there's no need to go anywhere else

1971 marked the first time that the photo used on the dodgers team card showed dodger stadium in the background.  here's the 1971 o-pee-chee version of the card, with the team sitting in the first few rows of one of the pavilions.

prior to that, the photo used either came from spring training, or the background was eliminated. in the  1972 set, they were back at spring training, but for the 1973 set, the team was clearly down on the field in chavez ravine, where they have stayed since then.

for 1976, they used the right field corner as their backdrop

as they did in 1977

and 1978, for that matter.  the 1979 card, however, shows them moving slightly towards center field

to capture some of the right field pavilion and even get a couple of palm trees in the photo.

they used the same set up for 1981

which was the last year for team cards for a very long time.

in 2000, fleer brought them back in their tradition set.  

here we have the dodgers still using the right field pavilion and corner as the backdrop, but for the 2000 team photo used in 2001 topps,

they moved to the left field pavilion.

they were back to the right field side for the 2002 topps set

and the 2003 topps set

and the 2004 topps set as well.

for 2006, they not only trotted out their third different team logo panel, but they moved the set up so that their backs are to home plate

they actually made that move first for the photo used in the 2005 set, but i didn't have a scan handy.  you can see the background better on the 2007 topps heritage team card

which uses the same photo that's on the 2007 topps card

which is the last of these types of team cards we have seen, if i'm not mistaken.

i can appreciate the fact that some teams have tried to dress up the drab background that their stadium provides for these photos, like the giants who brought in a cable car (1978 topps) to liven things up inside candlestick.  some teams have gone outside their stadium such as the phillies (who literally went outside of veterans stadium in 1978 topps).  taking things to an extreme, the padres have been to old town san diego (1979), the zoo (1980), and mission bay (1981), and the cubs used floating heads for a few years despite having the ivy as an obvious choice for a backdrop.  the dodgers, however, have stayed in their stadium, and really - why go anywhere else?

i'm looking forward to seeing the renovations on some 2013 series 2 cards!