more cards from dodger stadium!

it's getting cold here and i am longing for the warmth of socal, so let's visit dodger stadium.

john burkett is soaking up the tasty rays in chavez ravine on his 1996 upper deck collector's choice carderic hillman is likely sacrificing himself on his 1994 upper deck collector's choice card.is that the forearm of italian-american superstar slugger mike piazza?

gregg jefferies is sliding into third on his 1994 udcc card

those big white numbers on the lighter blue outfield fence are the giveaway here.

here's todd hundley on his 1996 ud cc card.

so, the front is not clearly a dodger stadium shot, but the back sure is

plus, it's a play at the plate with raul mondesi lurking!

then theyre's derrick may pulling into second on his 1994 ud cc card.

i think that's lenny harris lurking.

how about scott servais on his 1994 ud cc card?

a dropped third strike perhaps?

robb nen on his 1996 ud cc card

a classic field level scoreboard shot

and another classic shot on shawn estes' 1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever card

featuring the people behind the bullpen fence!

doug glanville diving back to first on his 2000 upper deck card. and dave hansen is filling in at first for eric karros.

we'll end with this 2000 fleer ultra fernando vina card.adrian beltre lurking. ok, so this shot is not from dodger stadium, but rather likely holman stadium at vero beach during spring training. but that's ok, it's warm in florida too.

only about 70 days until pitchers and catchers report!

bob lillis through the mail success!

former dodger and astros manager bob lillis signed and returned these cards to me in about 5 weeks! in 1958, a 28-year old lillis debuted for the dodgers, hitting .391 in 20 games. hopes were high, i am sure, heading into the 1959 season, and he was included in the 1959 topps sporting news rookie stars subset.his performance waned, however, and maury wills claimed the shortstop position. as a result, lillis was eventually traded to the cardinals in 1961. after that season, he was selected by the houston colt .45's in the expansion draft, and remained with that franchise until his playing career ended after the 1967 season.

following his playing career, lillis took a scouting and player development post with the astros until 1973 when he joined the astro coaching staff. when bill virdon was fired in august 1982, he was named the manager, and led the team to 28 wins in 51 games. as a result, he returned for the 1983, 1984, and 1985 seasons. the astros never finished above second place in the nl west during his tenure even though lillis compiled a winning 276-261 (.514) record during that time. his only losing season was an 80-82 finish in 1984.thanks bob!

the player collector dilemma - does the team card count?

being a set collector is easy. there are checklists (or at least there used to be) that tell you exactly how many cards are in the set, and who is featured on what card. a team collector is a bit more difficult, because the checklist won't say if a player is featured on his old team or on the one he signed with during the offseason for too much money. that's one reason why i loved those mid-70's to early 80's sets that included the team checklists on the back of the team, manager, or team leader cards. but even those weren't foolproof, since they didn't include cards such as league leaders, in action or other subsets.

anyway, being a player collector should be, i think, a tad easier, right? if your player (in my case, steve garvey) is on a card, you add it to the list. this works well for the cards on which garvey is the primary subject, but what about other cards where he just happens to be pictured? specifically team cards.do they count in the player collection? should i put this 1972 topps card in my garvey binder simply because he's there in the third row? i had not considered this (even though i do have a copy of the 1977 topps cloth stickers checklist/national league all stars card featuring the nl iron man in the garvey binder) until i noticed 30-year cardboard including team cards in his billy williams collection about a year ago.

so what do the rest of you think? does the team card fit in a player collection world?

josh hamilton through the mail success!

just about 4 and one-half months is what it took for josh hamilton to sign and return this card to me.which is pretty cool, i think. i sent him two cards, and he signed just one. i'm glad he chose this one simply because i like the timeless teams design, and it features him at the 2008 home run derby which is one of the best and most entertaining televised sporting events i have ever seen.

thanks josh!

cards and cards and cards and cards from cards on cards

i recently completed a trade with madding at cards on cards. i sent him a box of cardinals, and he returned the favor by sending a great big bunch of dodgers and 1979 topps. yes, he noticed that i had decided to upgrade my 1979 set, and so he sent me 454 of the 726 cards i will need to do so. awesome.

here's rick monday to testify.
if you or someone you know would like to contribute to the 1979 topps upgrade project, here's the want list. thanks in advance!

here are a few of the non-1979 dodgers i received:

2004 mlb showdown fred mcgriff
the crime dog is on the hall of fame ballot for the first time. i wish he could have hit 7 more home runs as a dodger to get to the 500 mark.

1994 topps (gold) dax winsletti wonder how often he is called 'kate'. he pitched in the dodgers' organization for 3 years before going to the cubs in the forgettable trade that brought willie banks to the dodgers. winslett pitched one year at aa, but did not advance beyond that level, unfortunately.

2009 upper deck goodwin champions clayton kershaw
kershaw didn't pitch in aaa either. but for different reasons.

1990 score young superstars chris gwynn
part of the dodgers' 'other brother' collection.

1988 topps uk mini orel hershiseri assume this was an attempt to get the folks across the pond interested in american baseball. so who better to influence the minds of the english than a guy who looks like a librarian.

i also received a couple of checklists. the good kind. like a 1995 donruss brett butler checklist celebrating his 2000th hit

finally, there was this - a 2009 upper deck matt kemp jersey card.very nice.

thanks madding! let's do it again sometime!

the case of butler v. busch, 1995

i am sure you all remember the strike in 1994. no world series. the beginning of the end for the expos. a meaningless first place finish for the dodgers. perhaps worst of all, things weren't resolved as spring training and the 1995 season rolled around, and teams began using replacement players.

these were mostly guys from the low minor leagues who realistically didn't have very good odds of making the big leagues to begin with, but there were a few who did reach the majors after having played in those spring training games as replacement players. one such player was mike busch.busch had played at albuquerque (the dodgers' aaa team) in both 1993 and 1994 without a call-up. he had some power, hitting 22 home runs in 1993 and 27 in 1994. he played first and third, but was blocked by eric karros at first and, to a lesser extent, tim wallach at third. for whatever reason, busch crossed the picket line during spring training and was labeled a 'scab'.

shortly thereafter, the strike was settled, and it was back to usual. later in the season, the dodgers re-acquired brett butler (they had let him walk after the 1994 season thinking that roger cedeno could take over in center). then, a week after that, they called mike busch up from aaa. butler, who had apparently resumed his role as the dodgers' player representative, was not pleased with fred claire's decision and let it be known in the media that mike busch was not welcome.i remember finding it odd that a guy who had not been with the team all year could walk into the clubhouse and make that assertation about a rookie call-up who had played with some of the other guys (like billy ashley and todd hollandsworth). however, i realized that crossing the picket line is a serious offense to the members of the union and obviously resulted in resentment and ostracization. i should state that, while i am not a union member, i understand and value their role in the protection of workers' rights. i read 'the jungle', after all.

in the end, butler, who was subsequently booed by the fans as loudly as busch was cheered, backed down, saying that the dodgers' players would support busch as long as he wore a dodger uniform. but they really didn't ever accept him, i don't think. i was at the game in san diego when the dodgers clinched a playoff spot, and the only guy who took a longer time to get to the on-field celebration than busch was jose offerman who had been benched for the last part of the season.

so who won? not busch - although he would play for the dodgers in 1996 (appearing in only 38 games), he would be released after the season ended, and would not appear in a major league game again. not butler - he was vilified by the fans because of his vocal displeasure of the situation. not the dodgers - sure, they won the west but were swept in the first round of the playoffs. and certainly not the fans.

an all-star year for the infield - gcrl in 1980

the dodgers hosted the 1980 all-star game, and the fans did their best to stock the roster with members of the big blue wrecking crew. three of the infielders - steve garvey, bill russell and dave lopes - were voted in as starters. mike schmidt led the voting at third base, but was injured and unable to play. i am guessing that, since reggie smith was also voted in to start, chuck tanner and the rest of the brain trust in charge of replacing schmidt and filling out the rest of the roster would have been hard pressed to invite ron cey to the game. instead, they went with ken reitz and ray knight. quite the tandem there. anyway, the 1980 dodgers finished second in the nl west to the houston astros, but only after they swept houston in the final weekend to set up game 163. needless to say, it didn't go the dodgers' way.

steve garvey once again turned in his standard season. he hit over .300 (.304), had 200 (exactly) hits, hit 26 home runs, drove in over 100 runs (106) and played in all 163 games. he finished 6th in the mvp voting, and as i mentioned above, was selected to start at 1st base at the all-star game. in that game, garvey went 0 for 2. he hit two home runs in a game just once (against the cardinals). after going 5 for 12 in the final weekend series against the astros (with a big home run in the second game), garvey went 0 for 4 in game 163.

ron cey had another good year in 1980. although his average dropped to .254, he hit more doubles and matched his 1979 home run total of 28. it was the penguin's two-run home run in the bottom of the 8th in game 162 that forced the one game playoff. unfortunately, cey had fouled a pitch off his foot in that at bat and was unable to play in game 163.

bill russell was selected as the all-star starter clearly as a hometown favorite. he had perhaps his worst season since 1971 (not counting his injury filled 1975 season) as he hit just .264 with 3 home runs and an ops of .636. in the all-star game, he went 0 for 2. russell played in 130 games in 1980, and was hurt towards the end of the season so didn't play in the series against houston. he was replaced in the lineup by derrel thomas and pepe frias.

davey lopes came back to earth after his huge 1979 season. he hit just 10 home runs (6 of which were lead off shots), scored only 79 runs, and stole just 23 bases while hitting only .251. still, he was voted to start the all star game for the second straight year. in that game, he went 0 for 1 before being replaced by phil garner. lopes went just 1 for 13 against houston at the end of the season, including 0 for 4 in the final game.

as i mentioned last time, there would be no 'extra cards' featuring any of the dodgers' infielders in 1980, nor will there be any in 1981. however, 1981 would see the infield return to the postseason...