who is rick monday's career torchbearer?

in his final big league at bat, the dodgers' rick monday, the center fielder on the team of my youth, faced the reds' jeff russell 6/20/84 as pinch-hitter and struck out.  this is monday's card from the 1984 dodgers police set

mo finished his career with 1619 hits and one huge postseason home run.

jeff russell, shown here on his 1995 fleer update card,

pitched in his last game on 9/27/96 as a member of the texas rangers. the last batter he faced was the angels' randy velarde who drew a walk.

here's randy velarde on his 2002 topps total card

which is appropriate because velarde played in his final game on 9/29/02 for the oakland a's and grounded into a 5-4-3 double play in his last at bat.  the pitcher that induced the dp was cj nitkowski of the texas rangers.

on june 7, 2005, nitkowski (i could only find a 2001 topps card of cj)

pitched in the big leagues for the final time.  he was with the washington nationals then, and in a game against the a's, he gave up a single to eric chavez and then walked scott hatteberg before being lifted for a reliever.

now with the reds (as evidenced by this 2008 topps year in review insert that i lifted from ebay), hatteberg

was used as a pinch-hitter on may 25, 2008 against the padres.  he faced off against bryan corey and fouled out to the catcher in what turned out to be his last big league appearance.

corey, who had relieved greg maddux to face hatteberg, made his last big league appearance just a couple of months later.  he doesn't seem to have many cards, so i'm showing a 2006 topps '52 card of him in a bosox uniform.

anyway, in the padres' game on august 9, 2008, corey was summoned from the bullpen to start the 9th inning against the rockies' 3-4-5 hitters.  with an 8-2 lead, corey allowed a single to matt holliday and then another to brad hawpe, and he was removed in favor of cla meredith.

brad hawpe, shown as a padre on his 2011 topps card,

eventually made his way to the angels' roster in 2013 where he played his last game in anaheim against the twins on july 22, 2013.  playing first base, hawpe's final big league at bat ended in a ground out while facing sam deduno - a former teammate of hawpe on the 2010 rockies.

deduno

pitched for most of 2014 with the twins (that's his 2014 topps card above), but was picked up on waivers late in the season by the astros.  i'll assume that he'll continue to carry rick monday's torch in 2015 for the 'stros.  if not, curtis granderson becomes monday's torchbearer which would be ok - from one center fielder to another.

so, i sought out a repack

this 1992 bowman vaughn eshelman card means business.

i found it in a repack that i sought out after finding (both surprisingly and somewhat disappointingly) only current cards at one of the local walgreens.  i had my mind set on a repack, so a couple of days later i picked up a hanger of recycled cards at target.

here's the oldest card from the pack - a 1985 topps bryn smith

that's nice - i'm kind of a bryn smith fan.  i met his dad when i was in high school is how that came about.

this 2012 topps update ra dickey card is the newest card from the repack

nice shot of the knuckle grip, but why isn't he wearing number 49 like a good knuckler?

as always, there were some 1987 topps cards included, such as this tony gwynn all-star subset card

and there was also some 1988 fleer, including this tim wallach card

the card design works well with the expos' unis, although the blues don't quite match.  that card will be heading to new mexico at some point.

there was actually a 1989 fleer card that i am going to keep in the repack - this checklist card that features the dodgers and red sox

there are your defending world champions, from dave anderson to tracy woodson.  i don't know about you other set collectors, but i always included the fleer checklists with my team sets, probably because in 1983 and 1984 (and possibly other years) they featured a photo of the manager on them.

here's a 1990 topps willie stargell glossy all-star card

pops was the honorary captain of the national league squad in 1988 as he was voted into the hall of fame that year.

there was a complete 14-card factory set of the 2008 topps yankees in the repack

joba looks like he's relieving himself on the lawn outside a kegger somewhere.

i beat the odds and picked a repack that included an autographed card.  it's a 2006 topps '52 matt albers card

i would have preferred another auto card of a different matt from that same set, but repack purchasers can't be choosers.  not in that way, anyway.

even more happy returns

here are the last of the cards i was able to get signed in person/through the mail thanks to reader cory.  they were signed over the course of a couple of springs and dodger road trips to san diego.  first up is a 2006 topps 52 card signed by both matt kemp and james loney

that is just awesome.  the bison also signed a 2009 topps card for me

as did the reigning cy young award winner, clayton kershaw

very very nice.  kemp doesn't sign through the mail, but kershaw did sign some this spring.  hong-chih kuo signed some cards for me through the mail last year, but first, he signed this 2007 topps update & highlights card

ramón troncoso signes a 2008 topps card

and angel berroa

and casey blake signed their cards from 2008 topps update & highlights

blake also signed a 2007 topps card from his time with the tribe

i had the luxury of sitting back and waiting for these autos to come my way, while cory was out doing the work.  i did send him some cards to keep, as well as some ttm successes i had acquired like a 1972 topps bill buckner and a 1964 topps willie davis.  i hope he thought it was worth it.

thanks again cory!

turning cards that should have been into cards that really are!

sometimes it's good to know you're not alone.  specifically, i was happy to learn that i wasn't the only one who left empty spots in my 1999 upper deck century legends binder for the dimaggio, rose and koufax cards that were not produced.  reader tim did the same thing.  so, after i created the cards that should have been, he contacted me to see if i could help him fill the similar gaps in his basketball and football sets.

it seems that upper deck did not produce a card in the century legends sets for magic johnson or a host of football players in 1999, presumably due to the same licensing issues that prevented them from making the baseball cards mentioned above.  tim sent me scans of some of the football and basketball cards that they did make for me to use to create a template. i did some searching for photos, and soon enough the task was done.

for my time, tim sent me a couple of fantastic real authentic cards.

2008 topps allen & ginter andre ethier auto

2006 topps '52 matt kemp auto

as much as i enjoy making cards that should have been, there's nothing like sweet cards that really are!

thanks tim!

*edit*

for the record, here are the cards i created for tim

magic

lance alworth

eric dickerson

mean joe greene

don hutson

oj

i did a second oj because the first one shows him in number 36 (his 32 was stolen or lost prior to the game) and figured tim might prefer to see him in his iconic number 32

lt

larry wilson

aaaargh, thar be a pirate card abrewin'

here's my contribution to the cause.

before:

after:no pirate hat - don't want to mess with the hair

pat neshek through the mail success!

i have sent a few ttm requests to pat neshek while he rehabs down in fort myers, and figured i should post the bounty, especially since he just celebrated his 29th birthday a week ago. how do i know? because he added his birthdate and hometown to this 2008 topps allen & ginter state card!he curiously did not add the stitches or his number to his auto, though.

here's his base 2008 topps a&g with his typical sig

and the mini2009 a&g

and the mini2009 topps base and, just to mix things up, 2008 upper decknot so good for autos.

finally, a 2006 topps '52here he added the stitches to his facsimile auto. nice!

thanks pat! and happy belated birthday! see you at target field in 2010!

they come from a land up over

canada, to be exact. captain canuck sent some set needs and other cool stuff recently. here's a sampling.

it wouldn't be right if there weren't some packs of 1991 opc premier included, and captain didn't disappoint. here's wade boggsand two chris hammonds. one in each pack.

now for some dodgers, including a 2006 fleer team leaders jeff kent and derek lowe.

if by leading you mean sitting in the clubhouse reading motocross magazines.

2006 topps 52 andre ethier/russell martin dynamic duos.

there are also matt kemp/james loney and chad billingsley/jonathan broxton cards in this subset. i wonder which guy is robin in this scenario.

speaking of the boy wonder, here's a 2009 opc joe mauer black border.

nice. one of the studio shots from this set that i actually like.

and an ichiro black border, too.

a nice contrast to the mauer card.

here's joe mauer again, on a 2008 ud masterpieces jersey card.

i gave up a chipper jersey from topps' 2002 t206 set to get this and am happy that captain agreed to the trade.

finally, a bicentennial dandy - 1976 topps greg luzinski.

i have always liked the bull as he was instrumental in the dodgers' 1977 nlcs victory, either misplaying or just being too slow to get to (depending on who you believe) manny mota's 9th inning double.

thanks captain!