feeling complete, except for some cards that should have been that i didn't make

i certainly didn't think this would happen, but i completed my 1955 topps brooklyn dodger team set recently by adding ed roebuck's card to my collection.

that means that my topps flagship/update dodger team sets are complete from 1954 through 2013, including variations (except for those super short printed 2012 topps update cards of the red sox three), and through 2015 if we are just considering the base cards.  add in a 1955 bowman team set, a 1963 fleer team set, and what i believe to be 1960 and 1961 fleer team sets, and i'm feeling pretty good about that part of my collection.

speaking of 1955 topps and completion, quite a while back i completed the 1995 topps archives brooklyn dodgers set, which includes some cards that should have been, including a 1955 topps tom lasorda card

topps created backs for these cards, too

because of this card, a 1955 topps lasorda card was never on my list of 'cards that should have been' to create, but 1956 and 1957 topps lasorda cards were.  bob lemke created a 1956 card, but i've never gotten around to a '57 lasorda.  speaking of '57's, jackie robinson was on my list of cards to create, since 1957 would have been a final tribute year with jackie's last season coming in 1956.  bob lemke has a '57 jackie, but he's in giants gear which is frankly disturbing.  still, i haven't made the time to finish that card that should have been, either.  other cards on my list were also final tributes that i haven't gotten around to, such as a 1980 topps willie davis card, and a 1995 topps steve sax card. some of the cards on that list, however, have been created by others.

for instance, here's a 1958 topps roy campanella

created by bob lemke

a 1959 topps pee wee reese

that would fit right in with the '59 set. unfortunately, i've misplaced the source for this card. if you know who created it, please let me know and i'll update the post.

a 1965 topps duke snider

created by cards that never were.  only slightly less disturbing than seeing jackie in giants gear.  and to think that the duke actually suited up for the nocals.

it's not just final tributes that were on my list - there are some cards just plain missing from history, like this 1977 topps reggie jackson

created by bob lemke, although i believe that there is a test/proof of this as an actual topps card out there (in keith olbermann's collection?).

still, most of the cards i wanted to create were final tributes, like this 1978 topps brooks robinson

created by uncle doc's card closet - when topps had (base)balls also created a final tribute for brooks, who was given the al kaline treatment and just had a season highlight card in what should have been his final tribute set.

in keeping with the oriole theme here at the bottom of the post, here are some cards that i made for ryan at o no another orioles blog a while back.  they are all of o's pitcher jamie walker.  i made a 2007 topps

a 2008 topps

and a 2009 topps

for ryan, who, like me, lamented the lack of cards given to non-closer relievers in sets these days.

as for all of the other cards i've created, i think there are some good ones in there, and certainly there are a lot of talented folks out there making their own cards that should have been, never were, or just need to be.  one of the best is travis from punk rock paint/the baseball card blog.  i still think that topps should pick up his 'pugilists & other pugnacious princes of play' idea and give us a real copy of this chan ho park card

made with a 2009 topps allen & ginter-ish feel.  come on, a set with that card, juan marichal wielding a bat, alex rodriguez getting punched by jason varitek, and aj pierzynski getting clocked by michael barrett among others? it's a no-brainer set that really ought to be made.  i'd collect the whole thing.

how about some vintage duke?

feeling vintage today, and i just happen to have a few cards of the silver fox scanned and loaded.  these aren't too vintage-y, however, as they are la dodger dukes.

1960 topps

1961 topps

classic duke pose on that '61.  similar to his 1952 topps card, which is one of two (1955 is the other) topps cards that i have yet to obtain of snider.

1959 topps baseball thrills subset

looks like the guy in the stands is protecting his privates.  this was the last 1959 topps dodger card that i needed for my set.

here's duke's last topps card from his playing days - his 1964 topps card

he was featured as a met in the 1963 set, too, but i don't have that high numbered card.  there wasn't a card issued for him in the 1965 set, unfortunately, as that would have been his final tribute.  of course, he would have been featured as a giant, so maybe it's not all bad.

duke appeared as a met again in the 2003 topps retired set

but topps fixed that in time for the 2005 version of the retired set

one of the first duke snider cards i ever owned was this 1983 donruss hall of fame heroes card

it was a year later that donruss had him in their regular set as the 'hall of fame diamond king' and puzzle subject.

here's another duke card from donruss, 2004 donruss studio to be exact

with the los angeles skyline behind him, he's shown in his brooklyn duds.  i think of snider as a brooklyn dodger - he had all of his best seasons there, and never was an all-star while in la - and the lack of the '52 and '55 cards in my collection is really starting to wear on me.  i'll probably do something about that.

my 1959 topps sampler

there were still only 16 teams in the major leagues in 1959, but topps unleashed a number of subsets in their baseball card set that year which made this one of my favorite sampler sets.  in addition to the different colors used for the card backgrounds - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, black, and pink - there were combo cards, team cards, a commissioner card and all-star cards once again, but there were also rookie stars and baseball thrills and a special roy campanella card.

here's my sampler set with at least one of each of those aforementioned cards, including a complete dodger team set

it is odd that topps used a different design for the national league and american league all-star cards.  here are the backs of the first page of the sampler

i just noticed that art fowler is suttoning.  maybe sutton was fowlering.

card show recap - the final dealer

i went back to the vintage bargain bin dealer to end my time at the show.  he had tried to tempt me earlier with his '90% off bowman box'.  here's what i picked up before hitting the road.

1976 shakey's roy campanella

yay oddballs
1974 topps hank aaron special #3
1959 topps baseball thrills rocky colavito

somebody collects catches at the wall, i believe.
1955 bowman smoky burgess - because somebody else collects catchers in gear
1951 bowman dan bankhead

i did not realize that dan bankhead was the first african american pitcher in big league history.  he debuted in august of 1947, just a few months after jackie robinson.  he hit a home run in his first big league at bat, and his only appearance in the 1947 world series was as a pinch runner.

1951 bowman billy cox

1952 bowman preacher roe

1953 topps clem labine

1955 bowman don newcombe

the bowmans all have some paper loss on the back, but the fronts look good.  i took a long, hard look at a 1951 bowman campanella but couldn't pull the trigger.  i would say maybe next time, but this dealer informed me that he is relocating to north carolina and is not sure how often he will return to the twin cities.  of all the bowmans, i think i like the 1952 cards the best.  the colors seem to pop a bit more, at least on the dodger cards i have from that set.

so, how much do you think i spent on these cards? make your guess in the comments.  i'll have the answers (and winners) tomorrow.

card show recap, part one. with a contest!

over the course of a few posts,  i am going to recap the card show i went to last saturday.  at the end, i will list all the cards i purchased and ask for guesses as to how much i spent.  i am comfortable with what i spent, i am just curious as to what you all think.  the closest guess will win some cards from a team of their choice.  i will also ask for guesses on each post.  again, the closest will get some cards from a team of their choice.  these will all be pre-1980 cards, unless you are a fan of the rockies, marlins, rays, or diamondbacks.

let's start with the first dealer i went to.  this was the guy that sold me the koufax rookie last year.  he had a bunch of stuff that he picked up at the national on his vintage bargain table.  plus, he offered to buy folks a hot dog and soda.  you see, he sends out emails prior to the shows he attends locally, and noted at the bottom of his most recent (and lengthy) email that he would treat those who actually read the whole thing to a hot dog and soda.  i mentioned it after we settled up on cards, but declined the offer since it was only about 9:30 in the morning.

here's what i took from his loose vintage bargain table

1956 topps johnny temple

1956 topps eddie o'brien

because they are double play cards.  that temple card is sharp.  at first, i was certain that i already had the o'brien card.  then i realized that it looked familiar because bob lemke used it to create the 1956 topps bill mazeroski card that should have been.

1959 topps frank torre

maybe for a trade?

1963 topps tommy davis

1963 topps dave stenhouse
1963 topps chuck cottier
1963 topps bud zipfel
1966 topps mike brumley
1966 topps dp combo - schofield and lanier
1966 topps jim lefebvre

1966 topps don mossi

1966 topps don mcmahon

1966 topps clete boyer
1966 topps gene mauch
1966 topps howie koplitz

most of those cards are for patp.  the tommy davis might be an upgrade for me, and i just can't leave a 1966 topps jim lefebvre card on a bargain table (although i did leave about 5 others there in the stack).  and the don mossi, well, it's the ears!

1961 topps harry bright
1961 post jim gilliam

my first 1961 post card.  not the only one i picked up that day, however.

1970 topps bill mazeroski
1971 topps tim mccarver

the maz might be an upgrade for my set, and the mccarver is for my 1971 topps set which i need to re-focus on.  plus i can consider this my 'good riddance' post to the retiring mccarver.

so.  what do you think those 19 cards cost me?  place a guess in the comments.  the second post will be up later tonight.

the evolution of the dodger third baseman - part one of way too many

it's been a while since i've run down the lineage of a dodger position.  it's time to get to the infield, although i should probably update one or two of the previous posts.  i'll do that eventually, but for now, let's look at the hot corner.  this one will take a few posts to get through, as third base has not been a model of consistency for the dodgers except from 1973 through 1982.

as usual, i am starting with the late 40's/early 50's since that's when baseball cards became more prevalent.

billy cox (1948-1953)

look at that 1952 bowman awesomeness!  billy cox arrived in brooklyn after the 1947 season (along with preacher roe and gene mauch) by way of a trade with the pirates.  he helped the dodgers win three pennants (1949, 1952, and 1953) and was best known for his fielding abilities although he hit .291 in 1953 and .302 over his three world series appearances.  cox was prominently featured in roger kahn's book 'the boys of summer' but was unfortunately not a member of the 1955 brooklyn dodger championship team.  that's because he was traded (again along with roe) after the 1954 season to the baltimore orioles.  he spent just part of the 1955 season there before being traded to cleveland, but he chose to retire rather than report to the indians.

in his tenure as the dodgers' third baseman, cox appeared in 742 games and hit .259 with 46 homers and 245 rbi, and he saved who knows how many with his glove.

don hoak (1954)

yes i realize that i'm showing hoak's 1953 topps card rather than his more appropriate 1954 issue.  it's because i find it odd that hoak had a card in the 53 set since he didn't debut in the majors until the following year.  anyway, hoak and cox split time fairly evenly at third base in 1954 with hoak getting slightly more playing time and thus the entry here.  as a rookie, he hit .245 with 7 homers and 26 rbi.  one would have thought, perhaps, that with cox being traded after the season hoak would be given the third base job.  not so.

jackie robinson (1955)

good lord.  i'm burying my 1955 topps jackie robinson card three deep in a dodgers-centric post that hardly anybody but me cares about?  what's wrong with me?  nice card, anyway.

yes, jackie robinson slid over to the hot corner in 1955, starting there in 82 of his 105 games played for walt alston.  he had the worst offensive season of his career that year, hitting just .256 with only 16 extra base hits and 36 rbi.  still, the dodgers won the pennant and jackie started the first six games of the series.  after hitting .182 in those games, alston gave the game 7 start to hoak, who had the privilege of being on the field when johnny podres shut the yankees out for brooklyn's lone world series title.

in 1956, robinson made 71 starts at third during his final season, but was not the team's primary third baseman.

randy jackson (1956)

randy 'hansome ransom' jackson started just three games more than robinson in 1956, but that's enough to make the evolutionary list.  he had been acquired from the cubs prior to the season in a deal that sent don hoak (among others) to chicago.

jackson had been an all-star in his last two seasons with the cubs and was coming off a 21-homer campaign.  he played in a total of 101 games for the dodgers in 1956, and hit .274 with 8 homers and 53 rbi.  one of those home runs came as the middle part of a back-to-back-to-back sequence that started with a duke snider home run and culminated with gil hodges' walk-off blast against the phillies on june 29 - the only time three consecutive home runs have ended a game.  jackson helped the dodgers return to the world series in 1956, but he was hitless in his three fall classic at bats.

jackson returned in 1957 and started the season as the dodgers' third baseman.  however, a serious knee injury suffered near the end of april caused him to miss half the season, and precipitated a move to third by a dodger legend.

pee wee reese (1957)

good golly.  a '55 jackie and a 1957 topps pee wee reese in the same post? never mind the tape stains, this is a sweet piece of cardboard.

with jackson injured, pee wee took over at third and wound up playing 75 of his 103 games there that year.  at 38 years old, he hit .224 with a single home run and 33 runs scored.  he made the move to los angeles with the team, but was just a part-time player in 1958.

dick gray (1958)

dick gray made his major league debut on april 15, 1958 and was 2 for 4 with a single in his first big league at bat.  the next day, he hit the first los angeles dodger home run, and a couple days after that, he hit the first dodger home run in los angeles.  not a bad way to start.  gray wound up hitting .249 with 9 home runs on the season in just 58 games.  randy jackson and pee wee reese shared time with him at third, with jim gilliam, don zimmer, earl robinson, and even gil hodges helping out, but gray's 53 starts at the hot corner were more than anyone else, so he gets the spot in our countdown.

gray began the 1959 season on the bench, but got a few starts at third before he was traded to the cardinals in mid june.

jim gilliam (1959-1960)

the aforementioned gilliam brought some semblance of stability to the third base position for the dodgers as he took over in 1959.  sure, he still played second base and the outfield, but between 1959 and 1960, gilliam made a total of 246 starts at third base - more than any dodger in a two-year span since before even billy cox.  in 1959, gilliam led the league in walks and was named an all-star for the second time in his career.  he hit .282 and helped the dodgers win their first championship in los angeles.  in 1960, his average dipped to .248 although he matched his base on balls total from the previous season, and scored 96 runs.  in 1961, gilliam spent more time at second base, as the dodgers acquired a third baseman from the cardinals.  sort of.

daryl spencer (1961)

daryl spencer was acquired by the dodgers early in the 1961 season, and wound up starting 55 games for them at third base that year, despite having played nothing but shortstop for the cardinals prior to the trade.  he hit .243 with 8 home runs and 27 rbi for the dodgers, and then returned in 1962 to hit .136 with a pair of homers and 12 rbi in 77 games (57 of which included time spent at third base).  spencer's reduced playing time in 1962 meant that a familiar face was once again the primary dodger third baseman.

jim gilliam (1962)

believe it or not, walt alston trotted out jim gilliam as the dodgers' starting third baseman 60 times in 1962 - more than spencer, andy carey, lee walls, or even tommy davis.  that means that gilliam was the team's primary third baseman and second baseman that season!  in addition to those starts, gilliam found himself manning the hot corner 30 times as a result of in-game moves after starting elsewhere on the diamond.  overall, gilliam hit .270 in 1962, with an obp of .370 and 83 runs scored.

in 1963, gilliam made only 27 starts (and 55 total appearances) at third, because the dodgers had a rookie from oxnard ready to take over.

ken mcmullen (1963)

that's mcmullen's 1964 topps card.  i wasn't going to bury his 1963 rookie card way down here in this post.

as with most years, the dodgers employed a number of third basemen in 1963.  mcmullen got the most starts (66) out of his 71 appearances, so he gets to represent the year that the dodgers swept the yankees in the world series.  unfortunately, mcmullen did not appear in the postseason after hitting .236 with 5 home runs and 28 rbi during the regular season.  mcmullen only appeared in 24 games during the 1964 season, after which he was dealt to the senators in the claude osteen trade.

jim gilliam (1964-1965)

look who's back!  gilliam was once again getting the majority of the starts at third base in 1964 and 1965.  gilliam had a down year in 1964, hitting only .228 in 116 games (86 of which were spent at third with 62 starts there), but bounced back in 1965 to bat .280 with an obp of .384 in 111 contests (80, 77).

come back next time to see who took over for gilliam in 1966, and whether the dodgers could keep someone there for more than one season at a time.