frankendodger sheet 30 (cards 262-270) - grady and pedro reunited...

here's sheet number 30 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 262-270:

 and the back:

these cards are:

262. 1959 topps hitter's foes (johnny podres, clem labine, don drysdale)
263. 2013 topps ted lilly
264. 1994 donruss henry rodriguez
265. 1972 topps wes parker
266. 2008 topps allen & ginter's matt kemp
267. 2007 topps grady little
268. 1994 topps pedro martinez
269. 2003 donruss team heroes don drysdale
270. 1966 topps claude osteen

the "no brainer" of the day:

grady little's card is the no brainer for this sheet.  i wanted to get each dodger manager from alston through roberts in the set, and this is little's only card with a number less than 727 (his 2006 upper deck card is number 1106).

about the cards:

the first combo card of the set leads things off. topps had four "foes" cards beginning with "world series batting foes" in 1958, this "hitter's foes" card in 1959, and "friendly foes" in both 1963 and 1964.  none of the three pitchers on the card finished above .500 in 1958, but the back of the card smartly notes that they "were determined to lift the dodgers back into the first division" in 1959, and so they did - all the way to a world series championship.

ted lilly's 2013 topps card is a beaut.  it features a photo from about the same vantage point as the one on pedro martinez's 1994 topps card featured later on the sheet, but the foliage at the back of the visitor bullpen creates a different background.  henry rodriguez's 1994 donruss card may be the least interesting card on the page, but it serves as a reminder that the expos got a couple of good years out of him after being a part-time player with the dodgers.

the 1972 topps wes parker card is not as nice as his 1973 topps card, but it gives us a good look at the dodger jersey's of the day. i am glad that when the dodgers brought piping back to their unis several years ago, they did not include the shoulder piping.  2008 a&g remains the only set of that line that i have completed, although i did complete the 2009 national pride insert set.  kemp's card from the '08 set, while nothing special, is as good as any to represent (except maybe russell martin's).

and now we get to the 2007 topps grady little card, which is followed by the aforementioned pedro card from 1994.  it was fate that brought them together so we can relive the decision by little to leave pedro in game 7 of the 2003 alcs after throwing 120 pitches and allowing a couple of hits in the eighth inning.  that decision cost little his job (pedro gave up a couple more hits to allow the yankees to tie the game, and they won the pennant on aaron boone's 11th inning home run), but also paved the way for terry francona to take over, so i don't think red sox fans should be too upset about it.

another black and white modern day drysdale card - this one from a 2003 donruss release as opposed to the 2002 donruss originals card we saw earlier in the set - and claude osteen's 1966 topps card close out the sheet.  the osteen card is a good example of the slanted world that topps' photo editors live in.

cards that didn't make the cut:

had i not had a double of the 1959 hitter's foes card, i probably would have gone with the 2008 topps heritage hitter's foes (chad billingsley, derek lowe, brad penny) at number 262.  other cards considered but not chosen include 1993 donruss triple play roger mcdowell

at number 263, 1990 upper deck kirk gibson

at number 264, 1992 upper deck eddie murray at number 265, 1969 topps rookie stars (tom hutton and alan foster) at number 266, 1974 topps andy messersmith at number 267, 2000 topps orel hershiser

at number 268, 1975 topps doug rau at number 269, and 1994 topps finest delino deshields at number 270.

my favorite card on the page:

i am a fan of ted lilly's 2013 topps card (i completed the rainbow, in fact), so it should be no surprise that it is my favorite card on this sheet.

final thoughts:

don drysdale shows up twice on this sheet - by name, as opposed to walter alston who was visible on the 1964 world series card and had his own card on sheet 16.  this is the first time this has happened in the set.  i mostly tried to avoid it unless circumstances dictated (circumstances being i liked the cards that caused this to happen too much to omit them), and it will happen again.

frankendodger sheet 7 (cards 55-63) - not the same...

here's sheet number 7 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 55-63:

and the back:

these cards are:

55. 2015 topps heritage justin turner
56. 2001 fleer greats of the game wes parker
57. 1966 topps jim lefebvre
58. 2009 upper deck signature stars jim thome
59. 1997 skybox circa brett butler
60. 1981 donruss rick monday
61. 2005 upper deck sp legendary cuts pee wee reese
62. 2010 topps national chicle chad billingsley
63. 2005 topps all-time fan favorites bob welch

the "no brainer" of the day:

i've written before regarding my affection for the 1966 topps jim lefebvre, so it was definitely on the must include list for this set.

about the cards:

one of my guidelines for this set is not to repeat the same set on any sheet.  that guideline is violated near the end of the set, but not here - even though it looks like there are two 1966 topps cards.  thanks to the heritage set, both justin turner and lefebvre appear on this sheet with the same design.  it's too bad turner isn't striking the same pose as lefebvre, though.

in between those two is a fantastic card of gold glove extraordinaire wes parker.  i am a fan of the 2001 fleer greats of the game set, and am just now getting around to posting a want list to complete it.  the thome card is somewhat forgettable, but the circa brett butler card has a superhero quality to it due to the colors and the 'butler' text.

i opened a bunch of 1981 donruss, and remember buying a brick of dodger cards from a fellow collector that summer.  as a result, i had a ton of dodger doubles - many of which i still have today.  monday gets to represent that set in the early going.

i'm not much of a fan of the 2005 legendary cuts set, but pee wee fit nicely here, so there it is.  i do like, however, the 2010 national chicle set, and this billingsley is a pretty decent card to rep that set.  i know there is at least one other card from that set later on.

finally, the welch.  he had a decent year in 1982 (16-11 with a 3.36 era), but i first thought that the point of the 2005 all-time fan favorites set was to use the card design from a player's best season (i later figured out that it wasn't), and 1982 wasn't it for welch. he had some better years, but i really wanted to see him on a 1978 design, if not on a card recognizing the awesomeness of his game 2 strikeout of reggie jackson in the 1978 world series.

cards that didn't make the cut:

don drysdale's 1967 topps card is number 55 in that set, but big d is out of commission until i get closer to card number 200 (or, in his case, card number 212 - hint, hint).  other notable cards that were omitted for various reasons include steve garvey's 1981 donruss card (number 56), a sweet charlie dressen 1979 tcma card (also number 56) that i have yet to acquire even one copy of, reggie smith's 1978 o-pee-chee card (number 57), a 2006 topps co-signers dual auto card of tommy john and bob welch (number 58),

a 1973 topps (or o-pee-chee) steve yeager (number 59), and a 2001 topps tribute tom lasorda (number 60).

my favorite card on the page:

well, there's the lefebvre which is clearly my favorite card on this page.  but visually, there is something about 2001 fleer greats of the game cards that i really like and the butler card is the star of the page the way it jumps out at you, so it was more difficult to stick with the 1965 rookie of the year than you might imagine.

final thoughts:

look at all that potential energy on display on the monday card! enough to hit a home run in olympic stadium and dash the hopes of expo fans, anyway.