Brief Dodgers

When I scope through some cards that are sent my way in a trade, I try to examine the lot and determine if the trade package has a theme.  I try to view what stands out the most in the cards sent to me by a kind blogger.

Sometimes a theme of a cardboard filled bubble mailer is easy to spot.  At times the first thought that I have is, "this trade package has five great Nomo cards."

Other trade package, I view a few times before writing about.  The cards just sit in the bubble mailer waiting for me to have a decent thought and churn out a trade post.  After skimming through the cards a few times, a theme then pops out at me.

I completed my first trade with the Underdog Card Collector and his trade package had my mind boggled when it came to finding overriding characteristic to the cards he sent.  I flipped through them multiple times waiting for a solid idea to show up in my head.

The cards he sent me was a mix of vintage from 1969 and some 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars.  The two sets are completely different and share no similarities.  The players are all Dodgers from two distant eras.

After looking through the loot sent from the Underdog, I noticed something unique about the cards he mailed me.  Some of the players featured on the cards are of Dodgers that spent just a short amount of time with the team.

Ken Boyer spent most of his career as a St.Louis Cardinal.  Boyer hit two home runs against the Yankees in the 1964 World Series, helping the Cardinals to the title.  Boyer won the MVP award in 1964 while driving in a league leading 119 RBIs.  Boyer hit a total of 282 home runs in his career.  255 of the long balls were while he was in St.Louis.

Boyer played two seasons as a Dodger in 1968-69.  He hit a total of six homers for the Dodgers.

Hank Aguirre was another player that had some success in another uniform before a brief stint as a Dodger.  Aguirre played most of his career for the Detroit Tigers.  He played ten seasons in all as a Detroit Tiger and his best year was in 1962.

That season, Aguirre made the all-star team and that would be his only time making it to the mid-summer classic in his 16 year career.  He led the league in ERA, ERA+ and WHIP in 1962.  That was a beast year for him.

Aguirre's only year with the Dodgers was in 1968.  He pitched out of the bullpen for 39 innings and was very successful in his limited duty.  His ERA that year was 0.69 without giving up any home runs.

I am not sure how Boyer and Aguirre are remembered by baseball fans that watched them play.  For those fans, is it weird seeing Ken Boyer not wearing Cardinal red?  Is Hank Aguirre looking odd with out the Detroit "D" on his cap?

I have seen this guy play dozens of times.  Some of my first baseball watching memories occurred when I was in Jr. High School.  I remember Jim Thome rising into stardom as a young slugger in the mid-90s.  The Cleveland Indians teams that he was on were really good and had some exciting talent on the team like Manny Ramirez and Kenny Lofton.

Thome only played very briefly for the Dodgers in 2009 and had 17 at-bats towards the end of the year.  Some people may have already forgotten that Thome was on the Dodgers in 2009.  That wasn't even that long ago and I only remember because the card companies printed out a decent amount of cards of the future hall of famer.

I know Thome is probably most remembered as a Cleveland Indian.  He played most of his career in Cleveland and had some monster seasons there.

Thanks for the trade, Underdog!