scraping the bottom of the box

box bottom cards are sweet.  they're like those soup bowls for kids that have a cartoon on the bottom so if you eat all your soup, you get a smiling monkey staring back at you.  except, of course, you know the cards are there before you even rip into the box if you just flip it over.

of course, a box bottom card has its disadvantages as  it may get scraped and scratched and otherwise defaced, like this 1989 topps don sutton card.

still, the sutton card is desirable and significant to dodger collectors, as it is the only 1989 card sutton got from topps in 1989.  yes, he had a 'final tribute' in 1989 score, but because he was released by the eventual world champs in august of 1988, topps bumped him from the checklist.

it's similar to the 2008 'year in review' insert card that topps gave to david wells, even though he didn't get a card in the flagship set due to his retirement.

i may be the only person who lamented the lack of a 2008 topps david wells card.

back to the box bottoms.  i think 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee was the last set to have box bottom cards.  well, back in the day, o-pee-chee followed topps' lead, and as a result they gave sutton some box bottom love as well.

now that's good box bottom.  those canadians take care of their boxes, eh?

the reason sutton got one of these cards, reserved in those days for players reaching certain milestones, is that he made the 750th start of his big league career, second to only cy young. 

he wound up with 756 starts, and is now third on the list with nolan ryan taking over the number 2 spot.  joining sutton on the bottom of these boxes was his skipper, tommy lasorda

lasorda was so honored thanks to the 1000th managerial win of his career

tommy got a box bottom in 1990, too, as he managed his 2000th game.  although it looks like they were scraping the bottom of the box, er - barrel, for copy on this card.  what does his pitching for the a's in 1956 have to do with winning games as a manager?  maybe they were going to combine his wins as a pitcher with those he achieved while managing and then remembered he didn't win any games as a big league pitcher.  oh well, at least topps deemed sutton and lasorda worthy of the box bottoms and for that i am grateful.

a bfd from the real dfg

a while back, i received a healthy 'box full of dodgers' (bfd) from the real dfg.  the dude knocked out one of my 'nefarious 9' - the 1986 donruss rookies reggie williams card - and added a boatload of other dodger goodies in return for a mess of pittsburgh pirates and maybe a few steelers and penguins.

one of the favorite items i received was the 1966 topps ruboff i featured in this post, but there were plenty of other cards to enjoy.

like this 1979 topps bobby welch card

the best rookie card ever.

here's another rookie card that i was happy to own in 1984, it's sid fernandez on his 1984 donruss rated rookie

we all thought el sid was the second coming of fernando, even though he was from hawaii, not mexico.  i would say that this card was on par with the ron darling rookie in the set in terms of my coveting and hoarding. it would have been equal to the the mattingly and strawberry rookies except for the fact that fernandez was a met by the time i acquired any 1984 donruss.  yes, i was disappointed when campanis traded him to the mets for bob bailor and fellow hawaiian carlos diaz.  still, he was a dodger and the card features the left field bullpen at chavez ravine, so it's still a nice piece of cardboard.

there was something strange afoot at the circle k in 1985, as they entered the trading card fray, and the dfg included a couple of specimens for me - gil hodges

and his brooklyn dodger counterpart, duke snider.

not exactly bill and ted, although they did have an excellent adventure together as long time dodger teammates.

here's a card that doesn't scan too well.  it's a 1995 topps embosesed tim wallach.

not as bad is this 1996 fleer metal universe mike blowers

blowers is still shown in his seattle mariners' uniform, but the team affiliation on the card is the dodgers.  perhaps he could have used some uniform stickers from the 1988 panini set that were also included in the box.

it's strange and cool at the same time that the sanitary socks were included.

here's a 1981 fleer terry forster

which i chose to show because i am left to wonder if that thing he's picking his teeth with is the same thing sticking out of his mouth on his 1983 fleer card.

forster wore number 51 for the dodgers, as did terry wells as we can see on his 1991 score card.

wells, acquired from the astros for franklin stubbs, started 5 games for the dodgers in july of 1990, and they were the only games he ever pitched in during his major league career.  meaning, when this card came out, wells was not a 'rookie prospect' but a 'former major leaguer'.  on a completely unrelated note, terry looks like the principal from east dillon high.

here's another lefty 'rookie prospect' from 1991 score, jim poole.

poole appeared in 16 games for the dodgers in 1990 and was traded to the rangers in december of that same year.  so, like sid fernandez 7 years before him, poole was no longer a dodger when his rookie card came out.  still, he was at one point, and that's good enough for me.

thanks dfg!  too bad your penguins got bounced, but at least it seems that there might be some hope with the pirates.

speaking of debuts...

with all of the attention that steven strasburg, mike stanton, carlos santana and others received this week regarding their debuts, i thought i would take a look at some dodger debuts courtesy of the 1991 topps debut '90 set.

we'll start with dave hansen, pinch hitter extraordinaire:

september 16, 1990 against the reds.  pinch hit for rick dempsey and went 0 for 1 with a strikeout against rob dibble.

yawn.  how about darren holmes?

september 1, 1990 against the expos.  relieved don aase and pitched 2 innings, giving up 1 hit, two walks with two strikeouts.  received no decision.  first batter faced was oil can boyd (he grounded out).  first strikeout victim was dave martinez.  not too bad.

luis lopez?

september 14, 1990 against the reds.  pinch hit for mike sharperson and went 0 for 1 against tim birtsas.  his fly ball was caught by glenn braggs who then threw home to get fernando valenzuela for a 9-2 double play.  alomst an rbi!

how about jim neidlinger?

august 1, 1990 against the giants.  started the game and went 6 innings, giving up 7 hits and one run (earned) with a walk and three strikeouts and was not involved in the decision.  first batter faced was brett butler (he grounded out) and first strikeout victim was jose uribe.  that's pretty good for a debut.

how did jose offerman fare?

august 19, 1990 against the expos.  started the game batting leadoff and playing shortstop and went 3 for 5 (3 for 4 against dennis martinez, 0 for 1 against steve frey).  hit a homerun in his first at bat, leading off the bottom of the first.  singled in the third and fifth innings, before grounding out in his final two at bats.  he also stole a base, turned a double play and didn't make an error.  well done, jose!

jim poole, olympian:

june 15, 1990 against the padres.  relieved jay howell in the 11th inning and struck out the first and only batter he faced - tony gwynn.  now that is making a debut!

brian traxler?

april 24, 1990 against the cardinals.  pinch hit for eddie murray and went 0 for 1 with a strikeout against bob tewksbury.  pretty memorable for traxler, i am sure, as he hit for a hall of famer.

dave walsh?

august 13, 1990 against the braves.  relieved fernando valenzuela and pitched 2 innings, giving up 2 runs (both earned).  gave up 3 hits, 2 walks and struck out 2 with no decision.  first batter faced was jeff blauser (he flew out) and first strikeout victim was john smoltz.  meh.

terry wells?

july 3, 1990 against the cubs.  started the game, going 6 innings and gave up 6 runs (4 earned) and 8 hits.  walked 1 and struck out 6 and got no decision.  first batter faced was doug dascenzo (he popped out) and first strikeout victim was the second batter he faced, ryne sandberg.  not a bad start to the game, but not a great overall debut.

carlos hernandez was also in this set, although i can't find his card to scan.  we'll assess his debut anyway: 

april 20, 1990 against the astros.  started the game at catcher and went 1 for 3 against jim deshaies.  flew out in his first at bat, doubled and scored his second time up, and grounded out his last time up.

i give the nod to offerman, although i contend that homering in his first at bat was the worst thing that could have happened as he seemed to fancy himself a power hitter after that and flew out all the time, rather than hit ground balls and use his speed.  regardless, no strasburg-esque debuts in this lot!

david wells final tribute - the card that should have been

david wells ended his 21-year career in 2007 with the dodgers. he had been released by the padres in august of that season, and was picked up by la in the same month. while he didn't necessarily pitch any better (he posted an era above 5 for both the pads and the dodgers), he did win 4 of his 5 decisions as a dodger.

wells was featured in the 2007 topps update & highlights set, and, while he did get a 'year in review' card in 2008 topps update & highlights, he lacked a true final tribute in the 2008 flagship release. here then, is the 2008 topps david wells card that should have been:sans autograph. notice i used 'david', not 'boomer'. wells finished his career with a 6 inning winning performance against the giants. he struck out the final batter he faced, nate schierholtz. wells also singled and drove in a run in his next-to-last career at bat (he struck out in his final plate appearance). overall, wells won 239 games and struck out 2201 batters. he also won two world series championships - one with toronto in 1992 and one with the yankees in 1998.

here's to you david!

a trade of traded trading cards from detroit tigers cards

i made a trade a while (and it has been a while - sorry about that) with rob at detroittigerscards trading tigers for dodgers. i would like to think we both came out ahead.

rob took the meaning of 'trade' seriously, and sent me a bunch of traded or update set singles. well done! here are just a few:

2007 topps update & highlights david wells. boomer just signed on as an analyst on tbs. should be good times. i always thought he would go the rod beck route and live in a trailer next to a minor league park somewhere. which reminds me, i need to get on that 2008 topps david wells final tribute. someday...

1985 fleer update bobby castillo i will go ahead and state the obvious here - he looks a heck of a lot like cheech marin. always good to see the dodger stadium field level scoreboard.

another dodger stadium shot, and another 1985 fleer update. this time it's mariano duncan. a homegrown talent, duncan was the heir apparent to bill russell and hair apparent to eriq lasalle in coming to america. let your soul glow!

yet another 1985 fleer update and dodger stadium background. say hello to al oliver. oliver spent just half a season in la before being traded to the blue jays for len matuszek. both teams made it to the postseason, so i guess everything worked out. baseball reference shows oliver's closest comparison to be steve garvey. get out!

1989 score rookies & traded john wetteland.wetteland was returned to the dodgers by the tigers (who had selected him in the rule v draft) prior to the 1988 season. i guess they didn't want him either. the dodgers wound up trading him a couple of years later in the eric davis deal (the reds flipped him to the expos). that makes 3 teams that didn't want him. he went on to save 330 games over the next 9 years, and was the 1996 world series mvp.

1990 score rookies and traded don aase. 3 and 1 with 3 saves for the dodgers in 1990. and with an era of almost 5!

1990 score rookies and traded hubie brooks. i am a fan of the photo from behind. maybe because that's how i usually see batters when i am at the stadium. the dodgers got a decent year from brooks before trading him to the mets for bobby ojeda.

1990 score rookies and traded stan javier.javier was a member of the 1988 a's. ha. the dodgers got him for willie randolph in 1990. he played for them for a couple of years (even showing up at 1st base a couple of times) before being sent to the phillies.

1990 score rookies and traded juan samuel.
i had high hopes for samuel. sure, he struck out a lot, but he could run and had some good years for the phillies. well, he still struck out a lot and didn't really bounce back from his poor 1989. for me, he was the epitome of the 180-degree departure from the dodger way of developing the talent from within. luckily, they would get back to that approach in the next couple of years.

thanks rob!