clearing out the scanned folder - miscellany edition

not every card that i scan is a dodger card, which makes sense because my collection has a fair share of cards featuring players from other teams.  sometimes, however, i get ahead of myself and scan some stuff without a specific post in mind. other times, i do have a post in mind, but it never comes together.  and then there are some cards i scan because they fit into one of my mini collections.  there are some of each in this post.

2000 skybox dominion scott rolen

i believe that i figured out a long time ago that the dodger catcher lurking on this card is angel pena, so i'll go with that.

1975 sspc elias sosa

sosa was a brave just before he became a dodger. he was part of the deal that brought lee lacy back to la for mike marshall.

1995 upper deck mike blowers

here's another future dodger, as blowers played for the dodgers later in the 90's.  thanks to this card, we know that blowers once caught a foul ball at tiger stadium at 2:55 (or is it 2:56?) in the afternoon.

1997 bowman vladimir guerrero

one of my last remaining player collections.  it was good to see vladdy in this year's archives release.

2001 topps archives jack morris

and 2001 topps archives lou whitaker

both cards are part of my 1978 topps master set.  still waiting for the design to be used in the revitalized archives release.

2002 topps 206 mike piazza team 206 insert

still working on this set

2008 upper deck timeline brandon jones

still working on this set, too.

2014 topps stadium club albert pujols

pujols just recently passed steve garvey on the all-time hits list. i scanned this card because it fits in my 'nob' collection, should i decide to make it an official collection.

1992 megacards babe ruth babe's farewell

this card also belongs in that collection.  it features a cropped version of nat fein's pulitzer prize winning photo, and is a great card to have. i'm glad i scanned it.

a quick trip to tatooine

with the trade of juan uribe to the braves, i would expect alex guerrero to eventually settle in at third base. at least until hector olivera is ready.  however, most of guerrero's playing time of late has been in the outfield, since both yasiel puig and carl crawford are injured.

last year, topps included guerrero in many of its sets, and listed him as a second baseman.  that made sense then, but he has yet to play at second in the major leagues.  here are three of those cards, with guerrero turning two to boot.

2014 topps walmart blue

2014 topps chrome purple refractor

and 2014 topps mini pink parallel

notice that the cards show guerrero throwing to first without a lick of grass in sight.  that's what makes a tatooine card a tatooine card.

here are some others from my mini collection

1994 donruss bobby bonilla

1995 upper deck luis lopez electric diamond parallel

1996 upper deck brady anderson vj lovero showcase insert

2000 topps stadium club bobby abreu

2001 fleer tradition corey koskie

2011 topps carlos beltran

and 2012 topps emilio bonifacio

i am guessing that there is all kinds of mischief one can get into at mos eisley spaceport, so the vegas code probably stands - what happens on tatooine stays on tatooine.  unless you're luke skywalker bragging about taking out womprats to a group of rebel pilots.

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.

turning two in front of signs

here's former twin denny hocking turning two on his 1995 upper deck electric diamond parallel card

two things strike me on this card, aside from the pivot at second base.  first, that's the big hurt sliding in, and second, there is an ad for a florida (either fort myers or sarasota) liquor store on the outfield fence in the background.

likewise, there is a big ol' hot dog in the background of roberto alomar's 1997 upper deck collector's choice orioles team set card

that distracts from the play at hand.

the outfield wall at the oakland coliseum shows up on homer bush's 1998 pacific online card

the red ball and blue 's' is part of the sports channel ad in right-center.

nothing much to see in the background of this 2003 topps orlando cabrera card

so let's move on to michael young's 2005 upper deck first pitch card

sean casey is sliding in hard to break up the turn, which is nice to see.  the ad on the wall in the background here is for a wyler car dealership somewhere in the greater ohio area.

this 2008 upper deck brendan harris card

runs on dunkin'.

not sure who let this edgar renteria card, also from 2008 upper deck,

in this post with nothing but green growing things in the background.

here's a 2009 topps stephen drew card two ways - base

and gold parallel

with a scoreboard in the background

at least on troy tulowitzki's 2011 topps card

we have a partial ad (although not a static sign) to go along with a partial scoreboard.

i'm not sure if that's an ad or a partial logo on the wall behind sean coyle on his 2011 topps heritage minors card

but i am pretty sure it's a replica of the green monster that the thing is hanging on.  i believe most of the red sox minor league affiliates play in stadiums that replicate the fenway park experience.

meanwhile, though he's not in fenway, here's dustin pedroia turning two on his 2014 topps stadium club card

sportscenter may be up next, but i prefer mlb tonight on the mlb network.

bill russell's career ended in 1986, but continues today. sort of.

just as i did for steve garvey a few days ago, here is a look at who has carried bill russell's torch forward to today, through final plate or pitching appearances.

the dodger shortstop of my youth played in his final game on october 1, 1986.  i was pleased that topps and fleer gave him cards in 1987 (here's the fleer final tribute)

in his final game, russell was called upon to pinch-hit for dennis powell in the 8th inning of a game that the dodgers were losing 3-2.  padres' reliever goose gossage struck russell out, unfortunately.

goose gossage wound up pitching for a few more seasons.  he did not return to the major leagues following the players' strike, so his final appearance came in august of 1994.  like russell, gossage received some final tribute love in some sets - this card comes from 1995 upper deck

gossage was pitching for the mariners when he earned a 3-inning save on august 8, 1994.  pitching against the rangers, gossage set down all 9 players who faced him, including jose canseco who flied out  to left to end the game and the goose's career.

jose canseco made his final big league appearance as a member of the white sox in 2001.  this is his 2001 upper deck sweet spot card

he flew out in the 9th inning of the white sox game against the twins' eddie guardado on october 6, 2001 in what would be his final appearance as a major leaguer.  he later went on to write a couple of books.

eddie guardado pitched in his last game as a member of the texas rangers in 2009.  here's his 2010 upper deck card with angel coach alfredo griffin hanging out in the background.

the last batter guardado faced was the angels' robb quinlan, but it was on a wednesday night (september 30, 2009 to be exact), so the card doesn't feature a photo from that game.  quinlan hit into a 5-4-3 double play to end the 8th inning, as well as guardado's career.

robb quinlan played into the 2010 season, although i will show his 2009 upper deck card

quinlan was announced as a pinch-hitter on june 25, 2010 against the rockies, but he did not make it to the plate as rockies' manager jim tracy switched pitchers and erick aybar replaced quinlan for mike scioscia's angels.  furthermore, quinlan appeared in a couple of games against the dodgers just prior to that, but was only used as a defensive replacement.  so, quinlan's final plate appearance came on june 20, 2010 against the cubs.  the last pitcher he faced was andrew cashner, who got quinlan to ground out.

andrew cashner, seen on his 2014 topps heritage card,

is currently pitching for the padres, and is hopefully the proud torchbearer of bill russell's (and goose gossage's and even jose canseco's) career!