going green by saving blue - now with stats on the back

i was just doing what i thought was right - keeping more trash out of a landfill - when i told mark at stats-on-the-back that i would give the dodgers he was going to throw out a good home.

it turns out that i was just being selfish. what a great lot of cards. a cornucopia of stars, semi-stars, and people who should have been happy to wear the uniform just once.

here's a sampling:

1990 donruss the rookies brian traxler

i am convinced that brian traxler won the farmer john eastern corn-fed pork dodgers sweepstakes and was alowed on the field during batting practice one day. he was able to convince the photographer that he was worthy of a shot with the right field pavilion of dodger stadium in the background. i mean, really. his helmet is number 20 and his jersey looks like 21 or 24. 24 was walter alston's (retired) and i believe mitch webster was number 20 at this time (it has since been retired in honor of don sutton). at any rate, nicely played brian traxler!

1996 upper deck collector's choice chan ho parkin the fall of 1995, the dodgers sent chan ho to the arizona fall league, apparently sponsored by avis, to learn how to pitch left handed. i mean, the card itself identifies him as a 'rhp' with a photo of him throwing (actually it doesn't look like he is throwing, does it?) left handed. oh, it's merely a reversed negative. great shades of dale murphy! too bad this isn't worth anything. except to me or a collector of chan ho park.

1970 topps super claude osteen
well, claude osteen's superiority may be debatable, but that is the name of the set of oversized cards issued by topps. they are on heavy stock, and apparently were sold in 3-card wax packs. the backs are identical to the regular 1970 set. this card is number 1 in the set, and apparently once was sold (or offered for sale) at the bargain price of 20 cents. awesome.

1993 upper deck lenny harrisif ever a card should be in 3-d, this is one of them. lenny flinging his helmet right at us. notice his position is listed as 'if'. lenny was half of the super utility unit the dodgers had in the early 90s (mike sharperson being the other half). too versatile to be labeled at any individual position. that was lenny.

1988 fleer tracy woodsontracy has a bit of an 'oompa-loompa' look to him because of the eyebrows. another 'infield' guy - tracy played mostly third base. i believe he caught the last out of game 4 of the 1988 world series. that's a better claim to fame than most people have, myself included.

2006 upper deck sandy alomar, jr. with eric gagne in the background.
i had completely forgotten that sandy alomar jr. played for the dodgers, and it was only a couple years ago. once russell martin came through, it was adios sandy. but we'll always have those summer nights.

yes, a 'grease' reference.

1993 donruss triple play tim wallach, todd worrell and jody reed this card kills me. it celebrates the new dodgers on board for 1993. worrell and wallach are on the front. jody reed is on the back. i am sure jody reed is a nice guy, but i am legally required to remind you that he is the reason the dodgers traded pedro martinez for delino deshields. once he (foolishly, as it turns out) rejected the dodgers' contract offer, fred claire sent pedro to montreal for a new second baseman. thus, jody reed is relegated to the proverbial backside of the baseball card that is dodger history.

thanks mark. at the very least, i have a 1978 topps tito fuentes and a 2008 ud masterpieces joba chamberlain for your sets headed your way.