cards that should have been from the garvey binders

here are a couple more pages from my steve garvey oddball binder.  these two pages features cards that should have been of my favorite player. most i have created, but there are a couple that i have obtained from others - bob lemke and mrmopar.

the last 1969 topps card is the one that bob lemke made, while i lifted the first 1970 topps card from mrmopar.  i am partial to my 1970 topps card that should have been, as well as the 1978 topps record breaker.

maurice morning wills, dodger double dipper

as of june 24, 1962, dodger shortstop maury wills had 39 stolen bases on the season.  he went on to steal a then record 104 bags and win the mvp award in the process.  today, june 24, 2014, dee gordon has 39 stolen bases to his credit so far this season.  will dee steal 104 bases?  will he win the mvp award?  will he eventually leave the dodgers, only to return a few seasons later as wills did?  only time will tell.  in the meantime, here's a dodger double dipper post.

[this is the seventythird installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, ron perranoski, clyde king, paul waner, hughie jennings, ron negray, broadway aleck smith, george smith, johnny cooney, jim fairey, frenchy bordagaray, doc casey, waite hoyt, luis olmo, clyde sukeforth, willie keeler,  harry howell, germany smith, johnny allen, marv rackley, and bobo newsom.]

maury wills debuted for the dodgers in 1959.  his first card is arguably the 1960 topps 1959 world series game 5 recap card 'luis swipes base', a card i addressed here.  he would have a few cards manufactured by other companies before appearing on a topps card again.  here's one of them - a 1962 post card

and another - a 1963 jello card

both cards note wills' prowess as a base stealer - he led the league in that category each season from 1960 through 1965.  the jello card references the old stolen base record set by ty cobb of 96 steals in 154 games.  actually, cobb played in 156 games during his record setting 1915 season, and although wills stole his 104 bags over a record 165 games, he made sure to steal two bags in game 156 to bring his running total to 97.  this was the year after roger maris broke babe ruth's single season home run record, and i would imagine that baseball purists and ty cobb fans would have demanded an asterisk had wills fallen short of 96 steals after 156 games.  i guess it's worth noting that wills had 100 steals after 162 games, but twelve and twenty years later, it wouldn't matter as lou brock had 118 steals in 1974 when the cardinals played only 161 games, and rickey henderson set his record 130 steals in 1982 when the a's also played 161 (henderson only appeared in 149 games that year!).

as for wills, he remained the dodgers' shortstop through the 1966 postseason, after which he was traded to the pirates to be their third baseman in 1967.  it was that year that he finally signed with topps and received a regular 1967 topps base card of his own, although it's a more scarce high number.  i showed my beat up copy in this post, along with a bunch of his cards that should have been that i created.

here's a 1969 topps deckle edge card of wills in a pirates uniform

although the 'p' on the hat has been removed because wills became a member of the expansion montreal expos following his two seasons in pittsburgh.  he has the distinction of being the expos' first shortstop and the first expo ever to bat.  really, the first expo ever to appear in a game, as montreal opened their inaugural season in new york against tom seaver and the mets.  he was also the first expo to strike out, the second one to double, the third one to score a run, the first to record a put out, the first to record an assist, and, fittingly, the first to steal a base.  wills only stole 15 bases for the expos in 1969, mostly because he was traded back to the dodgers in early june.

wills reclaimed his shortstop position upon his return to the dodgers, moving eventual rookie of the year ted sizemore to second base.  he eventually gave way to bill russell, and his career came to an end with the close of the 1972 season.  here's wills' 1972 o-pee-chee card

to document his second go-around with the dodgers at the major league level.  i state it like that because wills had actually left and returned to the dodger organization a couple of times before.  after signing with the club in 1951, he was claimed by the reds in the 1956 minor league draft and spent 1957 with their minor league affiliate in seattle.  wills was returned to the dodgers after the 1957 season, but then was sent to the tigers a year later.  they returned him to los angeles just before the 1959 season began, and the rest is dodger history.  to clarify, wills is still only a double dipper because i only consider those players who played as a dodger at the major league level before leaving the franchise and then eventually returned and played as a dodger in the big leagues again. sorry ted lilly, shane victorino, scott proctor, etc.

i included that link up above to the post featuring the 1959-1967 wills cards that i had created.  i should give credit to topps for creating the 1962 wills card that should have been.  they first used it in their 1975 sets as part of the mvp subset, the mini version of which i showed in this post.  it showed up again in the 1982 kmart set

and again in 1987 topps as part of the 'turn back the clock' subset.  the kmart set was released a year after there were some other maury wills cards issued by fleer and topps, except those showed him in a seattle mariners uniform. he managed the m's in the latter part of the 1980 season and also for a month or so to begin the 1981 campaign, becoming just the third african-american to manage in the major leagues.  since then, wills has been a coach or baserunning instructor for about half of the major league teams, although i am glad that the last few years seem to have been spent primarily with the dodgers and the likes of dee gordon.  let's see what dee can do this year!

here's to you maury, a dodger double dipper and maybe, just maybe, a hall of famer, too.

a random sampling of dodger cards

you might recognize ron hunt

and paul popovich

from yesterday's first installment in the dodgers' second baseman evolution series.  the popovich especially, as his 1969 topps card shown above uses the same photo as his 1968 topps card which i used in the aformentioned post.  at least hunt's 1968 topps card at the top of the post is completely different from his 1967 topps issue that i showed yesterday, although his dazed and confused look doesn't make for the best card.

i've got too many cards scanned and ready to go that don't really have a purpose.  here's the guy who caught the last out of the 1981 world series, ken landreaux, on his 1987 donruss card

1987 was landreaux's final big league season (and he was with the dodgers until the end of the year), but neither fleer nor donruss issued a card of him in 1988.  donruss did issue a card of dave anderson in 1988, however

which made sense because he was still very active, although he lost the starting shortstop job that year to newcomer alfredo griffin, seen here on his 1988 score card

griffin hit only .199 in '88, but the dodgers won the world series, anyway.  two dodgers hit home runs in game 1 of the fall classic that year - mickey hatcher (shown here on his 1988 score card)

and kirk gibson (shown on a 1989 o-pee-chee sticker back)

gibby's was more dramatic, of course, and it probably took him ten times as long to round the bases than it did hatcher, who literally sprinted from home to home in the first inning.

another world series hero for the dodgers is tommy davis.  this 1993 ted williams card takes us back to 1963

when davis won the second of his back-to-back national league batting titles, but also hit .400 in the fall classic against the yankees.  he drove in the only run of game 3 in that series with a first inning single off of jim bouton - that was all don drysdale needed to set the dodgers up for a series sweep the next day.

raul mondesi, seen here on a 1995 fleer flair card,

never made it to the world series, but he was the first dodger player to go 30/30, and he did it twice.  he was my favorite dodger for a while, too.

i'll finish up this random post with jason phillips' 2005 topps chrome update & highlights card

phillips was one of jim tracy's 'ja(y)sons' of choice in 2005, along with werth, repko, and grabowski.  he spent time behind the plate and at first base that year, but left as a free agent after the season ended.

was that random enough for you?

cards that should have been that really are, thanks to bob lemke

i noted a few days ago when i completed my 1955 bowman dodger team set that there were no jackie robinson, sandy koufax, or duke snider cards in the set to slow me down.  still, knowing that bob lemke had created cards that should have been for both koufax and the duke, i couldn't resist tracking those down, too.

i was happy to read that bob had decided to sell copies of his cards after taking a break.  in addition to the '55 bowman style cards, i ordered a few more.

the 1956 topps tommy lasorda card that should have been

now i just need a 1957 style lasorda final tribute.  tommy was included in the 1954 topps set, of course, and topps created a 1955 style card of the future dodger skipper for the 1995 brooklyn dodgers archives set.

i also picked up a hard copy of this 1956 topps bill mazeroski card that should have been

it fits nicely into my double play binder

last but not least are the 1969 topps steve garvey card that should have been

(one of them, anyway), and a 1955 topps football garvey as well.

thanks bob!

show 'em if you got 'em

i've got quite a few cards sitting in my scanned folder.  most are dodgers, double plays, or memorial cards waiting for their post.  some are miscellaneous cards from random years and teams.  with a lot of those, i am left scratching my head, kind of like bob kennedy on his 1965 topps card, 

as to why i scanned them.  i would guess that kennedy's card got scanned due to his 'head coach' designation.  the cubs went a few seasons without a manager, apparently.  just a group of rotating head coaches.  wrigley wax wrote all about it a while back.

speaking of managers, here's the pilots' skipper, joe schultz, on a 1969 topps card.

i am pretty sure i scanned this one for a dinged corners post on foreheads. night owl had the same idea. good thing i also sent an ivan calderon scan along.

and then there is a proliferation of 1970 topps in the scanned folder.  lots of gray bordered goodness.

matty alou

bob bailey

 dick bosman

bosman looks as though he is posing a few hundred feet in front of the giant green screen at universal studios in hollywood.  i think it is situated behind the 'war of the worlds' plane crash set.

chris cannizzaro, before he was a dodger

check out those relatively tame padres uniforms!

ron clark

johnny edwards

john gelnar

ralph houk

looks like elston howard in the background

speaking of howard, here's frank howard

alex johnson

he joined the angels in 1970 and led the american league in batting average.

hal lanier

denny lemaster

frank linzy

barry moore

lowell palmer!

recognized as perhaps the coolest card in topps history

gary peters

dave ricketts

another one of the best looking cards of the 1970 set, thanks to the specs and all the colors

del unser

he's got bats.  and he know how to use them.

there are a few stray 1971 topps in the folder, too.  like bob bailey

that's the second bailey.  he played for the dodgers for a couple of seasons, but i don't think i was planning a post-dodger career post.

les cain

i certainly scanned that card thanks to his use of 'sugar' in his signature.  that and the fact that he's from the central coast of california (slo town).  not sure which, really.

john o'donoghue

perhaps the scrubby tree in the background was worth giving this card a scan?

last but not least, a jim wynn card

because why not scan a toy cannon card?

the card show recap - the final tally

so, here we are after a few days of recapping my trip to the local card show last weekend.  as i said in the first post, i am comfortable with what i spent (it was just under what i had budgeted) although i really had hoped to finish my 1974 topps set.  thanks to mr. haverkamp, it looks like i am just one lousy checklist away.

first things first - the total amount i spent was $98.  when i tallied up all the guesses from those of you who sounded off for each dealer, the closest to this total was mrmopar.  his total amount was $109.50 for a difference of $11.50.  yes, he was over, but this isn't 'the price is right'.  nick was second with $84.75.

this was an interesting exercise.  there was one group of cards that most of you think i overpaid for.  let's take a look at the individual dealers.

dealer 1 was the guy that i bought the two 1956 cards ($5 each) plus a bunch of 63's and 66's (12 for $5) and a few other cards.  i spent a total of $20.  john hazen hit the number on the head.

dealer 2 was the one that sold me a smattering of dodger cards, including that 2010 topps update short print and the two spring fever cards from this year.  he charged me $5.  the sp was $1 (!) and he threw the spring fever cards in for free.  that means, sadly that i overpaid for koyie hill and the others, but $5 worked for me.  night owl wins this round with his spot on guess of $5.

dealer 3 is where the wheels fell off as far as what i paid versus what you all guess i paid.  i noted that i bought some cards from the 'half-off' bin, and i am guessing they were half off of book.  i was on a mission to finish my 1974 set, and i know i spent more than i needed to to get the ryan and the other cards from this dealer.  when it came down to it, i decided not to go for a beat up ryan (the dealer had other copies for less but they had corner wear or other flaws), so i spent $15 on that card alone, even though it does have some tracking.  aside from the 1974 cards and the 1961 post johnny podres, all of the cards (including this 1969 topps deckle edge frank howard in which he is still wearing his dodger uniform with an airbrushed senators helmet) 

were 50 cents each.  vintage o-pee-chee for 50 cents could not be passed up.  in all, i spent $35 here.  that means that mrmopar, with his guess of $45 was the closest.  

i was kind of boxed in with dealer 4.  he was the one that brought 5 1974 topps washington nat'l league variations specifically for me to purchase.  as he showed them to me, he said that he pulled the best of the bunch and i realized that i had neglected to mention that condition was not necessarily a factor.  he started at $4 each, but settled for $13 for all 5 cards. i was pleased as i have been following a few of those cards on ebay, and i wasn't going to get even the 4 i needed for $13.  the winner here is captain canuck. and night owl.  they were both $1 off with their guesses.

dealer 5 should have been an easy one, and it was as captain canuck got it right with the first comment.  i bought 20 cards from this dealer's dime box.  $2 is the answer.

when you walk up to a guy and say i need 3 cards to complete a 1974 topps set, including phil niekro, you kind of lose some bargaining power.  fortunately, dealer 6 had the niekro marked for $2 in his binder, which was ok by me.  winner once again is captain canuck.

dealer 7 was the one from whom i purchased those 2011 topps update cognac and diamond parallels - 10 in all, including der-ek je-ter

these were 10 cards from a dime box, which was somewhat surprising to me since there were some real names in there, such as the aforementioned jeter.  oh well, i spent just $1.  congrats to play at the plate for his $2 guess.

dealer 8 sold me some vintage bowman dodgers and a few other items, too.  the 90% off bowman box was 90% off some fairly high prices, i thought, but i will pay $3 for a 1952 bowman preacher roe that looks pretty good on the front.  i finished my morning at the card show by laying out $20 for those last 9 cards.  winner this time is dhoff with a correct guess of $20.

so, i didn't do much haggling but came away with a lot of cards for my various sets and collections, plus some stuff to send off in trades.  and, as it turns out, in contest winnings.

if you are john hazen, night owl, mrmopar, captain canuck, play at the plate, or dhoff, sound off in the comments with the team of your choice and i will send some cards (although i can guess for most of you).  i will probably need addresses from you since i am not the best at keeping track of that sort of thing.  you can send those to gcrl@comcastDOTnet.

i may do this again, if i ever get to another show.

a post borne of necessity

these cards all came from arpsmith.  a while ago.  i've been remiss in showcasing them, and then i received another package in the mail from him yesterday.  i can't let a previous trade get lapped like that (although the same thing is happening with the junior junkie).  for better or for worse, here are some of the very nice cards i received from adam as part of a prize package/trade.

2002 topps chrome alex cora

my scanner did a nice thing here.  the scan of that card sings.  it's very nice.

1969 topps willie davis

three dog night with some vintage joy for the world.

2000 fleer greats of the game tommy john

i really liked this set when it was released.  i remember treating myself to some packs after a job interview.  lots of dodgers on the checklist, too.

1984 fleer derrel thomas

my second favorite fleer card of thomas.  i like how this one tells me that he plays infield and outfield.  what about catcher?  a true utility guy.

speaking of catchers, here's a 2001 upper deck todd hundley

and a 2004 upper deck paul loduca

the best thing about those cards is not the lurking kaz ishii behind loduca, but rather the little dodger stadium photo on the lower front of the loduca card.  i missed upper deck cards in 2004 (other than the legends set) so i don't think i knew chavez ravine was on the dodger flagship cards.  the photo, by the way, is the same one that's on the backs of the legends cards.

2005 donruss hong-chih kuo

channeling jerry reuss with that haircut

and finally, a 2002 donruss best of fan club chan ho park jersey relic

it's part of a 'league leaders' subset maybe?  park did lead the league in starts in 2001.

adam - thanks for these cards and thanks for the additional cards that i will try to post before we get into another trade.