frankendodger sheet 28 (cards 244-252) - what might have been...

here's sheet number 28 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 244-252:

and the back:

these cards are:

244. 1991 topps stadium club orel hershiser
245. 1991 topps kal daniels
246. 2013 topps allen & ginter's hyun-jin ryu
247. 1988 score ken landreaux
248. 2004 fleer ultra hee-seop choi
249. 1964 topps doug camilli
250. 1990 donruss willie randolph
251. 1994 topps archives the ultimate 1954 set roberto clemente
252. 1991 score mike hartley

the "no brainer" of the day:

roberto clemente has two cards featuring him as a member of the dodger organization, and at least one of them was going to be in this set. it turns out that i had doubles of the card that should have been from the 1994 topps archives set (but not the 1995 topps archives brooklyn dodgers set), and so here you are.

about the cards:

street clothes, especially bad sweaters, really don't belong on baseball cards. still, there is some strange allure that these types of cards, including this orel hershiser stadium club card, have on us.  1991 topps was (and still is) a great set with some great photos and a design that rebounded well from a few years (in my opinion) of poor design.  i've since warmed up to the 1988, 1989, and 1990 designs, but still prefer '91 to any of them. as for kal daniels, it's too bad his knees sucked.

i hope hyun-jin ryu's shoulder is not going to deliver the same disappointment that daniels' knees gave dodger fans.  ryu had another setback during his rehab recently, which is not good. not that the dodger rotation necessarily needs another lefty, but they sure need something at this point. his 2013 a&g card is one of my favorites from that set, thanks to the composition of the photo and the blue-ness (but not too much blue-ness) of his glove.

ken landreaux caught the last out of the 1981 world series, and for that, he will always be appreciated.  his 1988 score card is not his best dodger card, but it works.  hee-seop choi's 2004 fleer ultra card, however, is pretty nice.  i used this card in a post about the evolution of the dodger stadium outfield wall, and i am happy that it fits into this set.

doug camilli's card may be the worst conditioned card in the set.  those are some greatly rounded corners, but the doubles bin doesn't discriminate when it comes to dodger cards.  willie randolph's 1990 donruss card gives us the second red-bordered card of the page, but it's got a lot of blue on it, so there is some balance.

and now we get to what might have been.  roberto clemente was famously left unprotected by the dodgers in the 1954 rule v draft, and was taken by the pirates.  had he stayed with the dodgers, it is hard to say whether he would have had the same success or been given the same opportunities given the players the dodgers already had.  and, as a dodger fan, it would be wrong of me to not be pleased with the four world championships and six pennants that the dodgers won over the course of clemente's career.  still, roberto clemente as a dodger would have been something.

mike hartley, seen on the 1991 score black-bordered subset, was a decent pitcher for the dodgers, making all 6 of his career starts with the blue (including one that resulted in a shutout of the braves) in 1990. hartley was ultimately dealt to the phillies in 1991 for roger mcdowell.

cards that didn't make the cut:

also-rans for this sheet include 1958 topps don demeter

(don't worry, his 1959 topps card with the same photo is in the set) at number 244, 1991 upper deck darryl strawberry at number 245, 1996 topps mike piazza at number 246, 1965 topps wally moon at number 247, 2005 donruss champions tommy lasorda at number 248, 1968 topps bill singer (with his torn sleeve) at number 249, 1993 upper deck roger mcdowell

at number 250, 1981 o-pee-chee steve garvey at number 251, and 1993 pinnacle mike piazza at number 252.

my favorite card on the page:

hee-seop choi again benefits from a day game at dodger stadium.  actually, ultra had some great sets with great photos in the early 2000's, at least as far as dodger cards go.

final thoughts:

although i didn't use it on this sheet the 1991 upper deck darryl strawberry card (as well as his 1991 donruss card)

are the first 'press conference' type photos i recall seeing on baseball cards. since then, we've seen them on cards for alex rodriguez, ken griffey jr, zack greinke, and jon lester, just to name a few.  the first one i ever saw was wayne gretzky's 1988-89 topps card, which sits somewhere in my hockey card collection.

frankendodger sheet 26 (cards 226-234) - getting carried away with russell...

here's sheet number 26 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 226-234:

and the back:

these cards are:

226. 1971 topps bill russell
227. 2007 upper deck first edition wilson betemit
228. 1979 topps vic davalillo
229. 1991 leaf jim gott
230. 2006 topps heritage jason phillips
231. 1964 topps dick calmus
232. 2010 topps national chicle roy campanella
233. 1992 topps mitch webster
234. 1960 topps don demeter

the "no brainer" of the day:

once i knew which cards were available to me for this sheet, bill russell's second year card was a lock for the first spot.

about the cards:

now bill russell is on a streak of consecutive sheets.  this page features his second year card with a photo from spring training in 1969.  we know this by the colorful holman stadium seats and the mlb anniversary patch on his sleeve, although it is conceivable that the photo is from 1970 if the dodgers re-used their uniforms during spring training as they did in back in 1938.  wilson betemit makes his frankenset debut with his 2007 first edition card. betemit spent about a year with the dodgers, coming at the trade deadline in 2006 and leaving at the trade deadline in 2008.

vic davalillo was plucked by the dodgers from the mexican league in 1977 after a two-year absence from the majors.  he paid dividends as a pinch-hitter with a two-out bunt to start the game winning rally in the 9th inning of game 3 of the 1977 nlcs against the phillies.  his 1979 card is his last card from topps, even though he played for the dodgers into the 1980 season.

jim gott was a pretty good reliever for the dodgers, especially if you ignore his final season with the club (1994). from 1990-1993, gott had an era of 2.36 in 235 games. opponents hit just .237 with an ops of .637 against him in that span, and he allowed just 31% of his inherited runners to score.  however, as his 1991 leaf card shows, he's still wearing bobby welch's number as far as i am concerned.

jason phillips was one of jim tracy's legion of ja(y)sons - phillips, werth, grabowski, and repko - that received a fair amount of playing time in their 91 loss 2005 season.  phillips was with the blue jays and tracy was out of a job by the time his 2006 heritage card was issued.  i still do not know what is going on in the background of dick calmus's 1964 topps card, but i am obligated to tell you, in light of recent events, that calmus was younger than julio urias when he started a game for the dodgers in 1963.

horizontal campanella from the 2010 national chicle set is a nice card with the brooklyn bridge in the background.  the card almost makes me forget that we have seen that campy swing image on so many cards from topps.  mitch webster is wearing don sutton's jersey on his 1992 topps card, which is not a bad card, nor is it a bad thing that the dodgers were allowing others to wear sutton's number up until his election to the hall of fame. what doesn't make sense (to me) is jason grabowski wearing steve garvey's number (no offense meant, jason) or no one wearing fernando's number 34, but not officially retiring it.

finally, we have don demeter for whom topps finally used a new photo instead of recycling the one they used in 1958

and 1959 (not pictured, but you get the idea).

cards that didn't make the cut:

i could have used, but i chose not to use the following cards (among others) on this sheet: 1984 donruss dusty baker at number 226, 1990 score jay howell at number 227, 1978 topps manny mota

at number 228, 1996 pinnacle raul mondesi at number 229, 1977 o-pee-chee rick monday

at number 230, 1981 topps joe beckwith at number 231, 1989 topps ricky horton featuring a similar, but better shot than ramon martinez's card that was on yesterday's sheet

at number 232, 1998 fleer ultra paul konerko at number 233, and 1988 donruss baseball's best jesse orosco at number 234.

my favorite card on the page:

today it's between russell and campanella.  i'll go with campy today because i feel a bit more artsy. had the rick monday opc card made the sheet (meaning, if i had a third copy of it), it would have been my favorite in a runaway.

final thoughts:

i think topps whiffed on 2006 heritage. the colors seem to be too washed out compared to many from the original 1957 set.  they did pretty well with 2009 heritage, as the cards look a lot like the demeter above.  it's too bad that they used so many pictures from holman stadium for the dodgers, though.

frankendodger sheet 23 (cards 199-207) - all decades reporting for duty...

here's sheet number 23 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 199-207:

and the back:

these cards are:

199. 1977 o-pee-chee ron cey
200. 1964 topps sandy koufax
201. 1982 donruss steve yeager
202. 2014 topps chrome matt kemp
203. 1990 donruss jay howell
204. 2001 topps archives tom lasorda
205. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams steve garvey
206. 1959 topps carl furillo
207. 1971 topps alan foster

the "no brainer" of the day:

that would be the 2001 archives lasorda card.  his 1988 topps card is one of my top 3 favorite lasorda cards (along with 1992 topps and 1978 topps), but it didn't make the cut earlier in the set.  so, the archives card that reprints the '88 card was a no brainer once the no repeat players/sets guideline expired.

about the cards:

i'm pretty sure that this is the first sheet that includes cards from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's, and 10's.  and they are all pretty good, too.  leading off with ron cey's 1977 opc card, and following that up with sandy koufax's 1964 topps card? that's a great start.  i thought that the hero numbers should be well represented in this set, and although clayton kershaw's 2013 topps heritage card was also number 200, i decided to go with the original, so to speak. so, i purchased a second '64 koufax for my collection.  and, while i may go back and replace matt kemp at number 100 with hubie brooks (i've got that bowman card in my sportlots cart as i type), sandy won't be going anywhere.

i could have used either a 1982 donruss or 1983 donruss yeager card

at 201, and i went for yeager at the plate rather than yeager behind it.  the photo is similar to the one on cey's card - so much so that i wonder if the top of the dugout was painted sometime between 1976 and 1981, so that both photos were taken in the same (shea?) stadium.  matt kemp's 2014 topps chrome card features a nice photo with the red number prominently displayed, but it's jay howell's 1990 donruss card that really makes the red pop.

i already mentioned that i like tommy's card, so i'll move on to the garvey from the timeless teams set.  i am a fan of this set to be sure, and this is one of my favorite cards in it because upper deck matched the photo with the year, which is nice.  from one number 6 to another, and from dodger stadium to the la coliseum, we have carl furillo's 1959 topps card. i've seen a few football games at the coliseum, but did not make it to the exhibition game the dodgers played there a few years ago.  i do recall sitting there during the football games trying to imagine it as a baseball stadium and couldn't really figure it out even though i had seen photos of the conversion.  anyway, the rams will be playing there for a couple of years, and i kind of hope the stadium falls apart on them.  this coming from a guy who was a big fan of the rams until they traded vince ferragamo to the bills in '85.  i thought georgia frontiere was a bad owner. that kroenke guy seems like a real jackass.

apologies to alan foster for bringing up kroenke just before getting to his card.  one thing about foster that i find interesting is that he wore number 44 - a number usually identified with sluggers like hank aaron, willie mccovey, and post-oakland reggie jackson.  speaking of sluggers, foster served up the first pitch that willie stargell hit out of dodger stadium (stargell did it twice), although pops wore number 8.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i considered but did not choose a number of cards for this sheet, including 2002 topps 206 paul loduca at number 199, 2013 topps heritage clayton kershaw at number 200, the aforementioned 1983 donruss steve yeager at number 201, 1979 o-pee-chee gary thomasson

at number 202, 1983 fleer greg brock at number 203, 1970 topps len gabrielson at number 204, 2003 topps traded adam riggs

at number 205, 1983 fleer steve garvey

(proving that garvey cards don't always win) at number 206, and 1986 topps fernando valenzuela record breaker at number 207.

my favorite card on the page:

there are a lot of contenders here, but a 1964 topps sandy koufax card - more for the stature than the aesthetic - should and does win out.

final thoughts:

back to the uniform number thing - foster was traded to cleveland after the 1970 season, and he took number 32 (now that is a pitcher's number) with the tribe. the dodgers acquired al downing that same offseason, and he (another pitcher) took foster's 44.  about three years later, downing gave up aaron's 715th career home run - from one 44 to another...

frankendodger sheet 16 (cards 136-144) - managing to fit in the managers...

here's sheet number 16 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 136-144:

and the back:

these cards are:

136. 2010 topps heritage joe torre
137. 2007 topps turkey red jason schmidt
138. 2003 donruss studio odalis perez
139. 2000 pacific crown collection craig counsell
140. 1964 topps world series
141. 2006 fleer hee seop choi
142. 1996 topps gallery roger cedeno
143. 1995 skybox emotion raul mondesi
144. 1974 topps walt alston and coaches

the "no brainer" of the day:

as obvious as it may seem, i did not always have the 1964 topps dodgers celebrate card at number 140.  no, the no brainer of this sheet is the counsell card, simply because it is the only card i know of that features him in a dodger uniform.

about the cards:

this sheet features a couple more dodger managers - torre in the first spot, and alston in the last.  as is customary with topps heritage, the torre card is the same number as alston's card in the 1961 topps set.  it's difficult to believe that turkey red was a stand-alone set from 2005-2007 before becoming an insert set in 2008.  it's even more difficult to believe that the dodgers signed jason schmidt.

the 2003 studio set was a nice set for team collectors like me who appreciate their team's stadium as all of the cards featured backgrounds of each team's respective home.  i'm glad they went with a interior shot of dodger stadium of the top deck, as some cards featured the exterior of the stadiums.

thank goodness for pacific.  they made the counsell card when other companies did not.  counsell was a dodger who appeared in 50 games during the 1999 season and didn't do so well. they released him and he went on to arizona where he was the mvp of the 2001 nlcs.

the 1964 topps card shows the relative mayhem following the dodgers' sweep of the yankees in the 1963 world series.  alston makes a second appearance on the page (he's number 24), and he is celebrating with marv breeding (23), lee walls (7), and pitching coach joe becker (33), with sandy koufax in the middle of the group.

the hee seop choi card is nice with the pirates' scoreboard behind him, and the cedeno card is fairly forgettable as many of his cards are.  and was raul mondesi attentive? i don't know, but skybox thinks so.  i didn't say it earlier when referencing alston's 1974 topps card so i'll say it know - i love seeing coaches on cards.

cards that didn't make the cut:

aside from the 1961 topps alston, other options at number 136 include the 1964 topps world series card featuring sandy koufax

and steve howe's 1981 fleer fashion show card.

at 137, i chose not to use another 1981 fleer card (this one of bobby castillo with his jacket in his pocket) or the willie davis world series card from 1964 topps.  number 138 could have been a reprint of mike piazza's 1994 topps rookie card from 2001 topps traded or yasiel puig's 2013 topps chrome card among others, and a couple of also rans at number 139 include andy kosco's 1969 topps card of him not wearing a dodger uniform

and frank howard sealing the yanks' doom on a 1964 topps card.  i passed on both steve garvey's 1975 topps card and fernand(o)'s 1981 fleer rookie card at 140, and at 141 kirk gibson's 2003 topps tribute world series edition card took a back seat to hee seop.  babe ruth's coaching for the dodgers card was a contender at 142, as were steve sax's 1986 fleer and 1984 o-pee-chee cards at 143 and 144, respectively.

my favorite card on the page:

there are some nice cards here, and i really do like the perez card, even if i am pretty sure he wasn't standing in the top deck when the photo was taken.  i'll go with another card featuring dodger stadium - the 1964 topps world series card as my favorite.

final thoughts:

i'm not listing the coaches as official appearances, so that's why the alston card is here.  both tommy lasorda and jim gilliam have been featured in the set already, but i think this is the only time we'll see red adams and monty basgall.  a tip of my cap to red and monty!