some southpaw successes

might as well continue the ttm success theme for the rest of the week.  it makes the posting easy, and let's face it - there are not a lot of ways to be creative with cards signed through the mail by former dodger loogys.

here's ed vande berg on his very nice 1986 o-pee-chee team and text variation

vande berg spent just one season with the dodgers before moving on to cleveland.  this was not my only ttm success with vande berg - i just wanted to get that opc sucker signed.

i also had a couple of successes with former dodger reliever steve wilson.  here's his 1992 topps card:

 and his 1993 topps card

along with a 1994 topps card

i think wilson is a scout for the cubs these days.  he appeared in slightly more games as a cub (106) than a dodger (96) and was part of the 1989 cubs team that made the postseason. 

the second time i sent to wilson, i included a 1993 donruss card

 and another 1993 topps card

and even another 1994 topps card

this time,wilson added his number.  inscriptions are always nice, but i wonder if wilson adds a different number depending on the card. [edit - i answered my own question when i found the 1994 card in my scanned folder - i forgot to add it the first time around]. according to baseball reference, he wore 38 for the dodgers in 1991 and 1992, but was 50 in 1993.

dave walsh added bible verse inscriptions to both his 1991 score

 and 1991 topps cards

walsh was only in the big leagues for a couple of months in 1990 after spending 8 or so years in the minors.  he pitched in 20 games totaling 16.1 innings with 15 strikeouts.  he was 1-0 with a save and a 3.86 era, earning the win in what would be his final big league appearance.  he spent a bit of time back in aaa in 1991 and his numbers would indicate that he was effective, but he never got another call-up.

finally, here is george sherrill and his 2010 topps card

sherrill was lights out for the dodgers over the second half of the 2009 season (0.65 era) but struggled in 2010.  i sent this card to him last year when he was with atlanta.  he's with the mariners now, and i hope he rediscovers whatever it was that he had back in '09.

hey leftys - thanks for signing my cards!