cards with stars and clouds and dodgers

here is the second installment of my recent trading frenzy with the rhubarb runner.  it's a wonder what some vintage twins and a couple of sticker autos will bring in return.  first up, a 2002 topps american pie american sluggers insert of the silver fox

this is one of the more obscured card in my blog's header.  it's right there under the 2004 topps robin ventura and the 2001 ud decade 1970's ron cey.  i feel badly that the duke is so slighted, but he is up there!

here's the first of two shawn green relics - this one is from 2004 upper deck diamond collection (i think)

it's not as cool as this 2001 playoff absolute memorabilia game used base card

featuring green playing baseball amongst the clouds.  what a wacky design.  almost as bad as this 2003 fleer ultra pee wee reese insert

apparently, it was a game when the players floated in the heavens.

back to earth and a 2002 upper deck insert featuring kevin brown

the insert set is called 'return of the ace'.  it kind of reminds me of the opening credits of 'game of thrones'.  without the fictional geography lesson.  on another semi-related note, i will be starting my 'evolution of the ace' series next week.  at some point, brown does show up on the chain of dodger yearly aces.

2004 fleer greats jackie robinson

this card, of course, reminds me of the book by lawrence ritter 'the glory of their times'.  although i prefer 'the image of their greatness' by ritter and donald honig. both are well worth your time, as is the collecting of jackie robinson baseball cards.  even the glut of cards put out by topps over the last couple of years, although it would be nice to see some different photos used.

2005 upper deck sweet spot dj houlton

one of the most interesting things that i know about dj houlton is that his middle name is sean.  i guess ds houlton just doesn't sound right.  actually, the dj stands for dennis junior which is quite sensible.  houlton pitched for the dodgers in 2005 and then again in 2007.  he moved on to japan in 2008, and is still pitching there today as far as i know.

just when you thought you had seen the last of 2011 topps update cognac cards, here comes jerry sands

hopefully sands is working on keeping his eye on the ball down in the minors this seaon.
 
i saved this card for last, only because it has a hated yankee on it.  it's from 2004 donruss leather & lumber

what saves it is the presence of duke snider.  duke and scooter faced each other in the world series 4 times, with the yankees winning three rings before the dodgers finally won in 1955.  duke hit .290 with 9 homers in those 4 series, while rizzuto hit .266 with no homers.  small consolation for the silver fox, i am sure.

thanks for the cards david!

this card is bullshirt

there was so much potential for frank robinson's 1973 topps card.  it would have been one of the first dodger cards to feature in-game action, and more importantly, would have been his only regular base topps card showing him as a member of the dodgers.  as thankful as i am for the 1972 topps 'traded' card, i would have liked to have a good ol' regular base card with frobby's stats on the back.  that's why i am annoyed with topps that they only airbrushed out 'dodgers' on his jersey.  it would have been better had they found a head shot and airbrushed the heck out of it, like they did for bill singer.

anyway, i was once again perturbed in 2002 when i picked up this card from topps' american pie release

couldn't they have at least put the 'dodgers' script back on his chest?  actually, using a picture of him in an angels uniform would have made more sense since the jersey piece is certified by topps to be from a uniform robinson wore during the 1973 season.

so, there are still too few cards with frank robinson as a dodger, although i did recently discover this 1980-88 baseball immortals card

who knew?  this card makes sense only if duke snider's card from the set shows him as a met, or if they would have shown steve carlton as a twin or giant had the set continued to be expanded into the 1990's.  at any rate, it's nice to see 'dodgers' on frank robinson's shirt.

the game right now is at the plate... [part 2]

we were sitting in the right field pavilion, about 7 rows up or so. we chanted "steroids" at jose canseco when he was in the field. he flexed his biceps for us. we did this partially because it was done by boston fans in the alcs. bud selig must not have watched any playoff baseball that year, since he had no idea until just a few years ago that steroids might be a problem in major league baseball. but i digress.
i remember the excitement as the game got underway, which quickly led to elation as mickey hatcher went deep in the bottom of the 1st, almost catching up to steve sax on the basepaths. we were quickly brought back down to earth as tim belcher walked the pitcher (dave stewart) en route to giving up a grand slam to jose canseco. this remains one of the hardest hit balls i have ever seen. top 3 easy. i really don’t remember what my expectations were. my nervousness was spent after the nlcs against the mets. i knew, obviously, that the dodgers were the underdogs against the a’s, but as a fan i had hope. sure, it was lessened after the grand slam, but as tim leary came in and held the a’s, there was still hope.
and there was still gibson on the bench...