frankendodger sheet 25 (cards 217-225) - bill russell makes a point...

here's sheet number 25 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 217-225:

and the back:

these cards are:

217. 1962 topps walt alston
218. 1996 score kevin tapani
219. 1983 fleer bill russell
220. 2003 topps heritage victor diaz
221. 2011 topps update jamey carroll
222. 1978 o-pee-chee dave lopes
223. 1995 upper deck collector's choice ismael valdes
224. 1998 donruss collections leaf eddie murray
225. 1989 topps ramon martinez

the "no brainer" of the day:

with the dodger stadium backdrop, ramon martinez's rookie card was guaranteed a spot in the set.

about the cards:

alston looks a little bit pained as he leans on the bat rack. not sure if that is the panic button on the wall behind him, but his 1962 dodgers lost six of their last seven games of the season, blowing a 4 game lead over the giants in the process, and then lost two games of the three game playoff against the no-cals to miss out on the pennant.  that team won 102 games, which was the most for an alston led team (later tied by the 1974 pennant winning team). kevin tapani, meanwhile, joined the dodgers for the latter part of the 1995 season and did make the postseason in the process.  he pitched poorly in two appearances against the reds, however, as the dodgers were swept in the nlds.

i love that russell card.  i like to think that he just hit a bomb after the opposing team intentionally walked someone to get to him, and he's glaring into the dugout to make a point. victor diaz never played for the dodgers. he was traded to the mets during the 2003 season for jeromy burnitz and wound up reaching the big leagues with them in 2004.

jamey carroll's 2011 topps update card was a welcome addition to my dodger collection back when it was released.  i think it would have worked better as a horizontal card, however.  did you know that davey lopes really doesn't have any topps dodger cards showing him on the playing field other than his 1976 record breaker that was included on the first sheet of this set, the 1978 topps nlcs card, and his 1982 'in action' card that shows him in a batting stance?  it's pretty much all poses and candid shots for lopes from 1973 through 1982, and his 1978 topps/o-pee-chee card is no exception.  i still like the card though.

ismael valdes looks really happy on his 1995 collector's choice card, but i am concerned that the high five he is about to give/receive will irritate the blisters on his fingers and cause him to miss a start or two.  valdes apparently had fairly fragile skin (seriously) and would often develop blisters.  moises alou had some advice for him, i think.

steady eddie murray was featured in a number of sets in 1998 which was great because he was included (mostly) as a dodger, and all of those cards were final tributes for his hall of fame career that ended in 1997.  this card is sort of a parallel of his regular leaf card.  it may look like it is number 24 (the number of his regular leaf card), but it is really number 224.  you have to look for the other number at the bottom of the back.

donruss used all of the cards from their various sets in this 'collections' release.  base donruss started at number 1, leaf at 201, elite at 401, and you get the idea.  i have a couple of other cards from this set later on in the frankenset.

last, but not least is ramon martinez's topps rookie card. this card was kind of a big deal in southern california, especially after ramon won 20 games in 1990 as a 22-year old and finished as the runner up to doug drabek in the cy young vote.  with the nice dodger stadium background, i appreciated the card all the more.

cards that didn't make the cut:

even though it is pink and not yellow like most of the other dodgers in the set, carl erskine's 1959 topps card gave way to alston at number 217.  other near misses include 1995 pacific orel hershiser at number 218, 1994 upper deck collector's choice jose offerman

at number 219, 1974 or 1975 topps don sutton at number 220, 1997 upper deck tommy lasorda

at number 221, 2004 donruss team heroes steve garvey at number 222, 2005 topps cesar izturis at number 223, 2008 upper deck timeline manny ramirez at number 224, and 1983 fleer bob welch

at number 225.

my favorite card on the page:

happy ismael valdes and friends in the home whites wins over ropes, lopes, and rookie ramon.

final thoughts:

julio urias made his big league debut last night (i am writing this on may 28).  he is the latest dodger pitcher to come from mexico, following vicente romo, jose pena, fernando valenzuela, and valdes among others (like elmer dessens!).  valdes also made his first big league start against the mets (although he had made a number of relief appearances prior to that), and was pulled after giving up back-to-back hits to open the second inning. urias pitched a bit longer, with worse results, but he will be fine. better than fine, in fact.

frankendodger sheet 22 (cards 190-198) - again with the garvey...

here's sheet number 22 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 190-198:

and the back:

these cards are:

190. 1978 o-pee-chee steve garvey
191. 1981 topps rick sutcliffe
192. 2015 topps joc pederson
193. 1991 fleer don aase
194. 1992 topps eric karros
195. 1959 topps rip repulski
196. 1994 upper deck collector's choice roger mcdowell
197. 2002 upper deck mvp shawn green
198. 2009 upper deck nomar garciaparra

the "no brainer" of the day:

considering that the 1978 o-pee-chee card is and always has been in the header image over at garveyceyrusselllopes, it's a safe bet that it was the no brainer on this sheet.

about the cards:

i am actually writing this post in the friendly city of toronto.  being here makes me want to seek out some old o-pee-chee cards. i was 7 and on a family vacation to the prairie provinces when i first bought packs of o-pee-chee cards and found that garvey card that leads off the sheet.  good times.

rick sutcliffe brought the rookie of the year award back to los angeles in 1979.  he actually made his big league debut in 1976, but didn't stick with the dodgers until he went 17-10 in '79. of course, he struggled in 1980 and became firmly entrenched in tommy lasorda's doghouse pretty quickly.  he was left off of the 1981 postseason roster, and if i recall correctly, he trashed lasorda's office as a result.  the dodgers traded sutcliffe to the indians prior to the 1982 season, and he promptly led the american league in era.  he wound up with the cubs in 1984, and won the cy young award.

joc pederson was an early favorite to bring the rookie of the year award back to los angeles in 2015, but his second half was terrible.  i was starting to put this set together in august of 2015, and that is why he has two cards in the first 200 spots. had i waited until october, he may only have had one.

don aase is repping the bold 1991 fleer set. aase is, alphabetically the first dodger.  and the first oriole, and the first angel, but not the first met or red sox, as david aardsma also played for those two teams.

eric karros did (!) bring the rookie of the year award back to los angeles after a nine year drought.  his 1992 topps card is the second card in this set from his rookie year (1992 donruss was the other).  it's not my favorite card from the 1992 topps set - we will see that one later.

rip repulski's card is great for a couple of reasons. first, it's blue and not yellow like so many of the dodgers' 1959 topps cards. second, the look on his face makes it seem that he is pretty pleased to see karros' card next to him.  seeing repulski here makes me realize i should have gone for a brady bunch page with all of the cards featuring players looking around at each other.  again, shame on me for not doing so.

the bottom row features roger mcdowell doing what roger mcdowell does on his baseball cards, a typical mvp style card of shawn green (mvp and spx sets in the late 90's/early 00's were pretty much a waste of space in my opinion), and nomar's 2009 upper deck card.  i passed on the first edition version of this card a few sheets back, but his double play turning goodness was not to be denied a second time.

cards that didn't make the cut:

as usual, there were some pretty good cards that didn't make the sheet. they include 1962 topps wally moon (both versions)

and 1979 topps ron cey at number 190, 2003 upper deck, 2003 upper deck first pitch,

and 2004 upper deck kasuhisa ishii

(basically the same card) at number 191, 2002 donruss originals pee wee reese at number 192, 2001 upper deck mark grudzielanek at number 193, 1997 bowman adrian beltre at number 194, 1992 upper deck juan samuel (well lookie there!), at number 195, 1984 o-pee-chee steve howe at number 196, 1986 topps enos cabell at number 197, and 1972 topps charlie hough/bob o'brien/mike strahler

at number 198.

my favorite card on the page:

this is another case where the no brainer is also my favorite card. duh.

final thoughts:

with the end of the restriction on set and player use, i will pretty much always go with a garvey, cey, russell, or lopes card when given the chance.  same goes for 1978 topps/o-pee-chee.  just so you know.