Showing posts with label lurkers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lurkers. Show all posts

18 July 2015

clearing out the scanned folder - miscellany edition

not every card that i scan is a dodger card, which makes sense because my collection has a fair share of cards featuring players from other teams.  sometimes, however, i get ahead of myself and scan some stuff without a specific post in mind. other times, i do have a post in mind, but it never comes together.  and then there are some cards i scan because they fit into one of my mini collections.  there are some of each in this post.

2000 skybox dominion scott rolen
i believe that i figured out a long time ago that the dodger catcher lurking on this card is angel pena, so i'll go with that.

1975 sspc elias sosa
sosa was a brave just before he became a dodger. he was part of the deal that brought lee lacy back to la for mike marshall.

1995 upper deck mike blowers
here's another future dodger, as blowers played for the dodgers later in the 90's.  thanks to this card, we know that blowers once caught a foul ball at tiger stadium at 2:55 (or is it 2:56?) in the afternoon.

1997 bowman vladimir guerrero
one of my last remaining player collections.  it was good to see vladdy in this year's archives release.

2001 topps archives jack morris
and 2001 topps archives lou whitaker
both cards are part of my 1978 topps master set.  still waiting for the design to be used in the revitalized archives release.

2002 topps 206 mike piazza team 206 insert
still working on this set

2008 upper deck timeline brandon jones
still working on this set, too.

2014 topps stadium club albert pujols
pujols just recently passed steve garvey on the all-time hits list. i scanned this card because it fits in my 'nob' collection, should i decide to make it an official collection.

1992 megacards babe ruth babe's farewell
this card also belongs in that collection.  it features a cropped version of nat fein's pulitzer prize winning photo, and is a great card to have. i'm glad i scanned it.

10 July 2015

i chose wisely

i mentioned in the earlier post today that i chose what turned out to be a dud of a rack pack of 2015 topps stadium club from the target shelves, but that i had also ordered some singles off of sportlots.  being able to choose specific cards means that i was not disappointed with the subsequent envelope that showed up in my mailbox.  have a look.

2015 topps stadium club fernando valenzuela
i have wanted this card ever since it was first shown on the sell sheets for the set.  it features fernando up in one of the pavilions at dodger stadium signing autographs, and is a great card with a great image from a great time in dodger history.

2015 topps stadium club yasiel puig
another great dodger stadium shot that showcases something not usually seen on cardboard - clouds and a nice socal sunset.

2015 topps stadium club dusty baker
another shot from dodger stadium - vintage johnnie b. baker.  much better than baker as a brave which was the case with allen & ginter previously

2015 topps stadium club josh beckett
i was really happy to see that beckett got a card in the set.  it's a final tribute, too, so here are the stats on the back
in addition to adrian gonzalez on the front of the card, we get a glimpse of drew butera.  this may be the only cardboard on which butera (who has never hit over .200 in any season) appears as a dodger.

speaking of lurkers, here's don newcombe lurking on jackie robinson's 2015 topps stadium club card
and here's robinson lurking on larry doby's card from the set.
but we aren't done with dodger lurkers yet, as alfredo griffin makes a cameo on former dodger lenny harris's 2015 topps stadium club card
that card features a play at second, but not a double play.  i did grab a couple of twin killing cards, however, including carlos baerga
and brandon crawford
both feature world series double plays, too.

last but not least is this 2015 topps stadium club kevin gausman card
that i purchased due to the fact that he's wearing the alternate black jersey, and so it has the orange text tom clancy memorial patch.  i've updated the post specific to that patch, by the way.

it's tough for me to refrain from purchasing packs every once in a while, and i won't go back to swearing off packs as i did at some point in the past, but it does make a lot more sense to pick cards up on the secondary market.

05 July 2015

here are some cards from 2015 topps series 2

well, topps finally put don mattingly on a card in their flagship set, but they did so on a josh beckett highlight/checklist card
it's not even a final tribute card for beckett.  still, i like it.

i bought a dodger team set on ebay, and found that topps went horizontal a few more times for the dodgers in their series two set - here's the 'team' card
plus two more clayton kershaw cards - cy young
and mvp
it's been said before, but i would prefer the checklist expansion topps heralded this year provide cards for the likes of justin turner and scott van slyke and even juan nicasio instead of four kershaw cards.  i don't mind the base (obviously) or the highlight/checklist cards, but award winner cards are not my favorite. i'd rather see other players from the roster at that point.  along those lines, here's carlos frias
most of the other dodgers from series two were shown in the recent flagship vs. factory set post, and i've only scanned a few cards from a blaster i purchased.  i did get this nolan ryan/sandy koufax eclipsing history insert
about which i have three comments.  first, the design of this insert (and all of the inserts in series two that i've seen) is really boring.  second, the history that ryan is eclipsing was established by koufax as a los angeles dodger, not a brooklyn dodger.  third, if ryan is eclipsing koufax, shouldn't he be in the foreground?  details, i suppose.

there were three twins cards that i chose to scan - the first being this ervin santana card
santana takes the mound for the first time as a twin today after serving his suspension for ped use.  i thought that topps would wait and include him in update as a result.

i like this jordan schafer card
a couple of years ago it would have likely been a variation short print, so it's nice to see topps using good photos for base cards.  schafer was released by the twins just a couple of days before i saw this card, by the way.

here's another twinkies card that features target field
with a clean-shaven joe mauer in the foreground and oswaldo arcia's back on the jumbotron.

i'll finish up this series two post with a couple of double plays - dj lemahieu
and joe panik
i was hoping for another justin turner dp in series two, but i guess i'll have to wait for update.

20 June 2015

fun at the ballpark, indeed

it is odd to think that, after nearly seven years of posting, i have not yet featured this 1993 donruss triple play card of former dodger reliever roger mcdowell
so, when it arrived recently in a trade package from bo at baseball cards come to life, i figured that now was the time.  here's the back
 
mcdowell's teammates may have been amused by him wearing outrageous things, but i as a fan will just accept good baseball in a beautiful setting.  a setting like dodger stadium.  that's where this next card bo sent comes in.
that's a 1996 score select bret boone card, featuring a photo taken in dodger stadium.  the unnamed dodger in the scene is roberto kelly, who twice stole second against boone and the reds on july 30, 1995.  the wrist guard and red glove/sweat bands were a big clue as to the runner's identity, but really it was either him or chad fonville, and with kelly wearing number 21 it was fairly obvious.

this next one is easier.
that would be mitch webster sliding in while jose oquendo turns two in dodger stadium on his 1996 donruss card.

moving away from dodger stadium (to tatooine, in fact), we see rafael furcal sliding in front of freddy sanchez on sanchez's 2008 bowman card
as sanchez makes the double play pivot.

staying on tatooine, here's a 1993 score select joe girardi card
that would obviously fit into that particular mini collection of mine if it weren't already destined for the lurker collection thanks to dodger dave hansen making an appearance on the back
there are many more cards that bo sent that i'll be showing over the next few days - thanks for the cards bo!

11 May 2015

the next two sheets from the steve garvey binders mark the end of the century

sheet 28 in my first of two primary steve garvey binders picks up where we left off with sheet 27.  have a look:
those cards are:

1. 1994 upper deck all-time heroes 125th anniversary parallel
2. 1994 upper deck all-time heroes (heroes of baseball) 125th anniversary parallel
3. 1995 sonic baseball greats
4. 1994 upper deck the american epic
5. 1995 upper deck sp championship (october legends)
6. 1995 upper deck sp championship (classic performances)
7. 1995 upper deck sp championship series (october legends) die-cut parallel
8. 1995 upper deck sp championship series (classic performances) die-cut parallel
9. 1996 danbury mint

and so begins the glut of parallels.  it was great to have a couple of parallels to find back in the late 1990's, but it is quite tedious today.  i see that i have a card out of sequence on this sheet, but i'll fix that later.  lots of good stuff on this sheet, but the highlight may well be the pete rose card from the 1994 upper deck the american epic set (a companion set to ken burns' baseball documentary) that features garvey lurking in the background as rose celebrates hit number 4192.

here are the backs:
the next sheet includes the first certified garvey autograph cards, one of which is the first card i ever purchased on ebay. here's sheet 29:
those cards are:

1. 1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever
2. 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game
3. 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph
4. 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game cover collection (dodgers)
5. 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game cover collection (padres)
6. 1999 upper deck retro
7. 1999 upper deck retro gold parallel
8. 1999 upper deck retro inkredible auto
9. 2000 nabisco all-stars

garvey has been on the cover of sports illustrated four times, and three of those covers are represented on this sheet.  the first card features a cover from 1974 during the world series between the a's and dodgers.  that's garvey in the lower left corner of the montage.  the other two cards featuring covers showcase the 1976 and 1983 covers, respectively, with the '83 cover also being used for the autograph insert.  the only garvey si cover not used for a card is the april, 1982 baseball preview issue cover.

in other news,  the inkredible auto from 1999 ud retro was the first card i ever purchased on ebay.  i had gone onto the site to find a 1995 upper deck sp championship kirk gibson card that i had seen somewhere, and i discovered that the garv had an autographed card on the market.  the first of many, as it turns out.

here are the backs:
i appreciate fleer's bold coa on the back of the greats auto.

the 2000 nabisco all-star card was the last card of garvey in the 20th century, and it is the 36th post-playing career card in the binders.  that's an average of about 3 new garvey cards per year.  the 21st century would blow that ratio out of the water.  stay tuned.

08 May 2015

i see you jerry reuss!

as you know, one of my mini collections is cards featuring dodger stadium in the background.  with those cards, sometimes you get the pavilion roof, sometimes you get the old field level scoreboard, and sometimes you get dodger lefty jerry reuss lurking in the background, as is the case with this 1986 donruss joe price card.
what i found interesting about this card is that reuss is on the visitor's side of the field during pre-game, which isn't that common - these days, anyway, from what i've seen at the ballpark.  i emailed him to ask what he was doing, and he was kind enough to let me know that he was headed back to the right field line to do his sprints to centerfield, which were part of his routine in between starts.

here's another from 1986 donruss (sadly without a reuss cameo) of dave lapoint
i remember lapoint as a cardinal, probably because of the 1982 world series, but he pitched for nine teams, including the no-cals.

one more from '86 donruss - here's junior ortiz in dodger stadium
and he's looking happy to be there.

this is a 1989 donruss all-stars rafael palmeiro card
with raffy taking a cut from the dodger stadium left-handed batter's box

and here is hall of famer barry larkin's 1990 upper deck card
with the old low railing behind him

a couple of weeks ago i wrote a post dedicated to the murals that adorned the dodger stadium outfield wall during the late 1990's and early 2000's.  here are a few more cards with some of those mural images in the background

2000 upper deck joe mcewing
that's part of the mike scioscia heroes mural behind little mac

2002 topps tim salmon
with salmon patrolling right field at dodger stadium in front of pee wee reese's retired number mural

2003 fleer ultra matt clement
with the 40th anniversary of dodger stadium mural in the background.  that's kevin brown's face (representing the 2000 season), and shawn green's arms (representing the 2002 campaign).  big kudos to fleer for making a similar card in the '03 ultra set:
that's kevin brown himself on the mound with his face looking on from the mural.  if only fleer had made a similar card of shawn green in right field in front of his image…

i'll finish off this chavez ravine centric post with this 1995 upper deck collector's choice lance parrish card
featuring no lurking dodgers, but instead a dodger usher with some nice shades.

it's been a couple of years since i've been able to get to dodger stadium for a game, so i appreciate having these cards in my collection to remind me of how great the stadium is.