frankendodger sheet 59 (cards 523-531) - diamondvision!...

here's sheet number 59 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 523-531:

and the back:

these cards are:

523. 1985 topps candy maldonado
524. 1994 upper deck collector's choice delino deshields
525. 1988 donruss jeff hamilton
526. 1993 topps mike sharperson
527. 1991 score pat perry
528. 1993 topps stadium club eric karros
529. 1994 fleer steve wilson
530. 2001 topps carlos perez
531. 2008 topps hiroki kuroda

the "no brainer" of the day:

i don't think i can stretch any of these cards into being any sort of a no brainer. sorry.

about the cards:

candy maldonado was one of the dodger prospects that i was really excited about in the early 1980's, along with mike marshall, greg brock, and even ted power.  unfortunately, maldonado didn't do as well at the big league level as i had hoped, and this 1985 topps card came from his last season as a dodger.  he did carve out a decent career, however, making it to the world series in 1989 with the giants and winning a ring with the 1992 blue jays.

delino deshields joined the dodgers in 1994 after he was traded by the expos for pedro martinez. by all accounts, deshields was shaken by the trade, and i could understand why given the talent on the expos at that time.  his time with the dodgers is often looked at with the benefit of hindsight, but i maintain that i was not upset by the trade. deshields was 25 with four full seasons behind him, including an all-star selection, when the dodgers traded for him. my hope was that he would stem the tide of stop-gap second basemen that the dodgers had employed following the departure of steve sax, and i really thought that deshields was the guy. if not for injuries and the incredible success of pedro (which had to be a burden on him), who knows what might have happened as deshields did have a couple of good seasons after leaving los angeles.

jeff hamilton's 1988 donruss card gives us a peek of the left field pavilion and the diamondvision screen that was installed in dodger stadium in 1980.  it was the first of its kind, and while the video element of the screen debuted at the all-star game, the dodgers tested still images on the screen throughout the first part of the season. i know this because a young gcrl was featured on the screen wearing a dodger helmet and steve garvey jersey during a game.  unfortunately, my dad couldn't get to his camera in time to capture the moment.

they also serve, those who sit and wait.  vin scully is good for that phrase once or twice a season, and it certainly applied to mike sharperson. i think his 1993 topps card is a good representation of the utlity player/pinch-hitter which was sharperson's role for most of his career.  when he did play regularly in 1992, he made the all-star team as the representative of the worst los angeles dodger team in history.

pat perry's 1991 score card features the blue border which works so well for dodger cards, but the cropping of the photo falls just short of the excellence displayed on tim crews' 1989 donruss card. we do get more palm tree trunk, however.

it was a cloudy day in vero beach when the photo for eric karros' 1993 topps stadium club card was taken. sometimes cloudy skies lend themselves to good lighting and dramatic photos. this was not one of those times.

steve wilson is wearing the same sort of pullover on his 1994 fleer card that sharperson has on his '93 topps card. wilson joined the dodgers during the 1991 season and pitched really well in his 11 games that followed - he did not give up a run, nor did he allow any of the 16 runners he inherited to score.  the dodgers kept him around for two more seasons which were his last in the bigs, meaning that this card is a final tribute.

you are probably well aware of how much i liked the murals that the dodgers put on their outfield wall during the late 1990's and early 2000's, and even more so how much i like when those murals show up on baseball cards.  the angels also put murals up in 2000, and this 2001 topps carlos perez card shows a bit of them in the background, along with the disney-fied fake rocks beyond the fence.  i'm not sure what the purpose of the murals were - it's not the team's hall of fame because bob boone is up there - but i think that the players in the background include nolan ryan and boone based on what appears on garret anderson's 2001 topps card.

today's final card is a 2008 topps hiroki kuroda. 2008 topps is not one of my favorite designs, but topps did issue a 55-card set of dodgers that year (a set that included coaches!), so i'll give it a pass.

cards that didn't make the cut:

some cards that came close to making the set include 1975 topps tom paciorek at number 523, 1991 upper deck orel hershiser

at number 524, 1988 fleer mike sharperson at number 525, 1979 topps dodger team/tom lasorda

at number 526, 1980 topps doug rau at number 527, 1993 pinnacle roger mcdowell at number 528, 1988 fleer bob welch at number 529, 1981 topps steve garvey (!)

at number 530, and 1994 upper deck todd hollandsworth at number 531.

my favorite card on the page:

it's not dodger stadium, but i do like the 2001 carlos perez card mostly because of the background.

final thoughts:

i neglected to mention that delino deshields is wearing a mask on his 1994 collector's choice card, following an accident in the batting cage during spring training that left him with a broken cheekbone.  i believe giancarlo stanton is the most recent big leaguer to wear some sort of facial protection, although i am pretty sure that jason heyward wears a helmet extension to cover his jaw, too.  i recall dave parker and ellis valentine wearing football style masks at the plate in the late 1970's, but i don't think any of them wore anything in the field like deshields is doing.

frankendodger sheet 43 (cards 379-387) - maury and manny side by side opens my eyes...

here's sheet number 43 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 379-387:

and the back:

these cards are:

379. 1969 topps ken boyer
380. 2007 topps jason schmidt
381. 2006 topps odalis perez
382. 2001 topps kirk gibson
383. 1996 pinnacle wilton guerrero
384. 2014 topps heritage andre ethier
385. 1971 topps maury wills
386. 1977 topps manny mota
387. 1959 topps don drysdale

the "no brainer" of the day:

ken boyer's 1969 topps card is the only one (if you don't count the o-pee-chee version which has the same number so the question is moot) of him from his active career as a dodger. it was going to be in the set.

about the cards:

that boyer card confused me quite a bit when it first found its way into my collection. the back is different from most other 1969 topps cards,

and certainly any other one that i had seen at that point. there is no topps logo or cartoon, and the text box doesn't include his name and height/weight etc, but rather his factoid. it still seems like a bit of an anomaly now, but at least i know that others like it exist, such as mickey mantle's final tribute.

anyway, boyer was a former nl mvp who joined the dodgers for the last two seasons of his career (1968 and 1969). he did not appear in the 1970 topps set, which is unfortunate.

i  bought a lot of 2007 topps, and it was the first set i put together by hand in a few years. i didn't care for it too much, but i put a want list up shortly after starting to blog, and several folks helped out.  i still bought a factory set as i had done since the mid 1990's.  anyway, jason schmidt is repping the set here, and he had some pretty good years with the giants before joining the dodgers for the 2007 season.  unfortunately, he was unable to stay healthy and only pitched in a handful of games for the dodgers in 2007 and 2009 combined (he missed all of 2008 due to injury). when he did pitch, he did much better on the road than in dodger stadium - he was 0-4 with an era of 10.83 in his four starts at chavez ravine in 2007 and 1-0 with an era of 0.82 in his two starts on the road that year. in 2009, the trend continued as he was 1-2 with an era of 8.49 in his three home starts and 1-0 with a 0.00 era in his lone road start that year.

2006 topps makes its first appearance in the frankenset today, thanks to odalis perez. perez was my last hope for the dodgers to see some return on the gary sheffield trade.  i was quite disappointed when fox traded mike piazza to the marlins, but they did get sheffield in return who put up some of the best offensive seasons the dodgers had ever seen.  the other parts of that trade (bobby bonilla, charles johnson, jim eisenreich) dead-ended, and perez was part of the package (along with brian jordan) that the dodgers when sheffield was dealt to the braves.  jordan left via free agency, and after a couple of decent seasons from perez that got my hopes up, he had some mediocre campaigns and the dodgers sent him to the royals for elmer dessens during the 2006 season.  still, i have a soft spot for perez because he gave me a ball at angel stadium on june 30, 2006 - about a month before he was traded.

i was happy to see that topps considered kirk gibson's 1988 world series home run to be a 'golden moment' for their 2001 subset along with hank aaron's 715th career home run, bill mazeroski's world series winning home run, and kerry wood's 20 strikeout game, among other events.  i was even more pleased to see topps finally recognize nomar's home run

in the 4+1 game this year.

there is a well known saying regarding player development in the dominican republic that "you don't walk your way off the island", and wilton guerrero is an example of that philosophy.  he had a bunch of rookie cards in 1996, including this 1996 pinnacle card, as he was in line with a wave of young talent that the dodgers debuted in the '90s, kind of similar to what we are seeing from the cubs today. guerrero had only a few at bats with the dodgers in 1996, but spent most of 1997 with the big club and hit .291 that year.  unfortunately, he walked only 8 times so his obp was just .305.  even his brother, vladimir (a notorious hacker), took a walk more often.  he was traded to the expos during the following season.

next we have andre ethier's 2014 topps heritage card. i read over the weekend that ethier's return to the dodgers is not certain for this season.  that is too bad on a couple of opposing fronts.  first, he is now a 10 and 5 player, and the dodgers have literally nothing to show for not trading him prior to his gaining that status this past off season. second, we have not been able to see ethier build on his comeback season last year. i am more disappointed in the latter.

the next two cards are somewhat tied together. i'll explain a bit more in the "final thoughts" below, but maury wills (shown on his 1971 topps card) and manny mota (shown on his 1977 topps card) were traded together by the expos to the dodgers in 1969.  it was wills' second time around with the team and he played well enough to reclaim the shortstop position for a couple of seasons.  in 1971, in fact, he finished 6th in the league mvp voting, right behind roberto clemente.  mota, on the other hand, was the dodgers' primary left fielder in 1970 (and an all-star in 1973), but gradually saw his playing time decrease to the point of him being a pinch-hitting specialist by the time this card was issued.  it's worth noting that mota is striking a very similar pose to wills on his card, and the photo might even be from the same stadium.

speaking of stadiums, the 1959 topps don drysdale card features a photo from inside the la memorial coliseum which was the home of the dodgers for four years before dodger stadium opened.  the back of the card notes that his nickname is 'airedale' but i only ever heard him referred to as 'big d'.  of course, he was finished pitching by the time i was born.

cards that didn't make the cut:

some other options that i considered but did not choose for this page include 1998 fleer tradition todd hollandsworth

at number 379, 1989 o-pee-chee orel hershiser (world series) at number 380, 1967 topps dick schofield

at number 381, 1994 topps mitch webster at number 382, 1963 topps pete richert at number 383, 1993 score select lenny harris

at number 384, 1993 upper deck eric karros at number 385, 1976 topps ed goodson at number 386, and 2009 upper deck 20th anniversary retrospective pedro martinez at number 387.

my favorite card on the page:

i think the scuffed up drysdale wins over the '77 mota.  i do like the 2001 gibson, but there are other cards depicting the impossible that i like better, such as the 1995 upper deck sp championship series card

even if it is the same photo.

final thoughts:

i don't think that i ever gave it much thought before, but seeing the 1971 topps card next to the 1977 topps card, i am made aware of how similar the designs are.  turn the black border to white, italicize the team name, capitalize the player name and position, but those are minor tweaks. the biggest change, of course, is the position in the pennant on the '77 card and i suppose that is why i never thought much about the similarities between the two.

i have considered the 1974 and 1980 designs as very similar, as well as the 1975 and 1986 (just without all of the different colors) designs (and the 1962 and 1987 sets are the most obvious), but i never associated the 1971 and 1977 sets this way.

frankendodger sheet 16 (cards 136-144) - managing to fit in the managers...

here's sheet number 16 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 136-144:

and the back:

these cards are:

136. 2010 topps heritage joe torre
137. 2007 topps turkey red jason schmidt
138. 2003 donruss studio odalis perez
139. 2000 pacific crown collection craig counsell
140. 1964 topps world series
141. 2006 fleer hee seop choi
142. 1996 topps gallery roger cedeno
143. 1995 skybox emotion raul mondesi
144. 1974 topps walt alston and coaches

the "no brainer" of the day:

as obvious as it may seem, i did not always have the 1964 topps dodgers celebrate card at number 140.  no, the no brainer of this sheet is the counsell card, simply because it is the only card i know of that features him in a dodger uniform.

about the cards:

this sheet features a couple more dodger managers - torre in the first spot, and alston in the last.  as is customary with topps heritage, the torre card is the same number as alston's card in the 1961 topps set.  it's difficult to believe that turkey red was a stand-alone set from 2005-2007 before becoming an insert set in 2008.  it's even more difficult to believe that the dodgers signed jason schmidt.

the 2003 studio set was a nice set for team collectors like me who appreciate their team's stadium as all of the cards featured backgrounds of each team's respective home.  i'm glad they went with a interior shot of dodger stadium of the top deck, as some cards featured the exterior of the stadiums.

thank goodness for pacific.  they made the counsell card when other companies did not.  counsell was a dodger who appeared in 50 games during the 1999 season and didn't do so well. they released him and he went on to arizona where he was the mvp of the 2001 nlcs.

the 1964 topps card shows the relative mayhem following the dodgers' sweep of the yankees in the 1963 world series.  alston makes a second appearance on the page (he's number 24), and he is celebrating with marv breeding (23), lee walls (7), and pitching coach joe becker (33), with sandy koufax in the middle of the group.

the hee seop choi card is nice with the pirates' scoreboard behind him, and the cedeno card is fairly forgettable as many of his cards are.  and was raul mondesi attentive? i don't know, but skybox thinks so.  i didn't say it earlier when referencing alston's 1974 topps card so i'll say it know - i love seeing coaches on cards.

cards that didn't make the cut:

aside from the 1961 topps alston, other options at number 136 include the 1964 topps world series card featuring sandy koufax

and steve howe's 1981 fleer fashion show card.

at 137, i chose not to use another 1981 fleer card (this one of bobby castillo with his jacket in his pocket) or the willie davis world series card from 1964 topps.  number 138 could have been a reprint of mike piazza's 1994 topps rookie card from 2001 topps traded or yasiel puig's 2013 topps chrome card among others, and a couple of also rans at number 139 include andy kosco's 1969 topps card of him not wearing a dodger uniform

and frank howard sealing the yanks' doom on a 1964 topps card.  i passed on both steve garvey's 1975 topps card and fernand(o)'s 1981 fleer rookie card at 140, and at 141 kirk gibson's 2003 topps tribute world series edition card took a back seat to hee seop.  babe ruth's coaching for the dodgers card was a contender at 142, as were steve sax's 1986 fleer and 1984 o-pee-chee cards at 143 and 144, respectively.

my favorite card on the page:

there are some nice cards here, and i really do like the perez card, even if i am pretty sure he wasn't standing in the top deck when the photo was taken.  i'll go with another card featuring dodger stadium - the 1964 topps world series card as my favorite.

final thoughts:

i'm not listing the coaches as official appearances, so that's why the alston card is here.  both tommy lasorda and jim gilliam have been featured in the set already, but i think this is the only time we'll see red adams and monty basgall.  a tip of my cap to red and monty!