i collect what steve garvey items i can, and what i can't, i can

over the course of a couple of packages, reader mark sent me an eclectic mix of cards - dodgers and double plays and players from the team of my youth that were no longer dodgers.  however, the coolest thing he sent was a 1977 rc cola can

i used to drink royal crown cola, but i had forgotten what cans from back in those days were like.  steel and sturdy and sometimes with ballplayers on them.  this one features one steven patrick garvey.

now, this posed a dilemma for me.  i have, at times, owned some oddball, non-card items featuring the garv, but i haven't held on to all of them.  that mainly has to do with storage.  i do have a couple of bobbleheads, but i decided that the best thing to do here was to dismantle the can.  more on that later.

here's another sort of oddball - a 1969 mlb photo stamp of one and done dodger shortstop zoilo versalles

after playing for the dodgers in 1968, he was selected by the padres in the expansion draft but was traded to cleveland before the 1969 season began.  this magic hat seems more dodger that indian, so i will classify this as a dodger stamp.  cool.

i could have sworn that i picked up a copy of this 1980-88 baseball immortals sandy koufax card

a couple of years ago after seeing it on another blog, but it appears that i was mistaken.  i am very happy that mark sent me this card.

i'm not quite as excited about this 1992 score jose offerman rising star card

but, as a team collector, you take the good with the bad.

here's a 1994 conlon tsn card of nap rucker

rucker spent his entire 10 year career with the brooklyn franchise.  they were known as the superbas, dodgers, and robins during that time, and in 1915 (the year represented by the card), they were the robins.  he finished his career with a 134-134 record despite a nice 2.42 era.  i guess the franchise didn't provide much run support even back then.  anyway, rucker may or may not have been the inventor of the knuckleball.

i am not convinced that this 1992 upper deck jose lind card features a double play turn

but i do know that it features dodger stadium's low railing in the background!

here's a card of one of the 1978 topps dodgers and another knuckleballer, charlie hough

i have kind of/sort of expanded my collection of players from the 1978 topps dodger team from just topps releases to all releases, so this card is welcomed even if it is just a 1992 donruss card.

so, now back to the garvey can.  i was able to open it up pretty easily, but it's not quite as flat and smooth as one would like.

still, it will fit into a binder pretty nicely.

mark - thanks for the trades!

this card is bullshirt

there was so much potential for frank robinson's 1973 topps card.  it would have been one of the first dodger cards to feature in-game action, and more importantly, would have been his only regular base topps card showing him as a member of the dodgers.  as thankful as i am for the 1972 topps 'traded' card, i would have liked to have a good ol' regular base card with frobby's stats on the back.  that's why i am annoyed with topps that they only airbrushed out 'dodgers' on his jersey.  it would have been better had they found a head shot and airbrushed the heck out of it, like they did for bill singer.

anyway, i was once again perturbed in 2002 when i picked up this card from topps' american pie release

couldn't they have at least put the 'dodgers' script back on his chest?  actually, using a picture of him in an angels uniform would have made more sense since the jersey piece is certified by topps to be from a uniform robinson wore during the 1973 season.

so, there are still too few cards with frank robinson as a dodger, although i did recently discover this 1980-88 baseball immortals card

who knew?  this card makes sense only if duke snider's card from the set shows him as a met, or if they would have shown steve carlton as a twin or giant had the set continued to be expanded into the 1990's.  at any rate, it's nice to see 'dodgers' on frank robinson's shirt.