Trolley Dodging at Night

A couple of weeks ago, Night Owl posted that he was doing some cleaning, and he wanted to rid himself of all his dupes.  Well, it just so happens that a number of players in my collection spent some time in Dodger blue, so I gave him a list of guys I would take off his hands.  Well, Night Owl came through big for me.

Let's start with the All-Star MVPs.

 

I think this is my first Don Sutton as a Dodger card in color.  Strange.  All of my other Sutton's are from different teams or have a black and white photo.

Piazza is a favorite PC of mine because he fits into both the All-Star MVP and Rookie of the Year collections.  Only a few guys do that: Piazza, Ripken, Griffey, Jeter, Trout, Fred Lynn, Willie Mays, and Frank Robinson.

Though I've never been a Dodger fan, they are well-represented in my collection because of their odd streaks of star rookies.  From 1979 to 1982, the Dodgers swept the NL Rookie of Year votes: Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Howe, Fernando Valenzuela, and Steve Sax.  Then they went on a five-year streak from 1992-1996: Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi, Hideo Nomo, Todd Hollandsworth.  With the impressive farm systems and immediate success these players had, it's a wonder, looking back, that L.A. didn't dominate the majors for two decades.  Sorry to bring that up Dodgers fans.  Most of the aforementioned players were represented in Night Owl's package.

I've been Bipped!  Erm, Fernandoed!  Fernan-did?  I don't know how to say it, but Night Owl sure sent me a good number of "El Toro."  The Upper Deck card in the middle is so interesting to me.  I'm not sure why card companies did this, but the triple image sure makes for an interesting card.  Honestly though, what were they trying to do here?  And how did they choose which players got the triple-image treatment?

The Kellogg's is only my second Kellogg's card in my collection but this one is in much better condition, as my only previous card has cracked plastic on it.  

Love this Gold Zone card of Raul Mondesi.  I can't exactly read Mondesi's impermeable Mona Lisa stare, but I'm guessing that this isn't a happy bat flip.

Some interesting Nomos for me here.  That Stadium Club in the top middle is a reminder of everything that is good about the Stadium Club brand.

Of all the Dogder ROYs, Hollandsworth probably made the least of his subsequent years, although he did bounce around for a while, including a stop with my Cubbies.  The close-up of his face next to the name on the left here is a little bit weird.

Remember when Interleague play was a big deal?  This Karros from 1998 highlights the first year of Interleague play.

 

I have never seen a card like this Triple Play Action Baseball featuring Eric Karros.  What you see is a card that folds up and has a game in the middle.  You scratch off the boxes to determine the plays and use pennies as markers as you go around the field.  There is even a handy scoreboard on the card.  Play goes for 3 innings.  I'm sorely tempted to play a round with this one.

We'll end with some more Karros fun.  What you see here is a proud Rookie of the Year accepting his award on 1994 Collector's Choice.  Now fast forward to 1997 Pinnacle. Does this even look like the same guy?  Not that he looks extremely old in the second card, but that definitely feels like more than three years' worth of aging to me.

 Before I sign off here, let me give another shout out to Night Owl's generosity.  I also mentioned that I have a nephew who is a Dodger fan in training, and I hope to make a collector out of him as well.  Along with my cards here, I also received a small stack of Dodgers on cardboard for my nephew.  Thanks, Greg!