frankendodger sheet 66 (cards 586-594) - get your kicks...

here's sheet number 66 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 586-594:

and the back:

these cards are:

586. 1978 topps ed goodson
587. 1994 topps stadium club dave hansen
588. 2012 topps mark ellis
589. 1995 topps pedro astacio
590. 1993 donruss lenny harris
591. 1992 bowman jamie mcandrew
592. 1986 donruss franklin stubbs
593. 1974 topps steve yeager
594. 2013 topps carl crawford

the "no brainer" of the day:

i wanted to get a card from 1992 bowman into the set, seeing as how it was such a big deal. i ignored it at the time, but did go back and complete my dodger team set a few years ago.  i recall buying a pack at a card store in orange county around 1996 - the only pack i ever bought - for a high price, hoping for a piazza rookie. i got a charles johnson gold foil card, which at the time wasn't too bad. still didn't pay for the pack.  anyway, jamie mcandrew's card was not a no brainer, but the set it represents was, so that will have to do for this sheet.

about the cards:

i suppose ed goodson's 1978 topps card could have been the no brainer.  i have a history with it, trying to find an autographed copy for my modest 1978 topps dodger autograph project. i am still pretty happy about finding one and buying it before anyone else jumped on it.

it must have been a hot day in vero beach when they took the photo for dave hansen's 1994 stadium club card - there aren't too many folks in the seats.

mark ellis' 2012 topps card features some bad photoshopping of his uniform. he's a rockie (or maybe still an athletic) in the original photo.

i bought a lot of 1995 topps. maybe it was because of the strike and i needed a baseball fix. it wasn't because of the design - i didn't get the frayed edges of the photos or the font used for player names.  anyway, this pedro astacio card is the first '95 topps card in the set which says a lot about how much i don't care for it.

lenny harris is turning two on his 1993 donruss card against the braves. that is obviously david justice sliding in. it could be a play from the 5th inning of the september 7, 1992 game between the clubs - harris was at second when sid bream hit a ball to short with justice on first. the 6-4-3 double play was successful.

jamie mcandrew did not pitch for the dodgers in the big leagues.  shortly after his 1992 bowman card was released, he was taken by the colorado rockies in the 1993 expansion draft. the rockies later traded him to the brewers, and he made it to the bigs with milwaukee in 1995.

there's not much to say about franklin stubbs' 1986 donruss card, or steve yeager's 1974 topps card for that matter. we've seen plenty of cards from these sets and of these players in the set already.  yeager's card, however, has a couple of things going for it - a cartoon (steve enjoys art), and a couple of interesting facts about his experience in a game played on august 8, 1972. the card says that yeager had an extra-inning record 22 putouts in that game, and that he also had a record 24 chances in the same game. it was a 19 inning affair against the reds, and dodger pitchers struck out 22 batters accounting for yeager's putouts, and he caught two runners stealing, giving him 2 assists and 24 chances.  this game was the sixth game of yeager's big league career, and he had caught complete games in the dodgers' previous five contests. yeager caught all 19 innings of this game, and started the next day, too, although he only made it to the 7th inning.

last card on the sheet is carl crawford's 2013 topps card, which, like the ellis earlier, features some obvious photoshopping.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1996 upper deck collector's choice mike blowers

at number 586, 1984 donruss bill russell at number 587, 1989 score mario soto

at number 588, 1993 topps carlos hernandez at number 589, 1991 topps eddie murray at number 590, 1991 bowman bob ojeda at number 591, 1985 donruss ken howell at number 592, 2003 upper deck masao kida at number 593, and 1975 sspc checklist (carl erskine, ralph branca, and pee wee reese)

at number 594.

my favorite card on the page:

the goodson card has some meaning to me, but i like the hansen card the best out of this group.

final thoughts:

sheet 66 makes me think of historic route 66 and yasiel puig (and, i suppose, mario lemieux).  i've driven parts of route 66 over the years, but never made the full run from chicago to santa monica.  i have gotten some kicks, mostly in 2013, from watching yasiel puig play, but i am more and more resigned to the fact that he won't recapture that dynamic anytime soon. with the hamstring injuries and trade rumors swirling, i don't know whether puig finishes out the season as a dodger, let alone on an active roster.  we may know more later today...

frankendodger sheet 34 (cards 298-306) - like a flamingo...

here's sheet number 34 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 298-306:

and the back:

these cards are:

298. 1972 topps claude osteen (in action)
299. 1987 donruss franklin stubbs
300. 2014 topps heritage clayton kershaw
301. 2003 donruss paul loduca
302. 1981 topps dodgers future stars (jack perconte/mike scioscia/fernando valenzuela)
303. 2011 topps update juan uribe
304. 1970 topps bill russell
305. 1958 topps clem labine
306. 2008 upper deck timeline russell martin

the "no brainer" of the day:

the 1981 topps dodgers future stars card was one of the collection defining cards for me and my friends in 1981. it had to be in this set.

about the cards:

the local card shop where i grew up was both a card and comic store.  my brother, who read comics, and i would spend a lot of time there. one day we saw the 1972 topps claude osteen in action card and actually wondered if the guy had just one leg.  we found out that he did, in fact, have two legs, but we called this the flamingo card.  that was around the same time that we saw the 1971 topps brooks robinson card that we decided looked like he was searching for droids and the stolen death star plans on tatooine - the beginning of my tatooine collection.

we saw franklin stubbs' 1987 donruss opening day card early on in the set, but thankfully donruss used different photos for that set - something topps does a poor job of with their opening day release. now, the card above does show a confused looking stubbs as opposed to happy stubbs on the od card, but still, different photos.

here we are at the hero number.  i like that topps heritage often matches players/managers up with the same card numbers from the set being honored, and that is certainly the case here.  clayton kershaw gets number 300 in 2014 heritage, and sandy koufax was number 300 in the 1965 set.

i just wish they would match the pose, too.  kershaw's card uses a photo that makes me think the photographer just yelled "hey, clayton - over here!" and then snapped the photo.

not much to say about the 2003 donruss paul loduca card, so let's move on to the jack perconte/mike scioscia/fernando valenzuela rookie.  back in 1981, me and my friends were skeptical of fleer and donruss - topps was usually the priority for pack busting.  still, we bought a fair amount of the others, although most of my donruss cards that year came from buying a brick of dodger cards from a fellow collector.  anyway, fleer didn't even spell fernando's name correctly and donruss didn't bother to include him in their set, so it was topps all the way if you wanted to flaunt a fernando rookie.  throw in sweaty mike scioscia, and it was the card to have as fernandomania took over.  love this card.

i appreciate topps using a photo of juan uribe in the baby blue throwbacks for his 2011 update card. i still think the dodgers should have worn the 1916 checkered uniforms of the robins this season - it is the 100th anniversary of the franchise's first world series appearance, after all.  i also appreciate topps giving outfielder bill russell a card of his own in 1970.  he did play in 98 games for the dodgers in 1969, but with topps putting bill buckner (one game in 1969) over steve garvey (three games in 1969), one is never certain of the criteria for inclusion in a set.

the photo and hat positioning on clem labine's 1958 topps card give the impression that he had a very long cranium.  not 1988 o-pee-chee delino deshields long, but long nonetheless.  finally we have a russell martin card from the 2008 upper deck timeline set - specifically the subset that pays homage to the 2004 legends set.  four years is pretty quick to re-use a design, but i don't mind since i am a fan of the timeless teams set.

cards that didn't make the cut:

aside from the 1965 topps koufax card at the hero number 300, here are some other cards that could have been included but weren't:  1961 topps jim golden

at number 298, 1988 donruss mickey hatcher

at number 299, 1981 donruss jay johnstone at number 300, 1958 topps randy jackson at number 301, 1980 topps dodgers team card at number 302, 1994 leaf ramon martinez at number 303, 1992 bowman jose offerman at number 304, steve garvey's newest card (from 2016 topps archives)

at number 305, and 1984 topps dodgers batting & pitching leaders (pedro guerrero/bob welch) at number 306.

my favorite card on the page:

some tough competition, and bill russell's rookie card falls just short of the perconte/scioscia/valenzuela card - perhaps my favorite multi-player rookie card ever.

final thoughts:

including garvey in this year's archives release, as a short print no less, follows the trend. in 2013, dave lopes got the sp treatment with a 1976 style card.  the following year, it was bill russell's turn with a 1973 card (auto'd only).  last year i was expecting the garv, but eric karros and shawn green got the call for the auto only insert set instead.  here's hoping the penguin shows up in 2017.

in other archives related news, i've entered a couple of contests over at sport card collectors.  one is archives related, and the other is a sports challenge contest - both with some great prizes.  check them out!

frankendodger sheet 10 (cards 82-90) - sweet wheat...

here's sheet number 10 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 82-90:

and the back:

these cards are:

82. 2009 topps finest rafael furcal
83. 1987 donruss opening day franklin stubbs
84. 1998 topps gallery eric young
85. 2000 fleer metal universe gary sheffield
86. 1961 fleer zack wheat
87. 1996 leaf limited ismael valdes
88. 2009 upper deck icons russell martin
89. 2015 topps stadium club joc pederson
90. 2014 topps gypsy queen juan uribe

the "no brainer" of the day:

zack wheat belongs in the set, and his 1961 fleer card is the best option.

about the cards:

we are halfway through my self-imposed lack of player and set duplication, and it's having the intended, if not spectacular, results.  there's not a lot to say about many of these sets, as there were so many useless releases from the 20 years or so from 1987 to the late 2000's. that's true even today, as evidenced by gypsy queen (apologies to any fans of gypsy queen out there). i do appreciate the fact that stubbs' opening day card is different from his 1987 donruss card (which appears in the set later on), and having sheffield and wheat (two of the best hitters the dodgers have ever had) isn't bad.  russell martin has many fantastic baseball cards, but this icons card isn't one of them.  first half of 2015 darling joc pederson makes his first appearance in the set (along with everyone else on the sheet).  the other cards are just shiny-ish. plus juan uribe.

cards that didn't make the cut:

for a number of reasons, these cards fell just short:  1975 sspc paul powell (#82), 2003 upper deck sweet spot classics tom lasorda (#83), 1985 fleer update al oliver (#84), 1991 topps stadium club skydome todd hollandsworth (#85), 1974 topps joe ferguson (#86),

2001 topps american pie rick monday (#87), 1985 topps traded al oliver (#88), 1980-87 sspc baseball immortals jackie robinson (#89), and 1998 topps gold label class 1 gary sheffield (#90).

i miss having not put one of the al oliver cards on the sheet, but he gets his appearance in the set later on within my 20-page effort at diversity.

my favorite card on the page:

i appreciate seeing the bat wag on sheffield's metal card, and if it weren't for the wheat, it would be my favorite.

final thoughts:

on monday, i posted about the 1986 donruss highlights steve sax card that checked in at number 50, and i noted that i thought it was doubtful that topps would issue player of the month cards through their topps now line.  i was wrong.  i wrote that post on may 2nd, and on the 3rd, they posted this card for sale:

now we just have to wait and see if they maintain this for the entire season.