so, i sought out a repack

this 1992 bowman vaughn eshelman card means business.

i found it in a repack that i sought out after finding (both surprisingly and somewhat disappointingly) only current cards at one of the local walgreens.  i had my mind set on a repack, so a couple of days later i picked up a hanger of recycled cards at target.

here's the oldest card from the pack - a 1985 topps bryn smith

that's nice - i'm kind of a bryn smith fan.  i met his dad when i was in high school is how that came about.

this 2012 topps update ra dickey card is the newest card from the repack

nice shot of the knuckle grip, but why isn't he wearing number 49 like a good knuckler?

as always, there were some 1987 topps cards included, such as this tony gwynn all-star subset card

and there was also some 1988 fleer, including this tim wallach card

the card design works well with the expos' unis, although the blues don't quite match.  that card will be heading to new mexico at some point.

there was actually a 1989 fleer card that i am going to keep in the repack - this checklist card that features the dodgers and red sox

there are your defending world champions, from dave anderson to tracy woodson.  i don't know about you other set collectors, but i always included the fleer checklists with my team sets, probably because in 1983 and 1984 (and possibly other years) they featured a photo of the manager on them.

here's a 1990 topps willie stargell glossy all-star card

pops was the honorary captain of the national league squad in 1988 as he was voted into the hall of fame that year.

there was a complete 14-card factory set of the 2008 topps yankees in the repack

joba looks like he's relieving himself on the lawn outside a kegger somewhere.

i beat the odds and picked a repack that included an autographed card.  it's a 2006 topps '52 matt albers card

i would have preferred another auto card of a different matt from that same set, but repack purchasers can't be choosers.  not in that way, anyway.

the 1978 topps dodgers in 1988

when the 1988 topps set came out, i did something i had not done in 11 years.  i didn't buy any.  i had bought two boxes of every topps release since 1982, and bought way more than the equivalent of 72 packs each year before that, going back to 1978.  

i think i finally wound up buying some '88 cards in 1991.  i was quite disappointed to find out that neither ron cey nor steve garvey were included in the set.  and they weren't the only members of the 1978 topps dodgers to be dropped from the checklist, but the others (bill russell, terry forster, steve yeager, and dusty baker) had ended their careers in 1986.  that means that only 7 of the 27 members of the 1978 topps dodgers appeared in the 1988 set.  here they are.

tom lasorda  

the last remaining dodger of the bunch.  what did he do in 1988?  he coerced 21 more wins out of his team than they had earned in the two previous seasons.  he won his 1000th game as a manager as well as his second manager of the year award, and, of course, he won his second world championship.

charlie hough

the 40-year old knuckleballer went 13-16 in 1988 for the rangers while knocking about a half of a run off of his era from the previous season.  his first win of the season, a victory over cleveland, was the 150th win of hough's career.  hough threw 10 complete games on the season, including a pair of 10-inning efforts.  he had another start where he left after throwing 10 innings and then walking the first batter of the 11th, and another in which he pitched 11 shutout innings and left the game after allowing the first batter of the 12th inning to reach base on a single.  i doubt something like that will happen again.

tommy john

john didn't throw any complete games, but he did make it into the 9th inning in one of his 32 starts.  he finished the season with a 9-8 record for the yankees, with 35 total appearances.

rick rhoden

rhoden finished up his two-year tour of the american league in 1988.  he was 12-12 for the yankees with a 4.29 era in 30 starts.  he threw 5 complete games, including an opening day, 3-hit shutout against the defending world champion minnesota twins.  rhoden's 1988 season is best remembered, however, for his appearance on june 11 when he started the game as the yankees' designated hitter.  batting 7th in the lineup (ahead of rafael santana and joel skinner), rhoden was 0 for 1 with a sacrifice fly in his two plate appearances.  it was the first time that a pitcher had been used as the starting dh for a team, and it might be the only time, too.

don sutton

sutton finished up his career back where it began.  he rejoined the dodgers as a free agent, and went on to start 16 games for them in 1988.  he compiled a record of 3-6 with a 3.92 era and was released by the team in august.  his final tallies - 324 wins, 3574 strikeouts, and a 3.26 career era.  i was in attendance for one of his starts at dodger stadium that year - i would assume it was one of the two in june - and i remember very clearly one of my friends making the statement 'we could hit this guy'.  i doubted it, but it was clear that sutton's days were numbered.

dave lopes

lopes had finished his career in 1987 with the astros, but topps was nice enough to give him a true final tribute in the 1988 set.  here are the complete big league stats for the pride of providence

even 25 years later, lopes is still 26th on the all-time steals leaderboard, and he's 20th on the stolen base percentage list.  lopes joined the rangers staff under bobby valentine as a coach in 1988, and he has been coaching (or managing) ever since.

lee lacy

lacy is the other member of the 1978 topps folks to get a proper send off in 1988.  he was released during spring training after the orioles acquired wade rowdon from the cubs for a couple of minor leaguers.  here are his complete big league stats.

i think i forgot to mention back in the 1978 installment of this topic that lacy hit three consecutive home runs as a pinch hitter.  for all of his success as a regular after leaving los angeles, i still think of him as a pinch-hitter/utility guy.

1988 saw score come on the scene with a set of cards.  they were nice enough to include lopes and lacy in the set (and steve garvey, too, but i'll wait one more post to show that one again).  here's lopes' score final tribute

and here's lacy's card

there's a mention of his three straight pinch-hit homers.

and finally, lacy was all alone amongst the retired players in the 1988 fleer set.  donruss didn't give a rip about any of them.  here's lacy's fleer card from 1988

if only they could have fit his 1969 minor league stats on there, too.

now for the evolutionary wrap up.  there were 7/27 members of the 1978 topps dodgers featured by topps in 1987. here's the tally of appearances to date:

baker 17 (1971-1987)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 16 (1972-1987)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 16 (1972-1987)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 17 (1971-1987)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 15 (1972-1986)
hough 17 (1972-1988)
john 25 (1964-1988)
lacy 16 (1973-1988)
lasorda 14 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1988)
lopes 16 (1973-1988)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 10 (1972-1981)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 14 (1975-1988)
russell 18 (1970-1987)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 10 (1974-1984)
sutton 23 (1966-1988)
yeager 15 (1973-1987)

teams represented so far: 23 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers, padres, brewers, mariners)

there are a couple of cards that should have been in 1988, so stay tuned...

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.

recap the repack

out of boredom (is there any other reason?) i picked up a fairfield 100 card repack recently.  it's pretty cool to pull a pete rose out of a pack in 2013.

even if he's rocking the double chin.

here are the cards that i was dealt, so to speak.

1978 topps jose baez
1977 topps steve luebber
1978 topps tom paciorek

there are my three vintage cards right out of the gate.  a former dodger farmhand (and cousin of manny mota), a random twin, and a former dodger.  speaking of which...

1988 score mike morgan (he's shown with seattle at this point in his career)
1992 donruss hensley meulens
1994 classic julio santana
1989 upper deck andre dawson
1989 upper deck gene nelson
1989 upper deck john cerutti
1988 topps padres leaders (tony gwynn and benito santiago - in dodger stadium!)

1987 donruss ken howell

1980 topps miguel dilone
1980 topps dick davis
1988 donruss eric show
1988 donruss todd worrell
1988 donruss shawn hillegas - with the don mcmahon memorial patch

1988 donruss curt ford
1987 donruss scott mcgregor
1987 donruss scott mcgregor
1988 donruss greg swindell
1988 donruss greg swindell
1988 donruss billy hatcher (in dodger stadium)

1988 donruss chris bando
1994 upper deck trot nixon
1990 score jose alvarez
1990 score carlos martinez
1990 score tim laudner
1990 score george brett
1990 score domingo ramos
1990 score bill ripken
1990 score bert blyleven
1990 score todd burns
1990 score shawon dunston
1990 score jim presley
1997 upper deck sp edgar renteria
1994 topps steve dreyer
1997 fleer sports illustrated todd hundley
1997 upper deck sp mark mcgwire
1994 topps mark mclemore
1997 topps stadium club donne wall
1997 upper deck sp geronimo berroa
1993 topps gregg olson
1989 donruss mvp will clark
1995 upper deck collector's choice todd hollandsworth
1993 upper deck eddie taubensee
1995 upper deck collector's choice special edition jose valentin
1992 fleer eddie murray

1990 upper deck eddie murray - this is the back

1991 donruss highlights eddie murray

1992 upper deck eddie murray (400 home run club)
1988 topps mark mcgwire record breaker
1988 topps eddie murray
1985 topps don aase
1981 fleer larry christenson

on to the second part of the rack pack

1989 topps bazooka jose canseco
1989 topps cap'n crunch andre dawson
1987 topps rookies ruben sierra
1987 topps rookies rafael palmeiro
1996 fleer ultra gold medallion edition julian tavarez
1987 topps rookies pete incaviglia
1987 topps rookies dave magadan
1987 topps jim dwyer
1987 topps mike lavaliere
1997 topps randy myers
1997 upper deck collector's choice paul wilson - hey mets fans.  before you get too excited about matt harvey and zach wheeler, remember the wilson, bill pulsipher, and jason isringhausen hype.

1987 topps ed lynch - giving pete rose a run for his double chin money

1992 topps tracy jones
1992 topps john olerud
1991 upper deck mike devereaux
1988 fleer mike sharperson

1992 topps ben mcdonald
1988 fleer lee tunnel
1996 upper deck collector's choice tyler green
1987 topps ronn reynolds
1989 donruss roberto kelly
1988 donruss harry spilman
1993 topps stadium club bob wickman
1993 topps bj surhoff
1993 topps tim raines
1992 leaf milt thompson
1989 topps mike gallego
1990 topps kmart howard Johnson
1986 topps shawon dunston
1988 topps mike bielecki
1988 topps willie hernandez
1990 upper deck gerald perry
1990 upper deck todd burns
1988 fleer bill ripken - one year away from f*ck face.  can someone explain to me why beckett referred to the 1989 fleer bill ripken card as 'rick face'?  when i saw that in the price guide back then, i assumed that they switched out a 'd' for the 'r'.  wouldn't it have made more sense to say 'puck face'? or 'duck face'?  whatever.  here's the 1988 card with a harmless number 3 on his bat knob.

1990 upper deck jeff reed
1986 topps wayne krenchicki
1984 milton bradley championship baseball pete rose - as seen up top
1987 topps wayne krenchicki
1993 fleer ultra frank seminara
1990 upper deck glenn braggs
1987 topps eric davis
1990 fleer dickie thon
1990 upper deck steve searcy
1989 fleer tim jones
1992 fleer ultra mike gallego
1986 topps dwight gooden (record breaker)
1988 fleer jeff ballard
1990 upper deck scott sanderson
1991 donruss matt williams
1992 fleer ultra dale murphy

2008 topps michael barrett

that's it.  until next time i have some cash to waste.