the next few sheets from the steve garvey binders are heavy with the padres, including the wizard of oz

this post will contain 3 sheets of cards from my steve garvey binders. all of the cards are from 2004, and 13 of them are dodger cards, with another 13 showing him as a member of the san diego padres.  just for fun, the other card is of a rockie.

here's sheet 50 

those cards are:

1. 2004 fleer ultra preston wilson (with garvey on the outfield mural)
2. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic /100
3. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic 'nl' /100
4. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic position /100
5. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic year /87
6. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic award /50
7. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic stats /21
8. 2004 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic jersey number /6
9. 2004 leaf limited team trademarks /100

i showed that ultra card in this post (one of my favorite posts) about the various murals that the dodgers featured on their outfield wall in the late 90's/early 00's.  the entire run of garvey cards from the leaf certified materials set is represented except for the 1/1. i don't think leaf used any patches, which is unfortunate.  there's also a gold version (numbered to 10) of that team trademarks card that i don't have.

here are the backs:

here's sheet 51

those cards are:

1. 2004 leaf limited team trademarks auto /50
2. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink auto /100
3. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink auto (with "popeye" inscription) /100
4. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink material bat/auto /100
5. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink combo material bat/jersey/auto /100
6. 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia absolutely ink combo material prime jersey/auto /5
7. 2004 playoff honors tandem material jersey (with ozzie smith) /250
8. 2004 playoff honors tandem material combo bat/jersey (with ozzie smith) /25
9. 2004 topps series stitches bat relic

same goes for the auto from leaf limited - there's also a version numbered to 6 as well as a 1/1 that have eluded me, along with a jersey relic numbered to 6.  they are in good company, as there are a bunch of the playoff absolute cards that i am missing, too.  there is a jersey/auto card numbered to 5, as well as a spectrum auto parallel, also numbered to 5, plus the combo material prime jersey/auto numbered to 5 that i do have a copy of also includes at least one specimen with the coveted red number patch.  i'd love to have that one.

i mentioned in the title that the wizard of oz makes an appearance, and so he does, although it's on the back of the playoff honors cards.  and, with that, here are the backs:

usually, garvey the padre is teamed up with his onetime teammate tony gwynn, but it's nice to see ozzie in the brown and yellow, as opposed to the cardinal red.

here's the last sheet of this post, but not the last sheet to feature cards from 2004.  this is sheet 52

those cards are:

1. 2004 topps legends auto
2. 2004 topps all-time fan favorites
3. 2004 topps all-time fan favorites refractor
4. 2004 topps all-time fan favorites auto
5. 2004 topps retired signature
6. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1974)
7. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1977)
8. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1978)
9. 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (1981)

there is a black parallel for the retired signature card that i am missing, plus three of the four bronze parallels from the timeless teams set.  we'll see the one bronze parallel that i do have next time.

here are the backs:

we will also (finally) get into 2005 next time as well.  stay tuned...

i would gladly partake of your rhubarb trade bait

living in twins' territory makes it easy for me to find cards that would fit better in the rhubarb runner's collection than in mine.  he keeps a running list of trade bait sorted by team which makes it easy for me to say yes, please.  we completed another trade a while back, and here is some of the former rhubarb runner trade bait.

2004 playoff honors duke snider

i am not putting the set together, but i see this set as one of the best of the 2000's.  there is a good mix of retired players on the checklist, as well as a smattering of sharp black and white cards like the one of the duke.

speaking of black and white, part of what i sent to missouri was a partial set of the 2005 donruss 1965 twins sga release.  i kept one of the cards, this one of former twin rookie sensation jimmie hall

but sent the rest.  it's too bad the dodgers didn't get with donruss to commemorate the team that actually won that 1965 series.  now back to the cards that i received in the trade.

2007 topps '52 delwyn young chrome insert

not to be confused with former twin delmon young.  the dodgers' young had a couple of big seasons in triple-a las vegas in the mid-2000's which made me think that he might be the team's second baseman in the same way that russell martin, matt kemp, and clayton kershaw would become fixtures in the lineup. instead, ned traded him to pittsburgh in 2009, and he is currently playing in an independent league.

2005 playoff prestige pedro martinez changing stripes insert

when pedro enters the hall of fame, he will certainly be wearing a red sox cap, but let us not forget that he began his career as an undrafted free agent signed by the dodgers, and won his first cy young award with the expos.  unfortunately for dodger fans, pedro recorded over 3000 strikeouts after being traded away from the dodgers, which is a pain that the mets (nolan ryan), cardinals (steve carlton), expos (randy johnson), and orioles and astros (curt schilling) all share.

2005 bowman heritage matthew kemp

and 2014 topps matt kemp power players parallel

kind of a 'then and now' thing there.

2014 topps clayton kershaw saber stars insert

as i understand it, fip is kind of a measurement of the three true outcomes from the pitcher's perspective.

2014 topps hyun-jin ryu 1989 die-cut insert

i prefer the 1989 design to some (like 1988) but not too many of topps' other pre-2000 designs.  i wonder why they seem to be so eager to use it.

last but not least, 2014 topps alex guerrero gold parallel

turning two on tatooine.

thanks for the trade!

too many double plays

dennis of too many verlanders recently sent me a package that featured a few new to me double play cards.  i would like to think that it is getting harder and harder to find dp cards that i don't already have, but there are many more than i ever imagined when i started collecting them.  and it's not going to stop - i noticed at least 2 double play turns on the uncut 2014 topps sheet image that's been posted recently.

so, onward and upward with some new double play cards, like this 1998 pacific paramount jeff kent

featuring a sliding kurt 'what's that man' waring

and this 2000 pacific miguel tejada

and this 2001 fleer premium miguel tejada

here's a 2002 topps total luis alicea

and a 2004 playoff honors luis castillo

another athletic, but not tejada - 2005 donruss bobby crosby

another 2005 donruss - alex gonzalez

caught in between montreal and san diego

last but not least, another jeff kent card.  this one comes from 2001 leaf rookies & stars

i already had one in the dp binder, but then i turned the card over and saw that this one was a sample version

donruss/leaf put sample cards in beckett magazines back in the early 2000's if i recall correctly.  i remember buying some issues and selling the cards on ebay a couple of times.  anyway, this is why you should always look at the back of the cards!

thanks dennis - i'll post the 'better' stuff from your trade package later today...

first mel harder, then larry doby

mel harder spent his entire career with the cleveland indians, from his debut in 1928 at the age of 18, to his final appearance in 1947 at the age of 37.  in between, he won 223 games for the tribe.  the team retired his number 18 in 1990, and after he died in october of 2002, the team wore a memorial patch in his honor the following season.

you can see the '18' patch on jhonny peralta's jersey on this 2004 donruss classics card

when they wore sleeves, the indians moved the patch to the right sleeve, as seen on josh bard's 2004 topps card

in june of 2003, while the team was mourning the loss of harder, former indian larry doby also passed away.  doby was the second african-american to play major league baseball, and the first to do so in the american league.  he debuted for the indians just a few months after jackie robinson broke the color barrier in april of 1947.  he spent 10 seasons with the indians, and helped them win the world series in 1948.  his number 14 was retired by the team in 1994, and he was elected to the hall of fame by the veteran's committee in 1998.

in his honor, the indians added a '14 doby' patch to their uniforms.  you can see it here on jhonny peralta's 2003 upper deck card

both the doby and harder patches are visible on coco crisp's 2004 topps card

and we get a closer look on casey blake's card from the same set

perhaps the best view of both patches comes courtesy of cc sabathia's 2004 playoff honors card - front

and back

or maybe this 2004 donruss card is better

the indians were not the first team to wear more than one memorial patch at the same time - i know the dodgers and the yankees have done so, too - and the yankees have done it more than once.

cash in the mail

yes, norm cash came to me by mail with his hand out.

it actually helped me out, as this was one of the cards i needed for my 1974 topps set.  it came from scott at sport cards ate my brain, and it didn't arrive alone.

i also received this all-star card of amos otis and cesar cedeno

the equivalent of which today would be, what? adam jones and andrew mccutcheon?  the cool thing about this card is that when their careers were all over, otis and cedeno sat atop of each others similarity scores on baseball reference.  how serendipitous.

did you know that todd worrell was a competitor?  well, 1997 topps finest wants you to know

i consider worrell to have been the dodgers' first real 'modern' closer - no offense meant towards the likes of jim gott or jay howell or roger mcdowell or any of the other guys that did the job in the late 1980's and early 1990's.  worrell was the first dodger to record over 30 saves (he recorded 32 in 1995), and his 44 saves in 1996 stood as the team record until this guy came along

that would be eric gagne on his 2000 pacific private stock card.  gagne saved 52 games in 2002 to pass worrell on the team's season high list, and then he saved 55 games in 2003 for good measure.  his 45 saves in 2004 also gets him the third spot on the list.

andy pafko doesn't show up on any team leader lists, but his iconic first card of the 1952 topps set gets a lot of replay.  this is from 2001 topps archives

and may well be as close as i get to owning the real thing.

gil hodges' 1952 topps card was also reprinted by topps, although this one is from 2002 topps chrome

and isn't necessarily enhanced by the shiny.

here's a 2004 playoff honors parallel card of hideo nomo

and a short print of his fellow countryman kaz ishii from 2004 topps heritage

i wonder if ryu hyun-jin will get the sp treatment like ishii did.  i will guess that there will be some interest in his cards, so i expect he will.  speculators will speculate, i guess.

finally, here is a 2009 topps finest james mcdonald blue refractor

that's a good bunch of cards, and there were more in the trade package.  thanks for the trade scott!

double plays are more prevalent than i originally thought

i have been going through my collection to pull all of the double play cards so that they are all in one place.  i have a fairly sizable double play binder these days, and it keeps growing as i encounter more and more cards showing the turn at second base.

i think i have mentioned before that i used to play second (and a little bit of shortstop) back in my playing days, and there is nothing better (defensively) than making that turn.  actually, my favorite defensive play was when, as the shortstop, there would be a runner on first with a ball hit up the middle so that i could go left, field the ball, and slide my foot alongside the bag and avoid the sliding runner with ease as my momentum carried me towards first.  loved that play.  kind of like the play luis aparicio is making on this 2010 topps heritage insert card.

except i rarely, if ever, jumped.

barry larkin jumped on this play

captured nicely on a 2004 playoff honors card.  still, it would have been better had they not cropped jack cust in half.

this bobby crosby card from 2005 fleer ultra

is pretty nice.  it might make the 'greatest double play card of all-time' tournament, coming sometime in 2013!

anyway, when i started collecting cards that showed the dp turn, i didn't realize how common they were.  probably because they were pretty rare when i first started collecting (the 1978 topps felix millan card was the first one i saw), and even though it wasn't until 1985 or so when i first really started to be adept at turning two, there were still only a few cards that i knew of.  these days there are a ton, and i like it.

here's a 2006 topps turkey red card dedicated to the art of breaking up the double play.

i will admit that i looked more like tadahito iguchi than luis aparicio after a double play turn.

i also have the red edition of the card.

by the way, if this depicts the play from the third inning of game 1 of the 2005 world series, then ausmus was successful in breaking up the play.

here are a few other dp cards that aren't so great.  like this 2008 topps mark grudzielanek card

random legs weaken double play cards.

this 2010 topps alcides escobar

would be better if the 2010 topps design were better.  think 2011 topps update dee gordon, even though that card isn't completely clean either.

speaking of 2011 topps, the design gets in the way on this darwin barney card

but not quite as badly as 2010 topps.

ditto for 2012 topps, as seen on this stephen drew gold sparkle card

although that is much better than dustin pedroia's card from the set (this one is his opening day card)

sure, he's airborne, but the ghost arm of some yankee detracts from the card's appeal, in my opinion.  or maybe it's just pedroia.  anyway, if you have a double play card (or several), send them my way!  i'll make room!