ain't 2007 the sweetest spot

upper deck debuted sweet spot in 2001, and my collecting mind was blown by the inclusion of signed pieces of baseballs included in some packs.  in fact, it was later versions of the sweet spot releases that included the first thick cardboard blanks because it had previously been too easy to find the packs that included the autos.  at least that is what i was told by a clerk at one of the local card shops in the early 2000's.  anyway, the format of the autos was a bit clunky from that first year through 2005 - they were framed into the card by a non-descript border with a small player photo somewhere on the card.  in 2006, upper deck added a generic stadium shot as the background, but in 2007, they did it right - they went to team specific stadium shots.  here's a don sutton auto card from 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic

it's the wood version, numbered to 75, and the stadium in the background is none other than dodger stadium.  awesome.  i'm still looking for a reggie smith/steve garvey dual auto from this set, by the way.

there are the fading issues with some of the later releases, including 2007, as either the ball material or the pens used by some of the players were not the right types, but the wood versions that i have seen do not suffer that fate.  i recall a signing i went to where harmon killebrew and i simultaneously chastised a guy who offered the killer a sharpie to sign a ball with.  you would think that upper deck would have made sure that the cards were signed properly, you know, if in fact they had a representative witness the signings.  oh wait.

anyway, 2007 is my favorite sweet spot year, even though steve garvey is included in the classic set as a padre.  there are plenty of dodgers on the checklist, though, including the aforementioned sutton

i guess the only bad thing here is that each base card is serial numbered, as they were in some of the previous sets.

here are some of the other dodgers from the 2007 ud sweet spot classic set

roy campanella

campy suttons.

pee wee reese

both the campy and reese use photos that are now quite familiar to us.

here's don drysdale

in the type of photo that we would not have seen on a card back in his playing days.  i'm glad upper deck didn't try to lighten the shadow under his bill.

maury wills

still looks like he's ticked at topps.

the set also included more 'modern' dodgers, such as their former manager tom lasorda

and a welcome appearance by a pitcher from the team of my youth, burt hooton

it's not too often we see hooton in card sets.

the regular 2007 sweet spot set had some dodgers, too, but the card i want to show is this adam laroche auto card

that includes some plastic-injected molded helmet thingy and a faux wood signing area.  this is not so much my favorite, but it is somewhat unique.

i have a bunch of other sweet spot cards in the scanned folder, so i'll show them even though they are from the 2005 set.  also not so much my favorite.

jd drew

eric gagne

dj houlton numbered to 99

i think that's a parallel as opposed to a shorter printed rookie subset

jeff kent

derek lowe

and one of the very few cards made of one of the biggest busts in dodger history - norihiro nakamura

i think the 66 looks better on puig - he certainly has done more while wearing it.  and, i think the 2007 sweet spot looks better than any of the other versions before or after it, thanks in large part to the pavilion roof and palm tree on the dodger auto cards.

cards with stars and clouds and dodgers

here is the second installment of my recent trading frenzy with the rhubarb runner.  it's a wonder what some vintage twins and a couple of sticker autos will bring in return.  first up, a 2002 topps american pie american sluggers insert of the silver fox

this is one of the more obscured card in my blog's header.  it's right there under the 2004 topps robin ventura and the 2001 ud decade 1970's ron cey.  i feel badly that the duke is so slighted, but he is up there!

here's the first of two shawn green relics - this one is from 2004 upper deck diamond collection (i think)

it's not as cool as this 2001 playoff absolute memorabilia game used base card

featuring green playing baseball amongst the clouds.  what a wacky design.  almost as bad as this 2003 fleer ultra pee wee reese insert

apparently, it was a game when the players floated in the heavens.

back to earth and a 2002 upper deck insert featuring kevin brown

the insert set is called 'return of the ace'.  it kind of reminds me of the opening credits of 'game of thrones'.  without the fictional geography lesson.  on another semi-related note, i will be starting my 'evolution of the ace' series next week.  at some point, brown does show up on the chain of dodger yearly aces.

2004 fleer greats jackie robinson

this card, of course, reminds me of the book by lawrence ritter 'the glory of their times'.  although i prefer 'the image of their greatness' by ritter and donald honig. both are well worth your time, as is the collecting of jackie robinson baseball cards.  even the glut of cards put out by topps over the last couple of years, although it would be nice to see some different photos used.

2005 upper deck sweet spot dj houlton

one of the most interesting things that i know about dj houlton is that his middle name is sean.  i guess ds houlton just doesn't sound right.  actually, the dj stands for dennis junior which is quite sensible.  houlton pitched for the dodgers in 2005 and then again in 2007.  he moved on to japan in 2008, and is still pitching there today as far as i know.

just when you thought you had seen the last of 2011 topps update cognac cards, here comes jerry sands

hopefully sands is working on keeping his eye on the ball down in the minors this seaon.
 
i saved this card for last, only because it has a hated yankee on it.  it's from 2004 donruss leather & lumber

what saves it is the presence of duke snider.  duke and scooter faced each other in the world series 4 times, with the yankees winning three rings before the dodgers finally won in 1955.  duke hit .290 with 9 homers in those 4 series, while rizzuto hit .266 with no homers.  small consolation for the silver fox, i am sure.

thanks for the cards david!