don't worry, bo also sent some dodger cards

this will be the last post about the cards that bo from baseball cards come to life sent me recently.  it was a great package containing double play cards, tatooine cards, cards featuring memorial patches, and, of course, dodger cards.

i am surprised that i have not yet shown this 1993 topps stadium club orel hershiser card

on the blog previously. its got the bulldog sitting in dodger stadium on a beautiful day for baseball.

this 2002 leaf rookies and stars brian jordan card

also features dodger stadium as a backdrop, with jordan running between the kevin brown and shawn green images on the outfield wall mural.

this 1992 classic best roberto mejia card

however, features vero beach's holman stadium as its backdrop.  that may well be carlos delgado kneeling behind mejia, by the way.  the dodgers lost mejia in the expansion draft to the rockies, but at least he made it to the majors.  that can't be said about the next guy.

1992 upper deck minors ryan luzinski

the dodgers' first round draft pick in 1992 made it as high as triple-a with the dodgers and later the orioles, but never got the call to the big leagues.

1992 upper deck minors todd hollandsworth

how convenient for the dodgers' bakersfield affiliate that they could use the brooklyn dodgers 'b' on their hats and helmets.  holly, of course, was the 1996 national league rookie of the year, but before that, he apparently enjoyed sorting grains of sand.

another dodger prospect of the mid-90's was paul konerko.  here's a 1994 topps stadium club card

celebrating the dodgers' first round pick in the 1994 draft.

originally a catcher, the dodgers moved konerko to first base, presumably because they had mike piazza behind the plate.  konerko is fielding his position on this 1998 pinnacle performers card

as well as this 1998 topps stadium club

they also tried him at third base and even the outfield.  he was, after all, the second best prospect in all of baseball heading into the 1998 season (as ranked by baseball america).  today, i don't think you trade that type of prospect for a closer.

i'll finish up with a couple of dodgers hanging out on tatooine - 1993 score select lenny harris

and jose offerman

one last thank you, bo! that was a fun package to sort through!

baseball cards that travelled from bo in single file to hide their numbers

there are many things that i like about this 1993 donruss tony fernandez card

first of all, it was sent to me by bo from baseball cards come to life in a trade package, which is great.  second, it features the o-pee-chee-esque 'traded' text with a mets logo on what would otherwise be a padre card.  third, there is a double play turn on the back.  and fourth, there is only dirt in the image, so it's a tatooine card.  bo sent a number of those cards for my mini collection.  here's another, also from 1993 donruss, featuring the tigers' phil clark

here are some more.

1993 score select royce clayton

1993 upper deck scott brosius

1993 upper deck craig grebeck

1993 upper deck jose vizcaino

1994 pinnacle kirt manwaring

1994 score bob zupcic

1994 upper deck dave hollins (back)

1994 upper deck collector's choice brian hunter

1994 upper deck collector's choice scott livingstone

1994 upper deck collector's choice dave magadan

1995 donruss junior felix

thanks bo.  these are the cards i was looking for.

i am running out of tatooine references from the star wars movies for these types of posts.

bo knows how to select double play cards

the recent package from bo featured a large number of double play cards, many of which were new to me.  here are some that i hadn't seen before

1993 score select jay bell

1993 score select mariano duncan

which happens to feature the aforementioned jay bell

1993 score select scott fletcher

whom i either forgot or did not know played for the brewers.

1993 score select mike gallego

1993 score select rene gonzales

1993 score select manny lee

now, i am assuming that he is turning two here, but there's always a chance that he's jumping just for the heck of it.

1993 score select robby thompson

looks like an expo sliding in. i miss the expos.

1993 score select john valentin

1993 score select lou whitaker

sweet lou showed up a couple of other times in the package:

1993 topps stadium club

and 1995 upper deck collector's choice

hello, thrill.

the tigers were pretty well represented in the turning two category in that set with alan trammell

(again, an assumption about turning two, but why else would the shortstop be coming across the bag like that?) and choice chris gomez

here's a padre, luis lopez,

also turning two in the set, and doing so on tatooine.  the back of lopez's card also features a photo from the desert planet

as does the last card of this post, 1996 upper deck chris gomez

and the cosmic ballet goes on.

thanks again for the cards, bo. i will be showing more in the near future, so stay tuned...

fun at the ballpark, indeed

it is odd to think that, after nearly seven years of posting, i have not yet featured this 1993 donruss triple play card of former dodger reliever roger mcdowell

so, when it arrived recently in a trade package from bo at baseball cards come to life, i figured that now was the time.  here's the back

 

mcdowell's teammates may have been amused by him wearing outrageous things, but i as a fan will just accept good baseball in a beautiful setting.  a setting like dodger stadium.  that's where this next card bo sent comes in.

that's a 1996 score select bret boone card, featuring a photo taken in dodger stadium.  the unnamed dodger in the scene is roberto kelly, who twice stole second against boone and the reds on july 30, 1995.  the wrist guard and red glove/sweat bands were a big clue as to the runner's identity, but really it was either him or chad fonville, and with kelly wearing number 21 it was fairly obvious.

this next one is easier.

that would be mitch webster sliding in while jose oquendo turns two in dodger stadium on his 1996 donruss card.

moving away from dodger stadium (to tatooine, in fact), we see rafael furcal sliding in front of freddy sanchez on sanchez's 2008 bowman card

as sanchez makes the double play pivot.

staying on tatooine, here's a 1993 score select joe girardi card

that would obviously fit into that particular mini collection of mine if it weren't already destined for the lurker collection thanks to dodger dave hansen making an appearance on the back

there are many more cards that bo sent that i'll be showing over the next few days - thanks for the cards bo!

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!