clearing out the scanned folder - dodger edition

scans of cards sometimes languish in my scanned folder. newly acquired cards or cards i've stumbled upon while going through my collection get scanned sometimes without a true purpose.  these are such cards.

2008 donruss playoff prime cuts don sutton

aside from the infield, i think sutton might the guy that i am most pleased to see pop up in new releases.

1993 topps stadium club mitch webster

at one time, i thought about doing a full on mitch webster series.  for some reason, i consider him to be perhaps the most obscure dodger to be featured on the most number of cards.

2001 upper deck legends gary sheffield

sheff had some monster seasons for the dodgers

2000 topps gallery gary sheffield

this is a fantastic card. i love that topps kept the photo even though the netting is visible in the foreground.

1992 silver star hologram dodger stadium card (front)

and back

i believe it was night owl that brought this must-have for my dodger stadium card collection to my attention. it was a giveaway back in 1992 when i was busy studying for finals and getting ready to graduate from college instead of paying attention to promotions at chavez ravine.

2005 bowman brian sprout

2005 bowman brian sprout gold parallel

2005 bowman chrome brian sprout

sprout is the head coach at the local high school these days.  i've met him a couple of times, but never mentioned that i have some of his cards.

1996 pinnacle zenith mike piazza

and 1997 fleer circa mike piazza (back)

it sure looks to me that the back of the circa card is a reverse negative and not a purposefully done lefty switch that fleer did on some of their other cards.

2002 topps super teams 1955 brooklyn dodgers (duke snider, pee wee reese, and jackie robinson)

the red numbers are missing (they were added to the jerseys in 1952), and so is gil hodges.  this super teams set flew under the radar, and i don't know how i came across the few cards i have in my set from it.  anybody else recall this set?

nine from starting 9

you couldn't field a team with these 9, but they are a good representation of the cards i recently received from jacobmrley at starting 9.  you'll see what i mean right away when i show three cards featuring the penguin.  here's a 2005 playoff prestige card

and a 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic jersey card

plus his 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic base card

also from that set, here's a duke snider card

in which he is holding four bats.  not sure why.

i do know, however, why don drysdale is holding a ball with "#3" on it on his 2001 upper deck legends card

that's because it also has the date (10/5/63) on it, which was the day of game 3 of the 1963 world series.  in that game, big d shut out the yankees on three hits and beat them 1-0 thanks to a jim gilliam walk, a jim bouton wild pitch, and a tommy davis single in the first inning.  the dodgers went on to sweep the yankees in the series, thank you very much.

here's don sutton on a 2003 topps all-time fan favorite card

i enjoy this card even more now that 2012 topps archives has arrived with a thud.  

in 2002, donruss put out a set of its own, similar to archives i suppose.  they called it donruss originals, and this is one of the hideo nomo cards from the set

if i recall correctly, they used their 1982, 1984, 1986, and 1988 designs in the set with a repeating checklist.  they also made some retro 'what if' cards for 1978 and 1980.

here's a 1994 post canadian card of italian-american superstar slugger mike piazza

voici a vous!

finally, a 1981 fleer steve garvey "most hits nl" card

he'd be in my starting 9 everyday.

thanks max!

the unforgettable fire

when u2's 5th album the unforgettable fire came out in october of 1984, the dodgers had just completed a very forgettable season.  they finished four games under .500 and in 4th place in the nl west.  the padres, of all teams, had won the west by 12 games over the astros and braves.  anyway, i remember listening to the record around it's release and loving it's ethereal quality and the depth of most of the songs. it was (and is) a good album top to bottom.

i thought about showing a steve garvey card from 1984 in this post, since he was still alive and well in the postseason when the album was released, and he certainly had my attention at the time.  in fact, he was busy winning his second nlcs mvp award and leading the padres to the world series for the first time.  however, i remember seeing an interview with bono when the record came out wherein he talked about people that had 'the unforgettable fire' (even though the band apparently took inspiration for the album title from an art exhibit comemmorating the hiroshima bombing).  in that interview, he listed martin luther king and elvis presley among people who exhibited whatever strength, perserverance and drive that inspired him.  so, for the dodgers, that would mean jackie robinson

it's a roundabout way to post a 2001 upper deck legends card of jackie, but it works for me.

as for the album, or cassette as it were for me, it was instantly shoved into the boom box at home and my parents' car on the road and enjoyed until it wore out and i had to buy another one. 

dodgers in the night, exchanging glances...

true story. i returned from the post office the other day, where i had mailed a box of cards to a certain night owl, and found a package from the very same nocturnal bird in my mailbox. karma. fate. good fortune. whatever it was, he sent some very nice cards. here's a sampling.

2004 donruss studio hideo nomo studio starsvery much like those old perma-graphic credit card issues.

2006 topps turkey red duke snidera classic pose from the duke of flatbush.

1994 bowman's best billy ashley billy may have been the best the dodgers ever had at the three true outcomes. in 1995, he homered, struck out, or walked in 50% of his plate appearances. in 1996, he increased that to 56%!

1996 starting lineup jackie robinsoni had no use for the actual starting lineup figures, but it's nice to have one of the cards that accompanied them.

2008 topps heritage high numbers mark sweeney one of my 'magnificent 7'. i'll have to update that list soon - there are a couple others i've been able to get my mitts on.

1995 skybox emotion raul mondesi. attentive. really? that's the emotion mondesi exudes? how about brooding? sulking? no matter, he was still my favorite dodger for a few years.

2001 upper deck legends don drysdalebig d. i am guessing that picture was taken after his third consecutive shutout in 1968 during his 58.2 scoreless inning streak, although he looks fairly young for that to be the case. it is absolutely crazy to think that he did that in his last full season.

2007 bowman andre ethier the blue parallel. this one is numbered 111/500. i am so happy that we are beyond the luis gonzalez/andruw jones experiments and can just let andre and matt kemp play.

2006 upper deck sweet spot update greg madduxmaddux during his first foray into los angeles. why upper deck updates these types of issues is beyond me. still, it's nice to have more cards of maddux in a dodgers uniform!

thanks greg! i hope you enjoy the package i sent as well!