...or however long it's been since i have posted a card featuring dodger stadium. here's a beauty - a 1981 fleer sticker back comemmorating the 1980 all-star game played at chavez ravine.
while i can excuse the replacement of the uniform numbers for the sake of what the card is trying to convey, i wish they would have left both ken griffey and tommy john as southpaws. griffey, of course, was the mvp of the game as he broke up the american league's no-hit bid in the fifth inning with a solo home run. the national league was still down 2-1 at that point, but they would get two more in the sixth to take the lead for good.
there was a backstory going around after the game that supposedly tommy lasorda (who was a coach on chuck tanner's squad) recalled how griffey had always hit well against john and so he told tanner to send griffey to bat. the problem was, griffey had entered the game in the 4th as a substitute for dave kingman before john entered the game. still, i suppose tommy could have seen john warming up in the bullpen and knew that kingman's spot was coming up third in the fifth inning. at any rate, it makes for a good story, and the distinctive dodger stadium pavilion roofs make for a great card.
I was actually holding that card in my hand last night. I had a small pile of them I was just looking at (I don't do that enough...stop and take time to actually look at the card) and was wondering why they are so tough to find these days. Fleer made some pretty cool sticker sets back in the late 70s/early 80s.
ReplyDeleteYou probably already know, but Garvey is featured on the 1974 card from this set. It doesn't say it's him, like the rest, but you know it is.
Great backstory.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty sad, but that's the last time Dodger Stadium hosted an All-Star game.
mrmopar - yeah, the forearms are a dead giveaway. i'll have to get that card scanned and posted.
ReplyDeletedodgerbobble - maybe once mccourt is gone selig will see fit to let the dodgers host another one.