now that's what i call bowman

when i think of bowman these days, i think of draft picks that may or may not pan out and confusing card numbers.  i often tell prospective trading partners that i don't buy bowman products, so odds are that i don't have any dodgers from those sets.  this is usually followed by me receiving a bunch of leon landry cards, and now he'll not be wearing dodger blue if he ever makes it to the big leagues.

that's one reason i prefer the bowman cards from before topps acquired the name.  like this 1951 bowman gene hermanski card.

hermanski had been a dodger for years before this card was issued.  of course, he was traded to the cubs during the 1951 season, along with bruce edwards

that right there is a very nice looking card.  i love the color strata of the grass, dirt, and fabric backdrop.

both of those cards (and the rest of the cards you will see in this post) were sent to me by dhoff at coot veal and the vealtones.  he let me know that he had some cards for trade and we were able to work out a deal.

the first bowman cards i ever saw were from 1955 (thanks to a neighbor of mine in the late 70's).  dhoff had a johnny podres card from that set for me

podres would win the world series mvp award in the year that this card was issued.  that's pretty cool.

but then, there was a non-bowman bowman card in the trade package.  an abomination that dared to call itself 'bowman heritage'.  a shiny card from 2003 of someone named  jordan pratt

pratt was a fifth round pick of the dodgers back in 2003, and pitched his way up to aaa in 2010.  it looks like that was his last year in the dodger organization, and possibly in organized ball.  i realize that this wasn't the first year that bowman had rainbow or chrome type cards, nor was it the first year that topps issued the 'bowman heritage' brand.  it just struck me how non-bowmanesque this card was when it was included in a package along with those great vintage bowman cards above.

moving on, here's a nice oddball of everybody's favorite all-american dodger first baseman, steve garvey.

you might say he's swell, as in 1991 swell baseball greats.

marlon anderson, he of one of the back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs for the dodgers in 2006, makes an appearance

this card is from 2006 upper deck update - number 1157 in the set.  it's a short print to boot.

speaking of update, there were a couple of cards from 2010 topps update in the package, including a piece of andre ethier's all-star game workout jersey

and a golden vladdy

i am fairly shocked that vladdy hasn't made it to the big leagues in 2012.  i thought he had played fairly well for the blue jays' minor league team this year, and when he requested his release, i figured somebody would pick him up on the cheap.  i was wrong, unfortunately.

finally, dhoff hit one of my lesser known wants, sending a non-red sox nomar garciaparra card.  this one is from 2005 upper deck

nomah!

thanks dustin!