el viz, double dipper

[this is the twelfth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, and hideo nomo.]

jose vizcaino, who celebrates his 43rd birthday today, debuted in the big leagues as a dodger in 1989.  he played in a total of 44 games (matching his jersey number) for the blue over the course of the 1989 and 1990 seasons before he was traded to the cubs.  i remember thinking that the dodgers were essentially choosing between el viz and jose offerman to be their shortstop for the next decade.  they went with offerman.  here's vizcaino's 1991 donruss card to document his initial turn with the dodgers.

after a few seasons in chicago, vizcaino was sent to the ny metropolitans (as seen on this 1995 topps card)

the mets eventually moved him to second base, and then traded him (with jeff kent) to cleveland for carlos baerga during the 1996 season.  vizcaino helped the tribe get to the alds that year (his first trip to the postseason) and then was traded (again with kent) to the giants following the season.  after one season in san francisco (and another trip to the lcs), vizcaino returned to the dodgers as a free agent.

here he is on a 2000 pacific crown collection card, showing the blue jerseys that davey johnson thought would be a good idea to wear on occasion. 

i admit, while i own one of these jerseys, i do not condone the use of them by the players - especially at dodger stadium.  it's not something the dodgers should do.  while i'm on the jersey topic, vizcaino is wearing the manny mota heroes patch, although you can't really make it out too well.

the second time around, vizcaino was used as a backup infielder.  he stayed in la for the 1998 and 1999 seasons, plus a couple of months of the 2000 season before being traded to the yankees for jim leyritz.  vizcaino wound up winning a world series ring that year, and then went on to help the astros get to the postseason in 3 of the next 5 seasons.  he also double dipped with the giants, but we won't talk about that.

in all, vizcaino hit .250 as a dodger in 245 games, none of which were in the postseason.  in between his tours of duty with the dodgers, he hit .273 in 863 games, plus a couple of postseason trips.

these days, vizcaino is a special assistant in the dodgers' front office.  he was kind enough to sign and return a few of his dodger cards for me, including the 1991 donruss card shown at the top of the post

along with a 1999 topps card (dp turn!)

and his 2000 topps card (again with the mota patch)

here's to you jose, thanks and feliz cumpleanos as well!

kal daniels, autograph series

a recent trade (i believe it was with the real dfg) brought this card into my collection - a 1991 jumbo california sunflower seeds autograph series 2 kal daniels!

i ate a lot of sunflower seeds while playing baseball growing up (and used a lot more as projectiles on the bench) but somehow missed the distribution of logo-less cards in packages of seeds.  that's ok, because over the past couple of years, i have accumulated a few kal daniels cards of a different autograph series.  that would, of course, be through the mail autos. what else am i supposed to do with the ridiculous number of 1990 cards that i have?

daniels is known to be a good signer - he does only one at a time - and i have troubled him four times over the past 2 years.  first up is his strangely faded 1990 topps card.

daniels was acquired by the dodgers in july of 1989 (with lenny harris) for tim leary and mariano duncan.  i was pleased as i was certain he would replicate his 1987 season (.334 ba, 1.046 ops) many times for the dodgers over the next decade.  sadly, due to knee problems, he did not.

here's his 1990 upper deck card

daniels played in only 11 games for the dodgers in 1989 (although he hit .342/.987 in those games), but bounced back to put together a solid 1990 season.  that year, he hit .296 and set career highs in homers (27) and rbi (94).  he also garnered some mvp votes, finishing 27th in the league while playing in 130 games.

here's his fantastic 1991 topps card: 

in 1991, kal was able to play in 137 games, but his numbers dropped.  his batting average fell almost 50 points, and his power numbers were down as well.

finally, his 1992 topps card:

with his injuries and brett butler/daryl strawberry/eric davis in the dodger outfield, daniels was made expendable and was dealt to the cubs in june of 1992.  he left the dodgers with exactly 100 career home runs, and added just 4 more during his time in chicago.  he retired after cubs released him following the 1992 season.

here's to you kal daniels - thanks for your time.

the brad gulden 1978 topps card that should have been

the next installment in my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set is brad gulden.

gulden does have a dodgers minor league card (this 1977 tcma lodi dodgers card)

but it's black and white, so i used the photo from this 1980 tcma columbus clippers card

instead.  i just had to get rid of the pinstripes and photoshop the logo.

the dodgers' official 1978 topps set featured three catchers - steve yeager, jerry grote, and johnny oates - all of whom played for the blue in 1978.  they also reacquired joe ferguson that year, and he spent some time behind the plate.  that left little room for gulden, a prospect from the great state of minnesota.  so, it's not too surprising that gulden's time with the dodgers in 1978 amounted to just 4 at bats in late september and october.  still, it counts, and so i celebrate his membership on the team of my youth.  here's the back of the card, by the way.

gulden was called up from the minors and made his big league debut on september 22, 1978 against the padres.  that's the same day that pedro guerrero and dave stewart each debuted as well.  unfortunately, gulden had the least success of the three.  while guerrero got a hit in his lone at bat, and stewart faced the minimum of 6 batters in his 2 innings pitched, gulden went 0 for 1 after replacing ferguson behind the plate in the 7th inning.  a few days later, in game 161, gulden again subbed behind the dish, this time for yeager.  he got one at bat and struck out against eric rasmussen of the padres.  the next day, gulden made his third and final appearance for the dodgers.  he got 2 at bats this time, but grounded out against gaylord perry and then struck out against rollie fingers.

at the beginning of spring training in 1979, gulden was dealt to the yankees for gary thomasson.  but you already knew that, since i showed that clippers card up above.  he played in 40 games for the bronx bombers in '79, and earned a spot on their 1980 topps future stars card

unfortunately, gulden only played in 2 big league games in 1980.  he did, however, hit his first career home run that year, a 2-run shot against aurelio lopez of the tigers.  the yankees traded gulden to seattle after the season for larry milbourne and a player to be named later.  he wound up joining a select group of players to be traded for themselves when he himself became the player to be named later and was sent back to the yankees.  he later went to the expos organization and made a few appearances for them in 1982, only to be brought back to the yankees minor league system for a third time. 

he wound up in cincinnati for the 1984 season and appeared in a career high 107 games.  perhaps the highlight of his career came that year when he hit a 14th-inning walk off 3-run home run against the pirates.  after spending the 1985 season in the minors for the reds and astros, he joined the giants. he played in 17 games for them in 1986 and was released after the season ended.  and so too ended gulden's big league career.  

i sent a copy of the 1978 topps card that should have been, along with his 1980 topps card, to gulden to sign earlier this week after getting his addy from the writer's journey (thanks jason).  he still lives in minnesota, so only three days later, the cards were returned to me adorned with his signature

it wasn't the only 1978 topps custom in my mailbox that day, but i'll save the other one for a future post.

thanks brad!  and here's to your card that should have been!

don sutton, my lone hall of famer

i mentioned in a post the other day that i was frustrated during my early years of dodger fandom because there were no dodger sure fire hall of famers in the 70's.  johngy called me on it, and i have to admit that this sentiment may be exaggerated, as i mentioned in the post that young gcrl thought steve garvey was a lock for cooperstown.

and, i have not forgotten, that dodger team of my youth prominently featured hall of famer don sutton.

if you were to have asked me in 1979 (after i had two years of fandom under my belt) who the hall of famers were among current players, i would have said willie stargell, willie mccovey, dave parker, mike schmidt, johnny bench, pete rose, dale murphy (it might have been another year or two before i thought this about murph, but make no mistake, i thought he was headed to the hall), steve garvey, reggie jackson, steve carlton, tom seaver, nolan ryan, and jr richard.  heavy on national leaguers, and especially national league west players.  that's a direct result of baseball coverage back then.  sure, i studied the backs of baseball cards for hours on end, and bought the baseball handbook every year and read jim murray's column and the boxscores in the la times every day, but i also went by what i saw and what i saw mostly were teams that played against the dodgers.

speaking of the dodgers, let's get back to sutton.  when i first saw his 1978 topps card (now nicely signed by the man himself - although he left off the hof notation that he provided the first time he signed a copy for me)

he was the nl's all-star pitcher.  still, his best days as a dodger - 5 straight top-5 cy young seasons - were behind him and i missed them.  i admitted in the post linked above to taking sutton for granted.  i was more interested in the infield, the other everyday players, and even bobby welch who burst on the scene in 1978.  plus, i didn't want to believe that steve garvey wasn't perfect, and the documented locker room tussle between the two soured me on sutton a bit.  add to that the fact that he hosted a celebrity golf tournament for one year in my hometown but didn't show the second year (bill murray stole the show, so we had that going for us) and you might forgive me for not being a board member in the don sutton marching and chowder society. 

this is not to say that i wasn't a fan of sutton's.  believe me, i was.  i saw him pitch a few times before he went to the astros, and i am glad that i did.  every time we sat in dodger stadium with sutton on the mound, my dad would tell me the story about how we stood in line for a ride at disneyland behind sutton and his family one time, and his kids were pleased that i was wearing some sort of dodger gear.  and, i do have another autograph, personalized by sutton and wishing me luck, that my dad (he was in joe beckwith's foursome that day) obtained at the aforementioned golf tourney.  plus, i was ridiculously happy when he wound up leading the nl in era in 1980, not for a small part because it meant a dodger would be featured on a league leader card for the first time in my existence as a collector (although davey lopes did the dead as recently as 1977).  even when sutton returned to the dodgers for one last shot in 1988, i figured out when he was starting and road-tripped to the ravine to see him pitch.  and, while my friends were certain that 'even we could hit this guy', i was just glad he was back. 

when sutton left the dodgers, he had 230 wins and over 2600 strikeouts.  i knew that the magic numbers were 300/3000, and so i watched with great pleasure his 300th win - a complete game victory, no less - as a member of the california angels.  it wasn't until then, however, that i was sure he would be inducted.  even so, it took an extra 5 years for the baseball writers to extend him the honor.

for me, collecting cards and keeping this blog  are quite frankly the primary ways i stay connected to the sport and team of my youth.  sutton was a big part of that (to this day i consider him the starting pitcher for 'my' team), and i admit that while i did not think of sutton as a lock for the hall of fame back in the late 1970's, i am eminently pleased that he made it.

here's to you, don sutton, the lone hall-of-famer from the team of my youth.

roy hartsfield, i hardly knew you

why it pays to study your team cards!  i have posted before about how i used to spend a lot of time analyzing team cards.  mostly from the 1978 topps set through the mid 1980 topps sets when i was at my zenith of collecting, although i did take note of don drysdale on the 1970 topps dodgers team card and dick allen on the 1972 version at an early age.  since then however, i have not spent nearly enough time with them except to definitively figure out who's who on the dodgers' 1978 topps team card.

anyway, i was looking at the 1972 topps dodgers team card again recently, and comparing it to the 1971 team photo posted at walteromalley.com. 

it's pretty close to the photo used by topps (i think the photos there from 1972 on are the same ones used on the topps cards) and the web site lists those featured which is just an awesome bit of information.  lo and behold, i read that roy hartsfield is shown sitting next to jim gilliam in the second row.  sure enough, hartsfield is to gilliam's left, leaning forward.  that's wes parker to his left.  if you're having trouble, just find bill buckner's eyebrows and go two people to his right.  that's hartsfield.

this surprised me.  i knew as a result of my ttm request that hartsfield managed in the dodgers' minor league system before giving way to tom lasorda, but i didn't know that he was on walter alston's coaching staff from 1969-1972.  so, i looked at the 1973 topps team card

and sure enough, there he is again in the second row, this time sitting to gilliam's right.  now, topps included coaches on the 1973 and 1974 managers' cards, but danny ozark and hartsfield were replaced by tom lasorda and monty basgall for the 1973 season, so neither one of them made the alston card.

so, what's my point?  well, roy hartsfield is one of the seemingly many dodger players/staffers to have passed away this year, as he died in january from liver cancer.  i had experienced the aforementioned ttm success with the former blue jays manager (which is how i thought of him), but i am disappointed that i didn't connect him to these team cards (and likely the 1970 and 1971 cards) and ask him to sign them as well.  i know when i wrote him i mentioned his time in the dodgers' organization, but it would have been nice to have let him know that, as a dodger fan, i appreciated his service to the big league team.  i regret that missed opportunity.

let that be a lesson to you autograph seekers - study your team cards!

i like the way you think, travis barbary (or, who's your hero?)

for the 1999 season, the dodgers created 'heroes' patches to be worn on the uniforms, celebrating the roster of generally awesome players that had suited up for the blue in their roughly (at that time) 110 year existence.  there were some 'heroes' for whom patches were not made (fernando, anyone?) and there are one or two others that i see as questionable (tommy davis over willie davis?) but i admit i wasn't around during their heydays. 

according to the la times, 'the dodgers asked each player and coach to name the former dodger who inspired them most. the choice each person made was displayed on a patch he wore on his uniform'. of course, there were a limited number of players to choose from (i believe there were 23 'heroes'), and 18 different dodgers from the past were chosen by the current players and staff.  the ones not worn included walter alston, carl erskine, johnny podres, and two others (maybe carl furillo and jim gilliam? - i don't remember bill buhler and rick monday - thanks jerry reuss!).  in addition, sandy koufax had the dodgers pull his patch from circulation, as he wasn't a fan of the fox regime and their use of his likeness.  i remember seeing complete sets of the patches for sale through the dodgers' website (without the koufax), but it was a pretty hefty sum since the set was provided in a big display box.  i did buy a couple of individual patches, though.

anyway, here's the list:

roy campanella - worn by todd hundley

and angel pena

pena's 1999 keebler dodgers card gives the best look at the campanella patch.  in fact, that set is easily the best for a lot of the patches.  it figures that two of the catchers chose campy, while the other backstop chose mike scioscia as their hero, as we'll see later.

ron cey -  worn by adrian beltre

the penguin!  here's a better look at the patch.

i am not too sure that beltre, born in the dominican republic in 1979, followed cey much.  still, we are keeping with the positional loyalty, i suppose.

tommy davis - worn by robinson checo of whom i do not have a card showing the patch.

don drysdale - worn by jeff shaw,

darren dreifort (nice to see little d honoring big d), ismael valdes, eric gagne (i'm 99% certain), and doug bochtler

here's a better look at the patch

i really don't get why kevin brown didn't pick drysdale.  maybe i am mistaking his surliness for drysdale's intensity.

steve garvey - worn by travis barbary (i would love to find a card or image of travis barbary wearing this patch), and by gcrl.

i have it sewn on my garvey jersey, which i will most likely break out this summer at target field when the boys in blue come for a visit.  tickets are secured for all three games.  i can't wait.

kirk gibson - worn by todd hollandsworth, rick dempsey (a former teammate of gibby was a dodger coach in 1999), onan masaoka.  i don't have any cards of these three guys that feature the gibson patch, but i do own the gibby patch.  it looks like this

one big season a hero does make.

gil hodges--eric karros

here's some more positional loyalty, and although i was dissapointed that fabio didn't choose garvey, his choice of hodges makes sense.  karros' dad was a big dodger and hodges fan, so by honoring hodges, karros is also honoring his father.  i can't argue with that, especially since garvey himself probably would have chosen hodges.

sandy koufax - worn by kevin brown,

and chan ho park

contraband!  those patches would fetch a pretty good sum.

tommy lasorda - worn by glenn hoffman, and pedro borbon jr.  i don't have a card or image of the lasorda patch.

manny mota - worn by raul mondesi,

jose vizcaino, carlos perez, and antonio osuna.  mota was the only guy in uniform that could have worn a patch of himself.  he chose not too.  i'm not so sure other players would have been as humble.

don newcombe - worn  by coach john shelby.  sadly, i do not have an image of this patch.

pee wee reese - worn by mark grudzielanek

come on, you know that's reese.  here's a full view of the patch

all of the dodgers wound up wearing a black 'pee wee' patch later in the season to mark the passing of the great shortstop. 

jackie robinson - worn by eric young, davey johnson, gary sheffield, devon white,

and alan mills

here's what the patch looks like in all of its glory

dodger heroes don't get any better than that, folks.

bill russell - worn by tripp cromer

yay for tripp!  one of the few to give us a full view of the patch.  still, here's a better image

let us remember that this dodger hero was fired by the same regime that sought to honor him.  he wasn't the only discarded manager to be featured, either.

mike scioscia - worn by paul loduca and dave hansen.  hansen was a teammate of scioscia's back in the early '90's.  i don't have an image of the scioscia patch.

duke snider - worn by hitting coach rick down.  i don't have an pic of snider's patch.  the dodgers will be wearing a patch this season to commemorate the duke's death which is appropriate.  i was a little surprised that they didn't do it for willie davis last year, but there was no doubt they would honor the duke.

don sutton - worn by pitching coach charlie hough, coach jim tracy, double dipper mike maddux, and jamie arnold

you get a sense of the awesomeness of dodger pitching over the years when sutton gets not a whole lot of respect from the staff.  hough, of course, was a teammate, and jim tracy played in the same era although he never faced sutton.

maury wills - worn by manny mota and jacob brumfield.  i don't have a picture of the wills patch.

there were a few other players who wore dodger blue in 1999, such as craig counsell, but the only card of his as a dodger doesn't show who's on his sleeve.  for the record, the unknowns are counsell, trenidad hubbard (i have heard from someone who said hubbard wore the jackie patch), alex cora, chance sanford, rick wilkins, juan castro, brent cookson, mike judd, jeff williams, dave mlicki, jeff kubenka, matt herges, and mel rojas.  if anyone has any 2000 cards or other info on these patches and players, i would love to hear from you.

here's to you, dodger heroes (you too, davey lopes)!

finally! some teammates! the 1978 topps dodgers in 1970

bill russell joined the topps set in 1970, a year after he debuted for the dodgers.  this means, that for the first time since 1964 when vic davalillo and tommy john were both shown as indians, we have teammates, and  dodger teammates for the first time.  the 1978 topps dodger team is starting to come together.

bill russell

russell debuted in 1969 at the age of 20, and played in 98 games, batting .226.  he played outfield exclusively, but played all three positions.  ropes doubled in his first at-bat, and hit 5 homers (all solo shots)that season.  that's 5 more than he would hit in 1970. 

in his sophomore season, russell continued as an outfielder, although he did appear in one game at short.  he hit .259 in 81 games.

vic davalillo

posted the highest ops of his career in his lone full season with the cardinals.  in 111 games, davalillo hit .311 and ops'd .792.  his lone home run was a pinch-hit job, one of a whopping 23 pinch-hits he had on the season.  in fact half of his 14 doubles and all 3 of his triples were achieved as a pinch hitter.

jerry grote

was once again the mets' primary backstop in 1970.  he hit .255 in a career high 126 games, and had 106 hits.  his defense declined a bit, as he threw out just 39% of would-be basestealers as opposed to 56% in 1969.  he hit both of his home runs on the season in a 6-day span in may, the second of which came against fergie jenkins.

tommy john

went 12-17 (while losing his first 5 starts) for the white sox while posting a respectable 3.27 era.  he was the starting pitcher in all 37 of his appearances, and he threw 269.1 innings with 10 complete games with 3 shutouts, including a 2-hitter against the senators.  he tied his career high with 138 strikeouts, but led the league with 17 wild pitches.  at the plate, john hit .202 with a career high 17 hits.

against his future teammates, john was roughed up by rick monday who was 4 for 8 with 3 doubles and a k in their matchups, while reggie smith was 2 for 8 with an rbi and 3 strikeouts against the lefty.

rick monday

was once again the primary centerfielder for the a's.  he appeared in 112 games and slugged 10 home runs.  he also stole a career high 17 bases. 

manny mota

takes a knee on his first card as a dodger.  i would bet dollars to donuts that the player lurking along the fence is steve garvey based on his stance and stirrups.  i would love to see the original photo to confirm this.  anyway, mota was installed as the dodgers regular left fielder in 1970, and he was able to post some career high statistics as a result.  he had more at bats, hits, runs, and stolen bases in 1970 than in any other season during his career, and he hit .303 besides.  as a result, mota only logged 19 pinch hit appearances, but he got hits in 6 of those at bats, including a double and a triple and a 14th-inning, two-out, walk-off single on september 20 against the mets.

reggie smith

appeared on two cards in the 1970 set, thanks to his .309 average in 1969.

smith had another solid season as the red sox' center fielder in 1970.  he played in 142 games and hit .303 with 22 home runs and 74 rbi.  he finished 26th in the american league mvp voting.

don sutton

posted the first winning record of his career, going 15-13 despite an era over 4.00.  sutton threw 260.1 innings in 38 starts, striking out 201 batters.  he also posted 10 complete games with 4 shutouts, one of which was a 10-inning, 12-strikeout performance against the mets.

jerry grote was the only future teammate that black & decker faced in 1970, and he was 0 for 6 with an intentional walk against sutton.

so, those were the 1978 topps dodgers in 1970.

here's the tally so far:

8/27 players featured by topps in 1970

total appearances:

davalillo 8 (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)
grote 7 (1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)
john 7 (1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)
lasorda 1 (1954)
monday 4 (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)
mota 8 (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)
russell 1 (1970)
smith 4 (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)
sutton 5 (1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970)

teams represented so far:

12 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals)