double play cardboard from mets cardboard

it was pretty clear to me that justin at mets cardboard did his homework while putting together his return trade package. there were dodgers and a set need and double play cards.  every dp card he sent was one that i did not already have.  coincidence? perhaps, but unlikely. it was good to see so many new turns at second base.  here are the rest of them (i showed some last sunday)

1992 action packed bobby richardson

old-time yankee twin killing of a twin

1993 donruss geronimo pena (back)

justin gave up the lurking met (dick schofield) on the back

1993 topps stadium club white sox joey cora

kind of a ho-hum double play turn. it looks like the runner/slider is just lying there.

1994 sportflics luis lopez

lenticular double play action!

1994 upper deck collector's choice chris gomez silver signature parallel

and 1994 upper deck collector's choice tony phillips silver signature parallel

those would both fit in my tatooine collection, too.

1997 pinnacle walt weiss

and here i thought i had all of the weiss double play cards

in addition to that pena card above, justin did a good job in checking card backs.  here's a 1997 upper deck collector's choice mark grudzielanek all-star insert (back)

1977 upper deck collector's choice edgar renteria (back)

1998 upper deck mike lansing (back)

and 1998 upper deck neifi perez (back)

which also has the same double play turn (just a bit earlier in the pivot) on the front

but back to the backs - here's a 1998 upper deck collector's choice jose valentin (back)

and a 1998 upper deck collector's choice mark grudzielanek (back)

with a nice dodger stadium backdrop and an unknown dodger rolling around at the g-man's feet.

thanks again justin! great trade!

more cards from across town

earlier today, i posted some of the cards that fellow twin-citian brian (he of the highly subjective and completely arbitrary blog) sent my way.  there are more to be shown and enjoyed.  like this 1998 upper deck collector's choice of raul mondesi signing autographs at dodger stadium on photo day.

photo day, which used to be called camera day back when i was a kid, is when fans can arrive early and go on to the field (stay behind the barriers, folks) as the players walk slowly by and stop to pose for a picture of sign an autograph or two.  the first time i ever went on the field at dodger stadium was on photo/camera day circa 1979.  i've been on the field once or twice since then, but only for concerts.

here's a 1995 topps stadium club card of delino deshields also signing autographs

but he's on the road somewhere, not at chavez ravine.

also from 1995 topps stadium club, here's a close up of a concerned looking eric karros

that is actually a virtual reality parallel.  perhaps karros is pondering the age old question, "what is real?"

or maybe he is trying to figure out who is on the front of this 1998 topps mystery interleague match-up card

it could be karros, it could be mike piazza, but it could also be an angel.  i haven't peeled off the front to find out.  i'll keep karros guessing.

brian included a few inserts from 2015 topps series 2, which is nice because i haven't bought much of that product.  here's melissa mccarthy getting ready to throw the first pitch at dodger stadium

i understand that the pitch came out of her hand "like lava".

2015 topps adrian gonzalez stepping up insert

2015 topps clayton kershaw hot streak insert

41 innings is impressive.  zack greinke is currently at 35.2 scoreless innings.  he still has 23.1 to go to catch orel hershiser.  incredible.

2015 topps yasiel puig hot streak insert

it would be nice for puig to get on a hot streak again sometime.

brian also hit a couple of peculiarities in my collection.  this is a non-dodger dodger card from 2005 donruss throwback threads of kazuhisa ishii

it's really a mets card, but it's got a dodger on it, so it belongs in my collection.

brian also sent along this 1995 topps stadium club carlos garcia card

featuring nothing but dirt - a tatooine card to end the trade post.

thanks brian! i'll get a return package out to you soon!

fernando final tributes

no real reason, other than the fact that i've been putting it off for a long time, but here are fernando valenzuela's final tribute cards.  only upper deck bothered to make cards of el toro in 1998 following his  short five game stint in saint louis that ended in july of 1997.  i've shown his 1998 upper deck base card before

because of the 'final tribute' shield, but i haven't shown the back with his complete career stats

upper deck also included the former dodger sensation in their 1998 collector's choice set, with a final tribute shield as well

and his complete career stats, too.

i wish topps had made a card - they would have separated out his final season between the padres and the cardinals, so we would have seen that he was 0-4 in 5 starts for saint louis in 1997 following a june trade with the padres.  it is appropriate that upper deck included fernando in the 'national pride' insert set in 1998

as he continued to pitch in the mexican leagues over the course of the next several seasons.  the back mentions that he came from mexico

but it doesn't explicitly mention that he began his professional career as a 17-year old in the mexican leagues.  after finally retiring as a player, fernando coached the mexican team in the 2006, 2009, and 2013 world baseball classics, and he joined the dodgers' spanish speaking broadcast team.

fernando is one of those former dodgers of whom i kind of/sort of keep a non-dodger card player collection.  even if i dissolve that collection, i'll keep these final tributes.  viva el toro!

bear with me as i wind through a post about a couple of 1998 final tributes that ends with a 1996 card and in total confusion

brett butler finished his playing career in 1997 with the dodgers - his second go-around with the club.  he's currently a coach with the marlins, but that is neither here nor there (although this post does end with a very confusing marlins card).  a few card companies were kind to butler (and to collectors like me who look for 'final tribute' cards) in 1998, like score

who gave us a nice photo of butler on the bases in san diego.

fleer ultra went the more traditional route with a photo of butler discarding his bat following what i assume was a bunt attempt

he's usually bunting on his cards.  i didn't scan the back of the score card, but here's the back of the ultra card, with complete career stats

butler was featured in the 1998 upper deck set, too, complete with a bunting photo

but without the 'final tribute' shield.  which is curious, because upper deck put it there on his 1998 ud collector's choice card

which actually showed him swinging the bat!  no worries, though, as upper deck put a bunting photo on the back along with his career stats.

butler had overcome cancer to return to the dodgers in 1996, and i will never forget his first game back. in a 1-1 game against the pirates, butler (already 1 for 3 in the game) led off the bottom of the 8th with a walk.  he stole second and took third on the catcher's throwing error, and then scored what proved to be the winning run on a sacrifice fly.  it was a fun and actually moving game to watch knowing what he had been through.

butler wasn't the only dodger to retire following the 1997 season, however.  this 1998 fleer sports illustrated card shows us that eddie murray also hung up his spikes at that time.

although it still shows murray in his angels' gear.  remember, murray re-joined the dodgers late in the 1997 season after beginning the campaign with the halos.  here's the back of the card

murray is still an angel, while butler took off his helmet to show off that gray shock of hair, reminiscent of john henson, the guy who replaced greg kinnear on talk soup, although his gray patch was on the side of his head.

anyway, steady eddie also got a final tribute (with the shield!) from upper deck as an angel.  i do not know why since he was a dodger at the end of the season, but i am sure there are some angel collectors who were pleased.  here's the card i am referring to

with his complete career stats on the back

murray also received a card in the second series of 1998 upper deck as a dodger so i'm not too bitter.  in fact, one of murray's angel cards - this 1997 fleer card

is a favorite of mine.  he looks strange in the disney uniform, but he's got the classic swing follow through and the jackie robinson patch on display.

murray also looks strange in an indians' uniform, but that's what he was wearing on his 1996 upper deck collector's choice card

i did a double take when i saw this card becuase of the 'tribute' label.  murray obviously did not retire following the 1995 season, so i was confused.  the back gives some information that led me to believe that this was not intended as a final tribute, but rather just a nod to him reaching a couple of big milestones, including his 3000th hit

so.  what then are we to make of andre dawson's 1996 ud collector's choice card?  it, too, has the 'tribute' banner for the first hall of famer to suit up for the florida marlins.

but, like murray, dawson was still playing beyond the 1995 season. so what milestone did the hawk achieve in 1995?  let's look at the back

according to upper deck, dawson cracked the top ten in home runs, all-time, with his last home run of the season - the 436th of his career - and he tied dodger great duke snider in doing so.  say what?  at the end of the 1995 season, the all-time career home run leader board looked like this:

1. hank aaron - 755
2. babe ruth - 714
3. willie mays - 660
4. frank robinson - 586
5. harmon killebrew - 573
6. reggie jackson - 563
7. mike schmidt - 548
8. mickey mantle - 536
9. jimmie foxx - 534
10. ted williams/willie mccovey - 521
12. ernie banks/eddie mathews - 512
14. mel ott - 511
15. lou gehrig - 493
16. eddie murray - 479
17. stan musial/willie stargell - 475
19. dave winfield - 465
20. carl yastrzemski - 452
21. dave kingman - 442
22. andre dawson - 436
23. billy williams - 426
24. duke snider - 407

dawson was 22nd on the list, and snider 24th.  dawson had actually passed snider on the list a couple of seasons earlier.  i am just totally perplexed by what the text on the back of the dawson card, and the tribute banner on the front, was all about.  but, i'll still probably keep the card in my tributes binder.

a few final tributes for a few different reasons

final tribute friday is in full swing today.  the final tributes in my collection can be broken down into four categories:

1. hall of famers

2. personal favorites

3. cards marked as a final tribute

4. significant players

this post has cards from each of those categories

curt schilling would be a significant player, although he probably finds his way into the hall of fame at some point.  his 2008 upper deck card is a pretty good final tribute

it's the only schilling card in my final tribute collection, even though there were bowman, topps, topps heritage, and other cards issued for him the year after he pitched in his last game.  here's the back with his full career stats.

things started out roughly for schilling, but he turned it around and became one of the best pitchers in the national league.  i was at the dodgers' opening day game in 1997 where schilling shut them down for 8 innings, allowing only 2 hits while striking out 11 - it was an impressive performance.  schilling's last big league appearance came in game 2 of the 2007 world series in which he beat the rockies to give the bosox a 2-0 lead in the fall classic.  schilling finished his career with three world series rings, 3116 strikeouts, and a bloody sock.  his strikeout to walk ratio is the best in the modern era, and the best ever for a pitcher who pitched for more than 10 seasons.

jack morris qualifies as a personal favorite, but i would consider him a significant player (the winningest pitcher of the 1980's) as well.  hopefully, he becomes a hall of famer at some point, too.  after leading the league with 21 wins in 1992 for the blue jays, morris struggled in 1993 and wound up 7-12 with a 6.19 era for toronto.  he spent 1994 with the indians, but was released just a couple of days before the players went on strike.  morris had passed 250 wins, but was a bit shy of 2500 strikeouts for his career, and whether motivated by milestones or not, he still wanted to pitch.  so, morris signed with the reds in december of 1994 and waited out the strike.  he retired shortly after spring training began, however, making the few 1995 cards issued of him final tributes.  here's his 1995 fleer ultra card

his 1995 upper deck special edition card

and his 1995 upper deck collector's choice card

that one is the best of the bunch, as it shows morris' complete career stats.  you'll notice that morris had shaved his mustache to pitch for the reds, but he made just one spring training start for them before calling it quits.

the only reason i have a 1996 upper deck collector's choice john kruk card in my collection is because it has the 'tribute' designation on the front.

 here are kruk's complete career stats

kruk retired with a .300 batting average, and he did so in the middle of the season.  i recall his final game because of the unusual highlight shown on espn:  after singling in the first inning on july 30, 1995, kruk asked for the baseball.  he was serving as the team's dh that day, and the hit broke an 0 for 15 skid that saw his average drop from .336 to .304 on the season.  when his spot came up in the order again, kruk wasn't even in the clubhouse - frank thomas pinch hit for him, and kruk's retirement had begun.  there are a lot of players who don't know going in to it that a certain at bat will be their last, but kruk knew.  i actually thought of that when i was playing amateur ball and decided to call it quits in the summer of 2000.  i knew that i was likely never going to play baseball again, and i was able to savor the last couple of at bats.  unfortunately, my warning track power was on display that last time up - f7.

kirby puckett didn't know that he had already experienced his final big league at bat when this card, a 1996 upper deck collector's choice card was issued in november of 1995

 but these are indeed his final career stats

puckett, of course, falls into the hall of famer category in my final tribute collection.  his final big league at bat came near the end of the 1995 season.  he was beaned in the face by cleveland's dennis martinez in the first inning of the game on september 28, 1995 and did not return to the lineup in any of the last few games in the season.  in spring training 1996, puckett was diagnosed with glaucoma and his career was over.  i showed some other puckett final tributes previously, but this one was left out of those posts for some reason.

like kruk's final tribute above, the only reason that this 1998 upper deck darren daulton

and this 1998 upper deck collector's choice tony pena

are in the collection is because of the final tribute designation given to each card.  here are the backs

both were catchers, but while daulton struggled with injuries, pena was able to stay healthy and play in a ton of games.  still, daulton was able to go out with a bang as he and the marlins won the world series in 1997.

the last card in the post is of a personal favorite - roy halladay.  this is his 2014 topps opening day card

which comes with his complete career stats on the back

i first heard of roy halladay when he lost a no-hitter in his second career start thanks to a home run hit by bobby higginson with two outs in the ninth inning.  i remember at the time hoping that he would get another chance and get the no-hitter (he did, twice).  i also remember starting to follow his career since i had a soft spot for the blue jays.  later, my halladay fandom was sealed when he saved my fantasy baseball season in 2001 with a final weekend shutout (my league gave points for complete games and shutouts).  unfortunately, halladay was forced to retire after last season due to shoulder problems.

halladay is one of a few 2014 final tributes in my collection, along with mariano rivera and lance berkman.  you know i'll be looking for derek jeter and paul konerko cards next year...