et tu, bill russell?

steve garvey wore a padres uniform.  ron cey suited up for the cubs and a's.  davey lopes wore the uniform of the a's, cubs, and astros as a big league player, and then wore rangers, padre, brewers, nationals, and phillies gear as a coach/manager at the big league level.  there are plenty of cards that show evidence of those three infielders wearing non-dodger uniforms, but i didn't think that was the case for the fourth - bill russell.

there was only one season in which russell wore a non-dodger uniform in the major leagues, and it was in 2000 when he served as the bench coach for the tampa bay devil rays.  i didn't think that there were any cards showing russell in his devil ray gear, and i may be correct, but i did stumble across this card, a 1999 multi-ad sports orlando rays card 

showing the shortstop of the team of my youth as the manager for tampa bay's triple-a team the year before joining the big league club as its bench coach.  this came after russell was fired by the fox folks and our hopes of another long-tenured dodger manager were dashed.  any and all cards of bill russell have a place in my collection, so i was happy to find this one.  and, apparently, there is another minor league card of russell showing him as the skipper for the shreveport swamp dragons in 2002. that was a giants farm team (shudder).

speaking of giants, i also found a couple of cards showing reggie smith, the right fielder for the team of my youth, wearing giant gear.  although, it's not san francisco giant duds, it's the uniform of the yomiuri giants

both cards are from the 2013 bbm legendary foreigners 2: deep impact set, according to check out my cards.  both cards are incredibly awesome, as well.  after spending one season (1982) with the nocal giants, reggie went to japan for a tumultuous year and a half, starting in 1983.  that second 'off shot' card is pretty cool, with reggie tipping his cap.  it would fit in my 'nob' mini collection, although i still haven't made that an official thing.  

i do have an official 'tatooine collection' featuring cards with nothing but dirt in the photo background.  this 2006 topps mickey mantle 2002 card fits the bill.

in 2006, topps essentially created mantle cards for all of the sets that had left card number 7 vacant - i believe it was from 1997 on.  still waiting for a mantle in the 1978 topps design...

moving along with some other recent pick-ups, there are few images that work better for companies without a license to use logos than the maskless catcher in gear.  such is the case with this 2013 panini elite extra edition mike piazza historic picks insert

there were 75 rounds in the 1988 draft, although not all teams participated in all rounds, and piazza is the lowest pick in the draft to make it to the majors.  the dodgers took eric karros 56 rounds earlier, in the sixth round of that draft.

speaking of sixth round draft picks, here's a shiny matt kemp 2011 topps finest refractor of matt kemp

kemp was the dodgers' sixth rounder in 2003.  i also grabbed a 2007 topps chrome blue refractor parallel of kemp

for my latest target as far as team sets go.  also new to the collection towards that endeavor are rafael furcal

derek lowe

and jason schmidt

just four left - randy wolf, andre ethier, takashi saito, and greg maddux.

another team set i am working on, but not really, is the 1953 topps team set.  i added rube walker

to my collection, but there are still many high ticket cards to be had before i am complete with that one.  someday, perhaps.

i began this post with one of the infielders for whom this blog is named in a strange uniform and ended it with a 1953 topps card of a brooklyn dodger named rube who later became a pitching coach, including for the mets during gil hodges' managerial reign and beyond.  as such, walker appeared on a couple of topps cards in 1973 and 1974 as a coach.  i wish the same luxury was afforded russell in 2000.

i'd really like to find one more auto card from 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic for the steve garvey binder

here are the other two 8-pocket pages from my steve garvey binders. they contain the thicker cards that just don't fit in the standard 9-pocket sheets.  you'll see what i meant in the title of this post when you see these sheets.  here's the first one:

those cards are:

1. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic signatures gold stitch black ink autograph /99
2. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic signatures gold stitch blue ink autograph /50
3. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic signatures barrel blue ink autograph /75
4. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic signatures barrel black ink autograph /50
5. 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic dual signatures gold stitch black ink autograph (with reggie smith) /15
6. 2008 topps sterling jumbo patch relic (dodgers - 36) 1/1
7. 2008 topps sterling jumbo patch relic (dodgers - 13) 1/1
8. 2010 topps update manufactured bat barrel /99

there are plenty more sweet spot classic auto cards to be had, too, as there are red stitch and black stitch and leather cards in various quantities out there, including a red stitch version of the former most wanted dual auto with reggie smith card.  i recently missed out on a leather version of the garvey auto, which is too bad becasuse i don't have one of those, and also because it would have greatly improved the feng shui of the sheet.  those two sterling cards are serial numbered 1/1, but there are a number of them.  there are both dodger and padre versions, and there are at least 36 of the dodger version, since i have one numbered on the back as "sgd36" and the other is "sgd10".

here are the backs:

yes, the gold stitch/black ink card was a graded card when i obtained it. i've kept the grading info for posterity, but the card itself has long been free from its plastic cage.

here's the next sheet:

those cards are:

1. 2010 topps update manufactured bat barrel /25
2. 2011 topps marquee acclaimed impressions dual relic autographs (with '6' inscription; red patch and gray jersey) /126
3. 2011 topps marquee acclaimed impressions dual relic autographs (blue patch and gray jersey) /126
4. 2011 topps update commemorative patch
5. 2012 topps gold world series champions pin
6. 2013 topps museum collection primary pieces four player quad relics (with andre ethier, matt kemp, and sandy koufax) /99
7. 2013 topps museum collection primary pieces four player quad relics copper (with andre ethier, matt kemp, and sandy koufax) /75

once again, i have two versions of the marquee dual relic auto card because of the nice red patch.  speaking of patches, even though i only have the /99 and /75 versions of the museum collection card, i have seen versions from those print runs with patches on the ethier and/or kemp relics.  the /25 gold version definitely features patches from those two.

here are the backs:

so, one more card would fill out the 8-pocket sheets nicely, not that they are too bad to begin with, i suppose.

there's a new most wanted card in town

for a long time, perhaps for as long as i have had the nefarious 9 (my most wanted cards) listed on the sidebar of this blog, the card at the top of the list was a 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic steve garvey/reggie smith dual signatures card.

now i have one.

this is a gold stitch version which is numbered to 15.  and, it's 08/15 which means it's an ebay 1/1, since that's reggie smith's jersey number.  good thing there don't seem to be any reggie smith supercollectors. i am joking about the ebay 1/1 nonsense, but i am happy about the lack of competition for this card as i picked it up for less than i had anticipated.  the signatures are bleeding, but at least they are not completely faded like some cards from this set.

i suppose i still am on the lookout for the regular version of the card, but i've removed it from the most wanted list. that means that anyone who finds a 2008 donruss threads steve garvey /250 parallel will be rewarded!

allow me to show you one of my favorite sheets from my steve garvey binders

sheet 31 from the steve garvey binders keeps us in 2001, and it features what may be the jewel of my steve garvey collection.  take a look:

those cards are:

1. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (bronze)
2. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (silver/career)
3. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (gold/season)
4. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (century) - red patch
5. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (century) - blue patch
6. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (jersey number) - red patch
7. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's
8. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's (award winners)
9. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's bellbottomed bashers insert

2001 leaf certified materials is hands down my favorite relic set ever.  i have a few other dodgers, including a drysdale jersey number patch and an adrian beltre jersey number/logoman patch, but the garvey jersey number is my favorite card.  as you'll see on the back, it's numbered 6/6.  here are the backs, by the way:

the bronze version of the jersey relics are unnumbered, with the silver/career version being numbered to some significant career number.  in garvey's case, that would be 272 - the number of home runs he hit in the major leagues.  the gold version is numbered to a season related number, and for the garv, that number is 33 - the number of home runs he hit in 1977 (a career high).  it's strange that the front of the card talks about his 115 rbi that year, and not the 33 homers.  the century version is numbered to 21 (the 21st century), and i have two of these.  one features the red patch from his jersey number on the front of his uniform, and the other features a blue patch from elsewhere within the chest script.  i used to have a third century card with a blue patch, but sold it several years ago.  the sixth card on the sheet is the 6/6 card and it is gorious.  i am a big fan of the red dodger patch.

not to be ignored, the 2001 upper deck decade 1970's cards continue on sheet 32:

 those cards are:

1. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's decade dynasties insert
2. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat relic
3. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic all-star game mvp's
4. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic la dodgers
5. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic national league mvp's
6. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic 1974 world series
7. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic 1977 world series
8. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial
9. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial relic

lots of great 1970's players featured on those bat cards - joe morgan, bill madlock, dave parker, johnny bench, george foster, reggie jackson, bert campaneris, willie stargell, and graig nettles, not to mention garvey, ron cey, bill russell, and rick monday.  every time i look at that particular card, i am reminded of how close upper deck came to creating a garvey cey russell lopes relic card.

here are the backs:

i suppose that it is worth noting that the upper deck minor league centennial card doesn't feature a photo of garvey from his minor league days, but rather a dodger photo with the team identifiers airbrushed out.  cards from that set continue on sheet 33:

 those cards are:

1. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial relic (gold)
2. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial auto
3. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial auto (gold)
4. 2001 upper deck prospect premieres heroes of baseball relic
5. 2001 upper deck prospect premieres heroes of baseball auto/relic
6. 2001 upper deck prospect premieres heroes of baseball dual relic with reggie smith
7. 2001 upper deck sp authentic cooperstown calling relic (gray swatch)
8. 2001 upper deck sp authentic cooperstown calling relic (white swatch)
9. 2001 upper deck sp game bat milestone edition quad relic

i found it interesting that the gold parallel jersey card was serial numbered to 25 by way of printing, while the gold auto parallel was hand numbered to 25, as was the auto/relic from prospect premieres and the 'base' version of the minor league centennial auto.  i believe that the dual jersey card with reggie smith was at one time reported to have an autographed version, but i've never seen one.  i may not be remembering that correctly, but the design of the card sure looks like it was set up for autographs.

you know that i had to have both white and gray swatch examples of the somewhat depressingly named cooperstown calling jersey cards from sp authentic, and it is again a bit sad that garvey is the only non-hall of famer on that last quad relic with puckett, winfield, and ozzie.

here are the backs to that sheet:

featuring lots of assurances from richard p. mcwilliams.

next up from the garvey binders, a whole lot of tony perez.  stay tuned.

sunday morning target dodgers - the longest name edition

here are more players from another sheet in the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set.

mike devereaux

devereaux was a 5th round pick of the dodgers in 1985, and he was in their outfield a couple of years later.  and then again a few years after that.  i've told his tale before, so i won't go into details again here.  devereaux is currently a coach in the rockies' system.

dick dietz

dodger fans know dietz from his days as a giant, particularly his failure to get out of the way of a don drysdale pitch during big d's scoreless innings streak.  dietz was deemed to have not tried to evade the pitch, and was not awarded first base. that was significant because the bases were loaded at the time.  drysdale got dietz out after the non-hbp, and went on to set the record for consecutive scoreless innings.  dietz joined the dodgers for the 1972 season, but injuries limited him to just 27 games.

snooks dowd

in 1919, dowd played in 13 games for the a's and one for the tigers.  seven years later, he appeared in two games for the brooklyn robins, going 0 for 8. not much to say about dowd, so instead i will note that mlb should bring back the sweaters.

jim golden

golden was acquired by the dodgers from the phillies in 1958 in the deal that sent sparky anderson to philadelphia.  he debuted with the dodgers a couple of years later, starting and beating the cubs in his big league debut and only appearance of the 1960 season. the following year, golden pitched in 28 games, winning 1 and losing 1, although he was used exclusively in relief.  after the season, golden was selected by the houston colt .45's in the expansion draft, and he went on to pitch for them for a couple of years.  he was traded to the white sox for nellie fox following the 1963 season.

don lund

lund was a standout athlete at the university of michigan, and chose baseball over football by signing with the dodgers rather than the chicago bears. he appeared in four games for brooklyn in 1945, and then hit .300 in 11 games for them in 1947. the following year, lund was hitting just .188 when the browns selected him on waivers in late june. he eventually returned to michigan as a member of the tigers, and later coached baseball at his alma mater, leading them to the college world series in 1962.

cal mclish

that would be calvin coolidge julius caesar tuskahoma mclish.  just cal, for short.  mclish first appeared in the majors with the dodgers in 1944 as an 18-year old.  he was 3-10 in 23 games (13 starts) that year, with all three of his wins coming in complete game performances. after a year of military service, mclish appeared in just one game in 1946, and was included in the may 1947 trade with the pirates that netted the dodgers al gionfriddo.

clarence mitchell

mitchell pitched for the robins from 1918 through 1922, which means that he was a member of the 1920 national league champions.  he was 5-2 during the regular season that year, and pitched in just one of the world series games (game 5) without figuring in the decision.  mitchell also played the outfield and first base when he wasn't pitching, and had a batting average of .277 in well over 400 at bats during his time with the robins.

gene moore

moore had three different stints with the brooklyn dodger organization, but only appeared in the majors for them in one of them, so he did not achieve true double (or triple) dipper status.  he was first brought into the fold in september of 1935 after playing for the reds and cardinals, but he was traded to the boston bees prior to the start of the 1936 season.  following the 1938 campaign, the bees sent him back to the dodgers, and he played in 117 games for brooklyn over the 1939 and 1940 seasons until his contract was purchased by the bees in may of '40.  the bees eventually traded moore to the yankees, and the dodgers purchased his contract a couple of months later, in february of 1942.  moore spent most of 1942 with the dodgers' triple-a team in montreal, at least until the senators came calling at the end of august and brought him back to the majors.

mike morgan

morgan was well traveled in his major league career, pitching for the dodgers from 1989 through 1991. he was 33-36 as a dodger, and represented the club at the 1991 all-star game - the only all-star selection of his career.

mike munoz

munoz began his 12-year big league career with the dodgers in 1989, and pitched for them again in 1990.  following that season, he was traded to the tigers, but he eventually returned to the nl west with the rockies, with whom he spent the majority of his career. a lefty specialist, munoz appeared in 453 games (all in relief) and pitched a total of 364.1 innings in his career.

charlie neal

neal played mostly second base for the brooklyn and los angeles dodgers from 1956 through 1961.  he was an all-star in 1959 and 1960, and led the league in triples in the former.  neal hit .370 with a couple of home runs in the 1959 world series, but the dodgers traded him to the mets in the fall of 1961.  with the mets, neal was their inaugural second baseman, and he drove in the first run in franchise history on opening day, 1962.

bill north

north was a two-time stolen base champion for the oakland a's and a two-time world series champion (he was with the a's in 1973, but did not appear in the postseason due to injury, and played against the dodgers in the 1974 fall classic).  he began his career with the cubs, which is why he's wearing cub gear in the card photo.  i don't know why a photo of him from the early 1970's was used for his card, unless someone really wanted to make sure we acknowledged those sweet muttonchops.  anyway, north joined the dodgers in a may of 1978 trade (the trade that sent glenn burke to oakland) and took over in center field for rick monday.  he helped the dodgers win the nl west that year, but was 0 for 8 in the nlcs and 1 for 8 in the world series against the yankees, and he chose to leave la via free agency for the 1979 season.

lee rogers

rogers spent one year in the majors - 1938.  he was 1-1 in 14 games for the red sox, and then, following an august trade with the dodgers, he went 0-2 in 12 games for brooklyn.

dick smith

smith was originally signed by the dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1957, but he made his big league debut with the mets in 1963.  he returned to the dodgers for the 1965 season, and he was 0 for 6 with a sacrifice in 10 games.  he did not appear in the 1965 world series, although he was traded to the twins (the 1965 american league champions) prior to the 1967 season, after spending all of 1966 in the minors.

ben wade

similar to dick smith, wade signed his first professional contract in 1940 with the dodgers, however he made his big league debut as a cub in 1948.  the dodgers re-acquired the hurler prior to the 1950 season, and he marked his return to the majors two years later - this time with brooklyn.  he was 19-15 in the 2-plus seasons that he spent with the dodgers, and got to pitch in the 1953 world series for them as well.  after his playing days were over, wade became a scout for the dodgers, and he eventually served as their scouting director from the late 1970's into the '90's.  no word on whether or not he bought into sabermetrics, though.

an abbreviated run through the 1997 mother's cookies dodger set

1997 was all about the 50th anniversary of jackie robinson's major league debut, and the mother's cookies dodger set that year included a special card with the anniversary logo.

that's the logo that the dodgers wore - remember, while all teams wore a similar patch, the dodgers, marlins, and expos put their own twist on it.

here are a few more cards from the 1997 mother's cookies dodger set

bill russell

the manager!

and his coaches!

plus, the five straight rookies of the year - eric karros

mike piazza

raul mondesi

hideo nomo

and todd hollandsworth

here's the current diamondbacks manager, chip hale

in what may well be his only dodger card

darren hall

has a couple of dodger cards, but not many.

does anyone recall nelson liriano as a dodger?

he played in 76 games for the 1997 dodgers, and his lone home run in dodger blue was a 9th inning game winner against the cubs.

here's one more - scott radinsky

if it weren't for these mother's sets, i don't think i would have more than one card of the pulley lead singer and current dodger minor league pitching coach.

thanks again to mr. haverkamp for brokering the deal that netted me these sets.

filling the gap in my mother's cookies dodger collection

aside from the 1989 mother's cookies dodger set (and the special mike piazza/tim salmon set) that i already owned, the recent package from mr. haverkamp included the rest of the run of sets produced by the purveyor of bagged baked goodness.  i was a sucker for their iced animal cookies for sure.  anyway, the set that was missing was the 1996 set, which i subsequently picked up on ebay.

here's the manager, tom lasorda

in what would be his final set.

his coaching staff

included holdovers joe amalfitano, mark cresse, manny mota, bill russell, dave wallace, and reggie smith.  russell would assume the managerial position during the season after suffering a heart attack.

this set also includes the five straight rookies of the year for the first time - eric karros

mike piazza

raul mondesi

hideo nomo

and todd hollandsworth

who would win the award in '96.

here are a few other random dodgers from the set - delino deshields,

pinch-hitter extraordinaire dave hansen,

one of the many hot corner stopgaps between ron cey and adrian beltre, mike blowers,

milt thompson,

who spent the first half of the '96 season with the dodgers, and…

…chad fonville

fonville was one of the most exciting players to watch in 1995 after he joined the dodgers in may.  he wound up stealing 20 bases in 88 games during the regular season, and then went 6 for 12 in the three-game loss to the reds in the nlds.  i'll take as many fonville cards as i can get.

this was the last year that the mother's sets used the full bleed photos. i'll show some cards from the '97 and '98 sets in a future post.