what, me quarry?

you betcha i quarry for cards.  in fact, i just completed my first trade with hiflew of 'cards from the quarry' and i couldn't be more pleased.  in exchange for a bunch of colorado rockies, he sent me this 2012 topps sandy koufax manufactured retired numbers patch

back in 2001, i was pretty excited about the first topps tribute set (still trying to complete the set, too).  the checklist was comprised of only players for whom franchises have retired numbers.  i knew there would be a lot of dodgers in the set, but i was really hoping for a steve garvey card.  yes, the padres retired garvey's #6 in 1988.  unfortunately, garvey was not included in the set; nor was koufax even though topps had included him on a couple of inserts in the flagship release that year.  anyway, retired numbers are cool, and i like this insert set that topps put out.  i have the jackie robinson, but still need the tommy lasorda.  it's too bad that they didn't make a card for all the dodgers with retired numbers, but that's just me being greedy.

  the next card up from the trade package was this fantastic 2011 topps rafael furcal card

i really like this card, mostly because of the landscape double play turn.  this version, however, is a bit more special thanks to the 'sparkle' from furky's belt.  this is the first of these short prints that i own, and i'm glad it's this furcal.

the other cards i will show from the package are also new to me.  here's a 1996 pinnacle aficionado checklist card of mike piazza

look at the italian-american superstar slugger taking infield practice!  remember when such a big deal was made about him spending time at first base in new york?  i do.  he spent exactly one inning at first base during his dodger years, and that was in his rookie season of 1993.  not sure why he was in the field when this photo was taken.

here's another dodger catcher - paul loduca - on a 2003 fleer double header card

if loduca had more cards like this, maybe i would have liked him more.  no, that wouldn't have helped.  i do like this card, though.

finally, here's one more card from 2003, and it's one i had never seen before.  it comes from the fleer genuine set, and features a short-time dodger, fred mcgriff

the crime dog hit career home runs 479-491 with the dodgers, but could muster only two more when he finished his career with the devil rays.  i was really hoping that he would get to 500 as a dodger, especially since there wasn't much to root for in 2003 after the team dropped 13 out of 15 just before the all-star break to go from tied for first in the west to 8.5 games back.  whatever, mcgriff didn't get to 500 and the dodgers moved shawn green to first the following year as mcgriff returned to tampa.

thanks for all the cards johnny!  let's do it again soon!