the next few sheets from the steve garvey binders are heavy with the padres, including the wizard of oz

this post will contain 3 sheets of cards from my steve garvey binders. all of the cards are from 2004, and 13 of them are dodger cards, with another 13 showing him as a member of the san diego padres.  just for fun, the other card is of a rockie.

here's sheet 50 

those cards are:

1. 2004 fleer ultra preston wilson (with garvey on the outfield mural)
2. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic /100
3. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic 'nl' /100
4. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic position /100
5. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic year /87
6. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic award /50
7. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic stats /21
8. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic jersey number /6
9. 2004 leaf limited team trademarks /100

i showed that ultra card in this post (one of my favorite posts) about the various murals that the dodgers featured on their outfield wall in the late 90's/early 00's.  the entire run of garvey cards from the leaf certified materials set is represented except for the 1/1. i don't think leaf used any patches, which is unfortunate.  there's also a gold version (numbered to 10) of that team trademarks card that i don't have.

here are the backs:

here's sheet 51

those cards are:

1. 2004 leaf limited team trademarks auto /50
2. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink auto /100
3. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink auto (with "popeye" inscription) /100
4. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink material bat/auto /100
5. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink combo material bat/jersey/auto /100
6. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink combo material prime jersey/auto /5
7. 2004 playoff honors tandem material jersey (with ozzie smith) /250
8. 2004 playoff honors tandem material combo bat/jersey (with ozzie smith) /25
9. 2004 topps series stitches bat relic

same goes for the auto from leaf limited - there's also a version numbered to 6 as well as a 1/1 that have eluded me, along with a jersey relic numbered to 6.  they are in good company, as there are a bunch of the playoff absolute cards that i am missing, too.  there is a jersey/auto card numbered to 5, as well as a spectrum auto parallel, also numbered to 5, plus the combo material prime jersey/auto numbered to 5 that i do have a copy of also includes at least one specimen with the coveted red number patch.  i'd love to have that one.

i mentioned in the title that the wizard of oz makes an appearance, and so he does, although it's on the back of the playoff honors cards.  and, with that, here are the backs:

usually, garvey the padre is teamed up with his onetime teammate tony gwynn, but it's nice to see ozzie in the brown and yellow, as opposed to the cardinal red.

here's the last sheet of this post, but not the last sheet to feature cards from 2004.  this is sheet 52

those cards are:

1. 2004 topps legends auto
2. 2004 topps all-time fan favorites
3. 2004 topps all-time fan favorites refractor
4. 2004 topps all-time fan favorites auto
5. 2004 topps retired signature
6. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1974)
7. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1977)
8. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1978)
9. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1981)

there is a black parallel for the retired signature card that i am missing, plus three of the four bronze parallels from the timeless teams set.  we'll see the one bronze parallel that i do have next time.

here are the backs:

we will also (finally) get into 2005 next time as well.  stay tuned...

age of ultra

no superheroes here, just humble baseball players on some fleer ultra cards.

here's a 1999 fleer ultra chan ho park

the latter years of ultra feature some nice photography, as evidenced by jeff shaw's card

which features dodger stadium and the three sisters in the background.

a less scenic part of dodger stadium is in the background of antonio osuna's card

but we get charles johnson (i believe) in the foreground

mark grudzielanek is on the road on his card

but ismael valdes is back at home on his

in addition to lots of dodgers and dodger stadium cards, ultra has contributed many double plays to my collection. here are a few that i haven't shown before

2001 fleer ultra edgar renteria

i hope renteria was successful in his giant twin killing

speaking of giants, here's a 2002 fleer ultra rich aurilia card

jeff kent can only stand and watch

2004 fleer ultra orlando cabrera

nice to see the expos now and again

2004 fleer ultra marcus giles

most of the marcus giles dp cards i have seem to show him horizontal.  must not have been much of a jumper.  like placido polanco

or michael young

this is a 2004 fleer ultra update card of giant prospect brian dallimore

who is being taken out by juan pierre.  hopefully dallimore got some lessons in sliding runner evasion from double play professional ray durham, seen here on a 2005 fleer ultra card

it's too bad that fleer went under - we could use more ultra these days.

mural, mural on the wall...

i've been meaning to do this for a long time.  i took a quick look at the evolution of the dodger stadium outfield wall in a previous post, but i didn't take the time to document what the theme of the murals were.  some years it was obvious - retired numbers - but other years seemed more eclectic.

i was a big fan of the murals, even though i was not able to attend too many games during their presence.  i mostly remember the outfield wall looking like it does on this 2000 mlb showdown card

featuring wayne kirby, and a non-controversial quote from reggie jackson.  really, everybody does like ice cream.

sometimes, usually (only?) opening day, the dodgers would get out the big world championship banners and put them on the walls. in 1998, however, they began using photo murals in the outfield.  there was a different theme for each year from '98 through 2004.  i thought i had a pretty good bead on what the murals were each year after some research, and dodger historian mark langill was kind enough to confirm things for me via email.  thanks mark (he's got the greatest job in the world).  on with the post.

1998 world championships/retired numbers mural

that 1999 fleer tradition derek bell card shows off the don drysdale (number 53) part of the mural, which was next to the 1981 world championship image featuring the three steves - howe, yeager, and garvey - in their celebratory embrace.  here's a photo from getty images that shows the mural a bit better.

if only bell had fielded that ball a few feet to his left...

in 1999, the dodgers added their hero patches to their uniforms, and the mural honored those players who were included in the patch selection.  here's a 2000 topps stadium club devon white card

that shows kirk gibson and the right ear of pee wee reese (i believe).  reese's teammate gil hodges' part of the mural shows up on derek jeter's 2000 upper deck card

darryl kile's 2000 fleer ultra card

has a good part of the mural in the background. that's jackie robinson and don drysdale, with rauuuul mondesi at the plate.

ray lankford's 2000 topps gallery card

is not to be ignored, with lankford spiking mike scioscia's image on the wall.  that's a great card and all, but here's a photo that i would have rather made its way onto cardboard (again from getty images)

it's a picture of ken griffey junior and don newcombe and scioscia - this time you can see his face.  as for the garv, he was on the wall again, but i couldn't find any cards featuring his part of the mural, unfortunately.

in 2000, the dodgers went with the theme of great moments in dodger stadium history, including the saving of the american flag by then cub rick monday, and this moment

i believe that gibson's home run was voted the greatest sports moment in los angeles history, by the way.  i don't know if garvey was on this wall, as i didn't get to chavez ravine in 2000 and there certainly isn't any cardboard that i've found with any of the mural in the background.

for the 2001 season, the dodgers revisited their retired numbers, doing so in a more formal fashion.  this 2001 upper deck gold glove card of darin erstad

has him in front of the '2' in walt alston's '24'.  the 's' near erstad's right arm is the 's' at the end of 'los angeles dodgers'.  there are other cards featuring this mural, and my favorite is probably the 2002 upper deck marvin benard card.  i like that card so much, it was the first non-dodger card ever featured on this blog in what was the third post in this blog's existence.  sadly, steve garvey was not part of this mural, as his number 6 will not be retired by the dodgers unless he is voted into the hall of fame by the veteran's committee.

2002 was the year that the team celebrated 40 years of dodger stadium, complete with comemmorative patches on their sleeves and a new mural on the wall.  they used a different player from each even year from 1962 to 2002.  tommy davis was '62, shawn green was '02, and steve garvey was '76 (as seen in this getty images photo)

sweet.  if only it were a card...

...well, garvey made the mural in 2003 and a card the following year as the team recognized dodger record holders on their outfield wall.  the 2003 mural included the likes of sandy koufax's 382 strikeouts in a single season (still a modern national league and left-handed pitcher record), as well as the team's record setting infield of garvey, cey, russell, and lopes.  that's the mural that made it on to preston wilson's 2004 fleer ultra card

with steve garvey representing!  very thankful to fleer for making this card!

garvey had no chance at the 2004 mural, as the dodgers honored their cy young award winners that year.  here's 1974 winner, mike marshall on carlos beltran's 2005 fleer card

orel hershiser on derek jeter's 2005 fleer ultra card

(with a cameo from eric gagne's arm), and, of course, fernando valenzuela on steve finley's 2005 fleer ultra card

you didn't think i'd get through the post without showing that beauty, did you?

lord, i miss the murals.

these also came from outer space

here are some more cards from my 'team' in the 'tribe cards from outer space' pack opening extravaganza hosted by david from tribe cards.  i mentioned earlier that one of my strategies throughout the season was to pick up middle infielders in the hopes of getting some double play turns.  i was successful a few times, and wound up with this 1993 leaf mariano duncan card

and a 1997 fleer rex hudler card

that were new to me.

my other draft strategies included dodgers (of course) and members of the teams of my youth.  players like elias sosa, who showed up in a 1981 fleer pack (or was it a repack?).

overall, i received quite a few expos.  mitch webster (former dodger) was an expo on his 1988 o-pee-chee card

and tim wallach (another former dodger) showed up twice in a 1992 leaf pack - regular and black gold

those cards, plus a couple others of the current dodger bench coach have been shipped out to new mexico already.

another expo that fit into my former dodger and middle infielder strategy was delino deshields, seen here on his 1993 leaf card

but the most welcome expo of my 'team' was vladimir guerrero.  i wound up with a few vladdys, including this 2000 pacific crown collection card

i might like the red hats more than the red, white, and blue ones.

here's a 1995 topps cyber stats parallel of felix fermin

i drafted him in hopes of some double play cards.  this bunting card is on its way to 2x3 heroes.

howie kendrick was another middle infielder added to my team.  he delivered a 2013 topps a&g regular and mini combo

i beat david to the punch in adding former dodger (and indian) casey blake, and so i wound up with this 2004 fleer ultra card

which also features the mel harder and larry doby memorial patches.

there aren't too many cards of aaron harang as a dodger, but i was hoping for one or two when i added him to my player list.  instead, i received this 2011 topps gold parallel featuring him with the reds

i'm not complaining, though.

thanks david!

a dozen double plays

time for some more double play turns from the scanned folder.  twelve of them, to be exact.

rey sanchez avoids tino martinez on his 2001 upper deck card

and jay bell does the same to eric young on his 2001 upper deck card

on todd walker's 2001 upper deck card, however, it's the base runner who is doing the avoiding

here's desi relaford's 2000 upper deck card

with brant brown ducking

and here's alex gonzalez's 2002 upper deck card

on which he's about to land on an expo.

gonzalez's marlins teammate, luis castillo, didn't even bother to leave the ground on his 1997 bowman card

or on his 2003 fleer patchworks card

even with mo vaughn bearing down

alfonso soriano elevated himself somewhat awkwardly on his 2004 fleer ultra gold medallion edition card

to avoid lance berkman's hard slide.  i am figuring that this play comes from the 4th inning of the june 12, 2003 game in which berkman was forced at second for the second out of the inning, but soriano was unable to turn two.  this game came the day after the astros no-hit the yankees while using 6 different pitchers.

here's fernando vina on his 2004 topps chrome traded

and 2004 topps traded cards

meanwhile, michael young catches some air on his 2005 fleer authentix card

here's the newest dp turn in my collection - a 2014 topps gypsy queen nick franklin card

always nice to pull a card i collect from a pack.