17 January 2013

who's that lurking there?

while i don't have as many as, say, double play cards, i do enjoy myself some cards with background (and sometimes foreground) lurkers.  especially when the lurkers are dodgers or hall of famers.  the best, however, are when the lurker is the anchor of the infield of my youth - mr. steve garvey - as is the case on this 1994 upper deck the american epic pete rose card
garvey was at first base when hank aaron passed babe ruth on the all-time home run list, and he was there again when pete rose became the all-time 'hit king'.  or, at least when rose got hit number 4192.  a few years later, a couple of hits were taken away from cobb, so rose actually broke the record a few days earlier.  still, he doffed his helmet and recognized the crowd with steve garvey looking on.

billy butler also tipped his cap and acknowledged his home crowd in the photo used for his 2012 topps update card
he is flanked by the rookie of the year and the mvp of the american league.  i would guess that miguel cabrera will make the hall of fame someday.  trout too if he keeps things up for another 12 years or so.

here's a dodger lurker on a dodger card - matt kemp pays a visit to clayton kershaw on kershaw's 2012 topps update sp variation
and, cc sabathia seems confused on his 2012 topps update sp variation
to see kemp sitting next to him.  meanwhile, on kemp's sp variation, he was solo.  in a suit.

here's a blurry lurker on dave mlicki's 1998 topps card
that's hall of famer tony gwynn doing his best sasquatch impression back there.

this 1993 topps jack mcdowell card has two uncredited lurkers that interest me
hall of famer carlton fist, of course, plus personal favorite robin ventura.

at least topps gave us enough so that we could recognize ventura.  upper deck leaves me guessing as to the identity of the dodger first baseman on this 2007 upper deck daisuke matsuzaka card.
it's not james loney, i know that much.  let me know if you have any ideas.  until then, i will just salute the unknown lurker.

4 comments:

Doc said...

You stealing posts from me? Just kidding! Love the lurker cards!

gcrl said...

doc i would definitely give you credit if i pilfered an idea from you. i'm happy to see you back posting and i look forward to seeing your lurker/cameo cards.

Anonymous said...

Isn't that Merv Griffin?

...he said under the assumption that the subject line was a "Man With Two Brains" reference...

gcrl said...

I suppose to be accurate I should have asked 'who's that lurking over there' but yes, its merv griffin.