too many sorianos and yet not enough

i posted earlier today about three different packages i received from dennis at too many verlanders in the semi-recent past.  one of the packages came as a result of him asking folks to claim stacks of certain cards as part of his 'spring cleaning giveaway/contest'.  i claimed a stack of alfonso soriano cards, mostly back from his days as a second baseman, hoping for maybe a black armband or some double play turns.  here are some of the cards that i received.

starting in the upper left, we have a 2003 fleer tradition update 1963 fleer insert, 2000 upper deck victory, 1999 topps hd, 2002 leaf rookies & stars, 2003 leaf, 2001 topps chrome traded rookie reprints, 2005 fleer national pastime, 2008 upper deck sweet spot, and 2001 topps stadium club.  he's got a black armband on the last card, so that would most likely be for the club's former manager bob lemon (official memorial post coming soon).

there were no double plays in the stack, but i did uncover this 2005 topps heritage soriano twin killing card elsewhere in my collection

in the process, i stumbled across a few more that i hadn't shown on the blog yet.  here's a 1998 fleer tradition homer bush card

bush was made expendable by the yankees once soriano arrived on the scene, and he was dealt to the blue jays with david wells in the roger clemens deal.  here's bush turning two again, this time as a blue jay on a 2000 fleer impact card

last but not least, and in no way tied to soriano that i can think of, other than soriano stumbled to rob steve lombardozzi jr of a hit earlier this season, here is a 1988 score card of steve lombardozzi sr

i think i missed this one because second base is so dirty, but that's a dp turn fo sho.

thanks for the cards dennis!

anybody know what time it is?

well, looking at tommy lasorda's wristwatch on this 2013 panini usa baseball champions card,

i'd say it's time for some random cards from the scanned folder.  seriously, though; when is the last time you saw a watch on a baseball card?  do managers really wear watches?

here's a 1997 pinnacle select todd hollandsworth card

holly can rest easy - recent dodger call-up erisbel arruebarrena's last name is one letter shorter than hollandsworth (the longest surname in team history).  the letters will still go armpit to armpit, though.

1999 topps finest mark grudzielanek

arruebarrena has as many letters as grudzielanek, but doesn't seem as difficult to pronounce.

2002 upper deck diamond collection chin-feng chen

chen was a highly touted foreign prospect in the dodger minor league system.  hopefully arruebarrena finds greater success at the big league level than did chen - he was just 2 for 22 in his major league career.

2003 upper deck mvp kevin brown/curt schilling game used base relic card

somewhat strange to have a base relic card with pitchers on the front.  what's even stranger is that the back of the card notes that the bases came from edison international field, aka the big 'a' in anaheim.  what the cuss?

2006 fleer tradition rafael furcal

furky hasn't appeared in the majors since 2012 (he was hurt for the entire 2013 season), but he's rehabbing in the marlins minor league system.  meanwhile, jeremy hazelbaker (the guy the dodgers got for alex castellanos which was the guy they got for furcal) is 26 with only 10 letters in his last name, but is hitting around .300 in double-a.

2008 upper deck sweet spot manny ramirez relic

this is really a red sox card with the dodgers logo on it.  2008 and mannywood seems like so long ago…

2013 bowman andre ethier blue parallel

and 2013 topps chrome refractor

it's still hard to believe that billy beane traded ethier for milton bradley and antonio perez.  the a's did reach the alcs with bradley in 2006, but perez was released and bradley was sent to the padres for former dodger andrew brown (the second time he had been traded for bradley) in 2007.  meanwhile, ethier has put up some nice seasons for the dodgers.  it's enough to make me want the dh in the national league so that ethier and carl crawford can both get their at bats.

random enough for you?

greg maddux, double dipper

[this is the thirteenth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, hideo nomo, and jose vizcaino.]

greg maddux was acquired by the dodgers during the 2006 season in exchange for cesar izturis, making this 2007 topps card possible.

he had been double dipping with the cubs when the trade was made, and he started his time with the dodgers with a bang.  in his first start in dodger blue, he no-hit the reds for 6 innings when he was lifted.  two starts later, he gave up only 2 hits in his 8 innings of work against the giants. a few starts later, he held the padres to one hit in 7 innings pitched. 

maddux wound up making 12 starts for the dodgers during the regular season, and had a 6-3 record with an era of 3.36.  in the postseason, he made one start in the nlds against the mets and gave up 4 runs in 4 innings.  as shown on that card above, he won a gold glove, the 16th time in his career he had been so honored. 

after the season, maddux signed a free agent deal with the padres.  here's his 2007 upper deck card, showing him in padres' gear (thankfully not those sandy colored or camoflagued unis)

as a padre, maddux was 14-11 in 2007 with an era over 4.00.  he returned to sandy eggo in 2008, and was 6-9 with a 3.99 era when the dodgers brought him back into the fold.  all it cost was a couple of minor leaguers this time around.

down the stretch in 2008, maddux (shown on a 2009 upper deck sweet spot card)

was just 2-4 in 7 starts, although he deserved to win most of those starts. his final regular season start resulted in his 355th career win - a 6-inning, two-hit performance against the giants.  the dodgers made the postseason, but maddux was relegated to the bullpen.  he appeared in both the nlds and nlcs, pitching 4 innings without giving up an earned run. 

by returning to the los angeles to end his career, maddux joined a small group of hall of famers who came from somewhere else to go out as dodgers, including don sutton (a fellow double dipper), hoyt wilhelm, rickey henderson and eddie murray (another double dipper).  we were happy to have him.  both times.

here's to you, greg maddux!

wax heaven directory brings manny direct to me

a big thanks to mario at wax heaven for sharing the wealth! as many of you know, he created a directory that allows his readers to claim cards obtained from the manufacturers who provide product for mario to review. all it costs is round trip postage! although i was too late to sign up for kershaw, martin or kemp, i was able to reserve manny ramirez!

the first sase yielded the following cards:

2009 topps gold parallel 2009 topps base

2009 topps base postseason highlights

and a bonus - 2008 upper deck sweet spot

i'm glad manny re-signed with the dodgers, so i won't be getting any photoshopped giants cards later on in the year!

thanks again mario! i am sending another sase soon, as i see you have a couple more mannys.

manny happy returns!

was there ever any doubt?

for me, yes. but it's all good in dodgertown or dodger/white sox-ville, or whatever it's called in glendale.

manny's back - for at least one year. my only regret is that scott boras wasn't fired by manny as a result of all this.

oh well, there's always next year for manny to opt out and get less than the $20mm.