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!

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.

well, hello to dodgers and double plays

i'm in the midst of some plain white envelope swappin' with brian from play at the plate. i sent him a few senators stamps from the 1971 dell's today issue, and he sent me some dodger cards from the present.

2015 bowman prospects scott schebler yellow parallel

schebler went 1 for 3 in his big league debut in june. he's back in the minors now (as of 7/12 when i wrote this post), and was named the pcl player of the week at the end of june. why is oklahoma city in the pacific coast league?  i do not know.

here's a 2015 bowman chrome prospects jose deleon card orange wave parallel that brian also sent

deleon is a starter in double-a at the moment.

brian rounded out the envelope with a couple of cards from 2015 panini prizm - jimmy rollins

and hyun-jin ryu

i doubt we will see much of ryu in 2016 product, which hopefully leaves more room for whichever pitcher the dodgers pick up at the trade deadline to receive more cards as a dodger next year.

thanks brian - be on the lookout for another standard no. 10 in the near future!

i received another return package of cards, this time in a bubble envelope, from justin at mets cardboard.  i'll show more of the cards later, but here are a few double play cards that were new to my collection

2001 pacific adam kennedy

with dodger fp santangelo sliding in. i'm guessing this is the same play showed on kennedy's 2001 topps card

2002 fleer alex gonzalez

stepping on a giants' head

2002 fleer adam kennedy

this guy again?

2002 fleer felipe lopez

a kodak moment

2002 fleer jose vidro

a candidate for the 'nob' collection, if there were such a thing. i'm still not sure.

thanks justin!

clearing out the scanned folder - miscellany edition

not every card that i scan is a dodger card, which makes sense because my collection has a fair share of cards featuring players from other teams.  sometimes, however, i get ahead of myself and scan some stuff without a specific post in mind. other times, i do have a post in mind, but it never comes together.  and then there are some cards i scan because they fit into one of my mini collections.  there are some of each in this post.

2000 skybox dominion scott rolen

i believe that i figured out a long time ago that the dodger catcher lurking on this card is angel pena, so i'll go with that.

1975 sspc elias sosa

sosa was a brave just before he became a dodger. he was part of the deal that brought lee lacy back to la for mike marshall.

1995 upper deck mike blowers

here's another future dodger, as blowers played for the dodgers later in the 90's.  thanks to this card, we know that blowers once caught a foul ball at tiger stadium at 2:55 (or is it 2:56?) in the afternoon.

1997 bowman vladimir guerrero

one of my last remaining player collections.  it was good to see vladdy in this year's archives release.

2001 topps archives jack morris

and 2001 topps archives lou whitaker

both cards are part of my 1978 topps master set.  still waiting for the design to be used in the revitalized archives release.

2002 topps 206 mike piazza team 206 insert

still working on this set

2008 upper deck timeline brandon jones

still working on this set, too.

2014 topps stadium club albert pujols

pujols just recently passed steve garvey on the all-time hits list. i scanned this card because it fits in my 'nob' collection, should i decide to make it an official collection.

1992 megacards babe ruth babe's farewell

this card also belongs in that collection.  it features a cropped version of nat fein's pulitzer prize winning photo, and is a great card to have. i'm glad i scanned it.

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.