2002 has a good run in the steve garvey binders

sheets 36-40 of the steve garvey binders, like sheet 35 and most of sheet 34 before them, consist of nothing but cards from 2002.  there are lots of inserts and parallels and just good ol' garvey goodness.  have a look.

here's sheet 36:

those cards are:

1. 2002 fleer greats of the game
2. 2002 fleer greats of the game unredeemed autograph redemption card
3. 2002 fleer greats of the game certified auto
4. 2002 leaf clubhouse signatures (bronze)
5. 2002 leaf clubhouse signatures (silver)
6. 2002 leaf certified fabric of the game relic
7. 2002 leaf certified fabric of the game relic (debut year) with patch
8. 2002 leaf certified fabric of the game relic (debut year)
9. 2002 leaf certified fabric of the game relic (position)

true story: when i redeemed one of my 2002 fleer greats of the game autograph redemption cards (back then you had to mail them in), fleer sent back two copies of the certified auto card.  i picked up another redemption card later on and kept it to restore balance to the universe.

i am missing the gold version (numbered to 25) of the leaf clubhouse signatures card, but i have two versions of the leaf certified debut year relic, because one has a patch piece and the other doesn't.  i am weird like that when it comes to garvey relics as we have seen before and will see again later.

here are the backs:

i didn't mention that the debut year relics are numbered to 69 (garvey debuted in 1969), but i don't know why the position relic is numbered to 45.  seems random.

the fabric of the game parade continues on sheet 37:

those cards are:

1. 2002 leaf certified fabric of the game relic (jersey number)
2. 2002 topps archives
3. 2002 topps archives certified auto
4. 2002 topps archives relic
5. 2002 topps archives reserve
6. 2002 topps gold label mlb awards ceremony 1974 mvp relic (gold)
7. 2002 topps gold label mlb awards ceremony 1974 mvp relic (platinum)
8. 2002 topps gold label mlb awards ceremony 1974 mvp relic (titanium)
9. 2002 topps gold label mlb awards ceremony 1978 all-star mvp relic (gold)

the jersey number relic is a fairly new addition to my steve garvey collection (it's numbered to 6), and the archives certified auto was pulled from a pack by yours truly.  that was some good karma coming to fruition that day.

i appreciate the gold label cards, as the first three use the photo from garvey's 1978 topps card with his 1974 topps card there in the background. the next three (two of which are on the next sheet) use his 1971 topps card photo with the 1978 card in the background.

here are the backs:

not much variation to the backs of the cards on this sheet.

as i mentioned, the mlb awards ceremony bat relics continue on sheet 38:

those cards are:

1. 2002 topps gold label mlb awards ceremony 1978 all-star mvp relic (platinum)
2. 2002 topps gold label mlb awards ceremony 1978 all-star mvp relic (titanium)
3. 2002 topps traded who would have thought
4. 2002 topps traded who would have thought (gold)
5. 2002 topps chrome traded who would have thought
6. 2002 topps chrome traded who would have thought (refractor)
7. 2002 topps chrome traded who would have thought (black refractor)
8. 2002 topps tribute
9. 2002 topps tribute lasting impressions parallel

i was pretty excited to see that garvey was included in the 'who would have thought' subset in the 2002 topps traded set, but i was even happier that he was on the checklist for 2002 topps tribute after being left out of the inaugural 2001 release (even though his number was one of just two retired by the padres at the time).

here are the backs:

the lasting impressions parallel is numbered to 87, which was garvey's last season in the big leagues.

topps tribute spills over onto sheet 39:

those cards are:

1. 2002 topps tribute first impressions parallel
2. 2002 topps tribute matching marks dual relic with gil hodges
3. 2002 upper deck piece of history
4. 2002 upper deck piece of history mvp club insert
5. 2002 upper deck piece of history tape measure heroes insert
6. 2002 upper deck piece of history mvp club relic
7. 2002 upper deck piece of history tape measure heroes relic
8. 2002 upper deck piece of history tape measure heroes relic (with pinstripe)
9. 2002 upper deck sp legendary cuts

nice to see garvey and gil hodges on a card together. they are on that particular card because both drove in over 1250 runs in their respective careers. garvey got just past 1300, while hodges topped out at 1274.  here we see my need for relic variations again, but the next sheet is even worse.

here are the backs:

it's worth noting that, on this sheet and the next, there are 16 cards produced by upper deck from 4 different sets that use only six different photos (counting the backs).

sheet 40 is chock full of relics:

those cards are:

1. 2002 upper deck sp legendary cuts relic (bat)
2. 2002 upper deck sp legendary cuts relic (jersey)
3. 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics
4. 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics relic (bat)
5. 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics relic (cream jersey)
6. 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics relic (cream/dirty jersey)
7. 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics relic (white jersey)
8. 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics relic (brown jersey)
9. 2002 upper deck world series heroes

in 2002, i actually called upper deck to find out how many different jerseys they used for garvey's sweet spot classics relics because it sure looked to me like there were three. they confirmed the use of a cream or off-white jersey which must have been from the minors unless the pads home whites were actually an off-white.  whatever. i was most happy that they used a photo of garvey from the 1978 world series with the jim gilliam memorial patch.

here are the backs:

and we aren't done with 2002 just yet.  stay tuned.

an indians' black armband for team president (and owner) jim dunn

jim dunn was the owner of the cleveland indians from 1916 until the time of his death in june of 1922.  as such, it was on his watch that the indians won their first world series in 1920 against the brooklyn robins.  following his passing, the team added black armbands to their left sleeves in dunn's honor.  tris speaker is wearing the armband on this 2002 fleer greats of the game card

even though fleer considers this to be a red sox card (he began his career in boston and won his mvp award there in 1912).  continuing the tie to the red sox, dunn and his partners had purchased the indians from charles somers, who at one time was the owner of the bosox.

that same photo of speaker, although more tightly cropped, also shows up on a 2003 upper deck sp legendary cuts card

with speaker identified as a member of the cleveland indians.  still, i've got the 2002 fleer greats card in my memorials binder for this one.

later today, i'll post another black armband worn by the indians in the 1920's - worn for ray chapman, to be specific.  while speaker was on that team (he hit .320 in the world series against the robins), we know that the photo on these two cards comes from 1922 thanks to the font of 'cleveland' on his jersey. the 1920 indian away jerseys used more of a block lettering style.  

happy birthday to steve garvey - the big six-five!

time waits for no man, and that includes the first baseman of the team of my youth, steve garvey.  the garv turns 65 today, and it's been over 26 years since he last suited up in a major league baseball game. time flies.  thankfully (most of the time), card companies have kept him in their sights as they compile checklists for sets featuring retired players.  you had better believe that today is going to be chock full of those, plus one or two from his actual playing days.  hopefully some other bloggers join in the fun of wishing number 6 a happy 65th.

on to the cards.  here's a 2009 topps sterling white parallel numbered to 50

i really like the red accents on this card, just like the red number on the dodger home whites.

here's a 2002 fleer greats of the game card

on which the nl iron man sports the dual earflap batting helmet.  not a good look.

garvey was featured in topps' 2011 update set with an insert in the '60' run of cards.

this year's update set included a manu-patch insert set featuring all-star game mvp's.  i thought for sure that garvey would be included - the man won two all-star game mvp awards - but no, he was not.  sportflics did give him a card in their 1986 set that recognized his status as a midsummer classic mvp, along with fellow two-timer gary carter, and singular winner fred lynn

here's a better look at garvey's image on the card

of course, both of garvey's all-star mvp's (1974 and 1978) were won as a dodger, yet he's a padre on the card.  in fact, none of the players featured are wearing the uniform of the team they won the award with.  lynn won as an angel, but was with baltimore by the time this card was released, and carter is wearing his mets uni rather than the expos gear that he wore when he won his awards.

here's another padre garvey card, this time from 2005 donruss diamond kings

garvey was one of the inaugural diamond kings way back in 1982.  unfortunately, he didn't achieve the same status when he went to san diego.  here are the padres who were diamond kings instead of garvey:  dave dravecky (1984), tony gwynn (1985), goose gossage (1986), and kevin mcreynolds (1987).  i don't know that he deserved the honor over any of those guys, but i don't think donruss repeated diamond kings until the early 90's anyway.  nope - that's not true.  i just checked and george brett was a dk in 1982 and 1987.

moving on, here's a 2006 fleer greats of the game autographics card

this is pretty much how i think of garvey - manning first base in dodger stadium with the home whites, tidy stirrups, and red white and blue wristband.  none of that brown pinstripe stuff with a mcdonald's wristband.  yuck.

them's the breaks. and the earflaps.

i've booked a spot in a few group breaks recently, including one hosted by the daily dimwit.  he busted a box of 2002 fleer greats of the game, and i came away with almost a complete dodger team set.

that's campy, wills, drysdale, jackie, cey, hodges, garvey, roe and the duke.  the only other dodger featured in the set that didn't come my way in this break is hack wilson.  i'm pretty sure i have a hack from this set lying around.

let's take a closer look at steve garvey's card from the set

i can't say that i recall him wearing the double-earflap helmets, but there are a number of photos around (like the one on this card) showing him thusly adorned.  it seems so little league-ish for a non-switch hitter.

and then there is ron cey, who famously went earflap-less

at least until he was beaned in the head by goose gossage in 1981.  then he saw the light and went with the single earflap.

also wearing earflaps on their helmets are gary sheffield and adrian beltre, who, along with kevin brown and chan ho park were part of my haul from the 2001 playoff absolute memorabilia box included in the break

the big hit of the break was an expired redemption card for dodger prospect carlos garcia

i tried to find an image of the redeemed card, but came up with no results.  oh what might have been, back in 2001.

thanks to the dimwit for hosting the break!

it turned into a bulldog bip

dayf bipped me.  bulldog style. using 1991 donruss.  witness:

as if that weren't clear enough, there was this:

and this:

here's one of the dozen or so that survived unblemished:

thankfully, dayf also included some other dodgers, like a 1989 donruss william brennan:

and a 2008 ud timeline gold chin-lung hu

along with a 2001 topps heritage todd hundley

and an 'already disrespecting the umpire' jose offerman 1993 donruss

here's a 1987 kmart fernando valenzuela that is yellowing just like all those stormtrooper action figures i owned 33 years ago

and a worthless paul 'i am so lucky that jim tracy likes me for some reason' loduca relic.

and the centerpiece of the trade, a 2002 fleer greats of the game maury wills auto:

thanks dayf!

culling dodgers from capewood's collection, part two

the recent trade with cliff at capewood's collections was too much for just one post, so here's the second batch of cards i randomly selected from the dodger bounty.

2004 topps retired davey lopes.i like old school players on current card designs almost as much as i like current players on old card designs. unlike 2009, these cards were a whole separate set. well done, topps.

2006 topps matt kemp rookie debut

the bison's debut was less than memorable. he started his career by striking out in his first three at bats. he did single in his 4th at bat, though, and the next day went 2 for 3 with 2 rbi and a stolen base.

2005 topps all time fan favorites steve garvey

certainly my all time fan favorite. here they kept the horizontal layout of garvey's original 1974 card and used a photo that is probably pretty close to that year. unlike the 1973 design that used a 1980 photo in one of their other fan favorites releases.

2004 fleer jolbert cabrera

a true utility player, cabrera played every postion for the dodgers in 2003 except pitcher and catcher. i remember him as the first dodger to wear number 6 since garvey left. there's still hope, though - mitch webster wore number 20 prior to don sutton being voted into the hall of fame and getting the number retired. currently, joe torre is wearing garvey's number.

2004 topps bazooka eric gagne

i am disappointed that there is no appearance by bazooka joe.

2005 fleer showcase preacher roe

i had only seen cards from this set in repack boxes. elwin charles roe was 22-3 in 1951. he was traded to the orioles after the 1954 season and missed out on the 1955 world championship.

2002 bowman heritage duke snider

the duke was around for 1955, though.

2003 topps traded james loney

man, i dig james loney. hopefully the line drive doubles turn into home runs, but the guy is pretty clutch. i learned today that his nickname is 'geoffrey' as in the toys-r-us mascot. nice.

2002 fleer greats of the game hack wilson

one year after he drove in 191 runs, wilson was traded twice in the span of 2 months. first, the cubs sent him to the cardinals of all places, and the cardinals flipped him to the dodgers. in his first (of 3) seasons with the dodgers, hack drove in 123 runs and finished 13th in the mvp voting. not bad. still, this card would upset me if i were a cubs fan. it's kind of like all those upper deck sweet spot cards that show garvey with the padres. it just ain't right.

2004 bowman brian pilkington

pilkington had a pretty decent 2003 season splitting time between high-a and aa. he went a combined 13-6 with a 3.77 era. he didn't pitch at all in 2004 - i am guessing he was injured - and returned to high-a in 2005, his final season.

2005 topps update & highlights hee seop choi

man, i really rooted for this guy, partially because jim tracy seemed to despise him. he hit 5 home runs in the home run derby - this was the year it was the us vs the world - but was not a member of the all star team.

2002 topps total terry mulholland

a genuine loogy (lefty one out guy), mulholland pitched in 20 seasons for 11 different teams, including 2 stints with the giants and phillies. he was in la for part of the 2001 and 2002 seasons going 1-1 in 40 games, including 3 starts.

2003 bowman chrome edwin jackson

jackson made his debut in a much hyped 2003 game against randy johnson on his 20th birthday. he won, going 6 innings and giving up only one run on a sacrifice fly. i saw him pitch at san francisco in his 4th and final start that season. he gave up only 2 hits in 6 innings and struck out 7 (including bonds once), but walked 8. he was a bit wild, but clearly had potential. i guess that's why he was traded by ned to the devil rays for lance carter and danys baez. yikes.

thanks again cliff! i'll probably be sending you some more astros and phillies very soon!