how about the foldouts from the steve garvey binders?

foldout cards kind of ticked me off when they first started showing up.  what good are they if they are to remain folded up?  i remember seeing some hard cases that would display the cards, but i'm a binder guy, not a hard case sort.  it's a good thing, then, that i found some 3-pocket pages (not the postcard kind) that work well with these things.

have a look:

those cards are:

1. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams team terrific game used hat logo relic (with bill russell, davey lopes, dusty baker, ron cey, and steve yeager) /50
2. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams team terrific game used team logo relic (with bill russell, davey lopes, dusty baker, ron cey, and steve yeager) /85
3. 2009 topps sterling sterling season relic autographs /10

three cards that celebrate the teams of my youth - mainly the 1977 and 1978 pennant winning years.  you know that i am a big fan of the timeless teams set, and i sure would like to find the other versions of that foldout relic card.  there's a version with the timeless teams brand (/35) seared into the bat pieces as well as one with the national league logo (/15), and one with stats (/5) - although i'm not sure what the stats one looks like.  i was a bit disappointed to find that the sterling card wasn't a patch card, but rather just material from the team's away jerseys during the time that they had color at the base of the sleeves.

here are the backs:

this is the last sheet in the main card part of my steve garvey binders:

those cards are:

1. 2011 topps triple threads relic combos double (with duke snider, sandy koufax, clayton kershaw, andre ethier, and matt kemp) /36
2. 2013 panini america's pastime hitter's ink booklet (with tony gwynn) auto /25

i really should move that hitter's ink booklet to a 2-pocket page.  i find it interesting that over steve garvey's career, he only had two teammates (for any substantial amount of time - i'm not counting the likes of jim bunning, hoyt wilhelm and frank robinson) who made the hall of fame - don sutton and tony gwynn.  and with this gwynn card, i have dual auto cards for garvey and both of those teammates.

here are the backs:

i mentioned before that i'll have a living post for my garvey collection that i'll update as i add cards. it will be more for my use than anyone else's, i imagine, but it will be cool to have it all in one place.

there is a lot going on on this sheet from the steve garvey binders, but something is missing

i'm only posting about one sheet in the steve garvey binders today, and it's sheet 70:

those cards are:

1. 2012 topps triple threads unity relics emerald /18
2. 2012 topps triple threads relic autographs 'dodgers great' /18
3. 2012 upper deck sp signature edition autograph
4. 2012 upper deck sp signature edition season signatures quad 1981 world series champions (with davey lopes, dusty baker, and ron cey) /15
5. 2013 panini elite extra edition bloodlines (with ryan garvey)
6. 2013 panini america's pastime pastime signatures auto /99
7. 2013 topps chasing history autograph
8. 2013 topps million dollar chase autograph /268
9. 2013 topps allen & ginter framed mini relic

i think there are five different versions of the relic autographs from triple threads - different in that the cut outs for the relics spell different things. i'm glad i have the 'dodgers great' version, even if it comes with padre uniform material.

i am again somewhat disappointed with topps for not giving garvey base cards in the chasing history set, as well as the allen & ginter set, but i'll take the autos and relics anyway.

i noticed after scanning this page that the garvey card from 2013 panini hometown heroes is missing.  i know i have it, i guess i've misplaced it in one of my boxes.  i'll have to dig it out and get it in its rightful spot.  when i do, i'll update this (or another post).

here are the backs:

here we see garvey's son ryan (which is actually the front of the elite extra edition card).  the younger garvey was drafted by the phillies in 15th round of the 2011 draft, but didn't sign and wound up being selected by the rockies in the 33rd round the following year.  he spent three years in the minors, but was released by the rockies in march of this year.

i chose wisely

i mentioned in the earlier post today that i chose what turned out to be a dud of a rack pack of 2015 topps stadium club from the target shelves, but that i had also ordered some singles off of sportlots.  being able to choose specific cards means that i was not disappointed with the subsequent envelope that showed up in my mailbox.  have a look.

2015 topps stadium club fernando valenzuela

i have wanted this card ever since it was first shown on the sell sheets for the set.  it features fernando up in one of the pavilions at dodger stadium signing autographs, and is a great card with a great image from a great time in dodger history.

2015 topps stadium club yasiel puig

another great dodger stadium shot that showcases something not usually seen on cardboard - clouds and a nice socal sunset.

2015 topps stadium club dusty baker

another shot from dodger stadium - vintage johnnie b. baker.  much better than baker as a brave which was the case with allen & ginter previously

2015 topps stadium club josh beckett

i was really happy to see that beckett got a card in the set.  it's a final tribute, too, so here are the stats on the back

in addition to adrian gonzalez on the front of the card, we get a glimpse of drew butera.  this may be the only cardboard on which butera (who has never hit over .200 in any season) appears as a dodger.

speaking of lurkers, here's don newcombe lurking on jackie robinson's 2015 topps stadium club card

and here's robinson lurking on larry doby's card from the set.

but we aren't done with dodger lurkers yet, as alfredo griffin makes a cameo on former dodger lenny harris's 2015 topps stadium club card

that card features a play at second, but not a double play.  i did grab a couple of twin killing cards, however, including carlos baerga

and brandon crawford

both feature world series double plays, too.

last but not least is this 2015 topps stadium club kevin gausman card

that i purchased due to the fact that he's wearing the alternate black jersey, and so it has the orange text tom clancy memorial patch.  i've updated the post specific to that patch, by the way.

it's tough for me to refrain from purchasing packs every once in a while, and i won't go back to swearing off packs as i did at some point in the past, but it does make a lot more sense to pick cards up on the secondary market.

the cuts are legendary in the next installment of sheets from the steve garvey binders

the first five cards of sheet 64 in the steve garvey binders feature a photo (well, two photos) of him wearing the dual-ear flap batting helmet.  if i were to ever have a conversation with garvey, i would ask him about wearing that type of helmet that was usually reserved for switch-hitters and amateurs.  here is sheet 64:

those cards are:

1. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts baseball chronology materials relic
2. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /225
3. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /199
4. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /99
5. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /15
6. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts memorable moments materials relic /225
7. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts when it was a game silver /550
8. 2006 upper deck ultimate collection ultimate ensemble signatures quad auto (with ron cey, don sutton, and dusty baker) /25
9. 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /199

looks like padre relics on cards 1 and 6 (which are dodger cards), which always bugs me a bit.  there are a number of other parallels, and a relic version of card 7, that i am missing from the 2006 legendary cuts set.  the 2007 legendary cuts set has two versions of the legendary materials cards for garvey - one is a padres version and the other is the dodger version that i have.

here are the backs:

moving on to sheet 65:

those cards are:

1. 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials dual relic /125
2. 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts masterful materials relic
3. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic /575
4. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic classic memorabilia relic
5. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic classic memorabilia patch relic /55
6. 2008 dodger pocket schedules (with james loney)
7. 2008 donruss threads
8. 2008 donruss threads century proof silver parallel /100
9. 2008 donruss threads jerseys relic (yellow swatch) /150

so there is the padre version of the legendary materials card, although it is the dual relic version.  there are also quad relic versions of both the dodger and padre cards, but i don't have either.  i was disappointed back in 2007 to see garvey as a padre in the sweet spot classic base set and jersey insert checklist, but at least they got the relic swatches matched up with the team this time.  and, at least they had garvey as a dodger on the signature cards in the set (more on those in a future post).

i suppose that the pocket schedule really belongs in the oddball binder, but it fits nicely here in a 9-pocket page, so here it remains.  there are a number of versions of the schedules with then-current dodgers and past dodgers matched by position as is the case with loney.

here are the backs:

you can see on the back of card 8 that i have the /100 version of the donruss threads parallel, and that i am still looking for the /250 version.  that card is target number 1 on the nefarious 9.

turning the pages of the steve garvey binder into 2005

the 53rd sheet in the steve garvey binder features six cards from 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams, but i wish that there were more.  here is sheet 53:

those cards are:

1. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1974) bronze parallel /50
2. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1977) auto sp - print run of 35
3. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1981) auto sp - print run of 75
4. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams legendary signatures dual auto (with davey lopes) /150
5. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams legendary signatures dual auto (with ron cey) /150
6. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams legendary combo triple signatures auto (with dusty baker) /50
7. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts
8. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts significant fact relic /1
9. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts historic swatches relic

i've written quite a bit about the timeless teams set, and used to have a bronze parallel of garvey's 1980 subset card, but i traded it for the 1974 version to help another collector out.  so, i still need three bronze parallels, four gold parallels, plus two autos, four gold auto parallels, and then there are the four 1/1 autos, too. that's a lot.  i should note at this point that there are other relic cards from the set, as well as some from other 2004 sets (and other years, too) that will be shown later. they are either encased or otherwise too big or thick to fit in a standard nine-pocket sheet.

the 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts 1/1 relic card is actually 1 of 99.  there are 99 unique "significant facts" printed on the cards which are stamped "1 of 1".  so, i have the only one that touts garvey's 95 rbi in 1975.  kind of a weak 1 of 1.  on the last card, we've got the padre relic swatch on a dodger card, which will happen again on the next sheet.

here are the backs:

 there's one more card from 2004, and it's on sheet 54:

those cards are:

1. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts significant swatches
2. 2005 baseball hero deck playing card
3. 2005 donruss classics stars of summer /1000
4. 2005 donruss classics stars of summer relic /250
5. 2005 donruss diamond kings
6. 2005 donruss diamond kings framed red
7. 2005 donruss diamond kings materials bronze /200
8. 2005 donruss diamond kings materials silver /100
9. 2005 donruss diamond kings materials gold /50

there is a triple-relic card from the 2004 sp legendary cuts set that i would very much like to find. it features garvey, along with his dodger teammates reggie smith and dusty baker. it's only got a 15 card print run, however, so it is unlikely that i will find it.

while i am missing some of the autos and parallels and auto paralles from the 2005 donruss classics stars of summer insert set, my five cards from 2005 donruss diamond kings represent only about one-tenth of the garvey cards available from that set.  ridiculous.  i'm missing 50 cards, according to beckett, including bronze, challenge (whatever that is), framed black, framed blue, framed green, gold, hawaii, and other variant parallels of just the base version of the card.  as i said, ridiculous.

here are the backs:

even without all of those parallels, there are still plenty of cards and pages to be shown.  stay tuned...

black and blue ryu and some other dodger cards

i'm continuing with a sort of random rambling theme today.

this is a 2013 panini black friday hyun-jin ryu card

it was somehow available on black friday, 2013. i don't recall how i obtained it (sportlots, maybe), but it is not worth standing in line waiting for stores to open to obtain.  still, panini did the same sort of thing last year, and i'm guessing panini is doing it again this year.  ryu is out for the season now, following shoulder surgery.  

this is a 2013 panini pinnacle matt kemp museum collection parallel

it doesn't scan as well as the museum collection inserts from the 1990's.

still more panini - this time from 2014 panini golden age

dusty baker

davey lopes

and zack wheat

as pleased as i was to see dusty and davey and other dodgers from the team of my youth in this set, i don't consider them to be from the golden age.  wheat, sure, but not the others.

wheat also got an insert card in the release - it's a 1913 the national game card

and i wish this had been the base set design

now here's a 2007 topps turkey red andy laroche card

and a 1999 topps chrome jeff shaw card

moving on to 2010 upper deck, here's a biography insert of jeff weaver

marking the time that he beat his brother jered in a game between the dodgers and angels.

olmedo saenz didn't have too many cards, but he spent four seasons with the dodgers and made it into the 2007 topps update & highlights set

even though 2007 was his fourth year with the club.  not much of an update there - more like an omission.

last card for today is a 2008 topps stadium club beam team autographed card of delwyn young

i secretly hoped that delwyn and delmon young (no relation) would have wound up on the same team just for the potential confusion factor.  would they have had their full names on the backs of their jerseys? who knows.

a boxscore from the team of my youth and other cards from hsca

there were plenty of cards to like in the package that brian from highly subjective and completely arbitrary sent my way as part of his group trade break, even before getting to the trade break bounty.  i've shown some of them already, but there are more.  like this card, which comes from the 2004 topps world series highlights insert set

that's dusty baker pounding a home run in game one of the 1978 world series against the yankees.   the back is even better, as it shows the box score from the game.

it's great to see that lineup on the card.  it's a bit different than the batting order i remember from my youth because of the designated hitter, but the starting lineup of lopes, russell, smith, garvey, cey, monday, baker, and yeager is the lineup that i consider to be the definitive lineup of the team of my youth.  as an aside, davey lopes should have been featured thanks to his two home runs in this game.  it's still hard to believe that the dodgers won this game and game 2 (thanks bobby welch), but then lost four in a row to lose the series.

on to the group trade break stuff - 1996 pinnacle tim wallach

and ramon martinez

i like ramon's card a lot.

here's his brother, pedro, on a 2002 topps gallery heritage insert

plus a couple of base cards of shawn green

and hideo nomo

from the set.  the nomo card makes it look like he's a giant standing in a farmer's field near the coast.

paul loduca is definitely in dodger stadium on his 2003 topps stadium club card

while franklin gutierrez is in vero beach's holman stadium on his

that's a gold parallel, by the way, as is this sean pierce card

pierce never made it out of the minors, but gutierrez went on to win a gold glove and set a record for errorless chances in the outfield for the mariners in 2010.  after missing the 2014 season due to illness, gutierrez is currently in triple-a for the m's trying to work his way back to the bigs.

here are a couple more cards that weren't part of the trade break, but they are shiny so they get some time on the blog.

2015 topps heritage clayton kershaw holofoil

and 1992 upper deck denny's grand slam kal daniels

daniels hit four of his five grand slams as a dodger, and was only 28 when his career ended. if only he had good knees!

thanks brian!

the tommy lasorda managerial tree

with the brewers' firing of manager (and former dodger) ron roenicke the other day (he was replaced by another former dodger, craig counsell), i decided to finally finish pulling this post together.  in football, i used to hear a lot about the bill walsh coaching tree - all of the people who coached under bill walsh who went on to become head coaches themselves.  that tree is then expanded to include coaches under those head coaches who became head coaches, and so on.  my take on the tommy lasorda managerial tree is in regards to his players - not coaches, and this post will just look at the first tier of major league managers who spent some time playing under one thomas charles lasorda.

here's the man himself on a 2004 upper deck sp authentic card

that notes his managerial triumph in the 1982 all-star game in montreal while using a photo from about 20 years later.  incidentally, he had four future big league managers playing under him on that '82 all-star roster - dusty baker, tony pena, pete rose, and ray knight.

i'm focusing on his dodger players, however, and when tommy took over the dodgers late in the 1976 season, he had three future major league managers on his roster at that time:

dusty baker

davey lopes

and bill russell

who replaced lasorda during the 1996 season.

over the next 20-years, lasorda managed another 9 future managers.

johnny oates

ron washington

mike scioscia

ron roenicke

phil garner

 glenn hoffman

who took over for russell in 1998

kirk gibson

willie randolph

and juan samuel

this list does not include players such as bobby valentine, whom tommy managed in the minor leagues, nor does it include players such as joe ferguson, tommy john, gary carter, rick dempsey, mike marshall, or steve yeager who played in the majors under tommy and later managed in the minor leagues.

with the firings of kirk gibson last year and roenicke this year, scioscia is the only active manager to have played under lasorda. however, it is yet conceivable that this tree sprouts some new branches in the future, as such former "lasorda" dodgers and minor league managers bobby mitchell, brett butler, and tim wallach are currently working for big league teams as an instructor (mitchell) or big league coaches (butler and wallach).

and, in case you are wondering, bill russell's managerial tree's first tier consists solely of chip hale.

here's to more lasorda style hugs in the dugout!