i picked 'em poorly but came out ahead

i participated for the first time this past year in cards on cards' college bowl pick 'em league.  i wound up getting slightly less than half of the winners right, although i did get my highest confidence pick correct.  anyway, i was well out of the prize slot, but kerry sent me some cards anyway.  most of these come from his 2014 topps mini break, in which i took the dodgers and the mets.  i was hoping for a justin turner card as part of the mets team haul (he's turning two on the card), but it didn't pan out.  just like my picks.

here are some of the dodgers from the 2014 topps mini set that kerry rescued from sealed packs for me:

clayton kershaw cy young

the now retired josh beckett

the now unsigned free agent chad billingsley

the now unsigned free agent brian wilson

the now red sox left fielder hanley ramirez

the now full-time dodger left fielder carl crawford

the now still a fourth outfielder andre ethier

the dodger right fielder yasiel puig (unless joc can't handle center)

plus a 'the future is now' puig insert

i should probably show some of the ny metropolitans that came my way, so here are bobby parnell

and ey jr

kerry also sent a few cards towards my 2001 topps heritage set, including former and current twin torii hunter

plus a nice 2004 donruss classics rickey henderson card

which counts as a final tribute since rickey didn't appear in the majors after his 2003 stint with the dodgers

no active player has more stolen bases that ichiro, who sits at 487.  rickey had 1406 in his career.  although barry bonds eventually passed rickey in career walks, he is still the career leader in runs scored, with the closest active player (alex rodriguez) over 350 runs behind.

last, and maybe least, here is a 1986 fleer update card of alex trevino

who played catch under the watchful eye of a stalker after joining the dodgers.

thanks kerry! i'll be sending some cards on cards your way soon!

who carries reggie smith's career torch?

reggie smith's signature is on my short list of favorites.  harmon killebrew used to preach the importance of a nice signature to young twins players, and i can see reggie doing the same to players for whom he served as a mentor.  i recently bought this 2004 upper deck usa baseball 25th anniversary signature card of reggie

for about $3.  money well spent as far as i am concerned.

reggie was a coach for team usa, and for the dodgers, too after his playing days were done.  i wonder which active major leaguer is carrying his career torch...

on october 3, 1982, reggie suited up for a major league game for the last time as a player. unfortunately, he suited up in a giants' uniform, as his 1983 fleer card attests.

smith ended his big league career that day against the dodgers with an 8th inning fly out against former teammate terry forster who, an inning earlier, had allowed a home run to joe morgan that effectively ended the dodgers' hopes of tying the braves atop the national league west to force a playoff.

terry forster pitched through the 1986 season, getting his last taste of big league action on october 2, 1986 as a member of the american league west champion angels.  here's his 1986 fleer update card.

forster pitched two innings that day, getting oddibe mcdowell to ground out to end the 7th and bring an end to his pitching career as well.

oddibe mcdowell, of course, was himself a member of team usa back in 1984 during the olympics held in los angeles.  here's his 1985 topps team usa subset card.

the olympic baseball games were played at dodger stadium (the dodgers wore an olympic patch in 1984), and team usa lost to japan in the final.  there were no medals given, however, as baseball was just a demonstration sport at that time.

one thing about that 1985 topps mcdowell card - when i first opened some packs in '85, i took a look at the couple of checklist cards i had pulled and reviewed the 'hero' numbers to see if steve garvey was given any respect from topps (his 1985 card is number 450, so yes, he was respected) and i saw that card number 400 was oddibe mcdowell.  i followed major league baseball pretty closely, but did not know who this guy was and actually freaked out a little bit that a player i did not know could command such a number on topps' checklist.

back to mdowell's career now.  mcdowell did not play in the majors for three years following the 1990 season, but he made his way back into the rangers' lineup in 1994.  on august 10 of that year, in what turned out to be the final game of the season due to the players' strike, mcdowell went 0 for 2 with a sacrifice.  that sac bunt, against the mariners' jim converse, was the last time mcdowell went to the plate in his big league career.

converse (seen here on a 1995 topps stadium club card)

returned after the strike, and continued to pitch into the 1997 season.  on may 15, 1997, he was with the kansas city royals and relieved jeff montgomery in a game against the tigers.  converse faced four batters that day, the last of which was jody reed who drew a walk.  converse was pulled from the game and did not pitch in the majors again.

jody reed, the man who spurned the dodgers' free agent offer which led to the pedro martinez/delino deshields trade, saw his career end on august 22, 1997 in a laugher against the brewers.  he's a padre (and turning two) on his 1997 topps card

but he was with detroit when he saw the last of his big league action.  the tigers won the game 16-1, but reed was 0 for 2 including a strikeout in the 9th inning against alberto reyes that turned out to be his final big league at bat.

alberto reyes last pitched in the majors in 2008.  i don't think he had too many cards over the years, so here's a 1996 upper deck collector's choice card from early in his career.

he was with the devil rays when he finished a game against the indians on august 5 of that year.  he faced four batters, the last of which was andy marte who struck out to end the game.  he did not appear in any games after that, and about a week later, reyes was granted free agency.  he signed with the mets, but did not make any appearances for them, either.

andy marte stuck with cleveland through the 2010 season (this is his 2007 topps heritage card),

but hadn't played in the majors since that season until he surfaced with the diamondbacks earlier this year.  he hit a pinch-hit home run in his first big league at bat in almost 4 years, but a few days later on august 6, 2014, he struck out against the royals' greg holland to end the game.  marte became a free agent shortly before the end of the season, so  that may well have been his final big league at bat.  if so, then greg holland (seen here on his 2014 topps update card)

will carry the torch for reggie smith (and terry forster).  i'd say his signature has potential.

do you sutton?

it's friday and that's a good thing.  meanwhile, don sutton assumes the position.  his position.  suttoning, i call it.

here's his 1983 brewers police issue

left knee down, right knee up, arms crossed over right knee with glove or ball or glove and ball, as the case may be.  let's see who else (other than terry adams) suttoned.

randy jones, 1981 fleer

cy youngs: randy jones 1, don sutton 0

and bill travers, also 1981 fleer

travers, unfortunately, would not get the pleasure of being sutton's teammate in milwaukee as he went to the angels after the 1980 season.  still, he honors sutton the best way he knows how.

here's von hayes on his 1982 topps traded card

hayes was 3 for 10 with a homer and a strikeout lifetime against sutton.

1984 fleer jim acker

and salome barojas

barojas is a little too upright - he needs to work on his casual lean.

wally joyner has it right on his 1986 fleer update card, with a bat as an accessory

joyner and sutton were teammates in cali for a couple of seasons, including that heartbreaking 1986 campaign.

neal heaton suttons on his 1987 fleer card

trevor wilson gets it done on his 1989 topps card

and robbie alomar adds a pensive twist to the pose on the back of his 1995 upper deck card

kenny lofton gives it a try on his 1992 topps traded card, but like barojas above, doesn't quite have the lean part mastered.

i'll have to see if in the following 16 years lofton was able to master the pose.

if you think of it today, maybe you'll have a chance to sutton!

bob vila builds collections

mark at stats on the back recently held a contest, or a poll i suppose, regarding the age old question of veale vs. vila. my response was deemed worthy of a bob vila card, along with some other goodies:

1991 leaf studio mike scioscia it's hard to believe mark still has some scioscia cards after the great card giveaway of 2008...

1991 leaf studio tommy lasorda checklist

tommy's trying to decide between the red sauce and the white sauce.

1982 donruss steve yeager

i love this card. it gives a great shot of steve's neck, and i always wonder if that mark below his jawline is scarring from his perforated windpipe incident.

1991 upper deck final roger mcdowell

the second spitter. i don't think mcdowell has any cards where he is doing anything normally seen on a baseball card.

1933 delong (dover reprint) lefty o'doul

a scene straight out of gulliver's travels. i have a bunch of the dover reprints still in sheets because i am too lazy to take them apart. i once took the t206 wagner and roughed it up a bit in an attempt to convince my neighbor it was real. he didn't fall for it.

1986 fleer update alex trevino

alex is playing it cool, making the lady wait.

thanks mark. and if anyone wants a bob vila card, let me know.