jaybarkerfan's junk sends the blues

it's hard not to be excited when a package from wes at jaybarkerfan's junk shows up at your doorstep.  now, i have not been drawn into one of his trade wars (thankfully, as i know i would not be able to keep up), but we've traded several packages over the last couple of years.  this latest return from wes was certainly no disappointment.

first up is perhaps the bluest card i've seen - it's a 2002 donruss cesar izturis rookie crusade card

good golly miss molly, that's a blue card.

onelki garcia's 2014 topps chrome blue refractor parallel

pales in comparison.

but then there is this 2014 bowman platinum chrome prospects zach lee sapphire parallel card

that is pretty blue.

the blues end there, sort of, as we still have dodger cards, but they aren't of the same hue.  this is an emerald parallel of chris anderson's 2014 bowman platinum chrome prospects card

that brings the green rather than the blue.

there were some regular cards in the package as well, including a 1988 fleer mini kirk gibson card

and a 2005 topps roger craig dem bums insert

craig is fortuitously flashing his bum on the card, by the way.

wes also hit my list of most wanted cards, sending two of the remaining jackie robinson story inserts from 2015 topps that i needed my way

two pretty important milestones there.

i'll finish up with some more hued parallels - these are of the dodger first baseman of the moment, adrian gonzalez.  first is his 2013 bowman chrome purple parallel

and next is his 2013 topps triple threads emerald parallel

both are pretty colorful, bun not as colorful as this 2014 donruss gonzalez elite dominator card

which was not part of the package wes sent, but fits in nicely with this post.

thanks wes, for another great trade!

before i get to archives...

i understand that 2015 topps archives is live. i also understand that they are using the 1957 topps design for one of the four subsets in the base set.  that's nice, although i do wish that 1978 would get some love sometime before heritage catches up in 2027.  speaking of heritage, the last time we saw the 1957 topps design was in 2006 with the topps heritage set.  this is the dodger team card from that set

it features a photo taken inside dodger stadium - a stadium that didn't exist in 1957.  here are a few more dodgers from that set - cesar izturis

hong-chih kuo

derek lowe

and bill mueller

i rather like the mueller card. it seems like an old-timey pose.  i understand that don sutton is featured in the 1957 topps design grouping in the archives set this year, and i hope that his card is also old-timey in flavor. 

here are some other random cards from my scanned folder.

2006 fleer andre ethier

2006 upper deck jayson werth

2006 topps jim tracy (through the mail autograph success!)

pretty sure tracy is standing in the same spot izturis was for the heritage card up above - notice the palm tree…

2004 topps jim tracy (through the mail autograph success!)

2005 upper deck roy campanella wingfield collection

and 2005 upper deck pee wee reese wingfield collection 

those last two are nice looking cards.  i don't think either campy or pee wee are in archives this year - it's koufax, duke, and jackie as far as brooklyn-era dodgers go.  i'll try to find some of them in a blaster sometime this weekend - stay tuned...

here are dodgers in spades

here's the fourth and last suit of cards from the 2005 baseball hero deck of dodgers.  the more recent players are featured as spades.  i use 'most recent' broadly, as this group spans from the 1980's to 2005...

eric gagne is the only reliever to crack the aces in the set.  mike scioscia at catcher is nice, even though he finished his time with the dodgers in 1992.  eric karros at first, steve sax at second, adrian beltre at third, and cesar izturis at short. an outfield of gary sheffield, milton bradley, and shawn green, plus ramon martinez, hideo nomo, kevin brown, and mike piazza as the high numbered 'bench' cards.

this is a cool little oddball set.

random cards from the scanned folder are like a box of chocolates

look deep into scott erickson's eyes on his 2005 topps total card

he'll make you forget that this is a post of cards thrown together with little to no thought or common theme.  just a bunch of cards i have scanned over the years, but not posted for one reason or another.  as an aside, i forgot all about this card when i went to a signing that erickson attended three years ago when the twins celebrated the 1991 world series team.  that's ok - his wife was there, and i forgot all about baseball cards for a moment.

now it's time for some edwin jackson.  this is a 2005 topps turkey red card

and this is a 2005 upper deck all-star classics

jackson made his big league debut on his 20th birthday (9/9/03), squaring off against randy johnson and the diamondbacks.  the dodgers made him a winner that day, and again a couple of weeks later in san francisco (a game that i attended).  jackson was wild in that game, walking 8, but he struck out barry bonds and allowed no runs and only 2 hits in his 6 innings of work.  jackson was back with the dodgers for a handful of games in 2004 and 2005, but was traded to the devil rays prior to the 2006 season.  in his 12-year career (so far), jackson has pitched for 8 teams.

2005 upper deck espn cesar izturis web gems

izturis won a gold glove in 2004 which largely explains his appearance in an insert set

2011 panini playoff contenders chris reed

reed was the dodgers' first round pick in 2011.  he was born in london, but attended high school in socal and went to stanford after that.  he's currently a double-a chattanooga. 

2011 bowman andre ethier gold parallel

and 2011 bowman ted lilly gold parallel

ethier only gets one parallel in this post, but lilly gets three.

2011 topps ted lilly diamond anniversary platinum parallel

and 2011 topps update ted lilly cognac parallel

i still prefer lilly's 2013 topps card.

here's a few more from 2011 topps update.  remember javy guerra?

who comes in cognac form

and platinum parallel fashion as well

guerra was picked up on waivers by the white sox earlier this year, so he and ronald belisario are making it deja vu all over again in the chisox bullpen.

one more from 2011 topps update - it's matt guerrier

guerrier was dealt to the cubs last year for carlos marmol, but signed with the twins prior to this season. he was just recently dfa'd by the club, although aside from his last outing he hadn't pitched that poorly.  i was a fan - as much as one can be of a non-closer reliever.

in other news, chris capuano is now a yankee.  here's his 2012 topps update card

and his 2013 topps gypsy queen white framed parallel

he had started the season with the red sox after two years with the dodgers, but was released on july 1. after a short stint with the rockies' organization, capuano had his contract purchased by the yankees and made a start for them just the other day.  he turned in a quality start, but didn't get a decision.

the evolution of the shortstop, part 2

it's been awhile and i need to finish off these position evolution posts.  here's the second installment of the shortstop evolutionary chain - this time from anderson to izturis.

dave anderson (1984)

andy started 111 games at short in 1984, replacing the dean of the dodgers, bill russell, as the team's first primary shortstop not named wills or russell in 15 years.  he hit .251, and the following year spent more time at third base than short.  that's because the dodgers promoted mariano duncan.

mariano duncan (1985-1987)

duncan appeared at shortstop in 123 games (120 starts) for the dodgers in 1985.  he hit .244 with 38 steals and helped the dodgers reach the playoffs, although he hit just .222 in the nlcs against the cardinals.  in 1986, duncan appeared in 106 games as the dodgers' shortstop, and while he stole 48 bases, his batting average dropped to .229 and he was losing favor as the dodgers' shortstop of the future.  in 1987, duncan's average dropped to .215 and he played at shortstop only slightly more (538 innings to 499) than anderson.  he was demoted to the minor leagues for the entire 1988 season, as the dodgers went out and brought in alfredo griffin.

alfredo griffin (1988-1991)

griffin, seen above admiring one of his mammoth home run blasts on his 1991 topps stadium club card, barely gets the nod in 1988 thanks to his 89 starts at short compared to anderson's 72 starts.  he hit a lousy .199 on the season, and then was even worse at the plate in the postseason - .160 in the nlcs and .188 in the world series - but the dodgers won it all anyway.  griffin had better seasons as the dodgers' primary shortstop in 1989 (136 games, .247 average), 1990 (141 games, .210 average), and 1991 (109 games, .243 average) before returning to the blue jays in 1992.

jose offerman (1992-1995)

offerman hit in the .260's in both 1992 and 1993 as the dodgers' everyday shortstop.  unfortunately, he made 42 and 37 errors in those seasons respectively, earning his nickname 'e-fferman'.  at least that's what i called him.  he lost a fair amount of playing time to rafael bournigal in 1994, but still managed to be the team's primary shortstop.  in his final season as a dodger (1995), offerman remained the everyday shortstop, and even made the all-star team thanks to a .303 average at the break (he wound up hitting .287 on the season).  offerman was traded to the royals after the 1995 season, and kc immediately moved him out of the shortstop position and reaped the offensive benefits that followed.  no joke - offerman averaged .306 over his three seasons with the royals.

greg gagne (1996-1997)

gagne came over from the royals after the 1995 season, but not in the offerman trade - it was his signing as a free agent actually made offerman expendable.  over the course of the next two seasons, gagne missed only 52 games (that's what passed for stability at this position back then) and hit .253 with a little pop.  he finished his career as a dodger, retiring after the '97 season.

jose vizcaino (1998)

el viz returned to the dodgers for the 1998 season, and he wound up leading the team with 65 starts at the position while hitting .262.  juan castro, wilton guerrero, alex cora, and even adrian beltre also spent time there, but vizcaino got the nod most often.  until the dodgers made a trade deadline deal, that is.  after that, mark grudzielanek took over the position.

mark grudzielanek (1999)

the g-man appeared in 123 games for the dodgers in 1999, 119 (118 starts) as a shortstop.  he also hit a robust .326 on the season.  yes, his 2002 upper deck card shown above lists him as a second baseman, and for good reason - he switched to second in 2000.

alex cora (2000-2001)

cora played short for the dodgers in 101 games in 2000 and 132 games in 2001.  he didn't do much offensively, and was an average fielder, but jim tracy played him.  like grudzielanek, cora later moved over to second base.

cesar izturis (2002-2005)

the dodgers went out and acquired izturis in a trade with the blue jays after the 2001 season.  i recall hearing him advertised as a slick fielding prospect and so was not really surprised when he posted obp numbers below .300 during his first two seasons as the dodgers' primary shortstop.  in 2004, however, his third year at the top of the depth chart, izzy put it all together, hitting .288 with an obp of .330 and 25 steals.  he also won the gold glove that year - the first dodger shortstop to do so since maury wills in 1962.  in 2005, izturis again was the dodgers' primary shortstop, at least until an injury sidelined him for the season in august. the following year, he found his starting job lost and was traded to the cubs for greg maddux.

i'll wrap up the shortstop evolution in a couple of days.  stay tuned.

cards from ten years back

continuing with my efforts to clear out the scanned folder, here are some cards from that year of years, 2003...

hey! do you recognize this card? 

i would guess not, as it is not a regular 2003 topps card of chad billingsley, but rather one of those 'factory set exclusive' cards that topps used to (they don't do this anymore, do they?) put out to get you to buy the factory set after you had put together a hand collated set by purchasing packs.  jonathan broxton got one in 2006 as well.  i have the bills and brox cards with my topps dodger teams sets, but not the five 2007 cards that came in the dodger factory set that year.  inconsistent much?

here is a regular 2003 topps card, and it is of andy ashby

good lord, that's mondesi's number!

2003 topps chrome dave roberts

best remembered for half a season (or just one postseason game, really) for the red sox in 2004, roberts wasn't a full-time player until he joined the dodgers at the age of 30.

rickey henderson didn't join the dodgers until the age of 44.  here's his 2003 topps traded card

rickey had spent the first part of the season in the independent atlantic league before finishing out his big league career in dodger blue.

2003 donruss signature series hong-chih kuo

kuo was hurt in 2003 and didn't debut in the big leagues until 2005.  we'll always have 2008 and 2010, though - those were some nice seasons.

2003 fleer ultra hideo nomo

nomo was coming off of a great rebound year when he won another 16 games in 2003.  he threw the last two shutouts of his career that season, a four-hitter in his first start of the year, and a two-hitter a couple months later.

2003 leaf certified materials cesar izturis

and joe thurston

the double play combo of the future!  izturis stuck around for a couple of solid years (before being dealt to the cubs in 2006 for greg maddux), but thurston spent most of his time in the minors and then bounced around the majors after the dodgers sent him to the yankees in 2005.

2003 upper deck edwin jackson

speaking of bouncing around, jackson might give mike morgan and octavio dotel a run for their money.  he's pitched for 8 teams in his 11 years in the big leagues.

last, but certainly not least, 2003 upper deck vintage adrian beltre

can't wait for next year's vintage!