patience is a virtue

i had just recently agreed to a trade with dan from it's like having my own card shop in which he offered a dave lopes auto as the centerpiece of the deal. a couple of days later, i wandered into the local card shop and came across that very card being offered for the low price of six bucks.  i actually considered buying it, but told myself to wait.  wait i did, and a short time later it showed up in my mailbox.

that's a nice card - a 2004 topps retired signature.  i'm glad i waited and essentially used the six bucks i saved to pick up some vintage at the recent card show.  certified lopes autos are the best because he uses a sharpie.

by way of comparison, here's a regular 2004 topps card that was also in the package - it's alex cora turning two

i was a fan of topps' 2004 release (i bought a ton of it) as i appreciated their effort to get full body photos of most players on the cards (although eric gagne's photo should have been more closely cropped) as well as their nod to 1973 and 1976 with the inset player outline in the lower left corner.

i was not aware that adrian beltre had a card featuring him as a dodger in last year's gypsy queen, but he did, and dan included it in the trade

i find it odd, then, that topps would put prince fielder in a tigers' uni in this year's gypsy queen homerun based subset.  oh well, it is not for me to understand the whims of topps, only to appreciate dodger cards, especially when they come in return for diamondbacks.

dan also included a bunch of cards from upper deck's 1993 sp set.  i am guessing he sent the entire dodgers team set.  here's brett butler

with a nice view of the old dugout seats.  and, as a bonus, butler is not bunting in the photo.

jose offerman's card is visited upon by former dodger (and dodger double dipper) jose vizcaino

while i contend that the back of darryl strawberry's sp card

is a continuation of strawberry's 1993 upper deck fold out.  pretty sure.

there were also a couple of cards from a set i had never seen - 2003 upper deck classic portraits.  both shawn green and kazuhisa ishii were included, and for some reason i chose to scan the ishii.

not really a portrait shot, if the intent was to do a leaf studio sort of thing.

thanks for the trade dan!