taking the trade train from p-town

tom from waiting 'til next year let me know that he had found some oddball dodger card, and asked if i would be interested. of course i would! so, the cards were sent my way, and my collection is all the better for it.

the package included some 'swell' cards, including actual swell cards, of which one was this 1990 swell baseball greats steve garvey card

i've got one in the garvey binders, but needed one for the dodger binders.  excellent.

there were also quite a few 1975 (some say 1976) sspc cards, such as willie crawford

crawford was traded after the 1975 season to make way for reggie smith in the outfield so i can't really complain about the dodgers not keeping him around, but he had some solid years as their right fielder.  crawford won a world series ring at the age of 18 in 1965, and helped the club return to the fall classic in 1974, too.  he almost became a double dipper as part of the team of my youth, but didn't make the club out of spring training in 1977.

there were a bunch of pacific legends, too, like this 1990 clem labine card

labine was a 2-time all-star and a key cog on the dodgers' 1955 world championship team, so i'm glad to see him get some cardboard appreciation.

here's a very cool 2009 tristar obak duke snider card

he's shown as a member of the fort worth cats, which puts this image from 1946.  snider spent that season with the dodgers' double-a affiliate, playing alongside future dodger coach monty basgall.

tom was kind enough to include an insert card of the reigning cy young award winner and mvp, clayton kershaw - a 2014 donruss diamond kings card

modeled after the 1984 version of the diamond king subsets.  you all know who the first dodger diamond king was, don't you? yes, it was steve garvey.

here's a 2012 bowman chrome prospect card of o'koyea dickson

he was a 12th round pick in 2011, and spent 2014 at double-a chattanooga.  will he make the jump to okc in 2015?  let's wait and see.

here are a couple more cards from the package that may not otherwise have warranted a scan - 1994 donruss billy ashley

and 1987 donruss brian holton

this may well be the first time anyone has bothered to scan a 1987 donruss brian holton card.  you're welcome.

thanks for the cards tom!

dodger stadium playing peek-a-boo

here are some cards that feature dodger stadium in the background.  please enjoy.

1999 topps gary sheffield

i am a fan of the low fence in the outfield corners, although i wish they had left it alone during the most recent renovations. now it's a solid structure as opposed to the way it used to be.  here it is again on chris stynes' 1999 topps card

and that of dmitri young as well.

2000 bowman kevin brown

and 1999 upper deck ultimate victory steve finley

with the outfield murals.  much better than the advertisements that adorn the outfield walls today.

1990 topps hills hit men kirk gibson

gibby is hitting in the same spot as reggie jackson did in the 1980 all-star game or 1981 world series.  either could be pictured on this 2011 topps marquee card

it's either 1980 or 1981 based on the black armband.

here's a 2000 upper deck card of bruce aven

showing the batter's box from a slightly different angle.  looks like angel pena lurking there in the background.

winter is in full force here in the north, so i am looking a bit more longingly at these images of sunny chavez ravine.  four more months...

the 1978 topps dodgers in 2003 through 2006 - there was only one

one would have thought that with dusty baker's contract to manage the giants expiring in early november of 2002, and his subsequent hiring by the cubs on the 16th of that month, topps could have shown baker as a cub in their 2003 flagship set.  no dice - he showed up still as the manager of the giants.

the giants had hired felipe alou to replace baker a couple of days earlier, so it's not like there would have been a void in the set that baker needed to fill.  of course, the real reason is that back then, series one was released in november and so we have a bonus card of baker in a giant uniform.

thankfully, topps was sure to include baker in a cubs uniform in their 2003 traded set.

the cubs won 88 games under baker in 2003, good enough (by one game) to win the nl central title and advance to the postseason.  it was the first division title for the cubs since 1989, and baker had them sitting with a 3 games to 1 lead in the nlcs, but the marlins came back to win the final three games of the series and deny the cubs their first pennant since 1945.

baker returned to the cubs in 2004 (here's his 2004 topps card with a familiar photo)

and the team acutally improved, winning 89 games that year.  unfortunately, that was only good enough for third place in the nl central, 16 games behind division champ saint louis, and 3 games behind wild card champ houston.

in 2005, topps thankfully changed the photo they used for baker's card

and the cubs slipped to below .500.  they had a record of 79-83 and finished fourth in the division, 21 games behind the cardinals.

dusty was in the fourth year of his four year deal in 2006 (here's his topps card from that year)

and the cubs fell even further in the standings.  they finished dead last in the division at 66-96, although they were 'only' 17.5 games behind saint louis that year.  as a result of the poor showing, baker was not re-hired by the cubs.  he wasn't hired by anyone else, either, and spent 2007 as an analyst for espn.  that meant that, for the first time since the early 1960's, there were no members of the 1978 topps dodgers playing or managing in the major leagues.  thankfully, that would change in 2008.

here is the yearly tally of appearances to date:

baker 24 (1971-1987, 1993, 2001-2006)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 16 (1972-1987)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 16 (1972-1987)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 18 (1971-1987, 2002)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 15 (1972-1986)
hough 23 (1972-1994)
john 26 (1964-1989)
lacy 16 (1973-1988)
lasorda 19 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1993)
lopes 18 (1973-1988, 2001-2002)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 14 (1972-1981, 1991-1993, 2001)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 16 (1975-1990)
russell 18 (1970-1987)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 10 (1974-1984)
sutton 23 (1966-1988)
yeager 15 (1973-1987)

teams represented so far: 24 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers, padres, brewers, mariners, marlins)

the 1978 topps dodgers in 2002 - who would have thought steve garvey would return?

these posts detailing the cardboard evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers have included only the topps flagship and traded sets.  i once considered adding donruss, fleer, and upper deck flagships, but they weren't around in 1978 so i chose not to.  of course, the topps traded sets weren't around in 1978 either, but i made a decision to consider the traded cards as part of the evolution.  as a result, steve garvey returns to the posts, thanks to this who would have thought? insert from 2002 topps traded

i was really excited to have another topps card of the garv, even if it celebrates his signing with the padres following the 1982 season.  i think i have mentioned it before, but i was in a card shop in early november, 1982 when the news came out that the deadline for re-signing garvey prior to the free agent draft had passed and that he would most likely be signing elsewhere.

there were two other members of the 1978 topps dodgers that were featured on cardboard in 2002, both in the flagship set, and both managers - davey lopes and dusty baker.

davey lopes

in 2002, lopes began his third year as the brewers manager.  it didn't last long - he was fired after 15 games, with the brew crew sitting on a 3-12 record.  it's a good thing the managerial cards weren't in series 2!  lopes returned to coaching with the padres, and also coached for the nationals and phillies (he was featured on a coach's card in 2009 topps heritage) before returning to the dodgers as their first base coach.  i'm holding out hope that topps brings managers back to the flagship set and goes with a 1973 or 1974 type setup that shows the coaches so that lopes can make it back into these posts.

dusty baker

2002 was a big year for dusty.  his giants finished the season with a record of 95-66, although they were, for the second year in a row, in second place in the nl west behind the diamondbacks.  unlike 2001, however, the giants' record was good enough to win the wild card and secure a postseason entry.  in the nlds, the giants beat the braves (owners of the league's best record) in five games, and in the nlcs, the giants eliminated the cardinals in five.  the pennant was the first of dusty's managerial career, and only the third for the giants since they moved to san francisco in 1958.

in the world series, the giants faced mike scioscia's angels, and had a 3 games to 2 lead with a 5-run lead in the 7th inning of game 6, but the angels rallied (scott spiezio!) to force game 7.  baker had given the game ball to starter russ ortiz when he removed the pitcher from the game; a move that was somewhat ridiculed as it suggested that baker thought the giants had the series wrapped up.  i didn't have a problem with it because they should have been able to hold the lead - the 7th inning ended with the giants still leading 5-3 after spiezio's 3-run homer.  anyway, the angels won game 7 in anaheim which was fine with me because, even though i was a big fan of baker, i am a bigger fan of the dodgers which makes it difficult to root for their main rivals.

meanwhile, dusty wasn't a happy camper in san francisco, and the club's management allowed his contract to expire in november of 2002.  dusty wouldn't be out of work long, which meant that he wouldn't be excluded from the topps set(s) in 2003...

here is the yearly tally of appearances to date:

baker 20 (1971-1987, 1993, 2001-2002)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 16 (1972-1987)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 16 (1972-1987)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 18 (1971-1987, 2002)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 15 (1972-1986)
hough 23 (1972-1994)
john 26 (1964-1989)
lacy 16 (1973-1988)
lasorda 19 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1993)
lopes 18 (1973-1988, 2001-2002)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 14 (1972-1981, 1991-1993, 2001)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 16 (1975-1990)
russell 18 (1970-1987)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 10 (1974-1984)
sutton 23 (1966-1988)
yeager 15 (1973-1987)

teams represented so far: 24 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers, padres, brewers, mariners, marlins)

some 1978 topps dodgers returned to the flagship in 2001

topps finally began printing cards of managers in 2001, after not quite a decade of neglect.  as a result, there were offical topps cards of three members of the 1978 topps dodgers to add to my collection.

first up, davey lopes.

lopes had spent his time since retiring as a player coaching for the rangers, orioles, and padres before getting the call from the brew crew to become their manager for the 2000 season.  here's the back of lopes' card, which i scanned because he's blowing a bubble

which he has been known to do, from time to time.  of course, it was rick rhoden, and not lopes, who represented the dodgers back in the bubble blowing contest of 1975.  back to baseball - the brewers regressed in lopes' second year at the helm, finishing at 68-94 (five games worse than they had been in 2000) and in fourth place of the nl central.

dusty baker

baker's giants finished the 2001 season at 90-72, good enough for second place in the nl west, 2 games behind the eventual world champion diamondbacks, and 3 games behind the wild card champion cardinals.  dusty had his team 2 games out with 3 to play when the dodgers rolled into town for the final series of the season, and the blue won the first two games of the series to seal the giants' fate.

johnny oates

it was oates, by the way, that lost to kurt bevacqua in that 1975 bubble blowing contest.  i don't know if he was still blowing bubbles in 2001, but oates was still managing the rangers - for the first few weeks of the season, anyway.  the rangers got off to a slow start in 2001, despite having signed alex rodriguez to the richest contract in history up until that point.  oates was on shaky ground (the owner had said as much), and the team had a record of 11-17 and a 5 game losing streak when oates resigned on may 4, 2001.  just a few months later, oates began having difficulty speaking and was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor.  oates eventually lost his fight with cancer on december 24, 2004.

here is the yearly tally of appearances to date:

baker 19 (1971-1987, 1993, 2001)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 16 (1972-1987)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 16 (1972-1987)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 17 (1971-1987)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 15 (1972-1986)
hough 23 (1972-1994)
john 26 (1964-1989)
lacy 16 (1973-1988)
lasorda 19 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1993)
lopes 17 (1973-1988, 2001)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 14 (1972-1981, 1991-1993, 2001)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 16 (1975-1990)
russell 18 (1970-1987)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 10 (1974-1984)
sutton 23 (1966-1988)
yeager 15 (1973-1987)

teams represented so far: 24 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers, padres, brewers, mariners, marlins)

a memorial patch for darryl kile

tomorrow would have been darryl kile's 46th birthday, but the right-handed pitcher passed away during the 2002 season while a member of the saint louis cardinals.  the team was in chicago facing the cubs when kile was found in his hotel room, dead of a heart attack.  the game that was scheduled for that day, june 22, was postponed.  soon thereafter, the cardinals added a "dk 57" patch to their left sleeves in kile's memory.

here's the patch on jim edmonds' 2003 upper deck sp authentic card

edmonds has also written "57" (kile's uniform number) on his hat, just as some of kile's former astro teammates had done.

the patch is also visible on scott rolen's 2003 donruss estrellas card

and this albert pujols mini poster from the same release

the patch also shows up on pujols' 2004 topps card

with the jack buck memorial patch visible on his right sleeve.  

the card that i keep in my memorials binder is this 2003 donruss scott rolen card

it's the home whites.

kile spent several seasons with the astros before signing with the rockies as a free agent following a 19-7 season in which he posted a career best era of 2.57 - third best in the league in 1997.  still, kile was well thought of in houston, and his initials are part of a permanent memorial to him in left field at minute maid park.

after two years in colorado, he was traded to the cardinals where he had his best season in 2000.  he was 20-7 that year, finishing 5th in the cy young award voting just as he had in '97. he was a 3-time all-star who also threw a no-hitter for the astros in 1993, and had a career record of 133-119.  kile was 33 years old when he died.

a memorial patch for jack buck

jack buck, who had been a broadcaster for the cardinals for more than four decades, succumbed to lung cancer on june 18, 2002.  the redbirds added a patch featuring his initials, "jfb" to their right sleeves in his honor.  fernando vina is sporting the patch on his 2004 topps card

as is jd drew on the front

and back

of his 2003 upper deck victory card.  

jason isringhausen's 2004 upper deck vintage card

provides a good look at the patch, along witih the 'chalk on the cap' memorial for darryl kile that some players wore immediately after the pitcher passed away.

the patch is also visible on edgar renteria's 2003 donruss card

on which he is turning two, but it's a different renteria card that represents this memorial in my binder.  his 2003 upper deck 40 man card gives a good view of the patch

buck passed away just a few days before cardinals' pitcher darryl kile died suddenly (kile also received a memorial patch from the team - i'll cover that later today), ending a hall of fame broadcasting career that included not only cardinal broadcasts, but national baseball broadcasts, nfl, nhl, and aba broadcasts as well.  he began his career with the cardinals in 1954, and aside from a couple of years (1959-1960), buck remained part of the cardinals' broadcast team into 2001.  he was teamed with harry caray in the 1960's, taking over for caray as the play-by-play man in 1970.

as a dodger fan, i am well aware of buck's famous call of ozzie smith's home run in the 1985 nlcs ("go crazy folks") and of kirk gibson's home run in game 1 of the 1988 world series ("i don't believe what i just saw").  the latter came on the national stage with buck providing play-by-play for cbs radio.  he also did television coverage for cbs of other fall classics, including the 1991 world series between the braves and the twins in which he followed kirby puckett's game 6 series extending home run with another famous call, "and we'll see you tomorrow night!"  buck was 77 years old when he died.