emerald city dodger gems

larry over at emerald city diamond gems and the 1979 topps blog recently sent me some dodger cards.  here's the proof, starting with a 1979 tcma stars of the 50's george shuba

i don't have too many cards of shuba.  he is probably best known for shaking jackie robinson's hand at home plate after robinson homered for montreal, the dodgers' farm team in 1946.  he also was nicknamed 'shotgun' which meant the dodgers of the early 50's had a shotgun and the reading rifle in their lineup.

here's a 1981 fleer card of mickey hatcher

even when he's not doing something goofy on the front of one of his cards hatcher looks goofy.  nice to see dodger stadium and the dugout seats behind number 44.  next up is number 45, terry whitfield (who is also standing in dodger stadium), on his 1985 fleer card

the dodgers had brought whitfield back from japan for the 1984 season.  i was less than enthused, only because he had previously played for both the yankees and the giants.  yuck.

let's cleanse the palette with a 1986 topps card of orel hershiser

it's the tried and true vero beach shot.  one thing i don't miss now that the dodgers have moved spring training to arizona.

here's one of the dodgers' entries in the inagural upper deck star rookies subset from 1989

i think they had three - ramon martinez, juan bell, and william brennan.  brennan was the least successful of the three, appearing in a handful of games for the dodgers in 1988 and the cubs in 1993.  too bad, because i have a bunch of his cards.  he wore number 35 for the dodgers which i will always associate with bobby welch.  in fact, welch was barely gone to oakland before brennan was given the number.  that was crazy to me.

speaking of numbers, one day mike sharperson (seen here on his 1992 leaf card)'s number 27 will be retired by the dodgers

that's because it is now worn by matt kemp.  oh, hello alfredo griffin. i almost didn't see you in the background.  and what is that cub ballboy doing?

finally, there was a 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts significant swatch insert featuring none other than steve garvey

sure, the fabric is from his days in san diego, but it's the garv with fantastic blue forearms.

thanks larry - i'll get your cards out this week.