frankendodger sheet 55 (cards 487-495) - nomar leads the slow clap...

here's sheet number 55 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 487-495:

and the back:

these cards are:

487. 1976 topps leron lee
488. 1983 donruss steve garvey
489. 1992 score gary carter
490. 1970 topps bill singer
491. 2010 topps rafael furcal
492. 2007 upper deck nomar garciaparra
493. 1987 topps tom lasorda
494. 1986 donruss len matuszek
495. 1959 topps johnny podres

the "no brainer" of the day:

i have no shame in adding as many steve garvey and nomar garciaparra cards as i want to this set, but i also have a penchant for players who have only one dodger card to their name.  as a result, i'd say that the 1976 topps leron lee was as close to a no brainer as this page has.

about the cards:

leron lee came to the dodgers during the 1975 season and earned this card in the 1976 topps set.  although lee stayed with the dodgers through 1976, he did not get any love from topps the following year.  maybe it was because after the dodgers released him in november of 1976, he went to japan and kicked some ass.  in his 11 seasons with lotte, he hit .320 with 283 home runs, which is 283 more home runs than he hit in his stint with the dodgers.

next up is steve garvey's 1983 donruss card. pulling this card from a pack was bittersweet for young gcrl as the garv was no longer with the dodgers when that happened.  gary carter wasn't with the dodgers either when his 1992 score card hit the streets.  i was still happy to have it, as it showed the canadian and american flags that he wore on his helmet. i thought that was a nice touch on his part.

bill singer's 1970 topps card here is a bit washed out. that was the season in which singer was coming off of a career year (he had won 20 games with a 2.34 era while throwing 315.2 innings in 1969), but missed all of may and september, and half of august. he still managed to no-hit the phillies in july, however.

rafael furcal is sporting a special holiday hat on his 2010 topps card.  it's the fourth of july hat from 2009 that the dodgers wore during their series with the padres in san diego. was that the first year of the special holiday hats? i am not a fan of the trend.

nomar is giving a slow clap on (one of) his 2007 upper deck card(s).  perhaps a fan has taken a stand against steamed dodger dogs and demanded that farmer john's eastern corn fed pork sausages be grilled as they were in the beginning.  in all seriousness, i believe that it was around 2007 when the dodgers stopped grilling the famous dodger dogs, and the fans revolted, resulting in both steamed and grilled being sold at the ballpark thereafter.

so it's two pages in a row with a tom lasorda card.  this 1987 card is a checklist, as was yesterday's, although this one is the dodgers team checklist. i mentioned in the post yesterday that i prefer my team checklists to have a team picture on the front, with perhaps a mention of the manager, but just the manager on the front is ok, too.  it beats not getting a manager card at all.

i'm not too excited about another len matuszek card in the set as i have run out of things to say about him. but, there aren't very many 1986 donruss cards here, so it is what it is.  johnny podres brings the page to its end with his 1959 topps card. podres made two starts in the '59 world series - earning the win in game 2 and getting a no-decision in the dodgers' game 6 series clinching win.

cards that didn't make the cut:

cards that i considered, but ultimately did not choose, include 2013 topps hanley ramirez

at number 487, 1971 topps jerry stephenson at number 488, 1988 topps dodgers leaders (pedro guerrero, fernando valenzuela) at number 489, 1991 topps kirk gibson at number 490, 1995 topps stadium club henry rodriguez at number 491, 1968 topps jeff torborg

at number 492, 1985 topps orel hershiser

at number 493, 1985 donruss ken landreaux at number 494, and 1981 topps dusty baker at number 495.

my favorite card on the page:

gary carter's 1992 score card is my favorite card of him as a dodger aside from his 1992 o-pee-chee tribute card.  i like it more than any other card on this page, including the garvey.

final thoughts:

i've come a long way with my steve garvey collection since pulling his cards out of donruss packs in the early 1980's.  i've not been doing a good job of keeping my collection up to date over at garvey cey russell lopes like i promised about a year ago.  i still plan to re-scan and update that post as i have picked up a number of new garvey cards in the past 12 months.  here's the latest - a 2009 topps tribute dual relic book that also features tony gwynn.

good golly miss molly, it's a fancy card.

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 19 (cards 163-171) - one of these is not like the others...

here's sheet number 19 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 163-171:

 and the back:

these cards are:

163. 2013 topps archives hyn-jin ryu
164. 1990 score tim crews
165. 2011 bowman chrome prospects nathan eovaldi
166. 2001 upper deck legends of new york burleigh grimes
167. 1987 o-pee-chee rick honeycutt
168. 2005 playoff prestige yhency brazoban
169. 1961 post johnny podres
170. 1991 fleer ultra mike sharperson
171. 2013 bowman paco rodriguez

the "no brainer" of the day:

hungover johnny podres was the fist card on this sheet.  i don't have too many post doubles from the 1960's, so this card was a sure thing for the set.

about the cards:

there are two reasons to wear a belt.  one is to hold up your pants. the other is to break up all of the white in the dodger uniform. hyun-jin ryu may well be wearing a belt, but his archives card is a good example of the need for some relief from all that white - especially when the blue name script and red numbers are obscured.  tim crews is wearing his belt with his away grays on his 1990 score card.

nathan eovaldi was traded to the marlins in the hanley ramirez deal.  now he's pitching for the yankees.  i think the dodgers could use his arm these days.  back in the day, burleigh grimes pitched for, and later managed, the brooklyn ball club.  this 2001 legends of new york card notes that grimes was the dodgers' ace, although he pitched for the team when they were known as the robins.

seeing rick honeycutt's 1987 opc card right below the crews '90 score card makes me notice the similarities between the two designs. former closer yhency brazoban's 2005 playoff prestige card reminds me of jon weisman's dodger thoughts blog.  there were a few "ghame over" (or "guame over" if duaner sanchez closed) comments after dodger victories in jon's game posts that season.

johnny podres looks rough on his 1961 post card, and the card itself isn't in the best shape.  plus, look at the writing on the back! i have no idea what message was being conveyed in crayon there.  the back of mike sharperson's 1991 ultra card features three photos!  such innovation by fleer.  and, getting back to the title of the post, there are eight pitchers on this sheet, and mike sharperson.  despite sharperson's super-utility status, he never did pitch in a big league game.  the last pitcher on the page is paco rodriguez.  like i said about eovaldi, i think the dodgers could use paco in the bullpen right now.  too bad he's out for the season following tommy john surgery.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i don't have doubles of sandy koufax's 1959 topps card, so it was never in contention at number 163, but there were other cards considered for this page that fell short.  they include jim brewer's 1975 topps card at number 163, zack wheat's 1991 conlon collection card

at number 164, willie davis' 1974 topps card at number 165, duke snider's 2010 topps national chicle card at number 166, eric gagne's 2006 bazooka card at number 167, reggie smith's 1978 topps card at number 168, alex trevino's 1986 o-pee-chee card

at number 169, paul konerko's 1995 pinnacle card at number 170, and nick punto's 2013 topps update card

at number 171.

my favorite card on the page:

there's not a real standout on this sheet, but i certainly like the idea of burleigh grimes cards in modern day sets.  i'll choose it as my favorite, even if the team name is wrong and even though there is an almost identical card just a couple of slots away in that legends of new york set.

final thoughts:

it was a coincidence to feature both crews and sharperson on this sheet.  both guys died in accidents during their playing days - crews on a boat during spring training (in an accident that claimed the life of indians' teammate steve olin and injured bobby ojeda) and sharperson in a car accident on his way to join the padres from triple-a las vegas.