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C.A.: 1994 Score Steve Finley

(Greetings. I am currently sitting through about the 59th dreary, dark day of this fall/winter. It's been even more pronounced lately. When you get no snow for weeks, there's nothing on the ground to brighten up the gray sky. And the worst part is it's impossible to take card pictures for this blog. Filching scans it is! Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 317th in a series):
 

I play this little game with myself, which sometimes I also air on Twitter, where I ask myself the following question:
 
"Dodger card?"
 
This 1994 Score card was the latest example. It was one of the cards that Bob sent in that box I blogged about yesterday. He threw in a couple other cards that I'm thinking were just to mess with my head.
 
Now, the perfectly logical and serious-minded collector, with RULES and GUIDELINES would be adamant that this is not a Dodger card. The guy is listed with the Astros, he played with the Astros at that time, he is wearing an Astros uniform. 

However ... that logo behind him is so large, so bright, so blue, so wonderful. It's almost the first thing I see.

I actually thought about adding this to my Dodgers binders, right there at the end of my '94 Score team set. But I think I like 1994 Score so much I'll probably dedicate it to that pile of someday-to-complete sets that I'll never end up completing.

That's usually what I do for cards like this, come up with an overruling collecting obligation that will save me from making a complicated call. There's actually another card very much like this Astros Finley card in my collection.


Another Astros outfielder with Dodgerness in the background.

Even though Carl Everett's uniform does not announce his Astros' affiliation as proudly as the Finley card, I have banished this card to a box of incomplete Fleer sets. And since it's from one of those dead-zone years, 1999, it's my only example of an Ultra set from that year that is not a Dodger.

So if this card had no chance of making my Dodgers binder then Finley doesn't.

But there are other non-Dodgers in my Dodgers binders.


I barely hesitated in putting this 2021 Heritage card in my Dodgers binders. Just about 75 percent of the card is Howard as a Dodger! Besides, he's not even a Phillie anymore. He's now on the Rangers, which means he's moving across the country on his way to become a true Dodger, as is his destiny.



I made the decision quite awhile ago to include this card with my 1973 Topps Dodgers. Frank Robinson is so obviously playing for the Dodgers IN Dodger Stadium. That Angels listing on the bottom doesn't fool me.



This pair is not in my Dodgers binders, although both are quite obviously in Dodgers uniforms. That red number tells all.

I can hide behind the idea that I need both in my bid to complete the 1969 Topps set. But if I should get dupes, then what will I do?



Ray Lamb is also wearing a Dodgers uniform. But I just can't get past that crudely painted "C" on his cap so it's not going to make the binders.
 


Then there is this card from the 1971 Partridge Family set. I don't have this card -- I don't feel like paying the $8.50 it would cost -- but you better believe that if I did own it, it'd be going in my Dodger binders.

All of this makes me think I need a separate binder for cards just like this (yeah, like I have room for that). Then they'd have a place to go without me being conflicted seeing them with the rest of my Dodgers.
 
I'm sure some of you team-collectors have similar problems. Or maybe you just make it easy on yourself and dismiss stuff like this. 

But I can't do that.

Comments

Chris said…
That Carl Everett card fooled me at first. And The Partridge Family single would be a unique addition to your Dodgers collection. I hope you can find a copy in your price range.

May hard and fast rule for team classification is to go by the uniform the player is wearing. Unless it's a team PC, then I'll go with uniform and/or team name. So if the Dodgers were my team, I'd put in everything but the Astros guys. I'd probably have to leave out Lamb, too. (Damn airbushed logo)
Brett Alan said…
I suppose I do dismiss things like this in terms of putting them with my Mets cards. Then again, while there are tons of cards with a Mets logo in the way background on the Shea scoreboard, I can't think of any with such prominent Mets logos on other teams' cards, or something like the Howard with a Mets uniform.

That Partridge Family card is pretty awesome. I did collect a fair amount of non-sport in the 70s but I never had any from that show.
bryan was here said…
Now you need to find the Perranoski that has the LA visible on his cap.
haha. I do a Braves in the background binder. I got the idea from a fellow blogger who left years ago and came back last year. He called his mini collection Dodgers in the background. I know you know who I am talking about.
gcrl said…
i appreciate that steve finley cardboard! i make room in one of my mini collections for these cards - the finley is in my lurker collection as is ozzie smith's 2020 stadium club card that also features a lurking dodger logo. the others like the everett and robinson go in my dodger stadium collection and then the cards like the 1969 ones you show or the 2006 topps jose valentin card are kept adjacent to the dodger team sets.

i will have to find one of those partridge family cards for the dodger stadium collection even if they are not actually in the stadium. it looks like the players in the background are just extras in dodger uniforms, unfortunately. thanks for showing that card - i had never seen it before.
BaseSetCalling said…
That Lamb card is probably the only Cincinnati Indians card ever made, I would think.

I put a Yankees card in a Tigers binder just today - 2011 Update Russell Martin - one of the greatest Cameo cards I have.
Nick Vossbrink said…
100% agreement on the Partidge family card.

If the guy is depicted in an unaltered Giants uniform (eg 1960 Jackie Brandt or 1964 Felipe Alou) I'll put it in the Giants album. If the logo has been removed or replaced though it does not. If there's a Giant prominently depicted on the card (most commonly sliding into 2nd base in the late 80s/early 90s eg 1988 Score Tom Herr or 1992 Topps Paul Faries) I'll probably slide it into the Giants album as I come across it.

Outside of that, probably not. Though I am putting together a page from each set of non-Giants cards which depict Candlestick park. I should probably get back on that project but it's a weird one since I have to have the time to just browse through a ton of commons and look at the photos.
Nick said…
I couldn't bring myself to put any of these in my Dodger binders - they're just not *quite* Dodger cards to me. The closest would probably be that '73 Frank Robinson because Topps put such little effort into convincing us he wasn't a Dodger in that photo (but that one's in my Angels binder as we speak, for better or worse).
steelehere said…
I'm curious which Topps set (up through 1990) has the most former Dodgers airbrushed into the new teams uniforms over their Dodger uniforms.

My gut tells me it's either 1969, 1974 or 1976 Topps (if you include the traded sets for the last two).
Bo said…
I'm not a team collector or sorter, but if I was, I'd go by the uniform in the photo. Airbrushing would count for the team the card company is going for, even if it's a minimal job like the '73 Robinson. Cards where the player has the new team name on the card but is still in the old team uniform in the photo, are a card from that team.
Jon said…
Were I a team collector, I'd definitely do another binder for cards like these.
Fuji said…
A. Hope the sun shines soon in your area. It poked out here for a few hours on Thursday, but it's been either raining or overcast here in the Bay Area for the better part of three weeks. Pretty sure rain is forecasted the entire 3 day weekend. But outside of flooding (feel so sorry for anyone who has ever had to deal with flooding) and mudslides, I've gotta admit... California can use the rain... so it's hard to complain.

B. Normally I wouldn't root for anyone to eventually play for the Dodgers, but it would be pretty cool if Howard eventually does.

C. That 73T Frank Robinson is such a great looking card. Just wish Topps didn't airbrush Dodgers off of his jersey.

D. I kinda wanna go watch that episode of The Partridge Family right now.