the almost daily dodger - kevin brown

kevin brown took both the marlins (in 1997) and the padres (in 1998) to the world series so you understand why i was excited when he joined the dodgers for the 1999 season. of course, i would have preferred the dodgers had given the money they spent on brown to mike piazza instead, but there were two different regimes in charge of those transactions. kevin malone (the "new sheriff in town") was the one who signed brown to the hefty contract that included private jet privileges while the fox folks went behind the back of then gm fred claire to make the piazza trade.

anyway, i received this 2001 topps stadium club king of the hill pitchers mound dirt card

from sluggo a few months ago. i knew i already had the card, but the one that was sitting in my dodger binder has a protective film on it, so i've put this one alongside it. i don't think we've seen a card like this since, but it makes a nice companion to the film cannister i have of dodger stadium infield dirt that i collected when i was on the field for a concert back in the early 1990's.

the checklist for that insert set is small - pedro martinez, randy johnson, greg maddux, brown, and rick ankiel. remember what a hot pitching prospect ankiel was back in 2000?

here's one more of brown - 1999 fleer brilliants blue parallel

theses parallels are pretty sharp, and i am halfway (4 of 8) to having the complete dodger team set of them.

unfortunately, despite another stellar season, brown didn't come close to taking a third team to the world series in three years as the dodgers were eight games below .500 in 1999, 23 games behind the division champ diamondbacks. not much one starting pitcher can do on the days he doesn't pitch.