if you can't beat 'em, join 'em

back in 1974, the dodgers faced off against the oakland a's in the world series.  james augustus hunter, better known as 'catfish' made two appearances in the series - he earned the save in game 1 by striking out the only batter he faced (joe ferguson) and then got the win in game 3 after starting and going 8 innings.  in that game, bill buckner took him deep for a solo home run - the only run the dodgers would score against him.  also in that game, davey lopes was 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 steals against hunter, which qualifies as a classic world series matchup according to the 2002 upper deck world series heroes set.  here's a davey lopes jersey relic from that set that p-town tom of the blog waiting 'til next year sent me a while back

i do so appreciate relics of ron cey, lopes and bill russell, since they are not as plentiful as those of steve garvey.  i think cey is the only one without a jersey card in this particular set.  anyway, lopes later went and joined the a's following the dodgers' world series victory in 1981.  he was traded to the cubs late in the 1984 season, but topps still showed him in a's gear in 1985.  here's his 1985 topps tiffany card as proof

tom also sent an autographed card of one of the other dodger infielders - ron cey signed a copy of one of his cards from the 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams set

cey is a great ttm signer, so i would imagine that's how this one got signed.  i do plan to finish the timeless teams blog, by the way.  this year for sure.

not all of the cards in the trade package were of the infield - there were lots of other dodger goodies.  here's a 1982 tcma baseball's greatest pitchers card of don newcombe

and even a 1989 score jay howell card

can be appreciated for the unocal logo and old field level scoreboard from dodger stadium in the background.

dodger stadium is in the background of mark ellis' 2013 topps walmart blue parallel as well

but seeing part of a bud light sign is not as nice as that scoreboard on howell's card.

tom sent another relic card, too.  from 2013 topps archives, it's andre ethier giving up the shirt on his back

speaking of archives, i understand that the 2014 set will use the 1973, 1986, 1989 and 1980 set designs.  why use 1980 again? it was just used in 2012 archives.  i'm guessing that there will be one or two short prints (again) that use the 1978 design, but it would be nice if topps used it for the base set sometime.  of course, if they have bill russell on the auto checklist this year, i might give them a pass.

thanks for the trade tom!  and it looks like, once again, you will be waiting until at least next year for your cubs.