black and blue ryu and some other dodger cards

i'm continuing with a sort of random rambling theme today.

this is a 2013 panini black friday hyun-jin ryu card

it was somehow available on black friday, 2013. i don't recall how i obtained it (sportlots, maybe), but it is not worth standing in line waiting for stores to open to obtain.  still, panini did the same sort of thing last year, and i'm guessing panini is doing it again this year.  ryu is out for the season now, following shoulder surgery.  

this is a 2013 panini pinnacle matt kemp museum collection parallel

it doesn't scan as well as the museum collection inserts from the 1990's.

still more panini - this time from 2014 panini golden age

dusty baker

davey lopes

and zack wheat

as pleased as i was to see dusty and davey and other dodgers from the team of my youth in this set, i don't consider them to be from the golden age.  wheat, sure, but not the others.

wheat also got an insert card in the release - it's a 1913 the national game card

and i wish this had been the base set design

now here's a 2007 topps turkey red andy laroche card

and a 1999 topps chrome jeff shaw card

moving on to 2010 upper deck, here's a biography insert of jeff weaver

marking the time that he beat his brother jered in a game between the dodgers and angels.

olmedo saenz didn't have too many cards, but he spent four seasons with the dodgers and made it into the 2007 topps update & highlights set

even though 2007 was his fourth year with the club.  not much of an update there - more like an omission.

last card for today is a 2008 topps stadium club beam team autographed card of delwyn young

i secretly hoped that delwyn and delmon young (no relation) would have wound up on the same team just for the potential confusion factor.  would they have had their full names on the backs of their jerseys? who knows.

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.

another double play dump

let's start another day of double play cards with 1997 topps stadium club and gary disarcina

and keith lockhart

and jody reed

here's a 1997 upper deck collector's choice fernando vina card

with tim salmon barreling in.  although, if you're vina, once you've survived an albert belle attack, i'm guessing tim salmon isn't too frightening.

here are some fleer sports illustrated double play turns - this one is from 1998 fleer si world series fever, and it features a levitating barry larkin

with a sliding steve finley in san diego.  these next two are from 1999 fleer sports illustrated, and they feature a tumbling derek jeter

and an upended tony womack

looks like ken caminiti did his job.

bret boone stares down vinny castilla on his 1999 topps chrome card

while mike caruso sails over somebody who is obscured by the text on his 2000 fleer ultra card

here are two different versions of the 2001 topps adam kennedy card - i like this card a lot, but not as much as i like kennedy's 2012 topps update card.  here's the gold version

and here's the chrome version

part of the allure of this card is that there aren't a lot of cards with fp santangelo as a dodger on them

moving on to 2001 upper deck, here's neifi perez

and eric young

too bad this one is from his cubs days - it's a nice one.

'o' no another group break

no surprise - i took the dodgers in ryan's latest group break at 'o' no another orioles blog. the cool thing is that i knew that i was guaranteed to get the entire dodger team from the 1998 fleer tradition update set, all of which were new to my collection.  here's my favorite of the bunch, adrian beltre's rookie (or is it x-rc?) card

i like cards that feature shots like this.  i may start a new type collection.  stay tuned.

here are a couple of the other dodgers in the set - mike metcalfe

and jeff shaw

metcalfe made his big league debut in 1998 by way of pinch hitting for juan castro in a september game against the giants.  robb nen struck him out.  he made three more appearances that season, all as a pinch runner, and had two stolen bases as a result.  he returned to the big leagues in 2000, when he collected his lone big league hit, an infield single off of jamie moyer.

ryan also busted some 1999 topps chrome, and i received this roger cedeno card as a result

looks like roger is breaking up a double play here.  very nice.

not so nice was kevin brown, but this 1999 upper deck hologrfx card is not too bad.

in fact, it's ausome, apparently.

2002 upper deck mvp was a favorite set of mine when it came out.  here's andy ashby

and some guy with the last name 'rookie'

no, that's victor alvarez.  i don't know why upper deck didn't stick with the player's name like the other cards. if only that silly rookie card logo had existed back then, maybe we would have had a consistent card design.

my second team in the break was the indians.  here's the worst card of the bunch - 2010 upper deck progressive field card

do you think they even bothered to roll down the window as they were driving by?

ryan also did me a favor and included this 2012 bowman dee gordon parallel that i coveted

thanks for the break and trade ryan!

cards from the sandlot

long overdue, here are some cards i received from joe at the sandlot in trade for some amazin's.

1997 fleer sports illustrated vladimir guerrero

remember the expos?  here's another vladdy from a previous life - 1999 topps chrome homerun heroes

and 2000 fleer showcase

apparently, vladdy has a license to skill.  i am worried about the sale of the dodgers.  if you recall, frank mccourt wanted to sign vladdy to a deal when he first bought the team, but he had no money so bud selig put the kebosh on the deal.  now, with some big name free agents out there, i wonder if the dodgers will again be denied thanks to the transient state of the ownership.  as we all know, vladdy wound up with the angels.  here's his 2006 upper deck card

joe also sent some double play cards, like this 1992 donruss triple play card

awesome action, indeed!

how about a 1998 upper deck collector's choice fp santangelo

santangelo eventually played for the dodgers.  here he reminds me of a victorious gladiator.  are you not entertained?
here's a double play card created for the purpose of illustrating part of the twin killing

is that david eckstein that is avoiding the runner?

fret not, there were also some dodgers in the package, including a bunch of cards from 2005 upper deck classics.  like ropes - bill russell

that's a nice photo with the low-rail fencing of dodger stadium in the background.

here's russell's double play partner, davey lopes

i am guessing lopes will go back to number 15 next season since furcal has moved along.
pedro guerrero

there should be more pedro guerrero cards.  thanks joe!