heroes, legends, greats, and fan favorites in the steve garvey binders

sheet 41 of the steve garvey binders takes us from world series heroes in 2002 to donruss legends in 2003.  have a look.

those cards are:

1. 2002 upper deck world series heroes classic world series moments (with catfish hunter relic)
2. 2002 upper deck world series heroes classic world series moments (with thurman munson relic)
3. 2002 upper deck world series heroes classic world series moments gray relic (with dave winfield)
4. 2002 upper deck world series heroes classic world series moments white relic (with dave winfield)
5. 2003 donruss classics legend
6. 2003 donruss classics legend timeless tributes
7. 2003 donruss classics legend significant signatures auto
8. 2003 donruss signature series legends of summer
9. 2003 donruss signature series legends of summer auto (black ink)

more relic color variants, and now we'll see some signature variants as well.  the nine cards on that page feature only two different photos of the garv.

here are the backs:

sheet 42 also contains 9 cards with only two different photos:

those cards are:

1. 2003 donruss signature series legends of summer auto (blue ink)
2. 2003 donruss signature series legends of summer auto notations (81 ws)
3. 2003 donruss signature series legends of summer auto century notations (6)
4. 2003 donruss signature series legends of summer auto century notations (81 ws)
5. 2003 donruss team heroes
6. 2003 donruss team heroes glossy
7. 2003 donruss team heroes chicago collection
8. 2003 donruss team heroes master set
9. 2003 donruss team heroes statline

here are the backs:

while the second card on the sheet is numbered to 75, the century notation cards are numbered to 100, and donruss obviously had garvey go back and add different notations to his sticker sheets in order to produce planned notation variants.  why they varied the print run and type of cards with the same notation (81 ws) is beyond me, but at least the variations are documented.  there are also notations of his mvp year and one other i think.

sheet 43 brings the padres back to the collection:

those cards are:

1. 2003 donruss team heroes auto
2. 2003 fleer flair greats
3. 2003 fleer flair greats home team
4. 2003 fleer flair greats home team cuts relic
5. 2003 padres carl's jr.
6. 2003 playoff prestige signature impressions auto
7. 2003 topps all-time fan favorites
8. 2003 topps all-time fan favorites refractor
9. 2003 topps all-time fan favorites auto

a couple of notes worth making - the flair greats home team card was from a kind of extension to the regular flair greats set.  the dodgers, along with the giants and a couple of other teams had a few of these extra cards.  also, i recall the all-time fan favorite card being referenced in beckett's review of the product as one of the cards that misses the mark.  a photo of garvey from 1980 on the 1973 design does look odd, i will agree.

here are the backs:

good to see the carl's jr happy star on the back of the middle card.  western bacon cheeseburgers were a staple of my college days in socal.  i also find it interesting that the cartoon from garvey's original 1973 topps card was kept for the atff set,  still factual, but given the drama surrounding his relationship with cyndy, topps could have opted for something else since they had to update the stats on the back anyway.

plenty more garvey goodness to come - stay tuned...

clearing out the double play queue

here are a few more double play cards that i have been hoarding in preparation for an all-out tournament of double play cards to be conducted most likely in december.  these should get a decent seeding.  here's a 2003 carl's jr padres card of ozzie smith

trippy.  the weird thing about this set is that there was a different design for each card.  the garvey from the set is nowhere near as wack.

2005 upper deck espn nomar garciaparra web gems insert

yes, virginia, nomar played for the cubs.  i also like the fact that shawn green makes an appearance.  however, i like the next card better.  it's a 2011 topps marquee troy tulowitzki card

but it's got matt kemp sliding in.  lurker bonus!

i am going to guess that the guy sliding in on chris speier's 1972 topps in action card is milt may

just a guess.  and yes, night owl, this card will get a decent seeding.  even if i were using your copy instead of my own.

here's one that probably won't even get to the play-in game.  1995 topps john valentin

valentin is still standing, and all we see of the slider is ass and legs.  not good enough, but still a double play card.

oh my o-padrographs!

rod at padrographs and i have made several trades over the last couple of years, and i am always happy to see a package in my mailbox from the pacific northwest.  recently, there was a package on my doorstep - too big to fit in the mailbox - from rod, and i was a bit confused when i first opened it up.

there were a couple of hundred loosely packed cards acting as packing peanuts, i guess.  that's ok because they were a bunch of wrestling and other non-sports cards.  there was this 2007 donruss americana jennie finch, however,

which i found because i dutifully went through the entire box just in case rod had included some cards i might actually collect.  i am being a bit sarcastic, because as soon as i moved some of the loose cards out of the box, i saw this

a baseball signed by former dodger closer and coach charlie hough.  on the sweet spot!  i believe rod picked this up at a goodwill store of all places, if i remember a long ago blog post correctly.

there were also five rolled up uncut card strips in the box. they were none other than 1992 o-pee-chee uncut strips

featuring many of the checklist variations as well as a juan samuel and an eddie murray text variation.  that is o-pee-chee awesomeness.  i am glad i have the complete 1992 set, otherwise i would have learned from rod's package that there are some undocumented (no mention of them in beckett or the baseball card catalog) text variations in this set.

after digging through most of the junk cards, i did find a 2010 topps allen & ginter andre ethier

and a 2003 carl's jr padres steve garvey card

that were nicely protected.

rod, thanks very much for the cards and the ball.  i'll get some more stuff to you soon.