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 68 (cards 604-612) - don't sweat it...

here's sheet number 68 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 604-612:

and the back:

these cards are:

604. 1992 topps chris gwynn
605. 1979 topps rick monday
606. 1981 fleer steve garvey
607. 1988 topps mickey hatcher
608. 1991 bowman tom goodwin
609. 1982 topps rick sutcliffe
610. 1983 topps steve garvey
611. 1994 topps todd worrell
612. 2006 topps dodgers team

the "no brainer" of the day:

that would be steve garvey's last topps flagship card of him as a dodger.

about the cards:

chris gwynn could have been on this sheet twice instead of garvey, but i only gave him one spot. i chose sweaty chris gwynn and his 1992 topps card to start the sheet rather than use his 1989 upper deck card a couple of spots later.

rick monday was hitting .292 with 13 homers and 39 rbi heading into july of 1978 when he was voted in by the fans to start the all-star game for the national league. by the end of july, he was hitting .258 and still had 13 homers and 39 rbi. still, he was able to secure the all-star banner on his 1979 topps card thanks to his decent first half and the ballot-stuffing dodger fans.

it was pretty cool for a dodger and steve garvey fan to open packs of 1981 fleer and find out that the garv had two cards in the set.  this one was part of what would become the 'superstar special' subset in later fleer releases, and it recognizes garvey for having the most hits in the national league in 1980.  or, as fleer puts it, "most hits nl".  willie wilson also got an extra card in '81 fleer, as he led all players in hits with 230 (30 more than garvey) as well as in runs scored.

mickey hatcher was ok during the 1988 regular season, but his 1988 topps card here reminds me of his world series heroics that year.  after hitting .293 with one home run in the regular season, hatcher hit .368 with 2 home runs in 5 games against the a's.  had hershiser not been lights out in two games, i am sure that hatcher would have been the mvp of the series.

tom goodwin's 1991 bowman card features the future dodger double dipper wearing the always cool dual-ear flap helmet.  cards like this made me feel closer to the big leagues thanks to the helmets i wore while playing baseball. steve garvey even wore the dual-ear flaps a few times.

rick sutcliffe's 1982 topps card was his last as a dodger, as he had been traded to the indians in december of 1981. all he did after that was lead the american league in era in '82 and then win the cy young in '84 after being traded to the cubbies. speaking of last topps cards as a dodger, here's steve garvey's 1983 flagship card.  at least garvey got the o-pee-chee team and text variation treatment that year, while sutcliffe's 1982 opc card was too far along when the trade was made for the good canadian card makers to slap on the 'traded' text and different team affiliation.

todd worrell was still on his way back from injury when he signed with the dodgers for the 1993 season. he missed a fair chunk of the early '93 campaign which is reflected in the stats on the back of his 1994 topps card.  by 1995, worrell was back to his old self, and he set the dodger single season record for saves - a mark he broke the following year.

final card on the page is the 2006 topps dodger team card. these are your wild card winning dodgers who got swept out of the nlds by the mets, except the card uses the team photo from 2005 so jim tracy is still there instead of grady little, along with other missing players.

cards that didn't make the cut:

2014 topps clayton kershaw at number 604, 1978 topps rick rhoden

at number 605, 1991 topps jim gott at number 606, 1989 upper deck chris gwynn

at number 607, 2009 topps heritage jon garland at number 608, 1991 bowman darryl strawberry at number 609, 1984 topps steve sax at number 610, 2005 topps brad penny at number 611, and 1991 upper deck dennis cook

at number 612.

my favorite card on the page:

i like the 'bonus' 1981 fleer garvey card, and his 1983 topps card also has meaning, but my favorite here is the rick monday card due to the all-star banner.

final thoughts:

that is a lot of pink/purple for the dodgers, even if the bowman design was the same for all teams. night owl did a study and noted this pink dodger phenomenon that thankfully ended with the 1988 set. let's hope it stays that way.

frankendodger sheet 62 (cards 550-558) - is the plural of martinez martini?...

here's sheet number 62 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 550-558:

and the back:

these cards are:

550. 1992 topps darryl strawberry
551. 2011 topps marcus thames
552. 2014 topps yasiel puig
553. 2007 topps ramon martinez
554. 1994 score pedro martinez
555. 2010 upper deck dodger stadium
556. 1989 score rick dempsey
557. 1981 donruss don stanhouse
558. 1977 topps elias sosa

the "no brainer" of the day:

the strawberry card came to mind before the dodger stadium card (it is one of my favorites, after all), so it qualifies as today's no brainer.

about the cards:

the sheet starts out with four straight running men.  darryl strawberry's 1992 topps card is pretty classic, with the straw rounding third at shea stadium.  next, short-time dodger marcus thames is running out of the batter's box on his 2011 topps card. thames was signed by the dodgers prior to the 2011 season, and lasted with the club just until the middle of july that season.  he returned to the yankees, but didn't make it back to the bigs after his stint in los angeles.

yasiel puig is running around the bases at dodger stadium on this 2014 topps card that doubles as a checklist. puig is honored for having the 2nd most hits in a debut month in history.  of course, the card doesn't tell you that the top spot on that list belongs to joe dimaggio, but that's why i'm here.

last running man is ramon martinez (but not that ramon martinez) on his 2007 topps card. ramon e. martinez played for the dodgers in both 2006 and 2007, and although their careers overlapped, this ramon never faced the other ramon.  the other ramon's brother, pedro, did face this ramon.  this ramon was 0 for 3 with a walk against the hall of famer who is the second martinez (martini?) to make this sheet courtesy of his 1994 score card.

next up is the dodger stadium card from 2010 upper deck. this card is not as bad as some of the other stadiums (the target field card is literally a photo taken from the street (7th street to be exact) during construction), and it offers up a view not previously seen on a card.  it's too bad that the photo was cropped so that we don't get to see the full eric gagne banner, but we still see the windows of the stadium club restaurant and the back of the right field pavilion, along with some palm trees.  no palm trees at target field, by the way.

rick dempsey's 1989 score card features the dodger backup catcher in away grays that almost blend into the background.  my favorite rick dempsey card is his 1989 upper deck card. will it be in the frankenset? maybe.

following dempsey is a former oriole teammate of his, don stanhouse.  stanhouse's 1981 donruss card is my favorite of his dodger cards - there are only three mainstream cards to choose from - due to its high school yearbook look.  it's kinda zany.  stanhouse was coming off of two good seasons as the orioles' closer (although he did not have a good postseason in 1979) when the dodgers signed him as a free agent for the 1980 season.  stan the man unusual gave up four runs in his first game as a dodger, and missed most of the summer due to injury.  he was released at the start of the 1981 season, which was way too late to keep him out of the topps, fleer, and donruss sets - thankfully.

last up is a 1977 topps elias sosa card.  sosa is probably best known for being one of the dodger pitchers (along with burt hooton and charlie hough) to give up a home run to reggie jackson in game 6 of the 1977 world series.  that was the last pitch sosa threw as a dodger.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1959 topps roy campanella

at number 550, 1974 topps von joshua at number 551, 1991 topps jeff hamilton at number 552, 1970 topps jim lefebvre

at number 553, 1991 topps stadium club greg smith at number 554, 1983 topps steve yeager

at number 555, 1995 topps stadium club hideo nomo at number 556, 1993 topps pedro martinez at number 557, and 1991 upper deck jay howell at number 558.

my favorite card on the page:

daaaaaaaaaaa-rryl!

final thoughts:

the dodgers have had two ramon martinezes (martini?) two mike marshalls, two mike ramseys, two reggie williamses and most recently two roberto hernandezes (including the one that once was known as fausto carmona) but if you go back far enough in franchise history, there have been two dick egans, two bill harts, two jim hickmans, two jim hughes, and two jack ryans as well.  this doesn't count the two dick schofields and two ivan dejesuses because those were father/son combos.

frankendodger sheet 41 (cards 361-369) - with bill and ted and a not so excellent cartoon...

here's sheet number 41 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 361-369:

and the back:

these cards are:

361. 2000 fleer tradition todd hollandsworth
362. 1994 leaf todd worrell
363. 1992 topps john candelaria
364. 1966 topps nate oliver
365. 1967 topps john roseboro
366. 1977 topps ted sizemore
367. 1997 upper deck collector's choice chan ho park
368. 1973 topps bill buckner
369. 1970 topps alan foster

the "no brainer" of the day:

there is not really an obvious choice here, but the closest thing to a no brainer on this page would be the 1977 topps sizemore card, i think.  it's the only card we have of the 1969 rookie of the year from his second time around with the dodgers.

about the cards:

fleer kind of ripped off the 1954 topps design with their 2000 tradition release, and then they used the 1956 topps design the following year before realizing that they had some designs of their own they could use.  i'm not a big fan of this particular hollandsworth card - i think the green is too bright - but i had a double of it and it fit in the set.

the 1994 leaf card is todd worrell's first entry in the set. two todds in a row, and two rookies of the year in a row, too.  worrell was, to me, the first modern closer that the dodgers employed, and he was the one who broke jim brewer's team saves record (since surpassed by jeff shaw, eric gagne, and now kenley jansen).  just like the front of hollandsworth's card gives us mini holly and giant holly, the back of worrell's card gives us a giant worrell in dodger stadium.  i appreciate the use of chavez ravine as the background for the back of the card, but i don't need it to be obscured by a third picture of worrell.

the back of john candelaria's 1992 topps card should also have a picture of dodger stadium on it, but for the fact that the candy man has too many rows of stats.  this is partially due to the fact that topps gives a separate row to each team for which candelaria pitched each year, so there are a few seasons with a couple of rows.  i prefer this approach to stats on the back as opposed to combining stats for different teams, probably because this is the way topps did it (and still does).

with their 1966 topps and 1967 topps cards, respectively, nate oliver and john roseboro give us a look at the evoluton of topps design from one year to the next.  there aren't too many instances in this set where we go chronologically in order from one year to the next. for the record, i prefer the 1967 design to the 1966 design.

i mentioned above that the 1977 topps ted sizemore card is the only one produced showing him as a dodger following the trade between the dodgers and cardinals in march of 1976 that sent willie crawford to st. louis.  that trade occurred too late, i guess, for sizemore's sspc card to be changed or for a topps traded card to be made.  by the time this card was issued, however, sizemore was playing for the phillies.  he was on the field for the phils in game 3 of the 1977 nlcs (aka 'black friday'), and it was his 9th inning fielding error on greg luzinski's throw (the ball skipped away from sizemore) that allowed manny mota to go to third where he scored on davey lopes' infield single.  it's too bad, but i'm glad the dodgers won.

chan ho park shows off some spring training bullpen stuff on his 1996 upper deck collector's choice card.  it's the kind of photo that a fan might take while walking around dodgertown in the mid 1990's, and i like that.  i also like the dodger stadium background in the photo on the back.  no giant chan ho, either.

bill buckner is also at spring training on his 1973 topps card, but he's not posing for a fan.  billy buck is wearing a first baseman's glove as he was wes parker's heir apparent, but we all know now that he eventually moved to the outfield to make way for steve garvey.  the only bad thing about this card is the cartoon on the back:

buckner was born in the north bay - vallejo, to be exact - and attended high school in napa, so his fandom for the giants makes sense. still, i imagine the original owner of this card being disturbed by this fact and taking a red marker to the cartoon to express their disgust.

the last card on the page is alan foster's 1970 topps card.  the cartoon on the back of foster's card notes that he received a $100,000 bonus to sign with the dodgers in 1965. that's a better cartoon.

cards that didn't make the cut:

for whatever reason, some of the cards that i passed on for this page include 2001 upper deck vintage dodgers rookies (mike judd, hiram bocachica, and luke prokopec) at number 361, 1982 donruss terry forster at number 362, 1961 topps john roseboro at number 363, 1959 topps danny mcdevitt

at number 364, 1999 topps raul mondesi

at number 365, 1985 fleer dave anderson at number 366, 2014 topps brian wilson

at number 367, 1974 topps manny mota at number 368, and 1994 pinnacle brett butler at number 369.

my favorite card on the page:

chan ho park's 1996 collector's choice card is my favorite here.  something about the background and the design of the card.

final thoughts:

we are halfway through the set already.  this seems like a good spot to thank people for following along so far, and for reading, commenting, and continuing to trade cards with me.  it is much appreciated!

frankendodger sheet 29 (cards 253-261) - lasorda goes for a jog...

here's sheet number 29 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 253-261:

and the back:

these cards are:

253. 1977 topps john hale
254. 1989 o-pee-chee mickey hatcher
255. 1979 topps tommy john
256. 2003 topps omar daal
257. 2008 topps update casey blake
258. 1958 topps carl erskine
259. 1978 topps dodger team
260. 1981 topps ron cey
261. 1992 topps tom lasorda

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are a few cards that could hold this distinction, but the 1992 lasorda was a bit more of a sure thing for this set than any of them.

about the cards:

there were times as a young collector that i doubted whether the john hale on that 1977 topps card was the same john hale on this 1978 topps card

the stats on the back told me they were the same person, but i was thrown by the mustache.  i also believed that the curl in superman's hair was enough of a disguise to convince people that he wasn't clark kent.

1989 o-pee-chee, which brings us the only non-topps card of the page, was a godsend for dodger fans who were ticked off at not having any postseason cards in the 1982 sets, and were worried that 1989 would go by without recognizing the impossible that happened in october of 1988.  fleer and o-pee-chee came through for us, and so mickey hatcher's heroics live on in cardboard form.

the 1979 topps tommy john card was his last card as a dodger, and i am grateful for it.  topps also made a card of john as a yankee for the 1979 burger king set, and o-pee-chee did their text and team variation magic as well.  john's departure gave rick sutcliffe a chance, so it wasn't all bad in 1979.  another lefty, omar daal was 6-3 in 99 games (all in relief) for the dodgers during his first run in dodger blue, despite an era over 5 and a whip of 1.71.  he returned for the 2002 season and was used primarily as a starter, going 11-9 with a 3.90 era and 1.21 whip in 39 games, 23 of which were starts.

i knew of casey blake from his two stints with the twins in the early 2000's, but sort of stopped paying attention once the twins fully committed to corey koskie at third and released blake.  he wound up playing for the indians for a few seasons before ned colletti sent carlos santana and jon meloan to cleveland for blake during the 2008 season. clearly not the biggest acquisition that season (hello, manny ramirez), but blake held down the hot corner for the two nlcs runs the dodgers made in that season and the next.

i thought about sending this extra 1958 carl erskine card off to oisk to be signed, but i am glad i did not so it can sit here in the frankenset. on april 18, 1958 erskine started and won the first ever regular season game that the dodgers played in los angeles so it's good to have his card from that year here to represent.

i have said many times over the course of my blogging that the 1978 topps set was the first set that i actively bought packs of, the first set that i collected and completed, and the set that i hold most dear.  the 1978 topps dodgers were the focus of many a post at garvey cey russell lopes. when i first found this checklist card in a pack, i had probably a third of the individual player cards, and i spent a lot of time looking at the players in the team photo figuring out who was who and why not everyone on the front was listed on the back.  one of my favorite cards, to be sure.

just like erskine's 1958 card being historically significant, any 1981 ron cey card immediately brings to my mind the 1981 world series and cey's game 3 heroics - his first inning home run and his eighth inning diving catch of bobby murcer's bunt attempt - that led to his winning a third of the world series mvp award. great memories for me.

finally, we have tommy lasorda's fantastic 1992 topps card.  lasorda is shown with gary carter, kevin gross, john candelaria, orel hershiser, and bobby ojeda out for a spring training jog.  little did tommy know that he was in for a historically bad season that year.  bonus for the larger photo of dodger stadium on the back, too!

cards that didn't make the cut:

i considered using the 1993 donruss triple play card that features todd worrell and tim wallach (and jody reed on the back)

at number 253, but i sent all of my dupes of that card to a certain lawyer in new mexico.  other cards that fell short of the frankenset include tom lasorda's 1989 topps card at number 254, dusty baker's 1980 topps card

at number 255, 1987 donruss opening day dodger logo/checklist at number 256, 1992 leaf todd benzinger at number 257, 2011 topps update andre ethier at number 258, 1995 topps stadium club tim wallach

at number 259, 1967 topps jim lefebvre at number 260, and 2013 panini hometown heroes yasiel puig at number 261.

my favorite card on the page:

as happy as i was to find out that o-pee-chee made cards for the 1988 world series, the 1978 topps dodger team card is too near and dear to my heart to not be my favorite card on the page.

final thoughts:

before justin turner came along, casey blake's beard was the best known dodger facial hair. mike over at the left field pavilion had some "in beard we trust" shirts made up that caught on a bit.  today, no one would even look twice at blake's beard as brian wilson begat sean doolittle, etc.

frankendodger sheet 26 (cards 226-234) - getting carried away with russell...

here's sheet number 26 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 226-234:

and the back:

these cards are:

226. 1971 topps bill russell
227. 2007 upper deck first edition wilson betemit
228. 1979 topps vic davalillo
229. 1991 leaf jim gott
230. 2006 topps heritage jason phillips
231. 1964 topps dick calmus
232. 2010 topps national chicle roy campanella
233. 1992 topps mitch webster
234. 1960 topps don demeter

the "no brainer" of the day:

once i knew which cards were available to me for this sheet, bill russell's second year card was a lock for the first spot.

about the cards:

now bill russell is on a streak of consecutive sheets.  this page features his second year card with a photo from spring training in 1969.  we know this by the colorful holman stadium seats and the mlb anniversary patch on his sleeve, although it is conceivable that the photo is from 1970 if the dodgers re-used their uniforms during spring training as they did in back in 1938.  wilson betemit makes his frankenset debut with his 2007 first edition card. betemit spent about a year with the dodgers, coming at the trade deadline in 2006 and leaving at the trade deadline in 2008.

vic davalillo was plucked by the dodgers from the mexican league in 1977 after a two-year absence from the majors.  he paid dividends as a pinch-hitter with a two-out bunt to start the game winning rally in the 9th inning of game 3 of the 1977 nlcs against the phillies.  his 1979 card is his last card from topps, even though he played for the dodgers into the 1980 season.

jim gott was a pretty good reliever for the dodgers, especially if you ignore his final season with the club (1994). from 1990-1993, gott had an era of 2.36 in 235 games. opponents hit just .237 with an ops of .637 against him in that span, and he allowed just 31% of his inherited runners to score.  however, as his 1991 leaf card shows, he's still wearing bobby welch's number as far as i am concerned.

jason phillips was one of jim tracy's legion of ja(y)sons - phillips, werth, grabowski, and repko - that received a fair amount of playing time in their 91 loss 2005 season.  phillips was with the blue jays and tracy was out of a job by the time his 2006 heritage card was issued.  i still do not know what is going on in the background of dick calmus's 1964 topps card, but i am obligated to tell you, in light of recent events, that calmus was younger than julio urias when he started a game for the dodgers in 1963.

horizontal campanella from the 2010 national chicle set is a nice card with the brooklyn bridge in the background.  the card almost makes me forget that we have seen that campy swing image on so many cards from topps.  mitch webster is wearing don sutton's jersey on his 1992 topps card, which is not a bad card, nor is it a bad thing that the dodgers were allowing others to wear sutton's number up until his election to the hall of fame. what doesn't make sense (to me) is jason grabowski wearing steve garvey's number (no offense meant, jason) or no one wearing fernando's number 34, but not officially retiring it.

finally, we have don demeter for whom topps finally used a new photo instead of recycling the one they used in 1958

and 1959 (not pictured, but you get the idea).

cards that didn't make the cut:

i could have used, but i chose not to use the following cards (among others) on this sheet: 1984 donruss dusty baker at number 226, 1990 score jay howell at number 227, 1978 topps manny mota

at number 228, 1996 pinnacle raul mondesi at number 229, 1977 o-pee-chee rick monday

at number 230, 1981 topps joe beckwith at number 231, 1989 topps ricky horton featuring a similar, but better shot than ramon martinez's card that was on yesterday's sheet

at number 232, 1998 fleer ultra paul konerko at number 233, and 1988 donruss baseball's best jesse orosco at number 234.

my favorite card on the page:

today it's between russell and campanella.  i'll go with campy today because i feel a bit more artsy. had the rick monday opc card made the sheet (meaning, if i had a third copy of it), it would have been my favorite in a runaway.

final thoughts:

i think topps whiffed on 2006 heritage. the colors seem to be too washed out compared to many from the original 1957 set.  they did pretty well with 2009 heritage, as the cards look a lot like the demeter above.  it's too bad that they used so many pictures from holman stadium for the dodgers, though.

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.