double plays haze

i am almost caught up with my double play collection.  i am hoping to have them all scanned, logged, and posted before 2014 topps update comes out and adds to the seemingly never ending stream of cards showing the double play turn at second base.

here are some that i have recently acquired or discovered in the bowels of my collection

2011 topps marquee ian kinsler

ichiro out!

2014 bowman ian kinsler

josh donaldson out!  kinsler photoshopped!

2011 topps marquee brandon phillips

i spy a sparky anderson memorial patch

2014 topps chase utley

we've seen this image before

2014 topps josh rutledge

one of two rockies to turn two in series 2.

2014 topps dj lemahieu

i'm guessing that it's alexi amarista that was just forced at second based on his small stature.  of course, lemahieu is 6'4" which makes amarista (5'6") look even smaller

2009 topps update gregorio petit

somewhat the reverse of the lemahieu card - i don't know who that is sliding in, but he looks humongous next to the petite petit.

2005 upper deck marcus giles

horizontal lines work well with horizontal card orientation

1998 upper deck collector's choice kevin stocker

former dodger garey ingram out!

1998 upper deck collector's choice neifi perez

hall of famer ryne sandberg out!

1998 upper deck collector's choice jeff kent

kurt 'what's that' manwaring out!

1998 topps stadium club delino deshields

that's a nice card, although i prefer the royce clayton card from that set a wee bit more

1994 topps stadium club joey cora

this guy keeps showing up with double plays.  it's got to stop at some point, right?

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.

triple dipper juan castro

it's been a while since i have looked at a player that played for the dodgers, left the franchise for another, and then returned to wear dodger blue again.  double dippers, i call them.  sometimes, they even triple dip.

[this is the fiftythird 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, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, and joe medwick.]

juan castro made his big league debut in september of 1995 as, what else - a defensive replacement.  over the course of the next few seasons, he split time between aaa and the majors thanks mainly to his glove as his big league batting average hovered just under .200.  here is his 1998 pacific online card featuring a photo of castro from 1995 or 1996 (he stopped wearing number 60 prior to his 1997 appearances).

on april 1, 2000, the dodgers traded castro to the reds for a minor leaguer named kenny lutz.  it does not appear that lutz ever played in a game for any dodger affiliate.  castro, however, played for the reds for the next five seasons.  here is his 2004 topps card

after the 2004 season, castro signed a free agent deal with the twins who then traded him back to the reds in 2006.  they released him in 2008, but he was quickly signed by the rockies.  without appearing in a game for colorado, castro was traded to baltimore where he finished out the '08 season.  in january of 2009, castro signed with the dodgers, and became a double dipper.  here's his 2009 topps update card as proof

castro hit a robust .277 in his return to the dodgers.  he played in 57 games and saw time at short, second, third and even left field.  after the season, however, he opted to sign with the phillies, who had beat the dodgers in the 2009 nlcs for the second straight season.  if you can't beat 'em, join 'em i guess.  there were no cards of castro issued in 2010, so i made one using the 2010 goose joak originals template.

i have to believe that the highlight of castro's short time with the phillies came on may 29, 2010.  that was the day that roy halladay threw his perfect game. castro was 2 for 4 as the phillies' third baseman in that game, and he fielded ronnie paulino's grounder and threw it to first for the final out of the game.  a few weeks later, the phillies gave castro his release.

no worries, though, as ned colletti brought castro back to the dodgers for a rare third term.  here's another 2010 goose joak original i created to note the occasion.

castro even re-signed with the team as a free agent after the 2010 season before calling it quits during the 2011 campaign.  i saw somewhere around the time of his retirement that he had one of the lowest ops marks of any player with a significant number of plate appearances over the last 20 years or so.  clearly it was his glove that kept him around for 17 seasons, including three tours with the dodgers.

here's to you juan castro - a rare dodger triple dipper!

jaybarkerfan's pwe bombs reach the midwest

10 pwe bombs greeted me in my mailbox on friday.

all chock full of dodger goodness.

here are the contents of the first five that i opened.

pwe #1:

1981 fleer dusty baker

2008 ud documentary matt kemp
1982 topps ron cey (in action)
2007 topps greg maddux (gold glove)
2009 ud icons clayton kershaw
1987 topps fernando valenzuela glossy all-star

pwe #2:

2010 upper deck andre ethier (biography)
2009 topps update & highlights orlando hudson (all-star)

2009 topps update & highlights jonathan broxton (all-star)
2012 topps chad billingsley
2009 topps update & highlights george sherrill

pwe #3:

1981 topps traded ken landreaux

1992 topps chris gwynn
2006 topps update & highlights derek lowe (league leader)

i wonder how topps determined who would get to be on the front of the card?  it's cool that lowe got the top spot, but it could have been one of six guys.  there could have been another dodger, too, as brad penny also had 16 wins.

1984 topps greg brock
2006 topps update & highlights jd drew (classic duos)

2009 topps randy wolf
2012 topps hiroki kuroda

pwe #4:

2010 upper deck clayton kershaw

2010 upper deck jeff weaver
2010 upper deck hiroki kuroda
2010 upper deck james loney
2010 upper deck dodger stadium

pwe #5:

2009 topps update & highlights chad billingsley (all-star)

2002 upper deck vintage kevin brown
2003 topps paul loduca
2010 upper deck randy wolf

good stuff!

turning two never gets old

especially when there are new dp turns to show off.  well, not all are new - just new to my collection - like this 1993 donruss spirit of the game insert of carlos baerga, and, i suppose, gary gaetti

with a reference to a sly stallone movie about arm wrestling to boot!  front and back dp goodness is tough to beat.

here's a decent 1998 topps stadium club derek jeter card

that is pretty decent - a bit dark, but still nicely done.

here's a dusty 1994 ted williams billy martin card

i saw this card for the first time over at dime boxes a few weeks ago, and went straight to sportlots to get one for myself.

here's some newer stuff - a 2013 topps danny espinosa with tony gwynn rolling in

i also picked up the target red

and emerald versions of this card

i don't think i am going for the full rainbow, but i would accept a walmart blue and a gold version if offered.

here's another 2013 topps card - this one is howie kendrick

those base cards looked familiar to me so i almost didn't pick them up.  but then i checked and saw that i only had the opening day versions.

similarly, this 2009 topps update & highlights matt tolbert card was one i surely thought was already in my dp binder

turns out, i had tolbert sign my lone copy, so it was in one of my ttm/ip/non-cert auto binders.

finally, a 2012 bowman chrome ian kinsler

and a 2012 topps golden giveaway card with troy tulowitzki's base card on it

that counts, too.

i have several more new (to me) double play cards to showcase.  eta on the greatest double play card of all time tournament is fall-ish.  i hope.