od dp's

as much as i enjoy seeing some variations between the topps flagship set and their opening day release, i am happy to see many of the same double play cards in both sets.  this one is a strong candidate for my favorite dp card of the year - it's danny espinosa

he's elevated over tony gwynn jr at dodger stadium, which is very nice.  not sure that tg2 is going to get a card in series 2 or update (he's in minor league camp and not on the 40-man roster) so it's good to see him on espinosa's card.  by the way, if this play is from the 1st inning on april 28, 2012 (and i'm pretty sure it is as that was bryce harper's big league debut with lots of cameras on hand), then gwynn failed to break up the double play.

now here's aaron hill with yadier molina apparently doing what gwynn could not.

even though hill is still holding the ball, i put this card (and others like it) in my double play binder.  that's part of what i like about the play at second - there needs to be a decision made as to whether the turn can be completed or not.  sometimes, it's best to hold on to the ball and jump.

on a quick tangent, here's a baseball fun card of hill that i also pulled from a pack

i had not seen the double-bubble shower before.  thankfully it's not abc gum.

jason kipnis' opening day card is the same as his series one card

as is howie kendrick's

but marco scutaro's is not

scutaro had a world series highlight card in series one, but his regular base card will be in series 2, i assume.  perhaps this is a preview of it.  i like the chevron cars from the phone booth in the background, but it's too bad that the coke bottle is so high up in the left field stands.  it would be nice to see that on a card once in a while.  not that i want more giants cards.

here's another tangent - as i mentioned earlier today, the opening day packs i purchased had a 'bonus' pack of series one cards.  i was duped into thinking that i had pulled an 'out of bounds' short print of ryan raburn

until i found a second one in one of the other 'bonus' packs.  it's still a nice looking card.

back to opening day, here are a couple of play hard inserts - david freese

and alex rodriguez

it seems like it's been awhile since arod has been featured prominently in any set, doesn't it?

the last of the opening day cards i'll show is this brandon phillips ballpark fun card

i suppose it is fun to clinch the division.

hold on - i'm not done with this post yet.  seeing that danny espinosa card reminded me of another double play card. this 1990 upper deck bill doran card

features tony gwynn sr sliding in to second, trying to break up a twin killing.  no word on whether he was successful or not.

while i'm at it, i'll show a few more double play cards that i have recently acquired.  here's a 1994 topps stadium club geronimo pena

and a 1994 pinnacle pena as well

they are nice, but not as nice as pena's topps and collector's choice cards from that year.

finally, here is a 2011 topps short print of phil rizzuto

i tried to convince myself that ted williams is the bosox player sliding by, but i can't quite do it.  the number on the back of the player looks more like '8' than '9', but i'm not completely sure. what do you think?

turning two never gets old

especially when there are new dp turns to show off.  well, not all are new - just new to my collection - like this 1993 donruss spirit of the game insert of carlos baerga, and, i suppose, gary gaetti

with a reference to a sly stallone movie about arm wrestling to boot!  front and back dp goodness is tough to beat.

here's a decent 1998 topps stadium club derek jeter card

that is pretty decent - a bit dark, but still nicely done.

here's a dusty 1994 ted williams billy martin card

i saw this card for the first time over at dime boxes a few weeks ago, and went straight to sportlots to get one for myself.

here's some newer stuff - a 2013 topps danny espinosa with tony gwynn rolling in

i also picked up the target red

and emerald versions of this card

i don't think i am going for the full rainbow, but i would accept a walmart blue and a gold version if offered.

here's another 2013 topps card - this one is howie kendrick

those base cards looked familiar to me so i almost didn't pick them up.  but then i checked and saw that i only had the opening day versions.

similarly, this 2009 topps update & highlights matt tolbert card was one i surely thought was already in my dp binder

turns out, i had tolbert sign my lone copy, so it was in one of my ttm/ip/non-cert auto binders.

finally, a 2012 bowman chrome ian kinsler

and a 2012 topps golden giveaway card with troy tulowitzki's base card on it

that counts, too.

i have several more new (to me) double play cards to showcase.  eta on the greatest double play card of all time tournament is fall-ish.  i hope.

turn it davey!

i was happy and disappointed at the same time when i found out that davey lopes made the 2013 topps update postseason hero autograph checklist.  happy that there was a new lopes card coming out, disappointed that it was an auto only, and even more disappointed when i found out it was limited to just 10 copies.  then i found out that the photo topps used has lopes turning a double play!  i missed out on the first one to hit ebay, but won the auction for the second one.

i doubt i will find another one for the double play binder, however.  i give topps high marks for the photo selection - along with the fact that it's nice dp action, they used a photo from 1981 which goes nicely with the text on the back which focuses on the 1981 world series.

here are some other 2013 topps update double play cards that i've neglected to show - brandon phillips

luis valbuena (emerald)

and luis valbuena (gold)

now for some 2013 topps minis - gordon beckham

and danny espinosa

along with dee gordon

now just a couple of regular 2013 topps - robert andino (gold)

alexei ramirez

marco scutaro

and ruben tejada

and now we'll leave the 2013 topps family and see some 2013 bowman.  yeah, still topps family.

bowman chrome prospects luis sardinas

regular 2013 bowman prospects luis sardinas

and 2013 bowman prospects luis sardinas international parallel

he's from venezuela.

i'll finish this double play centered post with a card from the 1985 7-up cubs set.  it's ryne sandberg's card, but bill russell is the star

i wish the dodger middle infielders of my youth were on more cards.

look at some cards that feature double plays

they are self explanatory and offer up an easy post topic, which is what i need right now.  all are either new to my collection or recently unearthed from any number of monster boxes in my somewhat unorganized card collection area.

1998 fleer ultra craig counsell

1998 fleer ultra craig counsell gold medallion edition

1998 fleer ultra mike lansing

1998 topps stadium club ray durham

1999 topps stadium club ray durham

2001 topps stadium club ray durham

2004 topps bazooka rafael furcal

2004 topps bazooka rafael furcal mini

2004 topps rafael furcal red chunk

2004 upper deck marcus giles

2013 topps silver slate blue sparkle danny espinosa

2014 bowman silver ice ian kinsler

2014 topps chrome jonathan schoop

2014 topps chrome refractor jonathan schoop

2014 topps chrome andrelton simmons

2015 topps opening day javier baez

i'll try harder next time.