ain't 2007 the sweetest spot

upper deck debuted sweet spot in 2001, and my collecting mind was blown by the inclusion of signed pieces of baseballs included in some packs.  in fact, it was later versions of the sweet spot releases that included the first thick cardboard blanks because it had previously been too easy to find the packs that included the autos.  at least that is what i was told by a clerk at one of the local card shops in the early 2000's.  anyway, the format of the autos was a bit clunky from that first year through 2005 - they were framed into the card by a non-descript border with a small player photo somewhere on the card.  in 2006, upper deck added a generic stadium shot as the background, but in 2007, they did it right - they went to team specific stadium shots.  here's a don sutton auto card from 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic

it's the wood version, numbered to 75, and the stadium in the background is none other than dodger stadium.  awesome.  i'm still looking for a reggie smith/steve garvey dual auto from this set, by the way.

there are the fading issues with some of the later releases, including 2007, as either the ball material or the pens used by some of the players were not the right types, but the wood versions that i have seen do not suffer that fate.  i recall a signing i went to where harmon killebrew and i simultaneously chastised a guy who offered the killer a sharpie to sign a ball with.  you would think that upper deck would have made sure that the cards were signed properly, you know, if in fact they had a representative witness the signings.  oh wait.

anyway, 2007 is my favorite sweet spot year, even though steve garvey is included in the classic set as a padre.  there are plenty of dodgers on the checklist, though, including the aforementioned sutton

i guess the only bad thing here is that each base card is serial numbered, as they were in some of the previous sets.

here are some of the other dodgers from the 2007 ud sweet spot classic set

roy campanella

campy suttons.

pee wee reese

both the campy and reese use photos that are now quite familiar to us.

here's don drysdale

in the type of photo that we would not have seen on a card back in his playing days.  i'm glad upper deck didn't try to lighten the shadow under his bill.

maury wills

still looks like he's ticked at topps.

the set also included more 'modern' dodgers, such as their former manager tom lasorda

and a welcome appearance by a pitcher from the team of my youth, burt hooton

it's not too often we see hooton in card sets.

the regular 2007 sweet spot set had some dodgers, too, but the card i want to show is this adam laroche auto card

that includes some plastic-injected molded helmet thingy and a faux wood signing area.  this is not so much my favorite, but it is somewhat unique.

i have a bunch of other sweet spot cards in the scanned folder, so i'll show them even though they are from the 2005 set.  also not so much my favorite.

jd drew

eric gagne

dj houlton numbered to 99

i think that's a parallel as opposed to a shorter printed rookie subset

jeff kent

derek lowe

and one of the very few cards made of one of the biggest busts in dodger history - norihiro nakamura

i think the 66 looks better on puig - he certainly has done more while wearing it.  and, i think the 2007 sweet spot looks better than any of the other versions before or after it, thanks in large part to the pavilion roof and palm tree on the dodger auto cards.

the evolution of the dodger third baseman, part four - where do we go from here?

we left off the evolutionary chain of dodger third basemen last time with tim wallach, who manned the hot corner for the dodgers from 1993-95, and for the last part of the 1996 season as well.  he was re-acquired by the dodgers after their newly acquired third baseman went down with an injury.  still, mike blowers started 90 games at third for the dodgers in 1996, so he gets some attention here.

mike blowers (1996)

blowers is wearing his seattle mariners uniform there on that 1996 upper deck collector's choice card.  he had three different stints in seattle, including 1997 - the year following his time in la.  the dodgers acquired blowers after the 1995 season in which he hit 23 homers and drove in 96 runs.  he was hitting .265 with 6 homers and 38 rbi after 92 games with the dodgers when his season ended thanks to an injury.  the dodgers replaced him with wallach, and blowers walked as a free agent after the season ended.

wallach was a stopgap, and he retired following the 1996 campaign.  so, the dodgers went out and got another third baseman to fill the void.

todd zeile (1997)

zeile's 1997 topps finest card tells the story, as he was a free agent acquisition prior to the 1997 season.  he played a whopping 160 games at third base for the dodgers, and hit 31 home runs with 90 rbi and a .268 batting average.  this was too good to be true, however, as he was traded away with mike piazza early in the 1998 season.

adrian beltre (1998-2004)

beltre was 19 when he took over the third base position for the dodgers.  bobby bonilla, who was acquired as part of the piazza/zeile trade bounty, was originally slotted at the hot corner, but beltre wound up making 74 appearances with 54 starts and 49 complete games compared to bonilla's 59, 57, and 34.  that's his 2000 fleer gamers card, by the way.  beltre provided some long lost stability at the position, playing a total of 957 games for the dodgers at third base from 1998 through 2004.  his tenure culminated with a 48 home run (to lead the league), 121 rbi, .334 batting average season that netted him a silver slugger and second place in the league mvp voting.  then it was off to seattle.

beltre's departure resulted in a rag-tag of players trying their hand at third base.  the dodgers signed a japanese player, norihiro nakamura, and gave him the keys, but he flamed out after just 14 games.  after that, there were many who tried.  i'll pick one.

oscar robles (2005)

mike edwards made 39 appearances at third for the dodgers in 2005, with 33 starts and 31 complete games for a total of 294.2 innings.  robles gets the nod from me here due to his 40 appearances at third, even though he started only 31 games there with 30 complete games and 292.1 innings.  that is partly due to the fact that i had a 2005 upper deck sweet spot card of robles already scanned as well as the idea that robles represents to me the fact that jim tracy lost his marbles in 2005.  maybe i should have used edwards, as robles played more short than third in 2005.  oh well, neither one factored into the equation for very long.

wilson betemit (2006-2007)

the dodgers acquired betemit near the 2006 trade deadline after the guy they intended to be their third baseman, bill mueller, was lost for the season due to injury.  betemit appeared as the dodgers' third baseman in 102 games over the 2006 and 2007 seasons.  he was traded at the 2007 deadline to the yankees for scott proctor, but he still made more appearances at third than any other dodger in '07.  nomar gets a nod here, though - he played third after betemit left.

blake dewitt (2008)

the dodgers gave 22-year old rookie dewitt the third baseman's job in 2008 (his '08 upper deck timeline card is appropriate here, don't you think)?  in all, he made 95 appearances and 77 starts there, but failed to convince the organization that he was the answer.  in fact, he found himself playing second base by the time the postseason rolled around as he started every playoff game at second for the dodgers in place of the injured jeff kent.

casey blake (2009-2010)

the dodgers acquired blake during the 2008 season, and he really took over the position then.  he re-signed with them for the 2009 season and turned in 131 starts at third that year.  in 2010, he started 134 games as the dodger third baseman.  in 2011, however, he was able to make only 45 starts.

juan uribe (2011, 2013)

uribe made 53 starts at third for the dodgers in 2011, so he gets the nod here over blake and aaron miles.  also, he's got the sweet brooklyn baby blues on that 2011 topps update card.  he kinda sorta lost the job to

luis cruz (2012)

but he's got it back in 2013.  until yasiel puig pulls a pedro guerrero and gets moved over to third.  seriously, though, who knows what the future will hold for the dodgers' hot corner.  hopefully something stable.

steve finley's subterranean homesick blues

johnny's in the 

 mixing up the

 i'm on the

 thinking about the

 the man in the

 badge out,

 says he's got a

 wants to get it

 look out

 it's something you

 god knows

 but you're doin' it

 you better duck down the

 lookin' for a

 the man in the

 in the

 wants

you only got

comes

 face full of

 talkin' about the

 plants in the

 the phone's tapped

 steve finley says that

 they

 in early may, orders from the

 kid

 what you did.  walk on your

 don't try

 better stay away from

 that carry around a

 keep a

 watch the

 you don't need a weather man to know which way the

 get sick,

 hang around an ink well.  ring bell,

 to tell if anything is going to sell.  try hard, get barred.  get back

 jump bail, join the army if you

 look out kid

 you're gonna get hit

 but

 six-time losers hang around the

 girl by the

 lookin' for a

 don't follow

 watch the

 ah,

 keep warm

 learn to dance, get dressed

 try to be a

 buy gifts, don't steal

 twenty years of schoolin' and they put you on the

 look out kid

 they keep it all

 better jump down a

 light yourself a candle. don't wear sandals, try to avoid the

 don't wanna be a

 you better

 the pump don't work 'cause

...

[if you aren't getting the reference, go check this out]