1997 double plays on the wall

double play cards keep seeping out of my collection and into my scanned folder.  today, i have a bunch from 1997 that haven't been previously seen here on the blog.

first up, 1997 upper deck derek jeter rock solid foundation subset card

it is weird to think that after this season, no yankee will ever wear a single-digit jersey again.  numbers 1-9 will all be retired (although they may wait to retire jeter's until next season).  number 8 is even retired twice - for bill dickey and yogi berra.

1997 best miguel tejada

a minor league dp!

1997 bowman felix martinez

martinez played in the majors for the royals and later the rays.  he spent about a month in the dodger organization during the 2002 season.

1997 bowman ryne sandberg

and 1997 bowman chrome ryne sandberg

both with craig biggio sliding in

1997 donruss shawon dunston

1997 fleer mark grudzielanek

here's biggio on a card of his own - 1997 fleer ultra (gold medallion edition)

and another shawon dunston card from the same set

fernando vina turns two on his 1997 pinnacle card

with a scott stahoviak sighting

here's another grudzielanek card - a 1997 upper deck sp card

i don't have too many cards from this set in my collection, but i'm happy to have this one.  more double play cards from 1997 coming soon...

what's that about mike bordick's butt?

this post was supposed to run last sunday, as a companion to the roberto alomar double play dump.  sadly, i failed to hit 'publish'.

i mentioned earlier that i had some more roberto alomar double play cards to show.  it turns out, there was only one left in the scanned folder - this 1993 colla all-star game issue, which features alomar turning two against the a's in oakland.

that looks like ruben sierra to me, but what is most interesting here is the huge sign hanging above the outfield wall.  it's obviously a reference to a's infielder mike bordick, but what does it say?  bordick's butterscotch?  bordick's button collection?  i don't know.  

what i do know is that, being a middle infielder, there are plenty of bordick double play cards, like this one from 1997 score, although it features him as an oriole.

bordick even shows up on the wrong end of the double play turn sometimes, like the back of chuck knoblauch's 1993 score select card

another thing that i know is that, living here in twins territory, i have access to a cornucopia of knoblauch cards in every dime box at every show or lcs i visit.  such is the case here where i am about to display a bunch of knobby double play cards mostly culled from cheap boxes at various local locales.

1992 score

1993 upper deck fun pack (back in oakland)

1994 pinnacle

1994 score

the score card may or may not be a continuation of the play on the pinnacle card - i would like to believe that it is - as it sure looks like a '5' on the back of the jersey of the sliding player.

1994 upper deck sp

and 1994 upper deck sp die cut

more oakland action on 1995 score

and 1995 score gold rush parallel

here's a 1997 donruss

a 1997 fleer sports illustrated

and a 1997 topps stadium club

i'll end this double play dump post with a 1998 pacific invincible gems of the diamond knoblauch card

it's too bad that there aren't any metrodome cards of knoblauch here.  had there been, perhaps we would have seen a sign for 'knoblauch's knothole gang' partially blocked in a confusing manner.

see how well that segue from alomar to bordick to knoblauch worked?

even more dime box dodgers by proxy

i hope you've enjoyed (or at least tolerated) seeing so many of the cards i received from nick at dime boxes a while back.  here's the last post that the trade generated.

2013 topps clayton kershaw (and two other guys) league leader target red parallel

of the three, only kershaw will make a return appearance on league leader cards in 2014.  cueto had a decent era in 2013, but he only pitched in 11 games

here's another multi-player card, this one comes from 1997 donruss and it features tim salmon and raul mondesi

usually tim salmon was paired up with mike piazza (they were both rookies of the year in 1993) but i'll take another mondesi card in the collection.

here's the guy that the dodgers got in return for mondesi - shawn green

that's a card from 2002 donruss diamond kings.  i recall the 2005 diamond kings set, but not this 2002 version.

one of the worst sets ever has to be topps cosigners.  here is an example from the 2006 set.  it features jeff kent and rafael furcal

yes, it's a bad looking set, but team collectors like me take the bad with the good.  and with the throwaway inserts, like this topps pennant insert thingy from 2012 topps

in case you are wondering, the answer is lou johnson who hit a double in the 7th inning.  johnson also scored the game's only run, although he did that earlier in the game on a walk, sacrifice by ron fairly, and a steal of third combined with a bad throw by the cubs' catcher.

i'll finish with three cards from 2013 topps - chris capuano

who just had his 2014 option declined by the dodgers, and paco rodriguez who will hopefully be around for a while

and last but not least, a shiny chasing history insert of matt kemp

who will hopefully be back at full strength next year.

thanks again nick - let's trade again soon!

andre 1997 - the hawk had some final tributes

i am finishing up the final tribute cards of three hall of famers who called it quits after the 1996 season.  well, two hall of famers who did that and one who didn't play in '96.  i previously featured the trio's upper deck final tributes, and then showcased ozzie smith's other cards from 1997 earlier today.  and, just like ozzie, andre dawson got a 'tribute' designation on his 1997 upper deck collector's choice card

and, just like ozzie, the stats on the back only go back to 1982.

fleer ultra

has all the stats

while pinnacle

and donruss

used similar photos.  here is the pinnacle back

and the donruss back, which again only goes back to 1979

dawson also got a card in donruss elite

and regular ol' fleer

which again wins the stats on the back prize

i always thought it was strange that dawson finished up with two years in miami rather than going back to the al as a dh.

once again, there is no topps card to serve as a dawson final tribute.

kirby puckett and his final tributes are up next...

the wizard of oz final tributes

not too long ago, i featured a post with some 1997 upper deck final tributes.  included in that set were andre dawson, kirby puckett, and ozzie smith.  today i will show some (most) of their other final tribute cards.  first up is the wizard of oz.

1997 upper deck collector's choice

i like the 'tribute' designation on the front, even though not all of the career stats are included on the back.

1997 fleer ultra

double play action, with rickey sliding in!  fleer gets ozzie's entire career stats on the back, too

1997 leaf

with what might be a dp turn on the back, but only one year of stats

1997 donruss

with all but one of ozzie's seasons on the back.  got something against 1978 donruss?

1997 donruss elite

probably my least fave of the final ozzie cards.  the back is pretty uninspired

same goes for 1997 pinnacle

although we get a bit of a write-up regarding ozzie's final season on the back

1997 fleer

has the best back of the bunch - every year is covered, and it is easier to read than the ultra card.

fleer also included ozzie in the 'golden memories' insert set

with a photo from his number retirement ceremony held on 9/26/96.  here's the back.

topps failed to issue an ozzie smith card in 1997 which was too bad.  i think they could have done better than these cards.  if pressed, i would say that fleer is the winner here, but all of these are in my final tribute binder so it doesn't matter.

next up, the hawk.