plays at second base from play at the plate

i recently alluded to a big ol' box of cards that i received from brian at play at the plate.  it was mostly pacific cards with some 2002 upper deck vintage thrown in for good measure.  that was what i had requested when he put the spoils from a recent 5000 card box purchase up for grabs.  luckily for me, brian also fished out some double play cards and added them to my haul.  let's have a look at some.

1999 fleer tradition ricky gutierrez

ricky is joined on the card by a lurking matt luke, former dodger outfielder and double dipper, so that's nice.  he also demonstrates his awkward double play lean.

that lean is not shown on another gutierrez double play card from the bunch, this one from 1999 topps stadium club

but it does surface on his 2002 fleer ultra card that was also included

on to the non-ricky gutierrez cards

here's carlos baerga turning two on a 1999 fleer tradition card

the indians did the right thing by trading baerga when they did (during the 1996 season) as he experienced a pretty significant drop off when he joined the mets.  the indians received jeff kent and jose vizcaino as part of the return from the amazin's, and then parlayed them into matt williams for the 1997 season.  williams helped the tribe get to the world series, and then they traded him for travis fryman, who was a mainstay for a few seasons with cleveland.

1999 fleer tradition damion easley

and 1999 fleer tradition aaron ledesma

here's ledesma's teammate, miguel cairo, turning two on a 1999 topps stadium club card

as are mike lansing

and tony womack

there were some parallels in the box, too, like this 2002 fleer ultra gold medallion edition adam kennedy card

and quite a few ruby parallels from 2000 pacific.  among them were some double play turns like miguel cairo

who makes his second appearance in the post;

rey ordonez

who should have more double play cards than he does;

and miguel tejada

who may well have more double play cards than anyone else.  now, 2000 pacific had a black & white version of the card's front photo on the back, and since there were two tejada's sent my way, i'll add his back to the dp collection

this next one, i am considering to be a double play card because of jay bell's airborne state, and because why else would brian send me a 1998 fleer metal universe card of a royal?

you can't really see because of the scan, but bell is leaping over a butte rather than a sliding player.  it makes for some variety in the dp binder.

i'll showcase a few more dp cards from the patp box later...

all hands on deck

this week's installment of the 1979 post raisin bran steve garvey's baseball tips is a little 'pie in the sky' if you ask me.  i never had a whole lot of time in the on deck circle to make a lot of observations.  guys i hit behind went up there hacking.  things must be different in the pros, i guess.

on deck images of players are fairly boring, so there aren't too many that i am aware of.  usually when you see someone on deck, it's because they are in the background of someone at the plate, like on this 1998 upper deck bobby bonilla card

 or this 1999 pacific matt luke card

but there are some on deck cards nonetheless. perhaps the best example is the 1972 topps/o-pee-chee willie davis card (this is the o-pee-chee version)

although willie doesn't seem to be following the game too intently.  to me, it looks like he's enjoying some down time in the sun.

here's mike piazza's 1998 topps gallery card

piazza is getting his bat ready as the garv suggests, but will he have time to study the pitcher?  well, in 1997 i remember he was hitting behind raul mondesi who wasn't the most patient hitter, so i will guess that the answer is 'no'.

only about 5 weeks until spring training!

welcome (back) matt

[this is the fortieth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, and eddie murray.]

matt luke had a strange season in 1998.  the dodgers had picked him up on waivers from the yankees at the end of the previous season, and he began the 1998 campaign as a left-handed bat off the bench.  usually in these posts, i will show a card from the player's first tour of duty with the dodgers, followed by one from their in between team and then one from their return stint in la.  this post will be a bit different as there weren't many cards issued for luke in 1998; i think the 1998 pacific online card might be the only one.  i have a copy, but it's not scanned at the moment.  so, this 1999 fleer tradition card will have to suffice.

luke also was able to play the corner outfield spots as well as first base, so he got some playing time that way as well.  through may, luke was hitting .286 with 3 home runs.  unfortunately, the dodgers had acquired jim eisenreich, gary sheffield, and bobby bonilla in the mike piazza trade, and there was suddenly a glut of outfielders, including trenidad hubbard, todd hollandsworth, roger cedeno and matt luke.  when the dodgers called pitcher eric weaver up from albuquerque, luke was the odd man out, and was put on waivers.

the indians put a claim on luke, and he was soon off to the al central powerhouse.  uke made two appearances for the tribe, both as a pinch hitter, before he was designated for assignment.  the dodgers, who had lost hollandsworth to injury right around the time that they waived luke, purchased his contract back from cleveland.

so, within the span of just a couple of weeks, matt luke was a dodger double dipper.  upon his return to los angeles, he hit only .213, but he swatted 9 home runs in 69 games.  in all, he hit .236 with 12 home runs in 102 games for the dogers in 1998.  because of his short midseason stay in cleveland, there aren't any cards (that i know of) showing him in indians' gear.  so, instead, here's his 1999 upper deck card

luke was on the move after the 1998 season ended, signing a free agent deal with the anaheim angels for whom he would play his final big league season in 1999.  that move gave us this fairly awesome 1999 pacific aurora card, complete with luke in dodger gear but with the disney-fied angels logo in the corner.

these days, luke makes appearances on behalf of the dodgers and works in real estate.  knowing that he sometimes signs before games in autograph alley, i sent three cards to him c/o the dodgers a few months ago.  last week, the cards came back signed - the 1999 fleer tradition

the 1999 upper deck

and the 1999 pacific aurora

here's to you, matt luke - a dodger double dipper!  and thanks for signing my cards!

the evolution of the left fielder, part 3

continuing the evolution of the dodgers' primary left fielders (here are parts 1 and 2), billy ashley filled the role (just barely) in 1995

billy ashley (1995)

the 'can't miss' prospect missed, unfortunately.  ashley played in 81 games (69 in left) during the second straight strike-shortened season.  he hit just .237 with 8 home runs and an ops of .692.  he was the dodgers' version of rob deer, going for one of the three true outcomes 121 times in 244 plate appearances.  in fact, in all three of ashley's postseason appearances (including two pa's in 1995), he either struck out or walked.

todd hollandsworth (1996-1997)

holly won the rookie of the year award in 1996, patrolling center field for the dodgers and playing in 149 games.  he hit .291 with 12 home runs, 21 stolen bases and 59 rbi.  as the 1997 upper deck card above state, he did in fact drive in three runs against the giants on 7/21/96. he had also driven in three runs on opening day.  in 1997, hollandsworth played in only 106 games (80 in left, but only 39 starts there) and his numbers dropped across the board.  the dodgers also used billy ashley and eric anthony in left, and even picked up darren lewis at the trade deadline.  still, left field was hollandsworth's to lose, and he lost it in 1998 due to injury. 

matt luke (1998)

luke took over for hollandsworth in left after holly's season ended in early june thanks to a shoulder injury.  the most interesting thing about luke's 1998 season with the dodgers is that, in addition to being their primary left fielder, he was an in-season double dipper (post coming soon)!  he had played in 33 games and was hitting .286 when the dodgers waived him in early june.  the indians claimed him, and he appeared in 2 games for the tribe.  11 days after losing luke, and just after losing hollandsworth for the season, the dodgers purchased luke's contract from cleveland and he finished out the season patrolling left field for the blue.  he wound up hitting .236 with 12 home runs and 34 rbi on the season, which included a 4-at bat span in which he hit 3 home runs over two days in saint louis.

gary sheffield (1999-2001)

sheffield moved from right, where he played after the dodgers acquired him in the 1998 mike piazza trade, to left in 1999 as raul mondesi returned to right field after a year in center.  it's too bad sheffield was such a, how do you say, jerk (?) during his career because he was as good of a hitter as the dodgers have ever had.  his three full seasons in la included no less than 98 runs, 34 home runs, 100 rbi, 98 walks and a .301 average.  his 43 home runs in 2000 were not only a career high, but were also the most ever by a los angeles dodger, and tied the franchise mark set by duke snider in 1956 (since eclipsed by shawn green and adrian beltre).  he made the all-star team in 1999 and 2000, and finished 9th in the league's mvp voting in 2000.  sheffield holds the la dodger single season records for obp, slugging and ops, along with atbat/hr.  he is also the dodgers' all-time franchise leader in each of those categories.  still, he complained and moaned badly enough that the dodgers wanted nothing more to do with him, and they traded him to the braves prior to the 2002 season.

brian jordan (2002)

jordan was one of the guys the dodgers got in the sheffield deal.  he played in 128 games for the dodgers in 2002 and hit .285 with 18 home runs with 80 rbi.  he was hitting .299 in june of 2003 when his season ended with a knee injury.

jeromy burnitz (2003)

a couple of weeks after jordan went down, the dodgers went out and acquired burnitz from the mets.  in dodger blue, burnitz hit .204 with 13 home runs and 32 rbi.  the dodgers didn't re-sign him after the season, and he instead went to colorado and had a monster season.

jayson werth (2004)

werth had been picked up in a pre-season trade with the blue jays.  he was the nl west champion dodgers' primary left fielder, atlhough juan encarnacion, dave roberts, and fellow jim tracy 'league of ja(y)son' member jason grabowski also saw a good amount of time in left.  89 games, werth hit 16 home runs and had a .267 average.  in the nlds against the cardinals, he was pretty much the only bright spot for the dodgers offensively, hitting two home runs and a double in their four game loss.  unfortunately, his number slipped in 2005 and for the fifth time in five years, a different dodger spent the majority of the time in left (just barely).

rickey ledee (2005)

ledee spent just a few more innings in left for the dodgers in 2005 than did werth (390.1 to 345.1).  ledee's offensive numbers weren't too much to get excited about either, as he hit only 7 home runs to go with his .278 average.

up next, andre ethier, manny ramirez, and...

...jerry sands?  here's hopin'.