still working my way through the steve garvey oddball binder

i haven't posted any pages from my steve garvey binders lately.  my goal is to post my entire garvey collection (at least what's in binders which really only leaves a couple of prints/posters) by the end of the year.  i'd better get moving if that's going to happen.

here are a few more sheets from the oddball binder.  i call it the oddball binder because it contains not only oddballs (duh), but also non-traditional sized cards, and other types of garvey stuff.  case in point - this circa 1971 dodger team issue photograph and a 1971 ticketron dodgers card

the photo is blank on the back, but the ticketron has the team's 1971 schedule on the back

i find it interesting to see that so few day games were played, and quaint that the lone weekday afternoon game was a special event. i guess 'getaway day' didn't matter as much back then.  more likely, the union hadn't addressed the issue of travel yet.

here are a couple of oversized cards that i've shown before from the 1977-79 sportscaster set

garvey got his own card, and then showed up on the all-star game card with joe morgan and carlton fisk.  here are the backs (they are flipped, so the one on the left is the all-star back)

i appreciate garvey showing up on another card, and it seems that the point of the photo was to show division rivals playing together for one night.  newer fans might not think much about it, but the dodger/red rivalry was a big deal when i was growing up. the big red machine and the big blue wrecking crew in the same division made for some good games and a healthy rivalry.

here are garvey's four dodger police cards.

issued beginning in 1980, garvey showed up in the inaugural set (upper left), the 1981 set, (upper right) and then appeared on two cards in 1982 - the world series celebration card and his solo card.

the backs are pretty interesting.  i appreciate the dodgers using garvey's throwing problems as an example of a tough situation that garvey had to work his way through.  if this card were published today, i would say that there are a few other tough situations he's had to deal with that would be better examples.

now we have reached the padres portion of the post.  here are, clockwise from the upper left, a 1983 topps foldout card, a 1984 donruss action all-stars card, a 1984 donruss champions card, and a 1986 donruss all-stars card

here are the backs (again, they are flipped)

bill madlock makes an appearance on the reverse side of the garvey foldout.  the mad dog's .316 average was tied with george brett for the second best career average among active players behind rod carew's .331.  garvey was down at 13, tied with fred lynn at .301.  not sure why carl hubbell is on the back of garvey's 1984 donruss champions card though.

i mentioned up above that my bindered garvey collection does not include posters.  well, it does include one - this 1984 sports illustrated poster that folds nicely to fit in a one-pocket ultra pro page.

i received it from another garvey collector - mrmopar - whose garvey collection is superior to mine.  i still have a bunch of oddballs to show, however, so stay tuned.

before the 'batting stance guy'...

...i was the 'pitching motion boy'.  i also did batting stances in my front yard - everyone from steve garvey to rod carew to willie stargell and pete rose.  later, i even modeled my high school stance on don mattingly - a little bit pigeontoed to try to engage my hips.

but, this post is about windups.  i mimiced luis tiant and most of the dodger starters - sutton, reuss, valenzuela i remember well.  one i particularly enjoyed was rick sutcliffe.

there were some similarities to don sutton's windup, but sutcliffe was more extreme with the way he tucked the ball by folding his right wrist while keeping his left leg straight, as demonstrated on his 1980

and 1981 dodgers police cards

his windup was fun to do.  it was a little bit herky-jerky, and it sure didn't feel natural.  i believe vin scully once said "there's a lot of sutcliffe going on out there'.  anyway, i broke out the sutcliffe windup a couple of times in little league with poor results as i recall.  everything was high thanks to the straight leg and over the top delivery.  my coach told me to pick a different windup.

unfortunately, i couldn't quite master the juan marichal leg kick.

bobby castillo came back for more

[this is the twentyseventh 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, and ismael valdes.]

bobby castillo was a dodger double dipper.  he burst on the scene in 1977 out of the dodger bullpen late in the season.  by the time 1981 rolled around, castillo was one of the dodgers' main relievers.

1981 turned out to be his worst season to date, though, as he had an era of 5.33 in 34 games.  his struggles continued in the postseason, as he pitched just 1 inning in the world series and walked 5 yankees.  those five walks resulted in one run in game 1 of the series, and castillo was not called upon again.  during the postseason, al campanis sent castillo to minnesota with bobby mitchell for a couple of minor leaguers.

a couple of months into the 1982 season, the twinkies moved castillo to the starting rotation.  he finished the season strong, going 8-3 in his final 11 starts to post a 13-11 record.  that 1984 donruss card is fairly tame, but i like 1984 donruss so there.  perhaps my favorite castillo card from his time with the twins is from the 1984 fleer set.  and it's not even his card!  he's lurking on frank viola's cardboard

that's pretty sweet. castillo stayed in minnesota through the 1984 season and then became a free agent.  the dodgers brought him back into the fold for the 1985 season and put him back in the pen.

he made 5 starts, too, i should mention, but 30 appearances out of the bullpen formed the bulk of his workload.  he was 2-2 but his era was again over 5.  he once again made the postseason roster and once again made just one appearance.  this time it was in the cardinals' game 4 blowout in the nlcs.  castillo relieved rick honeycutt (who had relieved starter jerry reuss).  castillo pitched 5.1 innings and gave up a couple of runs.

several months back, roberto at vin scully is my homeboy announced that castillo would be making an appearance at feeldz apparel in la.  being an out-of-state opportunist, i sent a couple of cards with a donation for mr. castillo c/o the store.  the guys at the store were great, tracking bobby down after his appearance as they apparently didn't open their mail in time.  here's his 1979 topps rookie card

and, of course, his 1978 topps card that should have been

very cool.  here's to you, bobby castillo - double dipper.  thanks for signing my cards, and a big thanks to roberto and the staff at feeldz for making it happen!

the dave stewart 1978 topps burger king dodger/update card that should have been

dave stewart made one appearance for the dodgers in 1978.  that's good enough for me to give him a spot in my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set.  here's the card that should have been to document his time as a member of the 1977 and/or 1978 dodger teams

here's the back

i used the image from stewart's 1981 dodgers police card

stewart made his big league debut on september 22, 1978 in mop-up duty against the padres.  i have previously mentioned that it was the same game in which pedro guerrero and brad gulden made their debuts, and gerry hannahs made his dodger debut that day as well.  stewart threw two scoreless innings, giving up just one hit while striking out one and facing only 6 batters (the single he allowed was erased on a double play).

he didn't get back to the big leagues until 1981 when he spent the year in the dodger's bullpen.  he was on the postseason roster for the nlds against houston, and took both of the dodgers' losses in that series.  in the world series, however, he pitched 1.2 scoreless innings over 2 games while earning the first of three world series championships.  his other two came in 1989 with the a's and 1993 with the blue jays.

stewart was traded by the dodgers to the rangers during the 1983 season in the rick honeycutt deal, and he pitched well for texas after the trade.  the next couple of years were tough, however, and he was dealt to the phillies where the wheels fell off.  released by philadelphia after less than a year, he was quickly signed by the a's and turned things aroung dramatically.
i almost forgot - stewart did have a photo in the dodgers' 1978 yearbook, so here's the card i made using that

intense.  i suppose that's the stare he gives ned while negotiating matt kemp's contract. 

i still have a couple more cards before this set is complete, but all of the 1977 or 1978 dodger players not featured as a dodger in the 1978 topps set have been celebrated.  last but not least - here's to you dave stewart!

the 1978 topps pedro guerrero card that should have been!

pedro guerrero turns 55 years old today.  happy birthday petey!  and, since guerrero suited up in 5 games for the 1978 dodgers, let's celebrate by showcasing his 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been:

here's the back - pedro gets the hero number, 750 in the set:

as with rudy law, i took the image from a 1980 dodgers police card.  i just couldn't pass up a dodger stadium image

speaking of law, guerrero first appeared in a topps set in 1979 alongside law and fellow 1978 dodger joe simpson

we'll get to simpson's card that should have been soon, but this post is supposed to be about the birthday boy. guerrero started in the minor leagues as a third baseman, but the dodgers moved him to first base when he went to aa in 1976.  he was promoted to aaa albuquerque for the 1977 season and played first exclusively until he was injured as mentioned on the card back above.  the dodgers, meanwhile, had a guy named steve garvey at first base, and the penguin at the hot corner, so guerrero was sol in that regard.  after a full year of aaa in 1978 as a first baseman, pedro played most of 1979 as an outfielder.

before that, however, he enjoyed a september call up with the big blue wrecking crew.  he debuted on september 22, 1978 as a pinch-hitter for rick sutcliffe and singled, later scoring on a reggie smith sac fly.  he next appeared four days later as a late-inning replacement at first for the garv, but didn't bat.  he went 1 for 2 in each of his next two games, and finished the season in game 162 with a 2 for 3 performance after taking over for garvey in the bottom of the first.  in all, guerrero's first taste of the big leagues resulted in a .625 average and on base percentage, three runs, a triple, and one rbi.  after his debut, all of his appearances were at first base in relief of garvey.  i will admit, i was a little concerned about this guy replacing my favorite player.  still, it was obvious that the dodgers had to find a place for him in the lineup.

in 1979, guerrero was called up in may and again in september.  he was a bench player in may, pinch-hitting and playing some first and third, but in september he made a number of starts, all in the outfield.  in 1980, he played all over the place - all three outfield positions, third, first, and even second base.  that led to some confusion, as in 1981, his dodgers police card showed him at first, but listed him as an outfielder.  it also referred to him as 'pete'.

topps went a different route and listed him as 'of-3b-1b' even though he made more appearances at second in 1980 than at first and third combined.  here's a copy of that 1981 topps card that he kindly autographed.

1981, of course, was when he came into his own and captured one-third of the world series mvp.  there was a feeling of a 'changing of the guard' with this young guy forcing his way into the veteran lineup, and soon davey lopes was gone and the team of my youth was forever changed.  i don't resent guerrero (or saxy) though - his 1985 season was a thrill to follow, and john tudor really helped out in '88 as well.

here's to you pedro!  happy birthday and thanks for the memories.  i'm glad you were a part of the 1978 dodgers.

the 1978 topps rudy law card that should have been

rudy law wasn't a member of the 1977 dodgers, but he did play for the team in 1978 which makes him a part of my 1978 topps burger king/update set that should have been.  here's rudy's entry into what would have been an awesome set.

complete with a back.

i really need to change up the 'play ball' thing - too many bases on balls with these cards that should have been.  i had originally used a team issued postcard (from 1980 i believe) for rudy's card,

but i much prefer the image from his 1981 dodger police card issued as a stadium giveaway.

i figure that as an update set, using an in game photo of a guy without any major league experience is forgiveable. just don't notice that he didn't play against the giants at dodger stadium in 1978.

law did show up in the 1979 topps set, along with fellow 1978 dodgers pedro guerrero and joe simpson,

both of whom will be getting their own entries into this set soon. unfortunately, law is shown in his albuquerque dukes uniform.

anyway, law made his debut on september 12 against the giants in candlestick. in a game the dodgers won 8-0, law was inserted as a pinch runner for joe ferguson in the 8th inning. he promptly stole second base, went to third on a bill russell single, and scored on a davey lopes double. all 3 of law's hits in 1978 came in the september 28 game against the reds. law made his first (and only) start that day, taking over in left field. he had 2 infield singles and another base hit to center, drove in a run, and stole a base. for the season, law hit .250 with 2 runs scored and 3 stolen bases.

he next appeared in the big leagues in 1980 when he was made the everyday centerfielder after a good showing in spring training. he set a dodger rookie record with 40 stolen bases that year, but was made expendable when the dodgers acquired kenny landreaux prior to the 1981 season. law wound up heading to chicago where he had some good seasons for the white sox. he is currently part of the dodgers' alumni speaking bureau, appearing on behalf of the team at various events.

here's to you rudy law, and your 1978 card(s) that should have been!