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.

frankendodger sheet 66 (cards 586-594) - get your kicks...

here's sheet number 66 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 586-594:

and the back:

these cards are:

586. 1978 topps ed goodson
587. 1994 topps stadium club dave hansen
588. 2012 topps mark ellis
589. 1995 topps pedro astacio
590. 1993 donruss lenny harris
591. 1992 bowman jamie mcandrew
592. 1986 donruss franklin stubbs
593. 1974 topps steve yeager
594. 2013 topps carl crawford

the "no brainer" of the day:

i wanted to get a card from 1992 bowman into the set, seeing as how it was such a big deal. i ignored it at the time, but did go back and complete my dodger team set a few years ago.  i recall buying a pack at a card store in orange county around 1996 - the only pack i ever bought - for a high price, hoping for a piazza rookie. i got a charles johnson gold foil card, which at the time wasn't too bad. still didn't pay for the pack.  anyway, jamie mcandrew's card was not a no brainer, but the set it represents was, so that will have to do for this sheet.

about the cards:

i suppose ed goodson's 1978 topps card could have been the no brainer.  i have a history with it, trying to find an autographed copy for my modest 1978 topps dodger autograph project. i am still pretty happy about finding one and buying it before anyone else jumped on it.

it must have been a hot day in vero beach when they took the photo for dave hansen's 1994 stadium club card - there aren't too many folks in the seats.

mark ellis' 2012 topps card features some bad photoshopping of his uniform. he's a rockie (or maybe still an athletic) in the original photo.

i bought a lot of 1995 topps. maybe it was because of the strike and i needed a baseball fix. it wasn't because of the design - i didn't get the frayed edges of the photos or the font used for player names.  anyway, this pedro astacio card is the first '95 topps card in the set which says a lot about how much i don't care for it.

lenny harris is turning two on his 1993 donruss card against the braves. that is obviously david justice sliding in. it could be a play from the 5th inning of the september 7, 1992 game between the clubs - harris was at second when sid bream hit a ball to short with justice on first. the 6-4-3 double play was successful.

jamie mcandrew did not pitch for the dodgers in the big leagues.  shortly after his 1992 bowman card was released, he was taken by the colorado rockies in the 1993 expansion draft. the rockies later traded him to the brewers, and he made it to the bigs with milwaukee in 1995.

there's not much to say about franklin stubbs' 1986 donruss card, or steve yeager's 1974 topps card for that matter. we've seen plenty of cards from these sets and of these players in the set already.  yeager's card, however, has a couple of things going for it - a cartoon (steve enjoys art), and a couple of interesting facts about his experience in a game played on august 8, 1972. the card says that yeager had an extra-inning record 22 putouts in that game, and that he also had a record 24 chances in the same game. it was a 19 inning affair against the reds, and dodger pitchers struck out 22 batters accounting for yeager's putouts, and he caught two runners stealing, giving him 2 assists and 24 chances.  this game was the sixth game of yeager's big league career, and he had caught complete games in the dodgers' previous five contests. yeager caught all 19 innings of this game, and started the next day, too, although he only made it to the 7th inning.

last card on the sheet is carl crawford's 2013 topps card, which, like the ellis earlier, features some obvious photoshopping.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1996 upper deck collector's choice mike blowers

at number 586, 1984 donruss bill russell at number 587, 1989 score mario soto

at number 588, 1993 topps carlos hernandez at number 589, 1991 topps eddie murray at number 590, 1991 bowman bob ojeda at number 591, 1985 donruss ken howell at number 592, 2003 upper deck masao kida at number 593, and 1975 sspc checklist (carl erskine, ralph branca, and pee wee reese)

at number 594.

my favorite card on the page:

the goodson card has some meaning to me, but i like the hansen card the best out of this group.

final thoughts:

sheet 66 makes me think of historic route 66 and yasiel puig (and, i suppose, mario lemieux).  i've driven parts of route 66 over the years, but never made the full run from chicago to santa monica.  i have gotten some kicks, mostly in 2013, from watching yasiel puig play, but i am more and more resigned to the fact that he won't recapture that dynamic anytime soon. with the hamstring injuries and trade rumors swirling, i don't know whether puig finishes out the season as a dodger, let alone on an active roster.  we may know more later today...