fernand the bull

if you lived in southern california in 1981, like i did, you believed that the 1981 fleer fernando valenzuela rookie card was a valuable error card.  that's because fleer spelled his first name as 'fernand'.

i believed, along with all of my friends, that this was the west coast answer to the craig/graig nettles cards and that we were the lucky owners of the 'fernand' variation.  alas, we were not, as fleer did not issue any cards with the correct spelling of el toro's first name.

then, when i watched espn's 30 on 30 film about fernando and the ensuing fernando-mania, i noticed that they included a corrected version of the card.  it looked like this

finally!  i should note that the documentary also included a 1982 donruss card with the donruss logo removed.

here's to you fernand!  and to you, too, fernando!

czech one off of my want list

i recently picked up a 1958 topps elmer valo card that was missing from my dodgers collection.

only after receiving the card did i discover that valo was born in czechoslovakia.  he wasn't one of those military base babies like bert blyleven or ron gardenhire, either.  valo's family emigrated to the us in 1927.  13 years later, valo made his big league debut for the philadelphia a's.  he stayed with the a's for 15 seasons, and was on the team when they moved to kansas city in 1955.  in fact, valo was part of 3 franchises that relocated during his career - the a's, the 1960 senators/1961 twins, and the 1957/1958 dodgers (his only two years with the club).

the dodgers acquired valo and 4 other players from the phillies (valo had spent most of the '56 season with the phils after the a's released him) in a 5 (plus cash) for 1 deal in which the dodgers sent chico fernandez to philadelphia.  as a dodger, valo hit .273 in brooklyn and .248 in los angeles.  valo is better known for his on-base percentage (he is 65th all-time with a .398 career obp), and he reached base 37% of the time with the '57 dodgers, but only at a .322 rate in 1958.  that was his lowest full season obp since 1943.

here's to you imrich (elmer) valo!  welcome to my collection.

today's secret ingredient is...rhubarb!

yes, it's battle rhubarb here at gcrl today.  i recently completed a trade with rhubarb runner at 'e rayhahn rayhahn' for the second or third time.  it's always fun to see what dodgers i get in exchange for some twinkies (not the hostess kind).  shall we begin?  allez cuisine!

2002 fleer ultra chan ho park jersey

big chan ho looks pretty ticked at full body chan ho.  but, as we shall see later, what this card has going for it is that it is all dodgers. there is no ambiguity.

2005 donruss diamond kings edwin jackson

i wonder how many times white sox 'announcer' hawk harrelson has called jackson 'e-jack' so far.  or worse.

1991 donruss mike hartley

as this card shows, the beauty of dodger stadium cannot be diminished, even on a 1991 donruss card.  still, let's cleanse the pallete with this card:

2010 upper deck dodger stadium

ah yes, a shot from the parking lot (the price gouging parking lot).  this is the right field corner, with the 'all you can eat' right field pavilion, palm trees, and the stadium club restaurant being showcased.  the visitor's bullpen is between the pavilion and the main part of the stadium.  that gagne poster means that this photo is likely from the mid-aughts.

2003 fleer ultra paul loduca

buh-bye.

2008 upper deck a piece of history andruw jones jersey (with torii hunter)

here's where things get strange.  a brave and a twin.  no, sorry, that's a dodger and an angel.

2009 upper deck rafael furcal jersey

a brave?  well, at least the dodgers logo is more prominent than the text on that jones card.

2009 upper deck a piece of history rafael furcal jersey

now this is more like it.

thanks david!

they want my double d!

no, it's no 1971 cookie rojas.  it's a 1958 don demeter card of which i write.  perhaps it is the oddity of a double chin on a baseball card, but it seems that america has become caught up in don demeter fever.  i unlocked a 1960 indians coaches card from the topps mcg site a couple of weeks ago, and quickly put it up for trade for some late 50's dodgers that i needed.  someone obliged me, and gave up their 1958 don demeter card.

that particular demeter, though it is his 'rookie card', is not scarce.  there are several on ebay right now that are going for cheap.  still, i have been bombarded by offers for it.  let's have a look.

but wait, there's more! (thank you, don pardo).  yes, two more offers were made after i first did a screen capture.

nothing older than the demeter has been offered, but i appreciate the effort with the multi-card offers, except maybe the one with the 1980 card in it.  i myself pulled off a multi-card trade last week when i bundled a 1982 ellis valentine and a 1989 alan trammell for a 1981 era leaders card.  of course, i also panicked when i pulled a 1989 robin ventura and wound up with a 1990 tommy lasorda which is ridiculous because i didn't really need it.

anyway, i digress.  back to demeter.  i would be willing to let him go, even for a newer card. how about a 1961 ron perranoski or roger craig?  1958 trumps 1961, right?  right.  i have a feeling i'll be having double chin don delivered to me soon, along with his mcg buddies that i have accumulated.  stay tuned.

mickey hatcher, double dipper

mickey hatcher began his big league career with the dodgers in 1979.  in a game i listened to on the radio, hatcher (pictured here on his 1980 topps rookie card)

replaced ron cey at third base in a laugher against the giants.  he came to bat in the bottom of the 7th inning in cey's cleanup spot with the bases loaded.  i recall jerry doggett commenting on the fact that hatcher had the rare opportunity to hit a grand slam in his first major league at bat.  alas, he did not, but he did draw a walk to 'drive in' burt hooton.  he made his first big league start the next day, and had a walk and two singles before making an out.  reaching base the first four times at bat in the big leagues was not a bad way to start a career.  also interesting from that game, all three of the guys featured on the 1980 card appeared in the game, with patterson picking up the victory in relief of beckwith.

hatcher played for the dodgers through the 1980 season, hitting 1 home run with 5 rbi in each of his two campaigns in la.  with rudy law in tommy lasorda's doghouse and the dodgers in need of a center fielder, hatcher was sent to minnesota just before the start of the 1981 season in exchange for ken landreaux.

as a twin, hatcher began to play more regularly and had some good seasons as a result.  in 1983, he hit .317 in 106 games with a career high 9 homers.  the following year, he hit .302 in 152 games with a career high 69 rbi.  here's his 1984 fleer card

love those baby blues!  after 6 pretty solid seasons in minnesota, the twinkies released hatcher right before the start of the 1987 season.  a few days later, the dodgers signed him to a contract.  still, hatcher seemed to be cursed with poor timing - he was traded away from the dodgers prior to the 1981 season, and they won the world series.  then, he was released by the twins before the 1987 season, and they went on to win the world series.  but, as we know now, it all worked out for mickey as he finally got a ring with the dodgers in 1988.

in all, the dodgers missed out on 26 home runs, 260 rbi and 671 hits that hatcher accumulated during his time with the twins, but i would argue that they got the biggest hits of his career.  he hit .277 in 368 games in the four seasons he spent back in la before retiring after the 1990 season (here's his 1990 upper deck card, by the way).

he may well have been the mvp of the 1988 world series had orel hershiser not been so dominant.  his 7 hits, 2 home runs, and 5 rbi led the team, and his 1.137 ops was tops among the dodger regulars in the series (only hershiser and kirk gibson posted a higher ops). 

[this is the sixth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, and chris gwynn.]

here's to you mickey hatcher, you double dipping stuntman!

i was joe collector

color me disappointed, as i am joe collector discontinued his monthly box breaks.  it had taken me a while to get the dodgers claimed, so i was bummed.  still, i did manage to get some good cards for the few months that the boys in blue belonged to me.  here's some stuff from the last two monthly group breaks.

2010 topps 206 chad billingsley

chad kind of sums up my mood regarding the end of the breaks.  hatless and morose.

andre ethier

we have evolved from the hands behind the back, but still not too happy.

rafael furcal

still not pleased, but at least some color is creeping back in.

hey, here's the back of a furcal mini! 

jeff had to send the original pull back to topps due to some printing damage.  topps replaced it quickly, and jeff got it to me with the next month's bounty.

clayton kershaw

ok, i am happy with the cards and that furcal mini. 

hiroki kuroda bronze parallel

boring parallels make me feel indifferent, like hiroki here.

jackie robinson

ok, happy again.

the final break included a box of 2010 topps chrome.  i got most of the dodgers, including

john ely base

and auto!

plus matt kemp doing his ken griffey jr impersonation

and jon link

i still have a ways to go to get my link collection up to night owl standards, though.

thanks jeff for hosting the breaks!  they will be, and already are, missed.

the uniform remains the same - 1969 edition

there was a fair amount of chatter a couple weeks ago about the fantastic 1969 topps jim campanis card.  both night owl and waxaholic discussed the beauty of a dodger listed as a royal with only a minimal effort by topps to disguise the uniform.  the best part is that campanis wasn't alone in the 1969 set.  i'll show that card again in a moment, but first, i'll show 'the escape of alcaraz'

althought the 'la' on the cap is colored out, you can still see the 'los angeles' script on the chest of luis alcaraz's jersey.  he played for the dodgers in 1967 and 1968, and his biggest moment i would guess was hitting a game-winning 3-run home run in the top of the 9th against the giants on april 26, 1968.  the dodgers got nothing for him as he was purchased by the royals after the 1968 season ended.

here's the aforementioned jim campanis.

nepotism can be a good thing, as jim's dad was the dodgers' gm who drafted him.  but it can also be a bad thing as you might have to be a little bit better than you really are to make it with your dad's team.  the dodgers were in need of a catcher with johnny roseboro on his way out (foreshadowing alert) but al campanis chose to stick with jeff torborg and sent jimmy to kansas city for a couple of minor leaguers.  like alcaraz, campanis' headgear has been altered, but the red number on the front of the jersey is a dead dodger giveaway.

it's more difficult to discern the uniform of jim fairey

topps went with the full blackout of fairey's cap.  ignoring that for a moment, it is plausible that the blue undershirt/jacket is an expo issued garment, but you can see the tail of the capital 'd' in 'dodgers' just above the 'x' in 'expos'.  besides, fairey had only played for the dodgers prior to being selected by the expos in the 52nd round of the expansion draft.

similar to the campanis card, here we have jim hickman - a cub in name only on his 1969 topps card.

gentleman jim was acquired from the mets prior to the 1967 season in the deal that sent tommy davis to new york.  he promptly had the worst season of his career, and was sent to the cubs before the 1968 season began.  this means that topps was using a photo for their 1969 set that was, at the latest, from spring training of 1968.  that's only fair as his 1967 card lists him as a dodger, but shows him in a mets uniform (although the photo is rather closely cropped).  he played so poorly for the dodgers in 1967, in fact, that topps didn't bother to issue a card of him in 1968.  thankfully, we have this almost-dodger card.


ron perranoski is another dodger gone missing in the 1969 set.

there is a variation of this card that still has the blackout on the hat, although the 'la' is still somewhat visible.  like hickman, perranoski had last played for the dodgers in 1967.  unlike hickman, perranoski does have a 1968 topps card, and it lists him as a twin and features a closely cropped hatless photo of the reliever.  topps went backwards in 1969, but i am happy that they did.
traded with perranoski in november of 1967 was john roseboro

though hatless, you can see the tips of the two 'd's in 'dodgers' on his jersey.  roseboro had a couple of decent years in minny before finishing his career with the senators in 1970.  topps managed to use a photo of roseboro in his senators uniform in 1970, but they failed in 1969.  i should note that roseboro's 1968 topps card still shows (and lists) him as a dodger, and it is one of my favorite cards.  it looks like he is trying really hard not to smile.  plus, it has his complete dodger career stats on the back.

there have been more recent examples of this phenomenon (2006 john valentin anyone?) but i think 1969 is the best.

thanks topps!