more brown and yellow from the steve garvey binders

the 18th sheet of the steve garvey binders begins with a different former dodger wearing the san diego brown and yellow. i'll explain below.

so, those cards are:

1. 1985 topps dick williams
2. 1985 topps glossy all-star
3. 1985 topps pete rose #81
4. 1985 topps rubdown
5. 1985 topps stickers (foil top)
6. 1985 topps stickers (foil bottom)
7. 1985 topps stickers (nlcs - batting)
8. 1985 topps stickers (nlcs - posed)
9. 1985 topps stickers (foil)

the dick williams card is here because steve garvey is lurking in the background, signing autographs for his legion of fans.  two cards over is another card in which garvey is a background lurker.  it comes from a 1985 set produced by topps that features nothing but pete rose.  there are 120 cards in the set, which seems excessive, but i was happy to find card number 81 in the set that shows the scene at first base following hit number 4192.  i think that it's pretty cool that garvey was on the field for both babe ruth's career home run record being broken as well as the passing of ty cobb's career hit record (although some statistic scrubbing in the following years would show that rose actually passed cobb in an earlier game).

the rubdown 'card' is the same as the 1984 version with only the copyright date changing, but it gives bill russell another reason to be in the garvey collection.

here are the backs:

the back of the rose card shows how far they were reaching for content - hey mr. hit king! how important is batting practice?  jeez.  you can also see that i did not keep the rubdown instructions as i did with the 1984 version.

here's sheet 19, which transitions into 1986

the cards are:

1. 1985 topps stickers
2. 1985 topps tiffany (record breaker)
3. 1985 topps tiffany
4. 1986 burger king
5. 1986 cunningham
6. 1986 donruss
7. 1986 fleer
8. 1986 fleer (superstar special)
9. 1986 fleer league leaders

here are the backs

i think burger king confused baseball with football - there are no all-pros in baseball.  the fleer superstar special card features a photo from the 1985 all-star game (not all-pro game) in minneapolis.  garvey, dale murphy, and dave parker represented the national league in the home run derby that year, along with jack clark and ryne sandberg.  parker won.  and, if you're wondering, garvey led the league in games played in 1985 with 162 - i'm assuming that's why he was in the 1986 fleer league leaders set.

i'm a fan of jaybarkerfan

i didn't win the world cup of trading hosted recently by jaybarkerfan's junk.  i chose a card from the group of death and my return was slaughtered by the generosity of bob walk the plank.  still, wes sent me some stuff - just not the gary redus trophy.

instead, i received a bunch of dodgers, including my favorite player of all time on a 2003 topps retired signature card

even steve garvey was not immune to the 'wear your jacket under your jersey' trend that was prevalent in the early 1970's.

here's a 1986 fleer pedro guerrero

from when he was one of the 5 best players in the league.

speaking of best players in the league, here's a 1995 score mike piazza hall of gold card

piazza never did win the mvp, but he finished 2nd twice in a row to go a long with a few other top 10 finishes

here's a card i had never seen before - a 2005 topps pack wars milton bradley

i had heard of pack wars as an event at card shops, but didn't know there were specific cards created by topps presumably for the event.  and, it features a photo from tatooine as well!

this is a 2011 topps pee wee reese 60 years of topps insert

it's been nice to see pee wee get some love from the card companies over the last few years.  i assume that topps will ride sandy koufax and jackie robinson and duke snider for as long as they can, but it would be nice to see some gil hodges cards, too.

2012 topps heritage andre ethier black border parallel

i believe ethier is the longest tenured dodger - he debuted in 2006 a couple of weeks before matt kemp. he is also the odd man out in the outfield.  i am slowly becoming a proponent of adding the dh to the national league, and that would certainly help ethier's situation. i believe that there is no chance that the american league will ever dump the dh, and i think it is silly that there are two sets of rules for the same game.

wes included a 2003 playoff piece of the game kevin brown jersey card

times kevin brown wore a dodger uniform in the playoffs, however, equals zero.

there were also two autos in the package, this 2011 bowman chrome prospects blake smith card

which features a former 2nd round pick who has been converted to a pitcher in the dodger system, and this fantastic jaybarkerfan/hamburgler auto

that goes in the binder right next to the fuji auto!

thanks as always wes.  good stuff.

a yankee black armband for clubhouse man pete sheehy

in 1927, the yankees' equipment manager asked a kid named pete sheehy to help him with some gear.  sheehy returned to help the next day, and come 1985, he still held the position of clubhouse attendant when he passed away on august 13 of a heart attack.  there aren't too many cards from 1986 (or in 1985 traded/update sets) that show the black armband that the yankees wore for sheehy during the remainder of the season (except perhaps for this 1986 fleer don mattingly in action card), 

so the card that i have in my memorials binder is this 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams card of ken griffey sr.

the photo used comes from a game played just a few days after sheehy's passing.  it was against the rival red sox, and griffey robbed boston's marty barrett of a game-tying ninth inning home run.

sheehy's career with the yankees spanned from ruth and gehrig to dimaggio, mantle, munson, and mattingly.  one can only imagine the stories that he could have told, but by all accounts he respected the sanctity of the clubhouse, a clubhouse that had been renamed in his honor in 1976 following the renovations of the original house that ruth built.  he was 75 when he died.

a few of a couple of cards from arpsmith

here i am very slowly digging myself out from a backlog of trade posts.  these cards, and many more like them, came my way courtesy of arpsmith.  i have known a few giants fans in my time, and have successfully traded with five or six of them which is a level of diplomacy that should be emulated by all in conflict over such trivial things as laundry.

there were a couple of cards from the 1991 topps archives 1953 set, such as bill antonello

and bob milliken

antonello's lone big league action came in 1953 with the dodgers, but unfortunately did not include and playing time in the '53 world series.  he played some for their st. paul affiliate and wound up staying in the twin cities after his playing career ended.  milliken, on the other hand, spent parts of two seasons with the dodgers (1953 and 1954) and did make an appearance in the '53 fall classic against the yankees.  he held the yankees scoreless for two innings in the decisive sixth game, but billy martin's game (and series) winning single off of clem labine in the 9th happened anyway.

there were also a couple of cards featuring mid-90's dodger starters like this 1996 leaf limited ismael valdes card

and this 1996 upper deck collector's choice hideo nomo 'scrapbook' insert card

valdes and nomo were two-fifths of the dodgers' international rotation.  in addition to valdes (mexico) and nomo (japan), the dodgers also had ramon martinez (dominican rebublic), tom candiotti (usa), and chan ho park (south korea).

there were a couple of jackie robinson cards - this 2010 topps sterling card

and a 2012 topps allen & ginter 'what's in a name' insert

the ginter insert was one of a couple included - the other being clayton kershaw's card

jackie's middle name is in honor of teddy roosevelt, but topps didn't give my any insight into kershaw's namesake.

adam included a couple of ricky nolasco cards from 2013 topps update - an emerald parallel

and a gold parallel

the gold one was one of a couple of those, with the other being ronald belisario

neither nolasco nor belisario are with the team any longer, both having relocated to the american league central.

finally, there was only one signed card in the package, but it was a nice one.  bill russell signed his 1986 fleer card, either in person or through the mail.

that's a nice card of the shortstop of my youth with the right field pavilion in the background.

thanks for another great trade, adam.  sorry it took so long to post.

burt hooton's final tributes

i will be posting about the 1986 topps cards that featured members of the 1978 topps dodger team tomorrow.  i know you can't wait.  i'm going to kickstart this latest edition of the aptly named 'evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers' series of posts by showcasing the lone member of that fraternity to get a final tribute card in 1986.  burt carlton hooton.

hooton spent one year (1985) with the rangers before calling it a career.  actually, the rangers released him in march of 1986 after manager bobby valentine was impressed with the young arms of bobby witt and ed correa, and at the time, hooton was undecided on whether to continue pitching or not.  whether it was his decision or not, hooton did not make any more big league appearances as an active player.

so, the 1986 set(s) offer us some bona fide final tributes, thanks to texas' late release of the right-hander.  first up is topps.

topps, as usual, gives us the complete major league stats for hooton

the 1981 nlcs mvp racked up 112 wins as a dodger over 10 seasons.  that puts him at 18th all-time for the franchise, and close to (if not in) to the top 10 among los angeles dodgers.

next up is the max headroom set, 1986 donruss

donruss gives us happy's full name, but only the last five years of his career, stat-wise.

the back also gives more detail about hooton's contract status.  he had signed a 2-year deal, with an option for 1987, so texas was on the hook for his 1986 salary plus a buyout.  it's too bad he didn't go by his middle name, by the way.  if he had, there might have been a nice 'steve carlton, carlton hooton' card in 1982 fleer.

speaking of fleer, here's hooton's 1986 fleer card

with his complete professional career stats, including that one abbreviated year in the minors

not sure why fleer notes that hooton lives in yorba linda while the other companies had him back in his home state of texas.  nine strikeouts shy of 1500 k's, at least hooton eclipsed 150 wins.  he also encouraged a generation of young fans (this one included) to try to figure out what the heck a knuckle-curve grip looked like, and to try to throw one in a little league game without having it bounce 10 feet in front of home plate.

hooton was a minor league pitching coach for the dodgers from 1988 through 1996 before joining the staff at his alma mater, the university of texas.  he later coached in the astros' system, including at the major league level in the early 2000's.  last season, hooton was a minor league coach in the padres' system.

i am 'happy' to have these final tributes in my collection!

ravine-ous cards

it's time for dodger stadium on baseball cards!  here's one that i showed earlier today on the timeless teams blog (yes, i am slooooowly completing that 2004 upper deck legends set over there).  it's yogi berra in dodger stadium!

pretty sure the photo is from his coaching days during either the 1977 or 1978 world series.  berra was the yankees' manager for 16 games in 1985, yet he gets a card in the set.  meanwhile, tommy lasorda could not be convinced to sign for the set apparently.  

how about a 2002 fleer premium moises alou card?

stuck between the astros and the cubs, alou's card gives us a glimpse of jim gilliam on the outfield wall. i wish the dodgers would do this permanently like the cardinals and white sox.

here's another mural in the background of randy johnson's 2000 topps card

i think this was the world championship (or was it pennant winners?) mural.  that's ron cey's head - one of the three mvp's of the 1981 world series.

now it's pavilion time.  here's a 1985 donruss highlights dale murphy card

and now murphy and fellow brave bob horner on a 1986 fleer superstar special card

and then horner on his own on a 1986 fleer league leaders card

fleer liked dodger stadium.

more pavilion, courtesy of dante bichette's 1997 fleer ultra checklist card

with diamond vision visible at the edge, too.

back to the (plain) outfield wall on the back of brett butler's 1994 upper deck card

looks like the lurking cory snyder is playing tag, although he doesn't have the ball in his glove.  i also appreciate the visibility of both the tim crews and roy campanella/don drysdale memorial patches.

it pleases me greatly that dodger stadium will host some postseason play this year.  maybe we'll see some more photos of american leaguers in chavez ravine in next year's card releases...

cards from the hot corner

i am, once again, woefully behind on trade posts. here are some cards that i received from hot corner cards.  i have completed several trades with pat, and he always sends good stuff.  here is but a small part of the most recent package.

1982 kmart steve garvey

this was the first retail box set i can remember buying.  i wasn't sure at the time what the 20th anniversary was about. i guess it was kmart's 20th, but to me, the local kmart looked like it opened in 1940 and hadn't been updated since.  this set was also the second time i had seen 'cards that should have been' as it used the 1962 topps maury wills card that had been created for the 1975 topps mvp subset.

garvey's was one of four dodger cards in the set; the others being wills, sandy koufax (1963), and a don drysdale highlight

not all cards need to be of mvp's or boyhood heroes - so here's a 1986 fleer ken howell card

 and a 1993 fleer ultra mike sharperson card

that's two days in a row that i've shown sharpy on the blog.  as a guy who played all over the infield myself, i appreciated his versatility.

now we've entered the new and shiny and/or parallel part of the haul.  from 2013 topps, pat sent me the chris capuano emerald parallel

 and the target red parallel

plus clayton kershaw's target red parallel

 and aj ellis's as well, with kershaw in the foreground

as i understand it, the dodgers have a standing dare for someone to approach kershaw in the dugout during one of his starts and ask him an oddball question, such as 'was the end of inception a dream'.  maybe that's what is being discussed in this photo.

here's andre ethier's 2013 topps heritage chrome parallel

is this the last heritage release that will feature ethier as a dodger?  we should know in about 8 weeks.

the last couple of cards i will show are double play turns.  this one is from 2010 topps pro debut

and yes, i will consider this a turn even though i can't see the second base bag or a runner sliding in.  it's my prerogative.  goins is in aaa this year, by the way, but didn't get a call up when jose reyes was injured.

here's a no-doubter - 2012 topps opening day erick aybar

thanks for the cards pat!