baseball cards that travelled from bo in single file to hide their numbers

there are many things that i like about this 1993 donruss tony fernandez card

first of all, it was sent to me by bo from baseball cards come to life in a trade package, which is great.  second, it features the o-pee-chee-esque 'traded' text with a mets logo on what would otherwise be a padre card.  third, there is a double play turn on the back.  and fourth, there is only dirt in the image, so it's a tatooine card.  bo sent a number of those cards for my mini collection.  here's another, also from 1993 donruss, featuring the tigers' phil clark

here are some more.

1993 score select royce clayton

1993 upper deck scott brosius

1993 upper deck craig grebeck

1993 upper deck jose vizcaino

1994 pinnacle kirt manwaring

1994 score bob zupcic

1994 upper deck dave hollins (back)

1994 upper deck collector's choice brian hunter

1994 upper deck collector's choice scott livingstone

1994 upper deck collector's choice dave magadan

1995 donruss junior felix

thanks bo.  these are the cards i was looking for.

i am running out of tatooine references from the star wars movies for these types of posts.

a dodger memorial patch for campy and big d

when don drysdale made his big league debut in relief on opening day of the 1956 season, his battery mate was roy campanella.  the two were teammates again the following year, which turned out to be campy's last.  some 36 years later, campanella and drysdale passed away within a week of each other - campanella at the age of 71 and drysdale at 56, both dead from heart attacks. 

campanella, who was paralyzed in a car accident in january of 1958, was an 8-time all-star who won three national league mvp awards during his 10-year major league career.  prior to that, he had played in the negro leagues for 10 years, and he had been the first african-american player in the american association, playing for the saint paul saints in 1948 (there is a picture of campy in his saints uniform hanging in target field, the home of the twins).  he reached the majors for good later that season, and in 1969, he became the second african-american player to be voted into the hall of fame, following once again in the footsteps of jackie robinson.  campanella's number 39 was among the first three numbers retired by the dodgers in a 1972 ceremony that also retired the numbers of robinson and sandy koufax.  it was on june 26, 1993 that campanella died at his home.

drysdale had his number 53 retired by the dodgers following his induction into the hall of fame in 1984. he was also an 8-time all-star during his career, leading the league in strikeouts 3 times and winning the cy young award in 1962.  drysdale famously set the record for most consecutive scoreless innings in his final full season when he went 58 and two-thirds innings without allowing a run in 1968.  the streak included six consecutive shutouts from big d.  following his retirement in 1969, drysdale began a career as a broadcaster, and he joined the dodger's broadcasting team in 1988 following the retirement of jerry doggett.  five years later, drysdale was in montreal where the dodgers were playing the expos when he died on july 3, 1993.  it was vin scully who broke the news during that game's broadcast to us dodger fans, noting that don had previously undergone an angioplasty to relieve some heart problems.  what a surreal moment that was.

the dodgers added a memorial patch to their right sleeves for the remainder of the season honoring both hall of famers.  the patch, with the text '39 roy don 53' recognized the numbers that had been retired for each player.  you can see the patch on this 1994 fleer superstar special card of mike piazza and eric karros.

as well as this 1994 fleer superstar special card of brett butler

tom candiotti's 1994 donruss card

shows both the campy/big d patch and the tim crews memorial patch that was worn on the dodgers' left sleeves during the entire 1993 season.

ditto for brett butler's 1994 topps stadium card

which also features a mustachioed butler

butler is clean shaven on his 1994 donruss triple play card

as is tim wallach on his card from the same set

both cards show the patch nicely.

the back of wallach's 1994 topps stadium club card also gives a good view of the patch

as does pedro astacio's 1994 pinnacle card

cards from the 1994 topps set also display the patch - here's dave hansen's card

and ricky trlicek's, too

mike piazza's all-star card

would be a good representative of the patch since he and campanella are two of the greatest offensive catchers in the history of the game, but i think this 1994 upper deck collector's choice raul mondesi card

is the best example of the patch, so it sits in my memorials binder.

a christmas eve edition of random cards from the scanned folder

i'm putting this post on autopilot since it's december 24th and i'm traveling for the holidays.  enjoy some cards that i scanned without a clear purpose over the course of the last few years.

1994 pinnacle brett butler museum collection

i need to add cards from this parallel dodger team set to my nefarious 9.

1962 topps johnny podres

looks like johnny was out late in chicago last night.

1987 fleer league leaders bob welch

the wrigley field ivy in the background and the odd cropping of the photo reminds me of 1981 fleer

1991 upper deck dennis cook

batting practice in dodger stadium!  cook's wearing tommy john's number and doesn't seem to know what to do with the bat.  plus, a jim poole sighting as a background lurker.

1975 topps mini rick rhoden rookie card

in a related note, congrats to night owl on finishing his 1975 topps mini set.  he would not allow his scanner to skew a card from that set as wildly as mine has.

1998 upper deck black diamond alex cora

and here's the back of brett butler's 1995 upper deck collector's choice special edition card.

and so the post is bookended by butlers.  i'll try harder next time.

merry christmas to all, and to all a good night.

double play battle - tony fernandez vs. mark lemke

i've recently obtained a number of cards of former all-star and gold glove winner tony fernandez and former, well, ballplayer mark lemke featuring each of them turning double plays. let's have a look.

1994 pinnacle fernandez

vs. 1994 pinnacle lemke

despite an appearance by double play wizard omar vizquel, the landscape card wins.  lemke 1, fernandez 0.

1994 score fernandez

vs. 1994 score lemke

which also comes in a gold rush parallel form

fernandez looks more graceful on his card, so he gets the nod.  fernandez 1, lemke 1

1996 fleer fernandez

which also has a tiffany parallel

vs. 1997 fleer ultra lemke

i give this one to lemke because he is not a yankee.  fernandez 1, lemke 2.

1998 pacific crown collection fernandez

vs. 1997 upper deck collector's choice lemke

both landscape cards (well, the pacific card is, sort of), but the lemke is so much cleaner, and the outfield fence appears to be level.  not really fernandez's fault, but oh well.  final score is tony fernandez 1, mark lemke 3.

that means we get to see a bonus mark lemke double play card - it comes from 1997 pacific

and features beautiful dodger stadium (at least its old outfield railing) in the background.

way to go, lemke!

turning two with the viz

dodger double dipper jose vizcaino turned a double play or two in his time.  i've recently picked up a few prime examples for my collction,

this is his 1999 topps stadium club card

it comes from his second stint as a dodger, and features a cub player sliding in while showing off the harry caray memorial patch

many of vizcaino's double play cards come from his time with the north siders.  here's a 1992 leaf card

which may well be the same play shown on his 1992 topps stadium club card

on the road at candlestick.

back at wrigley, here's his 1993 donruss card

1993 fleer flair card

1993 donruss triple play

1994 fleer

and 1994 pinnacle

with a play from tatooine.

here's vizcaino's 1994 upper deck card

on which he is digging out from underneath a lemke/blauser/treadway type

on to new york, here's jose trying to break up two again on his 1995 score card

and then exacting revenge on the braves on his 1994 score rookies & traded card

finally, a stop in san francisco, where el viz turns two under the watchful eye of jeff kent on his 1998 pacific crown collection card

until next time, this has been turning two with the viz!