the start of the post-playing career card sheets from the steve garvey binders

sheet 26 in the steve garvey binder is where we find the start of his cards issued following his retirement (post-final tribute stuff, anyway).  in the beginning, these were mostly oddball releases, but once card companies began making retro-themed sets, look out! there was a garvey card explosion.

here's sheet 26

the cards:

1. 1989 smokey dodger greats
2. 1989 padres magazine
3. 1990 baseball wit
4. 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary
5. 1990 collegiate collection michigan state (gibson & garvey)
6. 1990 collegiate collection michigan state (football)
7. 1990 collegiate collection michigan state (batting)
8. 1990 collegiate collection michigan state (posed)
9. 1990 pacific legends

here we have the first photo re-use, thanks to two dodger stadium giveaway sets, plus four cards from the michigan state spartans set.  i think the photo of garvey in his football uniform (he was a defensive back) has been used in a panini release (not entirely sure, however), but i know that the posed photo was used in last year's upper deck goodwin champions set.

i'm also missing a couple from these years - the 1989 michigan state pepsi card (never seen one), and 1990 pacific legends glossy (never bothered to find one).

here are the backs:

moving on to sheet 27, we once again see some photo re-use and a few oddballs:

those cards are:

1. 1990 swell baseball greats
2. 1991 line drive
3. 1991 swell baseball greats
4. 1992 action packed
5. 1992 mci ambassadors
6. 1993 ted williams
7. 1993 yoohoo
8. 1994 upper deck all-time heroes
9. 1994 upper deck all-time heroes (heroes of baseball)

i really appreciate that first upper deck card with the photo from the 1974 world series, and the fact that it gives some relief from all of the photos of garvey with a bat.  another item worth noting is the mci card and its photo of garvey with the dual-ear flap helmet.

and now the backs:

those mci ambassador cards were apparently distributed at military bases where select retired players appeared and played in games for the troops.  upper deck arranged some 'old-timer' games of their own, which is where the photo on the second card from the 1994 ud all-time heroes set was obtained. this was a tie-in to all of those sheets upper deck issued around that time.

speaking of sheets, we are two pages into the post-active garvey cards, and we are already in 1994.  don't fret, as there are plenty more cards to see.  stay tuned.

dodger greats, easily forgotten

you wanna talk about an oddball set?  how about the 1989 smokey dodgers greats set. 
stadium giveaway? check.
sponsored by a non-profit forest fire awareness group? check.
image of cartoon bear on the front? check.
at least the team logos weren't airbrushed out.

the real oddball part comes in to play with the set numbering.  the set was distributed at dodger stadium in a sheet of 100 cards.  plus a strip of 4 additional cards.  yes, there were 104 cards in the set.  usually when you see the sets up for sale, they are offerering just cards 1-100 (although there is an auction up on the bay for all 104 right now).  the last 4 cards were easily lost or forgotten about and can be hard to find.

at least it's not like the last 4 cards were koufax, jackie robinson, snider and garvey.  no, they are lindstrom,

lombardi,

marshall,

and robinson

not exactly a dodgers' murderers row. 

fred lindstrom is really a giant, having played for the 1936 brooklyn dodgers for a total of 26 games.  he is a hall of famer, but certainly not a dodger great.  perhaps a really good player who ended his career with a short stint as a dodger.  but that text is too long to fit in smokey bear's blue ribbon.

ernie lombardi is more of a red great.  while he started his career in 1931 as a brooklyn robin (more on that in a minute), he was traded to cincinnati where he would go on to multiple all-star appearances and win the 1938 nl mvp award.  like lindstrom, his photo even depicts him in his more familiar cap.

mike marshall - that's mike a. marshall, the non-pitcher - was at least a dodger for about 90% of his career.  still, he is more of an albuquerque duke great as he destroyed the pcl his last couple of years in the minors.  in the big leagues, not so much.  he ranks 32nd all-time in dodger history in slugging percentage (just ahead of ron cey) and 50th in ops (well behind cey and just behind joe ferguson).  he's 35th in games played - less than adrian beltre, but more than ken landreaux, and is tied with jackie robinson for 16th place in all-time dodger home runs.  now that i look at it, marshall may be in the top 40 of dodger players, all-time.

finally, wilbert robinson.  aside from alston and lasorda, no man has managed the dodger franchise longer than robinson's 18 years at the helm.  he is in the hall of fame having won two nl pennants and 1399 regular season games (including one year as baltimore's manager).  the dodgers' franchise had been known as the superbas since 1899 (except for a two-year stint as the dodgers in 1911-1912), but when uncle robbie took over in 1914, they took the name 'robins' in tribute to their skipper.

i'm glad that doesn't happen anymore - i don't think i could really root for the los angeles mattinglys.

the evolution of the out of place guy, part 1

you know the guy, right? the free agent in decline your team signed but you don't really think of him as a 'member' of the team. the guy who came over in a trade but didn't really fit with the team or was only there for one season. or, the guy you had heard of but who you didn't realize even played for your team until many years into your fandom.

the dodgers have had their share of 'those' players, so here's a primer on the evolution of the dodgers' out of place guy.

we'll kick it off with moose skowron who was shown as a dodger on his 1963 topps card

skowron is best known (and almost exclusively known) as a yankee. he came to the dodgers in a deal for stan williams and had perhaps his poorest season ever, batting just over the mendoza line. he came alive in the 1963 world series though, batting .385 with an ops of over 1.000 against his former mates. his contract was purchased by the washington senators after the 63 season.

fast forward to 1968, and we have zoilo (once called 'zorro' on a topps card) versalleszoilo must have impressed the dodgers in the 1965 world series, because they traded for him two years later, sending john roseboro and ron perranoski (among others) to minnesota. versalles was the al mvp in 1965, but he was in serious decline by 1968. he hit only .196 for the dodgers that year - his only year in la - and was perhaps thankfully selected by the padres in the expansion draft prior to 1969.

so, with versalles gone, jim bunning was brought in to be the out of place guy. by the way, thank goodness for the 1990 target dodgers set, otherwise we might not have a card of jim bunning as a dodger. the phillies had traded bunning to the pirates prior to the 1968 season. after one-and a half seasons in pittsburgh, the dodgers acquired the future senator (united states, not washington) for a couple of minor leaguers and cash. he pitched fairly well for the dodgers (3.36 era in 56 innings) but was released after the season. the phillies took him back and bunning finished his career in philadelphia.

1971 saw dick allen joining the ranks, featured here on his 1971 topps super card (with the dodger stadium scoreboard in the background) allen had spent 1970 with the cardinals after 7 pretty remarkable years in philadelphia. he had a good year for the dodgers in 1971, too, but was traded to the white sox after that lone year in la. all he did the following year was win the al mvp.

on the same day dick allen was traded away, the dodgers traded for frank robinson, shown here on a 1989 smokey dodger greats card

like allen, frobby would spend just one year in la. unlike allen, that year would be pretty mediocre offensively. luckily for the angels (to whom robinson was traded), he would bounce back big time in 1973.

in 1975, juan marichal was a dodger, most definitely out of placehe had spent one year in boston after pitching exclusively for the giants organization and the dodgers decided to give him a shot. he lasted just two starts, completing six innings and striking out 1 before the dodgers released him.

in 1977, there was boog powell the former oriole had been released by the indians after the 1976 season. he came to the dodgers as a pinch hitter, but hit just .244 with no extra base hits in 53 at bats before being released in august of 1977.

we'll finish part one with another oriole, don stanhouse, who signed with the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 1980 season stan 'the man unusual' had saved 45 games for the orioles over the two previous seasons, but did not pitch that well in the 1979 postseason. he pitched even worse for the dodgers, saving just 7 games and posting an era of 5.04 to go with a whip of 1.84. the dodgers released him prior to the 1981 season. i believe that the stanhouse experience (along with fellow 1979 signee dave goltz) was a big reason the dodgers seemed to avoid the free agent market until 1987.

that doesn't mean, however, that they were without any 'out of place guys' during those years, as we will see in part 2.