frankendodger sheet 65 (cards 577-585) - the dodgers' first rated rookie...

here's sheet number 65 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 577-585:

and the back:

these cards are:

577. 1982 topps rick monday
578. 1991 upper deck mike morgan
579. 1983 donruss greg brock
580. 1968 topps bob bailey
581. 1985 donruss orel hershiser
582. 1989 topps mike marshall
583. 1992 score stan javier
584. 1996 upper deck collector's choice brett butler
585. 2010 upper deck clayton kershaw/matt kemp

the "no brainer" of the day:

that would be the hershiser card.

about the cards:

i remember opening packs of topps cards in 1982 hoping for a rick monday card highlighting his nlcs home run.  i was disappointed as this was the only card topps made of monday that year.  for whatever reason, topps took 1979 and 1980 off when it came to postseason cards, brought them back in 1981, and then dropped them from the checklist until, what - 1997?  i made my own 1982 topps nlcs monday card (two of them, actually),

along with other cards for the 1981 world series.

upper deck showed mike morgan on the basepaths in 1992, and the year prior, they had him ready for some bp.  he seems to be an odd choice for these sorts of cards as he hit .098 as a dodger, but they are better than another generic pitching motion card.  i do, however, appreciate the generic pitching motion photo on the back as it also includes part of the old field level scoreboard from dodger stadium.

one of the best things about the 1984 donruss set (my favorite donruss set, by the way) was the introduction of rated rookies. sid fernandez was a dodger in that set, and was included in the rated rookie subset that immediately followed the diamond kings subset at the beginning of the set, complete with the special banner on the front of the card.  however, donruss introduced the rated rookie concept in 1983, with greg brock being a part of those players chosen.  however, donruss decided to make the rated rookie designation known only on the back of the cards, so it didn't really capture the same level of interest.  still, brock is the dodgers' first rated rookie.

i like bob bailey's 1968 topps card a lot.  it has to do with the colors and the composition of the card (and the fact that bailey, who was acquired by the dodgers prior to the 1967 season in the maury wills deal, is not hatless). the burlap design works well with the dodger blue, the blue sky, the red circle, and the pop of red and white from the florida state flag in the upper left corner. throw in some green from the palm tree, and you've got a winner of a card.  i am curious to see how 2017 heritage plays out.

we already saw the leaf version of orel hershiser's rookie card, and now here is the donruss issue.  i found a double of the topps rookie, and i may go back and put it in the set (sorry 1987 topps tom lasorda), but then again, i may not.

mike marshall's 1989 topps card reminds me that i had too high of expectations for him coming out of the minors. the stats on the back show that he never drove in over 100 runs or hit over .300 with the dodgers despite some massive numbers in the pcl.

stan javier, seen here on his 1992 score card, was the guy the dodgers got from the a's in exchange for willie randolph back in 1990. he stayed with the club into their terrible 1992 season until he was traded to the phillies.

speaking of being traded, brett butler was dealt back to the dodgers by the mets after spending just part of the 1995 season in queens. when he returned, however, his number 22 was being worn by chad fonville, so butler went with 12 as seen on his 1996 collector's choice card. at some point, fonville switched to 3, and butler took 22 back, but i don't know if the photo on the back of the card (with butler sporting the 22 turtleneck and helmet) are from before or after his stint with the ny metropolitans.

last card on the sheet is from upper deck's 2010 swan song, and it features the duo of clayton kershaw and matt kemp - with visible logos! it's another team checklist card in the vein of topps sets circa 1982-1984.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1986 topps jerry reuss

at number 577, 1972 topps billy grabarkewitz at number 578, 1996 upper deck collector's choice greg gagne at number 579, 1991 upper deck jose vizcaino at number 580, 1988 topps tito landrum

at number 581, 1989 donruss ricky horton at number 582, 1983 topps terry forster

at number 583, 1976 topps stan wall at number 584, and 1990 topps kal daniels at number 585.

my favorite card on the page:

bob bailey edges out orel hershiser for the honor.

final thoughts:

thanks to the smaller set sizes and relative scarcity of cards from higher numbered series, the bailey card is the last of the 1968 set to make the frankenset, and the penultimate 1960's card, period.  it's not all junk wax era from here on out, but there are far fewer sets to choose from in these lofty numbers.

frankendodger sheet 55 (cards 487-495) - nomar leads the slow clap...

here's sheet number 55 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 487-495:

and the back:

these cards are:

487. 1976 topps leron lee
488. 1983 donruss steve garvey
489. 1992 score gary carter
490. 1970 topps bill singer
491. 2010 topps rafael furcal
492. 2007 upper deck nomar garciaparra
493. 1987 topps tom lasorda
494. 1986 donruss len matuszek
495. 1959 topps johnny podres

the "no brainer" of the day:

i have no shame in adding as many steve garvey and nomar garciaparra cards as i want to this set, but i also have a penchant for players who have only one dodger card to their name.  as a result, i'd say that the 1976 topps leron lee was as close to a no brainer as this page has.

about the cards:

leron lee came to the dodgers during the 1975 season and earned this card in the 1976 topps set.  although lee stayed with the dodgers through 1976, he did not get any love from topps the following year.  maybe it was because after the dodgers released him in november of 1976, he went to japan and kicked some ass.  in his 11 seasons with lotte, he hit .320 with 283 home runs, which is 283 more home runs than he hit in his stint with the dodgers.

next up is steve garvey's 1983 donruss card. pulling this card from a pack was bittersweet for young gcrl as the garv was no longer with the dodgers when that happened.  gary carter wasn't with the dodgers either when his 1992 score card hit the streets.  i was still happy to have it, as it showed the canadian and american flags that he wore on his helmet. i thought that was a nice touch on his part.

bill singer's 1970 topps card here is a bit washed out. that was the season in which singer was coming off of a career year (he had won 20 games with a 2.34 era while throwing 315.2 innings in 1969), but missed all of may and september, and half of august. he still managed to no-hit the phillies in july, however.

rafael furcal is sporting a special holiday hat on his 2010 topps card.  it's the fourth of july hat from 2009 that the dodgers wore during their series with the padres in san diego. was that the first year of the special holiday hats? i am not a fan of the trend.

nomar is giving a slow clap on (one of) his 2007 upper deck card(s).  perhaps a fan has taken a stand against steamed dodger dogs and demanded that farmer john's eastern corn fed pork sausages be grilled as they were in the beginning.  in all seriousness, i believe that it was around 2007 when the dodgers stopped grilling the famous dodger dogs, and the fans revolted, resulting in both steamed and grilled being sold at the ballpark thereafter.

so it's two pages in a row with a tom lasorda card.  this 1987 card is a checklist, as was yesterday's, although this one is the dodgers team checklist. i mentioned in the post yesterday that i prefer my team checklists to have a team picture on the front, with perhaps a mention of the manager, but just the manager on the front is ok, too.  it beats not getting a manager card at all.

i'm not too excited about another len matuszek card in the set as i have run out of things to say about him. but, there aren't very many 1986 donruss cards here, so it is what it is.  johnny podres brings the page to its end with his 1959 topps card. podres made two starts in the '59 world series - earning the win in game 2 and getting a no-decision in the dodgers' game 6 series clinching win.

cards that didn't make the cut:

cards that i considered, but ultimately did not choose, include 2013 topps hanley ramirez

at number 487, 1971 topps jerry stephenson at number 488, 1988 topps dodgers leaders (pedro guerrero, fernando valenzuela) at number 489, 1991 topps kirk gibson at number 490, 1995 topps stadium club henry rodriguez at number 491, 1968 topps jeff torborg

at number 492, 1985 topps orel hershiser

at number 493, 1985 donruss ken landreaux at number 494, and 1981 topps dusty baker at number 495.

my favorite card on the page:

gary carter's 1992 score card is my favorite card of him as a dodger aside from his 1992 o-pee-chee tribute card.  i like it more than any other card on this page, including the garvey.

final thoughts:

i've come a long way with my steve garvey collection since pulling his cards out of donruss packs in the early 1980's.  i've not been doing a good job of keeping my collection up to date over at garvey cey russell lopes like i promised about a year ago.  i still plan to re-scan and update that post as i have picked up a number of new garvey cards in the past 12 months.  here's the latest - a 2009 topps tribute dual relic book that also features tony gwynn.

good golly miss molly, it's a fancy card.

frankendodger sheet 52 (cards 460-468) - coaches man, coaches...

here's sheet number 52 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 460-468:

and the back:

these cards are:

460. 1972 topps al downing
461. 1995 upper deck roberto kelly
462. 1983 donruss dusty baker
463. 1960 topps dodger coaches (bobby bragan, pete reiser, joe becker, greg mulleavy)
464. 1978 topps jerry grote
465. 1979 topps reggie smith
466. 1994 pinnacle cory snyder
467. 1991 topps dennis cook
468. 1986 topps mike scioscia

the "no brainer" of the day:

the coaches. no doubt about that one.

about the cards:

the 1972 topps al downing card is his first dodger card - at least, the first to show him in a dodger uniform. he also shows up on a league leader card in the 1972 set.  i was thankful to see this card and recognize it as a legitimate dodger uni, not an airbrush or hatless job. maybe being a 20-game winner gets you some respect from the card makers.

i believe the 1995 upper deck roberto kelly card that comes next in the frankenset is a 'trade' redemption card.  i don't quite recall how it worked - whether there was one redemption for all 45 cards, or several redemption cards for a few apiece, but i do recall getting at least some of the cards that way, including roberto.  speaking of trades, kelly was looking to be the next big thing in center field for the yankees until he was unseated by bernie williams.  so, the yanks sent him to the reds in exchange for paul o'neill.  other trades followed - kelly was dealt to the braves for deion sanders and then to the expos for marquis grissom. the dodgers picked him up from montreal in the henry rodriguez deal.

next up is dusty baker's 1983 donruss card.  following the bat and ball design of 1982, donruss came up with a similar bat and glove design in '83. i figured that 1984 would bring a bat and hat design, but donruss went rogue and gave us the postmark design - still my favorite donruss design of them all.  i guess they knew when to cut bait with a design theme.  i wonder if upper deck intended their trip around the bases to take four years, from 1989 through 1992, but went from second to home in 1991 so they could move on to a completely different design in '92.

and now we have the star of the page. thank you topps for making coaches cards in 1960.  it took them 13 years to do it again (and they did it in back-to-back years in 1973 and 1974), and we haven't seen them since in the flagship set.  these fine gentlemen are bobby bragan (third base coach), pete reiser (batting coach), joe becker (pitching coach), and greg mulleavy (first base coach). bragan and reiser were teammates on the dodgers in the 1940's (bragan famously wanted out of brooklyn in 1947 when jackie robinson made the team, but had his mind changed after watching robinson play and interacting with him as the season progressed).  becker was one of those catchers turned pitching coaches, and mulleavy was a near-career minor leaguer who served as a coach, scout, and minor league manager for the dodgers.

after missing out on a card in the 1977 set due to his intent to retire, jerry grote was back in 1978 - complete with an airbrushed dodger hat. he had joined the dodgers during the 1977 season after deciding to keep playing and returning to the mets to start the year. i remember grote best for being on deck in game 4 of the 1978 nlcs when bill russell won the pennant with an rbi single driving in ron cey. grote was there to greet the penguin, and i used a photo from that moment to create a card

that should have been a part of the 1979 topps set.

one card that was in the 1979 topps set was this one of reggie smith. i was pleased to see it back then as it was one of the first dodger cards i saw that year that featured an in-game photo.  it lost its appeal quickly, however, as topps used pretty much the same photo for smith in 1980

and on his 'in action' card

in 1982.  all three images may even be from the same at bat - i am pretty sure that's the case for the 1980 and 1982 cards, anyway.

cory snyder is wearing the oakley-type shades on his 1994 pinnacle card that got phil nevin into trouble with some of his teammates. i guess some astro veterans took offense to the number one pick in the draft wearing those sunglasses as a rookie, even though he had worn them in college.  nevin had been drafted by the dodgers in the 1989 draft, but did not sign.  if he had, maybe he and cory snyder would have bonded over their choice in sunglasses.

dennis cook arrives on his 1991 topps card, which is not as interesting as his 1991 upper deck card.

cook gave up just one earned run in 17.2 innings pitched in '91, and that earned him a trade to the indians.  it just so happens that it was gary carter, and not mike scioscia, who was behind the plate the day cook allowed his only run of the season (actually mike hartley allowed terry pendleton, whom cook had walked, to score).  scioscia's 1986 topps card wraps up this page in the frankenset.  that particular card marked the fifth year in a row in which scioscia was depicted on his topps flagship card in the tools of ignorance. topps would give him a break in 1987 and 1988 with photos of him at the plate, before returning to the catcher gear photo in 1989.

cards that didn't make the cut:

the list of also-rans for this page include 2014 topps matt kemp at number 460, 1967 topps bob miller at number 461, 1975 topps world series game 2 (joe ferguson)

at number 462, 2004 topps guillermo mota at number 463, 1997 fleer ultra darren dreifort at number 464, 1981 topps bill russell

at number 465, 1994 upper deck collector's choice tim wallach at number 466, 1995 topps stadium club delino deshields at number 467, and 1959 topps duke snider baseball thrills

at number 468.

my favorite card on the page:

when the coaches are present on cardboard, nothing else comes close.  should topps ever make this a more regular thing, the novelty will wear off and cards like this will become less special.  however, even if that time comes, the 1960 topps coaches card will still be my favorite on the page.

final thoughts:

hopefully this post shows up with the cards centered. i noticed yesterday that for some reason, all of my posts on this blog had all of the images aligned to the left even though they were all originally posted with them centered. i didn't change anything in the way i post or upload card images, and i don't speak html, so i have no idea what happened.  if it's not showing up the way i hoped, i could use some help in figuring things out.

frankendodger sheet 32 (cards 280-288) - with three consecutive rookies of the year...

i have updated this page since the original post ran.

here's sheet number 32 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 280-288:

and the back:

here's what the page originally looked like:

these cards are:

280. 1976 topps burt hooton
281. 2005 topps jim tracy 2004 topps jim tracy
282. 2002 leaf rookies & stars mike piazza
283. 1996 pinnacle raul mondesi
284. 1983 donruss fernando valenzuela
285. 1978 topps steve yeager
286. 1958 topps gino cimoli
287. 2009 topps greg maddux
288. 1971 topps joe moeller

the "no brainer" of the day:

i needed to get at least one jim tracy card in the set, but the no brainer here is greg maddux's 2009 topps card - it's his final tribute, after all.

about the cards:

burt "happy" hooton's first topps card as a dodger gives some insight into how he got his nickname.  hey, throwing that knuckle-curve required serious thought!  both jim tracy's 2004 and 2005 topps cards are numbered 281, and i originally went with his 2005 "opera man" card instead of the 2004  one with glenn hoffman standing next to him.  this was a mistake since i didn't include any other card of hoffman in the set and i wanted to include every dodger manager from alston on (at least). not that hoffman gets credit for being in the set, but at least i know he's there behind tracy on this card.

next up are three cards featuring dodger rookies of the year - 1993 roy mike piazza on a 2002 leaf rookies & stars award winners subset card (this card recognizes the strongest man in socal for winning the 1996 all-star game mvp award), 1994 nl roy raul mondesi on a 1996 pinnacle hardball heroes subset card that teases us with 30/30 talk on the back (mondy did go 30/30 in both 1997 and 1999 - the first dodger to do so), and 1981 nl roy fernando valenzuela on his 1983 donruss card.  looks like fernando is standing in front of the giant (world's largest, actually) green screen that exists at universal studious hollywood.

as much as i've stared at steve yeager's 1978 topps card over the years, i've never been able to figure out who it is standing behind him.  i think this was the first topps card that showed yeager in his awesome 1970's sunglasses.  bonus.

the bat has gone missing on gino cimoli's 1958 topps card, thanks to the cutting process used to get the photos on to the color block background.  at least that's my assumption.  it would be a weird pose to strike without a bat in hand.

the 2009 topps maddux card is marred a bit by the photoshopping, but it's still a nice card with a photo angle that isn't used too much. i like seeing all the red text on the back for his league leading stats, and i am happy that i made it out to the metrodome to see him pitch in 2002, even if he didn't have his best stuff that night.  it turned out to be the longest game i've ever attended - 15 innings.

just as gino cimoli's bat was missing on his card on this sheet, the ball is missing from joe moeller's hand on his 1971 topps card.  of course, the ball is just be a prop with this overused pose.  it's too bad that the photographers didn't seem to want to hang out and actually watch/photograph spring training games.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1990 leaf orel hershiser at number 280, 2004 topps jim tracy at number 281, 1999 fleer tradition eric young at number 282, 1990 upper deck mickey hatcher at number 283, 2012 topps tony gwynn jr.

at number 284, 2001 topps archives bill buckner

at number 285, 1970 topps jack jenkins/bill buckner

at number 286, 1994 score mike sharperson at number 287, and 1966 topps bill singer/don sutton at number 288.

my favorite card on the page:

the 1978 topps steve yeager card takes the title for this page. i remember hoping to pull one of these from a pack for my team set during a 7-11 run in the summer of 1978, and was not disappointed.  good times.

final thoughts:

baseball is a funny game.  raul mondesi played in over 1,500 regular season games in his career.  he also appeared in two postseasons with the dodgers - 1995 and 1996 - and one with the yankees - 2002.  in each of those appearances, his teams failed to make it out of the division series.  his son, also named raul mondesi, made his major league debut in last year's world series, and he still hasn't played in a regular season game.

frankendodger sheet 24 (cards 208-216) - maintaining garvey's streak...

here's sheet number 24 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 208-216:

and the back:

these cards are:

208. 2002 topps marquis grissom
209. 2007 topps jonathan broxton
210. 1983 donruss bill russell
211. 2015 topps archives kenley jansen
212. 2002 donruss originals don drysdale
213. 1973 topps steve garvey
214. 2010 topps matt kemp
215. 1984 donruss pat zachry
216. 1991 topps archives ultimate 1953 jim hughes

the "no brainer" of the day:

as much as i like the 2010 topps kemp card, i knew from the get-go that the drysdale card was going to be in this set.

about the cards:

another day, another garvey card. and, a second straight day seeing matt kemp, too.  plus, only two card manufacturers represented.  i haven't really been tracking that, but i'm pretty sure that we haven't had a sheet yet that consists of only one manufacturer.  anyway, marquis grissom leads off the sheet with 2002 topps and those gold borders. i doubt we will see gold borders on a base set ever again thanks to the rise of the gold parallel - even though topps made gold parallels of these gold bordered base cards.  black borders are always an option, and topps went back to them in 2007 as seen on the broxton card. that was the year i returned to my set making ways (i had been buying factory sets plus two boxes of flagship from 1994 until then), but then topps issued a factory set with five new dodger cards and i bought a factory set after all.

bill russell's 1983 donruss card is not my favorite russell card from that year (the fleer card is also in this set - on the next sheet, in fact), and it's too bad his 1983 topps card isn't number 210 because then it would precede kenley jansen's 2015 archives card that uses the 1983 topps design.  that's ok, because we have two cards with the 1984 donruss design on the sheet, starting with don drysdale's 2002 donruss originals card. beginning with some of the sets of the late 90's (fleer si greats, upper deck century legends), i was all-in for sets that featured former players.  especially sets like topps archives and all-time fan favorites and donruss originals that used older card designs for those players.  however, my favorite part of the originals release was the "what if?" cards that showed players on donruss designs that might have existed if they were making cards from 1978 to 1980.  unfortunately for me, only duke snider was included among those cards, and that was only thanks to his 1980 hall of fame induction.  no garvey for me!

garvey does show up (on the fourth sheet in a row) with his 1973 topps card.  i've written about this card before - how, with wes parker showing up, it is a 'passing the torch' kind of card like the tony perez/eric davis card from 1986 topps.  kemp's 2010 topps card is reminiscent of ken griffey jr's great 1994 upper deck card,

although the card design kind of takes away (just a little bit) from the greatness of the kemp card.

pat zachry fills the frame of his 1984 donruss card (notice there's a bit more purple in the dodger design than donruss used in 2002), and he's got the 25th los angeles dodger anniversary patch well displayed. finishing off the sheet is a card featuring a player (jim hughes) from when the dodgers were still in brooklyn, and thanks to the 1991 topps archives set we get to see the 1953 topps design in the frankenset.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i originally had a 2009 upper deck goodwin champions don newcombe card

slotted in at number 208, but then i realized that it is a short print and i didn't have a double of that card. meanwhile, i had about 10 extra grissom cards. c'est la vie.  other cards falling short for one reason or another include 1993 donruss mike piazza (rated rookie!) at number 209, 1963 topps sandy koufax (as if i had a double of that card, too) at number 210, 2009 upper deck greg maddux

at number 211, 1960 topps walt alston at number 212, 1982 topps dave stewart

at number 213, 1991 fleer eddie murray at number 214, 2012 topps archives brett butler (another short print) at number 215, and 1969 topps don sutton at number 216.

my favorite card on the page:

it's no griffey, but i do like that kemp card.

final thoughts:

seeing the jim hughes reprint here got me thinking about the topps sets (1952-1956) that featured cards too big to fit into the 9-page sheets.  i know i have cards featuring reprints or cards that never were from the 1952, 1953, and 1954 sets, but i am not sure off hand if there are 1955 and/or 1956 cards in here.  i know i considered some from the 1995 topps archives brooklyn dodgers set, but not sure if any made the final cut. i hope that some did...