in fact, this is one of six fold-outs - one for each division - and it folds out to larger proportions.  inside there are more players, including the dodgers' steve sax
and fernando valenzuela
here you see fernando next to the padres' tony gwynn and the braves' dale murphy
with some of the other players being the astros' mike scott, giants' chili davis, and reds' dave parker.
the other player featured is the astros' bill doran, and i had to unfold the thing one more time to get him to show up.
is one of the ones available to team collectors like me.  diaz never actually played in a big league game for the dodgers, but he did see some action later with the mets and rockies.

i wish there were fewer cards of andruw jones as a dodger, but here's a 2008 topps heritage card, anyway.
there are no two ways about it - that is objectively a nice looking card. in my subjective opinion.

thanks for the cards brian - i'll show more of the trade break stuff another time.

kennedy makes his third appearance in a row on this card from the 1990 fleer insert set
score also had a giamatti card in their set
and they published the first and last paragraphs of an essay by giamatti himself on the back
and 1990 topps
also featured memorial cards of the late commissioner, who also served as national league president from december of 1986 until his tenure as commissioner began in april of 1989.  the backs of both cards also reference 'the green fields of the mind'.  here's the back of the topps card
and summer is gone, indeed.

if only there had been the real thing…which reminds me.  i made a couple of newer keving pasley cards that should have been after seeing some photos from the topps vault
too bad i don't have an address to send them to for pasley to sign.  but i digress.

lenny harris signed his 1992 topps card for me as well

in the comments to that post, rod from padrographs (who sent me the bip) noted that it looked like garvey was waiting his turn on deck.  could this card really be a garvey lurker card?  i didn't think so at the time, but i was forced to take a closer look after opening the envelope from hcc.  it certainly looks like garvey.  however, garvey and bip were only teammates on the 1986 padres team - in 1987 (garvey's last year), bip spent the whole season in the minors.  would score use a photo from 1986 in their 1990 product? furthermore, garvey usually hit after kevin mcreynolds in 1986.  to make matters worse, the padre road unis were the same in 1986 as they were in 1989.

based on the photo, it looks like the pads are playing in shea stadium, so i took a look at bip's appearances there during the '86 campaign.  bip appeared in two games at shea in 1986 - as a pinch runner on september 6, and as the second baseman in the second game of a double header the following day.  garvey got that day off.  in all of his at bats that day, bip only went to the right side (as he appears to be doing in the photo) once.  he flew out to right in the second inning.  the person who should have been on deck at that time was the pitcher, ed wojna.  here's wojna's 1987 donruss card which i just happen to have at the ready thanks to the nice dodger stadium background.
and the ray a kroc memorial patch (post coming soon).

based on the photo on the donruss card, it could be wojna standing there, waiting to bat.  however, wojna's 1987 topps card shows him pitching against the mets with sleeves under his jersey, similar to what he is wearing on the card above.  if that photo comes from his start at shea in 1986, then the bip card doesn't feature wojna on deck.  i suppose that, at some point, garvey could have come on deck as a decoy pinch hitter, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  so maybe the photo is from 1989 after all.  of course, bip hit in front of robbie alomar that year, except for a few times including a game at shea in which he hit in front of rob nelson.  the problem with that scenario is that nelson hit from the left side, and the guy on deck is wearing a right handed hitter's helmet.

after all that, i don't know what to think.  any suggestions?

thanks pat!

and jay bell turning two (and the tables) on omar vizquel
a 1991 topps jerry browne
and a mess of 1990 score - gagne again
jose lind
ozzie guillen
tom foley
wally backman
and johnny ray
awesome stuff.   i also picked up a 1989 topps yankees leaders card featuring willie randolph and an angel entangled in the double play turn
thanks for the trade scott!

and bill madlock's 1985 donruss card
show us the outfield wall and the railing at the front of the outfield pavilions, while darryl strawberry's 1985 donruss card
shows the dugout and the field level, plus a classicly attired dodger stadium usher.

back to the pavilions - we see the roof structures on randy myers' 1988 donruss card
as well as the padres leaders card from 1988 topps


and the old field level scoreboard with the unocal logo, bob forsch
and dave smith
with the bullpen people behind the gate, and gerald young
that's the pavilion, but the outfield fence has been bastardized with ads thanks to the mccourts.

the last thing i'll show in this post was in an oddball lot i picked up a couple of months ago.  it's from a release called 1990 publications international hottest rookies stickers, if you can believe that.
the photo is taken from the players' parking lot behind the left field pavilion  a ferrari, a beemer, and some sort of off-road vehicle, among others.

i wish i could be there tomorrow - i haven't been to a dodgers home opener since 1998 which was the year after i moved out of the state.  i won't be going to the twins' opener either, even though i usually make it a point to attend.  temps in the low 30s have a way of discouraging me.