bobby bo strikes again

my recent post about 1998 pacific online reminded me that i had sent bobby bonilla's card to him in hopes that he would sign and return it.  i also included a 1998 fleer tradition vintage '63 card, as well as a 1999 upper deck card (for a trade i was working on since he had already signed one of those for me).  here's what i got back.

the 1998 fleer tradition vintage '63 card

and a 1993 topps card

say what?  close but no cigar.  don't fret, though - i sent the autographed night card to a collector of such items.  i'm sure that's what bobby bo intended all along.

thanks bobby!

now taking requests for cards that should have been

i know big d did this a long time ago, and dave at goose joak did it more recently, so i am ripping off yet another blogger's idea. 

having said that, you all know how much i enjoy 'cards that should have been', whether it's one i make or someone else's work.  and, while most of my creations are dodgers, i have made a few of other players, including some as a result of reader requests.  the first might have been a 1986 topps mike squires card made for johngy.  then, a while back i received an email asking about bobby murcer and his 1975 topps card.  the emailer wanted to know if i could create a yankees card for murcer to replace the giants abomination that topps produced.  i could and did, with

and without the autograph.

a short time later, dave at goose joak solicited ideas for a custom card and produced this 2001 upper deck decade of the '70s reggie smith card at night owl's request.

that inspired me to make a card for the only member of the infield that wasn't included in that set, davey lopes.

it's a photo from the 1978 world series which i have wanted to use for a while because it so prominently features the jim gilliam patch.

then, i whipped up some cards that should have been for ryan of the orioles autograph project as part of a trade which i will show off soon.

now then, are there any other requests out there?  i think i could probably do 4 or 5 requests in a reasonable amount of time, so let's see what the people want.  hopefully nothing too obscure...

one of these dodgers is not like the others

2004 donruss throwback threads card takes us back in time to 1955, when dem bums ruled the baseball world.  there was the little admiral, pee wee reese at short, the silver fox, duke snider in center, and an older gray haired fellow named tommy lasorda who pitched them to victory.

right?  i am guessing that johnny podres was supposed to have been used but didn't sign off on the idea.  or maybe sandy koufax, although he wasn't that big of a part of the championship team.  that's why donruss had to scramble to find a photo - any photo - of lasorda.  after all, he only pitched a total of 4 innings over 4 games for the dodgers in 1955 before, as he claims it to be, he was replaced on the roster by the bonus baby koufax.  yes, i am sure that's what happened over at donruss in 2004.

so, as we look ahead to 2011, let's take one last look - and let's look correctly - back at 1955.  or, at least how donruss would have had us see it.

as they said in 1954 (and every year before), wait 'til next year!

papparazzi!

doesn't it look like johnny podres was confronted by the paparazzi one day as he was exiting his modest duplex on this 1967 topps card?

'johnny - over here!'
'johnny - how does it feel to be traded to the tigers?'
'johnny - why are you still wearing a dodger hat?'
'mr. podres - is it true you were abducted by aliens and replaced by an extraterrestrial clone prior to game 7 of the 1955 world series because even alien societies hate to see the yankees win?'

'ummm, am i on candid camera?'

the stan wall final tribute card that should have been - a ttm success story

stan wall pitched in the dodgers' minor league system for 7+ years before making his big league debut in 1975.  he spent all of 1976 with the dodgers, and then split his 1977 season between the big club and aaa.  topps saw fit to include wall in both the 1976 and 1977 sets, but denied him an entry in their 1978 masterpiece.  but, thanks to my 1978 topps burger king/update dodger project, he is now given that final tribute with the card that should have been.

which, of course, comes with a back.

wall started the 1977 season with the dodgers, but he had a few bad outings, including his second to last appearance which was against the braves on the road towards the end of june.  in 1.1 innings, wall allowed 5 hits and 5 earned runs.  although the dodgers won the game, wall appeared just once more - a 'scoreless' 0.2 inning outing (he allowed two inherited runners to score) against the giants a few days later - before he was demoted to albuquerque for good.

it was tough to find a color photo of wall, so i used his 1977 topps card, more closely cropped.

then, my hard drive crapped out in september before i could post my creation.  as a result, i had to go back to the drawing board, as i could not recover the image or the psd file.  it was easy enough to recreate, but i used the time to locate a better image to use.  i found a corbis photo of wall and johnny podres behind the batting cage and decided to use that image instead.

half of it, anyway.  then i stumbled across an ebay auction for an autographed photo of wall taken at wrigley field (i think).

i just photoshopped out the auto.  so now, there are three versions to choose from.  while i prefer the second one (the podres one), i felt i should show the original version first.  that's because, before my hard drive crashed, i printed one out and sent it to mr. wall to sign, which he did.

he also signed and returned a 1976 and

1977 card for me.

i wonder if he'll sign another version of his 1978 topps burger king dodger/update card that should have been!  thanks mr. wall!

before there was topps total, there was pacific online

in 1998, pacific tried to connect baseball cards to the interwebs, without the crappy mini-cd that upper deck was putting out with their powerdeck release.  pacific online cards included a link that you could type in and then visit a page for that player.  no need for the stats on the back when you could type in a ridiculously long web address, wait for your dial-up, and get to the stats 10 minutes later.

what i did (and still do) like about the set, however, is how inclusive it was.  800 cards meant that everyone but joe shlabotnik was featured.  and, since 1998 was around the time when the dodgers were employing a bunch of short term out of place guys, the pacific online set is obscure dodger gold.  look at the back of the team checklist:

wait, let me enlarge it.

jim bruske?!? mike devereaux in a return to dodger blue!  thomas howard was a dodger?  darren hall?  tom prince - love the backup catcher love!  even the loogys - scott radinsky and mark guthrie (featured at the top of the post) are included.  that is just fan-freaking awesome.  it sucks not to have a card of brent leach or russell mitchell these days.

here's the front of the checklist just so sheff can't complain.

here's to you 1998 pacific online. even if your player sites are no longer active.

colletti trades a hu

hu will be on first (at some point in 2011) for the mets as ned traded him for a middling lefty prospect.  i am left with these three 2007 bowman draft picks and prospects cards - base, chrome, and thick gold parallel.

hu will likely back up jose reyes at short while ruben tejada bides his time in aaa.  i know it's a small sample size, but hu performs better in odd seasons, so maybe the mets will reap some benefits from the deal.

this means that we will either see juan castro or perhaps ivan dejesus jr next year on the bench with jamey carroll.  yeah, i'm yawning, too.