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 7 (cards 55-63) - not the same...

here's sheet number 7 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 55-63:

and the back:

these cards are:

55. 2015 topps heritage justin turner
56. 2001 fleer greats of the game wes parker
57. 1966 topps jim lefebvre
58. 2009 upper deck signature stars jim thome
59. 1997 skybox circa brett butler
60. 1981 donruss rick monday
61. 2005 upper deck sp legendary cuts pee wee reese
62. 2010 topps national chicle chad billingsley
63. 2005 topps all-time fan favorites bob welch

the "no brainer" of the day:

i've written before regarding my affection for the 1966 topps jim lefebvre, so it was definitely on the must include list for this set.

about the cards:

one of my guidelines for this set is not to repeat the same set on any sheet.  that guideline is violated near the end of the set, but not here - even though it looks like there are two 1966 topps cards.  thanks to the heritage set, both justin turner and lefebvre appear on this sheet with the same design.  it's too bad turner isn't striking the same pose as lefebvre, though.

in between those two is a fantastic card of gold glove extraordinaire wes parker.  i am a fan of the 2001 fleer greats of the game set, and am just now getting around to posting a want list to complete it.  the thome card is somewhat forgettable, but the circa brett butler card has a superhero quality to it due to the colors and the 'butler' text.

i opened a bunch of 1981 donruss, and remember buying a brick of dodger cards from a fellow collector that summer.  as a result, i had a ton of dodger doubles - many of which i still have today.  monday gets to represent that set in the early going.

i'm not much of a fan of the 2005 legendary cuts set, but pee wee fit nicely here, so there it is.  i do like, however, the 2010 national chicle set, and this billingsley is a pretty decent card to rep that set.  i know there is at least one other card from that set later on.

finally, the welch.  he had a decent year in 1982 (16-11 with a 3.36 era), but i first thought that the point of the 2005 all-time fan favorites set was to use the card design from a player's best season (i later figured out that it wasn't), and 1982 wasn't it for welch. he had some better years, but i really wanted to see him on a 1978 design, if not on a card recognizing the awesomeness of his game 2 strikeout of reggie jackson in the 1978 world series.

cards that didn't make the cut:

don drysdale's 1967 topps card is number 55 in that set, but big d is out of commission until i get closer to card number 200 (or, in his case, card number 212 - hint, hint).  other notable cards that were omitted for various reasons include steve garvey's 1981 donruss card (number 56), a sweet charlie dressen 1979 tcma card (also number 56) that i have yet to acquire even one copy of, reggie smith's 1978 o-pee-chee card (number 57), a 2006 topps co-signers dual auto card of tommy john and bob welch (number 58),

a 1973 topps (or o-pee-chee) steve yeager (number 59), and a 2001 topps tribute tom lasorda (number 60).

my favorite card on the page:

well, there's the lefebvre which is clearly my favorite card on this page.  but visually, there is something about 2001 fleer greats of the game cards that i really like and the butler card is the star of the page the way it jumps out at you, so it was more difficult to stick with the 1965 rookie of the year than you might imagine.

final thoughts:

look at all that potential energy on display on the monday card! enough to hit a home run in olympic stadium and dash the hopes of expo fans, anyway.