angel-ic double play turns

former dodger angel berroa knew how to turn two.  in fact, you can follow the progress of his career with cards featuring the double play turn.  to start, here is a 2002 leaf card of the 2003 american league rookie of the year

in 2004, berroa got this card in the skybox limited edition set

of which there was a retail/non die-cut version

he was still turning two after that, as seen on this 2005 fleer platinum card

as well as his 2005 topps

and 2005 topps chrome cards

2006 came around, and fleer gave us what i believe to be a dp turn in the making

as well as an indisputable dp turn on his fleer ultra card

in 2007, topps gave us this card

which shows berroa toeing the second base bag while in the act of throwing - that's a double play turn.  now berroa only played 9 games in the big leagues in 2007, so there aren't many cards for him in 2008.  this is unfortunate, because what few cards there are of berroa from that year feature him as a dodger.  also unfortunate is that none show him in the act of turning two.

in fact, it wasn't until the 2009 topps update & highlight set was released that we were treated to another berroa double play card

and that would be the last one, too, as berroa's career ended in 2009.

i do have a few other angel double play cards to show, however.  from the california angels, here are damion easley

and rex hudler

on 1995 pacific and 1995 score cards, respectively.  hudler gets another nod thanks to his 1995 score gold rush parallel.

it's too bad that angel berroa never played for the angels in the same way that it's too bad that jose and ozzie canseco never played for the twins.  yes, twins stan and stu cliburn both played for the angels, but that doesn't really have anything to do with this post.

to the card show i went

i took a couple of hours a few weekends back to attend a card show.  this wasn't the regular monthly twin cities show - it was a semi-annual or quarterly event at a different location.  it is more sparsely attended from what i have seen, but it was where i found my 1955 topps sandy koufax card so it's been worth my time in the past. i wound up spending only a few dollars, and i will show all but one or two cards that i bought in this and one other post.

you can't go wrong with double plays from the discount box.  these 2011 topps update roberto alomar sp diamond

and cognac parallels

were in the 5 for a dollar bin.  as was this cognac carlton fisk sp from the same set.

i spent less than a dime for this 1995 score ricky gutierrez gold rush parallel double play turn

and the same for a 2007 bowman gold parallel of carlos guillen

here's another double play parallel - a 2011 bowman chrome dan uggla blue parallel

from the 5 for a dollar box, as were the rest of the cards below.  i'll run through them quickly.

2011 bowman vladimir guerrero international parallel

2009 topps attax manny ramirez

2014 donruss hanley ramirez press proof numbered parallel

this was the first 2014 donruss card i had seen in person, and the only dodger i pulled from the box.  i actually don't recall seeing any other dodgers, now that i think about it.  i was still in need of a few cards to get to an even 10 for $2, so i pulled a 2014 donruss derek jeter card

plus a 2014 donruss pablo sandoval elite dominator numbered insert

and a 2013 topps chrome matt harvey

for some reason.

i did pick up more dodgers than just the two ramirii above - i'll show those later today.

another 73 down

thanks to don who found an amos otis for me

that's a classic '73 right there with what looks to be a brewers catcher (but likely not ellie rodriguez) in the foreground.  don also sent some parallel dodgers, like this 1995 score gold rush card of rafael bournigal

who is awkwardly high-fiving a lurking mike piazza.  i can imagine the staff as they assembled the checklist:

'we need another dodger in the set'
'how about piazza?'
'he already has a couple of cards'
'well find a player who has a photo that includes the italian-american superstar slugger, even if it's a no-hit, all-field backup shortstop'
'bournigal gets a card!'

here is one of mike piazza's cards from the set

i could do without his eyes featured so prominently.

score wasn't the only company doing some weird stuff to their parallels in 1995.  here's a 1995 topps ismael valdes cyber stats card

i think topps figured ismael would have gone 3-2 if the full 1994 season had been played, and he would have suffered blisters on his fingers on three separate occasions.  you dodger fans know what i'm talking about.

i predict the-riot! on a 2010 topps update gold card

which is markedly different from the 2011 topps update cognac cards

that particular ethier card is really just a checklist.  it's interesting that topps included no further text elaborating on what it meant by 'ethier streaks through april'.  who knows what future generations will think.

back to gold - here's darryl strawberry's 1992 topps gold card

i never get tired of that card.  so cool.

finally, in a nod to sesame street, don included a card that was not like the others.  it's a 1991 swell baseball greats card of ralph branca

thanks don! hope you enjoy your 73's i sent in return.

no more double plays!

i am almost done with double play cards - at least in terms of weeding out the pretenders from the contenders for the upcoming 'greatest double play card of all time' tournament.  i still need to finish the seeding.  my goal is to get this going before 2012 cards start pouring out.  anyway here are a few more that i am considering.

1991 o-pee-chee marty barrett

landscape with a soiled bottom.  not bad.

1995 score gold rush rafael belliard

decent air.

1996 pinnacle sportflix alex rodriguez

yes kids, he used to play shortstop.  very well, in fact.

1997 upper deck had a bunch.  here's mark lewis

spring training pivot

mark loretta

two future dodgers! one had a big hit and one a big fizzle

chris snopek

with a bonus shot on the back

john valentin

chili looks to be a long way away from the base.

randy velarde

big mac comin' at you!  on the back too!

walt weiss

i think there will have to be an honorable mention award in the tourney named after walt weiss.  he has a bunch of nice dp cards.  kurt stillwell too, maybe.

2010 topps ozzie smith sp

graceful.

1997 pinnacle delino deshields

not graceful

1999 fleer tradition eric young

a turn so nice, the cubs player lowers his head in respect.

ok, that's enough.  look for the tourney later this month.