frankendodger sheet 80 (cards 712-720) - black and white and even worse...

here's sheet number 80 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 712-720:

and the back:

[update! - i replaced card number 720 as the 1990 target dodgers were meant to be place holders. so, here's sheet number 80; front and back]

these cards are:

712. 1997 fleer mike piazza
713. 1992 topps stadium club rudy seanez
714. 1993 topps kevin gross
715. 2004 topps eric gagne
716. 2009 topps heritage orlando hudson
717. 1987 topps ed vande berg
718. 1992 fleer checklist
719. 1979 topps dodgers prospects (joe simpson/pedro guerrero/rudy law)
720. 1990 target mike sharperson 2016 topps heritage high numbers ross stripling

the "no brainer" of the day:

pedro guerrero's rookie card was a sure thing for the set, even if the photos are in black and white.

about the cards:

it feels like fleer was reaching for content when you come across a card like this mike piazza card from their 1997 flagship set at number 712, and, i suppose perhaps that is what they mean by 'encore' on the front of the card.  the back does include his minor league stats which did not appear on the back of his 'base' card, so there is that difference.  by the way, piazza has two other cards in the fleer set - both of him on the front of checklist cards.

rudy seanez means busi-nez (there i go with my mlb.com headline writing again) on his 1992 topps stadium club card.  unfortunately, seanez did not suit up for the dodgers in 1992, spending the entire season in the minors before being traded to the rockies for jody reed.  he did come back to the dodgers (twice!) and was a big part of their bullpen in 2007, pitching in 73 games that year.

kevin gross' 1993 topps card features the dodger pitcher in dodger stadium. we know that's where he is because of the old field level scoreboard in the background.  unfortunately, you can't really see the 76 sign thanks to the umpire standing in the way. murph would be upset.  i don't think the dodgers give out union oil auto scrips anymore when a player hits a home run, but there was a time when 76 was as predominant of a sponsor as farmer john and his eastern corn fed pork.

before clayton kershaw came along, eric gagne was the most recent dodger to win the cy young award. gagne's win, marked by this 2004 topps card, broke the longest drought for a dodger to win that award as it had not been won by a dodger since orel hershiser in 1988.  gagne is also the last reliever for any team to have won the award.

from game over to the o-dog, here we have another dodger who is the last to have done something. hudson, shown on his 2009 topps heritage high numbers card, was the first dodger to hit for the cycle since wes parker in 1970 (making him the first dodger to hit for the cycle in my lifetime), and he is the most recent dodger to have done so.

ed vande berg's 1987 topps card was conveniently numbered 717, so it fits nicely into the set. vande berg, whom the dodgers acquired in the steve yeager trade with seattle, was with cleveland in 1987, and o-pee-chee thankfully included him

at number 34

in their truncated set.

this next card is hands down the worst one in the set.  even the 1990 target card was a bad option for number 718. this is, of course, the 1992 fleer checklist that lists all of the dodger cards in the set, along with those of the expos, astros, and reds.  and worse yet is that the dodgers are on the back. so, i have the back of a generic checklist filling a spot in this set.  i really hope that this year's heritage high numbers puts josh reddick or some other dodger at number 718.

from a bad card to a pretty good one, we have next the 1979 topps dodger future stars card featuring pedro guerrero, rudy law, and joe simpson.  guerrero and law went on to have some success with the dodgers in the big leagues, but simpson found his calling in the announcers' booth for the braves.  this is the rookie card for all three players, although it's known best for guerrero. the only knock i have against it is the black and white photos - i don't know what the driver was for topps to go black and white here.  was it to avoid showing the garish color of the albuquerque dukes hat law is sporting?

given the presence of other minor leaguers on other teams' cards and their equally minor league looking uniforms,

that might be the case.

last card on the sheet is mike sharperson's 1990 target card, which means it was the only thing available for number 720 ross stripling's 2016 topps heritage high numbers card. reddick didn't make it at card 718, but i was able to remove a placeholder card after all.

cards that didn't make the cut:

2005 topps steve finley at number 712, 1989 upper deck rick dempsey (look ma, no gear!)

at number 713, 1992 donruss mitch webster at number 714, 2008 upper deck blake dewitt at number 715, 2009 upper deck hiroki kuroda at number 716, and 2009 upper deck andre ethier at number 717.

my favorite card on the page:

that would be kevin gross' 1993 topps card. i'd like it even better if the umpire weren't blocking the 76 sign on the scoreboard.

final thoughts:

over on the sidebar at garveyceyrusselllopes there has been, for the past two-and-a-half years, a watch of a redemption card for a 2013 topps triple threads dave stewart auto/relic waiting to be fulfilled by topps.  when topps recently moved their redemption tracker into their main website, i was given the option of requesting a replacement card rather than having to call in a request. i had been hoping against hope (most likely) that the stewart card would show him as a dodger, but since he's too busy with his day job in arizona to sign the stickers for topps, i checked the box for a different card to be sent.  earlier this week, i received this thing

and this "bonus" card

neither fits in my collection, so they are available for trade.  and, the sidebar is updated accordingly. 1001 days later.

frankendodger sheet 67 (cards 595-603) - finally, a good morning from topps...

here's sheet number 67 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 595-603:

and the back:

these cards are:

595. 1970 topps maury wills
596. 1987 topps steve sax
597. 1990 score mike huff
598. 1991 upper deck mike sharperson
599. 2004 topps jose hernandez
600. 1988 score fernando valenzuela
601. 1985 topps tom lasorda
602. 2011 topps ivan dejesus jr
603. 1989 donruss mike devereaux

the "no brainer" of the day:

the first card issued by topps to officially feature maurice morning wills as a dodger was a sure thing for the set.

about the cards:

it is fairly widely accepted that maury wills was featured on a 1960 topps card

but he was not named. sy berger didn't regard wills as a prospect one spring and so will refused to sign with topps even as he won the 1962 mvp award. he was a big proponent of fleer and convinced a couple of his teammates to sign on for the 1963 set.  topps eventually was able to sign wills, and featured him by name for the first time in the 1967 set. he was a pirate by then, and had the dodgers not reacquired wills in 1969, we would not have had a dodger card issued by topps during his playing days.  topps did go back and create a 1962 card to feature in the 1975 mvp subset and 1982 kmart mvp set, but i did one better and created cards that should have been all the way back to 1959.

steve sax took over second base from davey lopes in 1982, and he made his first all-star team (as a reserve) that same year.  he was an all-star again in 1983, but this time was voted in by the fans to start at second base for the national league. topps didn't care, and featured johnny ray as the nl all-star at second base in 1984.  that's why i liked this 1987 topps card so much when it was released even though sax was a reserve in 1986 behind starter ryne sandberg. i didn't care that cubs fans were upset with topps  as long as i got my extra saxy card.

mike huff's 1990 score card was also appreciated by those of us team collectors who are completists. huff was shunned by donruss and topps (aside from an appearance in the 1990 topps debut '89 set) during his dodger tenure, receiving cards only from fleer, classic, and score.  huff (like homonym-ically named charlie hough) is also one of the relatively many hawaiian native players that played for the dodgers. others i can name off the top of my head are sid fernandez, carlos diaz, shane victorino, and onan masaoka.

hoo boy, do i like mike sharperson's 1991 upper deck card.  i wrote a post about how much i like it six years ago.  a day game in dodger stadium makes for great photos.

the most interesting thing about the 2004 topps jose hernandez card is that it shows some cards in the background. the most famous card with cars in the background is the 1973 topps luis alvarado card

that is at once a spectacle and a conundrum.  hernandez's card doesn't compare, but one does see the progression from muscle cars on the alvarado card to a yellow bug on dave goltz's 1981 topps card

to an suv on the hernandez card.

here we are at another hero number, and this time it's fernando valenzuela filling the spot with his 1988 score card.  that's good numbering by score, even though el toro was on the downside of his dodger career.  fernando somehow had an era under 4 (3.98) in 1987 despite leading the league in walks and hits allowed - he had a whip of 1.51!

next up is tom lasorda's 1985 topps card.  i think i would have liked 1985 topps better if all the cards had that position bar under the team name rather than having the position crammed in between the name text and logo.  i don't understand why topps did this because they could have shoehorned "mgr" in there like they fit some dual positions on other cards.

ivan dejesus jr got some love from topps in 2011 which was the year that he made his big league debut. the following season, the dodgers traded dejesus (just like they did with his dad).  these days, he's in cincinnati which was news to me.  i couldn't name more than two reds players, and one of those guys is now a met.

last card on the sheet belongs to dodger double dipper mike devereaux courtesy of 1989 donruss.  devereaux is probably best remembered as the 1995 nlcs mvp for the braves who beat the reds who had beat the dodgers in the nlds.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1993 upper deck eric davis

(another favorite) at number 595, 1992 pinnacle jim gott at number 596. 2009 topps randy wolf at number 597, 1991 donruss chris gwynn at number 598, 1989 score franklin stubbs at number 599, 2012 topps clayton kershaw (base)

(and photo variation)

at number 600, 2010 topps blake dewitt at number 601, 1986 topps mariano duncan at number 602, and 1990 upper deck kal daniels

at number 603.

my favorite card on the page:

i really like what the maury wills card represents, but mike sharperson's 1991 upper deck card is one of my favorite cards, period.

final thoughts:

there was a focus put on throwback uniforms by mlb this year - just a few weekends ago - and the dodgers participated by wearing brooklyn hats on the field.  i think there was a huge missed opportunity here given that 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the franchise's first world series appearance and that the club wore these uniforms that season

that would have been at least as interesting as those baby blues on the variant kershaw shown above.

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.

frankendodger sheet 38 (cards 334-342) - first card, last card...

here's sheet number 38 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 334-342:

and the back:

these cards are:

334. 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee russell martin
335. 1998 pacific crown collection otis nixon
336. 2004 topps eric gagne
337. 1986 donruss terry whitfield
338. 1982 topps davey lopes
339. 2003 upper deck vintage daryle ward
340. 2001 topps davey johnson
341. 1971 topps steve garvey
342. 1993 topps stadium club billy ashley

the "no brainer" of the day:

i suppose steve garvey's rookie card was always going to be number 341 in the set, but davey johnson's managerial card was also a sure thing. still, tough to be more of a no brainer than the '71 topps garvey.

about the cards:

i am pretty sure that the 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee set was supposed to use the 1977 topps/opc design.  the previews that they put out that year used the same design as what you see on the martin card above, but were referred to on checklists as "1977 o-pee-chee previews".  the backs sure looked like 1977 backs,

and you can see by the martin card that upper deck changed the backs before issuing the actual set.

otis nixon's 1998 pacific crown collection is a nice card - day game at dodger stadium is always a good choice for a card photo - and it reminds me of a story i heard a couple of weeks ago.  nixon played for the twins at one point in his career, and one of the local baseball scribes noted that in one of his first appearances for the team, the public address announcer called him amos otis by mistake. ok - the twins played the royals quite a bit back during the 14 years that amos otis was in the american league.  however, the announcer corrected himself by saying "i'm sorry - now batting, amos nixon".

next up is a 2004 topps card marking eric gagne's consecutive saves streak a 'season highlight'. i used to get a bick kick out of seeing dodgers on league leader and record breaker/highlight cards (i felt like it was a long time between when i started collecting in 1978 and manny mota's 1980 record breaker card), but now it's not quite as exciting for some reason.

terry whitfield was a giant when i started collecting in '78, but i do have one of his non-dodger cards in my dodger sets.  he was a yankee on the same 1976 topps rookie card that featured henry cruz.  anyway, whitfield was released by the dodgers early in the 1986 season - not too long after i found this card in a pack as i recall.

dave lopes was traded by the dodgers following the 1981 season, so i know he was gone by the time i found his 1982 topps all-star card in a pack.  still, it's one of his two dodger cards in the set, and one of his last dodger cards, period.  i did like steve sax, but i didn't like that he replaced dave lopes.  no cards of coaches over the last few seasons means that we likely lost the last opportunity for a current dodger card of lopes.  he's now the first base coach for his former dodger teammate dusty baker in washington dc.

daryle ward shows up on a card from upper deck's 2003 vintage release.  this was the second series or something, and didn't use the 1965 design that got me collecting the set in the first place.  i was confused when i saw these cards, to be honest.  i thought that maybe topps put a kabosh on the use of their designs, but then in 2008, upper deck had those 1969 style inserts and so i was really interested and then confused by the 2009 1977 previews.  i didn't think much about ward because he didn't do much as a dodger.

i was happy to see manager cards back in topps sets in 2001, especially since the dodgers had a new manager since the last time topps made cards for the skippers.  they had gone through a couple, in fact.  johnson was replaced by jim tracy following a 2nd place finish in the nl west in 2000, but at least we have this card to remember him by.

we saw one of the last dodger cards of an infielder earlier, and now we have the first of another.  steve garvey's 1971 topps rookie card was a jewel of my early collection.  it was pretty tough to find growing up in southern california, especially in my price range.  it is weird still to see him with a fielder's glove as opposed to a first baseman's mitt, and that black batting glove is so chic.

finally we have a 1993 stadium club card of billy ashley.  i honestly thought this was an eric karros card when i started writing this post.  it's a reasonable mistake, however, as ashley has the same sort of running hunch that karros displayed.

cards that didn't make the cut:

it was going to be tough to displace many of these cards no matter what other options existed, but some of the cards that weren't chosen include 1982 o-pee-chee fernando valenzuela at number 334, 2002 upper deck dave hansen at number 335, 1994 upper deck jim gott

at number 336, 1984 donruss joe beckwith at number 337, 1990 upper deck alfredo griffin

at number 338, 1994 pinnacle roger mcdowell at number 339, 1989 topps kirk gibson at number 340, 1970 topps bill sudakis

at number 341, and 2002 upper deck victory cesar izturis at number 342.

my favorite card on the page:

i really do like that topps captured the fist move that gagne demonstrated after each save, but there's no way that my favorite card on the page isn't going to be steve garvey's rookie card.

final thoughts:

i saw gagne pitch in person in 2002 and 2004, but not in 2003 at the height of "game over". in 2004, i was at a game at fenway where he was brought into a game in a non-save situation and struck out the side in order (david ortiz took strike 3 to end the game). not quite the same electricity that was to be experienced at dodger stadium, to be sure.  anyway, kenley jansen just passed gagne on the franchise's all-time saves leader board.  it's no surprise as the closer position has become so specialized, but for a long time, jim brewer was at the top of that list.  he was ultimately passed by todd worrell, who was passed by his replacement jeff shaw, who was passed by his replacement in eric gagne.

frankendodger sheet 32 (cards 280-288) - with three consecutive rookies of the year...

i have updated this page since the original post ran.

here's sheet number 32 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 280-288:

and the back:

here's what the page originally looked like:

these cards are:

280. 1976 topps burt hooton
281. 2005 topps jim tracy 2004 topps jim tracy
282. 2002 leaf rookies & stars mike piazza
283. 1996 pinnacle raul mondesi
284. 1983 donruss fernando valenzuela
285. 1978 topps steve yeager
286. 1958 topps gino cimoli
287. 2009 topps greg maddux
288. 1971 topps joe moeller

the "no brainer" of the day:

i needed to get at least one jim tracy card in the set, but the no brainer here is greg maddux's 2009 topps card - it's his final tribute, after all.

about the cards:

burt "happy" hooton's first topps card as a dodger gives some insight into how he got his nickname.  hey, throwing that knuckle-curve required serious thought!  both jim tracy's 2004 and 2005 topps cards are numbered 281, and i originally went with his 2005 "opera man" card instead of the 2004  one with glenn hoffman standing next to him.  this was a mistake since i didn't include any other card of hoffman in the set and i wanted to include every dodger manager from alston on (at least). not that hoffman gets credit for being in the set, but at least i know he's there behind tracy on this card.

next up are three cards featuring dodger rookies of the year - 1993 roy mike piazza on a 2002 leaf rookies & stars award winners subset card (this card recognizes the strongest man in socal for winning the 1996 all-star game mvp award), 1994 nl roy raul mondesi on a 1996 pinnacle hardball heroes subset card that teases us with 30/30 talk on the back (mondy did go 30/30 in both 1997 and 1999 - the first dodger to do so), and 1981 nl roy fernando valenzuela on his 1983 donruss card.  looks like fernando is standing in front of the giant (world's largest, actually) green screen that exists at universal studious hollywood.

as much as i've stared at steve yeager's 1978 topps card over the years, i've never been able to figure out who it is standing behind him.  i think this was the first topps card that showed yeager in his awesome 1970's sunglasses.  bonus.

the bat has gone missing on gino cimoli's 1958 topps card, thanks to the cutting process used to get the photos on to the color block background.  at least that's my assumption.  it would be a weird pose to strike without a bat in hand.

the 2009 topps maddux card is marred a bit by the photoshopping, but it's still a nice card with a photo angle that isn't used too much. i like seeing all the red text on the back for his league leading stats, and i am happy that i made it out to the metrodome to see him pitch in 2002, even if he didn't have his best stuff that night.  it turned out to be the longest game i've ever attended - 15 innings.

just as gino cimoli's bat was missing on his card on this sheet, the ball is missing from joe moeller's hand on his 1971 topps card.  of course, the ball is just be a prop with this overused pose.  it's too bad that the photographers didn't seem to want to hang out and actually watch/photograph spring training games.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1990 leaf orel hershiser at number 280, 2004 topps jim tracy at number 281, 1999 fleer tradition eric young at number 282, 1990 upper deck mickey hatcher at number 283, 2012 topps tony gwynn jr.

at number 284, 2001 topps archives bill buckner

at number 285, 1970 topps jack jenkins/bill buckner

at number 286, 1994 score mike sharperson at number 287, and 1966 topps bill singer/don sutton at number 288.

my favorite card on the page:

the 1978 topps steve yeager card takes the title for this page. i remember hoping to pull one of these from a pack for my team set during a 7-11 run in the summer of 1978, and was not disappointed.  good times.

final thoughts:

baseball is a funny game.  raul mondesi played in over 1,500 regular season games in his career.  he also appeared in two postseasons with the dodgers - 1995 and 1996 - and one with the yankees - 2002.  in each of those appearances, his teams failed to make it out of the division series.  his son, also named raul mondesi, made his major league debut in last year's world series, and he still hasn't played in a regular season game.