Did that dog just pee on the field? - The Frankenset Recap (Page 14: Cards 119 to 127)

A couple of weeks ago, I revealed that my Frankenset was complete. I thought it would be fun to share the set page by page on this blog, and also provide some random commentary along with each page. More information on the Frankenset as well as links to the pages that have been revealed can be found here.

I'll also occasionally share miscellaneous information about the set in its entirety. This week, I'm revealing the players depicted most often in the Frankenset:

Player / Number of Appearances:

Jose Rijo - 5
Tom Glavine - 5
Jose Canseco - 5
Greg Maddux - 5
Dwight Gooden - 5
Steve Carlton - 4
Hideo Nomo - 4
19 Players - 3

Today, we'll look at page 14, cards 119 to 127.

1992 Leaf #119, Julio Franco

Come on, Julio, it's not the helmet's fault.

1992 Donruss #120, Carlos Baerga

Is Albert Belle is coming after him with a bat? I'd like to think so. 

1991 Score #121, Oddibe McDowell

MLB Limbo Champion, 1990.

1980 Topps #122, Dave Rosello

The Rosello 'Fro

1995 Collector's Choice #123, Randy Johnson

A 6'10" American League pitcher in the pre-interleague era tossing his bat at the ball. The definition of card perfection.

1993 Upper Deck #124, Andy Van Slyke

Upper Deck recognized Van Slyke's All-Star season in 1992 by showing him in the aftermath of being hit by a pitch. No idea why.

1992 Upper Deck Minors #125, Mark Anthony

I need to know, yeah, I need to know why Mark Anthony is making a fish lips face in this photo.

1996 Score #126, Benito Santiago

I'm sure Reds owner Marge Schott's St. Bernard (Schottzie) was a nice dog, but Marge wasn't and most people didn't like her. So the dog wasn't nearly as popular as he could have been. I read a biography of Schott and of the players said they hated the dog because Marge would let it just poop anywhere and not pick up after it. That sentiment is confirmed in this AP article from 1995, which provides more entertaining info on the dog saga.

1989 Fleer #127, Frank Viola

If Frank's face stayed like that, I hope he consulted a doctor.

Do you have a favorite from the page? I'd have to go with Randy Johnson #1, Van Slyke #2, and the Schottzie cameo at #3. If it wasn't Marge Schott's dog, that card would have shot up to #1. 

Thanks for reading!

Who's the Criminal? Donruss or Classic? (+ Pick 3)

First, a question... The thumbnail pictures for my posts aren't appearing on any blogrolls lately. Any idea why? Google searching has not helped me.

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Recently, I was looking through my various cards sorted by player mainly to see if there were any good Frankenset cards I missed on the first go around. When I made it to Randy Johnson, the following two cards must have been near each other in the stack. Interestingly, the first thing I noticed is that Johnson's pose looked almost identical to a card I had just seen when flipping through the stack. I compared the two faces again. Then again. They looked so similar. And then, duh, I thought to look at the background of each card. And what do you know:

So who copied whom? As far as I can tell the two companies did not collaborate on the 1990 sets and weren't connected in any way. Baseballcardpedia.com indicates that the Classic Yellow set was produced by a company called Game Time, Ltd. The Classic set began its run in 1987 and issued its final MLB set in 1993, most of which were sold with a trivia board game. Donruss began its run in 1981, which makes me think if there is a criminal here, it would be the newbie Classic.

So let's look at the card again. Notice something about the Classic card. At the bottom of the photo, a fence is visible. The Donruss card doesn't have said fence, so Classic couldn't have ripped off the Donruss card. However, the Donruss card has upper deck stands above Randy Johnson's head, while Classic doesn't. So Donruss couldn't have lifted the picture from the Classic card either. But then I got to thinking, it would be very unlikely that a card company would wait until another had released their set to finalize the photos on their own set. (Kind of a DUH moment here.)

So my conclusion is there was possibly a stock photo submitted by the Mariners or appearing in a media guide or something that was fair game for any of the card companies to use. Now that I reason it out, it doesn't seem like there was any ripping off going on here. I clearly didn't think this through before writing this post. Please forgive me for leading you to this exercise in futility. 

But wait a minute... There IS a criminal here! BOTH companies, for uniquely TERRIBLE card designs. Shame on them. 

If you made it this far, you've stumbled into a giveaway! Congratulations. If you visited the blog during the first giveaway, the rules are the same. You are eligible to win again, too.

This isn't an earth-shattering giveaway because my collection isn't earth-shattering, but I wanted to do a small giveaway since it's fun to receive cards of any kind in the mail. Especially if they are free. And they are free - no obligation to send anything back.

Anyway, this giveaway is simple. There are three sets of players. Pick one player from each of the groups of names. Enter your names in the comments below. The first 6 people that comment will win and receive a PWE of cards of those three players. I'll try to include some interesting cards if I have them. Also, in the comments, if you want cards of that player from a particular team, you can say so, and I will try to accommodate. No doubling up on names. Once a player is taken by someone, you need to pick someone else in the group.

In subsequent giveaways, players chosen in the previous giveaways will not be available to choose again until some unknown date in the future.

If you win, please provide your name and address via email by accessing my Blogger profile. If I've traded with you, you can skip this step. 

And Blog Reader Bruce, I still need your address from the last giveaway.

Remember, pick one player from each group!

GROUP 1: (HOF) - don't expect anything too vintage here, but there are some cool cards

Grover	Alexander		Reggie	Jackson
Luke	Appling		Fergie	Jenkins
Earl	Averill		Walter	Johnson
Ernie	Banks		Chuck	Klein
Johnny	Bench		Nap	Lajoie
Jim	Bottomley		Joe	Morgan
Lou	Brock		Stan	Musial
Rod	Carew		Brooks	Robinson
Mickey	Cochrane		Frank	Robinson
Joe	Cronin		Tris	Speaker
Bob	Feller		Willie	Stargell
Rollie	Fingers		Bill	Terry
Jimmie	Foxx		Honus	Wagner
Frankie	Frisch		Paul	Waner
Bob	Gibson		Billy	Williams
Goose	Goslin		Ted	Williams
Lefty	Grove		Carl	Yastrzemski
Gabby	Hartnett
Rogers	Hornsby

GROUP 2: Former All-Stars and such (Galarraga - McGriff)

Andres	Galarraga		Tommy	John
Ron	Gant		Andruw	Jones
Nomar	Garciaparra		Wally	Joyner
Jason	Giambi		David	Justice
Kirk	Gibson		Eric	Karros
Joe	Girardi		Jeff	Kent
Troy	Glaus		Jimmy	Key
Juan	Gonzalez		Paul	Konerko
Luis	Gonzalez		John	Kruk
Dwight	Gooden		Mark	Langston
Shawn	Green		Derrek	Lee
Mike	Greenwell		Travis	Lee
Marquis	Grissom		Al	Leiter
Pedro	Guerrero		Jim	Leyland
Ron	Guidry		Mike	Lieberthal
Ozzie	Guillen		Javy	Lopez
Josh	Hamilton		Greg	Luzinski
Todd	Helton		Fred	Lynn
Dave	Henderson		Billy	Martin
Keith	Hernandez		Dennis	Martinez
Orel	Hershiser		Ramon	Martinez
Charlie	Hough		Tino	Martinez
Bo	Jackson		Willie	McGee
Gregg	Jefferies		Fred	McGriff

GROUP 3: Current/Recent All-Stars and such (G - Z)

Joey	Gallo	Kyle	Schwarber
Paul	Goldschmidt	Chris	Sale
Didi	Gregorius	Carlos	Santana
Zach	Greinke	Max	Scherzer
Bryce	Harper	Jean	Segura
Felix	Hernandez	Luis	Severino
Jason	Heyward	Andrelton	Simmons
Aaron	Judge	George	Springer
Clayton	Kershaw	Giancarlo	Stanton
Dallas	Keuchel	Trevor	Story
Cory	Kluber	Stephen	Strasburg
Jon	Lester	Dansby	Swanson
Francisco	Lindor	Ichiro	Suzuki
Evan	Longoria	Noah	Syndergaard
Manny	Machado	Masahiro	Tanaka
Trey	Mancini	Troy	Tulowitzki
JD	Martinez	Justin	Turner
Andrew	McCutchen	Trea	Turner
Yadier	Molina	Justin	Upton
Matt	Olson	Joey	Votto
Salvador	Perez	Adam	Wainwright
Tommy	Pham	Christian	Yelich
Buster	Posey
David	Price
Jose	Ramirez

A Really Tall Guy, an Error, and a Frightening Delivery: My Favorite Frankenset Card by Page; Page 5 (Cards 46-54)

Page five of the Frankenset is missing card #50, the first time we've explored a page with a missing card. Just waiting for the right #50 to come along. Let's jump right into the fun. As usual, I will give you my top three from the page, in reverse order.

3) 1995 Fleer Ultra #49, Mike Moore

Card #3 in the countdown brought to my mind the sports term "game face." Bob Knight expressed his annoyance about the term in one of his famous interviews. As Knight mimics a series of overexaggerated facial expressions, you could rightly conclude that he just doesn't buy into the notion of the game face. But what about an "accidental game face," as I am calling it. A look that just happens naturally in the course of competition. The Michael Jordan tongue wag comes to mind. So do Mike Moore's crazy eyes, right? They might now after this picture, which cannot be unseen:

The look didn't catch on, for obvious reasons. But what if Moore hadn't posted a 5.42 ERA in 1994 or a 7.53 ERA in 1995? Maybe it could have become the game face to end all game faces.

2) 1992 Donruss Triple Play #46, Pat Kelly

The 1992 Triple Play set is quirky. There are odd "Awesome Action" cards, an awkward "Little Hotshots" subset showing a picture of a player when he was a kid, and some strange photo choices. It makes for an entertaining set in some ways, but you have to feel for a guy like Pat Kelly. Did they really have to do this to him?

I suppose it's not the first card to show a player misplaying a ball. But I say give the guy a break! 

1) 2001 Topps HD #51, Randy Johnson

If you recall the last installment of the Frankenset by Page series, you would remember Blue Jays pitcher Pat Hentgen taking the crown for page 4. A card showing an AL pitcher batting in the DH era but before Interleague play is tough to beat. Well you know what? So is a really tall pitcher batting:

Johnson had a good year in 2001, winning his third straight Cy Young Award and leading the Diamondbacks to their first and only World Series title. Johnson would win the Cy Young for a fourth straight year in 2002. In the 2001, World Series, the Big Unit won three of the four games in the series for the Diamondbacks, posting a super stingy 1.04 ERA. With that kind of pitching dominance, of course you'd show him batting on his baseball card, right?