how about the foldouts from the steve garvey binders?

foldout cards kind of ticked me off when they first started showing up.  what good are they if they are to remain folded up?  i remember seeing some hard cases that would display the cards, but i'm a binder guy, not a hard case sort.  it's a good thing, then, that i found some 3-pocket pages (not the postcard kind) that work well with these things.

have a look:

those cards are:

1. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams team terrific game used hat logo relic (with bill russell, davey lopes, dusty baker, ron cey, and steve yeager) /50
2. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams team terrific game used team logo relic (with bill russell, davey lopes, dusty baker, ron cey, and steve yeager) /85
3. 2009 topps sterling sterling season relic autographs /10

three cards that celebrate the teams of my youth - mainly the 1977 and 1978 pennant winning years.  you know that i am a big fan of the timeless teams set, and i sure would like to find the other versions of that foldout relic card.  there's a version with the timeless teams brand (/35) seared into the bat pieces as well as one with the national league logo (/15), and one with stats (/5) - although i'm not sure what the stats one looks like.  i was a bit disappointed to find that the sterling card wasn't a patch card, but rather just material from the team's away jerseys during the time that they had color at the base of the sleeves.

here are the backs:

this is the last sheet in the main card part of my steve garvey binders:

those cards are:

1. 2011 topps triple threads relic combos double (with duke snider, sandy koufax, clayton kershaw, andre ethier, and matt kemp) /36
2. 2013 panini america's pastime hitter's ink booklet (with tony gwynn) auto /25

i really should move that hitter's ink booklet to a 2-pocket page.  i find it interesting that over steve garvey's career, he only had two teammates (for any substantial amount of time - i'm not counting the likes of jim bunning, hoyt wilhelm and frank robinson) who made the hall of fame - don sutton and tony gwynn.  and with this gwynn card, i have dual auto cards for garvey and both of those teammates.

here are the backs:

i mentioned before that i'll have a living post for my garvey collection that i'll update as i add cards. it will be more for my use than anyone else's, i imagine, but it will be cool to have it all in one place.

turning the pages of the steve garvey binder into 2005

the 53rd sheet in the steve garvey binder features six cards from 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams, but i wish that there were more.  here is sheet 53:

those cards are:

1. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1974) bronze parallel /50
2. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1977) auto sp - print run of 35
3. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1981) auto sp - print run of 75
4. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams legendary signatures dual auto (with davey lopes) /150
5. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams legendary signatures dual auto (with ron cey) /150
6. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams legendary combo triple signatures auto (with dusty baker) /50
7. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts
8. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts significant fact relic /1
9. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts historic swatches relic

i've written quite a bit about the timeless teams set, and used to have a bronze parallel of garvey's 1980 subset card, but i traded it for the 1974 version to help another collector out.  so, i still need three bronze parallels, four gold parallels, plus two autos, four gold auto parallels, and then there are the four 1/1 autos, too. that's a lot.  i should note at this point that there are other relic cards from the set, as well as some from other 2004 sets (and other years, too) that will be shown later. they are either encased or otherwise too big or thick to fit in a standard nine-pocket sheet.

the 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts 1/1 relic card is actually 1 of 99.  there are 99 unique "significant facts" printed on the cards which are stamped "1 of 1".  so, i have the only one that touts garvey's 95 rbi in 1975.  kind of a weak 1 of 1.  on the last card, we've got the padre relic swatch on a dodger card, which will happen again on the next sheet.

here are the backs:

 there's one more card from 2004, and it's on sheet 54:

those cards are:

1. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts significant swatches
2. 2005 baseball hero deck playing card
3. 2005 donruss classics stars of summer /1000
4. 2005 donruss classics stars of summer relic /250
5. 2005 donruss diamond kings
6. 2005 donruss diamond kings framed red
7. 2005 donruss diamond kings materials bronze /200
8. 2005 donruss diamond kings materials silver /100
9. 2005 donruss diamond kings materials gold /50

there is a triple-relic card from the 2004 sp legendary cuts set that i would very much like to find. it features garvey, along with his dodger teammates reggie smith and dusty baker. it's only got a 15 card print run, however, so it is unlikely that i will find it.

while i am missing some of the autos and parallels and auto paralles from the 2005 donruss classics stars of summer insert set, my five cards from 2005 donruss diamond kings represent only about one-tenth of the garvey cards available from that set.  ridiculous.  i'm missing 50 cards, according to beckett, including bronze, challenge (whatever that is), framed black, framed blue, framed green, gold, hawaii, and other variant parallels of just the base version of the card.  as i said, ridiculous.

here are the backs:

even without all of those parallels, there are still plenty of cards and pages to be shown.  stay tuned...

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...

big d, pee wee, and other dodger autographs

i don't know how realistic it is of me to think that i might one day have a jackie robinson and a roy campanella autographed card, but those are the only two current members of the dodger retired number club for whom i lack signed cards.  i've shown tommy lasorda, duke snider, jim gilliam, don sutton, walt alston, and sandy koufax signed cards previously, and now, i have a 1993 nabisco don drysdale certified auto card

and a 1991 topps archives 1953 pee wee reese in person autographed card

to show.

i am guessing that this is about as far as that collection will get.

here are some more (certified) dodger autos - a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams ron cey card

and a dave lopes card from the same set

this tommy john sticker auto card

comes from 2005 donruss greats

and this eric gagne signed card

is from 2006 upper deck sp authentic.

i was very happy to pick up this last card - a 2014 panini immaculate collection steve garvey signed card

numbered to 49.  it looks like he signed a piece from a watercoloring paper.  it's nice.  i'm pretty sure he tried to add his number 6 at the end (not an exclamation point), which in my mind should also be retired by the dodgers.  however, i recognize my bias and after considering the fact that the yankees are running out of numbers, i think the dodgers' hall of fame requirement (except in the case of jim gilliam) is probably a pretty good one.

read any good books lately?

how's that winter reading list coming along?  personally, i've yet to finish a book this year, but i'm working on 'east of eden'.  i took a break from some steinbeck goodness to pick up a couple other books recently.  here's the cover of one of them.

that's a 2013 panini america's pastime 'hitters ink' book, numbered to 25.  it only has two pages, and it's a picture book to boot.

so, this is my first tony gwynn auto.  it's nice to see garvey paired with mr. padre.  he's previously been featured on relic cards with ozzie smith in the brown and mustard, and with gwynn, willie mccovey, and rickey henderson, too.  i just hadn't seen an auto pairing between these two, who have 5,740 hits between them.

here is the back of the book (and the binding and front)

the other book i picked up was also a quick read.

it comes from 2009 topps sterling, and is a 'seasons' auto-relic card of steve garvey as a dodger, numbered to 10. you can tell from the back of the book that the 'season' being celebrated here is garvey's 1978 campaign. it's even more clear inside.

the book came at a steep price, but anytime '1978' and 'steve garvey' are put together, i'll probably make it happen for my collection.  now, this card/book was advertised as a patch card, but in reality the jersey pieces used come from a dodger away jersey that had the blue and white striping on the sleeves.  just like the one he is wearing in the photo used for this 2003 upper deck sp authentic dodger stars chirography auto card

the seller of the book/card noted that he had some other limited run garvey cards available.  i inquired and picked up a few, including two versions of the chirography card.  that first one is the 'base' (numbered to 320), and this one is the 'bronze' (numbered to 100)

it has the inscription 'dodgers', and the lower print run versions have different inscriptions such as '1981 ws champs'.  i already had those two cards, but they're in the garvey binder and i wanted duplicates to put with the other dodgers featured in the set.

i did pick up from the seller a few other auto cards that were new to my collection, however.  here's a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams legendary combo triple signatures card featuring garvey, dusty baker, and ron cey

and here's one from the same set (although just a combo dual signatures card) featuring the penguin and garvey

the triple auto card has a reported print run of 50, while 150 copies of the dual were produced.  i already have the garvey/davey lopes dual, but there are some other dodgers (like don sutton and tommy john) that have eluded me.

speaking of sutton, he's on the next card i picked up.  it's a 2006 upper deck ultimate signatures card numbered to 25.

and there we have 4 of the starting 9 from the team of my youth.  fantastic.

the last card is kind of a letdown.  it's from the no photo sticker auto dump that was 2012 upper deck sp signature edition

i have a dodger quad signature from the set, but i didn't have the supposedly easier to obtain garvey solo card.  go figure.  i'm not sure why this particular garvey collector was moving his collection, but i was happy to have the opportunity to add some of the lower print run cards to my collection.

now i need to get back to seeing how things are going for adam trask and family in salinas...

a memorial for the mick

mickey mantle died on august 13, 1995, and the yankees quickly added a black armband to their jerseys for that day's game.  here's a getty images photo showing the players with the armband lined up in a moment of silence that day.

the following day, they added mantle's number 7 to their left sleeves in tribute.  bernie williams' 1996 bazooka card shows both, but the armband is mostly obscured due to the sleeve being upturned.

the memorial is also visible on the away grays of tony fernandez who appears on john valentin's 1996 bazooka card

it's a nice red sox-yankee rivalry double play turn

the number and armband show up on a few cards released well after 1996, too, like jack mcdowell's card from 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams

and jim leyritz's card from 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic

another example is this don mattingly card from 2004 fleer greats

which is a pretty good representation of the memorial.  however, i've got two other mattingly cards in the binder for this particular remembrance. first, this 1996 upper deck collector's choice alds card

which shows the yankee captain (presumably) during the postseason series against the mariners.  the mick's memorial is front and center on the card, plus mattingly is wearing the home pinstripes.

as i mentioned up top, the yankees did play one game with just the black armband.  i think that this 1996 topps stadium club don mattingly card

uses a photo from that game on the front, and possibly the back

but it's hard to tell. mattingly did hit two doubles in that game, so it's possible.  at any rate, i've got this card in the memorials binder as the representative for the numberless memorial.  if i ever come across another copy, i'll put it with my other donnie baseball final tributes.

mickey mantle was a 3-time mvp (he also finished 2nd in the voting 3 times), an all-star 16 times, a world champion 7 times, and he won the triple crown in 1956.  he was a first ballot hall of famer who still holds the record for most world series home runs in a career (18) and for most home runs in a season by a switch hitter (54).

a couple of months before he died, mantle received a liver transplant.  he suffered from cirrhosis as well as cancer of the liver, the former brought on by years of heavy drinking.  shortly after the transplant, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to other parts of his body.  mantle was 63 years old when he died.

the stuff of legends

so, i finally finished the 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams base set team subset posts over at the timeless teams blog yesterday.  the set sort of went out with a whimper with the 1995 yankees as the final team featured.  anyway, over the next couple of months, i plan to show some of the inserts from the release - numbered parallels, parallel autos, multi-player autos, and multi-player relics.  some will come from my collection, and others will be borrowed from the interwebs.

here's three from my collection that will be shown over there eventually, starting with the 1/1 davey lopes autograph

from the dodgers' 1974 team subset.  the '1 of 1' stamp was applied to the card after it was signed (i used to have a bert campaneris 1/1 that showed the stamp on top of the auto)

here's the back of one of the dodgers' multi-player 'team terrific' relics

featuring six members of the team of my youth

and here's the back of a gold parallel of george foster's 1979 card

see, it's not all about the dodgers all of the time.  with that said, does anyone have a gold parallel dodger card to spare?

i got the card, greinke gets the ball

it is somewhat appropriate that i have this card ready to go today.  it's a 2014 topps heritage zack greinke purple refractor

that fuji sent my way a while ago.  later tonight, greinke will get the ball in game 2 of the nlds, and he'll try to right the ship.  that's all that needs to be said about that.

fuji is working on a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams set, a set that you know is near and dear to me, and in exchange for some of the cards he needed, he sent along some requested dodger doubles.

from the dodgers' 1974 subset he sent bill buckner

 and steve garvey

although i don't think garvey was rocking the dual-ear flapped helmet in 1974.

here's steve yeager's card from the 1977 subset

and here's mickey hatcher's card from the 1988 team's group

now, there are a couple of things to note here, as these cards have reminded me that in both 1977 and 1988 (and in 1981, for that matter), the dodgers lost the first game of their postseason.  in all three of those seasons, they made it to the world series, and in 1981 and 1988, they won it all.  i take the most comfort in the fact that the 1981 postseason was structured just like it is now, with a division series before the league championship series.  and, in 1988, don't forget the mets beat the cy young award winner orel hershiser in game 1 before the dodgers came back to take the series (although that was a 7 game series).  

the other thing i wanted to mention is that, after a long layoff, the timeless teams blog is back.  i posted about mickey hatcher and those improbable world series champions from 1988 the other day.  there aren't too many teams left in the set, so i hope to be through the base set by the end of the month.  after that, i'll probably post on a few of the inserts - autos, numbered parallels, and relics.

thanks for sending me these and all the other cards, fuji.  sorry about your a's, by the way - i was hoping for a 1974/1988 rematch.

a yankee black armband for clubhouse man pete sheehy

in 1927, the yankees' equipment manager asked a kid named pete sheehy to help him with some gear.  sheehy returned to help the next day, and come 1985, he still held the position of clubhouse attendant when he passed away on august 13 of a heart attack.  there aren't too many cards from 1986 (or in 1985 traded/update sets) that show the black armband that the yankees wore for sheehy during the remainder of the season (except perhaps for this 1986 fleer don mattingly in action card), 

so the card that i have in my memorials binder is this 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams card of ken griffey sr.

the photo used comes from a game played just a few days after sheehy's passing.  it was against the rival red sox, and griffey robbed boston's marty barrett of a game-tying ninth inning home run.

sheehy's career with the yankees spanned from ruth and gehrig to dimaggio, mantle, munson, and mattingly.  one can only imagine the stories that he could have told, but by all accounts he respected the sanctity of the clubhouse, a clubhouse that had been renamed in his honor in 1976 following the renovations of the original house that ruth built.  he was 75 when he died.