double plays front to back

1995 upper deck is a good set for some double play turns.  for example, here's a spring training shot of delino deshields

not completely certain, but the dodgers had a guy named ryan henderson in their minor league system during the mid 1990's.  he never made it to the bigs, so that might be his only non-minor league issued card.  if that's him.

on to some major league action - here's royce clayton

jeff frye

pat listach

kevin stocker

and walt weiss

there are double play turns on the backs of some 1995 upper deck cards, too, like the one of rafael bournigal

this is the back of his 'electric diamond' parallel

bournigal also has a card showing the double play turn in the 1994 score rookie/traded set

it's lenticularly spectacular!

back to 1995 upper deck backs - here's mike lansing

and his 'electric diamond' parallel

barry larkin

geronimo pena

looks like upper deck used a photo from 1993 there.  pena is about to get a crotch full of butler.

here's bip roberts

robby thompson

and john valentin

seeing eric davis sliding in wearing a tigers' uniform reminds me of how tough he was.  he had some bad seasons with the dodgers and tigers from 1992-94.  he sat out all of 1995, but the reds brought him back to the majors in 1996 and he went on to have several more productive seasons.

now back to valentin.  he also had a checklist card in the 1995 upper deck set, which i believe shows him at second base making the pivot on a double play.  judge for yourself.

the card highlights valentin's unassisted triple play against the mariners on july 8, 1994.  of course, on that play, valentin caught a line drive, stepped on second base for a force out, and then tagged a guy out.  there was no relay throw.  plus, it happened at fenway, so he wouldn't have been wearing his away grays.  upper deck didn't even try.

let's see if score did any better with a different triple play.  in their 1993 set, they featured a highlight card for mickey morandini's 1992 unassisted triple play.

on september 20, 1992, morandini caught a line drive, and like valentin, he stepped on second for a force out and then tagged the runner advancing from first base.  that runner was barry bonds.  so kudos to score for showing the actual play, even if it's not a traditional turn at second base.

don't worry - we're not done with those yet.

dodger double plays make cool cards

yes, it's true.  there are some killer dodger double play cards out there.  but don't worry, i'll be fair when i get around to seeding cards for the 'greatest double play card of all-time' tournament coming soon or relatively soon or maybe by the end of the year.

here are some fantastic (and maybe one or two pedestrian) dodger double play cards for your enjoyment.

how about a 1956 topps jim gilliam card to start things off.

this card loses some points since the dp turn is not the primary image on the card, but come on - it's a 1956 double play card!

fast forward about 40 years and we get this 1994 sportflics rookies and traded garey ingram card

i was not a ryan klesko fan back in the day.  even less so once he joined the padres.  so, it's nice to see him out two ways on that sportflics card.

howzabout a 1983 dodgers police derrel thomas card

super-utility thomas is crushing some giant's skull with his shin.  excellent.

not to be outdone, steve sax has turned two (or tried, at least) on his 1984 dodgers police card

brian downing looks like he did a steamroller slide into second, which saxy obviously avoided.  the bad part about this card is that it is probably too late in the turn to make the top 64.  play-in maybe?

this card is in the top 64, easy.  1996 topps stadium club chad fonville.

brian mcrae is hoping the fonz doesn't land on top of him.  i am sure he didn't - fonville could do no wrong in 1995.

alex cora and his 2005 upper deck first pitch card

it's ok, but it's no chad fonville.  i was shocked to learn that cora was still playing last year, by the way.

i'm not sure if i'll consider this card for the tourney or not - a 2010 topps update vintage legends pee wee reese card, in the style of 2003 topps

it's not a base issue and i am pretty sure it's a staged dp turn although jackie does a convincing backing up manuever.  the cons may outweigh the pros on that one.

this next one, however, may get a very high seeding.  it's pee wee's 2011 topps marquee card

pretty pretty.  love the socks on the cub (?) sliding in.  very nice card.

i'm off to do some seeding.  let me know if there are any double play cards that you think deserve consideration.  i won't have any trouble coming up with over 100 cards that i know of, but don't want to omit a nice dp turn caught on cardboard.