seeing things at the lcs

if you've ever wondered what pete rose, ryne sandberg, and steve garvey would look like if their faces were somehow combined into one, then go pick up a copy of this 1986 sportflics card.

when scanned, it looks mostly like rose.  here's the garvey image, or at least as best as i could manage.

i didn't need a copy, but i couldn't leave that card in the nickel box at one of the local card shops, now could i?  i also picked up a better looking garvey - again, no real need, but for a nickel…it's a 2005 topps pristine card for goodness sake!

i mentioned in an earlier post that i had made a few visits to the two local card shops over the last few months, and had some cards to show from those trips.  some of the nickel and dime boxes at these shops included boxes sorted by player - mostly hall of famers, stars, and notable twins.  some of the lesser organized boxes seemed to include bunches of cards of players who were at one time highly collectible, but now are not really sought after - probably moved out of the star boxes to make room for the bryce harpers and mike trouts of the world.  one such player is roberto alomar.

i found a bunch of alomars, including this 1995 topps d3 double play card

as well as base

and die-cut versions

of his 1995 upper deck championship series card.

like alomar, eddie murray seemed to have been moved into the low rent district.  i picked up a 1991 bowman card of the hall of famer

 it mentions his .330 average on the back

which led the majors in 1990, although murray didn't win a batting title.

here's a 1993 fleer vinny castilla card

on which he is shown turning two as a brave, but listed as a rockie.  i had forgotten that castilla was not always a third baseman.  castilla did not start the season as colorado's shortstop (freddie benavides had the honor of being the first ss in team history) but he took over the role in may.  he didn't move to third base full time until 1995.

there were some oddball cards in one of the boxes, many of which i had not seen before.  i picked up a 1992 fleer citgo darryl strawberry card for the dodger collection

it was a joint 7-11/citgo release, apparently.

there were even some ted williams cards floating around - this one of joe black is from 1993.

the tough thing with the nickel and dime boxes is that they aren't getting any new inventory.  i noticed that at both shops, although the lack of new material seemed to be for different reasons.  at one shop, they didn't appear to be busting any new product.  at the other, they seemed to be discouraging people from digging through boxes.  i'll expand on that next time.

they came from indianaland

i am really far behind on trade posts, and trades in general.  if i owe you cards, or, if by chance you owe me cards, please leave a comment.  if you would like to trade, please leave a comment.  or send an email.  i have some stacks set aside for a few of you that i will get mailed out before too long.

on to a trade from may.  this one came from darren at indianaland.

we'll start with a 1990 topps tim crews card

the dodgers acquired crews from the brewers in the 1986 greg brock deal.  he pitched effectively out of the bullpen for 5 seasons as a dodger before the wheels kind of fell off in 1992.  crews pitched well in 1988, but was somewhat famously left off of the postseason roster.  1990 was arguably his best year, as he set career highs in games and innings pitched and his era was a tidy 2.77.  he even made 2 starts.  however, what we remember tim crews for mostly is how he died - in a boating accident during spring training in 1993 that also claimed the life of steve olin and injured bobby ojeda.  the dodgers wore a patch with crews' number on it for the 1993 season.
on a lighter note, here's a 1991 bowman domingo mota card

i'm not sure what the 'mvp' foil is all about, but mota had peaked by the time this card was issued.  he had a fantastic 1990 season in rookie ball, hitting .343.  a year later, after a decent 1991 season in a ball, the dodgers traded mota to the royals with chris gwynn for todd benzinger.  he never did make it to the big leagues.

2000 upper deck fp santangelo

santangelo and the umpire in the background are going their separate ways.  the dodgers signed santangelo as a free agent for the 2000 season.  he played in 81 games and hit a buck-ninetyseven.  he did hit a home run for the dodgers, a pinch-hit job against the marlins in a 7-3 loss.

1994 topps todd worrell

worrell was arguably the dodgers' first full-time closer since mike marshall and certainly their first 'modern' closer.  he was the first dodger to record 30 saves in a season, as well as the first to reach 40 in a single year.  his 44 saves from that year stood as the franchise record until eric gagne saved 52 games in 2002.  worrell also passed the dodgers's franchise saves leader (jim brewer) in 1997 (his final big league season), but he has since been surpassed by jeff shaw and gagne.  not sure that jonathan broxton will ever get close, however.  surprisingly, worrell's 127 saves as a dodger are only 2 fewer than he had for saint louis, although i would suspect most people (myself included) would think of worrell primarily as a cardinal.

here's a 1991 line drive kevin kennedy minor league card

kennedy had finished his playing career with the dukes in 1983, and became their manager in 1989.  he had managed in the lower minors for the dodgers starting in 1984 and had worked his way up to become relevant in the 'who will replace tommy' discussions.  1991 was kennedy's last season as the dukes manager as he left to take over the texas rangers and then the boston red sox.  he led boston to the postseason in 1995 where they were swept by the indians in the alds.  after the 1996 season, kennedy became a talking head, although his name might still pop up from time to time during managerial searches.

lastly, a 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee black bordered travis hafner

i am still half-heartedly trying to complete this set, and darren sent me a couple of needed cards including pronk.  even though it's not the right kind of opc, any help is appreciated.

thanks for the cards darren - hopefully we can trade again sometime.