Showing posts with label 2002 topps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2002 topps. Show all posts
Thursday, July 7, 2016
frankendodger sheet 49 (cards 433-441) - who wore it better?...
here's sheet number 49 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 433-331:
433. 1992 the sporting news conlon collection burleigh grimes
434. 1974 topps ken mcmullen
435. 1977 topps maury wills
436. 2000 bowman alex cora
437. 2002 topps terry mulholland
438. 1992 pinnacle todd benzinger
439. 1976 topps rick rhoden
440. 1978 topps dave lopes
441. 2011 topps rafael furcal
the "no brainer" of the day:
obviously, the 1978 topps dave lopes was a part of this set about 1 second after i started putting it together - it's the first card i ever saw of the second baseman of the infield of my youth.
about the cards:
the purpose of the conlon grimes card is to relay a "great" story to us. with grimes, that more than likely means it will be about the spitball, and it is. apparently, his saliva was tainted with the bark of a 'slippery elm'. he also wants us to know that he was a pitcher - not just a spitball pitcher.
for the first time in 9 years, ken mcmullen is wearing a dodger uniform on a topps card. he was listed as a dodger on his 1973 topps card, but is almost certainly wearing an angels jersey. on his 1965 topps card, he is listed as a senator, but again, i would guess he is really wearing a dodger uni. either way, this card is the first time since 1964 - his first solo card - that we can definitely tell he is wearing dodger blue. 1974 was a tough year for mcmullen as his wife passed away early in the year (that's why the dodgers wore black armbands the night that hank aaron hit 715).
we haven't seen a turn back the clock subset from topps in quite a while. there was the 'golden moments' subset in 2001 that was kind of the same thing, although not limited to things that happened multiples of 5 years prior. this one, from 1977, went 15 years into the past to celebrate maury wills and his record 104 stolen bases. it took wills 165 games to reach that total (he had 100 after 162 games), and 3 of his steals came in the final game of the season. tied after the first two games of the three game playoff against the giants, the dodger bullpen couldn't close out the 9th with a 2-run lead, and wills and the dodgers lost the pennant, with old nemesis don larsen scavenging the win in relief. i am happy to report that the photo topps used is wills' 104th steal of the season, and just after this photo was taken, he ran home to score on the errant throw by the catcher.
not much to say about a 2000 bowman alex cora card, so we'll just move on to terry mulholland's 2002 topps card. i really appreciate cards like this, so thanks topps. this card features mulholland who joined the dodgers during the 2001 season in a deadline deal, in an actual photo from his time with the dodgers that season. no airbrushing, no hatless spring training photo, just a real photo. we also know that this image comes from a post-9/11 game due to the flag patch on the side of mulholland's hat. it's a uniform detail that didn't get much exposure in 2002 sets and so this card stands out. now, as much as i like this card and the image used, i hope we are not inundated with cards next year featuring photos from this season's july 4 games with what i thought were terrible hats and unis.
i get 1992 pinnacle and 1993 pinnacle mixed up. to make matters worse, both years featured the "idols" subset - one of my favorite subsets of the 1990's. i know that this card is from 1992, however, because benzinger didn't get a card from pinnacle in 1993 despite playing in 121 games for the dodgers in '92. of course he only hit .239 over the course of those games, so the only people who missed him were team collectors like your truly.
there was a fair amount of coverage in baseball circles of madison bumgarner batting in an american league park in lieu of the designated hitter the other day. it's understandable, and the same thing happened when rick rhoden was the yankees' designated hitter in a game during the 1988 season. it's one thing to be a good hitting pitcher on a national league team that doesn't carry a dh and another to be a good hitting pitcher on an american league team that does carry a dh. i'm sure there were circumstances influencing billy martin's decision, but it was still a notable lineup decision. as for the card, this 1976 topps rhoden is his first solo topps card, and the one that features the most action - all of his dodger cards produced by topps were posed shots.
did you know that dave lopes was one of my favorite players? that he was the second baseman on the team of my youth? that he is one-fourth of the namesake of my original blog? that the 1978 topps set is my favorite of all time? probably. the only thing that could make lopes' 1978 topps card better would be for it to have the all-star shield (joe morgan earned it instead of lopes, who wasn't an all-star in 1977) or for it to feature a double play photo. lopes finally got one of those from topps as part of an autographed insert set
rafael furcal has had a few double play cards, and this 2011 topps card is a pretty good one. the horizontal crop makes for a good dp, and the colorful fence of at&t park adds some flair. it's too bad that topps changed furcal from a shortstop to an outfielder
cards that didn't make the cut:
the options are ever dwindling the higher the card number, but some other cards considered for this page did include 1996 fleer chad fonville at number 433, 2015 topps carlos frias at number 434, 2015 topps original buyback 1958 topps ed roebuck (i do have a double)
my favorite card on the page:
there are quite a few cards that i like here, but my favorite on this page is, somewhat predictably, the 1978 topps dave lopes card.
final thoughts:
i chose the wills card over the roebuck pretty easily, even though i am a sucker for those 2015 buybacks. it's worth noting that roebuck was the losing pitcher in that winner-take-all game in 1962. he relieved johnny podres in the 6th inning with the dodgers down 2-1, no outs, and the bases loaded. he got two groundouts, including a double play, to escape unscathed. the dodgers took a 3-2 lead the following inning and roebuck threw scoreless frames in the 7th and 8th. in the 9th, however, he recorded just one out while allowing two walks and two hits, including an rbi single to willie mays that knocked him out of the game. stan williams and ron perranoski finished out the 9th, but all of the runners they inherited from roebuck scored. the giants went on to lose the 1962 world series, just as they had done in 1951 after beating the dodgers in extra games to win the pennant. that's what the san francisco giants used to do in world series - lose. now, i am beginning to really dislike even numbered seasons.
i almost forgot - the title of the post refers to the fact that both rhoden and benzinger wore number 36 for the dodgers, and both lopes and furcal wore number 15. there should be no surprise that i consider rhoden and lopes as the keepers of those numbers in dodger lore, even though the likes of don newcombe, frank robinson, and greg maddux all wore 36, too. that's the power of the team of my youth.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
frankendodger sheet 42 (cards 370-378) - batmen and robin...
here's sheet number 42 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 370-378:
and the back:
these cards are:
370. 1976 topps ron cey
371. 2002 topps chad kreuter
372. 1981 topps jay johnstone
373. 1979 topps lance rautzhan
374. 2013 topps heritage luis cruz
375. 1958 topps pee wee reese
376. 1975 o-pee-chee steve yeager
377. 2004 topps robin ventura
378. 1985 fleer tom niedenfuer
the "no brainer" of the day:
lance rauthzhan had just one solo card as a dodger, and as a member of the team of my youth, his 1979 topps card was guaranteed a spot in the set.
about the cards:
ron cey lets his hat hair shine on his 1976 topps card. cey was the starting third baseman for the national league in the all-star game for the second year in a row, but the voters would give pete rose the nod in '76. the dodger voting contingent showed up in 1977, however, and got cey his all-star recognition back in time for the 1978 topps set.
chad kreuter's 2002 topps card reminds me of the time when he went into the stands at wrigley field after a fan stole his hat off of his head. that happened in 2000, kreuter's first year with the dodgers.
on the other hand, jay johnstone's 1981 topps card reminds me of the time that he hit a pinch-hit home run in game 4 of the 1981 world series to cut the yankees' lead in the game to one and get the dodgers on the path to victory. johnstone was cut by the team the following may, but he's still a dodger world series hero.
speaking of the postseason, lance rautzhan was the winning pitcher in the 'black friday' game in the 1977 nlcs against the phillies. i was looking forward to a solo rautzhan card in 1978 following his postseason appearances, but he received a four-in-one rookie card instead. i was happy to find this card in the 1979 topps release, but by then i had turned my attention to finding a bob welch card instead. rautzhan passed away earlier this year and i was flattered that jon weisman used the 1978 topps card that i created for his news release on dodgers insider.
luis cruz was part of the crew that tried to hold down third base for the dodgers in 2012. cruz, coming back to the big leagues after some time in the mexican league, manned the hot corner for the dodgers that year along with adam kennedy and juan uribe, but he also spent time at shortstop. he hit just under .300 with 20 doubles in a total of 78 games that season, but his 2013 was not as productive and he was released by the club in july. i prefer cruz's 2013 topps flagship card
to this heritage card, but only one of them is number 374.
so nice to have a dupe of a vintage pee wee reese card. and, this 1958 topps card being his final card makes it even better. it's too bad it's not a true final tribute, but topps wasn't into that back then. i think we can all rest assured that there will be plenty of david ortiz cards in 2017 product. for now, let's just add a 1959 pee wee reese card to the long list of cards that should have been and hopefully will eventually be made by topps someday.
i had a double of steve yeager's 1975 topps card, but then discovered that i also had a dupe of his 1975 o-pee-chee card, so guess which one made the set? the canadian card even has a stain on the back, no doubt from some backbacon grease or perhaps condensation from an ice cold labbatt's. i should point out that yeager is also proof that not all folks with 'wayne' as a middle name are bad people.
and now we've arrived at robin ventura's fantastic 2004 topps card. it is one of my favorites from the set, thanks to jeromy burnitz pointing at home plate in the background and the fact that it documents ventura's inside the park home run hit against the braves on august 3, 2003. i started following ventura's career when he was at oklahoma state thanks to some common ties although i had been aware of him for a couple years before he left for college. when he joined the dodgers in 2003, i was pleased, but had the distinct feeling that it was too little, too late. you see, while the dodgers were trying to fill the hole at third base that they created by trading ron cey away earlier in the decade, they passed on ventura in the 1988 draft. instead, they took bill bene with the 5th pick and let ventura fall to the white sox at 10. for the record, the dodgers also passed on ed sprague who proved to be a serviceable third baseman for a few seasons and so were left to feature jeff hamilton, mike sharperson, lenny harris, dave hansen, tim wallach, mike blowers, and todd zeile (among others) at third before adrian beltre kind of settled things down. when ventura made it to la, he wound up playing mostly first base, although he did get to pitch in a game with the dodgers (and i was really hoping for a 'pressed into service' card from topps in series 2 of this year's flagship release). maybe in update? please?
the last card here is tom niedenfuer's 1985 topps card, on which the dodger reliever does a fine job of suttoning. 1985 was not a good year for niedenfuer, at least as far as dodger fans remember, thanks to a couple of pitches in the nlcs, but he set career highs in saves, innings pitched, and strikeouts that season. i'm not going to harp on niedenfuer for what happened against the cardinals in '85, because i can't really complain about the team winning two world series titles in the 1980's. i will mention, however, that niedenfuer was only part of the 1981 team - in fact, he was the guy for whom jay johnstone pinch-hit in game 4 against the yankees.
cards that didn't make the cut:
1985 fleer pedro guerrero at number 370, 1998 topps roger cedeno at number 371, 1998 pacific online thomas howard
at number 372, 1999 fleer tradition carlos perez at number 373, 1993 o-pee-chee todd worrell
at number 374, 1978 topps tommy john
at number 375, 1991 bowman eddie murray at number 376, 1990 upper deck john wetteland at number 377, and 1989 score jay howell at number 378.
my favorite card on the page:
robin ventura's 2004 topps card wins today with its iphr action and lurking burnitz.
final thoughts:
so here's a case where a classic vintage card (reese) trumps a significant dodger card (john) from my favorite set ever. on a side note, john probably makes the brady bunch page (although his shoulders are turned) in bobby's spot. or maybe mike brady's spot. it depends on whether john is checking out alice or jan.
370. 1976 topps ron cey
371. 2002 topps chad kreuter
372. 1981 topps jay johnstone
373. 1979 topps lance rautzhan
374. 2013 topps heritage luis cruz
375. 1958 topps pee wee reese
376. 1975 o-pee-chee steve yeager
377. 2004 topps robin ventura
378. 1985 fleer tom niedenfuer
the "no brainer" of the day:
lance rauthzhan had just one solo card as a dodger, and as a member of the team of my youth, his 1979 topps card was guaranteed a spot in the set.
about the cards:
ron cey lets his hat hair shine on his 1976 topps card. cey was the starting third baseman for the national league in the all-star game for the second year in a row, but the voters would give pete rose the nod in '76. the dodger voting contingent showed up in 1977, however, and got cey his all-star recognition back in time for the 1978 topps set.
chad kreuter's 2002 topps card reminds me of the time when he went into the stands at wrigley field after a fan stole his hat off of his head. that happened in 2000, kreuter's first year with the dodgers.
on the other hand, jay johnstone's 1981 topps card reminds me of the time that he hit a pinch-hit home run in game 4 of the 1981 world series to cut the yankees' lead in the game to one and get the dodgers on the path to victory. johnstone was cut by the team the following may, but he's still a dodger world series hero.
speaking of the postseason, lance rautzhan was the winning pitcher in the 'black friday' game in the 1977 nlcs against the phillies. i was looking forward to a solo rautzhan card in 1978 following his postseason appearances, but he received a four-in-one rookie card instead. i was happy to find this card in the 1979 topps release, but by then i had turned my attention to finding a bob welch card instead. rautzhan passed away earlier this year and i was flattered that jon weisman used the 1978 topps card that i created for his news release on dodgers insider.
luis cruz was part of the crew that tried to hold down third base for the dodgers in 2012. cruz, coming back to the big leagues after some time in the mexican league, manned the hot corner for the dodgers that year along with adam kennedy and juan uribe, but he also spent time at shortstop. he hit just under .300 with 20 doubles in a total of 78 games that season, but his 2013 was not as productive and he was released by the club in july. i prefer cruz's 2013 topps flagship card
so nice to have a dupe of a vintage pee wee reese card. and, this 1958 topps card being his final card makes it even better. it's too bad it's not a true final tribute, but topps wasn't into that back then. i think we can all rest assured that there will be plenty of david ortiz cards in 2017 product. for now, let's just add a 1959 pee wee reese card to the long list of cards that should have been and hopefully will eventually be made by topps someday.
i had a double of steve yeager's 1975 topps card, but then discovered that i also had a dupe of his 1975 o-pee-chee card, so guess which one made the set? the canadian card even has a stain on the back, no doubt from some backbacon grease or perhaps condensation from an ice cold labbatt's. i should point out that yeager is also proof that not all folks with 'wayne' as a middle name are bad people.
and now we've arrived at robin ventura's fantastic 2004 topps card. it is one of my favorites from the set, thanks to jeromy burnitz pointing at home plate in the background and the fact that it documents ventura's inside the park home run hit against the braves on august 3, 2003. i started following ventura's career when he was at oklahoma state thanks to some common ties although i had been aware of him for a couple years before he left for college. when he joined the dodgers in 2003, i was pleased, but had the distinct feeling that it was too little, too late. you see, while the dodgers were trying to fill the hole at third base that they created by trading ron cey away earlier in the decade, they passed on ventura in the 1988 draft. instead, they took bill bene with the 5th pick and let ventura fall to the white sox at 10. for the record, the dodgers also passed on ed sprague who proved to be a serviceable third baseman for a few seasons and so were left to feature jeff hamilton, mike sharperson, lenny harris, dave hansen, tim wallach, mike blowers, and todd zeile (among others) at third before adrian beltre kind of settled things down. when ventura made it to la, he wound up playing mostly first base, although he did get to pitch in a game with the dodgers (and i was really hoping for a 'pressed into service' card from topps in series 2 of this year's flagship release). maybe in update? please?
the last card here is tom niedenfuer's 1985 topps card, on which the dodger reliever does a fine job of suttoning. 1985 was not a good year for niedenfuer, at least as far as dodger fans remember, thanks to a couple of pitches in the nlcs, but he set career highs in saves, innings pitched, and strikeouts that season. i'm not going to harp on niedenfuer for what happened against the cardinals in '85, because i can't really complain about the team winning two world series titles in the 1980's. i will mention, however, that niedenfuer was only part of the 1981 team - in fact, he was the guy for whom jay johnstone pinch-hit in game 4 against the yankees.
cards that didn't make the cut:
1985 fleer pedro guerrero at number 370, 1998 topps roger cedeno at number 371, 1998 pacific online thomas howard
my favorite card on the page:
robin ventura's 2004 topps card wins today with its iphr action and lurking burnitz.
final thoughts:
so here's a case where a classic vintage card (reese) trumps a significant dodger card (john) from my favorite set ever. on a side note, john probably makes the brady bunch page (although his shoulders are turned) in bobby's spot. or maybe mike brady's spot. it depends on whether john is checking out alice or jan.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
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...
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,
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
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...
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