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 61 (cards 541-549) - do you know the way to tatooine?...

here's sheet number 61 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 541-549:

and the back:

these cards are:

541. 2008 upper deck jason schmidt
542. 2005 topps milton bradley
543. 1996 donruss roberto kelly
544. 1980 topps rick sutcliffe
545. 2015 topps clayton kershaw
546. 1978 topps ted martinez
547. 1975 topps von joshua
548. 1981 topps dave goltz
549. 1986 topps bob welch

the "no brainer" of the day:

rick sutcliffe's rookie card was not to be denied entry into this set.

about the cards:

it seems like there have been a few jason schmidt cards pop up in the set lately.  this one is from 2008 upper deck, which is the year that schmidt missed entirely due to injury.

the next two cards - a 2005 topps milton bradley and a 1996 donruss roberto kelly - fall into my 'tatooine' minicollection as well as this frankenset.  as you probably know, i collect cards that feature photos with nothing but dirt in the background. this goes back to sometime in the late 1970's when my brother and i were in our local card and comic shop. there was a 1971 topps world series highlight card in the display case featuring brooks robinson and the infield dirt. being fans of star wars, we claimed that brooks was looking for droids on tatooine.  and now you know the rest of the story.

i was surprised when i (happily) pulled a rick sutcliffe card out of a pack of 1980 topps and saw that he had pitched in 1976.  i was aware of him being with the dodgers for a bit in 1978 and was well versed in his 1979 season in which he won the rookie of the year award, but i did not know he had made his debut way back in '76 even though i pored over those baseball handbooks endlessly in the late 1970's and early 1980's.  one highlight i recall from sutcliffe's '79 season was his first big league home run - it came in a game against the reds in which the dodgers hit seven home runs, all by different players.  sutcliffe went on to win the national league cy young award in 1984 (and finished 2nd in 1987). he was 4th in the mvp voting in 1984.

clayton kershaw, on the other hand, did not win the rookie of the year award, but did win the mvp in 2014 to go along with his three cy young awards. this 2015 topps card recognizes kershaw for being the league's mvp which is rare for a pitcher but sometimes cannot be denied.

ted martinez joined the dodgers for the 1977 season (and played enough to earn a card in the 1978 topps set) after spending 1976 in the reds' minor league system.  that means that he missed the reds' world series run that year, and even though he was with the dodgers in both '77 and '78, he appeared in neither postseason.  martinez debuted for the mets in 1970, the year following their first world series title, but did appear in the 1973 world series with the mets, and the 1975 alcs with the a's.  that means that during the decade of the 1970's, martinez's teams made the postseason 5 times. he was almost don baylor before don baylor.

i believe that this 1975 topps von joshua card is the only dodger card in the set to feature this color combination.  otherwise, it is similar to many dodger cards that feature spring training photos, and is especially similar to the preceding ted martinez card.  are those the same trees in the background?

looking ahead to the 1981 topps dave goltz card next to it, we see more spring training trees, but these are clearly not the same. these trees to goltz's right look to be coniferous, plus there is a parking lot in front of them (who's driving the yellow bug?).

last card of the page is bob welch's 1986 topps card.  1986 was a lost year for the dodgers, who finished 73-89 and in fifth place (and just 0.5 games ahead of the last place braves) in the nl west.  welch did his part with an era of 3.28 over 33 starts. he had 7 complete games and 3 shutouts, but his record was a dodger career worst (winning percentage wise) 7-13.  the following year (welch's last with the dodgers), he had a similar era (3.22) but was 15-9.

cards that didn't make the cut:

1981 donruss burt hooton at number 541, 2006 topps turkey red mark hendrickson

at number 542, 1994 donruss brett butler at number 543, 2003 topps dave roberts at number 544, 1982 topps reggie smith at number 545, this fantastically odd 1995 upper deck collector's choice roberto kelly card

at number 546, 1959 topps jim baxes

at number 547, 1976 topps manny mota at number 548, and 1971 topps jim brewer at number 549.

my favorite card on the page:

as is often the case, the no brainer is also my favorite card of the page.  rick sutcliffe's 1980 topps card was a key card in my collection that year because he had won the rookie of the year the previous season, and this was his first card. thirty-six years later, it's still a favorite.  although i still can't tell whether that is terry forster or someone else in the background.

final thoughts:

roberto kelly made the page, but with his 1996 donruss card rather than that '95 collector's choice card.  that's only because the udcc card is one of those redemption set cards and i don't have a dupe.  yes, 1978 topps and ted martinez would be kicked out of the set if i had another one of those kelly cards.  i don't understand it - upper deck had an image of kelly in dodger gear (real or photoshopped), used it, but still went with an expos photo, too. it is very weird and i like it.

frankendodger sheet 53 (cards 469-477) - no piazzas, but two piazzas...

here's sheet number 53 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 469-477:

and the back:

these cards are:

469. 1992 fleer juan samuel
470. 1985 donruss sid bream
471. 1969 topps ted savage
472. 1995 score rafael bournigal
473. 1975 topps ken mcmullen
474. 1995 donruss todd worrell
475. 1987 donruss bob welch
476. 1991 leaf bob ojeda
477. 1982 topps steve yeager

the "no brainer" of the day:

i suppose the closest thing to a no brainer would be the only topps dodger card of ted savage? otherwise, nothing really rises to the occasion here.

about the cards:

juan samuel, seen here on one of his last dodger cards (a 1992 fleer card) gave the dodgers a couple of decent years at second base, but failed to stop the turnstile at the position (he was released during the 1992 season) that began when steve sax left after the 1988 season. since then, the dodgers have had 17 different second basemen start on opening day- one more than the number of different opening day third basemen over the same span.

sid bream did not get a rated rookie card in the 1985 donruss set (tony brewer was the dodgers' rated rookie that year), as evidenced by the lack of the famous logo on his card above, but his cards were in high demand among young southern california collectors nonetheless.  i think that had a lot to do with how disappointed we were with greg brock. bream was traded to the pirates later in the '85 season for bill madlock.

now we are to the ted savage card from 1969 topps.  the card lists savage as a dodger (he had joined the club in april of '68 - thank goodness for cards issued in series rather than all at once), but uses a photo from his time with the pirates, which ended in 1964. in fact, this photo looks like it came from the same session as his 1967 card photo. that card lists him as a cub, but he is clearly wearing a pirates jersey.  i'm not complaining, mind you, as i appreciate topps at least getting the team name right on a midseason acquisition.

rafael bournigal didn't play a single game in the majors during the 1995 season, but he did get a few cards, including this one from score showing him and mike piazza sharing a post game high-five.  bournigal started the '95 season at albuquerque, but was traded to the expos in june and spent the rest of the season in their minor league system.  it was really weird to find out that, despite that trade, topps used him in their pre-production 1996 set.

i like to think that if things had aligned better, bournigal's nickname would have been 'jason' (no, i am not getting paid for that movie plug).

the 1975 topps ken mcmullen card is one of my least favorite dodger cards from the set due to the unsightly (in my opinion) color combination topps used. i could never be a cleveland browns fan, i guess.

next up is another card from 1995 featuring the dodger catcher and some postgame congrats. this time, it's closer todd worrell and his donruss card that makes way for the strongest man in socal to join him.  i don't know if this was a ploy by card companies, but i have seen quite a number of double play cards where the player sliding in (who is not the card subject) is a player of note.  as a now limited player collector, i don't mind.  if i still had a separate mike piazza player collection, things like this could get out of hand pretty quickly, as i include lurker and/or cameos in my pc's.

i do have a second copy of the 1987 donruss bob welch card in my dodger stadium binder, but i don't keep a second copy of the 1991 leaf bob ojeda card with my lurker mini-collection. that's because the lurker is a fellow dodger, and also because it's probably just alfredo griffin.  no offense, alfredo.

the final card of the page is a 1982 topps steve yeager card. i was hoping for some world series action on yeager's card (or any of the dodgers, frankly), but was disappointed.  it's just another shea stadium batter's box photo.

cards that didn't make the cut:

those cards not selected include 1993 topps dave hansen at number 469, 1988 score orel hershiser at number 470, 2007 topps heritage andre ethier at number 471, 1968 topps walter alston

at number 472, 2011 topps chad billingsley

at number 473, 1996 donruss karim garcia at number 474, 1988 donruss dave anderson at number 475, 1994 score mike piazza at number 476, and 1984 topps rafael landestoy

at number 477.

my favorite card on the page:

i like the bournigal card a wee bit more than the worrell card due to the high-five as opposed to the arm-wrestle handshake.

final thoughts:

looking at these cards, i am reminded that topps did not always put their logo on the front of their cards. take a look at the 1969 and 1975 cards, neither of which have the logo. the '69 has the logo on the back, but the '75 doesn't even have that.  contrast that with fleer, score, and leaf - and then there is donruss, who not only put their logo on the front, but also the year of the card (at least prior to 1995).  that was some revolutionary stuff back in 1981

when they began the trend.

frankendodger sheet 36 (cards 316-324) - mccourt makes the set...

here's sheet number 36 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 316-324:

and the back:

these cards are:

316. 2001 topps archives jackie robinson
317. 1993 score select carlos hernandez
318. 1979 topps bob welch
319. 2013 topps allen & ginter's matt kemp
320. 1995 upper deck mike piazza
321. 1960 topps ron fairly
322. 1977 topps bill russell
323. 2010 topps jim thome
324. 1959 topps don demeter

the "no brainer" of the day:

there are some pretty key cards here, but i wanted to get a version of jackie's 1952 topps card into the set, so that one is the biggest no brainer of the bunch.

about the cards:

first things first - the 2001 archives jackie robinson card is numbered 312 on the back, but i have it at number 316.  that's because 312 was jackie's card number in the original 1952 topps set (the first of the high numbers).  you have to look really closely at the fine print on the back

to see that the card is numbered 316 out of 450 in the archives set.  jackie's original '52 topps card

is one of the highlights of my collection, and i am happy to have it represented in the frankenset.

the back of carlos hernandez's 1993 select card anoints him as the "heir apparent to mike scioscia" in the dodger catching lexicon, but unfortunately for carlos, there was another.  thankfully for us dodger fans, there was a bob welch card in 1979 to collect after the rookie struck out reggie jackson to end game 2 of the 1978 world series. that put the dodgers up 2 games to 0, but it would be the last dodger highlight of the season.  there is no mention of welch's world series experience on the back of the card, which was disappointing to me when i pulled my first copy of this card from a pack.  still, two years later, i was still able to use the "he struck out reggie" to pry welch cards away from the yankee fan across the street.

matt kemp's 2013 a&g card is here to remind me that he was once my favorite dodger, and the guy that i hoped would break eric karros's franchise home run record.  of course, i thought that the next guy on the sheet would have been the one to set the franchise home run record.  mike piazza is, of course, the catcher that blocked carlos hernandez from fulfilling the prophecy noted on the back of the select card earlier on the page.  i like his 1995 upper deck card because it focuses on piazza the catcher (at least on the front) instead of giving us another card of him standing at the plate.  both kemp and piazza (and steve garvey) wound up in san diego playing for the padres.  hopefully that trend doesn't continue.

ron fairly's 1960 topps card is cool because of the big ol' rookie cup/trophy.  1960 was the first year that topps had the rookie cup in their set, and i am still a bit upset that they took a few years off from putting the cup on cards - most notably 1974 when davey lopes would have had one and from 1982-1984 when fernando, saxy, and greg brock would have all been rocking the cup.

bill russell's 1977 topps card balances out the kemp and piazza cards in that it reminds me that it is (or at least was) possible for a player to stay with one club for a lengthy career.  of course, russell was unceremoniously dismissed by the team as its manager, and wound up wearing a tampa bay devil rays uniform as a coach and minor league manager.

jim thome's 2010 topps card was another card that i highly anticipated.  i was worried that topps would leave thome out until series 2 by when they would have photoshopped him into his twins uniform.  well, i got a thome dodger card in series one that i am pretty sure includes former dodger owner frank mccourt just to the right of thome's shinguard. thome was an odd pickup for the dodgers, as he was only available for pinch-hitting duty, but the dodgers are no strangers to carrying pinch-hitting specialists once the rosters expand.  the dodgers are the only team for which thome played that he did not hit a home run. for the record, his 2010 season in minnesota, the first year of target field, was fantastic. he was a huge fan favorite and had some big hits for the club.

lastly, we have don demeter's 1959 topps card.  not yellow like most of the other dodger cards in the set, this card is a welcome sight in my team binder even if the image shows demeter not acting natural, and is the same one that topps used for his 1958 card.

cards that didn't make the cut:

i passed over a few cards when putting this sheet together such as 1995 pinnacle raul mondesi at number 316, 2015 topps clayton kershaw at number 317, 1980 topps jerry reuss

at number 318, 2002 fleer tradition marquis grissom at number 319, 1996 score hideo nomo at number 320, 1997 topps eric karros

at number 321, 1972 topps jose pena at number 322, 1958 topps elmer valo

at number 323, and 1973 topps al downing at number 324.

my favorite card on the page:

oh the joy of having a bob welch card in 1979! it is easily my favorite card on the page.

final thoughts:

i am so glad that we aren't hearing anything about either of the mccourts these days.

frankendodger sheet 33 (cards 289-297) - with the card i most recently replaced...

here's sheet number 33 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 289-297:

and the back:

these cards are:

289. 1974 topps rick auerbach
290. 1980 topps steve garvey
291. 1985 topps bob welch
292. 2000 skybox dominion eric gagne/jeff williams
293. 2003 topps franklin gutierrez
294. 1975 topps geoff zahn
295. 1963 topps ed roebuck
296. 1985 donruss mike marshall
297. 2014 topps update zack greinke

the "no brainer" of the day:

it was the last card added to the sheet, but in hindsight it should have been the first.  that would be the 2003 topps franklin gutierrez card. i'll explain below.

about the cards:

when i started writing this post, this is what the sheet looked like:

at first, shane victorino's 2012 topps update card made the cut at 293, but i wasn't happy about it. victorino is on my short list of players that aren't my favorite.  not completely sure why, although he played well against the dodgers in the 2008 and 2009 nlcs.  at any rate, i was pleased to find a double of the gutierrez card among my 2003 dupes, and it was an easy decision to replace victorino in the center rectangle of the page.  the other cards remain unscathed.

rick auerbach came over from the brewers near the start of the 1973 season, but didn't suit up for the dodgers until 1974. it's a surprise that he got a card in the '74 set, but i'll take it.  auerbach hit .342 in 45 games for the dodgers in their pennant winning season, and then filled in for the injured bill russell for much of the 1975 campaign.  the 1980 topps design is a bit similar to that of 1974, and steve garvey's card has the added bonus of the all-star banner.  not my favorite garvey card, but we do get a look at his forearms front and center.

1985 topps may be my least favorite design of the decade.  at least for dodger cards.  look at bob welch's card - it's too cluttered and clunky at the bottom.  the fact that topps used the flying ball logo means that the card says 'dodgers dodgers' which is unnecessary.  plus, the position designation looks like it was shoehorned in.  not that the 2000 skybox dominion design is better as the names on the front of the card are difficult to read.  anyway, the card features two foreigners - eric gagne was born in montreal, and jeff williams was born in australia.  both debuted for the dodgers in september of 1999, but gagne outlasted williams who pitched in his final game during the 2002 season.

franklin gutierrez, another foreigner (venezuela), never did suit up for the dodgers during the regular season. he was traded in 2004 to the indians for milton bradley.  gutierrez was later traded to the mariners with whom he won a gold glove in 2007 and for whom he still plays today.

geoff zahn's 1975 topps card is pleasing to me not only because of the dodger stadium field level scoreboard that is visible behind him, but also because it reminds me that zahn was traded to the cubs early in the 1975 season for burt hooton.  nothing against zahn, but hooton was a big part of the team of my youth.  ed roebuck was a pretty solid reliever over 11 years in the majors. he pitched for the dodgers in the 1955 and 1956 world series, but missed out on the 1959 season and world series.  roebuck was coming off of a 10-2 season in 1962 when this card was released, but he was dealt to the senators during the '63 season for marv breeding who the dodgers kept off of their postseason roster en route to a sweep of the yankees in that year's fall classic.

we've seen 1985 leaf in the set already, but not 1985 donruss, so here's mike marshall.  i was still looking for superstardom from marshall at this point, and he had a good season in '85 with 28 homers, 95 rbi, and a .293 batting average, but his season was overshadowed by pedro guerrero's.  marshall also challenged the dodger single season strikeout record that year, but fell 12 short of billy grabarkewitz's then record of 149.  of course, marshall had about 75 fewer plate appearances.

the last card on the sheet is zack greinke's 2014 topps update all-star card.  that game was played at target field, and the hats the players wore were supposed to be a nod to the twinkies' batting helmets of the late 1970's.

the tradition continued in cincinnati last year,

and this year, the players will wear some sort of san diego padre abomination

(at least during the workout and hr derby).

cards that didn't make the cut:

along with victorino's card at number 293, some others that didn't receive the call include 1996 donruss chad fonville at number 289, 1979 topps davey lopes at number 290, 1986 topps tom lasorda

at number 291, 1960 topps dodger backstops (joe pignatano/john roseboro) at number 292, 1994 pinnacle darryl strawberry at number 294, 2013 topps brandon league at number 295, 1984 donruss greg brock

at number 296, and 2011 topps heritage jonathan broxton at number 297.

my favorite card on the page:

the 1975 topps geoff zahn card wins out over the others thanks to its dodger stadium background and red and blue border.

final thoughts:

victorino also had a dodger card in 2003 just like the guy who replaced him on this sheet, but, like gutierrez, victorino didn't appear for the dodgers at that time.

frankendodger sheet 7 (cards 55-63) - not the same...

here's sheet number 7 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 55-63:

and the back:

these cards are:

55. 2015 topps heritage justin turner
56. 2001 fleer greats of the game wes parker
57. 1966 topps jim lefebvre
58. 2009 upper deck signature stars jim thome
59. 1997 skybox circa brett butler
60. 1981 donruss rick monday
61. 2005 upper deck sp legendary cuts pee wee reese
62. 2010 topps national chicle chad billingsley
63. 2005 topps all-time fan favorites bob welch

the "no brainer" of the day:

i've written before regarding my affection for the 1966 topps jim lefebvre, so it was definitely on the must include list for this set.

about the cards:

one of my guidelines for this set is not to repeat the same set on any sheet.  that guideline is violated near the end of the set, but not here - even though it looks like there are two 1966 topps cards.  thanks to the heritage set, both justin turner and lefebvre appear on this sheet with the same design.  it's too bad turner isn't striking the same pose as lefebvre, though.

in between those two is a fantastic card of gold glove extraordinaire wes parker.  i am a fan of the 2001 fleer greats of the game set, and am just now getting around to posting a want list to complete it.  the thome card is somewhat forgettable, but the circa brett butler card has a superhero quality to it due to the colors and the 'butler' text.

i opened a bunch of 1981 donruss, and remember buying a brick of dodger cards from a fellow collector that summer.  as a result, i had a ton of dodger doubles - many of which i still have today.  monday gets to represent that set in the early going.

i'm not much of a fan of the 2005 legendary cuts set, but pee wee fit nicely here, so there it is.  i do like, however, the 2010 national chicle set, and this billingsley is a pretty decent card to rep that set.  i know there is at least one other card from that set later on.

finally, the welch.  he had a decent year in 1982 (16-11 with a 3.36 era), but i first thought that the point of the 2005 all-time fan favorites set was to use the card design from a player's best season (i later figured out that it wasn't), and 1982 wasn't it for welch. he had some better years, but i really wanted to see him on a 1978 design, if not on a card recognizing the awesomeness of his game 2 strikeout of reggie jackson in the 1978 world series.

cards that didn't make the cut:

don drysdale's 1967 topps card is number 55 in that set, but big d is out of commission until i get closer to card number 200 (or, in his case, card number 212 - hint, hint).  other notable cards that were omitted for various reasons include steve garvey's 1981 donruss card (number 56), a sweet charlie dressen 1979 tcma card (also number 56) that i have yet to acquire even one copy of, reggie smith's 1978 o-pee-chee card (number 57), a 2006 topps co-signers dual auto card of tommy john and bob welch (number 58),

a 1973 topps (or o-pee-chee) steve yeager (number 59), and a 2001 topps tribute tom lasorda (number 60).

my favorite card on the page:

well, there's the lefebvre which is clearly my favorite card on this page.  but visually, there is something about 2001 fleer greats of the game cards that i really like and the butler card is the star of the page the way it jumps out at you, so it was more difficult to stick with the 1965 rookie of the year than you might imagine.

final thoughts:

look at all that potential energy on display on the monday card! enough to hit a home run in olympic stadium and dash the hopes of expo fans, anyway.