mural, mural on the wall...

i've been meaning to do this for a long time.  i took a quick look at the evolution of the dodger stadium outfield wall in a previous post, but i didn't take the time to document what the theme of the murals were.  some years it was obvious - retired numbers - but other years seemed more eclectic.

i was a big fan of the murals, even though i was not able to attend too many games during their presence.  i mostly remember the outfield wall looking like it does on this 2000 mlb showdown card

featuring wayne kirby, and a non-controversial quote from reggie jackson.  really, everybody does like ice cream.

sometimes, usually (only?) opening day, the dodgers would get out the big world championship banners and put them on the walls. in 1998, however, they began using photo murals in the outfield.  there was a different theme for each year from '98 through 2004.  i thought i had a pretty good bead on what the murals were each year after some research, and dodger historian mark langill was kind enough to confirm things for me via email.  thanks mark (he's got the greatest job in the world).  on with the post.

1998 world championships/retired numbers mural

that 1999 fleer tradition derek bell card shows off the don drysdale (number 53) part of the mural, which was next to the 1981 world championship image featuring the three steves - howe, yeager, and garvey - in their celebratory embrace.  here's a photo from getty images that shows the mural a bit better.

if only bell had fielded that ball a few feet to his left...

in 1999, the dodgers added their hero patches to their uniforms, and the mural honored those players who were included in the patch selection.  here's a 2000 topps stadium club devon white card

that shows kirk gibson and the right ear of pee wee reese (i believe).  reese's teammate gil hodges' part of the mural shows up on derek jeter's 2000 upper deck card

darryl kile's 2000 fleer ultra card

has a good part of the mural in the background. that's jackie robinson and don drysdale, with rauuuul mondesi at the plate.

ray lankford's 2000 topps gallery card

is not to be ignored, with lankford spiking mike scioscia's image on the wall.  that's a great card and all, but here's a photo that i would have rather made its way onto cardboard (again from getty images)

it's a picture of ken griffey junior and don newcombe and scioscia - this time you can see his face.  as for the garv, he was on the wall again, but i couldn't find any cards featuring his part of the mural, unfortunately.

in 2000, the dodgers went with the theme of great moments in dodger stadium history, including the saving of the american flag by then cub rick monday, and this moment

i believe that gibson's home run was voted the greatest sports moment in los angeles history, by the way.  i don't know if garvey was on this wall, as i didn't get to chavez ravine in 2000 and there certainly isn't any cardboard that i've found with any of the mural in the background.

for the 2001 season, the dodgers revisited their retired numbers, doing so in a more formal fashion.  this 2001 upper deck gold glove card of darin erstad

has him in front of the '2' in walt alston's '24'.  the 's' near erstad's right arm is the 's' at the end of 'los angeles dodgers'.  there are other cards featuring this mural, and my favorite is probably the 2002 upper deck marvin benard card.  i like that card so much, it was the first non-dodger card ever featured on this blog in what was the third post in this blog's existence.  sadly, steve garvey was not part of this mural, as his number 6 will not be retired by the dodgers unless he is voted into the hall of fame by the veteran's committee.

2002 was the year that the team celebrated 40 years of dodger stadium, complete with comemmorative patches on their sleeves and a new mural on the wall.  they used a different player from each even year from 1962 to 2002.  tommy davis was '62, shawn green was '02, and steve garvey was '76 (as seen in this getty images photo)

sweet.  if only it were a card...

...well, garvey made the mural in 2003 and a card the following year as the team recognized dodger record holders on their outfield wall.  the 2003 mural included the likes of sandy koufax's 382 strikeouts in a single season (still a modern national league and left-handed pitcher record), as well as the team's record setting infield of garvey, cey, russell, and lopes.  that's the mural that made it on to preston wilson's 2004 fleer ultra card

with steve garvey representing!  very thankful to fleer for making this card!

garvey had no chance at the 2004 mural, as the dodgers honored their cy young award winners that year.  here's 1974 winner, mike marshall on carlos beltran's 2005 fleer card

orel hershiser on derek jeter's 2005 fleer ultra card

(with a cameo from eric gagne's arm), and, of course, fernando valenzuela on steve finley's 2005 fleer ultra card

you didn't think i'd get through the post without showing that beauty, did you?

lord, i miss the murals.

it doesn't take long to get to dusty baker's current career torchbearer, thanks to three former dodgers

dusty baker, sadly for me, finished out his playing career with the oakland a's.  dusty was the left fielder on the team of my youth, and he was therefore one of my favorite players.  i was disappointed when he followed the trail reggie smith had left and went to the giants after yet another postseason appearance in 1983, but the dodgers were moving on.  anyway, baker found himself in the green and yellow (just as he is shown on his 1987 fleer card)

in the penultimate game of the 1986 season as the dh for the a's.  in the 7th inning, he drew his second walk of the game off of royals' starter mark gubicza, and was lifted for a pinch-runner (tony phillips).  baker did not appear in the final game of the season, and he was not signed by anyone after the season ended.

gubicza continued to pitch for the royals through 1996, but was traded to the angels (a team i witnessed him shut out in 1989 at the big a) prior to the 1997 campaign.  gubicza made only two starts for the halos, but he did get a card in the 1997 fleer set in his new duds

in his second and final appearance for the angels, gubicza allowed a lead off single to marquis grissom, but retired the other three indians he faced.  in the second inning, however, gubicza couldn't get anyone out as he allowed three singles, a home run, and two doubles before being lifted.  that last double was hit by grissom who eventually came around to score on a jim thome single off of shigetoshi hasekawa.  i mentioned up top that dusty's torchbearers were all former dodgers (at least up until now), and while gubicza's last big league appearance was that bad start against the indians as a member of the california angels, he did sign with the dodgers for the 1998 season in an attempt to get back to the big leagues.  he was unsuccessful.

so, that means that grissom was carrying baker's torch.  he had been traded from cleveland to milwaukee after the 1997 season, and then the brewers traded him to the dodgers prior to the 2001 season.  as a result, i have in my collection this fantastic 2001 upper deck gold glove marquis grissom game-used glove card

that features not only a piece of one of his gloves, but also a bit of walter alston on the outfield fence at dodger stadium.  grissom's career didn't come to a close with the blue, however, as he did what reggie smith and dusty baker had done before him, and head to no-cal after his time with the dodgers ended. grissom signed with the giants as a free agent after the 2002 season, and he played for them until they released him in august of 2005.  his last game came on july 31, 2005 when the giants faced the brewers.  in grissom's last at bat of the game, he struck out against brewers' starter chris capuano.

capuano won 18 games for the brew crew that season, and was on the all-star team the next.  unfortunately, he ran into some arm problems and missed a significant amount of playing time into the 2010 season.  after a season with the mets in 2011, capuano signed with the dodgers and at one point was 7-1 with a low era for the club.  he finished the season at 12-12 with a league leading 33 starts. he made only 20 starts (along with a few relief appearances) for the dodgers in 2013, with his last performance in dodger blue coming in the nlds against the braves in which he held atlanta scoreless for three innings and earning the win in the dodgers' game 3 victory.  from there, capuano signed for the 2014 season with the red sox who used him exclusively as a reliever and released him in july.  he was picked up by the rockies who sent him to the minors where he pitched well and had his contract purchased by the yankees.  here's his 2014 topps update card showing him in pinstripes.

the yankees moved him back to a starting role, and he was 2-3 in 12 starts for the club.  i guess they liked what they saw, because they just re-signed him to a contract for 2015.  that means that capuano will continue to carry dusty baker's torch a while longer.

a refrac black back kershaw attack

thanks to the cardboard junkie, i came into a trio of kershaw cards.  2013 topps heritage chrome,

2013 topps heritage chrome refractor,

and 2013 topps heritage black back

also known as the venezuelan parallel.  maybe when kershaw is done saving africa, he will help out in south america.

another back worth showing is the back of steve garvey's 2011 topps 60 insert.  aside from tommy davis, steve garvey ranks 2nd on the los angeles dodger all-time single season hits leader board (tied with steve sax).  that's good enough for 8th on the franchise leaderboard, as shown on the card.

dayf threw in a couple of offermans (offermen?) - 1993 leaf

and 1994 fleer

you might think that if i am showing you two jose offerman cards, then the package must have been pretty bad once you got past the kershaws and the garvey.  that was not the case.  here is a very nice 2002 upper deck kaz ishii card

if you look closely enough, you can see half of tommy lasorda's head on the outfield wall.  i think this was the retired numbers mural.  this copy of the card fits nicely in my dodger stadium binder.


here's another card with the outfield wall murals in view (sort of) - 2001 upper deck gold glove gary sheffield

sheff did not win a gold glove, but it was 2001 and he was included in pretty much every set that year.  it's too bad that i can't tell definitively what the mural behind him represents.

here's the last card i will show from the trade package.  dayf took the time to check out my 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee want list, and sent me one of the last few cards that i needed - albert pujols

the head of the bat is just asking for some 'rick face' hijinks.

thanks for the trade dayf!