continuing with the steve garvey binders - 1979 into 1981 with some error action and a story of a simpler time!

sheets 6 and 7 get us into the 1980's in the first of two main issue steve garvey binders.  here's sheet number 6.

containing:

1. 1979 dodger blue
2. 1979 hostess
3. 1979 o-pee-chee
4. 1979 topps dodger team
5. 1979 topps
6. 1980 kellogg's
7. 1980 o-pee-chee
8. 1980 topps
9. 1980 topps dodger team

here's the flip side of the sheet

the most interesting card here is the first one.  i am not completely sure how the dodger blue set was distributed - i don't recall seeing it for sale at dodger stadium in 1979, and i went to a few games that year, but i may not have noticed as we didn't typically check souvenir stands.  for us, it was straight to the program vendor, then the dodger dog line, and then our seats.  on our way out of the stadium is when we might check out the souvenirs, but we usually attended a giveaway game so i already had my helmet or poncho or batting glove or whatever.  i do know that the set was wrapped in cellophane, because i have a sealed set that mrmopar sent my way a while back. anyway, garvey's card features him wearing a green dodger hat.  i believe that the dodgers might have been one of the first teams to wear green on st. patrick's day during spring training.  it's a nice quirk to the photo, and the photo itself is a nice break from most of the other cards in the set.

here's sheet 7:

it features:

1. 1981 donruss (error)
2. 1981 donruss (corrected)
3. 1981 donruss (action)
4. 1981 drake's
5. 1981 fleer
6. 1981 fleer (most hits nl)
7. 1981 fleer star stickers
8. 1981 fleer stickers (back)
9. 1981 kellogg's

and the backs:

there is so much cool stuff on this sheet.  1981 was a watershed year for me as a garvey collector.  first, there were more cards to collect than ever, and both donruss and fleer had two different garvey cards on their checklists.  then there were the stickers! garvey was card number 1 in the fleer star sticker set, and his likeness also adorned the sticker back that celebrated the 1974 all-star game in which he was the mvp.  however, the best thing about this sheet at the time was that there was a garvey error card!

my neighborhood friends and i opened a lot of 1981 fleer cards looking for all of the errors in that set, and kind of ignored donruss a bit. we wanted 'craig' nettles and reversed negative tim flannery!  i had  opened only a few packs of donruss, but didn't have too many dodgers until one day, when one of my neighbors said he was going to meet another collector in town.  get this - he had seen a flyer posted on a light pole near the local grocery store that said 'do you collect baseball cards? i do, and i have doubles to trade or sell' and gave the guy's phone number.  this is not crazy, this was just what it was like in 1981.  anyway, we rode our bikes to the guy's apartment (no thoughts of stranger danger), and i bought a brick of '81 dodger cards from him for $3.  it had a couple of team sets, plus a ton of doubles of most of the players.  i got home and put my cards in my closet and went about my business. a few days later, my neighbor tells me that the other guy wants his cards back because he learned that there was an error version of one of the garvey cards in the set.  i was most certainly not going to give any cards back because caveat venditor and any garvey error surely was going to pay for my college education.

unfortunately, the error was nothing dramatic like a reversed negative or wrong player photo - it was related to the text on the back.  here are the two versions side by side.

in the 1980 text of garvey's 'career highlights', one card (the one on the left) notes that garvey 'surpassed 21 hr for the 4th straight year.' the other card (the one on the right) says that garvey 'surpassed 25 hr for the 4th straight year.'  so, which is correct?  well, this is a trick question because they are both wrong.  in the previous four seasons, garvey hit 33, 21, 28, and 26 home runs, respectively.  so to say that he 'surpassed' 21 homers is incorrect.  garvey reached 21 hr for the 4th straight year.  but, semantics.  the one on the left is considered to be the corrected version, and the one on the right is the error.  you can get either version on sportlots for 18 cents.

much more to come from the steve garvey binders. stay tuned!

more stuff from the steve garvey oddball binder

it's taking me longer than i first expected to get through my steve garvey oddball binder.  i've got most of it scanned so now it's just a matter of getting things into posts.  this particular post has a few interesting items that don't fit into standard 9-pocket sheets.  that's why they are in the oddball binder.

1979 hostess panel - lee mazzilli, steve garvey, mike schmidt

i thought at one time about trimming this panel, but then i would be left with a lee mazzilli card.  and i wouldn't want that.  so, i've kept the panel intact.

speaking of uncut, here's a 1979 topps comics reggie smith/steve garvey uncut sheet and a 1976 linnett superstars card

the back of the linnett card featured an itala vehicle.

i do have a complete team set of the linnett 'cards' that is uncut, but found a single garvey online a few years ago.

1985 crest all-star sweepstakes booklet 'sportsmanship' page

johnny bench was on the cover of this booklet that had something to do with the 1985 midsummer classic.  garvey was featured on this page that is all about being a good sport, although there's nothing here about not sticking your hip out during the world series to deflect a ball and get away with interference.  yes, reggie jackson, i am talking to you.

speaking of the straw that stirs the drink, next up are a couple more sheets from upper deck that came my way recently from marcus at all the way to the backstop.  this first one is from 1993 and commemorates the 15th anniversary of the yankees' 1978 world series title with reggie front and center

garvey represents the dodgers on the sheet - the dodgers that had a 2 games to none lead in the series, and were still up 2 games to 1 with a 3-1 lead in game 4 when reggie interfered with what would have been an inning ending double play relay.  the umps missed the call, the yankees tied the series, and the rest is history.

this last sheet is from 1992, and again features both garvey and reggie, plus rollie fingers, bob feller, and brooks robinson

apparently, there was an old-timer's all-star game a couple days before the actual all-star game in san diego, and this sheet was distributed to fans in attendance.  marcus sent a couple more sheets that i'll show a different time since they aren't in the garvey binder.

more random cards from the scanned folder

i'm doing some spring cleaning (although it's still winter here) of my scanned folder.  enjoy the randomness.

1961 topps nl batting leaders

that's quite a collection of players - two hall of famers, plus dick groat and the dodgers' norm larker.  groat hit .300 or better a few other times, but 1960 was the only season that larker surpassed that mark, missing the league title by just one hit. still, to be featured on a card with willie mays and roberto clemente is a pretty good consolation.

1966 topps derrell griffith

a young robin williams makes an appearance.  or, if you prefer, glenn quamire.  giggity.  griffith played in parts of four seasons for the dodgers, who won the pennant in three of those years, but he did not appear in any postseason games.

1979 hostess burt hooton

hooton was coming off a 19-win season and a second place finish in the cy young voting when this card came out.  still, i was paying more attention to tommy john, don sutton, and bobby welch fan at the time.

1981 topps steve garvey (back)

i'm not sure why i scanned the back of this card, but look at that run of hit totals from 1974 through 1980!

1985 topps mike scioscia

bracing for impact, no doubt.

1995 score cory snyder

technically, this card is a final tribute, although the corndog did spend some time in the minors with the red sox and padre organizations after the strike ended in 1995.  1994 was the last time he saw big league action, however, and he did it as a dodger.  the highlight of his final season was easily his 3-home run/7 rbi game against the pirates in april.

2004 leaf certified materials don sutton 'k force'

i used to watch 'battle of the planets' which had g-force protecting us from the evil of zoltar and planet spectra. too bad this wasn't a 'g force' card - sutton is currently 7th all-time in k's, but 3rd all-time in g's (games started, that is).

2005 fleer ultra eric gagne

gagne broke the dodgers' cy young drought in 2003 - they hadn't had a winner since 1988, which was the longest drought in franchise history.  they had been the only team to have a cy young award winner in each decade until they were shut out in the 1990's.  just like they were shut out in world series appearances that decade for the first time since the 1930's.

2005 fleer ultra milton bradley gold medal edition

that's one heckuva rounded corner!

is 'suttoning' the new 'tebowing'?

it took a while for don sutton to find his signature pose - he tried the 'arms over head' and the 'pitching motion follow through' - but he eventually got there.  i suspect this newly rediscovered pose will surpass planking, owling, and yes, even tebowing, in the coming weeks.  let's let the hall of fame pitcher show us how it's done.

1979 hostess

kneel on your left leg, and support your right arm on your right knee.  left arm goes across right arm, near the elbow.  baseball glove pointing down, look to the left of the camera.  got it.

1979 topps

or, you can look directly at the camera.  that works, too.

1981 fleer

without glove, looking to the right of the camera is also acceptable.

1981 fleer star stickers

squinting in the general direction of the camera is ok, too.

1981 topps

you can even go hatless, and hold a baseball in your right hand!

1981 topps league leaders

glove pointing up, is ok, but only if hatless?  i might need a ruling.

1981 topps traded

ah, a subtle 'open suttoning stance' is apparently appropriate when wearing rainbow jerseys.

1985 mother's a's

back to basics, with the ball.  around this time, sutton tried to teach the pose to phil niekro, who couldn't quite get the right leg up.  that is the most common mistake with people who attempt to 'sutton' - they kneel on the wrong knee.  it's simple, people!  left knee down, left arm on top.

1986 donruss

back to the original 1979 hostess pose

1986 fleer

this is the most basic form of suttoning, apparently

1986 fleer mini

glove up, with a hat!  ok, sutton knows what he's doing, so glove up or down in any 'suttoning' pose is ok.

1988 mother's dodgers

a final 'suttoning' at the sunset of a career.  i wonder how many stadiums don sutton 'suttoned' in?

but wait, his penchant for posing was so strong, that even recent issues have displayed the master's form.  like 2001 topps tribute

could this be the earliest known case of 'suttoning'?

2003 topps gallery

in which we pay homage to the 1979 event

but then there is 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

a vero beach 'suttoning' that predates that which is shown on the 2001 topps tribute card, complete with a blue glove.

anyone else seen another player 'sutton' on a card?  do you have the courage to 'sutton' somewhere unique?  will tim tebow score a touchdown for the jets, and 'sutton'?  we can only hope.

one post for every consecutive game

this is my 1207th post on this blog. i've missed some days, and even weeks, since starting this blog over 3 years ago.  steve garvey didn't miss any games during his consecutive games streak which lasted 1207 contests and ended on july 29, 1983.  it was a feat so impressive that it has a blog named after it.

in honor of reaching this milestone, i offer up twelve steve garvey cards - one for every one hundred posts/consecutive games.  yes, i know he ended his streak as a padre, but first humor me some dodger cards.

perhaps my second favorite garvey card (1978 topps cannot be topped) was issued in 1974.  this happens to be the o-pee-chee version

 as is this 1975 card recapping the 1974 nlcs

garvey aka mr. clean playing the part of pigpen.  very nice.

i had planned, and may still get around to posting oddball team sets, or at least the infield's cards.  in the meantime, here are some garveys that i had already scanned.  this is his 1977 hostess twinkles card

 and this is his 1979 hostess card

what are the chances that the photos come from the same shoot?  fairly high, i would guess.  now we move away from snack cakes towards breakfast cereals. here's a 1981 kellogg's card

followed by the 1982 kellogg's issue

i'm not sure when the garv started to wear the red-white-blue sweatband, but he didn't carry it over to the padres, that's for sure.  here's his 1987 donruss card

 along with a 1987 fleer star stickers card

and a 1999 fleer sports illustrated card showing the si cover from the week garvey broke billy williams' national league consecutive game record (a game which i attended)

you can see in that photo that garvey has chosen the matchy-match yellow sweatband.

back to the 1970's, sort of, with a 2001 ud decade 1970's card - this one's from the award winners subset

 with the 1974 nl mvp getting his groove on apparently.

his 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics card is more refined

it's an image from the 1978 world series (notice the jim gilliam '19' patch), and if i remember my sports illustrateds correctly, that photo is of garvey fielding a throw as thurman munson bears down on first base.  pretty sure.

last year, topps chose to reprint garvey's 1982 in action card

which showcased the part of his swing that had the least amount of action.  here's the (original) back so we can remind ourselves of some of popeye's accomplishments as a dodger

so that was twelve cards for twelve-hundred games.  i guess i need something to cover the other seven, so i'll use a card that should have been created by jason at the writer's journey.  it's a 2011 topps gypsy queen garvey

that uses an image of the dodgers' first baseman receiving applause for his 1000th consecutive game.

here's to you, nl iron man.  and thanks to all of you for reading all/most/some of my 1207 ramblings.