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!

adding some heart and soul to my collection

paul loduca ranks pretty high on my list of least favorite dodgers.  part of it stems from the reaction that jim tracy had after loduca was traded to the marlins in 2004 for brad penny and hee seop choi.  tracy broke down, saying that loduca was the heart and soul of the team, and even wound up switching his uniform number to 16 to honor the departed catcher.  i think tracy wound up taking his frustration out on poor hee seop.  anyway, i don't dislike loduca enough to keep him out of my collection, and this 2003 playoff piece of the game auto/relic card will attest to that.

it was one of many cards in a dodger lot i recently purchased on the cheap.  the lot also included this 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia auto of jason frasor

frasor was acquired by the dodgers from the tigers in 2002 but never appeared in a big league game wearing dodger blue. he was dealt to the blue jays for jayson werth prior to the 2004 season.  jim tracy didn't mind that trade as much, since he was stockpiling ja(y)sons (werth, phillips, repko, and grabowski) and the net ja(y)son loss in that deal was zero.

there were a couple of eric gagne relics in the lot - this one from 2004 bowman sterling

and this one from 2006 upper deck

darren dreifort was the highest draft pick the dodgers have ever had.  he was taken second overall in the 1993 june draft right after alex rodriguez.  this is a 1993 classic four sport autographed card

i wonder if dreifort would have had more success and fewer injuries had the dodgers kept him in the bullpen, although you don't use the number 2 pick on a reliever.

the previous year, one of the dodgers' first round picks had been ryan luzinski, seen here on something i believe to be a 1995 signature rookies autographed card

luzinski was a sandwich pick as the dodgers' compensation pick for the loss of eddie murray who signed a free agent deal with the mets (luzinski was selected a few spots ahead of johnny damon, for what it's worth).  it's worth noting that the dodgers' regular first round pick was lost to the blue jays thanks to the tom candiotti signing.  the jays took shannon stewart with that pick.

fast forward ten years, and the dodgers selected greg miller with their 2002 sandwich pick as compensation for the loss of chan ho park (james loney was the team's regular first round pick that year).  like luzinski, miller never made it to the bigs, but he did get a relic card in upper deck's 2002 prospect premieres issue

miller was looking like the real deal in 2003, but he ran in to shoulder problems and missed all of 2004. he returned to the dodgers' minor league system in 2005, but was never able to regain his control or finesse.

finally, here's a 2006 bowman heritage bat card of rafael furcal

furcal replaced cesar izturis as the dodgers' shortstop just as grady little was replacing jim tracy as manager.  and, as far as i can remember, little didn't freak out when izturis was traded to the cubs for greg maddux.  he must not have been the team's heart and soul.