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!

dime box dodgers

here are some more cards that nick from dime boxes sent to me recently.  you didn't think he sent just double play cards, did you?

i will admit, i coveted the don mattingly and darryl strawberry cards from 1984 donruss more than i wanted sid fernandez's card 30 years ago

even though sid's was the only one of the three to have the coveted rated rookie banner.  it also features a dodger stadium as the background.  1984 was, of course, the first year that donruss added the rated rookie moniker to the front of the card.  in 1983, at least, it was noted on the back of the cards.  a waste of ink, that was.

here's a 1995 upper deck star rookie subset card of another dodger prospect from mexico, antonio osuna

and yet another mexican dodger prospect from 1996 pacific, karim garcia

sadly, there were no fernando valenzuela or dennis reyes cards in the package.

there were some cards of retired dodger stars, including this other pacific card from their 1988 legends set of frank howard

and a 1990 swell baseball greats of don newcombe

nick is good at finding cards from the 1992 conlon tsn set, and he sent me a johnny cooney (a dodger double dipper)

and a burleigh grimes

from the set.  my favorite grimes card of the package, however, was this 2001 upper deck legends of new york card

which comes with the fuzzy 'b'.  grimes was a hall of fame pitcher for the brooklyn robins and later a manager of the brooklyn dodgers, including the 1937 squad which was the year that conlon took those photos seen on the cooney and grimes cards.  so, upper deck should have listed grimes as a robin on their card since he is identified as a pitcher, not a manager.  still, i'll take all the grimes cards i can get.

thanks nick!  i've got some cards heading your way soon.

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!

why did i scan this card?

this 1990 swell baseball greats card of dodger utility man lee lacy has been sitting in my scanned folder for a long time.

so long that i don't recall why i scanned it.  i know it wasn't for lacy's double dipper post, as i try my best to use only cards from a player's playing days, and lacy had cards in real-time to document his goings and comings. 

maybe it was the fact that someone considered lacy to be a baseball great.  don't get me wrong - i am a fan as leondaus is a member of the 1978 topps dodgers - but i don't know that he was a great player, especially for the dodgers.  his best years were with the pirates for whom he hit over .300 in 4 of 6 seasons.  he also played well at the end of his career in baltimore.  still, i'm happy to have another card of a 1978 topps dodger.  that's probably why the card got scanned.
the same can't be said for this 1990 pacific legends tom paciorek

paciorek was traded with lacy to the braves in the dusty baker deal after the 1975 season.  he went on to have his best years with the mariners and white sox, hitting his peak in 1981 when his .326 average was good for second in the american league and he finished 10th in the mvp voting.  not very legendary.  but, like the lacy card, i am happy to have another dodger card of one of the guys selected in that legendary 1968 draft.  shoot.  that's why i scanned the card - i was planning a post on that draft class.

i hate when that happens.