frankendodger sheet 10 (cards 82-90) - sweet wheat...

here's sheet number 10 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 82-90:

and the back:

these cards are:

82. 2009 topps finest rafael furcal
83. 1987 donruss opening day franklin stubbs
84. 1998 topps gallery eric young
85. 2000 fleer metal universe gary sheffield
86. 1961 fleer zack wheat
87. 1996 leaf limited ismael valdes
88. 2009 upper deck icons russell martin
89. 2015 topps stadium club joc pederson
90. 2014 topps gypsy queen juan uribe

the "no brainer" of the day:

zack wheat belongs in the set, and his 1961 fleer card is the best option.

about the cards:

we are halfway through my self-imposed lack of player and set duplication, and it's having the intended, if not spectacular, results.  there's not a lot to say about many of these sets, as there were so many useless releases from the 20 years or so from 1987 to the late 2000's. that's true even today, as evidenced by gypsy queen (apologies to any fans of gypsy queen out there). i do appreciate the fact that stubbs' opening day card is different from his 1987 donruss card (which appears in the set later on), and having sheffield and wheat (two of the best hitters the dodgers have ever had) isn't bad.  russell martin has many fantastic baseball cards, but this icons card isn't one of them.  first half of 2015 darling joc pederson makes his first appearance in the set (along with everyone else on the sheet).  the other cards are just shiny-ish. plus juan uribe.

cards that didn't make the cut:

for a number of reasons, these cards fell just short:  1975 sspc paul powell (#82), 2003 upper deck sweet spot classics tom lasorda (#83), 1985 fleer update al oliver (#84), 1991 topps stadium club skydome todd hollandsworth (#85), 1974 topps joe ferguson (#86),

2001 topps american pie rick monday (#87), 1985 topps traded al oliver (#88), 1980-87 sspc baseball immortals jackie robinson (#89), and 1998 topps gold label class 1 gary sheffield (#90).

i miss having not put one of the al oliver cards on the sheet, but he gets his appearance in the set later on within my 20-page effort at diversity.

my favorite card on the page:

i appreciate seeing the bat wag on sheffield's metal card, and if it weren't for the wheat, it would be my favorite.

final thoughts:

on monday, i posted about the 1986 donruss highlights steve sax card that checked in at number 50, and i noted that i thought it was doubtful that topps would issue player of the month cards through their topps now line.  i was wrong.  i wrote that post on may 2nd, and on the 3rd, they posted this card for sale:

now we just have to wait and see if they maintain this for the entire season.