the steve garvey binders fun continues

there were a bunch of steve garvey cards to be had in 1986.  here are some of them.  this is sheet 20 in my first steve garvey binder

those items are:

1. 1986 fleer mini
2. 1986 fleer star sticker
3. 1986 fleer star sticker (box bottom)
4. 1986 leaf
5. 1986 meadow gold
6. 1986 meadow gold blank backs
7. 1986 o-pee-chee
8. 1986 o-pee-chee tattoos
9. 1986 topps quaker

lots of oddball goodness on that sheet.  we ate a ton of quaker chewy granola bars in our house, so i had several sets of the quaker cards which were great because they were fully licensed.

here are the backs:

a couple of things to note: the meadow gold stat back cards were issued on the boxes of frozen confections, such as fudgesicles, while the blank backs were on ice cream cartons. there was also a set of meadow gold cards issued on milk cartons, but garvey wasn't part of that set (thankfully - i don't know that you could get the milk smell off).  anyway, this means that there are three cards on this sheet that came from some sort of box, with the fleer sticker box bottom card being the other.  also, i've kept the full tattoo panel intact, hence the appearance of future dodgers jesse orosco and rick dempsey on the flip side of the sheet.

here's sheet 21

with those cards being:

1. 1986 sportflics
2. 1986 sportfilcs (national league mvp's)
3. 1986 sportflics (all-star game mvp's)
4. 1986 sportflics decade greats
5. 1986 topps
6. 1986 topps glossy all-star
7. 1986 topps glossy all-star (national league team)
8. 1986 topps glossy send in
9. 1986 topps stickers

pete rose is the dominant image on the nl mvp sportflics card (ryne sandberg is the third player featured), and gary carter is visible on the all-star game mvp card.  garvey and carter are the only two to have won the award twice.  fred lynn is the other player featured on the card.  i like the national league all-star team card as the 1985 midsummer classic was played in the metrodome and the picture was taken in front of the retractable seats in right field.  good ol' multipurpose stadiums.  for the record, garvey is on the far left of the seated row.

here are the backs:

nothing too exciting there, but i'll have more sheets from the garvey binders posted soon!

alejandro pena was known for a slow delivery

maybe relaxed is a better way to describe alejandro pena's presence on the mound, but the slow delivery thing came in to play last week when i opened my mailbox and found a sase with an atlanta postmark.  inside were four cards that i had sent to pena prior to 2013 spring training.

1984 topps

1985 topps

1986 topps

1987 topps

pena is a pitching coach in the dodgers' system, and he spent some time at camelback ranch during spring training back when i mailed the cards.  he lives in atlanta, which makes sense considering his two stints with the braves.

a few things that i recall about pena - first and foremost, he led the national league in era in 1984, but injuries pushed him to the bullpen. second, he was the winning pitcher in game 1 of the 1988 world series following kirk gibson's walk-off home run in his first world series appearance (pena had been on the dodgers' 1981 postseason staff for the nlcs but didn't pitch in the world series).  conversely, he was the losing pitcher in game 7 of the 1991 world series after allowing gene larkin's walk-off single.  pena did wind up winning a third ring in 1995 as he helped the braves beat the indians in the fall classic that year.

i am very happy to have these cards in my collection, and very thankful for forever stamps - thanks alejandro!

the rest of the cards that should have been from the garvey binders

i am almost done with showing pages from my steve garvey oddball binder.  then it will be time to show the pages from the 'regular' collection binders.  get excited.  here are the rest of the cards that should have been that i've created or received or otherwise had to print myself over the last few years.

punkrockpaint is responsible for the 1988 topps card, while the writer's journey sent me the digital version of the gypsy queen card.  the last three are topps bunt 'cards' that i printed out.

while you're standing in line to vote, here are some cards featuring double play turns

i am not very vocal when it comes to politics.  i am smart enough to know that i am not going to change anybody's mind with my views, no matter how strongly i feel about a certain issue.  i let my vote do my talking, i suppose.

i'll be voting later today, and i'll probably be standing in a long line to do so.  so, in case your polling place also sees a strong turnout and you have some time to kill, here are some mindless baseball cards that show the double play turn at second base.

1995 topps stadium club cal ripken jr cause and effect subset

i suppose the cause is a sliding baserunner (hello john jaha) and the effect is a jumping ripken.  the back of the card notes that ripken holds the record (as of 1995) of 7 seasons leading shortstops in double plays turned.

1995 upper deck sp championship series ozzie smith

another hof dp

1998 upper deck spx craig biggio

and 1998 upper deck spx craig biggio radiance parallel

those are some soon to be hof dp turns.  with wally joyner joining in.

1998 upper deck spx nomar garciaparra

strange that on biggio's card, joyner also comes through in the scan, but on nomar's card, my scanner does not care for gary disarcina

1997 topps stadium club jose vizcaino

with a special appearance by steady eddie murray.  the viz has a bunch of dp cards to enjoy

2011 topps update dj lemahieu

i am guessing he landed hard on aj pierzynski, just to make michael barrett proud.

2012 topps ian desmond gold sparkle parallel

desmond has become a dp card regular

2012 topps cliff pennington

the guy sliding in on pennington's card is just barely visible in the lower right corner, but it's enough to convince me that this is a dp turn

1986 topps ricky adams

oh, the joy of the right foot swipe along the bag while making the relay transfer.  one of the best things about playing shortstop.

2009 topps chrome orlando hudson

o-dog turning the double play while i'm turning out the vote!

a mcmemorial mcpatch for ray a kroc

raymond albert kroc was, among other things in his lifetime, a milkshake mixer salesman when in 1954 he met the mcdonald's brothers and recognized the potential for expansion that their hamburger business offered.  kroc eventually bought the brothers out of the business and took the restaurant worldwide.  in 1974, he used some of the money he had made from his mcdonald's empire and bought the san diego padres.  after he died of heart disease in january of 1984, the team added his initials to their left sleeves in tribute.

here's a 1985 topps steve garvey card that shows the memorial worn in 1984, the first year the padres appeared in the postseason

and it shows up on garvey's 1985 topps record breaker, too.

it's there on eric show's 1985 topps card, too

and carmelo anthony's 1985 donruss card offers a really good look at it

but i've got this 1984 star steve garvey card in the memorial binder as the 1984 example of the memorial

thanks to the fact that it's garvey and he's wearing a mcdonald's wristband.

the padres wore the memorial again in 1985, perhaps inspired by the chicago bears who had begun wearing george halas' initial on their uniforms following his death in october of 1983 and continued to do so the following year.  in fact, the 'gsh' on the bears jerseys has never been removed since it was first added over 30 years ago.  anyway, here are some examples of the memorial from the 1985 season.

1986 leaf dave dravecky

and 1986 topps mario ramirez

the ramirez card is in the binder, too.

the pads wore the memorial in 1986 as well, and there are some 1987 cards that show it fairly well.

1987 fleer garvey

1987 topps tony gwynn

with dodger catcher alex trevino lurking

1987 topps carmelo martinez

1987 donruss garry templeton

1987 donruss randy asadoor

and 1987 donruss ed wojna

those last two cards feature a nice dodger stadium, so they are both in that binder, but i have the wojna card in the memorial binder, too.

although the padres did not wear the memorial beyond the 1986 season, it has shown up on a few cards since then, like this 1992 fleer ultra tony gwynn commemorative series card

and this 2013 topps archives gwynn card

and, when the padres wear their 1984 throwbacks, the memorial makes a return as well, as evidenced by yorvit toerralba's 2010 topps update card

kroc, who once apologized to fans over the stadium loudspeaker for the padres' poor play, was a benefactor to many charities, including those involved in the research and treatment of various diseases, including alcoholism.  he also oversaw the development of the ronald mcdonald house charities and was a member of the inaugural class in the san diego padres hall of fame.

35 gone at 57

i couldn't believe what i was reading yesterday afternoon.  bobby welch, the rookie pitcher from the team of my youth, had passed away at the age of 57.  definitely a need for black mourning crepe here on the blog.

there is no doubt that welch closing out game 2 of the 1978 world series was a huge moment for all dodger fans, but for me it represented the point of no return in my fandom, which at that time was barely a year old.  i had to wait until 1979 to get a card of welch, but once the packs hit the streets, i didn't wait long.  i remember opening about a dozen packs purchased at the 7-11 for a quarter apiece, and somewhere around the 6th pack, there was this card

let's take a stroll through welch's dodger career.

1980 topps

he suttons.

1981 fleer

my neighbor across the street was a yankee fan, and pulled this card from a pack.  i reminded him of how welch struck reggie jackson out to end the aforementioned game 2 of the 1978 fall classic, and he quickly handed the card over to me.

1981 topps

hatless and morose.

1982 topps

 1983 donruss

bad mustache.

1984 topps team leaders

welch is currently 9th on the dodgers all-time strikeout list, but is about to be passed by clayton kershaw.

1984 topps

similar to 1982 topps

1985 topps

similar to 1984 topps

1986 topps

what's with all the road uni photos?

1987 donruss

that's better - the ice white uniform with a dodger stadium backdrop

1987 fleer

back on the road

1987 topps

he was 15-9 in 1987, his final season with the dodgers, and he led the league with 4 shutouts.

1988 donruss diamond king

1988 donruss

1988 score

the yellow border fit in 1988, as he joined the a's as a free agent.

welch was 115-86 with a 3.14 era as a dodger, and 96-60 with a 3.94 era as an athletic, but 27 wins in 1990 means most will remember him as a member of the a's.  i'll remember him as the guy who made a young fan believe that the dodgers could beat the yankees, even if they didn't really get it done until 1981.