frankendodger sheet 76 (cards 676-684) - kiki with an i not an e...

here's sheet number 76 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 676-684:

and the back:

these cards are:

676. 1990 score kiki jones
677. 2002 upper deck 40 man paul loduca
678. 1994 bowman antonio osuna
679. 1980 topps dodgers future stars (joe beckwith/mickey hatcher/dave patterson)
680. 1985 topps jerry reuss
681. 1983 topps dodgers leaders (pedro guerrero/fernando valenzuela)
682. 1993 topps john candelaria
683. 1994 topps cory snyder
684. 1992 score jeff hamilton

the "no brainer" of the day:

i suppose the 1980 topps dodgers future stars card is the closest thing to a no brainer here, but not sure that it qualifies. i'll make as good a case as i can below.

about the cards:

keith "kiki" jones was 8-0 in the rookie league in 1989, prompting score to add him to their 1990 set.  he never did make it to the big leagues despite a good arm and curveball, according to scouts - another dodger first round pick that didn't pan out.

paul loduca may or may not have had some illegal help in getting to the big leagues (he was named in the mitchell report), but he made it, and found himself in the 2002 upper deck 40 man set.  this was the evolution of upper deck's victory set, which was similar to topps total.  as a team collector, i appreciate sets like these, although the 2003 40 man set is better, in my opinion.

1994 bowman is here with antonio osuna and so much foil!  everytime i see a card of antonio osuna, i find myself looking for that monstrous pendant he wore around his neck the first time i saw him pitch.

the first rookie cards i saw were the 4-in-1 cards in the 1978 topps set. those cards, in keeping tradition with what was produced from 1974 through '78, had multiple teams represented on each card (in 1973, the rookie cards had three players from different teams on them).  in 1979, topps gave me a card with just dodgers on it, but it was in black and white.  then, in 1980, they gave me this trio of dodgers in full color!  shades of 1972, i would eventually learn.  anyway, i knew who all three of these guys (joe beckwith, mickey hatcher, and dave patterson) were because they had played for the dodgers in 1979 - in fact, i still remember listening to the game in which hatcher made his major league debut because he came up with the bases loaded and vin scully noted that he had a chance to do something very rare in his first big league at bat.  well, hatcher didn't hit a grand slam, but he did walk.  i was pretty happy to have this card in 1980, even though patterson never made it back to the majors.

jerry reuss makes another appearance in the set with his 1985 topps card. he looks pretty happy to be in vero beach, and i can't really blame him given the circumstances.   he wound up sporting a 2.92 era in 1985, which didn't even crack the top ten in the national league.  he also lost 10 games with an era split of 1.21 in his wins, and 7.03 in his losses.  his era in the 1985 postseason was 10.80 - can you guess what the game outcome was?

pedro guerrero and fernando valenzuela were the dodgers' batting and pitching leaders in 1982, respectively.  i know this thanks to this 1983 topps card that marks the return of the dodger logo to topps cards for the first time since what, 1963?

in hindsight, i am left wondering why the logo is in a box rather than a circle, since all of the other 1983 topps cards have circles (portholes, if you will). 1984 is the one with squares (picture in picture, i call it).

john candelaria's 1993 topps card is right next to cory snyder's 1994 topps card, so you can try to find some back-to-back design evolutionary ties.  i can't find any, really, but i was happy that topps went back to the landscape oriented backs in '94.  snyder's card, with him camped out on second base, reminds me of my final little league (minors) game.  i was 9 and on third base. two of my friends were on second and first, respectively, and a kid that we only knew through baseball was at the plate.  two outs, full count, down by a run with the league championship on the line - all of the cliches you can think of. the kid at bat swung at ball 4 and the game was over. my friend sat on second base and looked pretty much the same way snyder does on his card.

last card on the sheet is jeff hamilton's 1992 score card.  that's pretty much all i have to say about that.  oh, all right - i'll mention that hamilton was the losing pitcher in the 22-inning game between the astros and dodgers in 1989. he struck out ken caminiti (and billy hatcher), but was beat by a rafael ramirez walk-off single. this was the same game that ended with eddie murray playing third base and fernando valenzuela at first.

cards that didn't make the cut:

2006 upper deck ricky ledee at number 676, 2006 upper deck sandy alomar jr

at number 677, 2002 upper deck 40 man mark grudzielanek at number 678, 1981 topps dodgers team

at number 679, 2002 upper deck 40 man paul quantrill at number 680, 1982 topps dodgers future stars (mike marshall/ron roenicke/steve sax) - my last double was sent out for some ttm action -

at number 681, 1987 topps jerry reuss at number 682, 2002 upper deck 40 man eric gagne at number 683, and 2002 upper deck 40 man giovanni carrara at number 684.

my favorite card on the page:

as much as i appreciate seeing disappointed cory snyder on second base, i like the 1980 topps future stars card more.

final thoughts:

the dodgers currently have a player on their roster named enrique hernandez.  his nickname, like that of keith jones, is pronounced by many as "key-key".  however, enrique spells it with an "e" on the end, rather than the second "i", and it is actually pronounced "key-kay".  it's all about the accent over the "e".  anyway, the first time i saw enrique's nickname in print (without the accent), i was a bit surprised, as it is commonly known to be a slur for jewish people.  i am pretty sure this is why topps cards show his name as enrique,

and not his nickname.

frankendodger sheet 8 (cards 64-72) - a very pleasant good morning to you, wherever you may be...

here's sheet number 8 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 64-72:

and the back:

these cards are:

64. 1993 pinnacle darryl strawberry
65. 2013 panini cooperstown collection vin scully
66. 2014 panini golden age tom lasorda
67. 2009 topps walmart black parallel andruw jones
68. 1975 sspc charlie hough
69. 2015 panini diamond kings jim gilliam
70. 2000 upper deck mvp kevin brown
71. 1995 upper deck tim wallach
72. 1994 upper deck all-time heroes don newcombe

the "no brainer" of the day:

aside from a couple of steve garvey cards, there is probably not a bigger no-brainer in this set than vin scully's card at number 65.  topps has made a couple of cards of announcers, along with at least one of a public address announcer, but no scully card to date.  i am really hoping that with the topps now set, they will make one for at least one of the nights that the dodgers will be honoring him this year.  and, if that's the case, scully would probably get a second card in the frankenset.

about the cards:

there are three unlicensed cards on this sheet, and the lasorda is the worst of them, although i do wish jim gilliam's arms were a bit higher so that it weren't so obvious that there is no team name on the front of his jersey.  gilliam, like lasorda, was a dodger lifer. he was a coach following his playing days, and he helped the infield of my youth become the infield of my youth.  it bears repeating that his number 19 is the only number retired by the dodgers for a player/coach not in the hall of fame.  lasorda's number is also retired by the club, but he is enshrined in cooperstown as a manager.

scully is also a hall of famer, and i wonder what (if anything) the dodgers might retire in vin's honor at the end of this season.  the cardinals have jack buck as part of their outfield mural, and the giants used (do they still have them?) the ny logo for players that didn't wear numbers - a tactic that could work for scully, i suppose.  we'll just have to wait and see.  i'm in no rush to get to the end of his career.

there are better darryl strawberry cards than the pinnacle card i used, but not at number 64.  the andruw jones card is one of a couple parallels that make the set (figures i would have doubles of the walmart black version of this card, but not the regular base).  charlie hough was the closer (one of them, anyway) on the team of my youth which is odd for a knuckleballer, but he looks happy on the sspc card and i am glad to have another player from the 1978 dodgers in the set.

the kevin brown card kind of reminds me of that 1976 topps tom seaver record breaker card due to the generic looking red helmet in the foreground of the card.  in the 8-spot on the page, we have a tim wallach card that won't be going to new mexico anytime soon (i do have some others that will be headed to a certain lawyer out there), and the last card on the page is perhaps the best card from the 2004 upper deck all-time heroes set.  newk was a good hitting pitcher (he hit .271 over his career), and it's nice to have a card showing his style at the plate.  he will turn 90 in about a month's time, and his presence around the club for the last few decades puts him in the manny mota territory of will they/won't they waive the hof requirement (as they did for gilliam) and retire his number.  i would guess it is less likely that newcombe's number is retired since he has not been in uniform the way mota was for all those post-playing days.

cards that didn't make the cut:

there was at least one other card on this page other than the scully that wasn't going to be bumped for anyone else, but there were some tempting options.  some of the cards that didn't quite make it include some "great" ones such as 2000 fleer greats of the game preacher roe (#64), 2002 fleer greats of the game hack wilson (#65), 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game steve garvey (#66), 2003 fleer flair greats don drysdale (#66), 2011 topps marquee clayton kershaw (#67), 1963 topps duke snider/gil hodges "friendly foes" (#68), 2003 fleer focus jersey edition shawn green (#69),

1994 upper deck collector's choice brett butler (#70), 1958 topps dodger team (#71), and 1989 upper deck brian holton,

but not that one - the one that is really shawn hillegas (#72).

that last one didn't stand a chance against newk's card, and i have a better known player swap later in the set.  i also originally had planned to put a different jim gilliam card (his 1995 topps archives brooklyn dodgers 1954 topps reprint card) at #69 but went with the panini card instead.

my favorite card on the page:

it's vin, without a doubt.

final thoughts:

i've been watching a bunch of dodger home games through my mlb.tv subscription this year to get my vin scully fix, which means i've been very tired on several mornings.  i missed vin's dissertation on beards, however, so had to check that out on deadspin.  what a treasure, indeed.