anyway, i used to have a pc of griffey, and i recently moved this 2001 fleer ultra card
and so i tracked a copy down for the dodger stadium collection. that's the "e" in "dodgers" behind griffey as part of the murals that used to adorn the outfield wall at chavez ravine in the late 1990's and early 2000's.
from that defunct collection in to my lurker mini-collection. it wasn't until about a year ago that i noticed that the other player on the card was a dodger, and so it qualified for that collection. i am pretty sure that it is mark grudzielanek who is upside down on the card, with this photo coming after a hard slide by junior breaking up a double play attempt on april 23, 2000. here's a photo of the play from a different angle.
at some point in the last year or two, gavin at baseball card breakdown showed this 2000 pacific omega card on his blog
not to be outdone, brian at highly subjective completely arbitrary showed this 2007 upper deck scott hatteberg card
at some point which had me hunting down a copy for the aforementioned lurker collection. that's griffey with the backwards hat (of course) at the right of the card.
i also added a couple of other cards featuring an uncredited griffey - this 1997 donruss mariners team set jay buhner card
and this 2017 topps stadium club roy oswalt card
griffey is a foreground lurker on this card that is reminiscent of the 1976 topps tom seaver record breaker card.
the last card in this post is another one that i salvaged from the pc. it's griffey's 1996 select card
and it's been installed in my "meaningful and just because" mini-collection. this was one of my favorite cards back in '96 and i still enjoy looking at it. not only does it remind me of the mariners' run to the alcs in 1995, but griffey in that moment exuded pure joy and happiness. that game helped bring me fully back in to my fandom, and griffey's style and attitude was a big part of it.
happy birthday junior!
Really hope poor Mark Grudzielanek didn't break his neck after that slide by Mr. Griffey on that Ultra card.
ReplyDeletethe g-man lived to play another day!
DeleteI think that Oswalt is the most interesting one here, if only because I never would've noticed Junior there unless he was pointed out to me.
ReplyDeleteyes, having griffey on that card makes it only slightly more interesting (to me, anyway) as it's already a terrific point of view for a card
DeleteAnother post with some fantastic detective work.
ReplyDeletethanks fuji!
DeleteIt's unusual to read defunct PC and Ken Griffey Jr. in the same sentence!
ReplyDeleteyes it is - i still find a way to keep a lot of griffey and rickey henderson cards even though my pc's of them are officially defunct.
Delete