mr. met is laying golden eggs for bobby bonilla

there is a chance, a good chance, that bobby bonilla is my least favorite dodger of all time.  other candidates include don stanhouse, gary sheffield, jack clark (he was a dodger coach for some unknown reason), paul loduca, luis gonzalez...it's not a good list to be on.  anyway, that didn't stop me from sending a bunch of cards to bobby bo (who is a great ttm signer, even though his autograph is fairly ridiculous) for him to sign.

then i read an article in the wall street journal (why, yes, i read the wsj.  don't you?).  anyway, the mets are about to start paying bobby bonilla the first payment (of 25 annual payments) of $1.19 million as a result of deferring a $5.9 million buyout when they released him in 2000.  i think bruce sutter has a similar deal with the braves, although the deferred payments are much less and were figured as part of his original free agent deal, not a buyout.  at least none of the money going to bonilla is the dodgers' responsibility!

i almost forgot.  here are the cards bobby signed and returned.  let me know if you want any of the non-dodger ones.

1998 upper deck

1999 fleer ultra

1999 upper deck

1986 topps traded

1987 topps

1987 fleer

1991 topps (all star)

well played, bonilla.

it's gone! it's 7/15!

the date struck me today.  that is all.

here's to you, hank aaron!

who's that lurker?

here's lee mazzilli's 1983 topps card. 

it's all mazzilli except for about 2/3 of a brewer waiting for mazzilli to finish his home run trot so the game can start again. common sense tells us that it might be robin yount, but let's be sure. mazzilli played in a total of 39 games for the yankees - all in the last part of 1982. he hit home runs in 6 of those games, and only one against the brewers - on september 12, 1982. it was at home so he would have had pinstripes on. it came off of hall of famer don sutton in the bottom of the third with a man aboard, cutting the brewers' lead to 5-2. robin yount did indeed play shortstop the entire game for harvey's wallbangers. the yankees wound up winning the game 9-8, but the brewers had the last laugh, going all the way to the world series.

here's to you robin yount, background lurker!

the ox removes the yoke

after not getting into the game in 2009, two-time all star jonathan broxton saved the 2010 all star game for the national league.

much better than gagne's 2003 performance.

the highs and low of 1997 pinnacle zenith

for the most part, 1997 pinnacle zenith is perfection on cardboard.  it's kind of like topps stadium club but cleaner.  the photography is great, and not limited to the usual field level baseline shots.  look at ken griffey jr's card:

the ball is launched.  the dirt is varying shades of brown and there's a touch of green grass.  perfect.

javy lopez has some company on his card,

as raul mondesi has slid in to home (safely, i presume) at dodger stadium.  there is a lot of action captured in this card.  absolute dodger stadium/lurker perfection.

anticipation is more like it on tony gwynn's card

will he or won't he?  i love the strata of the grass and infield dirt, the wall and the padres' orange home run line.  and to have no umpire or catcher in the frame is awesome.  the palm tree is completely brotus.  perfect.

kenny lofton has just begun his flight on his card

there should be more cards of lofton, rickey, carl crawford, maury wills etc with this kind of photo.  it's what they are/were known for.  perfecto!

the landscape panaromic shot works nicely on cal ripken jr's card

a nice line drive captured in its infancy.  no one has reacted yet.  perfect!

 

greg maddux

again, the subject is shown doing what he's known for.  in this case, pitching.  nice to see the rosin bag make an appearance, too.  perfection.

deion sanders

this is a great shot too.  it looks like sanders has shortened his swing to make contact, and his head is down watching the contact being made.  prime time, indeed!  it's perfect.

bernie williams

this is one of the few cards that i take issue with.  yes, the grass is really green, but we don't gain much by having such a wide shot of bernie.  not quite perfect.

and then, there's ivan rodriguez.

i have no words.  except not even close to perfection on cardboard.

 

here's to you, 1997 pinnacle zenith (at least, to most of you)! 

vlad and clint ttm success? you be the judge...

during spring training, i sent a few cards to the texas rangers' facility in hopes of an autograph or two.  one was this thrashed 1978 topps clint hurdle rookie card:

hurdle is the hitting coach for the rangers this season, so i figured what the heck. it would be another 1978 topps to go in my auto binder.  one of the other cards i sent was this 2008 upper deck vladimir guerrero card:

a few people had posted a ttm success with vladdy last season, so i thought it was worth 88 cents to give it a shot.  well, last week, within a few days of each other, i received the cards back.  neither were signed, but i did get this:

and this:

the hurdle came first, and i looked at it and deemed it likely to be legit because there were places where the pen is not completely solid.  then vlad arrived, with the perfectly full pen strokes and figured that these are both autopen or just pre-printed.  anyone else have an opinion?

so close, yet so far.  thanks anyway clint and vlad!

upper management

so, congrats to kirk gibson on being named interim manager of the diamondbacks late last week.  gibby joins a long list of former dodgers, and more specifically, players who played under tommy lasorda to go on to manage in the big leagues. 

i have often thought of the number of players that meet that criteria and wondered whether there is some sort of connection.  probably not, but still, there have been quite a few.  let's count them.

davey lopes played for lasorda from 1976 through 1981

lopes managed the milwaukee brewers for 2+ seasons - from 2000 until 15 games into the 2002 season. he was 144-195 for the brew crew, never finishing higher than third in the division, or above a .451 winning percentage.

bill russell played for lasorda from 1976 through 1986

lasorda's heir apparant actually did succeed tommy after lasorda had his heart attack and ultimately retired.  russell took over the team in 1996 and guided them to a 49-37 record in his tenure that year.  they finished 2nd in the division, but won the wild card and were swept by the reds in the nlds.  another 2nd place finish followed (without the wild card) in 1997, russell's only full season of managing.  the team won 88 games but finished 2 games behind the giants in the west and 4 games behind the marlins for the wild card.  in 1998, russell lasted 74 games into the season before being fired by bob graziano/fox (who really didn't care about tradition) with a 36-38 record.  for his managerial career, russell was 173-149.

dusty baker played for lasorda from 1976 through 1983

dusty baker is a three-time nl manager of the year who has managed the giants, cubs and reds, for whom he is currently still managing.  he has won one pennant (2002 with the giants) and has 3 first place finishes.  widely criticized for his handling of pitchers, baker has a winning percentage of .540 for his career (so far).

johnny oates played for lasorda from 1977 through 1979 and managed the orioles (1991-1994) and rangers (1995-2001).  he led the rangers to 3 first place finishes and had a career record of 797-746.

ron washington played for lasorda in 1977.  he is currently in his fourth season as manager of the rangers with a career winning percentage of .510 and a team record that has improved each year.

mike scioscia played for lasorda from 1980 through 1992

by the time lasorda retired, russell had some competition as the obvious choice to replace him from mike scioscia.  the dodgers went with russell, and while fox was busy trying to hire a 'name' (davey johnson), scioscia was stolen by the angels.  he began his managerial career in 2000 and is still at the helm for the halos.  he has led the team to 5 first place finishes and a world series championship in 2002 (at the expense of former teammate dusty baker's giants).  his career winning percentage is currently .555, although his angels are trailing washington's rangers in the standings.

phil garner played for lasorda in 1987.  he has managed the brewers (1992-1999), tigers (2000-2002) and the astros (2004-2007) with a career record of 985-1054.  he won the nl pennant with the astros in 2005 but lost the world series to the white sox. 

glenn hoffman also played for lasorda in 1987

he was managing the dodgers' aaa team in 1998 when russell was fired, and took over the team for the remainder of the season.  the dodgers went 47-41 under hoffman, but finished in third place.  hoffman was replaced as manager after the season by davey johnson, but stayed with the team as a coach.

willie randolph played for lasorda in 1989

randolph managed the mets from 2005 until he was fired during the 2008 season.  he won 302 games as manager and compiled a .544 winning percentage.  the team finished first in the division in 2006 with 97 wins.  randolph is currently a coach in milwaukee.

juan samuel played for lasorda from 1990 until he was traded during the 1992 season

samuel was recently named interim manager for the orioles, taking over for dave trembley.  through monday, the o's were 10-17 for sammy.

and that brings us back to kirk gibson, who played for lasorda from 1988 through 1990

of course, gibby's first win as a manager came against the dodgers.

there have been some others that have come close, like rick dempsey who managed in the minors with some good success, and some that may get a shot soon, like tim wallach.  (hey ned, that's a hint).