mural, mural on the wall...

i've been meaning to do this for a long time.  i took a quick look at the evolution of the dodger stadium outfield wall in a previous post, but i didn't take the time to document what the theme of the murals were.  some years it was obvious - retired numbers - but other years seemed more eclectic.

i was a big fan of the murals, even though i was not able to attend too many games during their presence.  i mostly remember the outfield wall looking like it does on this 2000 mlb showdown card

featuring wayne kirby, and a non-controversial quote from reggie jackson.  really, everybody does like ice cream.

sometimes, usually (only?) opening day, the dodgers would get out the big world championship banners and put them on the walls. in 1998, however, they began using photo murals in the outfield.  there was a different theme for each year from '98 through 2004.  i thought i had a pretty good bead on what the murals were each year after some research, and dodger historian mark langill was kind enough to confirm things for me via email.  thanks mark (he's got the greatest job in the world).  on with the post.

1998 world championships/retired numbers mural

that 1999 fleer tradition derek bell card shows off the don drysdale (number 53) part of the mural, which was next to the 1981 world championship image featuring the three steves - howe, yeager, and garvey - in their celebratory embrace.  here's a photo from getty images that shows the mural a bit better.

if only bell had fielded that ball a few feet to his left...

in 1999, the dodgers added their hero patches to their uniforms, and the mural honored those players who were included in the patch selection.  here's a 2000 topps stadium club devon white card

that shows kirk gibson and the right ear of pee wee reese (i believe).  reese's teammate gil hodges' part of the mural shows up on derek jeter's 2000 upper deck card

darryl kile's 2000 fleer ultra card

has a good part of the mural in the background. that's jackie robinson and don drysdale, with rauuuul mondesi at the plate.

ray lankford's 2000 topps gallery card

is not to be ignored, with lankford spiking mike scioscia's image on the wall.  that's a great card and all, but here's a photo that i would have rather made its way onto cardboard (again from getty images)

it's a picture of ken griffey junior and don newcombe and scioscia - this time you can see his face.  as for the garv, he was on the wall again, but i couldn't find any cards featuring his part of the mural, unfortunately.

in 2000, the dodgers went with the theme of great moments in dodger stadium history, including the saving of the american flag by then cub rick monday, and this moment

i believe that gibson's home run was voted the greatest sports moment in los angeles history, by the way.  i don't know if garvey was on this wall, as i didn't get to chavez ravine in 2000 and there certainly isn't any cardboard that i've found with any of the mural in the background.

for the 2001 season, the dodgers revisited their retired numbers, doing so in a more formal fashion.  this 2001 upper deck gold glove card of darin erstad

has him in front of the '2' in walt alston's '24'.  the 's' near erstad's right arm is the 's' at the end of 'los angeles dodgers'.  there are other cards featuring this mural, and my favorite is probably the 2002 upper deck marvin benard card.  i like that card so much, it was the first non-dodger card ever featured on this blog in what was the third post in this blog's existence.  sadly, steve garvey was not part of this mural, as his number 6 will not be retired by the dodgers unless he is voted into the hall of fame by the veteran's committee.

2002 was the year that the team celebrated 40 years of dodger stadium, complete with comemmorative patches on their sleeves and a new mural on the wall.  they used a different player from each even year from 1962 to 2002.  tommy davis was '62, shawn green was '02, and steve garvey was '76 (as seen in this getty images photo)

sweet.  if only it were a card...

...well, garvey made the mural in 2003 and a card the following year as the team recognized dodger record holders on their outfield wall.  the 2003 mural included the likes of sandy koufax's 382 strikeouts in a single season (still a modern national league and left-handed pitcher record), as well as the team's record setting infield of garvey, cey, russell, and lopes.  that's the mural that made it on to preston wilson's 2004 fleer ultra card

with steve garvey representing!  very thankful to fleer for making this card!

garvey had no chance at the 2004 mural, as the dodgers honored their cy young award winners that year.  here's 1974 winner, mike marshall on carlos beltran's 2005 fleer card

orel hershiser on derek jeter's 2005 fleer ultra card

(with a cameo from eric gagne's arm), and, of course, fernando valenzuela on steve finley's 2005 fleer ultra card

you didn't think i'd get through the post without showing that beauty, did you?

lord, i miss the murals.

target knew i was coming

i bought all three 100-card repacks that were on display at the local target one day last week.  it was like they knew i was coming, with the cards that were featured in the repack windows.  here are the contents of repack number one:

2002 fleer billy wagner - no, that wasn't the card that drew me in
1991 topps 1990 rookies robin ventura - this looks suspiciously like a recent repack i bought
1991 topps 1990 rookies frank thomas
1991 topps 1990 rookies jose offerman - at least now i have a double to send to night owl
1991 topps 1990 rookies todd zeile
1991 topps 1990 rookies john olerud
1989 upper deck yankee checklist (don mattingly)
1991 donruss jose offerman - rated rookie!
1998 pacific paramount david justice
1989 fleer doug jones
1992 upper deck rick wilkins
1991 classic draft picks jorge fabregas
1991 classic best archie corbin
1990 donruss jim dwyer
1998 upper deck nomar garciaparra

it has a dp turn on the back, but here's the front
1990 topps billy spiers
1991 topps mike stanton
1991 classic best tommy taylor
1992 fleer bernie williams
1992 fleer terry pendleton league leaders
1994 upper deck collector's choice greg w. harris

1992 fleer scott radinsky
1988 donruss bob brenly
1990 topps greg gagne
1991 score lance johnson
1988 topps tom henke
1989 fleer richard dotson
2004 donruss classics angel berroa
1988 donruss vance law
1992 topps benny santiago
1989 fleer scott garrelts
1989 score dave righetti
1990 upper deck tim leary
1988 donruss ray knight
1999 upper deck ryan jackson
1990 fleer jack armstrong
1997 donruss studio brian hunter
1988 topps dave winfield all-star
1988 score tom brookens
1999 upper deck neifi perez - another dp turn
1988 score mike scioscia

1991 topps gary sheffield
1990 topps edgar martinez
1988 score chris bando
2009 upper deck first edition andy pettitte
2009 upper deck first edition aaron harang
2009 upper deck first edition chase headley
2009 upper deck first edition jarrod saltalamacchia
2009 upper deck first edition tim hudson
2010 topps todd helton

that was the end of the first half.  nothing there, really.  here's why i bought this thing - the first card in the other window was this 2013 topps chrome asdrubal cabrera orange refractor

a double play turn that is new to my collection!
2013 topps chrome ian kinsler orange refractor

another one that i believe to be a dp, although not the tradition turn at second base.  and, sure enough, in the top of the 6th inning on june 12, 2012, josh bell hit a ground ball to kinsler who tagged aaron hill who had singled and threw to first to complete the 4-3 double play.  thanks baseball reference!
2000 pacific crown royale geoff jenkins

1990 donruss alan trammell
1988 donruss tim wallach - we all know where this card is going
1988 fleer mark mclemore
1999 topps arturo mcdowell/tony torcato draft picks
1990 fleer charlie o'brien
1992 topps eric king
1989 donruss marvin freeman

pretty sure he's standing in dodger stadium, but i scanned the card because it is the most beat up card i've ever found in a repack. nasty.
1989 fleer mark carreon
2008 topps alex gordon year in review
1988 donruss jim eisenreich
1990 topps bert blyleven
1992 score jeff fassero
1992 upper deck terry steinbach
1995 leaf bob hamelin
1990 donruss sergio valdez
2005 donruss leather & lumber rocco baldelli
1986 topps joe carter
1990 bowman gregg olson sweepstakes card
2006 upper deck adam dunn
2005 fleer classic clippings paul konerko
1996 score sid fernandez
2005 fleer mariano rivera

1988 donruss sam horn
1988 donruss lonnie smith
1992 fleer dave winfield
1998 upper deck sp minors jeff liefer
1991 topps kirt manwaring
1992 score mark leiter
2012 topps rex brothers
2012 topps brad peacock
2012 topps jed lowrie
2012 topps gavin floyd
2012 topps alejandro de aza
2012 topps sean marshall
2012 topps ricky nolasco
2012 topps randy wells
2012 topps rex brothers - again!
2012 topps freddie freeman
2011 topps nyjer morgan
2011 topps logan morrison
2011 topps juan miranda
2011 topps kenley jansen
2011 topps drew storen
2011 topps toronto blue jays
2011 topps brad hawpe
2011 topps ronny cedeno
2011 topps bronson arroyo
2004 fleer greats reggie jackson

last but not least.

some of these cards already have homes - my collection or in trade packages - but if there's something you'd like to have (like a thrashed 1989 donruss marvin freeman card), just let me know!

card show dime box dodger haul

at the card show last weekend, i picked up a couple of nice vintage dodgers from the bargain bin (plus a couple of 1973 topps cards for nick), but most of my time was spent looking through a couple of random dime boxes.  i wound up with some stuff for other bloggers, too, but these are some of the dodgers that i found for me.

1992 score eric karros

i can't believe that i need any 1992 score, but this card didn't look familiar to me.  even though i haven't looked at my 1992 score dodgers for years, i threw a dime down for karros.  this card reminds me of his rookie year when he did some commercials for your friendly southern california nissan dealers.  he feigned trouble fielding a ball in the showroom and tommy lasorda walked by shaking his head.  i did not buy a nissan.

1993 fleer ultra pedro martinez

hall of fame class of 2015?  i think so.

1995 best paul konerko

in 1995, the dodger affiliate in san berdoo was the spirit.  by 1997, it was the stampede

1997 best adrian beltre

see?

1999 fleer metal universe adrian beltre neophytes

i am getting very sleepy looking at this card.

2005 fleer adrian beltre league leader

i am thankful for fleer going three-deep on the leader cards so that beltre gets an appearance.  however, beltre was actually fourth in the league in batting average in 2004. helton was second and loretta was third behind barry bonds who didn't bother to license himself with the card companies.  

2010 topps duke snider/andre ethier legendary lineage

i have about 37 of the matt kemp/jerry sands ll card, but this one didn't look familiar to me.

2013 bowman paco rodriguez international/state parallel

paco hails from florida.

2013 topps aj ellis emerald parallel

i can't wait to see who else is on ellis's card in 2014.

i've got more of my card show haul coming up this weekend, including some double plays and a whole mess of mike piazza inserts.  stay tuned.

was it a dream, weaver? or did you really double dip as a dodger?

[this is the thirty-fourth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, and giovanni carrara.]

local boy jeff weaver came home to la in december of 2003, thanks to a trade with the dodgers in which kevin brown and his albatross contract were shed.  here's weaver's 2005 fleer card, which came towards the end of his first stay in la.

weaver was pretty consistent over his first two seasons as a dodger, starting 34 games in each year, pitching 220 and 224 innings, and striking out 153 and 157 batters, respectively.  as a result, he was 27-24 with an era over 4.00 when he became a free agent after the 2005 season.  jeff decided to join his brother jered in anaheim, giving reason for this cool 2006 upper deck card

weaver pitched poorly for the angels, compiling a 3-10 record and a 6.29 era in 16 starts before the halos traded him to the cardinals in july.  in saint louis, weaver didn't do a whole lot better until the postseason, when he turned things around and went 3-2 with a sub-3.00 era in the nlds, nlcs and world series combined.  he was 1-1 for the eventual world champions against detroit in the series, striking out 14 batters in 13 innings along the way.

weaver left saint louis as a free agent and signed with the mariners, hence this 2007 topps chrome card

after going 7-13 with a 6.20 era in seattle (although he tied for the league lead in shutouts with 2), weaver spent 2008 in the milwaukee and cleveland organizations without appearing in the majors.  the dodgers brought him back as a free agent prior to the 2009 season and used him primarily as a reliever.  he turned in a 6-4 record with a 3.65 era - his lowest since 2002 - over 79 innings in 28 games, 7 of which were starts.  one of those starts came against the angels, with his younger brother making the start for the interlopers from anaheim.  the elder weaver prevailed, winning bragging rights at thanksgiving for years to come.

weaver also made his first appearance in the postseason since winning it all with the cardinals when he relieved in game 1 of the nlds.  he wound up with the win after pitching 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.  here's his 2010 upper deck card showing him back in dodger blue.

weaver was in the bullpen full time in 2010, his last year in the big leagues, and had a 5-1 record despite allowing his era to climb back up over 6.00.

here's to you, jeff weaver, dodger double dipper!

halfway to crazy - hot stove at the hot corner

ned is halfway to a full infield as it looks like the corners are set - loney at first, and now casey blake at third.this will be the 6th straight year with a new third baseman on opening day, assuming blake is out there on april 6th. in fact, in the 26 seasons (yikes!) since the penguin manned the hot corner, the dodgers have trotted out 15 different opening day third baseman; blake will be 16.

let's reminisce, shall we? first, there was ron cey. he started every season from 1974 to 1982.in 1983 there was pedro guerrero. then german rivera. guerrero again. madlock (twice!). guerrero again in '88.jeff hamilton twice. lenny harris twice. tim wallach twice. we're on a roll! then dave hansen. mike blowers. todd zeile twice, adrian beltre twice, chris donnels, then beltre three times!followed by jose valentin, bill mueller, wilson betemit and 2008's surprise starter, blake dewitt. dewitt likely moves to second base. good lord, we need manny's bat.

casey is signed for three years, plus an option. what are the odds that he is our opening day starter for more than the next 2 years? well, here's hoping.