dodger record setting infield - assemble!

i posted a ton of steve garvey cards last december due in large part to his 65th birthday, and i kind of neglected the other members of the infield of my youth.  and, we are already almost half way through the third month of 2014 and the likes of ron cey, bill russell, and davey lopes haven't been seen much on the blog yet this year.  so, here are some cards of the rest of the infield.

2007 upper deck sweet spot classic ron cey

which is infinitely better than the 1984 7-up cubs release

there's only one member of the dodger infield who didn't move on and play for another team - bill russell.  here's his 1984 fleer card

and a 1986 donruss card

after his playing days, russell spent some time as the dodgers' bench coach and then went to albuquerque to manage the dukes.  here's his 1993 fleer pro cards card

and the back

i picked up another version of this card - from the 1993 fleer pro cards aaa all-stars set.  the front is the same

but the back has a new text box!

the box would make more sense on the players' cards i would imagine.

here's russell's 1999 dodger heroes uniform patch

i think i paid more for this one than i did for either the cey or garvey patch.  it's too bad that davey lopes didn't get a patch - he would be one of my heroes.  he did get a card in the 2007 upper deck sweet spot set, however

and, to be fair, here is a card from his cubs' tenure - 1986 sportflics

yes, lopes is in there along with tim raines and willie wilson.  here's a better look

after lopes retired from active status, he went on to become a coach with the rangers.  he followed that up with stints with the orioles, padres, brewers (as their manager), padres (again), nationals, and phillies before returning to the dodgers.  he doesn't have too many cards from that part of his career, but i did purchase one from his phillie days.  this is a postcard sized team issue from the phillies, nicely autographed by lopes himself

i won't show any more garvey cards here, but i do have a couple of items featuring all four of the infielders.  a couple of years ago, i purchased the collector's pin given away at dodger stadium in 2003 marking the 30th anniversary of the infield first playing together

and from the depths of one of my garvey binders comes this 1992 upper deck heroes of baseball sheet that commemorates the foursome and their feat of longevity as a unit

here's to the infielders of my youth.  unfortunately, there is going to be a whole lot more garvey here on the blog soon...