red crosses for katrina

back in september of 2005, major league baseball and the major league baseball players' association teamed with the red cross to raise money for relief efforts benefitting the victims of hurricane katrina.  red cross stickers were added to players' helmets - you may have seen them on some cards in 2006, like this fleer ultra chris shelton card

this topps john rodriguez card

and this upper deck jason botts card

i don't consider these part of my memorial patch collection (botts is wearing the johnny oates memorial patch, by the way), but felt it was worth recognizing the red cross helmet stickers in case anyone was wondering.

i don't think there are too many birds on tatooine. womp rats, yes. byrds, well maybe.

i received a pwe from jeff at 2x3 heroes recently.  jeff is a fellow double play collector, so sometimes he'll send some of those with an array of dodgers.  this time, however, he aimed for another of my mini collections and sent cards from the planet farthest from the bright center of the universe. or something like that.  here's one of the 'tatooine' cards he sent - a 2010 upper deck marlon byrd

nothin' but dirt.

as for dodgers, there was a 2014 topps allen & ginter zack greinke

 a 2006 fleer ultra nomar garciaparra

 a 1996 topps finest ramon (nomar spelled backwards) martinez

here's a 2005 fleer adrian beltre diamond tribute insert

which compares him on the back to mike schmidt.

also included was a 1993 pinnacle darryl strawberry, among others.

i wonder if those moisture farmers at anchorhead grew strawberries?

and that's how you bring the post full circle.  thanks jeff!

dime box double plays

nick from dime boxes was at it again, recently.  he sent me some cards which included a few double play turns that were new to my collection.  have a look.

2014 topps opening day kolton wong blue parallel

1991 leaf jody reed

you can see the black armband on reed's sleeve for tony conigliaro

1992 upper deck kurt stillwell

which wasn't really new to my collection (nice tatooine scene, by the way), but now i have a copy for the binder that i can use to show the dp turn on the back

looks like it might be a gold hologram version as well.

1993 topps stadium club mike gallego

nothing slides like a deer

1994 fleer  scott fletcher

1994 leaf joey cora

2004 topps traded tony womack

2004 upper deck miguel tejada

channeling 1973 topps

and 2006 fleer ultra jorge cantu

not a good slide from who i assume to be the marlins' alex gonzalez, but some great cards from a great trader and blogger.  thanks nick!

angel-ic double play turns

former dodger angel berroa knew how to turn two.  in fact, you can follow the progress of his career with cards featuring the double play turn.  to start, here is a 2002 leaf card of the 2003 american league rookie of the year

in 2004, berroa got this card in the skybox limited edition set

of which there was a retail/non die-cut version

he was still turning two after that, as seen on this 2005 fleer platinum card

as well as his 2005 topps

and 2005 topps chrome cards

2006 came around, and fleer gave us what i believe to be a dp turn in the making

as well as an indisputable dp turn on his fleer ultra card

in 2007, topps gave us this card

which shows berroa toeing the second base bag while in the act of throwing - that's a double play turn.  now berroa only played 9 games in the big leagues in 2007, so there aren't many cards for him in 2008.  this is unfortunate, because what few cards there are of berroa from that year feature him as a dodger.  also unfortunate is that none show him in the act of turning two.

in fact, it wasn't until the 2009 topps update & highlight set was released that we were treated to another berroa double play card

and that would be the last one, too, as berroa's career ended in 2009.

i do have a few other angel double play cards to show, however.  from the california angels, here are damion easley

and rex hudler

on 1995 pacific and 1995 score cards, respectively.  hudler gets another nod thanks to his 1995 score gold rush parallel.

it's too bad that angel berroa never played for the angels in the same way that it's too bad that jose and ozzie canseco never played for the twins.  yes, twins stan and stu cliburn both played for the angels, but that doesn't really have anything to do with this post.

cartwright!

perhaps one of the best early episodes of seinfeld was the chinese restaurant one.  the foursome waited in real time for a table, but lost out when the host called out 'cartwright' instead of 'costanza' when it was their turn to be seated.  that's a long way to go to get to this 2012 panini cooperstown card of alexander cartwright

it came to me from jeff at 2x3 heroes as part of his 'tis the season giveaway and features the baseball pioneer in fireman gear from his time as the honolulu fire chief.  

there were also a mess of twins in the package, including a 2012 topps heritage jamey carroll

on which the former dodger does his best 'suttoning' pose, and a bunch of angels including a 2006 fleer ultra vladimir guerrero

i also found this 1987 ralston purina steve garvey card

in the package.  i think i still need the cookie crisp version - it doesn't say '1987 collectors' edition' on it.

don't worry - jeff also sent some dodgers along.  here's a 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee cory wade black parallel card

but the biggest, best, baddest card of the entire package was this 2013 panini america's pastime fernando valenzuela autograph

el toro autografia certificado para mi!  mucho gusto! muchas gracias jeff!

remembering johnny oates

this is how i remember johnny oates

as a dodger.  that's his 1978 sspc card.  unfortunately, oates has only a handful of cards showing him as a dodger.  heck, he has only a handful of cards, period.  here's his 1975 sspc card, showing him as a phillie

i have recently expanded my collection of cards for players from the 1978 topps dodger team beyond their topps flagship issues, and that oates card was one of the first i added to the burgeoning collection.  oates played his last season in 1981, just as the proliferation of card sets was beginning.  donruss never made a card for him, while fleer gave him a spot in their set in both 1981 and 1982 - creating his lone 'final tribute'.

oates is about to start reappearing in my 'evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers' series, as he returned to the big leagues in 1991 as the manager of the orioles.  he had his greatest managerial successes at the helm of the texas rangers, however, and after oates passed away on christmas eve 2004 - 9 years ago today - the team decided to wear a memorial patch in his honor during the 2005 season.

this 2006 upper deck rod barajas card is a good example - you can see the patch (a black rectangle with oates' number 26 inside) there on his sleeve.

this 2006 topps mark teixeira walmart exclusive insert is another good example.

however, the two cards that will represent this memorial patch in my collection are a couple of michael young cards.  here's his 2006 fleer card with the patch on the sleeve

and here's his 2006 fleer ultra gold medallion edition card, which shows the patch on the vest jerseys.

oates had been diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1991 and given a short time to live.  he managed to live well beyond that timeframe, and was able to attend a ceremony in 2004 in which he was inducted into the rangers' hall of fame.  his number 26 was retired by the team after his death, however, and he was also posthumously inducted into the orioles' hall of fame.

turning nickels into double plays and cards from tatooine at the lcs

it's cold outside, the time for layering like luis castillo on this 1998 donruss preferred card

that card is part of my double play collection since luis is straddling the second base bag and looking as though he is going to throw to first.  it's one of several dp cards i found in the nickel and dime boxes at my local card shops sometime in the last six months or so.

we've got two primary shops in the twin cities with a couple more stores where cards and supplies are also available.  of the two card shops, the one i've been to more frequently in the past year is in a suburb of minneapolis south of downton.  there are nickel boxes (if cards are sleeved, then they are typically a dime) that have proved to be a decent source of double plays and memorials.  the other shop, which i have only been to a few times over the past few years, is in a northern suburb.  it too has a few dime boxes set up in the front of the store that contains decent collection fodder.  unfortunately, i don't think i will be heading back to that shop again.  i'll tell that tale in another post.  meanwhile, here are more double plays that were new to my collection thanks to these stores.

1992 donruss ryne sandberg

not sure why i didn't have this card already, but i didn't.  i did have a parallel of this next card, a 1997 score ryne sandberg,

but not the base.  go figure.

2006 upper deck ray durham

at one time, i considered collecting cards with the chevron cards in the background, but then realized how many giants cards that would bring to my doorstep and i reconsidered.

2012 topps reid brignac

that's another card of which the base was more elusive than many of the parallels.

has juan uribe signed with anyone yet?  i forgot that he was once fairly agile, as seen on his 2004 fleer ultra card

flying over the twins' mike ryan

uribe also found himself sliding into home on tatooine courtesy of this 2009 topps card

i found this 1994 upper deck collector's choice tony phillips card during my most recent card shop visit

the first copy goes in the dp binder.  if i come across another, it will be added to the tatooine binder.

speaking of which, here are a few more that fit nicely into that binder - 2006 fleer ultra joe crede

2009 topps tom gorzelanny

and his pirate teammate, nate mclouth

as well as colorado rockie larry walker on his 1999 topps stadium club card

that walker would also fit into another one of my mini-collections, but i don't think i've revealed that one yet.

more cards from my lcs adventures to come - stay tuned.