dodger (and other) cardboard from mets cardboard

what makes more sense than receiving a mike piazza dodger card from justin at mets cardboard? not much.  i sent him a bunch of mets, and he sent me some dodgers and other good stuff for my collection.  here's the aforementioned strongest man in socal on a 1993 topps stadium club card

i don't know the full story of piazza switching from number 25 to 31, but i know it had to do with time wallach signing with the dodgers for the 1993 season.  i wonder how much wallach had to give to get the number from piazza.

here's a 1996 fleer joey eischen

part of the reason that i scanned this card was that i was pretty sure that eischen hadn't been shown on the blog before. he pitched in a total of 45 games for the dodgers over the course of the 1995 and 1996 seasons, and non-closing relievers weren't showing up on a lot of cards back then.  but then i remembered that he made his debut on the blog as part of a mother's cards post earlier this year.

1996 skybox dugout axcess eric young axcess airlines frequent flyer insert

i don't care much for card companies when they misspell things on purpose, like 'axcess'.  or 'authentix', as is the case on this 2002 fleer authentix shawn green power alley insert

however, if those cards featured the dodger stadium murals like this 2003 fleer focus jersey edition shawn green card

i'd be more accepting of the spelling.  i'm not going to kick them out of my collection, mind you, but i'm  going to shake my head every time i see them.

2004 topps total robin ventura

the santa maria native finished up his career playing more first base than third base for the 2004 dodgers.  he also pitched in a game.

2008 topps finest hong-chi kuo autograph

always cool to find an auto card in a trade package.  it's also cool to find a card from a set that you're trying to finish, like this jr towles card from 2008 upper deck timeline.

there's been so little movement on my part with that set that it took me a moment to figure out why i was getting a card of an astro that wasn't a tatooine or double play card.  speaking of double play cards, justin sent a bunch of those, too, more than i showed last weekend.  i'll show the others that were new to my collection later.  thanks justin!

they came from 2004...

today i'm showing some cards that were released in 2004.  the first few don't look like cards from 2004, however.  like this 2004 fleer platinum edwin jackson card

that was modeled after 1984 fleer cards.

and then there is this 2004 fleer tradition card

that brings to mind the 1990 fleer design although the banner here has more flow to it.

this 2004 topps all-time fan favorites brett butler card

uses the 1991 topps design.  unfortunately, topps kept the orange frame design of the giants cards. 1991 was butler's first year with the dodgers, and he led the league in runs scored and walks.  he was featured in the flagship set as a giant, receiving a dodger card (with the proper blue frame) in the traded set.

finally, there is this 2004 topps cracker jack card of adrian beltre

that is a play on the 1915 cracker jack design

don't worry - there were some original designs used in 2004 - like the design of the 2004 upper deck flagship set.  here's juan encarnacion's card from that set

i like the 2004 upper deck set because of the inset photo behind the players' names.  that's a dodger stadium scene, in case you can't tell (the same scene - differently cropped - that's on the back of dodger cards in the 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams set).  unfortunately, upper deck did not apply the photo consistently to cards in the set

it may just be that the horizontal cards in the set didn't get the inset photo, i don't know.  here are some landscape oriented cards for you to ponder - shawn green

is in pittsburgh, i believe

hideo nomo

is in the dodger stadium dugout

and robin ventura

is on the road somewhere - maybe san francisco - as that's where jeff weaver is on his card

which is vertical and features the stadium inset photo.

there's not much of a discernible background photo at all on this 2004 topps clubhouse collection eric gagne relic card

but i guess we are supposed to be focusing on the fabric and not the photo.

it would be interesting to know what sort of designs fleer and upper deck would have these days.  i am sure, like topps (heritage, archives, gypsy queen, allen & ginter), they would issue sets that incorporate some older set designs, but there would be some unique designs, too.

at least i hope there would be.

local boy makes good

hey didja hear?  former dodger robin ventura will be the white sox's manager next season.  i was pretty surprised to hear the news as were a lot of folks since he has been largely out of baseball since he retired a few years ago, but i was also happy since he's a guy whose career i have been following since high school.  his high school days, not mine.  that's why his 2004 topps card is in the blog header, too.

you see, he and i are from the same neck of the woods.  just like jim lonborg and roy howell and pat kelly (the blue jays prospect from the late '70's) and bryn smith.  having played baseball year-round growing up and hoping to have had what it takes to make it in the big leagues, i've always felt a kinship to those players who hail from my hometown that have, in fact, "made it".  ventura was a favorite of mine, primarily because he came along after i had outgrown my dream of taking the field for the dodgers someday.

i've mentioned lonborg and howell and smith before.  since then, i've had smith sign a few more cards for me, like his 1989 topps card

and his 1989 upper deck card

that photo may or may not be from a visit to dodger stadium.  there is no doubt about his 1990 upper deck card

love the baby blues

there was also this guy who made it to the majors from the central coast 

in fact, i played little league with his son. 

ventura won't be the first major league manager to hail from santa maria.  this guy is from the central coast, too

although i don't recall hearing much about him while i was growing up and he was coaching and managing in the majors. 

here's another guy who grew up in the santa maria valley

we played high school ball together.  last season, simas was a coach for the dodgers' minor league team in ogden.  i, sadly, was not. simas attempted a comeback with the dodgers a few years ago but his elbow was not cooperative.  that was as close as i have been to personally knowing a dodger player.  almost.

brad dandridge, who i believe is some relation to ray dandridge, was in the dodgers' minor league system in the mid 1990's.  here's his 1996 best card from his time with the dodgers' aa team in san antonio

he also grew up in my hometown and we played against each other in babe ruth and high school ball.  during the spring of 1995, i turned on my tv to watch a dodger spring training game, and there he was behind the plate.  unfortunately, this was during the strike so he would have been labeled as a 'scab' had he advanced to the majors.  i don't know if that impeded his progress or not, but he wound up only getting as high as aaa in 1996 and 1998.  and that's as close as he got.

good luck, robin.  i'll be watching.

cards here...and here from sign here...and here

i recently completed a trade with peterson over at sign here...and here.  i am very pleased with the great cards he sent my way.  here are just a few:

2004 topps chrome robin ventura black refractor

this card (the topps flagship version) is in my header image.  it's a great card even before it gets all black, chromey and refractorish.  jeromy burnitz lurking and a semi-favorite non-dodger as a dodger robin ventura sliding in.  awesome card.

2006 topps allen & ginter mini danys baez

yes, danys baez was a dodger.  ned had a fascination with devil rays for a while, and he sent edwin jackson, dioner navarro, and my former baseball salvation joel guzman out east for baez, lance carter and not much else.  baez was later traded to the braves for wilson betemit, who was traded a year after that for scott proctor, who they had traded to the yankees to get robin ventura.  the circle of life...

2003 bowman koyie hill auto

hill was with the dodgers for just 3 games in 2003 before being traded to the diamondbacks for steve finley late in the 2004 season.

2007 bowman chris parmelee auto

parmelee is one of the twinkies top offensive prospects.  not sure where he's going to play if they keep their core together - maybe dh?

non-red sox nomah!  a double play turn on his 2005 leaf card

with shawn green sliding in! 

2009 upper deck vladimir guerrero 20th anniversary thingy

vlad was skinny back then.  i think wilton might have been bigger!

thanks chris!  it was a great lot of cards and fun to go through!