I find it a little amusing that I am one of the few people blogging about the Dodgers' 60th anniversary baseball card giveaway, given that I am nowhere near the site where they're giving away the cards.
Dodgers Blue Heaven has provided the usual complete rundown on the cards, and I've seen them on gcrl's cards as I see them blog. And, of course, they've appeared on the blog Stadium Fantasium, written by my source for these cards, Andy.
He provided me with the first two series in the giveaway, which celebrated Dodgers teams of the 1960s and 1970s, with the 1965 and 1977 Topps designs, respectively.
Recently, he sent the next two giveaway packs to me, which focus on the 1980s and 1990s. Let's see those.
The 1980s really is the end of a golden age in Dodgers history, which began in the 1940s and ended when the 1990s started. During that period, they reached the postseason 18 times and won the World Series five times. It hasn't been the same since.
The '80s write-up focuses on the two World Series teams, from 1981 and 1988, but the design is from 1985.
I sure do miss candid photos.
The set features a mix of candids, posed and action, just as you saw in 1985. The current players shown are the same ones in the '60s and '70s sets (and the same in the '90s, too).
The one throwback person from the '80s is not a player. I was kind of hoping for Fernando Valenzuela or Kirk Gibson. I was really hoping for Orel Hershiser.
Instead it's the manager of both the '81 and '88 World Champions, Tommy Lasorda, which I guess is appropriate. And there were manager cards in the 1985 set. Still isn't The Bulldog though.
The next set recalls the 1990s. That was a period of great success on an individual level for L.A. As the write-up says, the Dodgers produced five straight rookies of the year and brought Asian players to the major leagues. But the individual success didn't translate to team success and by the end of the '90s there was quite a bit of strife in the front office, which basically lasted until McCourt got the boot.
The '90s cards utilize the 1994 design, which is interesting since that was the strike year. But I appreciate the unexpected direction.
The cards stay true to the photo tastes of the time, which was all action photos.
The retro star for this series is who you'd expect it to be, especially with the 1994 design.
I've seen Piazza on the '94 design so many times and in several different ways, but I appreciate this particular photo as I know it's from 1993 because of the No. 52 on Piazza's jersey that the Dodgers wore in 1993 to memorialize former Dodgers reliever Tim Crews.
Here are the backs for each series. The '94 cards feature a different photo than what is on front, which is a nice touch. The '85 backs are appropriately mind-numbingly boring.
There are two more sets to go in the giveaway as the Dodgers will remember the '00s in August and the '10s in September. I think the '00s set will feature the Topps 2001 design, but I don't know the design for the 2010s. It better not be 2016.
Many thanks to Andy for sending these along! I'm jealous. He gets to go to Dodger Stadium AND get cards.
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