the cuts are legendary in the next installment of sheets from the steve garvey binders

the first five cards of sheet 64 in the steve garvey binders feature a photo (well, two photos) of him wearing the dual-ear flap batting helmet.  if i were to ever have a conversation with garvey, i would ask him about wearing that type of helmet that was usually reserved for switch-hitters and amateurs.  here is sheet 64:

those cards are:

1. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts baseball chronology materials relic
2. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /225
3. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /199
4. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /99
5. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /15
6. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts memorable moments materials relic /225
7. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts when it was a game silver /550
8. 2006 upper deck ultimate collection ultimate ensemble signatures quad auto (with ron cey, don sutton, and dusty baker) /25
9. 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials relic /199

looks like padre relics on cards 1 and 6 (which are dodger cards), which always bugs me a bit.  there are a number of other parallels, and a relic version of card 7, that i am missing from the 2006 legendary cuts set.  the 2007 legendary cuts set has two versions of the legendary materials cards for garvey - one is a padres version and the other is the dodger version that i have.

here are the backs:

moving on to sheet 65:

those cards are:

1. 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials dual relic /125
2. 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts masterful materials relic
3. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic /575
4. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic classic memorabilia relic
5. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic classic memorabilia patch relic /55
6. 2008 dodger pocket schedules (with james loney)
7. 2008 donruss threads
8. 2008 donruss threads century proof silver parallel /100
9. 2008 donruss threads jerseys relic (yellow swatch) /150

so there is the padre version of the legendary materials card, although it is the dual relic version.  there are also quad relic versions of both the dodger and padre cards, but i don't have either.  i was disappointed back in 2007 to see garvey as a padre in the sweet spot classic base set and jersey insert checklist, but at least they got the relic swatches matched up with the team this time.  and, at least they had garvey as a dodger on the signature cards in the set (more on those in a future post).

i suppose that the pocket schedule really belongs in the oddball binder, but it fits nicely here in a 9-pocket page, so here it remains.  there are a number of versions of the schedules with then-current dodgers and past dodgers matched by position as is the case with loney.

here are the backs:

you can see on the back of card 8 that i have the /100 version of the donruss threads parallel, and that i am still looking for the /250 version.  that card is target number 1 on the nefarious 9.

how to assemble an atomic team set

i finally bit the bullet and bought the last few cards i needed to complete the 2011 topps chrome atomic refractor dodger team set.  i really like these kaleidoscope looking things.

clayton kershaw

of the 10 dodgers in the set, mr. cy young/mvp is one of only two players still with the dodgers.

chad billingsley

bills is pitching for the phils now. he's on the dl, but has made a couple of rehab starts in the minors as he works his way back from tommy john surgery.

dee gordon

dee is playing second base for the marlins following an offseason trade. he's hitting .348 with 7 steals so far in 2015.

jerry sands

sands was traded (as one of the players to be named later) to the red sox in the big adrian gonzalez/josh beckett/carl crawford deal, but was flipped to the pirates for joel hanrahan a short time later.  he finally resurfaced in the majors with the rays in 2014, and is currently hitting .381 for the indians in 7 games this year.

those were the last four cards i needed to complete my team set, but here are the other cards just to be thorough about it.

jonathan broxton

broxton is pitching out of the brewer bullpen these days. the good news is that his k/9 ratio is up (10 strikeouts in 6.2 innings so far in 2015), but so his is era (6.75).

ivan dejesus

dejesus was included with sands in the trade with boston in 2012, as well as the trade with the pirates that followed. unlike sands, dejesus played for boston in 2012 - he was 0 for 8.  that was the last big league action he's seen, but he's currently playing in the reds organization and hitting .364 at triple-a louisville.

andre ethier

currently the dodgers' fourth outfielder, ethier has appeared in 14 games and is hitting .276 in 2015.

rafael furcal

furky has been hobbled by injuries the last couple of years, playing in just a few games for the marlins last year after missing all of 2013.  he's currently with the royals, although still injured.

matt kemp

kemp seems to be enjoying himself in san diego, and he's healthy to boot. he's played in all 17 games this season, and is hitting .333 with a couple of triples, 14 rbi, and two steals.

james loney

loney was another one included in that 2012 trade with the bosox, but he is the rays' first baseman now.  he has only appeared in one game this season, however, as he suffered an oblique strain in the season opener.

good ol' chrome.  i think i will shift my attention to the 2007 topps chrome blue refractor dodger team set next.

8 jd drew

23 andre ethier

48 rafael furcal

54 jeff kent

106 brad penny

125 juan pierre

128 chad billingsley

149 jason schmidt

159 matt kemp

173 randy wolf

176 takashi saito

193 russell martin

229 derek lowe

275 greg maddux

please help me out if you can!

random relics

relic cards aren't the draw that they used to be, that's for sure. questions about authenticity and overproduction have removed much of the luster from them.  the novelty that persuaded me to pay $20 for a pack of pacific game used back in 2001, only to get a piece of neifi perez's bat has certainly worn off.  these days, relic cards are practically a dime a dozen.

with that said, here are 10 that i am happy to have in my collection, even though they've been wallowing in my scanned folder without a post to display them for quite some time.  i'll note what each relic is, based on the guarantee on the back of the card.

2002 upper deck sp legendary cuts pee wee reese game used jersey

2005 upper deck classics bill russell game used pants

2005 upper deck classics pedro guerrero game used jersey

2001 upper deck sp game bat edition gary sheffield game used bat

2003 upper deck honor roll hideo nomo game used jersey

2004 donruss throwback threads hideo nomo game worn jersey

2004 upper deck vintage hideo nomo game used jersey

2004 upper deck shawn green game used jersey

because shawn green probably has the most dodger relic cards of anyone out there - at least from the peak era of relic cards.

2005 topps opening day paul loduca game worn jersey

you can see where the dodger script patch was removed from this particular swatch

2010 topps heritage james loney game worn jersey

on all of the cards except loney's, the guarantee on the back specifically ties the jersey, bat, or pants to the player on the front of the card and notes that said jersey, bat, or pants were worn or used in an official major league baseball game.  there is no guarantee on the back of loney's card, only the mention of "game-worn jersey" on the front.  i am left to assume that it is loney's jersey, but who knows for sure? also left unsaid is in what sort of game was this jersey worn?

i know this has all been said before, but i needed a vehicle to get these cards out of the scanned folder.  i'm still collecting these, by the way, as long as there's a dodger on the front of the card.

more autograph successes to celebrate

one of the last ttm requests i sent out in 2014 was to former dodger pitcher greg shanahan.  he was featured on a 4-player rookie card in the 1974 topps set, and so i asked him to sign one of my doubles.  he obliged in quick fashion.

i appreciate him staring down the giant pitcher on the card, and i appreciate him signing for me, too.

a few months earlier, i received a return of my 2004 topps dave roberts card signed by the former dodger and current padres bench coach

and, a couple of years before that, i received a return of my 2008 topps allen & ginter james loney card from the former dodger first baseman

i hadn't bothered to show this before because i have another one just like it that reader cory got signed for me at spring training that same year.

i've been holding on to this next one for even longer - i'd say 6 years or so.  it's a royals' team issue print, as far as i can figure, signed by former manager whitey herzog

herzog has a couple of my 1978 topps cards that i don't expect to see back since he signs for a fee - something i didn't realize when i sent the cards to him.  this autograph was given to me by a coworker who attended a work related conference at which herzog was signing.  i've attended the same annual conference in the past, and picked up autographs from ron santo and kent hrbek in the process, but i missed this particular one in kc.  my coworker/friend folded the sheet to more easily carry it around in his coat pocket, but i don't mind - it's the thought that counts.

finally, here is a 1990 topps card signed by alejandro pena

alas, this card was part of a lot of signed cards that i purchased a few years ago.  still, i am happy to have it in the collection.

thanks, as always, to those who take the time to sign cards for us collectors!

let's get atomic in here. seriously. find me some 2011 topps chrome atomic refractors and be rewarded for it.

i feel like the girl with kaleidoscope eyes, without all the 'lucy in the sky with diamonds' nonsense. that's because i'm looking at some 2011 topps chrome atomic refractors.  i've got a few in my collection now, after posting my matt kemp card and asking for more 364 days ago.

now, i also have jonathan broxton

andre ethier

james loney

and rafael furcal

who is still turning two as an outfielder.

in addition to the kemp card, i also had ivan dejesus

when 2014 started, but i figured i would show him and kemp

again.

i also picked up a 2011 topps chrome chad billingsley xfractor recently

which is close, but not quite atomic.

so, i'm down to four that i need to complete my team set:

107 clayton kershaw
167 chad billingsley
211 jerry sands
212 dee gordon

kershaw and billingsley sit on the nefarious 9 list, but each of these cards are high priority targets for me.  if you can find one, you will be rewarded - i've got some 1950's vintage sitting around with nothing to do...

dodgers walking the plank

i recently completed my first trade with the overly generous and world cup of trading champion matthew from bob walk the plank.  there was so much to enjoy in the cards that he sent.

this is a 2011 panini limited shawn green auto

it's only the second autograph card of a guy who at one time was my favorite non-dodger and then my favorite dodger that i have in my collection.  the back of the card mentions dodger broadcasting legend and hall of famer vin scully and green's monster 4-home run game in 2002 - a game which i attended.  good stuff.

there was another auto in the package - this 2014 topps museum collection ricky nolasco card

topps went all-in with nolasco in their 2014 releases, even though he signed with the twins in the offseason.  the result is an abundance of signed nolasco dodger cards, of which i now have two.  nice.

there were some regular ol' base cards sent along as well, like these cards from 2014 topps opening day:

yasiel puig

carl crawford

and clayton kershaw

kershaw chose not to stick his tongue out for the camera like the other two

matthew reached back to 2009 as well, sending a few dodgers from the 2009 topps 206 set.  here's chad billingsley

who will hopefully anchor the back end of the rotation in 2015.

andre ethier

with andrew friedman in the loop, i wonder if ethier will lose his fourth outfielder spot in favor of joc pederson.  ethier's got 3 years and over $50 million left on his contract, so he may very well stay.

matt kemp

kemp's got 5 years and over $100 million left on his deal.  his agent is now the gm of the diamondbacks, which might make me nervous if his contract weren't so large.  kemp is the kind of guy that i would really like to see wear dodger blue until he retires.

rafael furcal

speaking of retirement, furky finally made it back from injury to appear in a handful of games with the marlins last season but is a free agent and may be looking at the end of the line.

here's a james loney relic from the set as well

loney is not doing too badly in tampa - he hit .290 last season and played decent defense - and i still hold him in high regard thanks to that grand slam he hit in the 2008 nlds against the cubs.

last, but certainly not least, here is the first card in my collection from the 2013 leaf memories buyback set.

it's a 1991 leaf darryl strawberry buyback stamped 3/5.  3/5 is appropriate because 3 is the number of seasons that darryl played for the dodgers out of the 5-year contract to which they signed him.  following a fairly productive season in 1991, he saw limited playing time in 1992 and 1993, and was released without playing for the team in 1994.  still, a nice card to cap a great trade.

thanks for the cards matthew!

the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman, part 2

in the first installment of the evolution of dodger first basemen, we ended with hall of famer eddie murray signing a free agent deal with the mets, making room for someone else on the evolutionary chain.  the dodgers acquired todd benzinger via trade shortly after losing murray, but a rookie ultimately won the job in spring training.

eric karros (1992-2002)

yes, for 11 seasons, karros was the dodgers' first baseman.  that is the longest tenure since gil hodges, who just happened to be karros' dad's favorite player.  karros (shown on his 1992 upper deck card) was never an all-star, but he put up solid numbers.  he won the 1992 nl rookie of the year award with 20 homers and 88 rbi, and had probably his best all-around season in 1995.  that year, he led the dodgers to the postseason for the first time since 1988 with a .298 average and 32 homers and 105 rbi - good enough to win the silver slugger and finish 5th in the mvp voting. he also hit 2 homers with a .500 average in the nlds against the reds, but the dodgers were swept.  following the 2002 season, karros was traded to the cubs, but his name remains at or near the top of many los angeles dodger leader boards today.  karros is the all-time la dodger leader in home runs (270), and he is fourth (behind bill russell, willie davis, and steve garvey) in games played.  he trails only davis and garvey in total bases and doubles, and only garvey in rbi.  karros is also currently the all-time la dodger leader in strikeouts, but matt kemp (should he remain a dodger next year) will pass him as soon as he k's 54 more times.

i suspect that the karros/mark grudzielanek for todd hundley/chad hermanson deal was a salary dump (the dodgers saved themselves over $10 million (if one assumes that karros' option would have kicked in) with the trade, even taking on hundley's salary.  the dodgers had paul loduca behind the plate, so they didn't need hundley, but they did need a first baseman to replace karros.  so, they took the guy who had been playing there for the cubs.

fred mcgriff (2003)

a couple of weeks after trading karros to the cubs, the dodgers signed former southsider first baseman fred mcgriff.  that's his 2003 playoff prestige card, giving a sort of o-pee-chee vibe.  the crime dog had joined the cubs during the 2001 season after it became apparent that the team had gotten rid of mark grace too soon - matt stairs wasn't cutting it as grace's replacement.  mcgriff, who had averaged 30 home runs a season in his previous 16 seasons, needed just 22 to reach 500 for his career, and i sure thought that he would do it with the dodgers.  unfortunately, mcgriff hit only 13 home runs while playing in only 86 games.  in fact, he started only 79 games at first base, with jim tracy using seven other players at first (including ron coomer, robin ventura, daryle ward, paul loduca, mike kinkade, larry barnes, and even jolbert cabrera).  mcgriff returned to the devil rays for the 2004 season, but still fell 7 homers shy of 500.

shawn green (2004)

green, shown playing first on his 2005 upper deck card, had moved to the infield following the team's acquisition of milton bradley just prior to the beginning of the 2004 season.  earlier in spring training, green had worked out at first, but jim tracy said that he would be playing right field once the season began.  so much for that.  2004 turned out to be green's swan song for the dodgers, and he hit 28 homers with 86 rbi and a .266 average.  he also hit 3 homers in the nlds against the cardinals that year.  i was a big shawn green fan even before he joined the dodgers, and i was sad to see him go.

hee-seop choi (2005)

that's a 2005 bowman sterling bat relic card of hee-seop choi, once thought to be the answer for the cubs at first base following the departure of the aforementioned fred mcgriff and some seasoning behind karros.  instead, the cubs dealt choi to the marlins for derrek lee (a good deal as it turned out), and the fish sent choi to the dodgers in the 2004 trade that broke jim tracy's heart.  ok, that might be a bit extreme, but tracy lamented the loss of paul loduca in that trade, and i'm not completely certain that he didn't take some of his frustration out on choi.  choi began the 2005 season as the team's first baseman, and wound up hitting 15 homers with 42 rbi in 133 games, only 78 of which were starts at first base.  choi participated in the home run derby during the all-star break (he had hit 3 homers in a game against the twins in june and 6 in the series against the twinkies) but was essentially just a pinch hitter for tracy following the break.  he lost most of his starts to olmedo saenz in the second half.

nomar garciaparra (2006)

nomah! that's nomar's 2006 upper deck sweet spot update card - not sure why upper deck issued an update to sweet spot, but i'll take it.  there are too few cards of nomar as a dodger.  nomar had never played first base in the major leagues before joining the dodgers, but that's all he played in 2006.  he appeared in 122 games for the dodgers that year, 117 of which were starts at first.  as the nl comeback player of the year, nomar hit .303 with 20 homers, 82 runs scored, and 93 runs driven in.  he made the all-star team and finished 13th in the mvp voting, while helping the dodgers reach the postseason.  despite a move to third in 2007, nomar still played more games at first base, but not as many as james loney, the next step on the evolutionary chain.

james loney (2007-2012)

after four 'one and done' first basemen, loney (shown on a 2008 upper deck baseball heroes relic card) brought some stability back to the position.  he hit .331 as a rookie in 2007 in 96 games (85 of which were starts at first) and also hit 15 home runs.  other than a dip in 2010, loney was pretty consistent in his first few seasons with the dodgers, driving in around 90 runs and hitting in the high .280's.  he was slumping in 2012, batting just .254 with 4 homers and 33 rbi after 114 games played, when he was traded to the red sox in the megadeal that landed the dodgers their current first baseman.

adrian gonzalez (2013-present)

that's gonzalez's 2013 topps finest card, by the way.  gonzalez hit .297 as a dodger during the 2012 season after the trade, and then hit .293 in his first full season with the club.  this year, he is batting just .276 (through this past sunday), but he has eclipsed last year's 22 homers and 100 rbi with 23 long balls and 103 runs driven in so far this year.  i am hoping that he eclipses his postseason numbers from last year as well, as he hit over .300 with 3 homers and 7 rbi in the 2013 playoffs.

and so we have reached the end of not only the dodgers' first baseman evolution, but the evolution of each position.  you can use the 'evolution' label to find the posts for all of the positions (some may be slightly outdated as i began this with a run through the managers over five years ago).  it's been fun tracking the history of the dodgers by position using baseball cards, which was one of the goals i had when i started this blog almost 6 years ago, although that also means i am getting closer to the end.