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...

frankendodger sheet 35 (cards 307-315) - wherefore ahrt thou, yhency?...

here's sheet number 35 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 307-315:

and the back:

these cards are:

307. 1994 pinnacle jim gott
308. 2015 topps carl crawford
309. 1989 donruss baseball's best tim leary
310. 1978 topps don sutton
311. 1997 topps stadium club greg gagne
312. 2002 donruss originals adrian beltre
313. 2005 upper deck first pitch yhency brazoban
314. 2013 topps aj ellis
315. 1974 topps ron cey

the "no brainer" of the day:

the 1978 topps don sutton card, complete with the all-star shield, was definitely close to a no brainer, but the first card i identified for this sheet was the stadium club gagne since i knew i had a couple of doubles of that particular double play turn.

about the cards:

i like that pinnacle jim gott card. not only does mike piazza make an appearance, but they are opting for the post game high-five rather than the handshake.  you can also see both the tim crews and the roy campanella/don drysdale memorial patches - one on each player's sleeve.  next up is the newest former dodger - carl crawford.  the dodgers designated him for assignment last week, and my guess is that they straight release him. crawford didn't play everyday, but his batting average and obp were right at his career averages (.290/.330) while with the dodgers in 2013 and 2014. 2015 and 2016 were not very good, however, and with the arrival of trayce thompson and scott van slyke coming off the dl, something had to give.

i don't know that tim leary was one of baseball's best back then, but his 1988 performance with the dodgers was a big part of their success. he won 17 games, threw 6 shutouts, won the silver slugger with a .269 batting average (highlighted by a key pinch-hit, walk-off single against the giants), and pitched fantastic relief in game 1 of the world series.  don sutton, on the other hand, was one of baseball's best in 1978, but never could find himself on the winning side of the world series.  the 1978  topps all-star shield is my favorite all-star designation ever, and sutton earned his by starting and winning the 1977 midsummer classic en route to being named its mvp.

greg gagne's 1997 stadium club card features a nice double play turn that works pretty well with the design of the card. i never did follow through on my double play card tournament, but gagne would likely have been a 6 or 7 seed.  2002 donruss originals shows up again, this time riffing on the 1986 design.  adrian beltre deserved rated rookie status in 1999, but donruss wasn't making cards that year.

that brings us to yhency.  not a common name, yhency.  in fact, a quick google search doesn't turn up any other results than yhency brazoban.  yhency filled in for an injured eric gagne at the end of the dodger bullpen in 2005, and elicited exclaims of 'ghame over' - an obvious play on gagne's 'game over' tagline.  jon weisman at dodger thoughts had ghame over t-shirts made, and i purchased one. yhency blew out his elbow and never did return to his previous status.

aj ellis is not really the star of his own card - that would be clayton kershaw who makes an appearance on this 2013 topps card. a few years ago, this would have been a 'classic combination' card from topps.  anyway, ellis has done well for himself to be considered kershaw's catcher, although i noticed that he didn't start behind the plate when kershaw pitched against the giants last week.

ron cey's 1974 topps card is great. it's his first solo card after two years of multi-player rookie cards, and features a photo of cey taking a cut. i'm guessing it was a swing and miss, but it sure looks like the penguin was going for the fences.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i could have used the 2001 topps chrome kirk gibson golden moment card at number 307, but i chose jim gott's high-five instead.  other cards that didn't quite have what it takes include 1992 pinnacle darryl strawberry 'shades' subset

at number 308, 2015 topps update howie kendrick at number 309, 1969 topps tom haller

at number 310, 2007 topps greg maddux at number 311, 1995 pinnacle jose offerman at number 312, 1967 topps bob lee at number 313, 1958 topps dodgers' boss & power (duke snider and walter alston) but more realistically 1966 topps hector valle at number 314, and 1968 topps zoilo versalles

at number 315.

my favorite card on the page:

this is where the sutton card wins out over gott, gagne, and cey.

final thoughts:

the 2013 topps aj ellis card is an example of the frustrations that topps' overproduction of variations and parallels has wrought.  after they used gatorade baths and at the wall catches as photo variations, i saw some card show dealers tout regular base cards with those types of photos as "sp variation?" to prey, i suspect, on unknowing collectors.  the ellis card is one that i saw with this type of designation as well, due to the natural sparkle coming off of his helmet.  i was almost convinced that it was a 'sparkle' variation until i checked it out at cardboard connection.  caveat emptor, always.