the evolution of the dodger third baseman, part four - where do we go from here?

we left off the evolutionary chain of dodger third basemen last time with tim wallach, who manned the hot corner for the dodgers from 1993-95, and for the last part of the 1996 season as well.  he was re-acquired by the dodgers after their newly acquired third baseman went down with an injury.  still, mike blowers started 90 games at third for the dodgers in 1996, so he gets some attention here.

mike blowers (1996)

blowers is wearing his seattle mariners uniform there on that 1996 upper deck collector's choice card.  he had three different stints in seattle, including 1997 - the year following his time in la.  the dodgers acquired blowers after the 1995 season in which he hit 23 homers and drove in 96 runs.  he was hitting .265 with 6 homers and 38 rbi after 92 games with the dodgers when his season ended thanks to an injury.  the dodgers replaced him with wallach, and blowers walked as a free agent after the season ended.

wallach was a stopgap, and he retired following the 1996 campaign.  so, the dodgers went out and got another third baseman to fill the void.

todd zeile (1997)

zeile's 1997 topps finest card tells the story, as he was a free agent acquisition prior to the 1997 season.  he played a whopping 160 games at third base for the dodgers, and hit 31 home runs with 90 rbi and a .268 batting average.  this was too good to be true, however, as he was traded away with mike piazza early in the 1998 season.

adrian beltre (1998-2004)

beltre was 19 when he took over the third base position for the dodgers.  bobby bonilla, who was acquired as part of the piazza/zeile trade bounty, was originally slotted at the hot corner, but beltre wound up making 74 appearances with 54 starts and 49 complete games compared to bonilla's 59, 57, and 34.  that's his 2000 fleer gamers card, by the way.  beltre provided some long lost stability at the position, playing a total of 957 games for the dodgers at third base from 1998 through 2004.  his tenure culminated with a 48 home run (to lead the league), 121 rbi, .334 batting average season that netted him a silver slugger and second place in the league mvp voting.  then it was off to seattle.

beltre's departure resulted in a rag-tag of players trying their hand at third base.  the dodgers signed a japanese player, norihiro nakamura, and gave him the keys, but he flamed out after just 14 games.  after that, there were many who tried.  i'll pick one.

oscar robles (2005)

mike edwards made 39 appearances at third for the dodgers in 2005, with 33 starts and 31 complete games for a total of 294.2 innings.  robles gets the nod from me here due to his 40 appearances at third, even though he started only 31 games there with 30 complete games and 292.1 innings.  that is partly due to the fact that i had a 2005 upper deck sweet spot card of robles already scanned as well as the idea that robles represents to me the fact that jim tracy lost his marbles in 2005.  maybe i should have used edwards, as robles played more short than third in 2005.  oh well, neither one factored into the equation for very long.

wilson betemit (2006-2007)

the dodgers acquired betemit near the 2006 trade deadline after the guy they intended to be their third baseman, bill mueller, was lost for the season due to injury.  betemit appeared as the dodgers' third baseman in 102 games over the 2006 and 2007 seasons.  he was traded at the 2007 deadline to the yankees for scott proctor, but he still made more appearances at third than any other dodger in '07.  nomar gets a nod here, though - he played third after betemit left.

blake dewitt (2008)

the dodgers gave 22-year old rookie dewitt the third baseman's job in 2008 (his '08 upper deck timeline card is appropriate here, don't you think)?  in all, he made 95 appearances and 77 starts there, but failed to convince the organization that he was the answer.  in fact, he found himself playing second base by the time the postseason rolled around as he started every playoff game at second for the dodgers in place of the injured jeff kent.

casey blake (2009-2010)

the dodgers acquired blake during the 2008 season, and he really took over the position then.  he re-signed with them for the 2009 season and turned in 131 starts at third that year.  in 2010, he started 134 games as the dodger third baseman.  in 2011, however, he was able to make only 45 starts.

juan uribe (2011, 2013)

uribe made 53 starts at third for the dodgers in 2011, so he gets the nod here over blake and aaron miles.  also, he's got the sweet brooklyn baby blues on that 2011 topps update card.  he kinda sorta lost the job to

luis cruz (2012)

but he's got it back in 2013.  until yasiel puig pulls a pedro guerrero and gets moved over to third.  seriously, though, who knows what the future will hold for the dodgers' hot corner.  hopefully something stable.

more team collector pandering as topps serves up more variations - a side by side comparison of the 2007 dodgers

after a couple of decent variations and especially a nomar! in the 2006 topps dodger blister team set, i quickly sought out and purchased a 2007 set.  it was not quite the same.  you'll see what i mean.  once again, the regular topps cards are on the left, and the topps dodgers team set cards are on the right.

first up, lad1 for 2007 - rafael furcal

no difference.  at least it's not photoshopped like his 2006 card.  i have to admit, i was hoping for nomar to be on top of the pack back in 2007.  turns out, of course, that he was nowhere to be found.

jonathan broxton

again, no difference.  broxton had been given one of those factory set 'bonus cards' in 2006 which was nice. chad billingsley had one of those in 2003, and then in 2007, topps issued a dodgers version of the complete factory set which had 5 additional dodger cards in it.  i previously showcased those cards here, so no need to discuss again.

derek lowe

it's the same.

brad penny

ditto.

takashi saito

double ditto.

andre ethier

six cards in and only the number on the back is different.  then we get to lad7.

juan pierre

look!  the filmstrip square things changed color on the bottom!  forget about how topps photoshopped a jersey onto pierre that hadn't been worn in games since the davey johnson era, they changed the color of some little tiny squares!  in fact, all of the dodger team set cards are blue squares on top, white squares on the bottom.

jeff kent is next.

and his card is unchanged.

randy wolf

gets all of his squares changed!  red and blue switched to blue and white! huzzah!

chad billingsley is the 10th card in the set

bo-ring!

jason schmidt

now we're talking!  not only do the bottom squares get the color sapped right out, schmidt's topps card was issued in series 2, so they had some time to get him to pose in a real dodger jersey and without his arm in a cast.  the photoshopped version in the team set is similar to the 2006 brett tomko as it features a giant at pac bell/at&t/the phone booth transformed into a dodger.  it's certainly the most drastic variation of the bunch.

russell martin

no rookie cup for russell!  the dreaded award variation!  ethier got to keep his in the team set, but tough nuts for martin.  otherwise, it's the same.

wilson betemit

this is back to boring.

finally, the last card in the set, lad14 is luis gonzalez

and the out of place guy gets a tighter cropping in the team set!  i actually like this card because there is no baseball field anywhere in sight.  gonzo could be walking through a city park or just strolling down the street.

so, in 2007, we had 3 color square variations, 1 photoshop variation, 1 cropping variation, and 1 disappearing rookie cup variation.  will 2008 be any more diverse?  stay tuned...

taste like dodgers

i recently completed a trade with taste like dirt.  here is but a sampling of the dodger goodness i received.

1993 upper deck jose offerman

offerman was coming off of his first full season as the dodgers' shortstop in 1993.  i remember hoping that he had forgotten that he had hit a homerun in his first big league at bat and that he would start hitting the ball on the ground more.  but alas, his gb/fb ratio worsened (to a low of 0.78 in his final year as a dodger).  i blame dennis martinez.

1999 fleer tradition roger cedeno

this is awesome.  not cedeno - the card.  cedeno is listed as a met but still in dodgers' clothing.  this card doesn't show up on any team set checklist, so i would never have sought it out. the dodgers sent cedeno to the mets in the deal that brought todd hundley to la (the first time).  like cedeno, he had his better years away from the dodgers, including his 1999 season with the mets when he stole 66 bases and hit .313.

1999 fleer tradition scott radinsky

similar to the cedeno, this radinsky card is really a card on card, as radinsky joined the cardinals as a free agent.  unlike the cedeno card, i actually did seek this card out a few months ago since it's one of the few radinsky cards ever made.

1999 fleer tradition eric weaver

here's another awesome card - awesome in the same way that the cedeno card is awesome (i would never have suspected there was an eric weaver card, let alone one of him in a dodger uniform) but also awesome because we see the outfield fence at dodger stadium.  in particular, we see the homage to the world champion 1959 dodgers.  weaver pitched pretty well for the dodgers in 1998 - he went 2-0 in 9+ innings of work with a 0.93 era and 1.14 whip.  the dodgers traded him to the mariners for scott prouty, a 19 year old prospect who didn't pitch professionally after the trade.  not sure what happened there.

i should note that there was another dodger uniformed/non-dodger affiliated card in the package, but it was bobby bonilla so i won't bother to show it.

instead, here's a 1999 topps dave mlicki

the dodgers acquired mlicki from the mets in the hideo nomo deal.  he pitched fairly well for the blue in 1998, going 7-3 in 20 starts.  the dodgers traded him to the tigers in mid-1999 for some middle relief.

2007 topps heritage wilson betemit

man, the braves seemed to sour on betemit pretty quickly, didn't they?  one minute he was uber-prospect, and the next minute he's being traded for danys baez and the unstable aybar brother.  over at jon weisman's dodger thoughts, references to betemit during his stint with the dodgers were often made with pearl jam's 'better man' included.  i find it interesting that the royals play that song when he comes to bat.

2007 topps update & highlights hong-chi kuo

that's all star hong-chih kuo to you.  it's too bad that kuo is probably scheduled to blow his elbow out any day now.  he has made george sherrill even more obsolete than sherrill has made himself this year.

2008 upper deck baseball heroes nomar garciaparra

ooh - the charcoal parallel.  if only nomar could have swung a hot stick in the playoffs.  he was the tying run in game 2 of the 2007 nlcs and lidge made him look bad.  not just bad, but old.  that sucked.  this card doesn't suck, though.

thanks jim!

mr. (night) owl, how many packages do you have to send to gcrl before he writes a post?

let's find out.

one:

1980 kellogg's davey lopes
if only that mustache really were in 3-d.

1986 topps glossy send in fernando valenzuela this set reminds me of a tcma issue. but in color.

2009 upper deck spectrum matt kemp (the heretofore unbeknownst to me blue variation) the question is, why?

2006 bowman heritage wilson betemit

interesting that we had, at one time, both furcal and betemit at the same time. just like the braves did.

2006 upper deck sp authentic julio lugo thankfully, lugo was a short-timer. unfortunately, ned traded for him in the first place.

2006 fleer greats of the game dusty bakeras seen on night owl's blog recently!

2009 upper deck spx clayton kershaw here's hoping the 2009 postseason is really his month long coming out party.

2008 upper deck timeline james loney sp perhaps my favorite first baseman since popeye himself.

ta-whooooo:

1985 fleer frank dipinoa very nice card with the right field pavilion and it's color palette complementing the astros uniform.

2002 upper deck kaz ishiinow we have the left field pavilion with diamond vision, a carl's jr ad, and half of tommy lasorda's outfield fence mural. plus the overhyped ishii in street clothes. ishii, because of the hype, was the dodger that got all the short prints which sucks when trying to complete my 2003 upper deck vintage set, among others.

2009 upper deck a piece of history james mcdonaldmcdonald hasn't made or seen much history yet.

2009 upper deck clayton kershaw 20th anniversary

another kershaw. this one from a subset within an insert set. i don't understand upper deck sometimes.

2009 topps target throwback chan ho park

did topps do this for series 2? did anyone care?

2009 topps attax vladimir guerrero

shiny must mean parallel. again, why?

three:

2009 topps finest russell martin

a disappointing season hopefully means fantastic postseason. or at least a bargain in next year's fantasy draft.

2009 topps jackie robinson turkey red insert

now that's a nice card!

2009 bowman manny ramirez

sans umpire. very very bad.

2008 upper deck goudey pee wee reese

i wonder what ken griffey jr does say about pee wee? any guesses?

2008 topps chin-lung hu trading card history

a glossy version of the 1959 set. as opposed to the more traditional versions in the 2008 heritage set. speaking of which,

2008 topps heritage vladimir guerrero chrome looks like it's snowing in anaheim

1997 pinnacle zenith wilton guerrero

i wish wilton had been more like vlad.

1993 score select rick trlicek

a pitcher with a hockey name. he actually debuted with the blue jays in 1992. recorded his only career save and hit (off of tom glavine) in his one season as a dodger.

so, the answer is three. each package filled with dodger and set building goodness, which is even better than the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop.

thanks greg. i'll get another package out to you soon.