fun at the ballpark, indeed

it is odd to think that, after nearly seven years of posting, i have not yet featured this 1993 donruss triple play card of former dodger reliever roger mcdowell

so, when it arrived recently in a trade package from bo at baseball cards come to life, i figured that now was the time.  here's the back

 

mcdowell's teammates may have been amused by him wearing outrageous things, but i as a fan will just accept good baseball in a beautiful setting.  a setting like dodger stadium.  that's where this next card bo sent comes in.

that's a 1996 score select bret boone card, featuring a photo taken in dodger stadium.  the unnamed dodger in the scene is roberto kelly, who twice stole second against boone and the reds on july 30, 1995.  the wrist guard and red glove/sweat bands were a big clue as to the runner's identity, but really it was either him or chad fonville, and with kelly wearing number 21 it was fairly obvious.

this next one is easier.

that would be mitch webster sliding in while jose oquendo turns two in dodger stadium on his 1996 donruss card.

moving away from dodger stadium (to tatooine, in fact), we see rafael furcal sliding in front of freddy sanchez on sanchez's 2008 bowman card

as sanchez makes the double play pivot.

staying on tatooine, here's a 1993 score select joe girardi card

that would obviously fit into that particular mini collection of mine if it weren't already destined for the lurker collection thanks to dodger dave hansen making an appearance on the back

there are many more cards that bo sent that i'll be showing over the next few days - thanks for the cards bo!

old friend todd zeile makes an appearance in a trade package

i was noticing the other day that i've only featured todd zeile dodger cards three times on this blog since its inception in the fall of 2008.  that's too bad, because i liked the guy.  he joined the dodgers for the 1997 season and promptly hit 31 home runs - more home runs than any other dodger third baseman except pedro guerrero (a teammate of zeile's with the 1990 cardinals) who hit 32 in 1983.  of course, adrian beltre came along and hit 48 in 2004, but that's beside the point.

i was lucky to have tj from the junior junkie include some cards of zeile in his recent trade package, so here's his 1998 fleer tradition card.

zeile was traded away in the mike piazza deal with the marlins, and so was replaced at third by bobby bonilla.  beltre came along in 1999, however, and held the spot until he bolted after his huge offensive year mentioned above.  zeile went on and eventually rejoined piazza in new york, helping the mets get to the world series.  he hit .368 with a series best 8 rbi in the nlcs, and then hit .400 against the yankees in a losing cause.  here's his 1998 topps finest card to boot.

somewhere i have a dodger scorecard that features a todd zeile autograph.  he was signing in the concourse at dodger stadium before a game in '97, and i partook.  i remember the lady in line in front of me asked him if he knew steve sax.  saxy hadn't been a dodger since 1988, and he hadn't played in the majors since 1994.  zeile was taken aback by the question, and i think he was still trying to wrap his head around it while he was signing my scorecard.  i was more impressed that he was a teammate of mike piazza's.

the strongest man in socal was also among the cards tj sent - here's a 1996 score select piazza lineup leaders card

this is not an insert, just another way to have more than one piazza card in the base set.

oddball time! this is a 1996 scoreboard all sport ppf (i don't know what ppf means) card of roger cedeno

there sure were a lot of roger cedeno cards in the late 1990's. he was traded to the mets in 1998 with charles johnson for todd hundley.

here's a 2000 upper deck ovation eric gagne card

it says 'world premiere' on the side of the card, in case you were wondering.  i don't think that really makes sense, just like the world series isn't really the world series, if you know what i mean.

relic time!  2003 leaf certified materials joe thurston mirror red game-worn jersey

thurston only played in 8 games during the 2002 season - all in september. i didn't think that the dodgers wore their blue alternates in an official major league game (as the back of the card attests) that late in the season, but i could be wrong.  or maybe a spring training game is considered an official major league game.

there were a few more non-dodger/double play cards that need to be shown in the package, such as this 2014 topps update chris taylor card

and two from 2015 topps - javier baez

and logan forsythe

great stuff from a very generous source. thanks tj!  keep an eye on your mailbox...

the 1973 topps card that came from 2001

this is a 2001 topps stadium club card of, not luis alicea, but rather chad kreuter

i think the oddly cropped photo featuring the partially obscured dodger catcher would fit nicely in the 1973 topps set as a kreuter card - all that is really missing is the umpire and parts of a couple more players.

this is another card from 2001 topps stadium club.

but it is simply eric karros rounding third and lumbering for home where he may well be thrown out by 20 feet.  karros also shows up on this 2001 topps stars card

but is noticeably absent from this 1996 score select team nucleus insert

you know, beneath the clothes you will find the man. and beneath the man, you find his…nucleus.  this card features the rookies of the year from 1993-1995 (mike piazza, raul mondesi, and hideo nomo), but the 1992 roy (karros) didn't make the cut.

before mondesi was the rookie of the year, he appeared on this 1992 upper deck minors team checklist

as a member of the albuquerque dukes.  abq is where joc pederson played last year, although the dodgers' triple-a affiliate was then called the isotopes. here's a 2014 topps heritage minors card of the dodger prospect

and here is a 2014 topps heritage minors card of fellow prospect corey seager

who will hopefully follow jimmy rollins as the dodgers' shortstop after spending this season in the minors at oklahoma city.

here's another minor league shortstop - yuri sanchez

turning two on a 1995 upper deck minors card.  i figure that the fact that sanchez was a shortstop, coupled with the way he's dragging his right foot over the bag means that there is a double play being turned.  just like this 1982 topps tim foli card

is a double play turn, because why else would foli be at the bag like that?  now that i look at foli's card more closely, i notice the parked car in the background behind the spring training fence.  that's another card that could pass for a 1973 topps card.

and that is how you bring a post around full circle.

another edition of same play? same play.

this double play post begins with carlos baerga suspended in mid air - not just on his 1992 upper deck card

but also on his 1992 leaf card

thanks to jeff at 2x3 heroes for pointing this out to me.  jeff also alerted me to many of the cards that are in this post, prompting a quick visit to sportlots.  anyway, i think we can all agree that this is the same play, right?  i mean, there's really not enough evidence to pinpoint the angels' baserunner that baerga is so acrobatically avoiding but it is pretty clearly the same guy.

unfortunately, this is not the case on these shawon dunston cards.  first, from 1993 topps stadium club, dunston doubles up some poor schlub in spring training

and then takes to the air on this 1991 fleer ultra card

over an anonymous expo at wrigley.  at least dunston is consistent with his long sleeves and red wristbands.

back to 1993 topps stadium club, here's tony phillips turning two in some nice throwbacks

back to wrigley, courtesy of 1991 score.  here's jose oquendo

standing triumphantly over mark grace.

now back to the detroit tigers, for whom lou whitaker is certainly making the turn on his 1991 upper deck card

even though we can't see the runner.  there's really no other reason for him to have his left foot on the base.

we get runner and base on jose lind's 1993 score card

plus the ball as well!

back to wrigley once again for craig biggio's 1993 upper deck sp card

with another mark grace cameo.  who was hitting behind grace, anyway?

and then to fenway and john valentin's 1994 topps card

where brady anderson and his famous sideburns make an appearance

now for a couple of 1994 topps stadium club cards - neither of which feature tigers, wrigley field, or mark grace.  instead, we get alex arias

 and biggio again

i'll finish up this double play post where it began - with carlos baerga suspended in midair.  this time, courtesy of his 1996 score select card

featuring game 6 world series action!  ryan klesko gets doubled up in a rare 1-6-4-3 double play.  i'm guessing dennis martinez deflected the ball to omar vizquel who relayed to baerga at the bag.  good stuff.

here is yet another double play dump

again with minimal commentary and again with minimal organization.  earlier today i showed a few cards from 1994 upper deck.  well, here are some more.  kurt abbott

greg gagne

ricky gutierrez

pat kelly

and scott leius

here's a 1994 upper deck collector's choice roberto mejia card

with mejia doing an eric heiden impression

from 1995 topps d3, here's cal ripken jr

and from 1996 pinnacle, here's jay bell

1996 pinnacle summit gives us this ray durham turn

and here's another luis alicea card, courtesy of 1996 score

alex rodriguez goes up and over on his 1996 score select card

while randy velarde gets it done on his 1996 topps card

still more double plays to show tomorrow