still working my way through the steve garvey oddball binder

i haven't posted any pages from my steve garvey binders lately.  my goal is to post my entire garvey collection (at least what's in binders which really only leaves a couple of prints/posters) by the end of the year.  i'd better get moving if that's going to happen.

here are a few more sheets from the oddball binder.  i call it the oddball binder because it contains not only oddballs (duh), but also non-traditional sized cards, and other types of garvey stuff.  case in point - this circa 1971 dodger team issue photograph and a 1971 ticketron dodgers card

the photo is blank on the back, but the ticketron has the team's 1971 schedule on the back

i find it interesting to see that so few day games were played, and quaint that the lone weekday afternoon game was a special event. i guess 'getaway day' didn't matter as much back then.  more likely, the union hadn't addressed the issue of travel yet.

here are a couple of oversized cards that i've shown before from the 1977-79 sportscaster set

garvey got his own card, and then showed up on the all-star game card with joe morgan and carlton fisk.  here are the backs (they are flipped, so the one on the left is the all-star back)

i appreciate garvey showing up on another card, and it seems that the point of the photo was to show division rivals playing together for one night.  newer fans might not think much about it, but the dodger/red rivalry was a big deal when i was growing up. the big red machine and the big blue wrecking crew in the same division made for some good games and a healthy rivalry.

here are garvey's four dodger police cards.

issued beginning in 1980, garvey showed up in the inaugural set (upper left), the 1981 set, (upper right) and then appeared on two cards in 1982 - the world series celebration card and his solo card.

the backs are pretty interesting.  i appreciate the dodgers using garvey's throwing problems as an example of a tough situation that garvey had to work his way through.  if this card were published today, i would say that there are a few other tough situations he's had to deal with that would be better examples.

now we have reached the padres portion of the post.  here are, clockwise from the upper left, a 1983 topps foldout card, a 1984 donruss action all-stars card, a 1984 donruss champions card, and a 1986 donruss all-stars card

here are the backs (again, they are flipped)

bill madlock makes an appearance on the reverse side of the garvey foldout.  the mad dog's .316 average was tied with george brett for the second best career average among active players behind rod carew's .331.  garvey was down at 13, tied with fred lynn at .301.  not sure why carl hubbell is on the back of garvey's 1984 donruss champions card though.

i mentioned up above that my bindered garvey collection does not include posters.  well, it does include one - this 1984 sports illustrated poster that folds nicely to fit in a one-pocket ultra pro page.

i received it from another garvey collector - mrmopar - whose garvey collection is superior to mine.  i still have a bunch of oddballs to show, however, so stay tuned.

puttin' on the ritz

you've likely seen this 2014 upper deck goodwin champions card of former dodger ron cey already

but it's new to my collection, and it features the third baseman of the infield of my youth in a tuxedo and top hat and needs to be shown off here.  cey famously posed in a tuxedo with some penguins for a poster back in the day, but i hadn't seen this image before.  it calls to mind another penguin - all that's missing is the monocle and cigarette…

meanwhile, steve garvey is left in his michigan state duds on his card in the set

garvey was inducted into the michigan state athletics hall of fame in 2010 (fellow spartan kirk gibson was inducted in 1994), and had his number 10 retired by the school earlier this year.  unfortunately, cards of davey lopes in his pajamas and bill russell in a gorilla costume were not included in the set.

i recently picked up another garvey card not licensed by mlb - a 2013 panini america's pastime auto

and i also 'picked up' another 2014 topps bunt 'card' of the garv.  it's another take on his 1974 topps card

at least they got the stats on the back right this time.

i have never heard of garvey being called 'hollywood'.

i failed to add this card from 2011 topps tier one to my collection, unfortunately.

that's a nice piece of the 1980 all-star game patch the dodgers wore in, of all seasons, 1980.  it went for $355 which was well above my limit.

let's cleanse the ron cey palette with a card of him in proper dodger attire - here's his 1975 hostess card

the batting helmet is an improvement over the tops hat, for sure.  and, the penguin is in dodger stadium where he belongs!

here's bill russell in chavez ravine, turning two on his 1980 dodgers police card

looks like opening day, given the banner on the outfield wall.

here's another card of the dodger shortstop - this is a silver parallel auto from 2014 topps archives

russell's inclusion in this year's archives set has probably been my favorite development of the collecting season.

of course, i am also pleased that davey lopes has an on-card auto of his own from 2014 panini golden age

with a blurb about the infield on the back

lopes also has a base card, which i'll show in a different post.

i also recently found a 1988 topps tiffany lopes card - i'm not sure if i had one already or not, so i bought it

even in astros' clothing, i covet davey lopes cards

i thought about picking up another 'set' of infield collectibles but ultimately passed on buying the 1978 slurpee cups of garvey, cey, russell, and lopes

i kept the images, though.

i believe this is the most recent infield reunion - a photo from the 2013 dodger old-timer game

looking good, infield - no need for formal wear!

before the 'batting stance guy'...

...i was the 'pitching motion boy'.  i also did batting stances in my front yard - everyone from steve garvey to rod carew to willie stargell and pete rose.  later, i even modeled my high school stance on don mattingly - a little bit pigeontoed to try to engage my hips.

but, this post is about windups.  i mimiced luis tiant and most of the dodger starters - sutton, reuss, valenzuela i remember well.  one i particularly enjoyed was rick sutcliffe.

there were some similarities to don sutton's windup, but sutcliffe was more extreme with the way he tucked the ball by folding his right wrist while keeping his left leg straight, as demonstrated on his 1980

and 1981 dodgers police cards

his windup was fun to do.  it was a little bit herky-jerky, and it sure didn't feel natural.  i believe vin scully once said "there's a lot of sutcliffe going on out there'.  anyway, i broke out the sutcliffe windup a couple of times in little league with poor results as i recall.  everything was high thanks to the straight leg and over the top delivery.  my coach told me to pick a different windup.

unfortunately, i couldn't quite master the juan marichal leg kick.

the 1978 topps pedro guerrero card that should have been!

pedro guerrero turns 55 years old today.  happy birthday petey!  and, since guerrero suited up in 5 games for the 1978 dodgers, let's celebrate by showcasing his 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been:

here's the back - pedro gets the hero number, 750 in the set:

as with rudy law, i took the image from a 1980 dodgers police card.  i just couldn't pass up a dodger stadium image

speaking of law, guerrero first appeared in a topps set in 1979 alongside law and fellow 1978 dodger joe simpson

we'll get to simpson's card that should have been soon, but this post is supposed to be about the birthday boy. guerrero started in the minor leagues as a third baseman, but the dodgers moved him to first base when he went to aa in 1976.  he was promoted to aaa albuquerque for the 1977 season and played first exclusively until he was injured as mentioned on the card back above.  the dodgers, meanwhile, had a guy named steve garvey at first base, and the penguin at the hot corner, so guerrero was sol in that regard.  after a full year of aaa in 1978 as a first baseman, pedro played most of 1979 as an outfielder.

before that, however, he enjoyed a september call up with the big blue wrecking crew.  he debuted on september 22, 1978 as a pinch-hitter for rick sutcliffe and singled, later scoring on a reggie smith sac fly.  he next appeared four days later as a late-inning replacement at first for the garv, but didn't bat.  he went 1 for 2 in each of his next two games, and finished the season in game 162 with a 2 for 3 performance after taking over for garvey in the bottom of the first.  in all, guerrero's first taste of the big leagues resulted in a .625 average and on base percentage, three runs, a triple, and one rbi.  after his debut, all of his appearances were at first base in relief of garvey.  i will admit, i was a little concerned about this guy replacing my favorite player.  still, it was obvious that the dodgers had to find a place for him in the lineup.

in 1979, guerrero was called up in may and again in september.  he was a bench player in may, pinch-hitting and playing some first and third, but in september he made a number of starts, all in the outfield.  in 1980, he played all over the place - all three outfield positions, third, first, and even second base.  that led to some confusion, as in 1981, his dodgers police card showed him at first, but listed him as an outfielder.  it also referred to him as 'pete'.

topps went a different route and listed him as 'of-3b-1b' even though he made more appearances at second in 1980 than at first and third combined.  here's a copy of that 1981 topps card that he kindly autographed.

1981, of course, was when he came into his own and captured one-third of the world series mvp.  there was a feeling of a 'changing of the guard' with this young guy forcing his way into the veteran lineup, and soon davey lopes was gone and the team of my youth was forever changed.  i don't resent guerrero (or saxy) though - his 1985 season was a thrill to follow, and john tudor really helped out in '88 as well.

here's to you pedro!  happy birthday and thanks for the memories.  i'm glad you were a part of the 1978 dodgers.

the 1978 topps bobby castillo card that should have been

bobby castillo debuted for the dodgers in september of 1977, having been purchased from the royals 3 months earlier.  that means he deserves a card in my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set.  here then is the 1978 topps bobby castillo card that should have been

complete with a back

castillo pitched in 6 games down the stretch in 1977, with one win and an era of 3.97. he made one start - the final game of the season against the astros. the dodgers had the division locked up, so they put together a half-hearted line up to face jr richard that day. richard won while striking out 14, and castillo gave up two runs in 6 innings with 4 strikeouts and no walks to earn a no decision.

i had a few options as far as images to use for the card, and i opted to go with a closeup.  here's an image i almost used - it's his 1980 dodgers police sga card

i figured this photo, even though it's on a 1980 issue was from 1977 or 1978 because of the jersey number.  however, according to baseball reference, castillo switched to number 37 sometime in the 1979 season.   i would have guessed that he switched prior to the start of the season (jerry reuss came aboard in 1979 and took 41) but reuss actually wore 25 to start the year.  the photo i wound up using is likely from 1981 as it features both castillo and fernando valenzuela.  in fact, it was used in the 'fernando nation' film that aired as part of espn's 30 for 30 last week.

anyway, castillo followed up his 1977 season with 18 appearances in 1978 (all in relief) with an identical era but no wins and 4 losses to go with a save. he went back and forth between the majors and aaa, where he started 14 of the 15 games in which he appeared. he split time between the majors and minors again in 1979, but was up for good after that.

in 1981, castillo appeared in game 1 of the world series against the yankees. in that game, he produced the unlikely pitching line of 1 inning pitched, no hits allowed, 5 walked batters with just one run given up. he did it by relieving jerry reuss in the 3rd with a runner on base. castillo walked the first batter he faced but got the next guy to end the inning with a flyout. in the 4th, castillo gave up a walk, fielder's choice groundout (out at second), sacrifice, walk, walk, walk (run scored) before being replaced by dave goltz who got the next batter to pop up and end the inning.

castillo's next and final postseason appearance came in the 1985 nlcs against the cardinals. in between, however, castillo pitched for the twins, primarily as a starter. i'll cover that in a future double dipper post.

here's to you, bobby castillo and the 1978 topps card that should have been!