sunday morning dodgers - tommy used to work on the docks

today's sheet of 15 brooklyn/los angeles ballplayers is not a bad one.  some big names and some good stories.  here goes another installment of cards from the 1990 target dodgers set that celebrated the franchise's 100 years of membership in the national league.

tommy brown

if brown looks young on his card, that's because he is young on his card. after quitting school at the age of 12 to work on the docks with his uncle, brown was signed by the dodgers at an open tryout, and he debuted as a major leaguer in 1944 at the ripe old age of 16.  i believe that he is the youngest position player to appear in the major leagues (reds' pitcher joe nuxhall was younger), and he is certainly the youngest to ever hit a home run in the big leagues, having connected in 1945 at the age of 17.  over the course of 7 seasons with the dodgers, brown appeared in 272 games and hit .237.  it appeared that he might finally realize his potential when, in 1952, he hit .320 for the cubs, but he regressed in 1953 and his 9-year major league career came to an end at brown's ripe old age of 25.  he continued to play in the minors, and set a record by reaching base safely in 20 consecutive plate appearances.

sid bream

bream, who debuted as a dodger in 1983, was never really a threat to greg brock as the dodgers' first baseman in their post-steve garvey days. he played in a total of 66 games for the dodgers from '83 to '85, hitting .159, before he was traded to the pirates in the bill madlock deal.  bream had some solid years as the pirates' first baseman, but he is best remembered as a brave - the brave who scored on francisco cabrera's pinch-hit single in game 7 of the 1992 nlcs against the pirates to send atlanta to the world series.

lindsay brown

this brown played in 48 games for the 1937 dodgers, hitting .270 and playing shortstop in 45 of those games. his cap suggests that he was also affiliated with the cleveland indians or more likely the cincinnati reds, for whom he played some minor league ball following his lone year in the majors.

tom drake

like ted williams, tom drake hit .400 in 1941.  drake, however, was just 2 for 5 at the plate that year, as he pitched in just 10 games for the dodgers. drake was 1-1 in those appearances with a 4.38 era which marked the sum total of his experience as a member of the dodgers.

don drysdale

big d! drysdale never hit .400 in a season, although he did hit .300 in 1965 along with 7 homers.  drysdale led the league in wins and strikeouts in 1962 en route to the cy young award, and famously threw 8 shutouts in 1968 (his final full season in the majors) while setting a record of 58 and 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.  drysdale was elected to the hall of fame in 1984 and sadly passed away in 1993 while serving as a dodger broadcaster on a road trip in montreal.

leo durocher

leo the lip, like tommy lasorda (and bill russell and glenn hoffman), both played for and managed the dodgers, but his card in the set is clearly about his managerial stint(s).  as a player, durocher joined the franchise in 1938, and became the team's manager the following season, even as he continued to play.  overall, durocher appeared in 345 games as a dodger between '38 and 1945, and he represented them in two all-star games.  he led the team to the pennant in 1941, but following a second place finish in 1946, the league suspended durocher for associating with known gamblers. durocher returned in 1948 as the dodgers' manager, but was allowed by branch rickey to be lured away by the giants, for whom he won his only world series as a manager in 1954. durocher did return to the dodgers as a coach in the early 1960's while in between other managerial assignments.  he was posthumously inducted into the hall of fame as a manager in 1994.

jack graham

graham was the son of peaches graham, a major leaguer from the early 1900's.  while a minor leaguer in 1940, this graham was traded to the dodgers by the yankees, and he eventually made his big league debut for the brooklyn club in 1946.  he was 1 for 5 in his two games as a dodger before the new york giants purchased his contract. after finishing the season with the giants, graham spent two seasons in the minors before finishing his major league career with the browns in 1949.  he did play for more seasons in the minors, racking up a career total of over 350 minor league homers.

joe kelley

hall of famer kelley, known as a good hitter with speed, was one of the players that ned hanlon brought with him from baltimore to brooklyn when he became a stockholder in the club prior to the 1899 season.  hanlon's arrival, by the way, was the reason for the name change from bridegrooms to the superbas in 1899 - apparently there was a popular vaudeville act known as "hanlon's superbas", and if the name fits…  as for kelley, he brought his .342 lifetime average and wound up hitting .317 as a superba in his three seasons in brooklyn.  he returned to baltimore for the 1902 season, but was pilfered by the reds during the season when the orioles' owner had to sell during the season to pay other debts.  the story of the 1902 orioles is pretty interesting, as this was the club that sort of became the new york yankees.

dennis lewallyn

i've told lewallyn's tale before. as a double dipping member of the 1977 and 1978 dodgers, he's good by me.  even if he's wearing bobby welch's number in the photo used for his 1990 target dodgers card.

tom paciorek

paciorek was one of the players that the dodgers selected in their historically awesome 1968 draft class. he did his best to crack the big league roster, debuting in 1970 and appearing in 264 games between then and the end of the 1975 season, but wound up as a piece in the trade with the braves that netted the dodgers dusty baker.  funnily enough, paciorek and baker shared space on the same 1971 topps rookie card.

jesse petty

although we can't see it, there's a black armband on petty's left sleeve, don't you know.  1925, the year represented in petty's photo (we know this thanks to the national league 50th anniversary patch that teams wore that season), was the first of four seasons in which petty pitched for the robins.  overall, he was 54-59 with a 3.52 era.  his 17 losses in 1926 (when he had an era of 2.84) led the league, although he lost 18 games the following year (with a 2.98 era) without suffering the shame of leading the league again.

jim roberts

big jim roberts (no relation to big jim slade or just plain ol' big jim) pitched for the robins in 1924 and 1925. he was 0-3 in 1924, pitching in 11 games, 5 of which were starts.  roberts made it into only one game in 1925, giving up an unearned run in his lone inning of work.

johnny schmitz

schmitz spent parts of the 1951 and 1952 seasons with the dodgers.  he joined the club in '51 via the same trade that netted the dodgers andy pafko, and left the club in a trade with the yankees in august of '52 for wally hood, son of double dipper wally hood.  overall, schmitz was 2-5 in 26 games for the dodgers, but the best part of his tenure was that he was included as a dodger in the 1952 topps set.

ted sizemore

like lewallyn, sizemore was a dodger double dipper, so i've told his story before.  the 1969 rookie of the  year was traded by the club to the cardinals for dick allen, and then reacquired in a trade with the redbirds involving joe ferguson.  the dodgers later traded sizemore away as the player to be named later in the move that brought johnny oates on board from the phillies.

steve yeager

speaking of ferguson and oates, here's the guy who led that catcher quadfecta (jerry grote was the other dodger backstop) in 1978 (after the dodgers reacquired ferguson).  yeager was the catcher of the team of my youth, playing 14 of his 15 big league seasons for the dodgers.  he was a part of four pennant winning teams - 1974, 1977, 1978, and 1981 - and was a co-mvp of the 1981 world series with ron cey and pedro guerrero.  he is the player i think of when i think of the number 7 (sorry mickey mantle), and i recently posted about having just entered the 'yeager' year of this blog.

like i said up top, that was a pretty good sheet of cards.  we'll have to see what next week brings.

i got the card, greinke gets the ball

it is somewhat appropriate that i have this card ready to go today.  it's a 2014 topps heritage zack greinke purple refractor

that fuji sent my way a while ago.  later tonight, greinke will get the ball in game 2 of the nlds, and he'll try to right the ship.  that's all that needs to be said about that.

fuji is working on a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams set, a set that you know is near and dear to me, and in exchange for some of the cards he needed, he sent along some requested dodger doubles.

from the dodgers' 1974 subset he sent bill buckner

 and steve garvey

although i don't think garvey was rocking the dual-ear flapped helmet in 1974.

here's steve yeager's card from the 1977 subset

and here's mickey hatcher's card from the 1988 team's group

now, there are a couple of things to note here, as these cards have reminded me that in both 1977 and 1988 (and in 1981, for that matter), the dodgers lost the first game of their postseason.  in all three of those seasons, they made it to the world series, and in 1981 and 1988, they won it all.  i take the most comfort in the fact that the 1981 postseason was structured just like it is now, with a division series before the league championship series.  and, in 1988, don't forget the mets beat the cy young award winner orel hershiser in game 1 before the dodgers came back to take the series (although that was a 7 game series).  

the other thing i wanted to mention is that, after a long layoff, the timeless teams blog is back.  i posted about mickey hatcher and those improbable world series champions from 1988 the other day.  there aren't too many teams left in the set, so i hope to be through the base set by the end of the month.  after that, i'll probably post on a few of the inserts - autos, numbered parallels, and relics.

thanks for sending me these and all the other cards, fuji.  sorry about your a's, by the way - i was hoping for a 1974/1988 rematch.

mike schmidt was final tribute worthy

as a collector in 1988, i was disappointed with the lack of final tributes - cards issued the year following a player's last season - for my beloved infielders steve garvey, ron cey, and davey lopes who had each played their final game in 1987. bill russell, who finished his playing career in 1986, was properly included in the three major 1987 releases, while garvey and lopes both appeared in 1988 score. only lopes received a card in 1988 topps, and cey was shut out altogether. 

come 1989, i was specifically looking for don sutton final tributes (a big thanks to score and a 'you were so close, why didn't you do it correctly' to topps). as cool as i thought these cards were, i had not recalled seeing cards specifically identified as final tributes until mike schmidt retired (i don't count the 1988 score reggie jackson subset - that was more of a career retrospective, and yes i think that there is a difference between the two). in fact, fleer included their mike schmidt final tribute in their 1989 update set.

here's the back

schmidt famously called it quits in midseason after deciding that he was unable to play at the high level he expected of himself. i recall that it was an emotional press conference for schmidt as he announced his retirement. the following year, donruss included schmidt in their checklist

and we received his full career stats on the back

here's upper deck's entry - more of a season highlight themed card

here's the back

now, you know that i was a ron cey fan, and the penguin always got my all-star vote(s), but schmidt eventually replaced pete rose (who had replaced cey) as the league's all-star representative at third base, and deservedly so. schmidt was so highly thought of that he was voted in as the league's starting third baseman for the 1989 all-star game, which was played 6 weeks following his retirement (he did not play in the game). 

i was even a sort of schmidt fan (except for 1983 when his phillies finally beat the dodgers in the nlcs) because my very first glove was a rawlings michael jack schmidt model. speaking of rawlings, schmidt won the gold glove award for national league third basemen 10 times. back to the cards. topps, as it is wont to do, fell short. they had a card of schmidt in their 1990 set

but it was a 'turn back the clock' card rather than a tribute, and failed to even mention his retirement

schmidt was a 3-time nl mvp who led the league in home runs 8 times. he was also the 1980 world series mvp, and his 548 career home runs rank 15th all-time today, and were good enough for 7th all-time when he retired. i suppose that's why he warranted special attention from the card companies, three of which really delivered solid cards for my mini-collection.

upper deck also included schmidt in their 1995 flagship set with a designated final tribute card

that coincided with schmidt's enshrinement in the hall of fame. 

this was the same set that featured belated final tributes for george brett, nolan ryan, and robin yount. i appreciated the effort, but much prefer the real time final tributes that upper deck provided in the following years.

here's a question about a random card from my scanned folder

i picked up this 2014 topps pro debut corey seager card somewhere along the way

he hit a combined .349 this year between high-a and double-a, and may well be in triple-a next year when the dodgers open shop in oklahoma city next year.  looking at the card got me wondering - what number will seager wear in the majors (22 is taken)?  and why is his name pronounced see-ger, like bob seger, instead of say-ger, like steve yeager?

anyway, i am thankful that ned didn't send seager anywhere in an attempt to get another starter (the roberto hernandez trade was bad enough), and hopefully in a year or two we will find out what number seager wears as a dodger.

a memorial patch for dr. lewis yocum

usually i post about memorials on mondays, but i figured i would show an angel card today as the team with the best record in the majors this year begins its postseason journey today, and i had this 2014 topps mike trout 'the future is now' card in the hopper

trout is wearing the patch that the angels wore during the 2013 season to honor their late team physician, dr. lewis yocum, who died from liver cancer in may of that year.

yocum had been affiliated with the club since 1978, but did not treat only angel players. as one of the most renowned orthopedic surgeons in sports (along with frank jobe and james andrews), yocum consulted with many players and performed surgeries on the likes of stephen strasburg, jordan zimmermann, ryan madson, and jacoby ellsbury, along with angels kevin jepsen, john lackey, and kendrys morales to name a few.

former angel lackey, on whom yocum performed tommy john surgery in 2011, wore the patch for a game, even though he was with the red sox at the time

as did former angel kendrys morales, who was with seattle in 2013, but had yocum operate on his injured leg while with the halos.  morales' teammates raul ibanez and felix hernandez also wore the patch, although i don't know if they were patients of yocum's or not

thanks to uni watch for pointing out the opposing player patches, by the way.

after the angels honored yocum (they also named the training room after him), i wondered if the dodgers would similarly honor dr. frank jobe, their longtime team doctor and pioneer of the ligament replacement surgery simply known as 'tommy john' surgery after he passed in march of 2014.  they did not wear a patch, but they did name their training room after him.

so, the angels and the royals get started tonight in one of the al division series, and the pitchers facing each other on the mound - jered weaver and jason vargas - both wore the yocum patch as angels in 2013.  neither ever went under yocum's knife as far as i can tell (vargas had a couple of surgeries while in the mets organization), but it was weaver who placed the yocum plaque on the training room wall.

as a fan, i am thankful for the talents of all the trainers and team doctors and surgeons, like dr. yocum, who keep these players on the field.

mostly smokeys from the garvey oddball binder

only you can guess which steve garvey card shown below isn't a smokey the bear issue.

those all come from the garvey oddball binder.  of course, the only card without smokey on it - the middle top card - is from 1986 donruss all-stars set, and is the pop-up garvey featuring the now demolished hubert h humphrey metrodome, site of the 1985 all-star game.  the others are all national forest service related giveaways.

speaking of the metrodome, i have seen regular season baseball games in 16 different stadiums.  however, three of those stadiums - jack murphy, busch, and the metrodome - either are not being used for baseball anymore or are no longer in existence.  i'll have to get back to san diego and saint louis sometime to see the new (to me) ballparks.

back to the cards.  starting at the top left, we have the 1984 smokey padres team set garvey, the aforementioned 1986 donruss all-stars pop-up garvey, a 1987 smokey dodgers all-star card of garvey, plus three garvey related cards from the 1987 smokey dodgers record breaker set.

garvey got three cards in the 1987 smokey dodgers set thanks to his membership in the record setting infield, his consecutive games played streak, and his involvement in the first quartet of teammates to each hit at least 30 homeruns in a season.  two of those three cards feature images made into giveaway bobbleheads, by the way.

here are the backs (reversed in order thanks to the fact that i just scanned the back of the 6-pocket page from the binder)

i have one other smokey card in the garvey binder - it comes from the 1987 national smokey bear day set.

unlike previous years, this was not a team/regional set.  in 1987, the set included players from every team.  here's the back

i wish smokey and his cubs would come to my house and do some gardening.

some super garveys from the steve garvey oddball binder

i'm continuing to scan and post my way through my steve garvey collection - at least that part of it that is in binders.  i'm just about done with what i consider to be the oddball binder.  that one consists of mostly oddly sized cards and a few other things.  here are a few 5x7 sized items from topps.

steve garvey didn't get a card in the 1971 topps super set (or the 1970 set either, for that matter), but he was one of only two dodgers to be featured in the 1980 version of the set (davey lopes was the other). there are two varieties of garveys in that set - one is a gray back and the other a 'normal' back, but you can't really tell from the fronts, although the two in my collection have different color exposures.

the gray back is on the right, but i don't know if all of those versions had different exposures on the front or not.  here are the backs.

in 1981, garvey was the only dodger to be featured in the national version of the super set.  he also received a card in the home team set, along with 11 of his dodger teammates.  the cards look identical on the front

but have different backs.

that's the home team version on the left with the checklist.

topps took a break from these oversized cards in 1982 and 1983, and then in 1984 decided to make them again.  this time, however, they just blew up the players' base card.  here are the garveys from the 1984 and 1985 topps super sets

1985 shows up first because i scanned the page from the binder, and then rotated the image of the two-pocket sheet.  here are the backs - 1985 on top, 1984 on the bottom for the same reason.

in 1985, topps added an extra line of text to the bottom, reminding us all that garvey was the nlcs mvp in 1984.  he also won the award as a dodger in 1978 - where's that text topps?

1986 was the last year, of garvey's career anyway, that topps put out the super set.  here's garvey's card - again just a blow up of his base card

but again with some added text on the back

one wouldn't think that garvey would lead the 1985 padres in triples when that team also had a speedier tony gwynn and garry templeton on the roster.  i would have also expected alan wiggins to have more triples, but then recalled that he was traded to the orioles in 1985.