mostly smokeys from the garvey oddball binder

only you can guess which steve garvey card shown below isn't a smokey the bear issue.

those all come from the garvey oddball binder.  of course, the only card without smokey on it - the middle top card - is from 1986 donruss all-stars set, and is the pop-up garvey featuring the now demolished hubert h humphrey metrodome, site of the 1985 all-star game.  the others are all national forest service related giveaways.

speaking of the metrodome, i have seen regular season baseball games in 16 different stadiums.  however, three of those stadiums - jack murphy, busch, and the metrodome - either are not being used for baseball anymore or are no longer in existence.  i'll have to get back to san diego and saint louis sometime to see the new (to me) ballparks.

back to the cards.  starting at the top left, we have the 1984 smokey padres team set garvey, the aforementioned 1986 donruss all-stars pop-up garvey, a 1987 smokey dodgers all-star card of garvey, plus three garvey related cards from the 1987 smokey dodgers record breaker set.

garvey got three cards in the 1987 smokey dodgers set thanks to his membership in the record setting infield, his consecutive games played streak, and his involvement in the first quartet of teammates to each hit at least 30 homeruns in a season.  two of those three cards feature images made into giveaway bobbleheads, by the way.

here are the backs (reversed in order thanks to the fact that i just scanned the back of the 6-pocket page from the binder)

i have one other smokey card in the garvey binder - it comes from the 1987 national smokey bear day set.

unlike previous years, this was not a team/regional set.  in 1987, the set included players from every team.  here's the back

i wish smokey and his cubs would come to my house and do some gardening.

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.

all i see are all-stars

with the all-star game tonight, it seems appropriate to show this 1992 trak auto sheet of stamps that honors every dodger all-star from 1962 through 1992

as you can see, it was available for purchase at trak auto stores, either on its own or with a case of valvoline motor oil.

the full sheet of stamps is in one of my steve garvey binders, because i can't find this particular stamp all by its lonesome

1977 was a big year for dodger all-stars, but not as big as 1962, 1975, or 1978 when the dodgers had seven players on the national league squad, or even a few years when they sent 6 players.  garvey represented the dodgers in eight straight all-star games, and was the mvp of the 1974 and 1978 contests.  here is a better look at the stamps for the stretch of games in which garvey, as a dodger, was the starter for the national league at first base.

you may have noticed that the only dodger to get his mug shown twice on the whole sheet is tommy lasorda.

as a member of the padres, garvey returned to the all-star game in 1984 and 1985 as the first base starter for the national league, making his final all-star appearance in the '85 midsummer classic, which was the last time the all-star game was held in minneapolis.  here's a 1986 donruss all-stars pop up card which commemorates his appearance in that game, complete with underside of the metrodome's roof in view

garvey, at age 37, was a participant in the home run derby prior to that all-star game - the first home run derby prior to the all-star game - and hit 2 out.  dave parker won the derby with 6.  it wasn't the same back then.

anyway, happy all-star game day!

great cards given away

like many of you, i recently received a package in the mail from david at tribe cards.  it contained my goodies from his season long pack ripping adventure known as the 182 packs of baseball giveaway.  here's a sampling.

1986 donruss all-stars fernando valenzuela

it's one from the want list, which is doubly nice.  notice how the lines are vertical on these cards as opposed to horizontal on the regular 1986 donruss cards.  it has a slimming effect on el toro, i think.

i picked the dodgers (of course) in the giveaway, but was second or third in the hierarchy. that means that i only got dodger cards if there were doubles or triples.  i still got a few, including a 1997 pinnacle new (or is it new pinnacle?) todd hollandsworth

 and a couple of 1996 leaf cards of delino deshields

 and ramon martinez

my biggest score, however, came from claiming big daddy vladdy.  here is the impaler with miguel cabrera on a 2010 topps update card

the card celebrates the fact that both guererro and cabrera got their start in the national league east. kind of random.

here's a 2008 upper deck piece of history card

 and three starquest cards.  this first one is from 2008 upper deck first edition update, and it is 'common'

the next two are from straight up 2008 upper deck; this one is 'un-common'

and this one is 'rare'

looks 'blue' to me, but whatever.

lastly, we have a 2001 topps attax card with vladdy in his orioles gear

it's an odd sight.

hopefully i'll see some more vladdy cards from david in his 2013 giveaway, as i was able to snag him in the recent draft.

thanks david!

how to succeed at collecting without really trying

well, i guess you have to try at least a little bit.  in this case, you would need to develop an ebay rivalry with another steve garvey super collector and then start a blog and trade with him instead.  you send him a little 17-card factory team set, and he will send you a big box filled with oddball dodger stuff that you didn't even know existed, plus some cool steve garvey stuff.

yes, i traded with curt from 1978, the year it all began. it wasn't the first time he and i had made a trade, but it was likely the most lopsided.  i had asked him for a scan of a steve garvey sga item, and he obliged.  he also offered to send me a hard copy of it, and i told him i would send him a 2009 topps dodger factory set in exchange.  he didn't mention that he was also going to send a map.

from 1970, that is a aaa map of dodger stadium.  that is pretty cool.  i should have unfolded it and taken a picture of it.  it looks so easy on paper - so many freeways.  still, heed my advice if you go - plan to get there early.  no map will save you from stadium way or the downtown gates.  unless you get off the freeway and use the sunset route, but that's only for people in the know.

here's the garvey sga that started the whole transaction

this is what's on the back

it's all about consecutive game goodness.  the photo is from garvey's 1000th consecutive game, but the sga occurred on the occasion of his moving into fourth place all-time with his 1104th consecutive game.  of course, garvey went on to pass billy williams in 1983, but he was a padre by then.  he played in game number 1118 at dodger stadium, though, and my dad was kind enough to take me to see the game in person.  it is still to this day the only time i have received a steve garvey autograph in person.

more garvey goodness in the box, including this 1977 pepsi glove disc

i was hot and cold with these oddballs until just a few months ago.  i did have a few in my garvey collection, but not more than a couple.  now i have several of the msa discs that came out in the 1970's into the 1980's, including a 1981 blank back (trust me)

and a 1976 towne club version

speaking of discs, there were others in the box - and not just of steve garvey.  here are pedro guerrero

and fernando valenzuela

from the 1984 7-11 slurpee coin set.

fernando and garvey are together forever on this 1987 m&m's panel

those padres hats look really bad without the logo.  they look only slightly better with, however, as we see on this 1984 fun foods pin proof

i am glad curt sent this to me.  it is much easier to store in the binder than the actual pin back.

here's steve garvey in the metrodome, courtesy of the 1986 donruss pop-ups set

it's hard to believe that garvey was part of the home run derby held prior to the 1985 all-star game in minneapolis.  his slugging days were behind him by then, unfortunately.

there really was so much cool stuff in the box.  media guides, team issued photos, union oil portraits (from 1962 and 1982), fernando valenzuela perfect attendance certificates, magazines, and more.  it was the package that keeps on giving.

i'll show two more cards - this one is from 1977 landsman playing cards and features jackie robinson down the third base line

i think jackie is the five of diamonds or something like that.  these are similar to the playing cards that pepsi put out in 1978

last but not least is this 1987 donruss all-stars card of steve sax

with garvey gone, saxy became my favorite dodger and subject of a pretty good pc, but i never did pick up one of these.  now i have one and i hardly even had to try for it.

thanks curt!  that really was an awesome box of goodness.

farewell to the metrodome (almost)

so it turns out that yesterday's game wasn't the last to be played inside hubert h humphrey metrodome. go figure.

while after tomorrow (or the alds) it may have a future for the viqueens, tractor pulls, monster truck rallies and the occasional final four regionals (and - just announced, twinsfest 2010!), the metrodome will not be a purveyor of major league baseball. and i think that's a good thing.

the first time i walked into the metrodome was may of 1998 to see a game against the yankees. i remember walking in the concourse and heading towards the field. it was sunny outside, but the interior of the roof was a dirty gray color. i remember laughing, and had a hard time reconciling the image of derek jeter on the field of this abomination to what is good and right about the game. keep in mind that i was no stranger to the multi-purpose stadium, having been to numerous baseball games at the big a (before the disney renovations) and jack murphy stadium.

i am sad to say that you kind of get used to it after a while, and it is a nice place to have twinsfest in january.

as far as cards go, the metrodome has been featured on a few, but not too many cards, including that 1986 donruss all stars card up top. the interior is not a popular backdrop for cards, but we have seen some recently including the 2009 ud o-pee-chee team checklist and this 2009 topps twins team set bonus card.those drapes up in the upper deck in right-center are the retired number and championship banners. they took them down during the series last weekend as well as during the playoff runs. you can see the full upper deck on the back of this 2004 upper deck legends jack morris card.there used to be a huge milk jug in the right field corner that would light up when a twins batter hit a homerun. not quite the shea stadium apple, but...

on this 2007 topps opening day card you can see the 'baggy' - the right field 'fence' that hangs in front of the rolled-up football seats. it's really a big hefty bag billboard.seeing the metrodome on player cards is a treat. some, like this 2009 ud o-pee-chee scott baker, are discernable largely because of the home whites and the lighting. you can see the visiting team's bullpen behind baker, and those seats off of his left elbow are endzone corner seats. it's impossible to see anything in the right field corner from them.

former twin cristian guzman returned to the dome, as seen on his 2008 upper deck card.here you have the twins ballboy and a part of the cub foods ad.

similarly, here's carlos gomez and his 2009 upper deck card. we have the ball boy (partially obscured) as well as the tunnel entrance to the twins teeny-tiny clubhouse.

every once in a while, you get a card featuring a larger view of the dome, like this 2004 topps doug mientkiewicz. doug is a little ways down the third base sign, while the convenience stores of superamerica get some free advertising.

that sa logo shows up again, on this 1994 topps stadium club dave winfield card.dave is one of at least two (cal ripken) players to get their 3000th hit at the metrodome. incidentally, this card makes me think of the indian chief from superfriends.

the last two cards are my two favorite metrodome cards. i had found a nice scott leius card with a domed roof, but i think it was the kingdome, which may be even more rare than the metrodome. anyway, here's a 2006 upper deck ryan garko.here you get a good view of the drapes and the baggy. dodge was a big sponsor the last few years and would advertise on the baggy as you see here. during the games, they would drive a dodge truck on the field and people would get to try to throw some balls into the bed of the truck to win a prize. good times.

finally, here's twins hall of famer rick aguilera and his 1993 topps card

this card is pretty cool. you can see all the little holes in the interior roof sheeting. dave kingman once hit a ball into one of those holes for a ground rule double. would have been nice if the ball had come down during a viking game.

next year, the twins will move into target field. it looks pretty nice, even if it is shoehorned in behind the target center with little parking and an inadequate transit station. so what if it sits over a heavy rail line and next to the county's trash burner? it's outdoors.