Since I am more of a set-collector than player collector, I don't spend a lot of time on accumulating the Dodgers that I like the most. I do subconsciously target my favorite Dodgers, but the general quest for any and all Dodgers, as well as set completion, overwhelms the attempt to find the most cards of a particular player.
But I figured I'd make a list of my favorite Dodgers to collect. Just so I don't lose sight of who they are, and to get them out in the open in case, you know, someone might want to, uh, like, send me some cards of these guys or something. Also, these are guys who would be the most likely to receive a TTM request from me.
I assembled a list of my top 30. But I'm only going to feature cards of the top 10, a blurb or so of players 10 through 20 and just a list of names for 20-30. That'll give some of those Dodgers out there something to shoot for -- maybe, if they behave, they can get in the top 10 and get a card picture the next time I update this list.
It's also a wildly fluctuating list. Three years ago, players like Russell Martin and Brad Penny would be featured prominently. Seven years ago, Shawn Green and Eric Gagne. Ten years ago, Raul Mondesi. Yes, I'm fickle. I'm a fan.
So, here is the list, as of June 23, 2009. You might be surprised:
1. RON CEY: But no surprises here. I've never met a Ron Cey card I didn't like. Well, those years with the Cubs was just Cey being silly. Those cards don't count. That wasn't the real Penguin.
2. SANDY KOUFAX. Most of his cards are way out of my price range. But I do have a smattering of nice ones. It give me hope that I'll acquire some more key ones some day. I have read more about Koufax than probably any other single ballplayer.
3. OREL HERSHISER. Orel's got a monster-ton of cards. His career spanned the overproduction era, so that diminishes things a bit for me (I have no desire to look at his '88 Donruss card on a regular basis), but Orel is the man for many, many reasons.
4. CLAYTON KERSHAW. It's hard for a current player to get on this list, just because I've watched the Dodgers for four decades now and also have a great respect for Dodgers history. So there is a lot stacked up against the youngsters. But Kershaw's going to be special, and I've really gotten into collecting his cards.
5. HIDEO NOMO. Keep the Nomo cards coming! The variety of great Nomo cards puts Hideo firmly in the top 10. I'm ashamed to say I like this guy more now that he's retired (he is retired isn't he?) than when he was playing for L.A.
6. ANDY MESSERSMITH. Perhaps this choice seems out of the blue. But Messersmith has a few things going for him. First, he was a prominent pitcher right when I began collecting cards. Second, I favor pitchers over hitters and especially dominant pitchers. Messersmith was 20-6 in 1974. Third, he's sporting a Peter Frampton hairdo. Frampton could do no wrong in the mid-70s.
The only thing about Messersmith is his Dodger career was three seasons long, and it was the '70s, so there aren't a lot of cards of him in an L.A. uniform. Here's another issue. Look at the 1976 Topps Messersmith card again, and now look at his other Topps issues when he was with the Dodgers:
Notice a theme? Thank goodness Messersmith changed it up a little bit in 1974 by looking to the left!
Keep in mind, this was before cable and the ability to watch every team's ballgames. So not only did I have no idea what Messersmith looked like throwing the ball, I didn't even know whether the guy had arms!
7. JACKIE ROBINSON. Fortunately, we have lots of retro cards of Jackie, because I'm going to have to invent a way for people to fly and patent it in order to earn enough money to buy some of those Jackies from the 1950s.
8. BOB WELCH. Imagine you are a budding teenage Dodger fan. Love the Dodgers. Hate the Yankees. Reggie Jackson is evil. Young kid Welch strikes out evil Jackson in the World Series. You love Bob Welch forever.
Kris from Cards in the Attic was nice enough to send me an address for Welch for a TTM try. Thanks, Kris!
9. TOM LASORDA. Lasorda's appearance in the top 10 surprises even me. Lasorda drove me bonkers when he was a manager. But he is such a character and a great ambassador for the sport, that there are all kinds of great Lasorda cards. That makes him fun to collect.
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10. CHAD BILLINGSLEY. The man who will start for the National League in the All-Star Game deserves to be in the top 10.
11. FERNANDO VALENZUELA. Fernando has lots of great cards, even if he apparently has some sort of issue with Topps.
12. PEDRO GUERRERO. My favorite player during the mid-80s. A natural-born hitter.
13. TOMMY DAVIS. Way before my time, but his period with the Dodgers in the early '60s fascinated me. There aren't a lot of cards of him with the Dodgers, and two (the 1965 and 1966 cards) are the exact same pose.
14. JERRY REUSS. Favorite pitcher for a period in the early '80s. Wheels are in motion on the TTM try.
15. MATT KEMP. Love watching him play. He could move up a lot the next time I do this list.
16. REGGIE SMITH. I'll forgive him for going to the Giants, but only because of his 1977 season.
17. SHAWN GREEN. Likeable, unassuming guy. At least that's how he seemed from afar.
18. MAURY WILLS. I need more cards of him. Plain and simple.
19. PEE WEE REESE. This is unrelated to anything, but I need to find some cards of Pete Reiser. There probably aren't very many from his Dodger days.
20. RAMON MARTINEZ. When he was on, he was untouchable.
21. Duke Snider
22. Roy Campanella23. Andre Ethier24. Carl Erskine
25. Mike Piazza
26. Jimmy Wynn
27. Don Drysdale28. Johnny Podres29. Eric Gagne30. Bill Buckner
(Apologies to: Wes Parker, Steve Garvey, Eric Karros, Brett Butler, Willie Davis, Kirk Gibson, Adrian Beltre, Russell Martin, Carl Furrillo, Doug Rau, Takashi Saito, Paul LoDuca, Davey Lopes, and a whole mess of others).
But I figured I'd make a list of my favorite Dodgers to collect. Just so I don't lose sight of who they are, and to get them out in the open in case, you know, someone might want to, uh, like, send me some cards of these guys or something. Also, these are guys who would be the most likely to receive a TTM request from me.
I assembled a list of my top 30. But I'm only going to feature cards of the top 10, a blurb or so of players 10 through 20 and just a list of names for 20-30. That'll give some of those Dodgers out there something to shoot for -- maybe, if they behave, they can get in the top 10 and get a card picture the next time I update this list.
It's also a wildly fluctuating list. Three years ago, players like Russell Martin and Brad Penny would be featured prominently. Seven years ago, Shawn Green and Eric Gagne. Ten years ago, Raul Mondesi. Yes, I'm fickle. I'm a fan.
So, here is the list, as of June 23, 2009. You might be surprised:
1. RON CEY: But no surprises here. I've never met a Ron Cey card I didn't like. Well, those years with the Cubs was just Cey being silly. Those cards don't count. That wasn't the real Penguin.
2. SANDY KOUFAX. Most of his cards are way out of my price range. But I do have a smattering of nice ones. It give me hope that I'll acquire some more key ones some day. I have read more about Koufax than probably any other single ballplayer.
3. OREL HERSHISER. Orel's got a monster-ton of cards. His career spanned the overproduction era, so that diminishes things a bit for me (I have no desire to look at his '88 Donruss card on a regular basis), but Orel is the man for many, many reasons.
4. CLAYTON KERSHAW. It's hard for a current player to get on this list, just because I've watched the Dodgers for four decades now and also have a great respect for Dodgers history. So there is a lot stacked up against the youngsters. But Kershaw's going to be special, and I've really gotten into collecting his cards.
5. HIDEO NOMO. Keep the Nomo cards coming! The variety of great Nomo cards puts Hideo firmly in the top 10. I'm ashamed to say I like this guy more now that he's retired (he is retired isn't he?) than when he was playing for L.A.
6. ANDY MESSERSMITH. Perhaps this choice seems out of the blue. But Messersmith has a few things going for him. First, he was a prominent pitcher right when I began collecting cards. Second, I favor pitchers over hitters and especially dominant pitchers. Messersmith was 20-6 in 1974. Third, he's sporting a Peter Frampton hairdo. Frampton could do no wrong in the mid-70s.The only thing about Messersmith is his Dodger career was three seasons long, and it was the '70s, so there aren't a lot of cards of him in an L.A. uniform. Here's another issue. Look at the 1976 Topps Messersmith card again, and now look at his other Topps issues when he was with the Dodgers:
Notice a theme? Thank goodness Messersmith changed it up a little bit in 1974 by looking to the left!Keep in mind, this was before cable and the ability to watch every team's ballgames. So not only did I have no idea what Messersmith looked like throwing the ball, I didn't even know whether the guy had arms!
7. JACKIE ROBINSON. Fortunately, we have lots of retro cards of Jackie, because I'm going to have to invent a way for people to fly and patent it in order to earn enough money to buy some of those Jackies from the 1950s.
8. BOB WELCH. Imagine you are a budding teenage Dodger fan. Love the Dodgers. Hate the Yankees. Reggie Jackson is evil. Young kid Welch strikes out evil Jackson in the World Series. You love Bob Welch forever.Kris from Cards in the Attic was nice enough to send me an address for Welch for a TTM try. Thanks, Kris!
9. TOM LASORDA. Lasorda's appearance in the top 10 surprises even me. Lasorda drove me bonkers when he was a manager. But he is such a character and a great ambassador for the sport, that there are all kinds of great Lasorda cards. That makes him fun to collect._NEW.jpg)
10. CHAD BILLINGSLEY. The man who will start for the National League in the All-Star Game deserves to be in the top 10.11. FERNANDO VALENZUELA. Fernando has lots of great cards, even if he apparently has some sort of issue with Topps.
12. PEDRO GUERRERO. My favorite player during the mid-80s. A natural-born hitter.
13. TOMMY DAVIS. Way before my time, but his period with the Dodgers in the early '60s fascinated me. There aren't a lot of cards of him with the Dodgers, and two (the 1965 and 1966 cards) are the exact same pose.
14. JERRY REUSS. Favorite pitcher for a period in the early '80s. Wheels are in motion on the TTM try.
15. MATT KEMP. Love watching him play. He could move up a lot the next time I do this list.
16. REGGIE SMITH. I'll forgive him for going to the Giants, but only because of his 1977 season.
17. SHAWN GREEN. Likeable, unassuming guy. At least that's how he seemed from afar.
18. MAURY WILLS. I need more cards of him. Plain and simple.
19. PEE WEE REESE. This is unrelated to anything, but I need to find some cards of Pete Reiser. There probably aren't very many from his Dodger days.
20. RAMON MARTINEZ. When he was on, he was untouchable.
21. Duke Snider
22. Roy Campanella23. Andre Ethier24. Carl Erskine
25. Mike Piazza
26. Jimmy Wynn
27. Don Drysdale28. Johnny Podres29. Eric Gagne30. Bill Buckner
(Apologies to: Wes Parker, Steve Garvey, Eric Karros, Brett Butler, Willie Davis, Kirk Gibson, Adrian Beltre, Russell Martin, Carl Furrillo, Doug Rau, Takashi Saito, Paul LoDuca, Davey Lopes, and a whole mess of others).
Comments
I know, I am easy to impress.
I think I'll probably make my own post similar to this at some point. Good idea.
By the way, what do you think Fletch's problem with Lasorda was? I never understood that.