sometimes card backs give more than the stats

i thought it was weird when i first saw a photo on the back of a baseball card.  i was used to stats and text, with the occasional cartoon or game (like 1978 topps).   so, some of the early kellogg's releases and 1983 fleer with their small player portraits did nothing for me.  even 1988 score, with their color portraits on the back, was wasting space as far as i was concerned.  then came upper deck.

they sacrificed stats to give us bigger photos on the back, and a lot of times, the photos on the back were more interesting than the ones on the front.  i recently went through a 1991 upper deck set and pulled a few cards.  i found a trio of reds' cards that tell a story.  here's the back of tom browning's card

he's obviously giving the ball up to manager lou piniella at dodger stadium.  that's alfredo griffin lurking in the background.  the guy standing to browning's left is barry larkin.  i know this because this is the back of larkin's 1991 upper deck card

put them together, and you get somewhat of a panoramic shot, although they are two different photos taken at slightly different moments.

and, if you look at piniella's foot, you can see the top of the catcher's cleat and the bottom of his shinguard.  that's joe oliver, because i know that those two photos came from the june 3, 1990 game between the reds and dodgers, and oliver was the catcher.  the reds were leading 2-0 in the bottom of the 8th when mike scioscia chased browning with a double that moved griffin to third with no one out.  randy myers came in and shut the dodgers down, getting the final 6 outs.

he shows up on the back of oliver's 1991 upper deck card, getting the postgame handshake.

we are back in dodger stadium on the back of jim presley's 1991 upper deck card,

with half of joe amalfitano's rear and a dodger whom i believe to be kal daniels thrown out trying to steal third on july 29, 1990.

the back of andre dawson's 1991 upper deck card shows what i believe to be a double play turn

i think the photo comes from august 1, 1990 in which dawson was forced at second on a 4-6 play based on the fact that jay bell was the shortstop that day, and bell wore pony cleats.  dwight clark was safe at first, but i will assume that bell tried to complete the dp.

i am not convinced that the back of junior felix's 1991 upper deck card shows a double play, however.

looks more like a steal to me.

sometimes, the backs tell a different story, like the back of this 2002 donruss originals adrian beltre card

it's a sample!  most likely from a beckett mag if i recall correctly.  good thing i looked at the back - otherwise i would have put it with my doubles.  here's the front, by the way.

there's one more 1991 upper deck card back i want to show, and it is this one

whether staged or opportunistic, this is a nice photo.  it fits in nicely with a new mini-collection that i am pretty sure i am starting up.

so, the message here is: don't forget to look at the card backs!

everything's shinier in texas

how else to explain the nice package of shiny dodger cards i received from the play at the plate dude a while back?

brian sent some cards from 1997 fleer flair showcase, including one with hideo nomo at the bat

one with raul mondesi looking annoyed with his own antics

one with eric karros looking exasperated by the shortcomings of my scanner

and one with mike piazza seeing red on the back

he also sent a mondesi

and a nomo

from the 1997 upper deck ud3 set, and another karros from the 1998 upper deck spx set

more karros from 1999 fleer brilliants

as well as an adrian beltre rookie from the same set

those cards are brilliantly shiny

as are topps gold label cards.  these are from 1999, and we get karros

and beltre again

this particular beltre card, from 2002 donruss originals, is not shiny

nor is this 2013 panini pinnacle clayton kershaw card

but they are appreciated nonetheless.

this matt kemp card, also from 2013 panini pinnacle, is clear and shiny

while this adrian gonzalez museum collection parallel from the same release is kind of a mess when scanned

back to some really shiny stuff, brian also sent a trifecta of purple refractors from 2013 topps chrome - adrian gonzalez

andre ethier (stupid scanner)

and paco rodriguez

thanks brian!

all eyes on karros

eric karros, the los angeles dodgers' all-time home run leader, turns 46 today.  i have a few karros cards in the scanned folder, and today seems like a good day to post them.  i love this 2000 pacific omega card.

his eyes are so wide, i am guessing that he cannot believe that glenn hoffman is waving him home.

i like that card so much that i chose to lead with it instead of this fantastic 1993 upper deck iooss collection insert.

that's a nice night shot of dodger stadium.

here's a former nefarious 9 card that i picked up - 1993 o-pee-chee premier star performers insert

also featuring dodger stadium.

now we get to the weird stuff.  here's a 1998 topps tek card

with one of the hundred or so acetate designs.  and here's a 2001 donruss card that is really a 2000 donruss card.

donruss didn't make cards in 1999 or 2000, so in 2001 they released some 'should have been' cards.  this looks like a food issue to me.  still, i liked the 'what if' cards that donruss produced as part of 2002 donruss originals.  like this 1980 donruss what if card of duke snider

that is better than the 1981 actual issue, but we have to recognize that donruss had a few years to come up with some better designs.

back to karros, here are a couple of cards that he signed for me through the mail last year.  first, his 1993 topps card, with the rookie cup

followed by one of my favorite cards - his 1994 upper deck collector's choice card

here we have dodger stadium, the jackie robinson award, and the tim crews memorial patch.  this card fits in to my dodger, dodger stadium, and memorial collections.  it's a good thing i don't also collect cards featuring awards like nick and daniel.

here's to you, eric karros!  happy birthday and thanks for signing my cards.

the september 11th black armband and memorial patch

after the terrorist attacks that took place on september 11, 2001, major league baseball suspended the season for several days before resuming games.  when play did resume, there were a number of tributes to the victims of the attacks.  the new york teams wore hats honoring the various emergency response organizations during their first series.  the mets were playing in pittsburgh against the pirates, and mike piazza wore a nypd hat as seen on this 2002 topps subset card

later, all teams added american flags on their caps (as evidenced by cc sabathia's 2002 upper deck vintage card

and terry mulholland's 2002 topps card),

and on the backs of their jerseys (as seen on eric karros's 2002 fleer triple crown card)

in support of the troops deployed to iraq and afghanistan.  

as far as memorial patches, however, only the new york teams added those to their uniforms.  the mets added a '9-11-01' patch on their right sleeves, below their 40th anniversary patch, as seen on this 2002 donruss originals mike piazza card

the september 11th patch is a bit tough to make out, but it has american flags on either end with '9-11-01' in between them.

and the yankees added the black armband to their left sleeves for the remainder of the season (and the postseason) as seen on this derek jeter card from 2002 upper deck vintage

and this andy pettitte card from 2002 upper deck world series heroes

easily, the best card to represent the armband memorial in the binder is jorge posada's 2002 upper deck vintage card.

we will never forget.

nine from starting 9

you couldn't field a team with these 9, but they are a good representation of the cards i recently received from jacobmrley at starting 9.  you'll see what i mean right away when i show three cards featuring the penguin.  here's a 2005 playoff prestige card

and a 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic jersey card

plus his 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic base card

also from that set, here's a duke snider card

in which he is holding four bats.  not sure why.

i do know, however, why don drysdale is holding a ball with "#3" on it on his 2001 upper deck legends card

that's because it also has the date (10/5/63) on it, which was the day of game 3 of the 1963 world series.  in that game, big d shut out the yankees on three hits and beat them 1-0 thanks to a jim gilliam walk, a jim bouton wild pitch, and a tommy davis single in the first inning.  the dodgers went on to sweep the yankees in the series, thank you very much.

here's don sutton on a 2003 topps all-time fan favorite card

i enjoy this card even more now that 2012 topps archives has arrived with a thud.  

in 2002, donruss put out a set of its own, similar to archives i suppose.  they called it donruss originals, and this is one of the hideo nomo cards from the set

if i recall correctly, they used their 1982, 1984, 1986, and 1988 designs in the set with a repeating checklist.  they also made some retro 'what if' cards for 1978 and 1980.

here's a 1994 post canadian card of italian-american superstar slugger mike piazza

voici a vous!

finally, a 1981 fleer steve garvey "most hits nl" card

he'd be in my starting 9 everyday.

thanks max!