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 15 (cards 127-135) - in black and white...

here's sheet number 15 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 127-135:

and the back:

these cards are:

127. 1980 topps gary thomasson
128. 1977 o-pee-chee doug rau
129. 1993 topps stadium club jose offerman
130. 1985 o-pee-chee al oliver
131. 1987 fleer update matt young
132. 2007 topps opening day juan pierre
133. 1959 topps bob lillis
134. 1997 pinnacle inside karim garcia
135. 2001 bowman heritage marquis grissom

the "no brainer" of the day:

the 1985 o-pee-chee al oliver card was not going to be denied entry into this set. i specifically passed up his 1985 fleer update and 1985 topps traded cards so that this card could make it here on this page.

about the cards:

the 1980 topps card is thomasson's first card with him in a dodger uniform.  he received a nice o-pee-chee variation in 1979, which served as a nice counterbalance to tommy john's variation in the same set.  thomasson would get cards from all 3 manufacturers in 1981, although he was already playing in japan at that point.

speaking of o-pee-chee, we have a couple of the canadian cards on this sheet.  first up is doug rau, whose card is one of those ever so slight photo-cropping and facsimile autograph placement variations.  rau may be best known for trying to convince tommy lasorda to leave him in game 4 of the 1977 world series to pitch to graig nettles after he gave up 3 consecutive hits to start the yankees' half of the second inning.  it's pretty good conversation.  the second o-pee-chee card on the sheet is a much more noticeable variation - it's the good ol' team and text variation for al oliver, who was one of my favorite dodger acquisitions of the mid 80's.  it's too bad he didn't stick around very long.

in between those two canadian cards we have jose offerman.  i am guessing that tommy laid into offerman once or twice, too, as his 1993 stadium club card has him looking like he's been in tommy's doghouse for a while.  matt young was a lefty reliever who was acquired by the dodgers prior to the 1987 season for another lefty reliever (dennis powell). i think the shine was off the traded and update sets by the time 1987 rolled around, but i was still happy to see young and ralph bryant and the others in the sets.

juan pierre's 2007 topps opening day card is just an awful example of photoshopping.  topps did a decent job with nomar's od card a year earlier, but leaving the blue jersey on pierre (he was a cub in 2006) just doesn't work.  bob lillis and the rest of the rookies in the 1959 topps set may be part of the greatest rookie subset design ever. i prefer these to the 1960 version with the big rookie cup, as well as the rookie parade and all the other multi-player rookie cards that came after.

karim garcia's rookie card from 1997 pinnacle inside looks just like the other cards from the set, with the word 'rookie' added to it. which is ok, it's just not 1959 topps. and, bringing up the rear of the sheet, is the black and white marquis grissom card from 2001 bowman heritage.  i am not a fan of the 1953 bowman black & white set, so i am not a fan of this set, either. part of the problem is the plain front.  black and white photos work on cards sometimes, but not with such a plain design. and not on 1979 topps rookie cards, either.  and what did kids think back in 1953 when they say the beauty of the bowman color set and then opened some black and white stuff.  spoke filler for sure.

cards that didn't make the cut:

rudy law's 1981 topps card almost made the cut at number 127, while bill russell's 1978 topps card was denied at #128.  i almost made an exception for 1978 topps cards, but in the end decided to stick to my effort at diversity in the first 20 pages (with only the hero number exceptions).  at #129 (which is the number of tommy john's aforementioned 1979 o-pee-chee card), i thought about using a different jose offerman card (1993 score) or a 2014 topps stadium club hanley ramirez card.  ron cey's 1978 o-pee-chee card was at one point under serious consideration at number 130, and at number 131, we very nearly saw the ray lamb/bob stinson 1970 topps card

instead of matt young. i don't have a 1994 topps archives the ultimate 1954 set tom lasorda reprint, but if i were to have doubles, that card would probably have been at number 132, with a different card in lasorda's earlier spot.  i also thought about using juan pierre's 2009 topps card there,

but the photoshopping on his 2007 opening day card is just so bad that it needed to be a part of the set.  number 133 almost had a 1993 upper deck ramon martinez beat out the lillis card, and alex cora's 2004 topps card

almost beat out karim garcia at number 134.  finally, number 135 could have been a 1980 topps dusty baker or a 1994 upper deck collector's choice orel hershiser card instead of the grissom had i not tried to adhere to my guidelines.

my favorite card on the page:

it's al oliver, of course, but bob lillis comes in a close second.  tough to beat the o-pee-chee variation, especially from as colorful a set as 1985 topps.

final thoughts:

in 1979, the dodgers had on their roster doug rau and lance rautzhan, as well as gary thomasson and derrel thomas.  i know there was at least one time that rautzhan relieved rau (in 1978), but i don't know if thomasson ever pinch hit for thomas.