black and blue ryu and some other dodger cards

i'm continuing with a sort of random rambling theme today.

this is a 2013 panini black friday hyun-jin ryu card

it was somehow available on black friday, 2013. i don't recall how i obtained it (sportlots, maybe), but it is not worth standing in line waiting for stores to open to obtain.  still, panini did the same sort of thing last year, and i'm guessing panini is doing it again this year.  ryu is out for the season now, following shoulder surgery.  

this is a 2013 panini pinnacle matt kemp museum collection parallel

it doesn't scan as well as the museum collection inserts from the 1990's.

still more panini - this time from 2014 panini golden age

dusty baker

davey lopes

and zack wheat

as pleased as i was to see dusty and davey and other dodgers from the team of my youth in this set, i don't consider them to be from the golden age.  wheat, sure, but not the others.

wheat also got an insert card in the release - it's a 1913 the national game card

and i wish this had been the base set design

now here's a 2007 topps turkey red andy laroche card

and a 1999 topps chrome jeff shaw card

moving on to 2010 upper deck, here's a biography insert of jeff weaver

marking the time that he beat his brother jered in a game between the dodgers and angels.

olmedo saenz didn't have too many cards, but he spent four seasons with the dodgers and made it into the 2007 topps update & highlights set

even though 2007 was his fourth year with the club.  not much of an update there - more like an omission.

last card for today is a 2008 topps stadium club beam team autographed card of delwyn young

i secretly hoped that delwyn and delmon young (no relation) would have wound up on the same team just for the potential confusion factor.  would they have had their full names on the backs of their jerseys? who knows.

more cards from tatooine

warning - the geek quotient is high with this post.

sometimes, in between the landspeeder races and droid purchasing, folks on tatooine take time out for baseball.  here are some examples.

1996 topps joey cora

this is one of my favorite 'dirt only' cards.  the teal mariners jersey is the star of the card.

1994 upper deck alan trammell

and his teammate travis fryman on a 1995 score select card

there may be a hint of green on this 1993 upper deck dave valle card

but then again, that might just be some womp rat remnants.

it looks like the moisture vaporators are malfunctioning on kevin young's 1993 upper deck card

better get those droids to the south rim to work on the condensers.

speaking of droids, it looks like mike piazza has spotted the incoming escape pod on his 1998 topps stadium club card

here's a classic that i am pretty sure i have shown before - dmitri young's 2002 fleer ultra card

but he's not the only one that can dive back to the bag on tatooine - there is also carlos santana on his 2010 topps update card

turning double plays on tatooine doesn't happen often, but here are a couple of examples - 2007 topps turkey red 'turning two' with hanley ramirez and jose bautista

and 2002 topps total russ johnson

i wouldn't be surprised if the florida teams drew bigger crowds on the planet furthest from the bright center of the universe than they do in miami and tampa.

double plays until the cows come home

here are some more heretofore unposted double play turns for your enjoyment as you whittle down the moments before walter white does whatever it is that he is going to do with that machine gun in the trunk.

1999 topps stadium club rey ordonez

that card should seed nicely in the 'greatest double play card of all time' tournament.  coming this offseason to this blog.  finally.

2000 fleer ultra neifi perez

and the gold medallion edition parallel

the die cut works well with the photo used.

here's another insert - 2001 pacific private stock roberto alomar extreme action

my apologies to trot nixon, but now when i see number 7 for the red sox, i am forced to think of jd drew.  alomar, by the way, is going to get his own double play post soon.  so many dp cards!

craig biggio has a bunch of double play turns on cardboard, too.  here is his 2001 upper deck victory card with one of them.

2001 upper deck homer bush

2002 fleer box score anderson machado

2006 upper deck cristian guzman

are fairly pedestrian examples of double play turns.  the machado, at least, is interesting because he is taking the feed prior to the runner getting close to the base.

contrast those to this 2007 topps turkey red jimmy rollins card

there's a lot going on there.  i don't know who the slider is supposed to be, but it looks like he's got some old early 1980's stirrup action going on.  or maybe just a really thick pant stripe?  plus, it seems like he has a case of krumrie ankle.

here's a 2008 upper deck documentary dan uggla card

i only have the one - i would guess there are about 20 more cards in the set with this same wrigley field double play photo.

that's all the double play cards for now.  i still have a bunch more to show, however, and with 2013 topps update coming out soon there will likely be even more on the horizon.

the penmanship of the father shall be visited upon the son

most of the time when i send out a ttm request, i am doing so on a wing and a prayer.  past success does not guarantee future results and all of that.  so, even if i see someone post a success, i don't automatically think i will succeed.  still, when someone lists a success with a former dodger or a player who has a 1978 topps card, i pounce.  and, of course, i am always happy if and when they return my request fulfilled.  if they don't, that's ok, too - i expect nothing.

such was the case recently with dave laroche.  i think of laroche as the guy who mopped up the final game of the 1981 world series for the yankees and served up his 'la-lob' pitch to strike out davey lopes.  he's also the father of former dodger andy laroche. anyway, he was kind enough to scrawl his john hancock across his 1978 topps card

and i do mean scrawl.  at least there's some personality to his signature.

i have also sent ttm requests to his aforementioned son as he was featured on a few cards as a dodger before being sent to the pirates as part of the manny ramirez trade.  here's his 2007 topps turkey red card

and his 2007 topps update & highlights card

i would like to go on record as saying i do not like cards with facsimilie autographs.  no, i do not like them at all.  at least the younger laroche is somewhat consistent with his signature, or scribbling as it were.

i regret that andy was traded before he could appear as a dodger on a retread topps 'father & son' subset.  it would have been a first for the dodgers.  maybe tim wallach's kid will make it in a few years.

andy, by the way, is in camp with the a's this year.  i kind of wish the dodgers had given him a shot as casey blake is on the down side of his productivity it seems.  maybe such a move would bring back free andy laroche.

in all seriousness, thank you laroches for signing my cards!

2009 ho ho holiday winnings

beardy hosted, i submitted, you voted, he decided, i chose, he sent, i received, i posted.

for the record, the cards are: 2008 topps a&g jj hardy jersey, 2007 ud sweet spot jered weaver jersey, 2008 topps a&g garret anderson jersey, 2009 topps finest jon lester blue refractor, 2007 topps turkey red hideki okajima refractor, 2009 topps finest carlos quentin blue refractor, 2009 ud sweet spot kerry wood jersey, and 2008 ud masterpieces eric chavez jersey.

thanks beardy!

the decline of western civilization (if western civilization were stirrups)

blame george hendrick. i do. when i played little league, we would stretch our stirrups so you would only see the skinny part. by the time i was playing in high school, it was cool to show some of the stirrup top, or even as little of the skinny part as possible. the point is, we wore stirrups and we showed them off. today, few players show anything above the cleat.

let's review the demise of the stirrup.

here's jackie robinson on his 2008 topps stadium club card, showing a lot of stirrup. pants stop at the upper calf, with minimal stirrup and a lot of full width material. classic.


fast forward about 20 years, and we find a lee lacy 1973 topps card. lee has his stirrups stretched a bit, but you can still see some of the full material below the pant leg, which looks to be hitting at mid calf.


10 years hence, we find ron roenicke on his 1983 fleer card.the pants look a tad bit longer than lacy's, and there is no full width material to be seen. only the skinny part.


4 years later or so, we see the collision of generations on steve garvey's 1987 fleer limited edition card.garvey wears them like lacy did in 1973, but john kruk's stirrups look like an extension of the padres pinstripes. plus, his pants are reaching the lower end of the calf.


a year later, on his 1988 topps card, george hendrick dares to wear the full length pant.

you can actually see a tiny bit of the stirrup at the ankle where the shoe is lower, but for all intents and purposes, hendrick could have been wearing argyles. when i first saw this, i was horrified.

20 years later (i am skipping the derek bell years), we find blake dewitt on his 2008 upper deck first edition card.

this just looks sloppy. these look like the unwashed shrink-to-fit 501's i used to buy. this is progress?

a special note goes out to juan pierre and others who maintain the full stirrup look, either in tribute to the negro leagues or just because it looks right.

it is very much appreciated. maybe there's hope for civilization yet.

orioles turned into dodgers

so, i sent kevin a bunch of orioles he needed (and some he didn't) and he reciprocated with some dodgers (and twins).

such as, 1993 ted williams steve garvey.whoever wrote the ted williams copy was on the garvey train for sure, calling him "the most prolific and consistent run producer of the 1970's..." too bad ted williams won't be able to vote on the veteran's committee in a few years. cryogenics gets in the way.

1994 topps jody reed.jody is either calling his shot or putting his curse on the dodgers - "i will unwisely turn down your lucrative contract offer, forcing you to trade pedro martinez for a new second baseman, and then wind up in milwaukee playing for far less money!"

and some roy's - not campy, but these kind of roy's:

1989 donruss fernando valenzuela.

the 1981 nl rookie of the year (and cy young winner). started the 1981 season as a last minute replacement for jerry reuss, and went on a run - he went 9 innings in each of his first 8 starts (which included one game the dodgers won in the 10th). during this time, he had 7 complete games and 5 shutouts. finished 2nd in the 1986 cy young voting to mike scott, whom i begrudgingly admit deserved it that year.

1994 ud collector's choice eric karros.

the 1992 nl rookie of the year. fabio is shown accepting the plaque for the award, now named for jackie robinson the 1947 roy.

1995 topps stadium club todd hollandsworth.

the 1996 nl rookie of the year. i really liked holly. he was traded to colorado for tom goodwin, the same tom goodwin the dodgers gave up to waivers a few years earlier. todd won a world series ring with the marlins in 1993. i was shocked to see that he played as recently as 2006 for the indians and reds. where's the 2007 final tribute card?!?

not a roy, but a twinkie - 2007 topps turkey red joe mauer.

mauer was injured for most of his rookie year, otherwise i am sure he would have beat out bobby crosby for the award.

thanks kevin!

taste the rainbow

just for fun, here is a post-apocalyptic 2007 topps turkey red card of elijah dukes.apparently, baseball will one day be played on barren pastures under rainbow skies.

mr. dukes is ready.

it's a play at the plate, literally

from 2007 topps turkey red, here is a card that has been given the very appropriate title 'play at the plate'.

joe crede sliding in, awaited by jorge posada (i assume).

i previously posted a card from this set titled 'turning two'.

i need to find out if they also produced a card titled 'dodger stadium in the background'.