an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of giants collectors

i believe economist adam smith would agree that a baseball card is only worth what someone is willing to give up to obtain it.  well, i was willing to send some giant cards to another smith - arpsmith - of arpsmith's sportscard obsession in order to obtain some random dodger cards.  smith also noted that individuals who own surplus stock would generally look to gain from the excess, and arpsmith clearly subscribes to that theory because he sent me some of his collection's excess - mainly these (and a few more) dodger cards.

1967 topps ron fairly

it's always nice to see some vintage in these blind trades.  even better when the dodger is wearing number 6 which means it's either a carl furillo, fairly, or steve garvey card.  those three were the only dodgers to wear the number from 1946 through 1982.

1988 topps traded alfredo griffin

when i saw this card i thought of baseball card vandals and wondered if they had changed this into a nate griffin card yet.

1993 score select henry rodriguez

outfielders that the dodgers kept instead of henry rodriguez (who hit 140 home runs over the five and a half seasons following his 1995 trade from the dodgers to the expos) included can't miss prospects billy ashley, roger cedeno, and karim garcia who between them had 33 home runs for the dodgers (although power admittedly was not cedeno's thing).

2001 pacific shawn green

and 2001 pacific jim leyritz

thank goodness for pacific.  i have plenty of shawn green dodger cards, but only a couple of leyritz in dodger blue - this one and a 2001 upper deck victory card.  i don't know if any others even exist.

2001 pacific private stock adrian beltre

beltre will be inducted into the hall of fame, i have no doubt.  he is 7 home runs shy of 400 and about 450 hits shy of 3000 (just 41 behind steve garvey) and is signed through next season with a vesting option for 2016.  it is likely that he would get his 3000th hit in 2017 at the age of 38 if things stay relatively the same.  if he does it as a ranger, that would mean that he would have played as many seasons in texas as he did in los angeles, and so i would guess that he would be inducted wearing a rangers' hat.  we will have to wait and see what happens.

2013 topps joe blanton gold parallel

smith was a critic of mercantilism which endorsed the keeping of gold reserves as part of a country's economic stability.  i guess i disagree in that i will hoard all gold parallels of dodger cards.  even those of joe blanton, who was 2-4 with a 4.99 era in his 10 games as a dodger.

2014 donruss matt kemp power plus insert

here's a card dealing with surplus - a surplus of talent, a player not one-dimensional, making dodger fans happy, while providing financial gain for the individual to the tune of a $160-million contract through 2019.  i actually already owned this card, so perhaps i will attempt to turn my surplus into gain by trading with a fellow dodger collector…

thanks for the trade adam!  i'll have some excess giant cards headed your way soon!

through the mail thursday - randy wolf, bo mclaughlin, and jay howell successes!

i saw a couple of weeks ago that randy wolf had signed through the mail, which led me to discover that the former dodger double dipper was attempting a comeback with the seattle mariners.  i quickly gathered a couple of cards and sent a ttm request to the mariners' spring training facility.  i don't know if wolf signed his 2010 topps card before or after he parted ways with seattle, but i am glad that he did.  

i don't think he has caught on with another team yet, but here's hoping he is able to complete his comeback attempt somewhere.

the same day that the wolf card came back to me, i had a 1978 topps card in my mailbox as well.  thanks to bo mclaughlin

who is currently the bullpen coach for the colorado rockies.

a third ttm request showed up redeemed the next day.  it was a 1988 topps traded jay howell card

this was the third success that i have had with the former dodger reliever, and it fills a gap in my topps dodger autograph project.  as you might recall, i tried to secure at least one signed dodger card (ideally freely obtained through the mail) for each topps flagship set, starting with the 1951 red/blue backs, without repeating a player.  i don't consider update series official requirements of the project, but note them if i have them, and i didn't have anyone sign their '88 traded set yet even though tim belcher, alfredo griffin, and howell had signed cards for me in the past. thanks to jay howell, now i do.

here's the updated tally of the project (inspired by the lost collector), by the way.

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

1985 topps traded - mariano duncan

1986 topps - enos cabell

1986 topps traded - franklin stubbs

1987 topps - steve sax

1987 topps traded - matt young

1988 topps - len matuszek

1988 topps traded - jay howell

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

2013 topps - randy choate

2014 topps - ricky nolasco

who knows what the mail will bring next?

1988 topps cards that should have been of 1978 topps dodgers

there were only 7 of the 27 people featured as dodgers in the 1978 topps set still deemed worthy of a card by topps in 1988.  by my count, there were three others that should have been recognized.  here then are the 1988 topps (and topps traded) cards that should have been for the 1978 topps dodgers.

1988 topps traded don sutton

sutton returned to the dodgers for the 1988 season, but was released in august.  i guess that was enough time for topps to remove him from the 1988 topps traded set checklist (if he was on it to begin with).  i used sutton's 1988 mother's dodgers card for the image because i wanted him to be 'suttoning' on this card that should have been.

the other two that weren't featured in the 1988 topps set were ron cey and steve garvey.  the 1988 issue would have been their final tributes.  here are the versions that i came up with.

ron cey front

and back

travis at punk rock paint created the front of the 1988 topps steve garvey card that should have been

and i did the back

at least garvey got a card from score in 1988, and it's a nice one

complete with the career stats on the back

plus some nice 'iron' and 'rust' wordplay.

keep an eye out next week for a garvey-centered contest, and the next installment of the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers.

the supporting story in the 1988 dodgers' hollywood script

sometimes movie scripts can be pretty predictable.  all stories boil down to either man vs. nature, man vs. himself, or man vs. man.  throw in some boy meets girl/boy loses girl drama, and you have a tale fit for a screenplay.  back in 1988, the dodgers' world championship, and particularly the kirk gibson home run to win game 1, was often referred to as having a hollywood ending.  nbc even ran a segment prior to game 2 intertwining gibson's home run with roy hobbs' fictional blast in 'the natural'.  sometimes lost in all the gibson memories is mike davis, seen here on a 1988 topps traded card that was sent to me by marcus at all the way to the backstop.

i was watching mlb network a few weeks ago, and they had a countdown show of baseball's most underrated or overlooked plays.  things like bernie carbo's home run in the 1975 world series that set up carlton fisk's blast, or the interference call that negated a run off of orel hershiser when he was only 40-something innings into his scoreless innings streak.  and, of course, mike davis's walk in game 1 of the 1988 world series off of dennis eckersley to give kirk gibson a chance to win the game with a home run.  now, i don't subscribe to the idea that davis's walk is overlooked or underrated, but then again i am a dodger fan and i was at the game.  everybody in the stadium (and even the people listening in the parking lot as they were leaving) knew that davis made gibson's at bat possible.  watching the game at home a few days later (my mom taped it), joe garagiola commented on the significance of the walk, too.  i realize that as time goes by, the home run is what most fans remember, so i understand why the walk was on mlb network's list.  anyway, just like vince vaughn's character in 'rudy', mike davis was redeemed by making things possible for the main character's success.

davis came to the dodgers as a free agent prior to the season, and sprained his ankle during spring training.  he never seemed to get on track, and hit only .196 over the course of the regular season.  he endured stints without regular playing time, and was seen in wrigley field at one point holding up a sign that read 'mike davis is alive and well', just in case people were wondering. mike marshall, who had started the season as the dodgers' first baseman, took over as the regular right fielder.  and, even with gibson out of the lineup in the world series, lasorda went with mickey hatcher in left field over davis.  the stunt man made lasorda look like a genius with the way he played in the series, by the way.  

anyway, davis took the walk in game 1, and then put the nail in the a's coffin in game 5 with a two-run home run off of storm davis in the 4th inning.  davis was allowed to swing away on a 3-0 count and he made it count.  that home run was his only hit of the series in seven official at bats, but it was enough to keep me from overlooking him.  or so i thought.

ok, enough wordiness.  let's see some cards.  here's a 2012 topps update wal-mart blue matt kemp card

and a 1992 pinnacle juan samuel card

looks like juan is turning two in dodger stadium.  that's nice.

i should mention that all of these cards were sent to me by marcus from 'all the way to the backstop'.  they are much appreciated.

here's the back of roberto alomar's 1989 upper deck card

and a 1992 fleer ultra kurt stillwell card

plus stillwell's 1993 upper deck card

alomar has a fair number of cards showing him turning two, but i believe that stillwell has the highest dp turn to card ratio ever.  here are some other stillwell dp cards to support my theory.

another frequent dp turner is bip roberts, as seen here on a 1995 score card

and a 1995 topps bazooka card

and a 1996 topps stadium club card

i forget - is three a bipping?  or is it five?

moving on to a 2008 upper deck khalil greene card

and a 1992 fleer ultra jeff huson card

which features a forced out jose canseco.  i think huson's 1992 upper deck card also features a dp turn with mr 40/40 sliding in.  could be the same play, who knows.

i also participated in thorzul's trade me anything promotion, and received a matt kemp golden moments insert from 2012 topps update.

cole hamels should know that the best way to put a rookie in his place is by just pointing at the scoreboard.

thanks for the trades, guys!

jim poole and another team collector dilemma

i was never a fan of the team usa subsets - either in 1985 topps or in the topps traded sets of 1988 or 1991 or 1992 and beyond - even though there were some good players included such as mark mcgwire, jason giambi and nomar!  to make matters worse, jim poole was included in the 1988 topps traded set.

i'm sure jim's a nice guy, but he wreaked havoc on my team collector psyche.  why?  look at the back:

he is a dodger farmhand.  actually, the dodgers drafted him in 1987, too, but he didn't sign.  jim would debut for the dodgers in 1990 before heading to the american league where he found some success with the mid 90's powerhouse indians team.  but, he was a dodger first.  so, does the 1988 topps traded jim poole card make the dodger binder?  what's a team collector to do?