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?

mike schmidt was final tribute worthy

as a collector in 1988, i was disappointed with the lack of final tributes - cards issued the year following a player's last season - for my beloved infielders steve garvey, ron cey, and davey lopes who had each played their final game in 1987. bill russell, who finished his playing career in 1986, was properly included in the three major 1987 releases, while garvey and lopes both appeared in 1988 score. only lopes received a card in 1988 topps, and cey was shut out altogether. 

come 1989, i was specifically looking for don sutton final tributes (a big thanks to score and a 'you were so close, why didn't you do it correctly' to topps). as cool as i thought these cards were, i had not recalled seeing cards specifically identified as final tributes until mike schmidt retired (i don't count the 1988 score reggie jackson subset - that was more of a career retrospective, and yes i think that there is a difference between the two). in fact, fleer included their mike schmidt final tribute in their 1989 update set.

here's the back

schmidt famously called it quits in midseason after deciding that he was unable to play at the high level he expected of himself. i recall that it was an emotional press conference for schmidt as he announced his retirement. the following year, donruss included schmidt in their checklist

and we received his full career stats on the back

here's upper deck's entry - more of a season highlight themed card

here's the back

now, you know that i was a ron cey fan, and the penguin always got my all-star vote(s), but schmidt eventually replaced pete rose (who had replaced cey) as the league's all-star representative at third base, and deservedly so. schmidt was so highly thought of that he was voted in as the league's starting third baseman for the 1989 all-star game, which was played 6 weeks following his retirement (he did not play in the game). 

i was even a sort of schmidt fan (except for 1983 when his phillies finally beat the dodgers in the nlcs) because my very first glove was a rawlings michael jack schmidt model. speaking of rawlings, schmidt won the gold glove award for national league third basemen 10 times. back to the cards. topps, as it is wont to do, fell short. they had a card of schmidt in their 1990 set

but it was a 'turn back the clock' card rather than a tribute, and failed to even mention his retirement

schmidt was a 3-time nl mvp who led the league in home runs 8 times. he was also the 1980 world series mvp, and his 548 career home runs rank 15th all-time today, and were good enough for 7th all-time when he retired. i suppose that's why he warranted special attention from the card companies, three of which really delivered solid cards for my mini-collection.

upper deck also included schmidt in their 1995 flagship set with a designated final tribute card

that coincided with schmidt's enshrinement in the hall of fame. 

this was the same set that featured belated final tributes for george brett, nolan ryan, and robin yount. i appreciated the effort, but much prefer the real time final tributes that upper deck provided in the following years.

a black armband and a memorial patch for a. bartlett giamatti

25 years ago today, baseball commissioner a. bartlett giamatti died at the age of 51.  unfortunately, he may be most often remembered as the commissioner who presided over the pete rose betting on baseball scandal as he died of a heart attack 8 days after rose agreed to be added to baseball's permanently ineligible list.  that was in august of 1989, and when the world series began that october, the players on each team wore black armbands in giamatti's honor.  here's a 1990 score world series highlight card that features the armbands on the a's and giants' players

it also features 'actual world series action photography'.  thanks score.

fleer also issued insert cards with world series highlights in 1990, such as this fantastic double play card featuring walt weiss and terry kennedy

kennedy makes his third appearance in a row on this card from the 1990 fleer insert set

the armbands aren't noticeable on that card, but if you look closely at the umpire's right sleeve, you will notice something below the number.  that's the 'abg' patch that the umpiring crew wore in giamatti's memory during the series.  you get a much better look at the patch on this 1990 t&m umpires card of all of the world series umps

i did not realize until looking into this memorial that there were umpire cards issued from 1988-1990.  who knew?  luckily this one was easy to find as it is the best example of this memorial and deserves a spot in my memorials binder.

the 1990 t&m umpires set also included a card of the seventh commissioner as well

the back of which features a poem written by the executive director of major league umpires at the time, richard g. phillips

score also had a giamatti card in their set

and they published the first and last paragraphs of an essay by giamatti himself on the back

giamatti wrote 'the green fields of the mind' in 1977 the day after the red sox season ended, and shortly before he became the president of yale university.

1990 donruss

and 1990 topps

also featured memorial cards of the late commissioner, who also served as national league president from december of 1986 until his tenure as commissioner began in april of 1989.  the backs of both cards also reference 'the green fields of the mind'.  here's the back of the topps card

and summer is gone, indeed.

the evolution of the left fielder, part 2

here's part 1 if you missed it.  and, as promised, here are bill buckner's wooly eyebrows.

bill buckner (1974-1976)

billy buck was a part of the dodgers' historical 1968 draft, and he worked his way into the starting lineup as a left fielder after spending most of his time in la playing right field and first base.  as the dodgers' every day left fielder in 1974, buckner hit .314 and was the guy who climbed the left field fence at fulton county stadium when hank aaron hit number 715.  he finished 25th in the league mvp voting and hit a home run in the dodgers' world series loss against the a's.  in 1975, buckner was limited to 72 games in left and the dodgers used 10 other players in left during his absences.  buckner came back in 1976 to play in 154 games and hit over .300 in what would be his dodger swan song.  he was dealt to the cubs after the season with ivan dejesus for rick monday and mike garman.

dusty baker (1977-1983)
dusty baker had been acquired in a trade after the 1975 season, and spent the 1976 season playing center and right field for the dodgers.  after they acquired monday in the buckner trade, baker was shifted to left and stayed there for 7 seasons and all of my youthful years of fandom.  during those 7 campaigns, baker hit .285 with 140 home runs (30 in 1977), two top-ten mvp finishes, four monster nlcs performances, three world series appearances, a world championship, and a gold glove in 1981 for his play in left.  it was a sad day when he became a free agent and an even sadder one when he signed with the giants.

mike marshall (1984)

baker's departure opened up a spot in the lineup for candy maldonado, and mike marshall moved from right field to left field to accommodate candido.  in left for the dodgers in 1984, marshall played in 116 games and was named to the all-star team although he didn't appear in the midsummer classic.  in 1985, marshall moved back to right field, as the dodgers moved pedro guerrero out of the infield.

pedro guerrero (1985, 1987)

guerrero had a monster year in 1985.  he finished third in the league in the mvp voting (his third top-4 finish in 4 years) while leading the league with a .422 obp and .577 slugging percentage.  he was named to the all-star team for the third time (he did not appear in the game) and went 33/87/.320 while splitting time between third base and left field, along with a few stops in center, right and at first base.  still, his 70 starts in left were tops on the club in 1985.  after losing to the cardinals in the nlcs, all eyes were on guerrero heading into 1986.  unfortunately, guerrero forgot how to slide and tore up his knee in a spring training game.  he missed all but 31 games that year, but bounced back in 1987 to reclaim left field from franklin stubbs.  he started 108 games in left in 1987, and hit .338 with a .955 ops that year. named to the all-star team, guerrero lined out in his only at bat.

franklin stubbs (1986)

stubbs became the dodgers' primary left fielder in 1986 by way of guerrero's knee injury, and cesar cedeno's ineffectiveness.  he had played in only 10 games in 1985, but took to a bigger role fairly well.  he established a career high of 23 home runs (15 of which came with the bases empty), although he drove in just 58 and hit only .226 on the season.  some of the other players the dodgers trotted out to left in 1986 included enos cabell, ken landreaux, mike marshall, len matuszek, reggie williams, terry whitfield, and bill russell!

kirk gibson (1988-1989)

kirk gibson came to the dodgers as a free agent and immediately made his presence known in left field.  that's because he left the field of a spring training game after jesse orosco put eye black inside his hat.  gibby served notice that such nonsense was a unwanted distraction and the rest is history.  he may have had a statistically weak mvp season (25/76/.290) but there is no doubt that without him, the dodgers would have not achieved what they did in 1988.  gibson still played more games in left than any other dodger in 1989, but injuries limited him to just 62 games (51 starts) there.  10 other dodgers spent time in left that year, primarily mickey hatcher, who just might have been the mvp of the 1988 world series if not for the bulldog.

kal daniels (1990-1991)

gibson spent most of his playing time in 1990 in center field, while newcomer kal daniels took over in left. he had actually been acquired from the reds in july of 1989, but injuries limited him to just 11 games as a dodger.  in those games, however, he hit .342 and expectations ran high in 1990.  daniels didn't disappoint, hitting 27/94/.296 in 130 games.  in 1991, he played in 137 games, but hit just 17/73/.249 as his balky knees were getting the best of him.  he was eventually dealt to the cubs during the 1992 season, which turned out to be his last in the big leagues. 

eric davis (1992-1993)

davis was acquired by the dodgers in a trade after the 1991 season, and replaced another former red in daniels as the dodgers' everyday left fielder.  the plan to reunite him with friend and fellow hometown product darryl strawberry may have looked good on paper, but it didn't turn out so well in reality.  davis hit just .228 with 5 home runs in 76 games.  he did have 19 stolen bases in 20 attempts, but that was really the only bright spot to his season.  in 1993, he upped his stolen base total to 33 while raising his average a few points and hitting 14 home runs in his 108 games as a dodger.  still disappointed, the dodgers sent davis to the tigers at the end of august.  davis would eventually get healthy and return to his former self with the reds and orioles in the late 1990's.

henry rodriguez (1994)

with davis gone, henry rodriguez took over in left field for the rest of the 1993 season.  he returned in 1994, and played in 104 of the dodgers' 114 games during the strike-shortened season.  he hit 8 home runs, but didn't really show the power he would later provide for the expos. 

in the 11 seasons since dusty baker roamed left, the dodgers had 7 different 'primary' left fielders.  sadly, stability was nowhere in sight after rodriguez was traded early in the 1995 season, as we will see next time.

mota! cey! cey!

yes, it is 11/

10/

10!

or, if you prefer, it's reese

reese

anderson

sheffield

this was supposed to be a cey! cey! cey! post on 10/10/10 but i was out of commission.  admittedly, 11/10/10 isn't as catchy.

as a side note, i often associate numbers i need to remember with jersey numbers, not just on binary days.  in fact, if you were to find my old combination lock from high school, you would be able to unlock it using the code

baker

valenzuela

guerrero

happy binary day!  tomorrow's the last one until next year, so plan accordingly.