turning two in front of signs

here's former twin denny hocking turning two on his 1995 upper deck electric diamond parallel card

two things strike me on this card, aside from the pivot at second base.  first, that's the big hurt sliding in, and second, there is an ad for a florida (either fort myers or sarasota) liquor store on the outfield fence in the background.

likewise, there is a big ol' hot dog in the background of roberto alomar's 1997 upper deck collector's choice orioles team set card

that distracts from the play at hand.

the outfield wall at the oakland coliseum shows up on homer bush's 1998 pacific online card

the red ball and blue 's' is part of the sports channel ad in right-center.

nothing much to see in the background of this 2003 topps orlando cabrera card

so let's move on to michael young's 2005 upper deck first pitch card

sean casey is sliding in hard to break up the turn, which is nice to see.  the ad on the wall in the background here is for a wyler car dealership somewhere in the greater ohio area.

this 2008 upper deck brendan harris card

runs on dunkin'.

not sure who let this edgar renteria card, also from 2008 upper deck,

in this post with nothing but green growing things in the background.

here's a 2009 topps stephen drew card two ways - base

and gold parallel

with a scoreboard in the background

at least on troy tulowitzki's 2011 topps card

we have a partial ad (although not a static sign) to go along with a partial scoreboard.

i'm not sure if that's an ad or a partial logo on the wall behind sean coyle on his 2011 topps heritage minors card

but i am pretty sure it's a replica of the green monster that the thing is hanging on.  i believe most of the red sox minor league affiliates play in stadiums that replicate the fenway park experience.

meanwhile, though he's not in fenway, here's dustin pedroia turning two on his 2014 topps stadium club card

sportscenter may be up next, but i prefer mlb tonight on the mlb network.

the calendar turns with some double play turns

looks like we made it through another year, and what better way to celebrate than to show some double play turns.  i've found a few more that are new to my collection, and none may be better than this 1991 pacific senior league jerry terrell card

it's a coach card to boot!

i had overlooked this 1997 upper deck neifi perez

double play turn due to the over application of foil, but now it has had its status upgraded in my collection from monster box fodder to double play binder material.

similarly, i had previously failed to show the back of mike bordick's 1993 upper deck sp card

even though i had shown the front a long time ago.

here's a 1998 pacific online scott spiezio card

i've shown the red foil parallel before, but not the base.

how about some derek jeter for all the fan boys out there.  here's his 2005 topps card

plus a 2006 upper deck

and a 2008 upper deck superstar card

i'm actually looking forward to some decent final tributes in 2015.

alfonso soriano was, at one time, jeter's double play partner.  here's a 2001 leaf rookies & stars card of the former yankee second baseman

i had almost forgotten he was once an infielder.

now how about some trevor plouffe?  here's a 2012 topps golden sparkle parallel,

a 2012 topps walmart blue parallel,

and a 2012 topps mini card

of the twins' current third baseman.  now, instead of turning double plays, plouffe hits doubles - he had 40 in 2014, which was good for fourth in the league.

i picked up this 2010 topps robin yount short print a while back

it would have looked nice as a 1978 or 1979 topps card, i think.

fast forward to 2014, and we have the somewhat rare double play card whose subject is the base runner - jordan danks in this case

and a pretty standard double play turn, although it is a red hot foil parallel, featuring the marlins' donovan solano

i'm hoping to see some photoshopped dee gordon as a marlin double play turns in 2015.

i'll be interested to see what target stocks for me next...

here's the third of three repacks that target made me buy recently.  after pulling the first two off the hanger, i saw some more needed/wanted cards displayed in this repack.  let's see what else was inside.

2010 topps factory set limited edition ichiro

this card intrigued me, as it's got a foil imprint on the front and it's numbered rs2 on the back
1991 topps 1990 rookies robin ventura - four times now!
1991 topps 1990 rookies pat combs
1991 topps 1990 rookies larry walker - at least those two are different
1991 topps 1990 rookies todd zeile
1991 topps 1990 rookies john olerud - those two are not
1989 donruss terry leach
1990 score alvaro espinoza
1987 topps jamie quirk
1991 fleer jeff kunkel
1987 topps mike brown
1989 topps otis nixon
1990 fleer chad kreuter
1989 donruss rick mahler
1986 topps luis aguayo
1989 upper deck scott sanderson
1988 donruss checklist
1990 donruss lee mazzilli
1988 topps jay tibbs
1991 topps rich rodriguez
1992 pinnacle chili davis
1993 upper deck jose uribe
1988 donruss checklist - at least it's not the same as the first one in the repack
1993 topps luis salazar
1988 topps charlie puleo
1992 score jeff ballard
1989 fleer oddibe mcdowell
1991 score randy johnson
1990 fleer curt wilkerson
1991 upper deck mike scioscia
1987 topps omar moreno

omar doesn't care for this repack
1987 donruss jim presley diamond king
1986 topps andy hawkins
1991 score mark parent
1992 score steve buechele
1990 topps devon white
1988 donruss todd benzinger
1988 topps barry lyons
1994 classic minor league all-star edition trot nixon cream of the crop shiny insert

1989 score chris james
1999 upper deck encore jason kendall
1989 donruss cameron drew rated rookie
1988 pacific online eddie guardado

1988 pacific online eddie guardado - a double of a twin, so here's the back

not sure who 'rm' is that the new twins bullpen coach is memoralizing. raul mondesi? randy moss? any ideas?

1998 pinnacle tom candiotti

2009 upper deck first edition carlos beltran

2009 upper deck first edition akinori iwamura

2009 upper deck first edition daniel cabrera

2009 upper deck first edition stephen drew

2009 upper deck first edition tom glavine

1998 fleer ultra kevin millwood

now for part 2...

2004 fleer greats carlton fisk

pudge looks pissed

1992 topps bobby cox

1991 leaf kent mercker

1987 fleer rick sutcliffe

1989 score john kruk

1992 donruss rosario rodriguez

1992 pinnacle carlos baerga

1989 topps les lancaster

1989 donruss mike fitzgerald

1991 upper deck kirby puckett

puck looks happy

1987 topps randy o'neal

1993 pinnacle ken ryan

1992 topps stadium club chris james

1991 leaf ernest riles

1991 donruss gregg jefferies

1990 fleer tom herr

1991 donruss scott erickson

1989 topps bob dernier

1989 fleer todd benzinger

1987 topps bill dawley

1994 upper deck collector's choice pat rapp

1989 donruss bob kipper

1989 fleer dale sveum

1992 topps mike jackson

1990 donruss joe oliver

1987 donruss highlights tim raines

rock is in dodger stadium

1989 score rookies & traded bob geren

1988 topps denny walling

2000 fleer tradition update rafael furcal

1987 topps tom brunansky

2012 topps edwin jackson

2012 topps taylor green

2012 topps kyle hudson

2012 topps raul ibanez

2012 topps jay bruce

2012 topps james darnell

2012 topps brandon mccarthy

2012 topps mark melancon

2012 topps luke hughes

2012 topps brett wallace

wallace is in dodger stadium on father's day, 2011. i've been in dodger stadium on father's day a couple of times, but not for a while.

2011 topps gaby sanchez

2011 topps scott hairston

2011 topps ricky romero

2011 topps brian roberts

2011 topps mike fontenot

2011 topps jhonny peralta

2011 topps matt thornton

2011 topps mike pelfrey

2011 topps john jaso

2013 topps chrome paco rodriguez orange refractor

this was the main reason i bought this one.

let me know if you want/need any of these cards…

bringing steve garvey's career to the present

i really liked wrigley wax's idea of trade links as a subject of posts, even though those featuring the team of my youth were pretty much dead ends.  i may do a few more in the future around other dodger players of note, but instead i went looking for another way to connect players together.  what i came up with was sort of a 'x' degrees of separation to a current player, using final plate/pitching appearances to link them.  the upside is, unless two players face off against each other in each of their final appearances, the link will never be broken.  i'll show you what i mean using my favorite player, steve garvey.

the garv last appeared in the major leagues in 1987 - may 23, 1987 to be exact.  here's his 1987 topps card.

the padres were playing the expos, and garvey was brought in to pinch hit for lance mccullers in the 9th inning.  the expos pitcher at the time was neal heaton, who retired garvey on a fly ball and got the last two padres hitters out to complete a 2-hit shutout.  so, the last pitcher steve garvey faced in his career was the expos' neal heaton.  here's heaton's 1987 fleer card.

fast forward to baltimore, june 26, 1993.  heaton is a member of the new york yankees, and is called in to relieve john habyan with the orioles leading the yanks 9-6.  heaton winds up finishing the game, pitching 2.2 innings and giving up a couple of home runs.  the last batter heaton faced was former dodger mike devereaux, who flied out to end the home half of the 8th inning.

devereaux, of course, returned to the dodgers to finish his playing career - this is his 1998 pacific online card from his second dodger stint

devereaux's final big league at bat came on april 17, 1998 with the dodgers in chicago facing the cubs.  he entered the game as a pinch-hitter but stayed in the game and later faced ben vanryn, a former dodger prospect.  devereaux drew a walk in the 8th against van ryn but was stranded, and his big league career was over.

there aren't too many cards of vanryn out there - this is a 1994 bowman's best blue parallel

from his dodger farmhand days - but he pitched in the majors for four different clubs (the dodgers weren't one of them as he made his debut in 1996 with the angels), and he appeared for three of those four in 1998 alone.  the cubs traded vanryn to the padres in early may, and by the end of the month, he was pitching for the blue jays.  it was with toronto later that season that he made his final big league appearance.  on september 26, 1998, vanryn came in to pitch the top of the 10th inning in a tie game against the tigers.  he retired the first two batters he faced, but then allowed a single to tony clark and was pulled.  the tigers didn't score, and the blue jays wound up winning the game a couple of innings later, but vanryn did not appear in the big leagues after that appearance.

tony clark finished up his career as a member of the diamondbacks in 2009 - here's his 2009 upper deck card

by striking out as a pinch-hitter on july 12 against the marlins.  the marlins' pitcher that k'd clark was josh johnson, seen here on his 2011 topps card

now johnson presents an interesting case, as he spent the 2014 season on the 60-day dl with the padres, and hasn't pitched since 2013.  if he fails to return to the majors, then the last batter he faced in a big league game was michael saunders, who is still active today.  he had a pretty cool card in the 2014 topps set

if johnson does return in 2015, then the next link on steve garvey's career legacy is yet to be determined.  still, that's how you bring steve garvey to the present day in 5 or 6 steps.

it's 5 o'clock somewhere

time for a brewski bruske

1997 score jim bruske, that is.  not too hoppy.  i'll even have a second, as bruske was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the eighty-fourth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, ron perranoski, clyde king, paul waner, hughie jennings, ron negray, broadway aleck smith, george smith, johnny cooney, jim fairey, frenchy bordagaray, doc casey, waite hoyt, luis olmo, clyde sukeforth, willie keeler,  harry howell, germany smith, johnny allen, marv rackley, bobo newsom, maury wills, dazzy vance, ray hayworth, zack taylor, john cronin, art herring, brian falkenborg, bill reidy, john anderson, vito tamulis, and wally hood.]

bruske was an outfielder converted to a pitcher in the minor leagues by the indians.  he didn't make it to the majors until he was 30, and his big league debut didn't go so well - he allowed five runs (three earned) while getting just one out for the dodgers against the phillies in august of 1995.  the next day, however, he returned to the mound and pitched 2 perfect innings.  in all, bruske pitched in 9 games for the dodgers that season. he earned no decisions, but did record a save on the final day of the campaign against the padres.  he allowed runs in just two of those 9 appearances, and finished the season with a 4.50 era.  the dodgers brought him back in 1996, and this time he pitched in 11 games, 9 of them being scoreless appearances.  he again had one bad outing (a 5-run inning of work against the pirates) that sunk his era - 5.68 on the season.

bruske moved on to the padres for the 1997 season - here's his 1998 pacific crown collection card

bruske earned his first big league win in his first appearance for the padres.  he threw a career-high 5 (scoreless) innings in relief against the giants on june 23, and came away with the victory.  bruske finished the season 4-1 in 28 games for the pads with a 3.68 era.  the dodgers were impressed, apparently, because they claimed him on waivers shortly after the season ended.

back in la in 1998 (here's bruske's 1998 pacific online red foil parallel)

bruske was 3-0 with a save through 35 appearances when the dodgers traded him back to the padres for a minor leaguer in late july. a month later, the padres traded bruske to the yankees where he made (and won) his only career start in the final game of the season.  having pitched for both the 1998 national league champions (the padres) and the 1998 american league and world series champions (the yankees), i wonder if bruske received playoff shares from both clubs, even though he did not appear in the postseason.

bruske didn't pitch in 1999 and wound up his big league career in 2000 with the brewers, although he ended his professional career with a stint in the dodger organization at triple-a las vegas.

i'll raise a glass to you, jim bruske - a dodger double dipper!

42

the dodgers retired jackie robinson's number 42 back in 1972 at the same ceremony in which roy campanella and sandy koufax had their numbers retired.  17 years ago today, all of baseball retired the number shown on the 2012 topps manufactured patch card shown above.

players in 1997 who were currently wearing the number - either by choice or assignment - were allowed to continue to wear it.  i went digging through my collection to see if i could find cards of these players wearing both the number 42 and the jackie robinson anniversary patch.  let's have a look.

angels - no player wore 42 in 1997, however mo vaughn wore the number when he joined the team in 1999.

a's - buddy groom wore 42 in 1997.  this 1998 pacific online red parallel lets us see the '4' in '42' plus the patch, although the sun is pretty bright on the patch

astros - jose lima wore 42 in 1997.  i have this 1998 pacific card of lima, but it unfortunately shows neither his number or the patch

blue jays - no player wore 42 in 1997.

braves - no player wore 42 in 1997.

brewers - scott karl wore 42 in 1997.  his 1998 pacific card shows both his number and the patch, which is awesome

cardinals - no player wore 42 in 1997.

cubs - no player wore 42 in 1997.

dodgers - no player wore 42 in 1997 (retired in 1972).

expos - no player wore 42 in 1997.

giants - kirk rueter wore 42 in 1997.  his 1998 upper deck card showcases the patch, plus we get just a part of the '2' in '42'

indians - mike jackson wore 42 in 1997.  like lima, his 1998 pacific card shows neither the patch nor the number, but it's all i've got.

mariners - no player wore 42 in 1997.

marlins - dennis cook wore 42 in 1997, but i unfortunately do not have a 1998 (or 1997) card showing him with the patch or the number.

mets - butch huskey wore 42 in 1997.  here's his 1998 topps stadium club card showing the patch

orioles - lenny webster wore 42 in 1997.  it's hard to see, but he is wearing the patch on this 1998 pacific invincible gems of the diamond card

padres - no player wore 42 in 1997.

phillies - no player wore 42 in 1997.

pirates - jason schmidt wore 42 in 1997.  here's his 1998 upper deck card with the patch and the '4' in '42' visible

rangers - marc sagmoen wore 42 in 1997, but i don't have a card to show.

red sox - mo vaughn wore 42 in 1997.  his 1998 donruss card provides a good view of the patch.

reds - no player wore 42 in 1997.  10 years later, ken griffey jr would ask the commissioner for permission to wear the number on april 15 leading the way for today's celebrations in which all field personnel wear the number.

rockies - no player wore 42 in 1997.

royals - tom goodwin wore 42 in 1997.  he was traded to the rangers in midseason, so i don't have a royals card to show.  i do have his 1998 topps card which shows the patch, and goodwin as a ranger

goodwin wore number 24 with the rangers, i assume due to the fact that sagmoen had 42.  i also assume that goodwin could have gone back to 42 later in his career (except for his second stint with the dodgers) but he didn't.

tigers - fernando hernandez wore 42 in 1997, but i don't have a card to show.

twins - no player wore 42 in 1997, but butch huskey wore the number when he joined the team in 2000.

white sox - no player wore 42 in 1997.

yankees - mariano rivera wore the number in 1997.  his 1998 topps card is a beauty, showing both the full number and the patch

rivera was, of course, the last active player to wear 42 exclusively, and i am sure will become the only player other than jackie robinson to have that number retired in his honor when the yankees get around to it.