frankendodger sheet 67 (cards 595-603) - finally, a good morning from topps...

here's sheet number 67 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 595-603:

and the back:

these cards are:

595. 1970 topps maury wills
596. 1987 topps steve sax
597. 1990 score mike huff
598. 1991 upper deck mike sharperson
599. 2004 topps jose hernandez
600. 1988 score fernando valenzuela
601. 1985 topps tom lasorda
602. 2011 topps ivan dejesus jr
603. 1989 donruss mike devereaux

the "no brainer" of the day:

the first card issued by topps to officially feature maurice morning wills as a dodger was a sure thing for the set.

about the cards:

it is fairly widely accepted that maury wills was featured on a 1960 topps card

but he was not named. sy berger didn't regard wills as a prospect one spring and so will refused to sign with topps even as he won the 1962 mvp award. he was a big proponent of fleer and convinced a couple of his teammates to sign on for the 1963 set.  topps eventually was able to sign wills, and featured him by name for the first time in the 1967 set. he was a pirate by then, and had the dodgers not reacquired wills in 1969, we would not have had a dodger card issued by topps during his playing days.  topps did go back and create a 1962 card to feature in the 1975 mvp subset and 1982 kmart mvp set, but i did one better and created cards that should have been all the way back to 1959.

steve sax took over second base from davey lopes in 1982, and he made his first all-star team (as a reserve) that same year.  he was an all-star again in 1983, but this time was voted in by the fans to start at second base for the national league. topps didn't care, and featured johnny ray as the nl all-star at second base in 1984.  that's why i liked this 1987 topps card so much when it was released even though sax was a reserve in 1986 behind starter ryne sandberg. i didn't care that cubs fans were upset with topps  as long as i got my extra saxy card.

mike huff's 1990 score card was also appreciated by those of us team collectors who are completists. huff was shunned by donruss and topps (aside from an appearance in the 1990 topps debut '89 set) during his dodger tenure, receiving cards only from fleer, classic, and score.  huff (like homonym-ically named charlie hough) is also one of the relatively many hawaiian native players that played for the dodgers. others i can name off the top of my head are sid fernandez, carlos diaz, shane victorino, and onan masaoka.

hoo boy, do i like mike sharperson's 1991 upper deck card.  i wrote a post about how much i like it six years ago.  a day game in dodger stadium makes for great photos.

the most interesting thing about the 2004 topps jose hernandez card is that it shows some cards in the background. the most famous card with cars in the background is the 1973 topps luis alvarado card

that is at once a spectacle and a conundrum.  hernandez's card doesn't compare, but one does see the progression from muscle cars on the alvarado card to a yellow bug on dave goltz's 1981 topps card

to an suv on the hernandez card.

here we are at another hero number, and this time it's fernando valenzuela filling the spot with his 1988 score card.  that's good numbering by score, even though el toro was on the downside of his dodger career.  fernando somehow had an era under 4 (3.98) in 1987 despite leading the league in walks and hits allowed - he had a whip of 1.51!

next up is tom lasorda's 1985 topps card.  i think i would have liked 1985 topps better if all the cards had that position bar under the team name rather than having the position crammed in between the name text and logo.  i don't understand why topps did this because they could have shoehorned "mgr" in there like they fit some dual positions on other cards.

ivan dejesus jr got some love from topps in 2011 which was the year that he made his big league debut. the following season, the dodgers traded dejesus (just like they did with his dad).  these days, he's in cincinnati which was news to me.  i couldn't name more than two reds players, and one of those guys is now a met.

last card on the sheet belongs to dodger double dipper mike devereaux courtesy of 1989 donruss.  devereaux is probably best remembered as the 1995 nlcs mvp for the braves who beat the reds who had beat the dodgers in the nlds.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1993 upper deck eric davis

(another favorite) at number 595, 1992 pinnacle jim gott at number 596. 2009 topps randy wolf at number 597, 1991 donruss chris gwynn at number 598, 1989 score franklin stubbs at number 599, 2012 topps clayton kershaw (base)

(and photo variation)

at number 600, 2010 topps blake dewitt at number 601, 1986 topps mariano duncan at number 602, and 1990 upper deck kal daniels

at number 603.

my favorite card on the page:

i really like what the maury wills card represents, but mike sharperson's 1991 upper deck card is one of my favorite cards, period.

final thoughts:

there was a focus put on throwback uniforms by mlb this year - just a few weekends ago - and the dodgers participated by wearing brooklyn hats on the field.  i think there was a huge missed opportunity here given that 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the franchise's first world series appearance and that the club wore these uniforms that season

that would have been at least as interesting as those baby blues on the variant kershaw shown above.

frankendodger sheet 6 (cards 46-54) - pick your poison...

here's sheet number 6 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 46-54:

and the back:

these cards are:

46. 2013 topps update yasiel puig
47. 1975 topps tommy john
48. 2003 fleer fall classic gil hodges
49. 1999 topps darren dreifort
50. 1986 donruss highlights steve sax
51. 2000 upper deck hitter's club paul waner
52. 2013 topps gypsy queen hanley ramirez
53. 1988 score mike scioscia
54. 2014 panini prizm adrian gonzalez

the "no brainer" of the day:

getting a card of paul waner (aka big poison) into the set was a good thing. as i was looking through doubles, his card jumped out to me and was the first card identified for this page.  waner, who was a dodger double dipper, actually got his 3000th hit while in between his dodger stints, but i'm pleased that upper deck included him in this set as a dodger.

about the cards:

anybody else not a fan of the 2003 fleer fall classic set?  i completed the set back in 2003, but did not care for the number of different designs fleer used in the set.  other sets have had different looking base cards, although the different looks are usually just color based, like the sets that produced the tommy john and mike scioscia cards on this sheet.  still, this card of gil hodges fits in nicely.

speaking of john, he looks pretty happy for a guy who just blew out his elbow.  and, speaking of blown out elbows - hello, darren dreifort.  i like little d's card because there are few things better for a baseball fan than a sunny day spent in chavez ravine.

the steve sax card is interesting to me, as i like the idea of this sort of set.  i think topps is doing it right this year with the topps now set, although i doubt that they will produce player of the month cards. in september of 1986, saxy hit .400 in 28 games and had a 25-game hitting streak to earn the honors and the right to have this card made.

the other cards - puig, hanley, scioscia, and adrian gonzalez all feature the away grays. at least puig's card showcases the red number.  the hanley and scioscia cards feature photos that don't allow the number to be seen, and panini likes to color that number blue for some reason.  plausible deniability, i suppose, should their cards ever be questioned as to being too easily identified by team.

cards that didn't make the cut:

there are still a lot of great cards to choose from at this point.  some of my favorite also rans from this sheet include numbers 46 1976 topps dodger team/walt alston and 1997 pinnacle zenith wilton guerrero (from a set that i really like); number 47 2002 topps tribute jackie robinson; numbers 48 2002 topps tribute gil hodges (it would look better than the hodges card currently in this spot) and 2016 topps opening day corey seager; numbers 49 2002 fleer greats steve garvey and 2013 panini hometown heroes orel hershiser; numbers 50 1977 topps ron cey, 1979 topps steve garvey and 1981 topps davey lopes (sadly, i don't think there is a bill russell card numbered 50); number 51 1960 fleer dazzy vance; number 52 2011 topps marquee matt kemp (featuring the sweet baby blue brooklyn throwbacks); numbers 53 1957 topps clem labine ("that's a $20 card!"), 1998 fleer ultra mike piazza (i can't believe i never posted this card at garveyceyrusselllopes), and 2003 fleer ultra gold medallion edition kevin brown; and number 54 2007 upper deck masterpieces jackie robinson (with yogi berra and the late tag at home in the 1955 world series).  like i said, lots of good stuff to choose from, if only i didn't have rules.

my favorite card on the page:

i'll go with the 1999 topps dreifort due to the appearance of the dodger stadium outfield wall mural in the background. one of my favorite posts over at garveyceyrusselllopes was about the different murals that the dodgers put on the wall in the late 90's/early 00's before advertising took over.

final thoughts:

i think the puig is the first checklist card to make the set, although it won't be the last.  and, is there a more useless set than panini prizm?