i'll give you a quick rundown

and here it is!

ha!  i'm out of town for a while - posting may be nonexistent for the next few days. hopefully blogger doesn't shiv with my scheduled oh my o-pee-chee posts though.

the spirit of the trade

i'm trying to get into the habit of posting trades in more 'real time' which means within the same month.  maybe.  i still have a few trades from the past year whose scans have not yet cleared the scanned folder, but i am making progress.  these are some cards i received in mid-april, and are from the first of two recent trades i have completed with rhubarb runner.

i had initially sent him, admittedly, a fair amount of junky twins with a few cards with redeeming value tucked in.  i knew i could do better, especially since i live in the heart of twins territory. so, i wound up picking up some vintage and autos for him at a recent card show - thus the two trades.

anyhoo, first up is a 2004 donruss studio spirit of the game insert featuring hideo nomo

apparently, donruss decided that the spirit of the game is old, nostalgic looking equipment set on an american flag with a picture of a japanese player.  rr also included a 2002 donruss studio spirit of the game for comparative purposes.  this one features paul loduca

and a much more patriotic theme.  the names of various legends of the game at the bottom of the card is a nice touch, but it seems a bit contrived. i don't know how you convey friendly competition and fair play on a card, but to me that is the spirit of the game.  using a mitchell report subject doesn't seem quite right in hindsight.  in a related note, you knew it was a sad period for the blue when the dodger insert cards featured paul loduca.  thank goodness for matt kemp and clayton kershaw these days.

speaking of the mitchell report, here's eric gagne on a 2004 fleer tradition 'this day in history' insert

gagne recorded his 55th straight save on september 2, 2003 which broke the previous record set by tom gordon.  tom gordon was not named in the mitchell report.

there were a couple of adrian beltre cards in the package, including a 2004 upper deck jersey card

and a 1999 fleer ultra insert

it is crazy to think that since 1982, beltre is the longest tenured dodger third baseman.  which reminds me, i need to get back to my position evolution posts.

finally, it wouldn't be a package from rr if it didn't include some 2008 upper deck documentary cards.  sure enough, there was a healthy stack in there, including a nomar!

and three "different" matt kemp cards.

i have to admit, however, that three of these four cards actually mention the cover subject on the back.

thanks rr!

good one, goodwin

[this is the thirty-seventh installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  and orel hershiser.]

tom goodwin came to the dodgers in the first round of the june 1989 draft.  just over two years later, he debuted against the cubs and hit a single in his first big league at bat.  goodwin played in a total of 103 games for the dodgers from 1991 through 1993, but was unable to secure a starting spot in la.  here's his 1993 topps card, by the way.

before the 1994 season, goodwin was picked up on waivers by the royals.  he spent almost the entire season in the minors - seeing action in only two big league games that year.  in 1995 however, he became the royals' starting center fielder and finished 9th in the american league roy voting.  here's his 1995 topps traded card

goodwin hit .288 in 1995 and then .282 in 1996 for kc, stealing 116 bases over those two seasons.  he split 1997 between kansas city and texas, where he played through the 1999 season.  he signed a free agent deal for 2000 with the rockies but was traded back to the dodgers at the deadline that season.  here's his 2000 fleer tradition update card as proof of his double dipping.

in his second tour of duty with the team, goodwin played in 161 games and stole 38 bases.  unfortunately, the dodgers wound up releasing him just before then 2002 season started.  he wound up playing in san francisco where he tormented the dodgers in a couple of july games when the two teams were neck and neck in the standings.  to make matters worse, the dodgers were paying the majority of his salary.

anyway, goodwin is currently the first base coach for the mets.  that's where i sent a few cards in the hopes he would sign.  he did, quite quickly.  here's his 1991 upper deck final edition card

a 1993 fleer card

1993 topps

and 1993 topps stadium club

all cards from his first turn as a dodger. thanks tom!

closing the binder on 1973

yes, it is true.  after about a year of seriously pursuing the 1973 topps set, i have come to the point of completion.

it's not a condition sensitive set, but it's complete.  i actually finished up about a month ago at the big annual card show here in town, but waited to officially update the want list until i had fished out the two cards i knew i owned but were not in the set binder from their hiding spots.  here are a few of the last cards i needed.

checklist love!

that is one nasty checklist.  high numbered and clean.  it was the most expensive 73 card i bought at the show by far - it was about $8.  for a checklist.  this one has walt alston (although listed as dodgers mgr/cchs) and that fantastically bad bill singer card listed on the front.  it brings up good card memories...

here's dock ellis

presumably sober and pitching in candlestick (?).  a quintessential 1973 topps card right there.

bill sudakis

is a former dodger who went on to the big apple for both the mets and yankees.  here he is in shea stadium which at times looks like dodger stadium which was by design as i understand it.

i needed a couple of rookie cards, too - this one has richie zisk on it

but was pretty cheap.  same goes for the steve busby rookie

although things might have been different if busby hadn't been injured.

i also picked up a lou brock card and a couple others at the show.  i told the dealer who sold me the checklist shown above that he had just helped me complete my set, and i admit that i was kinda hoping for a discount on the card.  he offered me a hearty handshake instead.

i mentioned that there were a couple of cards i knew i owned that still showed up on the want list.  i had to fetch them from my retired stars binder that i started back in the early 80's.  no sense in having too many cards in duplicate, right?

so, lou gehrig

and babe ruth

migrated over to the set binder.  gehrig was at one time my favorite retired player.  now that honor lies with steve garvey, but the iron horse is still in the top 5.  as for the babe, i first saw this card when i was about 10 (1980-ish) and was pleased by the fact that topps used a non-yankee photo (i think it comes from either a japanese tour or a barnstorming tour), while being thankful that it wasn't from his coaching days in brooklyn.  the young team collector in me would not have been pleased with that.

thanks to everyone who helped me along the way - i think i will now turn my attention back to some other neglected sets like my 1979 upgrade project, 1971 topps, 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee, 2008 upper deck timeline, and maybe even get back to 2001 topps tribute.

even more happy returns

here are the last of the cards i was able to get signed in person/through the mail thanks to reader cory.  they were signed over the course of a couple of springs and dodger road trips to san diego.  first up is a 2006 topps 52 card signed by both matt kemp and james loney

that is just awesome.  the bison also signed a 2009 topps card for me

as did the reigning cy young award winner, clayton kershaw

very very nice.  kemp doesn't sign through the mail, but kershaw did sign some this spring.  hong-chih kuo signed some cards for me through the mail last year, but first, he signed this 2007 topps update & highlights card

ramón troncoso signes a 2008 topps card

and angel berroa

and casey blake signed their cards from 2008 topps update & highlights

blake also signed a 2007 topps card from his time with the tribe

i had the luxury of sitting back and waiting for these autos to come my way, while cory was out doing the work.  i did send him some cards to keep, as well as some ttm successes i had acquired like a 1972 topps bill buckner and a 1964 topps willie davis.  i hope he thought it was worth it.

thanks again cory!

more happy returns

yesterday i showed off some of the coaches and retired types that reader cory was able to coax into signing some of my cards for me.  here now are some actual players.  like andre ether, who signed a 2008 topps allen & ginger

as well as a 2009 topps allen & ginter

james loney

and hiroki kuroda

also signed allen & ginger cards, both from 2008.  i think we can all agree that allen & ginter looks just fantastic signed.

less awesome looking, but still pretty cool, are the cards that chad billingsley signed, including his 2005 topps rookie card

(hello joel guzman, my former dodger salvation) and his 2009 topps heritage card

also signing a 2009 topps heritage was juan pierre

and george sherrill

although his is from the high-number release.  for the record, i've had separate ttm successes with bills, pierre, and sherrill.  but not with chin-lung hu who signed a 2008 upper deck timeline card

that looks just as nice signed as do the actual 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams cards on which this card was based.

also from the timeline set, i had sent a reed johnson card which he signed

unfortunately for me, johnson has never returned his lone dodger card from 2010 topps update that i sent to him last spring.  finally, it just so happened that alfredo amezaga was in dodger camp in spring of 2010, and i sent a 2009 topps card just in case.

amezaga signed it but never did appear in a big league game for the dodgers.  that's not a bad haul, but there was more.  i'll show the rest tomorrow.

many happy returns

it's good to have connections.  a couple of years ago, reader cory contacted me and let me know that he often attended dodger games in san diego and would also be heading out to arizona to catch some spring training games once the dodgers moved from florida.  he was a 'grapher and offered to do some 50/50 and trades to help me get some guys who don't sign ttm.

you may recall that he is the guy who got me my 1978 topps rick monday for my modest 1978 topps dodger autograph project (still need ed goodson, by the way).  anyway, here are a few of the cards that cory was able to get signed for me.

we'll start with the pitching coach, rick honeycutt, who signed his 1985 topps

1986 topps

and 1987 topps

cards.  i had sent some cards to honeycutt, but he did not return them so i was happy to have cory's help.  same story goes for the bullpen coach ken howell, who signed a 1987 donruss

1987 fleer

and 1988 topps

card for cory/me.  i have seen some ttm successes pop up recently for howell, but i was not so lucky.  cory's proximity to san diego also helped with a former dodger autograph success.  dave roberts, a padre coach, signed a 2003 upper deck vintage card

unlike the others, i have had a ttm success with roberts.

also in san diego, randy jones is doing as boog powell does in baltimore - slinging bbq at the ballpark and signing autographs.  here's my 1978 topps card that the former cy young award winner signed

i'm not sure if cory had to buy some pulled pork to get the auto, but there are no bbq sauce stains so i'll guess not.

i'll end this post with the bench coach at the time, don mattingly, who signed a 1988 topps

and a 1990 upper deck

i just wish donny ballgame had signed the 1985 fleer card i sent to him through the mail.  i'll show some more of the bounty i received over the next couple of days.

thanks again cory!