pee wee's patch

harold henry "pee wee" reese passed away on august 14, 1999 at the age of 81.  the dodgers quickly added a memorial patch to their uniforms, to be worn for the remainder of the season.  the patch, seen below

included the nickname "pee wee" and his retired jersey number, 1.

because it was relatively late in the season, examples of the patch on 2000 cards are fairly limited.  here's a 2000 upper deck mvp eric gagne card that shows the patch

it was placed on the left sleeve, above the dodger heroes patch worn by each player.  pee wee was included in the hero patch series, but i do not have a card of mark grudzielanek (who wore the reese hero patch) showing both patches.

this 2000 upper deck victory jeff shaw card

gives us another look at the memorial patch, including a close-up in the inset photo.

the patch is also visible on adrian beltre's 2000 fleer focus card

and the only other card i have that shows the patch is this 2000 pacific dodgers diamond leaders card

there's grudzielanek, but it's eric karros who is displaying the patch.  if only this getty images photo of chan ho park had found its way onto a card...

for the record, i have both the gagne and the diamond leaders card in my memorials binder.  i couldn't choose between the two, so they are both in there.

here are a couple of cards of pee wee himself, a 1992 ziploc card, 

and a 2003 mlb showdown 

i believe that this card is a promo, based on the foil stamp and the 'p51' numbering.  there's another version in the regular showdown set that lack the foil and is numbered 119.  kudos, by the way, to ziploc for using the older dodger logo on reese's card, although they coupled that brooklyn dodger logo with a photo of reese wearing a los angeles dodger cap.  sigh.

reese was the captain of the dodger teams of the 1950's, but he made his debut in 1940.  the following season, he became the dodgers' regular shortstop, and he helped the club win the pennant for the first time since 1920.  that marked the first of seven world series in which reese would play over the course of his career.  the dodgers faced the yankees in all of them, and won only the 1955 contest.

reese moved west with the dodgers in 1958, and was the starting shortstop for the los angeles dodgers' first game.  he played in only 58 more games that year, however, in what would be his last big league season.  reese was a 10-time all-star with 8 top ten mvp finishes over his 16-year career that spanned 19 years (3 seasons were lost to military service during world war ii).  he finished with 2170 hits and 1210 walks for an on-base percentage of .366.  although he later lamented the number of bases on balls he took ("if i had my career to play over, one thing i'd do differently is swing more. those 1200 walks i got…nobody remembers them."), his 1210 walks were within the top 15 career leaders at the time of his retirement and greatly contributed to his having scored as many runs as he did (1338) during his career. in 1984, reese was inducted into the hall of fame, and the dodgers retired his jersey as they do for their hall of fame players.

pre-emptive strikes on the nefarious 9

sometimes i see cards that i didn't know existed but feel that i must have.  it's funny how i can go from blissful ignorance to stressful want in the few moments it takes me to read a blog post.  nick at dime boxes showed off a 2003 mlb showdown hoyt wilhelm foil card a long time ago and i was smitten.  

i had to pack my patience, however, because they don't show up too often - especially at a price i am willing to pay.  so i waited.  i thought about adding the card to the nefarious 9, but figured that there probably weren't too many folks with one of these sitting around wondering who to send it to.  if there were, i would guess that they would already have sent it off to any of the other dodger bloggers out there.  finally, somebody listed one on ebay with a low opening price and i was able to bring it home.  it's only the third wilhelm item i have showing him wearing the dodger blue.

jeff at 2x3 heroes took a proactive approach and actually sent me a couple of cards under the guise of making a 'pre-emptive strike on the nefarious 9' which served as the inspiration for this post.  as a reward, jeff gets to see the cards he sent me next

2013 topps gypsy queen josh beckett white framed

and 2013 topps gypsy queen matt kemp

thanks jeff!

i also found a card that i had pondered adding to the list while perusing the wares at one of the twin cities' lcs locations.  it's the 2013 topps gypsy queen adrian gonzalez mini short print photo variation.

i was supposed to have received that card through a group break i participated in, but it was lost or otherwise misplaced so i threw down 4 bits and brought it home.

i've also used ebay to grab some cards that likely would have eventually hit the nefarious 9, like this 1995 upper deck top prospects paul konerko card

sportlots has come in handy too, as i picked up a couple of gas station cards.

on the surface, this looks like an ordinary 1994 fleer mike piazza card, right?

it's a nice dodger stadium play at the plate with the tim crews memorial patch showing.  nice card.

the back tells the full story, however, as we see that this was part of a set apparently available at sunoco stations

same deal, i believe, with this 2004 upper deck chevron shawn green card

except that it doesn't look like a 2004 upper deck card.  more like what a 2010 upper deck card should have looked like.

to end the post on a high note, here's a 1998 pinnacle epix emerald eddie murray card that i got for a steal on ebay recently

i already had the purple and orange versions, and had been looking for the rarer emerald version for a while.  like the wilhelm card, i thought about adding it to the nefarious 9 but didn't for the same reasons.

i will need to add a few cards to that list soon, however, as you might notice it currently sits at less than its full capacity.  stay tuned.

showdown throwdown

let us team collectors mourn the 2000's - with upper deck victory and topps total and upper deck 40 man and the like - sometimes the only way to get cards of our third string catcher or long reliever.  not quite as heralded as those releases was mlb showdown.  still, in 2000, it provided we dodger fans with a card of pedro borbon jr!

borbon jr was almost a dodger triple dipper - he was originally drafted by the dodgers in 1986, but did not sign.  they later signed him as a free agent in 1998, and he pitched in 70 games for them during the 1999 season.  after that, he was included in the raul mondesi for shawn green deal, but returned to the dodgers in the spring of 2003.  unfortunately, he was released before the season started so he didn't even double dip according to my definition.  anyway, i think that the 2000 mlb showdown card is the only one of borbon's that i have showing him in dodger blue.  it might be the only card made for him now that i think about it, as he was a loogy but never a closer.  ok, no.  he has a few cards from his mid-90's stint with the braves and even has one in 2002 ud 40 man as a blue jay.  good for him.

oh, and using my 20-sided die (thank you dungeon master), i rolled a 13.  looks like borbon got me to fly out.

here's another card from 2000 mlb showdown.  it's mark grudzielanek

it's too bad the g-man and doug mientkiewicz didn't both play for the cubs.  harry caray, who had enough trouble with grudzielanek, would have had a heart attack trying to describe a routine ground ball.  anyway, before grudz was dealt to the cubs, he had a few years with the dodgers and got a lot of cards.  he got me a single just now, as i rolled a 14.

another guy with a lot of cards, including one in the 2000 mlb showdown set was todd hollandsworth

i have to admit that i really don't understand this game.  are we to believe that todd hollandsworth does not fly out?  whatever, i rolled a 6.  first and second, one out baby!

hey, it's todd hundley from his first stint in dodger blue.

i rolled a two. figures. a strikeout.

raul mondesi was still a dodger in the 2000 mlb showdown set.

i really like all dodger cards from 2000 a lot.  many of them show the dodger heroes patch on the left sleeve that were worn during the 1999 season.  here, we can see mondy paid tribute to number 11, manny mota.  shouldn't borbon have worn mota's patch?  he wore a tommy lasorda patch instead.

upon closer inspection, i see that the hundley and the mondesi cards are 'edition 1' cards.  parallels, perhaps? who knows?  anyway, i rolled a five - mondy walks to load the bases. mondy walks - yeah right.

devon white has a few dodger cards, including a 2000 mlb showdown card

what will he do with 2 outs and the bases loaded?  if you guessed strike out, you are correct.  i rolled a one.

the last of the 2000 cards i will show is eric young's.

ey is rocking the jackie robinson patch, and he gets to lead off our second inning.  he walks with a rolled 6.

that brings up shawn green on a 2001 mlb showdown card

shawn green is certainly not a guy with only a handful of dodger cards.  no, he was in every set, every subset, every insert set - you name it, he was in it.  he also just cleared the bases with a 2-run home run thanks to a roll of the die that equaled the average age of the us serviceman in vietnam.  19.  19. 19 19 19.  at least according to paul hardcastle.

so, it's 2-0 if in fact i am doing this right, with nobody out in the 2nd inning.  here's a 2003 mlb showdown card of another frequently featured dodger, kevin brown

between brown and gary sheffield, i had a hard time buying dodger cards 10 years ago.  maybe that's why i branched out my pc's around that time to include more non-dodgers.  anyway, brown just pu'd with a 1.  and what's with the 21+ category?  does he have a bat +1?  and if so, then how many hit points?

here's shawn green again, this time working the goatee on a 2003 mlb showdown card

will he go deep twice in the same inning? no, he will not.  he will strike out with a second consecutive 1.

that brings up marquis grissom

grissom was traded by the brewers to the dodgers for the aforementioned devon white after the 2000 season.  he spent all of 2001 and 2002 with the dodgers, and actually played in 246 games as a dodger. he has that 2001 topps traded relic card, too, of which i swear i have a dozen copies.  by the time this card came out, grissom was up in san francisco hitting .300 for the nor-cals.  i rolled an 8, so he's on base with a two-out walk.

also gone from dodgertown in 2003 was eric karros, although he still got a dodger card in 2003 mlb showdown

the all-time los angeles dodger leader in home runs hits a single with a rolled 13.  actually, i'm sure he hit a gapper, but could only muster a wide turn of first thanks to the piano that he carried with him on the basepaths.

let's see what the guy who was supposed to replace karros can do, shall we?  here's one of fred mcgriff's few dodger cards, also from the 2003 mlb showdown set.

i'll assume that grissom went to third on karros' single, but it doesn't matter since the crime dog drew a walk with a 10 on the die.  bases loaded.

do you remember odalis perez's 2002 season?  15-10 with a 3.00 era and an all-star berth.  he was just 12-12 the year this 2003 mlb showdown card came out.

now i really know i am doing this wrong.  i rolled a 20, so that's a double.  maybe it's impossible for perez to homer.  4-0 with runners on second and third with two outs.

now we're back to why i started this post in the first place.  this is one of just a few paul quantrill dodger cards.

quantrill did get cards from topps in 2003 and 2004, most likely due to the fact that he led the league in pitching appearances in both of those seasons.  like borbon jr, he was drafted by the dodgers in 1986 but did not sign, so he's not a double dipper either.  he is a rally extender-er, though, as he just drew a two-out walk with a 19.

and that brings us to one of the jewels of the 2003 mlb showdown set, paul shuey.

though his face is obscured by shadow, shuey gets some cardboard love.  he pitched in 90 games for the dodgers over the course of the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but i think this is his only dodger card aside from one in the 2003 upper deck 40 man set.  he strikes out to end the inning (i rolled a 4) but that's ok. i can't find fault with a card that features paul shuey in a dodger uniform.

'tis the season for continuing with the double play dumping

let's get right to it with some 1996 topps stadium club cards.  here's domingo cedeno

and benji gil

and ozzie guillen

and mickey morandini in a 1993 world series rematch

and finally, robby thompson

moving on to 1996 upper deck, we have gary disarcina

and pat kelly

now, here are a few cards from 1996 upper deck collector's choice - craig biggio

nelson liriano

pat meares

and john patterson

love the horizontal layout and the forearm shiver given to tony gwynn.  not really, i actually like tony gwynn.  here's another horizontal dp card - tony graffanino's 1997 fleer card

and then there are a couple of mlb showdown cards from 2003.  this one shows brent butler of the rockies turning two

while this one shows orlando hudson making the relay throw to first.

the hudson card gives props to the omar vizquel/roberto alomar dp combo.  anybody remember who their first baseman was?

cora cora cora the ex-doyer

he's a super cool ex-doyer, cora.

alex cora also turns double plays expertly, according to the back of his 2004 topps total card

which also features a tiny photo of him doing just that.  it's the same photo as the front of the card

i realize now that i was remiss in last night's final post by not mentioning that johnny evers was responsible for giving us the merkle boner.  had he not realized that fred merkle never touched second base, we probably wouldn't be able to say 'boner' in mixed company today.  i apologize for the oversight.

back to cora - he is shown turning two on his 2001 topps card

which means he is also shown turning two on his 2001 topps chrome card

and the same goes for 2004, although i will only show the chrome card here.

i'm glad topps started to vary the photos in their chrome sets, but at the same time, i've stopped buying chrome.  i used to buy boxes of the flagship and chrome every year, but it's been a few years since i've done that.

here's cora's 2005 upper deck card

which is the same as his 2005 upper deck first edition card (not shown).  cora turned 646 double plays in his career (or at least was involved in that many, according to baseball reference) including 116 in 2003 alone.

by the time that 2005 card was released, cora was in cleveland with the indians.  his time in cleveland was short, however, as the indians dealt him to boston during the 2005 season where he continued to make the turn at second base, as seen on his 2007 upper deck card

and his 2007 upper deck first edition card

i guess he learned a thing or two from his older brother, shown making the pivot on this 1998 pacific card

even with all that double play turning, alex cora is probably best remembered (at least by me) for his 18-pitch at bat in 2004 against matt clement of the cubs.  with the count at 2 balls, 1 strike, cora fouled off 14 consecutive pitches before hitting the 18th pitch of the at bat into the stands for a home run.  it was one of only 35 home runs he would hit during his career, although he did hit 10 of them in 2004.

not all of the cards i have of cora show him turning the double play.  i recently picked up a couple such specimens.  here's a 2001 mlb showdown card showing him running the bases presumably

and here is his 2004 mlb showdown card which shows him tracking a pop-up

either that or cesar izturis has lobbed the ball to second while trying to start a dp.

there are more actual double play cards on the way, so don't fret.