frankendodger sheet 73 (cards 649-657) - that's a high number for a chrome set...

here's sheet number 73 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 649-657:

and the back:

these cards are:

649. 1987 fleer ralph bryant/jose gonzalez
650. 2009 topps heritage jim thome
651. 1981 topps pedro guerrero
652. 2005 topps dodgers team
653. 2001 topps chrome jackie robinson
654. 1985 topps dave anderson
655. 2008 topps heritage angel berroa
656. 1992 donruss ramon martinez
657. 1991 donruss dennis cook

the "no brainer" of the day:

that would be the 1981 topps pedro guerrero card - his first solo card.

about the cards:

the dodgers had been shut out of fleer prospect/rookie cards in previous issues (1985 and 1986), so i was happy to see this ralph bryant/jose gonzalez card in fleer's 1987 set. both bryant and gonzalez debuted with the dodgers in 1985 and had relatively significant playing time with the team in 1986, so they weren't really prospects anymore. gonzalez played in the majors for a few more seasons, but bryant left for japan following the 1987 campaign.

jim thome joined the dodgers just about 7 years ago with 564 home runs to his name. he left the dodgers for minnesota after the season ended with 564 home runs to his name.  all we dodger collectors got were a few jim thome dodger cards, including this 2009 topps heritage card.  he kicked ass in minny in 2010, by the way, which was fun to watch.

after including pedro guerrero in the 1979 set as part of the future stars subset, topps ignored him in 1980.  they were, however, the only folks to make a card of guerrero in 1981, and for that i was thankful. this remains my favorite topps pedro guerrero card (my second favorite is the one topps issued as part of their fan favorites set in 2005

that also used the 1981 design, which i liked so much, i put it in my blog header at garveyceyrusselllopes).

the 2005 topps dodger team card was chosen for the next spot over the 2004 topps dodger team card (way to recycle the checklist, topps) simply because the back addresses the fact that the '04 team won the west for the first time since 1995. that 9 year drought is the longest for the team since divisional play began,

filling the number 653 spot is a jackie robinson golden moments card from 2001 topps chrome.  the 2016 topps chrome set that was released last week has a scant 200 cards in the base set. the chrome set went from 660 as recent as 2002 to 440 in 2003 to 330 in 2006 to 220 in 2008. last year was the first to feature a 200 card checklist.

dave anderson's 1985 topps card features a photo that shows the olympic patch that the dodgers wore in 1984 to celebrate the games being hosted in los angeles. dodger stadium was used for baseball, which was an exhibition sport that year.  i hear that baseball will return to the olympics in 2020 in tokyo, and i am left to wonder whether mlb and the mlbpa will decide to find a way to let major leaguers participate.

the thome card and this 2008 topps heritage angel berroa card give me some hope that a few of the spots being filled by 1990 target cards (or other weaker cards) might yet be filled by heritage high number cards.  it would be great if this year's josh reddick heritage high number card turned out to be 718, for example.

it seems like there have been a few ramon martinez cards in the set lately, and there have been.  this 1992 donruss card is the latest card of pedro's older brother to be featured. i'm not sure what stadium ramon is pitching in there, but the color of the outfield wall is clearly dodger blue.

the last card on this sheet is dennis cook's 1991 donruss card. clearly a night card, as opposed to darryl strawberry's 1991 donruss card

i think. i am pretty sure strawberry's presser was during the day, and i know it was held indoors.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1972 topps pete richert

at number 649, 1971 topps rich allen

at number 650, 1993 topps rafael bournigal at number 651, 2004 topps dodgers team at number 652, 1994 score dodger stadium

at number 653, 1986 topps ken howell at number 654, 1992 topps brett butler at number 655, 1989 upper deck fernando valenzuela at number 656, and 1992 bowman roger mcdowell at number 657.

my favorite card on the page:

if only thome had been wearing a hat or helmet when the photo used on his heritage card was taken, it might have supplanted the pedro guerrero card as my favorite on the page.

final thoughts:

i took a quick look around, and see that this year's heritage high number set will finish with a card numbered 725.  that's great. i really do hope there are a couple of dodger cards at numbers that i can use (come on, 718!).

frankendodger sheet 48 (cards 424-432) - what's your name man?...

here's sheet number 48 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 424-432:

and the back:

these cards are:

424. 1996 donruss mike piazza
425. 1983 topps pedro guerrero
426. 1990 topps jeff hamilton
427. 1970 topps fred norman
428. 2003 upper deck fred mcgriff
429. 1961 nu-cards baseball scoops roy campanella
430. 1996 fleer john cummings
431. 2007 topps luis gonzalez
432. 1995 bowman chan ho park

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are no iconic cards on this page, but there are a couple of 'one and done' type cards. i'll go with fred norman's lone dodger card as the one the was a lock for the set.

about the cards:

1996 donruss leads off with their 'black box' design. not one of my favorites. still, this is a mike piazza dodger card, and that's a good thing.  piazza goes into the hall of fame later this month, and i guess i expected to see more piazza cards this year as a result.  there have been some - and even some showing him as a dodger - but i figured there would be more.

i was happy to find this 1983 topps pedro guerrero card in a pack back then because topps had given us two and a third cards of petey using photos of him sitting or standing around.  with everything he was doing on the field, i was looking for an action shot.  plus, there are no worse cards than the 1983 topps cards where both pictures - the main one and the inset - are posed.

to topps' credit, they did a pretty good job avoiding too many cards like the vicente romo above - at least among the dodgers.

i think night owl is the one who referred to the 1990 topps set as the 'lichtenstein' set.  this helped me appreciate the set so much more.  i'm being serious.  jeff hamilton, on the other hand, is still not one of my favorite dodgers, but he did catch the last out of game 4 of the 1988 world series, so i have some appreciation for him.

the first several times i saw fred norman's 1970 topps card, i figured that the interlocking 'la' logo on his had was akin to an iron on patch due to the vertical line running to its left.  it was quite a while before i noticed that the topps artists had left norman in some other team's (i'm guessing it is a spokane indians jersey - norman played for them in 1967 and 1969) jersey (notice the red patchwork just above the 'pitcher' text) and that his had was colored blue with the 'la' logo being cut and pasted from someone else's photo. it's the only card of norman as a dodger other than his 1990 target card

as he was plucked off of waivers by the cardinals during the 1970 season.

kudos to upper deck for making this 2003 fred mcgriff card.  the horizontal layout works nicely with his crouch and the strata of seats in holman stadium. it is my favorite card of mcgriff as a dodger.

it's getting late in the set to be showing an oddball for the first time, but luckily the 1961 nu-cards baseball scoops set was huge.  this is one of a few dodger cards in the set, and it celebrates roy campanella's 1953 season in which he set new records for home runs, rbi, and putouts for catchers and was rewarded with the mvp award for his efforts.

john cummings joined the dodgers during the 1995 season and pitched often enough to show up in the 1996 fleer set.  he had debuted with the mariners in 1993 after making the jump straight from triple-a, and for five innings, he was fantastic.  he had allowed just one hit (a double by cal ripken jr) through and had a 2-0 lead over the orioles in his first big league appearance before allowing five straight hits to start the sixth inning before being pulled. he was used solely as a reliever with the dodgers, and was with the club for about a year before being traded to the tigers.

luis gonzalez joined the dodgers for the 2007 season and was given this card in the topps flagship set. i am happy to report that gonzalez's 2008 topps card showed him as a marlin.  i appreciated gonzalez for getting the series winning hit against the yankees in the 2001 fall classic, but he is on the short list of my least favorite dodgers. it has more to do with him being brought in and blocking matt kemp from getting more playing time early in the season, and then complaining when kemp did play more often later in the year.  with gonzalez gone, i was expecting a full season of an ethier/pierre/kemp outfield, but ned colletti then went out and brought in andruw jones in 2008.

1995 bowman was released on the heels of 1994 upper deck (one of my favorite upper deck sets), and one couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two designs due to the 'phantom zone' inset photo.

as a result, i've had a bit of an aversion to 1995 bowman except for dodger cards like this chan ho park.

cards that didn't make the cut:

honorable mentions go to the cards that fell short, including 1991 topps stadium club gary carter at number 424, 1984 topps steve howe at number 425, 1994 topps finest chan ho park at number 426, 2007 topps randy wolf

at number 427, 1988 topps john shelby at number 428, 2003 upper deck joe thurston

at number 429, 1971 topps wes parker at number 430, 1987 topps dodgers leaders (although not the one i have signed by ron perranoski)

at number 431, and 1989 donruss rick dempsey at number 432.

my favorite card on the page:

it was nice to finally have an action photo on a topps pedro guerrero card, and the mcgriff card is nice, but oddball roy campanella is my favorite card on this page.

final thoughts:

have you seen hamilton? not jeff hamilton - hamilton the musical (the title of this post refers to the opening number where the characters are introduced).  i was lucky enough to see it last year while in new york for a conference. it was fantastic. in a few days, the show's creator lin-manuel miranda (who plays alexander hamilton - the ten-dollar founding father) will leave the production, and i am very interested to see what he does next.  as for me, i've got about 33 more of these posts to go, and i'm not sure what comes after that.

frankendodger sheet 31 (cards 271-279) - it's the base on balls that makes it so bad...

here's sheet number 31 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 271-279:

and the back:

these cards are:

271. 2003 bowman leigh neuage
272. 1997 donruss todd zeile
273. 2004 topps heritage jeromy burnitz
274. 1995 pinnacle ramon martinez
275. 1984 donruss jose morales
276. 2010 upper deck doug mientkiewicz
277. 1989 topps mike davis
278. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams kirk gibson
279. 1991 topps jose gonzalez (billy bean)

the "no brainer" of the day:

there is only one card of doug mientkiewicz as a dodger, and, since i used to have a pc of the guy, his 2010 upper deck card was a certainty for this set.

about the cards:

the bowman neuage card brings up thoughts of what might have been had neuage not passed away in 2003. i posted the chrome version of his card on my flagship blog, and shortly thereafter received an email from neuage's father relaying the news and providing a link to his online memorial.

todd zeile has two cards in the 1997 donruss set, and when i chose his card to fill this slot i realized that i only had one copy. i ordered another from sportlots, but chose the wrong one.  hate when that happens.  i finally got it right with my next order.  jeromy burnitz's 2004 topps heritage card is not his best card from 2004 (we'll see that one later on) but it fits in the set so there it is.

i may be in the minority, but i prefer the pinnacle cards like this 1995 ramon martinez over the black bordered sets they put out in the early 1990's.  i also prefer 1984 donruss to all other donruss sets of the 80's and 90's.  that jose morales card is great.  i assume that gary carter is crouching behind the plate, and the card features a shot we don't see too often on baseball cards.  also, it's great that donruss listed morales as a catcher, but he never went behind the plate during his dodger tenure which began in 1982.

doug mientkiewicz was probably my favorite player on the twins in the early 2000's, and i was happy that he was able to take his gold glove to boston and win a ring in 2004, adding to the gold medal he won in 2000 thanks to his home run heroics.  i was also glad to see him with the dodgers in 2009. i met him once at a card show and talked to him for a few minutes.  he had a few tommy stories to tell (lasorda was the manager of the 2000 olympic team) and mentioned that disney had been kicking around the idea of a movie about that team.  it would be interesting to see who they would have cast as lasorda.

and now we get to the happy circumstance that puts a 1989 topps mike davis card in front of a 2004 upper deck legends kirk gibson card.  one can't help but think of davis batting in the bottom of the 9th inning of game 1 of the 1988 world series with two outs and drawing the walk that made gibby's impossible home run possible.  after the radio silence and vin scully's improbable/impossible quote, joe garagiola noted that it was davis's walk that turned the home run into a game winner.  davis also homered later in the series, and what had been a frustrating season for him turned out to be one that is still celebrated by dodger fans.

finally, we have the 1991 topps  jose gonzalez card that actually features a photo of billy bean.  outside of the 1990 target set, there is no other card that i know of that shows bean as a dodger.  it's too bad that he doesn't get the name credit.  these days, bean is mlb's ambassador of inclusion which is great except that it is unfortunate that such a position is needed at all.

cards that didn't make the cut:

there were quite a few cards that could have been on this sheet, including a number of topps flagship cards like 2002 topps chan ho park at number 271, 1977 topps lee lacy

at number 272, 1983 topps mark belanger

at number 273, 1984 topps rick monday at number 274, 2011 topps clayton kershaw at number 275, 1967 topps bruce brubaker at number 276, 1988 topps alejandro pena at number 277, 1960 topps stan williams at number 278, and 1991 topps jose gonzalez (that really is jose gonzalez)

at number 279.

my favorite card on the page:

despite a few good ones here, i'll perhaps surprise folks and pick the morales card over dougie, gibby, and billy/jose.

final thoughts:

it is unlikely that we will hear vin scully call the world series this season, at least for national radio as he did in 1988 among other years.  he has already turned down an invitation to broadcast (or even be part of) the all-star game, and it doesn't seem likely that the dodgers will win the pennant given the fact that they don't win very much unless kershaw is on the mound. hopefully, they pull it together and "win for vin".

frankendodger sheet 11 (cards 91-99) - it's not that fimple...

here's sheet number 11 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 91-99:

and the back:

these cards are:

91. 2012 topps archives ted lilly
92. 1993 upper deck sp eric davis
93. 2008 upper deck baseball heroes chin-lung hu
94. 2002 topps ten paul loduca
95. 2013 panini golden age tommy davis
96. 1990 classic jose gonzalez
97. 1998 fleer tradition dennis reyes
98. 1999 skybox premium devon white
99. 1984 fleer jack fimple

the "no brainer" of the day:

given the way 1993 upper deck sp is numbered, and knowing that most of the other dodgers in that set were already included in the frankenset, the eric davis card was the no-brainer here.  i like '93 sp because it features a number of photos from dodger stadium, and i definitely wanted to include it in the monster.

about the cards:

it would have been nice to have a 1971 topps card on the same sheet as the lilly, but it didn't work out.  i am a bigger fan of davis's 1993 upper deck card than the one here, but this one is nice, too.  the other one shows up in about 50 pages from now.

chin-lung hu had a ridiculous number of cards.  he was the billy ashley of 2008 as far as dodger collectors were concerned.  well, this dodger collector anyway.  the 2002 topps ten set that paul loduca is representing may have been a result of topps wanting to eliminate league leader cards from the flagship where they belong and instead make them into a whole separate set of cards.  no surprise that there was not a 2003 topps ten set.

i was happy to see tommy davis on the checklist for 2013 panini golden age.  he sure traveled around during his career, but he remains the last dodger to lead the league in batting average.  jose gonzalez shows up in the zubaz set while dennis reyes signals for the peanut vendor on his 1998 fleer tradition card.  i really like that card - i like any card that shows the pavilion roofs and even just the trunks of the three sisters out in left field.

some spring training devon white action on a 1999 skybox premium card, and jack fimple bringing us the 1984 fleer set round out the sheet.  for me, 1984 is the best of the fleer flagship sets, and i don't believe i could be convinced otherwise.

cards that didn't make the cut:

some of the highlights among the cards that could have been on this page include a 1973 topps or o-pee-chee team card or a 2008 topps stadium club jackie robinson card (#91), a 2007 fleer ultra nomar garciaparra

or a 2009 topps tribute mike piazza card (#92), a 1958 topps sandy amoros or 1975 topps davey lopes (#93), a 1979 o-pee-chee ron cey or 1993 upper deck sp eric karros (with a lurking tom lasorda (#94), a 2001 fleer greats of the game pee wee reese or 2005 topps pristine davey lopes (#95), a 1977 o-pee-chee davey lopes or a 1984 fleer dusty baker (#96), a 1961 fleer dolph camilli or a 2014 topps stadium club yasiel puig (#97),

a 1993 upper deck tom candiotti or a 1993 upper deck sp mike piazza (#98), or, finally, a 1976 o-pee-chee or topps lee lacy or a 1993 upper deck sp darryl strawberry card.  lots of good cards had i not imposed rules upon myself.

my favorite card on the page:

i am a sucker for dodger stadium shots, and dennis reyes' card has the best dodger stadium background on the sheet.  it's my favorite from today's contestants.

final thoughts:

sets like the aforementioned '93 sp release and fleer make this endeavor more difficult than i would have liked.  putting the teams in sequential number order really handcuffed me in these early pages.  yes, i know that my rule of not repeating a set or player in the first 180 cards of the set (with the two exceptions of cards 100 and 150) was self-imposed, but figuring out which fleer card to use where was tough. here we have jack fimple representing 1984 fleer which works out ok as fimple has only a few other dodger cards.

also, i think this is the first time that two players with the same last name (eric and tommy davis - no relation) show up on a sheet together.  it kind of screws with the post labels.  maybe i should have done full names...

frankendodger sheet 6 (cards 46-54) - pick your poison...

here's sheet number 6 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 46-54:

and the back:

these cards are:

46. 2013 topps update yasiel puig
47. 1975 topps tommy john
48. 2003 fleer fall classic gil hodges
49. 1999 topps darren dreifort
50. 1986 donruss highlights steve sax
51. 2000 upper deck hitter's club paul waner
52. 2013 topps gypsy queen hanley ramirez
53. 1988 score mike scioscia
54. 2014 panini prizm adrian gonzalez

the "no brainer" of the day:

getting a card of paul waner (aka big poison) into the set was a good thing. as i was looking through doubles, his card jumped out to me and was the first card identified for this page.  waner, who was a dodger double dipper, actually got his 3000th hit while in between his dodger stints, but i'm pleased that upper deck included him in this set as a dodger.

about the cards:

anybody else not a fan of the 2003 fleer fall classic set?  i completed the set back in 2003, but did not care for the number of different designs fleer used in the set.  other sets have had different looking base cards, although the different looks are usually just color based, like the sets that produced the tommy john and mike scioscia cards on this sheet.  still, this card of gil hodges fits in nicely.

speaking of john, he looks pretty happy for a guy who just blew out his elbow.  and, speaking of blown out elbows - hello, darren dreifort.  i like little d's card because there are few things better for a baseball fan than a sunny day spent in chavez ravine.

the steve sax card is interesting to me, as i like the idea of this sort of set.  i think topps is doing it right this year with the topps now set, although i doubt that they will produce player of the month cards. in september of 1986, saxy hit .400 in 28 games and had a 25-game hitting streak to earn the honors and the right to have this card made.

the other cards - puig, hanley, scioscia, and adrian gonzalez all feature the away grays. at least puig's card showcases the red number.  the hanley and scioscia cards feature photos that don't allow the number to be seen, and panini likes to color that number blue for some reason.  plausible deniability, i suppose, should their cards ever be questioned as to being too easily identified by team.

cards that didn't make the cut:

there are still a lot of great cards to choose from at this point.  some of my favorite also rans from this sheet include numbers 46 1976 topps dodger team/walt alston and 1997 pinnacle zenith wilton guerrero (from a set that i really like); number 47 2002 topps tribute jackie robinson; numbers 48 2002 topps tribute gil hodges (it would look better than the hodges card currently in this spot) and 2016 topps opening day corey seager; numbers 49 2002 fleer greats steve garvey and 2013 panini hometown heroes orel hershiser; numbers 50 1977 topps ron cey, 1979 topps steve garvey and 1981 topps davey lopes (sadly, i don't think there is a bill russell card numbered 50); number 51 1960 fleer dazzy vance; number 52 2011 topps marquee matt kemp (featuring the sweet baby blue brooklyn throwbacks); numbers 53 1957 topps clem labine ("that's a $20 card!"), 1998 fleer ultra mike piazza (i can't believe i never posted this card at garveyceyrusselllopes), and 2003 fleer ultra gold medallion edition kevin brown; and number 54 2007 upper deck masterpieces jackie robinson (with yogi berra and the late tag at home in the 1955 world series).  like i said, lots of good stuff to choose from, if only i didn't have rules.

my favorite card on the page:

i'll go with the 1999 topps dreifort due to the appearance of the dodger stadium outfield wall mural in the background. one of my favorite posts over at garveyceyrusselllopes was about the different murals that the dodgers put on the wall in the late 90's/early 00's before advertising took over.

final thoughts:

i think the puig is the first checklist card to make the set, although it won't be the last.  and, is there a more useless set than panini prizm?