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).

dime box card show haul

i didn't only buy dodgers at the card show last weekend.  there were lots of nice cards to be had in the few dime boxes (and one 5 for $1 box) that i looked through a week ago.  here are some of them.

1996 upper deck ken griffey jr vj lovero showcase insert

this card fits in my collection a couple of ways.  even though i have discontinued almost all of my player collections (including griffey), this card shows him taking a hack on tatooine.  it also fits into my heretofore unmentioned 'number on back' collection, which isn't really a thing.  yet.

double plays abound in the dime box.  here's a 1996 pinnacle summit alex rodriguez card

arod's 1997 upper deck rock solid foundation insert may or may not show a dp turn on the front

but it does on the back

how about a lurker or two?

that's gil hodges and jerry grote on this 1992 donruss coca-cola nolan ryan card.  i'll guess that the other guy is bud harrelson.

we weren't done with double plays, though.  here's a 1992 leaf cal ripken black gold parallel

and a 1993 upper deck sp ripken

and a 1994 upper deck ripken electric diamond parallel

and a 1995 score ripken hall of gold insert

plus a 1997 pacific prism ripken gem of the diamond card

just for fun, i picked out this 1997 fleer sports illustrated ripken card as well

not too many double play turns as a third baseman, unfortunately.

now, i am not a pete rose apologist, but i am a fan of the player.  i have a hard time resisting his cards, especially in dime boxes.  this is a box card from 1986.

it's not from a topps box (those were in the style of the 1986 set, but with red tops instead of black).  instead, this one comes from the 1986 topps stickers box.  it's too bad that someone went back and figured out that ty cobb only had 4189 hits, and not 4191, meaning that rose actually broke the record a few days earlier at wrigley field.

here's a final dime box card - one that also fits into a as of yet unannounced mini collection - it's a 1996 upper deck cal ripken card

maybe someday i'll fully commit to my 'tip of the cap' collection.

tomorrow, i'll show off a few of the 110 mike piazza cards that i rescued from the dime box.  stay tuned.

double play stragglers

well, the day is finally here.  i have, after this post, showcased all of the double play cards that i own.  i think.  i haven't gone through all of my sets to make sure, but i am thinking i've scanned and shown them all.  so, it makes perfect sense to start this post off with a non-double play card.

that's a 1997 pacific prism rey ordonez card from the 'gems of the diamond' insert set, and it features tony gwynn on a forceout at second base.  who knows, it might be a double play if gwynn is sliding in to second from the third base side after ordonez snagged a line drive.  sadly, i believe that this is a forceout, and that it occurred during the mets/padres series played in monterrey, mexico during the 1996 season.  in fact, i believe that this is from the ken caminiti 'snickers' game - 8/18/96.  in the bottom of the seventh, after a tony gwynn single, steve finley grounded to second baseman edgardo alfonzo who threw to ordonez to get the out.

believe it or not, i was a fan of ordonez from 1996 through 2000 or so.  i didn't see him play often, but i admired his defensive abilities.  so much so that i had a pc going of his for most of his mets career.  once he made the move to the devil rays, however, i was no longer as enamored.  there were a couple of times playing in my adult baseball league when i successfully imitated his 'slide to the right, plant the foot, and throw to first' approach to a ground ball that might otherwise be backhanded.  and, when i turned double plays, i sometimes looked like ordonez as well - especially as he is depicted on his 1998 score rookies/traded card

here he is on his 1999 topps chrome card looking a little more controlled while turning two

and this 2000 mlb showdown card is pretty standard when it comes to dp turns.

hello, ryan klesko.  as the card notes, ordonez won three gold gloves prior to 2000.  he wound up missing most of the 2000 season after dodger fp santangelo slid head first into ordonez's forearm after being picked off of first base in a late-may game at dodger stadium.  ordonez had a broken arm that required a couple of surgeries and screws and metal plates and all that jazz.  he missed out on the mets' world series appearance, but did return to play pretty much full-time in 2001 and 2002.

this 2001 pacific card is my favorite of the ordonez double play turns.

the confidence and the flexibility to not bother to jump as preston wilson is bearing down on you is pretty awesome.

and now for some jeff kent double plays, including this one which is also from the 2001 pacific set

this was one of the cards that i mentioned i was on the lookout for when i did my 'turns of kent' post a couple of weeks ago.  it's a wonder what sportlots can do for you.

here's the other kent card i mentioned needing in that post.  it's a 2001 pacific private stock 'extreme action' card

with mike piazza sliding in.  the back makes mention of kent and his double play partner rich aurilia and their offensive prowess

here's another kent card that i didn't know i needed.  it's a 2001 donruss retro '99 insert

kent looks sort of reno 911-ish on that card.

here's a 1994 topps stadium club walt weiss card

probably one of his weakest double play cards

and here's a ho-hum 1995 topps stadium club mark grudzielanek card

with another appearance by ryan klesko

alex rodriguez looks to see if his turn was successful on his 1997 pinnacle card

as does marty barrett on his 1991 topps card

a quick look at baseball reference tells me that barrett was successful, as charlie o'brien there was out on the front end of a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of gary sheffield on april 14, 1990.  i'm not sure about a-rod, though.

finally, here is a 1993 upper deck sp mark mclemore card

the front is so nice, that they put a different double play on the back

even though the play on the front is from a spring training game, i really like the background.  i will guess that this mclemore will show up in the 'greatest double play card of all time' tournament.  which might just be a series of posts ranking the top 50 or so.  i haven't decided.

thanks to all for suffering through my seemingly endless flurry of double play card posts.  i am glad that these fantastic cards showcasing my favorite play got their due on the blog, though.