here are dodgers in spades

here's the fourth and last suit of cards from the 2005 baseball hero deck of dodgers.  the more recent players are featured as spades.  i use 'most recent' broadly, as this group spans from the 1980's to 2005...

eric gagne is the only reliever to crack the aces in the set.  mike scioscia at catcher is nice, even though he finished his time with the dodgers in 1992.  eric karros at first, steve sax at second, adrian beltre at third, and cesar izturis at short. an outfield of gary sheffield, milton bradley, and shawn green, plus ramon martinez, hideo nomo, kevin brown, and mike piazza as the high numbered 'bench' cards.

this is a cool little oddball set.

i'm a fan of jaybarkerfan

i didn't win the world cup of trading hosted recently by jaybarkerfan's junk.  i chose a card from the group of death and my return was slaughtered by the generosity of bob walk the plank.  still, wes sent me some stuff - just not the gary redus trophy.

instead, i received a bunch of dodgers, including my favorite player of all time on a 2003 topps retired signature card

even steve garvey was not immune to the 'wear your jacket under your jersey' trend that was prevalent in the early 1970's.

here's a 1986 fleer pedro guerrero

from when he was one of the 5 best players in the league.

speaking of best players in the league, here's a 1995 score mike piazza hall of gold card

piazza never did win the mvp, but he finished 2nd twice in a row to go a long with a few other top 10 finishes

here's a card i had never seen before - a 2005 topps pack wars milton bradley

i had heard of pack wars as an event at card shops, but didn't know there were specific cards created by topps presumably for the event.  and, it features a photo from tatooine as well!

this is a 2011 topps pee wee reese 60 years of topps insert

it's been nice to see pee wee get some love from the card companies over the last few years.  i assume that topps will ride sandy koufax and jackie robinson and duke snider for as long as they can, but it would be nice to see some gil hodges cards, too.

2012 topps heritage andre ethier black border parallel

i believe ethier is the longest tenured dodger - he debuted in 2006 a couple of weeks before matt kemp. he is also the odd man out in the outfield.  i am slowly becoming a proponent of adding the dh to the national league, and that would certainly help ethier's situation. i believe that there is no chance that the american league will ever dump the dh, and i think it is silly that there are two sets of rules for the same game.

wes included a 2003 playoff piece of the game kevin brown jersey card

times kevin brown wore a dodger uniform in the playoffs, however, equals zero.

there were also two autos in the package, this 2011 bowman chrome prospects blake smith card

which features a former 2nd round pick who has been converted to a pitcher in the dodger system, and this fantastic jaybarkerfan/hamburgler auto

that goes in the binder right next to the fuji auto!

thanks as always wes.  good stuff.

sunday morning target dodgers - reese, reis, and reuss

i don't know how target assembled the set as far as which players appeared on which sheet, but there are a couple of common threads on this week's sheet - by name and by way many of the players came to be a part of the franchise.

this week's sheet of players from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set starts off with number 1.

pee wee reese

reese was the dodger shortstop from 1940 through 1956 except for three seasons (1943-1945) during which time he served in the armed forces.  he was a 10-time all-star and a 7-time world series participant who sits atop the dodger all-time career leaderboard in war, walks, and runs scored, and is second to zack wheat in a number of other categories.

bobby reis

as a robin/dodger, reis played everywhere but catcher and shortstop.  his big league career began with the robins in 1931, and he played exclusively third base at that time, hitting .294 over six games.  he was back up in 1932, but played in just one game going 1 for 4 at third.  reis returned to the big leagues in 1935 with the dodgers, but this time he found himself on the mound 14 times, including 2 starts.  reis put together a record of 3-2 with 2 saves, a 2.83 era and an 11-inning complete game to boot.  he also played in the field in about three dozen other games that year.  reis was traded to the boston braves for the 1936 season, where he maintained his two-way play for three seasons.  his photo, by the way, comes from 1932 when he played for the jersey city skeeters.

jerry reuss

reuss came to the dodgers at the start of the 1979 season from the pirates in exchange for rick rhoden.  i was a fan of rhoden, and so i wasn't too excited with this development especially when reuss went 7-14 in his first season with the dodgers.  then came his 1980 season, complete with an 18-6 record, 2.51 era,  all-star berth, league-leading six shutouts, complete game victory in must-win game 161 against the astros, and most importantly his no-hit performance against the giants.  i was a reuss convert.  reuss also pitched well in 1981, helping the dodgers win the division series against the astros and eventually the world series over the yankees with complete game clinchers in each series, and he stayed with the team into the 1987 season.  don't forget to check out his website for some cool photos and other stuff.

bob bailey

bailey was a hot prospect for the pirates in the early 1960's, but he failed to live up to the lofty expectations, later becoming half of the haul (gene michael was the other half) that the dodgers received from the pirates in the maury wills trade prior to the 1967 season.  he played for the dodgers for two seasons, hitting .227 (73 for 322) in both 1967 and 1968, and his contract was purchased by the expos following the 1968 season. bailey was the first baseman in their inaugural game, and became the first expo to get a hit and the first to drive in runs.  in fact, bailey had his best offensive years with the expos as he realized some of the potential that the pirates had hoped for.  after several seasons in montreal, bailey eventually found his way to the reds, where he was a member of their 1976 world championship team, although he did not play in the postseason.

mark bradley

bradley was a late-season call up for the dodgers in 1981 and 1982. he was their first round pick in 1975, and appeared in a total of 17 games for them in those two aforementioned seasons.  bradley's last game as a dodger was their final game of the 1982 season, when joe morgan and the giants dashed their postseason hopes.  he was traded to the mets prior to the following season.

augie galan

galan was acquired by the dodgers from the cubs during the 1941 season.  he remained a dodger through the 1946 season, playing mostly outfield, and was a national league all-star in 1943 and 1944.  it appears that he enjoyed a crossword puzzle as well as playing baseball.

ray lamb

lamb was a reliever who pitched for the dodgers in 1969 and 1970.  he even found his way on to a topps card in 1970, sharing space with bob stinson.  he was 0-1 with a save and a 1.80 era in 10 games during his debut season, and then 6-1 with a 3.79 era in 35 games the following year.  lamb was traded to the indians in the duke sims deal after the 1970 season, and he spent three seasons in cleveland working as a reliever and a sometimes starter.  he is the only dodger to wear number 42 after jackie robinson, doing so in the 1969 season.

vic lombardi

lombardi pitched for the dodgers from 1945 through 1947.  he won 10, 13, and 12 games in those seasons with his era consistently around 3.00.  following the 1947 world series, in which lombardi made two starts, he was traded to the pirates in the dixie walker deal that netted the dodgers, among others, preacher roe.

al mamaux

mamaux was part of the trade between the robins and pirates prior to the 1918 season that saw casey stengel head to pittsburgh with burleigh grimes going to brooklyn.  mamaux had won 21 games twice for the pirates, but his high during his six seasons with the robins was 12 in their pennant-winning 1920 season.

norm sherry

norm was the older brother of larry sherry, the dodger pitcher.  together they formed a rare fraternal battery from 1959 to 1962 - the span of norm's dodger career.  norm is probably best known as the guy who suggested to sandy koufax that he relax and not try to throw so hard prior to the 1961 season.  koufax took his advice and went on to dominate the league for the remainder of his career, while norm wound up with the mets in 1963.

eddie stack

stack pitched for the dodgers and superbas in 1912 and 1913.  he was 11-9 with a 2.99 era in that span, but was traded to the cubs during the 1913 campaign.

jigger statz

arnold john 'jigger' statz played in the major leagues for eight seasons beginning in 1919, the last two of which he spent in brooklyn with the robins.  while he hit .264 over those two seasons, bringing an end to his major league career, he found tremendous success in the pacific coast league with the los angeles angels.  statz had spent time with the angels while bouncing up and down from the big leagues, but he returned to the club for good in 1929 and wound up setting pcl records in a number of categories.  as such, statz is a member of the pcl hall of fame.

chuck templeton

templeton debuted for the dodgers on september 9, 1955 in chicago.  he retired all six of the cub batters he faced that day, but the dodgers lost despite his perfect relief effort.  he appeared in three more games during that midwestern road trip, allowing runs in each of those appearances while taking the loss in his last appearance of the season thanks to the fact that he walked the only batter he faced (stan musial) to lead of the bottom of the 12th innning.  templeton returned to the majors in 1956, taking the second loss of his career in his first start of the season which just happened to take place in saint louis.  he finally got to pitch in brooklyn his second time out in 1956, going four innings as the starter in what turned out to be a 7-5 dodger win over the cards.  he was sent down to the dodgers' saint paul affiliate in the summer of '56, and did not return to the majors.

chuck ward

ward was part of the trade i referenced earlier between the pirates and dodgers.  not the bob bailey/maury wills trade nor the preacher roe/dixie walker trade nor the jerry reuss/rick rhoden trade, but rather the burleigh grimes/casey stengel trade.  ward, who had succeeded honus wagner as the pirates' shortstop, accompanied grimes and mamaux to the dodgers in january of 1918, and appeared in 111 games as a backup shortstop and third baseman over the next 5 seasons.  he apparently has some connection to rutgers university, but i failed to uncover exactly what that connection was.

the fifteenth brooklyn-ite on the sheet is john anderson, who double dipped with the franchise and so gets his own post later today.

more random cards from the scanned folder

i'm doing some spring cleaning (although it's still winter here) of my scanned folder.  enjoy the randomness.

1961 topps nl batting leaders

that's quite a collection of players - two hall of famers, plus dick groat and the dodgers' norm larker.  groat hit .300 or better a few other times, but 1960 was the only season that larker surpassed that mark, missing the league title by just one hit. still, to be featured on a card with willie mays and roberto clemente is a pretty good consolation.

1966 topps derrell griffith

a young robin williams makes an appearance.  or, if you prefer, glenn quamire.  giggity.  griffith played in parts of four seasons for the dodgers, who won the pennant in three of those years, but he did not appear in any postseason games.

1979 hostess burt hooton

hooton was coming off a 19-win season and a second place finish in the cy young voting when this card came out.  still, i was paying more attention to tommy john, don sutton, and bobby welch fan at the time.

1981 topps steve garvey (back)

i'm not sure why i scanned the back of this card, but look at that run of hit totals from 1974 through 1980!

1985 topps mike scioscia

bracing for impact, no doubt.

1995 score cory snyder

technically, this card is a final tribute, although the corndog did spend some time in the minors with the red sox and padre organizations after the strike ended in 1995.  1994 was the last time he saw big league action, however, and he did it as a dodger.  the highlight of his final season was easily his 3-home run/7 rbi game against the pirates in april.

2004 leaf certified materials don sutton 'k force'

i used to watch 'battle of the planets' which had g-force protecting us from the evil of zoltar and planet spectra. too bad this wasn't a 'g force' card - sutton is currently 7th all-time in k's, but 3rd all-time in g's (games started, that is).

2005 fleer ultra eric gagne

gagne broke the dodgers' cy young drought in 2003 - they hadn't had a winner since 1988, which was the longest drought in franchise history.  they had been the only team to have a cy young award winner in each decade until they were shut out in the 1990's.  just like they were shut out in world series appearances that decade for the first time since the 1930's.

2005 fleer ultra milton bradley gold medal edition

that's one heckuva rounded corner!

it's not alway as good the second time around

do you remember seeing these things back in 1996?  the pinnacle zenith moziacs?

i did not own one, but was made aware of them somehow.  i thought they looked pretty cool, but was probably more seduced by their perceived rarity - 1 in 10 packs (although i didn't buy more than one or two packs, so i figured they were less prevalent than that).

the 1996 version is buoyed by the presence of three-fifths of the five straight rookies of the year - raul mondesi, mike piazza, and hideo nomo (eric karros and todd hollandsworth, not shown).  two of those three guys were home grown dodgers, with nomo joining as a free agent.
then, in 2005, donruss revived the moziac as part of their zenith release, and the dodgers' version of the card featured jeff kent, milton bradley, and jd drew.

a less dynamic design, coupled with the fact that all three of those guys were free agent signees and turned out to be dodger short-timers for the most part, make me fairly amibivalent toward the card.

also from donruss in 2005, i have this prime patches milton bradley autograph

i picked it up back around the time it was released, as i was rooting pretty hard for bradley to succeed.  even after he was traded to oakland, san diego, seattle, and chicago - i kept hoping for the best.  now he's facing some serious charges and it's apparent that the best is already gone from the realm of possibilities.

back to the mozaics - if panini were to revive it today, would they go with matt kemp, clayton kershaw, and andre ethier? or would it be adrian gonzalez, zack greinke, and hanley ramirez.  i know which one i would prefer.

the topps dodger autograph project - 2002 through 2004

short and sweet today with the latest installment of the topps dodger autograph project.  that would be dodger ttm successes for each year of topps cards.  traded sets are not included in the completion of the project, but i will show them if i have them.  for this post, i am three for three with the traded sets.

2002 topps, andy ashby

ashby spent three years in la after pretty much owning the dodgers during his career with the padres and phillies.  he was 8-3 with a 2.22 era in 21 games (18 starts) against the blue.  as a dodger, ashby managed just a 14-23 record in 53 appearances.  he's a good signer with a nice autograph.  i also have had 2002 topps ttm successes with jim tracy, jeff shaw, and chad kreuter, plus i received a signed davey lopes card in a trade with padrographs.

2002 topps traded, joel hanrahan

hanrahan never pitched for the dodgers.  he left the organization as a free agent in 2006 and signed on with the nationals.  a trade with pittsburgh later, and he's a two-time all-star closer.  i have also had 2002 topps traded cards signed through the mail by steve garvey, koyie hill, and brian jordan (with fee).

2003 topps, jim tracy

tracy managed the dodgers from 2001 through 2005.  he was able to get them back to the postseason for the first time since 1996 in 2004, but he went kind of crazy with his lineups in 2005 and was relieved of his duties.  he has since managed the pirates and the rockies, with his best work probably coming in 2009 when he took over in colorado and had the team playing at a .638 clip over the last 116 games of the season.  other dodgers from the 2003 set who have signed their cards through the mail for me include franklin gutierrez, brian jordan (with fee), and dave roberts.

2003 topps traded, ron coomer

the coom dog lowered the boom for me at the twins autograph party one year, so this isn't a ttm success.  it's the only 2003 topps traded card that i have signed, however, so i'm going to show it anyway.

2004 topps, edwin jackson

i saw e-jack pitch in san francisco towards the end of the 2003 season.  he gave up only a couple of hits but allowed 8 walks in that game.  the dodgers still won the game, which is the only one i have seen in person at pacbell/at&t park.  i did see a 49ers game at candlestick about a year later and i have to say i am happy to have not seen a baseball game there.  as for jackson, he has bounced around a bit since then, but signed a couple cards for me on one of his stops.  chicago, i think.  the only other 2004 topps dodger success i have had was jim tracy.

2004 topps traded, milton bradley

bradley signed this card during the spring that he spent with the mariners.  it's the only card from the 2004 topps traded set that i have signed, and i really like it.  i rooted hard for bradley, not only when he was a dodger, but everywhere he went.  i hope he is doing well now, too.

thanks to all these players for signing my cards!  here's a running list of the topps dodger autograph project:

1951 topps - preacher roe (purchased)

1952 topps - rocky bridges

1953 topps - bobby morgan

1954 topps - billy herman (purchased)

1955 topps - don zimmer (purchased)

1956 topps - randy jackson

1957 topps - carl erskine

1958 topps - joe pignatano

1959 topps - fred kipp

1960 topps - chuck essegian

1961 topps - bob aspromonte

1962 topps - norm sherry

1963 topps - ed roebuck

1964 topps - ken mcmullen

1965 topps - dick tracewski

1966 topps - john kennedy

1967 topps - phil regan

1968 topps - jim campanis

1969 topps - jeff torborg

1970 topps - al mcbean

1971 topps - sandy vance

1972 topps - manny mota

1973 topps - wes parker

1974 topps - claude osteen

1974 topps traded - jim wynn

1975 topps - ron cey

1975 topps mini - joe ferguson

1976 topps - bill russell

1976 topps traded - dusty baker

1977 topps - steve garvey

1978 topps - dave lopes

1979 topps - charlie hough

1980 topps - jerry reuss

1981 topps - doug rau

1981 topps traded - ken landreaux

1982 topps - dave goltz

1982 topps traded - jose morales

1983 topps - ron roenicke

1983 topps traded - rafael landestoy

1984 topps - fernando valenzuela

1984 topps traded - mike vail

1985 topps - burt hooton

1986 topps - enos cabell

1987 topps - steve sax

1987 topps traded - matt young

1988 topps - len matuszek

1989 topps - mickey hatcher

1990 topps - kal daniels

1990 topps traded - juan samuel

1991 topps - tim belcher

1992 topps - roger mcdowell

1993 topps - dave hansen

1993 topps traded - tim wallach

1994 topps - jody reed

1995 topps - chris gwynn

1996 topps - todd hollandsworth

1997 topps - brett butler

1998 topps - greg gagne

1999 topps - jose vizcaino

2000 topps - jeff shaw

2001 topps - chan ho park

2002 topps - andy ashby

2002 topps traded - joel hanrahan

2003 topps - jim tracy

2003 topps traded - ron coomer

2004 topps - edwin jackson

2004 topps traded - milton bradley

world series fever - catch it!

i bought into thorzul's recent el cheapo group break and, in a flashback to my youth when they were battling it out in the old nl west, i was randomly assigned the reds as a companion to my dodgers.  here's some of what i received.

first up is a 2005 upper deck milton bradley 'color variation'

i had no idea what this was and why there was blue ivy instead of green.  i own the regular version of this card, so i knew something was up.  turns out that there are similar variations to every base card in the set as far as i can tell from the internets.  just another upper deck gimmick.

from blue to red - here's a 1980 topps card that was included in my bounty

the reds didn't have a nice stadium to use as a backdrop like the dodgers did, nor did they have a world class zoo to use as the padres did.  just astroturf and an outfield wall.

there were also a bunch of cards from the 1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever set, including one of the few charles johnson as a dodger cards

johnson certainly had world series fever in 1997 as part of the world champion marlins.  eric karros, however, did not

karros only got as far as the nlds with the dodgers, and then was a member of the 2003 cubs that lost to the marlins in the nlcs thanks to the fact that they are the cubs.

paul konerko

who also appears in the set on andres galarraga's card, got his world series fever in 2005 with the world champion white sox.

raul mondesi

never got out of the division series - twice with the dodgers and once with the yankees.

chan ho park, on the other hand,

made it all the way to the world series with the phillies in 2009.  he pitched well, too, but the phils could not defeat the yankees.  nice shot of the visitor's bullpen, by the way.

gary sheffield

was part of the 1997 world champion marlins, but then had the misfortune to be on the yankees teams of the mid-2000's that couldn't quite make it to the world series.  misfortune, yeah that's not really the right word.

finally, there is no greater world series fever than when the dodgers are represented, as they were in 1988.

a magnificent moment indeed.

thanks thorzul.