i was wondering, how often do the dodgers trade within the division?

neither of the two deals the dodgers made at the non-waiver trading deadline (three if you count the juan rivera deal) involved teams within the nl west.  i know that deals with the giants are pretty rare, but decided to see about the other teams in the division.  just how often have ned, depo, the sherriff, dan evans, fred claire, and al wheeled and dealed with their nl west counterparts?

the dodgers have made 5 trades with the arizona diamondbacks, the most recent being the one that brought jon garland to la (the first time) in 2009.  other deals have included jettisoning shawn green, picking up elmer dessens (also the first time), and getting steve finley for, amongst others, koyie hill.

(who signed and returned his 2002 topps traded card for me a couple of years ago from chicago where he was playing for the cubs).

there have also been 5 trades between the dodgers and the rockies.  the last one, from a year ago, brought octavio dotel to la for his short stint. 

other notable deals included tom goodwin for todd hollandsworth, eric young (returning to la), and jody reed bringing his contract savvy-ness to la in 1992.

with the padres, the dodgers have made only 3 trades.  the first, in 1969, netted al mcbean for a couple of players, and the second brought manly-monikered jim bruske north to la. 

the latest deal between the two teams, made in 2008, saw greg maddux rejoin the dodgers after a brief exile in san diego.

the dodgers and giants have made a couple of dozen deals, but only 3 since the teams moved out west.  the dodgers acquired tom haller from the no-cals in 1968 for ron hunt and nate oliver, and then traded candy maldonado for alex trevino in 1985.  the last deal between the two teams was in 2007 when the dodgers got mark sweeney

for travis denker.  i think denker came back to the dodgers last year as a free agent.

the d-backs and rockies haven't been around too long, and the giants are the hated rivals, but i was surprised at how few trades have been made between the dodgers and the pads.  heck, the dodgers have traded 8 times with the 'cross-town' angels. not that i care too much, i can't even name more than one or two padres players these days.

topps or o-pee-chee?

it's time once again to play that age old game - topps or o-pee-chee?  take a look at what i like to call the greg shanahan rookie card from 1974.  dave freisleben (a don martin character's last name if i ever heard one) is shown in a padres uni but is affiliated with 'washington'.

then there is this version, in which freisleben is listed as a padre.

which is topps and which is o-pee-chee?

while you ponder, i will point out that this is shanahan's only card.  he had debuted in september of 1973 against the giants and in his one inning of relief on september 3, he retired all three batters he faced, including striking out willie mccovey for his first career k.  shanahan pitched in 6 other games over the final month of the season, earning his lone career save in his last 1973 appearance.  he also made it to the plate twice.  his first career at-bat resulted in a hit by pitch courtesy of fred norman.  the second time he came to the plate, he struck out against someone named fred snook of the washington nat'l league san diego padres.

shanahan pitched again for the dodgers in 1974, appearing in 4 games over august and september.  he finished on a decent note, but never appeared in the majors again.

back to the cards.  i am sure you are aware  that they are both topps issues.  i guess it was such a sure thing that the padres were going to move to washington dc for the 1974 season that topps printed the cards with the 'washington natl league' moniker instead of 'san diego padres'.  they also issued the cards with the san diego designation, and i believe that the washington cards are considered the variations.

of course, if you've been following the goings on over at my other blog oh my o-pee-chee!, you would know that the only variations in the 1974 o-pee-chee set are the hank aaron specials and the displacement of a few other cards.

anyway, here is the actual o-pee-chee card

i have two copies of the o-pee-chee version.  freisleben is with 'washington' on both because, unlike topps, o-pee-chee did not issue a san diego version.  all of the other padres, however, are listed as such as o-pee-chee did not do washington variants for those cards. confusing at best.

let's turn two!

it's been a while since i posted a bunch of double play cards.  these cards were once a way for me to appreciate non-dodgers and at the same time, recall the pure joy of turning a double play.  i even wrote a double play themed entry for a local literary workshop that was seeking baseball themed haiku a few years back:

a pitcher's best friend

is not diamond or dog

it's a double play

sadly, there have been so few lately that i have bothered to get excited about.  where have you gone, 1971 topps cookie rojas?  well, this 2010 bowman erick aybar is pretty cool.

i believe that's alex rodriguez sliding in. i'm sure he also tried to slap the ball away or maybe even reached up to punch aybar in the nuts as he was sliding by.

this 2008 upper deck first edition aaron hill is one of those mundane cards i was referring to above

and this 2008 topps damion easley is just about the worst double play card there is

how he can stand there like that after turning two without getting his leg snapped like tsuyoshi nishioka is beyond me.  shame on that yankee (robinson cano?) sliding in.
here's bobby hill on a pretty decent 2003 upper deck 40 man card

not sure why the guy sliding in is blurred out.
angel berroa's 2005 upper deck card is ok

and miggy's 2006 upper deck issue is not bad either

here's a 2001 fleer triple crown card of adam kennedy getting just enough air to clear eric chavez

and here is kennedy on his 2002 fleer ultra card at the point of touchdown.

extra points for a three-point stance using just one foot.

fellow angel gary disarcina gives good dp on his 1999 upper deck card

as does neifi perez

although i am not a fan of seeing just legs of a guy sliding in.  it seems incomplete to me.

finally, scott spiezio delivers what a double play card should on his 1999 upper deck card

airborne, the hapless force out is fully visible, and we even get to see the ball on its way to first to complete the twin killing.  that's more like it.

he gone?

if the rumors are to be believed, and this is the time of the season to believe in rumors, rafael furcal is headed to st. louis.

maybe theriot will come back this way?  at least davey lopes can get his number back.

zuckered in - garvey cey russell lopes is now on facebook

yup. you can 'like' the page by clickling over there on the right, or you can become a fan of the site on facebook.  or both, i suppose.  jim perry seems happy about it.

i'm not sure what i will do on facebook - all the posting will still be here - but i figured it was time to reach out a little bit.

also, there is a new page on facebook called 'the topps traded 1975 project' that i wanted to more formally follow.  david, the proprietor of the site, had asked me a few weeks ago to create some cards that should have been, and may well have been if topps had issued a traded set in 1975.  the first few cards i made up were some dodgers, such as juan marichal

leron lee

(with tommy lasorda lurking!), charlie 'chuck' manuel

and burt hooton (burt hasn't been featured yet, so i won't post that card yet).

then, prior to the hall of fame weekend, david asked me to create a few more cards (he provided the photos, so most of the credit goes to him.  i just put it in the 1975 topps format and added the autograph).  here's jim rice

and dennis eckersley

the eckersley card is pretty cool, if i don't say so myself, but most of that is because of the photo david found somewhere online.

i also did a gaylord perry card which also hasn't yet been showcased, as well as the jim perry card you see at the top of the post.  for that card, i just used his actual 1975 topps card

and put him in the oakland yellows and greens.  it's not the best, but there are some pretty bad cards in the actual 1975 topps set, too.  the jim perry card that should have been has also made its way to the hardball times, which is pretty cool.

so, if you're on facebook, fan up!  and don't forget to check out the 1975 topps traded cards that should have been!

you might buy the grimes if you don't do the time

it's a relief to find out that a guy isn't featured as a dodger on a vintage card before you make the purchase.  the 1961 fleer burleigh grimes card had been on my nefarious 9 list for a while and i came close to buying it on ebay when i took a closer look at the card being offered (image pilfered from the internets). 

instead of the 'b' for brooklyn on the pinstriped uni (yes, the robins as they were known in grimes' day wore pinstripes) there was stylized text.  a quick review of grimes' uniforms courtesy of baseball reference confirmed that ol' stubblebeard is featured as a cub on that card. teamsets4u is usually pretty reliable, but it's always best to do some recon on your own.  i knew that the first card in the set, the home run baker/ty cobb/zack wheat checklist,

featured wheat, a dodger hall of famer (although he's in street clothes), even though that card is listed by teamsets4u down at the bottom and not within the team checklist.  i recently picked up that card, and as for the other 4 cards listed as dodgers, i own zack wheat's solo card, and the dutch leonard

which is strangely mis-cut.  leonard (not the one with the sub-1.00 era for the red sox in 1914) is probably better known as a washington senator, as he spent 9 years with them compared to 4 with brooklyn.  anyway, as far as i know, the only dodger i am missing is dolph camilli.  so, camilli has replaced grimes on the nefarious 9.  and yes, i have already confirmed that camilli is shown as a dodger.

are you ready for some football?

i'm not.  the end of july is supposed to be all about baseball and the trading deadline.  not football wheeling and dealing.  it's just not right, kind of like brian jordan's 1998 topps card (which he signed and returned to me sometime last year).

jordan hadn't played football since 1991, but topps still made him strike a pose 7 years later.  did they do this with deion sanders?  who cares.  the next year they did that awful hamburglar card for brian hunter.  but i digress. 

july 31 should be a national holiday, just like opening day.  this sunday, i shall camp out on the couch about an hour before the deadline, and not move until the commissioner's office has approved all of the day's wheeling and dealing.  not that i expect my dodgers to do anything this year.

as for jordan, he was only traded once in his baseball career.  that was in 2002, and it happened in january - not at the non-waiver trading deadline.  the braves sent jordan, andrew brown, and odalis perez to the dodgers for gary sheffield.  here's his 2002 topps traded card (also signed and returned)

which features a photo from the same at bat as his 2003 topps card (just like topps did for mike piazza's 1993 topps traded and 1994 topps cards)

maybe that dumb football shoot wasn't so bad after all.  at least it offered some variety.

jordan had a fantastic season for the dodgers.  he hit .289, scored over 90 runs, had 201 hits, 28 homers and 108 rbi.  too bad it took him 194 games over two years as a dodger to get those numbers. 

thanks for signing my cards, brian.  but i'm still paying football no mind until october.  or later.