when a dodger card isn't fully a dodger card

sometimes, team collectors can miss out on cards that they may otherwise choose to add to their collection.  for example, this 1992 topps kids eddie murray card

shows him as a dodger, but then again - he is 'now with the mets!'.  is it a dodger card or a met card?  i consider it to be a non-dodger dodger card. so there.

here are some others that fit that bill (and fit into my collection as a result):

1993 donruss rudy seanez

a dodger up until the expansion draft

2000 pacific crown collection raul mondesi

pacific almost fooled me, using a photo of rauuuuuuul in the blue dodger alt jersey

2000 skybox dominion raul mondesi

obviously a dodger in all but team name on the card

2004 upper deck first pitch brian jordan

a while back i took a good look at the flagship version of this card. then i came across the first pitch version

and then there is this 2014 topps stickers joe mauer sticker

mauer is wearing the saint paul saints throwback in a game against the brewers in 2013 (i was at that game, by the way).  the saints uniform he is wearing comes from the time when they were a dodger affiliate.  in fact, there are some pictures hanging in one of the target field restaurants recognizing both the saints and the minneapolis millers (a giants' affiliate) as part of the twin cities' baseball fabric.  the photo for the saints features roy campanella rounding third being congratulated by walt alston.  pretty cool.  the millers photo features some guy named willie mays.  anyway, the mauer sticker is not a dodger card, but a cool item that i pulled from a pack and sent off to 2x3 heroes - i think.

if i haven't, i will - i've got quite a few packages ready to be sent out to folks, including baseball cards come to life, night owl, off hiatus, too many verlanders, bob walk the plank, and probably a couple of others.  you can always check my trade tracker on the right to see if i am aware that i owe you cards - let me know if i do and you don't see your name!

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.

trades in spades

the tail end of 2014 was fairly productive for me in terms of trades initiated and completed.  just check out the trade tracker to the right if you don't believe me!  here are some of the cards that i've reecently received from some great trading partners:

from tom at the angels in order, i received (by request) a 1990 fleer league leaders tim belcher card

and a forlorn looking steve sax to boot

i kind of collect all steve sax cards. sort of.  not officially or anything, but if i see one, i will usually pick it up or ask for it, as was the case here.

thanks tom!

now on to a trade i made with zippy zappy.  you know what that means - i now own a 2013 sega card gen card!  so what if mine is a ronald belisario card?

sure, he's stinking it up with the chisox now, but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to these hard to find cards.

belisario was joined by some stateside manufactured dodger cards, like this 2011 topps jackie robinson prime 9 insert

and a 2005 topps update & highlights russell martin card

i had hoped that the dodgers would reacquire martin for 2015, but i guess yasmani grandal will have to do.

here are a couple more from zippy zappy - a 1990 topps fernando valenzuela

featuring the always fantastic shot from the first base side photographer's well at dodger stadium, and a 1989 topps traded eddie murray card

i had high hopes for the dodgers in 1989 after they acquired murray, but there were just too many injuries. i couldn't and didn't complain, though - 1988 got me through even the terrible 1992 season.

thanks kenny - i hope you enjoyed our first trade as much as i did!

one more trade to show - this one comes from dennis at too many verlanders.  he found a davey lopes card and thought of me for some reason.  it's a 2001 upper deck prospect premieres lopes heroes of baseball relic card

with a photo taken from that same photographer's well as the fernando card.  very nice - thanks dennis!

i'm prepping a few packages that will go out shortly to the likes of catching up with collecting, the angels in order, too many verlanders, cards on cards, night owl, and am holding some cards for a couple of others.  let me know if you want in on the trading in 2015!

need a last minute costume idea?

why not try "crazy baseball mitt on your head" guy?

it worked for eddie murray on this 1992 baseball card magazine card.  a costume like that should net you at least a box of raisins.

the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman, part one

it is well known that jackie robinson began his major league career as the dodgers' first baseman in 1947.  unfortunately, i do not own a 1947 bond bread card of jackie's, nor do i own a 1948 leaf card to show in this space.  with that being the case, i'll start the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman with the guy who replaced jackie at first in 1948, gil hodges. this is not a departure from the norm, using a fantastic 1952 bowman card to kick off an evolution post (this is a baseball card blog and i don't have many pre-1950's cards in my collection), but it sure would have been nice to see that leaf card of jackie up top.  maybe someday.

gil hodges (1948-1959)

yes, hodges' 1952 bowman card is fantastic.  i enjoy having it in my collection.  the dodgers enjoyed having hodges' bat in their lineup following his conversion from catcher to first baseman in 1948.  he hit a total of 361 home runs for the dodgers, including 344 during the 12-year span in which he was the team's primary first baseman.  the club also won two world championships (and 6 pennants) with him at first.

norm larker (1960-1961)

norm!  larker (shown on his 1961 topps card) took over for hodges in 1960 and promptly went out and finished second in the national league batting race, .002 behind dick groat and .004 ahead of willie mays.  he was an all-star that year, but came back to earth in 1961, hitting .270 in just 95 games.  he was drafted by the colt .45's in the expansion draft prior to the 1962 season, and he became the very first first baseman in houston's history.  if there were an astros blogger out there doing this same sort of post, larker would be at the very start.

ron fairly (1962-1964)

with larker gone, fairly moved to first from the outfield.  yes, i am showing his 1965 topps card even though he was back in the outfield when the 1965 season rolled around.  before that, however, he enjoyed three solid seasons as the dodger first baseman, averaging 12 homers and 74 rbi.  he was playing more outfield by the end of the '63 season, making way for bill skowron.  as a result, he made only late-inning appearances during the 1963 world series.

wes parker (1965-1972)

skowron left the dodgers after one season, and fairly moved back to the outfield with wes parker taking over at first.  he became part of the team's all switch hitting infield (with jim lefebvre, jim gilliam, and maury wills) and helped the dodgers win the world series against the twins.  parker also won gold gloves in 6 of his 8 seasons spent playing primarily at first (including 1971 - the year of the topps card shown above).  in 1970, he led the national league with 47 doubles, but he was always better known for his skill with the leather, compiling a career .996 fielding percentage as a first baseman.  he retired following the 1972 season at the age of 32.  parker is the only non-hall of famer on rawlings' all-time gold glove team.

bill buckner (1973)

buckner's 1974 topps card lists him as a first baseman because he played in 93 games (83 starts) at the position in 1973.  he hit .275 and played in 140 games overall that year, and was moved back to the outfield in 1974, where he was seen climbing the wall in atlanta trying to get to hank aaron's 715th career home run.

steve garvey (1974-1982)

there aren't a lot of steve garvey cards from his playing days that i haven't shown on the blog yet, but that 1980 kellogg's card is one of them.  the garv took over the first baseman's job and wound up winning the all-star game and national league mvp awards in 1974.  he held on to the job until he left the club as a free agent following the 1982 season, amassing 8 consecutive all-star starts, 4 gold gloves, 4 pennants, and a world series championship during that 9-year span.

greg brock (1983-1986)

brock, shown on his 1986 o-pee-chee card, was a triple-a phenom who had the misfortune of being asked to replace garvey in the dodgers' lineup and maybe even continue the dodgers' string of rookies of the year (they had owned the award since rick sutcliffe won it in 1979, with steve howe winning in 1980, fernando valenzuela in 1981, and steve sax in 1982).  unfortunately, brock hit just .224 with 20 homers in 146 games in his rookie year, finishing 7th in the 1983 nl rookie of the year balloting.  the dodgers still won the west, however, and brock was 0 for 9 in his first taste of postseason play.  the following season, he hit .225 while playing in only 88 games, but still spent more time at first than anybody else.  in 1985, he helped the dodgers return to the postseason with what may have been his best season with the dodgers - he hit .251 with 21 homers and 66 rbi in 129 games.  he got his only postseason hit of his career that year, a home run in game 2 of the nlcs.  he was hitless in his other 11 at bats of the series.  following another lackluster season, brock was traded to the brewers for a couple of tims - crews and leary.

franklin stubbs (1987-1988)

stubbs had been the dodgers' left fielder in 1986, but moved to first to replace brock in 1987.  he had a 'brock-ish' season, however, hitting .233 with 15 homers and 52 rbi in 129 games, 111 of which included some time at first.  in 1988, stubbs appeared in 84 games at first for the dodgers, 54 of which were starts, which was more than mike marshall (54 games, 51 starts) so he gets the nod here for the year that was so improbable.  that's his 1988 score card, by the way.  stubbs started all five games of the '88 world series, hitting .294 with a couple of rbi. interestingly enough, stubbs went to the astros in a trade prior to the 1990 season, but signed with the brewers as a free agent for the 1991 campaign wherein he replaced greg brock as the first baseman for the brew crew.

eddie murray (1989-1991)

the dodgers were likely tired of a lack of production from the first base position since garvey's departure, so they traded for hometown guy eddie murray following their world series triumph over the a's.  steady eddie showed up in 1989 (i was excited to see him in dodger blue on his 1989 upper deck card shown above) and played in 160 games (159 at first) but hit only .247.  he did drive in 88 runs, however, and in 1990 he led all of major league baseball with a .330 average.  too bad for murray that willie mcgee was hitting .335 when he was dealt from the cardinals to the a's (mcgee hit only .274 with oakland, dropping his composite average to .324 for the season).  murray left the dodgers after the 1991 season as a free agent, opening the door for a rookie named eric karros to win the job even though the team had traded for todd benzinger just in case.

flush with dodgers

are jokers wild? if so, then tom from the angels, in order sent me a flush.  there's eric karros from the 1992 bicycle rookies playing card set

not sure if he's a smoker or a midnight toker, but he is a joker.  then there's eddie murray from the 1991 international playing card company all-stars set

pedro astacio from the 1992 rookies set

brett butler from the all-stars set

and another karros card from the rookies set

cue motorhead…i'll wait.

there were a couple other playing cards in the package - memorial types - that i will show in future posts.  there were also cards from another sort of game - 1991 classic.  here's a darryl strawberry card from the first series (i think) that features him with former teammate dwight gooden

if you want to see more of doc and darryl, check out the timeless teams post from yesterday.  if you want to trade with tom, check out the angels, in order.

thanks for the trade tom!

seeing things at the lcs

if you've ever wondered what pete rose, ryne sandberg, and steve garvey would look like if their faces were somehow combined into one, then go pick up a copy of this 1986 sportflics card.

when scanned, it looks mostly like rose.  here's the garvey image, or at least as best as i could manage.

i didn't need a copy, but i couldn't leave that card in the nickel box at one of the local card shops, now could i?  i also picked up a better looking garvey - again, no real need, but for a nickel…it's a 2005 topps pristine card for goodness sake!

i mentioned in an earlier post that i had made a few visits to the two local card shops over the last few months, and had some cards to show from those trips.  some of the nickel and dime boxes at these shops included boxes sorted by player - mostly hall of famers, stars, and notable twins.  some of the lesser organized boxes seemed to include bunches of cards of players who were at one time highly collectible, but now are not really sought after - probably moved out of the star boxes to make room for the bryce harpers and mike trouts of the world.  one such player is roberto alomar.

i found a bunch of alomars, including this 1995 topps d3 double play card

as well as base

and die-cut versions

of his 1995 upper deck championship series card.

like alomar, eddie murray seemed to have been moved into the low rent district.  i picked up a 1991 bowman card of the hall of famer

 it mentions his .330 average on the back

which led the majors in 1990, although murray didn't win a batting title.

here's a 1993 fleer vinny castilla card

on which he is shown turning two as a brave, but listed as a rockie.  i had forgotten that castilla was not always a third baseman.  castilla did not start the season as colorado's shortstop (freddie benavides had the honor of being the first ss in team history) but he took over the role in may.  he didn't move to third base full time until 1995.

there were some oddball cards in one of the boxes, many of which i had not seen before.  i picked up a 1992 fleer citgo darryl strawberry card for the dodger collection

it was a joint 7-11/citgo release, apparently.

there were even some ted williams cards floating around - this one of joe black is from 1993.

the tough thing with the nickel and dime boxes is that they aren't getting any new inventory.  i noticed that at both shops, although the lack of new material seemed to be for different reasons.  at one shop, they didn't appear to be busting any new product.  at the other, they seemed to be discouraging people from digging through boxes.  i'll expand on that next time.