we are closing in on the end of the steve garvey binder pages from his playing days

it's almost an all-fleer page on sheet 23 of the steve garvey binder.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 1987 fleer
2. 1987 fleer baseball's exciting stars
3. 1987 fleer baseball's game winners
4. 1987 fleer glossy
5. 1987 fleer limited edition
6. 1987 fleer mini
7. 1987 fleer star stickers
8. 1987 kraft
9. 1987 leaf

here are the backs:

what i find most interesting about all of these backs is that fleer went back to 1969 and included garvey's albuquerque stats on some of the backs.  others start with his big league experience from 1969, yet those same cards keep his 1970 minor league numbers from triple-a spokane.  all of the cards, however, leave out his 1968 stats from ogden - stats that would have completed his professional career numbers.

i am looking forward to getting through the garv's playing days and back to some dodger cards on these sheets!

spring has sprung

spring training camps have been broken for the year, and the dodgers are now in southern california passing time with the angels until their season opens on monday.  arpsmith is also in socal, and that's where he presumably acquired these cards that i received recently.

2015 topps adrian gonzalez spring fever

there's only one local card shop that i go to these days (i think there are 3 or 4 in the twin cities), but i don't know if they participate in this promotion or not.  thankfully, arpsmith has a guy who does.

here's a midsummer card - 2014 topps update dee gordon all-star relic

that would be a piece of the all-star game warm up or practice apparel. kudos to topps for getting a photo of dee from the asg to use on the card.

here's another relic - 2014 topps gypsy queen zack greinke

i'm expecting big things from zack since this is an opt-out year for him.

2014 topps heritage minors jesmuel valentin

valentin is the son of jose valentin, who is currently the padres' first base coach.  the dodgers traded jesmuel to the phillies last year as one of the players to be named later in the roberto hernandez (fausto carmona) deal.

2001 topps heritage gary sheffield

arpsmith sent me some cards towards my 2001 topps heritage want list, including the sheff above. i recently took a quiz to see if i could name the top 21 los angeles dodger home run hitters of all time. i got 18 of them right - i forgot john roseboro and ron fairly, who were tied with 90 at the bottom of the list, but i am ashamed to have not named sheffield who put up some of the best offensive numbers ever by a dodger.

last, but not least, here's a 1987 fleer bill russell card, signed by the shortstop of the team of my youth himself

russell did not make the list of the top 21 la dodger home run hitters despite playing his entire career there and appearing in more games than any other la dodger.  russell had only 46 home runs during his career.

thanks for the trade adam! here's hoping the giants give someone else from their division a chance to win the world series this year.

it doesn't take long to get to dusty baker's current career torchbearer, thanks to three former dodgers

dusty baker, sadly for me, finished out his playing career with the oakland a's.  dusty was the left fielder on the team of my youth, and he was therefore one of my favorite players.  i was disappointed when he followed the trail reggie smith had left and went to the giants after yet another postseason appearance in 1983, but the dodgers were moving on.  anyway, baker found himself in the green and yellow (just as he is shown on his 1987 fleer card)

in the penultimate game of the 1986 season as the dh for the a's.  in the 7th inning, he drew his second walk of the game off of royals' starter mark gubicza, and was lifted for a pinch-runner (tony phillips).  baker did not appear in the final game of the season, and he was not signed by anyone after the season ended.

gubicza continued to pitch for the royals through 1996, but was traded to the angels (a team i witnessed him shut out in 1989 at the big a) prior to the 1997 campaign.  gubicza made only two starts for the halos, but he did get a card in the 1997 fleer set in his new duds

in his second and final appearance for the angels, gubicza allowed a lead off single to marquis grissom, but retired the other three indians he faced.  in the second inning, however, gubicza couldn't get anyone out as he allowed three singles, a home run, and two doubles before being lifted.  that last double was hit by grissom who eventually came around to score on a jim thome single off of shigetoshi hasekawa.  i mentioned up top that dusty's torchbearers were all former dodgers (at least up until now), and while gubicza's last big league appearance was that bad start against the indians as a member of the california angels, he did sign with the dodgers for the 1998 season in an attempt to get back to the big leagues.  he was unsuccessful.

so, that means that grissom was carrying baker's torch.  he had been traded from cleveland to milwaukee after the 1997 season, and then the brewers traded him to the dodgers prior to the 2001 season.  as a result, i have in my collection this fantastic 2001 upper deck gold glove marquis grissom game-used glove card

that features not only a piece of one of his gloves, but also a bit of walter alston on the outfield fence at dodger stadium.  grissom's career didn't come to a close with the blue, however, as he did what reggie smith and dusty baker had done before him, and head to no-cal after his time with the dodgers ended. grissom signed with the giants as a free agent after the 2002 season, and he played for them until they released him in august of 2005.  his last game came on july 31, 2005 when the giants faced the brewers.  in grissom's last at bat of the game, he struck out against brewers' starter chris capuano.

capuano won 18 games for the brew crew that season, and was on the all-star team the next.  unfortunately, he ran into some arm problems and missed a significant amount of playing time into the 2010 season.  after a season with the mets in 2011, capuano signed with the dodgers and at one point was 7-1 with a low era for the club.  he finished the season at 12-12 with a league leading 33 starts. he made only 20 starts (along with a few relief appearances) for the dodgers in 2013, with his last performance in dodger blue coming in the nlds against the braves in which he held atlanta scoreless for three innings and earning the win in the dodgers' game 3 victory.  from there, capuano signed for the 2014 season with the red sox who used him exclusively as a reliever and released him in july.  he was picked up by the rockies who sent him to the minors where he pitched well and had his contract purchased by the yankees.  here's his 2014 topps update card showing him in pinstripes.

the yankees moved him back to a starting role, and he was 2-3 in 12 starts for the club.  i guess they liked what they saw, because they just re-signed him to a contract for 2015.  that means that capuano will continue to carry dusty baker's torch a while longer.

one man carries the torch for both the penguin and davey lopes

the last pitcher ron cey faced as a major leaguer was juan nieves.  it was july 12, 1987, and cey was a member of the oakland a's at the time as his 1987 topps traded card attests.

nieves struck cey out in the 7th inning, and later in that game, the penguin was pinch-hit for, denying him one more big league at bat.  the player who hit in cey's place? none other than former nemesis reggie jackson.

juan nieves didn't last much longer than cey. as it turned out, nieves missed the entire 1989 season due to injury, so his last appearance came in 1988.  he still received a card in 1990 from topps, and from o-pee-chee, which is what is shown below.

nieves pitched in his final game on october 2, 1988, again facing the a's.  in that game, the last batter nieves faced was terry steinbach, who drew a walk.

now let's take a minute to see what was going on with davey lopes' torchbearers.  like cey, lopes last played in 1987.  he was with the astros - here's his 1987 fleer card -

when he pinch-hit for nolan ryan on october 4, 1987.  lopes flew out against the reds' tom browning, and that was it for his career.

tom browning finished his career in 1995 (this is his 1995 score card)

with two starts for the kansas city royals, the last of which came on may 19.  browning didn't make it out of the 5th inning that day, as he was removed from the game following an rbi single hit by terry steinbach.

so, steinbach had the honor of carrying the torch for both cey and lopes.  he wound up going home to minnesota to finish his career, and did so in october of 1999 (here's his 2000 topps card)

with a double off of james baldwin of the white sox.

baldwin, who pitched for the dodgers in 2001 after leaving chicago (this is his 2002 upper deck victory card)

bounced around a bit and eventually landed in baltimore in 2005.  actually, he began the season with the orioles, was picked up on waivers by the rangers, but then later returned to the orioles on another waiver claim.  the second time around with the orioles included his final big league appearance - a relief appearance against the yankees on september 29.  the last batter he faced was bernie williams who was retired on a comebacker.

williams, seen here on a 2007 topps hit parade insert

retired following the 2006 season, doubling off of scott downs in his final big league appearance (during the regular season, anyway).

scott downs, who was an angel on his 2013 topps card,

spent 2014 as a member of the kansas city royals.  he just became a free agent following the world series, and if he doesn't sign with anyone for next season, then the torch is passed to the last batter he faced in the bigs - cleveland's zach walters - but i won't count the loogy out just yet.

bill russell's career ended in 1986, but continues today. sort of.

just as i did for steve garvey a few days ago, here is a look at who has carried bill russell's torch forward to today, through final plate or pitching appearances.

the dodger shortstop of my youth played in his final game on october 1, 1986.  i was pleased that topps and fleer gave him cards in 1987 (here's the fleer final tribute)

in his final game, russell was called upon to pinch-hit for dennis powell in the 8th inning of a game that the dodgers were losing 3-2.  padres' reliever goose gossage struck russell out, unfortunately.

goose gossage wound up pitching for a few more seasons.  he did not return to the major leagues following the players' strike, so his final appearance came in august of 1994.  like russell, gossage received some final tribute love in some sets - this card comes from 1995 upper deck

gossage was pitching for the mariners when he earned a 3-inning save on august 8, 1994.  pitching against the rangers, gossage set down all 9 players who faced him, including jose canseco who flied out  to left to end the game and the goose's career.

jose canseco made his final big league appearance as a member of the white sox in 2001.  this is his 2001 upper deck sweet spot card

he flew out in the 9th inning of the white sox game against the twins' eddie guardado on october 6, 2001 in what would be his final appearance as a major leaguer.  he later went on to write a couple of books.

eddie guardado pitched in his last game as a member of the texas rangers in 2009.  here's his 2010 upper deck card with angel coach alfredo griffin hanging out in the background.

the last batter guardado faced was the angels' robb quinlan, but it was on a wednesday night (september 30, 2009 to be exact), so the card doesn't feature a photo from that game.  quinlan hit into a 5-4-3 double play to end the 8th inning, as well as guardado's career.

robb quinlan played into the 2010 season, although i will show his 2009 upper deck card

quinlan was announced as a pinch-hitter on june 25, 2010 against the rockies, but he did not make it to the plate as rockies' manager jim tracy switched pitchers and erick aybar replaced quinlan for mike scioscia's angels.  furthermore, quinlan appeared in a couple of games against the dodgers just prior to that, but was only used as a defensive replacement.  so, quinlan's final plate appearance came on june 20, 2010 against the cubs.  the last pitcher he faced was andrew cashner, who got quinlan to ground out.

andrew cashner, seen on his 2014 topps heritage card,

is currently pitching for the padres, and is hopefully the proud torchbearer of bill russell's (and goose gossage's and even jose canseco's) career!

bringing steve garvey's career to the present

i really liked wrigley wax's idea of trade links as a subject of posts, even though those featuring the team of my youth were pretty much dead ends.  i may do a few more in the future around other dodger players of note, but instead i went looking for another way to connect players together.  what i came up with was sort of a 'x' degrees of separation to a current player, using final plate/pitching appearances to link them.  the upside is, unless two players face off against each other in each of their final appearances, the link will never be broken.  i'll show you what i mean using my favorite player, steve garvey.

the garv last appeared in the major leagues in 1987 - may 23, 1987 to be exact.  here's his 1987 topps card.

the padres were playing the expos, and garvey was brought in to pinch hit for lance mccullers in the 9th inning.  the expos pitcher at the time was neal heaton, who retired garvey on a fly ball and got the last two padres hitters out to complete a 2-hit shutout.  so, the last pitcher steve garvey faced in his career was the expos' neal heaton.  here's heaton's 1987 fleer card.

fast forward to baltimore, june 26, 1993.  heaton is a member of the new york yankees, and is called in to relieve john habyan with the orioles leading the yanks 9-6.  heaton winds up finishing the game, pitching 2.2 innings and giving up a couple of home runs.  the last batter heaton faced was former dodger mike devereaux, who flied out to end the home half of the 8th inning.

devereaux, of course, returned to the dodgers to finish his playing career - this is his 1998 pacific online card from his second dodger stint

devereaux's final big league at bat came on april 17, 1998 with the dodgers in chicago facing the cubs.  he entered the game as a pinch-hitter but stayed in the game and later faced ben vanryn, a former dodger prospect.  devereaux drew a walk in the 8th against van ryn but was stranded, and his big league career was over.

there aren't too many cards of vanryn out there - this is a 1994 bowman's best blue parallel

from his dodger farmhand days - but he pitched in the majors for four different clubs (the dodgers weren't one of them as he made his debut in 1996 with the angels), and he appeared for three of those four in 1998 alone.  the cubs traded vanryn to the padres in early may, and by the end of the month, he was pitching for the blue jays.  it was with toronto later that season that he made his final big league appearance.  on september 26, 1998, vanryn came in to pitch the top of the 10th inning in a tie game against the tigers.  he retired the first two batters he faced, but then allowed a single to tony clark and was pulled.  the tigers didn't score, and the blue jays wound up winning the game a couple of innings later, but vanryn did not appear in the big leagues after that appearance.

tony clark finished up his career as a member of the diamondbacks in 2009 - here's his 2009 upper deck card

by striking out as a pinch-hitter on july 12 against the marlins.  the marlins' pitcher that k'd clark was josh johnson, seen here on his 2011 topps card

now johnson presents an interesting case, as he spent the 2014 season on the 60-day dl with the padres, and hasn't pitched since 2013.  if he fails to return to the majors, then the last batter he faced in a big league game was michael saunders, who is still active today.  he had a pretty cool card in the 2014 topps set

if johnson does return in 2015, then the next link on steve garvey's career legacy is yet to be determined.  still, that's how you bring steve garvey to the present day in 5 or 6 steps.

a mcmemorial mcpatch for ray a kroc

raymond albert kroc was, among other things in his lifetime, a milkshake mixer salesman when in 1954 he met the mcdonald's brothers and recognized the potential for expansion that their hamburger business offered.  kroc eventually bought the brothers out of the business and took the restaurant worldwide.  in 1974, he used some of the money he had made from his mcdonald's empire and bought the san diego padres.  after he died of heart disease in january of 1984, the team added his initials to their left sleeves in tribute.

here's a 1985 topps steve garvey card that shows the memorial worn in 1984, the first year the padres appeared in the postseason

and it shows up on garvey's 1985 topps record breaker, too.

it's there on eric show's 1985 topps card, too

and carmelo anthony's 1985 donruss card offers a really good look at it

but i've got this 1984 star steve garvey card in the memorial binder as the 1984 example of the memorial

thanks to the fact that it's garvey and he's wearing a mcdonald's wristband.

the padres wore the memorial again in 1985, perhaps inspired by the chicago bears who had begun wearing george halas' initial on their uniforms following his death in october of 1983 and continued to do so the following year.  in fact, the 'gsh' on the bears jerseys has never been removed since it was first added over 30 years ago.  anyway, here are some examples of the memorial from the 1985 season.

1986 leaf dave dravecky

and 1986 topps mario ramirez

the ramirez card is in the binder, too.

the pads wore the memorial in 1986 as well, and there are some 1987 cards that show it fairly well.

1987 fleer garvey

1987 topps tony gwynn

with dodger catcher alex trevino lurking

1987 topps carmelo martinez

1987 donruss garry templeton

1987 donruss randy asadoor

and 1987 donruss ed wojna

those last two cards feature a nice dodger stadium, so they are both in that binder, but i have the wojna card in the memorial binder, too.

although the padres did not wear the memorial beyond the 1986 season, it has shown up on a few cards since then, like this 1992 fleer ultra tony gwynn commemorative series card

and this 2013 topps archives gwynn card

and, when the padres wear their 1984 throwbacks, the memorial makes a return as well, as evidenced by yorvit toerralba's 2010 topps update card

kroc, who once apologized to fans over the stadium loudspeaker for the padres' poor play, was a benefactor to many charities, including those involved in the research and treatment of various diseases, including alcoholism.  he also oversaw the development of the ronald mcdonald house charities and was a member of the inaugural class in the san diego padres hall of fame.

a black armband for roger maris

roger maris, one of the yankees' famed 'm&m' boys, died in houston on december 14, 1985 at the age of 51 due to cancer.  the yankees added a black armband to their uniforms for the 1986 season in his memory.  thanks to the sheer number of cards produced in 1987, there are lots of examples.  this first one is a 1987 topps glossy send-in card of rickey henderson.

the armband is much more noticeable on that card than it is on rickey's 1987 donruss card

but it's still there.  here's ron guidry's 1987 donruss card 

and don mattingly's 1987 fleer card

both good examples.  topps had some in the flagship, too, like bobby meacham's 1987 topps card

the problem with this particular memorial is that the yankees wore black armbands in 1985 for clubhouse man pete sheehy, so i can't really be sure if these photos are from 1985 or 1986.  i'll assume they are from 1986, but i know for sure that these next two - 1987 topps doug drabek

and 1987 topps mike fischlin

feature photos from 1986 because neither player was with the yankees in 1985.  still, i'd rather use a different card in the collection.  this 1987 topps yankees leader card featuring rickey and mattingly was a front runner

as was this 1986 donruss highlights card of mattingly

in the end, i think it's a higher likelihood that the 1987 topps card features a photo from 1986.  besides, it features the yankee pinstripes.

maris famously hit 61 home runs in 1961, eclipsing babe ruth's record for most in a single season.  he also led the league in runs scored and rbi that year, won his second straight mvp award, and helped the yankees win the world series, too.  he finished his career with the cardinals, including two more trips to the world series in 1967 and 1968.  in addition to the armband memorial following maris' death, the yankees had retired maris' number 9 during the 1984 season with maris in attendance.

maris was born in minnesota, but the family moved to fargo when he was young.  the fargo community still embraces maris as a hero, with many events and other references to him throughout the city.  i can say that i have been to the roger maris museum in the west acres shopping mall.  they will be the first to point out that maris is still the single season american league home run champ, if not the 'legitimate' champ.