they came from 2004...

today i'm showing some cards that were released in 2004.  the first few don't look like cards from 2004, however.  like this 2004 fleer platinum edwin jackson card

that was modeled after 1984 fleer cards.

and then there is this 2004 fleer tradition card

that brings to mind the 1990 fleer design although the banner here has more flow to it.

this 2004 topps all-time fan favorites brett butler card

uses the 1991 topps design.  unfortunately, topps kept the orange frame design of the giants cards. 1991 was butler's first year with the dodgers, and he led the league in runs scored and walks.  he was featured in the flagship set as a giant, receiving a dodger card (with the proper blue frame) in the traded set.

finally, there is this 2004 topps cracker jack card of adrian beltre

that is a play on the 1915 cracker jack design

don't worry - there were some original designs used in 2004 - like the design of the 2004 upper deck flagship set.  here's juan encarnacion's card from that set

i like the 2004 upper deck set because of the inset photo behind the players' names.  that's a dodger stadium scene, in case you can't tell (the same scene - differently cropped - that's on the back of dodger cards in the 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams set).  unfortunately, upper deck did not apply the photo consistently to cards in the set

it may just be that the horizontal cards in the set didn't get the inset photo, i don't know.  here are some landscape oriented cards for you to ponder - shawn green

is in pittsburgh, i believe

hideo nomo

is in the dodger stadium dugout

and robin ventura

is on the road somewhere - maybe san francisco - as that's where jeff weaver is on his card

which is vertical and features the stadium inset photo.

there's not much of a discernible background photo at all on this 2004 topps clubhouse collection eric gagne relic card

but i guess we are supposed to be focusing on the fabric and not the photo.

it would be interesting to know what sort of designs fleer and upper deck would have these days.  i am sure, like topps (heritage, archives, gypsy queen, allen & ginter), they would issue sets that incorporate some older set designs, but there would be some unique designs, too.

at least i hope there would be.

is it possible to complete a 1996 fleer dodger team set from just two packs? and for just 50 cents?

while wallet card and i were at the local card shop, i found some loose packs marked at a quarter apiece. among them were some packs of 1996 fleer dodgers cards.

with 10 cards per pack, and 20 cards in the team set, i wondered - could i complete a team set with just two packs?

here's the checklist of the then defending nl west champions

and here's the back of that card

which is pretty much the same as the front of the logo card

whose back looks like this

the background on those cards kind of reminds me of 1995 fleer in a way.

as for the 18 players in the set, here is what their cards look like

a complete team set, although it took 5 packs to get there.  i think there was a mike blowers card in four of the five packs, and only one hideo nomo card.  for some reason, todd worrell was also tough to come by in my small sample size.  still, a team set for $1.25 is not too shabby.

where in the world is my wallet card - local monthly card show edition!

wallet card and i ventured out in the cold to a recent local card show.

that's my beat up 1974 topps steve garvey card in the foreground of the familar twin cities sports card collector's club card show signage.

inside, i found some things to purchase, including another vintage dodger from one of the main vintage bargain bin dealers i've written about so many times.  one of the cards he sold me was this 1955 topps duke snider card

i took duke home and promptly freed him from his cage

i am pretty sure that whomever had the card graded spent more on that than i spent on the card.  anyway, it's the last card in the 1955 set, and one of the ones i thought would take me the longest to find one that met my budgetary needs.  i was wrong - there are still a few other dodgers i need from that '55 set.

there were some modern dodgers from a two-dime box at another dealer that suffered the wrath of my dodger digging.  here's a 2011 topps pro-debut ethan martin blue parallel

i have a hard time passing up blue dodger parallels, even when they are former prospects that no longer pitch in the organization.

case in point, here's a 2014 bowman chrome dan haren blue parallel

it's a card only a dodger team collector could love.

more blue - this time a 2012 topps chad billingsley golden moments relic card

that features a swatch from the 1940 throwback unis that the dodgers wore for a few games in 2011.

here's a piece of (supposedly) adrian gonzalez's bat from 2014 topps allen & ginter

the relics were only a buck apiece.

there were a bunch of grant holmes cards in the two-dime box, and i grabbed this 2014 bowman draft picks and prospects draft night insert of the first round pick 

he had a k/9 ratio of over 10 in his rookie league debut last year. i'm interested to see what he does this year.

i have a hard time passing up tim wallach cards when i see them in discount boxes, so i grabbed this 1995 topps stadium club card.

to be honest, i've seen this card so many times, i should make sure that i actually own it before i ship it off to new mexico.

also from 1995 topps stadium club, i grabbed this brett butler virtual reality insert

based on the haul i took from the card show (i'll be showing more of it in another post), the fist bump is warranted.

a dodger memorial patch for campy and big d

when don drysdale made his big league debut in relief on opening day of the 1956 season, his battery mate was roy campanella.  the two were teammates again the following year, which turned out to be campy's last.  some 36 years later, campanella and drysdale passed away within a week of each other - campanella at the age of 71 and drysdale at 56, both dead from heart attacks. 

campanella, who was paralyzed in a car accident in january of 1958, was an 8-time all-star who won three national league mvp awards during his 10-year major league career.  prior to that, he had played in the negro leagues for 10 years, and he had been the first african-american player in the american association, playing for the saint paul saints in 1948 (there is a picture of campy in his saints uniform hanging in target field, the home of the twins).  he reached the majors for good later that season, and in 1969, he became the second african-american player to be voted into the hall of fame, following once again in the footsteps of jackie robinson.  campanella's number 39 was among the first three numbers retired by the dodgers in a 1972 ceremony that also retired the numbers of robinson and sandy koufax.  it was on june 26, 1993 that campanella died at his home.

drysdale had his number 53 retired by the dodgers following his induction into the hall of fame in 1984. he was also an 8-time all-star during his career, leading the league in strikeouts 3 times and winning the cy young award in 1962.  drysdale famously set the record for most consecutive scoreless innings in his final full season when he went 58 and two-thirds innings without allowing a run in 1968.  the streak included six consecutive shutouts from big d.  following his retirement in 1969, drysdale began a career as a broadcaster, and he joined the dodger's broadcasting team in 1988 following the retirement of jerry doggett.  five years later, drysdale was in montreal where the dodgers were playing the expos when he died on july 3, 1993.  it was vin scully who broke the news during that game's broadcast to us dodger fans, noting that don had previously undergone an angioplasty to relieve some heart problems.  what a surreal moment that was.

the dodgers added a memorial patch to their right sleeves for the remainder of the season honoring both hall of famers.  the patch, with the text '39 roy don 53' recognized the numbers that had been retired for each player.  you can see the patch on this 1994 fleer superstar special card of mike piazza and eric karros.

as well as this 1994 fleer superstar special card of brett butler

tom candiotti's 1994 donruss card

shows both the campy/big d patch and the tim crews memorial patch that was worn on the dodgers' left sleeves during the entire 1993 season.

ditto for brett butler's 1994 topps stadium card

which also features a mustachioed butler

butler is clean shaven on his 1994 donruss triple play card

as is tim wallach on his card from the same set

both cards show the patch nicely.

the back of wallach's 1994 topps stadium club card also gives a good view of the patch

as does pedro astacio's 1994 pinnacle card

cards from the 1994 topps set also display the patch - here's dave hansen's card

and ricky trlicek's, too

mike piazza's all-star card

would be a good representative of the patch since he and campanella are two of the greatest offensive catchers in the history of the game, but i think this 1994 upper deck collector's choice raul mondesi card

is the best example of the patch, so it sits in my memorials binder.

sunday morning target dodgers - super bowl sunday edition.

like clockwork, here's another edition of the sunday morning target dodgers featuring 15 more cards from a sheet in the 1990 target 100th anniversary giveaway set.  just because it's super bowl sunday doesn't mean i'm doing anything different or exciting.  i honestly couldn't think of anything different or exciting.  enjoy.

bert abbey

abbey had a record of 9-30 as a major league pitcher when he joined the brooklyn grooms during the 1895 season.  he went 5-2 in 8 games for the club that year, and then posted an 8-8 record for brooklyn the following season, which turned out to be his last in the majors. abbey then returned to coach baseball at his alma mater, the university of vermont.

johnny butler

butler didn't debut in the majors until 1926 when he was a 33-year old infielder with the brooklyn robins.  he hit .269 in 147 games that year, and then played in 149 games for the robins the following season, although his batting average dropped to .238.  he was picked up by the cubs for the 1928 season, and finished his big league career with the cardinals in 1929.

ivan dejesus

the dodgers signed dejesus as an amateur free agent out of puerto rico in 1969.  he appeared in 3 games during the 1974 season as a late season call-up for the dodgers, and then saw some playing time as a backup to bill russell in 1975 and 1976.   in fact, dejesus and rick auerbach filled in for the injured russell during a good stretch of the 1975 season.  ultimately, however, dejesus was expendable, and he was traded with bill buckner to the cubs for mike garman and rick monday prior to the 1977 season.  dejesus later was traded by the cubs to the phillies for larry bowa and a throw-in named ryne sandberg.

harry eisenstat

eisenstat was a brooklyn native who made his big league debut for the local nine in 1935, when he was just 19 years old.  he was 0-1 in his 2 relief appearances that season, but earned his first big league win (against 3 more losses) the following year.  in 1937, his last year with the dodgers, eisenstat was 3-3 in 13 games.  he went on to pitch for the tigers, for whom he took a no-hitter into the 8th inning on the last day of the 1938 season, beating bob feller of the indians who struck out 18 tigers that day.  coincidentally, the indians traded for eisenstat the following year, and he pitched in cleveland for the remainder of his career.

don elston

elston threw 757.2 innings as a major league pitcher, 756.2 of which came as a member of the chicago cubs.  he was acquired by the dodgers from chicago prior to the 1957 season, but was dealt back to the cubbies after pitching just one inning as a member of the brooklyn dodgers.  in that lone dodger appearance, elston took over for sandy koufax and pitched a scoreless 9th inning against the milwaukee braves. in addition to this card, elston also shows up as a dodger in the 1957 topps set which is nice given his short tenure with the team.

jim gentile

i don't think i knew that diamond jim gentile began his big league career with the brooklyn dodgers in 1957.  he also played for the los angeles dodgers in 1958, amassing a .139 batting average in 16 games over those two seasons.  his first big league hit was a home run off of the phillies' robin roberts, which was not a bad way to start.  i knew of gentile more because of his big 1961 season with the orioles in which he hit 46 home runs and earned a spot on the 1962 topps home run leader card with roger maris, mickey mantle, and harmon killebrew.  gentile also hit .302 with 141 rbi that season.

jerry grote

grote came to the dodgers late in the 1977 season as a third catcher and sometimes third baseman.  he remained with the team through the 1978 season, playing in the nlcs and world series both years. in fact, grote was on deck when ron cey scored the pennant winning run in the 1978 nlcs, and so is featured prominently in one of the celebratory photos that i used to make the 1979 topps card that should have been.  grote was also a dodger double dipper, as he returned to the club for the 1981 pennant run after coming out of retirement earlier that year to join the kansas city royals.

joe harris

harris was acquired by the robins via trade with pittsburgh during the 1928 season.  he appeared in 55 games for brooklyn, hitting .236 in what would be his final stint in the major leagues.  his was a career that lasted 10 seasons over 15 years, but had been sidetracked early on when commissioner landis banned him from the game for life due to harris playing in an independent league in ohio during the 1920 season rather than return to the cleveland indians for whom he had played in 1917 and 1919.  harris was obviously later reinstated, and became the first player to hit a home run in his first world series at bat.

butch henline

henline was the player that the robins received in return when they traded burleigh grimes to the giants in 1927. henline came from the phillies, who were the third team in that trade.  he served as the backup catcher for three seasons, hitting .243 in 149 games as a robin.

rube melton

melton kinda sorta looks like ted williams here, don't you think?  he was a pitcher for the dodgers for two years before and after serving in world war ii.  he joined the dodgers in 1943 and had a combined record of 14-21 over the '43 and '44 seasons.  melton spent 1945 and some of the 1946 season in the armed forces, but posted a 1.99 era with a 6-3 record for the portion of the '46 campaign that he did play in.  he pitched in just 4 games in 1947, collecting only a loss to go with a 13.50 era in those appearances.

andy pafko

pafko is best known as the guy who is on the first card in the 1952 topps set, which features him in a brooklyn uniform thanks to a june, 1951 trade with the cubs.  pafko also played for the dodgers in the 1952 season, hitting .287 in a career high 150 games.  he was traded to the braves prior to the 1953 campaign.

jimmy ripple

ripple had played in 417 games and two world series as a member of the new york giants when he was dealt to the dodgers in september of 1939.  he hit .330 for the dodgers in 28 games over the course of the last few weeks of that season, but the club still finished 12.5 games behind the reds in the standings.  ripple returned to the dodgers in 1940, but only appeared in 7 games before the aforementioned reds claimed him on waivers in august.  ripple went on to help cincinnati win the world series that year.

jack smith

smith pitched for the dodgers in 1962 and 1963, although he earned no decisions in his 12 appearances (all in relief) during that time.  he did not appear in the 1963 world series, either, and was soon thereafter lost to the braves in the rule v draft.

carl warwick

warwick began his career in 1961 as a member of the dodgers. he debuted on april 11 of that year, pinch-hitting for wally moon against ken lehman of the cardinals and promptly hit an rbi single into left field.  it turned out to be the only hit warwick would record as a dodger.  he was 0 for his next 10 (although he did draw 2 walks) and was traded to the cardinals on may 30.

bob welch

welch was the dodgers' number 1 pick in 1977, and he made his big league debut a year later.  he famously struck out reggie jackson to save game 2 of the 1978 world series and was a member of the 1981 team that finally beat the yankees in the fall classic.  as a dodger, welch was 115-86 over a 10 year stretch that ended with him being traded to oakland prior to the 1988 season.  i remember seeing him during the introductions prior to game 1 of the 1988 world series that paired the dodgers against the a's and felt sad that he was no longer on 'my' team.  i didn't feel too badly for him, however, as i obviously wanted the dodgers to win.  welch got the start in game 3, which was the only game the a's won in the series, but he got his second ring in 1989 when the a's beat the giants (although welch did not pitch in the world series that year). to cap things off, welch won 27 games in 1990 en route to the cy young award.  sadly, welch passed away during last season at the age of 57.