October 15th, 2023 at 9:15 am 
by Ron Cervenka It was an X.com post (tweet) that immediately put a smile on my face; not because it was clever, witty, or funny, but because it immediately brought back fond memories of my 10-ish-year-old self.
On Saturday evening, this post from Sports Central LA appeared on the popular social media site about former and longtime Dodgers second baseman Jim Gilliam:
(Getty Images)
Of his 14 seasons with the Dodgers, his final nine were with the Los Angeles team after their move from Brooklyn in 1957, where the Nashville, TN native spent the first five years of his Major League career; this after having played three seasons with the Baltimore Elite Giants of the Negro National League, and almost six years to the day after Hall of Fame Dodgers great Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
But what made this tweet heartwarming for me is that even though Gilliam never made into the sacred Halls of Cooperstown, he was an everyday player not only of the real Dodgers, but an everyday player in a baseball card game that my brother Tom and I (and our neighborhood kids) had invented (for lack of a better term) with a standard deck of cards, which we would play for hours every day – this decades before video games were even a concept.
“He never missed a sign,” fellow former Dodgers great (and baseball card game first baseman) Ron Fairly said of Gilliam, who was affectionately called ‘Junior’ by his teammates and Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully. “All the years he played for (Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Walter) Alston, Walt would say the one player who never missed a sign was Jim Gilliam,” added Fairly.
(Getty Images)
The 1953 National League Rookie of the Year was a two-time MLB All-Star (1956, 1959) and won three World Series rings with Los Angeles (1959, 1963, 1965). He also finished in the Top-30 in the National League MVP voting as an LA Dodger three times (1958, 1963, 1965).
Thanks for the Blast from the Past and fond memories, Sports Central LA!
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
Ron a very interesting post. Jim (Junior) Gilliam was one of my favorite Dodgers also. In his last two years I liked the way the Dodgers would unretire him because they had no one to replace him at third base. Also, I would like to hear more about your invented baseball game you played with a standard deck of cards. At the same time you were playing that game 3000 miles away myself and my friends were playing our own invented baseball game with a pair of regular dice.
Like most things these days, I don’t remember the details of our baseball card game other that two 2s was a double, two 3s a triple, and two 4s a home run. We, too, eventually ended up creating a dice baseball game.
You know what they say about great minds.