the steve garvey binder moves into 1985

sweet sheet 16 of the garvey binders is chock full of brown and gold.  take a look.

for the record, those cards are:

1. 1984 topps tiffany
2. 1985 armstrong ceramics
3. 1985 donruss
4. 1985 drake's
5. 1985 fleer
6. 1985 fleer (nl all-stars superstar special)
7. 1985 fleer (nl pennant clinchers superstar special)
8. 1985 fleer limited edition
9. 1985 leaf

here are the backs

the armstrong ceramic card is pretty weighty. it really is ceramic.  not much to say about the other cards except that i was really disappointed in the lack of attention paid to garvey's 1984 nlcs heroics by the major card companies as well as his return to the starting lineup for the national league in the all-star game. kudos to fleer for acknowledging both of those accomplishments.

here's sheet 17:

1. 1982-89 louisville slugger
2. 1985 mother's cookies padres
3. 1985 o-pee-chee
4. 1985 o-pee-chee stickers (nlcs - batting)
5. 1985 o-pee-chee stickers (nlcs - posed)
6. 1985 o-pee-chee stickers
7. 1985 pacific cramer spokane indians greats
8. 1985 topps (record breaker)
9. 1985 topps

i put the louisville slugger card here in 1985 because why not.  and, after lamenting the lack of attention paid to the 1984 nlcs, there's a sticker of the garv hitting his walk-off home run against lee smith.

the lone dodger (sort of) card here is the seventh one - a 1985 pacific cramer spokane indians greats card.  that set is chock full of great dodgers from the 1970's who spent time at the team's triple-a affiliate.  garvey spent just one season in spokane (1970) and hit .319 with 15 homers and 87 rbi.

here are the backs:

i am pretty sure that 1985 continues for at least one more sheet...

i suppose i am a garvey junkie

here are a few more cards that were sent my way from the bayou, courtesy of the junior junkie.  first up is a 1985 fleer super star special card featuring steve garvey and fellow padre goose gossage

goose blew the save in game 4 of the 1984 nlcs, but that was the game in which garvey hit a walk-off home run to force the decisive game 5.  in that game, garvey (the nlcs mvp) drew an important walk to set up a couple of sac flies, and later drove in the game's final run, while gossage recorded the save and the pads were on to the world series. those yellow bp jerseys are hideous, by the way.

here's a 2002 fleer box score pee wee reese card

i am pretty sure that these cards were sold in a box set, and featured only hall of famers.  i recall buying the box from one of the local card shops and then being disappointed that pee wee was the only dodgers in the cooperstown subset.

2011 bowman chrome draf picks and prospects josh lindblom refractor

lindblom has bounced around since the dodgers traded him to the phillies for shane victorino in 2012.  the phillies dealt him to texas prior to the 2013 season in the michael young deal, and then they sent him to the a's for michael choice a year later.  he pitched in one game for the a's last season.

2014 bowman andre ethier

have we seen the last of ethier in dodger blue? i would guess not, unless the dodgers eat a sizable part of that contract ned doled out.

2014 topps allen & ginter hyun-jin ryu

and duke snider

it's nice to see the duke in la dodger gear once in a while.

thanks for the cards tj - from one junkie to another!

black armbands for tommie aaron

tommie aaron, braves coach and younger brother of hank aaron, passed away in august of 1984 from leukemia.  in his honor, the braves wore black armbands for the remainder of the season.  late season callups zane smith and paul zuvella were the only players i could find who were featured on a card with the armbands.  here is their 1985 fleer 'major league prospects' card

aaron had been a part of the braves' organization from 1958 when he signed with the milwaukee team as an amateur free agent until the time of his death.  he made his big league debut in 1962, and appeared in parts of seven seasons with the big league club.  his 13 home runs, when added to brother hank's 755, total the most home runs hit by brothers in the major leagues.

following his retirement as a player, aaron managed in the braves' minor league system before joining the parent club as a coach in 1979.   the organization continues to honor aaron to this day, as the richmond braves annually award the 'tommie aaron memorial award' to the team's most valuable player.

a spin around dodger stadium

no surprise - fleer is going to lead this tour around chavez ravine.  let's start with a 1982 fleer jim bibby

with the scoreboard in right center field over his left shoulder.  now we are moving clockwise as the scoreboard is over bill dawley's left shoulder on this 1985 fleer card

this 1982 fleer silvio martinez card gets us to the right field corner,

with the visitor's bullpen just at the edge of the card oner his right shoulder, and the field level scoreboard at the other edge over his left shoulder.  that's the same scoreboard that gary woods is hanging out near on his 1982 fleer card

always nice to see the friendly dodger stadium ushers and their straw hats!

mike lacoss is playing catch in front of the dugout seats on his 1982 fleer card

as is his teammate (and future dodger) mike vail

those seats are long gone, and may be best remembered as the location where mike brito would stand with his radar gun and cigar during games.  brito, by the way, is the scout who signed fernando and yasiel puig, along with at least a couple dozen other major league players.

next up is reggie jackson's 1981 donruss card (one of them, anyway) which gets us to the camera well next to the dodger dugout

i am guessing that this photo is from the 1980 all-star game which was played at dodger stadium.

jose oquendo's 1985 fleer card gets us further up the line to the end of the camera well

and juan eichelberger's 1982 fleer card features the start of the field level scoreboard on the third base side

here's the end of that scoreboard on frank pastore's 1982 fleer card

this card is almost identical to bob welch's 1983 fleer card - with ray knight playing the role of ron cey.  john smoltz has a very similar looking card, too.

i can't let this post go by without using some dodger cards, so here is chan ho park's 2000 topps card with the low rail down in the left field corner

with a touch of the dodger bullpen gate also visible.

this 1994 mother's piazza card of (who else) mike piazza shows the other end of the bullpen with the left field pavilion and the diamondvision board

dave anderson's 1989 upper deck card picks up where piazza's card left off (note the 370 sign on the outfield wall)

and we'll end up in right-center with tony gwynn on a 1992 fleer ultra insert card

gwynn, who played right field as you all recall, has gone to his right to catch a ball up against the outfield fence in dodger stadium.  this is likely from april 12, 1991 as the dodgers hosted the pads on opening day.  these banners (seen better on this other gwynn card from 1992 fleer ultra)

were put up to commemorate the dodgers' world series titles on the opening day games that i attended, at least.  i don't recall seeing them otherwise.

so there you have it, a virtual tour of dodger stadium.  now here's an aerial shot courtesy of the good year blimp 1988 fleer

i am quite thankful for fleer and their use of photos from dodger stadium in their sets.  much like i imagine a cubs fan appreciates 1981 donruss or a yankee fan appreciates every topps set from the 60's and 70's.

turning two for tuesday

here are a few more double play cards i have picked up in the past few months.  these came mostly by way of browsing comc, the lcs nickel boxes, and maybe even some help from folks like jeff at 2x3 heroes.

let's start with a nice diamond cut 1982 fleer rich dauer, featuring carlton fisk sliding in

sticking with fleer, here is a 1985 glenn hubbard, with dodger mike marshall sliding in

and another 1985 fleer card - ron oester - with no one visibly sliding in

i am not one to do such things, but if there were a 'comeback card of the year' post or contest somewhere, i would vote for that hubbard card given the weirdness that his 1984 fleer card presented.  

here's a 1998 fleer tradition fernando vina card

and his brew crew teammate jose valentin on a 1998 pacific card

also from pacific in 1998 comes this scott spiezio online red parallel release

the a's had a ton of double play cards in the late '90's thanks to spiezio, brent gates, and this next guy, miguel tejada

that's a 2000 fleer focus.  and this is a 2000 fleer ultra gold medallion edition

obviously, tejada is not doing the dp turning there.  instead, nomar is doing the work.  just like on this 2000 fleer tradition card

with bonus (sort of) double play action on the back

nomar's 2003 fleer mystique card also shows him making the turn, or at least prepping for the throw to start the double play.

based on where his right foot is, i am pretty certain the intent there is to turn two, and not just get a force at second.

back to more traditional double play turning with cesar izturis' 2009 upper deck card

and jhonny peralta's 2011 topps card

hooray for double play cards!

johngy's beat-down on the nefarious 9

hey! you might have noticed some changes to the nefarious 9 over there on the right side of the blog.  those are my most wanted cards (within reason), and johngy recently sent me a couple that had been there for a while.

he also sent a bunch of cards from 2000 which was pretty cool.  here are a few of eric karros' cards issued by pacific that year.  first we have crown collection

next is just plain pacific

and this is paramount

not much variation in the photo selection there.

here's another karros card from crown collection - this one has the team checklist on the back

i do believe fabio is 'suttoning' there!

on to the nefarious 9 needs.  first up was a 1985 fleer steve sax card

not sure why i needed this but i did.  overlapping team sets and player collections wreak havoc on want lists.

the other most wanted card that johngy sent was this 1993 o-pee-chee premier jody reed card

yay.

back to the 2000's - that was the year that the shawn green proliferation began, and it started while he was still in blue jays attire.  here's his 2000 pacific crown collection card

his 2000 pacific paramount card

and his 2000 upper deck ovation card

2000 also meant kevin brown cards, so, like green, here are his pacific crown collection

paramount

and upper deck ovation cards.

i've mentioned before that i really like all the 2000 dodger cards because they often show the heroes patch that each player wore.  brown is wearing the koufax patch that was kept out of wide circulation.

darren dreifort, shown here on his 2000 fleer tradition card,

wore the drysdale patch, but it's really hard to make out on the card, unfortunately.

these next few are better - 2000 pacific crown collection gary sheffield (jackie robinson)

2000 pacific crown collection devon white (jackie robinson)

and 2000 upper deck adrian beltre (ron cey)

thanks john, and be sure to check out johngy's beat!