frankendodger sheet 77 (cards 685-693) - goodbye to vintage...

here's sheet number 77 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 685-693:

and the back:

these cards are:

685. 1970 topps tom haller
686. 1993 topps stadium club tim wallach
687. 2005 topps adam laroche
688. 1991 upper deck stan javier
689. 1992 upper deck chris gwynn
690. 1991 topps orel hershiser
691. 1998 upper deck bobby bonilla
692. 1993 upper deck todd worrell
693. 1981 topps steve howe

the "no brainer" of the day:

that would be the 1992 upper deck chris gwynn card, with the rare double play turn attempt at third base.

about the cards:

the best thing about the 1970 topps tom haller card is not fact that it actually features haller in a dodger uniform, nor that he has a look on his face that balances tolerance and annoyance for and with the photographer.  it's what is happening in the background with the two players over his left shoulder.

are they playing pepper? perhaps, but the fact that the guy with the bat is using his glove as home plate, just like we did as kids, is awesome.

i chose the 1993 topps stadium club tim wallach card for this spot over a steve garvey card from 1972 due to the fact that i didn't have a spare of the garvey card.  it's his high numbered second year card that is the most expensive to obtain.  garvey has had a good run in this frankenset, but i'm still a little bummed that he's not in this spot, too.

andy laroche's 2005 topps card is the next one up. laroche was a 39th round draft pick of the dodgers in 2003, so i suppose it's not a surprise that he had a short career.  i had hoped that he would bring stability to the hot corner for the dodgers, but he was traded to pittsburgh as part of the three-team manny ramirez/jason bay deal in 2008.

now we have stan javier's 1991 upper deck card right next to chris gwynn's 1992 upper deck card so we can see the design evolution. there's not much of a connection there, as upper deck finished their run around the bases in 1991 and went to something different in '92.  i was drawn in by the floating team logo within the picture on the 1992 cards, perhaps because i liked the 1991 topps set that had done something similar with the logo (although with a ribbon behind it) as evidenced by the 1991 topps orel hershiser card that finishes off this row.

i almost made it through the frankenset without a bobby bonilla card, but relented and put this 1998 upper deck card in at number 691.  bobby bo played for the dodgers in the last half of the 1998 season following the mike piazza trade, and i was pleased when they did not retain him for the 1999 season.

todd worrell's 1993 upper deck card features more foliage than we are used to seeing on a baseball card - both on front and back, but steve howe's 1981 topps card puts things back in a stadium where they belong.  i really liked the '81 topps design with the hats, and i have to believe that it influenced don and russ to go with the ball and glove designs for their product in the two years that followed.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1990 donruss ramon martinez at number 685, 1972 topps steve garvey

at number 686, 1992 upper deck tim crews at number 687, 1998 upper deck gary sheffield

at number 688, 1992 bowman pedro astacio at number 689, 1991 upper deck jim gott at number 690, 2002 upper deck 40 man andy ashby at number 691, 1992 donruss alfredo griffin at number 692, and 1971 topps jose pena

at number 693.

my favorite card on the page:

given the absence of the 1972 topps garvey on the page, it's a bit of a toss up.  still, i really do like the gwynn card, so it take the honors for today.

final thoughts:

it's a topic that has been thrown around the blogosphere for a long time - what is vintage? to me, vintage was always 1970 and prior, although i now see 1971 and 1972 as vintage, too.  the 1970 thing is based on when i was born. the 1970 topps set came out before i entered this world, so it's vintage. i am not. yet.  in 1984 i really began to take an interest in the 1971 set beyond the dodgers (i had a few cards, including a reggie jackson that i bought at the very first card show i attended), and an appreciation for the 1972 set followed soon thereafter. i was never really excited by the 1973 set until just a few years ago, so that's why i cut the vintage tag off with 1972.  at any rate, there was an opportunity to have the three 1970's vintage (to me) sets represented on this sheet, and only tom haller's 1970 topps card made it.  however, if a certain lawyer in new mexico wants to send me a fifth 1972 topps steve garvey card (i currently have one in the garvey collection, one in the dodger team collection, one signed in the garvey collection, and one in the 1972 topps set binder) for that 1993 stadium club tim wallach card, then the '72 garv would be the last vintage card in this set.

frankendodger sheet 67 (cards 595-603) - finally, a good morning from topps...

here's sheet number 67 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 595-603:

and the back:

these cards are:

595. 1970 topps maury wills
596. 1987 topps steve sax
597. 1990 score mike huff
598. 1991 upper deck mike sharperson
599. 2004 topps jose hernandez
600. 1988 score fernando valenzuela
601. 1985 topps tom lasorda
602. 2011 topps ivan dejesus jr
603. 1989 donruss mike devereaux

the "no brainer" of the day:

the first card issued by topps to officially feature maurice morning wills as a dodger was a sure thing for the set.

about the cards:

it is fairly widely accepted that maury wills was featured on a 1960 topps card

but he was not named. sy berger didn't regard wills as a prospect one spring and so will refused to sign with topps even as he won the 1962 mvp award. he was a big proponent of fleer and convinced a couple of his teammates to sign on for the 1963 set.  topps eventually was able to sign wills, and featured him by name for the first time in the 1967 set. he was a pirate by then, and had the dodgers not reacquired wills in 1969, we would not have had a dodger card issued by topps during his playing days.  topps did go back and create a 1962 card to feature in the 1975 mvp subset and 1982 kmart mvp set, but i did one better and created cards that should have been all the way back to 1959.

steve sax took over second base from davey lopes in 1982, and he made his first all-star team (as a reserve) that same year.  he was an all-star again in 1983, but this time was voted in by the fans to start at second base for the national league. topps didn't care, and featured johnny ray as the nl all-star at second base in 1984.  that's why i liked this 1987 topps card so much when it was released even though sax was a reserve in 1986 behind starter ryne sandberg. i didn't care that cubs fans were upset with topps  as long as i got my extra saxy card.

mike huff's 1990 score card was also appreciated by those of us team collectors who are completists. huff was shunned by donruss and topps (aside from an appearance in the 1990 topps debut '89 set) during his dodger tenure, receiving cards only from fleer, classic, and score.  huff (like homonym-ically named charlie hough) is also one of the relatively many hawaiian native players that played for the dodgers. others i can name off the top of my head are sid fernandez, carlos diaz, shane victorino, and onan masaoka.

hoo boy, do i like mike sharperson's 1991 upper deck card.  i wrote a post about how much i like it six years ago.  a day game in dodger stadium makes for great photos.

the most interesting thing about the 2004 topps jose hernandez card is that it shows some cards in the background. the most famous card with cars in the background is the 1973 topps luis alvarado card

that is at once a spectacle and a conundrum.  hernandez's card doesn't compare, but one does see the progression from muscle cars on the alvarado card to a yellow bug on dave goltz's 1981 topps card

to an suv on the hernandez card.

here we are at another hero number, and this time it's fernando valenzuela filling the spot with his 1988 score card.  that's good numbering by score, even though el toro was on the downside of his dodger career.  fernando somehow had an era under 4 (3.98) in 1987 despite leading the league in walks and hits allowed - he had a whip of 1.51!

next up is tom lasorda's 1985 topps card.  i think i would have liked 1985 topps better if all the cards had that position bar under the team name rather than having the position crammed in between the name text and logo.  i don't understand why topps did this because they could have shoehorned "mgr" in there like they fit some dual positions on other cards.

ivan dejesus jr got some love from topps in 2011 which was the year that he made his big league debut. the following season, the dodgers traded dejesus (just like they did with his dad).  these days, he's in cincinnati which was news to me.  i couldn't name more than two reds players, and one of those guys is now a met.

last card on the sheet belongs to dodger double dipper mike devereaux courtesy of 1989 donruss.  devereaux is probably best remembered as the 1995 nlcs mvp for the braves who beat the reds who had beat the dodgers in the nlds.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1993 upper deck eric davis

(another favorite) at number 595, 1992 pinnacle jim gott at number 596. 2009 topps randy wolf at number 597, 1991 donruss chris gwynn at number 598, 1989 score franklin stubbs at number 599, 2012 topps clayton kershaw (base)

(and photo variation)

at number 600, 2010 topps blake dewitt at number 601, 1986 topps mariano duncan at number 602, and 1990 upper deck kal daniels

at number 603.

my favorite card on the page:

i really like what the maury wills card represents, but mike sharperson's 1991 upper deck card is one of my favorite cards, period.

final thoughts:

there was a focus put on throwback uniforms by mlb this year - just a few weekends ago - and the dodgers participated by wearing brooklyn hats on the field.  i think there was a huge missed opportunity here given that 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the franchise's first world series appearance and that the club wore these uniforms that season

that would have been at least as interesting as those baby blues on the variant kershaw shown above.

frankendodger sheet 60 (cards 532-540) - in with the new...

here's sheet number 60 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 532-540:

and the back:

these cards are:

532. 1983 topps dave stewart
533. 1984 topps ken landreaux
534. 1993 bowman roger cedeno
535. 1970 topps andy kosco
536. 2016 topps alex wood
537. 1992 topps stadium club bob ojeda
538. 1994 bowman raul mondesi
539. 1978 topps vic davalillo
540. 2009 topps russell martin

the "no brainer" of the day:

the '78 vic davalillo card qualifies, but i added the wood card as soon as i pulled it from a series 2 pack a few weeks ago. it bumped a 1983 donruss tom niedenfuer in case you were wondering.  in with the new, out with the '83 donruss.  i guess it was a card i niedenfuer frankensets.

about the cards:

right off the bat we get to see the topps design progression from 1983 to 1984 thanks to dave stewart and ken landreaux.  the commonality of the smaller picture on the front - from porthole to picture in picture - is obvious, but i would have liked the '84 to play off of the 1964 design just as the '83 cards are somewhat related to the 1963 design.  i bought way more of 1983 topps than 1984 topps which had some to do with the designs, but also had to do with how much i liked 1984 donruss.

1993 bowman put roger cedeno in the bushes. the only fully green background i want to see on a baseball card is either the wrigley field ivy or the green monster in fenway. don't put players in the jungle.

the photo used for andy kosco's 1970 topps card was likely taken around the same time as billy grabarkewitz's and jeff torborg's, but without danny ozark in the background.

alex wood got a nice card in 2016 topps series 2. i am not the biggest fan of the card design, but the dodger bullpen in the background provides a nice contrast to the home whites. it's too bad he hasn't been able to stay healthy - it was just announced that he needs surgery and will be out for a couple of months.

bob ojeda's 1992 topps stadium club card is decent enough, and i like that topps put each player's rookie card on the back. it doesn't mean, as far as my collection goes, that this is a red sox card, however.

1994 bowman - two consecutive years of bowman represented here on the page - is pretty different from the previous year's design. i didn't know much about mondesi going into the 1994 season, but he had a decent consecutive game hitting streak in may of that year that got me interested, and he went on to win the rookie of the year in the strike-shortened season.

i would guess that the photo used for vic davalillo's 1978 topps card came from the same time as the photos for his 1974 topps card,

or maybe spring training of 1974.  the a's released davalillo in may of that year, and he was playing in the mexican league until the dodgers signed him during the 1977 campaign.  his 1979 topps card (and his 1981 fleer card!) shows him clean shaven, which is how i remember him as a dodger.

last card on the page is russell martin's 2009 topps card which shows him taking the brunt of a play at the plate. it's been well documented that martin has some great cards, and this is one of them.  however, it's not his best play at the plate card - that would be the 2008 stadium club card included in the link above.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1992 upper deck jose offerman at number 532, 1968 topps wes parker at number 533, 1991 donruss gary thomasson

at number 534, 1994 donruss cory snyder at number 535, 1983 donruss niedenfuer (the card at least makes this part of the post)

at number 536, 1963 topps ken mcmullen (as if i had a double)

at number 537, 1991 topps stadium club john candelaria

at number 538, 1995 donruss tim wallach at number 539, and 2008 upper deck andruw jones at number 540.

my favorite card on the page:

alex wood's card wins over russell martin's card. perhaps it's because martin has better cards, although that's not entirely fair. well, guess what. life isn't fair.

final thoughts:

i'm still not sure about my ken mcmullen rookie. i have to assume it's a reprint until i have it authenticated, even though it looks great when i compare it to other 1963 topps cards. i tested the guy i bought it from, and i am pretty sure that he believed it to be genuine. if it is, it wouldn't be worth the $130,000 that someone threw down on ebay this week, but it would be worth more than i paid for it.

frankendodger sheet 55 (cards 487-495) - nomar leads the slow clap...

here's sheet number 55 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 487-495:

and the back:

these cards are:

487. 1976 topps leron lee
488. 1983 donruss steve garvey
489. 1992 score gary carter
490. 1970 topps bill singer
491. 2010 topps rafael furcal
492. 2007 upper deck nomar garciaparra
493. 1987 topps tom lasorda
494. 1986 donruss len matuszek
495. 1959 topps johnny podres

the "no brainer" of the day:

i have no shame in adding as many steve garvey and nomar garciaparra cards as i want to this set, but i also have a penchant for players who have only one dodger card to their name.  as a result, i'd say that the 1976 topps leron lee was as close to a no brainer as this page has.

about the cards:

leron lee came to the dodgers during the 1975 season and earned this card in the 1976 topps set.  although lee stayed with the dodgers through 1976, he did not get any love from topps the following year.  maybe it was because after the dodgers released him in november of 1976, he went to japan and kicked some ass.  in his 11 seasons with lotte, he hit .320 with 283 home runs, which is 283 more home runs than he hit in his stint with the dodgers.

next up is steve garvey's 1983 donruss card. pulling this card from a pack was bittersweet for young gcrl as the garv was no longer with the dodgers when that happened.  gary carter wasn't with the dodgers either when his 1992 score card hit the streets.  i was still happy to have it, as it showed the canadian and american flags that he wore on his helmet. i thought that was a nice touch on his part.

bill singer's 1970 topps card here is a bit washed out. that was the season in which singer was coming off of a career year (he had won 20 games with a 2.34 era while throwing 315.2 innings in 1969), but missed all of may and september, and half of august. he still managed to no-hit the phillies in july, however.

rafael furcal is sporting a special holiday hat on his 2010 topps card.  it's the fourth of july hat from 2009 that the dodgers wore during their series with the padres in san diego. was that the first year of the special holiday hats? i am not a fan of the trend.

nomar is giving a slow clap on (one of) his 2007 upper deck card(s).  perhaps a fan has taken a stand against steamed dodger dogs and demanded that farmer john's eastern corn fed pork sausages be grilled as they were in the beginning.  in all seriousness, i believe that it was around 2007 when the dodgers stopped grilling the famous dodger dogs, and the fans revolted, resulting in both steamed and grilled being sold at the ballpark thereafter.

so it's two pages in a row with a tom lasorda card.  this 1987 card is a checklist, as was yesterday's, although this one is the dodgers team checklist. i mentioned in the post yesterday that i prefer my team checklists to have a team picture on the front, with perhaps a mention of the manager, but just the manager on the front is ok, too.  it beats not getting a manager card at all.

i'm not too excited about another len matuszek card in the set as i have run out of things to say about him. but, there aren't very many 1986 donruss cards here, so it is what it is.  johnny podres brings the page to its end with his 1959 topps card. podres made two starts in the '59 world series - earning the win in game 2 and getting a no-decision in the dodgers' game 6 series clinching win.

cards that didn't make the cut:

cards that i considered, but ultimately did not choose, include 2013 topps hanley ramirez

at number 487, 1971 topps jerry stephenson at number 488, 1988 topps dodgers leaders (pedro guerrero, fernando valenzuela) at number 489, 1991 topps kirk gibson at number 490, 1995 topps stadium club henry rodriguez at number 491, 1968 topps jeff torborg

at number 492, 1985 topps orel hershiser

at number 493, 1985 donruss ken landreaux at number 494, and 1981 topps dusty baker at number 495.

my favorite card on the page:

gary carter's 1992 score card is my favorite card of him as a dodger aside from his 1992 o-pee-chee tribute card.  i like it more than any other card on this page, including the garvey.

final thoughts:

i've come a long way with my steve garvey collection since pulling his cards out of donruss packs in the early 1980's.  i've not been doing a good job of keeping my collection up to date over at garvey cey russell lopes like i promised about a year ago.  i still plan to re-scan and update that post as i have picked up a number of new garvey cards in the past 12 months.  here's the latest - a 2009 topps tribute dual relic book that also features tony gwynn.

good golly miss molly, it's a fancy card.

frankendodger sheet 50 (cards 442-450) - a nice crop of cards...

here's sheet number 50 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 442-450:

and the back:

these cards are:

442. 1993 leaf carlos hernandez
443. 1996 upper deck collector's choice wilton guerrero
444. 1982 topps terry forster
445. 1990 upper deck fernando valenzuela
446. 1970 topps billy grabarkewitz
447. 2001 topps eric gagne
448. 1993 score john candelaria
449. 2005 topps chrome brad penny
450. 2013 topps heritage walmart blue border matt kemp

the "no brainer" of the day:

it may not be a no brainer, but the 1990 upper deck valenzuela card is the closest thing this page has got.

about the cards:

one thing that i've noticed with most of the cards on this page is the cropping of the photo. that's what i will focus my commentary on, starting with the 1993 leaf carlos hernandez card.  hernandez himself is relegated to the bottom half of his card, but that is so that we can see the full body of the umpire emphatically calling the runner out at the plate.  too often the umpire is cut off mid torso and just becomes background noise. here, the ump is part of the story that the card is telling.  i like it.

the 1996 collector's choice wilton guerrero card doesn't have much of a photo, thanks to the patriotic background, but there is enough to appreciate the folks at upper deck for leaving in the base (presumably second) that guerrero is stepping on, as well as cropping the image so that his right hand is still in the frame.

topps can and has manipulated facsimile autos, so it seems unlikely that the 1982 terry forster card was laid out specifically to accommodate a stacked auto. i appreciate the action photo and full body shot though.

upper deck maximized the photo of fernando valenzuela at the bat on his 1990 card without losing any body parts (except for his right foot behind the logo) or the bat. i like the way his left foot looks to be aligned with the border.

there are other things to discuss regarding billy grabarkewitz's 1970 topps card than the cropping (which leaves something to be desired) like the fact that his name is too long to fit with this design, and the image used looks like it could be used in an austin powers skit. danny ozark walked into the shot at exactly the wrong time.

eric gagne's 2001 topps card features a photo cropped so that the baseball is visible. i generally like these sorts of images.

john candelaria's 1993 score card also does a good job of giving us a full view of him in delivery mode. i remember candelaria as a slinger, and the way his arm is positioned certainly seems to imply that his delivery is less than three-quarters.  i don't remember brad penny that way, but on his 2005 topps chrome card he doesn't seem to have his right arm positioned to throw from over the top unless he pulls a rick sutcliffe type move.  when i tried to pitch like sutcliffe, it felt like my arm couldn't catch up with my body so i typically was closer to what terry forster is doing with the elbow up.  if you'll recall, 2004 topps really went after the full body shots, and 2005 topps had a few as well, such as the image used for penny's flagship and chrome cards. i appreciate the fact that it is more tightly cropped than many of the 2004 cards.

last up is the walmart blue parallel of matt kemp's 2013 topps heritage card. it was easier for me to find a double of this insert than the regular high number base. this is the last insert of the frankenset, i believe. topps did well, i think, with the 2013 heritage set. kemp's head barging into the header is consistent

with the original 1964 set.

cards that didn't make the cut:

some of the cards that tried but failed to make this page include 1973 topps dick dietz

at number 442, 1998 topps dennis reyes at number 443, 1987 fleer ken landreaux at number 444, 1967 topps don sutton

at number 445, 1996 score delino deshields at number 446, 2001 fleer platinum shawn green at number 447, 1977 topps ellie rodriguez at number 448, 1997 topps chad curtis at number 449, and 1993 topps darryl strawberry at number 450.

my favorite card on the page:

the 1990 upper deck fernando valenzuela wins. it may well be my second favorite fernando card from his playing days, right behind his 1991 topps card.

final thoughts:

mentioning forster's facsimile signature above got me thinking. i hope topps is done putting these things on cards (other than heritage and archives which pay homage to past sets). i believe 2008 was the last time they showed up in flagship.  let's keep it that way, as they often get in the way or are totally undecipherable.

frankendodger sheet 48 (cards 424-432) - what's your name man?...

here's sheet number 48 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 424-432:

and the back:

these cards are:

424. 1996 donruss mike piazza
425. 1983 topps pedro guerrero
426. 1990 topps jeff hamilton
427. 1970 topps fred norman
428. 2003 upper deck fred mcgriff
429. 1961 nu-cards baseball scoops roy campanella
430. 1996 fleer john cummings
431. 2007 topps luis gonzalez
432. 1995 bowman chan ho park

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are no iconic cards on this page, but there are a couple of 'one and done' type cards. i'll go with fred norman's lone dodger card as the one the was a lock for the set.

about the cards:

1996 donruss leads off with their 'black box' design. not one of my favorites. still, this is a mike piazza dodger card, and that's a good thing.  piazza goes into the hall of fame later this month, and i guess i expected to see more piazza cards this year as a result.  there have been some - and even some showing him as a dodger - but i figured there would be more.

i was happy to find this 1983 topps pedro guerrero card in a pack back then because topps had given us two and a third cards of petey using photos of him sitting or standing around.  with everything he was doing on the field, i was looking for an action shot.  plus, there are no worse cards than the 1983 topps cards where both pictures - the main one and the inset - are posed.

to topps' credit, they did a pretty good job avoiding too many cards like the vicente romo above - at least among the dodgers.

i think night owl is the one who referred to the 1990 topps set as the 'lichtenstein' set.  this helped me appreciate the set so much more.  i'm being serious.  jeff hamilton, on the other hand, is still not one of my favorite dodgers, but he did catch the last out of game 4 of the 1988 world series, so i have some appreciation for him.

the first several times i saw fred norman's 1970 topps card, i figured that the interlocking 'la' logo on his had was akin to an iron on patch due to the vertical line running to its left.  it was quite a while before i noticed that the topps artists had left norman in some other team's (i'm guessing it is a spokane indians jersey - norman played for them in 1967 and 1969) jersey (notice the red patchwork just above the 'pitcher' text) and that his had was colored blue with the 'la' logo being cut and pasted from someone else's photo. it's the only card of norman as a dodger other than his 1990 target card

as he was plucked off of waivers by the cardinals during the 1970 season.

kudos to upper deck for making this 2003 fred mcgriff card.  the horizontal layout works nicely with his crouch and the strata of seats in holman stadium. it is my favorite card of mcgriff as a dodger.

it's getting late in the set to be showing an oddball for the first time, but luckily the 1961 nu-cards baseball scoops set was huge.  this is one of a few dodger cards in the set, and it celebrates roy campanella's 1953 season in which he set new records for home runs, rbi, and putouts for catchers and was rewarded with the mvp award for his efforts.

john cummings joined the dodgers during the 1995 season and pitched often enough to show up in the 1996 fleer set.  he had debuted with the mariners in 1993 after making the jump straight from triple-a, and for five innings, he was fantastic.  he had allowed just one hit (a double by cal ripken jr) through and had a 2-0 lead over the orioles in his first big league appearance before allowing five straight hits to start the sixth inning before being pulled. he was used solely as a reliever with the dodgers, and was with the club for about a year before being traded to the tigers.

luis gonzalez joined the dodgers for the 2007 season and was given this card in the topps flagship set. i am happy to report that gonzalez's 2008 topps card showed him as a marlin.  i appreciated gonzalez for getting the series winning hit against the yankees in the 2001 fall classic, but he is on the short list of my least favorite dodgers. it has more to do with him being brought in and blocking matt kemp from getting more playing time early in the season, and then complaining when kemp did play more often later in the year.  with gonzalez gone, i was expecting a full season of an ethier/pierre/kemp outfield, but ned colletti then went out and brought in andruw jones in 2008.

1995 bowman was released on the heels of 1994 upper deck (one of my favorite upper deck sets), and one couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two designs due to the 'phantom zone' inset photo.

as a result, i've had a bit of an aversion to 1995 bowman except for dodger cards like this chan ho park.

cards that didn't make the cut:

honorable mentions go to the cards that fell short, including 1991 topps stadium club gary carter at number 424, 1984 topps steve howe at number 425, 1994 topps finest chan ho park at number 426, 2007 topps randy wolf

at number 427, 1988 topps john shelby at number 428, 2003 upper deck joe thurston

at number 429, 1971 topps wes parker at number 430, 1987 topps dodgers leaders (although not the one i have signed by ron perranoski)

at number 431, and 1989 donruss rick dempsey at number 432.

my favorite card on the page:

it was nice to finally have an action photo on a topps pedro guerrero card, and the mcgriff card is nice, but oddball roy campanella is my favorite card on this page.

final thoughts:

have you seen hamilton? not jeff hamilton - hamilton the musical (the title of this post refers to the opening number where the characters are introduced).  i was lucky enough to see it last year while in new york for a conference. it was fantastic. in a few days, the show's creator lin-manuel miranda (who plays alexander hamilton - the ten-dollar founding father) will leave the production, and i am very interested to see what he does next.  as for me, i've got about 33 more of these posts to go, and i'm not sure what comes after that.

frankendodger sheet 41 (cards 361-369) - with bill and ted and a not so excellent cartoon...

here's sheet number 41 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 361-369:

and the back:

these cards are:

361. 2000 fleer tradition todd hollandsworth
362. 1994 leaf todd worrell
363. 1992 topps john candelaria
364. 1966 topps nate oliver
365. 1967 topps john roseboro
366. 1977 topps ted sizemore
367. 1997 upper deck collector's choice chan ho park
368. 1973 topps bill buckner
369. 1970 topps alan foster

the "no brainer" of the day:

there is not really an obvious choice here, but the closest thing to a no brainer on this page would be the 1977 topps sizemore card, i think.  it's the only card we have of the 1969 rookie of the year from his second time around with the dodgers.

about the cards:

fleer kind of ripped off the 1954 topps design with their 2000 tradition release, and then they used the 1956 topps design the following year before realizing that they had some designs of their own they could use.  i'm not a big fan of this particular hollandsworth card - i think the green is too bright - but i had a double of it and it fit in the set.

the 1994 leaf card is todd worrell's first entry in the set. two todds in a row, and two rookies of the year in a row, too.  worrell was, to me, the first modern closer that the dodgers employed, and he was the one who broke jim brewer's team saves record (since surpassed by jeff shaw, eric gagne, and now kenley jansen).  just like the front of hollandsworth's card gives us mini holly and giant holly, the back of worrell's card gives us a giant worrell in dodger stadium.  i appreciate the use of chavez ravine as the background for the back of the card, but i don't need it to be obscured by a third picture of worrell.

the back of john candelaria's 1992 topps card should also have a picture of dodger stadium on it, but for the fact that the candy man has too many rows of stats.  this is partially due to the fact that topps gives a separate row to each team for which candelaria pitched each year, so there are a few seasons with a couple of rows.  i prefer this approach to stats on the back as opposed to combining stats for different teams, probably because this is the way topps did it (and still does).

with their 1966 topps and 1967 topps cards, respectively, nate oliver and john roseboro give us a look at the evoluton of topps design from one year to the next.  there aren't too many instances in this set where we go chronologically in order from one year to the next. for the record, i prefer the 1967 design to the 1966 design.

i mentioned above that the 1977 topps ted sizemore card is the only one produced showing him as a dodger following the trade between the dodgers and cardinals in march of 1976 that sent willie crawford to st. louis.  that trade occurred too late, i guess, for sizemore's sspc card to be changed or for a topps traded card to be made.  by the time this card was issued, however, sizemore was playing for the phillies.  he was on the field for the phils in game 3 of the 1977 nlcs (aka 'black friday'), and it was his 9th inning fielding error on greg luzinski's throw (the ball skipped away from sizemore) that allowed manny mota to go to third where he scored on davey lopes' infield single.  it's too bad, but i'm glad the dodgers won.

chan ho park shows off some spring training bullpen stuff on his 1996 upper deck collector's choice card.  it's the kind of photo that a fan might take while walking around dodgertown in the mid 1990's, and i like that.  i also like the dodger stadium background in the photo on the back.  no giant chan ho, either.

bill buckner is also at spring training on his 1973 topps card, but he's not posing for a fan.  billy buck is wearing a first baseman's glove as he was wes parker's heir apparent, but we all know now that he eventually moved to the outfield to make way for steve garvey.  the only bad thing about this card is the cartoon on the back:

buckner was born in the north bay - vallejo, to be exact - and attended high school in napa, so his fandom for the giants makes sense. still, i imagine the original owner of this card being disturbed by this fact and taking a red marker to the cartoon to express their disgust.

the last card on the page is alan foster's 1970 topps card.  the cartoon on the back of foster's card notes that he received a $100,000 bonus to sign with the dodgers in 1965. that's a better cartoon.

cards that didn't make the cut:

for whatever reason, some of the cards that i passed on for this page include 2001 upper deck vintage dodgers rookies (mike judd, hiram bocachica, and luke prokopec) at number 361, 1982 donruss terry forster at number 362, 1961 topps john roseboro at number 363, 1959 topps danny mcdevitt

at number 364, 1999 topps raul mondesi

at number 365, 1985 fleer dave anderson at number 366, 2014 topps brian wilson

at number 367, 1974 topps manny mota at number 368, and 1994 pinnacle brett butler at number 369.

my favorite card on the page:

chan ho park's 1996 collector's choice card is my favorite here.  something about the background and the design of the card.

final thoughts:

we are halfway through the set already.  this seems like a good spot to thank people for following along so far, and for reading, commenting, and continuing to trade cards with me.  it is much appreciated!

frankendodger sheet 34 (cards 298-306) - like a flamingo...

here's sheet number 34 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 298-306:

and the back:

these cards are:

298. 1972 topps claude osteen (in action)
299. 1987 donruss franklin stubbs
300. 2014 topps heritage clayton kershaw
301. 2003 donruss paul loduca
302. 1981 topps dodgers future stars (jack perconte/mike scioscia/fernando valenzuela)
303. 2011 topps update juan uribe
304. 1970 topps bill russell
305. 1958 topps clem labine
306. 2008 upper deck timeline russell martin

the "no brainer" of the day:

the 1981 topps dodgers future stars card was one of the collection defining cards for me and my friends in 1981. it had to be in this set.

about the cards:

the local card shop where i grew up was both a card and comic store.  my brother, who read comics, and i would spend a lot of time there. one day we saw the 1972 topps claude osteen in action card and actually wondered if the guy had just one leg.  we found out that he did, in fact, have two legs, but we called this the flamingo card.  that was around the same time that we saw the 1971 topps brooks robinson card that we decided looked like he was searching for droids and the stolen death star plans on tatooine - the beginning of my tatooine collection.

we saw franklin stubbs' 1987 donruss opening day card early on in the set, but thankfully donruss used different photos for that set - something topps does a poor job of with their opening day release. now, the card above does show a confused looking stubbs as opposed to happy stubbs on the od card, but still, different photos.

here we are at the hero number.  i like that topps heritage often matches players/managers up with the same card numbers from the set being honored, and that is certainly the case here.  clayton kershaw gets number 300 in 2014 heritage, and sandy koufax was number 300 in the 1965 set.

i just wish they would match the pose, too.  kershaw's card uses a photo that makes me think the photographer just yelled "hey, clayton - over here!" and then snapped the photo.

not much to say about the 2003 donruss paul loduca card, so let's move on to the jack perconte/mike scioscia/fernando valenzuela rookie.  back in 1981, me and my friends were skeptical of fleer and donruss - topps was usually the priority for pack busting.  still, we bought a fair amount of the others, although most of my donruss cards that year came from buying a brick of dodger cards from a fellow collector.  anyway, fleer didn't even spell fernando's name correctly and donruss didn't bother to include him in their set, so it was topps all the way if you wanted to flaunt a fernando rookie.  throw in sweaty mike scioscia, and it was the card to have as fernandomania took over.  love this card.

i appreciate topps using a photo of juan uribe in the baby blue throwbacks for his 2011 update card. i still think the dodgers should have worn the 1916 checkered uniforms of the robins this season - it is the 100th anniversary of the franchise's first world series appearance, after all.  i also appreciate topps giving outfielder bill russell a card of his own in 1970.  he did play in 98 games for the dodgers in 1969, but with topps putting bill buckner (one game in 1969) over steve garvey (three games in 1969), one is never certain of the criteria for inclusion in a set.

the photo and hat positioning on clem labine's 1958 topps card give the impression that he had a very long cranium.  not 1988 o-pee-chee delino deshields long, but long nonetheless.  finally we have a russell martin card from the 2008 upper deck timeline set - specifically the subset that pays homage to the 2004 legends set.  four years is pretty quick to re-use a design, but i don't mind since i am a fan of the timeless teams set.

cards that didn't make the cut:

aside from the 1965 topps koufax card at the hero number 300, here are some other cards that could have been included but weren't:  1961 topps jim golden

at number 298, 1988 donruss mickey hatcher

at number 299, 1981 donruss jay johnstone at number 300, 1958 topps randy jackson at number 301, 1980 topps dodgers team card at number 302, 1994 leaf ramon martinez at number 303, 1992 bowman jose offerman at number 304, steve garvey's newest card (from 2016 topps archives)

at number 305, and 1984 topps dodgers batting & pitching leaders (pedro guerrero/bob welch) at number 306.

my favorite card on the page:

some tough competition, and bill russell's rookie card falls just short of the perconte/scioscia/valenzuela card - perhaps my favorite multi-player rookie card ever.

final thoughts:

including garvey in this year's archives release, as a short print no less, follows the trend. in 2013, dave lopes got the sp treatment with a 1976 style card.  the following year, it was bill russell's turn with a 1973 card (auto'd only).  last year i was expecting the garv, but eric karros and shawn green got the call for the auto only insert set instead.  here's hoping the penguin shows up in 2017.

in other archives related news, i've entered a couple of contests over at sport card collectors.  one is archives related, and the other is a sports challenge contest - both with some great prizes.  check them out!