pacific at the plate

like many of you, i received a big ol' box of cards from play at the plate a while back. i posted some of the stuff that was included, but figured i should show more of the haul. i had specifically requested cards from pacific - the makers of some fantastically designed cards in the late 1990's and early 2000's.  there weren't any that were too crazy in what brian sent (no 2000 invincible, for example), but there was some good stuff nonetheless.  here's some of it.

1998 pacific paramount eric karros

1998 pacific paramount jose canseco

1998 pacific paramount tony gwynn

1998 pacific paramount orel hershiser

it is difficult to accept the reality of hershiser wearing a giants' uniform.

bobby bo was well represented in the box - here's his 1999 pacific

and 1999 pacific crown collection

cards.  plus, an alex cora card from 1999 pacific crown collection

former dodger prospect john franco is wearing a green cap for st. patrick's day on his 1999 pacific crown collection card

so that warrants an inclusion in the post. franco pitched in over 1100 games - i hope getting rafael landestoy back was worth it for al campanis and company.

here are some cards from 1999 pacific aurora - mark grudzielanek

raul mondesi

and reggie sanders

the sanders has an o-pee-chee type feel to it, without the text. i appreciate the lack of airbrushing on these types of cards.

finally, i mentioned that there were no cards from 2000 pacific invincible, but there were a few from the 1999 invincible release.  here's gary sheffield's card

and a couple of ben grieve seismic force inserts

they are actually the same insert with different photos.  the backs have identical text and numbers, but also use different photos

the portrait photo on the back goes with the one that has a portrait on the front, i believe.

this is just a small amount of the pacific goodness brian sent.  i scanned a bunch more, so you should see a couple more posts of this kind of stuff.  i can't get enough of pacific - the weirder, the better.  thanks brian.

too many double plays

dennis of too many verlanders recently sent me a package that featured a few new to me double play cards.  i would like to think that it is getting harder and harder to find dp cards that i don't already have, but there are many more than i ever imagined when i started collecting them.  and it's not going to stop - i noticed at least 2 double play turns on the uncut 2014 topps sheet image that's been posted recently.

so, onward and upward with some new double play cards, like this 1998 pacific paramount jeff kent

featuring a sliding kurt 'what's that man' waring

and this 2000 pacific miguel tejada

and this 2001 fleer premium miguel tejada

here's a 2002 topps total luis alicea

and a 2004 playoff honors luis castillo

another athletic, but not tejada - 2005 donruss bobby crosby

another 2005 donruss - alex gonzalez

caught in between montreal and san diego

last but not least, another jeff kent card.  this one comes from 2001 leaf rookies & stars

i already had one in the dp binder, but then i turned the card over and saw that this one was a sample version

donruss/leaf put sample cards in beckett magazines back in the early 2000's if i recall correctly.  i remember buying some issues and selling the cards on ebay a couple of times.  anyway, this is why you should always look at the back of the cards!

thanks dennis - i'll post the 'better' stuff from your trade package later today...

affordable cards from april

hello.  here are some dodger and expo cards i culled from cardboard collections' april affordable group break.  nine months is too long to have waited to show this 1998 pacific paramount die-cut mike piazza team checklist card, isn't it?

paul konerko is one of the names on the back of that checklist.  here is his 1998 pacific paramount card

same for raul mondesi

there was another pacific product in the break - 1998 pacific online.  here is the first trenidad hubbard card i have shown on this blog, and quite possibly one of the only cards to feature him as a dodger, period.

that's kind of weird because hubbard played more games as a dodger than as a member of any other team, and actually put together a couple of pretty decent seasons for them in 1998 and 1999.

darren hall also spent more time in the majors with the dodgers than he did with any other team (in his case, that would be the blue jays).  here is his 1998 pacific online card

and, like hubbard, this is one of very few (two?) cards i know of that showed hall in dodger blue.  i miss this kind of set - online, topps total, ud victory, etc.  although we did get paco rodriguez and randy choate cards from topps this year.

moving on to 2000 topps gold label, here is a shawn green card that i received

as well as a vladdy guerrero

how fortuitous it was for me to land the expos as my randomly assigned team.  i picked up a few vladdy cards, including one that features dodger stadium and a lurking dodger - courtesy of 1998 pacific paramount

that doesn't look like mike piazza back there.  let's investigate.  may 11, 1997 was a day game at dodger stadium with the opponent that day being the expos.  that would mean that tom prince is featured behind the plate. works for me.

i also received a random dodger card from 2010 topps update - this jackie robinson vintage legends insert

thanks colbey!

royce clayton vs. joey cora - a double play extravaganza

i have wound up with quite a few additions to the double play collection over the last few months.  i don't know if i will ever catch the posting up to the acquiring of these cards.  anyway, a fair number of the newer cards to my collection have featured two players in particular - royce clayton and joey cora.  let's see them face off in a double play tete-a-tete, shall we?

1992 pinnacle royce clayton team 2000

clayton turning two in dodger stadium, despite lenny harris' best efforts.

1997 upper deck joey cora

turning two (the card even says so!) vs cubs in spring training

back to clayton, this time it's a 1992 upper deck scouting report insert

now here's joey turning two against the orioles (and robby alomar) on a 1998 topps opening day card

back to clayton, and back to dodger stadium on a 1998 pacific online card

good to see clayton out of that giant uniform, and good to see todd hollandsworth doing his best to break up the turn.

here's cora on a 1995 topps stadium club with will clark trying to break things up.

one more of clayton in dodger stadium (and as a giant) courtesy of 1994 pinnacle

while cora knees an anonymous yankee in the head on his 1993 score card

it looks like clayton got upended but still made the relay on his 1998 ud collector's choice card

and cora is barely clearing what may well be jose canseco on this 1996 score card

except canseco hadn't been in oakland since 1992.

here's clayton clearing an astro on a 1993 ud sp card

and cora avoiding a brewer on a 1997 pinnacle card

finally, here is clayton leaping over a pirate on his 1994 topps stadium club card

while cora appears to make the turn despite the slide of what i believe to be an oakland athletic on his 1998 pacific paramount card

and these aren't even close to all of the double play cards featuring these two guys.  there are for sure a bunch more of clayton, whose cards i prefer over cora's simply because some of them feature dodgers.  i'm partial that way.

because no double play collection is complete without johnny evers

ah yes, the chicago second sacker johnny evers, seen here on a 1994 upper deck american epic card

with (who else?) joe tinker in the background (not shown: frank chance), became synonymous with the 6-4-3 double play turn thanks to four pennants in five years, and two world series titles back in the early 1900's (not to mention a certain poem).  if only jim murray had written a poem about russell to lopes to garvey...

gagne to deshields to karros was neither as catchy nor as successful as tinker to evers to chance.  here's greg gagne on his 1997 topps stadium club card

all three of the chicago players are in the hall of fame, and there are plenty of other hall of famers who could turn a mean two as well.  here's roberto alomar on a 1993 score select stars insert

with another hall of famer sliding in.

here's alomar again on a 1993 upper deck future heroes insert card

and phil rizzuto on a 2003 fleer flair card

plus ryne sandberg on a diamond parallel card from 2011 topps lineage

and the cloth parallel from the same set.

i think that nomar could have been a hall of famer if he had stayed healthy.  here's his 1998 pacific paramount card

you don't have to be a hall of famer (or even a hall of very good player) to have some nice double play cards.  case in point - kevin polcovich.  we've seen his 1998 topps card before,

but i am showing it again because it features a play that continues on his 1998 topps stadium club card

and that's not the only 'same play' double play that polcovich participated in.  take a look at greg maddux's 1999 topps stadium club card

followed by his 1999 topps gallery card

well done, kevin polcovich.  not bad for a guy who played a total of 165 career games.