candy

no, they're not sugar plums (whatever those are), but they are still sweet visions of candy for this christmas eve.  i sent some cards down to puerto rico for candido maldonado to sign, and he came through for me. 

here's his 1983 fleer card

with dodger stadium as a backdrop.  candy was hot stuff coming out of the minors, and was given every opportunity to win a starting spot in the outfield.  here's a 1984 topps card signed by the candy man

maldonado spent the 1984 season as the dodgers' primary right fielder, and then moved over to center field in 1985.  speaking of which, here's his 1985 topps card

at first i wondered if topps used photos from the same at bat on both his 1984 and 1985 cards.  they didn't, as candy has sleeves in 1985 that weren't there in 1984.  plus, it looks like the photo for 1984 was taken in montreal based on the uniforms of the players in the dugout, while the photo on the 1985 card makes it look like we are seeing into the dodgers' dugout.  is that shea stadium?

i remember it being hard for me to believe that candy hit only 11 home runs as a dodger in his time in la, although i was quickly learning that pcl numbers coming out of albuquerque didn't necessarily translate to the big leagues.  after the 1985 season, the dodgers traded maldonado to the giants and he went on to put up the power numbers we waited for in la.

thanks candy!