a boxscore from the team of my youth and other cards from hsca

there were plenty of cards to like in the package that brian from highly subjective and completely arbitrary sent my way as part of his group trade break, even before getting to the trade break bounty.  i've shown some of them already, but there are more.  like this card, which comes from the 2004 topps world series highlights insert set

that's dusty baker pounding a home run in game one of the 1978 world series against the yankees.   the back is even better, as it shows the box score from the game.

it's great to see that lineup on the card.  it's a bit different than the batting order i remember from my youth because of the designated hitter, but the starting lineup of lopes, russell, smith, garvey, cey, monday, baker, and yeager is the lineup that i consider to be the definitive lineup of the team of my youth.  as an aside, davey lopes should have been featured thanks to his two home runs in this game.  it's still hard to believe that the dodgers won this game and game 2 (thanks bobby welch), but then lost four in a row to lose the series.

on to the group trade break stuff - 1996 pinnacle tim wallach

and ramon martinez

i like ramon's card a lot.

here's his brother, pedro, on a 2002 topps gallery heritage insert

plus a couple of base cards of shawn green

and hideo nomo

from the set.  the nomo card makes it look like he's a giant standing in a farmer's field near the coast.

paul loduca is definitely in dodger stadium on his 2003 topps stadium club card

while franklin gutierrez is in vero beach's holman stadium on his

that's a gold parallel, by the way, as is this sean pierce card

pierce never made it out of the minors, but gutierrez went on to win a gold glove and set a record for errorless chances in the outfield for the mariners in 2010.  after missing the 2014 season due to illness, gutierrez is currently in triple-a for the m's trying to work his way back to the bigs.

here are a couple more cards that weren't part of the trade break, but they are shiny so they get some time on the blog.

2015 topps heritage clayton kershaw holofoil

and 1992 upper deck denny's grand slam kal daniels

daniels hit four of his five grand slams as a dodger, and was only 28 when his career ended. if only he had good knees!

thanks brian!

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.

here's some green for st. patrick's day

top o' the mornin' to ya!  i don't think he's irish, but he is green.  shawn green.  that means i will empty out my scanned folder of shawn green cards today.  here's a 2002 mlb showdown card in which green is wearing neither green nor dodger blue

this is more like it - a 2003 topps stadium club gold parallel

with green in the home whites running the bases at dodger stadium.

he's still in the whites on this 2001 donruss studio card

and on this 2003 upper deck standing 'o' card

and finallly a 2003 upper deck 'big league breakdown' insert

2003 was kind of a rough year for green, although i wouldn't say that he broke down.  he did set a career high in doubles, but saw a big reduction in home runs (42 to 19).  turns out he had a nagging shoulder injury.  he bounced back a bit in 2004, but was dealt to the diamondbacks after that season ended.

well before that, however, green of course played for the toronto blue jays.  this card was sent to me recently by scott crawford on cards as part of his purge of some 1998 fleer ultra and other sets

i believe that greenie has tried to break up a double play here, so this one goes in the dp binder.  nice to see cal ripken jr doing some downward dog on the card, too.

enjoy your st. patty's day, and don't forget to wear a little green.

phil nevin assaults a lurker

phil nevin is launching a forearm shiv to a (not really lurking) dodgers' second baseman mark grudzielanek on his 2003 topps stadium club card.

i do believe this move would result in a hefty fine from roger goodell were nevin to try it these days.  let's try to figure out what exactly has happened here, shall we?

[edit - i originally mistook this card for a 2000 topps stadium club card, not a 2003.  ignore the following commentary as it is highly unlikely topps would have gone in the way back machine for a photo in 2003]

nevin played (as a pinch runner) against the dodgers at dodger stadium on june 22, 1999.  grudz didn't play.  nevin faced the dodgers two days later but didn't reach base.  the g-man didn't play that day anyway.  fast forward to september, and the pads were back in la for a three game set.  september 24 was a friday night game, and nevin didn't reach first until the 9th inning.  he didn't advance beyond first base, and grudzy was playing short that day.  on saturday, nevin singled once and was erased on a double play, short to first.  grudzielanek was playing short that day, but the photo on the card looks more like a collision between first and second, and besides, grudz is still holding the ball.  looks like the sunday series finale will tell the tale. however, on september 26, phil nevin struck out 3 times and didn't reach base, while grudzielanek played short.  looks like this is a photo from 2000, which sorta makes sense given stadium club's late season release.


problem is, nevin played in 6 road games in 2000 against the dodgers.  even though grudzielanek was at second base for all of them, each game was played at night.  so maybe it's a spring training game at chavez ravine?

i took a look at the padres at dodgers game logs from 2002 in which grudzielanek was on the field and found nothing that indicated a tag out of nevin.  and, the idea that the photo comes from the year the card was issued doesn't fly because grudz was on the cubs in '03.  the mystery continues.

here's to you, mark grudzielanek - lurker of unknown circumstance!

you want a night card? i got a night card.

check out the shiznit that is this 2003 topps stadium club 'stadium shots' insert featuring shawn green and dodger stadium in its nocturnal glory.

awesome, isn't it?  i think it would pull in some votes in one of night owl's night card polls, don't you?  well, before anyone worries that i am taunting mr. owl, be assured that i am including this card in a box of dodger goodies that will be on its way to new york very soon.  in fact, there are some cards that the night owl sent me a while back that i have been meaning to show off, so here goes.

1966 topps bob miller

miller was a big part of the dodgers' bullpen in the mid-1960's, posting a sub-3.00 era from 1963-1966.  he had an off year in 1967 and was sent to the twinkies in the perranoski/roseboro for versailles/mudcat deal.

2009 topps chrome kenley jansen

i believe jansen was still a catcher when this card was issued.  now he's giving baby brox a run for his money at the back end of the bullpen.  27 innings, 41 strikeouts and an era of 0.67.  plus, he has a lifetime obp of 1.000 (a walk and a single in his only two at bats).

1998 bowman onan masaoka

i scanned this card because hawaii is seen in the background.  i guess you'll have to trust me.  what's with the dodgers and leftys from hawaii? masaoka, sid fernandez, carlos diaz.  ok, charlie hough wasn't left-handed, but still.  after pitching for the dodgers in 1999 and 2000, masaoka was traded to the white sox and was never heard from again.

2000 bowman jason repko

repko used to be a shortstop?  i suppose he switched to the outfield so that he would have more chances to collide into walls or other players.

1985 donruss highlights keith hernandez

hello, chavez ravine.  unlike the night owl, i am not a keith hernandez fan.  dodger stadium in the background makes it ok to show this card, though.

2001 upper deck legends of new york jackie robinson

fuzzy cards are nice.  i'm still waiting for upper deck to put out a legends of la set.  i'll be waiting quite a bit longer, even if upper deck were still in the baseball card business.

2010 topps allen & ginter tdih manny ramirez

2010 was a train wreck for manny, so noting a car accident on this card is a reasonable tie-in.

2010 topps 1951 topps jackie robinson inserts

more jackie.  a triple and a stolen base (home, of course) and the dodgers lead 1-0.

thanks greg.  be on the lookout for some stuff very shortly.