cards from the hall of fame!

the great sports name hall of fame, that is!

this guy doesn't have a hall of fame name, but his nickname is pretty good - it's a 1994 topps gold cory 'corndog' snyder

followed by a 1993 pacific ramon martinez

el es un lanzador.  bueno.

a nice double play turn, courtesy of juan samuel's 1988 score

kinda looks like the murph sliding in...

here's another dp, this time on a 1992 leaf alan trammell, with big mac sliding in

and another 1992 leaf, this time it's tim naehring and it looks like mr. astro has successfully broken up the double play

here's naehring again, this time on a 1995 pinnacle.

looks like he got the ball away this time.

thanks tim!  i'll have some cards out your way soon!

oh canada! a terry puhl through the mail success!

in honor of the olympics, canada's first (home) gold medal, and just general good canuck-ary everywhere, here are some cards i sent to one of my favorite canadians, terry puhl.  he was kind enough to sign and return them for my collection:

1978 topps

1985 donruss

1987 fleer

the thing i liked most about terry is that he's not from a big city or the 'normal' canadian baseball hotbeds found in bc.  he's a prairie person from saskatchewan.  a roughrider, if you will.  or is it rough rider?  i get confused.

anyway, thanks terry!

world series imposter!

i somehow acquired a few 1970 and 1971 fleer world series cards as a kid. while not licensed, fleer got away with using cartoons of some pretty recognizable faces. then,  a few months ago at the local card show, i found most of the dodger cards i was missing. or so i thought. 

here's the 1971 version of the 1916 world series

featuring brooklyn pitcher jack coombs.  coombs was the winning pitcher in the only game brooklyn won in the series.  he had previously won games in the 1910 and 1911 fall classics for the athletics, hence his 'terrific series record'.  speaking of series records, here's the 1970 take on 1916:

babe ruth.  he pitched a 14 inning complete game.  brooklyn's pitcher, sherry smith, also pitched a complete game, although his was only 13.1 innings.  ruth had only 5 at-bats all series and was held hitless.  he did drive in the first boston run in the 14 inning game with a ground out.  i should mention that the dodgers were actually the robins back then.

on to 1920, 1970 style 

and 1971

no dodger (or robin) love from fleer.  just spitballer stan coveleski and grand slammin' elmer smith.  curiously enough, this was one of the series that took 5 games to win.

we'll skip the dodgers' appearance in the 1941 series (previously posted here), and check out the 1970 homage to the equally depressing 1947 matchup against the yankees.

al gionfriddo, a mid-season acquisition, robbed joltin' joe dimaggio of a game 6 tying home run, forcing game 7. the dodgers lost, of course, but gionfriddo turned dimaggio into a dirt kicker, and that was tough to do.  according to fleer, kirk gibson's home run wasn't the only time 'the impossible has happened' for the dodgers in the world series.

the dodgers and yankees were back at it in 1949, with 1970 fleer giving us this

allie reynolds and preacher roe back to back 1-0 complete games.  don newcombe pitched game one for the dodgers and had matched reynolds until tommy henrich led off the bottom of the 9th with a home run to win the game.

here's the 1971 card:

in which roe's effort gets all the glory.

the dodgers were back for more yankee punishment in 1952 and 1953.  here's the 1971 card for the 1953 series

the yankees hit 9 home runs as a team (berra, collins, mantle 2, martin 2, mcdougald 2, woodling) and the dodgers hit 8 (campanella, cox, furillo, gilliam 2, hodges, shuba, snider).  the yankees also won 4 games to the dodgers' 2.

finally, 1955 arrived.  the 1970 card

shows johnny podres, who won game 7 with a 2-0 shutout, and the 1971 card shows a smiling duke snider

who hit 4 home runs in the series.  duke had also hit 4 in the 1952 series.

the dodgers lost to the yankees in 1956, but the silver fox was smiling again on the 1971 card for the 1959 series against the white sox

while the 1970 version chose to highlight chuck essegian

and his two pinch-hit home runs.  he was 2 for 3 in the series with a walk which means his ops for the series was 3.417!  he certainly made the most of his only career post season appearance!

the dodgers' winning way continued in 1963 as seen on the 1970 card

with moose skowron taking out some aggression against his former team.

two years later, the dodgers were back, this time against the twins, who get the cartoon on the 1971 card

that's ok though, the dodgers won the series.

they weren't as lucky in 1966, though when the orioles shut them out in 3 of the games.  here's the 1971 card comemmorating that series:

i guess a caricature of jim palmer or moe drabowsky would have been too difficult.

1966 was the last dodger appearance in the world series prior to 1974, so that's the end of the line for the 1970 and 1971 sets. 

then, as i was getting the cards set up to scan, i noticed this on the back of one of the cards

dangit.  and it wasn't even the 1966 series.  it was the back of the 1965 card.  so, i picked up a 1980 fleer world series card by mistake.  that year, fleer reprinted the card fronts, put stickers on the back, and added the years that were missing up to 1979.  nice of the dealer to mix it in with the vintage.

luckily, i was able to find a real 1971 card for the 1965 world series.  see?  here's the back:

much better than seeing that bird again!

bobby (happy) valentine(s day) through the mail success!

how appropriate.  late last summer i sent 3 cards to ralph branca's son-in-law, and he signed and returned two of them in about 3 months' time.

first, his 1971 rookie card

mike strahler signs ttm also, but i have not yet sent this to him.  not sure if i will. strahler would later join valentine in the frank robinson/andy messersmith trade after the 1972 season.

here's bobby's 1972 topps card that he signed:

he kept the 1978 topps, which had him in a mets uniform. 

bobby's back in the states now, working for espn, but i am guessing his name will come up with any early season managerial firing.

thanks bobby! and happy valentine's day!

leigh neuage - the rest of the story

a couple of days ago i posted this card

a 2003 bowman chrome of dodger prospect leigh neuage.  i noted that his final season in the minors was at age 19 even though he seemed to have good control and ratios.

after that post, i received an email from leigh's father letting me know that leigh had passed away in august of 2003.  his father has an online memorial at http://neuage.org/leigh.htm

and, while i use this site as a 'baseball card celebration of the dodgers...' it is clear that there was more to celebrate about neuage than that.

my condolences to the family.

the evolution of my favorite dodger

in honor of post #500, i figured i would pay tribute to my favorite dodgers over the years.  i have favored many, but there can only be one favorite at a time.  we'll count backwards, although there can hardly be any suspense as to who will be the first favorite.

here we go - from 2007 until now, my favorite dodger has been matt kemp.

.342 in 2007 and a 2009 season to confirm my beliefs!  the bison is my baseball salvation!

in 2006, my favorite dodger was nomar garciaparra. 

the harmonious conversion of my favorite non-dodger becoming a dodger.  his 2006 was just what i hoped for - a return to glory for nomar, along with some huge hits.  remember 4+1?  simply awesome.

in 2005, believe it or not, my favorite dodger was milton bradley. 

2005 was a tough year.  shawn green was gone. eric gagne was injured.  jim tracy was flailing with strange habits of playing folks like oscar robles and mike edwards and jason grabowski.  it's not like i could really get behind jd drew or jeff kent.  seriously, though, i did want bradley to succeed.  i was cheering for the name on the back of the jersey almost harder than i cheered for the name on the front.  i still wish him success, although i am not as optimistic as i was 5 years ago.

from 2000 to 2004, shawn green sat atop my dodger pedestal

even before seeing his 4-homer game in person.  having lived in orange county, i cheered for shawn as a blue jay, so, as with nomar, this was a time when my favorite dodger had previously been my favorite non-dodger.  and, it just so happens green was traded for one of my other favorite dodgers which made switching to him all the easier.

from mid 1994 to 1999, raul mondesi was the man.

even though he was moody and sometimes frustrating, i preferred him to mike piazza, eric karros, hideo nomo and the rest.  his 11th inning walk off on opening day in 1999 was unforgettable.  and he hit the game tying 3 run homer in the 9th with two outs to send the game to extras in the first place!
from 1989 until mondesi's 1994 debut, orel hershiser reigned supreme,

he had just done so much in 1988 that i had to stick with him through the injuries and down times, although i had a soft spot in 1992 for mike sharperson.

he was a super utility guy who represented the dodgers in the all star game that year.  1992 was one of the worst dodger seasons ever, and mike was an easy guy to cheer for.

from his sophomore season in 1983 until he left after the 1988 season, my favorite dodger was steve sax.

he led off the dodgers' 1988 season with a home run!  he almost made me forget about losing davey lopes, too.  i know jody reed gets the blame, but if sax had stayed, maybe there would not have been a revolving door at second, and maybe fred claire doesn't need to trade pedro for delino deshields because he could have protected eric young from the expansion draft as the heir apparent.  not sure if this theory holds water, but it makes me feel good.

steve garvey was my first favorite dodger,

and he held that title from it's 1977 inception until the dark day he signed with the padres after the 1982 season.  so, there you have it.  apologies to many great and even marginal players that i have cheered for over the years. 

here's to the next 500 posts (if i make it that far)!

great (mr.) scott!

i recently received some cards from mr. scott.  he sent a bunch of dodgers which is just what i wanted.  here's some highlights!

1999 topps darren dreifort

little d at home in dodger stadium.  i really like this card because of the bright home whites and the outfield mural.  too bad darren couldn't stay healthy.

1993 topps eric davis.

this card could be bad ass, with the tattoos showing and the pose, but i would guess he loses points with the pullover tucked in and the oversized sweatband with what i assume to be his likeness.

2009 topps unique manny ramirez

not too sure what is so unique about these cards.  moving on...

2003 bowman chrome leigh neuage

the thunder from down under.  not really, although he is from australia.  neuage's last year in the minors was 2003, when he was 19.  he debuted in the rookie league at age 17.  i wonder if there was an injury or something.  it looks like he had good control (3:1 k:bb) but he gave up a lot of hits.  we will never know.

2006 upper deck ovation jd drew

the only ovation i am inclined to give jd drew is the kind he still gets in philly.  if you can call that an ovation.

2004 upper deck sp prospects shawn green

i have never understood the thinking behind putting the same photo on a card twice.  although i do like 1994 upper deck, and one of the photos on those cards is all scrunched.  i hate when i contradict myself.

2006 bowman joel guzman jersey

joel was once my baseball salvation.  i could not wait for him to get to the majors and lead the dodgers to the dynastic destiny that no doubt awaited them.  it didn't quite work that way, but i still have matt kemp!

thanks mr. scott!  i will have some yankees to you soon!