frankendodger sheet 32 (cards 280-288) - with three consecutive rookies of the year...

i have updated this page since the original post ran.

here's sheet number 32 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 280-288:

and the back:

here's what the page originally looked like:

these cards are:

280. 1976 topps burt hooton
281. 2005 topps jim tracy 2004 topps jim tracy
282. 2002 leaf rookies & stars mike piazza
283. 1996 pinnacle raul mondesi
284. 1983 donruss fernando valenzuela
285. 1978 topps steve yeager
286. 1958 topps gino cimoli
287. 2009 topps greg maddux
288. 1971 topps joe moeller

the "no brainer" of the day:

i needed to get at least one jim tracy card in the set, but the no brainer here is greg maddux's 2009 topps card - it's his final tribute, after all.

about the cards:

burt "happy" hooton's first topps card as a dodger gives some insight into how he got his nickname.  hey, throwing that knuckle-curve required serious thought!  both jim tracy's 2004 and 2005 topps cards are numbered 281, and i originally went with his 2005 "opera man" card instead of the 2004  one with glenn hoffman standing next to him.  this was a mistake since i didn't include any other card of hoffman in the set and i wanted to include every dodger manager from alston on (at least). not that hoffman gets credit for being in the set, but at least i know he's there behind tracy on this card.

next up are three cards featuring dodger rookies of the year - 1993 roy mike piazza on a 2002 leaf rookies & stars award winners subset card (this card recognizes the strongest man in socal for winning the 1996 all-star game mvp award), 1994 nl roy raul mondesi on a 1996 pinnacle hardball heroes subset card that teases us with 30/30 talk on the back (mondy did go 30/30 in both 1997 and 1999 - the first dodger to do so), and 1981 nl roy fernando valenzuela on his 1983 donruss card.  looks like fernando is standing in front of the giant (world's largest, actually) green screen that exists at universal studious hollywood.

as much as i've stared at steve yeager's 1978 topps card over the years, i've never been able to figure out who it is standing behind him.  i think this was the first topps card that showed yeager in his awesome 1970's sunglasses.  bonus.

the bat has gone missing on gino cimoli's 1958 topps card, thanks to the cutting process used to get the photos on to the color block background.  at least that's my assumption.  it would be a weird pose to strike without a bat in hand.

the 2009 topps maddux card is marred a bit by the photoshopping, but it's still a nice card with a photo angle that isn't used too much. i like seeing all the red text on the back for his league leading stats, and i am happy that i made it out to the metrodome to see him pitch in 2002, even if he didn't have his best stuff that night.  it turned out to be the longest game i've ever attended - 15 innings.

just as gino cimoli's bat was missing on his card on this sheet, the ball is missing from joe moeller's hand on his 1971 topps card.  of course, the ball is just be a prop with this overused pose.  it's too bad that the photographers didn't seem to want to hang out and actually watch/photograph spring training games.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1990 leaf orel hershiser at number 280, 2004 topps jim tracy at number 281, 1999 fleer tradition eric young at number 282, 1990 upper deck mickey hatcher at number 283, 2012 topps tony gwynn jr.

at number 284, 2001 topps archives bill buckner

at number 285, 1970 topps jack jenkins/bill buckner

at number 286, 1994 score mike sharperson at number 287, and 1966 topps bill singer/don sutton at number 288.

my favorite card on the page:

the 1978 topps steve yeager card takes the title for this page. i remember hoping to pull one of these from a pack for my team set during a 7-11 run in the summer of 1978, and was not disappointed.  good times.

final thoughts:

baseball is a funny game.  raul mondesi played in over 1,500 regular season games in his career.  he also appeared in two postseasons with the dodgers - 1995 and 1996 - and one with the yankees - 2002.  in each of those appearances, his teams failed to make it out of the division series.  his son, also named raul mondesi, made his major league debut in last year's world series, and he still hasn't played in a regular season game.

frankendodger sheet 9 (cards 73-81) - i know that fernando is already in the set, but that's not a fernando card...

here's sheet number 9 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 73-81:

and the back:

these cards are:

73. 2008 topps stadium club greg maddux
74. 2005 fleer ultra steve finley
75. 2015 topps opening day jimmy rollins
76. 1994 upper deck sp delino deshields
77. 2001 topps finest mark grudzielanek
78. 2014 topps allen & ginter's zack greinke
79. 1975 hostess andy messersmith
80. 1992 donruss triple play roger mcdowell
81. 1999 topps gallery todd hundley

the "no brainer" of the day:

you know i love the murals on the outfield wall at dodger stadium, so it's got to be the finley card.

about the cards:

there are three dodger double dippers on the page (maddux, messersmith, and hundley), plus a couple of shiny cards (deshields and grudzielanek).  the maddux card is probably my favorite of him as a dodger, and i am glad that finley has such a great card from his short time as a dodger - i just wish he had at least one card that documented his division clinching grand slam for the team.

the jimmy rollins card joins the 1985 leaf/donruss orel hershiser card(s) to be an almost double in the set.  jimmy's regular 2015 topps card checks in a bit later, and it's pretty much the same card as this one. deshields and grudzielanek share the distinction of being former expo infielders to join the dodgers in the 1990's. both were all-stars in montreal, and the dodgers gave up wilton guerrero, ted lilly, and a minor leaguer to get gru (plus carlos perez). we all know what the dodgers gave up to get deshields.  the greinke card is here because it fits. it's pretty much filler.

the best thing about the messersmith card (other than it's general hostess greatness) is that he's wearing a batting glove while simulating a throw.  would have been nice to have a card with him holding a bat, if in fact that is why he was wearing the glove.  there are other roger mcdowell cards that i like better than this triple play card, but it fit the set and if he's going to be in the set, it might as well be one of his less-silly cards.  if wearing a toolbelt on the mound counts as less-silly.

finally, it's interesting to see a card showing hundley batting from the right side.  he was a switch-hitting catcher, but for his career, hundley hit just over .200 (.204) as a righty, and he may have given up switch hitting at the end of his career if i recall correctly.  even though his first stint with the dodgers wasn't too bad from a power perspective (he hit 24 homers in both 1999 and 2000), dodger fans were used to much higher batting averages from their catcher at that time.

cards that didn't make the cut:

notable near misses include 1974 topps traded mike marshall (#73), 1988 topps tommy lasorda (#74), 1979 topps steve yeager (#75), 1980 topps bill russell (#75), 1982 donruss bob welch (#75), 1983 donruss mike scioscia (#75), 1991 topps archives the ultimate 1953 set pee wee reese (#76), 1999 fleer sports illustrated devon white (#77),

2001 topps archives reserve don sutton (#78), 1992 upper deck pedro/ramon martinez bloodlines (#79), 1957 topps gil hodges (#80),

1998 donruss signature series eric young (#80),

and 2003 upper deck sp legendary cuts leo durocher (#81).

my favorite card on the page:

once again, the no-brainer card is also my favorite. kudos, fleer.

final thoughts:

one reason i noted those near misses at #75 was to note that they are cards that appear in consecutive years of players from the same team.  for card companies that seemed to randomly assign card numbers, it seems like this happens fairly often (or maybe i have just noticed it a few times).  it makes sense, as i think i might have defaulted back then to the previous year's checklist to create a new one to make sure things are pretty equal as far as team distribution goes, and then maybe swap the numbers to mix things up. i wonder if that's what happened, with some number/team assignments not being switched, or if i'm imaging things. probably the latter.