remember that time that hideo nomo shut out the braves on opening day?

tomorrow marks the 17th anniversary of one of the more memorable dodger home openers that i had the good fortune to attend.  on april 8, 1996 i somehow scored my company's corporate seats a few rows behind the dodger dugout and witnessed hideo nomo battle tom glavine and the defending world league champion braves.  nomo gave up only three hits, although he did walk 5, and he managed to make a third inning raul mondesi rbi single stand up for a 1-0 shutout victory.

one year later i was again at the ravine for opening day only to see curt schilling and the phillies shut the dodgers out.  it was a bittersweet event for me because i knew at that time that i was moving to the midwest and that it would likely be the last dodger opener i would attend for a while.  i had been to five or six in a row (plus a few of the angel openers) and i enjoyed seeing all the extra things that opening day provides, like barry manilow singing the national anthem.  it turned out that i was able to attend the '98 opener, but i haven't been to one since.

anyway, i figured this was a good time to show off a bunch of hideo nomo cards that i have had scanned for a while. some of them arrived as part of trade packages, and some have been in my collection since the days of hideomania.

here's a 1995 upper deck sp card

and a card from 1995 score select certified

i appreciate the 'peek-a-boo' photos on those cards.  they remind me of nomo's 1997 bowman card which is one of my favorite cards ever.

moving on to 1995 fleer flair

and a 1996 donruss promotional sample

those two cards showcase the 'backwards lean' in nomo's delivery.  it was fun to try to emualte nomo's windup and delivery.  i almost fell over a couple of times because i leaned too much.

here's a 1997 topps screen play card

here's a video for a better look at the card

i'm looking for the mike piazza card from this set.  please let me know if you have one to send!

here the 1995 nl roy is rewarded with an award winner card in the 1996 upper deck collector's choice set.  this also happens to be a silver signature parallel

there were a lot of 'extra' nomo cards in 1996 thanks to his success.  upper deck even had a five-card nomo highlights insert set in their flagship release.  arno from i'm ballsy sent me two of the five cards recently, and here they are

i'm now looking for cards 1, 3, and 5 from the set.  there were more bonus nomo cards in other 1996 sets, of course, and this one is a checklist (duh) from 1996 upper deck sp

always nice to see nomo with the lumber

and, here's a 1997 fleer card

that was part of the base set, but was not his base card

these next two are two of my favorite nomo cards - from 1998 pacific online we get this goodness

and from 1998 upper deck we have nomo on the basepaths

both feature dodger stadium in the background, but the upper deck card gives us a view down the third base line that i enjoy quite a bit.

here's his 2004 mlb showdown card

and i'll finish the post with a 2004 topps clubhouse collection nomo bat card

it feels good to clear my scanned folder of nomo cards, but there are plenty more in the collection to display.

past a double play turning jeter

no, derek 'past a diving' jeter is not the greatest fielding shortstop around. nor was he the best shortstop on the yankees once they acquired alex rodriguez.  still, he is sometimes caught turning a double play on cardboard, and for that, i am thankful.  here are some examples.

1997 fleer ultra

here's his 1997 topps screen plays card

you get the idea, i hope.  the screen plays cards were much better than the sportflics cards, but they scan like crap.  so, for the first time on the blog, here's some video!

here's jeter's 1998 score rookies/traded card with what is obviously a spring training double play

and here is his 1998 topps card

jeter's 1999 pacific

and 1999 skybox premium cards

show the same play against the tigers.  nice glasses, mr. november.

this may look like jeter's 1997 topps card, but it's not

it's a reprint from 2005 topps rookie cup.

here's the last card of the post - a 2008 upper deck national baseball card day issue

it's not the most dynamic dp card, but it qualifies.

believe it or not, i've still got a few more double play cards to display, including some that just arrived by trade.  stay tuned!

the truth hurts, sketchy as it may be

from rod at padrographs - a 1/1 sketch card that is as unbelievable as it is true.

on 7/29/10, the padres were in first place in the national league west and the dodgers were 7 games back.  well, they are still 7 games up as of the 5th of august (the pads are currently up on the dodgers 3-0 as i type this late on the evening of the 5th).  i would never have guessed at the start of the season that this would be happening.

rod wasn't all doom and gloom, as he also sent a couple cards i earned by creating a 1999 upper deck bip roberts final tribute card that should have been.

here are two 1997 topps screen play cards - first sammy sosa

and now tony gwynn

these are really really cool.  high grade sportsflics cards.  there's a nomo and a piazza in the set which i now need to find.

rod also sent a couple of dodgers team issue postcards - steve garvey

and davey lopes.

i really like the lopes.  because i am a freak, i need to categorize these things.  there's a garvey up on ebay being advertised as a 1977 issue, and a lopes is there as a 1975 release.  however, i know that the astros wore that '40' patch in 1975, so i would guess that the garvey is from 1976 even though the dodgers may have well used an old photo on a later release.  since the lopes and garvey backs are almost (but not quite) identical, i'll accept 1975 for the lopes.  if anyone knows any better, please let me know.

thanks rod!