if mike scioscia suits up for the padres, but never plays, does he make a sound?

wait - that's a different question.  what i meant to ask is, does that still mean he's a career dodger?

scioscia had major shoulder surgery and was trying to extend his career when he signed with the pads for the 1993 season.  he didn't make it, but he didn't give up, either.  he signed a deal with the rangers for the 1994 season and even made a singular appearance for one of their minor league clubs before being cut.  in the end, he only wore a dodgers uniform as a major league player.

i know this is somewhat of a moot question since he has gone on to wear an angels uniform, but can we consider mike scioscia (the player) a career dodger?

the 1978 topps bobby castillo card that should have been

bobby castillo debuted for the dodgers in september of 1977, having been purchased from the royals 3 months earlier.  that means he deserves a card in my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set.  here then is the 1978 topps bobby castillo card that should have been

complete with a back

castillo pitched in 6 games down the stretch in 1977, with one win and an era of 3.97. he made one start - the final game of the season against the astros. the dodgers had the division locked up, so they put together a half-hearted line up to face jr richard that day. richard won while striking out 14, and castillo gave up two runs in 6 innings with 4 strikeouts and no walks to earn a no decision.

i had a few options as far as images to use for the card, and i opted to go with a closeup.  here's an image i almost used - it's his 1980 dodgers police sga card

i figured this photo, even though it's on a 1980 issue was from 1977 or 1978 because of the jersey number.  however, according to baseball reference, castillo switched to number 37 sometime in the 1979 season.   i would have guessed that he switched prior to the start of the season (jerry reuss came aboard in 1979 and took 41) but reuss actually wore 25 to start the year.  the photo i wound up using is likely from 1981 as it features both castillo and fernando valenzuela.  in fact, it was used in the 'fernando nation' film that aired as part of espn's 30 for 30 last week.

anyway, castillo followed up his 1977 season with 18 appearances in 1978 (all in relief) with an identical era but no wins and 4 losses to go with a save. he went back and forth between the majors and aaa, where he started 14 of the 15 games in which he appeared. he split time between the majors and minors again in 1979, but was up for good after that.

in 1981, castillo appeared in game 1 of the world series against the yankees. in that game, he produced the unlikely pitching line of 1 inning pitched, no hits allowed, 5 walked batters with just one run given up. he did it by relieving jerry reuss in the 3rd with a runner on base. castillo walked the first batter he faced but got the next guy to end the inning with a flyout. in the 4th, castillo gave up a walk, fielder's choice groundout (out at second), sacrifice, walk, walk, walk (run scored) before being replaced by dave goltz who got the next batter to pop up and end the inning.

castillo's next and final postseason appearance came in the 1985 nlcs against the cardinals. in between, however, castillo pitched for the twins, primarily as a starter. i'll cover that in a future double dipper post.

here's to you, bobby castillo and the 1978 topps card that should have been!

out with the old, in with the new (brewers' manager) - ken macha and ron roenicke through the mail successes!

the brewers named former dodger ron roenicke as their new manager yesterday.  roenicke is another one of mike scioscia's staff that has moved out from under his wing to manage a team other than the dodgers, joining joe maddon and bud black.  will mickey hatcher be next?

anyway, roenicke was kind enough to sign and return a couple of cards for me earlier this year - his 1982 fleer

 and 1983 topps cards.

roenicke spent 4 years in the 90's managing in the dodgers' minor league system before spending one year at the helm of the giants' aaa team.  former teammate scioscia then tagged him to join his staff as a base coach and then eventually bench coach. 

roenicke's predecessor in milwaukee, ken macha, also fulfilled a ttm request for me during the season, signing his 1978 topps card

macha's 4 years of success managing the a's didn't translate to milwaukee where the brewers were 10 games under .500 in his two-year reign.

with all the compliments that roenicke is receiving from his colleagues, i am even less confident in ned's ability to find the right manager for the dodgers.  no, there was no need to look beyond the guy that torre had hand picked, right?  ridiculous.

thanks ron and ken!

the continuing evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers - 1965 edition

no new players debuted or had topps cards in 1965, but all 4 of the 1978 topps dodgers featured in 1964 returned.

vic davalillo became the first of these players to make an all star team when he was named to the al squad in 1965.

he was the starting center fielder and went 1 for 2 with a single off of juan marichal. he was hitting .321 at the break, and although he wound up hitting 'just' .301 on the season, that was good enough for 3rd in the american league and a 21st place finish in the mvp voting.  of his 5 home runs hit in 1965, two came in the same game against jim bouton and the yankees.

jerry grote got a card of his very own in 1965 after sharing space in 1964.

1965 was the first year for the team to be known as the astros as they changed their name from the colt .45's. grote, however, was never an astro. he spent the entire 1965 season in the minors at houston's aaa affiliate in oklahoma city where he split his time between catching and playing third base. meanwhile, up at the big club, the astros used 5 different catchers over the course of the season, led by rule v draftee ron brand. i suppose having to keep brand on the big league roster was a big reason why grote didn't get a call up. it worked to his advantage though, as the expendable grote was traded to the mets after the 1965 season ended.

tommy john also got his first solo card in 1965, an oddly cropped and centered photo placed to obscure the fact that he was wearing an indians jersey. 

that's because john had joined the chicago white sox in the rocky colavito trade. john appeared in 39 games for the white sox, starting 27 times. he went 14-7 with 3 saves, 6 complete games and a shutout. in his first appearance for the south siders, john was summoned from the bullpen with 2 outs in the 9th to preserve a 2-run lead against the orioles, who had two men in scoring position. john struck out future teammate boog powell to end the game. at the plate in 1965, john hit his first career home run - a solo shot against the yankees' bill stafford that put john and the white sox ahead for good.

manny mota spent his third year in pittsburgh patrolling the outfield for the pirates.

he played mostly centerfield, but spent some time in left and right as well. he hit .279 in 121 games with 4 home runs on the season, including his second career pinch hit home run (off of jim bunning) and a walk off job against bob miller and the dodgers. as a pinch hitter, mota hit .355 with 11 hits in 31 at bats.

so, those were the 1978 topps dodgers in 1965.

here's the tally so far:

4/27 players featured by topps in 1965

total appearances:

davalillo 3 (1963, 1964, 1965)

grote 2 (1964, 1965)

john 2 (1964, 1965)
lasorda 1 (1954)

mota 3 (1963, 1964, 1965)

fall classic rewind

well, congrats to the no-cals.  good pitching beats good hitting and all of that.  since the giants had last won the world series (1954), the dodgers had won all 7 of their titles (1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988).  however, the giants have been to the series 3 times since the last time the dodgers were there.  another item of interest, the giants had lost three straight world series appearances since 1954 (1962, 1989, 2002) before winning this year.  the dodgers had suffered a similar streak, losing in the world series in 1974

1977

and 1978

that last one was particularly painful as the dodgers won the first two games and then lost 4 straight.  i was hoping for a similar scenario this year after the giants won the first two games.  no such luck, though.

wait 'til next year!

like father like son?

ivan dejesus played for the dodgers over 3 seasons beginning in 1974.  here he is as shown on his 1975 sspc card:

in all, dejesus hit .183 for the dodgers before he was traded with bill buckner to the cubs for mike garman and rick monday.  with bill russell firmly entrenched at short and buckner without a position, dejesus was expendable and the dodgers needed a center fielder.  a few years later, monday propels the dodgers to the world series and dejesus is traded again, along with a future hall of famer named ryne sandberg, to the phillies for larry bowa.

ivan's son, appropriately named ivan dejesus jr, is a minor leaguer in the dodger system.  here's his 2010 bowman 'topps 100' card.

he missed virtually all of the 2009 season due to an injury but had a decent 2010 campaign.  the question is, is he trade bait for that missing piece?  or is he the heir to the 6-hole?   with rafael furcal signed through 2011 (with a team option for 2012) i figure his replacement needs to be close at hand, and i don't think the dodgers feel that chin-lung hu is the guy.  what about dee gordon? i would guess that ned trades one or the other at some point for a middle reliever.  maybe he'll throw in a future hall of famer while he's at it like the cubs did.

only time will tell.

world series game 4 recap

game 4 of the 1959 world series, that is. 

gil hodges led off the 8th inning with a home run to put the dodgers ahead 5-4.  larry sherry finished off the white sox and the dodgers were one win away from winning the title.  as an aside, rumor has it that the bat boy on the card is future dodger rookie of the year jim lefebvre.

it was nice of topps to get the key play represented on the card, unlike the card covering the first game

in a game that featured two home runs from ted kluszewski and a 11-0 shellacking of the dodgers, topps immortalizes an insignificant stolen base from the dodgers' first at bat of the series.  a steal, in fact, that may have taken the bat out of duke snider's hands as he walked with first base open after the steal.  it's as if the photographer attended the top of the first inning and then left.

anyway, back to game 4.  the white sox staved off elimination after losing game 4.  here's hoping the rangers can do the same.