a mish-mash of double play turns

i've allowed a number of new to the blog/collection double play turns to accumulate in my scanned folder, so today will be all about the pivot.

1984 topps traded tony bernazard

now granted this image is pre-pivot, but i consider second basemen waiting for the throw while standing at the base to be a double play turn. i remember waiting for these throws and wondering if i had enough time to turn and throw and not get bowled over.

1995 topps bret boone

ditto.

1992 topps stadium club manny lee

sorry - he goes by manuel here.  this is where i am thankful for others who collect double play cards, particularly jeff at 2x3 heroes and nick at dime boxes.  they will show off dp cards that they receive in the mail, and then i go and dig in my collection to see if i have those cards.  such was the case with this manuel lee card.  one of them showed it, and i didn't have it, so i went and bought it on sportlots for 18 cents.  this particular card shows a play from the first inning of a game played on june 30, 1991. harold reynolds has grounded to the first baseman (john olerud), who threw to second to force the lead runner (edgar martinez).  manuel lee is preparing for the relay throw, but reynolds is safe at first. thanks baseball-reference!

1982 o-pee-chee tim foli

not only was foli traded from the pirates to the angels (creating a team and text variation), but he's about to throw to first to complete a spring training double play.  i doubt that he's on the second base side of the bag for any other reason, so this is a double play turn.  now i just need another copy of his 1982 topps card for the dp binder.

1992 leaf mariano duncan

and 1992 leaf mariano duncan black gold

plus the back of another 1992 leaf card, that of terry shumpert

the photo on the shumpert back is very similar to the back of his 1992 fleer card.

my double play collection sometimes runs on duncan - here's his 1995 topps stadium club card

plus jody reed's card from the same set

nice junior griffey cameo, too.  i had previously shown a 1st day issue parallel of the reed card, but not the plain ol' base.

here's another couple of cards that have sort of been shown before - 1997 topps stadium club carlos garcia

i previously showed the members only parallel, which is really only different on the back due to some watermark text, and 1995 score rafael belliard

of which i have previously shown the gold rush parallel version.

last card of this post is brent gates' 1996 score card

thanks again to nick for showing this one on his blog. i couldn't believe that there was a brent gates double play card that i was missing.

here's the next installment of sheet from the steve garvey binders

here are sheets 8 and 9 of the first of two main steve garvey binders keep us in his los angeles years, but just barely.  here's sheet 8:

these cards are:

1. 1981 o-pee-chee
2. 1981 permagraphic
3. 1981 squirt
4. 1981 topps
5. 1981 topps scratch-off
6. 1982 donruss (diamond king)
7. 1982 donruss
8. 1982 drake's
9. 1982 fleer

here are the backs:

the 'oddballs' on this sheet - permagraphics, squirt, and drake's - all have some topps influence to them.  the photo on the permagraphics card is the same on garvey's 1981 topps (and o-pee-chee) cards; the 'dodgers' text on the squirt card is the same as the 'dodgers' text on 1978 topps cards with the back being a firm reproduction of 1981 topps; and the back of the drake's card is clearly the same design as 1982 topps.

one thing to note - i maintain that garvey was not included in the team photo that appears on the 1981 topps dodger checklist/tom lasorda card.  so, i don't have that card in the garvey binder.  if anyone can prove me wrong, i'd be happy to add it.

sheet 9 looks like this:

those cards are:

1. 1982 kmart
2. 1982 kellogg's
3. 1982 louisville slugger
4. 1982 o-pee-chee
5. 1982 o-pee-chee (in action)
6. 1982 permagraphic
7. 1982 topps
8. 1982 topps (in action)
9. 1983 donruss

and here are the backs:

the louisville slugger card came attached to a baseball glove. it may be from 1981 (or 1980 even - garvey is wearing the 1980 all-star game patch in the photo as he is in the o-pee-chee and topps cards), but i put it here in 1982 since beckett lists these things as '1982-89 louisville slugger' tags.  there's one of the garv in padres gear, too, which we'll see in a future post..  i know i am missing the 1982 permagraphic gold card that would go on this page, bumping 1983 donruss to the next.  maybe someday.

dead end trade legacies for the team of my youth

generally speaking, when i refer to the team of my youth, i am referring to the 1977 and 1978 dodgers.  more specifically, i am referring to this lineup:

sp - don sutton

c - steve yeager

1b - steve garvey

2b - davey lopes

3b - ron cey

ss - bill russell

lf - dusty baker

cf - rick monday

rf - reggie smith

rp - charlie hough/terry forster

back then, the dodgers' general manager was al campanis.  he's one of the few baseball gm's to be featured on cardboard, by the way (this is a 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts card)

campanis subscribed to branch rickey's theory that it is better to trade a player a year too early than a year too late, and thanks to the dodgers' bountiful farm system, there was usually someone ready to take up the slack once a player was dealt away should the return package have been lacking.  campanis also once traded away his own son!

anyway, wrigley wax recently ran a series of posts regarding the 'trade links' of several former cubs players, and i thought i would do what any self-respecting blogger would do and steal that idea for my own posts.  unfortunately, while campanis made a lot of deals, most of the team of my youth was kept until their usefulness in trades was diminished or free agency beckoned.  let's see about what i will call the 'trade legacies' of the team of my youth.

let's start with don sutton, seen here on a 1969 mlb photo stamp.

sutton was a product of the dodger farm system, and following the 1980 season (a season in which he led the national league in era) he signed a free agent deal with the astros.  dead end.

steve yeager was also a product of the dodger farm system.  he was traded to the seattle mariners in december of 1985 for ed vande berg, as hinted at on their respective 1986 o-pee-chee cards.

vande berg was released by the dodgers a year later.  not much of a legacy.

steve garvey, yet another dodger home grown talent, took his skills south to san diego as a free agent following the 1982 season. dead end.

davey lopes, still another dodger organization developed player, was traded after the 1981 world series to make room for steve sax.  here's his 1982 o-pee-chee card showing him 'traded to a's'.

however, the dodgers received a minor leaguer named kelvin hudson who was out of the organization by 1984 and not by trade as far as i can tell.

ron cey, like all the players discussed above, came up through the dodger organization, and like garvey, left after the 1982 season.  however, cey was traded to the cubs for a minor leaguers dan cataline and vance lovelace.  this is cey's 1983 o-pee-chee card showing the damage done to the dodgers' hot corner.

lovelace eventually made it to the majors with the angels, although they acquired him from the dodgers via the rule v draft, and cataline peaked a double-a and was not, as far as i can see, ever traded out of the dodger organization.  i believe lovelace is currently the dodgers' vp of player personnel.

bill russell was drafted by the dodgers, developed by the dodgers, and he retired as a dodger.  the dean of dead ends, as far as trade legacies go.

the outfield is a little more interesting even though none of the three primary outfielders were traded by campanis.

dusty baker was acquired via trade.  the dodgers sent lee lacy, tom paciorek, jerry royster, and jimmy wynn to the braves for baker and ed goodson in november of 1975.  unfortunately for the purposes of this post, baker left the dodgers via free agency prior to the 1984 season.  another dead end.

rick monday was also acquired via trade.  in january of 1977, the dodgers received monday and mike garman from the cubs in exchange for bill buckner, ivan dejesus, and minor leaguer jeff albert.  monday was released by the dodgers during the 1984 season, effectively ending his career.  dead end.

reggie smith came to the dodgers in a trade with the cardinals.  in june of 1976, the dodgers sent joe ferguson and two minor leaguers (bob detherage and freddie tisdale) to saint louis for smith, who remained with the dodgers until after the 1981 world series when he left as a free agent.  detherage is an interesting case, however.  if you will pardon the tangent, he was drafted by the dodgers in 1972.  after he was traded to the cardinals, the redbirds sent him (along with ferguson) to the astros in november of 1976 for larry dierker and jerry davanon.  in 1977, he was the player to be named later in a deal that the astros made with the dodgers late in the season involving danny walton and alex taveras.  detherage remained in the dodgers' system until sometime in the 1978 season when he was released.  he did all this without making it to the big leagues, although he finally received a call-up from the 1980 kansas city royals.

back to the trade legacy at hand, charlie hough was a dodger draftee who pitched his way up in the organization until he had his contract purchased by the rangers during the 1980 season.  as for terry forster, he signed with the dodgers as a free agent after the 1977 season, and left as a free agent five years later.  nothing to see here.

the most interesting trades involving members of the team of my youth might be the rick rhoden for jerry reuss deal, or the bob welch (and others) for jesse orosco, jay howell, and alfredo griffin, or even the glenn burke for bill north deal.  unfortunately, all of those players acquired by the dodgers were either released by the team or left via free agency.  yes, free agency killed the trade legacies!

so, this idea didn't really pan out for me.  i have a similar idea regarding legacies that won't dead end - i'll roll out one of those posts soon.  

buddy bell's profile and the decline of o-pee-chee

buddy bell's 1982 topps card has long been a headscratcher for me.

it was the first card i remember seeing that contained a pure profile shot so tightly cropped.  it makes me think of that 1965 topps embossed insert set (of which i do not own, nor do i care to own, any of the dodgers).  it's just a weird photo to use on a card.  other tightly cropped images of the face at least have a different perspective - not just the profile.

to make matters worse, o-pee-chee's version demonstrates their lack of originality, as they didn't even bother to move bell's facsimile autograph out from under their logo

1977, it is not.

pictures of men lurking and from foreign lands

here are a few more cards sent to me by dennis at pictures of men.  these first two were the only ones i specifically requested (other than random dodgers, of course).  here's a 2011 topps update sp card of roberto alomar.

he's turning two with omar vizquel hanging out in the background.  and then, we have joe mauer lurking in the foreground of the frank thomas diamond sparkle parallel from the same set

as you might be aware, dennis is a blue jays fan who lives north of the border, but south of me (just slightly).  so, it is no surprise that he included some o-pee-chee goodness in his package.  here's that perennial vedette de la ln, steve garvey

yes, he was quite a premier-but in his day.  i like how o-pee-chee just replaced 'topps' in the little baseball on the front of the 1981 cards, but i really liked that they used their little kids logo on the 1982 cards.  here's garvey au jeu from that set.

they had used that logo previously in 1979.  by the time 1985 rolled around, they were using just stylized text as seen on garvey's card from that year.

i'll end with a card featuring another member of the infield.  this is ron cey's 1983 donruss action all-stars card

i should have used this card in yesterday's post to show cey going to the earflap helmet in 1982 after he was beaned in the 1981 world series.  oh well, it works well here, too as i once again thank dennis for the fantastic package of cards.

thanks dennis!

o-pee-chee on parade

here are a few dodger o-pee-chee cards, celebrating the occasion of the final variation being posted over at oh my o-pee-chee! today.

the back of wes parker's 1971 card is somewhat inexplicably included in the blog's header.

his card is not a variation (here's the front)

but i wanted to show the cool 'sunburst' photo on the backs of (most of) the 1971 cards, and i chose parker's mug for some reason.

here's ron fairly from the years before variations, 1969 to be exact

a bunch of rick monday's former teammates wanted to show their support for his 1977 o-pee-chee variation, and here they are.  from 1981, we have burt hooton

who had a variation of his own in 1985;

steve howe

who did not have any variations even though he bounced around in the mid 1980's.  he either switched teams during the season (1985), or signed as a free agent after missing the previous season(s) due to suspensions (1987, 1991);

bill russell

and reggie smith

sporting their 'vedette' banners;

don stanhouse

sporting don sutton's hair and phil garner's mustache;

steve yeager

looking forward to his shameful 1986 o-pee-chee variation (i really wanted yeager to remain a dodger for life);

and here's a 1982 ron cey in action card (with the man of the hour, rick monday, lurking in the background)

one year before receiving a team variation of his own (one of three appearances the penguin made on the blog);

while dave lopes' 1983 card

is one year past his trio of variations, although i think his 1985 variation is the best of lopes' five o-pee-chee variants.

it's been fun (and sometimes tedious) covering the wonder of o-pee-chee cards through the years.  i will miss writing about minute changes in photo cropping and cool team variations and wacky airbrushing and odd text variations and even cards that weren't variations.  i hope you all enjoyed it.

now, back to timeless teams!

10/10/14?

i suppose it would have made sense to show a couple of ron cey cards followed by a dusty baker card today (10/10/12), but i'm not going to do that.  instead, i have 14 ron cey cards that i have been lucky enough to have signed by the penguin himself through the mail over the last few years to showcase.  i have been kind of lax in posting my ttm successes (obviously); most likely because a ttm success post is not the most interesting type of post.  today i don't care - get ready for a cavalcade of cey.

1975 topps mini

scuffed up, but still nice.  dodger stadium works well with the two-toned border, i think.

1976 topps

hatless penguin

1981 donruss

wrigley foreshadowing

1981 fleer

doing the hokey-pokey?

1982 fleer

back to dodger stadium, finally without a bat

1982 o-pee-chee

back with a bat.  and, the facsimile autograph doesn't match

1982 topps (in action)

with actual action.  hello, mo.

1983 donruss

another bat photo.

1983 fleer

back at wrigley.  still with a bat.

1983 o-pee-chee

i was curious to see whether he put the '10' inside the 'r' on this one.  he did, which makes sense since it's a dodger photo.

1984 o-pee-chee

no '10' on this one, of course.  he wore 11 with the cubs.

2001 ud decade 1970's

at dodger stadium

and at bat.

2006 fleer greats of the game (nickname greats)

thanks ron!