so it begins - the (mostly) regular issue steve garvey binders

i've got essentially four full binders of steve garvey cards and assorted items (not to mention my garvey posters, prints, first baseman's glove, louisville slugger bat, and signed balls).  two of them feature oddball items (which i've shown over the past few months) and the other two feature (for the most part) standard sized cards.  over the course of the next unknown amount of time, i'm going to show you the contents of those two binders.

here we go - page 1:

this first sheet features:

1. 1971 dell today's team stamp
2. 1971 o-pee-chee
3. 1971 topps
4. 1971 topps dodger team
5. 1972 topps dodger team
6. 1972 topps
7. 1973 o-pee-chee
8. 1973 topps dodger team
9. 1973 topps

here are the backs, just remember that they are reversed since i just flipped the sheet over to scan it

a couple of notes about this sheet - i obviously decided to include team cards (topps only) as the garv is in the front row of the 1971 card, the third row of the 1972 card, and the middle row of the 1973 card.  also, the dell today's team stamp is also sometimes referred to as the 'mlb official stamp'.  the only garvey release i am missing from this period is the 1972 topps venezuelan stamp. good luck to me.

here's the second sheet:

featuring:

1. 1974 o-pee-chee
2. 1974 topps
3. 1974 topps dodger team
4. 1975 hostess
5. 1975 kellogg's
6. 1975 o-pee-chee
7. 1975 o-pee-chee 1974 mvp's
8. 1975 o-pee-chee 1974 nlcs
9. 1975 topps

and the backs:

in case you're wondering, garvey's in the middle row of the team card.  here i'm missing only the 1975 hostess twinkie card (it has a black bar on the back, which the regular hostess card - as seen above - does not).

this is the third sheet of the binder:

featuring:

1. 1975 topps 1974 mvp's
2. 1975 topps dodger team
3. 1975 topps 1974 nlcs
4. 1975 topps mini
5. 1975 topps mini 1974 mvp's
6. 1975 topps mini 1974 nlcs
7. 1976 hostess
8. 1976 kellogg's
9. 1976 o-pee-chee

these are the backs

garvey's still in the middle row on the team card.  you might notice a couple of things here.  first, i am missing the 1976 hostess twinkie card (again with a black bar on the back), and the 1975 sspc card is not where it should be. instead, i have a 1976 o-pee-chee card there.  that's because i used to catalog the sspc card as a 1976 release (which is how it's listed on the official beckett garvey checklist).  since starting this blog, however, i have come to refer to that set as the 1975 sspc set based on the copyright date on the back of the cards.

so, there you have the first three sheets of cards in my basic steve garvey card collection.  there will be more.  lots more.  stay tuned.

remembering roberto clemente

it's been 41 years since roberto clemente died in an act of service on new year's eve 1972.  in 1973, the pirates honored their fallen teammate first by wearing strips of black material during spring training.  luke walker's 1974 topps card represents that memorial in my binder

once the season began, however, the pirates switched to a circular patch with clemente's number 21 inside.  here's ramon hernandez's 1974 topps card showing the patch

another hernandez card represents that memorial in my collection - his 1974 o-pee-chee card

which, by the way, has a curious back.

there's a fair amount of information missing there.

the clemente tribute showed up in a later set, as topps used old photos in future releases.  take richie hebner's 1976 topps card, for example

or even lou brock's 1976 topps card, featuring jackie hernandez in the background with the patch visible on his left sleeve

25 years after his death, the pirates wore another patch in clemente's honor.  this time, they wore it on their right sleeves, as seen on kevin young's 1998 topps card

here's a better look at the patch.

we almost get a full glimpse of it on francisco cordova's 1998 upper deck card

but jose guillen's 1998 donruss collections leaf card is probably the clearest example i have

i believe that the pirates wore these patches at home in lieu of the jackie robinson patch.  the white sox did something familiar, but i'll cover that in a future post.  the 1998 cards don't show up in my binder since they aren't the 'official' memorial patches.

to close out this post (and the year), here are a couple clemente cards released well after his death.

1987 donruss

and 2001 topps golden moments subset

he was a good one.

happy new year everybody!

one post for every consecutive game

this is my 1207th post on this blog. i've missed some days, and even weeks, since starting this blog over 3 years ago.  steve garvey didn't miss any games during his consecutive games streak which lasted 1207 contests and ended on july 29, 1983.  it was a feat so impressive that it has a blog named after it.

in honor of reaching this milestone, i offer up twelve steve garvey cards - one for every one hundred posts/consecutive games.  yes, i know he ended his streak as a padre, but first humor me some dodger cards.

perhaps my second favorite garvey card (1978 topps cannot be topped) was issued in 1974.  this happens to be the o-pee-chee version

 as is this 1975 card recapping the 1974 nlcs

garvey aka mr. clean playing the part of pigpen.  very nice.

i had planned, and may still get around to posting oddball team sets, or at least the infield's cards.  in the meantime, here are some garveys that i had already scanned.  this is his 1977 hostess twinkles card

 and this is his 1979 hostess card

what are the chances that the photos come from the same shoot?  fairly high, i would guess.  now we move away from snack cakes towards breakfast cereals. here's a 1981 kellogg's card

followed by the 1982 kellogg's issue

i'm not sure when the garv started to wear the red-white-blue sweatband, but he didn't carry it over to the padres, that's for sure.  here's his 1987 donruss card

 along with a 1987 fleer star stickers card

and a 1999 fleer sports illustrated card showing the si cover from the week garvey broke billy williams' national league consecutive game record (a game which i attended)

you can see in that photo that garvey has chosen the matchy-match yellow sweatband.

back to the 1970's, sort of, with a 2001 ud decade 1970's card - this one's from the award winners subset

 with the 1974 nl mvp getting his groove on apparently.

his 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics card is more refined

it's an image from the 1978 world series (notice the jim gilliam '19' patch), and if i remember my sports illustrateds correctly, that photo is of garvey fielding a throw as thurman munson bears down on first base.  pretty sure.

last year, topps chose to reprint garvey's 1982 in action card

which showcased the part of his swing that had the least amount of action.  here's the (original) back so we can remind ourselves of some of popeye's accomplishments as a dodger

so that was twelve cards for twelve-hundred games.  i guess i need something to cover the other seven, so i'll use a card that should have been created by jason at the writer's journey.  it's a 2011 topps gypsy queen garvey

that uses an image of the dodgers' first baseman receiving applause for his 1000th consecutive game.

here's to you, nl iron man.  and thanks to all of you for reading all/most/some of my 1207 ramblings.

for richert, for the dodgers. twice.

[this is the twentyninth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, and mike devereaux.]

lefty pete richert signed with the dodger in the late 1950's and made his big league debut for them in april of 1962.  topps was kind enough to let us know on his 1962 card that he was, in fact, a 1962 rookie

richert split his time between the starting rotation and the bullpen from '62 through 1964, and although he pitched in 20 regular season games in 1963, he did not appear in the world series that year against the yankees.  while i am not sure if he was on the postseason roster or not, it is worth noting that the dodgers used only 4 pitchers that series - 2 complete games by sandy koufax, another by don drysdale, and an 8.1-inning effort by johnny podres who was relieved for less than a full inning by ron perranoski.  a year later, richert threw his first career complete game for the dodgers (a 2-hitter) against the mets in september of 1964.  a few months later, he was dealt to the senators in the frank howard/claude osteen deal.

after two all-star seasons as a starting pitcher in washington, richert was traded to the orioles.  here's his 1970 topps card as proof

the orioles wound up putting richert in the bullpen full-time, and reaped the rewards.  with richert helping to close out games, baltimore appeared in the world series three straight years from 1969 through 1971.  richert made exactly one appearance in each series, with his 1969 appearance being the most memorable.  in game 4 of the series, richert was called upon in the bottom of the tenth inning wit nobody out and two men aboard.  jc martin attempted a sacrifice, but richert's throwing error allowed jerry grote to score, and the mets won the game to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead.  things were better for richert and the o's in 1970, as he earned a save in game 1 of that fall classic when he relieved jim palmer with two outs in the ninth, a one run lead, and pete rose on first, getting bobby tolan to make the final out of the game.

after the 1971 season, richert was traded back to the dodgers in the frank robinson deal, and his status as a double dipper was established.  he stayed for two seasons, and grew some nice sideburns as seen on his 1974 o-pee-chee card

by the time the 1974 season rolled around however, richert was in saint louis pitching for the cardinals.

in other news, richert is a good signer, and i have been on the receiving end of his kindness a couple of times.  here's a 1962 topps card (looks like a green tint variation) that he signed for me

as well as a 1964 topps card

a 1973 topps card

and a 1974 topps card

he also signed one of his 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams cards

i'm glad he doesn't hold any ill will towards 1969.

as a reminder, my 'timeless teams' blog kicks off on 1/2/12.  i'll get to richert and his teammates a few posts in.

here's to you (and thanks), pete richert - a dodger double dipper!

topps or o-pee-chee?

it's time once again to play that age old game - topps or o-pee-chee?  take a look at what i like to call the greg shanahan rookie card from 1974.  dave freisleben (a don martin character's last name if i ever heard one) is shown in a padres uni but is affiliated with 'washington'.

then there is this version, in which freisleben is listed as a padre.

which is topps and which is o-pee-chee?

while you ponder, i will point out that this is shanahan's only card.  he had debuted in september of 1973 against the giants and in his one inning of relief on september 3, he retired all three batters he faced, including striking out willie mccovey for his first career k.  shanahan pitched in 6 other games over the final month of the season, earning his lone career save in his last 1973 appearance.  he also made it to the plate twice.  his first career at-bat resulted in a hit by pitch courtesy of fred norman.  the second time he came to the plate, he struck out against someone named fred snook of the washington nat'l league san diego padres.

shanahan pitched again for the dodgers in 1974, appearing in 4 games over august and september.  he finished on a decent note, but never appeared in the majors again.

back to the cards.  i am sure you are aware  that they are both topps issues.  i guess it was such a sure thing that the padres were going to move to washington dc for the 1974 season that topps printed the cards with the 'washington natl league' moniker instead of 'san diego padres'.  they also issued the cards with the san diego designation, and i believe that the washington cards are considered the variations.

of course, if you've been following the goings on over at my other blog oh my o-pee-chee!, you would know that the only variations in the 1974 o-pee-chee set are the hank aaron specials and the displacement of a few other cards.

anyway, here is the actual o-pee-chee card

i have two copies of the o-pee-chee version.  freisleben is with 'washington' on both because, unlike topps, o-pee-chee did not issue a san diego version.  all of the other padres, however, are listed as such as o-pee-chee did not do washington variants for those cards. confusing at best.

my magnificent 7 (or is it the nefarious 9?)

i am stealing this idea from dan at saints of the cheap seats, who stole it from the collective troll. no shame in stealing a good idea. anyway, these are the 7 cards that are mocking me from afar, yet to join my collection. if you have any of them and can help me out, please let me know.

1 - 2003 topps tribute perennial all-star #10 roberto clemente - i need this one to complete the set.

2 - 1976 topps #5 tom seaver record breaker - not the only card i need from the 1976 set, but i hate having an empty space on the first page in the binder.

3 - 2003 upper deck vintage #81 kazuhisa ishii - a short print in this awesome 1965 topps knock-off set.

4 - 1975 topps #473 ken mcmullen the one i have in my dodger collection is horribly disfigured as you can see.

5 - 1974 opc #575 steve garveyi have one in my garvey collection, but am missing only this card in the 1974 opc dodger collection.

6 - 2008 topps heritage high numbers #696 mark sweeney - a late season issue, and a short print at that.

7 - 1997 dodgers mother's/1997 dodgers police/1998 dodgers police sets, but specifically bill russell since these are his only cards as the dodgers' manager.

8 - 1976 sspc #594 checklist 6 (ralph branca, carl erskine, pee wee reese). some nice oldtimers from a non-descript set.

9 - 1977 topps cloth sticker checklist (national league all-stars, middle card, middle row). the one with bill russell and steve garvey and half of rick rhoden, among others.

wait, that's nine. oh well, they're all driving me crazy!

let me know if you can help me out with any of these!