making room for another joc

i completed a trade with frankie from my life in sports card hobby last month.  it's always nice to find a yankee fan to trade with as i seem to have too many bronx bombers laying around.  one of the cards that caught my eye on frankie's blog was this 2014 bowman chrome dual-ing die cuts card featuring joc pederson

i am happy to have this card in my collection, and i had to check to make sure that matt wisler wasn't a dodger as well with all the wheeling and dealing going on with the padres this offseason.  no, the padres kept wisler, one of their top pitching prospects, even as they sent three players to the dodgers for tim federowicz and this guy, matt kemp

in part to make room for joc in the outfield.  that is a 2010 topps 206 chrome parallel of the former dodger outfielder, by the way. i am not too excited about typing those words.

here's a 2014 bowman hyun-jin ryu silver ice parallel

or is it cracked ice?  i would be ok if topps would cool it with all of the parallels.  let's go back to 1989, a time of rough cardstock and many fewer sets and reflect on the simplicity of cards like this 1989 topps orel hershiser all-star card

hershiser finished 2nd in the national league with a 2.31 era in 1989 - the highest he had finished on the leader board previously had been 3rd, which he accomplished four times in the five seasons from 1984 through 1988.  still, he never led the league in that category like mike mccormick of the san francisco giants did in 1960.  frankie sent me the 1961 topps nl era league leaders card with mccormick (and runners up ernie broglio, don drysdale, bob friend, and stan williams) on the front.  a look at the back tells me that the giants had a leg up on the dodgers for a long time in this category

aside from dazzy vance and johnny podres, the dodgers are not very well represented, while the ny/sf giants show up quite often.  since 1960, however, the dodgers have 12 era titles (including the last 4) to the giants' 5.  they trail in world series rings over the last three years, though.

i'll finish this post with a 2012 panini playoff prime cuts hanley ramirez relic card

the card features hanley as a marlin, or as a member of the miami baseball team, as it was issued before the trade that sent him to los angeles that year.  he's gone to boston now to play the outfield - a position the dodgers were not in need of by any stretch. i was under the impression that hanley wanted to play shortstop, but i guess not.

thanks for the trade frankie!

the rest of the cards that should have been from the garvey binders

i am almost done with showing pages from my steve garvey oddball binder.  then it will be time to show the pages from the 'regular' collection binders.  get excited.  here are the rest of the cards that should have been that i've created or received or otherwise had to print myself over the last few years.

punkrockpaint is responsible for the 1988 topps card, while the writer's journey sent me the digital version of the gypsy queen card.  the last three are topps bunt 'cards' that i printed out.

so, i sought out a repack

this 1992 bowman vaughn eshelman card means business.

i found it in a repack that i sought out after finding (both surprisingly and somewhat disappointingly) only current cards at one of the local walgreens.  i had my mind set on a repack, so a couple of days later i picked up a hanger of recycled cards at target.

here's the oldest card from the pack - a 1985 topps bryn smith

that's nice - i'm kind of a bryn smith fan.  i met his dad when i was in high school is how that came about.

this 2012 topps update ra dickey card is the newest card from the repack

nice shot of the knuckle grip, but why isn't he wearing number 49 like a good knuckler?

as always, there were some 1987 topps cards included, such as this tony gwynn all-star subset card

and there was also some 1988 fleer, including this tim wallach card

the card design works well with the expos' unis, although the blues don't quite match.  that card will be heading to new mexico at some point.

there was actually a 1989 fleer card that i am going to keep in the repack - this checklist card that features the dodgers and red sox

there are your defending world champions, from dave anderson to tracy woodson.  i don't know about you other set collectors, but i always included the fleer checklists with my team sets, probably because in 1983 and 1984 (and possibly other years) they featured a photo of the manager on them.

here's a 1990 topps willie stargell glossy all-star card

pops was the honorary captain of the national league squad in 1988 as he was voted into the hall of fame that year.

there was a complete 14-card factory set of the 2008 topps yankees in the repack

joba looks like he's relieving himself on the lawn outside a kegger somewhere.

i beat the odds and picked a repack that included an autographed card.  it's a 2006 topps '52 matt albers card

i would have preferred another auto card of a different matt from that same set, but repack purchasers can't be choosers.  not in that way, anyway.

i forgot the 1989 topps steve garvey card that should have been

a few days ago when i posted the don sutton and rick rhoden cards that were left out of the 1989 topps and 1989 topps traded sets, respectively, i overlooked another card that should have been, featuring a member of the 1978 topps dodgers.  i use the phrase 'should have been' very loosely here, as there really was no way this card was even a thought back then, whereas i would like to think that the folks at topps at least considered sutton and rhoden.  this is a season highlight card commemorating the retirement of steve garvey's number by the san diego padres.

it's modeled after the record breaker subset in 1989 topps - here's the orel hershiser card from the set

with dodger stadium as the backdrop even though the card celebrates the achievement of 59 consecutive scoreless innings, which the bulldog reached in san diego.  and, san diego is where the number retirement took place on april 16, 1988.  here's the back with all the details:

if you look closely at the photo i used for the card, there is a giant reproduction of garvey's 1982 donruss diamond kings card behind him.  the actual display showed up on ebay a while back, with the seller asking for $1000 or some such.

garvey was the first player to have his number retired by the padres, although he has since been joined by randy jones, dave winfield, tony gwynn, and trevor hoffman.  the dodgers held garvey's number out of circulation for 20 years (from the time garvey left the club in 1983 until his hall of fame balloting days were almost through in 2003), and then jolbert cabrera was allowed to wear it, as you can see on this 2003 upper deck 40 man card.

i don't recall hearing about the number retirement back when it happened, but i do recall being pleasantly surprised to see his number up on the outfield wall at jack murphy stadium the first time i visited, probably in 1990 or 91.  somewhere i have a photo from that game of the number 6 in front of some palm trees that were planted behind the fence.

it is highly unlikely that garvey will make the hall of fame (he's been on a couple committee ballots and failed in recent years), and so the padres will be the only franchise to have retired his number.  at least i have a card to remember it by.

1989 topps cards that should have been of 1978 topps dodgers - don sutton gets a final tribute

it has been a while since i last updated the evolution of the players who were featured as dodgers in the 1978 topps set.  in that most recent post, i mentioned some cards that should have been from 1989.  here's what i was talking about.

1989 topps don sutton

sutton got a box bottom card from topps, but not a true final tribute.  this takes care of that.  here's the back

this was why i went so long between posts - i finally sat down and spent the time needed to get all those numbers on there.  i'm not looking forward to the tommy john final tribute back, i can tell you that.

score was the only card company to give sutton a regular card in 1989, since he was released by the dodgers in august.  it was curious that score didn't include him in their 1988 rookie/traded set, but put him in the flagship.  whatever, i'm just happy that for the second year in a row (they also made the only steve garvey final tribute in 1988), score came through for me

here's the back

there were only two seasons in sutton's career in which he didn't win at least 11 games, and his truncated 1988 final season was one of them.

here's the other card missing from topps in 1989 - the 1989 topps traded rick rhoden card

rhoden was traded from the yankees to the astros prior to the 1989 season, but didn't fit onto topps' traded set checklist.  i'm sure if it had been the other way around, topps would have been able to find room for another yankee in the set.

well, there you have it - two cards that should have been in 1989.  stay tuned for the 1978 topps dodgers as they were in 1990...

a memorial patch for harvey kuenn

to me, harvey kuenn is the guy who struck out as the last out of sandy koufax's perfect game (as vin scully said, '2 and 2 to harvey kuenn, one strike away.  sandy into his windup; here's the pitch - swung on and missed! a perfect game!).  however, kuenn was also the manager of the milwaukee brewers in 1982 and 1983.  he took over the team about a third of the way into the 1982 season and wound up leading the brew crew to the world series.  after he died in february of 1988, the team added a 'h/k' memorial patch to their left sleeves, with the slash being a baseball bat.

the patch is visible on a number of cards, such as:

1989 donruss paul molitor

1989 topps chuck crim

1990 bill wegman

1988 score rookie and traded darryl hamilton

1989 donruss joey meyer

and jim gantner's 1989 upper deck card - both on the front

and the back

which also seems to include a double play turn.

as much as i would like to include a molitor or robin yount card (or some other member of "harvey's wallbangers" as the representative for this patch in my collection, that honor goes to this 1989 big apple sportscards gary sheffield card

kuenn also had a successful career as a player, amassing over 2000 hits and a .303 lifetime average in 15 seasons.  he was only 57 when he died.

ramon is nomar spelled backwards

happy 46th birthday to ramon martinez!  the pitcher, not the infielder, in case you were confused.  here are a bunch of ramon's cards that i have had scanned for a while.

first up, a trio of cards from sports collectors digest - from 1990 a 1957 style card

from 1991 a 1971 style card

and from 1992 a 1974 style card

fast forward to 1996 and here's a golden memories insert from fleer

ramon's golden memory is, of course, his no-hitter against the marlins on july 14, 1995.  here's the back of the card, complete with a photo of ramon wearing a batting helmet.

here's a die cut card from 1995 upper deck sp championship.

ramon made his first postseason appearance in 1995.  he also pitched for the dodgers in the 1996 nlds, but didn't get to a league championship series until he went to the red sox for the 1999 season.

last but not least, here's a 1989 topps rookie card of ramon

it's quite colorful, thanks to the dodger stadium backdrop.  i sent that particular card in to a signing a couple of years ago - i think through hall of fame sports.

happy birthday ramon!

what have they done to my fair stadium?

beach volleyball.  kiss.  nhl hockey.  these things will be taking place in dodger stadium on january 25th, and construction of the rink and other associated items is well underway.  i don't have any problems with that.  i've been to a couple of concerts at dodger stadium, and i contemplated going to the exhibition outdoor game that the nhl staged in las vegas several years back.  i know the folks here in the twin cities are hoping for the nhl classic to come to target field or the gophers' football stadium (where the golden gophers will play ohio state in some big 10 hockey action tonight in below zero wind chill).  still, here are some cards featuring walter o'malley's gem, the third oldest baseball stadium in the major leagues, as it was meant to be seen - as a baseball venue.

this card is from the baseball stadium facts inserts in 1969 fleer cloth sticker packs

yes, the playing field is symmetrical.  big deal. wanna fight about it?

here's ed whitson dealing from the dodger stadium mound on a 1989 fleer card

and here's nolan ryan hanging out in the bullpen.

that's a 1989 topps box bottom card, by the way.

here's a card back featuring the visitor's dugout area - orlando merced's 1991 upper deck card

and here's kenny lofton's 1992 upper deck card

i started to look at the lofton card a bit closer and wasn't completely sure that it was dodger stadium because the railing looks a bit dark.  however, wes chamberlain's 1993 upper deck card

gives a similar angle, and the railing looks the same.  lofton played in 2 games at dodger stadium among his 20 as an astro in 1991, so i say yes - that's dodger stadium in the background.

here's the back of chamberlain's card for good measure

there's no doubt that andujar cedeno's 1993 upper deck card features a shot from dodger stadium

that looks like juan samuel sliding in.

same goes for gary sheffield's 1994 upper deck card.  dodger stadium, not juan samuel.

those are the old low railings near the right field bullpen that have been replaced with a solid panel short wall.  the back of sheffield's card shows the full height outfield wall

complete with a championship banner.  this must have been opening day - the dodgers only bring out the banners then.

1997 fleer ultra todd hundley

i've never been to the stadium club restaurant at dodger stadium.  that's the area directly behind hundley with the window panels between the orange (loge - as in lower general admission) and blue (reserve) levels.

this is a nice card. it's from the 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game set - the first gotg release from fleer

i'm not sure if jerry royster is a true great of the game, but he is a former dodger and that is a nice photo of him playing short at chavez ravine.

last, but certainly not least, is a card of another former dodger.  wilton guerrero's 1998 fleer tradition update card

complete with his brother vladdy and the left field pavilion and diamondvision in the background is one of the best dodger stadium cards around.

enjoy the hockey at dodger stadium, but no tractor pulls please.