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.

henry cruz and geoff zahn through the mail successes!

few men have sported sunglasses on baseball cards as well as former dodger henry cruz.  he recently signed some cards for me through the mail, and each one of them is a revelation in recreational eye wear.

here's his 1975 sspc card

and here's his 1976 topps rookie card upon which his style of sunglasses has changed.

there are three very recognizable outfielders (chet lemon, ellis valentine, and terry whitfield - a future dodger) from the late 1970's/early 1980's on that card next to cruz, who hit .266 in 53 games with the 1975 dodgers, and then just .182 in 49 games for the club in '76.  he did have a two-home run game as a dodger in 1976, which was nice.  in fact, that game was 39 years ago yesterday!

towards the end of the 1977 season, a season in which the dodgers kept him in the minor leagues, cruz was picked up on waivers by the white sox where he became teammates with chet lemon, and thus we have a 1978 topps card that looks like this

yes, cruz signed one of those for me, too.  those glasses look more like the ones from his sspc card above.

i was hoping to have another signed 1978 topps card to show, but geoff zahn hasn't returned it yet.  i'm hoping that he does, but until then, he did send his 1975 topps card back to me

signed and with a bible verse reference.

cruz and zahn were teammates briefly in 1975 (zahn was traded to the cubs early in the season), with cruz playing left field in both of zahn's games as a dodger that year.  with the way zahn seems to be squinting in the dodger stadium sun, perhaps he could have used a pair of cruz's shades.

thanks to both cruz and zahn for signing my cards!

charlie manuel through the mail success!

i'm not sure who to thank - keith olbermann, maybe? - for including charlie (chuck) manuel in the 1975 (or 1976) sspc set.  whomever is responsible, i thank you.  and, i thank charlie himself for signing and returning one of his cards to me recently

manuel was nothing but a pinch-hitter for the dodgers for the last month of the 1974 season and a few months during the 1975 season.  he had just 3 singles in 19 plate appearances in his tenure as a dodger, yet he made the checklist for the 'pure card' set.  after that, he played in japan for a few seasons with some pretty good success, but returned to the states to begin a managerial career in 1983.  twenty-five (and twenty-six) years later, his phillies beat the dodgers in the nlcs.

still, i'm happy to have this signed card in my collection. thanks charlie!

the next two pages in the steve garvey binder get us through 1978

here's the fourth sheet in the first of two steve garvey binders that contain the regular issue stuff, plus some oddballs that fit in regular sized 9-pocket sheets.

this sheet contains:

1. 1975 sspc
2. 1976 topps dodger team
3. 1976 topps
4. 1977 burger chef disc
5. 1977 hostess
6. 1977 hostess twinkie
7. 1977 kellogg's
8. 1977 o-pee-chee
9. 1977 topps

as you'll recall from the previous post, the 1975 sspc card is mixed in with the 1976 cards, since i used to catalog that set as a 1976 set.  now i call it a 1975 release based on the copyright date on the backs.  speaking of backs, here's the back of the sheet

which is best used to note the difference between the regular hostess issue and the twinkie version.  the twinkie card has that black bar on the back.

here's page number 5

which features:

1. 1977 topps dodger team
2. 1977 topps cloth sticker
3. 1977 topps cloth sticker nl all-star team/checklist
4. 1978 o-pee-chee
5. 1978 pepsi (trimmed)
6. 1978 sspc
7. 1978 topps
8. 1978 topps dodger team
9. 1978 wiffle ball disc

and the backs

the 1977 o-pee-chee card is more similar to the 1977 topps cloth sticker than the 1977 topps card due to the absence of the all-star banner, but you already knew all about those types of o-pee-chee variations, right?

there are a bunch of msa disc variations that i don't have from this span of garvey releases (with the others that i do own sitting in the oddball binder due to their size), but that's about all i'm missing here.  for some reason, both hostess and kellogg's left the garv out of their 1978 sets, which is unfortunate.

next up, 1979...

taking the trade train from p-town

tom from waiting 'til next year let me know that he had found some oddball dodger card, and asked if i would be interested. of course i would! so, the cards were sent my way, and my collection is all the better for it.

the package included some 'swell' cards, including actual swell cards, of which one was this 1990 swell baseball greats steve garvey card

i've got one in the garvey binders, but needed one for the dodger binders.  excellent.

there were also quite a few 1975 (some say 1976) sspc cards, such as willie crawford

crawford was traded after the 1975 season to make way for reggie smith in the outfield so i can't really complain about the dodgers not keeping him around, but he had some solid years as their right fielder.  crawford won a world series ring at the age of 18 in 1965, and helped the club return to the fall classic in 1974, too.  he almost became a double dipper as part of the team of my youth, but didn't make the club out of spring training in 1977.

there were a bunch of pacific legends, too, like this 1990 clem labine card

labine was a 2-time all-star and a key cog on the dodgers' 1955 world championship team, so i'm glad to see him get some cardboard appreciation.

here's a very cool 2009 tristar obak duke snider card

he's shown as a member of the fort worth cats, which puts this image from 1946.  snider spent that season with the dodgers' double-a affiliate, playing alongside future dodger coach monty basgall.

tom was kind enough to include an insert card of the reigning cy young award winner and mvp, clayton kershaw - a 2014 donruss diamond kings card

modeled after the 1984 version of the diamond king subsets.  you all know who the first dodger diamond king was, don't you? yes, it was steve garvey.

here's a 2012 bowman chrome prospect card of o'koyea dickson

he was a 12th round pick in 2011, and spent 2014 at double-a chattanooga.  will he make the jump to okc in 2015?  let's wait and see.

here are a couple more cards from the package that may not otherwise have warranted a scan - 1994 donruss billy ashley

and 1987 donruss brian holton

this may well be the first time anyone has bothered to scan a 1987 donruss brian holton card.  you're welcome.

thanks for the cards tom!

half of the infield showed up in my mailbox

thanks to p-town tom at waiting 'til next year.  he sent a 1975 sspc davey lopes card

and a 1977 rc cola can of the penguin, ron cey

i haven't flattened the can yet like i did with the garvey can that mark hoyle sent a while back, but i plan to.  it's cool that the can mentions double plays.

speaking of half of the infield and double plays, the junior junkie also sent me some cards featuring second basemen and shortstops turning two.  there were quite a few that were new to me.

here's a 1991 leaf felix fermin card

with legs of three different people.

1993 topps stadium club was well represented, with cards of carlos baerga

gary disarcina

rico rossy

and craig shipley

how did i not have those cards already?

1994 upper deck collector's choice luis alicea

1995 score jeff blauser

2001 topps stadium club quilvio veras

2014 topps gypsy queen jedd gyorko

gyorko may have been a bust in 2014 (i added him to my fantasy team thinking he could fill in at third until manny machado returned from the dl but quickly dropped his unperforming arse), but at least he had this card to redeem himself in my eyes.

thanks for the cards (and can) guys.  stuff like that is appreciated.

a more than just so-so trade

back in a game i was watching in the late 1990's, vin scully commented while the dodgers were playing the cubs that the white sox must have thought a certain player to be only so-so, when in fact, it turned out that he was sosa!  a corny joke, but vin gets a lot of leeway from me.  anyway, i recently received a card of that so-so player in the mail from p-town tom at waiting 'til next year.

it comes from 2002 topps 206, and is a series 2 team 206 insert.  i'm working on the base and insert set, which is why i was sent the card.  it is much appreciated.  tom included another card - this 1975 (some say 1976) sspc card of dodger hitting instructor mickey vernon

vernon was a two-time batting champion for the washington senators, and happened to be the favorite ballplayer of president dwight david eisenhower.  after retiring as a player, he coached for a few teams, with the dodgers being one of them.

i wasn't expecting the vernon card, so it was a nice surprise.  it makes me wish even more that topps would produce cards of coaches again, and that donruss had included some of the dodger coaches in their early 1980 sets that had a few other teams' coaches in them.

i also received my return pwe from topher at crackin' wax.  for a one cent donation, i was able to choose some cards from his 'take my cards' page.  i wound up with a couple of dodgers from 1978 1987 2014 donruss.

adrian gonzalez

and zack greinke

i grabbed a couple other cards for trade bait/trade fodder, and i'll be checking back to see what other cards topher has for me to take.

remembering johnny oates

this is how i remember johnny oates

as a dodger.  that's his 1978 sspc card.  unfortunately, oates has only a handful of cards showing him as a dodger.  heck, he has only a handful of cards, period.  here's his 1975 sspc card, showing him as a phillie

i have recently expanded my collection of cards for players from the 1978 topps dodger team beyond their topps flagship issues, and that oates card was one of the first i added to the burgeoning collection.  oates played his last season in 1981, just as the proliferation of card sets was beginning.  donruss never made a card for him, while fleer gave him a spot in their set in both 1981 and 1982 - creating his lone 'final tribute'.

oates is about to start reappearing in my 'evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers' series, as he returned to the big leagues in 1991 as the manager of the orioles.  he had his greatest managerial successes at the helm of the texas rangers, however, and after oates passed away on christmas eve 2004 - 9 years ago today - the team decided to wear a memorial patch in his honor during the 2005 season.

this 2006 upper deck rod barajas card is a good example - you can see the patch (a black rectangle with oates' number 26 inside) there on his sleeve.

this 2006 topps mark teixeira walmart exclusive insert is another good example.

however, the two cards that will represent this memorial patch in my collection are a couple of michael young cards.  here's his 2006 fleer card with the patch on the sleeve

and here's his 2006 fleer ultra gold medallion edition card, which shows the patch on the vest jerseys.

oates had been diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1991 and given a short time to live.  he managed to live well beyond that timeframe, and was able to attend a ceremony in 2004 in which he was inducted into the rangers' hall of fame.  his number 26 was retired by the team after his death, however, and he was also posthumously inducted into the orioles' hall of fame.

the lone harmon killebrew final tribute

it's good and bad at the same time that topps didn't make a card of harmon killebrew for their 1976 set.  good in that the killer looks strange in a kansas city royal uniform, but bad that there is no final tribute for the hall of famer with his complete career stats on the back.  we do have this 1975 (some say 1976) sspc card, though, 

which lists most of his key career stat totals in the text on the back

killebrew retired as the game's fifth leading home run hitter of all time, and no other right-handed american league player had hit more than his 573 homers at the time.  today, only alex rodriguez has surpassed him in that regard.  it is fitting that the final home run of killebrew's career was hit during the last game he played in minnesota - a solo shot on september 18, 1975 at the metropolitan stadium.

killebrew didn't want to leave the twins, but he also wanted to play, and calvin griffith was only willing to pay $50,000 for killebrew's services as a coach/pinch hitter in 1975.  he ultimately was released and signed a 2-year deal with the royals.  the twins retired his number during the 1975 season, and killebrew fittingly hit a home run in the game that featured the retirement ceremony.  the royals, who finished second in the al west in 1975, released killebrew after the season ended, and he eventually returned to the twins organization and became one of its greatest ambassadors.

i had the pleasure of meeting killebrew a couple of times, which is to say that i spoke with him at a couple of team sponsored events and signings.  he was revered by twins fans and this dodger fan alike.