9 downing street?

i was a little annoyed a few years ago when "batting stance guy" was being feted around the internet. there was no youtube when i was growing up, but me and my friends (and i am sure pretty much every other baseball playing kid of the day) were mimicing the batter's box routines of steve garvey, willie stargell, joe morgan, rod carew and other players with distinctive stances.  that guy wasn't unique, he just succeeded at marketing himself at a time when certain media outlets were looking for content, i guess.

growing up in southern california, there was another player whose stance we copied, and that was the angels' brian downing.  downing had a very open stance, and would pull his front foot back in line as part of his prep as the pitch was being delivered. it was quite different.  

i was drawn to his 1981 topps card

because it shows his open stance although not from the best angle.  the other thing that struck me about this card was the number 9 on his back.

i am a numbers guy. i was a numbers kid. i studied stats and jersey numbers exhaustively back then, and to me, downing was number 5.  he took that number when he joined the angels in 1978 and wore it until he left the team as a free agent following the 1990 season.  however, there was a brief period of time when he wore number 9 during the 1980 season.  downing, wearing his number 5, fractured his ankle during a game in april that year, and was out until september. during his absence, teammate carney lansford had taken to wearing number 5 (i assume with downing's blessing) and so downing wore number 9 for the final month of the season when he returned from the disabled list.

in 1981, it was back to number 5 for downing as lansford was dealt to the red sox in the offseason. downing's name came to mind a couple months ago when mike trout was busy becoming the angels' franchise leader in home runs, as downing had once topped that list. he was actually atop a number of offensive leaderboards for the halos until garrett anderson and tim salmon came along.  to me, he's still high on my list of number 5's, along with brooks robinson, george brett, johnny bench, jim lefebvre, and johnny oates. and corey seager, of course.

blue backs for not many greenbacks

 i recently completed my 1951 topps dodger team set by picking up the two blue backs

i was missing. they were the cards of bruce edwards

and billy cox

it is a great feeling to complete a vintage team set like this, and i will likely never complete another vintage topps dodger set as i am only missing cards from 1952 and 1953. i suppose 1953 is possible, but 1952 is almost certainly out of the question with all of those high numbers. i will be content with my jackie robinson card and maybe just try to complete the low number team set.

i was able to get these cards for "free", as i used a $25 ebay coupon and ebay bucks to cover the costs, and i owe a big thanks to josh at royals and randoms for alerting me to the possibility of the ebay coupon, and to night owl for reminding me that i should be paying attention to these needs of mine.

coincidentally, josh also sent some cards my way recently.  at the top of the package was this 1993 fleer flair pedro martinez card

that i had requested during a giveaway that josh was hosting. quite a lot of the package was heavy on these cards:

mlb showdown!

these cards spanned several years, and are great as they include some lesser known or infrequently featured players like gregg olson:

that card is from 2000, and features the 1989 american league rookie of the year in dodger blue. olson pitched (poorly) for the dodgers in 2000 and 2001, and i believe that this card is the only cardboard evidence of his tenure in los angeles outside of dodger team sga sets like keebler and police issues.

here's a 2001 mlb showdown card of another dodger reliever not often seen in dodger blue

mike fetters and his signature stare were featured on the dodger pitching staff in 2000 and part of 2001. i think he has one other dodger card outside of those aforementioned sga sets.

better known dodger relievers were also represented, thanks to this 2005 strategy card featuring eric gagne

the strategy cards are cool because they sometimes feature obscure players. that is not the case with this one from 2001 that shows kevin brown "airing it out"

but there is this one from 2003 that shows dave roberts being overmatched

as well as this one (also from 2003) that shows a bunch of dodgers on the mound.

i spy kaz ishii, mark grudzielanek, cesar izturis, paul loduca, and pitching coach jim colborn on that card. great to see the coach represented!

speaking of which, josh also included a few cards from the dodgers' 1999 police set. one of those cards was of the coaching staff!

jim tracy, manny mota, and john shelby up front, with glenn hoffman, rick down, davey johnson, rick dempsey, and charlie hough behind them.  it would turn out that there are three dodger managers featured on this card - former manager hoffman, future manager tracy, and then-current manager johnson.  davey also got a card of his own in the set:

johnson's tenure was pretty forgettable, and may be best remembered for the white hats and blue jerseys that the dodgers broke out a few times. it was sacrilegious to me at the time.  the last card i will show from the package received from josh is this jacob brumfield card from the police set.

i am fairly certain that this is brumfield's only dodger card, and i am happy to have it. he appeared in a total of 18 games as a dodger after being signed by the club on march 5, 1999. he was claimed on waivers by the blue jays two months later, so kudos to the folks who put this set together for documenting brumfield's short tenure within such a small window of time!

thanks again josh for the cards and the tip!

collecting the "o-pee-chee" subset in 1981 donruss

i bought a lot of baseball card packs in 1981. with fleer and donruss joining topps, there were now three sets to chase and complete, and i was all in on all three.  donruss intrigued me because, despite the gum that had a weird powder on it and the flimsy card stock, there were cards of coaches and managers (the first time since 1978 topps) and multiple cards for many star players (including steve garvey) to chase.  plus, the design resembled 1978 topps which i liked.  and then there were the cards that i saw as a nod to o-pee-chee variations.

i am sure by now you all know that i love me some o-pee-chee variations (i had a whole blog about them!). it started with buying packs of 1978 o-pee-chee in saskatchewan during the summer of  '78 and my fascination and appreciation of those variations has never gone away.  in 1981, donruss included some cards that reminded me of those canadian gems, and being unaware of the timing of the cards being printed, i was hopeful of finding a dodger ken landreaux card right up until the time i opened a pack and saw him still listed as a twin.

even though i still have my complete 1981 donruss set (minus all the variants), i decided a couple of years ago to also pull together a collection of what i call the 1981 donruss o-pee-chee subset. the cards lacked the "now with..." or "signed as free agent..." type text variations, but the team name and borders were updated to match the new team affiliation, just like o-pee-chee. there are 17 cards in all. let's have a look.

cliff johnson

johnson was traded to the a's on december 11, 1980 with keith drumright for mike king. neither of the other two players are in the 1981 donruss set.

larry milbourne

milbourne was dealt to the yankees on november 18, 1980 for former dodger brad gulden and cash. his card was also interesting to me because of the positions listed. "short" is a subset of "i-f", so that's weird. now that i have the benefit of baseball reference and can see where milbourne actually played, i think they would have been better off going the "2b-ss-3b" route, as milbourne played all of those, but not first base in 1980.  gulden, by the way, is not in the set.

dave roberts

roberts signed with the astros as a free agent on december 10, 1980. his position moniker is correct in that he played all four infield positions plus catcher (and right field) in 1980.

jim essian

essian was signed as a free agent by the white sox on november 20, 1980. unfortunately for essian, the white sox signed another catcher later in the offseason by the name of carlton fisk.

darrell porter 

porter signed with the cardinals as a free agent on december 7, 1980.  just under two years later, he would earn mvp honors in the nlcs and world series, helping the cardinals take down his former royal teammates in seven games.

willie norwood

norwood was traded by the twins to the mariners on december 12, 1980 for byron mclaughlin. in a confusing move, mclaughlin was left as a mariner in the 1981 donruss set. norwood, who went to long beach poly (same school as tony gwynn), was released by the mariners near the end of spring training. yes, it's a zero-year card! someone alert nick!

ray burris

this card really confused me back when i first saw it in 1981. i knew that burris was on the mets thanks to my 1980 (!) topps card. it blew my mind that donruss was using a photo from 1979 at the latest, showing burris with the cubs. i later realized that there were other older photos used by donruss (one of reggie jackson's cards, for example).  the weird thing here is that burris signed as a free agent with the expos prior to the 1981 season, although that didn't occur until february 18, 1981 so was too late for donruss to update the card i assume.

geoff zahn

sorry, i guess he's "jeff" now. not really - donruss just didn't pay attention to the guy's name or look at any of his other baseball cards that had been issued since 1975.  zahn signed with the angels as a free agent on december 2, 1980 and spent the rest of his career with the halos.

butch hobson

hobson was acquired by the angels on december 10, 1980 along with rick burleson. in exchange, they sent carney lansford. mark clear, and rick miller to the red sox.  those other guys are all in the 1981 donruss set, but hobson is the only one who got the "o-pee-chee" treatment. this confused 10-year old me greatly.

mike vail

vail was traded to the reds by the cubs on december 12, 1980 for hector cruz. cruz was in the topps and fleer sets, but not donruss.

jerry martin

and jesus figueroa

were traded by the cubs to the giants on december 12, 1980 for joe strain and phil nastu. nastu is not in the set, but strain is - and he is still a giant on his card.

bruce sutter

the cardinals acquired sutter on december 9, 1980 from the cubs for leon durham, ken reitz, and ty waller. durham and reitz are in the set, but are shown as cardinals. another head scratcher for young gcrl. the sutter card, by the way, was one of my favorite cards that year.

bob owchinko

this card was also one that interested me as the 1981 season got started. owchinko was part of a december 9, 1980 six player trade between the indians and pirates that had gary alexander, victor cruz, and rafael vasquez joining him in cleveland in exchange for bert blyleven and manny sanguillen. aside from vasquez (who was not featured in the set), owchinko is the only one who got the o-pee-chee treatment. what was more interesting to me, however, was that owchinko wound up pitching for the a's in 1981, as he was traded to them just before the season began.

ron leflore

here's another favorite card of mine from 1981. leflore signed with the white sox as a free agent on november 26, 1980. he was coming off a season in which he had stolen 97 bases, but did so in the same season that rickey henderson stole 100.

fred stanley

stanley was traded to the a's on november 3, 1980 for mike morgan.  morgan rightfully did not have a card in the 1981 set as he spent all of 1980 in the minors, however, this marked the beginning of his travels through the majors which would have him pitching for a then-record 12 different franchises before he was done.

dave edwards 

edwards was traded by the twins to the padres on december 8, 1980 for chuck baker, who was not in the set.

with all of these cards being higher numbers in the set (cliff johnson is the lowest number at #484), i am guessing that donruss took a linear approach to finalizing the designs of the cards, and had completed most of the set sometime in november, with these cards being finalized sometime in december.  in fact, it looks like december 12 was a cut-off of sorts, as doyle alexander and john montefusco were traded for each other on that date, but remain with their former teams in the set despite being cards number 448 and 434, respectively, while norwood, vail, martin, and figueroa saw their cards updated after they were dealt on that same date.  i find it all very interesting.

of course, i would later be treated to the 1981 topps traded set that gave me updated cards of most of these players (there were no cards for figueroa or norwood) including owchinko being shown with the a's and burris with the expos, plus that ken landreaux dodger card is was hoping for.  i didn't go to canada in 1981, so didn't get to see the o-pee-chee variations until a year later when i was back in the prairie provinces. it turns out that only martin, burris (expos), leflore, sutter, johnson, and hobson got the true o-pee-chee treatment, making me appreciate these donruss cards even more.

goose gossage is in my hall of famer collection

rich "goose" gossage is in my hall of famer collection with this card:

that is a 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph card. here's the back:

it is pretty perfect that this card references the 1981 world series in which gossage earned the save in both games 1 and 2 against the dodgers because this is how i mostly remember him as a player. more specifically, the card references game 2, which took place 39 years ago tomorrow! my first introduction to gossage came in the 1978 fall classic, however. in that series, the dodgers won the first two games, and i was certain that they were going to avenge their 1977 loss in short order. gossage pitched in game 2, but it was his game 4 appearance that really had me paying attention.

gossage entered that game in the top of the ninth, just after the yankees had tied the game (this was the game in which reggie jackson stuck his hip out to deflect a double play relay throw which allowed the yankees to steal a run, but whatever). i was, of course, looking for the dodgers to retake the lead, but gossage pitched two scoreless innings, striking out reggie smith (whose 3-run home run earlier in the game accounted for all of the dodger runs) and steve garvey in the top of the 10th, and the yankees won it and tied the series in the bottom of the inning. gossage was back on the mound in game 6 to end the series which didn't endear him to me.

then, in 1981, he saved those first two games and beaned ron cey in game 5, so he was pretty much enemy number 1. thankfully, the dodgers bounced back after dropping the first two games and won the series in six, and i didn't have to see gossage again.  around this time, my dad began collecting cards with me, and for some reason he included gossage in his player collections.  three years later, i was ok with gossage helping garvey and the padres win the national league pennant - how fickle fandom can be in the free agent era!

i did see gossage pitch in person once. it was september 11, 1991, and he was with the texas rangers then.  he entered the game against the angels with the rangers down a run in the bottom of the 8th and faced two batters. as i look at baseball reference now, i see that he threw only three pitches. he allowed a single to shawn abner and retired gary gaetti on a sacrifice bunt. he was removed from the game so that kenny rogers could face wally joyner.

since then, goose has signed a couple of cards for me through the mail, and i am happy to add another card of his to my collection.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relic

nap lajoie - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

tris speaker - 2011 topps tribute dual relic green parallel 53/75

eddie collins - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

george sisler - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

dizzy dean - 2001 topps tribute relic

hank greenberg - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

bob feller - 2001 topps archives certified autograph

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relic

ted williams - 1992 upper deck baseball heroes autograph 1067/2000

stan musial - 2002 topps team topps legends autograph

yogi berra - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1640/2000

sandy koufax - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1707/2000

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints certified autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

bob gibson - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

frank robinson - 1995 upper deck autograph

don drysdale - 1993 nabisco all-star autographs

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

pee wee reese - 2001 topps tribute relic

lou brock - 2018 topps archives signature series 1989 buyback 53/61

jim hunter - 1998 donruss signature series significant signatures 0736/2000

willie stargell - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures 

johnny bench - 2019 topps definitive collection legendary autograph 09/25

red schoendienst - 2012 panini cooperstown signatures 038/549

jim palmer - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

rod carew - 2004 topps retired signature autograph

fergie jenkins - 2013 topps five star baseball autograph 154/333

gaylord perry - 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

hal newhouser - 1993 front row premium all-time greats autograph

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autograph 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autograph 43/45

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback 048/147

phil niekro - 2017 panini donruss recollection collection 1983 donruss buyback autograph 13/33

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

robin yount - 2001 upper deck ultimate collection ultimate signatures 112/150

carlton fisk - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

tony perez - 2004 fleer national pastime 2002 fleer greats authentic autograph buyback 30/59

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

ozzie smith - 2019 topps finest finest origins autograph

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

eddie murray - 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary sigs 45/50 

dennis eckersley - 2017 topps archives signature series 1984 topps buyback 47/99

paul molitor - 2016 topps museum collection archival autographs 021/125

wade boggs - 2005 upper deck baseball heroes autograph red parallel 30/49

ryne sandberg - 2016 topps five star autographs gold parallel 17/50

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites certified autograph

tony gwynn - 1997 donruss signature series millennium marks autograph 0702/1000

cal ripken jr - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 32/75

goose gossage - 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants past time signatures

andre dawson - 2000 fleer greats of the game autograph

bert blyleven - 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams autograph

ron santo - 2004 topps retired signature autograph

greg maddux - 2018 topps luminaries masters of the mound autograph 13/15

pedro martinez - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 09/60

ken griffey jr - 2003 upper deck game face autograph

mike piazza - 2014 topps five star autograph 35/50

tim raines - 2018 topps tribute tribute autograph green parallel 26/95

alan trammell - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

roy halladay - 2017 topps archives signature series 2004 topps buyback 15/23

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

roger clemens* - 1995 upper deck autograph

 

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.