deciphering the 1978 topps dodgers team card

when it comes to team cards, i really don't give a second look anymore. too often these days, players are airbrushed out leaving awkward looking gaps, or bat boys are covered up by strange looking fences.

the topps sets of my youth were different. you had things like the padres going to the zoo (1980) creating perhaps the only baseball card to feature live elephants, or the phillies doing who knows what in front of the vet (1978). you also had the dodgers with their backs to the right field corner in dodger stadium. as i collected the 1978 set as a kid, i quickly realized that the number of players on the card didn't match up with the number of cards listed on the back. i would spend a lot of time trying to locate the players i knew, but always came up with a few that i just could not identify.

now, with the internet and what not, it's a bit easier. so let's document, for posterity, the players on the 1978 topps dodgers team card.

first off, because al downing is not featured but boog powell is, we know that the photo was very likely taken between july 21st (when downing was released) and august 31, 1977 (when powell was released). this means that, of the players who appeared for the dodgers in 1977, the photo does not contain jerry grote, bobby castillo, jeff leonard, ron washington, dennis lewallyn, stan wall, or hank webb. all of those guys either left the team before downing or arrived after boog's release. furthermore, it's likely that john hale (his last game was july 27) and rafael landestoy (he debuted on august 27) are not included either. [likely, but wrong - john hale is included, meaning that the photo was taken between july 21st and july 27th, 1977].  i didn't see vic davalillo (his first game was august 20) or kevin pasley (he played with the team in early august). 

here's what i came up with:

top row: ed goodson, lance rautzhan, mike garman, elias sosa, don sutton, rick rhoden, doug rau, charlie hough, burt hooton, tommy john, mark cresse (bullpen coach)

middle row: dr. robert woods (team doctor) al campanis (gm), bill buhler (trainer), reggie smith, ted martinez, lee lacy, dusty baker, bill russell, ron cey, dave lopes, rick monday, boog powell, lee scott (traveling secretary) short guy in street clothes (it could be fred claire - he was the vp of promotions or some such thing in 1977), jack homel (assistant trainer) tall guy in street clothes

front row: johnny oates, glenn burke, steve yeager, monty basgall (coach), red adams (coach), tom lasorda (manager), jim gilliam (coach), preston gomez (coach), steve garvey, manny mota, john hale joe simpson

seated: dan ayers bat boy 1, walt luchinger bat boy 2 (since there are no numbers on the fronts of their jerseys)

i am pretty confident i have identified all of the folks in uniform correctly. i sent a ttm request to mark cresse and asked him who the two guys in front of him are, and if he responds, i'll update the post. [updated]

look who's turning 61 today

none other than steven patrick garvey. it's been over 22 years since he played his final game. i feel old.

happy birthday popeye!

let's play what's the connection?

who can tell me why maury wills and john knox are sharing the spotlight on this 1975 sspc card? furthermore, why is maury wearing a trenchcoat? and why does he have that 'mr. glass' look about him?

sandy koufax final tribute - the card that should have been

as most people (i think) know, sandy koufax went out on top, even though the dodgers lost to the orioles in the world series. in 1966, his final season, he won the pitching triple crown and the cy young award, both for the second year in a row. in fact, it was his fifth straight era title, and the third time he had led the league in wins and strikeouts in the previous four seasons. he finished a very close second in the mvp voting (for the second straight year) to roberto clemente, although koufax actually had more first place votes. and he did it all with an arthritic arm that would balloon up after every appearance.

sandy retired right after the world series, which means there was time for topps to omit him from their 1967 set. so, while he appears on the league leader cardsthere is no base card of sandy in the 1967 topps set. silly isn't it? to right that wrong, i created a final tribute card

doc at baseball card recollections used the same photo on his 1967 koufax. if there were a back to this card, you would see a few seasons of mediocrity and then perhaps the greatest four-season stretch in history. and to think that it came at the end of his career...

here's to you sandy!

hiatus-free heartbreaking cards that are long overdue

for some reason (laziness?) i discovered that i had a couple of scans featuring cards i had received from matt at heartbreaking cards of staggering genius. with his recent return from a (semi?) hiatus, now is a good time to show them off.

1981 fleer steve howethis has been referred to as 'the catwalk' card. steve is certainly striking a pose, although he isn't too fierce, and he has failed to 'find the light'.

2004 fleer tradition dodgers team leaders2003 was a down year. 23 home runs led the team? 85 rbi? beltre, of course, would almost double his home run total the next year before leaving.

2000 ud hologrfx gary sheffield this card scans nicely. i enjoy how the colors 'bleed into one' like in the 'ishfwilf' video. right around 2:44 or so.

matt sent a bunch of vladdy cards, too, including a 2008 ud spectrum i wonder where legless vlad will play next year?

there were some twins, like this 2009 topps walmart black league leader card featuring justin morneau and this 2009 topps turkey red insert of carlos gomezwho was traded for jj hardy, shown on this 2009 topps walmart black card turning two!

thanks matt for the cards and welcome back!

jerry reuss through the mail success! (again)

so, what started with fernando and continued with jimmy key only to be followed by frank tanana will be wrapped up here with another lefty through the mail success - jerry reuss.

i have previously received (and posted) two other cards from mr. reuss who is a great signer. it's interesting to me that he spent more time with the dodgers than any other team, although i tend to think of him as a pirate.

this time, i sent him a 1985 topps and his other 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams card.i followed that request up with another one (yes, i am greedy), but this time went a non-dodger route.

1978 topps with the dutch boy haircut

and 1989 upper deck featuring his stint as a white sock. he actually did fairly well for the sox after a really bad 1987 season. after the white sox, jerry went to milwaukee for a short time before ending his career with the 1990 pirates. if i ever get around to it, i plan to make a 1991 topps final tribute for the man.

while i don't know have any plans to send any further requests, if leron lee ever returns his 1970 topps rookie card, you can bet it will get sent to jerry right away.

thanks jerry! and don't forget to check out jerryreuss.com!

frank tanana through the mail success!

even though i grew up in southern california, i didn't know any angels fans. we were all dodger fans, but we did covet one thing about the angels, and that was frank tanana. no offense meant to tommy john or doug rau, but i always wished tanana had been the left-handed starter for the dodgers instead of those guys. and so did the other kids on my block.

tanana was the embodiment of socal coolness in the late 70's and he threw hard. he finished with almost 2800 strikeouts in his 21-year career, good for 21st all-time. it was his 1975-1978 seasons, though, that i really appreciated.

so, i pulled together a few cards and shipped them off to mr. tanana. he responded quickly, signing and adding a bible reference to each of the cards.

1978 topps 1976 topps

1978 topps league leader (with the photo from his 1976 card)

and the 1976 topps league leader card

he also added a personal card/pamphlet

thanks frank!