sunday morning target dodgers - the rifleman, a unibrow, and 12 others

only 14 cards from the 1990 target dodgers set today, because this particular sheet featured another dodger double dipper who gets his own post later on.

bobby bragan

bragan began his career as a shortstop with the phillies in 1940, but began catching as well, and after he was traded to the dodgers just prior to the 1943 season, catcher was his primary position.  he returned to shortstop for a bit in 1944, and then missed the 1945 and '46 seasons due to military service during world war ii.  when bragan returned to the dodgers in 1947, he signed the petition protesting the addition of jackie robinson to the major league roster, and even asked branch rickey for a trade.  bragan wasn't traded, and he soon changed his mind about being jackie's teammate.  in 1948, after appearing in just 9 games for the dodgers, bragan was offered a job managing in the organization's minor league system at fort worth.  bragan accepted, knowing that his roster spot had essentially been taken by roy campanella.  after several seasons in fort worth (where he made maury wills into a switch-hitter), bragan eventually managed in the major leagues for the pirates, indians, and braves.  he returned to fort worth, and became the oldest manager in professional baseball history when he managed a game for the independent cats at the age of 87 in 2005.

buster burrell

another catcher, burrell spent three seasons (1895-97) with the grooms/bridegrooms, although he never appeared in more than 62 games in a single season.  his best year was 1896 when he played in 62 games and hit .301.  burrell looks pretty intense, but he lived to be 95 before passing away in 1962.  so, in his lifetime, the entire history of professional baseball up until sandy koufax's 7th start of the 1962 season occurred.  crazy.

guy cantrell

cantrell's nickname was 'gunner', and as a pitcher for the brooklyn robins in 1925 and 1927, he was 1-0 with a 2.93 era over 20 appearances.  cantrell was acquired by the philadelphia a's during the 1927 season, and finished his major league career with the tigers in 1930.  now we go from one 'gunner' to another…

chuck connors

connors was a brooklyn native who signed with the local club as a teenager in 1940.  he soon after went to college at seton hall and was picked up by the yankees.  in 1946, he wrote to branch rickey asking the dodgers to re-acquire him, and they did so after the yankees waived him.  connors wound up playing in the minor leagues, but also spent some time on the roster of the boston celtics from 1946-48.  he finally made his baseball big league debut in may of 1949 as a pinch-hitter.  with one out in the bottom of the 9th in a game against the phillies, connors pinch-hit for carl furillo.  gil hodges was on first base, so connors represented the tying run, as the dodgers were down 4-2.  unfortunately, connors grounded into a game ending double play, 1-6-3.  that turned out to be his only appearance as a dodger, but he was traded to the cubs and played in 66 games for the southsiders in 1951.  after that, connors played in the pcl for the los angeles angels, and was discovered by hollywood.  he eventually decided to pursue acting as a career, and landed the title role in the abc program 'the rifleman'.

jumbo elliot

elliot first pitched for the robins in 1925 after throwing just one inning for the browns in 1923.  after taking the loss in 2 of the 3 games in which he pitched in '25, elliot spent 1926 in the minors, but was back in the majors to stay in 1927.  he pitched both as a starter and a reliever for the robins through the 1930 season, which happened to be the only time in his career up until that point that he earned a winning record.  with a 26-36 record overall, the robins traded elliot to the phillies, with whom he promptly led the league with 19 wins in 1931.

dick farrell

farrell was better known as 'turk' during his playing days.  he spent the last few months of the 1961 season with the dodgers, but didn't ever get a complete card as a dodger from topps, so it is quite disappointing that this card fails to feature him in the correct uniform as well.  as a dodger, farrell was 6-6 with 10 saves in 50 appearances.  he was selected by the colt .45's in the expansion draft, and lost 20 games for them in 1962.

balvino galvez

galvez was once traded for billy beane, straight up.  i wonder if the a's general manager makes that deal today.  all of galvez's major league experience came as a dodger in 1986.  he pitched in 10 games and had a record of 0-1.  the first batter galvez faced as a big leaguer was none other than ron cey.  the penguin stroked a two-run, game-tying single off of galvez, and tommy lasorda removed the rookie pitcher from the game.  galvez was traded by the dodgers to the tigers during the 1987 season, and they sent him to the twins the following year for beane.

phil garner

garner doesn't look quite right without his bristle brush mustache, does he?  he joined the dodgers during the 1987 season following a trade with houston and wound up playing in 70 games for the club. he hit just .190 with two home runs (the last two of his career), and finished his major league career with 15 games for the giants in 1988.

jeff hamilton

hamilton was a backup third baseman who won the job during the 1988 season when pedro guerrero was moved to first base.  he wound up manning the hot corner for the dodgers during the world series, too, catching the final out of their pivotal game 4 win.  that was the game that, thanks in part to hamilton's presence in the lineup, caused bob costas to comment that the dodgers were fielding the weakest hitting lineup in world series history.  hamilton was the dodgers' primary third baseman in 1989, but was injured for most of 1990 and '91.  he attempted to convert to a pitcher, but was unsuccessful, meaning his only pitching appearance as a major leaguer remained his 1.2 innings of work in a 22-inning game against the astros in 1990 in which he struck out billy hatcher and ken caminiti, but was nonetheless saddled with the loss.

dale mitchell

mitchell's career started with a bang in cleveland - over his first 8 seasons with the indians, mitchell had 1201 hits, 60 triples (he led the league with 23 in 1949), and a .315 batting average.  beginning in 1954, however, he was relegated to part-time duty, and the indians eventually sold his contract to the dodgers during the 1956 season.  with brooklyn, mitchell hit .292 in 19 games down the stretch as the dodgers repeated as national league champions.  in the world series, mitchell was hitless four pinch-hit appearances against the yankees, the third of which resulted in the final out of don larsen's game 5 perfecto.

wally moon

all hail the unibrow!  moon was the 1954 national league rookie of the year for the cardinals, who traded him to the dodgers after the 1958 season for gino cimoli.  moon immediately made an impact for the dodgers in 1959, hitting .302 while leading the league in triples and launching his 'moon shot' home runs at the la coliseum as the dodgers won the pennant and the world series.  moon hit .299 in 1960, and then .328 in 1961 (his .434 obp led the league that year), but his performance tapered off after that.  his final appearance as a dodger came in the 1965 world series, where he was hitless in two pinch-hitting appearances.

bill posedel

posedel didn't reach the majors until the age of 31 when he debuted for the dodgers during the 1938 season.  he made 17 starts, finishing 6 of them (one was a shutout), and also relieved in 16 games.  he finished with a record of 8-9 and was traded to the braves during the offseason.  he was sometimes known as barnacle bill due to his two stints in the navy - one prior to the start of his big league career, and one during his career to serve in world war ii.

howie reed

the dodgers acquired reed from the kansas city a's in 1961, buy he didn't make it to the club's big league roster until 1964.  he was 3-3 as a starter with a no-decision, and 0-1 with a save as a reliever in 19 other appearances that year.  in 1965, reed pitched in 38 games (5 as a starter) and had an overall record of 7-5 plus a save.  he appeared in two games during the 1965 world series, but had just one appearance for the dodgers in the 1966 season before he was traded to the angels.

rj reynolds

robert james reynolds received a september call-up from the dodgers in 1983, but was with the team for most of 1984 and 1985 up until the time he was traded to the pirates for bill madlock.  he played for the pirates through the 1990 season, and then went to japan where he found some success.  as a dodger, reynolds is best remembered for his walk-off squeeze bunt on september 11, 1983 that beat the braves and put the dodgers 3 games up on atlanta in the nl west. that was a big two-game swing in the standings, and the dodgers held on to win the west.

dodger lurker time

they may not always be the main focus of the card, but i'll take dodgers on cardboard any way i can find them.  sometimes, that means that i have to keep a card of a giant, as is the case with bengie molina's 2009 upper deck card

which features andre ethier lurking in the background while also beating the throw home.

plays at the plate are good places to find lurkers, and tom prince does not disappoint on lance johnson's 1999 fleer tradition card

prince held on to the ball, but i believe johnson was safe, assuming that this is the lone scoring or potential scoring play from the april 26, 1998 game that featured these two guys.  it looks like it was a sunny day in socal that day.

another dodger catcher, mike scioscia, shows up on the back of johnny ray's 1989 upper deck card

thanks to the annual freeway series that precedes every regular season.

here's jeff treadway getting some face-less time on robb nen's 1995 upper deck card

while jeff hamilton finds spike owen waiting for him on owen's 1991 upper deck card

finally, we have raul mondesi trying to beat the throw on brant brown's 1997 topps stadium club card

he did not, but he did get to appear on the card for which i am thankful.

the only card that would reach me was this card of the preacher man

it helps if you channel your inner dusty springfield when you read that title.

i was too late to claim the fantastic 1954 bowman don newcombe card that joe at the sandlot used as trade bait, but i was able to claim this 1953 topps preacher roe card.

i was able to obtain that slice of cardboard goodness for some ny metropolitans that joe needed.  he added a few other cards to the package, including this 1998 topps gallery eric young card

that does a better job of correlating the subject and the text (in this case, 'expressionists') than fleer did with their emotion releases.  not quite the same concept, i know, but still.  night owl sent me an emotions card (trade post coming soon) of raul mondesi that said 'pounding' on it.

this 2008 bowman chrome prospects jaime pedroza card was also part of the trade fodder

pedroza made it to aa for the dodgers in 2010 and 2011, and spent the last two seasons in the braves organization.  2014 will be his age 27 season, so the clock is ticking on this prospect.

here's a james mcdonald 2009 topps card

mcdonald was traded to the pirates at the trade deadline in 2011 for short-timer octavio dotel.  he is currently a free agent after a disappointing second half in 2012 and a shortened season in 2013.  he's only 28, and it would seem that he is worth a flyer.  i'm hoping he lands somewhere and returns to his early 2011 form.

here's a true 'prospects' card from 2001 topps opening day

back then, these were three of the hottest prospects around.  i was super excited about chin-feng chen, and i know cub fans were drooling over the corey patterson hype.  and then there was the number 1 pick josh hamilton.  unfortunately for the dodgers, chen was a bust.  patterson has managed to have a career in the big leagues, and of course josh hamilton pulled things together and has had the greatest success of this prospect triumvirate.

last but not least, joe included a 2013 topps chipz clayton kershaw chip.  it had the dodger logo sticker on it

kershaw was underneath

 here's the back, just to be complete about things.

i bought a pack or two of these things but got rid of the ones i pulled - either by trade or sale - since they weren't dodgers.  i'll hang on to kershaw.

thanks for the trade joe!

the evolution of the dodger third baseman, part three

the hot corner merry go round following the trade of ron cey really gets going now...

here's the story using baseball cards.

german rivera (1984 - second half)

rivera started 71 games for the dodgers at third base in 1984, and appeared there in another 19 contests. this was after pedro guerrero, who had started 72 games at third, was moved back to the outfield in what i believe was an attempt to kick start his offense.  it seemed to work, as petey hit 10 homers and raised his average from .277 to .303 after moving back to the grass.  as for rivera, he hit only 2 homers with 17 rbi, and was returned to the minors for the 1985 season before being traded to houston for enos cabell.  it's worth (to me) noting that rivera is in the ted lilly/scott proctor/shane victorino group of almost dodger double dippers.  he was signed by the dodgers, went to another organization, and later returned.  if only he had played for the dodgers before being drafted by oakland in the rule v draft...

other folks to try their hand at third in 1984 included bob bailor, rafael landestoy, candy maldonado, and this next guy - dave anderson.

dave anderson (1985)

39 starts, 36 complete games, 51 total appearances at third.  that's what anderson logged in 1985.  bob bailor had 18, 12, and 45 respectively.  enos cabell? 29, 15, 32.  bill madlock, a midseason acquisition had 32, 14, 32.  bill russell made 5 appearances at third, steve sax spent three innings there in a game, and even len matuszek manned the hot corner for the grand total of one inning in 1985 for the dodgers.  the person who logged the most starts and innings at third for the dodgers in 1985 was actually pedro guerrero, who had 44 starts, 42 complete games, and 44 total appearances.  i'll leave anderson there by virtue of his total number of games played at third, but know that 1985 was an unholy mess for the dodgers at third base.

bill madlock (1986)

yes, i know that's a card from 1987.  oh well.  madlock started and appeared in 101 games at third base for the dodgers in 1986.  he hit .280 with 10 homers and 60 rbi, but he was 35 and we knew it wouldn't last.  he was released by the dodgers in may of 1987 and finished his career that year with the detroit tigers.

mickey hatcher (1987)

hatcher had been released by the twins prior to the start of the 1987 season, and signed with the dodgers a week or so into the season.  he played third for the dodgers in 49 games in '87, 42 of which he started.  this made him a true dodger double dipper, by the way.  in addition to madlock and hatcher, the dodgers also had anderson (11 starts), sax, phil garner (29 starts), craig shipley, alex trevino (!), mike sharperson, brad wellman, tracy woodson (33 starts), and jeff hamilton (23 starts) spend time at third in 1987.

jeff hamilton (1988-1989)

even though that's a 1988 donruss card i used for hamilton, i like it.  the dodger stadium left field pavilion and diamondvision in the background, along with the 'mac' patch on his shoulder for coach don mcmahon means that it fits into a few different collections of mine.

as for hamilton the third baseman, he started 80 games there in 1988 and was the dodgers' third baseman in the world series that year.  he followed that championship season with a whopping 140 starts at third for the dodgers in 1989.  he also had the rare honor that year of suffering a loss as a pitcher.  hamilton took the loss in a 22-inning affair against the astros - a game that also featured fernando valenzuela at first base and eddie murray at third.

hamilton began the 1990 season as the dodgers' third baseman, but his bid to end the revolving door ended when he tore his rotator cuff just a few days into the season.

mike sharperson (1990)

sharperson took over for the injured hamilton, and made 75 starts at third over the course of the season, appearing there in a total of 106 games. sharpy was essentially part of a platoon with lenny harris, who started 74 games there that year, and took over the majority of the playing time in 1991.

lenny harris (1991)

harris claimed this spot in the evolutionary chain by starting 89 games at third in 1991.  he was just keeping the spot warm until the next guy came along.

dave hansen (1992)

yes, dave hansen (another double dipper) was the primary third baseman on the worst los angeles dodger team in history.  the team lost 99 games that year - the first time the franchise had lost 90 since 1944 - and finished 35 games behind the atlanta braves.  i'm not suggesting that it was hansen's fault.  he started 98 games at third that year, and hit .214, by the way.  there were plenty of underperformers on that team.  on a side note, i appreciate that, even early in his career, leaf was already recognizing hansen as a pinch hitter - something that he would excel at throughout his career.

tim wallach (1993-1995)

the dodgers acquired wallach from the expos in a trade prior to the 1993 season.  he started over 100 games at third for them in both 1993 and 1994, and then made 92 more starts there in 1995.  after a brief stint with the angels to start the 1996 season, he returned to the dodgers (yes, another double dipper), and reclaimed the position from the injured mike blowers.

i'll get into the blowers era next time.

a card lot from the sandlot

i recently completed a trade with joe over at the sandlot.  he had a bunch of autos and game used stuff he advertised and i jumped on the dodgers and twins.

here's a 2007 sp authentic by the letter rookie signature card of andy laroche

if it weren't a dodger, i wouldn't bother - just like shaq's biological.  a messy auto on a manufactured patch artificially numbered to 40 as if it's really scarce.  note that laroche is wearing 66.  the last dodger rookie i recall wearing 66 was paul konerko.  another dodger prospect they traded away.

2006 fleer flair showcase rafael furcal jersey

i still think of furcal as a brave, even though this is his 5th season in la.  he just passed 1500 career hits and will play in his 500th game as a dodger this weekend.  still a brave to me, though.

2006 topps turkey red joe mauer jersey

joe mauer even has the kirby puckett generation of twins fans wearing number 7 jerseys.  in related news, i went to target field twice last week.  it is awesome.  and so is joe mauer.

2006 ud future stars jason kubel auto

it's strange to think that after a breakout season in 2009, kubel is losing at bats to jim thome this year.

2005 topps chrome kevin west auto

kevin west looks to have been a very good minor league player who never got a shot in the big leagues.  he was in the twins organization from 1999 through 2006 and then with the rangers' minor league system in 2007. the next two years saw him playing in the independent northern league.  he had some good seasons for the twins' aaa club, but i gues couldn't break through the shannon stewart/torii hunter/jacque jones/michael cuddyer outfield in the majors.

2007 topps chrome glen perkins auto

perky is the fifth minnesota gopher to play for the twinkies that i can think of off the top of my head.  denny neagle, terry steinbach, dave winfield and paul molitor being the others.  right now perkins is in the doghouse in aaa.

1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever orel hershiser

with jeff hamilton and rick dempsey lurking.  i like the idea of orel as a new mr. october (and i reject the idea of derek jeter as mr. november).  i wonder if there would have been a market for 'bulldog' candy bars.

thanks joe!

things really are bigger in texas

never mind that this card came from kansas, home of texas rangers cards. it's still big. it's a 1993 upper deck eric karros 5-year anniversary card.

measures about 3x5. it was one of many great cards i received in return for a bunch of rangers i sent. here are some more of my return:

2009 upper deck goudey vladimir guerrero

i like these cards, even if they show vlad swinging as a lefty, in pinstripes, and standing in a puddle of what may well be urine.

1984 topps dusty baker. johnnie b. just keeps on ticking.

1989 fleer jeff hamilton. i like to think that hamilton keeps tony larussa awake at night. meaning that larussa can't believe he lost a world series to a team that featured jeff hamilton as its third baseman.

1993 topps gold michael moore rookie card. also cliff floyd. moore was the dodgers' 1st round pick in the 1992 draft. he spent the next 14 years in the minors, including 3 at aaa, but never made it to the big leagues. not for lack of trying, though. meanwhile, cliff floyd's career was seriously derailed by a bad wrist injury early on.

1987 topps franklin stubbs. stubbs' 1986 season made greg brock expendable. eventually, stubbs would supplant brock in milwaukee as well. franklin hit .294 in the 1988 world series. good times.

2007 upper deck luis gonzalez. gonzo may well be my least favorite dodger. i disliked greg brock, but that was only because he had the misfortune of taking over for steve garvey. it wasn't really about brock. gonzo, on the other hand...

finally, a post-2000 twin. justin morneau on a 2008 topps updates & highlights card. raise your hand if you have already forgotten that josh hamilton didn't win the home run derby.

thanks spiff!