frankendodger sheet 33 (cards 289-297) - with the card i most recently replaced...

here's sheet number 33 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 289-297:

and the back:

these cards are:

289. 1974 topps rick auerbach
290. 1980 topps steve garvey
291. 1985 topps bob welch
292. 2000 skybox dominion eric gagne/jeff williams
293. 2003 topps franklin gutierrez
294. 1975 topps geoff zahn
295. 1963 topps ed roebuck
296. 1985 donruss mike marshall
297. 2014 topps update zack greinke

the "no brainer" of the day:

it was the last card added to the sheet, but in hindsight it should have been the first.  that would be the 2003 topps franklin gutierrez card. i'll explain below.

about the cards:

when i started writing this post, this is what the sheet looked like:

at first, shane victorino's 2012 topps update card made the cut at 293, but i wasn't happy about it. victorino is on my short list of players that aren't my favorite.  not completely sure why, although he played well against the dodgers in the 2008 and 2009 nlcs.  at any rate, i was pleased to find a double of the gutierrez card among my 2003 dupes, and it was an easy decision to replace victorino in the center rectangle of the page.  the other cards remain unscathed.

rick auerbach came over from the brewers near the start of the 1973 season, but didn't suit up for the dodgers until 1974. it's a surprise that he got a card in the '74 set, but i'll take it.  auerbach hit .342 in 45 games for the dodgers in their pennant winning season, and then filled in for the injured bill russell for much of the 1975 campaign.  the 1980 topps design is a bit similar to that of 1974, and steve garvey's card has the added bonus of the all-star banner.  not my favorite garvey card, but we do get a look at his forearms front and center.

1985 topps may be my least favorite design of the decade.  at least for dodger cards.  look at bob welch's card - it's too cluttered and clunky at the bottom.  the fact that topps used the flying ball logo means that the card says 'dodgers dodgers' which is unnecessary.  plus, the position designation looks like it was shoehorned in.  not that the 2000 skybox dominion design is better as the names on the front of the card are difficult to read.  anyway, the card features two foreigners - eric gagne was born in montreal, and jeff williams was born in australia.  both debuted for the dodgers in september of 1999, but gagne outlasted williams who pitched in his final game during the 2002 season.

franklin gutierrez, another foreigner (venezuela), never did suit up for the dodgers during the regular season. he was traded in 2004 to the indians for milton bradley.  gutierrez was later traded to the mariners with whom he won a gold glove in 2007 and for whom he still plays today.

geoff zahn's 1975 topps card is pleasing to me not only because of the dodger stadium field level scoreboard that is visible behind him, but also because it reminds me that zahn was traded to the cubs early in the 1975 season for burt hooton.  nothing against zahn, but hooton was a big part of the team of my youth.  ed roebuck was a pretty solid reliever over 11 years in the majors. he pitched for the dodgers in the 1955 and 1956 world series, but missed out on the 1959 season and world series.  roebuck was coming off of a 10-2 season in 1962 when this card was released, but he was dealt to the senators during the '63 season for marv breeding who the dodgers kept off of their postseason roster en route to a sweep of the yankees in that year's fall classic.

we've seen 1985 leaf in the set already, but not 1985 donruss, so here's mike marshall.  i was still looking for superstardom from marshall at this point, and he had a good season in '85 with 28 homers, 95 rbi, and a .293 batting average, but his season was overshadowed by pedro guerrero's.  marshall also challenged the dodger single season strikeout record that year, but fell 12 short of billy grabarkewitz's then record of 149.  of course, marshall had about 75 fewer plate appearances.

the last card on the sheet is zack greinke's 2014 topps update all-star card.  that game was played at target field, and the hats the players wore were supposed to be a nod to the twinkies' batting helmets of the late 1970's.

the tradition continued in cincinnati last year,

and this year, the players will wear some sort of san diego padre abomination

(at least during the workout and hr derby).

cards that didn't make the cut:

along with victorino's card at number 293, some others that didn't receive the call include 1996 donruss chad fonville at number 289, 1979 topps davey lopes at number 290, 1986 topps tom lasorda

at number 291, 1960 topps dodger backstops (joe pignatano/john roseboro) at number 292, 1994 pinnacle darryl strawberry at number 294, 2013 topps brandon league at number 295, 1984 donruss greg brock

at number 296, and 2011 topps heritage jonathan broxton at number 297.

my favorite card on the page:

the 1975 topps geoff zahn card wins out over the others thanks to its dodger stadium background and red and blue border.

final thoughts:

victorino also had a dodger card in 2003 just like the guy who replaced him on this sheet, but, like gutierrez, victorino didn't appear for the dodgers at that time.

frankendodger sheet 12 (cards 100-108) - the hero number gets updated to avoid an exemption from the earlier rule...

i've updated this page since the original post ran.

here's sheet number 12 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 100-108:

and the back:

here's what the page originally looked like:

these cards are:

100. 2013 topps opening day matt kemp 1990 bowman hubie brooks
101. 2013 topps heritage don mattingly
102. 2008 upper deck derek lowe
103. 2003 upper deck mvp kazuhisa ishii
104. 1995 leaf ramón martinez
105. 1963 topps ron fairly
106. 1962 post willie davis
107. 1996 upper deck sp chan ho park
108. 1980 o-pee-chee dave goltz

the "no brainer" of the day:

i love me some o-pee-chee variations, and i really wanted that dave goltz card in the set.

about the cards:

so, it's matt kemp who makes the first repeat appearance in the frankenset at the hero number of 100.

as i mentioned in the "final thoughts" of this original post, i was a bit miffed that i had not used the hubie brooks bowman card at number 100 in order to maintain the diversity of the set.  so, i made the switch from kemp to brooks.  brooks is not really a hero number kind of guy, but i'll have other opportunities to line up big numbers with big players.

i wanted to have at least one card of every manager from alston on up, so the mattingly card fits in nicely here (over alston, actually).

lowe and ishii are convenient fillers, but i can't believe it's taken 12 pages to get to ramon martinez.  i learned about ron fairly early in my baseball following days due to the fact that he used to wear garvey's number, and he was an announcer for the angels on ktla (pretty sure) after he retired.  i like his colorful 1963 topps card, and it looks great in the set as its first representative.

for the second day in a row, there's a davis on the page.  willie shows up on his 1962 post card - the first blank back in the set i believe (it's tough to keep track).  willie doesn't seem to get a lot of hype, even though he is among the career leaders in so many los angeles dodger categories.  i suspect it has to do with the struggles he had following his retirement and his lack of continuous involvement with the team like some other former players.

chan ho park and dave goltz finish off the page.  chan ho never won more than 18 games in a season, while dave was a 21-game winner in 1977.  i know that wins are not the best measure of a pitcher, especially to compare across generations, but i would think that both pitchers disappointed dodger fans to some degree - park never really lived up to his potential, and goltz never got back to his best days.  still, i was pretty excited when goltz signed with the dodgers and caused that fantastic o-pee-chee card to be created.

cards that didn't make the cut:

part of the reason for kemp originally showing up again was the fact that most of the other options at #100 included koufax or snider or nomo or piazza - guys that have already been included in the set.  however, i could have used (and have still can, i suppose) a 1990 bowman hubie brooks card to maintain the diversity of the set.  if anyone cares to send me one, i might consider it.

other cards passed over include walter alston's 1964 topps card at #101,

chin-feng chen's 2001 topps heritage card, also at #101, 1995 topps stadium club paul konerko at #102, 1968 topps don sutton at #103, 1978 topps lee lacy at #104 (in fact, i could have used either a 1978 topps card (lacy), a 1979 topps card (johnny oates), a 1980 topps card (manny mota), or a 1981 topps card (terry forster) at #104 - supporting my theory about checklist perpetuation?), a 1960 topps larry sherry at #105, a 2000 topps stadium club devon white at #106,

a 1988 pacific zoilo versalles at #107, and a 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia rickey henderson at #108.

my favorite card on the page:

it's the goltz card.

final thoughts:

i am a little bit bothered by that hubie brooks omission.  i think i meant to use a different card from 1990 bowman elsewhere in the set (the dodgers are numbered sequentially in that set), but wound up not doing so, and then forgot that it was then available at #100.  this post may get updated at some point...

and so it has.