the evolution of the dodger shortstop, part 3

this post will wrap up the dodger shortstop evolutionary chain.  at least until hanley ramirez fails to play the majority of time at the position.  we left off a couple of days ago with cesar izturis being injured in 2005.  as a result, ned went out and signed rafael furcal for the 2006 season.

rafael furcal (2006-2007)

furcal, seen above on a 2007 bowman heritage card, had a fantastic inaugural season with the dodgers.  he hit .300, played short in 156 games, stole 37 bases, tied a career high with 15 home runs, and finished 14th in the mvp voting.  he regressed in 2007, but still appeared at short in 138 games that year.  it looked like he had turned things around the following season, as he was hitting .366 through may 5, 2008, but furcal suffered an injury that kept him out of action until the final week of the season.

angel berroa (2008)

berroa was the main beneficiary of furcal's injury in 2008.  nomar garciaparra, chin-lung hu, luis maza, and pablo ozuna all spent some time at short with furcal out, but berroa got more starts (69) than any of them.  overall, he appeared in 84 games and hit .230.  after the season ended, he signed a deal with the yankees, and later almost double dipped with the dodgers.  they signed berroa to a free agent deal after the 2009 season ended, but wound up releasing him towards the end of spring training 2010.

rafael furcal (2009-2010)

furky returned to reclaim the position in the 2008 postseason, and then appeared in 149 games as the dodgers' everyday shortstop in 2009.  he also led the team in appearances at the position in 2010, although the number of games he played there dwindled to 93 that year.  he hit an even .300 in 2010, and made the all-star team for the first time as a dodger.  he appeared in only 37 games for the dodgers in 2011 prior to a trade deadline deal that sent him to saint louis.

jamey carroll (2011)

carroll actually played more second base than shortstop in 2011, but his 54 games started at short narrowly edged dee gordon's 51.  gordon claimed the job towards the end of the season, but i will still acknowledge the time that carroll spent there after furcal was traded.  carroll hit .304 as a shortstop in 2011 and made only 4 errors in 214 chances.  he parlayed his solid play into a free agent deal with the twins for the 2012 season.

dee gordon (2012)

gordon led all dodger shortstops with 73 starts in 2012.  he struggled at the plate, however, as his batting average dropped almost 80 points from his 2011 mark of .304.

hanley ramirez (2013)

it's taken a village to cover the shortstop position for the dodgers since furcal was traded.  in addition to carroll and gordon, the likes of aaron miles, justin sellers, luis cruz, juan uribe, elian herrera, and jerry hairston (and maybe a couple more) have played the position.  in 2012, ned traded for hanley ramirez to try to stabilize things.  he played there in 57 games after coming over from the marlins and then last year appeared in 76 games at short.  injuries limited him to just 86 total appearances, but he hit .345 and finished 8th in the mvp voting.

ramirez is slated to play short for the dodgers in 2014, which is a contract year, so i expect big things.  i also hope he re-signs, because i am pretty tired of the turnstile at short.

coming soon, the evolution of the dodgers' second basemen…stay tuned.

even more happy returns

here are the last of the cards i was able to get signed in person/through the mail thanks to reader cory.  they were signed over the course of a couple of springs and dodger road trips to san diego.  first up is a 2006 topps 52 card signed by both matt kemp and james loney

that is just awesome.  the bison also signed a 2009 topps card for me

as did the reigning cy young award winner, clayton kershaw

very very nice.  kemp doesn't sign through the mail, but kershaw did sign some this spring.  hong-chih kuo signed some cards for me through the mail last year, but first, he signed this 2007 topps update & highlights card

ramón troncoso signes a 2008 topps card

and angel berroa

and casey blake signed their cards from 2008 topps update & highlights

blake also signed a 2007 topps card from his time with the tribe

i had the luxury of sitting back and waiting for these autos to come my way, while cory was out doing the work.  i did send him some cards to keep, as well as some ttm successes i had acquired like a 1972 topps bill buckner and a 1964 topps willie davis.  i hope he thought it was worth it.

thanks again cory!

'no bip...just junk'

'no bip...just junk'.  that note was attached to the cards i received the other day from captain canuck.  he lied.  partially.  you see, he bipped me a while back and i launched a counter attack which affected him so deeply that he has yet to even try to post the carnage.  as a result, i was a little leery when he emailed me saying a package was on the way with an 11% chance of bippage occurring.  once i saw the note, i was still a little unsure, but upon inspecting the cards there was, in fact, no bipping. however, there also was no junk.  yes, there were a couple of wax packs from the junk era, but they each yielded some non-junk.  let's see a sampling of what i received.

captain sent 3 cards from my 'nefarious 9' list, including this 1989 fleer tim belcher

in addition to the belcher, he also sent the 1991 fleer ultra eddie murray and the non-dodger 1990 topps glenn wilson bonus card (a cheap way of expanding the list from 9 to 10 without changing its name) with a fantastic dodger stadium background.  in doing so, he will be handsomely rewarded.  as will anyone else who provides any of those cards listed to the right.  back to the card - i first saw this card in the dictionary next to the phrase 'blank expression'.  just a totally dynamic photo fleer used here.

2010 upper deck casey blake

apparently 2010 product has made it to the hinterlands.  cheers to upper deck for including the inset photo showing the mighty casey in full beard profile.  jeers to upper deck for not using that photo as the main one on his card.  we need to be celebrating bearded players while they still exist.

2008 topps update & highlights angel berroa bat card

berroa was back with the blue this spring, but i think he is now toiling in the giants' organization.  with furcal going to the dl again, we have jamey carroll doing his best 2008 berroa impression.  berroa was obviously slowed on the basepaths by the drag his inverted pockets created.

1984 donruss steve garvey

in the taco bell uniforms.  i am showing this card in part to be able to link back to this monstrosity.

as i mentioned up top, there were a couple of wax packs in the package.  one was a 1988 donruss pack.  it may well have been the first pack of its kind that i have ever opened.  inside, amongst the rabble, was this gem - a billy hatcher dodger stadium shot

yes, the good captain took a pre-emptive strike on a future nefarious 9 bonus card listing.  well done!

there was also a pack of 1989 topps, which is a set i have come to appreciate over the past couple of years as i have seen so many of those cards come my way that i am no longer able to dismiss the design out of hand.  here's a dodger - jesse orosco

orosco was part of the dodgers' bullpen committee in 1988, along with jay howell and alejandro pena who each had more saves than orosco that year.  i was quite happy that orel pitched a complete game in the world series clincher partially because i didn't want to see orosco flailing around like he did in 1986.  i am kidding. sort of.  orosco left the dodgers after the 1988 postseason, but returned for a two-year stint in 2001.

here's another card from that pack - it's mike schmidt on his final topps card

it's not a final tribute, though, because he played a portion of the 1989 season before retiring.  i will reiterate what i wrote in a blog bat around post a long time ago - topps needs to do a 'final tribute/birth year' set.

there was also an ozzie smith card in the 1989 topps pack.  i am only going to show you the back though

first of all, notice that ozzie had exactly 500 rbi after the 1988 season.  i am constantly looking for stuff like this ever since steve at wait 'til next year pointed out the coolness of round numbers on the back of cards (steve, i hope you are doing well).  next, notice that ozzie had 16 home runs for his career at that point.  that's only about 1% of his hit total.  and of those home runs, guess how many were hit against right-handed pitchers?  well, i would have guessed zero, but he did hit one in 1988 (off of greg maddux of all people).  so, my point is not as strong, but i still believe his 1985 nlcs home run off of tom niedenfuer has to be one of the biggest flukes in baseball history.  go crazy, indeed.

thanks captain!  your reward is being assembled and should be out soon.

i heart (cards from) halos

rwh from i heart halos recently sent me a bunch of dodgers in return for some cards featuring those angels of anaheim - it was an interleague/freeway series trade!

here are some highlights:

2006 bowman chrome nomar garciaparra xfractor 182/250

can't top the checkerboard! reminds me of vans and junior high. so sad to see nomar making spot starts. the twinkie announcers were talking like he was dead over the weekend.

1995 upper deck collector's choice se darren dreifort rookie class
little d was the personification of 'tremendous upside'. injuries suck.

1982 donruss ken landreaux once traded for rodney cline carew, this man caught the final out of the first dodgers' world championship of my lifetime.

1986 topps terry whitfield
i always wondered why the dodgers brought whitfield back from japan instead of re-signing dusty or reggie or even rick monday. i also wondered what that guy off his right hip was wearing and what he was doing in the dugout.

1989 topps mini leaders john tudor i believe tudor led the league in being traded for pedro guerrero.

1990 topps mini leaders jay howell this set is even less attractive in mini style.

2009 topps walmart black angel berroathis card is bad ass. like shaft playing shortstop.

2008 upper deck timeline chin-lung hu not as dark as the walmart card, but it scans that way. another need from my timeline quest taken care of.

2007 topps finest jason schmidt refractor 109/199

hm. stick with the blue refractors, especially for the dodgers.

thanks rwh! see you in the fall classic!

no cardboard problems here

quite a while back, i took advantage of an offer marie made at a cardboard problem and received some dodger cards.

among the cards were these guys:

1981 topps rudy law.law took over center from rick monday and kept it warm for kenny landreaux. i imagine rudy was a little bit bummed seeing landreaux catch the final out of the 1981 world series.

2009 upper deck first edition nomar garciaparra.nomah! i am pretty sure (maybe) that the national sliding into second is paul 'heart & soul' loduca. maybe not.

2008 topps heritage high number angel berroa.this is a pretty blurry photo they used. i am guessing the hat is shopped.

2008 topps russell martin.this really doesn't look like martin to me. it looks more like pete incaviglia. thank goodness topps used a better photo on the chrome and stadium club cards.

2009 upper deck first edition manny ramirez.is this atlanta or saint louis? i wonder if there are any braves/cardinals fans that collect these cards the way i do with dodger stadium shots.

2009 upper deck spectrum matt kemp.no legs, but he keeps his bat with him for balance. these cards are ugly. shiny, but ugly.

2009 topps heritage dodgers team.i'm guessing that's joe torre front and center - that's where lasorda used to be, anyway. if so, why does he have number 62 on? very strange.

1992 leaf darryl strawberry.not too much to say about darryl, so let's move on.

1980 topps manny mota record breaker.i used up a lot of my manny mota material in the ttm post, but i will add that i was very disappointed that the dodgers did not reactivate him when pedro borbon jr was on the team. we could have really heard the dodger stadium announcer say: 'pinch hitting for pedro borbon, manny mota'. good times.

thanks again for the cards! i am sorry it has taken so long for me to post them, marie!

more traded sets contest winnings

if you hurry, you can still get your guess in for this week's contest at traded sets. andy has quite a jackpot if you are that fortunate, but even a win will get you some great cards. case in point, simply because i correctly predicted a mike lowell home run (and nobody else correctly predicted more than one player/event), andy sent me the following cards:

2008 topps update & highlights angel berroa game used bat.how appropriate that it came from a 'traded' set. berroa filled in decently for furcal last season, and was doing the same for the yankees this year as they waited for alex rodriguez to get healthy.

2008 topps update & highlights eric stults.a shutout in his last start. the lesser-hyped dodgers' lefty starters (stults and wolf) are pitching better than the phenom (kershaw).

2008 topps update & highlights classic combos dan haren and russell martin.i think a better pairing would have been aaron rowand and russell martin. as in rowan(d) and martin. rowan and martin. get it? a laugh-in reference. man, do i feel old.

2009 topps heritage vladimir guerrero.his hair looks really flat. in the inset photo, you can really tell that one of his legs is shorter than the other.

2009 upper deck starquest vladimir guerrero.i'm too lazy to research the all star game patch on his sleeve to see if this photo is from 2008 or not.

thanks andy! i'm rooting for teixiera to bring me home the jackpot this week!