a fall classic and other double play turns

still with the double plays?  why yes, i am.  here's a nice one from 2007 upper deck featuring a play from the 2006 world series and future dodger aaron miles

upper deck also got horizontal with that set, as seen on former dodger jose valentin's card

it features a play that may well have occurred in the 2006 nlcs - game 7 perhaps?

the phillies didn't make the postseason, so the photo on jimmy rollins' 2007 upper deck card isn't from october

but he's still turning two.

here's a 2006 topps opening day sports illustrated for kids insert with another fall classic dp turn

it's from the same play that's shown on the 'breaking up two' card from 2006 topps turkey red.  ausmus succeeded in breaking up the double play.

now for some decidedly non-world series twin killings.

here's jose lopez's 2007 topps card

and marcus giles from 2007 topps

and 2007 topps chrome

plus omar vizquel from 2007 topps chrome, too.

2007 topps update used double plays as a way to tie two players together to make 'classic combo' cards.  didn't work, but we still got some dp cards as a result - here are mike fontenot and khalil greene

and troy tulowitzki and jose reyes

you can barely see the lead runner coming into the frame, but howie kendrick isn't jumping for no reason on his 2008 topps card

while mark loretta's card from that set is a bit more traditional

finally, here is a 2008 upper deck first edition card of khalil greene

throw in what appears to be the third baseman's shoulder, and if this were a topps card it might be part of a 'classic trio' subset.

more double plays for your consideration

someday soon (or not so soon), i will get to the 'greatest double play card of all-time' tournament/poll.  not today, though.  there are still a few more i need to gather.  in the meantime, here's some decent looking ones that might make it into the brackets.

1985 topps lou whitaker

and 1986 topps paul runge

these two are nice, but i prefer the runge.  we get the full image of the guy sliding in so it's a more complete double play turn.  plus the format of the '86 card is more conducive to this type of image.

2002 topps stadium club derek jeter

cal ripken jr is too slow to be able to break up the turn, but at least he made it into the photo

here's another card with a future hall-of-famer, and i'm not referring to luis rivas on his 2002 upper deck victory card

pujols' head being replaced by a twins logo is as close as we will get to seeing him in minny.

2003 fleer ultra jack wilson

i don't see how wilson will recover from his leap and land on his feet.  bad news for his tailbone, i guess.

here's marcus giles on his 2006 topps card

displaying his 'in the general area of second base' technique with matt lawton of the soul patrol sliding in.  i am sure giles' foot was on the bag when he caught the ball, right?

another 2006 topps card, this time juan uribe

look at that air!  there is no way the juan uribe that is currently on the dodgers can get elevated like that.

lastly, a 2006 topps opening day michael young si for kids insert

a double play turn is max action! huzzah!

bringing on the heartbreak

another great batch of cards from matt over at heartbreaking cards of staggering genius. it all started with the 2008 topps stadium club russell "russ" martin. sure, it's the same picture as on his topps chrome card, but it's still a good one. i don't know of anyone other than topps that refers to martin as "russ". i am pretty sure it's not a "bob" clemente thing, so what gives?


2008 topps stadium club clayton kershaw.

i think i have mcdonalds residue in my system that is older than kershaw. i hate those unis, by the way.

1989 upper deck rick demspey.

how old school is dempsey? he caught without all the gear...and he liked it!

1992 fleer lenny harris.

lenny is doing a good job here of trying to fit into the box that fleer has created. a couple slight adjustments to his feet, elbow and bat, and he will have done it.

1985 leaf pedro guerrero.

dang, 1985 was a monster year for pedro. 99 runs in 137 games. an ops+ of 181. 3rd in the mvp voting. you just couldn't contain him, as the photographer here found out. despite what i am sure was the fastest shutter speed possible, pedro still manages to be blurry.

2006 topps opening day opening day

sure it's redundant, but i don't know what else to call it. this is the view that longtime dodger scout mike brito enjoyed for every game, weilding his radar gun, wearing his fedora and chomping on his cigar.

2006 topps jose valentin.

no airbrushing attempt here. i admire jose for trying to take the sheffield stain off of the penguin's number 10. too bad valentin stunk up the joint during his time with the dodgers. he was coming off a 30 home run season, yet managed to bat only .170 and achieve an ops of only .591. yikes.

matt, a bunch of cards are headed your way - some royals, some diamond kings, some handlebar mustaches, and some pitchers that seemingly pitched forever. enjoy!

where's nomar?

i don’t mean literally – i know he is on the bench (so far) for the dodgers’ post season schedule. i mean, where are his topps cards? when the dodgers acquired nomar, i was stoked. probably more excited than i was the night i heard the dodgers had acquired kirk gibson. back then i still had the taste of dave goltz and don stanhouse, and was a bit leery of dodger free agent signings.

but nomar was my favorite non-dodger player. i couldn’t wait to see him in the uniform, and on the cards. 2006 topps was out, and he was shown as a cub. that’s ok – there’s always the update set. sure enough, there he was, on an all-star card swinging away at dodger stadium. 

topps opening day also showed him as a dodger,

as did topps chrome – both sets using his regular issue card photo, with the uniform airbrushed into the dodger home whites. he also appeared in allen & ginter, co-signers, heritage, pretty much every issue topps made. after his fantastic start to the 2006 season, and some huge hits to take the dodgers to the post season, i was excited to see if topps would a picture from his walk-off homer in the 4 home run +1 game. would it be at the plate?

scoring the run?

being hoisted on his teammates shoulders?

after all the injuries and doubts, nomar was back!

then, in 2007, something strange happened. no more nomar. no mention of him anywhere. upper deck had him, but the only topps I could find was a topps finest “rookie finest moment” card showing him with the red sox.

2008 offered more of the same. no topps nomar. i even bought the special edition dodgers 55 card team set issue, which promised cards of the entire 25 man roster. sure enough, there’s joe beimel and everyone else, but no nomar. even the coaches have cards in that set.

now, I assume that, for whatever reason, nomar chose not to sign with topps. just like alex rodriguez during his first few years, or barry bonds did for a couple years. but why? i don’t get it. all i know is that for people like me who collect the topps dodger team sets, there has been a very big hole the last couple of years. here's hoping nomar is back with topps next year.