it's weird that i consider a card a dodger card if it includes the dodger team name on it, regardless of whether the player is wearing the dodger uniform or not. for me, this goes back to o-pee-chee cards from the 1979 set, which were the first ones i encountered that forced me to make this sort of determination. no one was going to tell me that the 1979 opc andy messersmith wasn't a dodger card. later on in my collecting endeavors, i saw that cards from the 1960's often showed players in outdated uniforms, and my approach to these cards was confirmed by official team checklists created by other collectors.
more recently, i've been paying more attention to the opposite types of cards - cards with dodger players in uniform, but with a different team affiliation. like this 2000 pacific paramount raul mondesi card
that's dodger blue that he's wearing, but the card says that he is a blue jay now.
other examples in my collection include a few gary sheffield cards. here are his 2002 fleer platinum,
2001 fleer premium,
2002 leaf (complete with 'traded to' text)
and his 2002 upper deck authentics (which also has the 'traded to') text
cards.
kevin brown has a ton of dodger cards - the benefit of being the best pitcher on some pretty non-descript dodger teams, but his 2004 upper deck diamond collection all-star lineup card
is actually a yankee card
adrian beltre famously left the dodgers after leading the league in home runs in 2004. the result were some non-dodger dodger cards in 2005 fleer classic clippings
and 2005 fleer national pastime
these are things that i didn't really think twice about, but when topps issued this 2006 card of jose valentin
i was surprised. i don't recall a card like this in the flagship set since the 1979 bump wills fiasco. before that, there were the 1974 glenn beckert and jerry morales cards, and to a lesser extent, the 1973 topps bill north card. i only wish that topps had done the reverse with nomar garciaparra's card in the 2006 flagship set.
here's a 2007 upper deck greg maddux card
on which the words say 'padres' but the photo says 'dodgers'.
the most unusual example of these cards may well be this 1995 score summit antonio osuna card
except that it's an error. osuna did not pitch for the tigers, nor was he ever a part of the tiger organization. weird. let's cleanse the palette with an actual dodger card from the same set
that's better.
i doubt that we'll see any of these any time soon with just one manufacturer licensed to produce cards that feature actual team names. still, as that 2006 valentin card shows, topps may yet surprise me once again.
