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...

the ring is the thing and other random cards from my scanned folder

i've got a lot of cards that have been sitting in my scanned folder for extended periods of time.  this post will show some of them - kind of a 'why did i scan this card' post.

can you guess which company made this card?

the first time i saw one of these 'ring leader' inserts, i would have bet dollars to donuts that this was a pacific release.  nope.  it comes from 1995 topps stadium club.  molitor got his ring with the blue jays in 1993, and every player in florida and arizona right now is hoping to get one 8 months from now.

1984 topps bob bailor

i really don't know why i scanned that card.  bailor had a 1984 topps traded card that featured him as a dodger.

1993 upper deck joey cora

1993 upper deck lou whitaker (back)

and 1997 upper deck jay bell

those three were obviously meant for a rundown/pickle post.

1997 upper deck mike mcfarlane

a long time ago, i posted cards featuring plays at the plate.  this is a pretty good one, but i no longer have a patp mini collection going.

1998 fleer ultra brady anderson

this card is all about the vein-y forearm.

1998 upper deck ray durham

slammin' sammy sosa sliding in!

2003 fleer flair greats gaylord perry

here's the hall of famer suited up for his company softball team.  seriously, though, perry pitched for the pads in the late 1970's which would put him at 39 or 40 in this photo.  i am older than that, and i hope i don't look as old as he does for at least another 20 years.

2003 topps stadium club carlos delgado

i like the fact that the fans in the photo have three different ways to catch the ball - one guy has a bare hand, another has a glove, and the third guy has his hat ready. all that's missing is a guy with a souvenir cup. it looks like the hat guy already has a ball in his left hand, so maybe the hat works.

2009 topps billy butler

i think i was struck by the uncommon angle of the photo used on that card, although after i looked into it, there were more cards like this than i thought.

here's a mike piazza 1997 upper deck card

whose back shows slammin' sammy sosa sliding in

maybe i was going to do a slidin' sammy post.

last but not least, here's a 1961 topps bob aspromonte card

i don't need a reason to scan some vintage dodger goodness.

check your stance

time for another double play break and this week's installment of steve garvey's baseball tips.  this is the sixth tip in the series put out by post in 1979, which means next week the tips get bigger as numbers 7-12 were on the backs of 20 ounce boxes of cereal, as opposed to the 15 ounce boxes that had tips 1 through 6.  i am posting one tip a week as a way to count down to spring training.  and away we go!

well, let's see.  ron cey seems to be demonstrating garvey's  pre-pitch advice on his 1976 hostess card

and here's garvey himself on a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams card showing us that he tends to follow his own advice.

as an aside, the timeless teams blog returns from the holiday hiatus tomorrow with the 1981 dodgers.  be sure to check it out.

now, here's lenny harris who has let his hands 'drop loosely' on his 1991 topps stadium club card

and jackie robinson further demonstrates the bent knees and open hands on his 2003 fleer flair greats card

and voila! sometimes the ball will just end up in your glove, like it did on garvey's own 1985 mother's padres card

even if you leave your bare hand on your knee the whole time.

only about 6 weeks until spring training!

because no double play collection is complete without johnny evers

ah yes, the chicago second sacker johnny evers, seen here on a 1994 upper deck american epic card

with (who else?) joe tinker in the background (not shown: frank chance), became synonymous with the 6-4-3 double play turn thanks to four pennants in five years, and two world series titles back in the early 1900's (not to mention a certain poem).  if only jim murray had written a poem about russell to lopes to garvey...

gagne to deshields to karros was neither as catchy nor as successful as tinker to evers to chance.  here's greg gagne on his 1997 topps stadium club card

all three of the chicago players are in the hall of fame, and there are plenty of other hall of famers who could turn a mean two as well.  here's roberto alomar on a 1993 score select stars insert

with another hall of famer sliding in.

here's alomar again on a 1993 upper deck future heroes insert card

and phil rizzuto on a 2003 fleer flair card

plus ryne sandberg on a diamond parallel card from 2011 topps lineage

and the cloth parallel from the same set.

i think that nomar could have been a hall of famer if he had stayed healthy.  here's his 1998 pacific paramount card

you don't have to be a hall of famer (or even a hall of very good player) to have some nice double play cards.  case in point - kevin polcovich.  we've seen his 1998 topps card before,

but i am showing it again because it features a play that continues on his 1998 topps stadium club card

and that's not the only 'same play' double play that polcovich participated in.  take a look at greg maddux's 1999 topps stadium club card

followed by his 1999 topps gallery card

well done, kevin polcovich.  not bad for a guy who played a total of 165 career games.

no more freebies

duke snider was one of the first through the mail attempts i made when i started in earnest about a year ago.  he signed two cards for me very quickly and he did it for free!  that was surprising to me as he is a hall of famer, a brooklyn dodger, and an icon of the 1950's, so there has to be a great demand for his autograph.  of course, he was in some trouble a while back for not claiming earnings from card shows on his tax returns, so maybe he was gun shy about taking money through the mail.

anyway, i followed up my success with the silver fox with another request last summer.  he once again obliged, first on my 2003 fleer flair greats ballpark heroes card

and then on this 2003 donruss team heroes card

both cards use the same pose.

i was recently toying with the idea of sending a third request to the duke (2010 topps ebbets field card and a vintage card) when i noticed a spate of 'rts' at sports card forum.  mixed in were a couple of successes (with donations) although sending a fee didn't necessarily guarantee success.  i'm not sure if i will make another attempt (if i do, i will gladly pay) but i am happy to have been lucky enough to have the two successes regardless.

thanks duke!