frankendodger sheet 58 (cards 514-522) - 22% canadian...

here's sheet number 58 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 514-522:

and the back:

these cards are:

514. 1967 topps john werhas
515. 1973 o-pee-chee andy messersmith
516. 1994 topps kevin gross
517. 2002 upper deck kazuhisa ishii
518. 1988 fleer orel hershiser
519. 1971 o-pee-chee willie crawford
520. 1994 upper deck chan ho park
521. 1980 topps ken brett
522. 1972 topps dodgers team

the "no brainer" of the day:

that would be george brett's older brother's card - the only dodger card of ken brett issued during his playing days.

about the cards:

this duplicate of john werhas's 1967 topps card has a big ol' crease running across it. that's ok - it is a frankenset, after all.  the card is from the 6th series, but for some reason does not list werhas as a member of the california angels - the team to which he was traded to in may of '67.

the first of two o-pee-chee cards on the page is andy messersmith's 1973 card. if you look closely at the back,

you will see that while bill remains bill, and mike remains mike, andy translates to "andy" in french.

kevin gross is up next with his 1994 topps card. i think 1994 topps is one of their better releases of that decade. i didn't think much of it at the time, but that had a lot to do with the excessive glossiness of the cards.  i think with a couple of tweaks (the card stock and the font of the players' names), the design could be pretty solid, and i do like the backs.

kaz ishii was supposed to be a lefty hideo nomo, but wound up being more like a lefty hideki irabu.  that's probably not entirely fair, but he did walk a bunch of people.  i like this 2002 upper deck card because it showcases dodger stadium, complete with the retired number outfield wall murals (that's tommy lasorda to ishii's left), in the background.

the red, white, and blue design of 2002 upper deck is not as gaudy as that of 1988 fleer.  putting cards of orel hershiser from 1988 into the set just feels right, regardless of the card design.

now here's the second canadian card of the page - a 1971 o-pee-chee willie crawford card.  it's a little rough, but it's a dupe, and i am a fan of the yellow backs and the starburst head shot that makes these cards different from their topps counterparts.  and, in case you are wondering, willie is just willie in french - no quotations marks.

this chan ho park card is from the 'diamond debuts' subset in 1994 upper deck.  i assumed that the silhouette on the front was just a generic pitcher, but comparing the photo of park on the back to it, i now believe it is actually park. that's a level of effort that upper deck stopped aspiring to in their last few years producing baseball cards.

and now we have ken brett's 1980 topps card.  he was a good hitter, and he actually hit for himself in a game for the white sox during the 1976 season, rather than give way to a designated hitter.  the chisox also used him as a pinch-hitter a number of times.  i always thought that tommy lasorda should have used terry forster as a pinch-hitter more often, but i guess he had a couple of pinch-hitting specialists (manny mota and vic davalillo) on the roster already.  at any rate, the dodgers did not use brett as a pinch-hitter at all, although he was 3 for 11 at the plate during his time with them in 1979.

one of the things that i like about the 1972 topps dodger team card is that the photo looks like it was taken from the top of the 3rd base dugout at dodger stadium. you can see the low right field railing giving way to the bullpen in the background, and the dirt in front of the dugout in the foreground. it also looks like the visiting team is on the field and taking batting practice. it all makes for a more interesting card than the other team cards that followed with the more organized or staged photos taken in the outfield.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1983 donruss mark belanger at number 514, 1976 topps steve yeager at number 515, 1991 topps stadium club ramon martinez at number 516, 1992 bowman orel hershiser at number 517, 2003 upper deck 40 man hideo nomo at number 518. 1984 donruss dave sax

at number 519, 1994 fleer mike piazza at number 520, 1961 topps brother battery (norm and larry sherry)

at number 521, and 1961 dick farrell

at number 522.

my favorite card on the page:

the card i keep going back to here is the kaz ishii card. i just really like seeing the dodger stadium outfield pavilions and murals on cardboard, i guess.

final thoughts:

did you notice how much better topps had become at airbrushing the interlocking la logo onto hats between 1973

and 1980?

that is great progress!

frankendodger sheet 20 (cards 172-180) - enough with the variety...

here's sheet number 20 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 172-180:

 and the back:

these cards are:

172. 1971 o-pee-chee duke sims
173. 2005 topps heritage jeff weaver
174. 1988 topps phil garner
175. 1989 topps john shelby
176. 2014 panini donruss carl crawford
177. 1991 topps stadium club eddie murray
178. 1980-87 sspc baseball immortals frank robinson
179. 1995 fleer update todd williams
180. 2012 topps allen & ginter's tim federowicz

the "no brainer" of the day:

the frobby card was the no brainer here.  there just aren't too many cards of him in a dodger uniform, and at number 754, his 1972 topps high-number card falls outside of the numbering for this set.

about the cards:

i've written about the sims card before over at oh my o-pee-chee, and there's not much more to say about it other than i am a big fan.  i am only a so-so fan of topps heritage and jeff weaver. i had high hopes for weaver when he came to the dodgers from the american league where he had been somewhat successful, but my hopes were dashed over the next couple of years.  the best/weirdest thing about garner's 1988 topps card is that he doesn't have his mustache.  he could have given lanny mcdonald a run for his money.

with shelby's 1989 topps card, we have successive years of the flagship back-to-back on the sheet.  that's happened a few times before.  carl crawford's 2014 donruss card (i had to double check to make sure it was from 2014 as the design is so non-descript) is a fine example of the worst an unlicensed card can be.

eddie murray had to wait a long time to make the set, but i really wanted this stadium club card in the set.  it reminds me of lucy and ethel in the chocolate factory as he has his hands full with baseballs. i can picture joey amalfitano hitting fungoes to him rapid fire off camera.  the next card is the second hall of famer on the sheet, frank robinson.  his 1973 topps card

would have made the set (on this sheet at 175) if topps hadn't airbrushed out the 'dodgers' on his uniform and labeled frank as a california angel.  that card might be my favorite near-miss dodger card ever.

i bet you were wondering when the 1995 fleer abomination would show up. well, here it is (update, actually) with todd williams representing.  williams pitched in 16 games for the dodgers in '95 but was traded to the a's towards the end of the season and so wasn't around for the team's nlds sweep at the hands of the reds.  last up is tim federowicz's 2012 a&g card.  federowicz is currently getting a shot with the cubs following kyle schwarber's injury. i thought it presumptuous that he, as a catcher, took mike piazza's number when he first came up to the bigs.

cards that didn't make the cut:

a few examples of cards that were considered but not chosen include 2015 topps update adrian gonzalez at #172 (i have a bunch of these cards, but no way the sims was losing out), 1990 leaf kirk gibson at #173, 1970 topps ted sizemore and 1992 upper deck darryl strawberry

at #174, 2013 panini hometown heroes bill buckner

at #175, 1972 topps tom haller in action (it is a dodger card, you know) and 1981 donruss steve garvey at #176, 2009 topps 206 pee wee reese at #177, 2010 bowman manny ramirez at #178, 2003 bowman heritage duke snider at #179, and 1996 upper deck collector's choice hideo nomo

at #180.

my favorite card on the page:

the duke sims team and text o-pee-chee variation is my favorite card on this page.  i wish there were more o-pee-chee variations!

final thoughts:

from here on out, there are no rules - any number can be filled by any player from any set.  however, the next sheet does feature eight new sets, along with eight new players.  i wonder who the repeat player will be?