double play cardboard from mets cardboard

it was pretty clear to me that justin at mets cardboard did his homework while putting together his return trade package. there were dodgers and a set need and double play cards.  every dp card he sent was one that i did not already have.  coincidence? perhaps, but unlikely. it was good to see so many new turns at second base.  here are the rest of them (i showed some last sunday)

1992 action packed bobby richardson

old-time yankee twin killing of a twin

1993 donruss geronimo pena (back)

justin gave up the lurking met (dick schofield) on the back

1993 topps stadium club white sox joey cora

kind of a ho-hum double play turn. it looks like the runner/slider is just lying there.

1994 sportflics luis lopez

lenticular double play action!

1994 upper deck collector's choice chris gomez silver signature parallel

and 1994 upper deck collector's choice tony phillips silver signature parallel

those would both fit in my tatooine collection, too.

1997 pinnacle walt weiss

and here i thought i had all of the weiss double play cards

in addition to that pena card above, justin did a good job in checking card backs.  here's a 1997 upper deck collector's choice mark grudzielanek all-star insert (back)

1977 upper deck collector's choice edgar renteria (back)

1998 upper deck mike lansing (back)

and 1998 upper deck neifi perez (back)

which also has the same double play turn (just a bit earlier in the pivot) on the front

but back to the backs - here's a 1998 upper deck collector's choice jose valentin (back)

and a 1998 upper deck collector's choice mark grudzielanek (back)

with a nice dodger stadium backdrop and an unknown dodger rolling around at the g-man's feet.

thanks again justin! great trade!

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.

clearing out the scanned folder - miscellany edition

not every card that i scan is a dodger card, which makes sense because my collection has a fair share of cards featuring players from other teams.  sometimes, however, i get ahead of myself and scan some stuff without a specific post in mind. other times, i do have a post in mind, but it never comes together.  and then there are some cards i scan because they fit into one of my mini collections.  there are some of each in this post.

2000 skybox dominion scott rolen

i believe that i figured out a long time ago that the dodger catcher lurking on this card is angel pena, so i'll go with that.

1975 sspc elias sosa

sosa was a brave just before he became a dodger. he was part of the deal that brought lee lacy back to la for mike marshall.

1995 upper deck mike blowers

here's another future dodger, as blowers played for the dodgers later in the 90's.  thanks to this card, we know that blowers once caught a foul ball at tiger stadium at 2:55 (or is it 2:56?) in the afternoon.

1997 bowman vladimir guerrero

one of my last remaining player collections.  it was good to see vladdy in this year's archives release.

2001 topps archives jack morris

and 2001 topps archives lou whitaker

both cards are part of my 1978 topps master set.  still waiting for the design to be used in the revitalized archives release.

2002 topps 206 mike piazza team 206 insert

still working on this set

2008 upper deck timeline brandon jones

still working on this set, too.

2014 topps stadium club albert pujols

pujols just recently passed steve garvey on the all-time hits list. i scanned this card because it fits in my 'nob' collection, should i decide to make it an official collection.

1992 megacards babe ruth babe's farewell

this card also belongs in that collection.  it features a cropped version of nat fein's pulitzer prize winning photo, and is a great card to have. i'm glad i scanned it.

moving into the '10s in the steve garvey binders

sheet 66 of my steve garvey binders starts where sheet 65 left off, with cards from 2008 donruss threads, but we'll soon get to cards from the current decade.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 2008 donruss threads jersey relic (white swatch) /150
2. 2008 donruss threads college greats insert
3. 2008 donruss threads century collection materials relic /100
4. 2008 donruss playoff prime cuts
5. 2008 topps triple threads
6. 2008 topps triple threads sepia parallel /525
7. 2008 topps triple threads emerald parallel /240
8. 2008 topps triple threads relics combos (with duke snider and russell martin) /36
9. 2008 topps triple threads relics combos (with reggie jackson and willie randolph) /36

the first donruss threads relic is from the same serial numbered run as the one i showed last time (with a yellow swatch), meaning there aren't two distinct 150-card runs for each color.  the century collection relic is a nice dodger card marred by the padres' yellow swatch.  i'm missing a few of the triple threads parallels - well, more than a few - but they are hard to come by especially now.

here are the backs:

i don't believe there were any non-topps garvey cards in 2009.  i don't have any, anyway, as we'll see on sheet 67:

those cards are:

1. 2009 topps ring of honor insert
2. 2009 topps sterling /250
3. 2009 topps sterling framed white parallel /50
4. 2009 topps tribute
5. 2009 topps tribute blue parallel /219
6. 2009 topps tribute black parallel /99
7. 2010 topps cards your mom threw out insert
8. 2010 topps cards your mom threw out (original back) insert
9. 2011 in the game heroes and prospects heroes memorabilia jersey silver (print run 160)

there's a gold parallel numbered to 50 from 2009 topps tribute that i would like to find.  i don't really need any of the other sterling parallels, though.  there are 18 garvey cards from the 2011 in the game heroes and prospects release, and i have a couple more that will show up on the next sheet.  there are quite a few 1/1's that i will never see, let alone own, and that's ok.

here are the backs:

the 'original back' of the cymto is much brighter than the actual 1971 topps backs.  easier to read now, i suppose, but more likely a function of the cardstock used these days.

stay tuned for more goodness from the steve garvey binders!

i chose poorly

i grabbed a rack pack of 2015 topps stadium club the other day while at target and was disappointed in the parking lot when i opened the pack.  clearly, i chose my pack poorly. here are the 12 cards i received

i had already ordered a few cards off of sportlots (including the adam laroche card featured in the recent minnie minoso memorial patch post), and i was hoping for some of the other standout cards/photos.  instead, what was in my pack was some pretty standard stuff aside from maybe the ivan rodriguez and tim hudson (boo) cards.  two yankees, a diamondback, and a giant make for a pretty lousy pack for this dodger fan.  

on the bright side, the adam dunn card was a nice surprise.  since dunn retired after the 2014 postseason, this card is a final tribute, with his career totals on the back

there are only 34 people in history with more home runs than adam dunn (he's tied with jose canseco), but there are only 2 people (reggie jackson and jim thome) with more career strikeouts.

2006 brings some epic cards in the steve garvey binders

my second primary steve garvey binder begins with cards from 2006.  here is the 62nd sheet of cards from the binders, but the first in binder number 2:

those cards are:

1. 2006 fleer greats of the game
2. 2006 fleer greats of the game pewter parallel
3. 2006 fleer greats of the game auto
4. 2006 fleer greats of the game autographics auto (print run of 50)
5. 2006 fleer greats of the game dodgers greats
6. 2006 fleer greats of the game dodgers greats memorabilia relic
7. 2006 topps triple threads relic /18
8. 2006 topps triple threads relic autograph /18
9. 2006 topps triple threads relic combos (with rickey henderson and tony gwynn) /18

so, upper deck bought the rights to fleer and issued the greats of the game set in 2006.  there are 26 different cards available for steve garvey from that issue (many of which are 1/1 printing plates), and i am missing most. some of those are also rare bat barrel cards, but others are a /299 copper parallel and /50 dodgers greats auto cards.  speaking of the dodgers greats cards, i appreciate the dodger stadium at sunset inset photo.

on to triple threads. garvey has two triple relic cards. the one i have the "base" version of spells out "mvp".  the other spells out "lad".  likewise, the relic/autograph cards have two versions (mvp and lad), and we'll see a version of the other on the next sheet.  as for the combos card with rickey and gwynn, beckett tells me that the rickey relic is from his cleats.  that beats the garvey bat and gwynn jersey pieces for sure.

here are the backs:

this is sheet 63:

those cards are:

1. 2006 topps triple threads relic autograph gold /9
2. 2006 topps triple threads relic combos autograph (with don mattingly and dan johnson) /18
3. 2006 upper deck artifacts awesome artifacts jumbo relic /45
4. 2006 upper deck epic epic endorsements auto /45
5. 2006 upper deck epic epic foursome fabrics relic (with gil hodges, pee wee reese, and jackie robinson) /10
6. 2006 upper deck epic epic triple materials relic (with eddie murray and don mattingly) /49
7. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts /550
8. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts bronze parallel /99
9. 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts chronology gold /550

so here i have the gold version of the "lad" triple threads auto/relic, as well as the "base" version of the don mattingly/dan johnson auto/relic.  there was a bit of prospecting going on with these triple threads combo cards at the time, which was not the case with upper deck's epic release as they used steady eddie murray to take johnson's place on the sixth card of the sheet.  just next to that one is a pretty cool card.  i don't fully understand the use of garvey as a fourth to gil hodges, pee wee, and jackie, but i am not complaining.  and, for all the ebay 1/1 geeks, my version is 06/10 which is garvey's jersey number.  one card from that set that i would love to have is a true 1/1 bat barrel card featuring garvey, manny mota (!), steve yeager, steve sax. that would truly be epic for this dodger fan.

elsewhere on the sheet, i am a bit embarrassed that i only have one card from 2006 upper deck artifacts as there are a number of other garvey relic and auto cards out there from that set.

here are the backs:

the back of that artifacts jumbo relic that i do have, however, let's us know that the card features game worn pants, which is the bottom of the relic hierarchy.

still more to come - stay tuned!

the rest of 2005 brings the first steve garvey binder to an end

before i get to sheet 59 in the steve garvey binder, i want to note that i did receive the 2005 donruss greats card in the mail the other day, and so i now know that the first card on sheet 55 is not the base version, but rather the un-numbered silver holofoil.  what that means is that all of these cards are going to shift one spot in the binders when i insert the actual base card in that first slot on sheet 55.  i already have these next sheets scanned, so i'm just going to go with it.

here's sheet 59:

those cards are:

1. 2005 playoff absolute memorabilia team quads swatch double padres relic (with willie mccovey, tony gwynn, and rickey henderson) /75
2. 2005 playoff absolute memorabilia team quads swatch single spectrum prime black padres relic (with willie mccovey, tony gwynn, and rickey henderson) /10
3. 2005 playoff absolute memorabilia team six dodgers (with darryl strawberry, rickey henderson, kazuhisa ishii, paul loduca, and kevin brown) /100
4. 2005 playoff absolute memorabilia team six swatch single dodgers relic (with darryl strawberry, rickey henderson, kazuhisa ishii, paul loduca, and kevin brown) /150
5. 2005 playoff absolute memorabilia team six swatch single spectrum dodgers relic (with darryl strawberry, rickey henderson, kazuhisa ishii, paul loduca, and kevin brown) /100
6. 2005 playoff presitge
7. 2005 playoff prestige xtra bases red /150
8. 2005 playoff prestige xtra bases green /50
9. 2005 playoff prime cuts mlb icons /100

again - the padres team quad cards had garvey and mccovey on the back, but they are considered the front in the binder.  it's too bad that garvey has the most non-descript patch piece on the card.  there are many more parallel versions of both the padres team quad and the dodgers team six cards, as well as the playoff prestige cards.  i've only got a few, as you can see.

here are the backs:

there are two different ishii jerseys being cut up for these cards, and i'm guessing that the loduca jersey being used is actually a mets black alternate.  playoff could have left loduca off the card and put al oliver on instead, as they did have oliver relics in that set.

here's sheet 60:

those cards are:

1. 2005 playoff prime cuts mlb icons century silver /50
2. 2005 playoff prime cuts mlb icons material jersey relic /50
3. 2005 playoff prime cuts mlb icons material combo bat/jersey relic /10
4. 2005 playoff prime cuts mlb icons signature material trio mlb auto-bat/bat/jersey relic /10
5. 2005 topps all-time fan favorites
6. 2005 topps all-time fan favorites autograph
7. 2005 topps pristine legends
8. 2005 topps pristine legends gold die-cut refractor /65
9. 2005 topps pristine legends valuable performance relic

just like the previous page, this sheet holds only a fraction of the available parallels for the prime cuts card.  there are also a few more parallels for the fan favorites card, including a refractor that i am currently watching.

here are the backs:

sheet 61 is not full because it's the last sheet of this binder and i figured i should end the binder at the end of 2005, leaving some empty spaces for any additional cards i might obtain featuring the garv between 1989 and 2005.  i've already got the 2005 donruss greats card to add, so i can pick up 5 others without having to add a sheet.  anyway, here is sheet 61:

those cards are:

1. 2005 topps retired signature
2. 2005 topps retired signature gold parallel
3. 2005 upper deck ultimate signature signs of october dual auto (with ron guidry) /250

here are the backs:

yes, it used to be a sign of october when the dodgers and yankees would square off.  it's now been over thirty years since those two teams last met in the post season, and garvey was 2 for 6 against guidry in that most recent clash (1981 world series).

the next binder is on the clock - stay tuned...