nefarious no more

since the day i added the 'nefarious 9' to the blog sidebar, the card that occupied the top spot has been, until recently, the 2003 upper deck vintage kazuhisa ishii card.  it's a short print, of course, because the card companies had to capitalize on the speculators who were hoping for nomo v2.0.  instead, we got dave freisleben (no offense, mr. freisleben, you both just walked a bunch of guys your rookie season).  anyhoo, i recently picked up a copy of the card, so obviously a 1965 topps wannabe, and took it off the most wanted list.

now that this card is safely within my posession, the top spot has been awarded to the 2004 fleer greats of the game 'announcing greats' card featuring steve garvey and vin scully.  i already have one copy in my garvey collection, but would like one more.  i do admit, however, that the frost might be off the pumpkin on this one (or is it on?) so it may not really be my most wanted.

speaking of scully, i realized the other day that i never showed the 2010 goose joak originals i had created of the dodgers' hall of fame announcer.  i had meant to do a scully tribute post last season, but then he decided to return for the 2011 season and so there was no need.  so, here they are, a year late and several dollars short, i am sure.

i'm glad that i didn't need to write that post (yet).  so, here's to you, 2003 upper deck kaz ishii short print, and a very pleasant good evening to you, wherever you are mr. scully.

bobby doerr ttm successes!

while i am a dodger fan, i did root for the red sox after the dodgers were eliminated in the 2004 postseason.  since then, i have, like many others, retracted any support for the bosox.  i don't think buck showalter should have apologized for his comments about theo epstein because i feel the same way.  the red sox are no different than the yankees now.

still, i can appreciate a hall-of-fame second baseman when i see one.  that's why i sent a few cards to former red sox second baseman bobby doerr a while back.

he signed all 3 - a 2002 fleer box score

 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic

 a 2007 upper deck masterpieces

and a 2008 upper deck goudey

to which he added a hof inscription.  doerr, who turns 93 years old today, last played in 1951, and was elected to the hall of fame by the veterans committee in 1986.  he has enjoyed 25 years as an official member of the cooperstown elite and i hope he enjoys a few more.

thank you and happy birthday mr. doerr!

like sands through the hourglass, these are the cards i received from crinkly wrappers

the title of this post doesn't make sense, really except for the fact that there was a jerry sands card inlcuded in the bounty i received from crinkly wrappers recently.  or, if you consider the transient nature of our existence in time and my relatively brief hold on these cards that make up my collection perhaps there is some truth to the title.  who cares.  let's see some cards.

howzabout a 1954 topps rube walker?

that's alberto, actually.  i wonder if rube is kind of like roberto clemente being referred to as bobby later in the decade.  here's rube's manager, walter alston, on his 1964 topps card.

walt looks fairly worried for a guy whose team just swept the yankees in the world series.  of course, walter o'malley kept him on a string of one-year contracts, so maybe worried is exactly what alston was.

1985 donruss bobby welch

in dodger stadium, with some fans from the 1974 topps set.  man, was i a bob welch fan.  from late in the 1978 season through 1987 i really enjoyed watching him pitch.  it's amazing how much loyalty can be bought by saving game 2 of the 1978 world series by striking out the most hated player on your least favorite team.  thanks bobby.

2008 upper deck takashi saito star attraction

i think card companies have learned their lesson.  hideo nomo was an anomaly.  thanks to nomo's fantastic performance in 1995, i have suffered through a ridiculous number of kaz ishii cards, including many short prints.  thankfully, there are fewer cards of saito and even less of hiroki kuroda. 

here's a 1996 fleer flair greg gagne card

gagne was entered into the twins' hall of fame last year.  this year the inductee is jim perry.  not long before brad radke, scott leius and butch wynegar get the call, i guess. 

another shortstop, cesar izturis on a 2003 upper deck first pitch card

seizure is still playing, i believe.  he is the classic 1970s style shortstop and must rue the day that cal ripken altered our perception of that position.

yet another shortstop, although he moved to first base when he joined the dodgers, it's nomar garciaparra on a 2006 fleer tradition card

looks like nomar forgot his red sweatband and is wearing blue instead.  luckily it's only a spring training game.
here's another 2006 fleer tradition card, this one belongs to tim hamulack

i like to say 'hamulack' like yoda, as in 'nice this easter buffet is, but ham-u-lack'.  thank you, i'm here all week.

finally, here is the 2010 bowman chrome jerry sands card

at 6'-4", 225 pounds, sands hit 35 home runs in the minors last year (a/aa) and may well make the club next year.  he tore it up this spring, and is the reigning dodger minor leaguer of the year.  i can't wait to see him in left or at third next year.  take note that dodgerbobble already predicted roy honors for sands in 2012.  here's hoping!

thanks ted!

a managerial evolutionary update

don mattingly has officially become the ninth man to serve as manager of the dodgers in my lifetime.  that means it's time to update my previous 'evolution of the manager' post.

don mattingly (2011-?)

donnie baseball was victorious in his first two games as manager, but was pounded in his third game.  the wins probably had more to do with the play of clayton kershaw and matt kemp, but the loss i think could be pinned more squarely on the managers' shoulders.  in game 3 of the season, even though it was a saturday day game following a night game, mattingly trotted out the following lineup:
aaron miles - 3b
ivan dejesus - 2b
andre ethier - rf
matt kemp - cf
james loney - 1b
hector gimenez - c
xavier paul - lf
jamey carroll - ss
i feel for ted lilly.  if that is our regular sunday lineup, we are in trouble.  i didn't even realize miles and gimenez were on the team.

anyway, mattingly is now a member of a pretty cool club, one that features some pretty good managers.  here's hoping he becomes one of them.

todd hollandsworth through the mail successes!

the dodgers are in the midst of their longest stretch without having a rookie of the year ever.  jackie robinson won the very first award in 1947 (when there was just one award), and don newcombe won the first ever national league roy award two years later in 1949.  since then, the dodgers had never gone more than 9 years without one of their players winning the honor, and they've had consecutive winners 3 different times.  the last time around, they had 5 straight winners - eric karros, mike piazza, raul mondesi, hideo nomo and todd hollandsworth.

hollandsworth is the last dodger to receive the award, and he somewhat narrowly edged out edgar renteria in 1996 to do so. he also took the time to sign and return three cards for me over the past couple of years.  here's his 1996 topps card,

his 1998 topps card,

and his 2000 fleer tradition card

todd was traded to colorado during the 2000 season, and i was happy to see him win a ring with the marlins in 2003.

strangely enough, i have sent him his 1997 topps card (with the rookie cup) a couple of times in between these successes, and he for whatever reason hasn't sent that one back.  that's ok - i don't need the rookie cup to remember the last dodger to win the rookie of the year.

i just wish ned had given kemp a shot to play a full season as a rookie instead of signing lofton and jones and screwing up any chance he had at the award.  this year i guess i am rooting for ivan dejesus jr to win a starting spot and dethrone that giant from his roy perch.

thanks holly!

happy bday to a pair of dodgers from the team of my youth

i remember during the late '90's there was a lot of talk about how jeff bagwell and frank thomas were born on the same exact day.  two hall of famers sharing the same birthday is kind of interesting, but the 1978 dodgers (actually from 1977 through 1980) had a similar thing going on.

both don sutton and reggie smith were born on april 2, 1945.  to celebrate, i will direct you back to a recent post i wrote about sutton, and show you my perfect 1976 topps reggie smith card that he was kind enough to sign and return to me a while back.

as an aside, you might notice that the header and blog name are back to normal.  'garvey cey russell sax'

has gone the way of other unnoticed april fools jokes, not that i don't love me some steve sax.  he really was my favorite player once garvey went to san diego.  still, i prefer to focus on the longest tenured infield in major league history.

happy birthday don and reggie!

introducing steve sax

first of all, let me say how awesome it was to see davey lopes back in dodger blue last night.  secondly, let me acknowledge how strange it was to see him wearing number 12!  i will have to avoid looking at his jersey number so as not to ruin the number association thing i have going on in my head.

lastly, let me say that it's time that i turn my focus, as i did in 1982, to a different member of the infield.  i give you the 1982 national league rookie of the year, steve sax.

when davey lopes was traded to the a's after the 1981 world series, i didn't know what to think.  once the following season began, it didn't take long for me to buy in to his replacement, though.  once garvey left, saxy became my favorite dodger, which made sense because i was starting to play more second base than anywhere else on the various teams i was playing for.

sax has been a target for ttm ever since i started sending cards out for autographs, and until recently i had come up empty each time.  then, out of the blue, he started signing.  he has signed a bunch of cards for me, including his rookie card trifecta - 1982 donruss

1982 fleer

and 1982 topps

i guess i won't be sending this one to ron roenicke.  that's ok, because i had already purchased a version signed by all three guys, complete with a steve sax fingerprint

he also signed a 1985 topps

1986 fleer (double play alert!)

1986 topps

1987 topps

1988 topps

and a 1989 fleer 1988 world series insert

the 1988 world series was sax's swan song as a dodger.  he hit an even .300 in that series after starting the dodgers' improbable year with a lead off home run against the giants.

i don't even mind having cards of sax as a yankee, like this 2005 upper deck yankees classics card

even though the infield of garvey cey russell sax was only together for one season, it's worth celebrating.  so - it's a new season, time for a new header and a new focus on the infield of 1982.

saxy!