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.

a lotta piazza

as mentioned in the previous post, i snagged over 100 mike piazza inserts from what was essentially a dime box at the local card show last weekend.  this one might be my favorite.  from 1994 pacific, it's a silver prism circular insert/parallel

there's a regular silver prism version with a different pattern, and there's a gold prism version with a different photo.  see them here.  i like the circles.

1995 donruss long ball leaders

i can't be sure, but it seems as though piazza hit a long home run against mark gardner of the marlins.  subtlety is not donruss's strong suit.  actually, this particular home run was also a grand slam - the first of piazza's career.

1994 leaf limited

not an insert, but still shiny like one.

1994 topps stadium club super teams insert

a nice dodger stadium play at the plate aftermath card.  luis gonzalez looks dazed and confused.

1995 pinnacle zenith all-star salute insert

he looks angry.  pitchers didn't like him when he was angry.  he would hit mash, or smash if i were to continue the hulk reference.

1995 upper deck sp championship series

not an insert, but not the most common of cards either.

1995 sportflix uc3 in motion insert

yes, piazza is in there somewhere

1996 donruss freeze frame insert

too bad it's brian mcrae and not glenallen hill who delivered a big hit on piazza about 20 years ago.  yikes, i'm old.

1996 fleer emotion xl

not an insert, but i am appreciating the framed card all the same.

1996 upper deck retail predictor insert

was piazza a rbi leader of any month in 1996?  i am not sure.  but i also snagged this 1996 upper deck predictor exchange card

so he must have done something right.

1997 fleer ultra fame game insert

and 1997 fleer ultra season crowns insert

the first one is typical ultra, but that second card could pass for a pacific insert.

1997 topps finest

not an insert, but who could tell with finest?

i'll finish up the piazzafest with a couple of pacific dandies.  this is a 1997 pacific prism base card

if you can believe it, and this is a 1998 pacific crown collection gold crown die cut insert

that's a whole lotta piazza.  i noticed that there were a couple of dupes when i was sorting them afterwards, so let me know if anyone is interested (daniel).

ay karim-ba!

i've picked up a few auto/game used dodger lots lately, and they all seem to have one thing in common:  karim garcia autos.  here are just a couple of the former dodger prospect.

this one is from 1995 classic 5 sport

and this one comes from 1996 best

but wait, that's not all. nick from dime boxes sent me a package recently, and wouldn't you know it - karim garcia made an appearance.  not once, mind you, with this 1996 topps stadium club card

but twice, thanks to this 1997 score select parallel

garcia debuted in 1995 as a 19-year old for the dodgers, and went 2 for 3 in his first big league start.  he wound up getting only 20 at bats that year, and just one in 1996, as the dodgers had todd hollandsworth higher on the depth chart.  in 1997, he got a little more playing time (and not just in september), but was selected by the diamondbacks in the expansion draft, and away he went.  garcia wound up playing for 7 teams over his 10-year career, which included two stints with the indians.  garcia made it to the postseason once, but his 2003 yankees lost to hollandsworth's marlins in the world series that year.

nick also sent a very nice 2001 topps archives card of roy campanella

now if only i had a copy of the real thing...

here are a few more goodies - 1994 pacific tom candiotti

with the knuckleballer showing good pee-wee baseball pitching form.

joe thurston was another dodger prospect who wound up bouncing around a bit

i hadn't seen that 2003 upper deck honor roll card, so i was happy to receive it.  thurston spent time with the astros, phillies, and twins organizations this year.  i have a soft spot for dodger second base prospects, so i hope he is able to hang on somewhere.

speaking of prospects, here's a prospective superstar.  at least according to upper deck

that's ricardo rodriguez on a 2001 ud pros and prospects card.  the dodgers wound up trading rodriguez to the indians in 2002 for paul shuey.  he debuted in the big leagues that year and pitched into the 2007 season, although his last major league appearance was in 2005 for the rangers.

finally, there were some 1987 leaf cards, like this one of mike scioscia

and two saxy steve sax cards

it's a good thing nick included the other leaf cards, otherwise i would have mistaken the diamond king for the donruss version.

thanks for another great trade nick!

eighty cents of piazza

wanna know what 80 abe lincoln adorned coins will get you at the local card show in the way of mike piazza cards?  here's one man's haul.

this is a 1993 upper deck fun pack card, touting the italian-american superstar slugger as a 'star of tomorrow'

i'll have to look for that constellation tonight.  i think the ancient greeks called it 'crappertarius' since it looks like a guy sitting on the john.

here's a 1994 pacific piazza

i am not sure if this is just pacific, or if it is pacific crown collection.  i think in 1994 pacific just had one release, so it's just pacific.  i admit that in 1999 or 2000 i was really into some of their releases.  i think i bought a box of 2000 invincible.  it was awesome.

here's an extremely cool card - a 1995 topps stadium club piazza, in which he is a member of the 'extreme corps'

i believe this is a lesser known offshoot of the green lantern corps.  instead of yellow, their weakness is pitches thrown low and away.

staying in 1995, here's piazza's upper deck collector's choice card

he's catching a foul ball in dodger stadium.  and, upper deck is telling me that he was an all-star in 1994.  i appreciate all-star banners and shields on cards very much.  i don't much care for separate cards that tell me who was an all-star.  get back to basics, topps.

here's a  mid-90's checklist card that i didn't think i owned.  it's from 1996 pinnacle foil, and features 6 big names from back in the day

piazza is stuck looking at larry jones.  the checklist is for the 'chase' cards from the set.  i believe we now call these cards 'inserts'.

another pacific card - this one from 1998 aurora

piazza is once again in dodger stadium, this time the card is adorned with a holy looking piazza in the upper right corner, complete with the halo effect.

another 1998 card, this one from pinnacle inside

look at those numbers!  larry walker may have deserved the mvp in 1997, but good god so did piazza

finally, here's a card that features a lurking piazza, which is pretty much the only way i would buy a giants card that i didn't need for a set

of course, the piazza cards stop at 1998 as that was the year he was traded to the marlins.  there were a bunch of piazza as a met cards in the box, but i passed on 'em.  i'm still trying to forget.