random rules the day

here's a smattering of randomness from the scanned folder.  no rhyme or reason, just some dodger cards…

1980 topps ken brett

when ken brett joined the dodgers, it was the first time that i became aware of the 'wrong brother' syndrome. not that i wanted george brett to join the dodgers and mess up the infield thing they had going on, but i still recognized that the younger george was the better player.  that wasn't what was expected, however, as ken brett was thought to be the best athlete in the family when he joined the red sox in the late 1960's.  with the dodgers, brett pitched in 30 games during the 1979 season and was released during spring training the following year.

1983 dodgers police tom lasorda

i used this photo for one of lasorda's cards that should have been.  i still have a few of those to make.

1984 ralston purina pedro guerrero

i found it odd that the same company that made dog food also made cereal.  anyway, i had a bunch of these mail in sets. or were those the cereal series cards that were mail ins?  i don't remember.  we ate a lot of chex cereal in 1984.

1987 baseball's all-time greats carl erskine

erskine threw 2 no-hitters (one against the giants) and struck out 13 yankees in a single world series game.  that's my kind of dodger.

1989 upper deck juan bell

more 'wrong brother' syndrome here.  bell was the younger brother of blue jays' slugger george bell.  the younger bell didn't actually play for the dodgers - he was part of the 'haul' that the orioles received in the eddie murray trade.

1990 topps mike morgan (in dodger stadium)

and 1991 topps stadium club mike morgan

i'm working on a 'on the road with mike morgan' post.  stay tuned.

1990 upper deck lenny harris

i could do a similar post for harris, i think.  although he only played for 8 franchises (morgan wore 12 different uniforms), he made multiple stops in cincinnati and new york.  no player has been used as a pinch hitter more than harris, and no player has more pinch hits than harris.

1990 upper deck mike marshall

between this mike marshall (who was a met when this card was issued) and the other mike marshall, there was a mike marshall in the major leagues from 1967 through most of the 1991 season.  i guess that's not that impressive, since nolan ryan was in the bigs from 1966 through 1993.

1992 donruss triple play roger mcdowell

to me, the oddest thing about this card is mcdowell's hair - forget about the sandpaper sticking out of the bottom of his pantlegs, what is that thing on his head?

there is no photo of the netherlands' female field hockey team in this post

sorry fanboys.  these are just some cards that i received from jeroen, the dutch card guy.  night owl used some fancy imagery to peak your interest in his post about cards he received from jeroen, but i won't do that here. 

i will wait for you to return from night owl's post, however.

ok, here we go.

i didn't get the shiny goods that greg did, but i did get a 1983 dodgers police dave stewart

and bob welch

i went to the games at which these sets were given away the first few years.  i had a love/hate relationship with the cards - really the only thing i didn't like was the size.  i am always curious how some people have one or two of these lying around.  i never considered breaking my sets up, but then again, i am a dodger collector.  these days, i do have some garvey singles in my garvey pc, but i still have the complete sets, too.

moving on, here's a 1987 indiana blue sox broder card of general soreness, mike marshall

and here's a fully licensed 2009 upper deck sp authentic card of matt kemp

remember when upper deck had a license to feature logos?  that was nice.  usually.

i didn't participate in the golden giveaway thingy last year, probably because i didn't buy any packs until update came out.  jeroen sent me a sandy koufax adorned code card which is nice

i might have to look for one of those cards on the secondary market.  it looks nice and shiny.

i'll end this trade post with a 2009 topps 206 james loney card

actually, i'll finish with a link to some photos of the netherlands' female field hockey team.  i'm sure james loney understands.

who's that lurker?

i'll forego the traditional bobby valentine card post on valentine's day to show off a favorite card of mine.  it's steve yeager's 1983 dodgers police issue which i obtained at a dodger game almost 29 years ago.  while i like steve yeager and the daytime image from dodger stadium, my favorite part of the card is the guy lurking in the background.  any guesses who it is?

obviously, it is one steven patrick garvey, patiently waiting on deck for yeager to finish his business.  i am guessing that one of the steves is pinch-hitting for someone since they didn't hit back-to-back in tommy's lineup.  well, what if i told you that they were both pinch-hitters?  well, they are - at least to a certain degree.

assuming this photo is from 1982 (garvey was long gone from chavez ravine in 1983), i can see thanks to baseball reference that yeager only pinch-hit at home a few times.  unfortunately, none of those occurrences came for dusty baker or ron cey or someone who hit in front of garvey in the lineup.  there was, however, the sunday game on august 29 against the cubs.  that day, lasorda sat regulars bill russell, steve yeager, and steve garvey.  both steves were eventually called upon to pinch-hit, with garvey getting the call in the 7th inning to hit for mark belanger after a mike scioscia single.  the garv grounded out (but he moved the runners up!) and stayed in the game batting in belanger's 8th spot.  two innings later, steve yeager pinch-hit for the left-handed hitting scioscia against the cubs' lefty reliever willie (later guillermo) hernandez.  yeager grounded out to end the game with garvey on deck.

i think that's a great card.

dodger double plays make cool cards

yes, it's true.  there are some killer dodger double play cards out there.  but don't worry, i'll be fair when i get around to seeding cards for the 'greatest double play card of all-time' tournament coming soon or relatively soon or maybe by the end of the year.

here are some fantastic (and maybe one or two pedestrian) dodger double play cards for your enjoyment.

how about a 1956 topps jim gilliam card to start things off.

this card loses some points since the dp turn is not the primary image on the card, but come on - it's a 1956 double play card!

fast forward about 40 years and we get this 1994 sportflics rookies and traded garey ingram card

i was not a ryan klesko fan back in the day.  even less so once he joined the padres.  so, it's nice to see him out two ways on that sportflics card.

howzabout a 1983 dodgers police derrel thomas card

super-utility thomas is crushing some giant's skull with his shin.  excellent.

not to be outdone, steve sax has turned two (or tried, at least) on his 1984 dodgers police card

brian downing looks like he did a steamroller slide into second, which saxy obviously avoided.  the bad part about this card is that it is probably too late in the turn to make the top 64.  play-in maybe?

this card is in the top 64, easy.  1996 topps stadium club chad fonville.

brian mcrae is hoping the fonz doesn't land on top of him.  i am sure he didn't - fonville could do no wrong in 1995.

alex cora and his 2005 upper deck first pitch card

it's ok, but it's no chad fonville.  i was shocked to learn that cora was still playing last year, by the way.

i'm not sure if i'll consider this card for the tourney or not - a 2010 topps update vintage legends pee wee reese card, in the style of 2003 topps

it's not a base issue and i am pretty sure it's a staged dp turn although jackie does a convincing backing up manuever.  the cons may outweigh the pros on that one.

this next one, however, may get a very high seeding.  it's pee wee's 2011 topps marquee card

pretty pretty.  love the socks on the cub (?) sliding in.  very nice card.

i'm off to do some seeding.  let me know if there are any double play cards that you think deserve consideration.  i won't have any trouble coming up with over 100 cards that i know of, but don't want to omit a nice dp turn caught on cardboard.

coaches, man. coaches.

well, the players who appeared for the dodgers in 1977 and/or 1978 that were left out of the 1978 topps set have all been accounted for.  what's left?  how about the coaches.  i used a picture from the 1978 photo album, and although it includes tom lasorda (whose eyes are closed i am pretty certain), it will have to do.  here is the 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been for the 1977/78 dodger coaching staff:

to lasorda's right we have preston gomez and to his left is jim gilliam - the longest tenured coach and second african-american coach in the majors.  kneeling in front are red adams, monty basgall, and mark cresse.  i did a back, too

i modeled the back after the rookie cards from the 1978 set

i prefer this type of coaches card to the floating head cards from the 60's and 70's, and it is along the same lines as the coaches cards from the dodgers police sets.  for example, here's the 1983 dodgers police coaches card, with basgall and cresse still on staff

the photo was recycled for the 1984 set, too.

let's give these guys their due.  preston gomez was lasorda's third base coach, replacing lasorda at that position for the dodgers.  gomez had previously been a coach for the dodgers in the late 60's before he left to manage the padres and then the astros.  he left the dodgers one more time to manage the cubs in 1980 before settling down in the angels organization, where he stayed until he passed away in 2009.

jim gilliam was the first base coach, and also filled the role of hitting coach.  a career dodger, gilliam's coaching career began in 1965, but he was added to the active roster in may of that year.  in 1966, he again filled the role of player-coach before becoming a full-time coach the following season.  gilliam suffered a stroke in mid-september 1978, and passed away in early october as the dodgers clinched the nl championship.  jim lefebvre was brought in to replace gilliam while the team wore '19' patches on their uniforms during the fall classic.

red adams was the pitching coach, and was revered by tommy john, don sutton and even the reclusive dr. mike marshall.  he filled that role from 1969 through 1980, serving both walt alston and lasorda.  adams is the one lasorda asks to 'give me a sign when i get out there' as he heads out to remove doug rau from the mound in his famous world series tirade.

monty basgall was another holdover from alston's staff.  he was originally signed as a player by the dodgers, but they traded him to the pirates before he reached the majors.  he re-joined the dodgers' organization as a scout in 1959 and was promoted to coach in 1973.  he is perhaps best known (and appreciated) for his work with the dodgers' long-running infield of garvey cey russell and lopes which included two converted outfielders and a third baseman who was moved to first base.  basgall remained on the coaching staff through the 1986 season, and was replaced by russell in 1987.

mark cresse is the only coach on the staff to not have any major league experience.  he spent 3 seasons in the cardinals' minor league system before joining the dodgers as their bullpen coach.  he stayed with the dodgers through 1998 and is currently running a baseball school in southern california.

here's to you, 1977/78 dodger coaches, and your card that should have been!

sometimes there's more than just stats on the back!

imagine if you will a boy pestering his father to schedule a family road trip to los angeles that coincides with baseball card night at dodger stadium.  imagine that the child succeeds, and arrives at the stadium with a sibling who doesn't give two cents about baseball cards, but receives them because they are under 14.  imagine this boy now having two sets of dodger police cards.  man, was i stoked.  not even the fact that these sets, started in 1980, were oversized could really dampen my excitement.

years later, it was that fact that would contribute to my renewed excitement.  you see, i have never been able to display the cards in sheets since they are such an odd size.  i would need the 4 pocket sheets and i have just not bothered to order any.  i was recently going through them when i noticed three cards in particular - steve sax,

mike scioscia,

and tom niedenfuer.

all three feature dodger stadium in the background, and the scioscia is somewhat reminiscent of that great 1976 topps johnny bench card - the catcher as victorious gladiator as the dust settles around home plate.

when the lapd first issued these types of cards, the backs had short writeups about drugs or other safety tips.  at some point, they abandoned that approach and put stats on the back like any normal card, and just offered their 'good wishes'.  you'll notice something else on the backs of these three cards:

seeing these signatures again for the first time in 30-some odd years, i have a slight recollection of collecting these autographs down by the dodger dugout, but they could also have been obtained at a pregame autograph station.  now, if i could only find that program that the penguin and dusty baker signed for me...