one step closer (and one step back) to finishing off the garvey oddball binder

like many of you, i did some card shopping on black friday. i bought some cards on ebay and from check out my cards, and put in a sportlots order over the ensuing weekend.  one of the cards i bought from check out my cards was quickly inserted into the steve garvey oddball binder once it was delivered.  that would be this 1982 on deck disc

it looks a lot like the blank back msa discs from 1981 (which are actually the same thing as the peter pan/sunbeam discs i recently discovered), except these ones are not blank on the backs

there are still a number of garvey discs from the late 1970's that i don't own, and that's ok, although i currently have room for three more in my binder since this one is in a four-pocket page all by itself.  i'll probably do something about that eventually.

here's another sheet from the binder - it features a 1983 colorano silk cachet and a 1996 dodgers ticket

the cachet celebrates garvey tying billy williams for the national league consecutive games played record.  there's another one (that i could own for $1.98 right now on the bay if i really wanted it) that celebrates the next night's game (which i attended) when he broke williams' record.

the ticket stub comes from the 8/23/96 game against the mets.  i think these were the seats that my company had that i was able to use from time to time for free, usually on short notice.  there were four tickets, and sometimes only two or three of us would go to the game.  in this case, i decided to save the unused ticket that featured the first foursome to reach the 30 home run plateau in the same season.  the dodgers won the game 8-5, by the way.

the oddball binder is also home to the 1979 post raisin bran steve garvey's baseball tips set that i showed previously

it also contains the 1984 star set that reviews the garv's career through the 1983 season.  i've shown this set before, too, so it is featured here with no commentary.

what's left to show are non-certified autographs and cards that should have been.  here are a couple of oddball autographed items from a page in the binder

on the left is a 1983 padres postcard that i purchased in a lot of garvey stuff probably about 10 years ago, and on the first is a signed dodger sticker that is most likely from the late 1970's.  i got one as a kid that was signed by gerry hannahs, but i don't know where it is now.  the dodgers would have players sign these stickers at autograph stations before certain games.  these days, they have postcard type items printed up for the signers.

as for cards that should have been, here's one that bob lemke made - a 1955 topps football style card that features garvey in a michigan state spartan uniform.

that sits in an 8-pocket page all by itself.  we should get to the main garvey collection binders soon, unless i keep buying more oddballs to add (and post about) to the oddball binder.

the stuff of legends

so, i finally finished the 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams base set team subset posts over at the timeless teams blog yesterday.  the set sort of went out with a whimper with the 1995 yankees as the final team featured.  anyway, over the next couple of months, i plan to show some of the inserts from the release - numbered parallels, parallel autos, multi-player autos, and multi-player relics.  some will come from my collection, and others will be borrowed from the interwebs.

here's three from my collection that will be shown over there eventually, starting with the 1/1 davey lopes autograph

from the dodgers' 1974 team subset.  the '1 of 1' stamp was applied to the card after it was signed (i used to have a bert campaneris 1/1 that showed the stamp on top of the auto)

here's the back of one of the dodgers' multi-player 'team terrific' relics

featuring six members of the team of my youth

and here's the back of a gold parallel of george foster's 1979 card

see, it's not all about the dodgers all of the time.  with that said, does anyone have a gold parallel dodger card to spare?

the 1978 topps dodgers in 2008 through 2010 - once again, there is only one

try as i might, i couldn't think of any reason that a member of the 1978 topps dodgers should have been included in the 2007 topps flagship set.  there were no 'turn back the clock' cards that year, and dusty baker wasn't managing, so there are no cards that should have been to showcase.  however, dusty was hired by the reds following the 2007 season to be their manager, so he returned to the flagship in 2008 and beyond.

2008 topps dusty baker

baker took over for interim manager pete mackanin, and led the reds to a 74-88 finish in 2008.  that was a 2 game improvement over 2007, but the team remained in fifth place in the nl central.

2009 topps dusty baker

the reds climbed to fourth place in the nl central in 2009 with a 78-84 record.  the club was one game over .500 and two games out of first place on july 4, but the bottom dropped out of their season soon after.

2010 topps cincinnati reds team card

with dusty baker on the back

i guess this qualifies as the manager's card from 2010 topps, although topps used to put the manager on the front of the team card.  anyway, walt jocketty's faith in dusty was rewarded in 2010 as the reds were 91-71 and claimed the central division title.  they finished five games ahead of the cardinals, but were swept by the phillies in the nlds.

sadly, this is where the trail ends for members of the 1978 topps dodgers.  i'll have some cards that should have been of dusty chronicling his final few seasons as the reds' manager, but we may well have seen the last of the 1978 topps dodgers in the topps flaghsip sets.  if so, here's the final tally of appearances:

baker 27 (1971-1987, 1993, 2001-2006, 2008-2010)
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)

there were more dusty baker cards than tommy john cards, thanks to his managerial years.

teams represented: 25 (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, reds)

the blue jays, devil rays/rays (although bill russell did coach for tampa bay after he was fired by the dodgers), royals, twins, rockies, and diamondbacks are the only six franchises not represented, although the nationals could be added to the list since i counted the colt .45's and astros separately.  davey lopes was a coach for the nats, but obviously didn't get a card during that time.  so, until dusty gets another managerial gig and topps starts making managerial cards again, it's been fun documenting the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers!

a black armband for bob lemon

former yankee maanger and scout bob lemon died in january of 2000, and the team's owner george steinbrenner decided that the club would honor lemon by wearing black armbands for the 2000 season.  pitcher mike stanton's 2001 topps card gives a good view of the armband

as does jose canseco's 2001 fleer ultra card

well, not the front of the card - the back

i am not ashamed to say that i was a canseco fan, and his short tenure with the yankees really bothered me.  he was picked up on a waiver claim by the team who were trying to block the blue jays from landing him.  it didn't seem like the yankees expected the devil rays to just give canseco away, but they did and joe torre publicly expressed his confusion regarding brian cashman's move.  don't worry, though - i have a different card in the collection for this memorial.  it's derek jeter's 2001 fleer ultra card

 the captain looks pretty young there.

bob lemon was a third baseman who was converted to a hall of fame pitcher by the cleveland indians following world war ii.  although he was the team's center fielder at the beginning of the 1946 season (he was in the outfield for bob feller's no-hitter on april 30 against the yankees), manager lou boudreau decided to put him on the mound, and the rest is history.  following his retirement as a player, lemon began managing in the angels' minor league system and was chosen to replace charlie metro as the royals' manager during the 1970 season.  

lemon also managed the white sox before he was hired to replace billy martin as the yankees' manager towards the end of july, 1978.  the yankees were 52-43 at that point, 10.5 games behind the first place red sox.  they responded to lemon's presence (or was it martin's absence?) and went 47-20 the rest of the way to force a game 163 against the red sox for the al east title, wherein bucky freakin' dent happened.  lemon's yankees beat the dodgers in the world series that year, just as martin had done the year before, and his place in yankee history was secured.  still, lemon was fired and replaced by martin during the following season.

fast forward to 1981, and the boss was again playing musical chairs with his managers. he had lemon (who had been scouting for the team since his firing in 1979) replace gene michael with just 25 games left in the season and a postseason berth assured based on their first half finish in the strike-shortened year.  lemon again won the pennant, although this time the dodgers beat the yankees, thanks in part to lemon's decision to remove tommy john for a pinch-hitter early in game 6 that didn't pan out.  lemon was again fired (this time replaced by michael) early in the 1982 season, and he returned to his job as a scout which he kept until his death at the age of 79.

a memorial patch for chuck tanner

chuck tanner spent 8 years in the major leagues as an outfielder for the braves, cubs, and angels before embarking on a managerial career.  he managed in the angels' farm system from 1963-1970, leading their triple-a club to a 98-48 record in 1970, before he was hired by the white sox to manage in the majors.  tanner led the chisox through the 1975 season, and then managed the oakland a's in 1976.  he was actually traded by a's owner charlie finley to the pirates for manny sanguillen prior to the 1977 campaign, and for nine seasons, tanner managed the bucs.  

when he passed away in february of 2011, the team decided to add a memorial patch to their uniform - a black circle with a yellow 'stargell star' and tanner's number 7 inside.  you can see the patch on neil walker's 2012 topps opening day card

here is is again on andrew mccutchen's sleeve on chase d'arnaud's 2011 topps update card

and it's there on brandon wood's 2011 topps update cognac parallel

since the walker card is in my double play binder, i've got this 2011 topps update card of former dodger xavier paul

representing the memorial in my collection. i think that's josh harrison that is also sporting the patch.

tanner, of course, was the manager of the 1979 world champion pirates.  that was the only team of tanner's that advanced to the postseason, although his clubs finished in second place in their division four times, including those 1976 a's and his first two pirate teams.  following a 104-loss season in 1985, tanner was fired, and so he finished his pirates' tenure highlighted by the world series win over the orioles in 1979 but tarnished by the drug trials that cast a bad light on his clubhouse with a 711-685 record.  he managed the braves in 1986, 1987, and part of 1988, and eventually returned to the pirates as an advisor to their general manager not too long before he passed away at the age of 82

sunday morning target dodgers - from abrams to zahn

let's go from a to z with this sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger set.

cal abrams

abrams was a part-time player who debuted as a dodger in 1949.  he peaked in 1951when he hit .280 in 67 games. with a fantastic obp of .419  the following year, the dodgers traded abram to the reds after he had appeared in just 10 games for the blue.  abrams was reportedly buried in his brooklyn dodgers uniform following his death in 1997.

jack billingham

billingham was 3-0 with 8 saves and a 2.14 era as a rookie for the dodgers in 1968, however, he was lost to the team when the expos selected him in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season.  montreal was forced to flip billingham to the astros before the season began because donn clendenon refused to report to houston after he was traded as part of the package that netted the expos rusty staub.  eventually, billingham made his way to the reds, where he won back-to-back world series titles in 1975 and 1976.

ben cantwell

cantwell's career began in 1927 with the new york giants, although he spent most of the next 10 years with the boston braves during which time he won 20 games once and also lost 25 games in a single season.  in 1937, he returned to the giants, but was claimed by the dodgers after one bad start.  with brooklyn, cantwell had no record as he appeared in 13 games, all as a reliever.

vic davalillo

davalillo was one of the professional pinch-hitters employed by the dodgers when i began my fandom.  he and manny mota filled that role on the dodgers (davalillo from 1977-1980), and it was davalillo's pinch-hit bunt that got things going with 2 outs in the 9th on black friday in philadelphia during the 1977 nlcs.

johnny gooch

gooch spent time with the robins during the 1928 and 1929 seasons. he was acquired by the robins via a trade with the pirates during the '28 season, and was traded away to the reds early in the '29 campaign.  as a robin, gooch played in 43 games and hit .314.

babe herman

the robins'/dodgers' babe.  one of them, anyway.  herman was a franchise double dipper who had his best years as a robin, hitting .381 in 1929 and a franchise record .393 in 1930, but finishing second in the batting average race both years.

john hummel

hummel, who played with the superbas/dodgers/robins from 1905 through 1915, was best known as being one of the first utility players in the major leagues.  he played everywhere but pitcher, catcher, and third base, and did spend a couple of seasons as brooklyn's primary second baseman.

max macon

macon joined the dodger system in 1939 following his first taste of big league ball in 1938 with the cardinals for whom he pitched and played the outfield.  he didn't appear as a dodger until 1940, and even then he played in just two games, both as a pitcher only (he was 1 for 1 at the plate, by the way).  macon returned to the majors as a dodger in 1942, and was used as a pitcher and pinch-hitter.  he pitched in 14 games and had an era of 1.93 while he pinch-hit 12 times and was 5 for 11 in that role.  macon pitched (and hit) for the dodgers again in 1943 before being selected by the braves in the rule v draft following the season's conclusion.

fritz ostermueller

ostermueller spent the first part of the 1943 season with the browns, but was traded to the dodgers in july.  he was 1-1 in 7 games for the dodgers over the remainder of the season, and was 2-1 in 10 games for the dodgers in 1944 when he was dealt to the pirates at the end of may.

paul popovich

popovich was traded to the dodgers by the cubs for lou johnson following the 1967 season.  he spent 1968 with the dodgers, playing in 134 games and batting .232.  the dodgers traded popovich to the expos a couple of months into the 1969 season in the deal that brought manny mota and maury wills to the dodgers (back to the dodgers in wills' case).  the expos flipped popovich to the cubs that same day, so popovich was around to witness the infamous collapse of leo durocher's cubbies.

dave sells

sells joins rick waits and davey lopes as players whose names make full sentences.  sells spent the majority of his career with the angels, pitching in 85 of his 90 big league games for the halos.  the other five were spent as a dodger during the last part of the 1975 season following a trade that sent jim brewer to the angels.  sells was 0-2 for walter alston's team in those five games, and he spent the following season in triple-a albuquerque.

bill skowron

skowron spent just one season with the dodgers - 1963 - and he helped his new team defeat his former club in the world series.  skowron hit .385 in the 1963 fall classic for the dodgers against the yankees, with whom skowron had won four rings, including the previous two seasons.  following the series, skowron was picked up by the senators who later traded him to the white sox.

rick sutcliffe

sutcliffe, who made his big league debut in 1976, was the first dodger to win the rookie of the year award since ted sizemore (1969) when he claimed it in 1979 (the longest stretch the dodger organization had ever gone without one of their players winning the award).  even so, sutcliffe seemed to be in tommy lasorda's dog house, and he was used mainly as a reliever the following two seasons.  sutcliffe trashed lasorda's office after being left off of the 1981 postseason roster, and was traded to the indians soon thereafter.

jimmy wasdell

wasdell was a member of the dodgers in 1940 and 1941.  he hit .289 in 171 games for the dodgers over those two seasons, and he saw some action in the 1941 world series as well.

geoff zahn

zahn was a member of the dodgers' famous 1968 draft class.  he made it to the bigs in 1973, going 1-0 in his six appearances that season.  in 1974, zahn pitched in 21 games for the nl champs, but did not appear in the postseason.  he started the 1975 season with the dodgers, but was traded to the cubs in the burt hooton deal early on.  i approve of that deal.

see you back next week with another sheet from the 1990 target dodgers set...