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.

andy messersmith was a dodger double dipper

i mentioned earlier today that andy messersmith would get a dodger double dipper post of his very own.  i wasn't joking.

[this is the eighty-ninth 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, bobo newsom, maury wills, dazzy vance, ray hayworth, zack taylor, john cronin, art herring, brian falkenborg, bill reidy, john anderson, vito tamulis, wally hood, jim bruske, bill dahlen, patsy donovan, jamey wright, and watty clark.]

messersmith first joined the dodgers in 1973 after he was traded by the angels in the frank robinson deal.  i am sure the dodgers coveted his 2.78 era over the five seasons he pitched for the angels, and they weren't disappointed, as he had a 2.67 era in his first four years with the club, which included his fantastic 1974 season in which he went 20-6 and had an era of 2.59.  messersmith started the nl all-star game in 1974, as well as game 2 of the nlcs against the pirates which he won.  he also started games 1 and 4 of the world series, but took the loss in each.  

after a season like that, messersmith was looking for a raise, but when he tried to negotiate a contract for the 1975 season, things didn't go well.  here's his hostess card from 1975, by the way,

complete with the rare sighting of batting gloves on a pitcher's throwing hand.  he decided to pitch without a contract while his grievance against the reserve clause was being resolved.  he wound up winning 19 games in 1975 while posting an era of 2.29 and earning his second straight gold glove.  the baseball arbitrator ruled in his favor (the owners fired the arbitrator the following day), and messersmith signed a free agent deal with the braves.

he moved on to the yankees after the 1977 season, as his 1978 o-pee-chee card attests

but was re-signed by the dodgers when he hit the market again after the 1978 season.  it even says so on his 1979 o-pee-chee card

i really wish there had been a traded set in the late 1970's and 1980 so that there could have been more cards of players like messersmith.  here's a 1979 topps card that should have been that i made

to help ease my pain.

the second time around was not as successful for messersmith as he was 2-4 in 11 starts with a 4.91 era when the dodgers released him in early june.  he retired soon after, with a 2.86 career era which puts him between jim palmer and tom seaver, but well within the top 10 for starting pitchers after 1920.

here's another card i made for messersmith - it's his 1980 topps card that should have been

which serves as a final tribute with his entire career stats on the back.

i don't have any other double dippers lined up, so this may be the end of the line for these posts, at least until the dodgers reacquire matt kemp a few years from now for a torii hunter-esque swan song.  still, don't be surprised if i uncover some other heretofore unknown to me franchise double dipper in the 1990 target dodgers set...

puttin' on the ritz

you've likely seen this 2014 upper deck goodwin champions card of former dodger ron cey already

but it's new to my collection, and it features the third baseman of the infield of my youth in a tuxedo and top hat and needs to be shown off here.  cey famously posed in a tuxedo with some penguins for a poster back in the day, but i hadn't seen this image before.  it calls to mind another penguin - all that's missing is the monocle and cigarette…

meanwhile, steve garvey is left in his michigan state duds on his card in the set

garvey was inducted into the michigan state athletics hall of fame in 2010 (fellow spartan kirk gibson was inducted in 1994), and had his number 10 retired by the school earlier this year.  unfortunately, cards of davey lopes in his pajamas and bill russell in a gorilla costume were not included in the set.

i recently picked up another garvey card not licensed by mlb - a 2013 panini america's pastime auto

and i also 'picked up' another 2014 topps bunt 'card' of the garv.  it's another take on his 1974 topps card

at least they got the stats on the back right this time.

i have never heard of garvey being called 'hollywood'.

i failed to add this card from 2011 topps tier one to my collection, unfortunately.

that's a nice piece of the 1980 all-star game patch the dodgers wore in, of all seasons, 1980.  it went for $355 which was well above my limit.

let's cleanse the ron cey palette with a card of him in proper dodger attire - here's his 1975 hostess card

the batting helmet is an improvement over the tops hat, for sure.  and, the penguin is in dodger stadium where he belongs!

here's bill russell in chavez ravine, turning two on his 1980 dodgers police card

looks like opening day, given the banner on the outfield wall.

here's another card of the dodger shortstop - this is a silver parallel auto from 2014 topps archives

russell's inclusion in this year's archives set has probably been my favorite development of the collecting season.

of course, i am also pleased that davey lopes has an on-card auto of his own from 2014 panini golden age

with a blurb about the infield on the back

lopes also has a base card, which i'll show in a different post.

i also recently found a 1988 topps tiffany lopes card - i'm not sure if i had one already or not, so i bought it

even in astros' clothing, i covet davey lopes cards

i thought about picking up another 'set' of infield collectibles but ultimately passed on buying the 1978 slurpee cups of garvey, cey, russell, and lopes

i kept the images, though.

i believe this is the most recent infield reunion - a photo from the 2013 dodger old-timer game

looking good, infield - no need for formal wear!

a host of hostess

do you trust yourself? or do you find yourself questioning whether or not you really did update those want lists?  i, of course, have my want lists linked to my blog (although not all years are represented, and i know that any dodger wants listed past the 1980's are hopelessly out of date).  i've been concentrating the last couple of years on that 50's, 60's and most importantly to me, the 1970's.  

i knew i needed a couple of oddballs, and have added some of them to the nefarious 9.  imagine my excitement when i saw a healthy stack of hostess cards at one of the tables at the card show last friday.  it didn't take long for me to find target #1 (or #4 on the nefarious 9), a 1975 hostess bill buckner.

what a great card.  dodger stadium is represented nicely, and buckner's got his awesome mustache  and eyebrows in midseason form.  i am so happy to have found this card.  there were plenty of other dodgers in the stack as well, like this 1975 hostess bill russell,

which i was pretty sure i owned, but bought just for fun.  and for trading, i suppose.  same with this jimmy wynn

one cannot have enough jimmy wynn as a dodger cards.  i knew i had this one already, but it might be an upgrade for me.  plus it was almost free, so why not?

but then we got into some cards that i was fairly sure i still needed.  like a 1976 hostess steve yeager

so what if my want lists said that i did not need it - it did not look familiar to me, so i bought it.  i also bought a 1977 hostess steve garvey.

i may need this one, actually - either for my garvey collection or my dodger collection.  not sure yet.  it was on the want list - i just don't know if i needed one or two.

i did not need this 1977 davey lopes card.

more trade bait.  same goes for this 1977 rick monday card

which is one of his first as a dodger.  bill buckner's 1977 hostess card is also an airbrushed abomination, but i didn't bother with that one since he's a cub.  however, i am remorseful that i didn't pick it up as i look back.  

here's another steve yeager, this one is from 1978.

again, i could have sworn that my lists were wrong and i needed this one.  nope.  already had it.  i knew, however, that i did need a 1978 hostess reggie smith (#7 on the nefarious 9 list).  so, i picked one up.

i bought this one on ebay last week.  i could have had one at the show for about 20% of what i paid.  in fact, reggie was on the top of the stack.  that's karma slapping me in the face.

the last hostess card i picked up wasn't on any of my lists.  i was just struck by the look of the card, even though it's airbrushed.

there should have been more lyman bostock cards.

i told the guy that he had the "mostest hostess" i had ever seen, and regretted saying something that dumb even as i was saying it.  i should have trusted my initial instinct and just paid the man silently.  i also should have trusted my want lists.

don sutton, my lone hall of famer

i mentioned in a post the other day that i was frustrated during my early years of dodger fandom because there were no dodger sure fire hall of famers in the 70's.  johngy called me on it, and i have to admit that this sentiment may be exaggerated, as i mentioned in the post that young gcrl thought steve garvey was a lock for cooperstown.

and, i have not forgotten, that dodger team of my youth prominently featured hall of famer don sutton.

if you were to have asked me in 1979 (after i had two years of fandom under my belt) who the hall of famers were among current players, i would have said willie stargell, willie mccovey, dave parker, mike schmidt, johnny bench, pete rose, dale murphy (it might have been another year or two before i thought this about murph, but make no mistake, i thought he was headed to the hall), steve garvey, reggie jackson, steve carlton, tom seaver, nolan ryan, and jr richard.  heavy on national leaguers, and especially national league west players.  that's a direct result of baseball coverage back then.  sure, i studied the backs of baseball cards for hours on end, and bought the baseball handbook every year and read jim murray's column and the boxscores in the la times every day, but i also went by what i saw and what i saw mostly were teams that played against the dodgers.

speaking of the dodgers, let's get back to sutton.  when i first saw his 1978 topps card (now nicely signed by the man himself - although he left off the hof notation that he provided the first time he signed a copy for me)

he was the nl's all-star pitcher.  still, his best days as a dodger - 5 straight top-5 cy young seasons - were behind him and i missed them.  i admitted in the post linked above to taking sutton for granted.  i was more interested in the infield, the other everyday players, and even bobby welch who burst on the scene in 1978.  plus, i didn't want to believe that steve garvey wasn't perfect, and the documented locker room tussle between the two soured me on sutton a bit.  add to that the fact that he hosted a celebrity golf tournament for one year in my hometown but didn't show the second year (bill murray stole the show, so we had that going for us) and you might forgive me for not being a board member in the don sutton marching and chowder society. 

this is not to say that i wasn't a fan of sutton's.  believe me, i was.  i saw him pitch a few times before he went to the astros, and i am glad that i did.  every time we sat in dodger stadium with sutton on the mound, my dad would tell me the story about how we stood in line for a ride at disneyland behind sutton and his family one time, and his kids were pleased that i was wearing some sort of dodger gear.  and, i do have another autograph, personalized by sutton and wishing me luck, that my dad (he was in joe beckwith's foursome that day) obtained at the aforementioned golf tourney.  plus, i was ridiculously happy when he wound up leading the nl in era in 1980, not for a small part because it meant a dodger would be featured on a league leader card for the first time in my existence as a collector (although davey lopes did the dead as recently as 1977).  even when sutton returned to the dodgers for one last shot in 1988, i figured out when he was starting and road-tripped to the ravine to see him pitch.  and, while my friends were certain that 'even we could hit this guy', i was just glad he was back. 

when sutton left the dodgers, he had 230 wins and over 2600 strikeouts.  i knew that the magic numbers were 300/3000, and so i watched with great pleasure his 300th win - a complete game victory, no less - as a member of the california angels.  it wasn't until then, however, that i was sure he would be inducted.  even so, it took an extra 5 years for the baseball writers to extend him the honor.

for me, collecting cards and keeping this blog  are quite frankly the primary ways i stay connected to the sport and team of my youth.  sutton was a big part of that (to this day i consider him the starting pitcher for 'my' team), and i admit that while i did not think of sutton as a lock for the hall of fame back in the late 1970's, i am eminently pleased that he made it.

here's to you, don sutton, the lone hall-of-famer from the team of my youth.

trading with giant fans

no, not of mythical large people.  fans of the team. no not that one, the baseball one.  you know, the one in san francisco.  willie mays? barry bonds?  yeah, i don't blame you for not thinking of them right away.  i try hard not to think about them.  however, there are some pretty generous giant fans out there. 

for example, matt of a giants blog and also the 1976 project recently sent me some dodgers, including

a bunch of 1981 topps stickers such as the infield

with russell and lopes in the 'cindy brady' pose,

and more stickers!  like 1981 fleer star stickers ron cey

and steve garvey

using a recycled photo, even.

matt also sent me this:

no, not the card.  instead, matt sent a dvd of the first 8 innings of game 4 of the 1974 world series.  it was awesome to see the infield again, along with andy messersmith and dr. mike marshall.

i also traded some giants for dodgers with reader jim.  he sent a bunch of great cards, including

a 1975 hostess ron cey (in dodger stadium!),

a 1975 hostess dave (don't call me davey yet) lopes,

a 1976 hostess dave (still not davey) lopes,

and a 1977 hostess dave (still just dave) lopes.

along with a couple of cards for my 1976 set, like the henry cruz rookie

looks like ellis didn't get the memo about not smiling for the camera.

thanks again matt and jim! sorry it took so long to post!

a wynn-wynn situation (meaning, a jim wynn through the mail success!)

there are far too few cards of jimmy wynn in a dodger uniform, so i am happy when i find any card of the toy cannon wearing dodger blue, like this 1975 hostess card.i even enjoy picking up other wynn cards, especially when it's a variation like this 1977 topps burger king yankees issueor part of an awesome insert set like this 2006 fleer greats of the game nickname greats card.if i could find a picture of wynn with the brew crew i would create a 1978 topps style final tribute.

anyway, back to his dodger days. the toy cannon was nice enough to sign and return a couple of his real dodger cards - first his 1974 topps traded card.even though he's not in a dodger uniform in the photo, it still counts.

he also signed my 1975 topps mini card
one of the best facial hair cards of the 1970's, and that says a lot!

thanks jim!