black and blue ryu and some other dodger cards

i'm continuing with a sort of random rambling theme today.

this is a 2013 panini black friday hyun-jin ryu card

it was somehow available on black friday, 2013. i don't recall how i obtained it (sportlots, maybe), but it is not worth standing in line waiting for stores to open to obtain.  still, panini did the same sort of thing last year, and i'm guessing panini is doing it again this year.  ryu is out for the season now, following shoulder surgery.  

this is a 2013 panini pinnacle matt kemp museum collection parallel

it doesn't scan as well as the museum collection inserts from the 1990's.

still more panini - this time from 2014 panini golden age

dusty baker

davey lopes

and zack wheat

as pleased as i was to see dusty and davey and other dodgers from the team of my youth in this set, i don't consider them to be from the golden age.  wheat, sure, but not the others.

wheat also got an insert card in the release - it's a 1913 the national game card

and i wish this had been the base set design

now here's a 2007 topps turkey red andy laroche card

and a 1999 topps chrome jeff shaw card

moving on to 2010 upper deck, here's a biography insert of jeff weaver

marking the time that he beat his brother jered in a game between the dodgers and angels.

olmedo saenz didn't have too many cards, but he spent four seasons with the dodgers and made it into the 2007 topps update & highlights set

even though 2007 was his fourth year with the club.  not much of an update there - more like an omission.

last card for today is a 2008 topps stadium club beam team autographed card of delwyn young

i secretly hoped that delwyn and delmon young (no relation) would have wound up on the same team just for the potential confusion factor.  would they have had their full names on the backs of their jerseys? who knows.

on the road with octavio dotel

i realize that this is a topic that has been done before, but i've already done these types of posts for tommy davis, bob miller, and mike morgan, so i would feel remiss to leave out the most well-traveled player of all-time, octavio dotel.  especially since he was, for a short time like the others mentioned, a dodger.

dotel's big league career began with the mets (that's one team) in 1999 (here's a 2000 upper deck card)

even winning a game in the nlcs against the braves that year.  however, dotel was traded to the astros (two) in december of 1999 in the mike hampton deal, so he got an astros card in the later series of that same set

the astros converted dotel to a reliever, and he pitched for them for four-plus seasons before he was sent to the a's (three) during the 2004 campaign in the three-team deal that netted the 'stros carlos beltran.  this is a 2005 fleer tradition card

showing dotel in the green and gold.  from there, dotel became a free agent after the 2005 season and signed a one year deal with the yankees (four).  he signed another free agent deal after the 2006 season, this time with the royals (five).  topps issued a card of him wearing the kansas city uniform as part of the 2007 topps set

but he was again traded midseason, this time to the braves (six).  so, topps put him in the update & highlights set that year (this is the gold parallel)

and the photographer had him pose such that dotel has a light standard growing out of the side of his face.

after finishing out the 2007 season with the braves, dotel spent 2008 and 2009 with the white sox (seven) before joining the pirates (eight) for the start of the 2010 season.  at the trading deadline that year, the dodgers (nine) sent james mcdonald and andrew lambo to pittsburgh for dotel.  topps was kind enough to fake him into a dodger uniform for the 2010 update set (here's the walmart black parallel)

even though the dodgers traded dotel to the rockies (ten) in mid-september.  for the record, dotel pitched in 19 games as a dodger, going 1-1 with a save and a 3.38 era.

dotel began the 2011 season with the toronto blue jays (eleven). here's his 2011 topps card

once again, however, dotel was traded during the season.  this time, he was headed to the cardinals (twelve), and was included as such in the 2011 topps update set (this is a cognac parallel)

dotel won a world series ring as a member of the 2011 cardinals.  he pitched in all three postseason series, winning a game in both the nlds and nlcs, but losing one in the fall classic.

he was back in the world series again in 2012, but this time it was as a member of the detroit tigers (his thirteenth team - a major league record).  here's his 2012 topps update card showing him as a motor city kitty

the tigers lost that series, but brought dotel back for the 2013 season.  unfortunately, he remained unsigned after the season ended, and his big league career was over.

13 teams in 15 seasons is pretty impressive, and i'm glad dotel came through los angeles on his tour of duties, even if ned gave away mcdonald and lambo for six weeks of a replacement level reliever.

a black armband for cory lidle

in just a few days (five to be exact), it will be the 8th anniversary of yankee pitcher cory lidle's death.  lidle died on october 11, 2006 after the small plane he was co-piloting hit a building in new york city.  back then, topps' update set came out later in november (i believe that this year's release should show up in stores in about a week), and they were able to add an in memoriam card for lidle to the 2006 update & highlights checklist.

that is significant because i don't believe that topps had done this since a. bartlett giamatti died in 1989 and they included a card in the 1990 set, and not for a player since ken hubbs in 1964.  i realize that there was no update set in 1978 or 1979 when lyman bostock and thurman munson died, respectively, but topps didn't do one of these cards for them the following season, either.

anyway, the yankees honored lidle by wearing a black armband during the 2007 season.  this classic combo card from 2007 topps update & highlights shows jorge posada wearing the armband during the all-star game

and here's a card of chase wright from the same set, also displaying the armband

2007 bowman's best was released even later than update - coming out in january of 2008.  this alex rodriguez card from that set

shows the armband, but it kind of gets lost with all of his armor nearby.

obviously, most of the cards with this particular armband come from 2008.  like these 2008 bowman

and 2008 upper deck piece of history cards

of hideki matsui, and this 2008 topps kei igawa card

plus this 2008 topps opening day ross ohlendorf card

and these two cards from 2008 upper deck first edition - bobby abreu

and a really nice andy pettitte

and then there is this 2008 upper deck robinson cano card

featuring double play action!

since the cano is in my double play binder, and the armband on the pettitte card is just a bit too unpronounced, here's the card that represents the cory lidle armband in my collection - it's a 2008 upper deck alex rodriguez season highlight card

the card celebrates arod's 500th career home run, although the photo does not come from that game (that game was not on espn, and if you watch video of the home run, the armband is not this visible).  still, i know that the photo comes from 2007 since this was the first time the yankees had worn the armband since 2001 (when arod was on the rangers), and the 2008 version of the armband (worn for bobby murcer) would have been worn below the final season of yankee stadium patch.

lidle's last appearance came on october 7, 2006 in the final game of the alds series against the tigers.  the yankees were eliminated in that game, and lidle pitched 1.1 perfect innings in relief before failing to get an out in the 5th inning and ultimately allowing three runs to score.  lidle was 34 years old when he died.

russell martin shines

man, this 2008 bowman sterling russell martin bat relic card shines like nobody's business.

you remember russell martin, right?  he was the dodgers' catcher from 2006 through 2010, and had a couple of really good seasons for them even though his batting average dropped each season following his .293 clip in 2007.  that categorical decline continued even after he joined the yankees via free agency prior to 2011, and it wasn't until last season, his first with the pirates, that his average saw an uptick.

this year, martin is hitting .288 (through yesterday) with a career-best .409 obp.  good for him, i say.  he also is sitting on exactly 1000 career hits - tied with (as vin scully might say) old friend jamey carroll.

it has been well documented that martin has many fantastic baseball cards to his name, but not all of his appearances on cardboard are credited.  he at least shares the credit on a couple of cards from 2007 topps update & highlights - this card with his future teammate alex rodriguez

and this one with cole hamels

hamels is sporting the john vukovich memorial patch, while arod is wearing a black armband in memory of cory lidle.  martin, meanwhile, is just wearing the tools of ignorance.  as it turns out, being a catcher is a good way to show up on other people's cards.  just ask jerry grote.

that's martin crouching on kevin youkilis' 2008 topps update card

and there he is again on this justin morneau card from 2008 upper deck documentary

that's two canadians on one card!  both of those cards above were made possible by martin's presence at the all-star game in new york that year (morneau did some lurking of his own at that game as he wound up on brian mccann's 2008 topps update & highlights card)

sometimes a regular season game is enough to earn your way onto another player's card, as is the case with this 2009 topps andy laroche card featuring martin

and sometimes it is a horrific event in a postseason game that gets you some bonus cardboard time.  martin was there behind the plate when matt stairs of the phillies hit a go-ahead two-run home run in game 4 of the 2008 nlcs.  the scene was captured on this 2009 topps card

two canadians, again.  that card brings to mind the 1994 upper deck all-time heroes card of reggie jackson's third home run in game 6 of the 1977 world series (also shown on an upper deck masterpieces card) that features dodger catcher steve yeager (and charlie hough), as well as the 1994 topps card that recalled hank aaron's 715th career home run that features dodger catcher joe ferguson behind the plate.  and, somewhere, i have a card showing mickey owen giving chase to his dropped third strike in the 1941 series.  and they aren't the only dodger backstops to suffer this losing while lurking fate - take a look at this 2005 topps card that presents highlights from the 2004 nlds between the dodgers and cardinals.

there on the bottom half behind albert pujols (who has just hit a series-clinching home run) is dodger catcher brent mayne.  mayne, as far as i know, appears on only one other card as a dodger, so this is half of my brent mayne dodger collection.  i have quite a few more cards of russell martin as a dodger than that, thankfully, and if aj ellis doesn't get some offense going, maybe ned will see to it that i get some more martin as a dodger cards in 2015.

even more cards from doc holoday

finishing up the trade posts for today with a few more from my trade with doc holoday.  he really did send a nice group of cards as part of a 'spring cleaning' on his part.  i am quite appreciative.

2007 topps jeff kent hit parade insert

kent was 7th on the active leader list for career rbi when this card came out.  he is currently 49th on the all-time leader list, but should be passed by albert pujols this season

1994 upper deck minors todd hollandsworth

one of holly's two cards in that set

2007 topps update & highlights brady clark

by the time this card was released, i believe clark was already an ex-dodger playing in san diego

2007 upper deck sp authentic rafael furcal authentic speed insert

i don't know if doc saw this post or not, but the furky was needed and is appreciated!

2008 upper deck x andruw jones xponential insert

he's an x-dodger, thankfully

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee mark loretta

still working on that set!

2011 bowman chrome justin sellers

and 2011 bowman chrome dee gordon

and 2012 bowman chrome clayton kershaw

both the gordon and the kershaw cards show the duke snider memorial patch, which i will address in a future post.

thanks again for the trade!