don't worry, bo also sent some dodger cards

this will be the last post about the cards that bo from baseball cards come to life sent me recently.  it was a great package containing double play cards, tatooine cards, cards featuring memorial patches, and, of course, dodger cards.

i am surprised that i have not yet shown this 1993 topps stadium club orel hershiser card

on the blog previously. its got the bulldog sitting in dodger stadium on a beautiful day for baseball.

this 2002 leaf rookies and stars brian jordan card

also features dodger stadium as a backdrop, with jordan running between the kevin brown and shawn green images on the outfield wall mural.

this 1992 classic best roberto mejia card

however, features vero beach's holman stadium as its backdrop.  that may well be carlos delgado kneeling behind mejia, by the way.  the dodgers lost mejia in the expansion draft to the rockies, but at least he made it to the majors.  that can't be said about the next guy.

1992 upper deck minors ryan luzinski

the dodgers' first round draft pick in 1992 made it as high as triple-a with the dodgers and later the orioles, but never got the call to the big leagues.

1992 upper deck minors todd hollandsworth

how convenient for the dodgers' bakersfield affiliate that they could use the brooklyn dodgers 'b' on their hats and helmets.  holly, of course, was the 1996 national league rookie of the year, but before that, he apparently enjoyed sorting grains of sand.

another dodger prospect of the mid-90's was paul konerko.  here's a 1994 topps stadium club card

celebrating the dodgers' first round pick in the 1994 draft.

originally a catcher, the dodgers moved konerko to first base, presumably because they had mike piazza behind the plate.  konerko is fielding his position on this 1998 pinnacle performers card

as well as this 1998 topps stadium club

they also tried him at third base and even the outfield.  he was, after all, the second best prospect in all of baseball heading into the 1998 season (as ranked by baseball america).  today, i don't think you trade that type of prospect for a closer.

i'll finish up with a couple of dodgers hanging out on tatooine - 1993 score select lenny harris

and jose offerman

one last thank you, bo! that was a fun package to sort through!

is it possible to complete a 1996 fleer dodger team set from just two packs? and for just 50 cents?

while wallet card and i were at the local card shop, i found some loose packs marked at a quarter apiece. among them were some packs of 1996 fleer dodgers cards.

with 10 cards per pack, and 20 cards in the team set, i wondered - could i complete a team set with just two packs?

here's the checklist of the then defending nl west champions

and here's the back of that card

which is pretty much the same as the front of the logo card

whose back looks like this

the background on those cards kind of reminds me of 1995 fleer in a way.

as for the 18 players in the set, here is what their cards look like

a complete team set, although it took 5 packs to get there.  i think there was a mike blowers card in four of the five packs, and only one hideo nomo card.  for some reason, todd worrell was also tough to come by in my small sample size.  still, a team set for $1.25 is not too shabby.

an abbreviated run through the 1997 mother's cookies dodger set

1997 was all about the 50th anniversary of jackie robinson's major league debut, and the mother's cookies dodger set that year included a special card with the anniversary logo.

that's the logo that the dodgers wore - remember, while all teams wore a similar patch, the dodgers, marlins, and expos put their own twist on it.

here are a few more cards from the 1997 mother's cookies dodger set

bill russell

the manager!

and his coaches!

plus, the five straight rookies of the year - eric karros

mike piazza

raul mondesi

hideo nomo

and todd hollandsworth

here's the current diamondbacks manager, chip hale

in what may well be his only dodger card

darren hall

has a couple of dodger cards, but not many.

does anyone recall nelson liriano as a dodger?

he played in 76 games for the 1997 dodgers, and his lone home run in dodger blue was a 9th inning game winner against the cubs.

here's one more - scott radinsky

if it weren't for these mother's sets, i don't think i would have more than one card of the pulley lead singer and current dodger minor league pitching coach.

thanks again to mr. haverkamp for brokering the deal that netted me these sets.

filling the gap in my mother's cookies dodger collection

aside from the 1989 mother's cookies dodger set (and the special mike piazza/tim salmon set) that i already owned, the recent package from mr. haverkamp included the rest of the run of sets produced by the purveyor of bagged baked goodness.  i was a sucker for their iced animal cookies for sure.  anyway, the set that was missing was the 1996 set, which i subsequently picked up on ebay.

here's the manager, tom lasorda

in what would be his final set.

his coaching staff

included holdovers joe amalfitano, mark cresse, manny mota, bill russell, dave wallace, and reggie smith.  russell would assume the managerial position during the season after suffering a heart attack.

this set also includes the five straight rookies of the year for the first time - eric karros

mike piazza

raul mondesi

hideo nomo

and todd hollandsworth

who would win the award in '96.

here are a few other random dodgers from the set - delino deshields,

pinch-hitter extraordinaire dave hansen,

one of the many hot corner stopgaps between ron cey and adrian beltre, mike blowers,

milt thompson,

who spent the first half of the '96 season with the dodgers, and…

…chad fonville

fonville was one of the most exciting players to watch in 1995 after he joined the dodgers in may.  he wound up stealing 20 bases in 88 games during the regular season, and then went 6 for 12 in the three-game loss to the reds in the nlds.  i'll take as many fonville cards as i can get.

this was the last year that the mother's sets used the full bleed photos. i'll show some cards from the '97 and '98 sets in a future post.

omg omega

i promised to show some more pacific cards from the box that play at the plate sent a while back, so here are a few cards from 1998 pacific omega that came my way.  i'll start with what may have been the best card of the box - mike piazza's 1998 pacific omega card

yes, it is technically a mets card, but i'll keep it in my collection because it is also a non-dodger dodger card.  pacific decided to forego the foil photo that was supposed to go on the right side of the card in order to honor all three teams for whom piazza suited up in 1998.  i appreciate that.

here are some regular cards from the set, and 'real' dodgers at that - bobby bonilla

wilton guerrero

todd hollandsworth

paul konerko

raul mondesi

ismael valdes

here are some non-dodgers for the heck of it:

brad fullmer

who is featured because we should remember the expos

barry bonds

rickey henderson

cal ripken jr.

mariano rivera

david ortiz

and david wells

with what may have been the second best card in the box.

pacific didn't play by the rules, and that's why they have so many cool cards in my opinion. maybe if topps made cards like the three-team piazza or used a photo from david wells' perfect game on his base card, i wouldn't be so attracted to pacific's stuff.