here's the next installment of sheet from the steve garvey binders

here are sheets 8 and 9 of the first of two main steve garvey binders keep us in his los angeles years, but just barely.  here's sheet 8:

these cards are:

1. 1981 o-pee-chee
2. 1981 permagraphic
3. 1981 squirt
4. 1981 topps
5. 1981 topps scratch-off
6. 1982 donruss (diamond king)
7. 1982 donruss
8. 1982 drake's
9. 1982 fleer

here are the backs:

the 'oddballs' on this sheet - permagraphics, squirt, and drake's - all have some topps influence to them.  the photo on the permagraphics card is the same on garvey's 1981 topps (and o-pee-chee) cards; the 'dodgers' text on the squirt card is the same as the 'dodgers' text on 1978 topps cards with the back being a firm reproduction of 1981 topps; and the back of the drake's card is clearly the same design as 1982 topps.

one thing to note - i maintain that garvey was not included in the team photo that appears on the 1981 topps dodger checklist/tom lasorda card.  so, i don't have that card in the garvey binder.  if anyone can prove me wrong, i'd be happy to add it.

sheet 9 looks like this:

those cards are:

1. 1982 kmart
2. 1982 kellogg's
3. 1982 louisville slugger
4. 1982 o-pee-chee
5. 1982 o-pee-chee (in action)
6. 1982 permagraphic
7. 1982 topps
8. 1982 topps (in action)
9. 1983 donruss

and here are the backs:

the louisville slugger card came attached to a baseball glove. it may be from 1981 (or 1980 even - garvey is wearing the 1980 all-star game patch in the photo as he is in the o-pee-chee and topps cards), but i put it here in 1982 since beckett lists these things as '1982-89 louisville slugger' tags.  there's one of the garv in padres gear, too, which we'll see in a future post..  i know i am missing the 1982 permagraphic gold card that would go on this page, bumping 1983 donruss to the next.  maybe someday.

a dodger memorial patch for campy and big d

when don drysdale made his big league debut in relief on opening day of the 1956 season, his battery mate was roy campanella.  the two were teammates again the following year, which turned out to be campy's last.  some 36 years later, campanella and drysdale passed away within a week of each other - campanella at the age of 71 and drysdale at 56, both dead from heart attacks. 

campanella, who was paralyzed in a car accident in january of 1958, was an 8-time all-star who won three national league mvp awards during his 10-year major league career.  prior to that, he had played in the negro leagues for 10 years, and he had been the first african-american player in the american association, playing for the saint paul saints in 1948 (there is a picture of campy in his saints uniform hanging in target field, the home of the twins).  he reached the majors for good later that season, and in 1969, he became the second african-american player to be voted into the hall of fame, following once again in the footsteps of jackie robinson.  campanella's number 39 was among the first three numbers retired by the dodgers in a 1972 ceremony that also retired the numbers of robinson and sandy koufax.  it was on june 26, 1993 that campanella died at his home.

drysdale had his number 53 retired by the dodgers following his induction into the hall of fame in 1984. he was also an 8-time all-star during his career, leading the league in strikeouts 3 times and winning the cy young award in 1962.  drysdale famously set the record for most consecutive scoreless innings in his final full season when he went 58 and two-thirds innings without allowing a run in 1968.  the streak included six consecutive shutouts from big d.  following his retirement in 1969, drysdale began a career as a broadcaster, and he joined the dodger's broadcasting team in 1988 following the retirement of jerry doggett.  five years later, drysdale was in montreal where the dodgers were playing the expos when he died on july 3, 1993.  it was vin scully who broke the news during that game's broadcast to us dodger fans, noting that don had previously undergone an angioplasty to relieve some heart problems.  what a surreal moment that was.

the dodgers added a memorial patch to their right sleeves for the remainder of the season honoring both hall of famers.  the patch, with the text '39 roy don 53' recognized the numbers that had been retired for each player.  you can see the patch on this 1994 fleer superstar special card of mike piazza and eric karros.

as well as this 1994 fleer superstar special card of brett butler

tom candiotti's 1994 donruss card

shows both the campy/big d patch and the tim crews memorial patch that was worn on the dodgers' left sleeves during the entire 1993 season.

ditto for brett butler's 1994 topps stadium card

which also features a mustachioed butler

butler is clean shaven on his 1994 donruss triple play card

as is tim wallach on his card from the same set

both cards show the patch nicely.

the back of wallach's 1994 topps stadium club card also gives a good view of the patch

as does pedro astacio's 1994 pinnacle card

cards from the 1994 topps set also display the patch - here's dave hansen's card

and ricky trlicek's, too

mike piazza's all-star card

would be a good representative of the patch since he and campanella are two of the greatest offensive catchers in the history of the game, but i think this 1994 upper deck collector's choice raul mondesi card

is the best example of the patch, so it sits in my memorials binder.

sunday morning target dodgers - with a misspelled (and a backwards?) name

i haven't run out of sheets yet from the 1990 target dodger giveaway set.  so, here are another 15 cards.  enjoy!

ed amelung

yes, amelung's last name is misspelled on his card, which is unfortunate because i believe that this is his only dodger card.  amelung had some good minor league stats, but in two brief major league stints totalling 42 games in 1984 and 1986, he hit a combined .193 with 4 rbi and 7 runs scored.

ferrell anderson

anderson appeared in 79 games for the 1946 brooklyn dodgers, giving him his first taste of the major leagues (although he wouldn't be back in the bigs until 1953 with the cardinals). just out of the armed services, ferrell hit .256 with a couple of home runs and 14 rbi.  more interesting, however, is that he caught ed head's no-hitter against the braves on april 23 - but we'll get into that later as ed head is also on this sheet of cards.

tim belcher

belcher was the first overall pick in the 1983 draft (by the twins), but didn't sign.  six months later, the yankees took him first overall in the 1984 january secondary draft, and he did sign with them.  unfortunately for yankee fans, the a's claimed belcher as their free agent compensation pick for losing tom underwood to the orioles in february of 1984.  so, the a's got a number 1 pick from the yankees because the orioles signed a free agent, just as the mets lost tom seaver to the white sox because dennis lamp signed with the blue jays.  you've got to love the concessions that came as a result of the 1981 player's strike.  anyway, belcher was eventually traded by the a's to the dodgers for rick honeycutt, and all he did in his first full season (1988) was go 12-6 with a 2.91 era, four complete games, a shutout, and 4 saves.  he also finished third in nl roy voting, and started games 1 and 4 of the world series after going 2-0 in the nlcs against the mets. belcher led the league in complete games (10) and shutouts (8) in 1989, and he wound up pitching for the dodgers through the 1991 season.  with a 50-38 record and 2.99 era over his dodger career, belcher was traded to the reds along with john wetteland for eric davis and kip gross.

pete browning

browning finished his 13-year big league career with 3 games in 1894.  the first two of those contests came as a member of the st. louis cardinals, but the last one featured browning as a member of the brooklyn grooms.  in that game, browning was 2 for 2 with a run scored, a walk, and 2 rbi.  not a bad way to go out, and not totally out of character for a man with a .341 career batting average (13th best all-time).

lave cross

cross spent the majority of the 1900 season with the brooklyn superbas, after starting the season with the st. louis cardinals.  in 117 games for brooklyn as their third baseman, he hit .293 with 73 runs scored and 67 driven in. he was regarded as a good fielder, and led the league among third basemen in that category while with the superbas.  for the 1901 season, cross went to play for the philadelphia a's in the american league, having previously played for them when they were in the american association as well as the player's league.  cross had also played for the phillies in the national league, so he had all of his bases covered when it came to playing in the city of brotherly love.

bobby darwin

it's not too often that you see a card of a player whose position is listed as both a pitcher and a fielder.  such was the case with bobby darwin. darwin is a native of los angeles (he celebrated his 72nd birthday this past monday, by the way) who was signed out of high school by the hometown angels.  he made his debut for them on the mound as the starter in the last game of the 1962 season and took the loss.  he didn't make it back to the majors until 1969 when he was pitching for the other hometown team, the dodgers.  they used darwin early in the '69 season in three games as a pitcher and three as a pinch-runner, with the results on the mound being unimpressive.  so, darwin went back to the minors and worked at converting to an outfielder.  now, the back of darwin's 1977 topps card gives the credit for the conversion to tommy lasorda (tommy was the manager at spokane, the dodger's triple-a affiliate at that time, and darwin did play one game in the outfield for spokane in 1969), but but darwin had played some outfield in the orioles' system in between his stints with the angels and dodgers, and he really cut his teeth out there with the class a bakersfield dodgers in 1969.  darwin was back playing for tommy in spokane in 1971, and he hit .293 as an outfielder that year.  he also earned a call-up back to the majors, playing in 11 midseason games, including 4 as the starting right fielder.  in those games, darwin hit his first big league home run - a 3-run pinch-hit job. following the season, the dodgers traded darwin to the twins, who used him as one of their everyday outfielders for the next three seasons.

hod ford

hod (short for horace) was a shortstop on the 1925 brooklyn robins. he played in 66 games and hit .273 and was then traded by the robins to the minneapolis millers of the american association.

greek george

now, i was sure that target got this name backwards.  george greek makes more sense, right?  well, yes, it does, but this guy really was known as greek george, although i was relieved to discover that greek was just a nickname - he was actually charles peter george.  he was also a backup catcher on the 1938 dodgers who appeared in 7 games and was 4 for 20 in those games.  he did hit his first career triple that year, which may or may not have involved a collision in the outfield if he ran like most catchers from that era.

jim gilliam

i've written about gilliam several times on the blog. he was the 1953 nl rookie of the year and a 4-time world series champion with the dodgers during his playing career - a career that overlapped with his tenure as a dodger coach.  gilliam was the first base and hitting coach for the team of my youth up until he suffered a stroke near the end of the 1978 season and later died the day after the dodgers claimed the pennant. his number 19 is the only numbered that the dodgers have retired for a person not in the hall of fame.

mike griffin

griffin was one of the regular outfielders for the grooms/bridegrooms from 1891 through 1898. in 988 games during that span, griffin hit .305.  he also stole 264 bases, after stealing 179 in just three seasons with the orioles earlier in his career.  griffin was highly regarded apparently, as his 1908 new york times obituary stated (according to baseball-reference) that he was "one of the best known baseball players in the country...the best centre (sp) fielder in the league."

ed head

as mentioned above, head threw a no-hitter for the dodgers in 1946 against the braves. it came in his first start of the season, and in the team's 7th game of the year.  head, who had also pitched for the dodgers in 1940 and every season from 1942 on, made 12 appearances for the dodgers in 1946 after his no-no, but did not pitch in the majors again after that.  he may have suffered an arm injury during the season, but did pitch in the minor leagues in 1947 before hanging up his spikes and taking over as a manager in the dodger minor league system for several years beginning in 1948.

kevin pasley

the dodger representative on dale murphy's 1977 topps rookie card, pasley was a catcher who played for the dodgers in 1974, 1976, and 1977.  he was the dodgers' regular catcher during the last month of the 1976 season with steve yeager injured and the other catchers on the roster at that time being sergio robles and ellie rodriguez.  after appearing in 3 games for the dodgers in 1977, pasley had his contract purchased by the mariners. those three games earned pasley a spot on the team of my youth, and in my 1978 topps burger king/update set.  the last time i posted some pasley cards, i got a lead on a ttm opportunity but sadly the cards have not been returned yet. i still have hope, however!

max west

west was an outfielder for the 1928 and 1929 robins who hit .276 in a total of 12 big league games for the franchise. not sure what the houston uniform is - west was from texas, but never played in the minors (or college) for a team that would be obviously known as 'houston'.  he did pass away in houston in 1971, so i am willing to give target the benefit of the doubt that the photo is, in fact, of max west the former brooklyn robin. i shouldn't have given target the benefit of the doubt - the photo is of the 'other' max west who played for the boston (not houston) bees during his major league career that spanned from 1938 through 1948.  thanks eric.

jim winford

winford was a cardinals' pitcher for five seasons in the 1930's before joining the dodgers in september of 1938. he had spent the entire season up to that point in the cardinals' minor league system, and made his first big league start of the season for the dodgers against his former team.  winford lasted just 4 innings, allowing 7 runs (4 earned), and took the loss.  he made just one more appearance for the dodgers, pitching poorly in relief, and spent the rest of his career in the minor leagues.

whit wyatt

wyatt pitched for the dodgers towards the end of his 16-year career. from 1939 through 1944, wyatt was a part of the dodger rotation, earning all-star berths in each of his first four seasons with the club.  during that stretch, wyatt led the league in wins (22 in 1941), shutouts twice (5 in 1940 and 7 in 1941), and whip (1.058 in 1941). and, although he wasn't an all-star in 1943, he led the league in winning percentage and whip that year, too. his cumulative era in those first five years with brooklyn was a tidy 2.71, but the wheels came off in 1944 when his era ballooned to 7.17 over 9 starts.  that was the end for wyatt in brooklyn, although he did pitch for the phillies in 1945.

that's all for this week!

when your postman brings a package from jaybarkerfan's junk

yes, the joy that sandy koufax is displaying on his 2013 topps update postseason heroes card is pretty much how i want to react if i were to be home when the postman drops off a package from wes at jaybarkerfan's junk.  as it is, i am left to feel the excitement when i open the mailbox after a day at work and there is nobody around to exclaim my happiness to.

the result is a trade post that doesn't really do the cards, or thoughtfulness of wes, justice.  here are some of the other goodies i received.

2013 topps heritage then and now koufax and clayton kershaw

koufax led the league in era for five straight seasons, while kershaw has a streak of four era titles in a row.  other than that, he's matched sandy in cy youngs (3 in four years) and mvp awards.  now he just needs those four world series titles...

another kershaw - 2012 topps chrome orange parallel

and a 2009 upper deck spectrum card of another all-time pitching great who once (twice) toiled for the dodgers, greg maddux

maddux won 4 cy young awards, by the way.

here's a 1982 donruss bob welch card

welch was the dodgers' number 1 pick in 1977, and he has the highest career war of any of the dodgers' first round picks in history.  his 44.2 war is higher than rick rhoden (35.9), rick sutcliffe (34.3), paul konerko (28.1), and mike scioscia (26.0), who are third through sixth on the list.  in 2015, welch will be passed by kershaw, whose war through 2014 is 41.1.

how cool are pitcher's bat cards?  pretty cool.  this is a 2005 donruss champions tommy john bat relic card

that wes included in the package.

it wasn't all pitchers, though.  here's a 2013 topps heritage matt kemp new age performers insert

he'll be doing his new age performing for the padres, unfortunately.

i had not seen a 2006 upper deck special f/x card in person before receiving this jayson werth card from wes

what is most shocking about the card is that you can see jayson's cheeks, which haven't seen the light of day since he left the dodgers for the east coast.

last but not least is this 1994 topps archives 1954 card that should have been prospects card of roberto clemente

there's a nearly identical card in the 1995 topps brooklyn dodger archives set, so you have to look closely at the back to figure out which set these cards come from.  how cool would it have been for jackie robinson and roberto clemente (who was taken by the pirates in the 1954 rule v draft) to have been teammates?  at least as cool as this trade package, but not much more.  and, as cool as this trade package was, i received another one with a fantastic piece from wes not more than a week or so later.  i'll get a trade post for that one up in the near future.

thanks wes!

here are dodgers in spades

here's the fourth and last suit of cards from the 2005 baseball hero deck of dodgers.  the more recent players are featured as spades.  i use 'most recent' broadly, as this group spans from the 1980's to 2005...

eric gagne is the only reliever to crack the aces in the set.  mike scioscia at catcher is nice, even though he finished his time with the dodgers in 1992.  eric karros at first, steve sax at second, adrian beltre at third, and cesar izturis at short. an outfield of gary sheffield, milton bradley, and shawn green, plus ramon martinez, hideo nomo, kevin brown, and mike piazza as the high numbered 'bench' cards.

this is a cool little oddball set.

be still my hearts, it's pretty much the team of my youth

this is the third suit of cards from the dodger playing card set known as the 2005 baseball hero deck. it features mostly members of the 1981 and 1988 world championship teams, with most of the players being from the 1970's teams of my youth.

here are the cards:

if you moved don sutton from the queen of hearts to the ace, and put rick monday in the set at number 8 instead of claude osteen, it would be the team of my youth from ace to 9.  as it is, orel hershiser is the ace with steve yeager catching, the infield of garvey, lopes, cey, and russell (yes, it was difficult for me to put them in that order), and the outfield of dusty baker and reggie smith, with starting pitcher osteen thrown in between them.  burt hooton, fernando valenzuela, sutton, and 1988 mvp kirk gibson round out the subset.

it would have made sense to switch osteen (a member of the 1965 world championship team) with bill buckner (a member of the 1974 pennant winning team) who was featured in the diamond suit, but no big deal.  any of the pitchers featured in this suit could have been considered the ace of the team at one point or another.

diamond dodgers

here's the second suit from the 2005 baseball hero deck set i picked up recently.  the diamonds represent (primarily) the early los angeles dodger teams that reached the world series four times in their first nine years on the west coast. there are, however, a couple of obvious exceptions. have a look

a battery of sandy koufax and john roseboro, plus an infield of wes parker, jim gilliam (in a brooklyn dodger cap), bill buckner (?), and maury wills.  the outfield of tommy and willie davis, along with ron fairly won a championships in 1963 and 1965, although not in that complete configuration. fairly was the dodgers' first baseman in 1963, and he moved to the outfield in '65 which was the year that tommy davis was injured early on and didn't make it back until the following season.  the bullpen consists of ron perranoski, johnny podres, and don drysdale, with 1960 rookie of the year frank howard on the bench.

so, the big mystery here is bill buckner's inclusion.  it's great to see him in the set, but putting him with this group (and at the third base slot) is a bit puzzling.  however, the dodgers didn't really have a consistent third baseman in this era other than jim gilliam who was already featured at his other primary position. maybe jim lefebvre would have been an option.

next up, the 1970's!