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.

taking the trade train from p-town

tom from waiting 'til next year let me know that he had found some oddball dodger card, and asked if i would be interested. of course i would! so, the cards were sent my way, and my collection is all the better for it.

the package included some 'swell' cards, including actual swell cards, of which one was this 1990 swell baseball greats steve garvey card

i've got one in the garvey binders, but needed one for the dodger binders.  excellent.

there were also quite a few 1975 (some say 1976) sspc cards, such as willie crawford

crawford was traded after the 1975 season to make way for reggie smith in the outfield so i can't really complain about the dodgers not keeping him around, but he had some solid years as their right fielder.  crawford won a world series ring at the age of 18 in 1965, and helped the club return to the fall classic in 1974, too.  he almost became a double dipper as part of the team of my youth, but didn't make the club out of spring training in 1977.

there were a bunch of pacific legends, too, like this 1990 clem labine card

labine was a 2-time all-star and a key cog on the dodgers' 1955 world championship team, so i'm glad to see him get some cardboard appreciation.

here's a very cool 2009 tristar obak duke snider card

he's shown as a member of the fort worth cats, which puts this image from 1946.  snider spent that season with the dodgers' double-a affiliate, playing alongside future dodger coach monty basgall.

tom was kind enough to include an insert card of the reigning cy young award winner and mvp, clayton kershaw - a 2014 donruss diamond kings card

modeled after the 1984 version of the diamond king subsets.  you all know who the first dodger diamond king was, don't you? yes, it was steve garvey.

here's a 2012 bowman chrome prospect card of o'koyea dickson

he was a 12th round pick in 2011, and spent 2014 at double-a chattanooga.  will he make the jump to okc in 2015?  let's wait and see.

here are a couple more cards from the package that may not otherwise have warranted a scan - 1994 donruss billy ashley

and 1987 donruss brian holton

this may well be the first time anyone has bothered to scan a 1987 donruss brian holton card.  you're welcome.

thanks for the cards tom!

specifically pacific

i received a box of cards in the mail on monday that featured a large number of pacific cards, courtesy of the patp dude.  as i prepare for a post, i am clearing my scanned folder of pacific cards that were not a part of that package.  now then, enjoy some cards that span the pacific trading card company's existence.

1990 pacific legends johnny podres

such humble beginnings.

1993 pacific mike sharperson

starting in 1993, pacific took a slant towards the latino market.  in spanish, 'baseball' translates to 'beisbol', although 'base' translates to 'base'.

1993 pacific darryl strawberry

no, jardinero is outfielder, not underachiever

1994 pacific pedro astacio

in 1994, pacific added the crown to their cards, and the idea of the 'crown collection'.  it wasn't until later that they had a specific set called 'crown collection', so i just call this 1994 pacific

1994 pacific rafael bournigal

they even had their own version of the rookie cup.  sorry, novato cup

1994 pacific pedro martinez

petey is sporting the tim crews memorial patch

1994 pacific brett butler

while butler is showing the don drysdale/roy campanella memorial patch.  which reminds me, i need to do a specific memorials post for that one.

1994 pacific jim gott

wrigley field was a popular source of photos for pacific it would seem.

1994 pacific raul mondesi

mondesi was the novato of the year in 1994.  you can see both of the memorial patches on his card.

1994 pacific darryl strawberry

must be opening day in dodger stadium - there was really no other reason for the dodgers to break out the bunting in the early 90's

1994 pacific tim wallach

back in wrigley - with a lurking mike piazza on deck

unfortunately i didn't have any crazy pacific parallels to post here, but here's a 2000 pacific crown royale shaw green feature attractions insert

pretty tame by 2000 pacific standards.  i maintain that 2000 pacific invincible is one of the greatest releases in history.

anyway, i'll be showing off a bunch of pacific cards that brian sent in the not too distant future. i won't just limit it to dodgers, either.

it's getting a little dusty in here

i am enjoying going back and visiting the early days of dusty baker's managerial career in the 1978 topps dodger evolutionary posts.  i am also enjoying seeing johnnie b. baker in some recent card releases.  i bought a 2014 topps baker autograph recently,

as well as a 2013 panini america's pastime boys of summer auto

and i am looking to add one from this year's panini donruss or topps tier one sometime soon as well.  there are plenty of other baker cards to show from my collection in the meantime.  like this 1981 permagraphic all-stars issue

or a 1981 squirt card

that features the 1978 topps team font and position ball!  good for you, squirt.

here's a 1984 7-11 slurpee coin of johnnie b.

and one of his more recent cards - a 2009 topps ring of honor insert

i guess i am ignoring the fact that dusty has received cards in the topps heritage set in recent years (up to 2014, anyway) as well.  but those were cards of him as a red, not a dodger.  baker was, of course, also a brave, and here is his 1990 pacific legends card showing him in atlanta duds

for some reason, topps decided to go back to atlanta as far as dusty was concerned for 2014 allen & ginter

there were probably too many other dodgers in the checklist already.  like…

…his old teammates bill buckner

 and don sutton

 and his former dodger manager, tom lasorda

 plus there are the current dodgers that needed to be represented in the set, such as adrian gonzalez

zack greinke

clayton kershaw

and yasiel puig

among others.

so, i'll take dusty in a braves uniform from time to time, especially if that limits the cards of him as a giant.

a 2x3 heroes guessing game

jeff at 2x3 heroes sent me one of his plain white envelopes a while back, stuffed with a third of a nine-pocket sheet.  each of the three pockets had some cool cards in it, and jeff added a note saying 'guess which pocket was not from a nickel box.  let's see if i can figure it out.

pocket #1 - 1987 fleer fernando valenzuela all-star team insert

this was a tough pull for me back in 1987.  there's a steve sax card in the insert set, too.  this could have been more than a nickel

1985 fleer limited edition steve garvey

this card is from a boxed set, so it could go for more than 5 cents.

2004 topps all-time fan favorites steve garvey

all-time fan favorite cards shouldn't be selling for a nickel.  especially ones with steve garvey on them.

pocket #2 - 1990 pacific baseball legends steve garvey

garvey in a dodger uniform is worth more than a nickel

2001 upper deck decade 1970's steve garvey

i wonder if upper deck ever had plans to do a 1980's set like this.  they could have used a modified 1983 topps design and made cards of guys like dale murphy and orel hershiser.   i would have collected that set, just like i did with this one when it came out.

2013 topps hanley ramirez chasing history insert

it's not the foil version, so it could be in a nickel box, i suppose

pocket #3 - 2013 topps mini adrian gonzalez

miniature dodger stadium background action available only online.

2014 topps gypsy queen yasiel puig

a short print of the dodger right fielder

2014 topps gypsy queen yasiel puig glove stories insert

one of puig's two cards in this insert set

ok, i think it is pretty obvious which pocket did not feature cards from the nickel box.  puig is still in the cases at the card shows, and i'm hoping that he plays well enough to keep his cards under glass for a long time.

thanks for the cards jeff!

seeing double

topps is not alone when it comes to recycling photos.  i recently received some cards in the mail from nick at dime boxes that included a healthy dose of dodgers from the pacific legends cards from the late 1980's.  like carl erskine

and carl erskine

at first i thought i had received doubles, but that was just because of the photo.  clearly the design is different, and pacific (not that pacific) used lowercase letters in 1990.  that's the 1988 pacific card up top, by the way.  the backs made it easier to differentiate.

in addition to oisk, there was campy

and tommy davis

clem labine

and don...newcomb?

newk also showed up (with his name correctly spelled) on a 1989 swell card

i don't have too many of the 1989 swell cards - in fact, this might be the only one.  i do have a few of the 1991 swell cards, but didn't have manny mota until the package arrived from nick

it's always nice to get a new card featuring one of the players on the team of my youth.  there were also some more recent cards, like this 2004 bowman jereme milons card

milons is still playing ball in the frontier league these days.  he moved on to the diamondbacks' organization shortly after this card was released, never getting above high-a ball with the dodgers.

finally, another player from the team of my youth - knuckleballer charlie hough

this is a 2004 topps all-time fan favorites card, and it looks great.  the photo is from earlier in the 70's, but would have fit in with the 1974 set nicely.

thanks nick.  you've got me excited to wade through some dime boxes at the next show!