royce clayton vs. joey cora - a double play extravaganza

i have wound up with quite a few additions to the double play collection over the last few months.  i don't know if i will ever catch the posting up to the acquiring of these cards.  anyway, a fair number of the newer cards to my collection have featured two players in particular - royce clayton and joey cora.  let's see them face off in a double play tete-a-tete, shall we?

1992 pinnacle royce clayton team 2000

clayton turning two in dodger stadium, despite lenny harris' best efforts.

1997 upper deck joey cora

turning two (the card even says so!) vs cubs in spring training

back to clayton, this time it's a 1992 upper deck scouting report insert

now here's joey turning two against the orioles (and robby alomar) on a 1998 topps opening day card

back to clayton, and back to dodger stadium on a 1998 pacific online card

good to see clayton out of that giant uniform, and good to see todd hollandsworth doing his best to break up the turn.

here's cora on a 1995 topps stadium club with will clark trying to break things up.

one more of clayton in dodger stadium (and as a giant) courtesy of 1994 pinnacle

while cora knees an anonymous yankee in the head on his 1993 score card

it looks like clayton got upended but still made the relay on his 1998 ud collector's choice card

and cora is barely clearing what may well be jose canseco on this 1996 score card

except canseco hadn't been in oakland since 1992.

here's clayton clearing an astro on a 1993 ud sp card

and cora avoiding a brewer on a 1997 pinnacle card

finally, here is clayton leaping over a pirate on his 1994 topps stadium club card

while cora appears to make the turn despite the slide of what i believe to be an oakland athletic on his 1998 pacific paramount card

and these aren't even close to all of the double play cards featuring these two guys.  there are for sure a bunch more of clayton, whose cards i prefer over cora's simply because some of them feature dodgers.  i'm partial that way.

more double play cards from the dollar store

as promised this morning, here are some more cards that i received from doug of sportscards from the dollar store.  

1992 donruss triple play royce clayton

featuring craig biggio.  between those two guys there are a ton of double play cards.

1992 pinnacle lou whitaker

when i first started collecting dp cards, i was more concerned with second basemen making the turn, since that was the position i played most of the time in high school and beyond.  but then i started to play more shortstop after moving to minneapolis and remembered that the best turn is the groundball to the shortstop's left that he can take to the bag himself.  so, i don't discriminate.  still, i might enjoy seeing lou, steve sax, biggio and other 2b's making the turn a little bit more.  like jose lind on his 1993 donruss card.  no, not the front which has the o-pee-chee like traded text

but the back

not sure what sort of pin lind is wearing on his cap there.  any ideas?

here's another second baseman who also is wearing a pin on his hat - joey cora on a 1995 donruss card

i think cora's pin(s) had to do with his home country of puerto rico.

here's a 2012 topps yuniesky betancourt card

betancourt is playing more first base these days as a brewer.  at least that's where he was the other night when i saw him play at target field.

also from 2012 topps, here is aaron hill

and dustin pedroia

the last two cards are from 2012 topps chrome - troy tulowitzki

and jordany valdespin

it's nice to see that topps used a different photo of valdespin than the one they used for his update card.  this one shows the 'kid 8' memorial patch very well.  it might even make the memorial binder, but i'll leave that to a separate post.

thanks again doug!

maybe dave parker should have handled this one

time for the next installment of steve garvey's baseball tips, courtesy of post raisin bran cereal boxes back in 1979.  these were not the boxes with 'two scoops of raisins' in every box.  i am guessing they had about the same number, however.    anyway, this week the garv is telling us how to throw from the outfield.

dave parker put on an outfield throwing clinic in the 1979 all-star game, so i think i would rather hear from him than from garvey, who played only nine games total in the outfield.  despite all that, his advice is decent, if generic.  the sketched player looks like he is having trouble and could probably use more help.

darryl strawberry is doing ok on this 1992 pinnacle rookies idols card, as donald harris looks on.

i thought that this type of card might have been from a rookie/traded set, but thanks to baseballcardpedia i know that these were inserts in series 2 packs of regular ol' 1992 pinnacle.

mitch webser demonstrates his throwing motion on this 1994 topps card

as does tony mota on this 2000 topps traded card

actually, neither one of them looks too different from the guy sketched on the tip 'card'.  and, garvey does have an outfield assist to his credit (he threw bob watson out at second base back in 1973).  maybe i should take his advice more seriously.

only a couple of weeks until spring training starts!

the supporting story in the 1988 dodgers' hollywood script

sometimes movie scripts can be pretty predictable.  all stories boil down to either man vs. nature, man vs. himself, or man vs. man.  throw in some boy meets girl/boy loses girl drama, and you have a tale fit for a screenplay.  back in 1988, the dodgers' world championship, and particularly the kirk gibson home run to win game 1, was often referred to as having a hollywood ending.  nbc even ran a segment prior to game 2 intertwining gibson's home run with roy hobbs' fictional blast in 'the natural'.  sometimes lost in all the gibson memories is mike davis, seen here on a 1988 topps traded card that was sent to me by marcus at all the way to the backstop.

i was watching mlb network a few weeks ago, and they had a countdown show of baseball's most underrated or overlooked plays.  things like bernie carbo's home run in the 1975 world series that set up carlton fisk's blast, or the interference call that negated a run off of orel hershiser when he was only 40-something innings into his scoreless innings streak.  and, of course, mike davis's walk in game 1 of the 1988 world series off of dennis eckersley to give kirk gibson a chance to win the game with a home run.  now, i don't subscribe to the idea that davis's walk is overlooked or underrated, but then again i am a dodger fan and i was at the game.  everybody in the stadium (and even the people listening in the parking lot as they were leaving) knew that davis made gibson's at bat possible.  watching the game at home a few days later (my mom taped it), joe garagiola commented on the significance of the walk, too.  i realize that as time goes by, the home run is what most fans remember, so i understand why the walk was on mlb network's list.  anyway, just like vince vaughn's character in 'rudy', mike davis was redeemed by making things possible for the main character's success.

davis came to the dodgers as a free agent prior to the season, and sprained his ankle during spring training.  he never seemed to get on track, and hit only .196 over the course of the regular season.  he endured stints without regular playing time, and was seen in wrigley field at one point holding up a sign that read 'mike davis is alive and well', just in case people were wondering. mike marshall, who had started the season as the dodgers' first baseman, took over as the regular right fielder.  and, even with gibson out of the lineup in the world series, lasorda went with mickey hatcher in left field over davis.  the stunt man made lasorda look like a genius with the way he played in the series, by the way.  

anyway, davis took the walk in game 1, and then put the nail in the a's coffin in game 5 with a two-run home run off of storm davis in the 4th inning.  davis was allowed to swing away on a 3-0 count and he made it count.  that home run was his only hit of the series in seven official at bats, but it was enough to keep me from overlooking him.  or so i thought.

ok, enough wordiness.  let's see some cards.  here's a 2012 topps update wal-mart blue matt kemp card

and a 1992 pinnacle juan samuel card

looks like juan is turning two in dodger stadium.  that's nice.

i should mention that all of these cards were sent to me by marcus from 'all the way to the backstop'.  they are much appreciated.

here's the back of roberto alomar's 1989 upper deck card

and a 1992 fleer ultra kurt stillwell card

plus stillwell's 1993 upper deck card

alomar has a fair number of cards showing him turning two, but i believe that stillwell has the highest dp turn to card ratio ever.  here are some other stillwell dp cards to support my theory.

another frequent dp turner is bip roberts, as seen here on a 1995 score card

and a 1995 topps bazooka card

and a 1996 topps stadium club card

i forget - is three a bipping?  or is it five?

moving on to a 2008 upper deck khalil greene card

and a 1992 fleer ultra jeff huson card

which features a forced out jose canseco.  i think huson's 1992 upper deck card also features a dp turn with mr 40/40 sliding in.  could be the same play, who knows.

i also participated in thorzul's trade me anything promotion, and received a matt kemp golden moments insert from 2012 topps update.

cole hamels should know that the best way to put a rookie in his place is by just pointing at the scoreboard.

thanks for the trades, guys!

here's a tip: get a grip!

it's time for the fourth installment in our presentation of steve garvey's baseball tips, as distributed by post raisin bran back in 1979.  this tip focuses on the proper way to grip a baseball.

kind of ironic, given garvey's throwing issues early in his career.  i found a couple of other dodger cards that also highlight the grip - here's don newcombe on his 2009 upper deck goodwin champions card

and tom candiotti on his 1992 pinnacle 'grips' card

obivously, it's ok for candy to have a grip that results in 'throwing a ball that sinks or sails' - that's pretty much the point of the knuckleball.

only about 8 weeks until spring training!

not the drape-like decorations that get hung on opening day

it's time for round two of steve garvey's baseball tips, courtesy of post raisin bran back in 1979.  this means there are only about 11 weeks until spring training kicks off!  tip number two is all about bunting (not that the dodgers have any bunters anymore).

the garv used to bunt a fair amount back in the day - usually as a way to break out of a slump.  when he  bunted, he looked less like the guy on the tip panel, and more like willie randolph on his 1989 topps traded card

that's bunting for a base hit, y'all!

believe it or not, this is not the only bunting 101 card in my collection.  i also have this 1993 upper deck fun pack brett butler card

with the 'all-star advice' continuing on the back

butler also teaches us a lesson on this 1992 pinnacle card

which also has some bunting technique text on the back, but i didn't scan the back.  i did scan another copy of the card that butler was kind enough to sign for me a while ago.

butler is a good ttm signer, and i have hit him up a few times over the last few years.  he has a number of great cards, so it was tough to choose just one or two to send him.  let's have him walk us through the bunt with some of his cards, all signed ttm.

1998 upper deck

1994 pinnacle

1995 upper deck collector's choice se

1994 upper deck

1992 topps

1993 topps stadium club

1993 donruss

1996 topps

and, he's on base.

that would be his 1995 topps card, one of my favorite dodger cards.  i think the image from the 1993 donruss and 1993 topps stadium club cards might be the same play, but it's tough to tell as butler bunted a lot.  obviously.

next week, garvey gets into baserunning.  brett butler will make another appearance.  stay tuned.