the grounded flight of the bumblebees

i'm working on a trade with matt from bob walk the plank, so i'm pulling together some pirates.  these cards won't be leaving my collection, however, even though they feature the black and yellow.

1984 donruss dave parker

the cobra is giving me the stare down from inside dodger stadium.  i will keep this card in my dodger stadium binder.

1984 donruss lee lacy

the black jersey/yellow pant combo is just not a successful look.

1984 fleer lee lacy

here it is again.  the fact that lacy wears yellow sleeves under the jersey puts it over the top.

1984 fleer rick rhoden

ah, a simple white jersey with the pillbox hat.

1985 donruss rick rhoden

i spoke too soon - there's the full yellow ensemble

1986 donruss highlights rick rhoden

rhoden at the plate!  he was voted the nl pitcher of the month for june of 1986 when he went 5-1 in 6 starts with a 1.99 era, 3 complete games, and 35 strikeouts.  he also kicked ass at the plate that month, going 9 for 19 with 3 doubles, 4 rbi, and 0 strikeouts.  kudos to donruss for putting a photo of rhoden with a bat on the card.  if i had three of this card, i'd keep one, send one to matt, and send the other to nick.

1987 donruss all-stars rick rhoden

now donruss put him back on the mound.  rhoden was an all-star in 1986 - his first time at the game since 1976 when he was with the dodgers.

1987 topps mini leaders rick rhoden

rhoden was second in complete games and fourth in era in 1986, so he received a card in this set.

i'm keeping the lacy and rhoden cards because while i really haven't committed to collecting non-topps base cards of the 1978 topps dodgers, i am not necessarily opposed to the idea either.

finally, i am not sending this 1991 topps gary redus to matt (or to wes for that matter)

because dodger lenny harris is lurking.

don't worry matt - i'll have some different (and hopefully better) pirates in the mail this week.

bo knows tatooine

i recently completed a trade with bo from baseball cards come to life.  i sent him some set needs, and he sent me some tatooine cards.  i don't necessarily seek these types of cards in trades, but bo sent me some good ones.

one of the many fantastic staged cards that topps put out in the early 1990's is this 1991 topps benito santiago card

sorry, i guess he was benny in 1991.

the padres were frequent visitors to the desert planet, apparently.  here's a very 1973 topps-ish 1992 upper deck card of paul faries

 as well as a 1993 leaf tony gwynn

and let me take a moment to recognize the passing of mr. padre.  i've mentioned a few times that while i was living in orange county, i would often drive to san diego to see the dodgers play.  one of the series that i attended included the last three games of the 1995 season, including (obviously) the season finale.  the dodgers had clinched a playoff berth the night before (it was the first time i had been in attendance when they clinched - that was really cool), and so the teams were just playing out the string.  chan ho park made his first big league start, striking out 5 in 3 innings of work.  the game was tied 1-1 heading into the 7th when mike busch hit a 3-run homer to put the dodgers ahead 4-1.  in the bottom of the frame, gwynn led off with a double and was removed from the game for a pinch runner.  it was a nice move by bruce bochy, as it allowed gwynn to get an ovation as he left the field.  and what an ovation he did receive.  everybody stood and applauded, and i could feel the deep appreciation that the padre fans had for number 19.  he acknowledged the crowd, and it seemed that the feeling was mutual.  i am glad i got to see gwynn play a few times and get a few hits, but that ovation as gwynn walked off the field is my lasting memory of him.

back to the post at hand.

the cubs played some games on tatooine, too.  here's a 1993 upper deck shawon dunston card

and the back of sammy sosa's card from the same set

the cubbies must have been playing the mets outside of mos eisley, because here's eddie murray's 1993 upper deck card

with a couple of southsiders

other examples of tatooine cards from bo include a 1990 upper deck lance parrish card

a 1993 topps stadium club tim hulett card

plus some cincinnati folks - 1993 upper deck barry larkin

and a 1995 upper deck collector's choice john roper

when it came to the ropers, i was more of a mr. ferley fan.

here's the back of a 1994 upper deck randy tomlin card

tomlin can run, but he can't hide from the imperial stormtroopers on his tail

finally, here are a couple of cards from 1995 upper deck collector's choice special edition - carlos baerga

and will clark

clark looks like he just bulls-eyed a womp rat in beggar's canyon.

thanks for the cards bo!

the 1978 topps dodgers in 1991 - the managers outnumber the players

in 1991, as in the three previous years, there was only one member of the 1978 topps dodgers still wearing dodger blue, and it was tommy lasorda

lasorda guided the 1991 dodger team to 93 wins and a second straight second-place finish behind the atlanta braves in the national league west.  the dodgers were up by two games with 8 to play in the season, and were tied with the braves with three remaining, but they dropped the first two games of a season ending three game set with the giants while the astros were rolling over for the braves in their season ending series.  i took much pleasure in watching the braves lose the world series that year, and have not had much of an appreciation for art howe (the astros' manager) or andujar cedeno (he made 3 errors in the division clinching game against the braves) ever since.

one member of the 1978 topps dodgers was still active in 1991, and that was pitcher charlie hough

hough was no longer with the rangers, however, having signed a free agent deal with the white sox before the season started.  topps made things right in the 1991 traded set.

hough's first year with the chisox brought an end to his 9-year streak of earning double digits in wins.  he was just 9-10 for the southsiders in 29 starts.  he also made a relief appearance (two, actually) for the first time since 1981, the first of which came in an extra inning game on may 1.  he was in line to get the win after the white sox scored three times against the brewers in the top of the 15th inning, but he allowed three runs to milwaukee in the bottom of the inning, and the game went on until the brew crew finally won in the bottom of the 19th frame.

after last being seen in the 1981 topps set, johnny oates returned with a card in the 1991 topps traded set.

oates took over as manager of the orioles following the firing of frank robinson after amassing a 13-24 record in their first 37 games.  they did slightly better (54-71) under oates, but still finished 6th in the al east.  thankfully, he was retained and returned as their manager for the 1992 season.

here is the yearly 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 20 (1972-1991)
john 26 (1964-1989)
lacy 16 (1973-1988)
lasorda 17 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1991)
lopes 16 (1973-1988)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 11 (1972-1981, 1991)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 16 (1975-1990)
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)

an armband for tony c

former red sox outfielder tony conigliaro was a local boy made good.  he was born and raised in massachusetts, and in 1964, at the age of 19, he was playing for the red sox.  he set a teenager home run record that year with 24, and would reach 100 career home runs at a younger age than any other american league player in history.  the only person younger than tony c to have done so was mel ott.  he was also the youngest player (20 years old) to lead the league in home runs when he hit 32 to pace the al in 1965.

conigliaro suffered a horrific beaning in august of 1967 that damaged his left eye.  he missed not only the remainder of the season, but the entire 1968 season as well.  remarkably, he was able to return to the majors in 1969 and hit 20 home runs, earning comeback player of the year honors.  the following season, he hit a career high 36 homers, but was traded to the angels after the season ended.

his injury caught up to him in 1971, as he hit only .222 with a mere 4 home runs that year.  the angels held on to him though, hoping that he would return to form, but he never did appear in the majors for them after 1971.  after the halos finally released him in 1974, he returned to the red sox for one last try in 1975.  after hitting just .123 with 2 homers, the red sox released conigliaro in september.  in 1982, conigliaro suffered a heart attack and later a stroke, and spent the next 8 years in a persistent vegetative state until his death in february of 1990, 24 years ago today.  

thanks to the massive number of baseball cards produced in 1991, there are plenty examples of the black armband that the red sox wore in 1990 to honor conigliaro.  here's a 1991 donruss wade boggs all-star card

and boggs' 1991 upper deck card shows the armband on the front

and back

as does larry anderson's

this 1991 o-pee-chee premier roger clemens card was a front runner for the memorial binder

and this one that i received from tom at the angels, in order from the 1991 international playing card company all-stars set is nice, too

but then i remembered dwight evans' 1991 topps card.

talk about a no-doubter.

it is worth noting that conigliaro's 'most similar by ages' players listed on baseball reference include mickey mantle and frank robinson for his second and third seasons.  bryce harper is the most similar for his rookie season, but mantle was the comp before harper came along.  tony c was the real deal.

even andruw jones looks better in dodger stadium

i hadn't noticed this until a few months ago, but in 2008, upper deck took andruw jones out of spring training and put him in chavez ravine.  they even moved the third base bag.  take a look at his 2008 upper deck first edition card side by side with his 2008 upper deck masterpieces card

pretty soon it will be revealed that all games are actually played in front of the giant green screen at universal studios hollywood.

the masterpieces background includes the low railing that wraps (or used to wrap) into fair territory until it hit the bullpens.  it is also visible on chris speier's 1988 topps card

denny martinez's 1991 topps card

and jeff treadway's 1992 topps card

i am 99% sure that this 1998 steve kline card from fleer ultra also features dodger stadium in the background

thanks to the roof and light stanchion, plus the blue in the dugout.

curt schilling's card from the same set is definitely sporting a dodger stadium shot

it could well be from opening day 1997 when schilling shut the dodgers down.  that was the last opening day i attended prior to my move to the midwest.

the phillies also had some players captured in dodger stadium in the 2011 bowman set, like roy oswalt

jimmy rollins

with a lurking rod barajas, and jayson werth

who was airbrushed into a nationals uniform.  pretty sure these photos came from the september 1, 2010 game (a 12:10 local start) in which oswalt started, rollins scored 3 times (including on a home run off of clayton kershaw), and werth hit a dribbler down the first base line.  barajas, who had recently joined the dodgers, caught the whole game.

no airbrushing was needed for the 1999 fleer ultra set.   that set had some gorgeous photography and features some great dodger stadium scenes.  here's charles johnson on his way from the dugout to the plate

and gary sheffield standing in almost the same spot, with the 'three ladies' palm trees behind the bullpen mostly visible

it's hard not to look good when you have that for a background.

here are some double plays on cards from scott crawford on cards

i saved some cards from the recycle bin recently, via scott crawford on cards.  i asked him to send me the 1998 fleer ultra cards that were destined for donation or recycling or worse, and there were a few dp turns in the bunch.

here we have vinny castilla upending delino deshields

craig biggio getting a feel from scott servais

and jay bell turning two (and the tables) on omar vizquel

scott also offered up a bunch of junk-era cards, and as luck would have it, i had recently determined a few cards that i needed from that timeframe.  

here's a 1992 topps greg gagne

a 1991 topps jerry browne

and a mess of 1990 score - gagne again

double play master walt weiss

steve lyons

jose lind

ozzie guillen

tom foley

wally backman

and johnny ray

awesome stuff.   i also picked up a 1989 topps yankees leaders card featuring willie randolph and an angel entangled in the double play turn

not all of the cards i requested were of the double play variety - this 1991 topps bob geren card features a lurking dodger - juan samuel to be exact

thanks for the trade scott!