there are some interesting names on this sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set. benny, johnny, eddie, sloppy, zoilo, possum, and doc. a dodger version of the seven dwarves? here are this week's cards - only 14 in this post because i stumbled on to another dodger double dipper who will get their own post later today.
doc bushong
bushong, a dentist and thus referred to as 'doc', was a member of the inaugural brooklyn bridegroom national league team of 1890. it was also the final year of his 13-year big league career
chris cannizzaro
cannizzaro spent the 1972 and 1973 seasons with the dodgers as a backup catcher. he hit .235 over that span, with most of his action coming during the 1972 campaign. he has the distinction of having been both an original new york met and an original san diego padre, and he was the first all-star representative for the friars.
bobby castillo
castillo is a
dodger double dipper who is credited with teaching fernando valenzuela how to throw the screwball. 'nuff said. unfortunately, castillo passed away last year at the age of 59.
roy cullenbine
cullenbine began the 1940 season with the dodgers following two years with the tigers. he played in 22 games and hit just .180 before being traded to the browns around memorial day. he knew how to draw a walk however, compiling 23 of them in those 22 games for the dodgers, giving him an obp of .405. cullenbine actually had 121 walks in 1941 and an obp of .452 for the browns. he eventually made his way back to detroit where he was part of their 1945 world championship team.
gene demontreville
demontreville was traded to the superbas in 1899 along with jerry nops for hughie jennings. a few days later, nops was returned to the orioles and jennings came back to the superbas, but demontreville stayed in brooklyn. he broke the roster in 1900, playing every infield position plus some outfield, and hit .244 in 69 games. that was his only season in brooklyn, however, as the boston beaneaters purchased his contract prior to the 1901 campaign.
gil english
english finished his major league career by playing the 1944 season with the brooklyn dodgers. he had previously played for the giants, tigers, and bees, but had most recently been in the minors where he was the 1939 american association mvp. english hit .212 in 27 games for the dodgers serving as a backup infielder.
johnny klippstein
klippstein was part of the return package that the dodgers received during the 1958 season in the trade that sent don newcombe to the reds. he had previously been in the dodger organization during the 1949 seasons, but was lost in that year's rule v draft to the cubs without having made it to the big leagues. in '58, klippstein was 3-5 with 9 'saves' and a 3.80 era. he was 4-0 with a couple of saves in 1959, although his era was 5.91. in what would be his final appearance as a dodger, klippstein pitched two scoreless innings in game 1 of the 1959 world series against the white sox, and later pitched against the dodgers in the 1965 fall classic as a member of the minnesota twins.
benny meyer
meyer's card is fantastic when you realize that his nickname was 'earache' because he was a yeller. he debuted in the big leagues in 1913 as a brooklyn superba, and hit .195 in 38 games. the following year, he jumped to the federal league where he played for the remainder of his career, save a single at bat in 1925 when he was serving as a coach for the phillies. he hit a double in that at bat, by the way.
eddie solomon
solomon looks a little like bob gibson on his card, doesn't he? and i'm guessing that's either willie davis or jimmy wynn in the background since solomon only pitched for the dodgers in the 1973 and 1974 seasons. he appeared in only 8 regular season games for the dodgers, plus one in the 1974 nlcs. early in the 1975 season, solomon was traded to the cubs in the burt hooton deal. solomon was killed in a car accident in 1986, just four years after his big league career came to an end. he was just 34 years old.
bob stinson
perhaps best known to card collectors as a guy who appeared on multi-player rookie cards three years in a row for three different teams (1970 topps as a dodger, 1971 topps as a cardinal, and 1972 topps as an astro), stinson was the dodgers' first round pick in the 1966 draft. he played in 4 games for the dodgers in both 1969 and 1970, but was traded to saint louis for dick allen prior to the 1971 season. stinson eventually made his way to the expansion seattle mariners for the 1977 season, and he was the first catcher in the team's history going 1 for 3 with a walk in their inaugural game. he played into the 1980 season, making him a 3-decade player.
fay thomas
thomas was a brooklyn robin during the 1932 season. he made 7 appearances for the robins, earning just one decision - a loss in his only start. he also pitched for the giants, indians, and browns in the majors, but was a bigger success in the pacific coast league where he earned a spot in their hall of fame. thomas is also known as the first big leaguer to come from usc, and as the actor who portrayed christy mathewson in 'the pride of the yankees'.
sloppy thurston
thurston's given name was hollis, and he apparently earned his nickname by being anything but sloppy in his appearance. isn't it ironic? anyway, he's shown on his card as a member of the white sox for whom he pitched from 1923-1926. he earned a card in this set, however, by pitching for the robins from 1930-1933. during that time, he was 33-29 with a 4.02 era in 108 games.
zoilo versalles
versalles was the 1965 american league mvp for the al champion minnesota twins, and he hit .286 in the world series against the dodgers that year. he must have made an impression, because after the 1967 season, the dodgers - still trying to replace maury wills who had been dealt to pittsburgh a year earlier - traded ron perranoski, john roseboro, and bob miller to the twinkies to get versalles and mudcat grant. versalles only played for the dodgers during the 1968 season (he hit just .196 in 122 games) as he was taken by the padres in the expansion draft that followed the year of the pitcher.
possum whitted
whitted's big league career began in 1912 with the cardinals, but it was in 1914 as a member of the boston braves that he won a world series ring. he returned to the fall classic the following year with the phillies, but lost to the boston red sox who had a young player named babe ruth on their roster. the phillies traded whitted (given name george) to the pirates in 1919 for casey stengel, and the robins picked him up from the steel city during the 1922 season. after all that, whitted made one appearance as a brooklyn robin, going 0 for 1 as a pinch-hitter in an april game against the new york giants. soon thereafter, whitted was managing the toledo mud hens.
see you next sunday for more player tales from the 1990 target set!
