postcards from paradise

a funny thing happened on the way to this post.  i misplaced all of my dodger postcards.  i had scanned them, some of which are shown below, but i had planned to further investigate and try to determine the exact years that they were issued using the information on their backs and some of the very scattered data available on the interwebs.  oh well, i'll have to tackle that task another time.  in the meantime, it's summer, and i assume some traveling folks are still sending postcards to the poor saps that are stuck back at home working.  in that vein, here are some dodger postcards that i will classify as 1962 (circa) to 1971 (circa) dodger team issue postcards.

big d!

i chose 1962 because that is the season that dodger stadium opened, and beautiful chavez ravine is the backdrop for many of these.  some, including the don drysdale postcard above, the ron perranoski postcard below,

this larry sherry postcard

and this maury wills postcard

all feature the three sisters palm trees closed up as they were first installed.

these next two are certainly from 1967, as that was the only season that ron hunt

and gene michael suited up for the dodgers.

plus, the palm trees have opened up!

i figure that these wes parker

and jeff torborg postcards

are from 1966, but that's only based on the relative youthfulness of torborg and this website.

sadly, the postcards moved out of dodger stadium later in the decade to what i assume to be vero beach.  these al ferrara

and bill singer postcards

are assumed to be from 1968 based on the fact that the singer photo is essentially the same as this mudcat grant photo

and this zoilo versalles postcard (i think) has the same info on the back

i wish i could find these things to confirm.  anyway, grant and versalles were only dodgers in 1968, so it's pretty easy to figure those, just like the hunt and michael.  same goes for these next couple - maybe - as long as the dodgers didn't wait to use these photos several years after they were taken.

billy grabarkewitz

and bill sudakis

are both wearing the mlb 100th anniversary patch from 1969, so i figure these to be 1970 postcards, although they could also be 1969 items if the dodgers were really on the ball and published these right after the photos were taken during spring training.

i'm not quite as sure of this tom haller postcard

since he was a dodger from 1968 through 1971, but this dick/richie allen postcard is certainly from 1971 (his lone year with the team)

and it's back in paradise - dodger stadium.

i may get back there yet this season, and if i do, maybe i'll drop a postcard in the mail...

sunday morning target dodgers

there is an obscure rule here at garvey cey russell lopes that anytime an older gentleman with suspenders appears on a baseball card, he leads the post.  that rule is in full effect today, as we review another sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger sga set.

mickey o'neil

o'neil was a catcher who appeared in 75 games for the 1926 brooklyn robins, hitting .209.  he had previously spent seven seasons with the boston braves, and finished his career in 1927 with the senators and new york giants.  he later coached for the indians, scouted for the pirates, and for many years managed in the minor leagues.

orel hershiser

the bulldog had some great seasons for the dodgers (1985, 1988), and some great postseasons for the blue and the indians, too.  he was 7-0 in postseason play before losing game 1 of the 1995 world series to greg maddux and the braves, but got some redemption in game 5 as he outdueled maddux for the win. as a dodger in the postseason, hershiser was 4-0 in 8 games (7 starts) with a save and an era of 1.71.  he threw 4 complete games for the dodgers in the postseason, two of which were shutouts.  he was a dodger double dipper, too.

george hildebrand

hildebrand's big league career consisted of 11 games played for the superbas in 1902 in which he hit .220, as well as 22 years spent as an american league umpire, from 1913 through 1934.

ron hunt  

hunt was one of the players the dodgers received from the mets in the tommy davis deal prior to the 1967 season, but was dealt to the giants for tom haller after just one season in la.  he is best known for his prowess in being hit by pitches, having led the league in that category in each of his final 7 seasons.  with the dodgers in 1967, he was hit by a pitch 10 times, good enough for second in the league.  when hunt retired, he held the modern record for hbp (243) until don baylor passed him in the late 1980's.

fred ivy johnston

johnston appeared in four games for the 1924 robins, and was 1 for 4 at the plate.  that is the sum total of his major league career.

earl mattingly

like johnston, mattingly's big league career was quite brief - he pitched in 8 games for the 1931 robins, going 0-1 despite a 2.51 era in those appearances.

lew mccarty

mccarty began his big league career in 1913 as a member of the brooklyn superbas.  he stayed with the team until he was traded to the new york giants during the 1916 season, amassing a .260 average in 238 games for the franchise prior to the trade.  who did brooklyn receive from the giants in exchange for mccarty you might ask?  none other than fred merkle.

ray moss

moss spent the first 5+ seasons of his career with brooklyn, from 1926 to 1931.  he pitched in 100 games for the team, posting a record of 21-15 with a 5.00 era.  he finished his career in 1931 with 12 games pitched for the boston braves, and after retiring he founded the golden gallon chain of convenience stores.

george pinckney

pinckney (or pinkney as baseball reference knows him) was an original national league brooklyn bridegroom player.  he was with the club for a few seasons prior to their joining the national league in 1890 as well.  as the franchise's 'first' third baseman, he hit .309 and scored 115 runs in 126 games for the club in 1890.  known as somewhat of an 'iron man', pinckney once played in 5,152 consecutive innings for brooklyn, a record eventually broken by cal ripken, jr.

stan rojek

rojek made it into one game for the dodgers in 1942 (he pinch ran in the bottom of the 9th in a game against the giants and scored the tying run to force extra innings) before serving in the military during world war ii.  following his service, he returned to the dodgers for the 1946 and 1947 seasons, playing shortstop behind pee wee reese.  the pirates purchased his contract following the 1947 season, and rojek went on to have his best season, hitting .290 while leading the league in games played and at bats.  he finished his career with short stints in saint louis - with the cardinals for part of 1951 and the browns in 1952, and was dealt back to brooklyn following the '52 season.   unfortunately, rojek never made it out of the dodgers' minor league system after his return to the franchise and retired as a player after the 1955 season.

larry see

see was the dodgers' third round pick in 1980, and he reached the majors as a september call-up in 1986.  in 13 games with the dodgers that year, he hit .250 with a pair of doubles and two rbi.  he had began his professional career as a third baseman, but played only first base when in the field for the dodgers, who really could have used a third baseman back then.  see was back in the minors in 1987 when the dodgers traded him to the rangers for jose mota, manny's son.  see made it back to the big leagues in 1988 for 13 games with texas, but hit just .167.

larry sherry

back-to-back larrys!  this half of the sherry brothers spent six seasons in the dodger bullpen, posting a record of 34-25 with 39 'saves' from 1958 through 1963.  he was, of course, the mvp of the 1959 world series, winning 2 games in relief while 'saving' the other two dodger victories.  following the dodgers' world series win in 1963 (sherry did not pitch in the series), he was dealt to the tigers for sweet lou johnson.

dave stewart

stew made his big league debut in 1978 for the dodgers, and struck out the first batter (jim beswick) that he faced.  he didn't return to the majors until 1981, however, but went 4-3 with 6 saves and helped the team reach the postseason.  he did not pitch well in the division series against the astros that year (he was 0-2 with a 40.50 era) but did make two scoreless appearances against the yankees in the world series.  in 1982, the team used stewart as a starter for a while, but ultimately decided to keep him in the bullpen.  he was pitching well again for the dodgers in 1983 (5-2, 2.96 era) when he was traded to the rangers for rick honeycutt.  the rangers made him a starter, and he responded with a 5-2 record and a 2.14 era in his 8 starts that year.  unfortunately, he struggled for them in 1984 and 1985 and was traded to the phillies.  he eventually wound up in oakland where everything came together.  all told, stewart is a three-time world series champion.

al todd

todd didn't reach the big leagues until 1932 when he was 30 years old, however, he went on to have several productive seasons as a catcher with the phillies, pirates, dodgers, and cubs.  he spent one year with the brooklyn dodgers, 1939, and hit .278 in 86 games while sharing time behind the plate with babe phelps.  his 86 rbi for the pirates in 1937 still stands as that franchise's highest total from a backstop.

so that was 14 cards from the 1990 target set.  the 15th card on the sheet is coming up a bit later, thanks to the double dipper status of its subject and his heretofore untold tale...

a random sampling of dodger cards

you might recognize ron hunt

and paul popovich

from yesterday's first installment in the dodgers' second baseman evolution series.  the popovich especially, as his 1969 topps card shown above uses the same photo as his 1968 topps card which i used in the aformentioned post.  at least hunt's 1968 topps card at the top of the post is completely different from his 1967 topps issue that i showed yesterday, although his dazed and confused look doesn't make for the best card.

i've got too many cards scanned and ready to go that don't really have a purpose.  here's the guy who caught the last out of the 1981 world series, ken landreaux, on his 1987 donruss card

1987 was landreaux's final big league season (and he was with the dodgers until the end of the year), but neither fleer nor donruss issued a card of him in 1988.  donruss did issue a card of dave anderson in 1988, however

which made sense because he was still very active, although he lost the starting shortstop job that year to newcomer alfredo griffin, seen here on his 1988 score card

griffin hit only .199 in '88, but the dodgers won the world series, anyway.  two dodgers hit home runs in game 1 of the fall classic that year - mickey hatcher (shown here on his 1988 score card)

and kirk gibson (shown on a 1989 o-pee-chee sticker back)

gibby's was more dramatic, of course, and it probably took him ten times as long to round the bases than it did hatcher, who literally sprinted from home to home in the first inning.

another world series hero for the dodgers is tommy davis.  this 1993 ted williams card takes us back to 1963

when davis won the second of his back-to-back national league batting titles, but also hit .400 in the fall classic against the yankees.  he drove in the only run of game 3 in that series with a first inning single off of jim bouton - that was all don drysdale needed to set the dodgers up for a series sweep the next day.

raul mondesi, seen here on a 1995 fleer flair card,

never made it to the world series, but he was the first dodger player to go 30/30, and he did it twice.  he was my favorite dodger for a while, too.

i'll finish up this random post with jason phillips' 2005 topps chrome update & highlights card

phillips was one of jim tracy's 'ja(y)sons' of choice in 2005, along with werth, repko, and grabowski.  he spent time behind the plate and at first base that year, but left as a free agent after the season ended.

was that random enough for you?

the evolution of the dodger second baseman - beginning with jackie

just two positions left to review in my evolutionary posts.  this one is special to me because i spent most of my playing days at second base, and even though i was a steve garvey fan, i marveled at the dodger lineage at second base.  as a little leaguer, i traced it back from dave lopes to jim lefebvre to jim gilliam to jackie robinson.  i later learned that it wasn't quite that clean, but still.  at some point, it traces back to jackie, which is where i will start.  besides, it gives me a reason to show my 1952 topps jackie robinson card again, now freed from its plastic cage.

jackie robinson (1948-1952)

jackie was named the rookie of the year in 1947 when he was the dodgers' first baseman.  in 1948, brooklyn traded their second baseman, eddie stanky, to boston and gil hodges took over at first with jackie moving to second.  he stayed there for five seasons, winning the mvp award in 1949 and leading the league with a .342 average as well.

jim gilliam (1953-1957)

like jackie, gilliam was named the rookie of the year, but he won the award as the dodgers' second baseman in 1953.  that's his 1954 topps card - i unfortunately don't have a copy of his 1953 topps issue.  although gilliam also played some outfield in 1955 and 1956, he was the team's primary second baseman through 1957.  he finished fifth in the league mvp voting in 1956, when he hit .300 and helped the dodgers return to the world series.

charlie neal (1958-1961)

gilliam moved to the outfield in 1958 as the dodgers moved west, and so charlie neal moved from short to second.  he remained the dodgers' second baseman until he was traded to the mets following the 1961 season.  he made two all-star teams for the dodgers in his tenure as their second baseman, including the 1960 team as noted on his 1960 topps all-star card, and he also won the gold glove at the position in 1959.

jim gilliam (1962-1963)

with neal in new york, jim gilliam returned to the position in 1962, which is the year that the bell brand card shown above was issued.  he finished 6th in the mvp voting in 1963 as the team's second baseman, but once the world series came along, he moved to third base and dick tracewski played second in the dodgers' four game sweep of the yankees.

nate oliver (1964)

oliver was a second year player in 1964 when he hit .243 in 99 games and played more second base than any other dodger.  tracewski and gilliam also spent time at the position that season, but oliver started 97 contests there.  in 1965, however, he played second in only 2 games at the big league level.

jim lefebvre (1965-1966)

another dodger second baseman to win the rookie of the year award, lefebvre (shown on his 1965 topps rookie card) hit .250 with 12 homers en route to the honor.  he did better in 1966, hitting 24 homers with a .274 batting average while being named to the all-star team for the only time in his career.  he also began playing some third base, and spent most of the 1967 season at the hot corner.

ron hunt (1967)

hunt was acquired by the dodgers after the 1966 season from the mets in the tommy davis trade.  topps was abel to get him into the 1967 set as seen above, although the card is a bit of a high number (525).  he spent the 1967 season in los angeles before being traded to the giants prior to the 1968 campaign.  during his stint with the dodgers, hunt started 89 games at second base batting .263 while hitting 3 homers and driving in 33 runs.

paul popovich (1968)

with hunt going to the giants, the dodgers turned to popovich, an offseason acquisition from the cubs, to man second base in 1968.  his 1968 topps card there identifies him as an infielder, and he lived up to that billing by playing second, short, and third in '68.  still, his 80 starts at second base is what qualifies him for a spot in the team's evolutionary chain.  he hit only .232 on the season, and was traded to the expos early in the 1969 season, meaning that the merry-go-round of dodger second basemen would continue...