frankendodger sheet 81 (cards 721-726) - this is the end...

here's sheet number 81 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 721-726:

and the back:

[update! - i replaced card number 725 as the 1990 target dodgers were meant to be place holders. so, here's sheet number 81; front and back]

these cards are:

721. 1992 donruss jose offerman
722. 1984 topps bob welch
723. 1998 donruss collections preferred mike piazza
724. 2008 upper deck ramon troncoso
725. 1990 target john shelby 2022 topps heritage high numbers clayton kershaw
726. 1981 topps rick monday

the "no brainer" of the day:

i believe that the shelby card may be the only number 725 card ever produced to feature a dodger.  so, it is the no brainer of the day by default.

about the cards:

the much maligned 1992 donruss set opens up the final sheet with a card of much maligned jose offerman.  1992 was the year that offerman took over the shortstop position for the dodgers full-time. he held the position through the 1995 season, after which the dodgers and royals did the steve sax/willie randolph thing with offerman and greg gagne and "swapped" shortstops even though offerman was traded to the royals for a reliever and gagne left kc through free agency.

bob welch's 1984 topps card is up next.  the back of the card - in both the text below the stats and in the important sounding "dateline" section - mentions a couple of shutouts thrown by welch in 1983.  in addition to the one-hitter against the phillies and the 6-hitter in which welch homered for the only run, he also threw a 2-hit shutout that season against the mets, beating tom seaver in the process.

mike piazza makes an appearance on the final sheet with a card from the 1998 donruss collections preferred set. the card is number 173 in the regular preferred set, but in this shinier collections set, it's number 723 (the card number is in the lower right on the back).  strangely enough, the only other option for this spot besides the 1990 target set is piazza's 1992 fleer procards minor league card showing him as an albuquerque duke.

upper deck's last contribution to my dodger frankenset is ramon troncoso's 2008 ud flagship card.  it leaves me wondering if anyone ever entered those codes on the back of these cards into upper deck's website.  i did for some back in 2006, i think, but never enough to have it amount to anything. i don't even remember what the purpose was.

it figures that another 1990 target card would make the last sheet, and here is john shelby to fill a spot that otherwise would not be filled.  t-bone had a career year for the dodgers in 1987 following his trade from baltimore, and he won his second world series ring (he won with the orioles in 1983) as the dodger centerfielder in 1988. clayton kershaw was held back for the high numbers release in 2022, and i am glad that was the case! john shelby still exists in the set thanks to his 1989 topps card, so no harm no foul here!

that brings us to card number 726, the last card in the set, and it's rick monday's 1981 topps card.  wilbur wood was card number 726 in 1978 topps, the first set that i collected, but i later discovered that topps sets were not always 726 cards, and in fact the 1978 set was the first time they had been that exact size.  topps maintained the 726 set for three more seasons - the giants' prospect card held that place in 1979, and in 1980 and 1981, it was a dodger at the end of the set, with the centerfielder of my youth holding court in 1981. of course, this was also the year that the traded set was reinstated, and the numbering of that set began at 727, so one could argue that monday's card is not really the last in the set.

cards that didn't make the cut:

there weren't a lot of cards to choose from for this sheet, and so the biggest dilemma i faced was whether to go with the monday card at 726 or use steve yeager's 1980 topps card

there instead.  mo won out, thanks in part to his card featuring an action shot and being from their world championship season.  as for filling out the sheet, henry rodriguez's 1994 topps card

is numbered 727, and there are a couple of options at 728 (1985 topps bob bailor

and 1986 topps mike marshall

to be specific) had i chosen to extend the set.  however, the only 729 i could find (other than the target set) was a 1992 minor league card of eddie pye as an albuquerque duke from that same set as the piazza i mentioned above.  it's just as well to keep the set to 726 cards in my opinion.

my favorite card on the page:

that would be the rick monday card. it is fairly representative of the 1981 postseason to me.

final thoughts:

it wasn't too long after i ended my run at garveyceyrusselllopes about 13 months ago that i started working on this frankenset. it kept me busy with my collection, as did the trades that continued to happen even though i didn't have an active blog at the time.

speaking of trades, i offer a big thanks to those that continued to trade with me, and to those who are trading with me still.  i haven't posted any of the cards that i've received in trades over the last 13 months, so i'll give thanks here to the writer's journey, play at the plate, penny sleeve for your thoughts, arpsmith, tim wallach, tribe cards, dime boxes, 2x3 heroes, bob walk the plank, all trade bait all the time, off hiatus, brad's blog, infield fly rule, waiting 'til next year, baseball card breakdown, baseball every night, waxaholic, fuji, and night owl, who has even commented on all of these posts (assuming he comments on this one).  i've been tracking my trades on the sidebar over at garveyceyrusselllopes, updating it whenever i send or receive a package. it's mainly so i don't miss on sending a return package to someone, and completed trades get removed from the list after about a month. as a result, i may have forgotten to thank someone in the text above - if so, i apologize.  i hope to keep trading even after this blog is completed, and i'll keep that tracker going as long as folks are sending me cards. it is appreciated.

finally, thanks for indulging me with this endeavor.  it was fun to put together and share with you.

i'll be around...

frankendodger sheet 80 (cards 712-720) - black and white and even worse...

here's sheet number 80 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 712-720:

and the back:

[update! - i replaced card number 720 as the 1990 target dodgers were meant to be place holders. so, here's sheet number 80; front and back]

these cards are:

712. 1997 fleer mike piazza
713. 1992 topps stadium club rudy seanez
714. 1993 topps kevin gross
715. 2004 topps eric gagne
716. 2009 topps heritage orlando hudson
717. 1987 topps ed vande berg
718. 1992 fleer checklist
719. 1979 topps dodgers prospects (joe simpson/pedro guerrero/rudy law)
720. 1990 target mike sharperson 2016 topps heritage high numbers ross stripling

the "no brainer" of the day:

pedro guerrero's rookie card was a sure thing for the set, even if the photos are in black and white.

about the cards:

it feels like fleer was reaching for content when you come across a card like this mike piazza card from their 1997 flagship set at number 712, and, i suppose perhaps that is what they mean by 'encore' on the front of the card.  the back does include his minor league stats which did not appear on the back of his 'base' card, so there is that difference.  by the way, piazza has two other cards in the fleer set - both of him on the front of checklist cards.

rudy seanez means busi-nez (there i go with my mlb.com headline writing again) on his 1992 topps stadium club card.  unfortunately, seanez did not suit up for the dodgers in 1992, spending the entire season in the minors before being traded to the rockies for jody reed.  he did come back to the dodgers (twice!) and was a big part of their bullpen in 2007, pitching in 73 games that year.

kevin gross' 1993 topps card features the dodger pitcher in dodger stadium. we know that's where he is because of the old field level scoreboard in the background.  unfortunately, you can't really see the 76 sign thanks to the umpire standing in the way. murph would be upset.  i don't think the dodgers give out union oil auto scrips anymore when a player hits a home run, but there was a time when 76 was as predominant of a sponsor as farmer john and his eastern corn fed pork.

before clayton kershaw came along, eric gagne was the most recent dodger to win the cy young award. gagne's win, marked by this 2004 topps card, broke the longest drought for a dodger to win that award as it had not been won by a dodger since orel hershiser in 1988.  gagne is also the last reliever for any team to have won the award.

from game over to the o-dog, here we have another dodger who is the last to have done something. hudson, shown on his 2009 topps heritage high numbers card, was the first dodger to hit for the cycle since wes parker in 1970 (making him the first dodger to hit for the cycle in my lifetime), and he is the most recent dodger to have done so.

ed vande berg's 1987 topps card was conveniently numbered 717, so it fits nicely into the set. vande berg, whom the dodgers acquired in the steve yeager trade with seattle, was with cleveland in 1987, and o-pee-chee thankfully included him

at number 34

in their truncated set.

this next card is hands down the worst one in the set.  even the 1990 target card was a bad option for number 718. this is, of course, the 1992 fleer checklist that lists all of the dodger cards in the set, along with those of the expos, astros, and reds.  and worse yet is that the dodgers are on the back. so, i have the back of a generic checklist filling a spot in this set.  i really hope that this year's heritage high numbers puts josh reddick or some other dodger at number 718.

from a bad card to a pretty good one, we have next the 1979 topps dodger future stars card featuring pedro guerrero, rudy law, and joe simpson.  guerrero and law went on to have some success with the dodgers in the big leagues, but simpson found his calling in the announcers' booth for the braves.  this is the rookie card for all three players, although it's known best for guerrero. the only knock i have against it is the black and white photos - i don't know what the driver was for topps to go black and white here.  was it to avoid showing the garish color of the albuquerque dukes hat law is sporting?

given the presence of other minor leaguers on other teams' cards and their equally minor league looking uniforms,

that might be the case.

last card on the sheet is mike sharperson's 1990 target card, which means it was the only thing available for number 720 ross stripling's 2016 topps heritage high numbers card. reddick didn't make it at card 718, but i was able to remove a placeholder card after all.

cards that didn't make the cut:

2005 topps steve finley at number 712, 1989 upper deck rick dempsey (look ma, no gear!)

at number 713, 1992 donruss mitch webster at number 714, 2008 upper deck blake dewitt at number 715, 2009 upper deck hiroki kuroda at number 716, and 2009 upper deck andre ethier at number 717.

my favorite card on the page:

that would be kevin gross' 1993 topps card. i'd like it even better if the umpire weren't blocking the 76 sign on the scoreboard.

final thoughts:

over on the sidebar at garveyceyrusselllopes there has been, for the past two-and-a-half years, a watch of a redemption card for a 2013 topps triple threads dave stewart auto/relic waiting to be fulfilled by topps.  when topps recently moved their redemption tracker into their main website, i was given the option of requesting a replacement card rather than having to call in a request. i had been hoping against hope (most likely) that the stewart card would show him as a dodger, but since he's too busy with his day job in arizona to sign the stickers for topps, i checked the box for a different card to be sent.  earlier this week, i received this thing

and this "bonus" card

neither fits in my collection, so they are available for trade.  and, the sidebar is updated accordingly. 1001 days later.

frankendodger sheet 71 (cards 631-639) - i guess it's personal...

here's sheet number 71 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 631-639:

and the back:

these cards are:

631. 1975 topps lee lacy
632. 2001 topps devon white
633. 1983 topps vicente romo
634. 1991 upper deck kirk gibson
635. 1989 score ramon martinez
636. 2001 topps chrome dodgers team
637. 1994 upper deck collector's choice mike piazza
638. 2015 topps jimmy rollins
639. 1973 o-pee-chee willie crawford

the "no brainer" of the day:

i really don't think there is a card on this sheet that i could make a case for being a no brainer.  sorry.

about the cards:

to me, the best thing about about 1975 topps is that there are many dodger cards that feature dodger stadium as a backdrop. the lee lacy card is one of those cards.  as you can see, lacy wore number 34, and his is one of the few numbers with which i do not associate a member of the 1978 topps dodgers. to me, 34 is fernando.  if you care, number 5 is jim lefebvre, not johnny oates, and number 3 is steve sax, not glenn burke.

devon white's 2001 topps card is here because i already had kirk gibson's 1991 upper deck card on the sheet, and the best alternative at 632 was a different '91 upper deck card. i'm trying to avoid the same set on a page as much as possible, but it happens a few times in the last few sheets.

vicente romo's 1983 topps card marked romo's return to baseball card sets after being absent since the 1975 topps set.  romo had been pitching in the mexican league since then - at least until the dodgers brought him back to the big leagues in 1982.  romo had been a dodger earlier in his career, a story i told as part of my 'double dipper' series.  a while back, night owl had a post (can't find it right now) about players whose names we mispronounced as kids. my offering was ben oglivie (i always pronounced it oh-gli-vee instead of oh-gull-vee), but romo would have been another - i was always reading his name as vincente instead of vicente.

kirk gibson's 1991 upper deck card shows off the receding hairline gibson was hiding under his hat and helmet during the latter part of his playing days.  it also features a nice cloud of dust and an umpire ready to make a call.  aside from gibby's home runs (one in particular), i think my favorite play of his as a dodger was the time he scored from second on a wild pitch to win a game. dude hustled.

the next card is one of ramon martinez's less heralded rookie cards - his 1989 score card.  his topps and upper deck cards were a bigger deal, but only the score card has him doing an "i'm a little teapot" routine.

the higher the card numbers get, the more team cards and the like we will see.  this one comes courtesy of 2001 topps chrome, which was a full-sized set 15 years ago.  i bought some chrome at target the other day, and came away with three dodgers. two were of kenta maeda

who is the cover boy for chrome this year, and the other is of persona non-grata yasiel puig.

based on some of the stories that have been alluded to about puig and his teammates, i don't think he'll be back with the big club anytime soon.

next, we get up close and personal with hall of famer mike piazza, thanks to 1994 upper deck collector's choice. there's no real insight here, just some information taken from an issue of "baseball weekly", but at least there's no mention of tommy lasorda. what a tired story that became.

back over at the garveyceyrusselllopes blog, i had a series about out of place players - players that didn't really belong on the dodgers.  think frank robinson, boog powell, and jim thome.  jimmy rollins is one of those guys.  rollins' 2015 topps card is his second card in the frankendodger set, however, which is more than some more 'legit' dodgers.

last card on the sheet is a 1973 o-pee-chee card of willie crawford.  the back of the card has english text saying, in part, that crawford "was murder against lefthanders", hitting for a .377 average against them in 1971.  the french translation is a bit nicer, saying that "il obtint une moyene" - he obtained an average of .377.

the card also translates a second line of english text regarding the pirates, but that english text only appears on the topps card,

and it refers to the pirates as the bucs.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1990 topps john wetteland

at number 631, 1991 upper deck jim neidlinger

at number 632, 1984 fleer steve sax at number 633, 1984 topps mike marshall at number 634, 1982 fleer fernando valenzuela (west meets east) at number 635, 1982 fleer fernando valenzuela at number 636, 1988 score mike devereaux at number 637, 2008 topps juan pierre at number 638, and 1971 topps tom haller

at number 639.

my favorite card on the page:

it's down to the lacy vs. the gibson, and i'll go with lacy in dodger stadium.

final thoughts:

there are only 10 more pages in the frankenset to show, and the card selection is getting thinner.  we've seen the final cards from the 50's and 60's, but the 70's through the 10's are still represented in the final ten sheets.  just know that there's not going to be quite as much set diversity the higher we go.

frankendodger sheet 56 (cards 496-504) - brad penny, medium?...

here's sheet number 56 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 496-504:

and the back:

these cards are:

496. 1986 topps jay johnstone
497. 2008 topps heritage brad penny
498. 1975 topps al downing
499. 1988 donruss tracy woodson
500. 1994 upper deck mike piazza
501. 1992 fleer ultra tom candiotti
502. 1991 donruss eddie murray
503. 1993 pacific jody reed
504. 1977 topps dodgers team/tom lasorda

the "no brainer" of the day:

when looking at options for the hero number of 500, the 1994 upper deck piazza card stood out as the best (most reasonable) option - balancing duplicate availability with someone worthy of the number. that's as close to a no brainer as any of these cards are going to get.

about the cards:

jay johnstone was done as a big league ballplayer when his 1986 topps card was released. the previous season, johnstone had hit just .133 is 17 games in his second tenure with the dodgers, although he did make the postseason roster and had his final big league at bat in the nlcs against the cardinals.

brad penny earned an all-star card in 2008 topps heritage even though he wasn't the national league's starting pitcher in the 2007 all-star game.  that would have been jake peavy, who also won the 2007 nl cy young award (penny finished 3rd behind peavy and brandon webb).  penny had started the 2006 all-star game for the national league, becoming the first dodger pitcher to do so since hideo nomo in 1995.

it wasn't often that we got a posed photo inside dodger stadium back in the '70s or '80s, so i really like cards like this 1975 topps al downing.  it's also the reason i really like several dodger cards in the 1989 topps set.  downing's head is blocking our view of the three sisters palm trees, however.

tracy woodson and 1988 donruss make their first (only?) appearance in the frankenset.  both are pretty forgettable, although woodson has a world series championship ring and i do not.  in fact, his rbi groundout in the 7th inning of game 4 of the 1988 world series proved to be the game-winner, as the dodgers won that swing game 4-3.

mike piazza is preparing for a play at the plate on his 1994 upper deck card, which fills our fifth big hero number of the set.  piazza will be inducted into the hall of fame this coming weekend.  as night owl mentioned, it would have been nice for piazza to go into the hall with a team neutral cap, although i would prefer a backwards facing helmet!

there's not much to talk about regarding tom candiotti's 1992 fleer ultra card that hasn't already been said about other cards with similar images - dodger stadium, etc.  however, i will thank fleer for using a photo of tom with a knuckleball grip.  on second thought, perhaps it would be more interesting to see him with a different grip.

have you ever considered how much 1991 donruss resembles 1986 donruss? i hadn't until now, as i have not given much thought to 1991 donruss ever.  still, eddie murray's card here with the border design and the slanted bottom edge of the photo made me think of the max headroom set.

what do you think?

i took three years of spanish in high school, but i don't pretend to be able to understand the language. i used to find it curious that pacific, on jody reed's 1993 card and others, translated 'second' to 'segunda', but not 'base' to 'beis'.  after all, 'baseball' is 'beisbol' in spanish.  apparently that is all i know, because 'base' is 'base' in spanish.  apologies, pacific, for questioning your translation consistencies.

last card of the page is the 1977 topps dodgers team card that also features tom lasorda for the first time as their manager. it serves as the team checklist, too.  i am fairly wishy-washy about how i refer to this card. sometimes it's the team card, sometimes it's lasorda's card.  i would probably defer to it as the team card if i had to make a choice. for the purposes of this set, however, i am going to label it as a team card and a lasorda card.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1996 fleer ultra greg gagne at number 496, 1997 fleer mike piazza at number 497, 2005 topps jd drew

at number 498, 1987 donruss dennis powell at number 499, 1962 topps duke snider

at number 500, 1997 score mike piazza at number 501, 1963 topps daryl spencer at number 502, 1967 topps dodgers team at number 503, and 2001 topps bruce aven at number 504.

my favorite card on the page:

this is kind of a rough page, but i'll go with al downing's 1975 topps card as my favorite.  once again, it's tough to beat daytime at dodger stadium.

final thoughts:

brad penny had a couple of pretty good season for the dodgers after coming over from the marlins in the paul loduca trade.  he was an all-star two seasons in a row, and his 16 wins were enough to lead the league in 2006.  i wonder, however, did he have another talent outside of baseball?  i wonder this because of what is written on the back of his card above: "brad has gotten many pitching tips from the late hall of famer warren spahn".  knowing that both penny and spahn were from oklahoma, it is easy to understand how the two would have had conversations prior to spahn's passing in 2003, but had i not known of their oklahoma roots, i may have thought penny was channeling spahn's spirit for some pointers based on the text.

frankendodger sheet 51 (cards 451-459) - that is possibly the worst baseball card photo pose...

here's sheet number 51 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 451-459:

and the back:

these cards are:

451. 1995 score jeff treadway
452. 1987 fleer bill russell
453. 1998 upper deck mike piazza
454. 1994 bowman delino deshields
455. 1988 topps shawn hillegas
456. 2006 topps turkey red rafael furcal
457. 1968 topps jim lefebvre
458. 1993 donruss kevin gross
459. 1984 donruss burt hooton

the "no brainer" of the day:

i suppose the 1987 fleer bill russell 'final tribute' card is about as close as we get to a no brainer on this page.

about the cards:

i think the 1995 score treadway would have worked better as a vertical card. at least that way, terry shumpert's head wouldn't have been cut off. bill russell's elbows might be cropped out of the photo on his 1987 fleer card, but with the angle of the image we get somewhat of a 'hero' shot on russell's final fleer card.  the shortstop of the team of my youth played in his last game in 1986, and i am pleased that two of the three major card companies (shame on you, donruss) came through with final tributes in 1987.

mike piazza had 7 cards in the 1998 upper deck set, not counting inserts.  all but one of those show piazza as a dodger, with the last having both a mets and marlins version.  so, all of the piazza cards in this set remind me of the trade that sent the strongest man in socal away.  i don't know what the 'upper echelon' foil on the front of this particular card from that set is all about, but i do appreciate the photo on the back. with all of the boring spring training photos we've been subjected to since the beginning of card creation, it's nice to see a different aspect of the dodgers' time in vero beach.

delino deshields looks a little washed out on his 1994 bowman card which makes me think of all the times that i heard vin scully refer to the 'shirtsleeves' crowd when a fielder missed a line drive.  shawn hillegas's 1988 topps card, however, makes me think of the fact that hillegas was traded to the white sox during the 1988 season, and so he missed out on, to paraphrase scully, the impossible happening.

next up is rafael furcal on a 2006 topps turkey red card.  furcal is displaying the worst pose ever used on a baseball card, in my opinion.  in the interest of full disclosure, however, there is a photo of me somewhere at my parents house wherein i am displaying the same unnatural baseball pose while standing in front of the outfield wall at dodger stadium.  ah, camera day.

speaking of poses, jim lefebvre's pose in the photo used for his 1968 topps card is different than the type of pose we usually see from infielders in that he has his glove turned the other way.  just an observation.  another observation i have is that the pitch kevin gross has thrown on his 1993 donruss cards looks like it is going to be high, but it is hard to tell for sure.

the last card of the page is a 1984 donruss burt hooton card that catches him throwing his signature knuckle-curve, along with his lean.  check out that grip!  and, is there another pitcher that leans back the way hooton used to? i can't think of anyone off the top of my head.

cards that didn't make the cut:

some of the cards that i passed up include 2015 topps clayton kershaw

at number 451, 1993 fleer bob ojeda at number 452, 1991 topps lenny harris at number 453, 1994 pinnacle pedro astacio

at number 454, 2001 topps eric karros at number 455, 1995 topps stadium club tom candiotti at number 456, 2009 upper deck dodgers leaders (chad billingsley, matt kemp, james loney) at number 457, 1999 upper deck victory mike piazza

at number 458, and 1985 donruss mike scioscia at number 459.

my favorite card on the page:

since the piazza card makes me kind of sad, i'll say that the russell card is my favorite of these nine cards.

final thoughts:

the all-star break is here, and the dodgers have been playing well as of late.  unfortunately for us dodger fans, so have the giants.  i am hoping that kershaw is able to return right after the break, and also that corey seager doesn't lose his swing by participating in the home run derby.

frankendodger sheet 48 (cards 424-432) - what's your name man?...

here's sheet number 48 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 424-432:

and the back:

these cards are:

424. 1996 donruss mike piazza
425. 1983 topps pedro guerrero
426. 1990 topps jeff hamilton
427. 1970 topps fred norman
428. 2003 upper deck fred mcgriff
429. 1961 nu-cards baseball scoops roy campanella
430. 1996 fleer john cummings
431. 2007 topps luis gonzalez
432. 1995 bowman chan ho park

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are no iconic cards on this page, but there are a couple of 'one and done' type cards. i'll go with fred norman's lone dodger card as the one the was a lock for the set.

about the cards:

1996 donruss leads off with their 'black box' design. not one of my favorites. still, this is a mike piazza dodger card, and that's a good thing.  piazza goes into the hall of fame later this month, and i guess i expected to see more piazza cards this year as a result.  there have been some - and even some showing him as a dodger - but i figured there would be more.

i was happy to find this 1983 topps pedro guerrero card in a pack back then because topps had given us two and a third cards of petey using photos of him sitting or standing around.  with everything he was doing on the field, i was looking for an action shot.  plus, there are no worse cards than the 1983 topps cards where both pictures - the main one and the inset - are posed.

to topps' credit, they did a pretty good job avoiding too many cards like the vicente romo above - at least among the dodgers.

i think night owl is the one who referred to the 1990 topps set as the 'lichtenstein' set.  this helped me appreciate the set so much more.  i'm being serious.  jeff hamilton, on the other hand, is still not one of my favorite dodgers, but he did catch the last out of game 4 of the 1988 world series, so i have some appreciation for him.

the first several times i saw fred norman's 1970 topps card, i figured that the interlocking 'la' logo on his had was akin to an iron on patch due to the vertical line running to its left.  it was quite a while before i noticed that the topps artists had left norman in some other team's (i'm guessing it is a spokane indians jersey - norman played for them in 1967 and 1969) jersey (notice the red patchwork just above the 'pitcher' text) and that his had was colored blue with the 'la' logo being cut and pasted from someone else's photo. it's the only card of norman as a dodger other than his 1990 target card

as he was plucked off of waivers by the cardinals during the 1970 season.

kudos to upper deck for making this 2003 fred mcgriff card.  the horizontal layout works nicely with his crouch and the strata of seats in holman stadium. it is my favorite card of mcgriff as a dodger.

it's getting late in the set to be showing an oddball for the first time, but luckily the 1961 nu-cards baseball scoops set was huge.  this is one of a few dodger cards in the set, and it celebrates roy campanella's 1953 season in which he set new records for home runs, rbi, and putouts for catchers and was rewarded with the mvp award for his efforts.

john cummings joined the dodgers during the 1995 season and pitched often enough to show up in the 1996 fleer set.  he had debuted with the mariners in 1993 after making the jump straight from triple-a, and for five innings, he was fantastic.  he had allowed just one hit (a double by cal ripken jr) through and had a 2-0 lead over the orioles in his first big league appearance before allowing five straight hits to start the sixth inning before being pulled. he was used solely as a reliever with the dodgers, and was with the club for about a year before being traded to the tigers.

luis gonzalez joined the dodgers for the 2007 season and was given this card in the topps flagship set. i am happy to report that gonzalez's 2008 topps card showed him as a marlin.  i appreciated gonzalez for getting the series winning hit against the yankees in the 2001 fall classic, but he is on the short list of my least favorite dodgers. it has more to do with him being brought in and blocking matt kemp from getting more playing time early in the season, and then complaining when kemp did play more often later in the year.  with gonzalez gone, i was expecting a full season of an ethier/pierre/kemp outfield, but ned colletti then went out and brought in andruw jones in 2008.

1995 bowman was released on the heels of 1994 upper deck (one of my favorite upper deck sets), and one couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two designs due to the 'phantom zone' inset photo.

as a result, i've had a bit of an aversion to 1995 bowman except for dodger cards like this chan ho park.

cards that didn't make the cut:

honorable mentions go to the cards that fell short, including 1991 topps stadium club gary carter at number 424, 1984 topps steve howe at number 425, 1994 topps finest chan ho park at number 426, 2007 topps randy wolf

at number 427, 1988 topps john shelby at number 428, 2003 upper deck joe thurston

at number 429, 1971 topps wes parker at number 430, 1987 topps dodgers leaders (although not the one i have signed by ron perranoski)

at number 431, and 1989 donruss rick dempsey at number 432.

my favorite card on the page:

it was nice to finally have an action photo on a topps pedro guerrero card, and the mcgriff card is nice, but oddball roy campanella is my favorite card on this page.

final thoughts:

have you seen hamilton? not jeff hamilton - hamilton the musical (the title of this post refers to the opening number where the characters are introduced).  i was lucky enough to see it last year while in new york for a conference. it was fantastic. in a few days, the show's creator lin-manuel miranda (who plays alexander hamilton - the ten-dollar founding father) will leave the production, and i am very interested to see what he does next.  as for me, i've got about 33 more of these posts to go, and i'm not sure what comes after that.

frankendodger sheet 40 (cards 352-360) - bookended by a pair of 31 hall of famers...

i've updated this page since the original post ran.

here's sheet number 40 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 352-360:

and the back:

here's what the page originally looked like:

these cards are:

352. 2001 topps archives hoyt wilhelm
353. 1992 classic best ken huckaby 1994 pinnacle ramon martinez
354. 2005 donruss diamond kings kazuhisa ishii
355. 1994 upper deck orel hershiser
356. 1989 score jesse orosco
357. 2012 topps aaron harang
358. 1962 topps tommy davis
359. 2003 topps chrome dave roberts
360. 1996 upper deck mike piazza

the "no brainer" of the day:

hoyt wilhelm has just one card from his playing days as a dodger, and it's his 1972 topps card.  this reprint of that card issued as part of the 2001 topps archives set was a no brainer to make the set.

about the cards:

another thing about the wilhelm card, his 1972 topps card was numbered 777 (as you can see in the above scan) which puts it outside the parameters of this set.  so, i was happy that the archives reprint numbered it at 352.  i won't blow up the back of the card to show you the number as i did with the 1952 jackie robinson reprint from the same set - you'll just have to trust me.  wilhelm made his debut in 1952 against the dodgers, facing pee wee reese, billy cox, roy campanella, jackie robinson, and duke snider in his initial inning of work, and finished his hall of fame career as a dodger 20 years later. in between, he appeared in a record 1,070 games as a pitcher. as implied by the title of this post, wilhelm wore number 31 during his stint as a dodger.

ken huckaby was a dodger catching prospect who was in the dodger organization through the 1997 season. he didn't make his big league debut until 2001, nine years after this 1992 classic best minor league card was issued.  he never suited up for the dodgers, but i like this card and the holman stadium seats in the background.  really, the only criteria for a card being eligible for this set is that its number is less than 727 and it be considered a dodger card.  huckaby's card meets both.

ken huckaby's 1992 classic best card has given way to ramon martinez's 1994 pinnacle card. aside from being a major league card of a player that actually played for the dodgers, it features a fairly unique photo of martinez studying a slide. it also makes the top two rows of the sheet an exclusively pitcher's zone.

kaz ishii was no longer with the dodgers when this 2005 diamond kings card came out, having been traded to the mets for jason phillips straight up.  ishii went 13-8 in 2004, his third season with the dodgers, but his era had jumped almost a full run to 4.71, and his k/9 ratio had gone from just under 9 to just over 5.  it was time to cut bait.

while ishii was banished to flushing meadows, the 1994 upper deck set banished players to the phantom zone with the skewed photo on the side bar.  bowman used a similar technique in their 1995 set, but upper deck does it better.  i liked this set a lot and it was the first upper deck set that i set out to complete.  it was also the smallest upper deck set to date.  anyway, i really like the hershiser card here because it features the old corrugated fiberglass walls of the dodger stadium bullpens that my brother and i used to stand above and watch the likes of don sutton, burt hooton, and (far too often) doug rau warm up before games.  i mean that it seemed like rau was the starting pitcher for a lot of the games we attended, not that he was used too often.

speaking of being used often, jesse orosco who appears here on a 1989 score card currently holds the record for most games pitched at 1,252.  he wasn't the one who broke wilhelm's record (that was dennis eckersley who pitched in 1,071 games), but he sure did pass it. the closest active pitcher is francisco rodriguez, who has appeared in 887 games.  aaron harang appeared in only 387 games during his career which may or may not have ended last season, and only 6 of those appearances were in relief.  we were given this 2012 topps card during his 10-10 season with the dodgers in 2011 (his only season with the dodgers).  in his second start for the club, harang set a dodger record by striking out 9 consecutive batters. he k'd 13 total that night, and dodger pitchers tied a team record for a ninie inning game by striking out their opponent 18 times.  of course, they almost lost the game.

tommy davis's 1962 topps card is one of my favorite dodgers from the set, due in large part to the way his pose fits the image space.  speaking of which, he's got the same pose as gino cimoli had on his 1958 topps card, but topps let davis keep his bat.  as an aside, i am ashamed to mention how long it took me to really look at the 1962 design and see that it was supposed to reflect a rectangular photo posted on a piece of wood (fence?). i had not noticed the curl as part of the image until the late 1990's.

the page's penultimate card features the current dodger manager not looking at his base coach while running on a 2003 topps chrome card.  that's ok because it looks like the play is in front of him, and we all know that dave roberts was ok on the basepaths.  the final card features one of this year's hall of fame inductees taking a cut on his 1996 upper deck card.  again, as the title of the post implies, mike piazza wore the same number as hoyt wilhelm, 31.  this is not the first time that two hall of famers wore the same number for the dodgers (both frank robinson and greg maddux wore number 36, for example), but the number still won't be retired by the club until joc pederson gets voted in to the hall.  hey, it could happen.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1983 topps mike scioscia at number 352, 1992 classic best ken huckaby

at number 353, 1996 upper deck ramon martinez at number 354, 2007 upper deck chad billingsley at number 355, 1991 upper deck jose offerman at number 356, 1991 score jim poole

at number 357, 1997 fleer roger cedeno at number 358, 2005 topps chrome jd drew at number 359, and 2005 upper deck jayson werth

at number 360.

my favorite card on the page:

the 1994 upper deck hershiser card wins for this page, thanks to the blue bullpen background and despite the phantom zone card design.

final thoughts:

looking at this sheet now, i am pretty sure that huckaby is not long for the set.  as i mentioned above, pretty much the only requisite to be eligible for this set is to be on a card that is considered a dodger card, and while the huckaby card fits that description as far as i am concerned, there will likely be a change. not that i am opposed to minor league sets - they are part of my dodger collection, after all - but that pinnacle martinez card is a pretty good one.

yep, so good that i've made the switch from huckaby to martinez.