i was there when the impossible happened and i've got the photos to prove it

not that i need an excuse to post a fantastic card like this 1995 upper deck sp championship series kirk gibson die-cut classic performances card

but i thought that i would expand on something i've mentioned a time or two before.  mainly, that i was at game 1 of the 1988 world series with my dad.  i came across some of our photos from that game recently, and scanned a few.  let's relive the excitement, shall we?

pre-game

we were sitting in the right field pavilion, and were in line for dodger dogs during the team introductions.  debbie gibson sang the national anthem.  when we got to our seats, the good year blimp was flying above the top of the park.

bottom of the first inning

that's mickey hatcher about to round second after hitting a home run to put the dodgers up 2-0.  hatcher was starting in left field in place of the aforementioned gibson, who had two bad legs following the nlcs against the mets.

the second photo there shows hatcher nearly catching up to steve sax as he nears third base.  when sax turned around after touching home plate, he was visibly surprised to see hatcher right behind him.

top of the second inning

tim belcher loaded the bases, partly by walking dave stewart (that's stew at second base), but he got dave henderson (at the plate in the photo above) to strike out for the second out, but that brought up jose canseco.

canseco took the first pitch in the photo above, but sent the second pitch on a line over the center field wall.  one of the hardest hit balls i have ever seen in person.  here's a photo of canseco rounding the bases

after what turned out to be his only hit in the series.  and here's a photo of him out in right field afterwards

i believe this is when the 'steroids' chants began that night.  did he flex for us? i think he did, but don't recall for sure.

bottom of the third innng

mickey hatcher came up again, and i thought his home run so improbable, that i took a picture of the diamondvision scoreboard.  hatcher drew a walk, but mike marshall lined out to third to end the inning.

bottom of the fifth inning:

here franklin stubbs (as the tying run) grounds out sharply to mark mcgwire at first base with tracy woodson on second base to end the inning.

bottom of the sixth inning:

with one out, following mike marshall and john shelby singles, mike scioscia is at the plate

and he singled to left to drive in marshall, making the score 4-3, which is how it stayed going into the final inning.

bottom of the ninth inning:

dennis eckersley is on the mound pitching to mike davis with two outs in that photo. davis draws a walk to extend the inning…

…and look who's coming up!

that's gibson, of course, making his way to the batter's box.  everybody in the stadium was up, and most were hoping for a home run, i am sure.

the next two pictures are from the first pitch eckersley threw - my dad's photo is better

than mine

must be the cameras.  the pitch resulted in a foul ball to the left side.  many hopes for a home run were dashed after that swing, i would guess.

here's the 0-2 pitch to gibson

i think this was also the pitch after which a's catcher ron hassey threw back to first to try to pick davis off.  i remember thinking that it would have been a terrible way for the game to end.

after that pitch, both my dad and i stopped shooting and watched instead. we are glad that we did.  i took this next photo after watching gibson's hit land in the pavilion to our left.  we have eck walking off the mound with steve sax holding his head in disbelief.

here's where we all were losing our minds.  the pavilion was rocking and i was full of adrenaline and joy, so this picture didn't come out at all

that's gibson, though, approaching second base.  i remember seeing the fist pumps.  it was awesome.

after that, i focused on home plate, which is too bad because i missed gibson rounding third.  this photo shows mickey hatcher and orel hershiser up the line to greet him

as does this one

but now gibby is somewhere in the mass of dodger humanity at home plate.

this series of photos is really not much to look at - it's just the celebration at home plate blurrily taking place, but i like it more for the slow progression of a's left fielder stan javier making his way off the field.  he's there at second base in the above photo

now he's almost half way to first base

and now he's just about out of the frame.

about the only person i can make out in all of this is tracy woodson, as he was wearing the blue pullover.  you can tell by the poor quality of these photographs that i am very happy to have so many cards in my collection that capture gibson's home run, including the one up top.  that's partially why there are two such cards in my header, which reminds me to remind you to get your entries in for my contest - only a few days left.

i know a guy who has only attended one baseball game in his lifetime, and it was game 7 of the 1991 world series.  he says that he's never felt the need to go to another after seeing that game in person.  game 1 of the 1988 world series was not the first game i had been to, obviously, but i kind of know what he means.  it is a hard act to follow, but that's the beauty of the game - anything can happen on any given night - and that's why i keep going back.

sunday morning target dodgers - now with two world series mvps

there have been eight men who, while playing for the dodgers, have been named the most valuable player of the world series. this sheet of 15 cards from the 1990 target dodger anniversary set has two of them, plus 13 others to have worn the uniform of the franchise between 1890 and 1990.  have a look.

max carey

carey was (and still is) one of the greatest defensive outfielders in the history of the game.  he was also one of the best base stealers, too, and his 10 stolen base championships while with the pirates helped cement his hall of fame status.  he joined the robins during the 1926 season when he was 36 years old, but he continued to play for brooklyn through the 1929 season.  in 1932, he returned to the franchise as their manager, replacing wilbert robinson as the team became the dodgers once again. although he led the team to a 6th place finish in 1933 (his last season as the manager) he was still added to the national league's coaching staff for the first all-star game.

bob chipman

according to baseball reference, they called him 'mr. chips'.  chipman was a brooklyn native who debuted for the hometown dodgers in 1941. he pitched in one game that season, two the next, and one in 1943.  in 1944, chipman pitched in 11 games for the dodgers before being traded to the cubs in june for eddie stanky.  he wound up pitching for chicago through 1949, and then spent 3 years with the boston braves.

willie davis

davis is, quite simply, one of the greatest los angeles dodgers ever.  after hitting .318 in 22 games as a rookie in 1960, davis spent the next thirteen seasons as the team's primary center fielder.  as a result, his name sits near or atop the dodger (and especially los angeles dodger) career leader board in many categories.  no other los angeles dodger has had more plate appearances, scored more runs, had more base hits, or boasts a greater war than 3-dog.  i was disappointed that the team did not wear a memorial patch following davis's death in 2010.

tommy dean

dean got his start in the big leagues as a dodger in 1967. he hit .143 in 12 games as a september call-up that year, but was back in the minors for the 1968 season.  dean was traded to the padres early in the 1969 season for al mcbean, and became their regular shortstop in their inaugural season.

phil gallivan

gallivan was a pitcher on the 1931 robins. it was his first year in the majors, and he posted an 0-1 record in 6 appearances. the next season, he was pitching for the white sox who later traded him for a player named george washington.

charlie gilbert

gilbert hit .246 as a rookie for the 1940 brooklyn dodgers. he was traded to the cubs in may of 1941 for billy herman.

pedro guerrero

ah. here's one of the world series mvp's that i mentioned up top. guerrero, of course, shared his award with ron cey and steve yeager in 1981.  he hit .333 with 2 homers, 7 rbi, and an ops of 1.179 in that fall classic against the yankees and all was right with the world. the next year, he finished third in the league mvp voting, and in 1983, the dodgers moved him to third base and he was fourth in the mvp voting.  i've often wondered what might have happened if the dodgers had just left petey in the outfield and not tried to use him as a third baseman, but at the time it didn't seem to affect his offense too much. he was one of the most exciting players in the league, and i was glad he was on 'my' team.

oscar jones

jones pitched for the brooklyn superbas from 1903 through 1905. after winning 19 games in 1903, jones led the league with 25 losses (paired with 17 wins) in 1902, a season in which he threw 377 innings and posted a 2.75 era.

george magoon

magoon was a brooklyn bridegroom in 1898 when he hit .224 in 93 games.  the next year, he was with the baltimore orioles and later played for the cubs, reds, and white sox.

camilo pascual

target put an extra 'i' in camilo's name, which is too bad since they are a company based in the twin cities which is where pascual had his best years. he was a member of the washington senators (as evidenced by the photo on the card) who moved to minneapolis with the rest of calvin griffith's squad in 1961. he won 20 games twice for the twins, and then pitched against the dodgers in the 1965 world series, losing game 3.  the dodgers signed pascual as a free agent during the 1970 season, and while he didn't earn a decision as a member of the club, he pitched well in his 10 appearances as evidenced by his 2.57 era. it's too bad that he wasn't held until the latter series of the 1970 set, as this is the only card of him as a dodger that i know of.

johnny podres

podres was the first dodger to win the world series mvp award.  he won game 3 against the yankees with a complete game performance, and then shut out the bronx bombers at yankee stadium in game 7 to win the dodgers' first world championship. podres then spent the next season in the military.  he returned to the club in 1957 and led the league in era and whip.  podres wound up winning a total of 136 games for the dodgers before pitching for the tigers and, fittingly enough, the padres towards the end of his career.

mike scioscia

scioscia was the dodgers' first round pick in 1976, and he made his big league debut four years later. after that, he was essentially the dodgers' primary catcher through the 1992 season, and appeared to be a front runner to eventually become the team's manager, especially after bill russell was fired in 1998.  no dice, however, as the club went with davey johnson for the 1999 season, and scioscia was soon leading the anaheim angels to a world series title.

harry taylor

taylor pitched for the dodgers from 1946-48, getting most of his action in 1947 when he pitched in 33 games, 20 of which were starts, and had 10 complete games and 2 shutouts. he also pitched in the world series that year. after spending 1949 and most of 1950 in the minors, his contract was purchased by the red sox, and he pitched for them through 1952.

john werhas

werhas played for the dodgers during the mid to late 1960's. he debuted in 1964 and then had a short stint with the club again as a september call-up in 1965. he was called up once more in 1967 for a few games, and was then dealt to the angels for len gabrielson, who was werhas's teammate at usc. overall, werhas hit .183 in 40 games as a dodger.

tom zachary

i knew who tom zachary was at a fairly young age, thanks to the fact that it was he who surrendered babe ruth's 60th home run in 1927.  i did not know, however, that zachary became ruth's teammate the following year (and helped the yankees win the 1928 world series) nor did in know that he also went on to pitch for the dodgers in 1934. he was 5-6 with a 4.43 era, but pitched a bit better in 1935.  in 1936, he made just one appearance as a dodger (allowing 2 runs in a third of an inning) before he was released - two years before the bambino joined the team as a coach.

that's it for this week - i've got another sheet lined up for next sunday...

cards that made the writer's journey

i received a surprise envelope from jt at the writer's journey recently.  it made sense that two of the cards in the envelope were of eric the red - a 1993 topps card

and a 1993 upper deck card.  that particular card is one of my favorites, thanks to the great shot from dodger stadium that adorns the front, but i'll show the back since it is reminiscent of the topps card above

both feature davis in the pullover warmup with the sleeves turned up for maximum tattoo display.  plus, personalized wristbands!

here's a card from a simpler time that also made the trip - a 1983 donruss mike scioscia

the most interesting item sent was this rafael furcal postcard

the back indicates that it was printed in support of the dodgers dream foundation (now simply known as the los angeles dodgers foundation).  jt said he received it in a fan pack a few years ago (all i received in my most recent dodger fan pack was a mini pennant), so i'm calling it a circa 2010 dodgers dream foundation postcard.

all of the cards were found folded inside this page from a 2015 hall of fame calendar

that's some pretty good stuff to find in an unexpected envelope.  thanks jt!

i ran into the fuzz at the card shop

a new (yes, new!) card shop opened up in the twin cities about a year ago.  one of the owners is also one of the 'vintage bargain bin guys' from the local shows.  he's the one that sold me my 1955 topps sandy koufax card, in fact.

it took me a while to get over there, but i finally did a few weeks ago.  the store is packed with not just cards, but various pieces of memorabilia and pretty much every kind of sports collectible you could think of.  amid the bobbleheads and pennants, there was a shelf that had a bunch of smaller complete sets on it. boxed sets, like the fleer sets of the 80's and 90's, along with some mail-in sets and some stadium giveaway sets.  it was there that i found a 1993 dodgers police set for $3.

started in 1980, the police sets were, like the later mother's and keebler sets, a good way to get some of the deeper roster players on a card.  and, there were coaches!  i know i have belabored that point recently, but i'm not sorry about it.  here's the coaches card from the 1993 dodger police set

that's manny mota, joey amalfitano, ron roenicke, ben hines, tommy lasorda, ron perranoski, joe ferguson, and mark cresse.

lasorda also got a card of his own

with the one of the outfield pavilions in the background.

ramon martinez was still king of the hill at dodger stadium in 1993

and his little brother pedro was there with him

boyhood friends eric davis

and darryl strawberry

roamed the outfield at chavez ravine, with disappointing results.

the 1993 set was the one that featured lance parrish, despite the fact that he never did suit up in a big league game for the dodgers.  i've shown the front of parrish's card before - i bought it as a single to document his dodgerdom - so here's the back

one reason that parrish never got the call from the dodger brass was the play of a rookie catcher named mike piazza

piazza went on to win the rookie of the year award and hold the dodgers' catching job for about 5 years before he was traded to the marlins.

i'm not sure which card in the set is more desirable - the pedro or the piazza - but i am sure that jody reed's card

is probably not in the running.