canadian food and other items of subjective merit

i guess poutine is the food most often cited as canadian fare, at least in my experience. i've been to canada many, many times, and i've never tried it, so i can't say whether it is any good or not.  what i do know to be good is receiving cards in the mail, as i did a short while back from brian at 'highly subjective and completely arbitrary'.

one of the cards that was on display in one of the team bags was this pedro guerrero oddball

it turns out that it is from a 1987 general mills fold-out food issue, which was obviously distributed in canada, because it's got the requisite french translations on it.  at first i didn't know it was a fold-out, and i thought that it just had the astros' kevin bass on the back.  but no, it's a fold-out

in fact, this is one of six fold-outs - one for each division - and it folds out to larger proportions.  inside there are more players, including the dodgers' steve sax

and fernando valenzuela

here you see fernando next to the padres' tony gwynn and the braves' dale murphy

with some of the other players being the astros' mike scott, giants' chili davis, and reds' dave parker.

the other player featured is the astros' bill doran, and i had to unfold the thing one more time to get him to show up.

that seems like a lot of astros, but keep in mind they won the division in 1986.  i like to think that if this had been issued a year earlier, steve garvey might have been included.

most of what brian sent was part of the trade break that he recently conducted, but there were a few other random dodgers included in the package, like this 1990 score john wetteland card

i haven't shown cards of the 1996 world series mvp very often on this blog, but that's because he was traded to the reds in the eric davis deal after the 1991 season so there aren't a ton of dodger wetteland cards to show.

there are even fewer (i think) of victor diaz, but a 2003 topps heritage card

is one of the ones available to team collectors like me.  diaz never actually played in a big league game for the dodgers, but he did see some action later with the mets and rockies.

i wish there were fewer cards of andruw jones as a dodger, but here's a 2008 topps heritage card, anyway.

if that card were the lowlight of the package, then this one was one of the highlights - a 2012 panini cooperstown tommy lasorda blue crystal parallel

there are no two ways about it - that is objectively a nice looking card. in my subjective opinion.

thanks for the cards brian - i'll show more of the trade break stuff another time.

the return of sunday morning target dodgers

i don't know how many of the 1000 or so cards from the 1990 target dodger sga set i will get around to posting, but i recently scanned a few more sheets, so here goes.  this set was given away at dodger stadium in five separate 'series'.  the cards number 15 to a page and are a bitch to store due to their unusual size unless you separate the cards.  i haven't done that yet so my sheets are loose.  the set includes a card for every player and manager who appeared in a game for the dodger franchise through 1989.  that's 100 years of bridegroom/superba/robin/dodger goodness!  on with the post.

carlos diaz

diaz came to the dodgers prior to the 1984 season in the trade that sent sid fernandez to the mets.  as far as i know, it is the only trade to involve two hawaiians.  diaz attended junior college in my hometown, for what it's worth, so his dodger arrival was kind of a big deal.  he pitched for the dodgers through the 1986 season, compiling a 7-3 record with a save.

tex erwin

erwin played for brooklyn from 1910-1914, during which time they were the superbas, dodgers, and then robins.  he was a backup catcher for the team.

art fowler

fowler, shown in los angeles angel gear, was one of the players that the dodgers received from the reds in the don newcombe deal.  his dodger experience lasted just one season - 1959.  fowler appeared in 36 games (all in relief) and had a record of 3-4.  unfortunately, he didn't appear in the dodgers' world series win over the white sox, and he eventually had his contract purchased by the angels before he could return to the big leagues.

al glossop

glossop arrived in brooklyn with lloyd waner prior to the 1943 season.  he was picked up by the reds at the end of the season, so glossop's dodger tenure included just 87 appearances and a .171 batting average.

tommy griffith

griffith was an outfielder for the robins from 1919 after he was acquired from the reds, until early in the 1925 season when he was traded to the cubs.  that means that he was part of the robins team that lost the 1920 world series to the indians.

lenny harris

harris was an active dodger when this set was released.  he joined the team during the 1989 season as a result of the trade with the reds that also included kal daniels, mariano duncan, and tim leary.  harris stayed with the dodgers through the 1993 season before returning to the reds.  he finished his career as a pinch hitter, setting the major league record with 212 career pinch hits.

joe hatten

hatten was 59-39 for the dodgers over the course of 5-plus seasons, beginning in 1946.  his best season (record wise) came in 1947 when he was 17-8 and helped the dodgers reach the world series.  he helped them return to the fall classic in 1949, but both times they lost to the yankees.  hatten was traded to the cubs in 1951 in the andy pafko deal.

brian holton

holton, who was a first round pick of the dodgers in 1978 and made his debut in 1985, was a member of the dodgers' 1988 world championship team, but he was traded to the orioles in the eddie murray deal shortly after the postseason ended.  that 1988 season was his best - he had a 1.70 era in 45 appearances, plus a 1.50 era over 4 appearances in the postseason.

len koenecke

koenecke was the dodger who was killed in an airplane after being sent home by the team.

irish meusel

meusel obviously also played for the giants, but he finished his career in 1927 with a lone season as a brooklyn robin.  he hit .243 in 42 games that year.

joe moeller

moeller's big league career spanned from 1962 through 1971.  he did not appear in a major league game for anyone other than the dodgers, although he spent a short time after the 1967 season as a member of the houston astros.  yes, he was a dodger double dipper.  overall, moeller was 26-36 in 166 appearances for the dodgers.

johnny oates

oates was the backup catcher to steve yeager and joe ferguson from 1977 through 1979.  he was part of two pennant winning teams (the teams of my youth) but is probably best remembered as the manager of the orioles and rangers.

nick polly

polly was a third baseman who appeared in all of 10 games for the dodgers in 1937.  he hit .222 in 18 plate appearances.  the only other big league experience polly had came in 1945 when he played in 4 games for the boston red sox.

johnny roseboro

perhaps the star of this post, roseboro took over the dodger catching duties following roy campanella's auto accident.  roseboro remained the dodgers' catcher for a decade, helping the team get to four world series during that span.  he was traded to the twins after the 1967 season with ron perranoski for mudcat grant and zoilo versalles.

bill shindle

was a member of the brooklyn bridegrooms from 1894-1898.  he was acquired in the trade that sent wee willie keeler to the baltimore orioles.  in his five seasons in brooklyn, the third baseman hit .274 with 13 homers and 373 rbi.  brooklyn would later reacquire keeler, but that's a post for another day.

i am staggered and heartbroken and bipped all at once

although it's a mini-bip, courtesy of heartbreaking cards of staggering genius.

five 1994 donruss special edition ramon martinez cards.  i can deal with that.

there were many many more cards included, such as a 1986 topps carlos diaz

carlos was born in honolulu, which is fairly rare for a major leaguer - baseball reference shows only 35 hawaiians have played in the big leagues, and not all of them were from the capitol city.  of course, diaz is the second third dodger pitcher to be born there - charlie hough and sid fernandez are is the others.  here's some trivia - the dodgers traded fernandez to get diaz in 1983!

2005 topps total hee seop choi.

jim tracy's whipping boy manning first in dodger stadium.  i sure wish topps would bring total back.  where else am i going to get a brent leach card?

2007 upper deck mark hendrickson

i wish the dodgers would go ahead and retire maury wills' number already.  i know it's against their policy (other than the jim gilliam exception) but come on.  when dave roberts wore it, he had maury's blessing.  i doubt big bird did.

a couple of autographs - 2004 fleer greats jeff torborg

it's a sticker, but still...

and a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams mickey hatcher

on card stunt man!  i wish mickey would sign ttm.  the only time i have met him (a couple years ago at spring training) i was unprepared.

finally, matt sent me my first 2010 card.  not just dodger, but card. 

it's true - i haven't bought any 2010 stuff. yet. i probably will, although i will likely just buy singles.  until i really feel the need to open packs.  which should be any day now.

thanks matt!