sunday evening target dodgers

another sunday, another sheet of cards from the 1990 target set which celebrated the franchise's 100th anniversary.  there are only 13 cards in this post, because the other two cards on the sheet belonged to the double dippers showcased earlier today.

mark belanger

after 17 years in baltimore, the slick fielding belanger became a free agent and signed with the dodgers prior to the 1982 season.  his leaving baltimore opened up the shortstop position, and eventually cal ripken jr took over.  in los angeles, however, bill russell was still the dodgers' every day shortstop, so belanger was limited to 54 games, only 12 of which were starts. while he hit .240 on the season, he was 2 for 2 in his final two career plate appearances, with his final hit being an rbi single against scott garrelts of the giants.  that's the best way for even an out of place dodger to go out.

ralph branca

like frenchy bordagaray and doc casey (the two double dippers from this sheet not included in this post), branca was himself a dodger double dipper.  i enjoyed seeing him on the big screen in the recent billy crystal movie where crystal played a minor league baseball announcer.  i won't bring up bobby thomson.

jackie collum

collum joined the brooklyn dodgers in 1957 following a midseason trade with the cubs.  he only pitched in three games for the dodgers that season (the first of which was against his former team), but stayed with the club as they moved west to los angeles.  in 1958, collum pitched in two games for the dodgers.  he spent the next couple of seasons in the minor leagues before moving on to the minnesota twins in 1961.

bruce edwards

edwards was the dodger catcher in 1946 and 1947, putting up big numbers in the latter.  he hit .295 with 80 rbi that year, and finished 4th in the mvp voting.  in 1948, however, edwards lost his starting job midseason to roy campanella.  he stayed with the dodgers as the backup catcher and sometimes outfielder/third baseman until he was traded to the cubs in 1951.

ned hanlon

hanlon is enshrined in the hall of fame as a manager, and not as a grower of fantastic moustaches as you might have guessed.  he enjoyed prolonged success at the helm of the baltimore orioles in the late 19th century before taking over the reigns of the superbas in 1899.  hanlon managed the club for seven seasons, leading them to first place finishes in both 1899 (with 101 wins) and 1900.  by his final season in 1905, however, the team was in last place and lost 104 games, still the most losses in franchise history.

ken howell

howell was used primarily as a reliever (190 games in relief and 4 as a starter) during his dodger tenure which spanned from 1984 through the 1988 season.  he appeared in the 1985 playoffs, but not the 1988 postseason.  he was traded to the orioles in the eddie murray deal following the 1988 season, but was quickly dealt by baltimore to the phillies where he was used exclusively as a starter for two seasons.  i believe howell is still the dodger bullpen coach, a position he has held since 2008.

charlie manuel

chuck manuel as he was then known was traded by the twins to the dodgers after the 1973 season.  he appeared in 4 games for the dodgers in 1974 (none in the postseason) and 15 in 1975; all 19 appearances were as a pinch hitter.  manuel's final big league appearance came on september 21, 1975 when he ended the game with a strikeout at the hands of jr richard.  he went to japan the following season, and played there for six seasons before returning to the us to begin his managerial career.  manuel, of course, managed the phillies when they eliminated the dodgers in the 2008 and 2009 nlcs.

joe mcginnity

hall of famer joe 'iron man' mcginnity spent one season with the brooklyn superbas - his sophomore season of 1900 - and went 28-8 (his 28 victories led the league for the second year in a row) with a 2.94 era in 44 games (37 starts).  he also threw 32 complete games and a league leading 343 innings, but his nickname originated from his offseason job in an iron foundry rather than his rubber arm.  mcginnity, of course, spent the majority of his career with john mcgraw and the new york giants, winning 30 games a couple of times, and the world series in 1905.  after his big league career ended with 246 wins, mcginnity continued to pitch in the minors, racking up another 200 or so victories.  he retired from playing at the age of 54 and later coached for the dodgers.

lance rautzhan

rautzhan was a member of the team of my youth, pitching for the dodgers in 1977 and 1978.  he pitched for them again in 1979, but had his contract purchased by the brewers in may of that year.  he is best remembered (by me at least) as the winning pitcher in game 3 of the 1977 nlcs - the 'black friday' game as it is known in philadelphia.

pete richert

imagine that - four double dippers on this sheet.  richert did indeed double dip with the dodgers, but i have told that story before, so he's here with the other guys from the sheet.  it is worth noting that richert  once struck out four batters in an inning while en route to striking out the first 6 batters he faced in the major leagues.

joe riggert

riggert was an outfielder who split the 1914 season between the brooklyn robins and saint louis cardinals (only one of those teams is named for a bird, by the way).  as a member of the robins, he hit .193 in 27 games.

ed roebuck

like collum, roebuck was a dodger pitcher who made the move with the team from brooklyn to los angeles.  roebuck, however, had more success with the dodgers than did collum.  he pitched in 7-plus seasons for the dodgers from 1955 to 1963 (he did not appear in the majors in 1959), making just one career start in 322 games with the club.  roebuck is also a member of the fraternity of pitchers who allowed a world series home run to mickey mantle, having joined the club in 1956.

fresco thompson

thompson joined the brooklyn franchise for the 1931 season following a four year stint with the phillies (he had been with pittsburgh and  the new york giants previously).  he appeared in 74 games for the robins, and then just three games for the re-named dodgers in 1932.  he resurfaced in the majors in 1934, back with the giants, but appeared in only one game before being released after declining bill terry's invitation to pinch run - 'i'd like to' said thompson, 'but i just had my shoes shined'.  thompson managed in the minor leagues following his playing days, including in the dodger organization.  in 1968, he became the dodgers' general manager succeeding buzzie bavasi, but passed away only 5 months into his tenure, with al campanis taking his place.

o-pee-chee has no new tale to tell, even if it is canada day

happy canada day to those of you who acknowledge such holidays.  i figured instead of showing off some justin morneau bowman international parallel cards (especially since i don't own any), i would go one better and show some o-pee-chee goodness that i have recently acquired.  unfortunately, the cards that i picked up are from a year where there were no variations.

on a side note, it's been a while since oh my o-pee-chee wrapped up its run, but i notice that it still gets a few views now and then. i had a good time going through (and acquiring) all of the variations that o-pee-chee had to offer.  in 1973, however, terry crowley is about to meet up with thurman munson

just as it is on his topps card.

and, duke sims is wearing dodger blue on glenn beckert's card

just as he does in the topps set.

bill hands is still a twin pitching in wrigley field

and dave johnson is still a brave turning two in yankee stadium

just like in the topps set.

likewise, dodgers willie crawford

 al downing

 and pete richert

look the same as they do in their topps versions.

there are some things that set the o-pee-chee set apart from its topps counterpart, however.  there is french on the front of some cards, like the rookie cards that included charlie hough

 and doug rau

 and on the postseason recap cards that included one of the best double play cards ever issued

 as well as on the boyhood photos of the stars, and this chris speier card shows.

of course, there is also french on the back.  and so we can learn that canadian native mike kilkenny carries his cartes de baseball in his sac

that is a far better cartoon than one that might have pointed out kilkenny having played for four different teams in 1972.

here's to you canada, and thanks for giving us o-pee-chee!

for richert, for the dodgers. twice.

[this is the twentyninth 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, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, and mike devereaux.]

lefty pete richert signed with the dodger in the late 1950's and made his big league debut for them in april of 1962.  topps was kind enough to let us know on his 1962 card that he was, in fact, a 1962 rookie

richert split his time between the starting rotation and the bullpen from '62 through 1964, and although he pitched in 20 regular season games in 1963, he did not appear in the world series that year against the yankees.  while i am not sure if he was on the postseason roster or not, it is worth noting that the dodgers used only 4 pitchers that series - 2 complete games by sandy koufax, another by don drysdale, and an 8.1-inning effort by johnny podres who was relieved for less than a full inning by ron perranoski.  a year later, richert threw his first career complete game for the dodgers (a 2-hitter) against the mets in september of 1964.  a few months later, he was dealt to the senators in the frank howard/claude osteen deal.

after two all-star seasons as a starting pitcher in washington, richert was traded to the orioles.  here's his 1970 topps card as proof

the orioles wound up putting richert in the bullpen full-time, and reaped the rewards.  with richert helping to close out games, baltimore appeared in the world series three straight years from 1969 through 1971.  richert made exactly one appearance in each series, with his 1969 appearance being the most memorable.  in game 4 of the series, richert was called upon in the bottom of the tenth inning wit nobody out and two men aboard.  jc martin attempted a sacrifice, but richert's throwing error allowed jerry grote to score, and the mets won the game to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead.  things were better for richert and the o's in 1970, as he earned a save in game 1 of that fall classic when he relieved jim palmer with two outs in the ninth, a one run lead, and pete rose on first, getting bobby tolan to make the final out of the game.

after the 1971 season, richert was traded back to the dodgers in the frank robinson deal, and his status as a double dipper was established.  he stayed for two seasons, and grew some nice sideburns as seen on his 1974 o-pee-chee card

by the time the 1974 season rolled around however, richert was in saint louis pitching for the cardinals.

in other news, richert is a good signer, and i have been on the receiving end of his kindness a couple of times.  here's a 1962 topps card (looks like a green tint variation) that he signed for me

as well as a 1964 topps card

a 1973 topps card

and a 1974 topps card

he also signed one of his 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams cards

i'm glad he doesn't hold any ill will towards 1969.

as a reminder, my 'timeless teams' blog kicks off on 1/2/12.  i'll get to richert and his teammates a few posts in.

here's to you (and thanks), pete richert - a dodger double dipper!

dazzy vance is ready for his close-up, mr. demille

seriously, it looks like dazzy was hit with a sack of flour and then had some lipstick, rouge and orange dye applied to his face and hair. 

i think it is fairly obvious that it's not excessive makeup, but rather some artist's attempt to colorize an old black and white photo that gives dazzy his glamourous appearance.  this is a 1983 big league collectibles diamond classic card, by the way.  it's a card i had never heard of before receiving it in the mail.  this card, and the others featured below, plus a lot more were sent to me about 5 months ago by reader steve. 

i am sorry it has taken me so long to get these posted.  anyway, the box steve sent over included some dodger minor league sets from the 80's which means awesomely 80's glasses and crewneck polyester uniforms as orel hershiser showcases on his 1982 and 1983 tcma minor league cards

he actually looks younger in the 1983 card because he gave the glasses back to kent tekulve or tim foli.

there were also some cards of another dodger ace, sandy koufax, like this 2000 upper deck legends card

i remember when this set was released.  koufax had granted a license to upper deck and they were milking it.  i was pretty stoked, too, especially after the completely awesome and contender for best upper deck set ever (1999 upper deck century legends) was forced to omit koufax.

2002 upper deck a piece of history

this was from back when opening a pack of 'a piece of history' didn't result in cards of turkeys or computers or some old satellite.  those were the days.

and, because you can't have koufax without don drysdale, here's a 2003 fleer fall classic 'postseason glory' card featuring big d and the duke of flatbush

too bad upper deck didn't give duke snider the dazzy vance treatment.

another brooklyn dodger, jim gilliam on a 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic card

this was a nice set, too.  lots of dodgers if i recall correctly.

there was also a nice surprise - a semi-high number 1972 topps pete richert

this card was from richert's second tour with the dodgers.  in between he pitched for the senators and orioles (he's shown in an orioles jersey on this card) and pitched in three straight world series with baltimore.

steve also included a few 1978 topps cards of players who had spent time with the dodgers but were on different teams such as ivan dejesus and von joshua and this guy, danny walton

walton appeared in a total of 18 games, exclusively as a pinch hitter, for the 1976 dodgers.  he managed two singles and a walk in those 18 appearances.  they traded him to houston (who had originally drafted walton in 1965) for alex taveras, a middle infielder who didn't play for the dodgers until 1982.  there's a decent chance that the original photo used on this card shows walton in a dodger uniform as it is obviously airbrushed along with the helmet.  i have to admit, i didn't realize danny walton was once a dodger.

thanks steve!