seeing double

with no vintage set to chase currently, i really haven't paid a lot of attention to older cards over the past year or so. the one card i did decide to seek out finally made it in to my hands a couple of months ago. it's a 1955 topps doubleheader jim gilliam card

that he also shares with red sox hurler ellis kinder

as you can probably gather, the card folds and unfolds, with kinder (with gilliam's lower left leg)

being the primary image. gilliam is revealed when you unfold the card. i thought it was pretty neat and liked the idea of adding another gilliam card to the collection.

there are other, less interesting ways to get more than one player on a card, too. for example, there are some modern team cards, like this 2011 topps dodgers cognac parallel

that replaces the team leaders concept from the 1980's.

more common are "combo cards", like this 2011 topps heritage chrome parallel

matt kemp and andre ethier were a dynamic duo in topps' eyes back in 2011 i guess.

topps has maintained the combo cards in heritage in recent years, adding them as an insert set to the high numbers release. here's the 2020 heritage high number combo card 

that i am most interested in.

last year, panini included "historical duals" in their absolute release. the dodgers were represented by teammates roy campanella and gil hodges

not to be outdone, topps issued an online only set called dynamic duals. i've shown one of these dusty baker/steve garvey cards before, but i've added the dual autograph card

and the blue parallel card

to my collection since then.

topps issued the set again this year, with don sutton and clayton kershaw

being featured on the "cooperstown calling" insert.

i really wish that topps would bring bunt back to the real world and issue some of their digital cards as real, tangible cards. here is one that i would love to own and be able to slide into a 9 pocket page

of course, topps does include then and now cards in heritage. the dodgers have been well represented through the years, thanks to the dominance of sandy koufax and others. here are a couple cards from 2013 topps heritage

and 2015 topps heritage

respectively.

i didn't bother to scan any league leader cards or all-star cards which have historically been used to get two guys on one card, but i did scan a few rookie cards that fit the bill.  these three cards are from 2000 pacific omega

they are short printed cards that are considered part of the team set and i just recently tracked them down.

similarly, this 2002 fleer platinum card

finished up my team set, and is also a short print.

this 2004 topps rookie card of eventual journeyman edwin jackson (and greg miller)

is numbered like the omega cards, but that's because it's the gold parallel. not because it's a "base" short print.

there was a time - around 2007 and 2008 - when i felt that topps was using combo cards as filler and really forcing the issue. some of those cards back then were pretty bad, but for the most part i like the idea of multi-player cards when there is a valid connection between the two.

of course, there are other sorts of "double" cards in my collection - those showing the double play turn at second base. here are a couple i haven't shared before:

1998 pacific invincible tripp cromer gems of the diamond

2020 topps dansby swanson gold parallel

and 2022 topps stadium club chrome fernando tatis jr

you can't tell in the scan, but that is the dodgers' will smith sliding in under tatis.

i like double play cards, too - just don't call them combo cards!

dusty-nation cooperstown?

i am going to guess that most of you reading this are familiar with the idea of a "coaching tree", most likely the bill walsh coaching tree. that was the first coach to whom i heard the concept applied back in the early 2000s or maybe even late 1990s. i liked the idea and immediately thought of the baseball equivalent. being a dodger fan of a certain age, i went straight to tommy lasorda.

during his tenure as the dodger skipper, lasorda managed a number of big league players players who went on to manage in the majors, including two of my favorite infielders in bill russell and davey lopes, as well as mike scioscia, johnny oates, glenn hoffman, ron washington, ron roenicke, kirk gibson, phil garner, willie randolph, and even juan samuel. those managers have begat major league managers of their own and so it goes.

the most successful major league manager to come from the lasorda tree is, of course, dusty baker. earlier this year he was credited with the 2,000th victory of his managerial career, and of course i bought the topps now card that was created as a result

manager cards are not too plentiful these days, and this is a welcome addition to my dusty baker post-dodger collection. that collection, combined with my dodger collection, essentially means that i want all of the non-braves dusty baker cards.

case in point, i recently picked up a couple of these cards

one for my dodger collection and one for the steve garvey collection. it's a 2022 topps dynamic duals online release. there are parallels and a dual sticker auto version which would be nice to have, but they haven't popped up too often and are overpriced when they do.  i still can't believe there's never been a card with all four of the 1977 dodgers who hit 30 or more home runs that year, but two out of four ain't bad. it was great to see those two former teammates at dodger stadium last night - dusty managing in the all-star game (even if he was on the visitor's side), and garvey alongside billie-jean king handing out the mvp award to giancarlo stanton after the game. 

managing the winning side in the all-star game is another (although largely sentimental) milestone in baker's managerial career that has me thinking about his chances for enshrinement in the hall of fame. as the card states, only 11 managers reached 2000 wins before him, and of those 11, only bruce bochy is not in the hall of fame. i think most expect bochy to be enshrined thanks to his three world series championships, however. for baker, who now sits at ninth all-time in managerial wins, the world series title has been elusive. his teams have won two pennants but lost in the fall classic each time. he has a decent shot at a pennant again this year, and depending on who the national league champion is, i just might be rooting for him to get that ring.