frankendodger sheet 75 (cards 667-675) - johnnie b. is good...

here's sheet number 75 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 667-675:

and the back:

these cards are:

667. 1989 upper deck orel hershiser
668. 1978 topps dusty baker
669. 1989 topps dodgers leaders
670. 2002 upper deck brian jordan
671. 1979 topps joe ferguson
672. 2003 topps james loney
673. 2006 upper deck olmedo saenz
674. 1982 topps dave goltz
675. 1990 upper deck ramon martinez

the "no brainer" of the day:

the 1978 topps dusty baker was always going to be in this set.

about the cards:

orel hershiser leads off with one of his 'extra' cards from the 1989 upper deck set. this one is all about orel winning the world series mvp.  he threw a 3-hit shutout in game 2, and then pitched another complete game, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, in the game 5 clincher.

dusty baker's 1978 topps card makes me smile. it's not that johnnie b's smile is that infectious, it's just that this card stood out to me as a young collector for not featuring a posed photo, but rather a picture of a guy looking into the stands and smiling. i was confused at first because the photo is not from dodger stadium, and why on earth would a dodger be smiling while looking into the stands at candlestick park (there's a guy wearing a giants cap behind dusty), but then i figured out that carmichael, california (baker's home according to the back of the card) was near sacramento and he probably saw someone he knew in the stands. either that or someone was holding a funny sign.

the 1989 topps dodgers leaders card was the last of its kind for a while.  the team focused card had evolved from the team photo in the early 1980's to the team's statistical leaders before going awol in 1985.  topps brought it back in 1986 honoring the team's longest tenured player in 1986, and then went  to random multi-player/coach photos from 1987-1989 before having it go away altogether after that. topps eventually brought the team photo card back in 2001.  on this '89 card, we get mike scioscia, orel hershiser, and steve sax together with (i assume) alfredo griffin listening to ron perranoski (again, i assume) wax poetic about things pathetic tell orel to "smoke 'em inside" as any good pitching coach would do.  i think topps could have done better with this card, as pretty much the whole dodger team was around home plate on october 15, 1988, and that scene would have made for a better card than this.  i am guessing production schedules got in the way, as the cards were starting to come out pretty early in the late '80's and early '90's as i recall.

brian jordan's 2002 upper deck card is aesthetically pleasing to me, not because of the forgettable card design, but because of the strata of dirt, grass, fence, and foliage. it's like a layer cake of colorful goodness.

the next card is joe ferguson's 1979 topps card.  joe ferguson was, to me, kind of the odd man out on the 1978 dodgers. he rejoined the team in july of 1978 which was too late for me to consider him a true member of the team of my youth, even though i knew from studying the back of my 1978 topps ferguson card (on which he was an astro) that he had  started his career with the dodgers, and had been on the team as recently as 1976.  steve yeager was the catcher, period, and even though ferguson caught a fair number of games in 1978 and again in 1979, yeager was still my guy.  and, when ferguson played the outfield (mostly right field for the injured reggie smith), it was not enough for me to insert him into 'my' lineup that always featured smith in right.  still, i was disappointed when the dodgers released ferguson late in the 1981 season, and glad that the angels picked him up.

james loney's 2003 topps card was one of those draft pick/prospect cards that you often see and forget about.  i, on the other hand, decided to keep track of loney's progress due to the fact that the dodgers had brought in fred mcgriff to play first and i was wondering when the inevitable turnstile would stop.  loney made the bigs in 2006 (after mcgriff, shawn green, hee seop choi, and nomar garciaparra had manned first base) and stuck in 2007.  my favorite loney moment was his grand slam against the cubs in the 2008 nlds, and he has gone on to have a pretty good career.  he's with the mets now, and i don't think he will get to the postseason this year, but if he were to make it, i'd bet on him and his .354 lifetime postseason average to make some noise.

remember olmedo saenz? the killer tomato?  he also played a fair amount of first base during the jim tracy years, along with jason phillips as i recall.  saenz was largely shut out of card sets during his time with the dodgers, but the almost too large 2006 upper deck set didn't leave him out, and for that, i am grateful.

dave goltz makes another appearance with his 1982 topps card. this set has long been referred to as the hockey stick set, and i saw someone on one of the blogs (it was a comment at baseballcardbreakdown) refer to the recently debuted 2017 topps card design as having a hockey or goalie stick feel as well.

i can see that. and there is even a team logo puck on the card, too.

last card on the sheet is a 1990 upper deck ramon martinez card, with pedro's big brother ready to do some hitting!  sometimes, that turns out ok, too!

i really want to believe that the photo on the 1993 upper deck martinez card comes from his 1991 home run (the only one of his career) off of tom glavine.  it seems to work - it was a day game in late september, and brett butler was on deck when ramon hit his solo shot.  plus, i don't think ramon would be that happy if he had only scored a run. if it is indeed from that game, the dodgers' win that day put them up by a game and a half over glavine and the braves with 11 games to play.  of course, that was yet another year when the giants killed the dodgers' playoff hopes, this time by winning two out of three of the season ending series, leaving the blue one game behind the eventual national league champion braves.

cards that didn't make the cut:

2006 upper deck dioner navarro

at number 667, 1979 topps bill north (like ferguson, another guy who played a lot for the dodgers in 1978 but didn't replace rick monday in 'my' dodger lineup)

at number 668, 1990 topps tommy lasorda at number 669, 2006 upper deck kenny lofton

at number 670, 1992 bowman eric davis at number 671, 2006 upper deck nomar garciaparra at number 672, 2003 topps total paul loduca at number 673, 1993 bowman mike james at number 674, and 2006 upper deck ramon martinez (the other ramon martinez) at number 675.

my favorite card on the page:

even with some guy in a giants hat behind him, dusty baker's 1978 topps card is my favorite card on this sheet.

final thoughts:

eagle-eyed readers might notice that this set has back-to-back cards from 1989 upper deck - kirk gibson's card at 666 that we saw yesterday and orel's card at 667 up above.  i went with this rather than put the navarro card on this sheet as that would mean two 2006 upper deck cards here.  not that two cards from the same set on the same sheet is a deal breaker, but going back-to-back with '89 upper deck was more appealing due to the fact that the cards land on different sheets.  besides, showing cards from 1989 that deal with the dodgers' 1988 world championship means never having to say you're sorry.

spoiler alert - there is a sheet coming up with back-to-back cards from the same set. unless 2016 topps heritage high numbers can come to the rescue!

frankendodger sheet 74 (cards 658-666) - let's find out which upper deck number of the beast makes the set...

here's sheet number 74 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 658-666:

and the back:

[update! - i replaced card number 663 as the 1990 target dodgers were meant to be place holders. so, here's sheet number 74; front and back]

these cards are:

658. 1994 upper deck collector's choice todd hollandsworth
659. 1990 target jerry reuss
660. 1976 topps dave lopes
661. 2013 topps hyun-jin ryu
662. 1998 donruss collections preferred wilton guerrero
663. 1990 target paul richards2020 topps heritage high numbers alex wood
664. 1987 topps mike marshall
665. 1990 topps sandy koufax
666. 1989 upper deck kirk gibson

the "no brainer" of the day:

i knew that number 666 was going to be an upper deck card, and of the seven i had to choose from, the gibby was a no brainer.

about the cards:

upper deck was already over raul mondesi when they launched their collector's choice brand in 1994. while mondesi would go on to win the rookie of the year award that season, he had just a regular card in the set, and todd hollandsworth got this rookie class subset card instead.  holly would win the rookie of the year award two years later, but by then upper deck was all about karim garcia and wilton guerrero as far as dodger rookies were concerned.

it's time for another card from the 1990 target set to fill a hole. this time, it's friend of the blogging community jerry reuss.  i remember reading about reuss playing in a men's amateur baseball league following his retirement, but he was not allowed to pitch.  i played in a men's league for a few years and faced a few former minor league pitchers, and i can definitely understand amateurs not wanting to face a former big leaguer - the minor leaguers were tough enough.  i should point out that there was a card that i could have put here, but it is not the best (it's a plain fleer checklist), and knowing that reuss's target card was number 659, i chose reuss even though it puts two cards from target on this sheet.

this next card is, i believe, the final card of one of the infielders in this set. it's davey lopes's 1976 topps card.  there are no italics on the back of the card, but if there were, the stolen base totals for 1975 and 1976 would be italicized to denote the fact that lopes led the league in both of those seasons.  he finished third a couple of times later on, but never regained the top spot.  for his career, lopes ranks 26th all-time in steals and it looks to be a while before anyone bumps him to 27th.

hyun-jin ryu brings one of his multitude of 2013 topps cards to the set at number 661. this is the base version - i think there are three or four different photos for this card. it's nonsense, but i believe i have them all. i didn't pay much, but they should be even cheaper now with ryu having been injured for so long. i no longer actively chase photo variations, but may wind up getting a couple of the '42' variations in 2016 topps series 2.

1998 donruss collections returns with a preferred wilton guerrero card.  once again, these are just retooled cards from regular donruss issues, with all releases put into one set.  you have to look closely for the actual card number - it's not the number in the top corner, it's down below.

where i had an option at 659, there was no other alternative at 663 than a target card.  this one doesn't even feature a guy in a dodger uniform, as paul richards is shown in what i believe to be a white sox uniform (richards was their manager in the early 1950's and then again in 1976).  in fact, richards appeared in only three games for the 1932 brooklyn dodgers going 0 for 8 at the plate. he played for three other teams in the majors, with the last being the tigers in 1946. happy to have alex wood show up at 663 so that i could remove paul richards and his non-dodger uniform from the set. i was also happy to see wood return to the dodgers and help them win the 2020 fall classic. wood's photo here shows a bit of the 2020 all-star game patch that the dodgers wore during spring training prior to the pandemic.

mike marshall's 1987 topps card reminds me that his offensive production took a big step backwards in 1986.  he had hit 28 homers, driven in 95 runs, and posted a .293 average in 1985 - not on par with his minor league numbers, but still headed in the right direction.  in 1986, however, his average dropped by 60 points, and he played in 30 fewer games.  he rebounded a bit in 1987, getting his average back up to .294, but he never did get his slugging percentage back up to where it had been in 1985.  he had a reputation for not playing hurt, but for me, all that was forgotten with the 1988 world series and marshall's 3-run homer in game 2 to turn a 2-0 lead into 5-0 in the third inning.

it was a nice thing when topps started using old cards for the turn back the clock subsets in the late 1980's, and in 1990 we were treated to sandy koufax's 1965 card. at the time, i figured it was probably the only way that i would have that card in my collection, but i am happy to say that i was wrong.

still need one for the '65 set, though.

last card on the sheet is one of kirk gibson's 1989 upper deck cards. this one features him on his way to first base after hitting his walk-off home run in game 1 of the 1988 world series.  young gcrl is out there in the right field pavilion losing his mind and trying to take some pictures.  astute upper deck collectors noticed over the next few years that it was always a dodger at number 666 in the upper deck sets, and it was no coincidence as revealed in the 'card sharks' book. the guy who set the checklist for upper deck was a giants fan.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1974 topps lee lacy at number 658, 1988 fleer checklist at number 659, 1992 topps stadium club eric davis at number 660, 1983 topps bill russell

at number 661, 1989 upper deck kirk gibson at number 662, 1990 donruss alejandro pena at number 664, 1986 topps alejandro pena at number 665, and several upper deck flagship cards from 1990 through 1993,

and then again in 2002 and 2006

at number 666.

my favorite card on the page:

it's either the lopes or the gibson, and i have to go with world series heroics over the second baseman of the team of my youth.

final thoughts:

two of these cards are the last cards in their respective set - the 1976 topps lopes and the 2013 topps hyun-jin ryu - which drives home the point that there are not very many sets left to choose cards from. i didn't realize in 1978 that it was the first year for the 726 card set size. had i really started collecting in 1977 (i was given my first pack of cards that year), this frankenset would have ended with davey lopes up there.  as it is, we get a few more pages.

frankendodger sheet 70 (cards 622-630) - cey hey!...

here's sheet number 70 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 622-630:

and the back:

these cards are:

622. 1976 topps rick auerbach
623. 1993 score mike scioscia
624. 2008 topps joe torre
625. 1990 donruss fernando valenzuela
626. 1985 topps german rivera
627. 1992 donruss john wetteland
628. 1995 topps rafael bournigal
629. 1989 upper deck ricky horton
630. 1978 topps ron cey

the "no brainer" of the day:

1978 topps. ron cey.  'nuff said.

about the cards:

the sheet begins with a 1976 topps card of rick auerbach, who was an honorary member of the infield in 1975 after bill russell got hurt. he played in 85 total games that season (81 at short), but drove in only 12 runs.  that's not so bad when you consider that future dodger enzo hernandez drove in 12 while playing in 143 games in 1971.

mike scioscia is caught in the classic catcher pose of looking for a pop up on his 1993 score card.  at least this card depicts some real wrigley field game action.

next up is joe torre's 2008 topps card. this is one of my all-time least favorite topps flagship designs, and this particular card has just about the most bland looking photo. not that there are many options for manager photos, but still.  to make matters worse, i think torre's card in the special 55-card dodger set that topps put out that same year looks almost identical to this one.

fernando makes his second appearance of the week with a 1990 donruss card.  between this set, the 1990 donruss baseball's best set,

and 1991 fleer,

we got our fill of primary colors in the early 90's.

german rivera played a fair amount of third base for the dodgers in 1984, primarily after the dodgers moved pedro guerrero back to the outfield where he belonged.  rivera's 1985 topps card had a 'dodger rookie card' markup at my local card shop even though it was nowhere near as desired by people i knew as were the orel hershiser and sid bream cards. at any rate, that ended once rivera was traded to the astros in the middle of the season.

look at that fernando card again and realize that in two years, donruss went from that terrible design to the design seen on john wetteland's 1992 card. i actually like 1992 donruss. i am not collecting it or anything like that, but it may well be my favorite donruss set behind 1984. others in the running are 1982 (and by default 1983, i guess) and 1981.  they even adopted the score approach to the card back and put a picture on there. they weren't known for showing full career stats on the back anyway, so why not cut down on all that text.

1992 was also the year that topps put photos on the backs of their flagship cards for the first time, but those were photos of stadiums. by the time 1995 rolled around, player photos on the backs were old hat, and as you can see on this 1995 topps rafael bournigal card, topps went with a couple of photos on the back.  i like the photo on the front best, however, as it features the lower rows of one of the dodger stadium pavilions in the background.

ricky horton's 1989 upper deck card also features a dodger stadium background, as does the picture on the back. i prefer the angle of the background on horton's 1989 topps card,

however.

last but definitely not least is ron cey's magnificent 1978 topps card. this was the first ron cey card i ever saw, and i pulled it from a 15-cent pack at a 7-11 one glorious day after school.  i had this card in my collection before i had steve garvey's card, and up until i saw the garv, this was my favorite card.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i don't think there were any other non-target set options at number 625 and 628, but here are a few cards that were considered but not chosen: 1970 topps don sutton

at number 622, 2014 topps chad billingsley at number 623, 1980 topps lerrin lagrow

at number 624, 1992 topps stadium club steve wilson at number 626, 1992 topps mike sharperson at number 627, 1998 upper deck paul konerko at number 629, and 1974 topps traded tommie agee

at number 630.

my favorite card on the page:

it's cey's card by a mile.

final thoughts:

steve garvey was my favorite player, but i had ron cey's sports illustrated poster hanging in my room. i also had his 1978 o-pee-chee card pinned on my wall.  cey and dusty baker once signed a program for me before a game at dodger stadium, and i put that program cover up on my wall, too.  i was a big fan of the penguin.