fun at the ballpark, indeed

it is odd to think that, after nearly seven years of posting, i have not yet featured this 1993 donruss triple play card of former dodger reliever roger mcdowell

so, when it arrived recently in a trade package from bo at baseball cards come to life, i figured that now was the time.  here's the back

 

mcdowell's teammates may have been amused by him wearing outrageous things, but i as a fan will just accept good baseball in a beautiful setting.  a setting like dodger stadium.  that's where this next card bo sent comes in.

that's a 1996 score select bret boone card, featuring a photo taken in dodger stadium.  the unnamed dodger in the scene is roberto kelly, who twice stole second against boone and the reds on july 30, 1995.  the wrist guard and red glove/sweat bands were a big clue as to the runner's identity, but really it was either him or chad fonville, and with kelly wearing number 21 it was fairly obvious.

this next one is easier.

that would be mitch webster sliding in while jose oquendo turns two in dodger stadium on his 1996 donruss card.

moving away from dodger stadium (to tatooine, in fact), we see rafael furcal sliding in front of freddy sanchez on sanchez's 2008 bowman card

as sanchez makes the double play pivot.

staying on tatooine, here's a 1993 score select joe girardi card

that would obviously fit into that particular mini collection of mine if it weren't already destined for the lurker collection thanks to dodger dave hansen making an appearance on the back

there are many more cards that bo sent that i'll be showing over the next few days - thanks for the cards bo!

filling the gap in my mother's cookies dodger collection

aside from the 1989 mother's cookies dodger set (and the special mike piazza/tim salmon set) that i already owned, the recent package from mr. haverkamp included the rest of the run of sets produced by the purveyor of bagged baked goodness.  i was a sucker for their iced animal cookies for sure.  anyway, the set that was missing was the 1996 set, which i subsequently picked up on ebay.

here's the manager, tom lasorda

in what would be his final set.

his coaching staff

included holdovers joe amalfitano, mark cresse, manny mota, bill russell, dave wallace, and reggie smith.  russell would assume the managerial position during the season after suffering a heart attack.

this set also includes the five straight rookies of the year for the first time - eric karros

mike piazza

raul mondesi

hideo nomo

and todd hollandsworth

who would win the award in '96.

here are a few other random dodgers from the set - delino deshields,

pinch-hitter extraordinaire dave hansen,

one of the many hot corner stopgaps between ron cey and adrian beltre, mike blowers,

milt thompson,

who spent the first half of the '96 season with the dodgers, and…

…chad fonville

fonville was one of the most exciting players to watch in 1995 after he joined the dodgers in may.  he wound up stealing 20 bases in 88 games during the regular season, and then went 6 for 12 in the three-game loss to the reds in the nlds.  i'll take as many fonville cards as i can get.

this was the last year that the mother's sets used the full bleed photos. i'll show some cards from the '97 and '98 sets in a future post.

a dodger memorial patch for campy and big d

when don drysdale made his big league debut in relief on opening day of the 1956 season, his battery mate was roy campanella.  the two were teammates again the following year, which turned out to be campy's last.  some 36 years later, campanella and drysdale passed away within a week of each other - campanella at the age of 71 and drysdale at 56, both dead from heart attacks. 

campanella, who was paralyzed in a car accident in january of 1958, was an 8-time all-star who won three national league mvp awards during his 10-year major league career.  prior to that, he had played in the negro leagues for 10 years, and he had been the first african-american player in the american association, playing for the saint paul saints in 1948 (there is a picture of campy in his saints uniform hanging in target field, the home of the twins).  he reached the majors for good later that season, and in 1969, he became the second african-american player to be voted into the hall of fame, following once again in the footsteps of jackie robinson.  campanella's number 39 was among the first three numbers retired by the dodgers in a 1972 ceremony that also retired the numbers of robinson and sandy koufax.  it was on june 26, 1993 that campanella died at his home.

drysdale had his number 53 retired by the dodgers following his induction into the hall of fame in 1984. he was also an 8-time all-star during his career, leading the league in strikeouts 3 times and winning the cy young award in 1962.  drysdale famously set the record for most consecutive scoreless innings in his final full season when he went 58 and two-thirds innings without allowing a run in 1968.  the streak included six consecutive shutouts from big d.  following his retirement in 1969, drysdale began a career as a broadcaster, and he joined the dodger's broadcasting team in 1988 following the retirement of jerry doggett.  five years later, drysdale was in montreal where the dodgers were playing the expos when he died on july 3, 1993.  it was vin scully who broke the news during that game's broadcast to us dodger fans, noting that don had previously undergone an angioplasty to relieve some heart problems.  what a surreal moment that was.

the dodgers added a memorial patch to their right sleeves for the remainder of the season honoring both hall of famers.  the patch, with the text '39 roy don 53' recognized the numbers that had been retired for each player.  you can see the patch on this 1994 fleer superstar special card of mike piazza and eric karros.

as well as this 1994 fleer superstar special card of brett butler

tom candiotti's 1994 donruss card

shows both the campy/big d patch and the tim crews memorial patch that was worn on the dodgers' left sleeves during the entire 1993 season.

ditto for brett butler's 1994 topps stadium card

which also features a mustachioed butler

butler is clean shaven on his 1994 donruss triple play card

as is tim wallach on his card from the same set

both cards show the patch nicely.

the back of wallach's 1994 topps stadium club card also gives a good view of the patch

as does pedro astacio's 1994 pinnacle card

cards from the 1994 topps set also display the patch - here's dave hansen's card

and ricky trlicek's, too

mike piazza's all-star card

would be a good representative of the patch since he and campanella are two of the greatest offensive catchers in the history of the game, but i think this 1994 upper deck collector's choice raul mondesi card

is the best example of the patch, so it sits in my memorials binder.

a series of signatures

finding an autographed card in a pack of cards was still a relatively new thing in 1996, and leaf took the idea to an extreme that year with their signature series set.  it was the first set to offer an autographed card in every pack.  i did not partake back then, but over the past few years i have picked up many of the dodgers from the set.  it's nice to see on-card autos of the 'gritty' players and loogys and other roster filler types that don't usually get any 'hit' love.  it makes sense - the only way to keep the cost down for a set like that is to fill the checklist with the salt of the earth types.

here's chad fonville

little chad went on a tear in 1995 after coming over from the expos.  dude played everywhere, stole some bases, and was generally a sparkplug.  hit .500 in the nlds, too - 6 for 12 against the reds.  1996 was not as exciting, however.

darren dreifort

so much potential, too many injuries.

roger cedeno

after not showing much as a part-time outfielder for the dodgers, cedeno had a big year for the mets in 1999 - .313 average, 66 steals in 155 games - but the dodgers had arnold gooch.  ok, they had todd hundley, too.

tom candiotti

the candy man was 7-14 with a 3.50 era for a first place team in 1995.  that's weird.  ramon martinez was 17-7 with a 3.66 era.  it turns out that the dodgers scored 1 run or less in 11 of candiotti's starts that year.  of course, he also got shellacked a few times.

pedro astacio

or, as we called him, pistachio.  get crackin'.  the only pitcher i was ever able to 'throw' a no-hitter with in all my years of playing tony larussa baseball (and later the mvp baseball series) by ea sports.

later in the year, leaf put out an extended series with even more obscure players on the checklist.

here's carlos hernandez

although i don't know what last name he signed there.  there is no 'i' in hernandez.

dave hansen

pinch hitter extraordinaire

darren hall

hall pitched for the dodgers over the course of three seasons, but has very few cards to show for it.  such is the life of a middle reliever in the 1990's.

john cummings

cummings was a dodger for the last part of the 1995 season and the first part of the 1996 campaign.  he also only has one or two dodger cards to his name.

and then there is mark guthrie

guthrie joined the dodgers as part of the kevin tapani trade in 1995.  he wound up pitching in 205 games for the blue over the course of 4 seasons.  all that, and this is just one of two cards of him put out by major manufacturers showing him as a dodger - the other being from the good ol' 1998 pacific online set.

still more double play cards from the junior junkie, plus one

here is the final post featuring cards that i have received from the junior junkie.  mostly double play cards at that.  including this 1995 pinnacle gary disarcina museum collection parallel

i absolutely love this card.  the yellow triangle, green helmet, red numbers and bill, plus the black armband for jimmie reese - there is a lot going on color-wise.  mucho gusto.

also from 1995 pinnacle, here's a craig biggio card

not quite as nice as disar.

also from 1995, here are a couple of alex gonzalez cards - upper deck collector's choice special edition silver signature

and regular old collector's choice

showing the continuation of the same play.

another pinnacle biggio - this one from 1996 pinnacle

and a jeff blauser sighting from 1996 score

2006 fleer felipe lopez

featuring an expos sighting.  the expos last appeared in 2004, so this could be the latest appearance for les 'spos in a non-retro themed set.

former dodger mariano duncan turns two on his 1995 donruss card

while fellow phillie kim batiste does the same on his 1995 score card

nice of dave hansen to try to break up the turn, especially in a spring training affair!

last card of the day - a 1995 donruss don slaught card

it's not a double play turn, but it does feature dodger eric karros lurking in the foreground.  and that's precisely why the junior junkie sent it along.

thanks again thomas for all of the cards.  i've got a few heading back to you soon...