frankendodger sheet 78 (cards 694-702) - manny being a hero...

here's sheet number 78 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 694-702:

and the back:

these cards are:

694. 1978 topps elias sosa
695. 1980 topps reggie smith
696. 1986 topps bill russell
697. 1990 topps mike davis
698. 1988 topps brad havens
699. 2001 topps chad kreuter
700. 2009 upper deck manny ramirez
701. 1990 upper deck jim gott
702. 1992 fleer brett butler

the "no brainer" of the day:

reggie smith's 1980 topps card is one of the first cards i think of when i think of cards from that set.  i first saw this card when i pulled it from a pack in downtown los angeles after a trip to a convenience store following a day of accompanying my dad to some work related meetings.

about the cards:

elias sosa brings us the last card from the 1978 topps set to make the frankenset.  sosa was no longer a dodger in 1978, but his card from that year is a good one.

one more note about the 1980 topps reggie smith card - the facsimile autograph is pretty high up on the image, thanks to the dark background of the dugout behind him. this is another reason that i am not a fan of the autos on base cards.

i thought that topps' decision in 1986 to put the "dean" of the team on the front of the team leader cards was a good one.  of course, i was a dodger fan, and that meant that bill russell was on the front instead of pedro guerrero and orel hershiser, who would have been there had topps followed the model of their 1982, 1983, and 1984 sets.  seeing petey and orel would have been ok, too, don't get me wrong, but bill russell had never had a second card in a set before.  i would like to note that two other members of the team of my youth were featured on these cards - charlie hough

and rick rhoden

which is kind of crazy if you think about what kind of turnover there had to have been in texas and pittsburgh for these two guys to be considered the longest tenured players on the team.

i had mentioned in a post a few years ago that i had a number of duplicates of mike davis' 1990 topps card, so one of them made the frankenset.  i still don't care too much for 1990 topps, although i don't think it is my least favorite topps set ever as i had mentioned in that post, and the davis card with the blue border actually looks pretty good.  if only all the dodger cards had that border...

...dodgers shouldn't have orange borders.

brad havens and his 1988 topps card mark the first appearance in the set for the dodger reliever who had the misfortune of being released by the team during the 1988 season.  there's not a lot to say about his dodger tenure, so i will use havens' last name to ask if anyone else is sick of all of the pun related headlines at mlb.com.  it is ridiculous.  look at this recent one.

babe truth.  like i said, ridiculous. were havens pitching today (and doing something headline worthy) we would be bombarded with things like "havens a blast - dodger pitcher closese the door against the braves" or "safe havens - dodger pitcher beats out bunt attempt to prolong inning".  puns should be left for blog post titles.

next up is chad kreuter's 2001 topps card which features a photo of him on the back without a hat which makes sense after what happened that day in wrigley.

now we come to the final 'hero number' in the frankenset, 700, and manny ramirez with his 2009 upper deck card gets the call.  manny's numbers for the dodgers in 2008 certainly qualify for the hero treatment: .396/.489/.743 with 17 homers and 53 rbi in 53 games for the blue after the trade with the red sox (and pirates). he was even better in the postseason, going .500/.643/1.100 with 2 homers in the nlds against the cubs and .533/.682/1.067 with 2 more homers against the phillies in the nlcs.  i really thought after loney's grand slam in the nlds that the dodgers were going to win it all in 2008.  in fact, it was the excitement following the arrival of manny ramirez that made me want to start a blog, and the explosion of the card-centric blogs at the time sealed the deal for me.  so, blame manny for all of this if you so desire.

jim gott is back with his 1991 upper deck card this time.  gott seemed like a good guy from the photos used on his cards.  he was either pitching or smiling.

for the most part, anyway.

or doing hapkido.  so, just sometimes smiling. still seemed like a good dude.

the last card on the sheet is one of those fleer superstar special subset cards from the back end of their sets. this one is from 1992 and features the dodgers' brett butler and paul molitor of the brewers - aka 'the ignitors'.  molly was once my favorite non-dodger and i am ok with him being an honorary member of the frankenset.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1979 topps burt hooton

at number 694, 2015 topps heritage (high number) alex guerrero at number 695, 1991 donruss darryl strawberry at number 696, 1994 topps dave hansen

at number 697, 2002 upper deck 40 man terry mulholland at number 698, 1987 topps ken landreaux at number 699, 2002 upper deck 40 man steve colyer at number 700, 2009 upper deck danny ardoin

at number 701, and 2009 upper deck orlando hudson at number 702.

my favorite card on the page:

it's tough to choose between a 1978 topps dodger card, a reggie smith dodger card, and a bill russell card, but i'm a fan of the infield at heart, and a card recognizing russell for being a dodger for a long time wins out over the others.

final thoughts:

this set is into the home stretch now that we've hit the 700s.  only three more sheets to go until the end, and there are fewer and fewer sets to choose cards from.  we'll be seeing 2009 upper deck and the 1990 target set again, for sure.

frankendodger sheet 47 (cards 415-423) - big d asks the questions...

here's sheet number 47 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 415-423:

and the back:

these cards are:

415. 1996 upper deck eddie murray
416. 1981 donruss dave lopes
417. 1978 topps mike garman
418. 1962 topps andy carey
419. 1991 score ramon martinez
420. 2003 topps paul quantrill
421. 1977 topps doug rau
422. 1993 score jim gott
423. 1987 donruss len matuszek

the "no brainer" of the day:

ramon martinez striking out 18 braves was certainly worthy of a highlight card from score, but the appearance of don drysdale on the back makes it a must for the frankenset.  no doubt that card was going to be in the set.

about the cards:

in 1990, eddie murray led the major leagues with a .330 batting average.  unfortunately, he didn't win the national league batting title that year because willie mcgee was hitting .335 when the cardinals traded him out of the league and to the a's.  he hit .274 for oakland, and his aggregate average dropped to .324.  anyway, this 1996 upper deck card is all about this 'strange but true' occurrence.

have you ever looked at 1981 donruss and 1978 topps next to one another? well, you are now thanks to the numbering of the dave lopes and mike garman cards.  notice anything? i see many similarities between the two designs, and for the dodgers, that includes the red framing of the photo. i am too lazy to go and compare the colors used for all of the other teams between the two sets, but i do know that both used red for the a's as well.

it seems like it's been a while since we've had a 1962 topps card in the set. andy carey's 1962 topps card should have been a phillies card as he was dealt to philadelphia by the white sox following the 1961 season.  carey refused to report, however, so the chisox sent someone else to philadelphia and traded carey to the dodgers instead.

score gave ramon martinez a card in their 'k-man' subset at number 408 and then followed that up with another ramon card that has to do with strikeouts here at 419.  this one is a highlight card recalling his 18 strikeout performance against the braves.  ramon had 4 outs to go when he got his 18th k, but didn't record any more after that.  still, that was good enough to tie sandy koufax's dodger record and get a postgame interview with dodger broadcaster don drysdale. major props to score for putting a photo of big d (whose career high for strikeouts in a game was 14) and ramon together on the back. i wish upper deck had done a similar thing in 1989 with a card celebrating orel hershiser breaking drysdale's consecutive scoreless inning streak. drysdale was in san diego that night, and he congratulated orel in the dugout after the game. upper deck did use a photo from that game on orel's nlcs mvp card, strangely enough.

2003 topps makes for great dodger cards with its blue borders as evidenced by this paul quantrill card. quantrill, by the way, was drafted by the dodgers in 1986, but did not sign.  he joined the dodgers after leading the american league in appearances in 2001 and promptly led the national league in that category for both of his seasons as a dodger.  then, for good measure, he led the league again in 2004 with the yankees.  quantrill holds second (89 games) and third place (86 games) on the all-time dodger leader board in that category, behind only dr. mike marshall and his 106 appearances in 1974.

doug rau and jim gott have been in the set before, and there's not much new to say about either of them. 1977 topps has been pretty well represented, too, but i think this is the first time we are seeing 1993 score. i like the angle of the photo used on gott's score card - the background is half pavilion/half bullpen - but it's not as sharp as a card as we will see in a few pages.

last but not least (or, maybe least) is len matuszek's 1987 donruss card. matuszek will always be to me al oliver 2.0.  the dodgers traded for oliver prior to the 1985 season, and i was somewhat excited to see him in a dodger uniform.  however, oliver underperformed and was dealt to the blue jays in july.  it seemed like al campanis had a quick hook for oliver which disappointed me.  anyway, matuszek was the guy who the dodgers received in return, and he really wasn't much different than oliver at the plate.  i never really warmed to matuszek as a dodger because i was a bigger fan of oliver, but neither the dodgers nor the blue jays made it past the league championship series that year, despite both teams having a 2 games to none advantage, so i guess it doesn't really matter much and i should get over it 31 years later.

cards that didn't make the cut:

other cards considered but not chosen include 2014 topps andre ethier at number 415, 1976 tommy john at number 416, 2007 fleer andy laroche at number 417, 2010 topps heritage jim thome

at number 418, 1996 topps stadium club antonio osuna

at number 419, 1981 donruss tom lasorda

at number 420,   2002 topps 206 james loney at number 422 (if i come across a double of this card, it will replace the '93 score gott), and 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee mark loretta at number 423.  i am not aware of a different dodger card than the rau at number 421 other than from the target dodger anniversary set.

my favorite card on the page:

i really like having a card that addresses eddie murray's lost batting title, and the lopes and garman cards are likable, too.  however, the don drysdale appearance on ramon martinez's 1991 score card puts it over the top and makes it my favorite card on this page.

final thoughts:

while the 1981 donruss design is similar to that of 1978 topps, i don't hold it in quite the same esteem.  and, i didn't go crazy for it when panini issued some cards last year with the design.  however, i do have a master 1978 topps set going.  in addition to the 726 card set (and its o-pee-chee counterpart), i have collected cards with the 1978 design that are different from the flagship set, such as the willie montanez topps zest card, the variations in the burger king astros, rangers, tigers, and yankees sets, as well as the cards with that design that have been featured in the fan favorites sets over the years.  i believe that i am only missing a doug decinces auto from 2003 fan favorites.  anyway, steve at white sox cards recently pointed out that topps is going to issue 'birth year' cards as an insert set in update this year.  as part of a blog bat around in 2009, i had proposed doing cards in the design of current players' birth years as a way to appease the active player requirement in an archives type release, while also including final tribute cards that should have been of former players. steve has produced dozens of birth year cards for white sox players since then - popularizing the idea in my opinion. it doesn't look like he'll get any sort of credit, which is too bad.  as for me, i'm just hoping that there is a chase utley card in the set since his birth year is - you guessed it - 1978.

frankendodger sheet 45 (cards 397-405) - nine cards chosen for this page; number 400 will shock you...

here's sheet number 45 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 397-405:

 and the back:

these cards are:

397. 1991 topps eddie murray
398. 1972 topps larry hisle
399. 1992 o-pee-chee gary carter
400. 1969 topps don drysdale
401. 1958 topps don bessent
402. 1994 score jim gott
403. 2010 topps heritage jackie robinson
404. 1993 score select henry rodriguez
405. 2012 topps nathan eovaldi

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are really two no brainers on this sheet - the 1972 larry hisle card and the 1992 o-pee-chee gary carter card. both were shoo-ins for the set.

about the cards:

i started collecting when topps was not making separate cards for all-stars.  so, i was used to seeing an all-star designation on a player's base card (this was from 1975 through 1981 - a run that matched steve garvey's reign as the national league starting first baseman (1974 through 1980) and i was actually relieved when topps returned to the habit of making separate cards for all-stars in 1982 since that would have been the first year that garvey wouldn't get an all-star designation on his base card.  i couldn't deal with the shame - seriously, i was bummed about not seeing whatever star or shield topps was going to use in 1982, and then i was happy to find out that there were separate cards for all-stars.  anyway, the 1991 set is probably my favorite set for the separate all-star cards in the post-1981 world, and this steady eddie card is one of two (mike scioscia being the other) that the dodgers have in the subset.

because i started collecting in 1978, i knew larry hisle as the reigning american league rbi leader (as a twin) and also as a new brewer thanks to that year's topps set.  i later learned to appreciate the fact that topps kept hisle as a twin on the league leader card even as they airbrushed him into a brewer hat and jersey on his base card, but at the time i was just confused.  so, i studied the back of hisle's card and saw that he had been signed by the brew crew as a free agent in november of 1977.  nowhere on the back of his card, however, was there any mention of being a dodger (although i did notice that the 1972 season was missing from his stats), so imagine my surprise when i came across his 1972 topps card a couple of years later.  it turns out that the dodgers traded for hisle, sending tom hutton to the phillies in october of 1971.  unfortunately for hisle, the dodgers also dealt for frank robinson in december of 1971 which resulted in hisle spending the 1972 season in the minors. in november of 1972, the dodgers sent hisle to the cardinals who quickly flipped him to the twins.  so, hisle never played for the dodgers but we dodger fans have this 1972 topps card to remember him by and it is probably my favorite 'zero year' card (right up there with the 1974 topps traded tommie agee card).

at number 399 we have another favorite card of mine. this 1992 o-pee-chee card uses the same photo of gary carter as his topps counterpart, but it is just one of several 'tribute' cards that the canadian card maker produced for their retiring baseball hero.  there was one card for each team for which carter played - expos,

mets,

giants,

dodgers,

- and then a fifth tribute card

recognizing his return to les expos for the 1992 season. the first four cards, including the one above, focused solely on his experience with that particular team. it was just a great subset from o-pee-chee - if only the expos had brought fan favorite rusty staub in for a third go-around in 1986 and given o-pee-chee the idea for a similar set...

next we have the fourth big hero number of the set - card number 400.  at 100, i have replaced matt kemp with hubie brooks to eliminate any player or set duplication in the first 20 pages.  the numbering of the 1990 bowman brooks card is just happenstance, but at number 200 we had sandy koufax. at 300, clayton kershaw.  and now at 400 we have don drysdale's (unfortunately) final topps card.  i passed over a more obvious choice to put big d's card here, but drysdale deserves it. this card recounts his 6 straight shutouts and 58-2/3 scoreless innings streak during the previous season, as well as his 1962 cy young award.  drysdale was only 14-12 in 1968 despite his streak, and his era of 2.15 was over a full run higher than the unanimous cy young award winner that year - bob gibson.

another don, don bessent, takes spot 401 with his 1958 topps card.  bessent was a solid reliever for the brooklyn dodgers in both 1955 and 1956, pitching well in the world series in each of those years. he made the move to los angeles with the club, but injuries cut his career short with 1958 being the last year he appeared in the majors.

jim gott's horizontal score card is nice - especially with the dodger stadium background, but it is not the most interesting horizontal gott card in my collection. that distinction belongs to his 1992 pinnacle sidelines subset card (this one is a ttm auto)

with the yeonis cespedes variation card in 2016 topps series 2 (showing cespedes on a ranch with a horse) i wonder if there will be a return to these types of cards.  i hope not. it's interesting, but ultimately not what i am looking for in a baseball card set.

i do not know why topps did not include a jackie robinson card in the original baseball thrills subset of their 1961 set, but it was nice to see this card in the 2010 heritage set.

one thing that comes to mind when i look at henry rodriguez's 1993 score select card is that score continued the design of the card on to the back.  that doesn't happen too often, but it works here.  i am also reminded that the dodgers essentially chose billy ashley, karim garcia, and/or todd hollandsworth over rodriguez, and he went on to make many fans question that decision.

last up is nathan eovaldi and his 2012 topps card. this card makes me a little sad, and it's not because i thought that eovaldi was a future ace or anything.  i'll explain.  eovaldi was traded to the marlins during the 2012 season in the hanley ramirez trade.  i was at dodger stadium for the august 24th game  later in the season between the dodgers and marlins that marked his return to chavez ravine (it was also the game in which chad billingsley was injured and ultimately lost for the season).  eovaldi allowed a home run to hanley, along with andre ethier and juan rivera in that game.  but what i really recall about that game is that it marked the end of the dodgers as i knew them.  earlier in the year, i wrote that i was afraid that the dodgers would become just another big market team trying to buy its way to a championship like the red sox and yankees.  that night i spent at dodger stadium was also the night that the dodgers and red sox came to terms on the adrian gonzalez/carl crawford/josh beckett deal that saw the dodgers take on a ridiculous amount of salary for the primary purpose of adding gonzalez whom they had claimed on waivers earlier in the day.  i had seen the waiver claim news earlier in the day but figured the red sox would just pull gonzalez back, but then people at the stadium were talking, including one guy who claimed to know ben cherington and said that a deal was going to happen.  the next day, when i saw the details of the trade, i was a bit sad.  i'm still a fan, but it's not the same these days as the gamesmanship has changed, and i addressed my feelings in a post not too long after the trade went down.  anway, seeing eovaldi's 2012 topps card makes me sad.

cards that didn't make the cut:

for quite a while, the first spot on this page was manned by a 1995 fleer ultra garey ingram card

at number 397, but i decided to replace it with a different dodger who wore 33 primarily because there is a 1995 ultra card on sheet 44.  other cards not making the grade for one reason or another include 1968 topps jim grant at number 398, 1998 upper deck wilton guerrero at number 399, 1957 topps dodgers sluggers (carl furillo, gil hodges, roy campanella, and duke snider)

and 1977 topps steve garvey

at number 400 (can you believe it?!?!?!), 1998 upper deck eddie murray at number 401, 1971 topps dodger team at number 402, 1992 topps stadium club mitch webster at number 403, 1962 topps tim harkness at number 404, and 1994 topps finest ramon martinez at number 405.

my favorite card on the page:

because i love me some o-pee-chee (especially when it's different than topps), the 1992 gary carter card is my favorite on this page - and not just because it's canada day!

final thoughts:

this was a longer post with some great cards that mean something to me.  i am still a bit torn about not putting garvey in the 400 spot as that means he won't be in a hero spot in the set (topps did give him number 100 in the 1987 set, but he was a padre then), but i'm not going to make a change.  i have made some other changes, however, including making the hubie brooks card number 100 and adding corey seager to the set at number 150 (replacing another garvey card!).  so now there are no player or set duplications in the first 20 pages of the set.  some other updates i've made will be revealed later, so stay tuned. also, thanks to tony at off hiatus for the click-bait title idea. i thought it made sense for this post!

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.

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.