sunday morning target dodgers - wampum edition

sadly, dick allen's card from the 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary giveaway set features him as a member of the chicago white sox.  that was the team to which the dodgers traded allen (for tommy john), and the team with which allen subsequently went and won the most valuable player award.  still, allen leads off this week's trip through a sheet of 15 cards in the set, although the 15th card (of double dipper vito tamulis) gets a separate post later on.

dick allen

allen had played for one year in saint louis as the cardinals' first baseman following his best years in philadelphia before joining the dodgers for the 1971 season.  the dodgers moved him back to third base,  and he hit .295 over 155 games with 23 home runs and 90 rbi.  the dodgers, of course, had steve garvey and ron cey waiting for a chance to play third base, but it was al campanis' desire to bring frank robinson to los angeles that may have spurred the consummation of the allen for john deal prior to the 1972 season.

willie crawford

crawford was a local standout athlete when he signed a contract with the dodgers in 1964 as a 17-year old.  he debuted for the big club that same season, shortly after turning 18.  at 19, crawford was playing the world series, getting a hit in one of two appearances against the twins.  he was in the majors for good in 1969, and stayed with the dodgers through the 1975 season.  with a .268 average in 989 games as a dodger, crawford was traded to the cardinals prior to the 1976 campaign for ted sizemore.  oddly enough, sizemore was one of the players the dodgers had given up in order to get dick allen prior to the 1971 season.  crawford did return to the dodgers for spring training in 1978, but was cut by the team before he had a chance to become, like sizemore, a double dipper.

tommy davis

davis was another local prospect signed by the dodgers, but he was a brooklyn-ite, signed while the club was still playing in ebbets field.  davis didn't make it to the majors until the dodgers were in los angeles, first appearing in one game during the 1959 season before becoming a regular sometime during the 1960 season.  davis led the league in batting average in both 1962 and 1963, setting the dodger franchise record for rbi (153) in 1963.  his career was sidetracked by a broken ankle suffered in 1965, and davis wound up as a bit of a journeyman after being traded by the dodgers in november of 1966.

al ferrara

the bull, as ferrara is known, played for the dodgers from 1963-1968, although he didn't appear in the majors during the 1964 season.  the only world series that ferrara played in was the 1966 fall classic, in which the dodgers were swept by the orioles.  he did manage to get a hit in his lone at bat, however.  ferrara was also one of the many dodger players to get some side work on tv, appearing in episodes of gilligan's island and batman, among others.  he was selected by the padres in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season, and became the team's first pinch-hitter when he substituted for longtime friend and teammate johny podres in the friars' second game.

burleigh grimes

ol' stubblebeard is back.  he was a pitcher for the robins from 1918-1926, and later succeeded casey stengel as the manager of the dodgers in 1937.  the photo on the card above must come from grimes' two-year stint as the dodger skipper.  grimes was inducted into the hall of fame as a pitcher (he won a total of 270 games, with 158 as a dodger) in 1964.

luke hamlin

hamlin was a pitcher who won 20 games for the dodgers in 1939.  he was 20-13 that year, following campaigns in which he was 11-13 and 12-15 for the dodgers despite posting consistent era's around 3.60.  goes to show how little a win-loss record tells you.  hamlin was 17-16 for the dodgers in 1940 and 1941 combined, and was dealt to the pirates in the arky vaughan trade in december of '41.

fielder jones

jones played for the bridegrooms and superbas from 1896 through 1900.  he hit over .300 (with a high of .354 in 1896) in four of those years, batting .285 in the other. at first i thought that perhaps his nickname was ironic, because he made 144 errors in his career, including 14 in his rookie year, but that is actually his first name.

rafael landestoy

landestoy bookended his career with stops in los angeles.  he was a rookie on the 1977 nl champion squad and then returned to the club for the 1983 and '84 seasons.  he played for houston and cincinnati in between.

cy moore

moore began his big league career with the robins in 1929, and pitched for the franchise through the 1932 season when they became known as the dodgers again.  he was 4-8 over those four seasons in 76 games, in which moore started only 6.  he finished his career with two seasons in philadelphia.

ray moore

no known relation to cy, ray moore pitched for the dodgers in 1952 and 1953.  he amassed a record of 2-3 in 15 games as a dodger, and he went on from there to find greater success in the bullpens of the white sox, senators, and twins.  with the chisox, moore faced the dodgers in the 1959 world series, giving up one of chuck essegian's pinch-hit home runs.

bob ramazzotti

ramazzotti played in 62 games as a 29-year old rookie in 1946, but didn't make it back to brooklyn until 1948.  he appeared in only 4 games that year, and was on the field for the dodgers in only 5 games in 1949 before he was traded to the cubs.

willie randolph

randolph joined the dodgers in what turned out to be a swap of free agent second basemen - steve sax went to the yankees following the 1988 season, with randolph leaving the bronx to sign with the dodgers.  randolph hit .282 in 144 games for the dodgers in 1989, making the all-star team in his return to the national league.  in 1990, he began the season as the dodgers' second baseman but was traded to the a's in may in exchange for stan javier.  it worked out well for willie, as he was able to return to the postseason for the first time since 1981.

ellie rodriguez

rodriguez began his big league career in 1968 with the new york yankees, but was taken by the royals in the expansion draft and became the first catcher in team history the following spring.  that year he was also the first royal all-star, although he did not get into the game.  after stints in milwaukee and anaheim, rodriguez was dealt at the end of spring training in 1976 to the dodgers in a rare trade between the clubs.  rodriguez wound up playing in 36 games, spelling steve yeager behind the plate.  he had an obp of .400 which is probably partially due to hitting in front of the pitcher - he was walked 19 times in 90 plate appearances.  rodriguez was released by the dodgers in may of 1977 without having appeared in a game.

mack wheat

mack wheat stands beside dave sax as probably the most forgettable dodger teammate brother in history.  zack's younger brother hit .191 in parts of five seasons with the robins from 1915-19, while zack hit .300 in that span, including a league-leading .335 in 1918.  mack was picked up by the phillies following the 1919 season, and had his best campaign in 1920 when he hit .226 with 20 rbi.

rafael landestoy through the mail success!

dodger double dipper rafael landestoy signed some of my cards on a couple of occasions.  i showed one of them during the topps dodger autograph post series, and here are the other two.  a copy of my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update custom

and one of his 1984 topps cards

thanks rafael!

four more years of the topps dodger autograph project - 1980 through 1983

let's kick off the 80's entries in the topps dodger autograph project with jerry reuss.  why? because i said so.  as always, these cards were signed through the mail for free (unless otherwise noted). 

jerry reuss, 1980 topps

reuss is a good signer, and his website has a bunch of cool photos and info.  plus, he no-hit the giants.   i have a few other 1980 topps cards signed by dodgers, including traveling secretary billy delury, joe beckwith, joe ferguson, steve garvey, charlie hough, von joshua, lerrin lagrow, manny mota (i also purchased a signed record breaker somewhere along the way), doug rau, bill russell, derrel thomas, and gary thomasson.

doug rau, 1981 topps

dougie! another good ttm signer, and another lefty.  i think 1981 topps is probably the set i have the most dodger autographs from after 1978.  i've had ttm successes with dusty baker, joe beckwith, ron cey, jack perconte, fernando valenzuela, joe ferguson, steve garvey, dave goltz, burt hooton, rudy law, jerry reuss, bill russell, don stanhouse (with fee), derrel thomas, and gary thomasson.  i have also also purchased cards signed by pedro guerrero, davey lopes and bob welch.  that still leaves me 12 short of the entire team. not that i'm trying.

ken landreaux, 1981 topps traded

the traded sets are kind of a bonus to this project, but if i have 'em i'll show 'em.  landreaux signed a couple of cards for me which was nice, but for some reason fernando declined to sign his card from this set.  i think they are the only two dodgers in the set.  i do have a doug rau signed card, but he was an angel in the set

dave goltz, 1982 topps

goltz gets a lot of grief from dodger fans, but he's from minny so i am using him as the poster boy for the 1982 set.  i also have ttm autos from ron cey (i also have one of his 'in action' cards signed but not posted), steve garvey, steve sax. purchased terry forster, steve garvey, dave lopes, rick monday, jerry reuss, and a mike marshall/ron roenicke/steve sax trio signed rookie card.

jose morales, 1982 topps traded

jose is the only card from this set that i have signed.  he joined the dodgers in april of 1982 and hit .300 for them that year, exclusively as a pinch hitter.

ron roenicke, 1983 topps

strangely, i don't have very many 1983 topps cards signed.  in fact, the only ttm success i have aside from the brewers manager is jerry reuss.  that's probably because i don't have any doubles from this set lying around.  i do have a nice dave stewart signed card that i purchased a while back, though.

rafael landestoy, 1983 topps traded

landestoy likes the high heat!  he's a double dipper and part of the 1978 topps dodgers burger king/update set.  i also have signed cards from this set of jose morales (who was somewhat inexplicably included in the set), and pat zachry.

here's the list of each year's representative card (so far):

1951 topps - preacher roe (purchased)

1952 topps - rocky bridges

1953 topps - bobby morgan

1954 topps - billy herman (purchased)

1955 topps - don zimmer (purchased)

1956 topps - randy jackson

1957 topps - carl erskine

1958 topps - joe pignatano

1959 topps - fred kipp

1960 topps - chuck essegian

1961 topps - bob aspromonte

1962 topps - norm sherry

1963 topps - ed roebuck

1964 topps - ken mcmullen

1965 topps - dick tracewski

1966 topps - john kennedy

1967 topps - phil regan

1968 topps - jim campanis

1969 topps - jeff torborg

1970 topps - al mcbean

1971 topps - sandy vance

1972 topps - manny mota

1973 topps - wes parker

1974 topps - claude osteen

1974 topps traded - jim wynn

1975 topps - ron cey

1975 topps mini - joe ferguson

1976 topps - bill russell

1976 topps traded - dusty baker

1977 topps - steve garvey

1978 topps - dave lopes

1979 topps - charlie hough

1980 topps - jerry reuss

1981 topps - doug rau

1981 topps traded - ken landreaux

1982 topps - dave goltz

1982 topps traded - jose morales

1983 topps - ron roenicke

1983 topps traded - rafael landestoy

rafael landestoy, double dipper

rafael landestoy began his career with the dodgers as an amatuer free agent in 1972.  he finally cracked the big league roster in 1977 when he appeared in 15 late season games.  he even made an appearance in the 1977 world series against the yankees, pinch running for steve yeager in the top of the 9th inning of game 1.  he was stranded on second and then replaced in the lineup defensively by jerry grote.

  here he is on a 1978 sspc card documenting his early dodger days:

in his time with the big club in 1977, landestoy hit .278 with 5 singles and two stolen bases.  he spent time at second and short in the field, while making a few other appearances as a pinch runner.  landestoy was back in the minors for the start of the 1978 season, and then was traded in july to houston in the deal that would make joe ferguson a dodger double dipper.

sporting the astros' rainbow unis, landestoy (seen here on his 1981 topps card)

became their primary second baseman and had pretty solid years in 1979 and 1980.  he set career highs in '79 with 30 rbi and a .270 average in 129 games, then set career marks in 1980 with 149 games, 97 hits and 23 steals.  he made his second postseason appearance, this time in the 1980 nlcs against the phillies.  during the 1981 season, landestoy was traded again, this time to the reds.  in his 3+ seasons with the astros, landestoy hit an even .250 in 372 games and 967 at bats.  with the reds, he hit just .181 in 92 games and 127 at bats spread over 2+ seasons.  he stayed in cincinnati until may of 1983 when his dodger double dipper destiny was fulfilled.

in one of al campanis' worst trades, landestoy returned to la to back up reigning rookie of the year steve sax (who was hitting around .270 at the time of the trade) at the cost of a young left hander named john franco.  here's landestoy's 1984 topps card, documenting his double dipping status:

in his second time around with the blue, landestoy hit .178 in 118 at bats spread out over 117 games in 1983 and 1984.  he appeared in the 1983 nlcs against the phillies and went 0 for 2.  he was released by the dodgers in october of 1984, bringing an end to his career.  in total, he hit .191 as a dodger in 132 games.  in comparison, john franco pitched for 21 seasons and had 424 saves in his career.

here's to you rafael landestoy, dodger double dipper! 

[this is the ninth 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, and don zimmer.]

the 1978 topps rafael landestoy card that should have been!

rafael landestoy appeared in 15 games for the 1977 national league champion los angeles dodgers, plus one game in the postseason. those few appearances weren't enough to warrant a card in the 1978 topps set, but, thanks to my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update project, that wrong is corrected. here then is the 1978 topps rafael landestoy card that should have been:

it wasn't too difficult to find a color image of landestoy from 1977 as i used his 1978 sspc card:

he was also featured in the dodgers' 1978 yearbook (extreme black and white closeup!) so i made a card using that image just as i did for ron washington.

landestoy spent the first part of the 1978 season in the minors and was then dealt as the player to be named later in the july trade that brought joe ferguson back to la. an interesting trade as landestoy would return to the dodgers a few years later. anyway, i think of landestoy more as a shortstop although he played more second base than short. he debuted in the big leagues in the bottom of the 9th in a game against the cardinals as a pinch runner for manny mota and then scored the game tying run on a bill russell single. steve garvey won the game with a walk off sac fly a couple of batters later. landestoy's first big league hit came in a game against the reds a week or so later - an infield single off of pedro borbon. the dodgers, who had a 13 game lead in the division at this point, were in full coasting mode by then, as the players on the field at the time of landestoy's hit included ron washington, joe simpson, jeffrey leonard and glenn burke.

landestoy didn't play in the 1977 nlcs against the phillies, but he did appear in the world series against the yankees. in game 1, with the dodgers trailing 3-2 in the top of the 9th, landestoy pinch ran for steve yeager who had walked with one out and dusty baker on first. a lee lacy single scored baker with landestoy moving to second, but davey lopes and bill russell stranded him there and the dodgers went on to lose in extra innings.

as i mentioned earlier, landestoy returned to the dodgers a few years later in one of the worst trades al campanis ever made, but i'll save that tale for the upcoming 'double dipper' post.

here's to you rafael landestoy and the 1978 topps card that should have been!