happy birthday to steve garvey - the big six-five!

time waits for no man, and that includes the first baseman of the team of my youth, steve garvey.  the garv turns 65 today, and it's been over 26 years since he last suited up in a major league baseball game. time flies.  thankfully (most of the time), card companies have kept him in their sights as they compile checklists for sets featuring retired players.  you had better believe that today is going to be chock full of those, plus one or two from his actual playing days.  hopefully some other bloggers join in the fun of wishing number 6 a happy 65th.

on to the cards.  here's a 2009 topps sterling white parallel numbered to 50

i really like the red accents on this card, just like the red number on the dodger home whites.

here's a 2002 fleer greats of the game card

on which the nl iron man sports the dual earflap batting helmet.  not a good look.

garvey was featured in topps' 2011 update set with an insert in the '60' run of cards.

this year's update set included a manu-patch insert set featuring all-star game mvp's.  i thought for sure that garvey would be included - the man won two all-star game mvp awards - but no, he was not.  sportflics did give him a card in their 1986 set that recognized his status as a midsummer classic mvp, along with fellow two-timer gary carter, and singular winner fred lynn

here's a better look at garvey's image on the card

of course, both of garvey's all-star mvp's (1974 and 1978) were won as a dodger, yet he's a padre on the card.  in fact, none of the players featured are wearing the uniform of the team they won the award with.  lynn won as an angel, but was with baltimore by the time this card was released, and carter is wearing his mets uni rather than the expos gear that he wore when he won his awards.

here's another padre garvey card, this time from 2005 donruss diamond kings

garvey was one of the inaugural diamond kings way back in 1982.  unfortunately, he didn't achieve the same status when he went to san diego.  here are the padres who were diamond kings instead of garvey:  dave dravecky (1984), tony gwynn (1985), goose gossage (1986), and kevin mcreynolds (1987).  i don't know that he deserved the honor over any of those guys, but i don't think donruss repeated diamond kings until the early 90's anyway.  nope - that's not true.  i just checked and george brett was a dk in 1982 and 1987.

moving on, here's a 2006 fleer greats of the game autographics card

this is pretty much how i think of garvey - manning first base in dodger stadium with the home whites, tidy stirrups, and red white and blue wristband.  none of that brown pinstripe stuff with a mcdonald's wristband.  yuck.