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.

frankendodger sheet 2 (cards 10-18) - insert the inserts...

here's sheet number 2 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 10-18:

and the back:

these cards are:

10. 1973 topps don sutton
11. 2000 upper deck eric gagne
12. 1968 topps game claude osteen
13. 1990 mother's cookies dodgers kirk gibson
14. 2008 donruss threads carl erskine
15. 2003 topps stadium club shawn green
16. 1992 donruss eric karros
17. 1970 topps booklet bill singer
18. 1992 upper deck pedro martinez

the "no brainer" of the day:

for this sheet, there really isn't a card here that i knew had to be in the set, but i did want to get don sutton in as soon as possible.  as the only hall of famer from the team of my youth, he deserved a spot early on.

about the cards:

i wasn't sure i was going to use inserts in this set, but here we have two of them on the second sheet!  i have quite a few copies of the osteen card (including one in my double play binder), but not as many as i have of the tommy davis card from that insert set.  davis is hatless on the set, and so his team affiliation is unclear and i suppose many folks think of him as a dodger and send the card my way.  however, davis was included in the flagship set that year as a member of the white sox, so let's send those cards to 2x3 heroes instead.

the other insert implied by the title is the bill singer booklet in all of its diamond cut glory.

there are a lot of pitchers on this sheet (with erskine bringing the first unlicensed card to the set), along with a rookie of the year, and a guy who was at one time my favorite dodger.

cards that didn't make the cut:

with the players and sets featured on the first sheet off the board, there were less cards to choose from - and there are a bunch of piazza cards that would have fit on this sheet.  a few cards that did receive some consideration here included osteen's 1971 topps and/or o-pee-chee card at number 10 (but he lost out to sutton), arky vaughn's 1960 fleer card at number 11, the 1967 topps jim campanis/bill singer rookie at number 12, jody reed's 1994 topps stadium club card and willie keeler's 2012 panini cooperstown card at number 13, a sweet 1982 cracker jack duke snider oddball card at number 15, and a 1960 leaf jim gilliam card at number 18.  all gave way to what you see above for one reason or another.  in fact, the reed card was in the set up until last month when i juggled a couple cards around to make room for a new card number 24.  i'll tell that story in the next post.

my favorite card on the page:

had it not been bumped for the gibson, the aforementioned jody reed card may have taken the prize for this sheet.  after all, it's a double play turn in dodger stadium. what's not to like?  however, given the nine cards that made the sheet, i'll go with the card that replaced reed.  a kirk gibson action shot during a day game in dodger stadium.  it's nice.

final thoughts:

i think there are a total of three parallel cards later on in the set, but the osteen and singer cards are the only true inserts in my frankenset.