27 March 2013

together again

it is weird for me as a dodger fan to think of don mattingly and mark mcgwire both wearing dodger blue.  even though the dodger/yankee rivalry was not reignited during mattingly's playing career, he was still an enemy wearing pinstripes.  yes, i respected the talent and even had a pc going early in his career.  same for mcgwire who actually dealt the dodgers their only loss in the 1988 world series.

mattingly has had three dodger cards now, thanks to topps heritage, but mcgwire has been missing from non-tribute sets since 2002.  and, who knows what changes might occur in the dodgers' on-field leadership between now and 2022 when topps heritage is scheduled to feature the 1973 card design.  that would be the next time in which we would see coaches appear on a card, unless topps does something with its flagship that it hasn't done since 1974.

the dodger manager and hitting coach did share space on cardboard a couple of times at least once in 1990, like on this fleer super star special
and then there although my favorite is mcgwire's card from that year's upper deck release
it is similar to kirby puckett's 1989 upper deck card that had mcgwire playing behind the runner, although there is more action here with mcgwire breaking towards second and someone whom i thought to be donnie baseball headed to first.  obviously i didn't check the glove hand.  it doesn't look like steve balboni (the only right-handed first baseman the yankees had in 1989), so maybe it's wayne tolleson playing short as mcgwire is running towards third, as was the case on may 18, 1989?

is that the last time we will see mattingly and mcgwire together on a card? who knows? maybe these two (along with first base coach davey lopes) will show up again on a 2014 topps world series celebration card.  i am hoping so.

3 comments:

The Junior Junkie said...

I always loved that Fleer card with the two of them. Is there anyone who doesn't like Mattingly?

Donald B. Conrad said...

sadly, it is not don mattingly in the UD shot. look at the glove and the hand it is on. i do not think it is steve sax either.

gcrl said...

@donald - thanks for the comment. i never bothered to look at the glove hand - just the eye black. i've updated the post with my best guess as to the yankee pictured.