canadian food and other items of subjective merit

i guess poutine is the food most often cited as canadian fare, at least in my experience. i've been to canada many, many times, and i've never tried it, so i can't say whether it is any good or not.  what i do know to be good is receiving cards in the mail, as i did a short while back from brian at 'highly subjective and completely arbitrary'.

one of the cards that was on display in one of the team bags was this pedro guerrero oddball

it turns out that it is from a 1987 general mills fold-out food issue, which was obviously distributed in canada, because it's got the requisite french translations on it.  at first i didn't know it was a fold-out, and i thought that it just had the astros' kevin bass on the back.  but no, it's a fold-out

in fact, this is one of six fold-outs - one for each division - and it folds out to larger proportions.  inside there are more players, including the dodgers' steve sax

and fernando valenzuela

here you see fernando next to the padres' tony gwynn and the braves' dale murphy

with some of the other players being the astros' mike scott, giants' chili davis, and reds' dave parker.

the other player featured is the astros' bill doran, and i had to unfold the thing one more time to get him to show up.

that seems like a lot of astros, but keep in mind they won the division in 1986.  i like to think that if this had been issued a year earlier, steve garvey might have been included.

most of what brian sent was part of the trade break that he recently conducted, but there were a few other random dodgers included in the package, like this 1990 score john wetteland card

i haven't shown cards of the 1996 world series mvp very often on this blog, but that's because he was traded to the reds in the eric davis deal after the 1991 season so there aren't a ton of dodger wetteland cards to show.

there are even fewer (i think) of victor diaz, but a 2003 topps heritage card

is one of the ones available to team collectors like me.  diaz never actually played in a big league game for the dodgers, but he did see some action later with the mets and rockies.

i wish there were fewer cards of andruw jones as a dodger, but here's a 2008 topps heritage card, anyway.

if that card were the lowlight of the package, then this one was one of the highlights - a 2012 panini cooperstown tommy lasorda blue crystal parallel

there are no two ways about it - that is objectively a nice looking card. in my subjective opinion.

thanks for the cards brian - i'll show more of the trade break stuff another time.

mike piazza final tributes!

this card is not a mike piazza final tribute, but it is fantastic.

it comes from 1997 topps gallery and is a 'photo gallery' insert card.  dodger stadium serves as a perfect backdrop for this or any other baseball card. that's one reason why i think that it's too bad piazza didn't return to los angeles for a farewell tour of sorts, because most of his final tributes wound up with the oakland coliseum dugouts in the background instead of chavez ravine.

like his 2008 upper deck card

the yellow paint is a giveaway for the a's home stadium.  as is the sewage on the dugout floor, but you can't see that on these cards.  upper deck gave us piazza's complete career stats on the back

although they didn't give his 1998 three-team travels three separate lines like topps usually does.  what if i want to know how many hits he had as a marlin?

here's his 2008 upper deck first edition card - front

and back

pretty much identical to the flagship, except no foil.

at least the 2008 topps opening day set had different colored borders than the topps flagship.  here's piazza's opening day final tribure

with his complete career stats on the back

including individual lines for each team in the 1998 season.

and here's the topps flagship version

look at those dodger seasons from 1993 through 1997.

monstrous.  when piazza was traded to the marlins, i was ticked.  then when he was traded to the mets a few days later, i was disappointed because he failed to homer as a marlin.  i knew that there would be an odd looking zero on the back of his cards, and there it is.  at least he tripled for the fish.

the strongest man in socal also got a card in the 2008 topps heritage set, which used a different background

it's nice to see some arizona landscape for a change

piazza's last season was his only season in the american league, and i think everyone knew that it would be his final campaign.  he stuck with the a's all year, and in his final appearance (game 162), he started a game winning rally against the angels with a leadoff single in the bottom of the 9th.  he was removed from the game for a pinch runner, and i hope he was given a standing ovation.

i, of course, think of piazza as a dodger, so here are a couple of cards that are more pleasing to me than those showing him in green and gold.  this one is from 1997 pinnacle fan fest

and this one is from 1997 upper deck collector's choice.

i'd say it's high time that piazza starts appearing in some new releases, and i hope that he does so as a dodger.

then, not now

in a continuing effort to pare down the number of cards sitting patiently in my scanned folder, i bring you a post featuring cards from 2008.  yes, 2008.  five years ago, when mannywood was taking hold and the dodgers were relevant in the dog days of august for the first time in a few years.

unfortunately, the only way they made it on to the 'then and now' topps heritage inserts was on the backs of their stars from yesteryear.  like don drysdale

and johnny podres

who represent the blue on those two 2008 topps heritage inserts.  peavy is the only one of the four to have won the cy young award in 1959 or 2007, which are the years that these cards are based on.  that's not the focus of the cards, however.  the drysdale/peavy card deals with strikeout leaders, and each of the pitchers shown did in fact lead the big leagues in k's.  the podres/bedard card represents the k/9 ratio, in which bedard was tops in 2007.  even so, the card is still off, as podres was 6th.  drysdale was 2nd, and herb score was first.  i'm not complaining about a 'bonus' dodger card though.

2008 donruss playoff prime cuts jackie robinson

i thought donruss didn't have a license in 2008.  looks like they forgot to 'glare out' the brooklyn 'b'.

2008 upper deck timeline chin lung hu (2004 ud legends design)

this card reminds me that i have been neglecting my timeless teams blog.  again.

2008 upper deck premier russell martin and james loney patch relic card

these two former dodgers are on their way to the postseason, just like in 2008.  loney, of course, hit that big grand slam against the cubs in the nlds that year to set the tone.

2008 topps stadium club clayton kershaw 1st day issue

looks like kid k is on his way to a third straight era title.  he also leads the league in strikeouts, and hopefully the voters can look past his relatively low (14) win total to award him his second cy young award.

i feel better getting these cards over to the 'posted' folder.  i need to do this more often.

relics from deadlines past

seven years ago yesterday, the dodgers traded joel guzman to the devil rays for julio lugo.  i have only this 2005 bowman heritage relic card to remember him by.

guzman was part of those jacksonville sun and las vegas 51s teams that featured the future - russell martin, james loney, chad billingsley, joel hanrahan, delwyn young, andy laroche, etc.  for me, guzman was the guy that, out of all of those others, was going to make it.  as a 20-year old in 2005, guzman hit 16/75/.287 in aa, and was hitting 11/55/.297 in 2006 at aaa las vegas when he was dealt away.  i believe guzman's stock dropped due in part to the emergence of matt kemp.  anyway, julio lugo played in 49 games for the dodgers, hit .219, and then left to become the primary shortstop on the team that won the world series in 2007.

guzman, meanwhile, had a short stay with tampa bay and then bounced around the minors.  he is currently playing in mexico, according to baseball reference.

more recently (three years ago to be precise), ned traded away blake dewitt at the deadline.  here's a 2008 topps heritage relic card

dewitt went to the cubs in exchange for ted lilly and ryan theriot.  lilly stuck around (although he was recently dfa'd), but theriot bolted after the 2010 season ended.  like lugo, he went on to play for the world series champions the following year.  then he did lugo one better and played for the champs in 2012 as well!

a small and handpicked sample, i know, but drew butera might find himself an in demand free agent this winter...

re-revisiting the magnificent 7

in addition to posting a few new want lists, i realized it was time to update the magnificent 7. when last we visited the list of cards, there were some new kids on the block. since then, a few more have been obtained, so it's time for an update. gone from the list are #2 - 2008 topps heritage high numbers #696 mark sweeney, courtesy of a certain night owl, and #3 - 1976 sspc #594 checklist 6 (ralph branca, carl erskine, pee wee reese). some nice oldtimers from a non-descript set, which i realized is actually considered the 1975 sspc set. also eliminated were #5 - 1982 donruss ron cey #6 - 1972 o-pee-chee gil hodges (i pulled the trigger on an ebay auction) and #7a - 1975 topps ken mcmullen thanks captain.

so here's the current list: as always, any help is appreciated!

1 - 2003 upper deck vintage #81 kazuhisa ishii - a short print in this awesome 1965 topps knock-off set.

2 (up from 4) - 1977 topps cloth sticker checklist (national league all-stars, middle card, middle row).

3 (up from 7) - 2004 fleer greats of the game steve garvey/vin scully. i have one in my garvey collection, but would love to try to get a dual ttm thing going.

4 - 1991 fleer ultra eddie murray.

5 - 1980 topps dodgers team card/tom lasorda. ex/mt or better - upgrading my topps dodger collection.

6 - 1981 topps dodgers team card/tom lasorda. ditto.

7 - 1968 topps walter alston. one of two cards i need to finish off my 1968 topps dodger team set.

dodgers in the night, exchanging glances...

true story. i returned from the post office the other day, where i had mailed a box of cards to a certain night owl, and found a package from the very same nocturnal bird in my mailbox. karma. fate. good fortune. whatever it was, he sent some very nice cards. here's a sampling.

2004 donruss studio hideo nomo studio starsvery much like those old perma-graphic credit card issues.

2006 topps turkey red duke snidera classic pose from the duke of flatbush.

1994 bowman's best billy ashley billy may have been the best the dodgers ever had at the three true outcomes. in 1995, he homered, struck out, or walked in 50% of his plate appearances. in 1996, he increased that to 56%!

1996 starting lineup jackie robinsoni had no use for the actual starting lineup figures, but it's nice to have one of the cards that accompanied them.

2008 topps heritage high numbers mark sweeney one of my 'magnificent 7'. i'll have to update that list soon - there are a couple others i've been able to get my mitts on.

1995 skybox emotion raul mondesi. attentive. really? that's the emotion mondesi exudes? how about brooding? sulking? no matter, he was still my favorite dodger for a few years.

2001 upper deck legends don drysdalebig d. i am guessing that picture was taken after his third consecutive shutout in 1968 during his 58.2 scoreless inning streak, although he looks fairly young for that to be the case. it is absolutely crazy to think that he did that in his last full season.

2007 bowman andre ethier the blue parallel. this one is numbered 111/500. i am so happy that we are beyond the luis gonzalez/andruw jones experiments and can just let andre and matt kemp play.

2006 upper deck sweet spot update greg madduxmaddux during his first foray into los angeles. why upper deck updates these types of issues is beyond me. still, it's nice to have more cards of maddux in a dodgers uniform!

thanks greg! i hope you enjoy the package i sent as well!

reader mail - long overdue trade post

a long time ago (i say apologetically), i received some cards in a trade from reader bill. i sent bill a mattingly ysl card he needed and he sent me some cool dodger cards in return - here is a sampling:

1996 score antonio osuna
i have an affinity for osuna. he threw hard, and used to wear a huge chain around his neck with a medallion that reminded me of a license plate.

2007 topps team cardusually the team cards are taken so you see the pavilion in the background. this one is flipped so their backs are towards home plate.

1996 upper deck collector's choice juan castro a card from juan's first stint with the dodgers

1997 pinnacle mint collection hideo nomo (ill-jacked) i hope he gets his medallion back...

2007 fleer eric stults

seems destined to fill the role of 'spot starter'

1989 topps dodgers leaders

apparently, their leaders were scioscia, hershiser and sax, with presumably ron perranoski and alfredo griffin obscured but lurking

2008 topps heritage rafael furcal

raffy has brought some stability to the shortstop position. now if only we could get a long term third baseman...

1990 donruss diamond king willie randolph

part of the post-sax revolving door at second, the dodgers and yankees essentially traded second basemen after the 1988 season

finally, 1991 donruss darryl strawberry

perhaps the start of the dreaded 'press conference photo' baseball card scourge. i think gretzky's 1988-89 topps card was the first ever, though.

thanks bill!