some 1978 topps dodgers returned to the flagship in 2001

topps finally began printing cards of managers in 2001, after not quite a decade of neglect.  as a result, there were offical topps cards of three members of the 1978 topps dodgers to add to my collection.

first up, davey lopes.

lopes had spent his time since retiring as a player coaching for the rangers, orioles, and padres before getting the call from the brew crew to become their manager for the 2000 season.  here's the back of lopes' card, which i scanned because he's blowing a bubble

which he has been known to do, from time to time.  of course, it was rick rhoden, and not lopes, who represented the dodgers back in the bubble blowing contest of 1975.  back to baseball - the brewers regressed in lopes' second year at the helm, finishing at 68-94 (five games worse than they had been in 2000) and in fourth place of the nl central.

dusty baker

baker's giants finished the 2001 season at 90-72, good enough for second place in the nl west, 2 games behind the eventual world champion diamondbacks, and 3 games behind the wild card champion cardinals.  dusty had his team 2 games out with 3 to play when the dodgers rolled into town for the final series of the season, and the blue won the first two games of the series to seal the giants' fate.

johnny oates

it was oates, by the way, that lost to kurt bevacqua in that 1975 bubble blowing contest.  i don't know if he was still blowing bubbles in 2001, but oates was still managing the rangers - for the first few weeks of the season, anyway.  the rangers got off to a slow start in 2001, despite having signed alex rodriguez to the richest contract in history up until that point.  oates was on shaky ground (the owner had said as much), and the team had a record of 11-17 and a 5 game losing streak when oates resigned on may 4, 2001.  just a few months later, oates began having difficulty speaking and was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor.  oates eventually lost his fight with cancer on december 24, 2004.

here is the yearly tally of appearances to date:

baker 19 (1971-1987, 1993, 2001)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 16 (1972-1987)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 16 (1972-1987)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 17 (1971-1987)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 15 (1972-1986)
hough 23 (1972-1994)
john 26 (1964-1989)
lacy 16 (1973-1988)
lasorda 19 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1993)
lopes 17 (1973-1988, 2001)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 14 (1972-1981, 1991-1993, 2001)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 16 (1975-1990)
russell 18 (1970-1987)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 10 (1974-1984)
sutton 23 (1966-1988)
yeager 15 (1973-1987)

teams represented so far: 24 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers, padres, brewers, mariners, marlins)