here are some cards from a game i attended 32 years ago tonight

shortly before i closed up shop at garvey cey russell lopes, i shared some photos that my dad and i took at dodger stadium 32 years ago tonight. we had the great fortune of being in attendance at game 1 of the 1988 world series bearing witness to kirk gibson's pinch-hit home run, and for a couple of years, those photos and my ticket stub, along with the vhs recording my mom had made of the game at home, were the only physical reminders of what we had seen.

1989 was the year that i collected cards the least, only buying one box of topps cards that year. of course, topps didn't bother to recognize the 1988 world series in that set, and i think it was another year or two before i saw the upper deck and fleer and o-pee-chee cards that had been issued that year.  then, in 1995, more cards were made featuring kirk gibson's famous home run, and the upper deck sp championship card from that year was my most wanted card until late in 1999 when i found out about ebay and finally obtained one for my collection.

anyway, since then, there have been a huge number of cards that feature photos from that particular game. i, of course, am trying to obtain them all in duplicate or triplicate (or more) as the case may be for this and other mini-collections, and my dodger collection, too.

here's a list of the cards i am aware of that feature photos from that game, and they are not all of gibson.  cards that i have in this mini-collection are shown below, although i do have most of the others (except for the numbered parallels) in my dodger collection.

1989 fleer world series #1 mickey hatcher

1989 fleer world series #3 jose canseco

1989 fleer world series #5 dennis eckersley/kirk gibson

1989 fleer world series glossy #1 mickey hatcher

1989 fleer world series glossy #3 jose canseco

1989 fleer world series glossy #5 dennis eckersley/kirk gibson

1989 o-pee-chee #382 kirk gibson

1989 topps woolworth #24 kirk gibson

1989 upper deck #662 kirk gibson

1989 upper deck #666 kirk gibson

1995 upper deck sp championship series classic performances #cp3 kirk gibson

1995 upper deck sp championship series classic performances die-cut #cp3 kirk gibson

1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever #29 kirk gibson

i appreciate the fact that a different photo was used on the back of the card

1999 upper deck century legends memorable shots #hr3 kirk gibson

2001 topps #382 kirk gibson

2001 topps gold #382 kirk gibson /2001

2001 topps home team advantage #382 kirk gibson

2001 topps chrome #307 kirk gibson

2001 topps chrome refractor #307 kirk gibson
2002 topps american pie #8 kirk gibson

2002 topps tribute #88 kirk gibson

2002 topps tribute memorable materials #mem-kg kirk gibson
2002 topps tribute memorable materials blue #mem-kg kirk gibson /88
2003 topps tribute #141 kirk gibson

2003 topps tribute gold #141 kirk gibson
2003 topps tribute world series signature relics #ssa-kg kirk gibson
2003 topps tribute world series memorable match-ups relics #mmr-eg dennis eckersley/kirk gibson /88
2004 topps world series stitches relics #ssr-kg kirk gibson
2004 topps world series highlights #ws-kg kirk gibson

2004 upper deck legends timeless teams #278 kirk gibson

2004 upper deck legends timeless teams bronze #278 kirk gibson /50
2004 upper deck legends timeless teams gold #278 kirk gibson /5
2004 upper deck legends timeless teams autograph #278 kirk gibson
2004 upper deck legends timeless teams autograph gold #278 kirk gibson /5
2005 fleer classic clippings official box score #5 kirk gibson /1988

2005 fleer classic clippings official box score gold #5 kirk gibson 
2005 topps etopps classic events #ce9 kirk gibson
2005 upper deck classics classic moments #cm-kg kirk gibson /1999

2005 upper deck classics classic moments materials #cm-kg kirk gibson
2005 upper deck classics classic moments autograph #cm-kg kirk gibson
2006 topps etopps event series #kigi kirk gibson
2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts memorable moments swatch #mm-kg kirk gibson /225
2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts memorable moments autograph #mm-kg kirk gibson /25
2007 upper deck masterpieces #6 kirk gibson

2007 upper deck masterpieces artist proof #6 kirk gibson
2007 upper deck masterpieces glossy #6 kirk gibson
2007 upper deck masterpieces windsor green #6 kirk gibson
2007 upper deck masterpieces green linen #6 kirk gibson
2007 upper deck masterpieces serious black #6 kirk gibson /99
2007 upper deck masterpieces black linen #6 kirk gibson /99
2007 upper deck masterpieces deep blue linen #6 kirk gibson /75
2007 upper deck masterpieces pinot red #6 kirk gibson /75
2007 upper deck masterpieces blue steel #6 kirk gibson /50
2007 upper deck masterpieces rusted #6 kirk gibson /50
2007 upper deck masterpieces ionised #6 kirk gibson /50
2009 upper deck goudey #104 kirk gibson

2009 upper deck goudey mini #104 kirk gibson

2013 panini cooperstown #65 vin scully (back)

2013 panini hometown heroes curtain calls #cc10 kirk gibson

2013 panini hometown heroes curtain calls gold border #cc10 kirk gibson
2020 topps decades' best 1980s #db-57 dodgers

2020 topps decades' best 1980s blue #db-57 dodgers

2020 topps decades' best 1980s green #db-57 dodgers

2020 topps decades' best 1980s black #db-57 dodgers /299

2020 topps decades' best 1980s gold #db-57 dodgers /50

2020 topps decades' best 1980s red #db-57 dodgers /10

2020 topps decades' best 1980s platinum #db-57 dodgers /1

2020 topps decades' best 1980s chrome #db-57 dodgers

that is a lot of the impossible happening! it's good to see some variety in the photos used, especially with the 2020 topps decades' best card. this is one event i will never tire of seeing commemorated on cardboard.

looking to 86 '89

as i grow more disillusioned with the 2017 products released by topps, i figured i would go back and see if i could obliterate a certain year from my dodger want list.  i figured that 1989 would be a good year since the dodgers won the world series the previous season, and so completing this task would mean that i would have all of the cards that celebrated that improbable finish.  i was already well on my way when i officially committed to the endeavor thanks largely to my 8-plus years trading within the blogosphere.  i didn't buy too many cards in 1989, and there were five major manufacturers back then, so this is a fairly decent task to have (nearly) completed.

anyway, most of the cards that i was in need of were specialty issues, like cards from the woolworth set.  there are a few orel hershiser cards in the set that i was missing, including this nondescript one

but also this one that shows orel in the world series with his dirty uniform

which makes the card a more tangible "baseball highlight" card.

reliever jay howell was also featured in the set,

thanks to his game 4 save on the road in oakland.

while it's great to see cards like the howell, 1989 small sets were all about orel hershiser and kirk gibson - the reigning cy young award winner, and the reigning mvp.  here's hershiser on a fleer baseball mvp card

and a fleer superstars card

both featuring dodger stadium and franklin stubbs in the background.

gibby shows up on a fleer baseball all-stars card

and a fleer heroes of baseball card

and they both get discs in the holsum schafer's

and king-b

oddball sets.  gibson seems pretty happy about those quality meat snacks.

tim leary was a feel-good story in 1988, so he got some love on 1989 cardboard, including this 1989 score hot 100 insert

there were old-timey players included in sets in 1989, too, thanks to swell.  here are the two cards i needed to complete the dodger team set - joe black

and andy pafko

my dodger andy pafko need list is very short these days, but will likely not get any shorter - if you know what i mean.

there are still a few oddball cards and stickers (i'm not counting minor league sets in this pursuit) on my 1989 want list, but i am close enough to finishing 1989 that i will certainly give myself a pass if i don't ever pick up the two doubleheader cards and the rest of the panini stickers.  still, see if you can help a blogger out!

is this heaven?

no. it's dodger stadium. and, since today was the dodgers' home opener, let's see some cards featuring dodger stadium.

chavez ravine hosted a stadium series hockey game between the ducks and the kings a couple of years ago, and i was able to track down some cards that show dodger stadium in the background.  unfortunately, they were all ducks cards.  i was a pretty big kings fan, even prior to the gretzky era, and attended several games (including the 1980 all-star game) at the fabulous forum in inglewood.  it would have been a trip to see hockey at dodger stadium.  anyway, here are the cards - a 2014-15 upper deck canvas cam fowler card

baseball, hockey, and soccer all represented.  also, seeing the fan in the number 11 kings sweater made me think of charlie simmer and mike donnelly.  i don't know who wears 11 for the kings these days.

here's jakob silfverberg on a 2014-15 upper deck card

i was about as young as his kid when i first visited dodger stadium.

finally, here's ryan getzlaf

walking with every level of seating visible behind him.

dodger stadium recently hosted the wbc semi-finals and finals, and i decided to pick up the topps now cards from those games, too.  i followed through with my decision, although there were a couple of cards i did not buy.  those won't make it to me for a while, so i'll show them later.  in the meantime, here are some more dodger stadium cards i've obtained recently.

1989 woolworth's rick honeycutt

the current dodger pitching coach is seen here throwing in game 2 of the 1988 world series.  he retired all three dodgers he faced, two by strikeout, but orel hershiser and the dodgers still won the game 6-0.  honeycutt picked up the win in game 3 in oakland (which is the reason he is featured in this set), but i'm glad topps used a photo from a game in dodger stadium.

i also picked up this 1993 cracker jack prize card featuring my favorite stadium

complete with team trivia and an appearance by the garv.

poor hank webb. they had to pick someone so obviously not in the hall of fame that they went with a guy who spent all but 5 games of his career with the mets.  still, webb was a member of the 1977 dodger team, and so he is a respected member of the franchise on my blogs.

oscar at all trade bait all the time also sent over some dodger stadium cards for my collection.

2000 upper deck angel pena

i miss the old light bulb field level scoreboards.

2012 bowman ted lilly

which is not as nice as his 2013 topps card (this being the target red parallel version)

nick punto's 2013 topps update card (also the target red parallel version)

includes a nice double play turn and the always welcome union 76 logo ball.

it doesn't snow in la, but there's snow on josh reddick's 2016 topps holiday card

this photo must be from early in the game as there are a lot of empty seats.

last but not least, here's a 1987 donruss ron darling card

with the left field pavilion and its distinctive awning nicely matching the mets' color scheme.

thanks oscar for being on the lookout for dodger stadium!