It's Dodger Blue Friday: Vintage Cardboard of a Vintage Manager

Aloha, everybody, 

One more Thanksgiving has come and gone, with one more celebration of the family traditions. Continuity finds its spots throughout our lives, including within our favorite sports franchises. 

When I was growing up, one aspect of Dodgers familiarity was having the same manager year after year. Although the Dodgers had a long tradition of only offering one-year contracts to their manager, it was understood the gig was practically a lifetime appointment. 

The first Dodgers skipper I ever knew was Walter Alston. He managed the club from 1954 to 1976. Today is the 63rd anniversary of his hiring to lead the team. Here's my small collection of Alston cardboard.

Leading off is 1958 Topps and one of my favorite vintage Dodgers cards, Boss and Power. 

1960 Topps. The Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles, but were still playing in the LA Coliseum.  They wouldn't play their first game in Dodger Stadium until 1962. 

Backside...

1961 Topps

1963 Topps. The Dodgers are now in their new stadium at Chavez Ravine. You can tell it's new by the state of the art rotary dial phone in the corner...

 1969 Topps. The world seemed to be topsy-turvy with hot and cold wars, revolutions, and protests everywhere. Among all the chaos there was one certainty, the Dodgers' skipper remained the same. 

Here's the backside cartoon....

1971 Topps. I was just discovering my lifelong love of baseball and all things Dodgers. 

Alston would manage until 1976, a 22-year run. Tommy Lasorda was named his successor, and he ran the club for the next 20 years. 

Continuity certainly has its place. Aloha! 

Dodgers From a Dodger Lover to Another Dodger Lover

Aloha, everybody,

I'm sure you all remember GCRL Jim. Did you know he can now be found at Frankendodger? 

Good ol' Jim is the master of dissecting Dodger cardboard. He'll tell you all about the sets they came on, the stories behind the photos, and the player, in glorious detail. 

I recently received a fistful of Dodger cards from Jim, and here are the highlights...

I usually start off these posts with modern cardboard, but when Dodgers fans/collectors/writers swap cardboard, I firmly believe it's the old cards - the vintage, that really gets our Dodger blue blood up and running. 

Jim took a swing at my Dodgers team set wish lists and hit them solidly. Every one of the cards in today's post knocked one more into my "Have it" list. 

How about 1962 Topps Dodgers...

 Pete Richert only pitched for the Dodgers for a couple of years. The young southpaw set a record by striking out the first six batters he faced, and by recording a four-strike out inning on his debut.

 Johnny Rosenoro is most famous for getting his hair parted by Giants pitcher Juan Marichal with a baseball bat. Roseboro took one to the noggin while trying to save Sandy Koufax from that bat in one of the most infamous moments in the Dodgers/Giants rivalry. 

Jim chipped one more from the '65 Topps list...

The '70 Topps list...

The 1971 Topps list...

The two cards below and the team card that led off for this post are all from the 1978 Topps set...

Finally today, "Happy" Hooten from 1979 Topps, which now drops me to only needing two more '79s for completion. 

This lineup of nine was a great leap forward in my hunt for vintage Dodgers cardboard. What a sweet lot. 

And those are just the first half of the package. In Part 2, we'll check out the modern stuff.

Aloha!