a post in which bill russell outshines the other three guys

i recently picked up a bunch of dodger oddballs.  i used to be oddball averse, except for the kellogg's and hostess issues that were a part of my childhood.  in recent years, as my collection becomes more complete, i have been more welcoming of the non-standard type cards.  or near-cards, as the case may be.  back in the 1980's (from 1981 through 1985 to be exact), the official all-star game program contained small photos of various players.  some forward thinking folks cut these photos out and started peddling them as 'all-star game program inserts'.  

i purchased the steve garvey inserts many years ago, and since he was the only player i was focused on at the time, i figured that these inserts featured only the players chosen to be part of the all-star teams.  i was wrong, as we will see.

first up are the 1981 all-star program inserts for the entire infield - steve garvey

ron cey

bill russell

and davey lopes

the foursome never appeared in an all-star game together, unfortunately, although 75% of them did appear in a few.  the penguin missed the 1980 all-star game, and lopes didn't make the squad in 1976, while bill russell was the only one staying home in 1979.  in 1981, however, of the four, only garvey and lopes were in cleveland, with lopes being the only dodger infielder to start the game.  other dodgers included in this set are steve yeager, dusty baker (who was an all-star in '81), ken landreaux, reggie smith, burt hooton (also an all-star that year), and fernando valenzuela (the national league's starting pitcher in 1981).

moving on to 1982, here are garvey

cey

and russell

none of whom were in montreal for the midsummer classic that year.  there was no insert of lopes in 1982, by the way.  other dodgers to be included in the program were pedro guerrero, mike scioscia, baker (an actual all-star that year), landreaux, steve sax (making his first all-star appearance), jerry reuss, and valenzuela (an all-star for the second season in a row).

the rest of the post will be all bill russell.  here's his 1983 all-star game program insert

as well as his 1984 all-star game program insert

and his 1985 all-star game program insert

both cey and garvey were included in the 1983, 1984, and 1985 sets, but they were featured as a cub and a padre respectively.  davey lopes didn't appear in another of these sets after becoming a member of the athletics following the 1981 season.  so, what we have here is a full run of the infielders as dodgers as they were in the all-star game program insert sets.  for once, bill russell comes out ahead.