frankendodger sheet 70 (cards 622-630) - cey hey!...

here's sheet number 70 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 622-630:

and the back:

these cards are:

622. 1976 topps rick auerbach
623. 1993 score mike scioscia
624. 2008 topps joe torre
625. 1990 donruss fernando valenzuela
626. 1985 topps german rivera
627. 1992 donruss john wetteland
628. 1995 topps rafael bournigal
629. 1989 upper deck ricky horton
630. 1978 topps ron cey

the "no brainer" of the day:

1978 topps. ron cey.  'nuff said.

about the cards:

the sheet begins with a 1976 topps card of rick auerbach, who was an honorary member of the infield in 1975 after bill russell got hurt. he played in 85 total games that season (81 at short), but drove in only 12 runs.  that's not so bad when you consider that future dodger enzo hernandez drove in 12 while playing in 143 games in 1971.

mike scioscia is caught in the classic catcher pose of looking for a pop up on his 1993 score card.  at least this card depicts some real wrigley field game action.

next up is joe torre's 2008 topps card. this is one of my all-time least favorite topps flagship designs, and this particular card has just about the most bland looking photo. not that there are many options for manager photos, but still.  to make matters worse, i think torre's card in the special 55-card dodger set that topps put out that same year looks almost identical to this one.

fernando makes his second appearance of the week with a 1990 donruss card.  between this set, the 1990 donruss baseball's best set,

and 1991 fleer,

we got our fill of primary colors in the early 90's.

german rivera played a fair amount of third base for the dodgers in 1984, primarily after the dodgers moved pedro guerrero back to the outfield where he belonged.  rivera's 1985 topps card had a 'dodger rookie card' markup at my local card shop even though it was nowhere near as desired by people i knew as were the orel hershiser and sid bream cards. at any rate, that ended once rivera was traded to the astros in the middle of the season.

look at that fernando card again and realize that in two years, donruss went from that terrible design to the design seen on john wetteland's 1992 card. i actually like 1992 donruss. i am not collecting it or anything like that, but it may well be my favorite donruss set behind 1984. others in the running are 1982 (and by default 1983, i guess) and 1981.  they even adopted the score approach to the card back and put a picture on there. they weren't known for showing full career stats on the back anyway, so why not cut down on all that text.

1992 was also the year that topps put photos on the backs of their flagship cards for the first time, but those were photos of stadiums. by the time 1995 rolled around, player photos on the backs were old hat, and as you can see on this 1995 topps rafael bournigal card, topps went with a couple of photos on the back.  i like the photo on the front best, however, as it features the lower rows of one of the dodger stadium pavilions in the background.

ricky horton's 1989 upper deck card also features a dodger stadium background, as does the picture on the back. i prefer the angle of the background on horton's 1989 topps card,

however.

last but definitely not least is ron cey's magnificent 1978 topps card. this was the first ron cey card i ever saw, and i pulled it from a 15-cent pack at a 7-11 one glorious day after school.  i had this card in my collection before i had steve garvey's card, and up until i saw the garv, this was my favorite card.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i don't think there were any other non-target set options at number 625 and 628, but here are a few cards that were considered but not chosen: 1970 topps don sutton

at number 622, 2014 topps chad billingsley at number 623, 1980 topps lerrin lagrow

at number 624, 1992 topps stadium club steve wilson at number 626, 1992 topps mike sharperson at number 627, 1998 upper deck paul konerko at number 629, and 1974 topps traded tommie agee

at number 630.

my favorite card on the page:

it's cey's card by a mile.

final thoughts:

steve garvey was my favorite player, but i had ron cey's sports illustrated poster hanging in my room. i also had his 1978 o-pee-chee card pinned on my wall.  cey and dusty baker once signed a program for me before a game at dodger stadium, and i put that program cover up on my wall, too.  i was a big fan of the penguin.

frankendodger sheet 57 (cards 505-513) - dodger stadium makes the checklist...

here's sheet number 57 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 505-513:

and the back:

these cards are:

505. 1974 topps bill buckner
506. 1986 topps bill russell
507. 1989 score brian holton
508. 1978 topps johnny oates
509. 1987 topps enos cabell
510. 1980 topps ron cey
511. 1981 donruss steve howe
512. 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee dodger stadium/dodgers checklist
513. 1992 upper deck mike morgan

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are only a few cards of dodger stadium in mainstream sets, and i knew i wanted this so-called o-pee-chee card of it in the set.

about the cards:

billy buck leads things off with his 1974 topps card. note that he is listed as a first baseman on the card.  that didn't last long, as steve garvey established himself as the team's first baseman, with buckner moving out to left field.

another bill - this time russell - fills the next spot in the set.  russell is relaxing in the dugout on his 1986 topps card, which makes sense as the dean of the dodgers started only 43 games in what would be his final season.  that total did include, however, his first (and only) career start at third base.

i like brian holton's 1989 score card because it features a glimpse of the old field level scoreboard in dodger stadium in the background. i am thankful that score's production schedule didn't afford them time to pull or modify holton's card following the december 1988 trade that sent him to the orioles.

johnny oates makes his debut in the set, which is understandable since he has only a few (three, i think) dodger cards to his name.  because he has this 1978 topps card showing him as a dodger, however, he may as well have been a dodger for life as far as i am concerned because i think of him as a dodger first.  in fact, oates joined tommy john as being members of the 1977 and 1978 dodgers who lost to the yankees in the world series only to join the yankees and lose to the dodgers in 1981.

are you aware the the enos cabell card here is only the second 1987 topps card in the frankenset so far? here we are in the 500's, and there has only been one other - tom lasorda's card at number 493 - and i am considering switching that card out with a 1985 topps orel hershiser rookie.  that doesn't have anything to do with enos, who was one of the long number of third basemen that al campanis and fred claire and dan evans brought into town between ron cey and adrian beltre.

speaking of cey, here he is on his 1980 topps card.  cey, like von joshua, dusty baker, and steve garvey, was featured in the batting cage on his card from topps in this set. that kind of repetition makes for somewhat boring pages in my topps dodger team set binder.  still, having this card on the same sheet as buckner's 1974 topps card shows how similar the designs are to one another.

and, speaking of similar designs, here is a 1981 donruss card positioned just below a 1978 topps card.  steve howe got cards from all three companies in 1981 after being left off of the dodger future stars card by topps in 1980 which was a great disappointment to many young fans in southern california.  later, it was howe himself who became a great disappointment to many young fans in southern california.

dodger stadium is on display on this 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee card, and it's a beautiful thing.  the stadium got a new address this year, when elysian park avenue was renamed vin scully avenue. it is the third oldest major league baseball stadium, and i hope it stays that way for a long time to come.

last card on the page is mike morgan's 1992 upper deck card with the increasingly rare (and soon to be extinct?) pitcher on the basepaths photo. i have resigned myself to the fact that the dh is coming to the national league sooner rather than later.

cards that didn't make the cut:

various levels of consideration were given to 1994 fleer pedro astacio at number 505, 1961 topps willie davis at number 506, 1993 topps tom lasorda (with hal mcrae) at number 507, 1959 topps art fowler

 at number 508, 1988 fleer tim belcher

at number 509, 1982 topps fernando valenzuela

at number 510, 1995 score tom candiotti at number 511, 1981 topps gary thomasson at number 512, and 1989 topps jesse orosco at number 513.

my favorite card on the page:

we have two members of the infield on this page, along with a 1978 topps dodger and a card of dodger stadium, but i think my favorite card here is the 1981 donruss steve howe.  1981 was the first time i saw a steve howe card (and his donruss card was the first one that i pulled from a pack), and adding the 1980 nl rookie of the year to my collection was a big deal.  so, this card wins on sentimental value.

final thoughts:

why hasn't topps ever put stadium cards in the flagship set? it's not a subset that would work every year, but not even once?  i suppose it has to do with giving up 30 spots on the checklist, but there could have been one year back in the day where we were given a stadium photo rather than a team photo on the team checklist.  still, i do have a few dodger stadium cards, including ones from the topps dodger factory team sets a few years ago.

frankendodger sheet 46 (cards 406-414) - no pictures of pitchers...

here's sheet number 46 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 406-414:

and the back:

these cards are:

406. 1993 fleer ultra darryl strawberry
407. 2000 upper deck shawn green
408. 1994 upper deck tim wallach
409. 2015 topps juan uribe
410. 1982 topps ron cey
411. 2004 fleer tradition brian jordan
412. 1978 topps davey lopes (nlcs)
413. 2006 fleer andre ethier
414. 1975 topps manny mota

the "no brainer" of the day:

given the dearth of postseason cards made by topps for the team of my youth, the 1978 topps nlcs card featuring davey lopes was a certainty for the set.

about the cards:

no pitchers allowed on this page - just a bunch of position players.  first up is darryl strawberry on his 1993 fleer ultra card. by the time this card came out, things were pretty much at an end with darryl and the dodgers. he had missed most of the 1992 season due to a back injury (for which he had season ending surgery), but was on the field for the start of the 1993 season.  unfortunately, he hit just .140 before his back forced him to the dl in june of '93, and he never appeared in a regular season game for the dodgers again.

the 2000 upper deck shawn green card is an odd horizontal torso crop.  we'll see another one from upper deck later in the post that works better than this one.  2000 upper deck is one of my favorite upper deck sets along with 1994, which gave us the next card on the page. tim wallach doesn't get one of tommy lasorda's famous hugs, but he does get a pat on the helmet.

juan uribe looks like he's tripping over his own feet on his 2015 topps card. uribe joined the dodgers following the giants' first world series win in 2010, and he spent four-plus seasons with the blue. after struggling in 2011 and 2012, he was pretty good in 2013 and 2014. he's still playing everyday with the indians this season and seems to have outlasted the guy who replaced him in san francisco.

i was looking forward to some great cards from topps in 1982 after the dodgers won it all the previous october. i was somewhat disappointed. here we have one of the three co-mvp's of the world series, ron cey, checking his swing in front of a tarp. at least it's a photo from 1981, as cey is sporting the city of los angeles' bicentennial patch on his sleeve. the city was founded in september of 1781. it wasn't until 1848, however, that the city became part of the united states.

i think the 2004 fleer tradition brian jordan card is a short print. that makes very little sense to me. i don't think folks were clamoring for brian jordan cards in 2004. i wasn't, anyway, as jordan had left for the hotter climes of texas by then.

i was, however, very excited about the 1978 topps card that celebrated the dodgers' nlcs win over the phillies in 1977.  the lone world series card in the set is very much a yankees card (as it should be if there is just going to be one card to mark the fall classic), so i had just this one card to remember the first postseason that i recall watching.  little did i know that it would be the only postseason dodger card issued by topps in their flagship set for a long, long time.  i think i am still waiting - i don't recall any cards in the 2009 or 2010 or 2014 sets recognizing the dodgers' nlds victories the previous seasons.  anyway. it would be great if the photo used on this card was from lopes' controversial at bat in the 9th inning of game 3 in which he hit a shot that ricocheted off of mike schmidt right to larry bowa who threw to first in an attempt to record the final out of the game and preserve a 5-4 phillies win.  however, lopes was called safe, and manny mota scored the tying run. after an errant pick off throw sent lopes to second, he scored what would be the winning run on a single by bill russell.  unfortunately, the image used comes from the first at bat of game 4, in which lopes lined out to second base.  still, i like the card.

i can picture fleer card designs in my head by year from 1981 through 1991 easily. then it starts to get confusing.  was 1992 the year with the green borders? or was that 1993? 1994 and 1995 fleer i can recognize right away, but after that it's tough. anyway, 2006 fleer does not register with me.  i know this is a 2006 fleer card because it's an andre ethier rookie card, but the design is not instantly recognizable. this is due to the fact that i stopped buying fleer cards for the most part in 1987. i do like how they flipped the design on to the back of the 2006 cards, so it's got that going for it.

manny mota's 1975 topps card might be my favorite card of the set.  i've said before that 1975 topps is not my favorite, but this is a nice card.  i like the choice of the blue on top/green on bottom border, and i think it works well with this near full shot of the left field pavilion in the background.  bonus points for the three sisters palm trees and the pre-diamond vision scoreboard, too.  i do wonder, however, if that is the on deck circle behind mota, why is it so close to the baseline?

cards that didn't make the cut:

the also-rans for this page include 1988 score ken howell at number 406, 1993 fleer ultra ricky trlicek at number 407, 1974 topps charlie hough

at number 408, 2000 upper deck gary sheffield (this is the better horizontal torso crop i referred to earlier in the post - love the sheffield bat wag!)

at number 409, 1983 donruss bob welch at number 410, 1970 topps dodgers team at number 411, 1963 topps dodgers' big three (johnny podres, don drysdale, and sandy koufax)

at number 412, 1998 donruss hideo nomo at number 413, and 1990 score rick dempsey at number 414.

my favorite card on the page:

i really like the lopes card, but the 1975 topps manny mota aesthetic wins out today.

final thoughts:

this post will publish on july 4th. the dodgers and other teams will be wearing some pretty ridiculous hats to 'celebrate' the holiday, but the red, white, and blue of the regular dodger uniform should be enough.  at any rate, remember the lesson of jason pierre-paul and have a safe 4th of july!

frankendodger sheet 44 (cards 388-396) - night owl's favorite card makes the cut...

here's sheet number 44 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 388-396:

and the back:

these cards are:

388. 1998 donruss paul konerko
389. 1998 pacific online gary sheffield
390. 1975 topps ron cey
391. 2008 upper deck first edition blake dewitt
392. 2010 topps carlos monasterios
393. 1995 fleer ultra pedro astacio
394. 1989 topps orel hershiser
395. 1990 fleer alfredo griffin
396. 1998 upper deck collector's choice todd zeile

the "no brainer" of the day:

that would be the pacific online sheffield checklist.  i have foregone all of the other dodger cards in the online set because i knew i had doubles of this card and it is so "pacific". i like the big dodger logo right in the center of this card, too.

about the cards:

paul konerko makes his first (and only) appearance in the set via a card from 1998 donruss. spirit of the game was originally an insert set, but at some point donruss made it a subset of the regular set. konerko took his spirit to cincinnati at the 1998 all-star break before settling in with the white sox for a very productive career.

gary sheffield got front billing (and deservedly so) for the dodger team checklist in the 1998 pacific online set.  this was a great set, with 29 dodgers represented, including short-timers like thomas howard, matt luke, tom prince, and trenidad hubbard.  i never did check out any of the links when they were active - i wonder what they looked like.

next up is night owl's favorite card - the 1975 topps ron cey.  he has discussed the fantastic-ness of this card many times, so i won't try to tell you anything more about it. instead, i'll reiterate my opinion that the pants blake dewitt is wearing on his 2008 upper deck first edition card are the worst baseball pants of all time. i think they look terrible, and i am not a crabby old fart.  carlos monasterios is also wearing bad baseball pants on his 2010 topps card.  i prefer his 2010 bowman card

but it isn't numbered 392.

pedro astacio gets the call to represent 1995 fleer ultra, which is about two years before i would say the set actually became anything special.  my favorite thing about astacio is they way he used to wiggle his arm as it hung from his side while he was checking the signs.   i also "threw" a no-hitter with him on the old tony larussa baseball game for pc in the late 1990's.

there were a lot of orel hershiser cards issued in 1989, and this topps all-star card is one of them. hershiser was the nl rhp in the subset, and kirk gibson was the pinch hitter, as opposed to the dh for the american league. i thought that was a nice touch by topps.

alfredo griffin's 1990 fleer set is, like the rest of the set in my opinion, forgettable. griffin had a much better year in 1989 than he had in 1988 at the plate, but the ring is the thing, and by that account 1988 was a much better season.

last card of this page is the 1998 collector's choice todd zeile.  zeile looks like he might be boning his bat (that's something players did back in the day, with mark grace apparently preferring a cow femur).  i like most of all the fact that this card displays the jackie robinson patch that the dodgers wore in 1997, although it is not my favorite card to do so.

cards that didn't make the cut:

those that tried and failed include 2011 topps kenley jansen (with a lurking davey lopes as the phillies' first base coach)

at number 388, 1960 topps maury wills (luis swipes base)

at number 389, 1972 topps willie davis at number 390, 1973 topps lee lacy at number 391, 1996 topps stadium club tom candiotti at number 392, 1998 upper deck collector's choice jose vizcaino at number 393, 1992 bowman dave anderson at number 394, 1990 score willie randolph at number 395, and 1997 upper deck greg gagne (with future dodger rickey henderson!)

at number 396.

my favorite card on the page:

the red background on the todd zeile card, along with the jackie robinson patch, puts this one on top for me.  you know i like that card if i passed on the gagne card to get it in the set.

final thoughts:

seeing the gagne card reminds me that i wanted to get rickey into the set, but did not do so.  i took another look at his dodger cards, and i think i've found a spot for him.  i actually have 4 or 5 cards to replace, and i'll update all of the posts accordingly.

frankendodger sheet 42 (cards 370-378) - batmen and robin...

here's sheet number 42 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 370-378:

and the back:

these cards are:

370. 1976 topps ron cey
371. 2002 topps chad kreuter
372. 1981 topps jay johnstone
373. 1979 topps lance rautzhan
374. 2013 topps heritage luis cruz
375. 1958 topps pee wee reese
376. 1975 o-pee-chee steve yeager
377. 2004 topps robin ventura
378. 1985 fleer tom niedenfuer

the "no brainer" of the day:

lance rauthzhan had just one solo card as a dodger, and as a member of the team of my youth, his 1979 topps card was guaranteed a spot in the set.

about the cards:

ron cey lets his hat hair shine on his 1976 topps card.  cey was the starting third baseman for the national league in the all-star game for the second year in a row, but the voters would give pete rose the nod in '76.  the dodger voting contingent showed up in 1977, however, and got cey his all-star recognition back in time for the 1978 topps set.

chad kreuter's 2002 topps card reminds me of the time when he went into the stands at wrigley field after a fan stole his hat off of his head.  that happened in 2000, kreuter's first year with the dodgers.

on the other hand, jay johnstone's 1981 topps card reminds me of the time that he hit a pinch-hit home run in game 4 of the 1981 world series to cut the yankees' lead in the game to one and get the dodgers on the path to victory.  johnstone was cut by the team the following may, but he's still a dodger world series hero.

speaking of the postseason, lance rautzhan was the winning pitcher in the 'black friday' game in the 1977 nlcs against the phillies.  i was looking forward to a solo rautzhan card in 1978 following his postseason appearances, but he received a four-in-one rookie card instead.  i was happy to find this card in the 1979 topps release, but by then i had turned my attention to finding a bob welch card instead.  rautzhan passed away earlier this year and i was flattered that jon weisman used the 1978 topps card that i created for his news release on dodgers insider.

luis cruz was part of the crew that tried to hold down third base for the dodgers in 2012.  cruz, coming back to the big leagues after some time in the mexican league, manned the hot corner for the dodgers that year along with adam kennedy and juan uribe, but he also spent time at shortstop.  he hit just under .300 with 20 doubles in a total of 78 games that season, but his 2013 was not as productive and he was released by the club in july. i prefer cruz's 2013 topps flagship card

to this heritage card, but only one of them is number 374.

so nice to have a dupe of a vintage pee wee reese card.  and, this 1958 topps card being his final card makes it even better. it's too bad it's not a true final tribute, but topps wasn't into that back then.  i think we can all rest assured that there will be plenty of david ortiz cards in 2017 product.  for now, let's just add a 1959 pee wee reese card to the long list of cards that should have been and hopefully will eventually be made by topps someday.

i had a double of steve yeager's 1975 topps card, but then discovered that i also had a dupe of his 1975 o-pee-chee card, so guess which one made the set? the canadian card even has a stain on the back, no doubt from some backbacon grease or perhaps condensation from an ice cold labbatt's.  i should point out that yeager is also proof that not all folks with 'wayne' as a middle name are bad people.

and now we've arrived at robin ventura's fantastic 2004 topps card. it is one of my favorites from the set, thanks to jeromy burnitz pointing at home plate in the background and the fact that it documents ventura's inside the park home run hit against the braves on august 3, 2003.  i started following ventura's career when he was at oklahoma state thanks to some common ties although i had been aware of him for a couple years before he left for college.  when he joined the dodgers in 2003, i was pleased, but had the distinct feeling that it was too little, too late.  you see, while the dodgers were trying to fill the hole at third base that they created by trading ron cey away earlier in the decade, they passed on ventura in the 1988 draft.  instead, they took bill bene with the 5th pick and let ventura fall to the white sox at 10.  for the record, the dodgers also passed on ed sprague who proved to be a serviceable third baseman for a few seasons and so were left to feature jeff hamilton, mike sharperson, lenny harris, dave hansen, tim wallach, mike blowers, and todd zeile (among others) at third before adrian beltre kind of settled things down.  when ventura made it to la, he wound up playing mostly first base, although he did get to pitch in a game with the dodgers (and i was really hoping for a 'pressed into service' card from topps in series 2 of this year's flagship release). maybe in update? please?

the last card here is tom niedenfuer's 1985 topps card, on which the dodger reliever does a fine job of suttoning.  1985 was not a good year for niedenfuer, at least as far as dodger fans remember, thanks to a couple of pitches in the nlcs, but he set career highs in saves, innings pitched, and strikeouts that season.  i'm not going to harp on niedenfuer for what happened against the cardinals in '85, because i can't really complain about the team winning two world series titles in the 1980's.  i will mention, however, that niedenfuer was only part of the 1981 team - in fact, he was the guy for whom jay johnstone pinch-hit in game 4 against the yankees.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1985 fleer pedro guerrero at number 370, 1998 topps roger cedeno at number 371, 1998 pacific online thomas howard

at number 372, 1999 fleer tradition carlos perez at number 373, 1993 o-pee-chee todd worrell

at number 374, 1978 topps tommy john

at number 375, 1991 bowman eddie murray at number 376, 1990 upper deck john wetteland at number 377, and 1989 score jay howell at number 378.

my favorite card on the page:

robin ventura's 2004 topps card wins today with its iphr action and lurking burnitz.

final thoughts:

so here's a case where a classic vintage card (reese) trumps a significant dodger card (john) from my favorite set ever.  on a side note, john probably makes the brady bunch page (although his shoulders are turned) in bobby's spot. or maybe mike brady's spot. it depends on whether john is checking out alice or jan.

frankendodger sheet 35 (cards 307-315) - wherefore ahrt thou, yhency?...

here's sheet number 35 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 307-315:

and the back:

these cards are:

307. 1994 pinnacle jim gott
308. 2015 topps carl crawford
309. 1989 donruss baseball's best tim leary
310. 1978 topps don sutton
311. 1997 topps stadium club greg gagne
312. 2002 donruss originals adrian beltre
313. 2005 upper deck first pitch yhency brazoban
314. 2013 topps aj ellis
315. 1974 topps ron cey

the "no brainer" of the day:

the 1978 topps don sutton card, complete with the all-star shield, was definitely close to a no brainer, but the first card i identified for this sheet was the stadium club gagne since i knew i had a couple of doubles of that particular double play turn.

about the cards:

i like that pinnacle jim gott card. not only does mike piazza make an appearance, but they are opting for the post game high-five rather than the handshake.  you can also see both the tim crews and the roy campanella/don drysdale memorial patches - one on each player's sleeve.  next up is the newest former dodger - carl crawford.  the dodgers designated him for assignment last week, and my guess is that they straight release him. crawford didn't play everyday, but his batting average and obp were right at his career averages (.290/.330) while with the dodgers in 2013 and 2014. 2015 and 2016 were not very good, however, and with the arrival of trayce thompson and scott van slyke coming off the dl, something had to give.

i don't know that tim leary was one of baseball's best back then, but his 1988 performance with the dodgers was a big part of their success. he won 17 games, threw 6 shutouts, won the silver slugger with a .269 batting average (highlighted by a key pinch-hit, walk-off single against the giants), and pitched fantastic relief in game 1 of the world series.  don sutton, on the other hand, was one of baseball's best in 1978, but never could find himself on the winning side of the world series.  the 1978  topps all-star shield is my favorite all-star designation ever, and sutton earned his by starting and winning the 1977 midsummer classic en route to being named its mvp.

greg gagne's 1997 stadium club card features a nice double play turn that works pretty well with the design of the card. i never did follow through on my double play card tournament, but gagne would likely have been a 6 or 7 seed.  2002 donruss originals shows up again, this time riffing on the 1986 design.  adrian beltre deserved rated rookie status in 1999, but donruss wasn't making cards that year.

that brings us to yhency.  not a common name, yhency.  in fact, a quick google search doesn't turn up any other results than yhency brazoban.  yhency filled in for an injured eric gagne at the end of the dodger bullpen in 2005, and elicited exclaims of 'ghame over' - an obvious play on gagne's 'game over' tagline.  jon weisman at dodger thoughts had ghame over t-shirts made, and i purchased one. yhency blew out his elbow and never did return to his previous status.

aj ellis is not really the star of his own card - that would be clayton kershaw who makes an appearance on this 2013 topps card. a few years ago, this would have been a 'classic combination' card from topps.  anyway, ellis has done well for himself to be considered kershaw's catcher, although i noticed that he didn't start behind the plate when kershaw pitched against the giants last week.

ron cey's 1974 topps card is great. it's his first solo card after two years of multi-player rookie cards, and features a photo of cey taking a cut. i'm guessing it was a swing and miss, but it sure looks like the penguin was going for the fences.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i could have used the 2001 topps chrome kirk gibson golden moment card at number 307, but i chose jim gott's high-five instead.  other cards that didn't quite have what it takes include 1992 pinnacle darryl strawberry 'shades' subset

at number 308, 2015 topps update howie kendrick at number 309, 1969 topps tom haller

at number 310, 2007 topps greg maddux at number 311, 1995 pinnacle jose offerman at number 312, 1967 topps bob lee at number 313, 1958 topps dodgers' boss & power (duke snider and walter alston) but more realistically 1966 topps hector valle at number 314, and 1968 topps zoilo versalles

at number 315.

my favorite card on the page:

this is where the sutton card wins out over gott, gagne, and cey.

final thoughts:

the 2013 topps aj ellis card is an example of the frustrations that topps' overproduction of variations and parallels has wrought.  after they used gatorade baths and at the wall catches as photo variations, i saw some card show dealers tout regular base cards with those types of photos as "sp variation?" to prey, i suspect, on unknowing collectors.  the ellis card is one that i saw with this type of designation as well, due to the natural sparkle coming off of his helmet.  i was almost convinced that it was a 'sparkle' variation until i checked it out at cardboard connection.  caveat emptor, always.

frankendodger sheet 29 (cards 253-261) - lasorda goes for a jog...

here's sheet number 29 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 253-261:

and the back:

these cards are:

253. 1977 topps john hale
254. 1989 o-pee-chee mickey hatcher
255. 1979 topps tommy john
256. 2003 topps omar daal
257. 2008 topps update casey blake
258. 1958 topps carl erskine
259. 1978 topps dodger team
260. 1981 topps ron cey
261. 1992 topps tom lasorda

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are a few cards that could hold this distinction, but the 1992 lasorda was a bit more of a sure thing for this set than any of them.

about the cards:

there were times as a young collector that i doubted whether the john hale on that 1977 topps card was the same john hale on this 1978 topps card

the stats on the back told me they were the same person, but i was thrown by the mustache.  i also believed that the curl in superman's hair was enough of a disguise to convince people that he wasn't clark kent.

1989 o-pee-chee, which brings us the only non-topps card of the page, was a godsend for dodger fans who were ticked off at not having any postseason cards in the 1982 sets, and were worried that 1989 would go by without recognizing the impossible that happened in october of 1988.  fleer and o-pee-chee came through for us, and so mickey hatcher's heroics live on in cardboard form.

the 1979 topps tommy john card was his last card as a dodger, and i am grateful for it.  topps also made a card of john as a yankee for the 1979 burger king set, and o-pee-chee did their text and team variation magic as well.  john's departure gave rick sutcliffe a chance, so it wasn't all bad in 1979.  another lefty, omar daal was 6-3 in 99 games (all in relief) for the dodgers during his first run in dodger blue, despite an era over 5 and a whip of 1.71.  he returned for the 2002 season and was used primarily as a starter, going 11-9 with a 3.90 era and 1.21 whip in 39 games, 23 of which were starts.

i knew of casey blake from his two stints with the twins in the early 2000's, but sort of stopped paying attention once the twins fully committed to corey koskie at third and released blake.  he wound up playing for the indians for a few seasons before ned colletti sent carlos santana and jon meloan to cleveland for blake during the 2008 season. clearly not the biggest acquisition that season (hello, manny ramirez), but blake held down the hot corner for the two nlcs runs the dodgers made in that season and the next.

i thought about sending this extra 1958 carl erskine card off to oisk to be signed, but i am glad i did not so it can sit here in the frankenset. on april 18, 1958 erskine started and won the first ever regular season game that the dodgers played in los angeles so it's good to have his card from that year here to represent.

i have said many times over the course of my blogging that the 1978 topps set was the first set that i actively bought packs of, the first set that i collected and completed, and the set that i hold most dear.  the 1978 topps dodgers were the focus of many a post at garvey cey russell lopes. when i first found this checklist card in a pack, i had probably a third of the individual player cards, and i spent a lot of time looking at the players in the team photo figuring out who was who and why not everyone on the front was listed on the back.  one of my favorite cards, to be sure.

just like erskine's 1958 card being historically significant, any 1981 ron cey card immediately brings to my mind the 1981 world series and cey's game 3 heroics - his first inning home run and his eighth inning diving catch of bobby murcer's bunt attempt - that led to his winning a third of the world series mvp award. great memories for me.

finally, we have tommy lasorda's fantastic 1992 topps card.  lasorda is shown with gary carter, kevin gross, john candelaria, orel hershiser, and bobby ojeda out for a spring training jog.  little did tommy know that he was in for a historically bad season that year.  bonus for the larger photo of dodger stadium on the back, too!

cards that didn't make the cut:

i considered using the 1993 donruss triple play card that features todd worrell and tim wallach (and jody reed on the back)

at number 253, but i sent all of my dupes of that card to a certain lawyer in new mexico.  other cards that fell short of the frankenset include tom lasorda's 1989 topps card at number 254, dusty baker's 1980 topps card

at number 255, 1987 donruss opening day dodger logo/checklist at number 256, 1992 leaf todd benzinger at number 257, 2011 topps update andre ethier at number 258, 1995 topps stadium club tim wallach

at number 259, 1967 topps jim lefebvre at number 260, and 2013 panini hometown heroes yasiel puig at number 261.

my favorite card on the page:

as happy as i was to find out that o-pee-chee made cards for the 1988 world series, the 1978 topps dodger team card is too near and dear to my heart to not be my favorite card on the page.

final thoughts:

before justin turner came along, casey blake's beard was the best known dodger facial hair. mike over at the left field pavilion had some "in beard we trust" shirts made up that caught on a bit.  today, no one would even look twice at blake's beard as brian wilson begat sean doolittle, etc.

frankendodger sheet 23 (cards 199-207) - all decades reporting for duty...

here's sheet number 23 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 199-207:

and the back:

these cards are:

199. 1977 o-pee-chee ron cey
200. 1964 topps sandy koufax
201. 1982 donruss steve yeager
202. 2014 topps chrome matt kemp
203. 1990 donruss jay howell
204. 2001 topps archives tom lasorda
205. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams steve garvey
206. 1959 topps carl furillo
207. 1971 topps alan foster

the "no brainer" of the day:

that would be the 2001 archives lasorda card.  his 1988 topps card is one of my top 3 favorite lasorda cards (along with 1992 topps and 1978 topps), but it didn't make the cut earlier in the set.  so, the archives card that reprints the '88 card was a no brainer once the no repeat players/sets guideline expired.

about the cards:

i'm pretty sure that this is the first sheet that includes cards from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's, and 10's.  and they are all pretty good, too.  leading off with ron cey's 1977 opc card, and following that up with sandy koufax's 1964 topps card? that's a great start.  i thought that the hero numbers should be well represented in this set, and although clayton kershaw's 2013 topps heritage card was also number 200, i decided to go with the original, so to speak. so, i purchased a second '64 koufax for my collection.  and, while i may go back and replace matt kemp at number 100 with hubie brooks (i've got that bowman card in my sportlots cart as i type), sandy won't be going anywhere.

i could have used either a 1982 donruss or 1983 donruss yeager card

at 201, and i went for yeager at the plate rather than yeager behind it.  the photo is similar to the one on cey's card - so much so that i wonder if the top of the dugout was painted sometime between 1976 and 1981, so that both photos were taken in the same (shea?) stadium.  matt kemp's 2014 topps chrome card features a nice photo with the red number prominently displayed, but it's jay howell's 1990 donruss card that really makes the red pop.

i already mentioned that i like tommy's card, so i'll move on to the garvey from the timeless teams set.  i am a fan of this set to be sure, and this is one of my favorite cards in it because upper deck matched the photo with the year, which is nice.  from one number 6 to another, and from dodger stadium to the la coliseum, we have carl furillo's 1959 topps card. i've seen a few football games at the coliseum, but did not make it to the exhibition game the dodgers played there a few years ago.  i do recall sitting there during the football games trying to imagine it as a baseball stadium and couldn't really figure it out even though i had seen photos of the conversion.  anyway, the rams will be playing there for a couple of years, and i kind of hope the stadium falls apart on them.  this coming from a guy who was a big fan of the rams until they traded vince ferragamo to the bills in '85.  i thought georgia frontiere was a bad owner. that kroenke guy seems like a real jackass.

apologies to alan foster for bringing up kroenke just before getting to his card.  one thing about foster that i find interesting is that he wore number 44 - a number usually identified with sluggers like hank aaron, willie mccovey, and post-oakland reggie jackson.  speaking of sluggers, foster served up the first pitch that willie stargell hit out of dodger stadium (stargell did it twice), although pops wore number 8.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i considered but did not choose a number of cards for this sheet, including 2002 topps 206 paul loduca at number 199, 2013 topps heritage clayton kershaw at number 200, the aforementioned 1983 donruss steve yeager at number 201, 1979 o-pee-chee gary thomasson

at number 202, 1983 fleer greg brock at number 203, 1970 topps len gabrielson at number 204, 2003 topps traded adam riggs

at number 205, 1983 fleer steve garvey

(proving that garvey cards don't always win) at number 206, and 1986 topps fernando valenzuela record breaker at number 207.

my favorite card on the page:

there are a lot of contenders here, but a 1964 topps sandy koufax card - more for the stature than the aesthetic - should and does win out.

final thoughts:

back to the uniform number thing - foster was traded to cleveland after the 1970 season, and he took number 32 (now that is a pitcher's number) with the tribe. the dodgers acquired al downing that same offseason, and he (another pitcher) took foster's 44.  about three years later, downing gave up aaron's 715th career home run - from one 44 to another...

frankendodger sheet 1 (cards 1-9) - if the infield fits...

it's all over but the shouting.  without further ado, let's see some dodger cards.

here's sheet number 1 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 1-9:

and the back:

these cards are:

1. 1981 fleer star stickers steve garvey
2. 1994 donruss mike piazza
3. 1982 fleer ron cey
4. 1976 topps davey lopes
5. 1957 topps sal maglie
6. 1982 topps fernando valenzuela
7. 2012 bowman platinum matt kemp
8. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts bill russell
9. 1993 ted williams roy campanella

the "no-brainer" of the day:

come on. i had to get steve garvey, ron cey, bill russell, and davey lopes on the first page of the set.  i knew that garvey, cey, and lopes all had cards that would fit, but wasn't sure about russell.  i was very happy to see that legendary cuts card numbered at 8!

about the cards:

this sheet is a good one - it's got the four infielders from the team of my youth, plus fernando, piazza, and matt kemp, who at one time was my favorite dodger.  add in roy campanella and a card from the 1957 topps set (the first year of the now-standard card size and the last year of the brooklyn dodgers), and we have a pretty good opening act.

i knew going in that these low numbers would result in either a league leader or record breaker/highlight card or two, and so it is no surprise to have two such cards here.  it's a little bit funny this feeling inside to have a sticker as the first card in the set, but that's how it shook out.  i didn't have a double of the first card of garvey's 1984 star set, and that may be the only other time he's card number 1 as a dodger.

cards that didn't make the cut:

this early in the game, there are a lot of options.  the spot i struggled the most with was card number 5.  at one point, i had a 1960 topps wally moon in that spot, but i also had charlie neal's 1960 topps card in the set within the first 20 pages, so i wanted to switch one of them out to maintain the diversity of the first 180 cards. maglie's 1957 topps card was the obvious choice as the '57 set was not yet represented due to the fact that any doubles i had were in my set binder (yes, i am trying to complete the 1957 topps set). i picked up a third copy of the maglie card, and here he is.  without it, the 1957 set would not have been represented in the frankenset.

there were also a few options for the number one spot, not including the dodgers' most famous number one card (that of andy pafko in the 1952 topps set which was disqualified due to the size of the card and the fact that i do not own one, let alone two).  i could have chosen from tommy davis' 1963 topps league leader card, dusty baker's 1982 fleer card, fernando's 1983 donruss diamond king card, mike piazza's 1994 topps card, or clayton kershaw's 2015 bowman, just to name a few.  however, putting steve garvey at the beginning of this set was a must for me.

finally, as happy as i was to see russell with a card numbered 8 in a set, that meant it had to bump one of the cards that otherwise was a shoo-in here.  the 1965 topps set has as its number 8 card the national league era leaders card of sandy koufax and don drysdale.  as i began putting this frankenset together, i had in my mind several cards that i thought would have to be in the set, and that was one of them.  in the end, however, i decided i wanted the infielders on the first sheet, and so drysdale and koufax will need to be represented by other cards.

my favorite card on the page:

i think i'll just say that i am happy to have the infield all together on the first page of the frankenset and leave it at that.

final thoughts:

there were a couple of late options for the set at number 7. both corey seager (2016 topps gypsy queen) and kenta maeda (2016 topps now)

clocked in at the yeager/mantle spot, but until i have doubles (i don't have the seager card yet, and i only ordered one of the maeda cards), kemp will stay on this inaugural sheet of my frankenset.

another card that could have slotted in at number 7, but was never under any serious consideration, is the 1993 hostess darryl strawberry card.  i have a few doubles of that card, but it is pretty nondescript, and darryl appears in the set in a few pages. however, i do have a story about that card.  i was traveling for work recently, and found myself at a charlotte knights game. the knights are the aaa team for the white sox, so naturally, darryl strawberry was there signing autographs.  i usually research the baseball situation in any town i travel to ahead of time, but i did not do so prior to this trip.  so, i found myself standing in line with nothing for darryl to sign.  i noticed a couple of guys with multiple cards and wound up spending too much for a 1993 hostess card of which i had doubles back at home.  anyway, that's what i got signed.

i really wish those guys had had a copy of his 1992 topps card on them.

i recognize that the subject matter of this blog is extremely narrow, and so i don't anticipate a lot of reaction. still, i appreciate those who have mentioned the blog on their sites and those who do take some time to read these posts. as i was assembling this frankenset (one of the many things i did after ending my run at garvey cey russell lopes), i realized i didn't have anyone to share it with. that's why i'm here - to share this set with anyone who is interested - which is the same reason i think so many of us blog - to share our collections and write about what makes them unique.  so, thanks.