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!

more tales from the trade super collider

here are some more cards i received from arpsmith recently

2009 topps walmart black casey blake

and chad billingsley

plus a 2012 topps heritage aaron harang

there were more cards, too, but one can only scan so many.  i picked the harang because who knows why.

brian at play at the plate included some chrome stuff from 2011 - andre ethier orange refractor

and jerry sands regular refractor.

i think the sands is a refractor, anyway.  sands is really struggling in aaa this year.  with mccutcheon, marte, and travis snider in the bigs, there isn't much room for sands.  add jose tabata to the mix, and it looks like it will be tough for sands to break through in pittsburgh.

here's a matt kemp 2012 bowman gold parallel

and a purple parallel(ogram) from 2012 bowman prospects of jt wise

wise is in aa this year, hitting .265 and playing first base.  his way also seems blocked.

a few more from brian - 2012 topps gypsy queen sandy koufax gold frame parallel

and some 2012 bowman platinum - andre ethier

and clatyon kershaw

if i recall correctly, those are just the base versions, not blue parallels.  they scan up real nice.  there are a few colored parallels, though - gold, emerald, and ruby

speaking of which, doc holoday sent me one of those

it's nice even in it's miscut glory.  i have to remember to stop putting shiny cards on the left part of my scanner.

finally (for this post) here is a 2012 topps jerry sands gold sparkle

thanks again guys!

ely come, ely go

it was way back in may of 2010 that i was struck with 'ely-mania' thanks to a string of quality starts from john ely, one of the two pitchers the dodgers received from the white sox in exchange for juan pierre.  the wheels fell off of the bandwagon shortly thereafter, as ely went 1-8 after beginning his career with a 3-2 record in his first 6 starts.  here is a 2010 topps update 'peek' (not 'peak') performance autograph of ely

which calls attention to his june 1 start against the diamondbacks.  he allowed only two hits in his seven scoreless innings of work that day, but had a no-decision in the dodgers' 1-0 victory - a victory courtesy of a 10th-inning matt kemp walk-off home run.

here is another card featuring ely that i have had sitting around for a while - a 2010 bowman 'topps 100' card

i don't know what 'topps 100' means, but i am showing this card today because ely was traded, with little fanfare i might add, to the houston astros back in december.  ely was 4-13 over three seasons with the dodgers and now heads to the american league.  the other pitcher the dodgers acquired in the pierre deal, jon link, left the organization after the 2011 season and spent last year in the orioles' and marlins' minor leagues.

ely is not the only former dodger for whom i have had scanned cards sitting around, waiting for a post such as this.  so, let's take a look at some other now-former dodgers.  like andrew lambo, for instance, and his 2010 bowman 'bowman expectations' card

lambo was one of the players (james mcdonald being the other) that ned sent to the pirates at the 2010 trade deadline for octavio dotel.  pittsburgh has become a sort of dumping grounds for ned and former dodger prospects, with andy laroche and delwyn young also sent to the pirates, and ivan dejesus jr and jerry sands (more on him later) winding up there after being included in a deal with the red sox.  anyway,  lambo and mcdonald for what? six weeks of dotel? dotel was then traded to the rockies for minor leaguer anthony jackson, who is four or five years older than lambo.  lambo was suspended for violating mlb's drug policy while with the dodgers, but i don't recall it being for peds.  he still has some time to pan out.

eric stults, seen here on a 2008 topps update & highlights gold card

hasn't been with the dodgers since 2009.  he spent 2010 in japan before returning to the majors in 2011 with the rockies.  he started last season with the white sox, but was picked up by the padres on waivers in may.

more recently dismissed by the dodgers is russ mitchell, whose lone baseball card appearance in dodger blue (as far as i know) came courtesy of 2011 topps heritage

four of mitchell's 14 hits for the dodgers over the 2010 and 2011 seasons were home runs, but he was released by the team last spring.  he quickly signed on with the miami marlins, but was released by them after a month or so.  he then signed with the giants, but was again released prior to making it back to the big leagues.  in december of 2012, mitchell signed a free agent deal with the rockies, so we'll see what happens this spring.

mike macdougal, on the other hand, has yet to sign with a team for the 2013 season.  here he is on his 2011 topps update card

as well as his diamond collection parallel thingy

macdougal pitched well for the dodgers in 2011, going 3-1 with a 2.05 era in 69 appearances.  he was released after only 7 appearances in 2012, however, as his era was over 7.  he signed on with the cubs and then the nationals, but didn't get back to the majors with either team.

rubby de la rosa, seen here pitching in dodger stadium on his 2011 topps update card

and cognac parallel

along with jerry sands on his 2011 topps update card

and 2012 topps heritage card

were part of the big dodgers-red sox blockbuster trade from last year.  specifically, they were the players to be named later in the deal, but were known at the time of the trade.  de la rosa apparently fits into the red sox' plans, but sands was traded to the pirates in the joel hanrahan (another former dodger farmhand) deal.   i'm not sure how this will turn out for sands, as the pirates seem to have a lot of outfield depth already.

i'll end this post of departed dodgers with a 2008 upper deck x autographed card of ramon troncoso

troncoso pitched for the dodgers in every season from 2008 through 2011, but spent all of 2012 at aaa after clearing waivers.  his best season by far was 2009 when he appeared in 73 games and posted a 2.72 era.  he also had 3 scoreless appearances in the nlcs that year.  if he returns to the postseason in 2013 it won't be as a dodger, because after the 2012 season, troncoso signed a free agent deal with the white sox.

that's all for this edition of recent dodgers turned former dodgers.  i'm sure there will be more to come, right ned?

lurking coaches

too often coaches get the shaft when it comes to baseball cards.  i don't think topps has officially recognized coaches in their flagship set since 1974, and there have been precious few coaches cards in other sets.  usually, the only time a coach shows up on cardboard these days is in a team set designed for a stadium giveaway or fan pack, or, in the case of ron perranoski in 1987 and again in 1989, when there's a crowd.  here are a few cards upon which some coaches have managed to make an appearance.  and the cards are better for it, in my opinion.

first, danny ozark is walking into position in the background of billy grabarkewitz's 1970 topps card.

this scene continues to play out on jeff torborg's 1970 and 1971 topps cards, by the way.

next up, we have joe amalfitano coaching over at third base as mariano duncan takes a lead on his 1985 topps traded card

amalfitano last made an appearance on a topps card in 1973, i believe, as a member of the giants' coaching staff.  he's back with the giants these days in some capacity, and duncan is no longer a dodger coach either.

here's a cool card - it's actually the back of armando reynoso's 1992 upper deck card

that's dodger coach joe ferguson in the background, headed down the right field line in chavez ravine.  fergie coached under tommy lasorda from 1988 through 1994.

for a long time, mark cresse was the dodgers' bullpen coach.  that's him sitting down in the background of cory snyder's 1994 ud collector's choice card

which also features foreground lurker jody reed.  cresse served under managers walt alston, tommy lasorda, bill russell, and this next lurker, glenn hoffman, who finds a spot on jim tracy's 2004 topps card

hoffman took over on an interim basis after bill russell was fired in 1998.  cresse didn't last long under hoffman's regime, as he was fired along with hitting coach reggie smith and pitching coach glenn gregson shortly after hoffman took over.  hoffman himself was replaced as manager by davey johnson in 1999, but he stayed on as a coach under johnson and his replacement, jim tracy.

with davey lopes back in town, i am always on the lookout for a glimpse of him in the background of a card.  unfortunately, it's third base coach tim wallach who is lurking on jerry sands' 2012 topps card

still, an arm of wallach is better than pretending that the coaches don't exist.  here's hoping that all of wallach or lopes or trey hillman or kenny howell or whoever replaces dave hansen shows up in the background on some 2013 cards.

nothing compares 2 u

well, it's time for the annual 'topps flagship/topps dodger factory team set' card comparison.  in 2012, topps issued a 17-card set chock full of dodger variants.  let's take a look.  as always, it's flagship on the left, factory set on the right.

i'll start with the factory set card that has no equivalent in the flagship set - the dodger stadium card - which also happens to be card number lad17, the last card in the set.

it's real purty.

now we'll go in number order - from lad1 to lad16.  here's number 1, matt kemp.

it's the same.

lad2, jerry sands

a photo variation!  can't wait until 2013 topps comes out, and we can see one of these images photoshopped into red sox stuff.

lad3 - mark ellis

photo/cropping variation.  also photoshopped.  it's hard to believe that topps couldn't get an actual photo of ellis in a dodger uniform for series 2.

lad4 - juan uribe

i'm not sure that we want to get a closer look at juan uribe, but the factory set takes us there just in case.

lad5 - juan rivera

back to the same ol', same ol'

lad6 - ted lilly

more of the same.  will he even be in the factory team set next year?

lad7 - andre ethier

mild - not extreme - closeup.

lad8 - clayton kershaw

it's the same.  still a nice card.

lad9 - james loney

same goes for loney.  still a nice card

lad10 - kenley jansen

more adventures in tighter crops

lad11 - aaron harang

ditto.  makes me wonder why they left ted lilly alone.

lad12 - tony gwynn, jr

finally, another true photo variation!  although i prefer the photo from the flagship set.

lad13 - dee gordon

it's the same, but it's a good card.  i am glad the factory team set used this photo and not the one from gordon's rookie cup card.

lad14 - chad billingsley

this one was best left alone.  nice bullpen shot in the background.

lad15 - javy guerra

there's no use even trying to improve upon the handshake card.  thanks topps, for not even trying.

lad16 - nathan eovaldi

and, we finish with 4 cards in a row that are the same between the two sets.  still, there were 8 cards that were different.  i'm hoping 2013 brings even more.