finest

so, the dodgers clinched last night, and things are set up pretty well for the rotation going into the playoffs.  i am not one of those who are adamantly opposed to pitchers winning the mvp, although it would take a very special case for me to support not giving the award to an everyday player.  that said, clayton kershaw is your national league mvp.  here's his 2014 topps finest card

when it came to choosing my favorite dodger from among the young crop of players including kershaw, james loney, russell martin, and matt kemp, i chose kemp over kershaw largely because of the everyday thing.  here's his 2014 topps finest card

i haven't had a pitcher as my favorite dodger since the lean years of the early 1990's, and i'm not giving up on kemp, but holy shnikes kershaw is fantastic!  consider that the dodgers are 23-4 in his starts this year, and 68-64 in everybody else's.  he's going to lead the national league in era for the fourth straight season (hello, sandy koufax), and he leads the national league in war - not just for pitchers, but for all players. kemp hasn't been so bad either, working back from the injuries that sucked the life out of his 2013 season.  he probably won't challenge 40/40 again, but his slugging percentage is getting back up towards .500 which is nice.

those are the only two dodgers i have from this year's finest release, but i do have a couple of 20-year old finest cards languishing in the scanned folder.  here are delino deshields

 and pedro astacio

kemp and kershaw, they are not.

the dodgers' tim crews memorial patch

tim crews was a reliever for the dodgers from 1987 through 1992, coming over from the brewers with tim leary in exchange for steve garvey's replacement, greg brock.  he pitched effectively enough - he had a 3.05 era for the club through the 1991 season - but after a subpar 1992 campaign, the dodgers allowed him to leave via free agency.  here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card.

crews signed with the indians, along with another dodger teammate turned free agent, bob ojeda.

it was during spring training in 1993 that crews, along with ojeda and fellow cleveland pitcher steve olin, took a boat ride looking for gators on little lake nellie that ended with crews and olin dead, and ojeda severely injured.  the boat, with crews behind the wheel, had hit an unlit dock, killing olin instantly.  crews died a while later at the hospital.

the dodgers wore a patch in crews' memory for the 1993 season - his number 52 in a black circle.  this was similar to the memorial they wore during the 1978 world series following jim gilliam's passing.  it shows up on a lot of 1994 cards, including cory snyder's 1994 topps card

darryl strawberry's 1994 topps card (this is the gold parallel version)

also has the patch on display, as does his 2005 topps retired card (also the gold parallel version)

since topps recycled the photo.  here's a different photo of darryl with the patch visible on his 1994 topps finest card

later in the season, the dodgers also lost don drysdale and roy campanella, and honored them with a memorial patch on their right sleeves.  i'll address that particular memorial in a separate post, but you can see it, along with the crews patch, on tom candiotti's 1994 donruss card

with a photo taken on a sunny day in dodger stadium.

both patches are again on display (along with a tremendous mustache) on brett butler's 1994 topps stadium card

with just the crews patch (and no mustache) visible on the back

for a while, i had this 1994 upper deck collector's choice card

pegged as the representative for the crews memorial in my binder, but i also considered tim wallach's 1994 topps stadium club card

as well as the rainbow foil parallel

and even thought about jody reed's 1994 fleer flair card

ultimately, i decided that the best card to represent the tim crews memorial patch in my collection is eric karros' 1994 bowman card

crews left behind a family, as did olin, as well as a lot of affected teammates and club personnel.  they were the first active major leaguers to pass away since thurman munson died in 1979.  the indians also wore a patch to honor crews and olin, and i'll show some examples of that later today.

the last of the lcs

this weekend, i've been posting cards that i picked up at the two local card shops over the course of a few visits made in the last few months.  this final post is all dodger goodness, and the cards shown here all came from the shop that doesn't want me to use a computer to browse their inventory.  however, it seems as though they aren't opening new product, as the nickel boxes remain capped at 2011 releases.

they do have some vintage boxes sitting out, and i was able to find a 1962 post willie davis

and another copy of a 1963 post maury wills

this one is (if you can believe it) cut better than the other one i own.  i was kind of hoping that one of them was actually a jello card because i can never tell them apart.  but, it would seem that they are both post, as the red line is not flush with the stat text.

moving on, here's a 1987 leaf candy city team duke snider card

that is essentially a reprint of the 1983 donruss hall of fame heroes card.

i found some 1994 topps finest for a dime apiece - tom candiotti

and brett butler

as well as a bunch of piazza stuff.  this one is a 1995 pinnacle zenith card

and this one is a 1997 fleer checklist

i am guessing that piazza had a deal with rawlings.

i am also guessing that it's piazza there in the catcher's crouch on this 1996 pinnacle denny's hologram of hideo nomo

that also features super scout mike brito.

here's a 2010 topps history of the game insert of jackie robinson

and a 2011 topps prime 9 insert/redemption card of sandy koufax

the star/hof box was filled with these types of cards which were available from card shops as redemptions for inserts in series 2 that year.  i guess not too many folks bothered to redeem them at this location.

i don't know if or when i will get back to this lcs.  if i knew that there would be some new stuff in the bargain boxes i might be more interested in a return trip.

come on local card show, show me what you've got

it's been quite a while since i've been to one of the local monthly card shows.  but, if all is going according to plan, i will be en route when this thing gets posted.  1974 topps set completion is high on my to do list, as is random vintage bargain bin and dime box hunting.  we'll see how it goes.

the last time i went to this particular show, i found a bunch of 1995 topps brooklyn dodgers archives cards in a dime bin.  i was able to almost complete my set, thanks to that particular seller.  here are some of the cards manufactured specifically for the set - 1955 world series games 3

4

and 7

we've seen that podres image quite a bit, and the hodges is familiar too, although i think i am thinking of duke snider when i see it.  that image for game 3 is a new one to me.  i assume it's jackie robinson sliding in, although it could be jim gilliam - both advanced to third on plays that could have involved a throw.  here are a few more jackie's for the set - 1953 version

1954

and 1956

i also need ed roebuck for some reason

my want list shows that i still need the roberto clemente card that was created for the set (or for the 1954 topps archives set, i guess).  i am pretty sure that i have that card, though.  i need to do some investigating.

i also picked up some kellogg's cards the last time around.  this is the 1977 steve garvey

and this ron cey is from 1978

i had them both already, but a dime spent on dodger kellogg's cards is a dime well spent.

i also picked up a 1976 hostess garvey

and a 1982 drakes garvey as well

the hostess card i think i needed for the dodger team set. pretty sure i had a few copies of the drakes card though.

mid 90's dodger issues baffle me, even though i have a partial want list.  i grabbed a couple of 1994 topps finest cards from the dime box because i couldn't convince myself that i really had them already.  here's ramon martinez

 similarly, i threw down a dime for this 1995 leaf chan ho park gold rookies insert

and then there are the cards that i pick up for even less of a reason.  these three are from 1995 upper deck collector's choice, but as i recall they were mail-in 'trade' cards.  they feature the bulldog and steady eddie, both former dodgers of course

one of the cards that you would send in to upper deck to get these other cards featured another former dodger, fernando valenzuela

i am pretty sure that i mailed in one or two cards back in '95 but i don't think i had ever seen the fernando (i picked that card up online, not at the show).

anyway, traded and trade redemption cards are a good place to end this post.  i got some good news at work this week, so i'm in a good mood.  which translates to a good trading mood.  let me know if there is something you would like me to look for at the show.

group breakin'

so i participated in the daily dimwit's november break, which consisted of 2006 upper deck artifacts.  i did this even though the only dodger base cards in the set were survivor jeff kent

and rookie tim hamulack

complete team set achieved!

i was kinda hoping for some good karma and landing the padres as my randomly assigned team (steve garvey is a padre and has some inserts in the set), but instead i got the team that probably has the fewest fans, the marlins.

as such, i am stuck with cards of a 2012 triple crown winner

and a 2012 silver slugger

i did manage to pick up a numbered relic

break over!

before all of that, however, i took part in ryan's group break over at 'o' no not another oriole blog.  this one featured 1994 topps finest and 1996 pinnacle zenith, among other releases.

as a result, tom candiotti gets to be featured on the blog

as does orel hershiser

and jose offerman

as for the zenith, there was karim garcia

because, you know, it was 1996 and karim garcia cards were in high demand

vladdy's big brother wilton

was also prominently featured in sets around this time, and zenith is no exception.

i also received chan ho park

limbering up for an ultimate fighting match with tim belcher

as well as ismael valdes

and another member of the dodgers' internationally staffed pitching rotation, hideo nomo

i also got the nomo 'honor roll' subset card

as well as the mike piazza 'honor roll' card.

my other team in this break was the reds.  there are a few more reds fans than marlins fans, so maybe i can find someone to trade with.

thanks for hosting the breaks, guys!