don't worry, bo also sent some dodger cards

this will be the last post about the cards that bo from baseball cards come to life sent me recently.  it was a great package containing double play cards, tatooine cards, cards featuring memorial patches, and, of course, dodger cards.

i am surprised that i have not yet shown this 1993 topps stadium club orel hershiser card

on the blog previously. its got the bulldog sitting in dodger stadium on a beautiful day for baseball.

this 2002 leaf rookies and stars brian jordan card

also features dodger stadium as a backdrop, with jordan running between the kevin brown and shawn green images on the outfield wall mural.

this 1992 classic best roberto mejia card

however, features vero beach's holman stadium as its backdrop.  that may well be carlos delgado kneeling behind mejia, by the way.  the dodgers lost mejia in the expansion draft to the rockies, but at least he made it to the majors.  that can't be said about the next guy.

1992 upper deck minors ryan luzinski

the dodgers' first round draft pick in 1992 made it as high as triple-a with the dodgers and later the orioles, but never got the call to the big leagues.

1992 upper deck minors todd hollandsworth

how convenient for the dodgers' bakersfield affiliate that they could use the brooklyn dodgers 'b' on their hats and helmets.  holly, of course, was the 1996 national league rookie of the year, but before that, he apparently enjoyed sorting grains of sand.

another dodger prospect of the mid-90's was paul konerko.  here's a 1994 topps stadium club card

celebrating the dodgers' first round pick in the 1994 draft.

originally a catcher, the dodgers moved konerko to first base, presumably because they had mike piazza behind the plate.  konerko is fielding his position on this 1998 pinnacle performers card

as well as this 1998 topps stadium club

they also tried him at third base and even the outfield.  he was, after all, the second best prospect in all of baseball heading into the 1998 season (as ranked by baseball america).  today, i don't think you trade that type of prospect for a closer.

i'll finish up with a couple of dodgers hanging out on tatooine - 1993 score select lenny harris

and jose offerman

one last thank you, bo! that was a fun package to sort through!

the 1973 topps card that came from 2001

this is a 2001 topps stadium club card of, not luis alicea, but rather chad kreuter

i think the oddly cropped photo featuring the partially obscured dodger catcher would fit nicely in the 1973 topps set as a kreuter card - all that is really missing is the umpire and parts of a couple more players.

this is another card from 2001 topps stadium club.

but it is simply eric karros rounding third and lumbering for home where he may well be thrown out by 20 feet.  karros also shows up on this 2001 topps stars card

but is noticeably absent from this 1996 score select team nucleus insert

you know, beneath the clothes you will find the man. and beneath the man, you find his…nucleus.  this card features the rookies of the year from 1993-1995 (mike piazza, raul mondesi, and hideo nomo), but the 1992 roy (karros) didn't make the cut.

before mondesi was the rookie of the year, he appeared on this 1992 upper deck minors team checklist

as a member of the albuquerque dukes.  abq is where joc pederson played last year, although the dodgers' triple-a affiliate was then called the isotopes. here's a 2014 topps heritage minors card of the dodger prospect

and here is a 2014 topps heritage minors card of fellow prospect corey seager

who will hopefully follow jimmy rollins as the dodgers' shortstop after spending this season in the minors at oklahoma city.

here's another minor league shortstop - yuri sanchez

turning two on a 1995 upper deck minors card.  i figure that the fact that sanchez was a shortstop, coupled with the way he's dragging his right foot over the bag means that there is a double play being turned.  just like this 1982 topps tim foli card

is a double play turn, because why else would foli be at the bag like that?  now that i look at foli's card more closely, i notice the parked car in the background behind the spring training fence.  that's another card that could pass for a 1973 topps card.

and that is how you bring a post around full circle.

that's the back, jack!

jose uribe and the giants may not have finished spring training on their own (i am going really far to complete the 'stripes' reference), but he's got a nice double play turn on the back of his 1989 upper deck card.

it is reminiscent of a 1973 topps card photo.  i like it very much.

also turning two on the back of their 1989 upper deck cards were glenn hubbard

rex hudler

and steve jeltz

rich amaral was about to make the pivot on the back of his 1993 upper deck card

and john finn had already done so on the back of his 1992 upper deck minors card

many times, upper deck used photos from the same play on the front and backs. such is the case with finn's card - here's the front.

such is not the case with john valentin's 1994 upper deck collector's choice card, as he is turning two at home in fenway on the back

while he is on the road on tatooine on the front

but, the backs of joey cora's 1997 upper deck collector's choice card

jose valentin's 1997 leaf card

and scott spiezio's 1998 upper deck card

are all continuations of the play on the fronts

and that's the fact, jack.

hansell sans gretel but with autograph

i received my 1995 upper deck greg hansell card back in the mail the other day, signed and delivered after a few months.

i remember when hansell was first called up to the dodgers in 1995.  he was coming off a pretty good year in albuquerque where he was 10-2 with a handful of saves and a ridiculously low (sub-3.00) era for the pcl.  he pitched in 20 games for the dodgers in the first half of the '95 season, posting an 0-1 record along the way.  on july 31, however, hansell was dealt to the twins in the kevin tapani deal.  he didn't return to the majors until 1996 when he was 3-0 with 3 saves despite an era of 5.69.

it was during his tenure as a twin that he signed this card, a 1992 upper deck minors card

that i picked up at a local card show a couple of years back.  after minnesota, hansell bounced around a bit - pittsburgh, milwaukee, japan, omaha, edmonton, trenton, and arizona to name a few destinations.

thanks for signing my card greg!

1207 things i like about you

actually, these are 7 cards i like about 1207 consecutive games.  mainly because he sent them to me in a trade!  always nice to do business with a fellow garvey fan.

1985 leaf bill russell

leaf cards would have been better if they had given donruss the o-pee-chee treatment.  shameless plug.

1971 topps phil niekro

i received a few 1971 cards i needed, which is always an awesome thing. even moreso when it's a hofer.

1986 sportflics davey lopes

seeing davey at home in wrigley is weird.

1992 upper deck minors henry blanco

blanco must be playing for bakersfield if i know my dodger hats.  blanco debuted with the dodgers in 1997, playing third base.  he got a hit in his first major league at bat, and homered in his third.  he only had 5 at bats with the dodgers, and has played in colorado, atlanta, milwaukee, minnesota, chicago and san diego since then, mainly as a catcher.

1993 bowman omar daal

here i though daal was from venezuela, but he clearly hails from the black forest in germany.  daal went 4-0 in his third year in the bigs with the dodgers, although his era was over 7.  he was traded to the expos, but the dodgers got him back a few years later from the phillies.

1995 bowman rick gorecki

bowman must have liked (like me) the 1994 upper deck cards with the compressed photo on the left.  bowman, however, went one step further and reversed the negative!  i have to admit, this is a very strange card design.  it has a 'phantom zone' quality to it.  anyway, gorecki appeared in 4 games for the dodgers before being selected by the devil rays in the expansion draft.

finally, we have a 1991 jimmy dean darryl strawberry

i can't think of anything to say about darryl or jimmy dean, so i'll just say thanks rob!