frankendodger sheet 17 (cards 145-153) - now with more southpaws...

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

here's sheet number 17 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 145-153:

and the back:

here's how the page originally looked:

these cards are:

145. 1993 pacific kevin gross
146. 2007 topps heritage delwyn young
147. 2009 bowman blake dewitt
148. 2003 bowman heritage fred mcgriff
149. 2006 topps opening day hong-chih kuo
150. 1976 topps steve garvey 2016 bowman corey seager
151. 1972 topps jim brewer
152. 1991 topps mickey hatcher
153. 1981 o-pee-chee jerry reuss

the "no brainer" of the day:

the card that probably comes closest is the jim brewer card.  i have several 1972 topps jim brewer cards for some reason, so he was an early pick to represent that set as i was piecing this project together.

about the cards:

the pacific card comes from their first foray into the bilingual card market, and is nowhere near as crazy as their designs would get later in the decade.  delwyn (not delmon) young came up to the dodgers around the same time as matt kemp and andre ethier.  his cause wasn't helped by ned picking up the likes of juan pierre, luis gonzalez, and andruw jones to patrol the outfield, and he was always the odd man out. he was dealt to the pirates in 2009.

blake dewitt was another guy who had some time with the dodgers, including a decent rookie season in 2008, but again, ned went out and picked up casey blake. dewitt was dealt to the cubs in 2010.  it wasn't ned, but dan evans who was the gm that brought in fred mcgriff for the 2003 season to replace eric karros who was going to chicago to replace (along with future dodger hee seop choi) mcgriff.  the crime dog had hit 30 homers the year before, but managed only 13 as a dodger.  i was looking forward to some cards of mcgriff in dodger blue, and this bowman heritage card was one of the first that i saw.

three of the last five cards on the sheet belong to lefty pitchers. hong-chih kuo's 2006 opening day card is interesting because he was a non-closer reliever even at that point in his career, and i was surprised that he made the opening day checklist, as that set is smaller than flagship.  the other two leftys are former dodger closer jim brewer on a 1972 topps card, and friend of the blogosphere jerry reuss on his 1981 o-pee-chee card.  brewer was done pitching by the time i started to follow the game, but reuss has provided me with some great memories including his no-hitter against the giants and his great pitching performances in the 1981 postseason against the astros and yankees.  it felt right to use a 1981 card for him.

the other two cards on the sheet are corey seager's 2016 bowman card steve garvey's 1976 topps card (which gets the hero number exemption from my lack of set/player duplication rule) and mickey hatcher's 1991 topps card.  i was pretty happy to see seager's bowman card come out as number 150.  this way, the diversity of the set is maintained, and i get seager in the set.  he looks like he will be the real deal, and i hope that he and joc pederson and julio urias and clayton kershaw and jose deleon have many successful years together with the dodgers.

cards that didn't make the cut:

there were lots of good options at number 145, including 1968 topps don drysdale, 1971 topps bill singer, and 1978 topps rick monday (the card where he's wiping the mustard away from his mouth).

other cards that wound up not making the sheet include 1980 topps and 1986 fleer bob welch cards at number 146, one of roy campanella's cards from 1994 upper deck all-time heroes at number 147, 1985 topps steve yeager or 1993 upper deck carlos hernandez at number 148, 1997 bowman joe lagarde

at number 149, 1963 topps johnny podres at number 150, 1973 topps wes parker and 2014 topps stadium club sandy koufax

at number 151, 1959 topps johnny klippstein at number 152, and 1996 topps tom candiotti at number 153.

my favorite card on the page:

i'll exclude garvey from contention and pick the kevin gross card.  it features an often used photo angle, but i never tire of seeing the visitor's bullpen fence in the background of a card.

final thoughts:

just like with the hero exemption at 100, i have rethought the exemption at 150.  with corey seager's 2016 bowman card at number 150, he has replaced the 1976 garvey there just as the 1990 bowman hubie brooks card has replaced the matt kemp card at 100.  after making those swaps, the frankenset is truly diverse through the first 20 pages.

frankendodger sheet 15 (cards 127-135) - in black and white...

here's sheet number 15 of my dodger frankenset - cards numbered 127-135:

and the back:

these cards are:

127. 1980 topps gary thomasson
128. 1977 o-pee-chee doug rau
129. 1993 topps stadium club jose offerman
130. 1985 o-pee-chee al oliver
131. 1987 fleer update matt young
132. 2007 topps opening day juan pierre
133. 1959 topps bob lillis
134. 1997 pinnacle inside karim garcia
135. 2001 bowman heritage marquis grissom

the "no brainer" of the day:

the 1985 o-pee-chee al oliver card was not going to be denied entry into this set. i specifically passed up his 1985 fleer update and 1985 topps traded cards so that this card could make it here on this page.

about the cards:

the 1980 topps card is thomasson's first card with him in a dodger uniform.  he received a nice o-pee-chee variation in 1979, which served as a nice counterbalance to tommy john's variation in the same set.  thomasson would get cards from all 3 manufacturers in 1981, although he was already playing in japan at that point.

speaking of o-pee-chee, we have a couple of the canadian cards on this sheet.  first up is doug rau, whose card is one of those ever so slight photo-cropping and facsimile autograph placement variations.  rau may be best known for trying to convince tommy lasorda to leave him in game 4 of the 1977 world series to pitch to graig nettles after he gave up 3 consecutive hits to start the yankees' half of the second inning.  it's pretty good conversation.  the second o-pee-chee card on the sheet is a much more noticeable variation - it's the good ol' team and text variation for al oliver, who was one of my favorite dodger acquisitions of the mid 80's.  it's too bad he didn't stick around very long.

in between those two canadian cards we have jose offerman.  i am guessing that tommy laid into offerman once or twice, too, as his 1993 stadium club card has him looking like he's been in tommy's doghouse for a while.  matt young was a lefty reliever who was acquired by the dodgers prior to the 1987 season for another lefty reliever (dennis powell). i think the shine was off the traded and update sets by the time 1987 rolled around, but i was still happy to see young and ralph bryant and the others in the sets.

juan pierre's 2007 topps opening day card is just an awful example of photoshopping.  topps did a decent job with nomar's od card a year earlier, but leaving the blue jersey on pierre (he was a cub in 2006) just doesn't work.  bob lillis and the rest of the rookies in the 1959 topps set may be part of the greatest rookie subset design ever. i prefer these to the 1960 version with the big rookie cup, as well as the rookie parade and all the other multi-player rookie cards that came after.

karim garcia's rookie card from 1997 pinnacle inside looks just like the other cards from the set, with the word 'rookie' added to it. which is ok, it's just not 1959 topps. and, bringing up the rear of the sheet, is the black and white marquis grissom card from 2001 bowman heritage.  i am not a fan of the 1953 bowman black & white set, so i am not a fan of this set, either. part of the problem is the plain front.  black and white photos work on cards sometimes, but not with such a plain design. and not on 1979 topps rookie cards, either.  and what did kids think back in 1953 when they say the beauty of the bowman color set and then opened some black and white stuff.  spoke filler for sure.

cards that didn't make the cut:

rudy law's 1981 topps card almost made the cut at number 127, while bill russell's 1978 topps card was denied at #128.  i almost made an exception for 1978 topps cards, but in the end decided to stick to my effort at diversity in the first 20 pages (with only the hero number exceptions).  at #129 (which is the number of tommy john's aforementioned 1979 o-pee-chee card), i thought about using a different jose offerman card (1993 score) or a 2014 topps stadium club hanley ramirez card.  ron cey's 1978 o-pee-chee card was at one point under serious consideration at number 130, and at number 131, we very nearly saw the ray lamb/bob stinson 1970 topps card

instead of matt young. i don't have a 1994 topps archives the ultimate 1954 set tom lasorda reprint, but if i were to have doubles, that card would probably have been at number 132, with a different card in lasorda's earlier spot.  i also thought about using juan pierre's 2009 topps card there,

but the photoshopping on his 2007 opening day card is just so bad that it needed to be a part of the set.  number 133 almost had a 1993 upper deck ramon martinez beat out the lillis card, and alex cora's 2004 topps card

almost beat out karim garcia at number 134.  finally, number 135 could have been a 1980 topps dusty baker or a 1994 upper deck collector's choice orel hershiser card instead of the grissom had i not tried to adhere to my guidelines.

my favorite card on the page:

it's al oliver, of course, but bob lillis comes in a close second.  tough to beat the o-pee-chee variation, especially from as colorful a set as 1985 topps.

final thoughts:

in 1979, the dodgers had on their roster doug rau and lance rautzhan, as well as gary thomasson and derrel thomas.  i know there was at least one time that rautzhan relieved rau (in 1978), but i don't know if thomasson ever pinch hit for thomas.

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.