years go by, i'm looking through a hobby magazine...

...and there's my la dodgers on the pages in between!  no, they weren't the centerfold, and truth be told, i wasn't looking through a magazine.  instead, i bought them from teamsets4u as i was looking for a dodger team set of 1998 pacific online (future post warning) and figured this was my best bet to get these cards. 

long before topps heritage, topps made these cards were made using past designs and included them in 'baseball cards magazine'.  at some point in 1993, the magazine changed it's name to 'sports cards magazine', and the copyright tag on the back reflects this.  i don't think there is really any rhyme or reason to the method, though - 1989 was 1959 but 1990 was 1969 so it wasn't a year by year thing.  anyway, here are the cards:

1993 mike piazza

i suppose it's a piazza rookie.  or an 'xrc' since there was also this card:

also featuring 4a player billy ashley.  i like the variation in the burlap, just like the real 1968 set.

here's the last of the 1993 cards, eric karros in lovely dodger stadium

karros was coming off his roy campaign, and got a lot of love from card manufacturers in 1993.  then came piazza, and he got most of the dodger allotment of inserts and oddballs.  sorry eric.

1989 orel hershiser

squinty orel.  like karros in 1993, but only bigger, orel was in every 1989 set.  that's what a dominating season will do for you.

1990 orel hershiser

that's better.  the sun isn't as bright in wrigley.  even though orel's 1989 season was a relative disappointment, he still won 15 games.  he also threw way too much and his 1990 season would suffer for it.

1990 jose offerman/jose vizcaino

double jose.  i suppose some thought that this tandem would be our 'trammell-whitaker'.  nope.  the dodgers traded vizcaino to the cubs after the 1990 season and offerman was sent packing 5 sometimes painful years later.  both guys had their best years for other teams.

1991 ramon martinez

pedro's older brother won 20 games in 1990 and had 12 complete games.  he also struck out 18 braves in a game and finished 2nd in the nl cy young vote to earn his inclusion in this set. 

1991 eddie murray

ed-die!   his 1990 season was highlighted by his major league best .330 average, although he didn't win the batting title thanks to willie mcgee and the giants' trade of him to the a's.  still, eddie brought some stability back to the first base position after several years of a greg brock/mike marshall/franklin stubbs merry-go-round.

1991 darryl strawberry

it's kind of o-pee-chee in a way, without the text.  the straw, of course, signed a big contract with the dodgers in 1990 and then had a decent year in 1991.  his 1992 and 1993 seasons in la were a completely different story.  after hitting 28 home runs and driving in 99 in 1991, he hit a total of 10 over the next two years with just 37 rbi in that span due to injuries and drug problems.  the dodgers wound up releasing him with over 1 year left on his contract.

on a completely different note, this will likely be my last post for a while due to some hard drive issues and potential loss of my scanned cards.  we'll see.