A New Roger McDowell Dodger Card for My Collection

If you thought Jesse Orosco or Mickey Hatcher were the biggest goofballs to ever put on a Dodger uniform then you'd be mistaken.  I think perched on that throne might be former Dodger reliever Roger McDowell.

He pitched for the Dodgers for four season in the early 90's and quickly enamored himself with the fans.  After all, who doesn't enjoy witnessing a little bit of hijinks in the dugout.  McDowell was known to shoot off some fireworks and was a master at the classic 'hot foot' maneuver.  For Baseball card collectors he is well known for his often hilarious depictions on cardboard.  I've included numerous examples at the very bottom.

As for the card featured above, it is a 1992 Leaf Baseball card that had been inserted into packs of 2014 Leaf Metal Drafts as an autographed 'Buy Back' card, and I recently added this card to mt collection.  As you may know, these 'Buy Back' cards are numbered to the players uniform number.  In this specific case, McDowell decided to have one final laugh at us all by signing the opposite number of cards.  He wore #31 as a Dodger, but decided to sign only 13 cards. 

Below are some funny McDowell cards from his time as a Dodger.

 

This last card might be the best of the bunch.  It is a 1993 Leaf Triple Play card #263.

This last photo below is NSFW.  You can view it by going below the jump.

2014 Leaf Metal Draft Baseball - All the Dodger Cards

After going through the entire 2014 Baseball season Leaf finally puts out a set Dodger collectors would be interested in.  Earlier this month they released their 2014 Leaf Metal Draft Baseball set, and it includes a couple of the Dodgers brightest young prospects.  Go here to see an entire checklist.

From what I can tell, only two Dodgers made the cut for Leaf.  They are Darnell Sweeney and Grant Holmes.  As you may know, Sweeney was the Dodgers 13th round pick in 2012, and has been very impressive.  Right now the infielder is playing the AFL and is hitting the cover off the ball.  BTW, the Darnell Sweeney card is his very first to be found in packs of cards.  Grant Holmes was the Dodgers 1st round pick in 2014 and recently completed his first year of professional Baseball.  He appeared to struggle a bit when he advanced from the AZL Dodgers to the Ogden Raptors, but continued striking out batters at a healthy clip.  Overall, Holmes pitched 48.1 innings, struck out 58 batters and had a 1.076 WHIP. 

Check out their cards below. As always there are numerous parallel cards available.  Here is a listing: Silver Prismatic, Blue Prismatic #/50 or less, Purple Prismatic #/25 or less, Green Prismatic #/10 or less, Red Prismatic #/5 or less, Gold Prismatic 1/1.

Base Autograph Cards

BA-DS2 Darnell Sweeney                    BA-GH1 Grant Holmes

Also available in packs are Leaf are 'Buyback' cards featuring autographs of several former Dodgers.  Check them out below.  Unfortunately, a complete checklist of available 'Buybacks' has not yet been made available by Leaf, so the listing below may not be complete.  If you are aware of more please let me know.

Leaf Memories Buyback Autographs

 1991 Leaf - John Candelaria (#/45)               1992 Leaf - Roger McDowell (#/13)

BTW, I recently won a Holmes and Candelaria cards on eBay.  So, I'll be sharing those soon.  And I'm eager to add the McDowell since he'd be so fun to write about.  He might be the biggest goofball to ever put on a Dodger uniform.

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Card of the Week: Tools of the Trade

What can you say about Roger McDowell? He liked to joke around.

Above is his 1992 Donruss Triple Play card that features him exchanging lineup cards wearing a tool belt Preacher Roe and Gaylord Perry would be proud of. Unfortunately, the umpires don't look amused. On the other hand, maybe they don't notice the sandpaper in his back pocket.

Card of the Week: Roger McDowell

With the new season in full swing I figured it was time to unearth a segment I started last year, but stopped. I bring to you the "Card of the Week." Now, for this first installment of the 2009 season I am highlighting a Dodger, but don't expect me to only favor the Blue Crew. In fact, I'm gonna try to mix it up a bit.

Now, this is one of my all-time favorite oddball cards. Below is Roger McDowell's 1993 Upper Deck card #250. In it, he proudly displays his Lasorda University t-shirt.