so it begins - the (mostly) regular issue steve garvey binders

i've got essentially four full binders of steve garvey cards and assorted items (not to mention my garvey posters, prints, first baseman's glove, louisville slugger bat, and signed balls).  two of them feature oddball items (which i've shown over the past few months) and the other two feature (for the most part) standard sized cards.  over the course of the next unknown amount of time, i'm going to show you the contents of those two binders.

here we go - page 1:

this first sheet features:

1. 1971 dell today's team stamp
2. 1971 o-pee-chee
3. 1971 topps
4. 1971 topps dodger team
5. 1972 topps dodger team
6. 1972 topps
7. 1973 o-pee-chee
8. 1973 topps dodger team
9. 1973 topps

here are the backs, just remember that they are reversed since i just flipped the sheet over to scan it

a couple of notes about this sheet - i obviously decided to include team cards (topps only) as the garv is in the front row of the 1971 card, the third row of the 1972 card, and the middle row of the 1973 card.  also, the dell today's team stamp is also sometimes referred to as the 'mlb official stamp'.  the only garvey release i am missing from this period is the 1972 topps venezuelan stamp. good luck to me.

here's the second sheet:

featuring:

1. 1974 o-pee-chee
2. 1974 topps
3. 1974 topps dodger team
4. 1975 hostess
5. 1975 kellogg's
6. 1975 o-pee-chee
7. 1975 o-pee-chee 1974 mvp's
8. 1975 o-pee-chee 1974 nlcs
9. 1975 topps

and the backs:

in case you're wondering, garvey's in the middle row of the team card.  here i'm missing only the 1975 hostess twinkie card (it has a black bar on the back, which the regular hostess card - as seen above - does not).

this is the third sheet of the binder:

featuring:

1. 1975 topps 1974 mvp's
2. 1975 topps dodger team
3. 1975 topps 1974 nlcs
4. 1975 topps mini
5. 1975 topps mini 1974 mvp's
6. 1975 topps mini 1974 nlcs
7. 1976 hostess
8. 1976 kellogg's
9. 1976 o-pee-chee

these are the backs

garvey's still in the middle row on the team card.  you might notice a couple of things here.  first, i am missing the 1976 hostess twinkie card (again with a black bar on the back), and the 1975 sspc card is not where it should be. instead, i have a 1976 o-pee-chee card there.  that's because i used to catalog the sspc card as a 1976 release (which is how it's listed on the official beckett garvey checklist).  since starting this blog, however, i have come to refer to that set as the 1975 sspc set based on the copyright date on the back of the cards.

so, there you have the first three sheets of cards in my basic steve garvey card collection.  there will be more.  lots more.  stay tuned.

the evolution of the dodger second baseman, part 2

when we last saw the dodger second baseman, he (paul popovich) was on his way to the expansion montreal expos, so someone needed to step up in 1969.  that someone was…

ted sizemore (1969-1970)

sizemore (seen with his topps rookie team trophy on his 1970 topps card) actually started the season at shortstop (jim lefebvre was at second), but he moved to second when lefebvre got hurt in mid april.  even though he returned to short when lefebvre came back, walt alston eventually switched sizemore back to second when the club reacquired maury wills to play shortstop.  sizemore played 118 of his 159 games in 1969 as the dodgers' second baseman, and hit .271 as he was named the national league's rookie of the year.  in 1970, he appeared in only 96 games, but made 81 starts at second for the dodgers so he retains his title as their primary second baseman.  he hit .306 that year and was dealt following the season to the cardinals in the dick (rich) allen trade.

jim lefebvre (1971)

look who's back.  lefebvre, who had been the team's primary second baseman in 1965 and 1966 and is a former rookie of the year himself, was back at the position in 1971.  that's lefebvre's 1972 o-pee-chee card, by the way.  he played in 102 games as the dodger second baseman in '71 (98 starts) and hit .245 with 12 homers.

lee lacy (1972)

once again, lefebvre began the season as the team's second baseman, but hit a rough patch in early may and gave way to bobby valentine.  soon thereafter, lee lacy (shown on his 1973 o-pee-chee card) was called up from the minors, and he went on to lay claim to the position.  lacy made 58 starts at second - about a dozen more than valentine and 20 or so more than lefebvre.  he hit .259 and scored 34 runs, but didn't play much in september, as the dodgers called up another guy to play some second.

dave lopes (1973-1981)

lopes (shown on a very crooked 1979 kellogg's card) made 11 starts during the last month of the 1972 season, and i guess alston saw enough.  he handed the position over to lopes in 1973, giving him 133 starts that year.  he dabbled in the outfield from time to time, but otherwise held the position through the 1981 world series.  along the way, he led the league in steals twice, won a gold glove, made four all-star teams, and helped the dodgers to four pennants and a world series title.  he was the second baseman on the team of my youth.

steve sax (1982-1988)

like lopes, sax held the dodgers' second base position until they won a world series title.  lopes, however, was traded prior to the 1982 season while saxy left after the 1988 campaign as a free agent.  before that happened, he was the fourth dodger second baseman to win the rookie of the year award, and he made three all-star teams, including the 1983 squad as alluded to on the 1984 topps glossy all-star card above.  in 1986, sax finished second to tim raines in the batting title race, hitting a career high .332 (raines hit .334).  he twice led the national league in errors while with the dodgers and much was made about his difficulties throwing to first base, but he was still my favorite dodger after steve garvey left town.  besides, i don't think of him defensively - my lasting steve sax memory is of him hitting the first pitch of the 1988 season into the left field bleachers at dodger stadium.

willie randolph (1989)

the yankees and dodgers essentially traded second baseman for the 1989 season, although both signed with their new teams as free agents.  with sax gone to the bronx, the dodgers signed willie randolph (seen on a 1989 fleer update card).  randolph appeared in 145 games in 1989, including 139 starts at second.  he hit .282 and was selected to the all-star team.  however, the dodgers traded him to the a's early in the 1990 season for stan javier.

juan samuel (1990-1991)

following the 1989 season, the dodgers traded mike marshall and alejandro pena to the mets for samuel.  they moved him back to his original position of second base (the mets were using him as their center fielder), and he made 101 starts there for the dodgers in 1990.  the following year, samuel started 150 games at second for the blue, and didn't sniff the outfield.  he made the all-star team that year as well, hitting .271 with 74 runs scored and 23 steals.  samuel began the 1992 season as the team's second baseman, but was released in july.  eric young was called up to take his roster spot, but there was another player who actually played second more than anyone else that year.

lenny harris (1992)

yes, i am using cards from 1992 fleer ultra for both samuel and harris in this post.  it's what i had handy.  deal with it.  the second baseman position in 1992 looked something like this:  samuel, 29 starts; mike sharperson, 33 starts; eric young, 35 starts; harris, 65 starts.  harris had been the team's primary third baseman in 1991, and he played some third as well as short and outfield in 1992 as well.  overall, harris hit .271 while fielding at a clip below league average for second basemen.  many thought that young would be the dodgers' second baseman of the future, but they weren't convinced as he was left unprotected in the 1993 expansion draft and was taken by colorado.  as a result, the dodgers worked out a deal with the rockies to acquire one of their later draft picks to fill the hole at second.  that set into motion events that would lead to one of the worst (thanks to hindsight) trades in dodger history.  stay tuned...

an armband for gil hodges

gil hodges passed away of a heart attack while golfing towards the end of spring training, 1972.  his wonderful 1972 o-pee-chee card gives us the hard facts about the manager of the mets.

to honor hodges, the mets retired his number and wore black armbands during the 1972 season.  i don't believe that the dodgers wore any memorial for their former first baseman, and number 14 is still available to be worn by any tom, dick, or mark ellis, as the case may be.  anyway, here is a 1973 o-pee-chee card of jerry grote with the armband present

and 1973 topps cards of willie mays

and ted martinez

but it's ken boswell who gets to represent this memorial in my binder

thanks to the faraway look in his eyes and the prime location of the armband in the photo.

o-pee-chee has no new tale to tell, even if it is canada day

happy canada day to those of you who acknowledge such holidays.  i figured instead of showing off some justin morneau bowman international parallel cards (especially since i don't own any), i would go one better and show some o-pee-chee goodness that i have recently acquired.  unfortunately, the cards that i picked up are from a year where there were no variations.

on a side note, it's been a while since oh my o-pee-chee wrapped up its run, but i notice that it still gets a few views now and then. i had a good time going through (and acquiring) all of the variations that o-pee-chee had to offer.  in 1973, however, terry crowley is about to meet up with thurman munson

just as it is on his topps card.

and, duke sims is wearing dodger blue on glenn beckert's card

just as he does in the topps set.

bill hands is still a twin pitching in wrigley field

and dave johnson is still a brave turning two in yankee stadium

just like in the topps set.

likewise, dodgers willie crawford

 al downing

 and pete richert

look the same as they do in their topps versions.

there are some things that set the o-pee-chee set apart from its topps counterpart, however.  there is french on the front of some cards, like the rookie cards that included charlie hough

 and doug rau

 and on the postseason recap cards that included one of the best double play cards ever issued

 as well as on the boyhood photos of the stars, and this chris speier card shows.

of course, there is also french on the back.  and so we can learn that canadian native mike kilkenny carries his cartes de baseball in his sac

that is a far better cartoon than one that might have pointed out kilkenny having played for four different teams in 1972.

here's to you canada, and thanks for giving us o-pee-chee!

a rookie card by any other name shall surely be as sweet

how about a 'debutant' card?  like this 1973 o-pee-chee ron cey second year card!

also known as a mike schmidt rookie card.  it pairs nicely with my dave lopes rookie card from the same set.

most of you know that i am running a second blog highlighting all the various variations that o-pee-chee produced during their run of using the topps designs from 1965 through 1992.  1973 shows up under the 'not a variation' tag, as there were no text or team variations (at least none reported, as i do not own a complete 1973 o-pee-chee set to verify for myself).  even these rookie cards, with their french translation on the front, i do not consider to be variations.  they're just cool.  i still need a number of cards to complete my dodger team set, but these two are probably the toughest to obtain, so i am pretty confident i will be able to find pete richert and his friends somewhere along the line.

i'm in the home stretch at oh my o-pee-chee now, dealing strictly with 1977 cards as that set surpasses all others in terms of the number of variations.  there are still some pretty cool cards yet to be showcased, so please take some time to check them out.


voici à vous, 1973 o-pee-chee rookie/debutant cards!