the supporting story in the 1988 dodgers' hollywood script

sometimes movie scripts can be pretty predictable.  all stories boil down to either man vs. nature, man vs. himself, or man vs. man.  throw in some boy meets girl/boy loses girl drama, and you have a tale fit for a screenplay.  back in 1988, the dodgers' world championship, and particularly the kirk gibson home run to win game 1, was often referred to as having a hollywood ending.  nbc even ran a segment prior to game 2 intertwining gibson's home run with roy hobbs' fictional blast in 'the natural'.  sometimes lost in all the gibson memories is mike davis, seen here on a 1988 topps traded card that was sent to me by marcus at all the way to the backstop.

i was watching mlb network a few weeks ago, and they had a countdown show of baseball's most underrated or overlooked plays.  things like bernie carbo's home run in the 1975 world series that set up carlton fisk's blast, or the interference call that negated a run off of orel hershiser when he was only 40-something innings into his scoreless innings streak.  and, of course, mike davis's walk in game 1 of the 1988 world series off of dennis eckersley to give kirk gibson a chance to win the game with a home run.  now, i don't subscribe to the idea that davis's walk is overlooked or underrated, but then again i am a dodger fan and i was at the game.  everybody in the stadium (and even the people listening in the parking lot as they were leaving) knew that davis made gibson's at bat possible.  watching the game at home a few days later (my mom taped it), joe garagiola commented on the significance of the walk, too.  i realize that as time goes by, the home run is what most fans remember, so i understand why the walk was on mlb network's list.  anyway, just like vince vaughn's character in 'rudy', mike davis was redeemed by making things possible for the main character's success.

davis came to the dodgers as a free agent prior to the season, and sprained his ankle during spring training.  he never seemed to get on track, and hit only .196 over the course of the regular season.  he endured stints without regular playing time, and was seen in wrigley field at one point holding up a sign that read 'mike davis is alive and well', just in case people were wondering. mike marshall, who had started the season as the dodgers' first baseman, took over as the regular right fielder.  and, even with gibson out of the lineup in the world series, lasorda went with mickey hatcher in left field over davis.  the stunt man made lasorda look like a genius with the way he played in the series, by the way.  

anyway, davis took the walk in game 1, and then put the nail in the a's coffin in game 5 with a two-run home run off of storm davis in the 4th inning.  davis was allowed to swing away on a 3-0 count and he made it count.  that home run was his only hit of the series in seven official at bats, but it was enough to keep me from overlooking him.  or so i thought.

ok, enough wordiness.  let's see some cards.  here's a 2012 topps update wal-mart blue matt kemp card

and a 1992 pinnacle juan samuel card

looks like juan is turning two in dodger stadium.  that's nice.

i should mention that all of these cards were sent to me by marcus from 'all the way to the backstop'.  they are much appreciated.

here's the back of roberto alomar's 1989 upper deck card

and a 1992 fleer ultra kurt stillwell card

plus stillwell's 1993 upper deck card

alomar has a fair number of cards showing him turning two, but i believe that stillwell has the highest dp turn to card ratio ever.  here are some other stillwell dp cards to support my theory.

another frequent dp turner is bip roberts, as seen here on a 1995 score card

and a 1995 topps bazooka card

and a 1996 topps stadium club card

i forget - is three a bipping?  or is it five?

moving on to a 2008 upper deck khalil greene card

and a 1992 fleer ultra jeff huson card

which features a forced out jose canseco.  i think huson's 1992 upper deck card also features a dp turn with mr 40/40 sliding in.  could be the same play, who knows.

i also participated in thorzul's trade me anything promotion, and received a matt kemp golden moments insert from 2012 topps update.

cole hamels should know that the best way to put a rookie in his place is by just pointing at the scoreboard.

thanks for the trades, guys!