frankendodger sheet 78 (cards 694-702) - manny being a hero...

here's sheet number 78 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 694-702:

and the back:

these cards are:

694. 1978 topps elias sosa
695. 1980 topps reggie smith
696. 1986 topps bill russell
697. 1990 topps mike davis
698. 1988 topps brad havens
699. 2001 topps chad kreuter
700. 2009 upper deck manny ramirez
701. 1990 upper deck jim gott
702. 1992 fleer brett butler

the "no brainer" of the day:

reggie smith's 1980 topps card is one of the first cards i think of when i think of cards from that set.  i first saw this card when i pulled it from a pack in downtown los angeles after a trip to a convenience store following a day of accompanying my dad to some work related meetings.

about the cards:

elias sosa brings us the last card from the 1978 topps set to make the frankenset.  sosa was no longer a dodger in 1978, but his card from that year is a good one.

one more note about the 1980 topps reggie smith card - the facsimile autograph is pretty high up on the image, thanks to the dark background of the dugout behind him. this is another reason that i am not a fan of the autos on base cards.

i thought that topps' decision in 1986 to put the "dean" of the team on the front of the team leader cards was a good one.  of course, i was a dodger fan, and that meant that bill russell was on the front instead of pedro guerrero and orel hershiser, who would have been there had topps followed the model of their 1982, 1983, and 1984 sets.  seeing petey and orel would have been ok, too, don't get me wrong, but bill russell had never had a second card in a set before.  i would like to note that two other members of the team of my youth were featured on these cards - charlie hough

and rick rhoden

which is kind of crazy if you think about what kind of turnover there had to have been in texas and pittsburgh for these two guys to be considered the longest tenured players on the team.

i had mentioned in a post a few years ago that i had a number of duplicates of mike davis' 1990 topps card, so one of them made the frankenset.  i still don't care too much for 1990 topps, although i don't think it is my least favorite topps set ever as i had mentioned in that post, and the davis card with the blue border actually looks pretty good.  if only all the dodger cards had that border...

...dodgers shouldn't have orange borders.

brad havens and his 1988 topps card mark the first appearance in the set for the dodger reliever who had the misfortune of being released by the team during the 1988 season.  there's not a lot to say about his dodger tenure, so i will use havens' last name to ask if anyone else is sick of all of the pun related headlines at mlb.com.  it is ridiculous.  look at this recent one.

babe truth.  like i said, ridiculous. were havens pitching today (and doing something headline worthy) we would be bombarded with things like "havens a blast - dodger pitcher closese the door against the braves" or "safe havens - dodger pitcher beats out bunt attempt to prolong inning".  puns should be left for blog post titles.

next up is chad kreuter's 2001 topps card which features a photo of him on the back without a hat which makes sense after what happened that day in wrigley.

now we come to the final 'hero number' in the frankenset, 700, and manny ramirez with his 2009 upper deck card gets the call.  manny's numbers for the dodgers in 2008 certainly qualify for the hero treatment: .396/.489/.743 with 17 homers and 53 rbi in 53 games for the blue after the trade with the red sox (and pirates). he was even better in the postseason, going .500/.643/1.100 with 2 homers in the nlds against the cubs and .533/.682/1.067 with 2 more homers against the phillies in the nlcs.  i really thought after loney's grand slam in the nlds that the dodgers were going to win it all in 2008.  in fact, it was the excitement following the arrival of manny ramirez that made me want to start a blog, and the explosion of the card-centric blogs at the time sealed the deal for me.  so, blame manny for all of this if you so desire.

jim gott is back with his 1991 upper deck card this time.  gott seemed like a good guy from the photos used on his cards.  he was either pitching or smiling.

for the most part, anyway.

or doing hapkido.  so, just sometimes smiling. still seemed like a good dude.

the last card on the sheet is one of those fleer superstar special subset cards from the back end of their sets. this one is from 1992 and features the dodgers' brett butler and paul molitor of the brewers - aka 'the ignitors'.  molly was once my favorite non-dodger and i am ok with him being an honorary member of the frankenset.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1979 topps burt hooton

at number 694, 2015 topps heritage (high number) alex guerrero at number 695, 1991 donruss darryl strawberry at number 696, 1994 topps dave hansen

at number 697, 2002 upper deck 40 man terry mulholland at number 698, 1987 topps ken landreaux at number 699, 2002 upper deck 40 man steve colyer at number 700, 2009 upper deck danny ardoin

at number 701, and 2009 upper deck orlando hudson at number 702.

my favorite card on the page:

it's tough to choose between a 1978 topps dodger card, a reggie smith dodger card, and a bill russell card, but i'm a fan of the infield at heart, and a card recognizing russell for being a dodger for a long time wins out over the others.

final thoughts:

this set is into the home stretch now that we've hit the 700s.  only three more sheets to go until the end, and there are fewer and fewer sets to choose cards from.  we'll be seeing 2009 upper deck and the 1990 target set again, for sure.

frankendodger sheet 76 (cards 676-684) - kiki with an i not an e...

here's sheet number 76 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 676-684:

and the back:

these cards are:

676. 1990 score kiki jones
677. 2002 upper deck 40 man paul loduca
678. 1994 bowman antonio osuna
679. 1980 topps dodgers future stars (joe beckwith/mickey hatcher/dave patterson)
680. 1985 topps jerry reuss
681. 1983 topps dodgers leaders (pedro guerrero/fernando valenzuela)
682. 1993 topps john candelaria
683. 1994 topps cory snyder
684. 1992 score jeff hamilton

the "no brainer" of the day:

i suppose the 1980 topps dodgers future stars card is the closest thing to a no brainer here, but not sure that it qualifies. i'll make as good a case as i can below.

about the cards:

keith "kiki" jones was 8-0 in the rookie league in 1989, prompting score to add him to their 1990 set.  he never did make it to the big leagues despite a good arm and curveball, according to scouts - another dodger first round pick that didn't pan out.

paul loduca may or may not have had some illegal help in getting to the big leagues (he was named in the mitchell report), but he made it, and found himself in the 2002 upper deck 40 man set.  this was the evolution of upper deck's victory set, which was similar to topps total.  as a team collector, i appreciate sets like these, although the 2003 40 man set is better, in my opinion.

1994 bowman is here with antonio osuna and so much foil!  everytime i see a card of antonio osuna, i find myself looking for that monstrous pendant he wore around his neck the first time i saw him pitch.

the first rookie cards i saw were the 4-in-1 cards in the 1978 topps set. those cards, in keeping tradition with what was produced from 1974 through '78, had multiple teams represented on each card (in 1973, the rookie cards had three players from different teams on them).  in 1979, topps gave me a card with just dodgers on it, but it was in black and white.  then, in 1980, they gave me this trio of dodgers in full color!  shades of 1972, i would eventually learn.  anyway, i knew who all three of these guys (joe beckwith, mickey hatcher, and dave patterson) were because they had played for the dodgers in 1979 - in fact, i still remember listening to the game in which hatcher made his major league debut because he came up with the bases loaded and vin scully noted that he had a chance to do something very rare in his first big league at bat.  well, hatcher didn't hit a grand slam, but he did walk.  i was pretty happy to have this card in 1980, even though patterson never made it back to the majors.

jerry reuss makes another appearance in the set with his 1985 topps card. he looks pretty happy to be in vero beach, and i can't really blame him given the circumstances.   he wound up sporting a 2.92 era in 1985, which didn't even crack the top ten in the national league.  he also lost 10 games with an era split of 1.21 in his wins, and 7.03 in his losses.  his era in the 1985 postseason was 10.80 - can you guess what the game outcome was?

pedro guerrero and fernando valenzuela were the dodgers' batting and pitching leaders in 1982, respectively.  i know this thanks to this 1983 topps card that marks the return of the dodger logo to topps cards for the first time since what, 1963?

in hindsight, i am left wondering why the logo is in a box rather than a circle, since all of the other 1983 topps cards have circles (portholes, if you will). 1984 is the one with squares (picture in picture, i call it).

john candelaria's 1993 topps card is right next to cory snyder's 1994 topps card, so you can try to find some back-to-back design evolutionary ties.  i can't find any, really, but i was happy that topps went back to the landscape oriented backs in '94.  snyder's card, with him camped out on second base, reminds me of my final little league (minors) game.  i was 9 and on third base. two of my friends were on second and first, respectively, and a kid that we only knew through baseball was at the plate.  two outs, full count, down by a run with the league championship on the line - all of the cliches you can think of. the kid at bat swung at ball 4 and the game was over. my friend sat on second base and looked pretty much the same way snyder does on his card.

last card on the sheet is jeff hamilton's 1992 score card.  that's pretty much all i have to say about that.  oh, all right - i'll mention that hamilton was the losing pitcher in the 22-inning game between the astros and dodgers in 1989. he struck out ken caminiti (and billy hatcher), but was beat by a rafael ramirez walk-off single. this was the same game that ended with eddie murray playing third base and fernando valenzuela at first.

cards that didn't make the cut:

2006 upper deck ricky ledee at number 676, 2006 upper deck sandy alomar jr

at number 677, 2002 upper deck 40 man mark grudzielanek at number 678, 1981 topps dodgers team

at number 679, 2002 upper deck 40 man paul quantrill at number 680, 1982 topps dodgers future stars (mike marshall/ron roenicke/steve sax) - my last double was sent out for some ttm action -

at number 681, 1987 topps jerry reuss at number 682, 2002 upper deck 40 man eric gagne at number 683, and 2002 upper deck 40 man giovanni carrara at number 684.

my favorite card on the page:

as much as i appreciate seeing disappointed cory snyder on second base, i like the 1980 topps future stars card more.

final thoughts:

the dodgers currently have a player on their roster named enrique hernandez.  his nickname, like that of keith jones, is pronounced by many as "key-key".  however, enrique spells it with an "e" on the end, rather than the second "i", and it is actually pronounced "key-kay".  it's all about the accent over the "e".  anyway, the first time i saw enrique's nickname in print (without the accent), i was a bit surprised, as it is commonly known to be a slur for jewish people.  i am pretty sure this is why topps cards show his name as enrique,

and not his nickname.

frankendodger sheet 72 (cards 640-648) - silver sluggers and a silver fox...

here's sheet number 72 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 640-648:

and the back:

these cards are:

640. 1994 topps darryl strawberry
641. 1979 topps bobby castillo
642. 1992 topps tim crews
643. 1974 topps dodgers team
644. 1980 topps charlie hough
645. 1991 topps juan samuel
646. 2011 topps matt kemp/andre ethier
647. 2001 upper deck victory shawn green
648. 1984 donruss duke snider

the "no brainer" of the day:

the 1984 donruss duke snider card was a no brainer for me. that was the first card of a retired dodger that i pulled from a mainstream pack. i was pretty excited as a dodger fan that the silver fox was the puzzle in 1984, and it certainly contributed to me buying more packs of donruss that year.

about the cards:

it's hard for me to recall darryl strawberry having dodger cards as late as 1994, since it seems like he played for them for such a short time. of course, strawberry didn't play for the dodgers in 1994, and this '94 topps card is one of the last to feature him in dodger blue. 1994 was the year that darryl went awol at the end of spring training and shortly thereafter enrolled at the betty ford center. the dodgers released him early in the season, and he wound up signing with the giants.  blech.  you will note that the 1994 topps card features a photo of strawberry from the 1993 season (a season in which he hit just .140 in 32 games). we know it is from 1993 because the tim crews memorial patch is visible.

the 1979 topps bobby castillo card was one that i was looking forward to - not as much as the 1979 topps bob welch card, but there was still some anticipation on my part. during the 1978 season, i would listen to dodger games while sitting at the dining room table with my dad as he caught up on paperwork. the little transistor radio would sit between us, and vin scully, jerry doggett, and ross porter would spin their tales while the dodgers advanced to a second consecutive national league pennant. i would sometimes look at my 1978 topps cards while listening, and when castillo came into the game, i had no card to look at.  with bill north and joe ferguson, i had cards but they showed those guys as an athletic and an astro.  still, i had cards. for castillo (and welch and rudy law), i had nothing. as you will see below, my feelings about this card are strong enough for it to bump a 1978 topps card out of the frankenset!

i mentioned the tim crews memorial patch showing on the strawberry card, and now here is the man himself on a 1992 topps card.  crews left the dodgers after the 1992 season and joined the indians. it was during spring training in 1993 that he died (along with teammate steve olin) in a boating accident, prompting the dodgers and indians to wear memorial patches.

the 1974 topps dodger team card features, as do most dodger team cards from 1971 on (1972 being the only exception i can think of), a photo of the team in dodger stadium. they chose a more nondescript part of the stadium as the background (that's the first base side of the stadium behind them) rather than the pavilions.  for what it's worth, steve garvey is in the second row between lee lacy and joe ferguson.

charlie hough is on that team card, too. he's in the back row next to don sutton, and here he is as well on his 1980 topps card. this was the last topps card to feature hough as a dodger as he had his contract purchased by the rangers in july of 1980.  i was disappointed as the team of my youth was starting to disassemble - first rick rhoden before the 1980 season, and then hough during it.  after the season, don sutton would move on, too, and it's a good thing the dodgers won it all in 1981 otherwise i would have really lost it when davey lopes was traded away following that postseason.

with lopes gone, steve sax took over and was even my favorite dodger after steve garvey left for san diego prior to the 1983 season.  after sax left for the yankees following the 1988 postseason, the dodgers struggled (and still struggle) to find a long-term solution at second base. one guy they brought in for a while was juan samuel, seen here on his 1991 topps card.  sammy came over from the mets in a deal that cost the dodgers mike marshall and alejandro pena, which was not necessarily a lot depending upon how you felt about pena.  even though he was not the dynamic player he had been with the phillies early in his career, samuel was pretty reliable in his two full seasons with the dodgers, and he was part of the dodger contingent at the 1991 all-star game.

in 2009, both matt kemp and andre ethier were named recipients of the silver slugger award, and the photo of them receiving the awards at the start of the 2010 season made its way to this 2011 topps card.  the dodgers have had more pitchers win the silver slugger than any other position (if you separate out the outfielders) with fernando valenzuela, tim leary, orel hershiser, and zack greinke each taking home the hardware as dodgers. by my count, the other dodgers to win the silver slugger are dusty baker, pedro guerrero, steve sax, kirk gibson, eddie murray, mike piazza, eric karros, adrian beltre, jeff kent, russell martin, and adrian gonzalez.

not on that list is shawn green, who appears here on a 2001 upper deck victory card. during green's best offensive years, he lost out to barry bonds, sammy sosa, luis gonzalez (in his anomaly of a year in 2001), and vladimir guerrero.

last card on this sheet is the 1984 donruss duke snider card. in 1982, following a ruling favoring topps, donruss switched from gum to puzzle pieces as the accompaniment to their cards in packs.  that first year, the puzzle was of babe ruth, and in 1983, it was mickey mantle. donruss chose snider for the puzzle in 1984, and they included a card showing the complete puzzle image in the card set for the first time.  just another reason that 1984 donruss is my favorite donruss set.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1993 donruss tom goodwin at number 640, 1978 topps doug rau (thanks to bobby castillo's 1979 topps card)

at number 641, 1984 donruss dave anderson at number 642, 2014 topps alex guerrero

at number 643, 1979 topps manny mota at number 644, 2013 topps luis cruz at number 645, 1993 bowman mike piazza at number 646, 2002 topps total odalis perez at number 647, and 1989 donruss orel hershiser

at number 648.

my favorite card on the page:

as much as i like seeing dodgers get awards on cards, the duke snider card is my favorite here.

final thoughts:

as far as i have been able to gather, since moving to los angeles, the dodgers have worn some sort of memorial independently from the rest of the league 8 times.  this includes a combined memorial patch for roy campanella and don drysdale who passed away within a few days of each other in 1993, but not a patch worn for a front office employee during a tour of japan.  this list includes a presidential candidate (bobby kennedy in 1968), the wife of an active player (ken mcmullen in 1974), two active coaches (jim gilliam in 1978 and don mcmahon in 1987), and an active former player in tim crews.  the rest have been players for whom the dodgers have retired a number - campanella and drysdale, pee wee reese in 1999, and duke snider in 2011.  the dodgers did not wear a memorial following the death of jackie robinson - most likely because he passed away in october of 1972, and not during or close to the start of a baseball season.  earlier that year, the mets wore an armband for gil hodges, but not the dodgers.

as many of you know, i have a mini collection of cards featuring memorial patches and armbands, and so i think about this stuff.  i wonder for whom the dodgers will wear patches for in the future.  given what seems to be their current criteria, sandy koufax, don sutton, and tom lasorda would be on the list, as would vin scully given his hall of fame status.  walter o'malley didn't receive a patch as many other owners have in recent years, so i'm not sure whether peter o'malley would at this point.  i was a bit confused about the dodgers not wearing some sort of memorial for willie davis after he died, as he is still high on many los angeles dodger statistical leader boards, so what about don newcombe, manny mota, and maury wills? they've been a part of the dodger family for decades but are not in the hall of fame.  similarly, will the padres (who have retired his number) and not the dodgers wear something when steve garvey passes?  it's kind of a downer subject, but the connection to the past is a bigger part of the game for me the older i get.

frankendodger sheet 63 (cards 559-567) - do you prefer your fans blurry or out of focus?...

here's sheet number 63 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 559-567:

and the back:

these cards are:

559. 2004 upper deck brad penny
560. 1980 topps dave lopes
561. 1965 topps dodger rookies
562. 1978 topps glenn burke
563. 2008 topps ramon troncoso
564. 1997 fleer darren dreifort
565. 1981 topps burt hooton
566. 1976 topps ken mcmullen
567. 1995 score raul mondesi

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are a couple of spots on this sheet that were filled by the only card possible (outside of using the 1990 target set), but the 1978 topps glenn burke is not one of them. it is, however, the no brainer of the page.

about the cards:

the 2004 upper deck brad penny card is a curious one. after reading the book 'card sharks' about the origins of upper deck, i understood. upper deck had been sued by an umpire who had appeared on a card without compensation or permission. so, it stood to reason to me that these fans would be blurred out to avoid any of them suing upper deck. the problem there is that this blurring of fans on cards is inconsistent across upper deck's other releases, although it is done on other cards

in upper deck's second series (which includes this penny card).  topps clearly doesn't care, given all of the fans that are clearly visible on their cards featuring players reaching into the stands

to make catches.

the 1980 topps davey lopes card is the first card for lopes to include the all-star designation. lopes had made the 1978 all-star team as a reserve, but in 1979 he finally unseated joe morgan in the fan voting. in 1980, for the all-star game hosted by the dodgers (i think it's time for dodger stadium to host again, by the way), lopes was the leading vote getter in either league with over 3,000,000 votes - a couple of those were mine.

next up is jim lefebvre's 1965 topps rookie card. it features three other players - dennis daboll, mike kekich, and hector valle - but it was lefebvre who became the 1965 national league rookie of the year.  daboll was actually in the reds' organization when this card hit the streets, but never made it to the big leagues. kekich was 0-1 in his five appearances with the dodgers in '65, and he went on to be better known as one of the yankees who swapped wives in the early 70's.  for his part, valle appeared in just a handful of games that year (his only year in the majors) and hit .308. because of blogger's dumb 20 label rule, one of these guys is not going to be recognized with a label. i thought about just using a 'rookies' label, but no.  in the end, daboll gets left off of the label cloud since he didn't make it to the show.  blogger's rules, not mine.

glenn burke's 1978 topps card is a favorite of mine, since it is burke's only dodger card other than his 1990 target card.  if you haven't checked out the '30 for 30' piece on burke, i would encourage you to do so.  and, while you are at it, keep an eye out for the 1980 topps card that should have been that i created.

it makes an appearance in the documentary.

ramon troncoso's 2008 upper deck card fills the hole at number 563 and earns him a spot in the frankenset. troncoso pitched for the dodgers in parts of four seasons, including 3 scoreless appearances in the 2009 nlcs, before joining the white sox. he was back in the dodger organization last year, but didn't get the call up to the bigs.

you can see that darren dreifort's 1997 fleer card does bear a close resemblance to this year's stadium club release.

it makes one wonder how much attention is paid to previous sets when laying out card designs. was there noone at topps that recognized the similarities? doesn't upper deck own the fleer brand now? was this a dig at upper deck for using topps designs (they would say they used the o-pee-chee designs) in the past? the mind boggles.

burt hooton's 1981 topps card comes from the season that happy won the nlcs mvp for his 2-0 record against the expos.  hooton was actually good throughout the postseason that year - he was 1-0 against the astros in the nlds, pitching 7 innings and allowing just 3 hits and 1 run in the dodgers' must-win game 3, and then he went 1-1 against the yankees in the world series. he was the hard-luck loser in game 2 (the only run he allowed was unearned), but then picked up the win in the series clinching victory in game 6. in contrast to the brad penny card leading off the sheet, hooton's card comes with out of focus fans rather than blurry fans.

the 1976 topps ken mcmullen card is his last as a dodger as he would grace the '77 set as an oakland athletic. i'm somewhat surprised that mcmullen never surfaced in any of the fan favorite sets, nor was he included in the 2004 upper deck legends set as a member of the 1974 dodgers (even though i failed to mention that in the post) as he is a great ttm signer and would have been a great addition to any of those sets.  as for the card, i am not sure who number 72 is standing in the background. a minor leaguer/spring training invitee or coach? pretty likely to be the former, as the only coach i could think of that it might be is mark cresse, but he wore number 58.

last card of the sheet is the 1995 score raul mondesi hitter's inc. card.  mike piazza also has a card in this subset, but he doesn't look as angry as mondesi.  mondesi, meanwhile, is only the second most angry player in the set, behind albert belle

of course.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i don't believe there was any other option (aside from a card from the 1990 target dodgers set) at numbers 561 and 563, but other cards were considered to varying degrees were 1992 donruss darryl strawberry at number 559, 1989 score john tudor

at number 560, 1979 topps dusty baker

at number 562, 2004 topps total antonio perez at number 564, 1963 topps larry sherry at number 565, 1994 bowman orel hershiser at number 566, and 1971 topps walt alston

at number 567.

my favorite card on the page:

burke wins over penny and lopes.

final thoughts:

i linked above to the 1974 dodger team post over at timeless teams. i do fully intend to update that site with posts about the parallels and autos that the set featured, if for no other reason than to be completist about things.  look for those posts sometime this fall if you are so inclined. there might be a contest.

frankendodger sheet 61 (cards 541-549) - do you know the way to tatooine?...

here's sheet number 61 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 541-549:

and the back:

these cards are:

541. 2008 upper deck jason schmidt
542. 2005 topps milton bradley
543. 1996 donruss roberto kelly
544. 1980 topps rick sutcliffe
545. 2015 topps clayton kershaw
546. 1978 topps ted martinez
547. 1975 topps von joshua
548. 1981 topps dave goltz
549. 1986 topps bob welch

the "no brainer" of the day:

rick sutcliffe's rookie card was not to be denied entry into this set.

about the cards:

it seems like there have been a few jason schmidt cards pop up in the set lately.  this one is from 2008 upper deck, which is the year that schmidt missed entirely due to injury.

the next two cards - a 2005 topps milton bradley and a 1996 donruss roberto kelly - fall into my 'tatooine' minicollection as well as this frankenset.  as you probably know, i collect cards that feature photos with nothing but dirt in the background. this goes back to sometime in the late 1970's when my brother and i were in our local card and comic shop. there was a 1971 topps world series highlight card in the display case featuring brooks robinson and the infield dirt. being fans of star wars, we claimed that brooks was looking for droids on tatooine.  and now you know the rest of the story.

i was surprised when i (happily) pulled a rick sutcliffe card out of a pack of 1980 topps and saw that he had pitched in 1976.  i was aware of him being with the dodgers for a bit in 1978 and was well versed in his 1979 season in which he won the rookie of the year award, but i did not know he had made his debut way back in '76 even though i pored over those baseball handbooks endlessly in the late 1970's and early 1980's.  one highlight i recall from sutcliffe's '79 season was his first big league home run - it came in a game against the reds in which the dodgers hit seven home runs, all by different players.  sutcliffe went on to win the national league cy young award in 1984 (and finished 2nd in 1987). he was 4th in the mvp voting in 1984.

clayton kershaw, on the other hand, did not win the rookie of the year award, but did win the mvp in 2014 to go along with his three cy young awards. this 2015 topps card recognizes kershaw for being the league's mvp which is rare for a pitcher but sometimes cannot be denied.

ted martinez joined the dodgers for the 1977 season (and played enough to earn a card in the 1978 topps set) after spending 1976 in the reds' minor league system.  that means that he missed the reds' world series run that year, and even though he was with the dodgers in both '77 and '78, he appeared in neither postseason.  martinez debuted for the mets in 1970, the year following their first world series title, but did appear in the 1973 world series with the mets, and the 1975 alcs with the a's.  that means that during the decade of the 1970's, martinez's teams made the postseason 5 times. he was almost don baylor before don baylor.

i believe that this 1975 topps von joshua card is the only dodger card in the set to feature this color combination.  otherwise, it is similar to many dodger cards that feature spring training photos, and is especially similar to the preceding ted martinez card.  are those the same trees in the background?

looking ahead to the 1981 topps dave goltz card next to it, we see more spring training trees, but these are clearly not the same. these trees to goltz's right look to be coniferous, plus there is a parking lot in front of them (who's driving the yellow bug?).

last card of the page is bob welch's 1986 topps card.  1986 was a lost year for the dodgers, who finished 73-89 and in fifth place (and just 0.5 games ahead of the last place braves) in the nl west.  welch did his part with an era of 3.28 over 33 starts. he had 7 complete games and 3 shutouts, but his record was a dodger career worst (winning percentage wise) 7-13.  the following year (welch's last with the dodgers), he had a similar era (3.22) but was 15-9.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1981 donruss burt hooton at number 541, 2006 topps turkey red mark hendrickson

at number 542, 1994 donruss brett butler at number 543, 2003 topps dave roberts at number 544, 1982 topps reggie smith at number 545, this fantastically odd 1995 upper deck collector's choice roberto kelly card

at number 546, 1959 topps jim baxes

at number 547, 1976 topps manny mota at number 548, and 1971 topps jim brewer at number 549.

my favorite card on the page:

as is often the case, the no brainer is also my favorite card of the page.  rick sutcliffe's 1980 topps card was a key card in my collection that year because he had won the rookie of the year the previous season, and this was his first card. thirty-six years later, it's still a favorite.  although i still can't tell whether that is terry forster or someone else in the background.

final thoughts:

roberto kelly made the page, but with his 1996 donruss card rather than that '95 collector's choice card.  that's only because the udcc card is one of those redemption set cards and i don't have a dupe.  yes, 1978 topps and ted martinez would be kicked out of the set if i had another one of those kelly cards.  i don't understand it - upper deck had an image of kelly in dodger gear (real or photoshopped), used it, but still went with an expos photo, too. it is very weird and i like it.

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 57 (cards 505-513) - dodger stadium makes the checklist...

here's sheet number 57 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 505-513:

and the back:

these cards are:

505. 1974 topps bill buckner
506. 1986 topps bill russell
507. 1989 score brian holton
508. 1978 topps johnny oates
509. 1987 topps enos cabell
510. 1980 topps ron cey
511. 1981 donruss steve howe
512. 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee dodger stadium/dodgers checklist
513. 1992 upper deck mike morgan

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are only a few cards of dodger stadium in mainstream sets, and i knew i wanted this so-called o-pee-chee card of it in the set.

about the cards:

billy buck leads things off with his 1974 topps card. note that he is listed as a first baseman on the card.  that didn't last long, as steve garvey established himself as the team's first baseman, with buckner moving out to left field.

another bill - this time russell - fills the next spot in the set.  russell is relaxing in the dugout on his 1986 topps card, which makes sense as the dean of the dodgers started only 43 games in what would be his final season.  that total did include, however, his first (and only) career start at third base.

i like brian holton's 1989 score card because it features a glimpse of the old field level scoreboard in dodger stadium in the background. i am thankful that score's production schedule didn't afford them time to pull or modify holton's card following the december 1988 trade that sent him to the orioles.

johnny oates makes his debut in the set, which is understandable since he has only a few (three, i think) dodger cards to his name.  because he has this 1978 topps card showing him as a dodger, however, he may as well have been a dodger for life as far as i am concerned because i think of him as a dodger first.  in fact, oates joined tommy john as being members of the 1977 and 1978 dodgers who lost to the yankees in the world series only to join the yankees and lose to the dodgers in 1981.

are you aware the the enos cabell card here is only the second 1987 topps card in the frankenset so far? here we are in the 500's, and there has only been one other - tom lasorda's card at number 493 - and i am considering switching that card out with a 1985 topps orel hershiser rookie.  that doesn't have anything to do with enos, who was one of the long number of third basemen that al campanis and fred claire and dan evans brought into town between ron cey and adrian beltre.

speaking of cey, here he is on his 1980 topps card.  cey, like von joshua, dusty baker, and steve garvey, was featured in the batting cage on his card from topps in this set. that kind of repetition makes for somewhat boring pages in my topps dodger team set binder.  still, having this card on the same sheet as buckner's 1974 topps card shows how similar the designs are to one another.

and, speaking of similar designs, here is a 1981 donruss card positioned just below a 1978 topps card.  steve howe got cards from all three companies in 1981 after being left off of the dodger future stars card by topps in 1980 which was a great disappointment to many young fans in southern california.  later, it was howe himself who became a great disappointment to many young fans in southern california.

dodger stadium is on display on this 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee card, and it's a beautiful thing.  the stadium got a new address this year, when elysian park avenue was renamed vin scully avenue. it is the third oldest major league baseball stadium, and i hope it stays that way for a long time to come.

last card on the page is mike morgan's 1992 upper deck card with the increasingly rare (and soon to be extinct?) pitcher on the basepaths photo. i have resigned myself to the fact that the dh is coming to the national league sooner rather than later.

cards that didn't make the cut:

various levels of consideration were given to 1994 fleer pedro astacio at number 505, 1961 topps willie davis at number 506, 1993 topps tom lasorda (with hal mcrae) at number 507, 1959 topps art fowler

 at number 508, 1988 fleer tim belcher

at number 509, 1982 topps fernando valenzuela

at number 510, 1995 score tom candiotti at number 511, 1981 topps gary thomasson at number 512, and 1989 topps jesse orosco at number 513.

my favorite card on the page:

we have two members of the infield on this page, along with a 1978 topps dodger and a card of dodger stadium, but i think my favorite card here is the 1981 donruss steve howe.  1981 was the first time i saw a steve howe card (and his donruss card was the first one that i pulled from a pack), and adding the 1980 nl rookie of the year to my collection was a big deal.  so, this card wins on sentimental value.

final thoughts:

why hasn't topps ever put stadium cards in the flagship set? it's not a subset that would work every year, but not even once?  i suppose it has to do with giving up 30 spots on the checklist, but there could have been one year back in the day where we were given a stadium photo rather than a team photo on the team checklist.  still, i do have a few dodger stadium cards, including ones from the topps dodger factory team sets a few years ago.