1984, most of it at least, in the steve garvey binders

we were firmly entrenched in the steve garvey as a padre cards in 1984, and sheet 11 of my main steve garvey binder is proof.  there is one card of the garv as a dodger, however, but it's an island of blue.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 1984 mother's cookies padres
2. 1984 topps nestle 792
3. 1984 topps nestle dream team
4. 1984-91 o'connell and sons ink
5. 1984 o-pee-chee
6. 1984 ralston purina
7. 1984 star (checklist)
8. 1984 star (regular season stats)
9. 1984 star (an all-star 9 times)

some things to note here - i've seen the o'connell and sons referred to as a 1984-89 issue as well as the 1984-91 issue that i used above. not sure which is correct, as i picked up my copy on the secondary market in the early 2000's.  the star cards are part of the 36-card set of which i have 3-card panels in my garvey oddball binder.  i took apart a second set for this part of the collection.

here are the backs, by the way:

the o'connell and sons has a blank back, as you can see.

sheet 12 is full of more cards from the star set, and they are all dodgers!

1. 1984 star (dodger club records 1)
2. 1984 star (dodger club records 2)
3. 1984 star (dodger club records 3)
4. 1984 star (dodger club records 4)
5. 1984 star (world series stats)
6. 1984 star (post season stats)
7. 1984 star (the 1970 season)
8. 1984 star (the 1971 season)
9. 1984 star (the 1972 season)

obviously, these cards don't feature photos that correspond to the subject of the card.  here are the backs:

lucky sheet 13 is more of the same, although the brown and gold is back...

1. 1984 star (the 1973 season)
2. 1984 star (the 1974 season)
3. 1984 star (1974 all-star mvp)
4. 1984 star (1974 championship series mvp)
5. 1984 star (1974 nl mvp)
6. 1984 star (the 1975 season)
7. 1984 star (the 1976 season)
8. 1984 star (the 1977 season)
9. 1984 star (the 1978 season)

i'd say that star began using padre photos prematurely.  for the record, i don't believe that they actually handed out mvp awards for the playoffs back in 1974, but surely garvey would have won it if they had.  here are the backs:

sheet 14 is all brown and yellow, although we are still in the dodger years for two-thirds of the page

1. 1984 star (1978 all-star mvp)
2. 1984 star (1978 championship series mvp)
3. 1984 star (the 1979 season)
4. 1984 star (the 1980 season)
5. 1984 star (the 1981 season)
6. 1984 star (the 1982 season)
7. 1984 star (the 1983 season)
8. 1984 star (the iron man)
9. 1984 star (national and major league records)

nice to see mike schmidt lurking in the background of the last card.  it's too bad that this set was released in 1984 instead of 1985, because there was another championship series mvp award won in 1984 that could have been the subject of a card.

here are the backs:

amongst garvey's records on the last card, his league-leading 25 gidp in 1979 is listed.

just a few more star cards to go - here's sheet 15 of the binder

1. 1984 star (100+ rbi's 5 times)
2. 1984 star (200+ hits 6 times)
3. 1984 star (4 gold gloves)
4. 1984 star (.300 average 7 times)
5. 1984 star (personal and career data)
6. 1984 star (the future)
7. 1984 topps
8. 1984 topps cereal series
9. 1984 topps rubdown

i've got the 5th card in the sheet in my memorials binder, too.  the topps cereal card features the same photo (and card design) as the ralston purina issue from earlier in the post, and garvey's infield pal bill russell shows up on the rubdown card.

here are the backs for this sheet:

i kept the rubdown instructions in case i ever wanted to transfer the images, i guess.

i'm not missing any cards from 1984 that would go in one of these sheets, i am pretty sure.  next time we'll move into 1985...

one of this fan's favorites was included in 2013 topps archives

you knew this was coming, didn't you?  i picked up a copy of the davey lopes autograph from 2013 topps archives

it was a no-brainer.  it is not, however, the only lopes auto that i have to show you.  i also sent one of his real 1976 topps cards to hall of fame sports last year to be signed

as well as his 1973 topps rookie card

and, i came across a 1981 topps card supposedly signed by the all-star second baseman, too.

i have also recently turned my attention to oddball releases of the infielders, as well as the other dodgers featured as such in the 1978 topps set.  as for lopes, i have the o-pee-chee stuff covered, like this 1984 card

but hadn't yet picked up a copy of the 1984 nestle version

until now.  i am also realizing that topps maintained that he was just 'dave' while it was the other card companies who called him 'davey' - or even 'davy' in the case of early fleer releases.

either way, lopes looks strange in the astros uniform as seen on this 1987 donruss card

it's as if the camera couldn't process those stripes!

here is one of the more oddball-ish lopes releases i have seen - it's a 1976 sportstix sticker

a nice action shot of the base stealer.  i wish that he had more cards like this.

same goes for this one - a 2002 topps coaches collection game used bat card

i like the 1981 topps inset card enough to not complain that this is a managers collection - not coaches.  i have mike scioscia's card from the set, too, but i don't think there was a dusty baker version.  and...there was.  also the set was more than just managers, so the 'coaches' moniker is appropriate.  looks like i am on the hunt for dusty's card.

thanks topps, for including lopes in the archives set.  maybe bill russell will get a turn next year?

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!

it would have been cool if bob bailor had worn number 22

that's because bill buckner and brett butler both wore the double deuces.  this bb, however, opted for number 21 - the number he wore with baltimore before the blue jays made him their first pick in the 1976 expansion draft.  i guess that's ok - bob bailey wore 12 and 7 for the dodgers in the late 1960's, bill bean wore number 40 in 1989, and brian barnes was number 52 in his short stint for the dodgers in 1994, so maybe it's not as big of a trend as i thought.  

bailor, seen here on his 1986 topps card that he graciously signed for me through the mail a couple of years ago, 

did not appear in the team's first game, but soon established himself as their regular centerfielder and then their regular shortstop.  after four seasons in toronto, bailor was traded to the mets and eventually was dealt to the dodgers in the sid fernandez deal prior to the 1984 season.

bailor also included a card of his own - a 1984 coke dodgers postcard - that he signed as well.

and, he also signed the 1978 topps card that i had sent along with the '86.

bailor was first featured as a dodger in the 1984 topps traded set, a fact that i find unfortunate.  with the trade between the mets and the dodgers taking place in december of 1983, it's too bad o-pee-chee didn't include bailor in their 1984 set.  if they had, his card would have looked like this:

instead, the dodgers were left without a team/text variation in the set (mike vail was included in the o-pee-chee set, but didn't become a dodger until june).

that 1986 card up top was actually a final tribute, as bailor was released by the dodgers in the spring of 1986.  he singled and drove in a run in his final regular season at bat, but flew out in his final big league at bat which came in the 1985 nlcs.

here's to you bob bailor, and thanks for signing my cards!

mike vail through the mail success!

it's been almost two years since i received a couple of my cards back from mike vail.  he signed 'em in about a week.  being a dodger fan, i included the only two mike vail dodger cards i knew of (aside from the 1990 target card) - a 1984 fleer update card and a 1984 topps traded card, along with a 1978 topps card because i like to get those signed too.  he wound up keeping the fleer card, but he signed the topps traded

and the 1978 card.

he's got a little quentin tarantino thing going on in those photos.  i remember being disappointed in 1984 when the traded set came out and topps used the same photo for both the main image and the inset on vail's traded card.

he wasn't actually traded, either.  he had been released by the expos in march of '84 and signed by the dodgers in june.  that would explain why he didn't get a nice o-pee-chee variation, even though he was included in the set.  in fact, there were no 'now with dodgers' in the 1984 o-pee-chee set at all (where were you, bob bailor?) so i went ahead and made a card for vail, just because.

it would have been my favorite card in the set! vail had originally been drafted by the dodgers, way back in 1970. he chose not to sign and instead began his professional career in 1971 after being selected by the cardinals.  he went from saint louis to the mets while still a minor leaguer in a deal for future dodger ted martinez.  as a rookie in 1975, vail singled in his first big league at bat, and then a few games later started a 23-game hitting streak.  unfortunately, he was injured in an offseason basketball game and never really reached the level so many expected.

after a few years in new york, he split the 1978 season between cleveland and the north side of chicago.  then there were stops in cincinnati, san francisco, and montreal before vail ended his career in los angeles.  as a dodger, vail was used almost exclusively as a pinch hitter and was just 1 for 16 at the plate.  his lone hit was a big one though - a walk-off single against neil allen and the cardinals in the 12th inning on july 6th.

here's to you, mike vail!  thanks for signing my cards!