look at some cards that feature double plays

they are self explanatory and offer up an easy post topic, which is what i need right now.  all are either new to my collection or recently unearthed from any number of monster boxes in my somewhat unorganized card collection area.

1998 fleer ultra craig counsell

1998 fleer ultra craig counsell gold medallion edition

1998 fleer ultra mike lansing

1998 topps stadium club ray durham

1999 topps stadium club ray durham

2001 topps stadium club ray durham

2004 topps bazooka rafael furcal

2004 topps bazooka rafael furcal mini

2004 topps rafael furcal red chunk

2004 upper deck marcus giles

2013 topps silver slate blue sparkle danny espinosa

2014 bowman silver ice ian kinsler

2014 topps chrome jonathan schoop

2014 topps chrome refractor jonathan schoop

2014 topps chrome andrelton simmons

2015 topps opening day javier baez

i'll try harder next time.

guess who sent me these cards...

i am guessing that nick at dime boxes kept a copy of this 1999 topps stadium club chan ho park card

for his collection before sending one to me.  it's the type of whimsical card that i would add to a trade package before sending it his way, if it weren't a dodger card that i needed.  shortly after he burst onto the scene, nick became one of my favorite trade partners largely because of how much fun it is to put a trade package together for him.  however, the stuff he sends in return is always great, too.

here's a 1999 skybox premium raul mondesi card

if you look at that card a certain way, it looks like rauuuuuuuuuuul is running backwards.  pick up your coach, raul - don't look at the ball.

before target red bordered parallels, there were still red bordered parallels.  this is a 2003 topps bazooka chad billingsley red bordered parallel.

this was before billingsley became seemingly susceptible to injury, and had all the promise in the world.  i am hoping for a big comeback from bills in 2015, but it doesn't look like it will be with the dodgers.

how about a 2004 topps cracker jack jose lima card?

the late jose lima was the only dodger between orel hershiser (in 1988) and derek lowe (in 2009) to win a postseason game.  he shut out the cardinals in the 2004 nlds to break an 0-8 postseason skid for the dodgers.

here's a 1996 topps stadium club antonio osuna card that i love for a couple of reasons.

first, it shows the license plate that osuna wore around his neck (it's askew on the left neckline of his jersey). i remember watching osuna pitch on tv in one of his first appearances and seeing that thing sway around like a tire swing.  you will have to remember that this is the mid 1990's, before there were a bunch of big pendants on chains worn by athletes during games.  the other reason that i really like this card is that i am pretty certain that padre first base coach davey lopes is lurking in the background.

here's the guy that lopes replaced as the dodgers' first base coach a few years ago on a 1986 fleer star sticker card.  it is, of course, mariano duncan

duncan was supposed to replace bill russell as the dodger shortstop when he came up in 1985.  while he was the team's primary shortstop that year, things didn't quite work out after that as tommy lasorda turned out to not be much of a fan.  duncan spent the entire 1988 championship season in the minors, but eventually won world series rings with the reds in 1990 and the yankees in 1996.

outfielder mike marshall, seen here on his 1989 topps uk mini card,

was a part of the dodgers' 1988 world championship team (he hit .231 with a homer in the fall classic against the a's), but his final postseason appearance came with the red sox in 1990.

here's the last card of this post, a 1977-84 renata gallaso carl furillo card

it was a great card to see in the trade package for many reasons - it's a carl furillo card, and there aren't too many of those; it's a card that i didn't previously have; and it features the right-handed furillo posing as a lefty.  it's the type of card that i would send to nick if i didn't need it for my collection.  thanks nick!

plays at second base from play at the plate

i recently alluded to a big ol' box of cards that i received from brian at play at the plate.  it was mostly pacific cards with some 2002 upper deck vintage thrown in for good measure.  that was what i had requested when he put the spoils from a recent 5000 card box purchase up for grabs.  luckily for me, brian also fished out some double play cards and added them to my haul.  let's have a look at some.

1999 fleer tradition ricky gutierrez

ricky is joined on the card by a lurking matt luke, former dodger outfielder and double dipper, so that's nice.  he also demonstrates his awkward double play lean.

that lean is not shown on another gutierrez double play card from the bunch, this one from 1999 topps stadium club

but it does surface on his 2002 fleer ultra card that was also included

on to the non-ricky gutierrez cards

here's carlos baerga turning two on a 1999 fleer tradition card

the indians did the right thing by trading baerga when they did (during the 1996 season) as he experienced a pretty significant drop off when he joined the mets.  the indians received jeff kent and jose vizcaino as part of the return from the amazin's, and then parlayed them into matt williams for the 1997 season.  williams helped the tribe get to the world series, and then they traded him for travis fryman, who was a mainstay for a few seasons with cleveland.

1999 fleer tradition damion easley

and 1999 fleer tradition aaron ledesma

here's ledesma's teammate, miguel cairo, turning two on a 1999 topps stadium club card

as are mike lansing

and tony womack

there were some parallels in the box, too, like this 2002 fleer ultra gold medallion edition adam kennedy card

and quite a few ruby parallels from 2000 pacific.  among them were some double play turns like miguel cairo

who makes his second appearance in the post;

rey ordonez

who should have more double play cards than he does;

and miguel tejada

who may well have more double play cards than anyone else.  now, 2000 pacific had a black & white version of the card's front photo on the back, and since there were two tejada's sent my way, i'll add his back to the dp collection

this next one, i am considering to be a double play card because of jay bell's airborne state, and because why else would brian send me a 1998 fleer metal universe card of a royal?

you can't really see because of the scan, but bell is leaping over a butte rather than a sliding player.  it makes for some variety in the dp binder.

i'll showcase a few more dp cards from the patp box later...

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!