frankendodger sheet 62 (cards 550-558) - is the plural of martinez martini?...

here's sheet number 62 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 550-558:

and the back:

these cards are:

550. 1992 topps darryl strawberry
551. 2011 topps marcus thames
552. 2014 topps yasiel puig
553. 2007 topps ramon martinez
554. 1994 score pedro martinez
555. 2010 upper deck dodger stadium
556. 1989 score rick dempsey
557. 1981 donruss don stanhouse
558. 1977 topps elias sosa

the "no brainer" of the day:

the strawberry card came to mind before the dodger stadium card (it is one of my favorites, after all), so it qualifies as today's no brainer.

about the cards:

the sheet starts out with four straight running men.  darryl strawberry's 1992 topps card is pretty classic, with the straw rounding third at shea stadium.  next, short-time dodger marcus thames is running out of the batter's box on his 2011 topps card. thames was signed by the dodgers prior to the 2011 season, and lasted with the club just until the middle of july that season.  he returned to the yankees, but didn't make it back to the bigs after his stint in los angeles.

yasiel puig is running around the bases at dodger stadium on this 2014 topps card that doubles as a checklist. puig is honored for having the 2nd most hits in a debut month in history.  of course, the card doesn't tell you that the top spot on that list belongs to joe dimaggio, but that's why i'm here.

last running man is ramon martinez (but not that ramon martinez) on his 2007 topps card. ramon e. martinez played for the dodgers in both 2006 and 2007, and although their careers overlapped, this ramon never faced the other ramon.  the other ramon's brother, pedro, did face this ramon.  this ramon was 0 for 3 with a walk against the hall of famer who is the second martinez (martini?) to make this sheet courtesy of his 1994 score card.

next up is the dodger stadium card from 2010 upper deck. this card is not as bad as some of the other stadiums (the target field card is literally a photo taken from the street (7th street to be exact) during construction), and it offers up a view not previously seen on a card.  it's too bad that the photo was cropped so that we don't get to see the full eric gagne banner, but we still see the windows of the stadium club restaurant and the back of the right field pavilion, along with some palm trees.  no palm trees at target field, by the way.

rick dempsey's 1989 score card features the dodger backup catcher in away grays that almost blend into the background.  my favorite rick dempsey card is his 1989 upper deck card. will it be in the frankenset? maybe.

following dempsey is a former oriole teammate of his, don stanhouse.  stanhouse's 1981 donruss card is my favorite of his dodger cards - there are only three mainstream cards to choose from - due to its high school yearbook look.  it's kinda zany.  stanhouse was coming off of two good seasons as the orioles' closer (although he did not have a good postseason in 1979) when the dodgers signed him as a free agent for the 1980 season.  stan the man unusual gave up four runs in his first game as a dodger, and missed most of the summer due to injury.  he was released at the start of the 1981 season, which was way too late to keep him out of the topps, fleer, and donruss sets - thankfully.

last up is a 1977 topps elias sosa card.  sosa is probably best known for being one of the dodger pitchers (along with burt hooton and charlie hough) to give up a home run to reggie jackson in game 6 of the 1977 world series.  that was the last pitch sosa threw as a dodger.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1959 topps roy campanella

at number 550, 1974 topps von joshua at number 551, 1991 topps jeff hamilton at number 552, 1970 topps jim lefebvre

at number 553, 1991 topps stadium club greg smith at number 554, 1983 topps steve yeager

at number 555, 1995 topps stadium club hideo nomo at number 556, 1993 topps pedro martinez at number 557, and 1991 upper deck jay howell at number 558.

my favorite card on the page:

daaaaaaaaaaa-rryl!

final thoughts:

the dodgers have had two ramon martinezes (martini?) two mike marshalls, two mike ramseys, two reggie williamses and most recently two roberto hernandezes (including the one that once was known as fausto carmona) but if you go back far enough in franchise history, there have been two dick egans, two bill harts, two jim hickmans, two jim hughes, and two jack ryans as well.  this doesn't count the two dick schofields and two ivan dejesuses because those were father/son combos.