19 October 2012

same play? same play.

here we have a couple of cards featuring the dodgers' delino deshields.  i like these cards very much, as they show the dodger second baseman turning a double play within the confines of dodger stadium.  here is delino's 1995 score card
and his 1995 score select card
looking at them together, i immediately figured that they depicted the same play.  both cards, as i mentioned, come from a game played in dodger stadium.  both feature a phillie sliding in (the select card allows us to recognize that player as kevin stocker, who wore 19 for the 1994 phils), and many of the other details match up.  delino's sunglasses; his stirrups; his batting gloves in the back pocket; stocker's wristband; etc.  slam dunk, right?

well, then i noticed that on the select card, it looks like deshields is sporting a goatee, while he looks fairly clean shaven on the regular score card.  could just be shadows, i suppose, but it's off to baseball reference!  we know the game was played in 1994, since in both photos delino has the mlb 125th anniversary patch on his right sleeve.  we also know the game was played during the day, thanks to the bright sunshine and deshield's sunglasses.  so, we are left with only the july 3, 1994 game to consider, as all the other games in which the phillies visited dodger stadium in 1994 and kevin stocker appeared in were night games.

in that july 3rd game, stocker was 0 for 3 with a walk against orel hershiser and todd worrell (old friend fernando valenzuela started for the phillies).  in the 7th inning, hershiser walked him to load the bases with one out, but jim eisenreich grounded into an inning ending double play, 6-4-3.

so, there you have it.  same play.  and a nice double play at that.

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