the bournigal supremacy

rafael bournigal was the victim of the changing expectations from the shortstop position.  his 1995 topps stadium club card

is fantastic, but good cardboard doesn't keep you in the big leagues.  bournigal was a good field/no hit shortstop which would have been ok prior to the 1990's when guys like cal ripken jr and barry larkin were winning mvp awards based on big offensive numbers. the dodgers had jose offerman at shortstop in the early 1990's when bournigal was ready to play in the bigs, and they apparently enjoyed e-fferman's slightly better offense over bournigal's better defense.

here's a 1993 fleer ultra bournigal card

and a 1993 score bournigal card

both of which carry a 'rookie' designation.  bournigal's topps card from 1993 had no such distinction, but there was a gold parallel version

which is nice.

bournigal was a september call-up in both 1992 and 1993, but saw more playing time during the summer of 1994. he appeared in 40 games that year and made only 3 errors compared to offerman who made 11 errors in 72 games.  dodger fans were rewarded with the nice stadium club shown up top in 1995.  here is that card again, with bournigal catching what i imagine to be a line drive with the dodger stadium bleachers in the background.

topps also liked the image, as they used it on one of the 1996 topps pre-production cards, although they cropped it slightly more tightly

here's the back of the pre-production card

which was somewhat elusive. the cards weren't in the 1995 factory set that i bought, which is where the pre-production cards had been in 1994, so i had to go the online marketplace route.  i think i finally found one on ebay, although it could have been comc.  in case you are wondering, there was no 1996 topps rafael bournigal card as he spent the entire 1995 season in the minor leagues, splitting time between the dodger and expo organizations (he was traded to montreal in june).

anyway, i recently sent some cards to bournigal through the mail, and he was kind enough to sign and return them to me.

1995 topps

1995 upper deck

1995 upper deck collector's choice

weird to see him without the goggles

and 1993 topps

looks like he got some sharpie on the table...

with bournigal's dodger career complete, he went on to resurface with the a's from 1996-1998, and then spent the 1999 season with the mariners.  pacific gave us one more card of bournigal in their 2000 pacific crown collection set, and it features a nice double play turn

the dodgers didn't really embrace the new shortstop prototype until they brought hanley ramirez on board, and that will continue with corey seager in a year or two. even when seager is hitting 20+ homers every year, i'll still have a soft spot for guys like bournigal and cesar izturis who can field like nobody's business.

a mish-mash of double play turns

i've allowed a number of new to the blog/collection double play turns to accumulate in my scanned folder, so today will be all about the pivot.

1984 topps traded tony bernazard

now granted this image is pre-pivot, but i consider second basemen waiting for the throw while standing at the base to be a double play turn. i remember waiting for these throws and wondering if i had enough time to turn and throw and not get bowled over.

1995 topps bret boone

ditto.

1992 topps stadium club manny lee

sorry - he goes by manuel here.  this is where i am thankful for others who collect double play cards, particularly jeff at 2x3 heroes and nick at dime boxes.  they will show off dp cards that they receive in the mail, and then i go and dig in my collection to see if i have those cards.  such was the case with this manuel lee card.  one of them showed it, and i didn't have it, so i went and bought it on sportlots for 18 cents.  this particular card shows a play from the first inning of a game played on june 30, 1991. harold reynolds has grounded to the first baseman (john olerud), who threw to second to force the lead runner (edgar martinez).  manuel lee is preparing for the relay throw, but reynolds is safe at first. thanks baseball-reference!

1982 o-pee-chee tim foli

not only was foli traded from the pirates to the angels (creating a team and text variation), but he's about to throw to first to complete a spring training double play.  i doubt that he's on the second base side of the bag for any other reason, so this is a double play turn.  now i just need another copy of his 1982 topps card for the dp binder.

1992 leaf mariano duncan

and 1992 leaf mariano duncan black gold

plus the back of another 1992 leaf card, that of terry shumpert

the photo on the shumpert back is very similar to the back of his 1992 fleer card.

my double play collection sometimes runs on duncan - here's his 1995 topps stadium club card

plus jody reed's card from the same set

nice junior griffey cameo, too.  i had previously shown a 1st day issue parallel of the reed card, but not the plain ol' base.

here's another couple of cards that have sort of been shown before - 1997 topps stadium club carlos garcia

i previously showed the members only parallel, which is really only different on the back due to some watermark text, and 1995 score rafael belliard

of which i have previously shown the gold rush parallel version.

last card of this post is brent gates' 1996 score card

thanks again to nick for showing this one on his blog. i couldn't believe that there was a brent gates double play card that i was missing.

the 1978 topps dodgers in 1995 were nonexistent

and so it came to pass that the last of the 1978 topps dodgers to be an active player in major league baseball, charlie hough, whose 25-season career ended with a need for a hip replacement in 1994, did not receive a card from topps in 1995.  1995 was the first topps flagship set without a member of the team of my youth since 1962.  that's crazy business, but that's what happens when you put manny mota's and charlie hough's careers together.

anyway, here's the 1995 topps charlie hough card that should have been

it turned out ok.  the '95 design is tough to play with.  plus, the photo selection could have been better - hough's throwing a fastball in that photo, not a knuckler.

here's the back, with all the career stats befitting a final tribute

i did my best with the diamond vision inset.  the only thing not represented at all on the back is the topps watermark under the stats.  here's the back of dave weathers' 1995 topps card that i used as a base for the hough

i lifted it from comc as i was too lazy to go dig for one in the basement.

while topps ignored hough, upper deck gave him a spot on the checklist.  no 'final tribute' shield, but still.  here's his 1995 upper deck card

with a knuckler grip photo!  and the back

hough went out with four straight losing seasons, but finished with an even 216-216 record.

upper deck came through again with a card for hough in their 1995 collector's choice set - front

and back

nice to see the full career stats, plus a photo of hough with a batting helmet on!

now that the 1978 topps dodgers as players are finished, we will be left with just 1978 topps dodgers as managers (except, perhaps, for the random flashback or some other type of subset card).  in 1994, there were again three 1978 topps dodgers managing in the majors, and they, once again, were not recognized by topps in the following year's set.  so, i made a 1995 topps card that should have been for tom lasorda

and, just like with the 1994 cards that should have been, i didn't care much for it.  i decided instead to use the mid-year all-star card from 1995 topps traded (hello hideo nomo!)

and do something along those lines for the managers.

lasorda again shares space with dusty baker, who was in his second year of managing the rival giants

1995 was lasorda's final full season as the dodgers' manager.  he guided them to a 78-66 record in the shortened season (remember, the start of the season was delayed by the lingering players' strike) and won another national league west division title in the process.  it was the dodgers' first trip to the postseason since 1988 when they won it all, but this time they were swept in the nlds by the reds, three games to none.  as for baker's giants, they finished in last (fourth) place in the newly realigned nl west, 11 games behind lasorda's club.

as for the other member of the club, johnny oates was fired by the orioles and so moved on to manage the rangers in 1995.  i put him on a card with the guy who replaced him in baltimore, former dodger phil regan

in his first year in texas, oates led the rangers to a 74-70 record, finishing four games behind the mariners and angels, who sat tied atop the american league west at the end of the 144 game schedule.  so, technically, after the one-game playoff, the rangers were 4.5 games back, but still, oates helped the club that was 10 games under .500 when the strike began in 1994 turn things around.  as for the orioles, they finished behind the red sox and yankees in the al east, and were 3 games behind the rangers in the wild card standings.

i've got more managerial cards that should have been to make for 1996 so stay tuned...

a memorial patch for chub feeney

charles s. "chub" feeney was a lifelong baseball man who got his start as a batboy for the new york giants thanks to the fact that his grandfather was the principal owner of the team.  in 1936, his uncle took over, and when feeney returned from service during world war ii, he made chub a club executive.  following chub's death from a heart attack in january of 1994, the giants wore a patch with his initials on their left sleeve during the strike shortened season.

you can see the patch on bill swift's 1995 upper deck collector's choice special edition card

it's there on john patterson's 1995 donruss card

as well as the front

and back

of patterson's 1995 upper deck collector's choice card

dave burba's 1995 topps card gives a good view of the patch

as does this really shiny (only when scanned) 1995 leaf cornerstones card featuring matt williams and jr phillips

that card is nice but it's this 1995 sportflix uc3 matt williams card that is in the memorials binder

in between his return from military service and his death, feeney oversaw the giants' move to san francisco and very nearly became the commissioner of baseball in 1969.  after losing the vote to bowie kuhn, feeney was named national league president in 1970 and was the main force in convincing the owners of his league to resist the designated hitter rule.  feeney gave way to the new national league president, a. bartlett giamatti, in 1986 and retired.  joan kroc later convinced feeney to un-retire, and he agreed to join the padres as their general manager during the 1987 season.  he lasted in that role through the 1988 campaign, or at least through most of it, as he resigned during the season's final days after giving the finger to some fans who wanted a change made in the gm position.

these also came from outer space

here are some more cards from my 'team' in the 'tribe cards from outer space' pack opening extravaganza hosted by david from tribe cards.  i mentioned earlier that one of my strategies throughout the season was to pick up middle infielders in the hopes of getting some double play turns.  i was successful a few times, and wound up with this 1993 leaf mariano duncan card

and a 1997 fleer rex hudler card

that were new to me.

my other draft strategies included dodgers (of course) and members of the teams of my youth.  players like elias sosa, who showed up in a 1981 fleer pack (or was it a repack?).

overall, i received quite a few expos.  mitch webster (former dodger) was an expo on his 1988 o-pee-chee card

and tim wallach (another former dodger) showed up twice in a 1992 leaf pack - regular and black gold

those cards, plus a couple others of the current dodger bench coach have been shipped out to new mexico already.

another expo that fit into my former dodger and middle infielder strategy was delino deshields, seen here on his 1993 leaf card

but the most welcome expo of my 'team' was vladimir guerrero.  i wound up with a few vladdys, including this 2000 pacific crown collection card

i might like the red hats more than the red, white, and blue ones.

here's a 1995 topps cyber stats parallel of felix fermin

i drafted him in hopes of some double play cards.  this bunting card is on its way to 2x3 heroes.

howie kendrick was another middle infielder added to my team.  he delivered a 2013 topps a&g regular and mini combo

i beat david to the punch in adding former dodger (and indian) casey blake, and so i wound up with this 2004 fleer ultra card

which also features the mel harder and larry doby memorial patches.

there aren't too many cards of aaron harang as a dodger, but i was hoping for one or two when i added him to my player list.  instead, i received this 2011 topps gold parallel featuring him with the reds

i'm not complaining, though.

thanks david!