who wants to deal for vintage?

despite acquiring and posting some pretty nice vintage stuff lately (here's a 1953 bowman color billy herman card that i picked up on the cheap),

i am still in need of quite a bit.  and, since i not too long ago pared down my sampler vintage topps sets to just dodger team sets, i've got a lot of spare vintage.  so, why not make a trade?

now, i realize that dodger cards from the 1950's sometimes command a pretty penny. i'm not suggesting that you trade me a 1952 topps roy campanella card for a 1954 bowman fred baczewski, but you are certainly welcome to if you'd like.  what i'm offering is a minimum of five-for-1 vintage deal.  my top priority here would be the 1955 topps card that i'm missing.

that would be ed roebuck, because i've recently obtained the joe black,

clem labine,

and gil hodges

cards from the set.

i find it interesting that the cartoon on the back of hodges' card

is pretty much the same as the one on the back of jackie robinson's 1953 topps card - the subject, anyway.  i guess topps figured that kids would forget that nugget of information within a couple years' time.

i found the hodges online, and picked up the black and labine cards at the card show i went to recently.  when i told the dealer i was working on a 1955 topps dodger team set, he said 'hey - just like rocky.  you know, the kid from the movie 'mask''.  i did not know, as i had not seen that movie.  a quick check of imdb does indeed show that the character was working on a '55 topps dodger team set, and while i need ed roebuck to complete the set, he needed rube walker.

anyway, i've updated my 1950's want list, and added it below.  i've also updated my nefarious 9 list on the sidebar.  even though there are some decidedly modern cards on the nefarious 9, i'm willing to trade vintage for them - say a minimum of 3-for-1 for the non-vintage nefarious 9 needs.

here's how it works.  you find one of the cards listed below from your collection, on ebay, comc, sportlots, or uncle bill's attic and let me know that you'd like to trade.  i'll send you a minimum of five cards from the 1950's (or 1960's if you prefer) in exchange. we can work out specific teams or cards if you prefer.  again, if you have a high-dollar card from my list, the bounty would be higher.  condition is not too much of an issue, although the labine above is probably as bad as i'd want to go on some of these cards.

here's the list of cards i need from the 1950's:

1950 bowman - 21 reese, 22 robinson, 23 newcombe, 58 furillo, 59 branca, 75 campanella, 76 barney, 77 snider, 112 hodges, 113 hermanski, 166 hatton, 167 roe, 194 cox, 222 morgan, 223 russell, 224 banta

1951 bowman - 7 hodges, 31 campanella, 32 snider, 56 branca, 80 reese, 117 miksis, 118 roe, 189 palica, 190 hatton, 260 erskine, 299 king

1951 topps red and blue backs - blue 42 edwards, blue 48 cox, red 16 roe, red 38 snider

1952 bowman - 8 reese, 44 campanella, 128 newcombe, 224 schmitz, 240 loes

1952 topps - 1 pafko, 20 loes, 36 hodges, 51 russell, 66 roe, 188 podbielan, 198 haugstad, 250 erskine, 273 palica, 314 campanella, 319 walker, 320 rutherford, 321 black, 326 shuba, 333 reese, 342 labine, 355 morgan, 365 lavagetto, 377 dressen, 389 wade, 390 nelson, 394 herman, 395 pitler, 396 williams

1953 bowman black & white - 26 roe, 52 branca, 60 cox

1953 bowman color - 14 loes, 46 campanella, 117 snider, 124 dressen, 129 meyer, 145 shuba

1953 topps - 76 reese, 134 walker, 255 howell, 258 gilliam, 263 podres, 272 antonello

1954 bowman - 10 erskine, 58 reese, 90 campanella, 122 furillo, 138 hodges, 154 newcombe, 170 snider, 186 meyer, 202 shuba, 218 roe

1955 topps - 195 roebuck

and you can see a sampling of the cards available for trade by checking out these posts and looking at the non-dodgers in them.  here are some other cards from 1953 and 1954 that would be available as well.

what say you? can you help a blogger out?

simply gorgeous

i sort of stumbled into a small cache of 1950's cards recently.  there was one card in particular that i was after, and it was included in a lot with about a dozen others. i was somewhat surprised when this beauty fell out of the package.

that would be a 1953 bowman color gil hodges card, and it is pretty as heck, even with the pinholes.  it' features the type of photo that might have been used in the 1957 topps set - full of color with the old ballpark on full display.  ebbets field shines in the background with the outfield advertising, especially the schaefer beer sign. i understand that the sign would light up its 'h' if a player reached base on a hit, and it would light up one of its 'e's if the player reached by error.  that's a great way to get several thousand people to fixate on your sign.

here's the back of the card which is really bright.

so happy to have this card.

there was one other 1953 bowman color dodger card in the lot, and it was fellow boy of summer carl furillo's

a bit more damaged and without as colorful a background, it's still nice.  the back is a bit more worn than that of the hodges card

the person who wrote the text was spot on - furillo bounced back in 1953 in a huge way. he led the league with a .344 batting average, was 3rd in doubles, and 5th in slugging percentage and ops.

as for the cards, they are the 3rd and 4th dodger cards i have from the set, two of which (the pee wee reese and the hodges) sit firmly in my top ten-ish favorite dodger cards in my collection. and to think the acquisition of the hodges card was a happy byproduct of a purchase of a different card.  i'll show that card in a couple of weeks or so...

it's the end of the year as we know it, and i feel like showing some dodger double play turns

one last post in 2014, and it's all dodgers and all double play turns.  too bad there's no davey lopes or bill russell.  there is, however, their infield coach jim gilliam, turning two on his 1995 topps brooklyn archives 1956 reprint card

i dont think i knew that topps had listed gilliam as an outfielder on his 1956 card.  he's definitely not playing as an outfielder on the card.

here's a 2009 topps chrome orlando hudson xfractor

i'm working on updating my double play binders. there are a number of dodger dps, like the hudson above, that i only have one copy of.  i'm trying to get a handle on that so i can pursue duplicates appropriately.  i know i only have one of these - a 2011 topps ivan dejesus factory set limited edition card

but i might have two of his diamond anniversary parallel

conversely, i actually do have two copies of rafael furcal's 2011 topps factory set limited edition card

but maybe only one of the diamond anniversary parallel

furcal's 2011 topps card may be the best double play card of the set (remember - dee gordon's fantastic double play card came in 2011 topps update), and i had been lax in chasing the parallels.  so, here are the cognac,

gold,

and walmart black versions

the same photo was also used in 2011 topps chrome, thankfully, so here are the orange refractor

and xfractor parallels

gordon got his first taste of the topps flagship in 2012, when he was featured on a rookie cup card and another card that showed him turning two with larry 'chipper' jones sliding in.  this is the golden sparkle parallel

fast forward to 2014, and we had more parallels of dodgers turning two.  i found a yellow parallel of mark ellis from 2014 topps a while back

i definitely only have one of those.

same with this other retail parallel - a 2014 topps alex guerrero green border

it's a tatooine card, too, but i'm currently focused on two copies - the tatooine collection can wait.

i'm less certain about some of the other parallels of this card that i have, like his gold card,

red hot foil,

and 2014 topps chrome cards

pretty sure i have two copies of his 2014 topps chrome refractor

but i know i only have one 2014 topps chrome blue refractor

orange refractor,

and xfractor.

in fact, the duplicate xfractor is one of my nefarious 9 - my most wanted cards.

i'll finish the post, and year, with this - one of my 1953 bowman color pee wee reese cards

that i finally removed from its casing.  this is the one in my dodger binder - the one with the pinhole is in the double play binder.

happy new year everybody - if you can't tell, i'm resolving to work on my want/have lists.

it comes in colors everywhere

yes, it's like a rainbow.  i guess not technically 'everywhere', but certainly in my mailbox, thanks to daniel from it's like having my own card shop.  his end of a recent trade had this beauty - a 1953 bowman color carl erskine

that's only the second card from the set that i own - here's the other -  and i was pretty surprised to see it arrive in a trade package for a bunch of chrome diamondbacks.  awesome.

the goodness didn't end there, as oisk's teammate gil hodges was along for the ride on this 2002 topps tribute card

hodges did indeed surpass 1250 rbi in his career.  in fact, he had 1254 as a dodger, and an additional 20 in his time with the mets at the end of his playing career.

more color - this time a blue parallel of the silver fox - on a 2004 fleer greats of the game card

and then a 2001 pacific private stock eric karros bat card

plus a 2013 topps chrome clayton kershaw orange refractor

just a great group of colorful cards that daniel sent.

there was one more card in my mailbox, although daniel didn't send it to me.  tom from angels, in order was kind enough to share an address for former dodger pitcher dave patterson with me, and yesterday i received my 1980 topps dodgers future stars card back from patterson.

i now have two signed copies of this card (the other is autographed by joe beckwith).  i sent a third copy to mickey hatcher about three years ago, but never got it back.  i might give it another shot with hatcher since he signed some cards for me earlier this year.

patterson is the only guy on the card not to double dip with the dodgers.  his career in la lasted only one season - 1979 - when he was 4-1 with a 5.26 era in 36 appearances, all in relief.

thanks for the trade daniel. and for the addy tom!  and thanks for signing my card mr. patterson!

this may well be the greatest double play card of all time

it's also easily one of my top 5 favorite baseball cards ever.  yes, it's a 1953 bowman color pee wee reese card.

this one looks a bit dark only because it is still encased.

i'll get it out of there eventually.  i think i got such a good deal on it because the grading is so far off.  plus, i think some people don't realize how easy it is to remove cards from these cases and pass on them because they are tough to store or display.

i actually have two copies of the card, and i took this one out of the psa case it came in.

it was a psa 1 because of the pinhole in the top center part of the card. here's the back:

yee-haw.  the only negative about the card is that it's a staged photo.  everything else is awesome.  even the red sleeves on pee wee's shirt - they really make the colors 'pop'.

so, you see my quandary.  i still plan to do the 'greatest double play card of all time' tournament, but we all know going in that it will be tough to top that card.  so, should i even bother?  i say yes, because there are other great dp cards.  there are also other vintage double play cards, like this 1956 topps jerry coleman card

that i picked up recently, along with this 1956 topps roy mcmillan card

plus, mcmillan has jim gilliam lurking on his card!  that's good stuff.

this next one has me perplexed.  it's a 1972 topps alan gallagher in action card

when i saw it, i assumed it was a dp card.  but, after acquiring it, i looked gallagher up, and in addition to him having six middle names, it appears that he played third base exclusively while he was with the giants.  this looks like maybe he was covering second base for some reason, but i guess it's not a double play card.

i will assume that this one is, though - gallagher's teammate tito fuentes got his own in action card in the 1972 topps set.

tito was the giants' second baseman in 1971, and i'm not sure if he has any middle names.

moving on, i was able to pick up this 1983 thorn apple valley cubs card of larry bowa for cheap

tim foli looks pretty comfortable just lying on the dirt.  not a very aggressive slide at all.  the problem is that foli was an angel in 1982 and 1983 - he last played for pittsburgh in 1981 (although he would return in 1985).  so, i think maybe that is richie hebner taking it easy while bowa turns two.

hebner's teammate and foli's replacement dale berra turns two on his 1984 topps card

that may well be hubie brooks sliding in, by the way.

while ron oester forces out another pirate (looks like mike brown) on his 1987 topps card

this last dp card isn't vintage, but it's another dodger shortstop so i'll show it.  it's a 2002 topps total jeff reboulet card

nicely cropped by topps to keep the ball in the frame.

so, i still plan on holding the tournament.  i think i will purge my double play image folder during the week of/after christmas when nobody is reading and then work on finishing the seeding.  i was thinking about having people fill out their own brackets and offering a prize for whoever most closely matches my bracket, but that might be more trouble than it's worth.  stay tuned.