double plays front to back

1995 upper deck is a good set for some double play turns.  for example, here's a spring training shot of delino deshields

not completely certain, but the dodgers had a guy named ryan henderson in their minor league system during the mid 1990's.  he never made it to the bigs, so that might be his only non-minor league issued card.  if that's him.

on to some major league action - here's royce clayton

jeff frye

pat listach

kevin stocker

and walt weiss

there are double play turns on the backs of some 1995 upper deck cards, too, like the one of rafael bournigal

this is the back of his 'electric diamond' parallel

bournigal also has a card showing the double play turn in the 1994 score rookie/traded set

it's lenticularly spectacular!

back to 1995 upper deck backs - here's mike lansing

and his 'electric diamond' parallel

barry larkin

geronimo pena

looks like upper deck used a photo from 1993 there.  pena is about to get a crotch full of butler.

here's bip roberts

robby thompson

and john valentin

seeing eric davis sliding in wearing a tigers' uniform reminds me of how tough he was.  he had some bad seasons with the dodgers and tigers from 1992-94.  he sat out all of 1995, but the reds brought him back to the majors in 1996 and he went on to have several more productive seasons.

now back to valentin.  he also had a checklist card in the 1995 upper deck set, which i believe shows him at second base making the pivot on a double play.  judge for yourself.

the card highlights valentin's unassisted triple play against the mariners on july 8, 1994.  of course, on that play, valentin caught a line drive, stepped on second base for a force out, and then tagged a guy out.  there was no relay throw.  plus, it happened at fenway, so he wouldn't have been wearing his away grays.  upper deck didn't even try.

let's see if score did any better with a different triple play.  in their 1993 set, they featured a highlight card for mickey morandini's 1992 unassisted triple play.

on september 20, 1992, morandini caught a line drive, and like valentin, he stepped on second for a force out and then tagged the runner advancing from first base.  that runner was barry bonds.  so kudos to score for showing the actual play, even if it's not a traditional turn at second base.

don't worry - we're not done with those yet.