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 63 (cards 559-567) - do you prefer your fans blurry or out of focus?...

here's sheet number 63 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 559-567:

and the back:

these cards are:

559. 2004 upper deck brad penny
560. 1980 topps dave lopes
561. 1965 topps dodger rookies
562. 1978 topps glenn burke
563. 2008 topps ramon troncoso
564. 1997 fleer darren dreifort
565. 1981 topps burt hooton
566. 1976 topps ken mcmullen
567. 1995 score raul mondesi

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are a couple of spots on this sheet that were filled by the only card possible (outside of using the 1990 target set), but the 1978 topps glenn burke is not one of them. it is, however, the no brainer of the page.

about the cards:

the 2004 upper deck brad penny card is a curious one. after reading the book 'card sharks' about the origins of upper deck, i understood. upper deck had been sued by an umpire who had appeared on a card without compensation or permission. so, it stood to reason to me that these fans would be blurred out to avoid any of them suing upper deck. the problem there is that this blurring of fans on cards is inconsistent across upper deck's other releases, although it is done on other cards

in upper deck's second series (which includes this penny card).  topps clearly doesn't care, given all of the fans that are clearly visible on their cards featuring players reaching into the stands

to make catches.

the 1980 topps davey lopes card is the first card for lopes to include the all-star designation. lopes had made the 1978 all-star team as a reserve, but in 1979 he finally unseated joe morgan in the fan voting. in 1980, for the all-star game hosted by the dodgers (i think it's time for dodger stadium to host again, by the way), lopes was the leading vote getter in either league with over 3,000,000 votes - a couple of those were mine.

next up is jim lefebvre's 1965 topps rookie card. it features three other players - dennis daboll, mike kekich, and hector valle - but it was lefebvre who became the 1965 national league rookie of the year.  daboll was actually in the reds' organization when this card hit the streets, but never made it to the big leagues. kekich was 0-1 in his five appearances with the dodgers in '65, and he went on to be better known as one of the yankees who swapped wives in the early 70's.  for his part, valle appeared in just a handful of games that year (his only year in the majors) and hit .308. because of blogger's dumb 20 label rule, one of these guys is not going to be recognized with a label. i thought about just using a 'rookies' label, but no.  in the end, daboll gets left off of the label cloud since he didn't make it to the show.  blogger's rules, not mine.

glenn burke's 1978 topps card is a favorite of mine, since it is burke's only dodger card other than his 1990 target card.  if you haven't checked out the '30 for 30' piece on burke, i would encourage you to do so.  and, while you are at it, keep an eye out for the 1980 topps card that should have been that i created.

it makes an appearance in the documentary.

ramon troncoso's 2008 upper deck card fills the hole at number 563 and earns him a spot in the frankenset. troncoso pitched for the dodgers in parts of four seasons, including 3 scoreless appearances in the 2009 nlcs, before joining the white sox. he was back in the dodger organization last year, but didn't get the call up to the bigs.

you can see that darren dreifort's 1997 fleer card does bear a close resemblance to this year's stadium club release.

it makes one wonder how much attention is paid to previous sets when laying out card designs. was there noone at topps that recognized the similarities? doesn't upper deck own the fleer brand now? was this a dig at upper deck for using topps designs (they would say they used the o-pee-chee designs) in the past? the mind boggles.

burt hooton's 1981 topps card comes from the season that happy won the nlcs mvp for his 2-0 record against the expos.  hooton was actually good throughout the postseason that year - he was 1-0 against the astros in the nlds, pitching 7 innings and allowing just 3 hits and 1 run in the dodgers' must-win game 3, and then he went 1-1 against the yankees in the world series. he was the hard-luck loser in game 2 (the only run he allowed was unearned), but then picked up the win in the series clinching victory in game 6. in contrast to the brad penny card leading off the sheet, hooton's card comes with out of focus fans rather than blurry fans.

the 1976 topps ken mcmullen card is his last as a dodger as he would grace the '77 set as an oakland athletic. i'm somewhat surprised that mcmullen never surfaced in any of the fan favorite sets, nor was he included in the 2004 upper deck legends set as a member of the 1974 dodgers (even though i failed to mention that in the post) as he is a great ttm signer and would have been a great addition to any of those sets.  as for the card, i am not sure who number 72 is standing in the background. a minor leaguer/spring training invitee or coach? pretty likely to be the former, as the only coach i could think of that it might be is mark cresse, but he wore number 58.

last card of the sheet is the 1995 score raul mondesi hitter's inc. card.  mike piazza also has a card in this subset, but he doesn't look as angry as mondesi.  mondesi, meanwhile, is only the second most angry player in the set, behind albert belle

of course.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i don't believe there was any other option (aside from a card from the 1990 target dodgers set) at numbers 561 and 563, but other cards were considered to varying degrees were 1992 donruss darryl strawberry at number 559, 1989 score john tudor

at number 560, 1979 topps dusty baker

at number 562, 2004 topps total antonio perez at number 564, 1963 topps larry sherry at number 565, 1994 bowman orel hershiser at number 566, and 1971 topps walt alston

at number 567.

my favorite card on the page:

burke wins over penny and lopes.

final thoughts:

i linked above to the 1974 dodger team post over at timeless teams. i do fully intend to update that site with posts about the parallels and autos that the set featured, if for no other reason than to be completist about things.  look for those posts sometime this fall if you are so inclined. there might be a contest.

frankendodger sheet 49 (cards 433-441) - who wore it better?...

here's sheet number 49 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 433-331:

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 46 (cards 406-414) - no pictures of pitchers...

here's sheet number 46 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 406-414:

and the back:

these cards are:

406. 1993 fleer ultra darryl strawberry
407. 2000 upper deck shawn green
408. 1994 upper deck tim wallach
409. 2015 topps juan uribe
410. 1982 topps ron cey
411. 2004 fleer tradition brian jordan
412. 1978 topps davey lopes (nlcs)
413. 2006 fleer andre ethier
414. 1975 topps manny mota

the "no brainer" of the day:

given the dearth of postseason cards made by topps for the team of my youth, the 1978 topps nlcs card featuring davey lopes was a certainty for the set.

about the cards:

no pitchers allowed on this page - just a bunch of position players.  first up is darryl strawberry on his 1993 fleer ultra card. by the time this card came out, things were pretty much at an end with darryl and the dodgers. he had missed most of the 1992 season due to a back injury (for which he had season ending surgery), but was on the field for the start of the 1993 season.  unfortunately, he hit just .140 before his back forced him to the dl in june of '93, and he never appeared in a regular season game for the dodgers again.

the 2000 upper deck shawn green card is an odd horizontal torso crop.  we'll see another one from upper deck later in the post that works better than this one.  2000 upper deck is one of my favorite upper deck sets along with 1994, which gave us the next card on the page. tim wallach doesn't get one of tommy lasorda's famous hugs, but he does get a pat on the helmet.

juan uribe looks like he's tripping over his own feet on his 2015 topps card. uribe joined the dodgers following the giants' first world series win in 2010, and he spent four-plus seasons with the blue. after struggling in 2011 and 2012, he was pretty good in 2013 and 2014. he's still playing everyday with the indians this season and seems to have outlasted the guy who replaced him in san francisco.

i was looking forward to some great cards from topps in 1982 after the dodgers won it all the previous october. i was somewhat disappointed. here we have one of the three co-mvp's of the world series, ron cey, checking his swing in front of a tarp. at least it's a photo from 1981, as cey is sporting the city of los angeles' bicentennial patch on his sleeve. the city was founded in september of 1781. it wasn't until 1848, however, that the city became part of the united states.

i think the 2004 fleer tradition brian jordan card is a short print. that makes very little sense to me. i don't think folks were clamoring for brian jordan cards in 2004. i wasn't, anyway, as jordan had left for the hotter climes of texas by then.

i was, however, very excited about the 1978 topps card that celebrated the dodgers' nlcs win over the phillies in 1977.  the lone world series card in the set is very much a yankees card (as it should be if there is just going to be one card to mark the fall classic), so i had just this one card to remember the first postseason that i recall watching.  little did i know that it would be the only postseason dodger card issued by topps in their flagship set for a long, long time.  i think i am still waiting - i don't recall any cards in the 2009 or 2010 or 2014 sets recognizing the dodgers' nlds victories the previous seasons.  anyway. it would be great if the photo used on this card was from lopes' controversial at bat in the 9th inning of game 3 in which he hit a shot that ricocheted off of mike schmidt right to larry bowa who threw to first in an attempt to record the final out of the game and preserve a 5-4 phillies win.  however, lopes was called safe, and manny mota scored the tying run. after an errant pick off throw sent lopes to second, he scored what would be the winning run on a single by bill russell.  unfortunately, the image used comes from the first at bat of game 4, in which lopes lined out to second base.  still, i like the card.

i can picture fleer card designs in my head by year from 1981 through 1991 easily. then it starts to get confusing.  was 1992 the year with the green borders? or was that 1993? 1994 and 1995 fleer i can recognize right away, but after that it's tough. anyway, 2006 fleer does not register with me.  i know this is a 2006 fleer card because it's an andre ethier rookie card, but the design is not instantly recognizable. this is due to the fact that i stopped buying fleer cards for the most part in 1987. i do like how they flipped the design on to the back of the 2006 cards, so it's got that going for it.

manny mota's 1975 topps card might be my favorite card of the set.  i've said before that 1975 topps is not my favorite, but this is a nice card.  i like the choice of the blue on top/green on bottom border, and i think it works well with this near full shot of the left field pavilion in the background.  bonus points for the three sisters palm trees and the pre-diamond vision scoreboard, too.  i do wonder, however, if that is the on deck circle behind mota, why is it so close to the baseline?

cards that didn't make the cut:

the also-rans for this page include 1988 score ken howell at number 406, 1993 fleer ultra ricky trlicek at number 407, 1974 topps charlie hough

at number 408, 2000 upper deck gary sheffield (this is the better horizontal torso crop i referred to earlier in the post - love the sheffield bat wag!)

at number 409, 1983 donruss bob welch at number 410, 1970 topps dodgers team at number 411, 1963 topps dodgers' big three (johnny podres, don drysdale, and sandy koufax)

at number 412, 1998 donruss hideo nomo at number 413, and 1990 score rick dempsey at number 414.

my favorite card on the page:

i really like the lopes card, but the 1975 topps manny mota aesthetic wins out today.

final thoughts:

this post will publish on july 4th. the dodgers and other teams will be wearing some pretty ridiculous hats to 'celebrate' the holiday, but the red, white, and blue of the regular dodger uniform should be enough.  at any rate, remember the lesson of jason pierre-paul and have a safe 4th of july!

frankendodger sheet 38 (cards 334-342) - first card, last card...

here's sheet number 38 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 334-342:

and the back:

these cards are:

334. 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee russell martin
335. 1998 pacific crown collection otis nixon
336. 2004 topps eric gagne
337. 1986 donruss terry whitfield
338. 1982 topps davey lopes
339. 2003 upper deck vintage daryle ward
340. 2001 topps davey johnson
341. 1971 topps steve garvey
342. 1993 topps stadium club billy ashley

the "no brainer" of the day:

i suppose steve garvey's rookie card was always going to be number 341 in the set, but davey johnson's managerial card was also a sure thing. still, tough to be more of a no brainer than the '71 topps garvey.

about the cards:

i am pretty sure that the 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee set was supposed to use the 1977 topps/opc design.  the previews that they put out that year used the same design as what you see on the martin card above, but were referred to on checklists as "1977 o-pee-chee previews".  the backs sure looked like 1977 backs,

and you can see by the martin card that upper deck changed the backs before issuing the actual set.

otis nixon's 1998 pacific crown collection is a nice card - day game at dodger stadium is always a good choice for a card photo - and it reminds me of a story i heard a couple of weeks ago.  nixon played for the twins at one point in his career, and one of the local baseball scribes noted that in one of his first appearances for the team, the public address announcer called him amos otis by mistake. ok - the twins played the royals quite a bit back during the 14 years that amos otis was in the american league.  however, the announcer corrected himself by saying "i'm sorry - now batting, amos nixon".

next up is a 2004 topps card marking eric gagne's consecutive saves streak a 'season highlight'. i used to get a bick kick out of seeing dodgers on league leader and record breaker/highlight cards (i felt like it was a long time between when i started collecting in 1978 and manny mota's 1980 record breaker card), but now it's not quite as exciting for some reason.

terry whitfield was a giant when i started collecting in '78, but i do have one of his non-dodger cards in my dodger sets.  he was a yankee on the same 1976 topps rookie card that featured henry cruz.  anyway, whitfield was released by the dodgers early in the 1986 season - not too long after i found this card in a pack as i recall.

dave lopes was traded by the dodgers following the 1981 season, so i know he was gone by the time i found his 1982 topps all-star card in a pack.  still, it's one of his two dodger cards in the set, and one of his last dodger cards, period.  i did like steve sax, but i didn't like that he replaced dave lopes.  no cards of coaches over the last few seasons means that we likely lost the last opportunity for a current dodger card of lopes.  he's now the first base coach for his former dodger teammate dusty baker in washington dc.

daryle ward shows up on a card from upper deck's 2003 vintage release.  this was the second series or something, and didn't use the 1965 design that got me collecting the set in the first place.  i was confused when i saw these cards, to be honest.  i thought that maybe topps put a kabosh on the use of their designs, but then in 2008, upper deck had those 1969 style inserts and so i was really interested and then confused by the 2009 1977 previews.  i didn't think much about ward because he didn't do much as a dodger.

i was happy to see manager cards back in topps sets in 2001, especially since the dodgers had a new manager since the last time topps made cards for the skippers.  they had gone through a couple, in fact.  johnson was replaced by jim tracy following a 2nd place finish in the nl west in 2000, but at least we have this card to remember him by.

we saw one of the last dodger cards of an infielder earlier, and now we have the first of another.  steve garvey's 1971 topps rookie card was a jewel of my early collection.  it was pretty tough to find growing up in southern california, especially in my price range.  it is weird still to see him with a fielder's glove as opposed to a first baseman's mitt, and that black batting glove is so chic.

finally we have a 1993 stadium club card of billy ashley.  i honestly thought this was an eric karros card when i started writing this post.  it's a reasonable mistake, however, as ashley has the same sort of running hunch that karros displayed.

cards that didn't make the cut:

it was going to be tough to displace many of these cards no matter what other options existed, but some of the cards that weren't chosen include 1982 o-pee-chee fernando valenzuela at number 334, 2002 upper deck dave hansen at number 335, 1994 upper deck jim gott

at number 336, 1984 donruss joe beckwith at number 337, 1990 upper deck alfredo griffin

at number 338, 1994 pinnacle roger mcdowell at number 339, 1989 topps kirk gibson at number 340, 1970 topps bill sudakis

at number 341, and 2002 upper deck victory cesar izturis at number 342.

my favorite card on the page:

i really do like that topps captured the fist move that gagne demonstrated after each save, but there's no way that my favorite card on the page isn't going to be steve garvey's rookie card.

final thoughts:

i saw gagne pitch in person in 2002 and 2004, but not in 2003 at the height of "game over". in 2004, i was at a game at fenway where he was brought into a game in a non-save situation and struck out the side in order (david ortiz took strike 3 to end the game). not quite the same electricity that was to be experienced at dodger stadium, to be sure.  anyway, kenley jansen just passed gagne on the franchise's all-time saves leader board.  it's no surprise as the closer position has become so specialized, but for a long time, jim brewer was at the top of that list.  he was ultimately passed by todd worrell, who was passed by his replacement jeff shaw, who was passed by his replacement in eric gagne.

frankendodger sheet 25 (cards 217-225) - bill russell makes a point...

here's sheet number 25 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 217-225:

and the back:

these cards are:

217. 1962 topps walt alston
218. 1996 score kevin tapani
219. 1983 fleer bill russell
220. 2003 topps heritage victor diaz
221. 2011 topps update jamey carroll
222. 1978 o-pee-chee dave lopes
223. 1995 upper deck collector's choice ismael valdes
224. 1998 donruss collections leaf eddie murray
225. 1989 topps ramon martinez

the "no brainer" of the day:

with the dodger stadium backdrop, ramon martinez's rookie card was guaranteed a spot in the set.

about the cards:

alston looks a little bit pained as he leans on the bat rack. not sure if that is the panic button on the wall behind him, but his 1962 dodgers lost six of their last seven games of the season, blowing a 4 game lead over the giants in the process, and then lost two games of the three game playoff against the no-cals to miss out on the pennant.  that team won 102 games, which was the most for an alston led team (later tied by the 1974 pennant winning team). kevin tapani, meanwhile, joined the dodgers for the latter part of the 1995 season and did make the postseason in the process.  he pitched poorly in two appearances against the reds, however, as the dodgers were swept in the nlds.

i love that russell card.  i like to think that he just hit a bomb after the opposing team intentionally walked someone to get to him, and he's glaring into the dugout to make a point. victor diaz never played for the dodgers. he was traded to the mets during the 2003 season for jeromy burnitz and wound up reaching the big leagues with them in 2004.

jamey carroll's 2011 topps update card was a welcome addition to my dodger collection back when it was released.  i think it would have worked better as a horizontal card, however.  did you know that davey lopes really doesn't have any topps dodger cards showing him on the playing field other than his 1976 record breaker that was included on the first sheet of this set, the 1978 topps nlcs card, and his 1982 'in action' card that shows him in a batting stance?  it's pretty much all poses and candid shots for lopes from 1973 through 1982, and his 1978 topps/o-pee-chee card is no exception.  i still like the card though.

ismael valdes looks really happy on his 1995 collector's choice card, but i am concerned that the high five he is about to give/receive will irritate the blisters on his fingers and cause him to miss a start or two.  valdes apparently had fairly fragile skin (seriously) and would often develop blisters.  moises alou had some advice for him, i think.

steady eddie murray was featured in a number of sets in 1998 which was great because he was included (mostly) as a dodger, and all of those cards were final tributes for his hall of fame career that ended in 1997.  this card is sort of a parallel of his regular leaf card.  it may look like it is number 24 (the number of his regular leaf card), but it is really number 224.  you have to look for the other number at the bottom of the back.

donruss used all of the cards from their various sets in this 'collections' release.  base donruss started at number 1, leaf at 201, elite at 401, and you get the idea.  i have a couple of other cards from this set later on in the frankenset.

last, but not least is ramon martinez's topps rookie card. this card was kind of a big deal in southern california, especially after ramon won 20 games in 1990 as a 22-year old and finished as the runner up to doug drabek in the cy young vote.  with the nice dodger stadium background, i appreciated the card all the more.

cards that didn't make the cut:

even though it is pink and not yellow like most of the other dodgers in the set, carl erskine's 1959 topps card gave way to alston at number 217.  other near misses include 1995 pacific orel hershiser at number 218, 1994 upper deck collector's choice jose offerman

at number 219, 1974 or 1975 topps don sutton at number 220, 1997 upper deck tommy lasorda

at number 221, 2004 donruss team heroes steve garvey at number 222, 2005 topps cesar izturis at number 223, 2008 upper deck timeline manny ramirez at number 224, and 1983 fleer bob welch

at number 225.

my favorite card on the page:

happy ismael valdes and friends in the home whites wins over ropes, lopes, and rookie ramon.

final thoughts:

julio urias made his big league debut last night (i am writing this on may 28).  he is the latest dodger pitcher to come from mexico, following vicente romo, jose pena, fernando valenzuela, and valdes among others (like elmer dessens!).  valdes also made his first big league start against the mets (although he had made a number of relief appearances prior to that), and was pulled after giving up back-to-back hits to open the second inning. urias pitched a bit longer, with worse results, but he will be fine. better than fine, in fact.