abreu's back?

i saw the other day that the mets brought bobby abreu back to the big leagues for the first time since he played for the dodgers in 2012.  good for him.

back in 1997, abreu was on the astros and also on the back of a 1997 donruss limited 'counterparts' card

which featured todd hollandsworth of the dodgers on the front.

which included an obscure gdp stat reference.

abreu has had a pretty good career - longer than holly's by a few years now - but he doesn't have a ring like hollandsworth does (as a member of the 2003 marlins).  and he's not going to get it with the 2014 mets.  still, welcome back to the bigs bobby abreu.

random is as monkey do

i'll take potpourri for $200, alex.  here is an odd assortment of cards that have been haunting my scanned folder for a while.  first up, we have the 1985 american league all-star team from 1986 topps rack packs.

these guys, including wade boggs, rickey henderson, george brett and cal ripken jr are sitting in right field at the metrodome in minneapolis.  behind them are the fold-up seats that are used during viking games.  i also spy bert blyleven, carlton fisk, dave winfield, jim rice and roger clemens, among others, with tom kelly sitting in the bat boy position front and center.

here is the national league counterpart.

not quite as organized as the american league all-stars.  not sure why there is a gap next to dick williams, either.  look at all those padres, too - including steve garvey way off at the end of the bench in front of nolan ryan.  a good assortment of players here, too, such as tony gwynn, ozzie smith, fernando valenzuela, pedro guerrero, and pete rose.

here's where the monkey do part comes into play.  i didn't know that these cards existed until i saw one of them on another blog a while back.  and i call myself a garvey semi-supercollector!  this happens pretty often actually - i see a card on another blog and i go out and get it.  many times it's a double play card or a card featuring dodger stadium in the background, but sometimes it's a plain old dodger card.  like this 1989 swell baseball greats jose morales card.

i would guess that i owned this card within 10 days of seeing it on a blog for the first time.  it's great.  morales has only a handful of dodger cards (he was on the team from 1982 through 1984) so this was a nice surprise.

i was also surprised to find a couple of white sox cards that i wanted, thanks to a ebay search i ran a couple of months ago.  i was looking for 'bell dodgers' and up popped a card of albert belle.  two cards, actually.  this one is from 1997 donruss limited

and this one is from 1997 pinnacle select

the search was set up to find cards from the 1960 - 1962 bell brand dodger releases, but joey there made the grade because he was paired up on each of those cards with this guy - karim garcia

that's the pinnacle back, and here is the limited front

garcia was quite the darling of the hobby in the mid-90's, or at least of the card manufacturers.  he came to the plate just 67 times as a dodger, but probably has three times that many cards showing him in dodger blue.  i suppose topps and the other card makers thought that he might be the sixth consecutive dodger rookie of the year and that's why they went wild with his cards.

of course, the search did turn up it's intended prey - a low cost vintage goodie.  here's duke snider's 1961 bell brand card

see how that works?  we're back to the random part of the post.  and it doesn't get more random than last year's topps heritage dodger short prints - at least the ones that are not aaron miles.

here's dee gordon and his rookie trophy.

will gordon ever get back to the majors for good?  or is he the second coming of chad fonville?  how about jerry hairston jr

who wears steve garvey's number and has even played some first base over the last couple of seasons.  he's been playing third since coming back from the dl, which means less time for luis cruz, juan uribe, and the rest of the ragtag fleet of hot corner residents.

well, that's enough for now - off to read some of your blogs.  maybe i'll see some more cards to add to my collection!

sterling tiffany and other treasures from thorzul

i missed the most recent thorzul group break, but i claimed the dodgers in the one before that - his interim group break.  to be honest, i don't know if all of these cards came from the break, or if thorzul is padding my return with random dodger goodness.  whichever the case, i hope he keeps it up.  here's a sampling of what i received:

2005 bowman sterling chuck tiffany:

tiffany was once a precious gem in the dodgers system.  they drafted the socal native out of high school and sent him off to rookie ball at the age of 18.  in his first full year in the minors, he pitched a perfect game and struck out 141 in 100 innings!  did i mention that he's a lefty?  drool.  the next season (2005), tiffany struck out 134 in 110 innings.  i had visions of awesomeness come 2009 or so.  then, along came ned, who sent tiffany and edwin jackson to tampa bay for danys baez and lance carter.  sigh.  tiffany wound up tearing his rotator cuff in 2006 after pitching in just 4 aa games for the d-rays.  he came back in 2008 and actually re-signed with the dodgers in 2009.  unfortunately, he was released and has been pitching in the independent league the last couple of years.

2010 topps cymto 1972 frank robinson traded

for the record, my mother didn't throw this out - it took me a long time to find the '72 high number, and by the time i did, i don't think she was cleaning my room anymore.  it's the only official topps card of frobby in a dodger uni - the 1973 card comes close, but he's listed as an angel.

1997 donruss limited raul mondesi counterparts insert

i won't bother to show you the slug on the other side of the card, but his name rhymes with mandruw jones.  i'm glad, though, that thorzul sent it to me rather than dayf or the captain.

2010 topps national chicle roy campanella

taking cuts on the sandy shore of the east river.  for the most part, i liked this set - or at least the paintings (like this one) that don't look too cartoony or put duke snider in modern uniform stylings.

and 2010 topps national chicle jackie robinson

this card is pretty awesome, even with the random green tetris blocks in the lower right.  thorzul thought it was cool, too - especially since it is a chicle ad back.

thanks for hosting thorzul!