a dismantled double play

topps didn't print a mickey mantle card for the flagship in 2013.  this was the first time the number was vacated since 2005.  maybe they ran out of photos to use.  anyway, i am glad that they printed this card in 2011.

it also showed up in opening day

and chrome - in base

and in refractor form

it's a great shot of mantle trying his best to bust up a double play.  i am guessing that the shortstop is a member of the detroit tigers, but how cool if it were pee wee reese?  too bad topps didn't crop this a little differently so we would know for sure.

a different point of view

isn't it strange that most of the time, we watch baseball games as if we were sitting in centerfield, yet most baseball cards give us the point of view of someone sitting in the lower level infield seats?  it's not that unexpected, since the camera wells are usually located near the dugouts, and the only cameras in the outfield are tv cameras.  every once in a while, however, the cards give us that different point of view.

the first one of these that i was aware of was in the 1965 topps set.  it's also the oldest mickey mantle card that i own.

mantle did indeed hit a clutch homerun in game 3 of the 1964 world series against the cardinals.  too bad that blast isn't what is shown here. in game 3, mantle led off the bottom of the 9th with a walk-off home run.  barney schultz was the pitcher for the cardinals.  i am pretty sure that this card shows the mick on the road and batting against bob gibson.  still, it's a nice card.

fast forward to 1991, and topps gave us another gem - dwight evans.

what happened to the pitcher?

the first dodger card i saw with this vantage point being used was this 1996 pinnacle raul mondesi card

this is some sort of parallel, but the real issue here is that the image is kind of blurry.  as for other similar dodger cards, there is of course the really bad 2008 topps stadium club manny ramirez card with the extensive photoshopping and umpire elimination. 

there's no umpire on the 2008 upper deck first edition justin maxwell card either, but that makes sense

it's from the photo op during the construction of the nationals' stadium in dc.  the twins did a similar thing when target field was under construction with mauer, morneau, and cuddyer.  there's a poster as a result, but no card that i know of.

also in 2008, we have garrett atkins' upper deck card

featuring world series action.  upper deck did this in 2007, too.  i think it's the albert pujols card that features the centerfield view with jason verlander lurking in the foreground.

i mentioned target field a minute ago.  i was excited for 2011 cards to be issued as i was hoping to see the twins' new stadium on some cardboard.  2011 topps opening day didn't disappoint, with magglio ordonez's card

i think the card would look a little better if it weren't cropped to lose some of the 'target field' text.  still, i like the card a lot.  not as much as these next two, however.

this is from 2007 upper deck masterpieces, and it gives us the view from centerfield as reggie jackson hit his third home run in game 6 of the 1977 world series.

that's the dodgers' steve yeager wearing the catcher's gear.

even though the yankees beat the dodgers, i like this card because the 1977 world series is the first fall classic that i watched, and this is a much better representation of the series than the highlight card that topps issued in 1978.

even better is this card from the 1994 upper deck all-time heroes set

not only do we get to see yeager, we get charlie hough, too.  the dodgers outnumber the yankees on the card 2 to 1.

i know there are more of these cards (2004 topps juan uribe, for one) but for me, there aren't enough.  it would be pretty cool to see other cards - a double play card would be awesome - from the center field view.  don't you think?

my gift to you

i've finished going through all of the double play cards in my collection, and over the next week or so, i will be showing off the ones that have not been featured on the blog before.  it will be a week long double play dump.  there are a lot of them, so i have many many posts scheduled.

it all leads up to the 'greatest double play card of all time tournament' which now might just be a top 50 countdown. i haven't decided.  but there will be a contest of sorts - i have to figure out a way to thin the herd that is my collection.

so, here we go.  let the double play displays begin.

2001 upper deck alex rodriguez

i like this card.

1997 pinnacle zenith

this card is not my favorite

1992 topps ryne sandberg all-star

1994 score ryne sandberg gold rush

1997 score hobby reserve ryne sandberg

2011 topps marquee ryne sandberg

ryno's dp form is pretty consistent when he doesn't have to leave the ground.

2002 fleer premium jimmy rollins

i like the look of this set.  there are a few dp cards in it which is always nice.

1994 fleer ultra barry larkin

it's a card of two barrys.

2010 topps chrome derek jeter

leapin' jeter batman! topps forgot to put the glossy coat on this chrome card!

2011 topps tsuyoshi nishioka

this might be the play in which nishi had his leg broken.  no, that happened in new york after the toronto series.

2011 topps opening day rafael furcal

this is a nice card.  some teams, like the a's, seem to have a lot of double play cards.  the dodgers - not so much.

get ready for an avalanche of double play cards - they're coming and there is nothing you can do to stop them.

dp or not dp?

i have slowly been prepping for the 'greatest double play card ever' tournament for quite a while now.  it turns out, there are more of these things than even i imagined.  i decided to hold off on the tournament until i finished cataloguing all of my double play cards.  look for the tourney to kick off towards the end of the season.

part of the problem is that topps keeps churning out cards showing the turn at second base.  some are pretty cool, some are not.  here are some recent and not so recent double play cards.

this first one, from 2012 topps, is actually not a double play turn.  

as far as i can tell, the play shown on the above card comes from the bottom of the 9th inning on august 28, 2011.  kyle seager was on first base with no outs when josh bard hit a grounder to beckham.  the white sox were up 9-2, so beckham just went for the sure out at first rather than try to get seager at second.  so, not a dp turn, but still a pretty cool card.

this one is definitely a double play turn - it's robinson cano (red border target exclusive, y'all!)

with josh hamilton steamrolling in.

let's take a break from the new stuff and look back at some double plays unearthed from my collection. 2004 topps seemed to have quite a few.  here's alex cintron

and ray durham

current dodger mark ellis

and cristian guzman

jeff kent (i see you, pokey reese!)

and jack wilson

2009 topps gave us jj hardy

and placido polanco

last year, there were a couple of good troy tulowitzki double play turns, including the one from topps' opening day release

although i still like the topps marquee card better.

back to 2012, and we have recently surging power hitter trevor plouffe making the turn in oakland.

this card is actually from the 2012 topps twins team factory set.  i just received the regular topps issue in the mail yesterday, so you'll see this card again in a near future trade post.

finally, here's a card from 2012 topps allen & ginter, featuring alcides escobar (right? is that the right escobar? i kind of wish the first names were on the cards)

i am envious of the braves, white sox and any other team whose outfield walls have those murals that we first saw at dodger stadium.  i really wish they would get rid of the mccourt-installed billboards and either go back to the blue padding or the murals.

at the end of 2011, some of my first 2011 cards

as you can tell by the title, i had planned to run this post last year.  that's because i had hoped to clear my scanned folder of the trades i had received in 2011 to start the new year.  i failed. 

these dodger goodies came from rhubarb runner in exchange for some twins, i imagine.  trade posts are not usually the most interesting posts out there. i'll try for interesting.

we'll start with former dodger, casey blake

it will be interesting to see if blake is rejuvenated by the thin air of colorado

2011 topps opening day clayton kershaw

it will be interesting to see how many opening day starts kershaw makes for the dodgers

2011 topps james loney

it will be interesting to see how james loney starts the season in 2012.  like he did in 2011? or as he finished in 2011?

2011 topps russell martin

it will be interesting to see if martin continues to have nice looking cards now that he's a yankee.  at least we know he will have more cards, anyway.

vicente padilla

it will be interesting to see whether padilla signs with anyone.  supposedly, he is pitching lights out in winter ball.

2011 topps andre ethier '60'

it will be interesting to see if ethier is healthy, and whether ned extends his contract.

2011 topps duke snider '60'

it will be interesting to see what glut of brooklyn dodger inserts topps gives us this year.

2004 upper deck eric gagne awesome honors

it will be interesting to see if gagne gets any hof votes when he appears on the ballot in 2014.

2005 donruss throwback threads ron cey

it is interesting that donruss believes the penguin played first base.  not in that infield!

thanks rr! i have some more twins ready to go!

even more double play cards

i'll make this quick - i'm finally finished going through my double play cards.  there will be only one more post and then sometime next month i'll get to the tournament to determine the greatest double play card of all time.  here are some decent recent dp cards.

2010 topps update starlin castro

and 2011 topps starlin castro

castro is well on his way to becoming a modern day kurt stillwell

i really like this 2011 topps elvis andrus card

for a few reasons - it's from the world series, he's just forced out a giant (cody ross), and i am guessing he got rid of the ball quickly unlike this year's fall classic.
here's another 2011 topps card that falls short, no pun intended.  it's the pirates' kind of shortstop pedro ciriaco

i say kind of because ciriaco was photoshopped into his pittsburgh uni for this card, so it's a minor league double play turn.
here's sean rodriguez on his 2011 topps card

with former devil ray delmon young sliding in.  young must have had quite a lead to be able to get to second so quickly.  he is not exactly fleet of foot.
finally, we have troy tulowitzki's 2011 topps opening day card

it's not bad, but it's not as good as his 2011 topps marquee card.