does raul mondesi regret his tattoo, and other random musings

while it is true that raul mondesi had a cannon for an arm, i wonder if the cannon tattoo visible on his 1998 upper deck card

was fully thought out.  from one angle it looks like a cannon, although the fuse is still lit even though the cannon has discharged, and from another angle one might mistake it for some sort of rocket. or something else, i suppose.

the back of that card is pretty interesting, too, as we have pylons and a car in the background.

i'm also curious about mondesi's 1996 fleer emotion xl card, although it's no fault of his that the emotion fleer slapped on there is 'pounding'

i don't feel pounding.  or tardy, for that matter.  what was fleer thinking?

along the same lines of lack of thought, here are a few other cards that i've scanned without a real purpose. although i suppose you could say that i scanned them for inclusion in a random cards from my scanned folder post, so there was a purpose. whatever.

1987 topps orel hershiser

1990 donruss mickey hatcher

1992 score rookie and traded carlos hernandez

1997 topps stadium club pedro astacio

2007 topps heritage derek lowe

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee scott elbert black parallel

and 2012 bowman chrome prospects jt wise

as in wise enough to not consider 'pounding' to be an emotion?

los angeles dodger managerial autographs managed

the los angeles dodgers have had only 9 managers in their 58-year history. compare that to the marlins, who have employed 13 managers (including two interim guys with just one game apiece) in their 23 years of existence.  all but one of the la dodger managers are still with us, and so obtaining autographs from each is not too difficult.

i've finally found the final piece to this collection, and so i will now display a complete set of la dodger manager autographed dodger cards.

1968 topps team (walt alston)

smokey passed away in 1984, so this card is obviously one that i purchased.  he first started managing the dodgers in 1954, and he won a total of 7 pennants and 4 world series, with 5 of those pennants and 3 of the world series titles coming in los angeles.  alston was at the helm for 2040 dodger wins - most all-time - and is enshrined in the hall of fame.  he gave way at the end of the 1976 season to tommy lasorda.

1978 topps tom lasorda

tommy signed this card for me through the mail, which was fantastic.  from the last four games of the 1976 season until his heart attack during the 1996 season, lasorda's dodgers won 1599 games, 4 pennants, and two world series titles, and lasorda himself was twice named the national league manager of the year.  he is second behind alston on the franchise's all-time managerial wins list, and he, too, is in the baseball hall of fame.  following the aforementioned heart attack in 1996, lasorda retired and bill russell took over.

1987 topps bill russell

like lasorda, russell signed this card (a final tribute) through the mail.  there is one card of him as a manager, and it comes from the 1997 mother's dodgers set.  i will try to get that one signed, but i don't believe ropes is signing through the mail anymore.  anyway, russell took over for lasorda in 1996 and led the team to a wild card berth. they were swept in the nlds, and were out of the playoff picture the following year which was russell's only full season at the helm of the club.  after 74 games in 1998, russell was fired by the fox regime about a month after the mike piazza trade.  it was the first time since leo durocher was relieved of his duties in 1948 that a dodger manager was fired during the season.  russell's 173 wins as the dodger skipper puts him 17th on the franchise list, and his winning percentage of .537 is good enough for 9th all-time (7th if we ignore interim managers clyde sukeforth and ray blades who won all three games they managed).  russell was replaced by glenn hoffman

1988 topps glenn hoffman

hoffman is (currently) the last of the former dodger players to manage the club.  he signed his 1988 topps card for me through the mail, and i may try to get him to sign a 1998 mother's dodgers card as well - it's the only one of him as a big league manager.  hoffman's dodgers finished out the 1998 season with 47 wins in 88 games, and those wins are the 25th most (out of 31) among the franchise's managers.  his .534 winning percentage puts him at 11th (or 9th), just a tick ahead of joe torre.  after the 1998 season, the fox boys were looking for a name, and they hired davey johnson to be the dodger manager.

2001 topps davey johnson

once again, the dodger manager in question signed a card for me through the mail.  johnson's debut as the dodger manager was a game for the ages.  on opening day, raul mondesi hit a 3-0 pitch into the stands for a game-tying three-run homer with two outs in the 9th, and then hit a two-run homer to walk-off the diamondbacks in the bottom of the 11th.  good times.  johnson wound up managing the team for two years, and the dodgers were 163-161 during his tenure (163 wins puts johnson 19th among the franchise's managers).  in 2000, they finished well behind the giants for second place in the nl west, and were 8 behind the mets for the wild card, and so johnson was fired after the season ended.  jim tracy was hired to take over.

2002 topps jim tracy

this is another through the mail autograph success, by the way.  tracy managed to manage the dodgers for five seasons, with the team winning 93 games and the nl west in 2004. although they lost to the cardinals in the nlds that year, they did win their first postseason game since 1988 (thanks to lima time!).  overall, tracy's dodgers were 427-384, and if it weren't for an awful 2005 season (you'll not be able to convince me that tracy wasn't trying to get fired that year - the second worst season for any la dodger team), his winning percentage would have been better. tracy ranks 6th all-time in wins for the franchise, behind five hall of famers, but he will probably be passed by don mattingly later this season.  the dodgers hired grady little to replace tracy following the 2005 season.

2007 topps grady little

i had to purchase this signed card.  

*update* little returned my ttm request after a fair amount of time with both his 2007 topps card 

and 2006 upper deck card 

signed.  very happy to have this success! *end update*

little's 170 wins in his two seasons as the team's manager puts him right between bill russell and davey johnson on the franchise's all-time list.  the dodgers won the wild card in 2006, but were swept in the nlds, and then finished 3rd in 2007.  little resigned as the team's manager after the 2007 season as it seemed apparent that frank mccourt wanted to hire joe torre to take over.

2009 topps joe torre

hall of fame manager torre, who signed this card through the mail, came aboard and led the club to two straight nl west titles and national league championship series berths.  the team faltered in 2010, however, and torre retired after that season. his 259 wins are 12th best among the franchise's managers, and his winning percentage is sandwiched by hoffman's and little's on the leader board. torre's bench coach, don mattingly, was picked to be his successor.

2014 topps heritage don mattingly

this card was the final card i needed for this post.  i had previously received a couple of signed mattingly cards through the mail with some help from reader cory, but i wanted a card of mattingly in dodger gear signed as well.  turns out i had to buy one.  mattingly is the current dodger skipper, and he has the team in first place this year, his fifth at the helm.  the team has won the nl west and made the postseason each of the last two years under mattingly, and they made it to the nlcs in 2013.  mattingly currently ranks 7th in managerial wins and tenure for the franchise, but should pass jim tracy in both of those categories by game 2 of the 2016 season.  after that, he's looking up at five hall of famers - alston, lasorda, wilbert robinson, durocher, and ned hanlon.  that's not bad managerial company.

the final active player pages from the steve garvey binders

twenty-five sheets are all i have in my steve garvey binders of cards from his playing days - excluding smaller and larger sized oddballs.  here is sheet 24:

those cards are:

1. 1987 m&m's
2. 1987 o-pee-chee
3. 1987 o-pee-chee stickers
4. 1987 ralston purina
5. 1987 ralston purina cookie crisp
6. 1987 sportflics
7. 1987 sportflics (factory set)
8. 1987 sportflics team preview
9. 1987 topps

the only difference between the 1987 sportflics card and the 1987 sportflics (factory set) card is that the factory set card has a copyright 1986 mark on the back, while the other card does not.

and, here are the backs

1987 sportflics was the first set to have color photos on the back. go figure.

and here is the last page of playing day cards of the garv - sheet 25

those cards are:

1. 1987 topps tiffany
2. 1988 score
3. 1988 score glossy

i recognize that garvey did not play in in 1988, but i include his final tribute card with the playing days cards.

here are the backs:

so, very soon we will start to see some of the way more than 25 sheets of steve garvey cards that have been issued after his retirement.  stay tuned.

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!

i'll be interested to see what target stocks for me next...

here's the third of three repacks that target made me buy recently.  after pulling the first two off the hanger, i saw some more needed/wanted cards displayed in this repack.  let's see what else was inside.

2010 topps factory set limited edition ichiro

this card intrigued me, as it's got a foil imprint on the front and it's numbered rs2 on the back
1991 topps 1990 rookies robin ventura - four times now!
1991 topps 1990 rookies pat combs
1991 topps 1990 rookies larry walker - at least those two are different
1991 topps 1990 rookies todd zeile
1991 topps 1990 rookies john olerud - those two are not
1989 donruss terry leach
1990 score alvaro espinoza
1987 topps jamie quirk
1991 fleer jeff kunkel
1987 topps mike brown
1989 topps otis nixon
1990 fleer chad kreuter
1989 donruss rick mahler
1986 topps luis aguayo
1989 upper deck scott sanderson
1988 donruss checklist
1990 donruss lee mazzilli
1988 topps jay tibbs
1991 topps rich rodriguez
1992 pinnacle chili davis
1993 upper deck jose uribe
1988 donruss checklist - at least it's not the same as the first one in the repack
1993 topps luis salazar
1988 topps charlie puleo
1992 score jeff ballard
1989 fleer oddibe mcdowell
1991 score randy johnson
1990 fleer curt wilkerson
1991 upper deck mike scioscia
1987 topps omar moreno

omar doesn't care for this repack
1987 donruss jim presley diamond king
1986 topps andy hawkins
1991 score mark parent
1992 score steve buechele
1990 topps devon white
1988 donruss todd benzinger
1988 topps barry lyons
1994 classic minor league all-star edition trot nixon cream of the crop shiny insert

1989 score chris james
1999 upper deck encore jason kendall
1989 donruss cameron drew rated rookie
1988 pacific online eddie guardado

1988 pacific online eddie guardado - a double of a twin, so here's the back

not sure who 'rm' is that the new twins bullpen coach is memoralizing. raul mondesi? randy moss? any ideas?

1998 pinnacle tom candiotti

2009 upper deck first edition carlos beltran

2009 upper deck first edition akinori iwamura

2009 upper deck first edition daniel cabrera

2009 upper deck first edition stephen drew

2009 upper deck first edition tom glavine

1998 fleer ultra kevin millwood

now for part 2...

2004 fleer greats carlton fisk

pudge looks pissed

1992 topps bobby cox

1991 leaf kent mercker

1987 fleer rick sutcliffe

1989 score john kruk

1992 donruss rosario rodriguez

1992 pinnacle carlos baerga

1989 topps les lancaster

1989 donruss mike fitzgerald

1991 upper deck kirby puckett

puck looks happy

1987 topps randy o'neal

1993 pinnacle ken ryan

1992 topps stadium club chris james

1991 leaf ernest riles

1991 donruss gregg jefferies

1990 fleer tom herr

1991 donruss scott erickson

1989 topps bob dernier

1989 fleer todd benzinger

1987 topps bill dawley

1994 upper deck collector's choice pat rapp

1989 donruss bob kipper

1989 fleer dale sveum

1992 topps mike jackson

1990 donruss joe oliver

1987 donruss highlights tim raines

rock is in dodger stadium

1989 score rookies & traded bob geren

1988 topps denny walling

2000 fleer tradition update rafael furcal

1987 topps tom brunansky

2012 topps edwin jackson

2012 topps taylor green

2012 topps kyle hudson

2012 topps raul ibanez

2012 topps jay bruce

2012 topps james darnell

2012 topps brandon mccarthy

2012 topps mark melancon

2012 topps luke hughes

2012 topps brett wallace

wallace is in dodger stadium on father's day, 2011. i've been in dodger stadium on father's day a couple of times, but not for a while.

2011 topps gaby sanchez

2011 topps scott hairston

2011 topps ricky romero

2011 topps brian roberts

2011 topps mike fontenot

2011 topps jhonny peralta

2011 topps matt thornton

2011 topps mike pelfrey

2011 topps john jaso

2013 topps chrome paco rodriguez orange refractor

this was the main reason i bought this one.

let me know if you want/need any of these cards…

bringing steve garvey's career to the present

i really liked wrigley wax's idea of trade links as a subject of posts, even though those featuring the team of my youth were pretty much dead ends.  i may do a few more in the future around other dodger players of note, but instead i went looking for another way to connect players together.  what i came up with was sort of a 'x' degrees of separation to a current player, using final plate/pitching appearances to link them.  the upside is, unless two players face off against each other in each of their final appearances, the link will never be broken.  i'll show you what i mean using my favorite player, steve garvey.

the garv last appeared in the major leagues in 1987 - may 23, 1987 to be exact.  here's his 1987 topps card.

the padres were playing the expos, and garvey was brought in to pinch hit for lance mccullers in the 9th inning.  the expos pitcher at the time was neal heaton, who retired garvey on a fly ball and got the last two padres hitters out to complete a 2-hit shutout.  so, the last pitcher steve garvey faced in his career was the expos' neal heaton.  here's heaton's 1987 fleer card.

fast forward to baltimore, june 26, 1993.  heaton is a member of the new york yankees, and is called in to relieve john habyan with the orioles leading the yanks 9-6.  heaton winds up finishing the game, pitching 2.2 innings and giving up a couple of home runs.  the last batter heaton faced was former dodger mike devereaux, who flied out to end the home half of the 8th inning.

devereaux, of course, returned to the dodgers to finish his playing career - this is his 1998 pacific online card from his second dodger stint

devereaux's final big league at bat came on april 17, 1998 with the dodgers in chicago facing the cubs.  he entered the game as a pinch-hitter but stayed in the game and later faced ben vanryn, a former dodger prospect.  devereaux drew a walk in the 8th against van ryn but was stranded, and his big league career was over.

there aren't too many cards of vanryn out there - this is a 1994 bowman's best blue parallel

from his dodger farmhand days - but he pitched in the majors for four different clubs (the dodgers weren't one of them as he made his debut in 1996 with the angels), and he appeared for three of those four in 1998 alone.  the cubs traded vanryn to the padres in early may, and by the end of the month, he was pitching for the blue jays.  it was with toronto later that season that he made his final big league appearance.  on september 26, 1998, vanryn came in to pitch the top of the 10th inning in a tie game against the tigers.  he retired the first two batters he faced, but then allowed a single to tony clark and was pulled.  the tigers didn't score, and the blue jays wound up winning the game a couple of innings later, but vanryn did not appear in the big leagues after that appearance.

tony clark finished up his career as a member of the diamondbacks in 2009 - here's his 2009 upper deck card

by striking out as a pinch-hitter on july 12 against the marlins.  the marlins' pitcher that k'd clark was josh johnson, seen here on his 2011 topps card

now johnson presents an interesting case, as he spent the 2014 season on the 60-day dl with the padres, and hasn't pitched since 2013.  if he fails to return to the majors, then the last batter he faced in a big league game was michael saunders, who is still active today.  he had a pretty cool card in the 2014 topps set

if johnson does return in 2015, then the next link on steve garvey's career legacy is yet to be determined.  still, that's how you bring steve garvey to the present day in 5 or 6 steps.

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.