frankendodger sheet 74 (cards 658-666) - let's find out which upper deck number of the beast makes the set...

here's sheet number 74 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 658-666:

and the back:

[update! - i replaced card number 663 as the 1990 target dodgers were meant to be place holders. so, here's sheet number 74; front and back]

these cards are:

658. 1994 upper deck collector's choice todd hollandsworth
659. 1990 target jerry reuss
660. 1976 topps dave lopes
661. 2013 topps hyun-jin ryu
662. 1998 donruss collections preferred wilton guerrero
663. 1990 target paul richards2020 topps heritage high numbers alex wood
664. 1987 topps mike marshall
665. 1990 topps sandy koufax
666. 1989 upper deck kirk gibson

the "no brainer" of the day:

i knew that number 666 was going to be an upper deck card, and of the seven i had to choose from, the gibby was a no brainer.

about the cards:

upper deck was already over raul mondesi when they launched their collector's choice brand in 1994. while mondesi would go on to win the rookie of the year award that season, he had just a regular card in the set, and todd hollandsworth got this rookie class subset card instead.  holly would win the rookie of the year award two years later, but by then upper deck was all about karim garcia and wilton guerrero as far as dodger rookies were concerned.

it's time for another card from the 1990 target set to fill a hole. this time, it's friend of the blogging community jerry reuss.  i remember reading about reuss playing in a men's amateur baseball league following his retirement, but he was not allowed to pitch.  i played in a men's league for a few years and faced a few former minor league pitchers, and i can definitely understand amateurs not wanting to face a former big leaguer - the minor leaguers were tough enough.  i should point out that there was a card that i could have put here, but it is not the best (it's a plain fleer checklist), and knowing that reuss's target card was number 659, i chose reuss even though it puts two cards from target on this sheet.

this next card is, i believe, the final card of one of the infielders in this set. it's davey lopes's 1976 topps card.  there are no italics on the back of the card, but if there were, the stolen base totals for 1975 and 1976 would be italicized to denote the fact that lopes led the league in both of those seasons.  he finished third a couple of times later on, but never regained the top spot.  for his career, lopes ranks 26th all-time in steals and it looks to be a while before anyone bumps him to 27th.

hyun-jin ryu brings one of his multitude of 2013 topps cards to the set at number 661. this is the base version - i think there are three or four different photos for this card. it's nonsense, but i believe i have them all. i didn't pay much, but they should be even cheaper now with ryu having been injured for so long. i no longer actively chase photo variations, but may wind up getting a couple of the '42' variations in 2016 topps series 2.

1998 donruss collections returns with a preferred wilton guerrero card.  once again, these are just retooled cards from regular donruss issues, with all releases put into one set.  you have to look closely for the actual card number - it's not the number in the top corner, it's down below.

where i had an option at 659, there was no other alternative at 663 than a target card.  this one doesn't even feature a guy in a dodger uniform, as paul richards is shown in what i believe to be a white sox uniform (richards was their manager in the early 1950's and then again in 1976).  in fact, richards appeared in only three games for the 1932 brooklyn dodgers going 0 for 8 at the plate. he played for three other teams in the majors, with the last being the tigers in 1946. happy to have alex wood show up at 663 so that i could remove paul richards and his non-dodger uniform from the set. i was also happy to see wood return to the dodgers and help them win the 2020 fall classic. wood's photo here shows a bit of the 2020 all-star game patch that the dodgers wore during spring training prior to the pandemic.

mike marshall's 1987 topps card reminds me that his offensive production took a big step backwards in 1986.  he had hit 28 homers, driven in 95 runs, and posted a .293 average in 1985 - not on par with his minor league numbers, but still headed in the right direction.  in 1986, however, his average dropped by 60 points, and he played in 30 fewer games.  he rebounded a bit in 1987, getting his average back up to .294, but he never did get his slugging percentage back up to where it had been in 1985.  he had a reputation for not playing hurt, but for me, all that was forgotten with the 1988 world series and marshall's 3-run homer in game 2 to turn a 2-0 lead into 5-0 in the third inning.

it was a nice thing when topps started using old cards for the turn back the clock subsets in the late 1980's, and in 1990 we were treated to sandy koufax's 1965 card. at the time, i figured it was probably the only way that i would have that card in my collection, but i am happy to say that i was wrong.

still need one for the '65 set, though.

last card on the sheet is one of kirk gibson's 1989 upper deck cards. this one features him on his way to first base after hitting his walk-off home run in game 1 of the 1988 world series.  young gcrl is out there in the right field pavilion losing his mind and trying to take some pictures.  astute upper deck collectors noticed over the next few years that it was always a dodger at number 666 in the upper deck sets, and it was no coincidence as revealed in the 'card sharks' book. the guy who set the checklist for upper deck was a giants fan.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1974 topps lee lacy at number 658, 1988 fleer checklist at number 659, 1992 topps stadium club eric davis at number 660, 1983 topps bill russell

at number 661, 1989 upper deck kirk gibson at number 662, 1990 donruss alejandro pena at number 664, 1986 topps alejandro pena at number 665, and several upper deck flagship cards from 1990 through 1993,

and then again in 2002 and 2006

at number 666.

my favorite card on the page:

it's either the lopes or the gibson, and i have to go with world series heroics over the second baseman of the team of my youth.

final thoughts:

two of these cards are the last cards in their respective set - the 1976 topps lopes and the 2013 topps hyun-jin ryu - which drives home the point that there are not very many sets left to choose cards from. i didn't realize in 1978 that it was the first year for the 726 card set size. had i really started collecting in 1977 (i was given my first pack of cards that year), this frankenset would have ended with davey lopes up there.  as it is, we get a few more pages.

frankendodger sheet 41 (cards 361-369) - with bill and ted and a not so excellent cartoon...

here's sheet number 41 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 361-369:

and the back:

these cards are:

361. 2000 fleer tradition todd hollandsworth
362. 1994 leaf todd worrell
363. 1992 topps john candelaria
364. 1966 topps nate oliver
365. 1967 topps john roseboro
366. 1977 topps ted sizemore
367. 1997 upper deck collector's choice chan ho park
368. 1973 topps bill buckner
369. 1970 topps alan foster

the "no brainer" of the day:

there is not really an obvious choice here, but the closest thing to a no brainer on this page would be the 1977 topps sizemore card, i think.  it's the only card we have of the 1969 rookie of the year from his second time around with the dodgers.

about the cards:

fleer kind of ripped off the 1954 topps design with their 2000 tradition release, and then they used the 1956 topps design the following year before realizing that they had some designs of their own they could use.  i'm not a big fan of this particular hollandsworth card - i think the green is too bright - but i had a double of it and it fit in the set.

the 1994 leaf card is todd worrell's first entry in the set. two todds in a row, and two rookies of the year in a row, too.  worrell was, to me, the first modern closer that the dodgers employed, and he was the one who broke jim brewer's team saves record (since surpassed by jeff shaw, eric gagne, and now kenley jansen).  just like the front of hollandsworth's card gives us mini holly and giant holly, the back of worrell's card gives us a giant worrell in dodger stadium.  i appreciate the use of chavez ravine as the background for the back of the card, but i don't need it to be obscured by a third picture of worrell.

the back of john candelaria's 1992 topps card should also have a picture of dodger stadium on it, but for the fact that the candy man has too many rows of stats.  this is partially due to the fact that topps gives a separate row to each team for which candelaria pitched each year, so there are a few seasons with a couple of rows.  i prefer this approach to stats on the back as opposed to combining stats for different teams, probably because this is the way topps did it (and still does).

with their 1966 topps and 1967 topps cards, respectively, nate oliver and john roseboro give us a look at the evoluton of topps design from one year to the next.  there aren't too many instances in this set where we go chronologically in order from one year to the next. for the record, i prefer the 1967 design to the 1966 design.

i mentioned above that the 1977 topps ted sizemore card is the only one produced showing him as a dodger following the trade between the dodgers and cardinals in march of 1976 that sent willie crawford to st. louis.  that trade occurred too late, i guess, for sizemore's sspc card to be changed or for a topps traded card to be made.  by the time this card was issued, however, sizemore was playing for the phillies.  he was on the field for the phils in game 3 of the 1977 nlcs (aka 'black friday'), and it was his 9th inning fielding error on greg luzinski's throw (the ball skipped away from sizemore) that allowed manny mota to go to third where he scored on davey lopes' infield single.  it's too bad, but i'm glad the dodgers won.

chan ho park shows off some spring training bullpen stuff on his 1996 upper deck collector's choice card.  it's the kind of photo that a fan might take while walking around dodgertown in the mid 1990's, and i like that.  i also like the dodger stadium background in the photo on the back.  no giant chan ho, either.

bill buckner is also at spring training on his 1973 topps card, but he's not posing for a fan.  billy buck is wearing a first baseman's glove as he was wes parker's heir apparent, but we all know now that he eventually moved to the outfield to make way for steve garvey.  the only bad thing about this card is the cartoon on the back:

buckner was born in the north bay - vallejo, to be exact - and attended high school in napa, so his fandom for the giants makes sense. still, i imagine the original owner of this card being disturbed by this fact and taking a red marker to the cartoon to express their disgust.

the last card on the page is alan foster's 1970 topps card.  the cartoon on the back of foster's card notes that he received a $100,000 bonus to sign with the dodgers in 1965. that's a better cartoon.

cards that didn't make the cut:

for whatever reason, some of the cards that i passed on for this page include 2001 upper deck vintage dodgers rookies (mike judd, hiram bocachica, and luke prokopec) at number 361, 1982 donruss terry forster at number 362, 1961 topps john roseboro at number 363, 1959 topps danny mcdevitt

at number 364, 1999 topps raul mondesi

at number 365, 1985 fleer dave anderson at number 366, 2014 topps brian wilson

at number 367, 1974 topps manny mota at number 368, and 1994 pinnacle brett butler at number 369.

my favorite card on the page:

chan ho park's 1996 collector's choice card is my favorite here.  something about the background and the design of the card.

final thoughts:

we are halfway through the set already.  this seems like a good spot to thank people for following along so far, and for reading, commenting, and continuing to trade cards with me.  it is much appreciated!

frankendodger sheet 14 (cards 118-126) - not the best...

here's sheet number 14 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 118-126:

and the back:

these cards are:

118. 1986 topps traded ed vande berg
119. 2006 bowman j.d. drew
120. 1987 leaf bill madlock
121. 2007 ud sp rookie edition andy laroche
122. 1989 donruss baseball's best mike morgan
123. 1996 select greg gagne
124. 1987 fleer star stickers reggie williams
125. 1997 donruss todd hollandsworth
126. 1997 leaf antonio osuna

the "no brainer" of the day:

at this point, i was thinking about relatively obscure sets and/or obscure players that would likely not have already been used in the set.  the result of this approach is sometimes a "meh" page, and i think this is definitely one of those.  however, one of the cards that first came to mind that fit this rather obscure profile was the andy laroche card.  i knew i had doubles of it, and i knew i hadn't used a laroche card or a card from that set.  so, it was a no brainer to include here.

about the cards:

i always liked seeing dodger cards in the traded sets because they meant that i didn't have to wait until the next season to see certain players on cardboard as a dodger.  ed vande berg's 1986 topps traded card was bittersweet for me because it came about as a result of the dodgers trading steve yeager to seattle.  i was thinking about this last week because max scherzer struck out 20 batters in a game, matching the feats of randy johnson, kerry wood, and roger clemens.  clemens was, of course, the first to do so, and he did it against yeager and the mariners in 1986.  i recall that i was pleased that yeager fanned only once in his two at-bats that day.

jd drew's bowman card is from that era of bowman cards that came after 1997 and made it hard for me to figure out which year was which.  i do know that there is a tight window in time to which this card belongs due to drew exercising his 'out' clause after just a couple years in los angeles.

madlock's 1987 leaf card is not his best card as a dodger (although i don't really recall any outstanding madlock cards from his tenure), but i am glad to have the four-time batting champ in the set.  the andy laroche card features a low-angle spring training shot which makes me think of a player avoiding eye contact with fans that have lined up along the walkways to try to get autographs.

donruss used the term "baseball's best" fairly loosely with their sets of the late 80's/early 90's. as proof, here's mike morgan who did have a nice 2.53 era in 1989, but wasn't the ace of the staff or anything like that.  i was happy to see morgan win a ring with arizona in 2001, as i felt he was rushed to the big leagues by charlie finley which probably hurt/stunted his development as a pitcher for his entire career.

prior to joining the dodgers for the 1996 season, greg gagne had been to the postseason twice, and had won two rings.  in 1996, he reached the postseason for the third time in his career, but tasted postseason defeat for the first and only time as the dodgers were swept out of the nlds.  reggie williams, who has a number of cards (and this sticker) from 1986, was traded by the dodgers to the indians prior to the 1988 season.  i bet he was not happy about that.

todd hollandsworth has many better cards than this forgettable 1997 donruss card.  1997 donruss as a set seems too dark to me.  the card next to it was made by the same company, and is much nicer.  two leaf cards on one sheet, 10 years apart. i think leaf did well to create a completely separate set from the donruss design, unlike their mid and late 80's sets.

cards that didn't make the cut:

bob welch's 1988 topps card (with his super long arm)

is numbered 118, as is one of hollandsworth's better cards (his 1997 upper deck card) and the fantastic 2015 topps stadium club yasiel puig card.

sometimes i think i should have violated my frankenset guidelines...

other cards to be disqualified or just not quite be up to snuff include 1981 fleer terry forster (#119), 1999 upper deck jim eisenreich (#120), 1994 topps stadium club brett butler featuring his sweet mustache (#121),

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee orlando hudson (#122), 1983 o-pee-chee bill russell (#123), 1984 topps traded mike vail (#124), 1959 topps ron fairly (#125), and 1965 topps dodger team (#126).

my favorite card on the page:

i would like it better if the osuna card had the license plate (ok, it was not really a license plate, but osuna did wear a really large pendant on a chain when he first joined the dodgers) that he wore on one of his chains showing, but the chain is large and heavy enough in and of itself that i still like the '97 leaf card the best.

final thoughts:

there have been two different reggie williams that played for the dodgers.  just like there have been two mike marshalls, two ramon martinezes, and two mike ramseys.  i think only the marshalls are both represented in the frankenset, but i could be wrong.