they're not funny...they're art

there are three cards in the 1978 topps set that are absolute artistic masterpieces.  

there's greg minton

 and mike paxton

and my personal favorite, dave kingman

when i was making my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set, i tried to pay homage to these works of art with a gerry hannahs card that should have been.  it turned out to be most like the kingman card - more based in reality than the minton or the paxton.

i'm really confused by the minton card.  he had been with the giants since 1975, and topps had made a card of him in the 1977 set using an actual photograph, even if there was some airbrushing going on.  why they couldn't have used that same photo for his solo card in 1978 is beyond me.  minton only appeared in two games during the 1977 season, but that fact, coupled with the lack of a usable photo, apparently wasn't enough to deter topps from keeping minton on the checklist.  their determination is our gain, for sure.

as for paxton, he made his big league debut in 1977 and pitched in 29 games for the red sox.  i guess topps couldn't get a photographer to boston.  come to think of it, do we really know if that is a painting of mike paxton?  or could it be someone from the national portrait gallery with a red sox cap painted over the revolutionary war era wig?  well, actually, we do know that it is mike paxton, because...holy smokes - here's a link to the actual photograph used to inspire the painting.  his hat really did look like that!

but enough of that.  this post is really about dave kingman and his 1978 topps card.  kingman started the 1977 season with the mets, for whom he had hit 37 home runs in 1976.  he played in 58 games for them with 9 home runs in 1977 before he was traded to the padres.  had kingman stayed with the mets for the entire season, his 1978 topps card might have looked like this

in san diego, kong appeared in 56 games and hit 11 home runs, including two grand slams.  but he didn't finish the season there, either.  had he done so, we might have had this card in the 1978 topps set

but no, kingman was picked up off of waivers by the angels on september 6, 1977.  he played in 10 games for the halos and hit 2 home runs - both of which came in the same game (september 13th against the rangers).  unfortunately, kingman was traded to the yankees on september 16, 1977, depriving us of this card in the 1978 topps set  

back in new york, kingman appeared in 8 games and had 6 hits - all for extra bases.  in addition to two doubles, he hit four home runs, including one in each of his first three games as a yankee.  despite that power display, kingman became a free agent, and signed with the cubs on november 30, 1977, giving topps plenty of time to put him in a cubs' cap instead of a yankees hat, denying us this card

speaking of kingman's actual 1978 topps card, the third time was the charm for me recently, as kingman signed and returned one to me after two previous attempts

that's awesome.

and, for your cultural enrichment, here is a consolidated warholian approach to the 1978 topps dave kingman cards that might have been

marilyn monroe, campbell soup, and dave kingman.  art.

current events on the ttm front

in an effort to stay current with my ttm returns (which doesn't make sense when i have some ttm successes from 2009 that i haven't posted yet), here's a card i received in the mail on tuesday.  it's a 1983 topps traded greg brock card

the heir to steve garvey's position signed the card in about a week which is awesome.  thanks greg!

and don't worry - there is a much more interesting post in the hopper for this afternoon.  be sure to come back and check it out, if you like art.

how to succeed at collecting without really trying

well, i guess you have to try at least a little bit.  in this case, you would need to develop an ebay rivalry with another steve garvey super collector and then start a blog and trade with him instead.  you send him a little 17-card factory team set, and he will send you a big box filled with oddball dodger stuff that you didn't even know existed, plus some cool steve garvey stuff.

yes, i traded with curt from 1978, the year it all began. it wasn't the first time he and i had made a trade, but it was likely the most lopsided.  i had asked him for a scan of a steve garvey sga item, and he obliged.  he also offered to send me a hard copy of it, and i told him i would send him a 2009 topps dodger factory set in exchange.  he didn't mention that he was also going to send a map.

from 1970, that is a aaa map of dodger stadium.  that is pretty cool.  i should have unfolded it and taken a picture of it.  it looks so easy on paper - so many freeways.  still, heed my advice if you go - plan to get there early.  no map will save you from stadium way or the downtown gates.  unless you get off the freeway and use the sunset route, but that's only for people in the know.

here's the garvey sga that started the whole transaction

this is what's on the back

it's all about consecutive game goodness.  the photo is from garvey's 1000th consecutive game, but the sga occurred on the occasion of his moving into fourth place all-time with his 1104th consecutive game.  of course, garvey went on to pass billy williams in 1983, but he was a padre by then.  he played in game number 1118 at dodger stadium, though, and my dad was kind enough to take me to see the game in person.  it is still to this day the only time i have received a steve garvey autograph in person.

more garvey goodness in the box, including this 1977 pepsi glove disc

i was hot and cold with these oddballs until just a few months ago.  i did have a few in my garvey collection, but not more than a couple.  now i have several of the msa discs that came out in the 1970's into the 1980's, including a 1981 blank back (trust me)

and a 1976 towne club version

speaking of discs, there were others in the box - and not just of steve garvey.  here are pedro guerrero

and fernando valenzuela

from the 1984 7-11 slurpee coin set.

fernando and garvey are together forever on this 1987 m&m's panel

those padres hats look really bad without the logo.  they look only slightly better with, however, as we see on this 1984 fun foods pin proof

i am glad curt sent this to me.  it is much easier to store in the binder than the actual pin back.

here's steve garvey in the metrodome, courtesy of the 1986 donruss pop-ups set

it's hard to believe that garvey was part of the home run derby held prior to the 1985 all-star game in minneapolis.  his slugging days were behind him by then, unfortunately.

there really was so much cool stuff in the box.  media guides, team issued photos, union oil portraits (from 1962 and 1982), fernando valenzuela perfect attendance certificates, magazines, and more.  it was the package that keeps on giving.

i'll show two more cards - this one is from 1977 landsman playing cards and features jackie robinson down the third base line

i think jackie is the five of diamonds or something like that.  these are similar to the playing cards that pepsi put out in 1978

last but not least is this 1987 donruss all-stars card of steve sax

with garvey gone, saxy became my favorite dodger and subject of a pretty good pc, but i never did pick up one of these.  now i have one and i hardly even had to try for it.

thanks curt!  that really was an awesome box of goodness.

jamie hoffmann double dipped

jamie hoffmann is a dodger double dipper even though he has never appeared in the major leagues for any team other than the dodgers.  it may seem strange to you that i do not consider the likes of shane victorino or ted lilly or scott proctor to be dodger double dippers because they never appeared in a big league game as a dodger before they were sent to other teams only to eventually return.  nor do i consider ramon martinez (pedro's brother) or willie crawford or tommy lasorda to be dodger double dippers because they never appeared in a big league game as a dodger after returning to the franchise, yet i do consider someone like denny lewallyn to be a dodger double dipper, even though he did not appear in a major league game for another franchise in between his stints as a dodger.  still, he left the organization after appearing in the big leagues as a dodger, and appeared in a major league game as a dodger after returning to the fold.  make sense?  well, such is the case of jamie hoffmann.

[this is the fiftieth 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,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, and joe beckwith.]

hoffmann was signed by the dodgers as an amatuer free agent in 2003, and made his big league debut with them in 2009.  here's a gold parallel version of his 2009 topps update card

over the course of 14 games that year, hoffmann went to the plate 24 times and had 4 hits, three of which were for extra bases - two doubles and a home run.  he also had 2 sacrifice flies and 7 rbi in total.  after the season ended, the washington nationals selected him in the rule 5 draft and immediately sent him to the yankees as the player to be named later in an earlier deal between the two teams.  during spring training in 2010, hoffmann was returned to the dodgers by the yankees.  he spent the entire year at aaa albuquerque, hitting .310 with 8 homers and 74 rbi.  the next year, he was hitting .297 with 22 home runs and 84 rbi, which earned him a callup to the big club.  in 2 games with the dodgers, hoffmann was 0 for 4, but he was officially a dodger double dipper in my eyes.  since there are no cards of hoffmann as a yankee, and i don't think there have been any cards made for him since 2009, here's a chrome refractor version of the card i showed up top.

since his return to the dodgers, hoffmann has been selected off of waivers by the rockies (december 2011), signed as a free agent with the orioles (march 2012), and signed as a free agent with the mets (november 2012), but he has yet to resurface in the majors.  he's only 28 though, so there's still time for him to join juan castro as the only triple dipper in dodger history.  make it happen, ned!

the topps dodger autograph project - updated!

a couple of weeks ago, franklin stubbs signed and returned a 1986 topps traded card for me.

while stubbs has signed for me before, this is the first card from that set that i have received signed.  so, it fills a void in the topps dodger autograph project, even though i don't count the traded sets towards the completion of the goal of having (at least) one card signed by a different dodger from every topps flagship set.  still, if i had 'em, i listed 'em in the tally.

this is kind of an odd card in that stubbs did not switch teams, and was not a rookie in 1986.  he debuted in 1984, got cards from topps and fleer in their 1985 flagship sets, and was featured in the 1986 donruss set.  topps left him out of their set that year because he only played in 10 games during the 1985 season.  in 1986, however, he was the dodgers' primary left fielder, so they figured he was worth adding to the traded set.

i like the card - it reminds me of the 1979 topps steve garvey card with marc hill behind the plate.

here is the updated tally.

1951 topps - preacher roe (purchased)

1952 topps - rocky bridges

1953 topps - bobby morgan

1954 topps - billy herman (purchased)

1955 topps - don zimmer (purchased)

1956 topps - randy jackson

1957 topps - carl erskine

1958 topps - joe pignatano

1959 topps - fred kipp

1960 topps - chuck essegian

1961 topps - bob aspromonte

1962 topps - norm sherry

1963 topps - ed roebuck

1964 topps - ken mcmullen

1965 topps - dick tracewski

1966 topps - john kennedy

1967 topps - phil regan

1968 topps - jim campanis

1969 topps - jeff torborg

1970 topps - al mcbean

1971 topps - sandy vance

1972 topps - manny mota

1973 topps - wes parker

1974 topps - claude osteen

1974 topps traded - jim wynn

1975 topps - ron cey

1975 topps mini - joe ferguson

1976 topps - bill russell

1976 topps traded - dusty baker

1977 topps - steve garvey

1978 topps - dave lopes

1979 topps - charlie hough

1980 topps - jerry reuss

1981 topps - doug rau

1981 topps traded - ken landreaux

1982 topps - dave goltz

1982 topps traded - jose morales

1983 topps - ron roenicke

1983 topps traded - rafael landestoy

1984 topps - fernando valenzuela

1984 topps traded - mike vail

1985 topps - burt hooton

1986 topps - enos cabell

1986 topps traded - franklin stubbs

1987 topps - steve sax

1987 topps traded - matt young

1988 topps - len matuszek

1989 topps - mickey hatcher

1990 topps - kal daniels

1990 topps traded - juan samuel

1991 topps - tim belcher

1992 topps - roger mcdowell

1993 topps - dave hansen

1993 topps traded - tim wallach

1994 topps - jody reed

1995 topps - chris gwynn

1996 topps - todd hollandsworth

1997 topps - brett butler

1998 topps - greg gagne

1999 topps - jose vizcaino

2000 topps - jeff shaw

2001 topps - chan ho park

2002 topps - andy ashby

2002 topps traded - joel hanrahan

2003 topps - jim tracy

2003 topps traded - ron coomer

2004 topps - edwin jackson

2004 topps traded - milton bradley

2005 topps - chad billingsley

2005 topps update & highlights - jason phillips

2006 topps - bill mueller

2007 topps - james loney

2007 topps update & highlights - andy laroche

2008 topps - delwyn young

2008 topps update & highlights - casey blake

2009 topps - matt kemp

2009 topps update & highlights - brad ausmus

2010 topps - juan pierre

2010 topps update & highlights - ronnie belliard

2011 topps - hong-chih kuo

2011 topps update & highlights - matt guerrier

2012 topps - nathan eovaldi

2012 topps update & highlights - matt treanor

thanks franklin!

turn it like beckham

so, it was the junior junkie who answered my call and sent me a 2013 topps gordon beckham card featuring the first dp turn of the year, as far as i knew.

he also threw in a blue bordered jason kipnis

and a landscape brendan ryan

with a horizontal angel, too.

thomas sent me a separate box with a bunch of other dp cards that i will show off at another time.

i also received a short stack of 2013 topps dee gordon cards

thanks to my participation in crackin wax's case break.

are there any more double play cards in 2013 series one?  if so, let me know!

thanks thomas and topher!

garvey cey smith lopes?

during my recent foray into oddball issues, i picked up a dodger team set of 1978 wiffle ball discs.  i don't know why i didn't own these as a kid - i played a ton of wiffle ball and 'over the line' with the neighbors growing up.  actually, that is probably why i don't have any - we used the neighbors' equipment.  i don't think we ever owned a wiffle ball or bat.  anyway, here are the fearsome foursome that were included in the set.

steve garvey

ron cey

reggie smith

davey lopes

bill russell gets no love.

there is no photo of the netherlands' female field hockey team in this post

sorry fanboys.  these are just some cards that i received from jeroen, the dutch card guy.  night owl used some fancy imagery to peak your interest in his post about cards he received from jeroen, but i won't do that here. 

i will wait for you to return from night owl's post, however.

ok, here we go.

i didn't get the shiny goods that greg did, but i did get a 1983 dodgers police dave stewart

and bob welch

i went to the games at which these sets were given away the first few years.  i had a love/hate relationship with the cards - really the only thing i didn't like was the size.  i am always curious how some people have one or two of these lying around.  i never considered breaking my sets up, but then again, i am a dodger collector.  these days, i do have some garvey singles in my garvey pc, but i still have the complete sets, too.

moving on, here's a 1987 indiana blue sox broder card of general soreness, mike marshall

and here's a fully licensed 2009 upper deck sp authentic card of matt kemp

remember when upper deck had a license to feature logos?  that was nice.  usually.

i didn't participate in the golden giveaway thingy last year, probably because i didn't buy any packs until update came out.  jeroen sent me a sandy koufax adorned code card which is nice

i might have to look for one of those cards on the secondary market.  it looks nice and shiny.

i'll end this trade post with a 2009 topps 206 james loney card

actually, i'll finish with a link to some photos of the netherlands' female field hockey team.  i'm sure james loney understands.

time waits for no man

i just read an article by ken gurnick stating that steve garvey was diagnosed with prostate cancer last fall.  apparently he's doing well  now, and has decided to auction off many of his awards, including his 1974 mvp award and 1981 world series ring.

here's one of the latest additions to my garvey collection, a 1991 line drive card

it's nothing special, although it represents another check on the garvey checklist, and fills another spot in the binder.

garvey's health and his decision to part with his memorabilia may or may not be directly connected, but even if they aren't we all know there comes a time when those sorts of decisions need to be made.  my dad is at that point, and i will get there someday, too.  i just hope i am around long enough to be the one to decide how to rid myself of my stuff.

it will be interesting to see how the auction goes.  if i were a rich man, i just might take a shot at one of the items, but alas, i am not.  i'll just keep looking for some oddball cards instead.  until it's time to stop.

card games

i didn't realize until recently that there was an uno game licensed by mlb. 

it's not surprising given the history of playing card issues from the 90's and earlier, but i hadn't seen it anywhere before i purchased some oddball dodger items last month.  anyway, i was able to pick up the entire dodger team set

yes, apparently only eric gagne represents the boys in blue in the game.  at least he's not a 'draw 4' card.

another card game i didn't know about was mlb trade up

it was released in 2007, and was one of those interactive dvd board games.  thankfully, this guy broke up the game and offered me the rafael furcal card

i was aware, of course, of the better known mlb showdown game that has not only individual player cards that are easy to track and identify, but these other cards that may or may not feature players of one's favorite team.

this one features dodgers tom goodwin and angel pena with mark grudzielanek, a bat boy, and maybe even adrian beltre, but the image has nothing to do with the rally cap.  a tip of the rally cap, by the way, to all the people out there who catalog and list these types of cards by team.

also included in the lot were more of the 2005 topps hot button cards.  i picked up the jeff kent card a while back, but now he has some company.

jd drew

eric gagne

and hee seop choi

always a pleasure to find a hee seop choi dodger card.  and to find some oddballs that i didn't know existed.

i've got friends with vintage bargain bins

it's been a while since i've been to a card show.  the last time might actually have been when i met up with carl crawford cards at what was a pretty weak show.  now that i think about it, it was the show that i grabbed the 1955 topps sandy koufax card.  either way, just because i haven't been to a show for while doesn't mean i don't have cards to show from previous visits to one of the monthly gatherings of like minded dealers and collectors.

i've posted a few times about the two vendors with the vintage bargain bins.  they both are at the point where they recognize me and will sometimes hand me a vintage dodger card from behind the counter when i approach.  case in point, my 1956 topps gil hodges card

one of the dealers knows that condition is not always my biggest concern, and he greeted me at a show last year by telling me he had something that he was sure i would be interested in

why yes, i was very interested in a cheap version of a 1956 topps dodger team card.  sharp corners aren't going to make me appreciate the card any more than i do already.  world champs!

there are some less heralded cards that i have picked up over the last couple of years that i also appreciate, as they helped me finish off my 1960's dodger team sets.  here's a 1961 topps john roseboro

and a 1961 topps roger craig

craig's card is a high number, which meant it wasn't in the bargain bin.  no, it was in the 'half priced' bin which had cards priced well below book further reduced by half.

joe moeller's 1964 topps card is also a high number

but it was in the bargain bin.

that's also where i found ron fairly's 1964 topps card

i thought about passing on it since it is miscut, but it was only a buck if i recall correctly.

here's one more card i picked up on the cheap - a 1962 topps don drysdale all-star card

with that card, i have all of the drysdale's issued by topps - from 1957 through 1969, plus his 1963 fleer.  but that's a card for another post.