double play cardboard from mets cardboard

it was pretty clear to me that justin at mets cardboard did his homework while putting together his return trade package. there were dodgers and a set need and double play cards.  every dp card he sent was one that i did not already have.  coincidence? perhaps, but unlikely. it was good to see so many new turns at second base.  here are the rest of them (i showed some last sunday)

1992 action packed bobby richardson

old-time yankee twin killing of a twin

1993 donruss geronimo pena (back)

justin gave up the lurking met (dick schofield) on the back

1993 topps stadium club white sox joey cora

kind of a ho-hum double play turn. it looks like the runner/slider is just lying there.

1994 sportflics luis lopez

lenticular double play action!

1994 upper deck collector's choice chris gomez silver signature parallel

and 1994 upper deck collector's choice tony phillips silver signature parallel

those would both fit in my tatooine collection, too.

1997 pinnacle walt weiss

and here i thought i had all of the weiss double play cards

in addition to that pena card above, justin did a good job in checking card backs.  here's a 1997 upper deck collector's choice mark grudzielanek all-star insert (back)

1977 upper deck collector's choice edgar renteria (back)

1998 upper deck mike lansing (back)

and 1998 upper deck neifi perez (back)

which also has the same double play turn (just a bit earlier in the pivot) on the front

but back to the backs - here's a 1998 upper deck collector's choice jose valentin (back)

and a 1998 upper deck collector's choice mark grudzielanek (back)

with a nice dodger stadium backdrop and an unknown dodger rolling around at the g-man's feet.

thanks again justin! great trade!

the decline of western civilization began even sooner than i had thought, which was sooner than i had remembered...

a year ago, i posted a 1984 donruss george hendrick card showing his long pants covering up his stirrups - evidence that the decline of western civilization began as early as 1983.  this was an update of a previous post showing the no stirrups look on hendrick's 1988 topps card.

well, i recently stumbled across this photo of the 1980 national league all-star team (taken in beautiful dodger stadium, by the way), and noticed that hendrick was wearing long pants!

that's george standing next to the astros' jose cruz at the far left of the photo.  look at all of the stirrup greatness in the front row of this photo - especially the reds' johnny bench and john mcnamara, the astros' bill virdon, and yes, the dodgers' steve garvey.  and then there is hendrick.  roy campanella isn't showing any stirrups, but he's wearing real pants - not baseball pants.

i then went and found hendrick's 1981 donruss card

which again shows the long pants.  i guess 10-year old gcrl blocked this memory due to the aesthetic horror that it represented.  anyone have any earlier photos of hendrick? how far back does this look go?

only bo is so precise with sending me cards for my tatooine mini collection

well, others have sent me tatooine cards (cards with only dirt in the photo background), but bo recently sent me a lot of them.  here are some of them.

1995 pinnacle reggie jefferson

1995 upper deck collector's choice wayne kirby

1995 upper deck collector's choice ray lankford

1995 upper deck collector's choice dick schofield

1995 upper deck collector's choice se derrick may

1995 upper deck collector's choice se lou whitaker

1996 topps stadium club al martin

2006 topps jake westbrook

1998 fleer tradition kevin young

1998 fleer tradition desi relaford

because you can try to keep desi close, but desi is going to run.

thanks bo!

fun at the ballpark, indeed

it is odd to think that, after nearly seven years of posting, i have not yet featured this 1993 donruss triple play card of former dodger reliever roger mcdowell

so, when it arrived recently in a trade package from bo at baseball cards come to life, i figured that now was the time.  here's the back

 

mcdowell's teammates may have been amused by him wearing outrageous things, but i as a fan will just accept good baseball in a beautiful setting.  a setting like dodger stadium.  that's where this next card bo sent comes in.

that's a 1996 score select bret boone card, featuring a photo taken in dodger stadium.  the unnamed dodger in the scene is roberto kelly, who twice stole second against boone and the reds on july 30, 1995.  the wrist guard and red glove/sweat bands were a big clue as to the runner's identity, but really it was either him or chad fonville, and with kelly wearing number 21 it was fairly obvious.

this next one is easier.

that would be mitch webster sliding in while jose oquendo turns two in dodger stadium on his 1996 donruss card.

moving away from dodger stadium (to tatooine, in fact), we see rafael furcal sliding in front of freddy sanchez on sanchez's 2008 bowman card

as sanchez makes the double play pivot.

staying on tatooine, here's a 1993 score select joe girardi card

that would obviously fit into that particular mini collection of mine if it weren't already destined for the lurker collection thanks to dodger dave hansen making an appearance on the back

there are many more cards that bo sent that i'll be showing over the next few days - thanks for the cards bo!

age of ultra

no superheroes here, just humble baseball players on some fleer ultra cards.

here's a 1999 fleer ultra chan ho park

the latter years of ultra feature some nice photography, as evidenced by jeff shaw's card

which features dodger stadium and the three sisters in the background.

a less scenic part of dodger stadium is in the background of antonio osuna's card

but we get charles johnson (i believe) in the foreground

mark grudzielanek is on the road on his card

but ismael valdes is back at home on his

in addition to lots of dodgers and dodger stadium cards, ultra has contributed many double plays to my collection. here are a few that i haven't shown before

2001 fleer ultra edgar renteria

i hope renteria was successful in his giant twin killing

speaking of giants, here's a 2002 fleer ultra rich aurilia card

jeff kent can only stand and watch

2004 fleer ultra orlando cabrera

nice to see the expos now and again

2004 fleer ultra marcus giles

most of the marcus giles dp cards i have seem to show him horizontal.  must not have been much of a jumper.  like placido polanco

or michael young

this is a 2004 fleer ultra update card of giant prospect brian dallimore

who is being taken out by juan pierre.  hopefully dallimore got some lessons in sliding runner evasion from double play professional ray durham, seen here on a 2005 fleer ultra card

it's too bad that fleer went under - we could use more ultra these days.

a new type collection?

i am not completely sure that i am going to add another mini collection, but i do know that i enjoy most cards that show players' names and numbers on their back.  it's fairly subjective - not as cut and dried as say, my dodger stadium in the background collection - as i don't like every card that features a players name/number on the back.  anyway, here are some cards that would definitely make the cut in my 'nob' collection. if i were to officially add it, that is.  

1999 topps gallery vladimir guerrero

1994 topps stadium club rickey henderson rainbow foil parallel

1998 topps paul molitor

1995 topps stadium club sandy alomar jr best seat in the house insert

2009 upper deck derek jeter

2011 topps marquee stan musial

so, the bulk of the cards would be like those above - action shots, and usually at the plate.  sometimes there are non-action shots that fit the bill as well.

1999 upper deck karim garcia

2012 topps kyle blanks

there are also those cards that meet the letter of the law regarding the collection, but just don't resonate with me for some reason.  here are two examples

2010 topps alex rios

2011 topps update jered weaver

luckily, that rios card fits in my tatooine mini collection, and i may make a spot for the weaver in my lurker collection, thanks to former dodger alfredo griffin hanging out in the background.

i think what i like about these cards is that they use images that are similar to what i see as a fan when i go to a game.  watching on tv, we get different camera angles that focus on the action from the front.  or, perhaps they are just cards featuring good action (for the most part) photography.