1984, most of it at least, in the steve garvey binders

we were firmly entrenched in the steve garvey as a padre cards in 1984, and sheet 11 of my main steve garvey binder is proof.  there is one card of the garv as a dodger, however, but it's an island of blue.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 1984 mother's cookies padres
2. 1984 topps nestle 792
3. 1984 topps nestle dream team
4. 1984-91 o'connell and sons ink
5. 1984 o-pee-chee
6. 1984 ralston purina
7. 1984 star (checklist)
8. 1984 star (regular season stats)
9. 1984 star (an all-star 9 times)

some things to note here - i've seen the o'connell and sons referred to as a 1984-89 issue as well as the 1984-91 issue that i used above. not sure which is correct, as i picked up my copy on the secondary market in the early 2000's.  the star cards are part of the 36-card set of which i have 3-card panels in my garvey oddball binder.  i took apart a second set for this part of the collection.

here are the backs, by the way:

the o'connell and sons has a blank back, as you can see.

sheet 12 is full of more cards from the star set, and they are all dodgers!

1. 1984 star (dodger club records 1)
2. 1984 star (dodger club records 2)
3. 1984 star (dodger club records 3)
4. 1984 star (dodger club records 4)
5. 1984 star (world series stats)
6. 1984 star (post season stats)
7. 1984 star (the 1970 season)
8. 1984 star (the 1971 season)
9. 1984 star (the 1972 season)

obviously, these cards don't feature photos that correspond to the subject of the card.  here are the backs:

lucky sheet 13 is more of the same, although the brown and gold is back...

1. 1984 star (the 1973 season)
2. 1984 star (the 1974 season)
3. 1984 star (1974 all-star mvp)
4. 1984 star (1974 championship series mvp)
5. 1984 star (1974 nl mvp)
6. 1984 star (the 1975 season)
7. 1984 star (the 1976 season)
8. 1984 star (the 1977 season)
9. 1984 star (the 1978 season)

i'd say that star began using padre photos prematurely.  for the record, i don't believe that they actually handed out mvp awards for the playoffs back in 1974, but surely garvey would have won it if they had.  here are the backs:

sheet 14 is all brown and yellow, although we are still in the dodger years for two-thirds of the page

1. 1984 star (1978 all-star mvp)
2. 1984 star (1978 championship series mvp)
3. 1984 star (the 1979 season)
4. 1984 star (the 1980 season)
5. 1984 star (the 1981 season)
6. 1984 star (the 1982 season)
7. 1984 star (the 1983 season)
8. 1984 star (the iron man)
9. 1984 star (national and major league records)

nice to see mike schmidt lurking in the background of the last card.  it's too bad that this set was released in 1984 instead of 1985, because there was another championship series mvp award won in 1984 that could have been the subject of a card.

here are the backs:

amongst garvey's records on the last card, his league-leading 25 gidp in 1979 is listed.

just a few more star cards to go - here's sheet 15 of the binder

1. 1984 star (100+ rbi's 5 times)
2. 1984 star (200+ hits 6 times)
3. 1984 star (4 gold gloves)
4. 1984 star (.300 average 7 times)
5. 1984 star (personal and career data)
6. 1984 star (the future)
7. 1984 topps
8. 1984 topps cereal series
9. 1984 topps rubdown

i've got the 5th card in the sheet in my memorials binder, too.  the topps cereal card features the same photo (and card design) as the ralston purina issue from earlier in the post, and garvey's infield pal bill russell shows up on the rubdown card.

here are the backs for this sheet:

i kept the rubdown instructions in case i ever wanted to transfer the images, i guess.

i'm not missing any cards from 1984 that would go in one of these sheets, i am pretty sure.  next time we'll move into 1985...

some recent umpire initial memorials

it seems to me that umpires are showing up on cards less and less these days.  i don't know if it has anything to do with a lawsuit that i recall from the 90's wherein one umpire sued upper deck for using his likeness in a photo for a card without his authorization (anyone remember the specifics of this?).  more recently, of course, we have seen umpires photoshopped out of cards altogether, or at least all but a leg.  there's an umpire in the background of this 2013 topps erick aybar card

which also features ryan doumit at target field.  in fact, the umpire in the photo is alfonso marquez, who wears number 72 seen on his throat protector.  most interesting to me, however, is that marquez is also wearing a memorial patch.

former umpires marty springstead and harry wendelstedt both passed away in the early months of 2012 (springstead in january and wendelstedt in march), and the umpires decided to honor them by wearing patches with their initials during the 2012 season.  here's a usa today photo of angel hernandez with the two patches

unfortunately, the best example i have of these memorials on a card is this 2013 topps chrome yu darvish 1972 insert

with the umpire's arm and patches in the background.  it's like the bigfoot photo.

in august of 2013, umpire frank pulli passed away.  a few months later, as the baseball postseason was getting underway, umpire wally bell died. both umpires were honored with memorial patches, which are seen on the sleeves of the 2013 world series umpiring crew in the getty images photo below

the 'fp' patch for pulli was worn during the last couple months of the 2013 regular season, and the 'wb' patch for bell was carried over into the 2014 season.  it is visible on the left sleeve of the umpire behind nelson cruz on his 2014 topps chrome refractor card

another umpire memorial from a postseason was the charlie williams patch/sticker worn by the umpires during the 2005 world series.  williams passed away in september of 2005. i don't have a card featuring the memorial, but it is visiible on three of the umpires in this getty images photo

joe west, the home plate umpire, put it on his chest protector.

i agree with the notion that, if an umpire is doing their job well, they are unnoticed.  i'd still like to see them on a baseball card once in a while.

the hunt for tom clancy's oriole memorial

best-selling novelist tom clancy, who once made some moves towards purchasing the minnesota vikings, realized his goal of professional sports ownership as an investor in the baltimore orioles.  after clancy passed away on october 1, 2013, the orioles decided to add a memorial to their jerseys for the 2014 season. rather than a black armband (as they had done for jim mckay, another investor), the team went with a patch on the right sleeve bearing the name 'tom clancy'.

the patch shows up on some 2015 topps cards that i have seen, such as this alejandro de aza card

but right now i have this 2014 topps update adam jones power players card

and this 2014 topps stadium club chris davis card

in my memorials binder.  these cards represent the away and home versions of the patch, which would be black text on gray and black text on white.  there are two other versions of the patch that have also found their way onto cardboard at some point.  there is the orange text on black worn on their black alternate jerseys, as seen on kevin gausman's 2015 topps stadium club card

and black on orange worn on their orange alternate jerseys, represented by chris davis' 2015 bowman card.

i'm glad to have cardboard examples of all four.

clancy was best known for his series of novels involving cia operative jack ryan, including 'the hunt for red october', 'patriot games', clear and present danger', and 'the sum of all fears', each of which were made into major motion pictures.  clancy was 66 years old at the time of his death.

sunday morning target dodgers - featuring the 'other' sandy

it's sunday again.  here are another 15 players from a sheet of cards featured in the 1990 target 100th anniversary dodger giveaway set.

sandy amoros

amoros is known throughout dodgerdom as a hero of the 1955 world series.  in game 7, he was inserted   into the lineup in the 6th inning after don zimmer had been lifted for pinch-hitter george shuba. jim gilliam shifted from left field to second base, and amoros entered the game in left.  with the dodgers ahead 2-0, billy martin walked and gil mcdougald singled to start the yankees' half of the inning. the next batter, yogi berra, hit a ball down the line that amoros was able to catch by stretching his arm out after running from left-center. he then threw the ball to pee wee reese who relayed it to gil hodges to force mcdougald for a double play.  it is largely believed that the fact that amoros wore his glove on his right hand made the catch possible.  amoros stayed with the dodgers through their move to los angeles until he was dealt to the tigers during the 1960 season. he later returned to his native cuba, but fell on hard times after refusing fidel castro's request to manage a cuban team.

jack fimple

fimple was a backup to steve yeager and mike scioscia in 1983, 1984, and 1986. he played a bit down the stretch in '83, and actually started a couple of games in the 1983 nlcs against the phillies.  i still believe that he hit a home run that year with a broken finger on his hand. i don't think i would have remembered that if it had not happened, but who knows.

mudcat grant

jim 'mudcat' grant pitched (and hit a home run) against the dodgers in the 1965 world series as a member of the minnesota twins, and he must have made an impression because they traded for him just a couple of years later.  with the dodgers for the 1968 season, grant posted an era of 2.08 in 37 games (4 starts). unfortunately for the dodgers, grant was lost to the expos in the expansion draft that followed that season.

kent greenfield

greenfield pitched in six games for the 1929 brooklyn robins - the last six appearances of his 9-year career. he had begun the season in boston with the braves, but joined the robins on waivers near the end of june.  in his six games for brooklyn, greenfield posted an era of 8.31, allowing 8 runs in 8.2 innings of work.

chris gwynn

gwynn was a dodger double dipper. he was also the younger brother of tony gwynn, and after his second tour of duty with the dodgers ended in 1995, gwynn signed with his brother's team for the 1996 season.  his last appearance as a major league player came in game 3 of the 1996 nlds, wherein gwynn singled as a pinch-hitter and was driven home by his big brother.

phil haugstad

haugstad made his big league debut in september of 1947. he pitched in 6 games for the dodgers, and went 1-0 with a 2.84 era. he made one appearance in 1948, and then didn't return to the majors until 1951 when he went 0-1 in 21 appearances for the dodgers. haugstad finished his career with the reds in 1952.

fred heimach

heimach had pitched in the majors for nine seasons when he joined the robins in 1930. he had been a member of the 1928 world champion yankees (he's wearing the pinstripes in the photo used on his card), although he did not appear in the world series.  heimach wound up pitching for brooklyn for four seasons, winning 9 games in both 1931 and 1932, but failing to post a victory in 1930 or 1933.

charlie kress

kress was traded to the dodgers by the tigers in june of 1954. he played in 13 games for brooklyn, going 1 for 12 with 2 rbi at the plate. you can see that he also played for the reds, and he was at one time a member of the white sox, as well.

mike j. mccormick

there was a mike mccormick that played for the dodgers, but it's not this guy.  baseball reference lists this mccormick as being actually named 'mccormack', which is probably correct. anyway, this player spent just one year in the majors - 1904 - and he spent it as a member of the brooklyn superbas. as the team's primary third baseman that year, mccormick/mccormack hit just .184 in 105 games.  he was only 5'-3", which would make him shorter than freddie patek, who is always my bellweather for vertically challenged ballplayers.

otto miller

miller spent his entire 13-year big league career with the superbas/robins/dodgers, beginning in 1910.  miller caught for both the 1916 and 1920 pennant winning teams, although he hit poorly in each of the world series.  he played in 927 games for the club, and later became a coach following his playing days.

buster mills

mills debuted as a cardinal in 1934, but spent most of the 1935 season in the minors.  the dodgers purchased his contract from saint louis, and he spent most of the last month of the '35 season with brooklyn.  he hit .214 in 17 games as a dodger, but went on to hit .295 in 1937 (he spent 1936 back in the cardinals' organization) as a regular in the red sox outfield.

bobby morgan

morgan played for the dodgers in 1950, 1952, and 1953.  in each of those seasons, he hit exactly 7 home runs.  he appeared in both the 1952 and 1953 world series, but was held hitless in his 2 at bats. after the 1953 season, morgan was traded to the phillies.

jim peterson

peterson pitched for the a's in 1931 and 1933, and then made the majors with the dodgers in 1937.  he pitched in only 3 games for brooklyn, however, and allowed 5 runs in 5.2 innings of work.

bart shirley

shirley was a double dipper, sandwiching stints with the dodgers around a run with the mets in 1968.  he also graces the 1966 topps grant jackson rookie card that always seems to run a pretty penny.  i like this card of shirley because he's standing in a young dodger stadium with some nicely pulled stirrups.

danny walton

it's interesting that walton is listed as an outfielder on his card.  sure, that's where he spent most of his time during his 9 years in the big leagues, but he also played some third base, first base, and even catcher.  for the dodgers, however, walton was only used as a pinch-hitter.  during the 1976 season, walton got 17 plate appearances for the dodgers (he was announced but not used as a pinch-hitter in an 18th game).  overall, he was 2 for 15 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

we'll have to wait and see what random selection of players show up on next week's sheet...

so much galasso, so little time

tony from off hiatus sent me some cards a while back, and i'm just getting to posting them today.  in an earlier post, i showed off some good stuff like a 1954 bowman billy loes card and some oddballs, but there were enough 1977-84 renata-gallaso cards in the package to make up a post of their own.  keep in mind that all these cards cost me were some brewers cards. 

roy campanella

campy has a couple of different cards in the set - this one celebrates his third mvp award while the other  is more of his base card

max carey

and tony cuccinello

carey and cuccinello were part of the first all-star game which was played in 1933.  carey, the dodger manager, was a coach on the national league squad helmed by john mcgraw, and cuccinello was a reserve.  cuccinello did make it into the game, however he struck out as a pinch-hitter for carl hubbell against lefty grove to end the game.

here are some more recognizable dodgers from the set:

don drysdale

gil hodges

sandy koufax

jackie robinson

dazzy vance

and, not a galasso, but instead - a nolasco

a 2014 topps toys r us purple parallel, to be exact.

thanks tony!

off hiatus and off my want list

who sends a 1954 bowman billy loes card

as part of a blind trade package? luckily for me, tony at off hiatus does. or did, in my case.  billy is really caressing that baseball there - i hope he's more careful with it than lennie and his rabbits.  this card is gloriously worn and it's one less '54 bowman that i need.

here's another brooklyn dodger sent by tony - it's gene hermanski

on what appears to be a card made for the 5th national convention held back in 1984.  here's the back of the card that led me to that conclusion

i'm guessing that hermanski was signing autographs at the convention.

now we get to the los angeles dodger portion of the post, with some great oddball cards.

1988 kaybee superstars of baseball pedro guerrero

it's true - petey was still a superstar at that time. he had hit a career high .338 in 1987, but the dodgers brought him back into the infield in 1988 and his trade to saint louis that season was deemed to be addition by subtraction.

1988 starting lineup talking baseball steve sax

and fernando valenzuela

the only talkin' baseball i know has to do with willie, mickey, and the duke.  sadly, none of those guys were included in the set.

more oddballs of el toro - 1987 fleer mini

in which fernando is wearing his shiny pullover and a hat that was certainly not a game issue, and his 1986 fleer mini

which features an oddly cropped photo.

here's a little photo of don drysdale on a 2004 upper deck sweet spot classics manufactured patch card

that features the national league logo.  i think the american league logo is better, mostly because i think that the glove that the eagle is holding on to in the nl logo looks odd.  better to have a baseball in that talon, i think.

finally, here's a 2013 panini hometown heroes card of paul loduca

yes, this is a dodger card (note the 'los angeles' pennant in the upper left) even though the heart and soul of jim tracy's dodgers is wearing his mets gear in the photo.  as a met, loduca hit .455 against the dodgers in the 2006 nlds.

tony hit 1.000 with this trade package.  so much so that i'll show some more cards that he sent later on! stay tuned...