another page of cards from the steve garvey binders - the padres have infiltrated the collection!

ten sheets into the main steve garvey binders and we start to see the brown and yellow padre uniforms.  take a look.

these cards are:

1. 1983 fleer
2. 1983 o-pee-chee
3. 1983 topps
4. 1983 topps traded
5. 1984 donruss
6. 1984 drake's
7. 1984 fleer
8. 1984 fleer (superstar special)
9. 1984 milton bradley championship baseball

and here are the backs

while the 1983 fleer card gives us a rare locker room shot, my favorite card of this bunch is the 1983 o-pee-chee due to the text and team variation it possesses.  the 1984 fleer superstar special celebrates the garv's 1,207 consecutive game streak, although it mistakenly lists him as "the major leagues' most durable player" even though his streak was ended due to a season-ending injury in july of 1983.  in fact, pete rose took over as the most durable player until his streak of 745 straight games came to an end about a month after garvey's.  to be fair, garvey did return to assemble another streak of about 300 straight games from 1984-1986.

on the road with mike morgan

mike morgan pitched for 12 different teams in 13 different stops (he double dipped with the cubs) over the course of 22 big league seasons.  those 12 different uniforms morgan wore were a record until octavio dotel made it to 13 in 2012.

morgan began his career as the 4th overall pick in 1978, and he was rushed to the majors less than two weeks later by a's owner charlie finley who obviously wasn't paying attention when the rangers made the same mistake with david clyde earlier in the decade.  morgan pitched a complete game in his big league debut as an 18-year old, but took the loss.  he lost his other two starts that season, and was 2-10 for the a's in 1979.  so, by the time this 1980 topps future stars card featuring morgan

was released, he was 2-13 as a major league pitcher, and he had also pitched in his last big league game for the franchise.  as an aside, kirk gibson was taken by the tigers with the 15th pick in that draft, and cal ripken jr was taken with the 22nd pick of the 2nd round.  i point this out not to disparage mike morgan, as he had a decent big league career, but rather to note that the team that drafted ahead of the orioles in the second round was the dodgers, who passed on ripken (then a third baseman) to take a different high school shortstop named clay smith.

anyway, morgan spent all of 1980 in the minors, and was traded to the yankees following the conclusion of the season.  he made it back to the majors in 1982, going 7-11 for the bronx bombers in 23 starts and 7 relief appearances.  he was traded to the blue jays after the season ended (with fred mcgriff!), but we were still treated to this 1983 fleer card showing him in yankee apparel.

topps also had him as a yankee in their 1983 set, but included him as a blue jay in the 1983 traded set

with the jays in '83, morgan was 0-3.  he pitched in 16 games, 4 of which were starts.  he spent all of 1984 back in the minors, and was taken by the mariners in the rule v draft prior to the 1985 season.  morgan took his 9-27 career record to seattle, where he made 2 starts (he was 1-1 in those starts) in 1985 before becoming a fixture in the rotation for both the 1986 and 1987 seasons.  he lost 17 games in both of those campaigns, however, leading the league in that category in 1986.  still, he won 11 and 12 games, respectively, kept his era below 5.00, and threw his first 3 career shutouts with the m's.  morgan was still a mariner on his 1988 donruss card

even though he was traded to the orioles in december of '87.  they got things updated in the 1988 donruss baseball's best set (also known as the halloween set)

morgan spent just that one season with the orioles, going 1-6 in 22 games, 10 of which were starts.  he had a cumulative record of 34-68 and had pitched for 5 different teams when dodger gm fred claire traded mike devereaux to the orioles in march of 1989 to acquire the 29-year old morgan.

the dodgers used morgan primarily as a starter to begin the 1989 season, and he responded nicely to his first taste of national league play.  morgan was 6-8 with a 1.79 era at the all-star break, but lost his first three starts of the second half with his era jumping to 2.61, and so was sent to the bullpen for the remainder of the season.  he finished with a record of 8-11 and a (by far) career best 2.53 era.  here's his 1990 upper deck card, featuring him dealing in dodger stadium.

over the next two seasons, the dodgers used morgan almost exclusively as a starter (he had one relief appearance against 66 starts in that span).  morgan was 11-15 in 1990, leading the league with 4 shutouts, and posted the first winning record of his career in 1991, going 14-10 with a 2.78 era and an all-star berth to boot.  morgan got to pitch the 9th inning of the midsummer classic, retiring hall of famers kirby puckett, carlton fisk (by strikeout), and roberto alomar in order.  he was also the national league player of the week for the last week in june, thanks to two complete game victories.  as a dodger, morgan was 33-36 with an era just over 3.00, and he decided to sign with the cubs as a free agent.

morgan went on to have one of his best seasons in 1992, going 16-8 with a 2.55 era in 34 starts.  he pitched for the cubs for a total of 3-plus seasons before being traded to the cardinals in june of 1995.  here's his 1993 bowman card

as i mentioned above, morgan had two different stints with the cubbies. the first time around, he was 30-34 in 85 starts.  from there, he was 9-14 for the cardinals between june of 1995 and august of 1996 when he was released.  the reds took a chance on morgan for the last month of the '96 season, and he posted a 2.30 era in 5 starts for them, although he was just 2-3 in those games.  he stayed with cincy in 1997, going 9-12, and was signed by the twins for the 1998 season.  morgan was traded to the cubs during the 1998 season after pitching in 18 games (17 starts) for the twins in his first american league (non-interleague) action since joining the dodgers in 1989.  he was 4-2 for the twinkies, but 0-1 for the cubs down the stretch.  still, morgan got his first taste of postseason play with those 1998 cubs, pitching a perfect 1.1 innings over two appearances in the nlds against the braves.  from there, it was on to texas for the 1999 season where the 39-year old went 13-10 in 34 appearances, 25 of which were starts.

at this point in morgan's career, he was 134-180, having pitched for 11 teams, and his days of being primarily a starter were behind him.  he signed with the diamondbacks, his record breaking 12th team, for the 2000 season, and stayed with them through the 2002 campaign - the last of his career.  here's his 2001 topps card

because the diamondbacks used morgan primarily as a reliever, he pitched in more games (120) wearing their hideous uniforms than any other - the dodgers were second at 107.  he had a record of 7-6 with 5 saves for arizona, and also picked up a world series ring in 2001 (he threw 4.2 scoreless in the fall classic against the yankees, although he did allow an inherited run (turned out to be the winning run) to score in game 3).

so, there you have it.  mike morgan was 141-186 for 12 different teams.  he won more games (33) for the dodgers than any other team, and also had his lowest cumulative era (3.06) in dodger blue.  so, here's a signed 1991 donruss card that i picked up at the local monthly card show a couple of years ago.

it was signed during his fleeting tenure with the twins, which ended with that trade with the cubs.

i suppose i'll do one of these for dotel, since he spent all of a month or so with the dodgers.  stay tuned...

the 1978 topps dodgers who weren't dodgers in 1983 (except one)

let's get this post started with charlie hough, who was in his 3rd full season with the rangers in 1983.  

it was also his second season as a full-time starter (although he did make one relief appearance that year).  he was 15-13 with 11 complete games and 3 shutouts to go with an era of 3.16.  that era mark was better than the 3.95 that he posted in 1982 which earned him a spot on the rangers' team leaders card

i was not a big fan of these team leader cards, probably because they weren't around when steve garvey was leading the dodgers in batting average, and by the time they did appear, he was hitting under .300. back to hough, who also had a scoreless innings streak of 37.1 innings late in the season, throwing three consecutive shutouts.  he also pitched 10.2 innings in one start in a losing cause earlier in the year.

it was good to see hough recently on the mlb network.  i caught a few minutes of that knuckleball show with tim wakefield and the hugely annoying kevin millar.  why he was on the show, or any show for that matter, is beyond me.  anyway, hough was there, too which was nice.

next up is tommy john.

john made 34 starts for the angels in 1983, and had a record of 11 wins and 13 losses.  he threw 9 complete games (one of which was a 12-inning effort!) and had an era of 4.33.

he also received a 'super veteran' card from topps

which recognized his (at that point) 20-year career (19 if you don't count the season he lost to his eponymous surgery).

lee lacy had only played for 12 years through 1982, 4 of which had been with the pirates.

he was in pittsburgh for another year in 1983, and he hit over .300 (.302) for the third time in three seasons.  he played 98 games in the field (playing all three outfield positions) and did not commit an error.  lacy hit 4 home runs that year, with one of them being his second career lead-off home run.

davey lopes didn't have any lead-off homers among his 17 long balls in 1983, but he did hit two in a game against former teammate don sutton

the second of those home runs came in the bottom of the 9th against the brewers on may 23 with the a's down by a run.  with lopes' blast having tied the score, the two teams played on until the 17th inning when lopes sacrificed to set up rickey henderson's game winning hit.  overall, lopes hit .277 and stole 22 bases in 26 attempts, including thefts of second and third in the same inning against the white sox on june 12.  1983 would be lopes' last year as an everyday second baseman, and he appeared in 147 games while also spending time at third base, dh, and the outfield.

rick rhoden went 13-13 for the pirates in 1983 in 35 starts.

rhoden also made a relief appearance, earning the only save of his career in a win against the cubs on april 17.  among his starts were 7 complete games and 2 shutouts, and his 244.1 innings pitched and 153 strikeouts were, at that point, career highs.

here's where we would normally see reggie smith, but i am going to give him a proper 'final tribute' sendoff, since 1982 was his last season in the majors.  so, we move on to elias sosa.

sosa, as seen above, got a nice action shot from topps in the flagship set as a tiger (plus an inset photo taken in yankee stadium), but he did his work in 1983 for the padres.  he was shown as a friar in the 1983 topps traded set.

1983 was also sosa's last year in the majors.  he appeared in 41 games, including the 600th of his career in his next to last appearance.  he also made his third and final career start in 1983, getting the call in the second game of a doubleheader on august 29th.  in that game, sosa hit an rbi single in what would be his final big league at bat, while allowing 3 runs in 5+ innings.  although sosa and the padres had the lead when he left the game, the pads wound up losing, unfortunately.  sosa did pick up a win earlier in the season to go with four losses, bringing his career record to 59-51.  sosa's career came to a close in atlanta, where he faced dale murphy (walk) and bob watson (fly out) in 0.1 innings of work on september 18.

don sutton had an off year for the brewers in 1983.

for the first time in his career, he failed to win at least 11 games.  his record was 8-13 in 31 starts.  although he had an era of 4.08, his whip was a respectable 1.19, and he probably should have had a record more in the neighborhood of 17-10 or something like that.  sutton did keep his streak of 100-strikeout seasons alive, however, passing the century mark in that category for the 17th season in a row.  one of those strikeouts, victimizing alan bannister of the indians on june 24, 1983, was the 3000th k of sutton's career.

sutton's career at that point was only 17 years old, too, which means that he had never struck out fewer than 100 batters in any season.  topps included sutton in the 'super veteran' subset

that is a young sutton there with the dodgers.  he's got his 'baby new year' ears.

so, there you go - the non-dodgers from the 1978 topps dodger lineup, as they were in 1983.  well, all except one.  even though i'm going to show reggie smith's cards in a separate post, i'll go ahead and update the evolutionary stats.  there were 17/27 members of the 1978 topps dodgers featured by topps in 1982. here's the tally to date:

baker 13 (1971-1983)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 12 (1972-1983)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 12 (1972-1983)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 13 (1971-1983)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 12 (1972-1983)
hough 12 (1972-1983)
john 20 (1964-1983)
lacy 11 (1973-1983)
lasorda 9 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983)
lopes 11 (1973-1983)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 17 (1967-1983)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 10 (1972-1981)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 9 (1975-1983)
russell 14 (1970-1983)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 9 (1974-1983)
sutton 18 (1966-1983)
yeager 11 (1973-1983)

teams represented so far: 22 (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)

the 1978 topps dodgers that were still dodgers (sort of) in 1983

1983 - a year in which the dodgers reached the nlcs for the 4th time in 7 years - was in a lot of ways the last hurrah for the 1978 topps dodgers.  at least for those who remained with the team.  topps featured 9 of them in dodger blue in the flagship set that year, but only 6 were actually with the club, and one of those six (dusty baker) played his final game as a dodger in '83.

baker played left field for the dodgers in 143 games and appeared in 6 others as a pinch hitter.  his .260 average was 40 points lower than it had been in 1982, but he had only two fewer extra base hits than the previous year.  he hit 15 home runs, 6 of which came against the cardinals including 2 in a game on july 11.  baker's second homer that day was a walk-off job hit off of hall of famer bruce sutter.  in the playoffs, baker was great.  although in a losing cause, baker hit .357 and scored half of the eight runs that the dodgers managed in the four game series.  he also hit one of the two home runs (mike marshall hit the other) that the team mustered.

ron cey got a card as a dodger in the 1983 set

but he was one of those so featured that wore a different uniform during the season.  topps got it right with the traded set when they put the penguin in chicago pinstripes.

cey had a great first year in chicago.  he hit 24 home runs and drove in 90 - his highest rbi total since 1977.  he raised his average by 21 points to .275 and his ops by 54 points to .805 when compared to the previous season.  he also matched his career high with 159 games played.  the cubs, however, finished fifth in the nl east.  perhaps the highlight of cey's season, other than being name checked in manager lee elia's famous tirade against the cub's fans, was hitting the lone inside the park home run of his career.  from what i can gather, that particular home run was aided by the wrigley field wind and the fact that dave parker took a hard run into the wall in pursuit of the fly ball.  oh well, it looks like a line drive in the box score.

here's terry forster, another guy featured in the 1983 set as a dodger

while playing elsewhere that season.  forster, like cey, was featured in the traded set in his new team's apparel.  in forster's case, that was the uniform of the atlanta braves.

looks like forster picked up a pose from a former teammate - he's suttoning! forster had signed with the braves as a free agent after the 1982 season, and he pitched well for them in '83.  he appeared in 56 games for the second year in a row, but was used more as a closer than he had been during his last few years in la.  forster saved 13 games for the braves, combining with steve bedrosian to form a lefty-righty closer committee in the bullpen.  he also won 3 games and had an era of 2.16.  best of all, the braves let forster bat 9 times, and he responded with 4 hits including a double and a sacrifice for a average of .500 and an ops of 1.125.  at that point, forster's career average stood at a lofty .408.

the last of the 1978 topps dodgers to be shown as a dodger in the 1983 flagship set but not play for the team is steve garvey

he spent the season with the padres, and was featured as such in the traded set

wearing the uniform that he said made him look like 'a taco', garvey extended his consecutive game streak to 1207, along the way breaking billy williams' national league record of 1117 while visiting dodger stadium (i was there, by the way, and obtained my only in person garvey autograph that night).  unfortunately for the garv, the streak ended after he hurt his thumb on a play at the plate in late july, causing him to miss the rest of the season.  statistically, garvey had a decent year going at the time of his injury.  he was batting .294 with 14 home runs and 59 rbi, but perhaps most impressively, he had already scored 76 runs!  that was more than he scored in 1982 in 62 more games!  he didn't hit 2 home runs in any games, and 10 of his home runs were solo shots, but he did manage to hit a couple against fernando valenzuela.  his final home run of the season, number 233 of his career, was a grand slam.

burt hooton was a dodger in 1983, both by topps' standards and by his actions.

at one point in the season, before the all-star break, hooton had a record of 8-2 with 3.34 era.  he finished the season with a 9-7 record and an era of 4.22.  after spending pretty much the entire month of september in the bullpen following the acquisition of rick honeycutt, he did not pitch in the nlcs against the phillies.

making a triumphant return to the topps set, tommy lasorda received his first solo card since 1978 after managers took a one year hiatus from the set.

looks like tommy is confirming directions to the nearest italian eatery.  i should have scanned the back because it featured both tommy's major league career pitching stats and his minor and major league managerial stats.  the 1978 card only featured his major and minor league playing stats.  at any rate, lasorda improved upon those managerial stats in 1983.  he led the club to 91 wins and was two playoff wins shy of reaching his fourth world series in seven years.  at the end of the season, his record as manager stood at 608 wins and 479 losses.

rick monday was still a dodger in 1983.

although used mostly as a pinch hitter, monday did make some spot starts and wound up playing in 99 games over the course of the season.  he hit .247 with 6 home runs, including two in the same game against the giants.  mo made one appearance in the 1983 nlcs, and it wasn't much of an appearance.  he was announced as a pinch hitter late in game 4, but when the phillies brought in lefty al holland, monday himself was pinch hit for by jose morales.

bill russell was still the dodgers' regular shortstop in 1983

he played in 131 games for the dodgers that year, with 122 starts at short.  he hit a disappointing .246, but played well in the nlcs as he had throughout his career.  against the phillies in the playoffs, russell hit .286 with a run scored and a stolen base to boot.  i should mention that he also hit the final home run of his career in 1983, a game-winning two-run shot against the reds in the top of the 9th inning that put the dodgers ahead to stay, 3-2.

the last of the dodgers in 1983 is steve yeager

like russell, yeager was a regular in 1983 (although that was largely due to mike scioscia's season ending rotator cuff injury), starting 96 games for the dodgers behind the plate, and appearing in 113 games total (he missed 22 games in august due to injury and was given more time off down the stretch in september).  at the plate, yeager hit a low (even for him) .203, and hit 15 home runs - the second highest total of his career.  twice he had two home runs in the same game (once against tom seaver), and he also hit a 14th-inning walk-off home run agains the astros.  in the nlcs, yeager platooned behind the plate with jack fimple.  yeager started the two games in which the phillies sent steve carlton to the mound (he was 1 for 5 against lefty and 0 for 1 against southpaw holland), and fimple started the other two games against right-handed starters john denny and charles hudson.

i'll address the 1978 topps dodgers who were not dodgers in any way, shape, or form in 1983 with the next post.

current events on the ttm front

in an effort to stay current with my ttm returns (which doesn't make sense when i have some ttm successes from 2009 that i haven't posted yet), here's a card i received in the mail on tuesday.  it's a 1983 topps traded greg brock card

the heir to steve garvey's position signed the card in about a week which is awesome.  thanks greg!

and don't worry - there is a much more interesting post in the hopper for this afternoon.  be sure to come back and check it out, if you like art.

four more years of the topps dodger autograph project - 1980 through 1983

let's kick off the 80's entries in the topps dodger autograph project with jerry reuss.  why? because i said so.  as always, these cards were signed through the mail for free (unless otherwise noted). 

jerry reuss, 1980 topps

reuss is a good signer, and his website has a bunch of cool photos and info.  plus, he no-hit the giants.   i have a few other 1980 topps cards signed by dodgers, including traveling secretary billy delury, joe beckwith, joe ferguson, steve garvey, charlie hough, von joshua, lerrin lagrow, manny mota (i also purchased a signed record breaker somewhere along the way), doug rau, bill russell, derrel thomas, and gary thomasson.

doug rau, 1981 topps

dougie! another good ttm signer, and another lefty.  i think 1981 topps is probably the set i have the most dodger autographs from after 1978.  i've had ttm successes with dusty baker, joe beckwith, ron cey, jack perconte, fernando valenzuela, joe ferguson, steve garvey, dave goltz, burt hooton, rudy law, jerry reuss, bill russell, don stanhouse (with fee), derrel thomas, and gary thomasson.  i have also also purchased cards signed by pedro guerrero, davey lopes and bob welch.  that still leaves me 12 short of the entire team. not that i'm trying.

ken landreaux, 1981 topps traded

the traded sets are kind of a bonus to this project, but if i have 'em i'll show 'em.  landreaux signed a couple of cards for me which was nice, but for some reason fernando declined to sign his card from this set.  i think they are the only two dodgers in the set.  i do have a doug rau signed card, but he was an angel in the set

dave goltz, 1982 topps

goltz gets a lot of grief from dodger fans, but he's from minny so i am using him as the poster boy for the 1982 set.  i also have ttm autos from ron cey (i also have one of his 'in action' cards signed but not posted), steve garvey, steve sax. purchased terry forster, steve garvey, dave lopes, rick monday, jerry reuss, and a mike marshall/ron roenicke/steve sax trio signed rookie card.

jose morales, 1982 topps traded

jose is the only card from this set that i have signed.  he joined the dodgers in april of 1982 and hit .300 for them that year, exclusively as a pinch hitter.

ron roenicke, 1983 topps

strangely, i don't have very many 1983 topps cards signed.  in fact, the only ttm success i have aside from the brewers manager is jerry reuss.  that's probably because i don't have any doubles from this set lying around.  i do have a nice dave stewart signed card that i purchased a while back, though.

rafael landestoy, 1983 topps traded

landestoy likes the high heat!  he's a double dipper and part of the 1978 topps dodgers burger king/update set.  i also have signed cards from this set of jose morales (who was somewhat inexplicably included in the set), and pat zachry.

here's the list of each year's representative card (so far):

1951 topps - preacher roe (purchased)

1952 topps - rocky bridges

1953 topps - bobby morgan

1954 topps - billy herman (purchased)

1955 topps - don zimmer (purchased)

1956 topps - randy jackson

1957 topps - carl erskine

1958 topps - joe pignatano

1959 topps - fred kipp

1960 topps - chuck essegian

1961 topps - bob aspromonte

1962 topps - norm sherry

1963 topps - ed roebuck

1964 topps - ken mcmullen

1965 topps - dick tracewski

1966 topps - john kennedy

1967 topps - phil regan

1968 topps - jim campanis

1969 topps - jeff torborg

1970 topps - al mcbean

1971 topps - sandy vance

1972 topps - manny mota

1973 topps - wes parker

1974 topps - claude osteen

1974 topps traded - jim wynn

1975 topps - ron cey

1975 topps mini - joe ferguson

1976 topps - bill russell

1976 topps traded - dusty baker

1977 topps - steve garvey

1978 topps - dave lopes

1979 topps - charlie hough

1980 topps - jerry reuss

1981 topps - doug rau

1981 topps traded - ken landreaux

1982 topps - dave goltz

1982 topps traded - jose morales

1983 topps - ron roenicke

1983 topps traded - rafael landestoy

more morales

it's another crossover post between garveyceyrusselllopes and oh my o-pee-chee today, thanks to pinch hitter extraordinaire jose morales.

his 1977 o-pee-chee record breaker card uses a different photo than the one on the topps version of the card; the version that jose signed for me through the mail a while back.

hey - the red white and blue of the expos helmet makes this a legitimate 4th of july post, right?

this was my second success with morales, having received three signed cards from him the first time around. i had him sign a second copy of his 1983 topps traded card just because.

the cool thing about this request is that morales had moved between the time i sent him the first request and this one.  i received my cards back with that yellow sticker on the envelope - his mail didn't forward - and the sticker had his new address listed.  just like if i had sent a birthday card to cousin alice  instead of some baseball cards to one of the best pinch hitters in history.

thanks jose!

war

11 days to go/day 3 of the countdown.  that means it's war.  u2's third album.  it was released in march of 1983, and thanks to some savvy friends, i was quickly made aware of it.  to be honest, i didn't think too much of it at the time - i was instead focused on the internal war going on within my baseball fandom.

steve garvey was no longer a dodger. 

i was truly confused.  i had been a dodger fan for the past 5 years and, like most other boys in my neighborhood, steve garvey was my favorite player.  i was in a baseball card shop in santa barbara the day he officially became a free agent, and the shop owner was the one who told me.  i had avoided the morning newspaper even though my dad told me not to get my hopes up, hoping that if i didn't know about it, it wouldn't really be true.  thanks baseball card shop owner.

that meant that this guy, greg brock

was going to get his shot filling garvey's shoes.  we had heard all about brock, and mike marshall, and candy maldonado, and all the other studs down at albuquerque waiting for their turns in the big leagues.  now, with garvey gone and ron cey traded as well, i had a decision to make - do i cheer for the name on the front of the jersey, or the name on the back?  i chose the front.  i recalled how quickly i had warmed to the idea of steve sax at second instead of davey lopes, and i figured what the heck.  it's only a game.  kidding. i did choose to remain a dodger fan, but i still mourned the loss of garvey and made sure my dad got us tickets to the first series that the padres played in la in 1983.  that was when i got my only garvey in person autograph while getting to see him break billy williams' nl consecutive games played record.

brock had a tough road to hoe in 1983, but he managed to hit 20 home runs and drive in 66.  he walked 83 times which was unheard of for a dodger first baseman (meaning garvey).  my apathy towards him waned as the season went on and the dodgers were in the pennant race.  by the time they clinched the nl west, i was openly cheering for brock.  once he got into the postseason, brock struggled as did the rest of the team, but he had shown me that there would be life for the dodgers after garvey.  he had won the war.

a couple of years ago, i sent some cards to brock and asked him to sign them.  he did so on two separate occasions.  here's his 1983 fleer

complete with the news van in the background (or is that spicoli's van?) on the dodger stadium field.  here's his 1985 topps

1986 topps,

and 1987 topps

thanks greg!