random greatness from the scanned folder

i doubt that there will be a reason to post this 2006 upper deck future stars autographed card of tim hamulack

in anything other than a 'random cards from the scanned folder' post, so guess what?  this is a post featuring a bunch of cards that have been wallowing in my scanned folder for some time.  hamulack (besides being a sentence that yoda might utter if he were to be displeased with the meat selection at your easter brunch) pitched for the dodgers in 2006 and went 0-3 in 33 appearances.  i can't say that i recall too much about him, and i assumed that he was a lefty specialist that the dodgers brought on board to face barry bonds and todd helton and other nl west lefty sluggers.  well, he faced bonds only twice in 2006 - hamulack walked him and then hit him with a pitch a couple days later.  not bad.

1982 fleer dodger logo sticker

i wish to goodness that fleer had put dates on their stickers.  luckily, i know that this comes from 1982 because it's got a photo from the 1981 all-star game at cleveland's municipal stadium on the back

it looks like a gloomy august night in cleveland, but that may just be the 1982 fleer effect.

1992 fleer ramon martinez and ozzie guillen superstar special

this card baffled me when i first saw it.  'teenage sensations'?  guillen was 28 and entering his 8th season in the majors in 1992, and ramon was 24.  neither debuted in the majors as a teenager, so fleer must have really been reaching to make a connection here.  it turns out that both made their professional debuts at the age of 17.

1994 topps stadium club henry rodriguez rainbow foil

you can't go wrong, really, with a bat rack/helmet cubby shot.  nice cameo by darryl strawberry's (upside-down) helmet.  i don't know whose helmet is next to daaaaar-ryl's - no dodger wore 51 during oh henry's dodger tenure, at least according to baseball reference.

1996 topps ismael valdes

dodger fans remember valdes for having delicate skin.  look closely and you might see a blister on his pitching hand.

2002 upper deck superstars adrian beltre

he sure would look good at third for the dodgers these days

2009 upper deck chin-lung hu

back in 2007, poor vin scully had to wait almost 3 weeks after hu had been called up for the first time to  note that 'hu's on first'.  in his previous five games, hu had homered, pinch-ran for olmedo saenz (who had doubled), and made outs until he singled in his fourth at bat of his sixth big league game.  i am sure it was a relief to all to get that joke out of the way.

2010 bowman andre ethier expectations

i believe that ned's expectations for ethier is to enjoy being the fourth outfielder.

2013 topps pro debut matt magill

magill was 0-2 in six starts for the dodgers last season.  this year, he's appeared in a few card releases with an auto here and there, like hamulack up above.  he's yet to be called up to the bigs this year, but there's always september.

a haphazard canada day post

july 1 snuck up on me this year - i blame the weather.  it doesn't seem like july here yet.  anyway, enjoy some cards featuring teams from north of the border.  like this 1998 fleer ultra orlando cabrera card

or this 1998 pacific crown collection mike lansing card

both of those feature double play turning expos, and the lansing also features british columbia native larry walker.  happy canada day guys!

here's a blue jay turning two (or at least trying to).  it's maicer izturis and his 2014 topps card

he's got lyle overbay bearing down on him in a game from may 2013.  izturis threw to first too late to get curtis granderson, but it still goes in my double play binder.

this 1989 upper deck neal heaton card is in my dodger stadium binder

that is most likely joey amalfitano in the background there.

i am running short of expo and blue jay cards in the scanned folder, but i did have this 1979 topps blue jays team card at the ready

it's actually the thin-stock send in version of the card.  roy hartsfield, as you might recall, was a dodger coach in the early 1970's.

eric gagne is one of two canadians to win a cy young award (fergie jenkins is the other).  here is the montreal native's 2002 upper deck superstars card

 and another one from 2004 upper deck

looks like it was game over there.

russell martin was born in toronto but grew up in quebec.  this canadian made his big league debut on cinco de mayo, as noted on this 2006 topps update & highlights rookie debut insert

 here's a crookedly scanned 2007 topps chrome refractor of the former dodger backstop

who is one of three canadians to win a gold glove (larry walker and joey votto are the others).

here's martin again on perhaps my least favorite dodger card of the last several years.  it's from 2010 topps, and it's his 'when they were young' insert

i'll take these types of cards if they show jim hunter with his dog, or sal bando in little league, but i don't need to see big leaguers in footsie pajamas.

take us home bc native and only canadian to win the american league mvp award, justin morneau.

happy canada day, eh?

hockey?

believe it or not, i used to be a pretty big hockey fan.  i was born into it, and attended many kings games while growing up in southern california.  i was at the 1981 all-star game at the fabulous forum (the first time i saw wayne gretzky play) and was an inaugural season ticket holder for the mighty ducks of anaheim and the minnesota wild.  i still have a pretty good luc robitaille card collection, as well as a few other stars of the 1990's.  and, with the stanley cup being won last night by the blackhawks, i figured now was a good time to show some puck stuff.

i have a bunch of random, more common hockey cards heading to captain canuck (once calgary dries out) in the hopes that they might be worth a dodger or two in trade.  one card that i almost held on to was this 2000-01 topps stadium club card of scott stevens.

that's about as pretty as modern day cardboard gets.

i did hold on to a couple of cards, though, and have decided to include them in my heretofore baseball only memorials collection.

one of those cards is this 1993-94 upper deck bryan mccabe world juniors subset card

as you can see, he's wearing a 'tdk 14' memorial patch.  the problem is, i am not sure for whom this patch is being worn.  trevor kidd was alive and well (and still is today) back then, even though he was no longer on the canadian junior team having last played for them in 1992.  if anyone has any knowledge regarding this patch, i would love to know more about it.

the other hockey card making it's way into my memorials collection is this 2002-03 upper deck top shelf jason allison card

allison is wearing the red, white, and blue 'am' patch in honor of kings' scouts ace bailey and mark bavis who were passengers on united flight 175 out of boston on september 11, 2001.  theirs was the plane that was hijacked and flown into the south tower of the world trade center in the terrorist attacks that day.

i used to have a kings jersey like the one allison is wearing on that card, and i had hoped at the time to add the patch to it, but never did.

i don't plan to add all memorial patches from other sports to my collection, but if anyone has a 2001 cowboys card showing the tom landry fedora patch or a maple leafs card with a good shot of the king clancy patch from 1986-87 i'd be interested.

finally, since this is a baseball card blog, i will tie today's hockey theme together by showing off some cards from upper deck's 2002 superstars release.

here's a ziggy palffy/shawn green jersey card

and another palffy, this time with adrian beltre.

note the 'am' memorial patch on ziggy's jersey, as it is on felix potvin's on this potvin/paul loduca jersey card

potvin will always be a maple leaf to me.  when i think of king netminders, i think of rollie melanson, kelly hrudey, jamie storr, and robb stauber.  and the failed grant fuhr experiment.  rogie vachon was before my time, unfortunately.

here's the last card of mine from the '02 superstars set that i will showcase - a shawn green/wayne gretzky/kobe bryant jersey card

this card is begging for sandy koufax instead of greenie.  i really thought that the kings were going to win the stanley cup back in 1993 with gretzky, but stickgate and patrick roy were too much to overcome.  while i was happy to see luuuuuuuuuuuuc raise the cup in detroit, it was even nicer to see him lift it (although in street clothes) with the kings last year.

don't count on seeing any more hockey (or basketball) for that matter.  unless i have a king clancy patch to show off.

waaaaaaaaaxaholic, from whom the cards come rushing down the plains....

forgive me for channeling my inner rodgers & hammerstein.

this is another batch of cards that were scanned upon receipt and then promptly forgotten about.  apologies, captain.

2002 upper deck superstars brian jordan

upper deck took a shot at a multi-sport set in 2002.  while i didn't buy much of it, i do have a few relics from this set, including a gretzky/kobe/shawn green card.

2008 upper deck sp authentic authentic achievment jeff kent

celebrating kent's opening day home run in 2008.  he also homered on opening day in 2007, but that must not be 'authentic' enough to worry about.

2009 bowman russell martin - blue parallel thingy

a play at the plate!  it happened on september 18, 2008 at pnc park in the bottom of the 10th inning.  with the dodgers not yet having clinched the division, the score was tied at 3 with morgan on second and nate mclouth on first.  with one out, jason michaels hit a ball that glanced off of chan ho park's glove.  park picked up the ball and threw to second.  problem was, no one was there.  blake dewitt made a diving stop to keep the ball in the infield, and then he threw home in time to get morgan and preserve the tie.  the dodgers went on to win it in the 12th.  (thanks tony jackson!)

1981 fleer star sticker bill russell

'davy' lopes

and reggie smith

i think i have the complete dodger team now.  i paid no mind to this set back in 81 because stickers weren't cards!  now, though, i quite enjoyed seeing them in the mail.

thanks brian!