2012: some trade oddities

there are two dodger short prints in the 2012 topps archives release.  one is a sandy koufax card and the other is brett butler.  i am still in need of the koufax, but tom from waiting 'til next year was kind enough to send me the butler

the rest of the package was made up mostly of oddball cards, which was great.  there were a lot of cards that i had not seen before, like this brett butler card from 1992 topps kids

it's pretty cool, actually.  the cartoon guys in the dugout remind me of the bazooka inserts from the mid-2000's. i wonder if the artist consciously drew a guy sleeping in the dugout because tommy lasorda was supposedly known to nod off now and then during a game.

there aren't a whole lot of bill madlock as a dodger cards aside from his regular issue donruss/fleer/topps cards from 1986 and 1987.  here's a 1987 sportflics card featuring the two-time national league batting champ

same goes for john tudor, who was with the dodger for a short time (only 15 appearances over 1988 and 1989).  here's his 1989 sportflics card

there are even fewer tudor as a dodger cards as he was not even featured in the flagship releases of donruss, fleer, or topps in 1990. both fleer and topps included him in their update/traded sets that year, but by that time, tudor was back with the cardinals.

how about a 1989 score young superstars tim belcher card?

and a 1990 topps toys 'r' us john wetteland card?

both of them supremely oddball.  and, both were cards missing from my collection.

here's a 1988 fleer baseball's exciting stars card of orel hershiser

the bulldog is just sitting on a milk crate in dodger stadium.  no big deal.  his pose belies the excitement that one might anticipate from a card touting 'exciting stars'.

and then there is this 1990 fleer baseball mvp card of hershiser

this was a set that didn't actually feature mvp's exclusively, although hershiser did win that award in the 1988 nlcs and world series.  still, one might have expected kirk gibson (the 1988 national league mvp) to make an appearance in the set.  he did not.

finally, there was this 1991 topps mike scioscia glossy all-star insert

i had no idea this card existed prior to seeing it in the package.  i am assuming it was a rack pack insert just like the glossy all-star cards had been dating back to 1985 (i believe).  always nice to have another scioscia card in the collection.

thanks tom for a really odd (in a good way) trade!