the uniform remains the same - 1962 edition

they may have changed teams, but they didn't change uniforms.  though not as obvious as the 1969 topps cards i featured previously, here are a couple of dodgers gone astray in the 1962 topps set.

first, gordon windhorn, who became a kansas city athletic in october of 1961 via a trade.

windhorn had joined the dodgers in tim e for the 1960 season after going 0 for 11 in his first big league foray with the yankees in 1959.  he spent all of 1960 in the minors before joining the dodgers in 1961.  he hit his first career home run on september 11 that year, and it was a pinch hit walk-off job against the phillies.  he hit his second, and last, big league home run the very next day.  after the season, the dodgers sent him to the a's where he lasted about a month into the 1962 season before being sent back to los angeles, although this time he was playing for the angels.

charley neal became an original met when the dodgers traded him for lee walls in december of 1961

neal played in 136 games for the mets in 1962 and another 72 games in 1963 before he was traded to the reds.  he finished the '63 season in cincinnati, but did not return to the big leagues after that. 

here's to you, dodgers in all but name.

the blue and the gold from a pwe

rhubarb runner surprised me this week with an envelope in my mailbox.  we completed a trade a couple of weeks ago, but he apparently found some more dodgers and sent them my way.  i'm glad he did.

2008 upper deck documentary nomar garciaparra

and greg maddux

i think david has opened more documentary than anyone else on the planet.  in game 152, nomar started and went 2 for 3 with a double, a run, and a run-batted-in.  he left the game in the 5th inning, but upper deck still managed to get this card right.  game 153 was started by clayton kershaw.  maddog did not appear.  documentary is still a huge disappointment.

speaking of disappointments, here's orlando hudson on a 2009 topps update gold parallel card

two years in a row i have had high hopes for the o-dog, and two years in a row he has disappointed.  hopefully he can stay healthy next year, although i won't really be following him now that he's not a dodger or a twin.
finally, here's a 2009 topps update gold parallel xavier paul card

i am really hoping paul comes through this spring (and beyond) so ned doesn't do something stupid and bring in johnny damon for 2 years/$14 million.

thanks david!

the 1978 topps dodgers in 1968

after adding a couple of guys in 1967, there were no new faces from the 1978 topps dodgers in the 1968 set.  let's see what the carryovers were up to.

vic davalillo

davalillo struggled with the indians in 1968 - his average continued to drop all the way to .239 - and was eventually traded to the angels at midseason (for jimmie hall!).  with the halos, davalillo rediscovered his stroke and hit .298 the rest of the way.  only one of his 3 home runs in 1968 came as an angel, but it was his first and only career lead off shot.  davalillo started 128 of the 144 games in which he appeared, splitting his time pretty evenly between center and right.  he had just 8 pinch hitting appearances, but managed 3 hits in those at bats.
jerry grote

after a disappointing 1967 season from grote, the mets acquired jc martin to platoon behind the plate.  martin started on opening day, but got hurt and grote went on a tear.  his batting average soared into the .350 range in mid-may and was still around .300 at the all-star break.  as a result, grote was the starting catcher for the national league in the 1968 all-star game.  in the mid-summer classic, grote went 0 for 2 against luis tiant and blue moon odom (although he got the runner over to third against odom) and caught don drysdale and juan marichal before being replaced by tom haller.  he also established his career high in hits (114) and hit .282 for the year, a dramatic improvement over his 1967 average of .195.
tommy john

john also appeared in the 1968 all-star game, finishing the game for the american league with two-thirds of an inning.  he gave up a single to ron santo but got tommy helms to ground into a inning ending double play.  in the regular season, john was used exclusively as a starter for the first time, and in his 25 starts he had a record of 10-5.  he had an era of 1.98 which, in the year of the pitcher, was only good enough for 5th on the american league leader board.   he threw a 5-hit shutout against detroit (his only shutout of the year after leading the american league in whitewashings two years in a row) and struck out 12 senators en route to one of his other 4 complete games.  john, who missed the month of september, also hit his 4th career home run in 1968, a shot off of catfish hunter. 

regarding his future teammates, john surrendered a single to davalillo in 3 at bats, gave up the same to reggie smith in 8 at bats, and held rick monday to 2 hits in 11 at bats (with 4 strikeouts).

rick monday

monday hit .274 for the a's as their everyday centerfielder in 1968.  he played in 148 games, hit 8 home runs (including his first career pinch hit homer) and finished second in the league with 143 strikeouts.  despite a bit of a 'sophomore slump' in the power department, monday was named to the american league all-star team.  in the game, he essentially replaced willie horton in the outfield (carl yastrzemski moved from center to left to make room for monday) in the bottom of the 5th inning.  he grounded out against steve carlton the following inning, and then in the 8th, with the tying run on second and two outs, he struck out against tom seaver to end the inning and the american league's best chance to score.  i find that confrontation interesting because monday would go on to hit more home runs (11) off of tom seaver than he would against any other pitcher in his career.  on a side note, monday was voted to topps' all-rookie team for 1967, however, they neglected to put the trophy on his card in 1968.  east coast bias, right?

manny mota

in his final year in pittsburgh, mota was once again spending time all over the outfield.  he made 77 starts, mostly in left and center but with a handful in right field.  he also made singular appearances at third and second in 1968.  he hit .281 overall but just .250 (5 for 20) as a pinch hitter.  he did hit a pinch hit home run (his only roundtripper of the season) against the cardinals' joe hoerner.

reggie smith

sporting the topps rookie cup on his 1968 card, smith led the league with 37 doubles in 1968.  he also hit 15 home runs, stole 22 bases, and won a gold glove patrolling centerfield for the bosox.  smith hit two homers in a game twice - once against the senators' joe coleman (smith would tag another one off of coleman a few days later), and once against john hiller and john wyatt of the tigers.  in that game, smith hit his first home run against the lefty hiller from the right side of the plate.  then, when facing the right-handed wyatt, smith hit his home run from the left side, making it the second time in his brief career he had managed that feat.  in fact, smith was just the 5th american league player to do so, although mickey mantle and tom tresh had each done it multiple times before. 
don sutton

sutton matched his record of 11-15 from 1967 in 1968.  he lowered his era from 3.95 to 2.60, and his number of complete games dropped from 11 to 7 and shutouts went from 3 to 2.  sutton pitched back-to-back complete games in early june, including a 10-inning affair against the mets in which he struck out 10 but lost 1-0.  tom seaver also went 10 innings for the mets and the shutout in that game.  after those two games, sutton had a couple of clunkers and was relegated to the bullpen until the end of july.  he made a total of 35 appearances, of which 27 were starts.  sutton also shut down his future teammates, allowing just a single to mota in 4 at bats and holding grote hitless in 8 with 3 strikeouts.

so, those were the 1978 topps dodgers in 1968.

here's the tally so far:

7/27 players featured by topps in 1968

total appearances:

davalillo 6 (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968)
grote 5 (1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968)
john 5 (1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968)
lasorda 1 (1954)
monday 2 (1967, 1968)
mota 6 (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968)

smith 2 (1967, 1968)
sutton 3 (1966, 1967, 1968)

teams represented so far:

9 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox)

angels in the ravine. sort of.

back in the day, the angels and dodgers would end the preseason with a 'freeway series' featuring games played at the big a and at dodger stadium.  before interleague play, this was the best way for the fans to see the southern california rivals face each other.  i never went to any of the games, but i looked forward to them since it meant that the season was right around the corner.  i don't think the series exists anymore as there are ample opportunities during the regular season now to see the dodgers against the angels.

anyway, topps wasn't fooling anybody back in 1973 to think that the bobby valentine

and frank robinson cards

(both obviously sporting photos taken in dodger stadium) were created using pictures taken during one of the freeway series games.  valentine and robinson were traded to the angels during the offseason in the andy messersmith deal, and while they may have played as angels at dodger stadium prior to the 1973 season, the obvious airbrushing of valentine's card tells the tale that bobby v was a dodger at the time the picture was taken.  at least robinson was spared the embarrassment of a poor airbrushing job, although being stripped of the team name on the front of the jersey is even more ridiculous.

at least the stadium looks nice.

phil nevin assaults a lurker

phil nevin is launching a forearm shiv to a (not really lurking) dodgers' second baseman mark grudzielanek on his 2003 topps stadium club card.

i do believe this move would result in a hefty fine from roger goodell were nevin to try it these days.  let's try to figure out what exactly has happened here, shall we?

[edit - i originally mistook this card for a 2000 topps stadium club card, not a 2003.  ignore the following commentary as it is highly unlikely topps would have gone in the way back machine for a photo in 2003]

nevin played (as a pinch runner) against the dodgers at dodger stadium on june 22, 1999.  grudz didn't play.  nevin faced the dodgers two days later but didn't reach base.  the g-man didn't play that day anyway.  fast forward to september, and the pads were back in la for a three game set.  september 24 was a friday night game, and nevin didn't reach first until the 9th inning.  he didn't advance beyond first base, and grudzy was playing short that day.  on saturday, nevin singled once and was erased on a double play, short to first.  grudzielanek was playing short that day, but the photo on the card looks more like a collision between first and second, and besides, grudz is still holding the ball.  looks like the sunday series finale will tell the tale. however, on september 26, phil nevin struck out 3 times and didn't reach base, while grudzielanek played short.  looks like this is a photo from 2000, which sorta makes sense given stadium club's late season release.


problem is, nevin played in 6 road games in 2000 against the dodgers.  even though grudzielanek was at second base for all of them, each game was played at night.  so maybe it's a spring training game at chavez ravine?

i took a look at the padres at dodgers game logs from 2002 in which grudzielanek was on the field and found nothing that indicated a tag out of nevin.  and, the idea that the photo comes from the year the card was issued doesn't fly because grudz was on the cubs in '03.  the mystery continues.

here's to you, mark grudzielanek - lurker of unknown circumstance!

bobby bo strikes again

my recent post about 1998 pacific online reminded me that i had sent bobby bonilla's card to him in hopes that he would sign and return it.  i also included a 1998 fleer tradition vintage '63 card, as well as a 1999 upper deck card (for a trade i was working on since he had already signed one of those for me).  here's what i got back.

the 1998 fleer tradition vintage '63 card

and a 1993 topps card

say what?  close but no cigar.  don't fret, though - i sent the autographed night card to a collector of such items.  i'm sure that's what bobby bo intended all along.

thanks bobby!

now taking requests for cards that should have been

i know big d did this a long time ago, and dave at goose joak did it more recently, so i am ripping off yet another blogger's idea. 

having said that, you all know how much i enjoy 'cards that should have been', whether it's one i make or someone else's work.  and, while most of my creations are dodgers, i have made a few of other players, including some as a result of reader requests.  the first might have been a 1986 topps mike squires card made for johngy.  then, a while back i received an email asking about bobby murcer and his 1975 topps card.  the emailer wanted to know if i could create a yankees card for murcer to replace the giants abomination that topps produced.  i could and did, with

and without the autograph.

a short time later, dave at goose joak solicited ideas for a custom card and produced this 2001 upper deck decade of the '70s reggie smith card at night owl's request.

that inspired me to make a card for the only member of the infield that wasn't included in that set, davey lopes.

it's a photo from the 1978 world series which i have wanted to use for a while because it so prominently features the jim gilliam patch.

then, i whipped up some cards that should have been for ryan of the orioles autograph project as part of a trade which i will show off soon.

now then, are there any other requests out there?  i think i could probably do 4 or 5 requests in a reasonable amount of time, so let's see what the people want.  hopefully nothing too obscure...