to be continued...

i have posted before about cards that have the same or similar photos, or even have sequential photos, but i don't think i have noted any two cards that each use one-half of the same photo.  that's the case on these 2000 upper deck yankees legends cards of lou gehrig

and babe ruth.

the photo shows a gracious gehrig congratulating ruth after a home run.  maybe it would be easier if the cards were side-by-side.  like this:

well, it's certainly not the same, but i saw a similar photo from the dodgers' series at citi field with jamey carroll and russell martin and decided to try my hand with their 2010 goose joak originals, even though i had already done cards for both of those guys.

here goes - jamey carroll

and russell martin

side-by-side

definitely not as iconic as gehrig and ruth, but at least it makes the cards more interesting. 

where have you gone, dougie baseball?

scott at hand collated just sent me one of the nefarious 9 (my most wanted cards) - the 2010 upper deck doug mientkiewicz.  i suspect (and hope) that it's not the last one i get from a generous blogger.

fresh off my ttm success with dougie, i was hoping to send him the only card i know of that features him in a dodger uniform.  unfortunately, the dodgers went and released him.  he apparently turned down a coaching position in the organization because he still wanted to play, and is now a free agent.  i haven't heard if he has landed anywhere.  have you?  this card needs to be signed!

in related news, he has been replaced in my desperately seeking list by the 2009 topps update & highlights xavier paul card.  any help is appreciated.

thanks scott!  i'll get something out to you soon!

it's too late to turn back, here i go....

...playin' at the card show.  actually, i am just attending.  the one with the vintage bargain bins. 

anyone need anything?

roger craig through the mail success!

former brooklyn and los angeles dodger roger craig graciously signed and returned my 2001 fleer greats of the game card in about a week last summer.

he charges $5 which is fine by me.  he is, after all, a three-time world series champion (twice with the dodgers), winner of game 5 of the 1955 world series, an original met (their 6th pick), and a two-time 20 game loser.  even the fact that he managed the padres and giants for a while didn't dissuade me from sending the card off.

in the same vein of the modest 1978 topps dodger autograph project i have going on, i am kind of pursuing a dodger ttm set of 2001 fleer greats of the game.  it's a nice one for signatures as there is a lot of space at the bottom for the autograph, although craig chose to sign over his chest.  and, while there are quite a few deceased dodgers in this set, there are still a good number of living guys, and i have a good start on them, including maury wills, duke snider, carl erskine and (any day now) ron cey.  i'll keep you posted...

thanks roger!

final tribute fail

hall of famer eddie murray stepped to the plate for the last time on september 20, 1991 in southern california.  his hall of fame career, and the game, ended with a gidp.  the following year, upper deck recognized the end of steady eddie's 21-year career with a foil final tribute logo on his 1998 card.

the only problem is, his final at bat came at dodger stadium, as he ended his career with the dodgers, not the angels.  that's because the disney folks released him in mid august, and the fox corps brought him home a week later.  he appeared in 9 games for the dodgers in his second go around with the team, all as a pinch hitter, and picked up 2 hits and 3 rbi.

i suppose credit is due upper deck for not just recycling a photo of murray from 1990, which they may well have done on his 1998 ud collector's choice card

but still.  a final tribute deserves proper treatment, and for eddie murray, that meant showing him as he truly went out - as a dodger.

fail!

juan marichal final tribute - the card that should have been

when i drew up a short list of cards that should have been, this one was number 3 or 4 on the list.  travis took care of cards one and two of the top 4, and i (and doc) took a shot at another.  i still haven't seen anyone try this, probably because the only photo i know of juan marichal wearing a dodger hat is in black and white, and he's not in full uniform. 

juan appeared in exactly 2 games for the dodgers early in the 1975 season.  they would be the final two appearances of his career as he gave up 11 hits, 9 earned runs, and struck out only one batter in 6 innings of work and was released by the dodgers shortly thereafter.  this means that the 1976 card would have been a final tribute with his complete career stats on the back - something every player (even former giants who took a bat to john roseboro's head) deserves.

i have scoured the internet, visiting the usual sources for photos and have come up empty.  so i asked myself, what would topps do?  and topps would recycle a photo.  so, with that in mind, i give you the 1976 topps juan marichal card that should have been

if the photo looks familiar, it's because i took it from marichal's 1974 topps traded card and reversed it. 

i also bleached the uniform, airbrushed his neck, and used someone else's top part of the cap to get a small bit of the interlocking 'la' logo.  not too bad if i do say so myself.

 

here's to you, 1976 topps juan marichal card that should have been!

it's a hoot-enanny!

whenever cards arrive from the night owl.  i know there will be some nice dodger hand me downs in the package, and the latest envelope, received just a couple of days ago, didn't disappoint.  i had sent greg a couple of smaller packages over the last few weeks, trying to knock cards out of his nebulous 9 listing, and then sent a bigger box just last week - the same day he mailed this envelope to me!  good times.  anyway, on to the cards!

1996 pinnacle denny's hologram hideo nomo

the absolute coolest thing about this card isn't the hologram (that part is not very good to be honest). rather, it's that scout mike brito is featured!  he's the figure standing over the catcher's (is that piazza?) right shoulder, with the panama hat and radar gun.  that was his office until the mccourt's renovated dodger stadium and got rid of those true field level seats.  i also think that it's cool that someone, somewhere ordered a grand slam 13 years ago so that i could one day own this card.

1982 kellogg's dusty baker

the 3-d effect on these cards is about as lame as the hologram on that denny's card.

2006 upper deck national pastime nomar garciaparra

any excuse to post a dodger card of nomar.  this was one of those cards distributed on national baseball card day if you remembered to go into your local shop that day.  if you had a local shop, that is.

2008 topps chrome derek lowe blue refractor

i drool over dodger blue refractors.  very purty.

1999 fleer ultra raul mondesi

one of the few 1999 fleer ultra dodger cards not featuring a dodger stadium based photo.  here, raul is showing us how alfonso soriano will one day play the wrigley outfield.

2007 ud sp legendary cuts roy campanella

i'll bet roy was a badass.  3 mvp awards in 5 seasons - the only dodger catcher to win an mvp award, although...

this guy should have.  1998 pinnacle mint mike piazza

yes, larry walker had a monster year in 1997.  but if the voters overlooked dante bichette in 1995 in favor of barry larkin, then why not do the same in 97?  plus, now that we know what we know about ken caminiti, piazza should have won the 1996 award, too.  although there may be things we don't know about italian-american superstar slugger mike piazza, the strongest man in so-cal.

we'll end it with a truly cool card - 2010 topps matt kemp walmart black version

i am not a fan of the gimmicks and the walmart/target exclusives in general, but this card kicks ass.

thanks greg!  hope there were some good cards in amongst the stuff i sent your way!