the a's have it

thanks to dick green and bert campaneris and walt weiss, i have a few great double play cards featuring oakland athletics.  they are certainly a team that is well represented in the binder.  here are several more oakland a's players turning two.

1995 topps brent gates

and 1996 upper deck brent gates

and 1997 fleer ultra brent gates

three years in a row for ol' cemetery gates, and that doesn't include his 1993 upper deck card that has a turn on the front and the back.

here are some 1997 pacific cards of tony batista

and mike bordick

they both have a lot of dp cards - in fact, here's another tony batista card.  it's from 1997 upper deck collector's choice

and here's a 1998 score rookies/traded card of scott spiezio

in recent years, the oakland a most often featured turning two has to be miguel tejada.  here is his 1999 fleer ultra card

and his 1999 skybox premium card

his 1999 topps card

i loved this play, by the way.  as a second baseman, being able to step on the bag and throw to first was more fun than just shoveling the ball to the shortstop.

here's tejada's 1999 upper deck card

i'll interrupt the tejada show again to feature this 2000 fleer tradition update card of a's second baseman randy velarde

like some of the other cards we've seen highlighting the triple play, this one seems to show him getting ready to make the pivot to first.  i'm not sure if this photo is from the actual play which occurred at yankee stadium, as velarde caught shane spencer's line drive, stepped on second base, and then tagged the runner coming from first base.  there was no throw involved.  it should be noted that velarde made an error earlier in the inning to set up first and second with no outs and make the triple play possible.

now, back to tejada.  here's a 2001 fleer triple crown card

and a 2002 fleer ultra card

and a 2002 topps stadium club card

pretty sure that they both feature the same play.  i like the kid in the background leaning over the wall as if he were trying to get closer to the action. or maybe he's just bored.

last tejada of this post comes from 2002 topps total

and features a completely different play than the previous two cards which is nice.

moving on, here's bobby crosby's 2006 topps card

and we'll finish with a couple of future dodgers - a 2009 topps update adam kennedy card

and a 2009 upper deck mark ellis card

ellis still has the ball which means that the tigers player was successful in breaking up the double play.  good for him.

more double plays with teams other than the a's coming shortly.

let's turn two!

it's been a while since i posted a bunch of double play cards.  these cards were once a way for me to appreciate non-dodgers and at the same time, recall the pure joy of turning a double play.  i even wrote a double play themed entry for a local literary workshop that was seeking baseball themed haiku a few years back:

a pitcher's best friend

is not diamond or dog

it's a double play

sadly, there have been so few lately that i have bothered to get excited about.  where have you gone, 1971 topps cookie rojas?  well, this 2010 bowman erick aybar is pretty cool.

i believe that's alex rodriguez sliding in. i'm sure he also tried to slap the ball away or maybe even reached up to punch aybar in the nuts as he was sliding by.

this 2008 upper deck first edition aaron hill is one of those mundane cards i was referring to above

and this 2008 topps damion easley is just about the worst double play card there is

how he can stand there like that after turning two without getting his leg snapped like tsuyoshi nishioka is beyond me.  shame on that yankee (robinson cano?) sliding in.
here's bobby hill on a pretty decent 2003 upper deck 40 man card

not sure why the guy sliding in is blurred out.
angel berroa's 2005 upper deck card is ok

and miggy's 2006 upper deck issue is not bad either

here's a 2001 fleer triple crown card of adam kennedy getting just enough air to clear eric chavez

and here is kennedy on his 2002 fleer ultra card at the point of touchdown.

extra points for a three-point stance using just one foot.

fellow angel gary disarcina gives good dp on his 1999 upper deck card

as does neifi perez

although i am not a fan of seeing just legs of a guy sliding in.  it seems incomplete to me.

finally, scott spiezio delivers what a double play card should on his 1999 upper deck card

airborne, the hapless force out is fully visible, and we even get to see the ball on its way to first to complete the twin killing.  that's more like it.