finders keepers

sometime back in the mid-90's, a buddy and i went to a dodger game.  i would usually try to get there early, because traffic was always a pain and i didn't want to be one of those fans that strolled in during the third inning.  sometimes i would get there in time to watch some batting practice, but i would usually make my way over to the bullpen to watch the starting pitcher warm up.  there were always autograph seekers along the half rail in the left field corner, but i never paid them much mind.

i don't recall who was warming up in the bullpen that day, but when i left to go get some pre-game grub as warmups ended, i found this card on a step in the aisle.  it's a 1993 donruss triple play card, signed by the pistachio himself, pedro astacio

there was no one around, so i kept the card, and still have it today.  not a bad souvenir.

and, since i am featuring astacio in this post, i feel compelled to mention that in all my years of playing ea sports' tony larussa baseball (which later became mvp '[year]), the only no-hitter i ever threw came with pedro astacio on the mound.  i even gave a celebratory arm waggle in his honor.

rub a dub dub, two infielders on the cubs

it seemed like old times back in the mid-1980's when ron cey and davey lopes joined forces for the second time after lopes was traded to the cubs.  here we have a couple of 1985 7-up cubs cards featuring the penguin

and lopes

they just don't look quite the same in pinstripes and elastic waistbands.

did frank mccourt visit the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man?

have a looksie at this 2009 upper deck piece of history stadium scenes insert featuring russell martin and beautiful chavez ravine. 

this photo may have captured an opening day festivity on the field, which obviously included some red white and blue wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tubes.  i wonder if frank mccourt took advantage of a shipping error to stock up on those wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tubes.  well, as i mentioned in a recent post, upper deck enjoyed recycling photos almost as much as topps did back in the 1960's.  here's the back of a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams jerry reuss card with the same photo, although differently cropped.

mccourt, of course, bought the team in 2004, so maybe it was rupert murdoch who cut a deal with al harrington, even though it seemed more likely that mccourt, a new englander, would have been out on route 2 in weekapaug.  giggity.

the evolution of the left fielder, part 3

continuing the evolution of the dodgers' primary left fielders (here are parts 1 and 2), billy ashley filled the role (just barely) in 1995

billy ashley (1995)

the 'can't miss' prospect missed, unfortunately.  ashley played in 81 games (69 in left) during the second straight strike-shortened season.  he hit just .237 with 8 home runs and an ops of .692.  he was the dodgers' version of rob deer, going for one of the three true outcomes 121 times in 244 plate appearances.  in fact, in all three of ashley's postseason appearances (including two pa's in 1995), he either struck out or walked.

todd hollandsworth (1996-1997)

holly won the rookie of the year award in 1996, patrolling center field for the dodgers and playing in 149 games.  he hit .291 with 12 home runs, 21 stolen bases and 59 rbi.  as the 1997 upper deck card above state, he did in fact drive in three runs against the giants on 7/21/96. he had also driven in three runs on opening day.  in 1997, hollandsworth played in only 106 games (80 in left, but only 39 starts there) and his numbers dropped across the board.  the dodgers also used billy ashley and eric anthony in left, and even picked up darren lewis at the trade deadline.  still, left field was hollandsworth's to lose, and he lost it in 1998 due to injury. 

matt luke (1998)

luke took over for hollandsworth in left after holly's season ended in early june thanks to a shoulder injury.  the most interesting thing about luke's 1998 season with the dodgers is that, in addition to being their primary left fielder, he was an in-season double dipper (post coming soon)!  he had played in 33 games and was hitting .286 when the dodgers waived him in early june.  the indians claimed him, and he appeared in 2 games for the tribe.  11 days after losing luke, and just after losing hollandsworth for the season, the dodgers purchased luke's contract from cleveland and he finished out the season patrolling left field for the blue.  he wound up hitting .236 with 12 home runs and 34 rbi on the season, which included a 4-at bat span in which he hit 3 home runs over two days in saint louis.

gary sheffield (1999-2001)

sheffield moved from right, where he played after the dodgers acquired him in the 1998 mike piazza trade, to left in 1999 as raul mondesi returned to right field after a year in center.  it's too bad sheffield was such a, how do you say, jerk (?) during his career because he was as good of a hitter as the dodgers have ever had.  his three full seasons in la included no less than 98 runs, 34 home runs, 100 rbi, 98 walks and a .301 average.  his 43 home runs in 2000 were not only a career high, but were also the most ever by a los angeles dodger, and tied the franchise mark set by duke snider in 1956 (since eclipsed by shawn green and adrian beltre).  he made the all-star team in 1999 and 2000, and finished 9th in the league's mvp voting in 2000.  sheffield holds the la dodger single season records for obp, slugging and ops, along with atbat/hr.  he is also the dodgers' all-time franchise leader in each of those categories.  still, he complained and moaned badly enough that the dodgers wanted nothing more to do with him, and they traded him to the braves prior to the 2002 season.

brian jordan (2002)

jordan was one of the guys the dodgers got in the sheffield deal.  he played in 128 games for the dodgers in 2002 and hit .285 with 18 home runs with 80 rbi.  he was hitting .299 in june of 2003 when his season ended with a knee injury.

jeromy burnitz (2003)

a couple of weeks after jordan went down, the dodgers went out and acquired burnitz from the mets.  in dodger blue, burnitz hit .204 with 13 home runs and 32 rbi.  the dodgers didn't re-sign him after the season, and he instead went to colorado and had a monster season.

jayson werth (2004)

werth had been picked up in a pre-season trade with the blue jays.  he was the nl west champion dodgers' primary left fielder, atlhough juan encarnacion, dave roberts, and fellow jim tracy 'league of ja(y)son' member jason grabowski also saw a good amount of time in left.  89 games, werth hit 16 home runs and had a .267 average.  in the nlds against the cardinals, he was pretty much the only bright spot for the dodgers offensively, hitting two home runs and a double in their four game loss.  unfortunately, his number slipped in 2005 and for the fifth time in five years, a different dodger spent the majority of the time in left (just barely).

rickey ledee (2005)

ledee spent just a few more innings in left for the dodgers in 2005 than did werth (390.1 to 345.1).  ledee's offensive numbers weren't too much to get excited about either, as he hit only 7 home runs to go with his .278 average.

up next, andre ethier, manny ramirez, and...

...jerry sands?  here's hopin'.

haller back, yo

i recently upgraded the 1970 topps tom haller card in my 1970 topps set, and was amused by the back of the card.

the cartoon haller is pleased as punch with his $54,000 bonus, as he should have been in 1958.  these days, scott boras doesn't let his newly drafted clients wipe with less than a few million, let alone sign a contract.  heck, the mccourts spent double haller's bonus on haircuts last year.

can't wait to see what it takes to make chris reed 'happy'.

dennis lewallyn, double dipper?

it's true.  denny lewallyn, in addition to being a member of the 1977 and 1978 national league champion los angeles dodgers, was also a dodger double dipper. 

i will admit that i don't recall denny lewallyn as a dodger, even though he pitched for both the 1977 and 1978 teams. he started one game and pitched in four other late season games in 1977, and then appeared in one game in july of 1978. those appearances are enough to warrant a 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been,

complete with a back

lewallyn actually began his big league career with the dodgers in 1975. he appeared in 6 games over the '75 and '76 seasons. his 1975 debut consisted of two perfect innings against the astros, and his first win came via a 7-inning shutout performance against the padres on october 1, 1976. he had his best season in 1977, earning a decision or a save in all 5 games in which he appeared. he had 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 save in 17 innings of work. after the season, he was purchased by the minnesota twins. the twinkies, however, returned him to the dodgers in march of 1978 so he never appeared for them in a big league game.

lewallyn cemented his double dipper status with the one aforementioned appearance as a dodger in 1978, but then also pitched in 7 more games for the dodgers in 1979. after spending the bulk of the 1980 season in the minors, he was dealt to texas for pepe frias, where he pitched in 4 games and was largely ineffective. in august of 1981, he was picked up by the indians who used him in 7 games. those 7 appearances, and his previous big league work, were enough to garner a 1982 topps card

even though he appeared in just 4 games for the tribe in 1982 and was out of the bigs by the end of april.

i usually don't feature cards on here that i don't own, but lewallyn also had a number of minor league cards that i was able to find online and didn't want to pay the price to obtain them.  here are his 1978, 1979, and 1980 tcma minor league cards:

and a mid-70's (1976?) venezuelan league sticker/card

with his name misspelled.  i am disappointed that i could not find a photo of him in a twins uniform from his brief spring training stint with the club.

in all, lewallyn had a big league record of 4-4 with all but one loss coming as a dodger.

here's to you denny lewallyn, double dipper with a 1978 topps burger king dodger update card that should have been!

kosco v. downing

head to head, al downing got the better of andy kosco when they faced each other. kosco was 1 for 9 with a walk and a strikeout in 10 plate appearances against downing over the span of his career.

the reason that i find this interesting is that andy kosco is the guy the dodgers traded to bring al downing into the fold. another reason is that i received through the mail successes from each of them on the same day back in late 2009.

kosco signed and returned his 1970 topps

and 1971 topps

cards.  i kinda wish topps had not put kosco in a late series so that he would have had a second dodger card.  downing was still with the brewers in the 1971 set, so the dodgers were down a player according to the topps checklist.  downing did get the team and text variation treatment on his o-pee-chee card, however, which i am very happy about.  i received four cards back from downing, which was nice considering he had declined to sign my 1978 custom in a previous attempt.

he signed a 1973 topps,

1974 topps,

1975 topps mini,

(featuring dodger stadium!) and a 1976 topps

anyway, kosco played two seasons in la, and was the dodgers' primary right fielder in 1969. that was the year that he led the team in home runs with 19, which was a power onslaught compared to the 10 that led the team in 1968 (thanks len gabrielson). kosco's first home run as a dodger was a grand slam at the expense of former dodger hero, johnny podres, who was pitching, appropriately enough, for the padres at the time.

after missing out on the twins' 1965 world series roster (legend has it that he was the last player cut to trim the postseason roster to 25), kosco finally got a taste of the postseason in 1973 with the nl champion reds. although they lost the nlcs to the mets, kosco had the only two hits for the big red machine in their game 2 loss to jon matlack.

downing, meanwhile, was 5-13 splitting time between oakland and milwaukee in 1970. after the trade, he won 20 games for the dodgers in 1971 to lead the staff, and he finished third in the cy young voting. he wound up winning a total of 46 games for the dodgers in six seasons, and pitched part of a winless seventh season in la to end his big league career in 1977.

here's to both of you, kosco and downing! thanks for signing my cards!