dessens double dipped

another day, another break from double play cards.  don't worry - they'll be back tomorrow.  i think.  in the meantime, here's the next post in one of my ongoing topics - double dippers!

[this is the forty-seventh 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, and todd hundley.]

elmer dessens first came to the dodgers in an august, 2004 trade with the arizona diamondbacks.  he wound up appearing in 12 games for the dodgers over the remainder of the regular season, making one start and finishing with a 1-0 record and a 3.20 era.  that lone start that dessens had came in game 161 which is also the game in which steve finley hit the walk-off grand slam to send the dodgers to the postseason for the first time since 1996.

in the postseason, dessens appeared in game one of the nlds against the cardinals, allowing a mike matheny solo home run in 1.1 innings of work.  that was enough for topps to make a card, ok - half of a card, of dessens in their 2005 topps total release

sharing space with kelly wunsch.  wunsch, by the way, had his career end when he was injured while warming up in the bullpen at coors field in july of 2005.  that's not the way anyone wants to go out.

dessens remained with the dodgers for the 2005 season, and posted a 1-2 record with a 3.56 era in 28 appearances (7 of which were starts).  after the season ended, dessens signed with the royals as a free agent. he received a card of his very own in upper deck's monstrous 2006 flagship set

in kansas city, dessens was used exclusively in relief, and compiled a record of 5-7 with a save and 9 holds in 43 appearances before he was dealt back to the dodgers for odalis perez and a couple of minor leaguers.  in his second stint in la, dessens was 0-1 in 19 games with a 4.70 era, and he was featured in topps' 2006 update and highlights set with what i believe is his only solo dodger card.

dessens was traded to the brewers towards the end of spring training in 2007, and went on to pitch for milwaukee and colorado that season.  he pitched for the braves in 2008, and finished his career with two seasons as a met.


here's to you, elmer dessens - a dodger double dipper!

dodgers, a cub, and an on card brewer from on card autos

i recently completed a trade with chris at on card autos - cubs for dodgers primarily.  he sent me some pretty cool cards.  here are a few of them:

2004 fleer ultra hee seop choi.

i was really hoping hee seop would break out with the dodgers.  he had too big of a swing, i think, and jim tracy didn't seem to care for him.  anyway, this is a nice card (hello dodger stadium!) of the big south korean whose presence forced mark grace out of chicago.

2006 upper deck eric gagne jersey

2006 was gagne's final year in la.  he pitched in just two games for the dodgers, having been injured for and out of action for about a year.  in those two games, he gave up no runs or hits and struck out 3 in 2 innings of work.  he also earned a save in his final dodger appearance.  unfortunately, that was june of 2006, and he went back on the dl and out of the dodgers' plans for 2007.

2004 fleer inscribed hideo nomo 

man, fleer had a lot of different sets in the early 2000's.  focus, authentic, tradition, ultra, box score, greats, platinum, genuine, and the list goes on.  i don't know that i had ever seen fleer inscribed before.

there were a bunch of 2007 upper deck cards, too.  i know night owl doesn't care for them, but i think they're pretty cool.  here's marlon anderson (one of the 4+1 home run guys) in a rare dodger card appearance.

another dodger backup - mike lieberthal

and a dodger i had never heard of - wilson valdez

he actually appeared in 41 games for the dodgers in 2007 and is currently with the phillies.

chris also got confused and included a cub - 2008 upper deck x geovany soto

and a brewer (at least according to the card) - 2007 upper deck elmer dessens

i am thankful for the dessens card seeing as how it is 99% a dodger card that would never have been on my radar.

thanks chris!

cards from on card autos

chris at on card autos sent me some dodgers recently in exchange for some cubbies. he has already posted some of the stuff i sent, and i am just now getting to the bounty i received. such is my lot in life. anyway, here are some of the goodies.

2007 fleer ultra jeff kentfull extenson works best as a horizontal card.

2006 topps update & highlights elmer dessens

proof that a fifth starter is hard to find.

2004 fleer ultra brad penny

a really nice dodger stadium card. ultra had quite a few cards featuring chavez ravine. maybe that's why i liked ultra so much.

1990 topps debut '89 darrin fletcher

it must have been tough to be a catcher in the dodger organization. that had been one of the most stable positions they had, except from 1997 through 2001 or so. too bad fletch (6'-5" with the afro) came up when scioscia was still doing ok.

1992 score roger mcdowell

nice to see a card of roger where he is doing normal baseball stuff

2005 donruss shawn green

i feel as though i have been remiss in posting shawn green cards. i have a ton - he was my favorite non-dodger and then my favorite dodger. i also like that this card shows him out of position according to the position assigned to him on the card. listed as a firstbaseman, he is pictured in the outfield. usually it's catchers that you see out of position - they're shown playing first base (i am thinking of a gary carter card) but listed as a catcher. i'll have to look for more of those.

thanks chris!