more (but not all that i hoped for) 2004 cards from the steve garvey binders

things get pretty thick on sheet 47 of the steve garvey binders. there are nothing but numbered cards, and a couple have patches that make for a thicker card.  that's why some of the non-relic cards look a little blurry in the scan.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 2004 donruss team heroes showdown bronze parallel /150
2. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material relic /250
3. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material relic /250 (with pinstripe)
4. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material combo relic /50
5. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection signature material auto/relic /50
6. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material combo prime relic /25
7. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material prime relic /25
8. 2004 donruss throwback threads generations /1500 (with shawn green)
9. 2004 donruss throwback threads generations spectrum /100 (with shawn green)

i haven't been good about noting the print runs on these cards in past posts, but i will in this one.  lots of padre garvey goodness on that sheet, although i was pretty pleased in '04 to see both garvey and green on a card together.

here are the backs:

sheet 48 continues the numbered and garvey/green goodness, starting with a dual garvey/green relic numbered to just 5.

those cards are:

1. 2004 donruss throwback threads generations material /5 (with shawn green)
2. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer /250
3. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer silver /100
4. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (blue ink)
5. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (blue ink/'6' notation)
6. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (black ink/'6' notation)
7. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (gold glove notation)
8. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (world champs notation)
9. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto silver /100

beckett doesn't have any info on the print run of the straight auto card from timelines, nor does it differentiate between ink color and/or notations.  no, that's what we supercollectors do.

here are the backs:

here's sheet 49:

 those cards are:

1. 2004 donruss world series
2. 2004 donruss world series blue holofoil /100
3. 2004 donruss world series october heroes /500
4. 2004 donruss world series october heroes signature material /100
5. 2004 fleer greats
6. 2004 fleer greats blue /74
7. 2004 fleer greats auto
8. 2004 fleer greats announcing greats
9. 2004 fleer greats forever dodgers /1969

there are a number of parallels from the world series release that i am missing, but it is the fleer greats release that really bothers me as far as cards not in my collection.  first, here are the backs:

so, i am really grateful to fleer for putting garvey and vin scully on a card together.  that is awesome.  however, i am really disappointed in fleer for going bankrupt in 2004.  when greats came out that year, there were a number of redemption cards issued for relics and autos, including many featuring garvey. i fought for and bought at least one exchange card of each (except for possibly the rarest one) on ebay and sent them in.  nothing happened, and then fleer goes belly up and i am sent consolation relic cards (including some basketball!?!) instead of receiving cards such as these:

2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game jersey relic sp
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game jersey relic logo /149
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game jersey relic number /99
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game patch dual relic logo /19 (with fernando valenzuela)
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game patch dual relic number /5 (with fernando valenzuela)
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game patch relic logo /49
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game patch relic number /25

i was ticked off, to say the least.  how awesome would that dual patch relic with fernando have been? pretty awesome.  the orel hershiser 'forever dodgers' relic cards were completed on time to be included in the initial release, but i don't think i've ever tracked one down.  it's too painful.

the rest of the infield (and others) show up in the steve garvey binders

not all of the cards in the steve garvey binders are of steve alone.  sometimes, he has company.  such is the case with one of the cards on sheet 44.  have a look.

those cards are:

1. 2003 topps all-time fan favorites relic
2. 2003 topps retired signature
3. 2003 topps retired signature black parallel
4. 2003 topps tribute
5. 2003 topps tribute gold parallel
6. 2003 topps tribute auto relic
7. 2003 topps tribute team tribute relic with ron cey and steve yeager
8. 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography dodger stars auto
9. 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography dodger stars auto bronze

i was happy to see cey and yeager show up on a tribute relic, even though it would have made more sense for them to do so with the other co-mvp of the 1981 world series, pedro guerrero, and not the garv.  i am missing the gold version of the garvey tribute auto relic, and i am sure it is as fantastic as the base gold parallel.  look at that sucker shine!

here are the backs:

moving on to sheet 45, the upper deck autographs continue with some familiar faces (and signatures):

those cards are:

1. 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography dodger stars auto silver
2. 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography doubles auto with ron cey
3. 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography triples auto with davey lopes and ron cey
4. 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography triples auto with bill russell and ron cey
5. 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic
6. 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic jersey relic
7. 2004 donruss classics team colors bat relic
8. 2004 donruss classics team colors combo material bat/patch relic
9. 2004 donruss classics team colors combo auto relic

the 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography dodger stars set was a fantastic group of cards for this fan back in '03.  it featured certified autos for bill buckner, tommy john, maury will, ron cey, bill russell, don sutton, duke snider, davey lopes, don newcombe, steve yeager, and, of course, steve garvey.  there were also the combo autos, three of which you see on that sheet.  each individual auto had the base (numbered to a variety of copies - garvey's is 320), bronze (most, like garvey's, numbered to 100 and with the "dodgers" inscription), silver (numbered to 50, and most with a year inscription), and gold (numbered to 10).  i am missing the garvey gold version, unfortunately.

here are the backs:

a note about the 2004 donruss classics team colors cards, which continue on sheet 46.  donruss essentially used the twins 'twin cities' logo on these cards which confused me at first.  you can't unsee it - have a look:

 those cards are:

1. 2004 donruss classics team colors jersey relic
2. 2004 donruss classics team colors jersey (pinstripe) relic
3. 2004 donruss classics team colors signatures auto
4. 2004 donruss elite extra edition back to back picks signature with ron cey
5. 2004 donruss leather & lumber rivals
6. 2004 donruss leather & lumber rivals material dual relic
7. 2004 donruss leather & lumber lumber cuts auto
8. 2004 donruss leather & lumber leather cuts auto
9. 2004 donruss team heroes

it is also strange to me that donruss used a dodger jersey for the combo bat/patch relic on sheet 45, but then went with a padres jersey for the other relics while still using a photo of garvey as a dodger.  at least upper deck switched from a dodger photo on the 2003 upper deck sweet spot classics base card to a padres photo on the relic insert since they were using a brown friars swatch.  donruss also took the 'back to back' literally with the elite extra edition auto card as you will see in a moment.

here are the backs:

there's the penguin!

still more to come - stay tuned...

rickey got some final tributes

today is many things - the last tuesday of the year, christmas, and rickey henderson's 55th birthday.  i'm sure rickey got shorted on gifts as a kid due to the dual birthday/christmas thing, but perhaps rickey used that as fuel to motivate rickey into becoming, as he said, the greatest.

back in 2003, rickey spent his last days in the major leagues with the dodgers who had plucked rickey out of the atlantic league in the hopes that rickey would jumpstart the team, or at least put some fans in the seats.

here's rickey's 2004 upper deck card

it doesn't look like there were too many fans coming out to see rickey.  that's too bad.  i remember the first time i saw rickey play - it was at the big a in anaheim and some youth group i was in took a trip to see some billy ball in 1982, the year rickey stole 130 bases.  it was great - rickey stole a couple of bases, billy martin came out to yell at an umpire, and we all went home happy.

as for that upper deck card, it features rickey's complete major league career stats on the back, as a true final tribute should.

those are some big numbers.  at the time of rickey's retirement (or at the end of the 2003 season, as rickey didn't officially retire), rickey was the all-time leader in stolen bases, walks (not shown), and runs scored.  rickey is still number one in steals and runs scored, but barry bonds wound up walking more times than rickey.

rickey had other cards in 2004 which, as a dodger collector, pleased me.  this is a 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia (retail version) card

here's the back

for the record, since it's not on the back of any of these cards, rickey walked 11 times as a dodger.  rickey was 20th on the all-time hit list after the 2003 season,  rickey has since been bumped to 22nd as craig biggio and derek jeter have both passed rickey in recent years.

here's a 2004 donruss team heroes card of rickey

here on the back, we can see that rickey had 3 of the dodgers' 80 team steals in 2003

a little bit fancier now, here's a 2004 donruss timeless treasures card of rickey

the back notes that rickey broke ty cobb's career runs record with a home run.

rickey slid into home plate to celebrate, just like yasiel puig did last year on his first walk-off homer.  admittedly, rickey had a few more years under rickey's belt when rickey did it.

not all of rickey's 2004 cards showed him as a dodger.  this is a 2004 donruss lumber & leather card featuring rickey as an athletic

rickey had four different stints with the a's.  the back of this card features a photo of a younger rickey

i am still of the mind that billy beane should have signed rickey to a contract in september of 2004.  the rosters were expanded, and rickey could still play (rickey was playing independent ball at the time).  yes, the a's were playing for a division title (they finished one game behind the angels), but rickey could have pulled some herb washington duty as a designated pinch runner.  plus, the a's were eliminated by the angels in game 161.  rickey could have suited up for game 162 at the coliseum and finished rickey's career in front of the home crowd.

unfortunately, rickey's last professional game was played in 2005 as a member of the san diego surf dogs dawgs in the golden baseball league.  strangely enough, billy beane did pluck a player off of the surf dawgs' roster in '05, but it was disappointing twins' prospect adam johnson, not rickey.  so that meant that, fortunately for me, rickey's last major league games were played as a member of the dodgers.  that means that rickey's 2004 upper deck vintage card (featuring a dodger usher appearing to be a first base coach) is also a final tribute card

it's too bad that upper deck didn't do rickey's full career stats on the back, though, as they did with rickey's flagship card shown up top.

and, while the text on the back notes that rickey homered in his second game as a dodger, rickey also homered in his fourth game as a dodger. the dodgers didn't win that game, but the home run was the last of rickey's career, and it was also (quite appropriately) a lead-off homer.  it is also worth noting that rickey stole for the last time in rickey's career in a game against the rockies with greg zaun as the catcher.  about three weeks later, in rickey's final big league plate appearance, rickey was hit by a pitch.  rickey took second on a sacrifice and then scored on a shawn green single.  and that was the end of rickey's major league career.

merry christmas everybody, and happy birthday rickey!

culling dodgers from capewood's collection, part one

a while back i worked out a trade with cliff at capewood's collections. i sent him a bunch of astros and phillies, and he sent me a ton of mid 2000's dodgers. between 2003 and 2006 i didn't buy too much stuff. i would pick up a pack here and there, and dig through the bargain bin at the local shop once in a while for dodgers. so, a lot of these cards were new to me which was awesome. in fact, i'm still digesting the box cliff sent. here are a few of the goodies.

2004 upper deck legendary cuts tommy lasorda. while i enjoy this card, i am sure cliff hated pulling it. just as i would dislike pulling a bill virdon or danny ozark card.

2004 donruss team heroes joe thurston.

i had high hopes for thurston, but he kind of fizzled. he spent 2006 with the phillies and was playing well for the cardinals at the beginning of this season.

2004 playoff absolute memorabilia don sutton.

i love the fact that this card has the big '2004' on the front. sure, the absolute logo also has the date, but the foil sometimes makes it hard to read. when sorting cards by year it's tough sometimes to know by the copyright date on the back, so this kind of thing helps. thanks playoff!

next up, a joel hanrahan trifecta

2002 topps traded

2002 topps traded chrome

2002 topps traded gold

hanrahan has had a tough go with the nationals this year, but at least he's playing in the bigs. most of the guys from this set haven't been so lucky.

2002 leaf shawn green.

what do this card and romaine lettuce have in common? they're both leafy greens. ha! check out the dodger stadium outfield wall in the background. that's pee wee's retired number! these days it would be an adelphia sign or something like that.

next, a bunch of 2006 fleer cards that have me thinking about those sweet o-pee-chee variations.

tim hamulack.

danys baez.

bill mueller.
rafael furcal.
turning two! with pokey reese and eddie mathews!

2005 upper deck classics don drysdale.

big d looks pissed. i bet this pitch was a high and tight fastball.

let's end this installment with the penguin and his card from the same set.

thanks cliff!

round 2 coming up tomorrow!