the outfield wall in blue heaven

first things first - i have updated last week's post on the dodger stadium bullpens to correctly identify the back walls as plastic, not metal. thanks to speigel for reminding me.  i also

added a couple of cards showing the flora that currently adorns those blue walls.  go back and check it out.

now that that is out of the way, we'll visit another part of the stadium that has seen it's share of changes.  you all know i'm not referring to the bathrooms.  no, it's the outfield walls of which i speak.  for most of their existence, the walls were just blue.  a nice blue in contrast to the orange and yellow benches in the pavilions. 

 

(by the way, welcome to the blog, mr. bournigal.  sorry it's taken me so long to feature one of your cards).  see that 1995 topps stadium card?  nice colors make for a pretty card.

i began to notice in the early 90's, although it may have been happening for who knows how long before that, that the dodgers would adorn the outfield wall with championship banners on opening day.  if you look closely at the back of this 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (shameless plug) card, you can see the big white banners.

there would be six in all - 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, and 1988 - evenly spaced from left to right field. 

that was all temporary, though, and the walls would go back to being just blue.  then, in the late 1990's and early 2000's, the dodgers began to use the wall as a canvas for some really great murals.  murals that recognized dodger hall of famers one year, cy young award winners another year, or world championships another, as seen on devon white's 1999 fleer si card.  

the white sox and cardinals and braves have all done something similar.  i think it is permanent at the cell and new busch stadium.  i like that kind of nod to the past.  like a good rug, it can really pull the room together.

in 2003, out of town scoreboards were added to the walls near each bullpen.  here's hee seop choi's 2004 fleer ultra card to provide some proof.

2004, of course, is when frank mccourt got to town, and he had no use for wasting outfield wall space on murals celebrating the history of the franchise or even just providing a nice color backdrop.  no, he needed to sell advertising space, and he went full bore the following year.  right julio lugo?

right.  that reebok ad isn't too obnoxious, i guess.  except at night, when the signs are lit.  here's ryan theriot's 2011 topps card to show what i mean.

yes, that's dodger stadium with theriot airbrushed into cardinal red.  at least topps put him in away grays.

i know that revenue is important and that most, if not all, other teams sell space on their outfield walls.  maybe, just maybe, however, the new owner could tone it down a bit.  or at least roll out the banners for old time's sake.

the 4+1 card that should have been

yesterday was the 5th anniversary of the 4+1 game.  it's hard to believe that it has been 5 years since nomar had his great comeback season, and jd drew was a dodger, and andre ethier and matt kemp weren't starters.  the game i refer to is the game in which the dodgers were trailing the first place padres by a half game in the standings and by 4 runs heading into the bottom of the 9th.  jeff kent led off the inning with a home run off of jon adkins.  jd drew followed with a dinger of his own.  the padres replaced adkins with trevor hoffman, and russell martin took him deep on his first pitch.  on the very next pitch, marlon anderson, who had homered earlier in the game off of jake peavy, tied the game with the dodgers' fourth consecutive solo blast.

the next batter was julio lugo who had a chance to be a hero.  instead he flied out to center.  the next two batters made outs, and aaron sele allowed the pads to retake the lead with a run in the top of the 10th.  in the bottom of the inning, kenny lofton walked and nomar victimized padres reliever and dodger double dipper rudy seanez (post coming soon) with a walk-off home run.  joyous mayhem ensued.

that is worthy of a card, no?  here goes - the 2007 topps card that should have been

complete with a back

i had to get nomar on the card somewhere, so i used him for the inset photo instead of a smaller version of the front image.  maybe i should have used that photo for the 2007 topps card i created for nomar a while back.  as for the almost hero julio lugo, he was long gone to the red sox by the time 2007 topps came out.  here's his card from that set

i felt the need to include lugo in the remembrance of the 4+1 game since he was front and center when the dodgers greeted nomar at home plate.  so, here's the 2007 topps julio lugo card that should have been

i love this photo.  it, or a wider version of it, was my desktop wallpaper for a couple of years.  that's lugo in the middle of the card as nomar makes his way home.  we've also got some lurkers - furcal pointing to the plate, joe beimel, russell martin, jd drew, derek lowe and others, too.  what a great memory.  too bad it didn't matter much, as the dodgers wound up in second place despite the outcome of this game, and then were swept in the nlds by the mets. 

what's my wallpaper now, you ask?  for about the past year, i've used this photo. a different kind of memory.

mr. (night) owl, how many packages do you have to send to gcrl before he writes a post?

let's find out.

one:

1980 kellogg's davey lopes
if only that mustache really were in 3-d.

1986 topps glossy send in fernando valenzuela this set reminds me of a tcma issue. but in color.

2009 upper deck spectrum matt kemp (the heretofore unbeknownst to me blue variation) the question is, why?

2006 bowman heritage wilson betemit

interesting that we had, at one time, both furcal and betemit at the same time. just like the braves did.

2006 upper deck sp authentic julio lugo thankfully, lugo was a short-timer. unfortunately, ned traded for him in the first place.

2006 fleer greats of the game dusty bakeras seen on night owl's blog recently!

2009 upper deck spx clayton kershaw here's hoping the 2009 postseason is really his month long coming out party.

2008 upper deck timeline james loney sp perhaps my favorite first baseman since popeye himself.

ta-whooooo:

1985 fleer frank dipinoa very nice card with the right field pavilion and it's color palette complementing the astros uniform.

2002 upper deck kaz ishiinow we have the left field pavilion with diamond vision, a carl's jr ad, and half of tommy lasorda's outfield fence mural. plus the overhyped ishii in street clothes. ishii, because of the hype, was the dodger that got all the short prints which sucks when trying to complete my 2003 upper deck vintage set, among others.

2009 upper deck a piece of history james mcdonaldmcdonald hasn't made or seen much history yet.

2009 upper deck clayton kershaw 20th anniversary

another kershaw. this one from a subset within an insert set. i don't understand upper deck sometimes.

2009 topps target throwback chan ho park

did topps do this for series 2? did anyone care?

2009 topps attax vladimir guerrero

shiny must mean parallel. again, why?

three:

2009 topps finest russell martin

a disappointing season hopefully means fantastic postseason. or at least a bargain in next year's fantasy draft.

2009 topps jackie robinson turkey red insert

now that's a nice card!

2009 bowman manny ramirez

sans umpire. very very bad.

2008 upper deck goudey pee wee reese

i wonder what ken griffey jr does say about pee wee? any guesses?

2008 topps chin-lung hu trading card history

a glossy version of the 1959 set. as opposed to the more traditional versions in the 2008 heritage set. speaking of which,

2008 topps heritage vladimir guerrero chrome looks like it's snowing in anaheim

1997 pinnacle zenith wilton guerrero

i wish wilton had been more like vlad.

1993 score select rick trlicek

a pitcher with a hockey name. he actually debuted with the blue jays in 1992. recorded his only career save and hit (off of tom glavine) in his one season as a dodger.

so, the answer is three. each package filled with dodger and set building goodness, which is even better than the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop.

thanks greg. i'll get another package out to you soon.