will there be a final tribute?

shortly after i started this blog in september of 2008, i received an email from ben henry, creator of the baseball card blog and someone with whom i had traded a couple of times. he said that he had poked around the site a bit, liked what he saw, and thought that it was smart of me to be focusing on a particular team and era.  i've thought a lot about that comment over the past 6+ years, and i've come to realize that he was right. even though i've branched out with tangential topics that make up part of my collection - the memorial patches and armbands, through the mail autograph successes, cards featuring dodger stadium in the background, double plays, final tributes, and tatooine cards to name a few - the focus on the team of my youth, and in particular the infield of steve garvey, davey lopes, bill russell, and ron cey, has always been there.

i've completed a few different series of posts related to the infield and the team - most recently the contents of my steve garvey collection, but prior to that the position by position evolution from the brooklyn years to recent dodger teams, the inclusion of members of the 1978 topps dodgers in topps flagship sets for almost 50 years, the career torchbearers for the primary starters from that team, and the year-by-year evolution of the infield itself during their playing days.

in doing so, i've enjoyed reliving the memories i have of those teams and of collecting cards during the late 1970's and early 1980's.  i've also enjoyed trading with other bloggers and reading their posts about what makes their collections unique.  i know that i have not been the most interactive blogger - i don't leave too many comments, i don't share much personal information, and i fail at responding to comments most of the time.  i do, however, put together a decent trade package.  it was never my goal to be the most heralded blogger or have the most popular blog, not that those are anyone else's goals, or bad goals to have, either. that's just not the reason for the 2,800 posts i've written. i didn't track readership or number of comments, and i didn't fret about posting every day - i just wrote and posted about cards as i saw fit.  i did it for myself, and in doing so, i gained a new appreciation of my collection - one that didn't exist when they were just cards in boxes and binders.

as a result of creating this blog and its subsequent impact on my collection and collecting habits, i've received and traded emails with jerry reuss, the hall of fame, dodger historian mark langill, and others (including a nastygram from a dodger player from the '90's), plus a comment from kevin pasley, and return mail from a host of former dodgers (including all four of the infielders for whom this blog is named) and other players who signed cards for me or wrote a note in response to a request.  even the great vin scully signed and returned a card for me, in what resulted in the greatest mail day ever. all of that is appreciated greatly, as are the comments from you folks who have read what i've written, and those of you who have traded with me to help make my collection what it is today.  the interaction with fellow bloggers (including the two that i've met in person - carl crawford cards and highly subjective and completely arbitrary) has been a true joy.  all of it has made for a great experience over the past 6-plus years.

during that time i have posted a lot of great cards (and some not so great) from my collection - old and new - and i've enjoyed posting about them, whether they were dodgers or even giants. however, there are a lot of great cards in my collection that i haven't shown on this blog, and i know that in the future there will be more great cards that enter my collection that won't be shown here.  i know that there will be more double play cards, and there will be more cards featuring memorial patches and armbands, and there will be more cards that feature the stunning beauty of dodger stadium in the background.  there will also, of course, be more cards featuring the players fortunate enough to play for the los angeles dodgers.

i will still be collecting those cards.  i would still like to trade if you have some of those cards.  but, i won't be posting about those cards.

i'm done.

i've done what i set out to do, which was to add my voice to the baseball card collecting community that was exploding in the fall of 2008; to make sure that the dodgers got a fair shake in that community; to highlight the excellence that was the dodger infield and the team of my youth; and to make it known that i was a collector with a passion and a collection worth sharing.

to me, it was worth it.

this was the infield of my youth.

garvey, cey, russell, lopes.

four heads are better than one

it's always a good day when you get an email from a fellow blogger asking for your address.  that's happened a few times recently, including once where i received the request from steelehere, he of 1207 consecutive games.  it turns out, just as it did with night owl, rob had an extra infield bobblehead and wanted to send it my way.

sweet.  i think i first learned of the bobblehead thanks to either dodgerbobble or roberto (get well soon, buddy) and knew that i was going to overpay for one.  thanks to a friendly socal blogger, i didn't have to.

it's not the first time the infield has been the focus of a stadium giveaway, though.  i dug out my 1991 dodgers unocal pin featuring the record setting infield to prove that point.

still, the bobblehead is pretty darn cool.  and, it displays on my desk much better than a pin would.  i guess i could put the pin on a hat, but who puts pins on their hats other than olympic superfans?  anyway, i took some pictures of the box for posterity's sake.

here's the picture of what's inside.

the infielders seem a bit more evenly spaced than they are on my bobble.  on mine, as you can see above, it's as if the three double digit wearing dodgers are trying to be as far away from steve garvey as they can.  in fact, bill russell's head won't bobble individually - it has to take the penguin's and davey lopes' heads along for the ride.

here's the image that the bobblehead sculptors(?) tried to recreate.

i think the image is from 1978, as it appears on the front of the team's 1979 photo album.  it's also reproduced in the playbill that was handed out at the game.  rob sent one of those for me, too.  i didn't scan any of it, but i was surprised to read that the phillies tried to trade for garvey back in '72 or '73 before he was permanently installed at first base.  al campanis was offered willie montanez for the garv and turned it down.  that's not as much of a no-brainer as it might seem - montanez had put up some good power numbers in '72 and '73, although at that time he was playing more outfield than first base, and with wes parker having retired, i am guessing campanis wanted to keep garvey to back up billy buckner who had been given the first crack at replacing parker.

here's one of the sides of the box

not a bad resume for a foursome...

here's the other side

lots of good bobbleheads yet to come - karros, gibby (with a bobble arm!), fernando, koufax, and even good ol' vin scully.

i like the dodgers' logo patch for the 50th year of dodger stadium

it would be nice for the new owners to enhance the stadium as was done in boston and make sure it's around for another 50.

rob, thank you so much for thinking of me and sending me the infield.  you know i appreciate it.

filling in the blanks with some 1975 topps cards that should have been

well, there weren't too many missed opportunities when it came to the dodgers' infield and topps in 1975.  steve garvey got his due on an mvp card and the nlcs recap card, and ron cey, bill russell and davey lopes didn't do much to deserve any cards other than their base cards.  there weren't any other subsets that screamed 'gcrl' either.  but, thanks to steelehere's suggestion, i do have a 1975 topps card that should have been - a steve garvey 'highlights' card necessitated by his write-in candidacy and mvp performance in the all-star game.

here's the back

it is modeled after the hank aaron highlight card

although i chose not to use the all-star 'star', since garvey got that on his base card.  here's the back of the aaron card just to be complete about it.

i thought it turned out pretty nicely.

while i was at it, i thought of another card possibility.  in the world series subset, all but one of the cards celebrate the a's (which makes sense, as they won the world series 4 games to 1).  ron cey lurks on one of them, and the lone 'dodger' card of the group features joe ferguson and walt alston most prominently.  that's all well and good, but how about highlighting the biggest play from game 1, even if the dodgers wound up losing the game?  here's a card with steve yeager holding the ball triumphantly after tagging out sal bando courtesy of joe ferguson's throw from right field.

we even get bill russell and davey lopes in the background!  much better than the reggie jackson image that topps featured for their game 1 recap.

here are a few more cards that should have been, including a couple of burt hooton 'traded' cards that i made for the facebook page '1975 topps traded'.

he is 'happy' to be in dodger blue, apparently.  here's an 'action' shot i took from a dodger postcard

altering the back was easy, since there was no team affiliation listed on the backs of the 75's.  here's his regular topps back

i just added a 't' like they did in 1974.

the dodgers sent geoff zahn to the cubs in the deal, so here's his card that should have been

here's his real 1975 topps card, with a picture taken just outside the dodger dugout

i used zahn's 1976 topps card for the image

the other player in the deal was eddie solomon, and i made a card for him, too.

that is a combination of his 1978 topps card and zahn's 1976 card (the cubs uni).  i should have scanned the 1978 card at a higher resolution, apparently.
for the record, here is solomon's actual 1975 topps card

and, just to get it out of my 'scanned' folder, here is a 1975 topps gaylord perry card i made as well.

if you're on facebook, stop by the 1975 topps traded page and say hello.  tell them gcrl sent you.

filling in the garvey cey and lopes gaps - the 1973 topps cards that should have been

in my effort to 'fill in the gaps' with some steve garvey, ron cey, bill russell, and/or davey lopes cards that should have been, i sometimes push the boundaries a bit.  there really was no reason for topps to give steve garvey an 'in action' card in 1972, let alone cards for davey lopes at all.  still, i persevere.  and, in 1973, topps included all four of the infielders in their set for the first time.  veterans garvey and russell got their own cards as they had since they first joined the topps checklist, and cey and lopes were relegated to multi-player rookie cards.

none of them were all-stars or league leaders or otherwise featured in the 1973 set, and none of the four were considered to be 'stars' at that time. still, i went for it and created this steve garvey 'boyhood photos of the stars' card that should have been.

the main photo comes from garvey's recent book (which i have not read nor do i own) titled 'my batboy days'.  garvey, of course, served as a batboy for the dodgers during spring training some years in his youth, and, well, i'll let the card back tell the story:

the inset photo was from a topps vault item a couple months back, and is right for the period, so that's nice.

i figured topps could have made a ron cey solo card as well in 1973

and i gave ron a collegiate cartoon

lopes also gets his own card, which i think would have fit in nicely with the 1973 set

it would have to be a late series card since dan driessen didn't debut for the reds until 1973.  here's the lopes back

sadly, i can't think of any cards topps missed of the foursome until we get to 1982.  unless...

some gcrl cards that should have been in 1972

in 1972, steve garvey, bill russell and ron cey were each featured on a card in the topps set.  none of them, however, had reached the status of warranting an 'in action' card, and in cey's case, he didn't even get a card to himself.  until now.  i'm filling in the gaps with the gcrl cards that should have been, and i am pretty pleased with the way these ones turned out.

here's the steve garvey in action card that should have been:

rather than bump a card from the set and put this card after garvey's base card which would have been the norm, i'll call it card 790.  i did come up with a back for it, which i will get to later.

first, here's the penguin, on his solo 1972 card

with a back - number 788 in the set.

card 785 in the set is cey's future teammate vic davalillo, so i gave him a nod with the trivia cartoon.

next up is davey lopes

i also incorporated davalillo's back on lopes' back.  here's davalillo's card - note the trivia cartoon:

here's the lopes back i created.  it would be number 789 in the set.

i was also pleased to get lasorda mentioned on both of the cards (using info from the dodgers' press guide) as he was their manager in spokane before he himself joined the major league coaching staff in 1973.

here's the penguin's in action card:

as well as bill russell's

and lopes'

no standing still for davey on his in action card.

now for the 'in action' backs.  as you know, some of these cards had advertisements on the back, some had 'so you think you know baseball' situational quizzes on the back, and some, like reggie smith's, were puzzle backs.

so, for the four infielders, i created a puzzle.  and, since these cards would have been in the last series, i used an image from june of 1972.  here are the 1972 topps gcrl in action card backs that should have been  

jackie, campy and sandy all had their numbers retired during old-timers day in 1972.  sandy actually pitched in the game, which included joe dimaggio, stan musial, mickey mantle and others.  i believe this was the game where leo durocher wore his famous uniform that had all the logos of the different teams he had managed.

so, there you have them - the 1972 cards that should have been.

filling in the blanks with the gcrl cards that should have been - 1971 topps ron cey

both steve garvey (rookie!) and bill russell appeared in the 1971 topps set.  davey lopes wouldn't debut until 1972, but ron cey made his first big league appearances in 1971.  while the penguin would be featured in the 1972 set, i am filling in the blanks, so here is the 1971 topps ron cey card that should have been:

with a back:

quite a september call up.  cey made 2 pinch hit appearances (both against the reds) and struck out both times.  in his major league debut, he pinch hit for jose pena on september 3 in the bottom of the 9th with nobody out, the bases loaded, and the dodgers down by 3.  this is the stuff kids' dreams are made of - the bottom of the 9th grand slam will win the game!  alas, the penguin struck out against joe gibbon.  no worries, though, since maury wills followed with a single and manny mota won it with a bases clearing triple.

two days later, cey was called upon again.  this time, he hit for joe moeller in the bottom of the 4th with the dodgers down 5-0 and two runners on with one out.  the reds' ross grimsley struck cey out but then gave up a three-run homer to wills.  still, the dodgers wound up losing 7-5.  mike strahler replaced cey in the lineup, so the penguin never made it on to the field.

based on those two appearances, i suppose one should be thankful topps included cey in the 1972 set at all.  maybe so, but i wish there had also been a 1971 card.

the one thing missing from this card is the facsimilie autograph.  i figure i'll print it out and send it to cey and let him add the auto himself.  stay tuned.

here's to you, 1971 topps ron cey card that should have been!

filling in the blanks with another gcrl card that should have been - 1970 topps steve garvey

topps gave bill russell a card in their 1970 set, but didn't bother to recognize the garv, even though he had made his debut in 1969.  i suppose that's ok - he only had 3 at bats.  i have decided to fill in the gaps topps left behind and created this, the 1970 topps steve garvey card that should have been:

the photo was from a topps vault image that was sold on ebay a long while back.  luckily for me, they didn't watermark it.  i did a back, too.

fellow garvey enthusiast mrmopar over at 1978, the year it all began has also featured a 1970 topps garvey with a nice dodger stadium photo and, quite frankly, a better back.

russell was the only member of the infield to be featured in the 1970 set.  the other two, cey and lopes, didn't debut until 1971 and 1972, respectively so they won't show up until those years are featured.

there's not much more to say other than i really wish garvey had been included in the 1970 set.  the dodgers had two multi-player rookie cards (bob stinson/ray lamb and bill buckner/jack jenkins) that would have been ok for garvey to have been featured on even though a solo card would have been much cooler.  i didn't bother slapping him on one of the rookie cards since i did that for one of the 1969 cards that should have been.

here's to you 1970 topps steve garvey card that should have been!

more gcrl cards that should have been - starting with 1969

if you recall from the earliest of the 'evolution of the infield' posts, both steve garvey and bill russell made their big league debuts for the dodgers in 1969.  however, neither player was featured by topps in the 1969 set. well, it didn't seem fair to me that ted sizemore (who also debuted in 1969 for the dodgers) was on a card and these two weren't.  so what if sizemore was the rookie of the year?  anyway, here is the 1969 topps steve garvey/bill russell card that should have been:

complete with a back.

i used an image of garvey from a photo taken when he was a member of the ogden dodgers, along with bill buckner, bobby valentine and their manager, tom lasorda.  that's why there's no logo on the hat - i blotted out the big 'o' - and i think the logo-less cap fits in with the 1969 set just fine.

the russell image is a bit out of date.  it's from his sports illustrated cover in 1971 (or is it 1972?) where he shared the space with claude osteen. 

i decided to also take it a step further, and create individual cards that should have been.  here's the garvey.

notice he's wearing number 5 in the photo.  that's jim lefebvre's number on the big club.  here's a back, which i am borrowing from bob lemke of 'bob lemke's blog'. 

bob makes some fantastic customs, including a 1969 garvey of his own.  here's the front:

very nice.  but let's not forget about ropes.  here's his solo 1969 card that should have been:

and the back

i was worried that i would have a hard time finding a cartoon that i could manipulate, but i think this one works out pretty well as it's fairly generic and i was able to easily change the text on the newspaper.

there you have it - the 1969 steve garvey and bill russell cards that should have been!  coming soon, steve garvey's missing 1970 card...