more dime box double plays by proxy

earlier today i showed a hall of fame third baseman turning two, thanks to nick of dime boxes.  now, here's a very good hitting third baseman also turning two.  again, the card comes courtesy of nick (as do the rest of the cards in this post), but this time the subject is gary sheffield on a 1991 fleer ultra card.

looks like carney lansford has broken up the dp attempt.  but wait, you say.  sheffield played only third base in 1990, and only appeared at shortstop in 1988 and 1989. well, thanks to the number on sheffield's jersey, we know that this photo is from one of those two seasons (he switched to 11 for the 1990 season).  i would guess that the featured play took place on mother's day 1989 - may 14.  in the second inning, lansford reached on a single but was forced out (3-6) on a stan javier grounder.

less interesting, but still a turn at two, here is a 2004 fleer tradition d'angelo jimenez card

a 2005 fleer ultra david eckstein card

a 2007 topps omar vizquel card

a 2008 topps opening day mark loretta card

a 2010 topps jason bartlett walmart black card

a 2012 topps mike aviles card

a 2012 topps reid brignac target red card

a 2012 topps stephen drew card

and, finally, a 2013 topps ian desmond target red card

thanks again for being my dime box proxy nick!

double play dime box proxy

i have not made it to too many card shows (just one?) this past year, and so my dime box digging has not been occurring at any sort of respectable pace.  luckily, i have nick from dime boxes to help out.  he recently sent over some nice double play turns for the collection.

this 1994 ted williams mike schmidt card could also fit in my 'tatooine' collection.

minor league shortstop mike schmidt.  baseball reference tells me that schmidt turned one double play as a member of the eugene emeralds in 1972.  this may well be that play.  just fantastic.

the rest of these cards will pale in comparison, but are still worth showing off.

1994 topps stadium club luis alicea

1995 score juan bell

a mess of 1997 pacific - kurt abbott

esteban beltre

that double play maestro, brent gates

kevin stocker

1999 topps stadium club scott spiezio

2000 fleer impact warren morris

2002 topps frank catalanotto

2003 topps total tony womack

and 2004 upper deck craig counsell

thanks for the cards nick!  i'll be showing more dime box goodies throughout the day...

tony perez goes out in style

while i was getting ready to post about the 1978 topps dodgers as they appeared in 1987 (there are a few 'final tributes' afoot), i came across this 1987 fleer tony perez card.

it first appealed to me because of the dodger stadium background (which always enhances a card), but then i realized that it was perez's lone final tribute card.  neither topps nor donruss issued a card for the big red machine rbi man in 1987. only 15 men had driven in more runs than perez when he retired, and even now he still ranks in the top 30 all-time.  here are most of perez's career stats - the totals are correct, but 1964, '65, and '66 are missing from the year-by-year rows

stay tuned for more 1987 final tributes coming later this week.

meanwhile, on tatooine...

...a new mini collection is begun.  i have set aside cards in the past that feature backgrounds of nothing but dirt.  the best example of this, of course, is the 1971 topps brooks robinson card which i have shown before.  i've also featured a few others over the years, but this is the first time i have dedicated a single post to these types of cards.

here are a few.

2006 upper deck juan dominguez

the pitching mound tatooine card might be the rarest of them all.

2010 topps ronny cedeno

a double play on tatooine!

most of these cards will feature players running the bases.  for example, 2011 topps freddy sanchez (gold parallel)

1996 donruss roberto kelly

1996 donruss jose offerman

and 2008 bowman andre ethier (gold parallel)

sometimes players will be sliding into bases, like shane mack on his 1991 upper deck card

or brady clark on his 2004 topps card

 or michael brantley on his 2011 topps card

and, sometimes players will be at the bat, like jody gerut on his 2004 topps card

or fellow indian victor martinez on his 2006 topps card.

i am not sure if i have seen a warning track tatooine card yet.  anyway, feel free to send me these types of cards in trade, along with dodgers, double plays, memorials, vladdys, etc.  the list seems to keep growing.  but stay out of mos eisley spaceport - you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.  kind of like the giants' roster.  bam!

by green lantern's light

hey! it's halloween and the first official day of the postseason!  one of those things means that kids will be ringing my doorbell looking for candy.  the other means that pretty soon, a bunch of men will be ringing ned colletti's doorbell looking for a taste of the dodger money stream.

i don't think there will be too many kids dressed as green lantern this year (plenty of iron men though), but raul mondesi's 1996 score insert here made me think of hal jordan perhaps facing off against sinestro while mondy tried to figure out what base to throw to.

it also reminds me that at around 9:30 tonight, there will be some high school aged kids using their baseball uniforms as costumes. nice try.  hope you like raisins.

what does craig paquette have up his sleeve?

some might think that craig paquette was the embodiment of the southern california dude back in 1996. it makes sense - he had his tan, his wraparound shades, his blond hair, and his pearly whites, but he also had something else.  the socal native had a fan who would give him things to put up his sleeve before games.  here, on paquette's 1997 upper deck collector's choice card, we are given a glimpse of the scene immediately following one such transaction.

now, what could paquette be putting up his sleeve?  and why?  well, now, for the first time, we are able to understand thanks to recently discovered photo variations of the card.  take a look.

interesting.  that looks like a tree.  it's as if the unidentified fan is telling paquette to put a tree in his sleeve.

that's weird.  that's a transformer action figure - bumblebee, i believe.  i guess i should know, but i was too busy looking at megan fox to really have understood what was going on in that movie.  but yes, it is bumblebee.  so, paquette has also put bumblebee in his sleeve.

ok, now this is strange.  a clock?

a big rock?

and now some fleas?  what would paquette have to gain by putting a bunch of chili pepper bassists in his sleeve?  i wonder if the chili peps would make him start to sneeze in his sleeve.

that's a tin can

and that's a little tiny man, both put in paquette's sleeve.

now a light?  would that make it bright in his sleeve?

a tv?

who is this fan, anyway?

oh.

i get it.

it's the boogie.  paquette's got the boogie in his sleeve.

well, the boogie did paquette good in 1996, as he led the royals in home runs (22) and rbi (67).  i would never have guessed that paquette had ever hit that many dingers, but when you've got the boogie, i suppose anything is possible.

[this work of fiction is my entry in round 1 of nachos grande's blogger bracket challenge.  if you want to see more things craig paquette may or may not have put up his sleeve (such as a frown, a clown, a boat, moat, or even a mink coat), then cast your vote accordingly]

hooray for hollywood! and triple threads, too, i suppose.

today is the day - the day that topher at crackin' wax busts his case of 2013 topps triple threads.  i took the dodgers, and i am hoping for some nice hits.  perhaps something along the lines of this 2011 topps triple threads card i recently acquired.

that's steve garvey, duke snider, sandy koufax, clayton kershaw, andre ethier, and matt kemp all on the front.  here's the guts of the card

with another look at the front and back

garvey seems a bit out of place on the card - gil hodges or pee wee reese might have made more sense - but i am in no way complaining.  this is one of a few new-ish additions to my garvey collection which will slowly make their way to a post or several.  for now, i'm hoping to post some cool stuff from 2013 triple threads in the very near future!