14 March 2015

an invitation from steve garvey and more via jaybarkerfan's junk

i don't know how he does it, but wes from jaybarkerfan's junk continues to find some great stuff to send my way.  he recently sent me an oversized package that contained this gem
i had never heard of sports america club, but i figure i would have signed up if i had been aware.  of course, that's when i thought it was a 1981 or 1982 endeavor, due to garvey showing up with a dodger hat on the front of the letter and the choice between donruss, topps, fleer, or 'other' as my favorite card manufacturer on the back.  however, it turns out that this was a thing in 1988 - the year after garvey retired.  here's an image of an actual sports america club kit that i found on ebay
note the presence of 1988 cards around the inset photo of garvey in a dodger helmet.  knowing it was from '88, i can say that i would not have joined, even though i was promised a personalized, signed photo of the garv himself.

wes also included a (sort of) bipping of kevin gross cards - four 1991 fleer cards
and a singular 1992 upper deck card
there was also a legitimate bipping of 2007 tristar prospects plus chris withrow cards
that's one - here are the other four
my collection went from zero of these cards to five in the matter of one package.

rounding out some of the more notable cards wes sent, we have the fantastically sunglassed steve yeager on his 1981 fleer card
pedro guerrero's last dodger card from 1988 topps
which may have been included in a sports america club kit, now that i think about it

a 1992 topps stadium club mitch webster
because nobody else is showing you mitch webster cards

a target red parallel of hanley ramirez's 2013 topps card
and a 2013 topps museum collection hyun-jin ryu
which actually did the traditional korean last name first thing. a tip of the cap to topps and to wes for another great package of dodger goodness!

6 comments:

  1. Wes always find some really unique items.

    I still think the Hanley Ramirez cards is the best bat flip card ever recorded on cardbaord.

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  2. I have one of those kits, unopened and several of the flying sheets. I love unique things like that.

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  3. I wouldn't mind seeing a membership card and the signed photo, if it was designated as being from the Club. I am not aware of any special photos like that though.

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  4. The kit was lame in 2014. Sure it was cool back in 1988

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  5. Great piece to add to the binder

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  6. hey wes - thanks again for sending the letter! i wasn't buying much of anything related to cards in '88 except for one box of topps early in the year. that's why i wouldn't have joined the club. i've got some stuff headed back your way tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled!

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