the dodgers' 6-game loss.

the penguin hit 30 home runs and drove in 110 in 1977.  both were career highs.

cey started the all-star game at third for the national league for the 3rd time in 4 years and finished 8th in the national league mvp voting.  in the midsummer classic, he was 0 for 2 with a walk and a strikeout, but he hit .308 when it counted - in the nlcs.  against the yankees, cey was just 4 for 21, but he did have a double and a home run to his credit in the series. cey also set a major league record for rbi's in the month of april with 29 in 1977.

terry forster pitched in the national league for the first time in his career in 1977

even though topps still had him as a member of the white sox, forster had been traded to the pirates in december of 1976 with goose gossage for richie zisk.  in pittsburgh, forster went 6-4 with a save and a 4.45 era.  he made 33 appearances, including 6 starts. the best thing about being in the nl was that forster got to bat again.  he had 27 plate appearances in 1977, and hit .346 with a double, a triple, and an rbi.  he struck out only 4 times and had a sacrifice for good measure.  after the season, he became a free agent and signed, of course, with the dodgers.

mike garman was another guy improperly depicted by topps in 1977.

he was acquired in january by the dodgers along with rick monday.  garman gave tommy lasorda another option in the bullpen, and he responded with 12 saves in 49 relief appearances.  he sported a nice 2.73 era, and had an even record of 4 wins and 4 losses.  garman made 2 scoreless appearances in each the nlcs and the world series.  in fact, he earned the save in game 3 of the nlcs - the 'black friday' game.

steve garvey swung for the fences in 1977.

that's what the back of his 1978 topps card says, and i believed it when i saw his stat line of 33/115/.297. tommy lasorda asked garvey to hit more home runs so he did, while sacrificing his average a bit. he got only 192 hits in 1977 and hit below .300 - both oddities in his stats as we look back on them today. had he reached each of those milestones in 1977, garvey would have had 7 straight seasons with at least 200 hits and 8 straight with an average of .300 or better. garvey repeated for the fourth season in a row as the national league's all-star game starter at first base and its gold glove recipient while finishing 6th in the league mvp voting for the second time in a row. in the postseason, garvey hit .308 in the nlcs (although he went without an extra base hit) and .375 in the world series, where he had an ops of 1.025 thanks to a double, triple and home run.

ed goodson played his final big league season in 1977.

he saw limited action at first and third over the course of the season, and made by far the majority of his appearances as a pinch hitter. overall, goodson hit just .167 with a homer and 5 rbi. that last home run of his career came in a june game against the braves in which goodson pinch hit for mike garman to lead off the top of the 9th inning with the scored tied at 2. charlie hough came in to replace goodson in the pitcher's spot and shut down atlanta to earn the save. goodson made two pinch-hit appearances in the postseason, one each in the nlcs and world series. in what would be his final at bat as a major leaguer, goodson struck out in game 6 of the fall classic against mike torrez. the dodgers released goodson during spring training in 1978, and although he signed with the indians shortly thereafter, he never again appeared in a big league game.

burt hooton turned his record around in 1977

he went from 11-15 in 1976 to 12-7 in 1977, and also lowered his era to 2.62 - down from 3.26 the previous year. he made 31 starts and also made an appearance in relief, recording a save in a july game against the padres. hooton threw a 4-hitter against the mets in may, allowing an unearned run while striking out 11 batters, and also had a 2-hit shutout against the astros in his second-to-last start of the season. in teh playoffs, hooton had just one start and was relieved after getting just 5 outs in game 3 (the 'black friday' game). his next start came in game 2 of the world series, and he pitched well - allowing one run while striking out 8 yankees and going the distance for the win. hooton also started game 6, giving up reggie jackson's first of three home runs in the game while being tagged with the series ending loss.

like hooton, charlie hough turned his record around in 1977

unfortunately, hough had a winning record in 1976. in '77, hough went 6-12 with a 3.32 era. he saved a career high 22 games for the blue, and even made his first big league start. it came towards the end of the season against the giants. hough went five innings for the win, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out 5. not too bad. in the postseason, hough appeared in one nlcs game and two world series contests. he allowed only 1 run in 5 innings of work against the yankees, but that run came as the third reggie's three home runs. you know, the one that went to deeeeeeeeeeeep centerfield? that one.

tommy john continued his incredible comeback in 1977

in only his second season back from surgery, john won 20 games for the first time in his career and threw 220.1 innings over 31 starts and wound up second in the nl cy young voting to steve carlton.  john had 11 complete games and 3 shutouts to his credit to go with his 2.78 era.  he had a stretch of four straight complete games in july and august, capped off with back-to-back shutouts - a 2-hitter against the reds and a 4-hitter against the braves. john had missed the dodgers' playoff run in 1974 due to his injury, so 1977 was the first time he appeared in the postseason.  he took advantage of the opportunity, starting 2 games in the nlcs and allowing only 1 unearned run in 13.2 innings pitched.  in the fall classic, john started game 3 at home but took the loss.

lee lacy split his playing time in 1977 between second base, left field, right field, and third base

as he put together a line of 6/21/.266 in 75 games and shared space on his card with a lurking ed goodson.  he had some success as a pinch-hitter, too, like his three-run home run off of tug mcgraw in the bottom of the 8th inning of a game in july which proved to be the game winner.  he was 1 for 1 in the nlcs as a pinch-hitter, and 1 for 2 with a rbi in the world series in that role, although he was also 2 for 5 with a ribby as a starter against the yankees.

tom lasorda has appeared in these evolutionary posts as a player, a coach, and now for the first time as a manager.

he took over for walter alston with just 4 games left in the 1976 season, as you will recall.  in the offseason, lasorda contacted each of the players and told them what he expected of them in 1977.  it turns out he got what he wanted, as the team won 98 games, 10 games ahead of the big red machine.  lasorda became one of the few managers to win a pennant in their first season, and was named the upi and ap manager of the year as a result.  for some reason, he was mic'd up in the world series, and his exchange with doug rau (including an appearance by davey lopes) is a classic lasorda recording.

davey lopes appeared on two cards in the 1977 set,

thanks to his league-leading 63 steals in 1976

although he didn't lead the league for a third straight year, lopes did steal 47 bases while upping both his batting average and on-base percentage by about 40 points to .283 and .372, respectively. he hit a then-career high 11 homers (4 lead off and 1 walk off) and scored 85 runs. in the postseason, lopes had 3 rbi against the phillies and 2 against the yankees, but stole only two bases and was caught the same number of times. he did come to the mound to try to squelch the argument between tommy and doug rau during the world series, and that counts for something.

part two coming tomorrow when i'll cover the rest of the big blue wrecking crew...