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.

sunday morning target dodgers featuring one of the greatest catchers of all-time and one of the greatest dodger franchise players ever

and no, i'm not referring to roy campanella even though he fits the bill on both counts.  this particular sheet of cards from the 1990 target set recognizing the 100th anniversary of the dodger franchise's national league membership happens to contain some notable and interesting folks.

deacon mcguire

mcguire was acquired by the superbas in a trade with the senators during the 1899 season.  he was then a 35-year old catcher with 14+ seasons under his belt.  still, he hit .298 in 202 games for brooklyn, and then left them to play for the tigers in 1902, successfully challenging the reserve clause along the way.  following his two-plus years with the superbas, mcguire played in 9 more seasons, setting a record of 26 seasons that was not tied until tommy john came along in 1989.  it was later broken by nolan ryan who played in his 27th season in 1993.  mcguire also held the record for most teams played for in a career (11) until matt stairs played for his 12th team in 2010.  he still holds records, however, for runners caught stealing (and for stolen bases allowed) in a career, assists by a catcher, and was the all-time leader in games caught until ray schalk broke that record in 1925.  mcguire is also credited with being the player who added padding to the catcher's glove in the late 1890's, no doubt out of necessity. still, his hands bore the brunt of his occupation - google his xray and see for yourself.

zack wheat

wheat broke in with the superbas in 1909 and by the time he finished his run with the franchise as a robin in 1926, he had claimed a whole bunch of franchise records.  for the record, wheat finished out his big league career by playing the 1927 season with the philadelphia a's, but for 18 of his 19 years in the majors, he belonged to brooklyn.  as a superba/dodger/robin, wheat amassed over 2800 hits and a .317 lifetime average.  he led the league with a .335 average in 1918, and led the robins to the pennant in 1916 and 1920.  no one has played in more games, had more plate appearances, had more total bases, had more hits, more triples, more doubles, or more singles for the franchise than zack wheat.  and, when he left the club following the 1926 season, he was also the franchise leader in runs scored and walks.  wheat was enshrined in the hall of fame by the veterans committee in 1959.  

sammy bohne

bohne finished up his big league career by playing the second half of the 1926 season with the robins.  he had previously played for the cardinals and reds.  he hit an even .200 in 47 games for the robins in '26

kiki cuyler

like bohne, cuyler finished his major league career with a short stop in brooklyn.  unlike bohne, cuyler's career was later determined to have been worthy of the hall of fame.  cuyler spent the 1938 season with the dodgers, following 17 seasons with the pirates, cubs, and reds.  he hit .273 in 82 games for the dodgers, falling just one hit short of reaching 2300 for his career.  the black armband he is wearing, by the way, is for the club's president stephen mckeever, but i'll cover that in a different post.

kal daniels

man, was i excited when kalvoski daniels joined the dodgers in a trade with the reds during the 1989 season.  sure, the dodgers gave up mariano duncan and tim leary, but they had alfredo griffin and rookie ramon martinez, and they needed someone to replace the injured and/or ineffective kirk gibson and john shelby in the outfield.  daniels did just that for about two weeks, hitting .342 in 11 games for the dodgers before he was injured and lost for the season just like gibby, who had shifted to center to replace shelby.  daniels returned in 1990 to hit .296 with 27 homers and 94 rbi, but the 26-year old had ancient knees and was not the same in 1991 or 1992 when he was traded to the cubs.

wild bill donovan

donovan hurled for the superbas from 1899 to 1902.  the first two seasons were not impressive - he had a record of 2-4 and an era of 5.63 in that span - but in 1901 he led the league with 25 victories.  he completed all but 2 of his 38 starts that year, and appeared in 10 other games as a reliever.  in 1902, donovan went 17-15 and then bolted for the detroit tigers.  with the tigers, he appeared in three straight world series from 1907-1909, although ty cobb and the boys lost all three times.  he retired in 1912 and managed in the international league, including a team in 1913 that had a first-year player named babe ruth.  donovan eventually managed in the majors, leading the yankees from 1915-17 and the phillies in 1921.  he died in the december, 1923 wreck of the 20th century limited train ("the most famous train in the world") on his way to the baseball winter meetings where he was expected to be named the manager of the washington senators.

solly drake

i'm not sure if there was a transaction involved, but drake played for the dodgers' affiliate in saint paul in 1956 according to baseball reference, even though he appeared in the majors with the cubs at different times throughout that season.  no matter, the dodgers did bring drake into the fold officially in 1958, and he reached the majors with the club in 1959.  drake appeared in only 9 games as a dodger, however, batting .250 in 8 at bats.  his contract was purchased by the phillies in june of 1959, just in time for him to take the field against the dodgers - drake's first at bat as a phillie was as a pinch hitter for sparky anderson against the dodgers' stan williams.

alfredo griffin

griffin joined the dodgers in that big 3-team trade prior to the 1988 season that involved three of the four teams that would make the postseason in '88 (the mets, a's, and dodgers).  although he hit only .199 in his first season with the dodgers, they beat the mets in the nlcs and the a's in the world series with griffin on the field.  he was re-signed following the season, and hit better in 1989.  griffin left the dodgers after the 1991 season, returning to toronto where he was part of their back-to-back championship teams in 1992 and 1993.  he's currently the angels' first base coach.

charlie hargreaves

hargreaves was a robin from 1923 into 1928 when he was dealt to the pirates.  he hit .407 for the robins in 1924, but he only played in 15 games so it doesn't really count. overall he hit .267 in 231 games for brooklyn.

cookie lavagetto

lavagetto was acquired from the pirates in the late 1930's and he quickly took up residence for the dodgers at third base.  lavagetto was an all-star for the dodgers in each of the four seasons from 1938 through 1941, but he missed the four subsequent seasons as he was serving in the military during world war ii.  lavagetto returned to the dodgers for the 1946 and 1947 seasons, and returned to the hot corner although he eventually gave way to spider jorgensen in 1947.  lavagetto's last appearance in the majors came in the 1947 world series.  even though the dodgers lost that series to the yankees, lavagetto is remembered for his game 4 two-out 9th inning walk-off pinch-hit double that not only won the game for the dodgers, but broke up bill bevens' no-hit bid.

gene mauch

mauch, better known as a big league manager than player, was a dodger double dipper who missed out on the 1947 world series and lavagetto's heroics because he spent the last half of that season in pittsburgh following an early season trade.  he returned to the dodgers shortly after the world series as part of the infamous dixie walker deal.

doc newton

newton pitched for the superbas in 1901 and 1902, amassing a record of 21-19 in 44 games.  he also pitched for the reds and highlanders (later known as the yankees).  i find it interesting that he left the majors after pitching for the superbas in 1902 in order to join the los angeles angels of the pacific coast league.  he won 39 games for the angels in 1904, which must have caught the attention of the highlanders who brought newton back to the majors.

jose vizcaino

vizcaino had 7 games as a dodger to his name when this set was produced.  he appeared in only 37 more before he was traded to the cubs following the 1990 season.  he eventually returned to the dodgers in the late 1990's, but was dealt away again during the 2000 season.  he was a dodger double dipper.

tommy warren

warren spent one year in the big leagues, and it was with the 1944 dodgers.  he was 1-4 in 22 games with a 4.98 era.  he had allowed only one earned run in his first 8 innings of work in the majors, spanning his first four appearances, when he was used in relief in the first game of a doubleheader against the giants on april 30.  he came out to start the fourth inning, already the fifth dodger pitcher of the day, and was likely told by manager leo durocher that there would be no reliever following him.  he allowed 15 runs (11 earned) in his five innings of work that day as the dodgers lost 26-8.  on the bright side, they won the nightcap.

tom winsett

winsett had a lifetime average of .218 over 78 games when the dodgers traded three players for him in 1936.  he had put up big numbers in the minor leagues the previous few seasons, so the dodgers sent frenchy bordagaray, dutch leonard, and jimmy jordan to the cardinals.  winsett gave them a .241 average in 152 games spanning the 1936 through 1938 seasons, and he was left to be picked up on waivers by the new york giants.