you cey it's your birthday...

i was 7 when i started collecting cards. i was a set collector. i was around 10 when i started collecting a team (the dodgers) as well. i decided i would collect the team sets for each year, starting in 1970 since that was when i was born.

i quickly realized that this would not be quite so easy as i had hoped. to go along with the scarcity of accessible hobby shops carrying older singles, there were the cards themselves that stood in the way. there was the 1972 garvey high number, the 1971 dick allen high number, the 1971 tom paciorek rookie that happened to include dusty baker and don baylor and the 1972 traded frank robinson, among others. and then there was the 1973 ron cey.

while not his rookie card - he had a 1972 card - cey was featured as a rookie third baseman along with mike schmidt. with schmidt winning mvps and the world series in the early 80s, i figured it would be a long wait to fill that hole in my dodgers collection.

in reality, i only had to wait until my 14th birthday (which just happens to have been 24 years ago last week).yep, that's me. i am triumphantly holding the card that my dad has just given to me for my birthday. i neglected to take it out of the case, so it's tough to see. here's a close up, where you can kind of see the penguin there on the left.sharp eyes will notice the 1978 cubs team card also on the table. i caught cubs fever in 84 (although i didn't really mind when garvey took lee smith deep), and started to collect them back to 1970 as well, so my dad gave me a few cubs cards as well.

i shortly thereafter abandoned the cubs project, but continued with the dodgers with one less white whale to chase.

thanks dad.

who knew what when and what does it mean?

jason schmidt was damaged goods. i knew it. you knew it. the american people knew it. but not ned colletti. or so we thought. turns out, according to the la times, ned did know that schmidt had a rotator cuff tear when he was signed. of course, the company line is that pitchers can be effective even with this type of injury. at a guaranteed $12 million a year, though, they should be more than that.

some more plays at the plate

2008 topps update & highlights brian mccann allstar card.that is, of course, justin morneau who is claiming to be safe at the 2008 all star game. was he really safe? i don’t know. i was asleep. i think everyone just wanted the game to be over.

1993 upper deck lance parrish. judging by the umpire’s posture, cecil fielder is about to be called out as lance parrish holds his mitt high in triumph. From the dirt on his uniform, i am guessing cecil tried a head first slide, or perhaps just steamrolled into home plate.



2004 upper deck mike hampton. this is from the july 23, 2003 game. alex gonzalez is out 2-1 in the 7th. not sure if it was a passed ball or wild pitch because the advancing runner was out. amazingly, hampton did not go on the dl after this play!

2004 playoff honors jorge posada.

it's alex gonzalez of the marlins again, but he looks like he will avoid this tag. this is from the 2003 world series. i think this card sums it up for posada and the yankees. close, but no cigar.

halfway to crazy - hot stove at the hot corner

ned is halfway to a full infield as it looks like the corners are set - loney at first, and now casey blake at third.this will be the 6th straight year with a new third baseman on opening day, assuming blake is out there on april 6th. in fact, in the 26 seasons (yikes!) since the penguin manned the hot corner, the dodgers have trotted out 15 different opening day third baseman; blake will be 16.

let's reminisce, shall we? first, there was ron cey. he started every season from 1974 to 1982.in 1983 there was pedro guerrero. then german rivera. guerrero again. madlock (twice!). guerrero again in '88.jeff hamilton twice. lenny harris twice. tim wallach twice. we're on a roll! then dave hansen. mike blowers. todd zeile twice, adrian beltre twice, chris donnels, then beltre three times!followed by jose valentin, bill mueller, wilson betemit and 2008's surprise starter, blake dewitt. dewitt likely moves to second base. good lord, we need manny's bat.

casey is signed for three years, plus an option. what are the odds that he is our opening day starter for more than the next 2 years? well, here's hoping.

i can't believe this was an upper deck base card

-UPDATED-
seriously. it's mariano rivera. sure, at the time this 1998 upper deck card was issued, he had just one year of closing duties under his belt and they were eliminated in the playoffs in 1997. but he did help the yankees (boo) win it all in 1996 and would soon become the most dominant post season closer ever.i am guessing this photo was taken at home in panama, perhaps during a tourism promotion. there's no baseball, no uniform, no stadium - nothing about this says baseball. it reminds me of those special interest subsets - players with their dogs or motorcycles or whatever. not a base card.

awkward is as awkward does

i first pulled this card because i thought it might have been a double play. it's tim foli's 1980 topps card. it's more than likely a joel youngblood stolen base attempt at home against the pirates (such as the successful one he had on 9/9/79 - thanks baseball reference!). the reason i kept it, though, is because both foli and youngblood look so awkward executing their ends of the play. it reminds me of a little league play.

foli appears to be afraid of the ball or youngblood or both, and youngblood's strangely contorted arms indicate a lack of grace or fluidity to his slide.

foli and youngblood were teammates in 1979 until mid-april when foli went to the pirates. you would think they would have been more comfortable around each other as a result.

it looks like you would be wrong.

steve garvey - a final topps tribute

one of the cards i would most liked to have seen was a 1988 topps steve garvey. i wrote about it here. but instead of reading that - go check out what punk rock paint has created. it's awesome.

oh, what the heck. here it is.