where's ethel?

this 1991 topps stadium club card of eddie murray reminds me of lucille ball and a classic episode of 'i love lucy'.

he's got a ball in his hand with another one about to be fielded by his glove.  pretty soon he will have to stuff balls in his hat and elsewhere, because joey amalfitano is going to keep hitting fungoes at him like the conveyor belt in that chocolate factory kept bringing the candy.  all that's missing is todd benzinger standing next to steady eddie suffering the same fate.

a long while back, i won a contest at 'all trade bait all the time', and along with my winnings, oscar sent along some dodgers, including that steady eddie up top.  here are some more that came along for the ride.

2003 donruss estrellas shawn green

apparently shawn green is a gardener.  at least, that's what i thought jardinero meant.  i guess it also means outfielder.  which is the same as voltigeur, if you are speaking french, which also means tumbler or refers to napoleonic infantry units.

i have looked at this 1970 topps dodgers rookie stars card hundreds of times over the years.  well, not this copy, but one just like it.  it features ray lamb and bob stinson

i have often wondered why steve garvey wasn't chosen to be featured instead of one of those guys.  after all, stinson had only appeared in 4 games in 1969 (garvey played in 3).  it might have been as simple as that - if the garv had made into a couple more games, maybe he would have had a card in the gray border set.  anyway, even with all that wistful gazing at that card, i have never really looked closely at the guy lurking over stinson's shoulder until now.  could it be bill russell?

it's hard to say - if i squint enough i think i see the number 18 there in red which would mean that it is russell.  doesn't really matter, though, since russell got a card of his own in the set.  as did bill buckner, although this is from the 2003 topps shoe box collection

gone is buckner's card partner from the 1970 card, jack jenkins.  jenkins was a curious case - he had appeared in the big leagues in 1962 and 1963 with the washington senators, but didn't surface again until he was with the dodgers in 1969.  that year he appeared in...one game?!?  same with billy buck - one game in 1969 and he gets some card time from topps.  garvey was robbed, i tells ya!

garvey did get a card in 1971, however, and that card was reprinted in 2010 topps update as one of the cards your mom threw out

my mom knew better.  that's the back of the card, just because i figure we all know what his 1971 topps card looks like.

here's steve yeager's 1982 donruss card

in which we are offered a good look at his thighs and buttocks, which is not too strange when you consider that this card came out around the time that yeager posed for playgirl magazine.

another donruss card, sans the tight pants. this one is the duke snider hall of fame diamond king from 1984 donruss

this was one of the very first cards i ever sent out in a ttm attempt.  it turned out to be successful, which was pretty awesome.

last, but not least, we have this 1996 fleer insert (were there even base cards in 1996 fleer?) of raul mondesi

it celebrates mondesi's gold glove earned in 1995, when he led the league in outfield assists for the second year in a row.

always nice to add a card of rauuuuuuul to the collection.  thanks for the cards, oscar!