cards with stars and clouds and dodgers

here is the second installment of my recent trading frenzy with the rhubarb runner.  it's a wonder what some vintage twins and a couple of sticker autos will bring in return.  first up, a 2002 topps american pie american sluggers insert of the silver fox

this is one of the more obscured card in my blog's header.  it's right there under the 2004 topps robin ventura and the 2001 ud decade 1970's ron cey.  i feel badly that the duke is so slighted, but he is up there!

here's the first of two shawn green relics - this one is from 2004 upper deck diamond collection (i think)

it's not as cool as this 2001 playoff absolute memorabilia game used base card

featuring green playing baseball amongst the clouds.  what a wacky design.  almost as bad as this 2003 fleer ultra pee wee reese insert

apparently, it was a game when the players floated in the heavens.

back to earth and a 2002 upper deck insert featuring kevin brown

the insert set is called 'return of the ace'.  it kind of reminds me of the opening credits of 'game of thrones'.  without the fictional geography lesson.  on another semi-related note, i will be starting my 'evolution of the ace' series next week.  at some point, brown does show up on the chain of dodger yearly aces.

2004 fleer greats jackie robinson

this card, of course, reminds me of the book by lawrence ritter 'the glory of their times'.  although i prefer 'the image of their greatness' by ritter and donald honig. both are well worth your time, as is the collecting of jackie robinson baseball cards.  even the glut of cards put out by topps over the last couple of years, although it would be nice to see some different photos used.

2005 upper deck sweet spot dj houlton

one of the most interesting things that i know about dj houlton is that his middle name is sean.  i guess ds houlton just doesn't sound right.  actually, the dj stands for dennis junior which is quite sensible.  houlton pitched for the dodgers in 2005 and then again in 2007.  he moved on to japan in 2008, and is still pitching there today as far as i know.

just when you thought you had seen the last of 2011 topps update cognac cards, here comes jerry sands

hopefully sands is working on keeping his eye on the ball down in the minors this seaon.
 
i saved this card for last, only because it has a hated yankee on it.  it's from 2004 donruss leather & lumber

what saves it is the presence of duke snider.  duke and scooter faced each other in the world series 4 times, with the yankees winning three rings before the dodgers finally won in 1955.  duke hit .290 with 9 homers in those 4 series, while rizzuto hit .266 with no homers.  small consolation for the silver fox, i am sure.

thanks for the cards david!

emerald city dodger gems

larry over at emerald city diamond gems and the 1979 topps blog recently sent me some dodger cards.  here's the proof, starting with a 1979 tcma stars of the 50's george shuba

i don't have too many cards of shuba.  he is probably best known for shaking jackie robinson's hand at home plate after robinson homered for montreal, the dodgers' farm team in 1946.  he also was nicknamed 'shotgun' which meant the dodgers of the early 50's had a shotgun and the reading rifle in their lineup.

here's a 1981 fleer card of mickey hatcher

even when he's not doing something goofy on the front of one of his cards hatcher looks goofy.  nice to see dodger stadium and the dugout seats behind number 44.  next up is number 45, terry whitfield (who is also standing in dodger stadium), on his 1985 fleer card

the dodgers had brought whitfield back from japan for the 1984 season.  i was less than enthused, only because he had previously played for both the yankees and the giants.  yuck.

let's cleanse the palette with a 1986 topps card of orel hershiser

it's the tried and true vero beach shot.  one thing i don't miss now that the dodgers have moved spring training to arizona.

here's one of the dodgers' entries in the inagural upper deck star rookies subset from 1989

i think they had three - ramon martinez, juan bell, and william brennan.  brennan was the least successful of the three, appearing in a handful of games for the dodgers in 1988 and the cubs in 1993.  too bad, because i have a bunch of his cards.  he wore number 35 for the dodgers which i will always associate with bobby welch.  in fact, welch was barely gone to oakland before brennan was given the number.  that was crazy to me.

speaking of numbers, one day mike sharperson (seen here on his 1992 leaf card)'s number 27 will be retired by the dodgers

that's because it is now worn by matt kemp.  oh, hello alfredo griffin. i almost didn't see you in the background.  and what is that cub ballboy doing?

finally, there was a 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts significant swatch insert featuring none other than steve garvey

sure, the fabric is from his days in san diego, but it's the garv with fantastic blue forearms.

thanks larry - i'll get your cards out this week.

this ferrara is less xbox, more atara

hey - look at me! i'm hip, quoting (sort of) a song by that dude from 'the voice' with the tiny hands.  all to make a pun about former dodger outfielder al ferrara and this recent acquisition of mine - his 1967 topps high number card.

no disrespect to the bull, but i caved and bought a lower grade card than i would have liked in an effort to finish off my 1967 topps dodger needs.  rounded corners are probably my least favorite condition issue.  on the bright side, my want list is down to just one league leader card which i am 97% sure i already own - i just need to go dig through my retired star binders and find sandy koufax's pages.

1967 also happened to be ferrara's best season as a dodger, and it was also his last full year in dodger blue.  he appeared in only a handful of games with them in 1968 before being lost to the padres in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 campaign.  the card is number 557 in the set - the highest numbered dodger of them all.

welcome to the collection. go ahead and get comfortable -  i don't expect to upgrade anytime soon.

some dodger cards, in order

of course, the order is up to me.  these are some cards i received from the angels in order a while back.  good stuff, including this card which i had neither seen nor heard of.  it's a 1993 upper deck foldouts card of la's own darryl strawberry.  here are the front and back sides of the card:

i love that part of the text can stand today just as it was written back then - 'in his only healthy season with the dodgers (1991)...' - although shawn green obliterated the la dodger record for homers by a lefty.  here's the insides:

look at darryl put out some serious effort to catch the ball; going over the low railing in right field and fighting the fans!  here are some more docile fans hanging out on eric karros' 1997 topps card:

that card always makes me laugh because of fabio's throwing style - all elbows.  he probably played first base from a young age.

here's bill madlock on a 1987 fleer star sticker card that is also a sticker

the mad dog is playing it free and easy with his bat there in the photo.  if that's mike marshall standing behind him, i am guessing general soreness is about to miss a few games.

also going one-handed with his bat is tim wallach on this 1995 leaf card

i don't recall wallach subscribing to the 'windmill' swing that has been the topic of some discussion up here thanks to justin morneau, but i do remember vividly how mike piazza would finish off his swings one-handed.  just as he is shown on this 1995 upper deck collector's choice se card

(silver signatrue edition, that is).  not to be outdone, wilton guerrero (vladdy's little brother) also goes for a single handed approach, although he probably bunted the ball that is about to hit him on his way to first for an out on this 1998 topps card

that rookie cup was probably the peak of wilton's career.  i was pretty disappointed that he didn't pan out.  i am not disappointed with the cards i received, however.  i'll show one more - a 1997 upper deck collector's choice card of jackie robinson

it's not a final tribute, of course, but it does have jackie's career stats on the back and that fancy 'tribute' logo on the front.  the card is a nice reminder of the 50th anniversary of jackie's debut, and everybody was sporting the special jackie robinson patch back in 1997, even the angels.

thanks for the trade tom!

crinkly cards

thanks to crinkly wrappers, i am 9 cards closer to completing the 1971 topps set.

three managers, a hall of gamer, and some other sweet cards.  appropriate to showcase the mike cuellar and the world series highlight cards as i am finally getting around to the 1970 baltimore orioles post over at the timeless teams blog [shameless plug].

i also received some nice piazza's in the deal, including a couple of checklists - here's a 1995 score select

and a 1995 score summit

count me among those who think it is wrong for tim federowicz to be wearing number 31.  here's a third piazza, although not a checklist, from 1996 bazooka

i can't believe i have not featured a card from 2002 topps 206 on the blog before, but i guess i have not.  i am kinda sorta collecting that set although it is such a low priority that i don't have a want list up.  anyway, here's a shawn green insert from the set

i think this is from the 'team 206' insert set, and there are variations even within the inserts.  maybe that's why i haven't gotten too serious about collecting it.

there were also a trio of 2010 upper deck biography cards, including that fantastic orlando hudson one that celebrates the first dodger cycle since wes parker roamed the base paths

i really wish that the o-dog would sign dodger stuff.

here's manny being manny

and andre being andre

although i don't think going deep requires taking out the second baseman.  nice dodger stadium scene, though.

finally, a 2010 topps peak performance andre ethier insert.

ethier is playing at peak performance this year - averaging over an rbi per game.  i am always wary of big 'walk' years (see beltre, adrian) but hopefully magic can bring the money and get ethier re-signed.

thanks for the trade ted!

is that who i think it is?

i was digging through some 1984 fleer the other day, pulling cards for a potential trade, when i spied this al holland card.

now, anytime i see the padres represented on a card from this era, i hope against hope that steve garvey is the friar present.  sadly, garvey got no lurker love from the major card manufacturers.  he was too often hitting in to double plays rather than trying to break them up at second, which is where a lot of players make their uncredited cameos on other people's cards.  anyway, i thought that the next best thing would be that al holland's card featured a young tony gwynn.  off to baseball reference to find out!

on august 18, 1983, al holland entered a game at jack murphy stadium with one out in the bottom of the 8th and a runner on second.  that runner was none other than tony gwynn!  hold the phone, however, as holland returned to the mound in the 9th inning and allowed gene richards, garry templeton, and alan wiggins all to reach second base at some point.  there's also a chance that it could be ruppert jones from a game earlier in the season.  i am not sure of the wristband wearing habits of those other guys, but i know gwynn wore them.  still, it is inconclusive as to the lurker's identity.  not so on gwynn's own 1998 upper deck card, however.

that's steady eddie murray!  as an anaheim angel! in their crazy disney uniforms! the angels hosted the padres in june of 1997, and even though murray didn't play in the game, he was able to give some sort of super secret 3000 hit club handshake and curved glass sculpture to gwynn. and he smiled!  murray, of course, finished the 1997 season (his last in the bigs) with the dodgers, although he is shown as an angel on his 1998 upper deck card.  very disappointing.

and, since this is supposed to be a dodger-centric blog, here's a more definitive lurker sighting.  that's dodger first base coach hanging out in the background of miguel batista's 2004 topps card

i wish it were manny mota.  for all the years mota coached first, i don't know that i've seen him lurking on a card.

anything good on tv?

well, as vin scully says, 'for your enjoyment, dodger baseball is on the air!'  i picked up some nice 1955 bowman cards at the monthly card show but held them out of the previous posts for some reason.  perhaps i was planning some grandiose post featuring a 'this is your life' parallel or some other reference to what was on tv back then.  or maybe it was the fact that the cards boast the text 'color tv' which to me is nothing spectacular but back then was state of the art.  whatever the reason, it has escaped me.

here's pee wee reese

this card is fantastic.  there is an ink stain on the back, and that is the only reason i can muster as to why this card was in the vintage bargain bin and not under glass.  it's real purty.  on the back, we learn that pee wee believes stan musial to be the best hitter he has ever seen.  that's the same sentiment on the back of russ meyer's card

did you know that 'gunsmoke' debuted in 1955?  so did 'the mickey mouse club' and 'the honeymooners'.  the mad monk, on the other hand, made his final dodger appearance in 1955.  happy to report that he went out a winner.

here's jim gilliam

the 1953 nl rookie of the year played more outfield in 1955 due to the presence of another second baseman, don zimmer

both of these guys, and the other two at the top as well, appeared on tv as themselves in the 1955 world series.  according to wikipedia, that was the first year that the fall classic was broadcast in color.  i am guessing, however, that not too many people saw it that way as color tv's were certainly pricey in their infancy.  but, at least the kids could take the 1955 bowman cards out of their spokes and pretend.