swing and a trade

it's time for an overdue trade post.  this one features cards i received from bert at swing and a pop up last year.  i was able to help out with some of his set needs, and he sent me some dodgers in return.  works for me.

here's a 1985 donruss alejandro pena

quick - what does pena have in common with dazzy vance, johnny podres, sandy koufax, don sutton, kevin brown, and clayton kershaw?  well, beside the fact that they all pitched for the same franchise, they are the only brooklyn/los angeles pitchers to have led the league in era.  pena was the leader in 1984, the only season in which he was used exclusively as a starter.  unfortunately, he hurt his shoulder late in the season and didn't return until the end of the 1985 season.  he wound up in the bullpen, and was the winning pitcher in game 1 of the 1988 world series thanks to kirk gibson.

now for a 1988 kmart pedro guerrero card

pena missed out on guerrero's scorcher of a june in 1985, but i didn't.

it was awesome.

i had thought that there was a chance that the dodgers would break their rookie of the year drought last year with yasiel puig.  it didn't happen (maybe this year with alexander guerrero?).  here's the guy who started the run of roys in the 1990's, eric karros, on a 1993 score card celebrating his award

karros eventually was traded to the cubs, and the dodgers replaced him with fred mcgriff.  here's his 2004 topps opening day card

this was kind of like 1989 when steve sax went to the yankees to replace willie randolph, and willie randolph went to the dodgers to replace steve sax.  i was among those that thought mcgriff would hit his 500th home run as a dodger (he needed 22), but he was limited to 86 games and hit only 13 bombs. that was still one more than karros hit for the cubs, and they each drove in 40 for their respective teams. karros did have that big home run to deny roger clemens his 300th win when the yankees visited wrigley field for the first time since the world series in 1932.

here's a 2004 upper deck sweet spot classic jackie robinson

one of four or five cards he has in the set, i believe.  i have added the one that i still need to my 'nefarious 9' (which now stands at only 3 cards. i'm working on it!).  send one my way, and you will be rewarded.

i still miss russell martin.  here's his 2007 topps allen & ginter card

and here's a 2008 upper deck sp authentic card on which he shares space with the padres' jake peavy

cards like this give me pause.  did upper deck put these two together for a reason? or were they just (at the time) high profile or in this case up and coming division rivals?  for the record, through 2013, russell martin has faced only two pitchers more than jake peavy (dan haren and matt cain).  in 39 plate appearances, martin has only 4 hits (one double), no rbi, and 11 strikeouts.  advantage, peavy.

before there were blue borders, there were walmart black parallels, like this 2010 topps andre ethier card

and before that, it was pinnacle that ruled the black-bordered world.  here's a 2013 panini pinnacle card of carl crawford that brings to mind those releases from the early 1990's.

bert - thanks for a great trade.  let's do it again sometime.