so it begins - the (mostly) regular issue steve garvey binders

i've got essentially four full binders of steve garvey cards and assorted items (not to mention my garvey posters, prints, first baseman's glove, louisville slugger bat, and signed balls).  two of them feature oddball items (which i've shown over the past few months) and the other two feature (for the most part) standard sized cards.  over the course of the next unknown amount of time, i'm going to show you the contents of those two binders.

here we go - page 1:

this first sheet features:

1. 1971 dell today's team stamp
2. 1971 o-pee-chee
3. 1971 topps
4. 1971 topps dodger team
5. 1972 topps dodger team
6. 1972 topps
7. 1973 o-pee-chee
8. 1973 topps dodger team
9. 1973 topps

here are the backs, just remember that they are reversed since i just flipped the sheet over to scan it

a couple of notes about this sheet - i obviously decided to include team cards (topps only) as the garv is in the front row of the 1971 card, the third row of the 1972 card, and the middle row of the 1973 card.  also, the dell today's team stamp is also sometimes referred to as the 'mlb official stamp'.  the only garvey release i am missing from this period is the 1972 topps venezuelan stamp. good luck to me.

here's the second sheet:

featuring:

1. 1974 o-pee-chee
2. 1974 topps
3. 1974 topps dodger team
4. 1975 hostess
5. 1975 kellogg's
6. 1975 o-pee-chee
7. 1975 o-pee-chee 1974 mvp's
8. 1975 o-pee-chee 1974 nlcs
9. 1975 topps

and the backs:

in case you're wondering, garvey's in the middle row of the team card.  here i'm missing only the 1975 hostess twinkie card (it has a black bar on the back, which the regular hostess card - as seen above - does not).

this is the third sheet of the binder:

featuring:

1. 1975 topps 1974 mvp's
2. 1975 topps dodger team
3. 1975 topps 1974 nlcs
4. 1975 topps mini
5. 1975 topps mini 1974 mvp's
6. 1975 topps mini 1974 nlcs
7. 1976 hostess
8. 1976 kellogg's
9. 1976 o-pee-chee

these are the backs

garvey's still in the middle row on the team card.  you might notice a couple of things here.  first, i am missing the 1976 hostess twinkie card (again with a black bar on the back), and the 1975 sspc card is not where it should be. instead, i have a 1976 o-pee-chee card there.  that's because i used to catalog the sspc card as a 1976 release (which is how it's listed on the official beckett garvey checklist).  since starting this blog, however, i have come to refer to that set as the 1975 sspc set based on the copyright date on the back of the cards.

so, there you have the first three sheets of cards in my basic steve garvey card collection.  there will be more.  lots more.  stay tuned.

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.

another dodger double dipper

it has once again been a while since i have looked at a player that played for the dodgers, left the franchise for another, and then returned to wear dodger blue again.  double dippers, i call them.  i was reminded of this when i did the recent 'evolution of the shortstop' post which featured a double dipping maury wills. this post isn't about wills, however - he will have to wait.  this one is about ron perranoski.

[this is the fiftyfourth 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, and juan castro.]

perranoski joined the dodger organization in 1960 when he was traded by the cubs in the don zimmer deal.  he made his major league debut in april of 1961 against the pirates, striking out the first batter he ever faced, and getting the third batter he faced, roberto clemente, to ground into a double play.  here's perranoski's 1961 topps card

perranoski quickly established himself as one of the best relievers in the game - he made only one start in his entire career (in his rookie season) - saving 20 and 21 games (even though the save wasn't an official stat back then) in his second and third seasons, respectively. he led the league in appearances both those years, and even won 16 games in relief in 1963.  his 16-3 record that year led the league in winning percentage, and earned him a 4th place finish in the mvp voting.  obviously, he was a big part in the dodgers' pennant winning season, and in his first world series appearance, perranoski struck out clete boyer to save game 2.

perranoski again led the league in appearances in 1967, but was traded to the twins following the season in the deal that netted the dodgers zoilo versalles and mudcat grant.  as a twin, perranoski twice led the american league in saves (31 in 1969 and 34 in 1970), and even garnered some cy young award votes in 1970.

in 1971, the tigers picked him up on waivers, and so he finished the season in detroit.  here's his 1972 topps card as proof

perranoski remained with the tigers as the 1972 season began.  after a poor showing in the first half of the season (0-1 with a 7.71 era in 17 appearances), the tigers released him.  a week later, the dodgers signed him to a contract, and perranoski returned to la.  perranoski only appeared in 9 games for the dodgers during his second stint with the team, but he was 2-0 with a 2.70 era in those appearances.  unfortunately, topps did not include him in the 1973 set (individually, anyway - he does appear on the team card in the top row, upper left).

anyway, here is what his card that should have been might have looked like.

the dodgers released perranoski at the end of the season, but he wasn't done.  the angels signed him, and he finished out his career with 8 appearances for them in 1973.

of course, perranoski later returned to the dodger organization once again, becoming the pitching coach under tommy lasorda after red adams retired.  unfortunately, he is currently working for the giants in some capacity.

here's to you ron perranoski, you dodger double dipper!

i will be keeping these cards

a while back, i asked the question 'should i keep this card?' regarding a nolan ryan card that mentioned steve garvey on the back.  i already knew my answer when i wrote the post (i will not keep that card), and the four of you who commented all came to the same conclusion.  i don't have checklists in my garvey collection, although i do have the topps team cards in which he appears (for some reason, it looks like he missed the photo that appears in the 1981 set) in the binders.

there is a card that mentions steve garvey on the back which i will keep in the collection.

that's because the cartoon you see above is on the back of garvey's 1972 topps card

i suppose it makes sense for a ballplayer to get married in the winter since that is their offseason.  i have to say, with the temperatures i am experiencing right now, i am not sure i would attend anybody's winter wedding.

moving on, there is another card that features garvey as the answer to the cartoon trivia question on the back that will remain in my collection.  take a look at the back of garvey's 1975 o-pee-chee card

that fine example of canadian cardmanship came to me thanks to kerry from cards on cards.  in fact, all of the cards (except for the 1972 topps card up top) were sent by kerry in what was a most generous trade package.

there was another 1975 o-pee-chee card in the mix - the 1974 mvp card

two horizontal cards don't make a right, unfortunately.  when this card goes in the binder, poor garvey is upside down.

here are some of the other goodies - 2003 bowman draft prospects xavier paul

paul was recently non-tendered by the reds.  i hope he is picked up by another team.

2009 topps jackie robinson turkey red insert

pretty sure that photo is from a shot inside the dodger clubhouse, not out on a field.  nice to see it colorized, though.

2010 bowman matt kemp 1992 throwback

and 2011 topps lineage matt kemp diamond anniversary refractor

i will be quite upset if kemp is traded this week, or at any time for that matter.

chad billngsley's lineage refractor also came along for the ride

kerry was nice enough to hit the nefarious 9 (my most wanted cards) as well.  he sent a copy of former number 1 most wanted 2000 upper deck victory koyie hill (as seen in this post), but also sent a 2003 bowman heritage fred mcgriff black bordered facsimile autograph parallel

and a 1998 fleer tradition dennis reyes card

both from the list.  a list i need to update...

thanks kerry! you really outdid yourself with these cards!

four bucks for forty

quite a while ago, i sent some cards to bill buckner to be signed, happily paying his $10/auto fee.  for some reason, the results of that request have sat in my scanned folder for about three years.  enough, i say!  here are the cards from my billy buck ttm success!

1970 topps

1972 topps

ah, the rookie cup.  i actually had another one of these cards signed before this batch (along with a 1978 topps card), but traded it as part of the spring training/padres series auto deal with reader cory.

1973 topps

and 1975 topps

it was good to see buckner in dodger duds earlier this month as part of the old-timers game.  even though he was not officially a part of the 1977 or 1978 dodgers (the teams of my youth), i was still a fan.

thanks bill!

making the news

the dodgers announced on facebook yesterday the participants of the revived oldtimer's game in a very cool way.  they used baseball cards

i am guessing that some of these guys will just be observers, and it appears that rickey will be wearing pinstripes (or yankee grays) along with graig nettles, bob watson, and some other former bronx bombers.  and, if i recall correctly, sandy koufax indicated during spring training that the oldtimer's game on june 8 was one of the functions which the dodgers wanted him to participate in when he returned to the fold.

i went to an oldtimer day back in the late 1970's.  it was pretty cool.  hank aaron played for the non-dodger oldtimers and we were sitting in right so we had a good view of the hammer.  i recall jim campanis, only a few seasons removed from the majors as the offensive star of the game for the dodgers.

anyway, there was something familiar but odd about the photo - the 1972 topps dave lopes card.  that's a card that doesn't really exist except as a card that should have been.  i'm guessing that whomever compiled this image did a google search for images and my lopes creation popped up.  that's cool - i like the way it turned out

oldtimer games are fun, and i wish i could be there to see the infield take their positions one more time.

hoo boy, jason schmidt is ticked

he sure is.  take a look.

and his 2007 topps heritage card isn't even a short print.  perhaps jason is angry that dayf (the guy who sent all of these cards you are about to see, including that schmidt card you've already seen) has to resort to frankensetting topps heritage thanks to short prints and other silly topps' shenanigans.  looks like jason didn't make the cut and got shipped to me instead.  that's ok - i'll give him a good home with his dodger teammates, since i haven't thought about completing a heritage set since 2001.  that will change next year, though.

dayf sent a bunch of nice cards.  i didn't get a sketch of a pony, but i did get some fine dodger goodness.  and dodgers trump ponies.

here's a 1989 topps sticker back of steve sax, back from when steve went to extremes to try to fix his erratic throwing by amputating his right arm at the elbow.

it didn't help.

another '89 card - this one of orel hershiser from fleer

i would mention that franklin stubbs is lurking behind the bulldog, but then i would have to add a 'lurkers' label as well as one for 'stubbs', but blogger only allows me 20 labels per post and i have ocd when it comes to labels.  i plan to max out my label allowance with cards and not waste two on stubbs or his lurker status.  sorry franklin.  but, i will point out (and label) dodger stadium there in the background.

here's another 1989 fleer card.  sort of.  it's saxy again, but it's different from the hershiser card.  it's glossy.

here are the backs, which make the glossy cards easier to identify

i'll skip the 90's and go straight to the aughts.  here's a 2004 donruss studio card of hideo nomo

on clear nights, you can get a pretty good view of downtown los angeles from the first base side of dodger stadium.  only if you're outside the stadium or sitting in the top row, that is.  quick - name the tall building coming out of nomo's noggin.  it's only the tallest building west of the mississippi.  i don't know too many people outside of la that know its name, which is kind of weird and kind of not at the same time.  anyway, that would be library tower, which i knew as first interstate bank world center back in the day.  it's now us bank tower, although it was sold to an indonesian group a few days ago.

next up is dioner navarro and his 2005 playoff prestige card

one would think that navarro went from being a yankee to a dodger, but in doing so they would forget that for a few hours in between he belonged to the diamondbacks.  the yankees sent him to arizona as part of the package in exchange for randy johnson, and later that day the dodgers acquired him in the shawn green deal.  they sent him to tampa bay a few years later for toby hall and mark hendrickson.  this year, navarro will try to catch on (pun intended) with the cubbies.

here's a card that doesn't quite make sense to me.  it's a 2013 topps chasing history insert of hanley ramirez

ramirez reached the 400 extra base hit milestone in 2012.  i had not been aware that this was a milestone that was actively tracked.  anyway, he now sits at 429 extra base hits for his career, which includes 23 as a dodger.  so yes, ramirez achieved the milestone with the marlins.  why not show him a a marlin?  or, if you want to show him in dodger blue, why not use 150 home runs as the milestone, since he did reach that total as a dodger.  this card is like issuing a jim thome home run retrospective and using a photo of him in dodger blue.  thome hit exactly zero home runs as a dodger.  it would be nonsensical.  but i expect topps to do it once thome announces his retirement from the game.

there was another 2013 topps card that i am going to display in the package.  it's an andre ethier chasing history relic card

it appears to be free of spelling errors.

i'll wrap up this thinly disguised trade post with the antithesis of jason schmidt's card up top. it's a 1972 topps bill singer card

and looking at it makes me smile.

thanks for the cards and everything else dayf.  even the ponies.

black as coal

continuing on from today's earlier post, i present more cards from night owl.  these were part of a contest that i won, and i'll begin again with a black card.  not a walmart parallel, but just a 2012 topps heritage black bordered parallel of former dodger (and dodger double dipper) randy wolf.

the contest winnings were quite a colorful assortment of cards.  here's a 2012 topps jason vargas red bordered card from target.

and, continuing down the rainbow, here's a card with plenty of orange, not to mention airbrushed hats.  it's a 1972 topps angels' rookie stars card

although it seems to be devoid of stars.  that's ok, though, because it does feature billy parker, whose first major league hit was a walk-off home run in his big league debut.  check out this story to learn more about him.

more colors - no yellow bordered card, but there was a gold bordered 2012 bowman brandon mccarthy card

and then a 2012 bowman chrome brandon beachy green refractor

that means we are at the 'blue' part of the color prism, so here's a 1982 topps dave stewart rookie card

not blue enough?  tough.

on to purple - here's a purple parallel of yoenis cespedes from 2012 topps chrome

writing that reminded me of the lemonheads 'purple parallelogram'.

more purple, but also black, comes by way of this 2011 topps heritage black bordered parallel of the rockies' ubaldo jimenez

actually, there's not much purple on that uniform at all.

i'll end with some shiny - this 2012 topps ken griffey jr value box refractor thingy

it's pretty sharp, but it won't be in my hands for long.

thanks greg, and congrats on all those readers that inspire you to give away cards.

get your head in the game

here's the penultimate 1979 post raisin bran steve garvey's baseball tips card as we head into spring training.  this week, the garv extolls the virtues of mental preparation

what are the chances that franklin stubbs is going through the same mental checklist that garvey mentions as he awaits the outcome of the pitch on his 1986 donruss card?

or, maybe he's just thinking 'please don't hit a ground ball to sax'.

jim hughes is clearly not concerned with any game action

probably because there was no game action on 1953 topps cards

meanwhile, jose vizcaino 

has picked up the 'pull up your pants' sign from the third base coach on his 1998 upper deck card.  if only he were more focused on the game at hand, perhaps his pants wouldn't have needed a boost.

jerry reuss, shown here on his 1982 donruss card,

can't help but smile as he plans his next hot foot treatment instead of thinking about the next batter's tendencies against left-handed pranksters with a dutch boy haircut.

it's easy to let your mind wander while sitting on the bench, especially in spring training, as bill russell

demonstrates on his 1982 donruss card.  perhaps he is trying to think of something fun to do in vero beach later that evening, or maybe he is practicing giving the official scorer the evil eye.

i suppose the manager can at least try to play some role in helping the players maintain their focus during the game, although on his 1972 topps card, it appears that walter alston

has emerged from the dugout to see which way the wind is blowing as he has a golf game to get to as soon as the baseball game is over.

only one more tip to go, and pitchers and catchers report this week!