dodger (and other) cardboard from mets cardboard

what makes more sense than receiving a mike piazza dodger card from justin at mets cardboard? not much.  i sent him a bunch of mets, and he sent me some dodgers and other good stuff for my collection.  here's the aforementioned strongest man in socal on a 1993 topps stadium club card

i don't know the full story of piazza switching from number 25 to 31, but i know it had to do with time wallach signing with the dodgers for the 1993 season.  i wonder how much wallach had to give to get the number from piazza.

here's a 1996 fleer joey eischen

part of the reason that i scanned this card was that i was pretty sure that eischen hadn't been shown on the blog before. he pitched in a total of 45 games for the dodgers over the course of the 1995 and 1996 seasons, and non-closing relievers weren't showing up on a lot of cards back then.  but then i remembered that he made his debut on the blog as part of a mother's cards post earlier this year.

1996 skybox dugout axcess eric young axcess airlines frequent flyer insert

i don't care much for card companies when they misspell things on purpose, like 'axcess'.  or 'authentix', as is the case on this 2002 fleer authentix shawn green power alley insert

however, if those cards featured the dodger stadium murals like this 2003 fleer focus jersey edition shawn green card

i'd be more accepting of the spelling.  i'm not going to kick them out of my collection, mind you, but i'm  going to shake my head every time i see them.

2004 topps total robin ventura

the santa maria native finished up his career playing more first base than third base for the 2004 dodgers.  he also pitched in a game.

2008 topps finest hong-chi kuo autograph

always cool to find an auto card in a trade package.  it's also cool to find a card from a set that you're trying to finish, like this jr towles card from 2008 upper deck timeline.

there's been so little movement on my part with that set that it took me a moment to figure out why i was getting a card of an astro that wasn't a tatooine or double play card.  speaking of double play cards, justin sent a bunch of those, too, more than i showed last weekend.  i'll show the others that were new to my collection later.  thanks justin!

some good things from topps (and panini) in 2015 and contest results

imagine opening a pack of cards in 2015 and finding a 1978 topps steve yeager card.

someone out there had that experience, and then decided to sell that card to me.  the only two buybacks i have ever pulled from a pack were a 1992 topps joel skinner card in (i think) 2001 topps, and a 1971 o-pee-chee bob lemon card from 2009 upper deck opc - neither of which had any stamp to distinguish it from a non-buyback card.

i also went out and bought a few other cards that struck my fancy from one of this year's releases - in this case 2015 topps archives.  i was happy to see that topps used the 1957 topps design, and that they did it better than they did in 2006 when they washed it out with heritage.  here's don sutton

clayton kershaw

and a nice surprise, vladimir guerrero.

it's good to see the expos logo on cardboard.

here's the last '57 i picked up from archives, yasiel puig

i wish they would have used photos from inside dodger stadium, however, as one of the best things about the '57 set is the stadium backgrounds on many of the cards.

topps did use dodger stadium in the background for this mlb the show puig insert

which is nice.

it's not dodger stadium on this robbed in right insert

but at least the effort behind the insert set is appreciated, unlike some of the series 2 inserts (hot streak, stepping up, etc).

i really like this 2015 panini diamond kings puig aficionado card

it's good enough to make me forget that it's an unlicensed card.

back to some 2015 topps stuff, here's a nondescript 2015 topps gypsy queen card of adrian gonzalez

i think gypsy queen has run its course.

topps heritage, however, has somehow made me appreciate the 1964 and 1966 sets more than i did in the past over the last three years. here's gonzalez on a 2015 heritage league leader card

he was the first dodger to lead the league in rbi since matt kemp in 2011.  not so long, but before that, you would have had to go back to 1962 and tommy davis.

one of my favorite insert sets this year was the jackie robinson story set.  i've picked up the last four that i needed to complete the set, including these two (the other two were sent to me by wes at jaybarkerfan's junk).

now when i see branch rickey, i think of han solo.

this may be my favorite insert of 2015, however. it's clayton kershaw on a team spirit card from 2015 topps opening day.

he's tipping his cap to the dodger stadium crowd just as i am tipping my cap to those of you who've been reading these posts of mine over the past not-quite seven years.  and to the two of you who took the time to enter my contest.  as you may recall, it consisted of identifying the 31 cards that have made up my header for the past six-plus years.

neither of you got them all, but alec got 29 out of 31 and john was not too far behind.  here are the answers:

this list might be easier to read:

1. 1987 topps fernando valenzuela

2. 1995 topps national packtime mike piazza

3. 2004 donruss team heroes rickey henderson

4. 1978 topps dodger team/checklist (graded)

5. 2005 topps all-time fan favorites pedro guerrero

6. 1989 upper deck orel hershiser

7. 2007 upper deck russell martin

8. 1971 topps jim lefebvre

9. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams kirk gibson

10. 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts jackie robinson

11. 2001 upper deck legends don drysdale/kevin brown reflections in time

12. 1978 o-pee-chee steve garvey

13. 2004 topps robin ventura

14. 2001 upper deck decade '70's ron cey

15. 2005 upper deck sweet spot classic maury wills jumbo patch

16. 1987 fleer bill russell

17. 2001 upper deck gold glove shawn green

18. 1974 topps dave lopes

19. 1992 topps darryl strawberry

20. 1981 topps jack perconte/mike scioscia/fernando valenzuela

21. 2003 topps all-time fan favorites steve yeager autograph

22. 2008 topps dodger factory set dodger stadium

23. 2002 topps american pie duke snider american sluggers blue

24. 1956 topps don zimmer

25. 2004 topps world series highlights kirk gibson

26. 2007 upper deck nomar garciaparra

27. 2001 upper deck legends of new york pee wee reese

28. 1989 fleer world series dodgers team/champions

29. 1997 bowman hideo nomo

30. 1962 topps nl strikeout leaders sandy koufax/stan williams/don drysdale

31. 1999 upper deck century legends mike piazza

i admit, the garvey was impossible to discern as o-pee-chee, and the 1995 piazza and the american pie snider were almost completely obscured (kudos to alec for identifying the snider, though).  thanks to both who took the time to give it a shot - since there were only two of you, i'll send more cards than i had previously advertised.

postcards from paradise

a funny thing happened on the way to this post.  i misplaced all of my dodger postcards.  i had scanned them, some of which are shown below, but i had planned to further investigate and try to determine the exact years that they were issued using the information on their backs and some of the very scattered data available on the interwebs.  oh well, i'll have to tackle that task another time.  in the meantime, it's summer, and i assume some traveling folks are still sending postcards to the poor saps that are stuck back at home working.  in that vein, here are some dodger postcards that i will classify as 1962 (circa) to 1971 (circa) dodger team issue postcards.

big d!

i chose 1962 because that is the season that dodger stadium opened, and beautiful chavez ravine is the backdrop for many of these.  some, including the don drysdale postcard above, the ron perranoski postcard below,

this larry sherry postcard

and this maury wills postcard

all feature the three sisters palm trees closed up as they were first installed.

these next two are certainly from 1967, as that was the only season that ron hunt

and gene michael suited up for the dodgers.

plus, the palm trees have opened up!

i figure that these wes parker

and jeff torborg postcards

are from 1966, but that's only based on the relative youthfulness of torborg and this website.

sadly, the postcards moved out of dodger stadium later in the decade to what i assume to be vero beach.  these al ferrara

and bill singer postcards

are assumed to be from 1968 based on the fact that the singer photo is essentially the same as this mudcat grant photo

and this zoilo versalles postcard (i think) has the same info on the back

i wish i could find these things to confirm.  anyway, grant and versalles were only dodgers in 1968, so it's pretty easy to figure those, just like the hunt and michael.  same goes for these next couple - maybe - as long as the dodgers didn't wait to use these photos several years after they were taken.

billy grabarkewitz

and bill sudakis

are both wearing the mlb 100th anniversary patch from 1969, so i figure these to be 1970 postcards, although they could also be 1969 items if the dodgers were really on the ball and published these right after the photos were taken during spring training.

i'm not quite as sure of this tom haller postcard

since he was a dodger from 1968 through 1971, but this dick/richie allen postcard is certainly from 1971 (his lone year with the team)

and it's back in paradise - dodger stadium.

i may get back there yet this season, and if i do, maybe i'll drop a postcard in the mail...

i was there when the impossible happened and i've got the photos to prove it

not that i need an excuse to post a fantastic card like this 1995 upper deck sp championship series kirk gibson die-cut classic performances card

but i thought that i would expand on something i've mentioned a time or two before.  mainly, that i was at game 1 of the 1988 world series with my dad.  i came across some of our photos from that game recently, and scanned a few.  let's relive the excitement, shall we?

pre-game

we were sitting in the right field pavilion, and were in line for dodger dogs during the team introductions.  debbie gibson sang the national anthem.  when we got to our seats, the good year blimp was flying above the top of the park.

bottom of the first inning

that's mickey hatcher about to round second after hitting a home run to put the dodgers up 2-0.  hatcher was starting in left field in place of the aforementioned gibson, who had two bad legs following the nlcs against the mets.

the second photo there shows hatcher nearly catching up to steve sax as he nears third base.  when sax turned around after touching home plate, he was visibly surprised to see hatcher right behind him.

top of the second inning

tim belcher loaded the bases, partly by walking dave stewart (that's stew at second base), but he got dave henderson (at the plate in the photo above) to strike out for the second out, but that brought up jose canseco.

canseco took the first pitch in the photo above, but sent the second pitch on a line over the center field wall.  one of the hardest hit balls i have ever seen in person.  here's a photo of canseco rounding the bases

after what turned out to be his only hit in the series.  and here's a photo of him out in right field afterwards

i believe this is when the 'steroids' chants began that night.  did he flex for us? i think he did, but don't recall for sure.

bottom of the third innng

mickey hatcher came up again, and i thought his home run so improbable, that i took a picture of the diamondvision scoreboard.  hatcher drew a walk, but mike marshall lined out to third to end the inning.

bottom of the fifth inning:

here franklin stubbs (as the tying run) grounds out sharply to mark mcgwire at first base with tracy woodson on second base to end the inning.

bottom of the sixth inning:

with one out, following mike marshall and john shelby singles, mike scioscia is at the plate

and he singled to left to drive in marshall, making the score 4-3, which is how it stayed going into the final inning.

bottom of the ninth inning:

dennis eckersley is on the mound pitching to mike davis with two outs in that photo. davis draws a walk to extend the inning…

…and look who's coming up!

that's gibson, of course, making his way to the batter's box.  everybody in the stadium was up, and most were hoping for a home run, i am sure.

the next two pictures are from the first pitch eckersley threw - my dad's photo is better

than mine

must be the cameras.  the pitch resulted in a foul ball to the left side.  many hopes for a home run were dashed after that swing, i would guess.

here's the 0-2 pitch to gibson

i think this was also the pitch after which a's catcher ron hassey threw back to first to try to pick davis off.  i remember thinking that it would have been a terrible way for the game to end.

after that pitch, both my dad and i stopped shooting and watched instead. we are glad that we did.  i took this next photo after watching gibson's hit land in the pavilion to our left.  we have eck walking off the mound with steve sax holding his head in disbelief.

here's where we all were losing our minds.  the pavilion was rocking and i was full of adrenaline and joy, so this picture didn't come out at all

that's gibson, though, approaching second base.  i remember seeing the fist pumps.  it was awesome.

after that, i focused on home plate, which is too bad because i missed gibson rounding third.  this photo shows mickey hatcher and orel hershiser up the line to greet him

as does this one

but now gibby is somewhere in the mass of dodger humanity at home plate.

this series of photos is really not much to look at - it's just the celebration at home plate blurrily taking place, but i like it more for the slow progression of a's left fielder stan javier making his way off the field.  he's there at second base in the above photo

now he's almost half way to first base

and now he's just about out of the frame.

about the only person i can make out in all of this is tracy woodson, as he was wearing the blue pullover.  you can tell by the poor quality of these photographs that i am very happy to have so many cards in my collection that capture gibson's home run, including the one up top.  that's partially why there are two such cards in my header, which reminds me to remind you to get your entries in for my contest - only a few days left.

i know a guy who has only attended one baseball game in his lifetime, and it was game 7 of the 1991 world series.  he says that he's never felt the need to go to another after seeing that game in person.  game 1 of the 1988 world series was not the first game i had been to, obviously, but i kind of know what he means.  it is a hard act to follow, but that's the beauty of the game - anything can happen on any given night - and that's why i keep going back.