30 June 2009

272 career home runs, plus one biggie

in honor of my 272nd post, i want to pay tribute to steve garvey's 272 career home run total. though not as many as the penguin, or even eric karros, it's a number i respect. funny enough, it doesn't include what was perhaps garvey's biggest home run, depicted here on a 1985 o-pee-chee sticker.
in game 4 of the 1984 nlcs, the padres were down 2 games to 1. they were leading the cubs 5-3 in the 8th inning when goose gossage gave up the tying runs. with one out in the bottom of the 9th, tony gwynn singled and garvey followed with a walk off home run off of lee smith, giving the pads a 7-5 victory. they closed out the series the following day behind more gwynn and garvey clutch hits, and garvey was voted the series mvp.

in all, garvey hit 11 postseason home runs and 2 all star game home runs to go along with the 272 regular season dingers.

if you thought this post was exciting, just wait about 7 years when post number 2599 will celebrate his regular season hit total.

29 June 2009

trade with carl crawford cards

paul at carl crawford cards emailed me recently to let me know he had some 1976 topps cards off my want list. 'nuff said. i pulled some 1973 topps he needed, along with some vida blue and a carl crawford surprise, and the trade was done. here's what i received.

first, an unexpected garvey - 1986 burger king.while i already had this card, i did not have the coupon attachment. nice. i've never had a whopper, by the way.

1976 topps gaylord perry. i remember watching gaylord get his 3000th strikeout on tv with the padres. he looks pretty old here, but he was only 37 at the start of the 1976 season. he looks like he's in his 50's.

bill stein. with the zippered jersey. let's stick with the age thing. how old do you think bill stein was heading into the 1976 season? yup, 29. i would have guessed 49.

brian downing. i knew downing as an angel. his was one of the easier batting stances to mimic. nice dutch boy haircut, too. he looks like he's 25, which was his age at the start of the 1976 season.

randy hundley. todd's dad. todd was almost 34 at the start of the 1976 season. that's a pretty old looking 34 if you ask me. but then again, i'm 38 and probably biased.

thanks paul!

bill russell through the mail success!

two weeks is all it took for the dean of the dodger infield to sign and return his 1978 topps card to me.
russell is the la dodger all-time career leader in a few categories - games played, singles, and intentional walks (hitting in front of the pitcher has its advantages). in fact, he is the all-time franchise leader in intentional walks, second (to zach wheat) in games played, third in singles, sixth in hits, tenth in doubles, and the list goes on. he went on to succeed tommy lasorda as manager, and also served as a tampa bay devil rays coach. it was strange to see him in a non-dodger affiliated uniform. currently, russell works in some capacity with the umpires.

for more of his career exploits, all as a dodger, check out my monthly (roughly) posts on the evolution of the infield.

this is the 9th piece (and second of the infielders) in my modest 1978 topps dodgers autograph project. here's the tally:

team card
dusty baker
glenn burke
terry forster
steve garvey
ed goodson
jerry grote
burt hooton
charlie hough
tommy john
tom lasorda
dave lopes
ted martinez
rick monday
rick rhoden
bill russell - through the mail success!
reggie smith
elias sosa
don sutton
steve yeager
nlcs (davey lopes)

9/29 = 31%

thanks bill!

28 June 2009

trading with rhubarb runner

i recently completed a trade with rhubarb runner, another twins fan who has left minnesota for the relatively humid free state of missouri. i sent a bunch of twins, he sent a smattering of needs. i think i got the better of the deal.

he sent me some dodger stuff i didn't know existed:

1991 line drive collect-a-book don drysdalei guess the 1990 set was so popular, they did a second set. really?

2000 pacific 7-11 gary sheffieldhow many slurpees did it take to get a sheffield?

he sent me some cool dodger stuff i knew about but didn't have:

1991 topps cracker jack eddie murraythese are so much better than the fake tatoos or whatever toy surprises they used to have in cracker jack.

1992 donruss cracker jack ramon martinezlooks like donruss wanted some of the action. too bad these aren't variations of the regular set, though.

he sent me a post-2000 twin:

2005 upper deck espn joe mauer.the next .400 hitter?

he sent me some stuff i needed from my set-building want lists:

1989 upper deck dale murphy/braves checklistit looks like dale got his teeth capped. no cavity creeps, that's for sure.

1970 topps jose pagan.
i am so close to finishing this set. so close.

ditto for the 1978 upgrade set. here's a 1978 topps ed ott.
a shorter name you will not find in mlb annals. ron cey comes close, though.

1978 topps jim colborn.the future dodger pitching coach with the cindy brady pose.

finally, he sent a card i knew about but didn't think i would be getting anytime soon, let alone in a trade for a bunch of twinkies:

1961 topps don drysdale
freakin' a. very nice.

that's some minnesota nice for you, even if it came from missouri!

27 June 2009

traded cards jackpot in review

andy at traded sets recently sent me his contest jackpot - a bunch of unopened packs. i already had the 1988 score traded set and all the 2008 topps i need, so i told him not to send that. what he did send was enough. let's take a look.

2009 topps heritage pack 1:

casey kotchman
alcides escobar
young hill stars - kazmir, price & shields. this reminds me of those pictures that have some idiot in the background ruining the shot. topps cut shields out of this same shot for their flagship set.
ryan ludwick chrome 0803/1960
brian roberts
rafael furcal
brian fuentes
torii hunter
2009 topps heritage pack 2:

dodgers team
alfredo simon
rival all-stars - wright & rodriguez
doug davis
andy sonnanstine
news flashback - first televised presidential debate. tricky dick and jfk.
jake peavy
hiroki kuroda

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 1:

jose contreras
matt kemp
will venable
daisuke matsuzaka starquest - gold rare
giants team leaders
adam laroche
prince fielder
adrian gonzalez

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 2:
brandon lyon
vladimir guerrero
kenny rogers
ken griffey jr. - season highlight
bobby abreu - ysl game 6705
tigers team leaders
melky cabrera
jason isringhausen
2009 upper deck series 1 pack 3:

alexei ramirez
aubrey huff
rafael furcal
john major - ud 20th anniversary retrospective
josh hamilton - season highlight
jamie moyer
cliff floyd
roy halladay

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 4:

mark reynolds
jacoby ellsbury
gary matthews
a's team leaders
dustin pedroia - stars of the game. i think ud stole this insert from topps, too.
josh roenicke
brad penny
carl crawford

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 5:

edinson volquez
jeff keppinger
brian bannister
donavan tate - usa baseball team
joakim soria
craig monroe
clayton kershaw
jeff clement

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 6:

john smoltz
jim thome
matt holliday
hanley ramirez/jose reyes - rivals
josh geer
daric barton
feliz hernandez
jesus flores

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 1:

chase utley
joe mauer. he's looking for matt wieters - gonna show him who's boss.
cal ripken jr - ud 20th anniversary retrospective
women's suffrage - historical moments
robert parnell

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 2:

tom glavine
ken griffey jr
ryan howard
1989 san francisco earthquake (actually the loma prieta quake) - historical moments
gaby sanchez

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 3:

kevin youkilis
rick ankiel
brian roberts
devon lowery
i have a dream speech - historical moments

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 4:

albert pujols
jason giambi
josh roenicke - green (?) 091/150
jesus delgado
cubs win 1908 world series - historical moments. wait 'til next year - i mean century!

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 5:

jay bruce
justin morneau
thanksgiving becomes holiday - historical moments
will venable
national league established - historical moments

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 6:

john smoltz
alfonso soriano
chipper jones red/pink/whatevershairon martis
warsaw pact - historical moments

that's it. quite a bunch of cards, just for being lucky.
thanks andy!

26 June 2009

is there anything better than vintage bargain bins?

well, obviously, there is. but vintage bargain bins are still pretty great. i ventured out to one of the local card shows a week or so ago, and spent most of my time digging through cards that were made before i was born. here's what i came up with.

1963 topps nl batting leaders, featuring tommy davis.not bad company for the 3-dog to be in. this was a buck as the front is a bit scuffed, but still, aaron, musial, frobby, and a dodger (and bill white, of course). awesome.

1959 topps danny mcdevitt

one of the few non-yellow 1959 topps dodger cards. 1959 was mcdevitt's 'career' year - he set personal bests in wins (10), complete games (6), saves (4) and strikeouts (106).

speaking of yellow 1959 topps dodgers, here's a 1959 topps charlie neal.1959 was a big year for charlie, too. career highs in runs, hits, doubles, triples (he led the league with 11), rbi and stolen bases. charlie was an all-star, won a gold glove, finished 8th in the mvp balloting and hit .370 in the world series to boot.

1959 topps joe pignatano.joe is a cousin of pete falcone. he was john roseboro's backup in 1959.

1960 fleer branch rickey.technically not a dodger, but still.

1960 fleer wilbert robinson.'uncle robbie' managed the brooklyn robins from 1914 to 1931, winning two pennants. they were the dodgers for one year prior to his taking over as manager, and then renamed the 'robins' after the new manager. when robinson retired, they went back to being known as the 'dodgers'.

1960 fleer dazzy vance.dazzy won 190 games for brooklyn over 12 seasons. he won a world series with st louis in 1934. if you think he looks rough, you should see the zach wheat card from this set.

1960 fleer arky vaughan.best known as a pirate, this hall of famer finished his career with 4 years in brooklyn. he lost 3 years during his time in brooklyn to what i assume to be military service.

1964 topps bob miller.looks like bob is playing catch in the front yard.

1964 topps frank howard.hondo without his glasses. 1964 was his final year with the dodgers, although topps would show him with the blue on his 1965 card.

1964 topps wes parker/john werhas.wes parker stuck, but john werhas appeared in only 40 games over three seasons with the dodgers. to my knowledge, he did not appear on 'batman' or 'the brady bunch'. game, set, match parker.

1965 topps jim brewer.no relation to bernie.

1965 topps johnny podres.1965 was podres' last full year with the dodgers. he was sent to detroit after appearing in just one game for the dodgers in 1966.

1966 topps john roseboro.roseboro is best known for taking over the catching for campanella and for getting struck in the head by juan marichal's bat. he also won his second gold glove in 1966, but went just 1 for 14 in the world series against the orioles that year.

1968 topps hank aguirre.1968 was aguirre's only year with the dodgers. he appeared in 25 games and had 3 saves.

1969 topps nl strikeout leaders bill singer.and two other guys. singer had 227 strikeouts in 1968 and led the league with a 8k/9ip ratio.

now we get to the less-vintage (meaning cards i was alive for)

1976 topps steve rogers.slowly making progress on the 1976 set.

1977 topps roy hartsfield and coaches.i like the variation. i thought i had this and the mariners version, but i didn't. still looking for the mariners version.

1978 topps lou piniella.

a 1978 topps yankee/yankee stadium shot card that is not a) a game action shot or b) taken in front of the 'brut' sign.

and now for something completely modern.

2007 topps chrome chad billingsley blue refractor.blue refractors rule.

2008 donruss threads steve garvey parallel #d to something or other

my inner joe collector came through for this one.

there you have it. i'm ready for more bargain bins.