pete broberg through the mail success!

pete broberg, who was never really a dodger, signed and returned a couple of cards for me last year.  this is a fact i was reminded of as i prepared a post regarding his 1979 o-pee-chee card for my other blog.  in fact, that was one of the cards he signed for me:

this card was a favorite of mine growing up.  i remember opening a pack of o-pee-chee that summer in southern saskatchewan and seeing the dodger team variation and feeling lucky.  it turns out, i was. 

you see, broberg was a member of the dodger organization for just about a month - a lucky month that coincided with o-pee-chee's production schedule.  he was signed as a free agent in march of 1979 and released on april 4th of that year, just before the season started.  he never appeared in a major or minor league game for the dodgers, nor anyone else after that, making this card a final tribute as well.

broberg also signed his 1978 topps card for me.

funny thing is, i remember his facsimile signature being on my highly treasured dodgers' 1978 nl champions pennant that hung on the wall of my bedroom for many years.  i finally figured out a couple of years later that the pennant was really just a 1979 dodgers team pennant with a reference to the previous year's team and their accomplishment, as it also included andy messersmith's auto and coach jim lefebvre's as well, both of whom weren't with the organization in 1978.

so, pete broberg was twice near and dear to my heart, even though he never quite was a dodger.

thanks pete!

1981 topps plays nostradamus

oh, if only i were wise enough to have decoded the prediction that topps had lay before me back in 1981.  it would have saved me a lot of worry.

look at steve rogers' card.  i mean really look at it.  study it.

he's not playing, he's posing.  he's in his home whites, foretelling that the event would happen in montreal.  he's staring into the distance, perhaps to the future as if his season were done.  it is getting dark, again indicating the end of the season.  he wears a forced smile, hinting at the pain that lies underneath. 

and what about rick monday's card?

monday is in full swing follow through.  he is wearing the away jersey.  the sun is shining and he is leaning slightly forward as if indicating the best is yet to come.

but wait, there's more.  here's the back of steve rogers' card

the cartoons both show us how steve spends his leisure time!  hinting that he would be enjoying the offseason.  we also see that rogers had not relieved in a game since 1978, and that he had only 2 relief appearances in his entire career.  note that rogers' card is number 725 in the set.  the penultimate card in the set.

look who was at 726.

the last man standing.

the prophecy was realized.

well done topps.  who's gonna be card 660 this year?

1982 fleer redux

it's not too often you run across an opportunity to recreate a semi-classic early 80's superstar special card.  or maybe it's just the effort that is lacking.  anyway, i decided to give a modern dodger twist to an old classic - it's not really a card that should have been, more of a card that still could be:

1982 fleer superstar special casey & blake

an homage, of course, to the 1982 fleer steve & carlton

not too bad, although the getty photo i used is not blurry enough to truly capture the 1982 fleer vibe.  enjoy!

eddie murray needs a bigger helmet

i am guessing that mickey hatcher or the batboy or whomever switched eddie's regular helmet with this one is about to receive a beat down.  don't let eddie's smile fool you - that would be a mistake.

that is all.

a tale of two (ttm) successes, and one failure

derrel thomas was a super-utility guy for the dodgers in the early 80's.  and i mean utility.  he even played catcher.  more than once. as in started games at catcher.  that happened in 1980, early in the season, when joe ferguson was hurt and steve yeager was also banged up and mike scioscia hadn't been brought up from albuquerque yet.  i attended the april 18 game against the astros in which thomas, at catcher, hit his only home run of the season.  so, i have always thought that derrel thomas was a cool dude.  even more so now, after he twice returned my cards signed in black sharpie.

1981 donruss

hey look, it's another 1981 donruss card with a photo from wrigley field. how original.

1981 fleer

looking good billy ray! feeling good lewis!

1981 topps

classic topps/dodger spring training photo

1978 topps

as a giant.  boo.

i recently tried a third time to get a couple more cards signed, including this awesome 1983 topps chris speier card with thomas as a lurker sliding in to second.

unfortunately, thomas has stopped signing ttm (for free, anyway) as my cards were returned (in my sase) unsigned, and i have seen a couple other folks report similar results.  i'm not at all bothered by it - it's certainly his right and i have no expectations when i mail cards out - especially since i already had 4 of his cards signed.

thanks derrel!

what hurts the most...

is that they were so close.  card manufacturers, that is.  i can't think of a single card issued that featured all four of the dodger infielders (alone) together.  no record breaker or highlight or retrospective card.  none.  there have been commemmorative sheets, sure, but no cards.  a few have come close, though.

anyone remember the 1981 topps scratchoff set?  three cards to a panel, and one of the panel combinations featured steve garvey, ron cey and davey lopes. 

bill russell wasn't included in the set.

how about 2001 upper deck decade 1970's?  surely the dominant infield of the 70's would get some completist representation, right?  almost.  here's the dodgers' 4 player bat card.

garvey cey russell monday just doesn't quite have the same ring to it.  monday wasn't even a dodger for the majority of that decade. 

then, in 2003, upper deck came out with their sp chirography set.  i drooled over the checklist - so many dodgers, and so many from the team of my youth - garvey, cey, russell, lopes, yeager, sutton!  surely there would be a gcrl card!  well, almost.  there was garvey russell and cey,

and garvey lopes and cey,

but no garvey cey russell lopes.

finally, in 2004, upper deck released their awesome legends set.  the theme of the set was 'timeless teams' and, appropriately, the 1970s era dodgers got a lot of attention.  all four of the infielders were included in the set, and i picked up three versions of this card - a six player game used card

featuring steve garvey, ron cey, bill russell and davey lopes, along with dusty baker and steve yeager. 

i even got one signed by the foursome. 

no disrespect to dusty or yeager, but it would have been nice for them to have been left off at least one of the print runs.

well, until i find a card of the infield, i am left to my own devices.  here is the 1981 topps scratch off card panel that should have been.

a man can dream, can't he?

where's the willie davis tribute?

while the dodgers' play so far this season has been disappointing, it's early yet.  in fact, i am more disappointed that they are not wearing any sort of patch or armband in honor of willie davis.  while they haven't been as visible as the yankees when it comes to honoring their dead, it wouldn't be without precedent.

i remember the dodgers wearing a patch with jim gilliam's number 19 during the 1978 world series (seen here on a davey lopes screen grab ), although that didn't carry over to the regular season.

they have also honored former coach don mcmahon in the latter part of the 1987 season, as seen on this 1988 score phil garner card.

mcmahon also worked as a scout for the team, but mainly threw batting practice before games.  he suffered a heart attack while doing so in july of 1987 and died later that day.

in 1993, the dodgers wore an arm patch with tim crews' number 52 on it as seen on this 1994 ud collector's choice brett butler card

tim crews pitched for the dodgers from 1987 through 1992.  in 1993 he signed with the cleveland indians and was with them in spring training when he accidentally drove his boat into a dock, killing himself and fellow tribe pitcher steve olin.  former dodger bob ojeda was seriously injured in the accident.

later in 1993, the dodgers also wore patches for two of their hall of fame players, roy campanella and don drysdale, who died within a week of each other.  raul mondesi's 1994 ud collector's choice card shows the patch with campy's 39 and big d's 53 on his right sleeve while the crews patch remains on the left.

campanella and drysdale both died of heart attacks, with drysdale's occurring in montreal where he was accompanying the dodgers on a road trip as one of their announcers.  i'll never forget when vinny broke the news during the july 4 game after drysdale's family had been notified.

after pee wee reese died in august of 1999, the dodgers wore a black 'pee wee 1' patch on their left sleeves, above the 'dodger heroes' patches they had been wearing all season long. you can see the patch (sort of) on this 2000 ud mvp eric gagne card,

as well as this 2000 upper deck victory jeff shaw card, particularly in the inset photo.

reese, another hall of famer, died of cancer at the age of 81.

but no patch for davis, who died earlier this year of an apparent heart attack.  while not a hall of famer, davis was one of the top los angeles dodgers of all time, and i think he deserves some sort of recognition.  of course, me being halfway across the country, it's hard to know what the organization has done, but they haven't done the obvious and created a patch as far as i can tell.  '55 years since 55' must be more important.  so, i made a 2010 goose joak original for the 3-dog and gave it a black border.

it's the least i could do.