ay karim-ba!

i've picked up a few auto/game used dodger lots lately, and they all seem to have one thing in common:  karim garcia autos.  here are just a couple of the former dodger prospect.

this one is from 1995 classic 5 sport

and this one comes from 1996 best

but wait, that's not all. nick from dime boxes sent me a package recently, and wouldn't you know it - karim garcia made an appearance.  not once, mind you, with this 1996 topps stadium club card

but twice, thanks to this 1997 score select parallel

garcia debuted in 1995 as a 19-year old for the dodgers, and went 2 for 3 in his first big league start.  he wound up getting only 20 at bats that year, and just one in 1996, as the dodgers had todd hollandsworth higher on the depth chart.  in 1997, he got a little more playing time (and not just in september), but was selected by the diamondbacks in the expansion draft, and away he went.  garcia wound up playing for 7 teams over his 10-year career, which included two stints with the indians.  garcia made it to the postseason once, but his 2003 yankees lost to hollandsworth's marlins in the world series that year.

nick also sent a very nice 2001 topps archives card of roy campanella

now if only i had a copy of the real thing...

here are a few more goodies - 1994 pacific tom candiotti

with the knuckleballer showing good pee-wee baseball pitching form.

joe thurston was another dodger prospect who wound up bouncing around a bit

i hadn't seen that 2003 upper deck honor roll card, so i was happy to receive it.  thurston spent time with the astros, phillies, and twins organizations this year.  i have a soft spot for dodger second base prospects, so i hope he is able to hang on somewhere.

speaking of prospects, here's a prospective superstar.  at least according to upper deck

that's ricardo rodriguez on a 2001 ud pros and prospects card.  the dodgers wound up trading rodriguez to the indians in 2002 for paul shuey.  he debuted in the big leagues that year and pitched into the 2007 season, although his last major league appearance was in 2005 for the rangers.

finally, there were some 1987 leaf cards, like this one of mike scioscia

and two saxy steve sax cards

it's a good thing nick included the other leaf cards, otherwise i would have mistaken the diamond king for the donruss version.

thanks for another great trade nick!

sports cards that blew my mind

sometimes when i will try to initiate a trade, i'll get a response along the lines of 'i don't think i have anything that you would want for that card'.  that's ok - no problem.  of course, it usually doesn't take much to get  stuff from me, but if you have sent all of your dodgers to any of the other dodger collectors out there in our blogosphere, that's ok.  i understand.

i don't have a trade bait page, and conversely not all of my want lists are up to date or even comprehensive.  maybe i can be tough to trade with from that aspect.  still, i have been able to complete a number of trades over the past few months and i have not been disappointed.  hopefully, my trading partners can say the same.

case in point, i contacted scott at sport cards ate my brain and offered a vintage brave and some others for some random dodgers.  then i noticed his trade bait page (maybe i have to get me one of those) and i asked about a couple of cards he had listed.  he agreed to send me the cards i inquired about, along with some other dodger cards.  um, yeah.

here's one of the cards that caught my eye - a 2008 topps co-signers dual sticker auto card of andy laroche and chin-lung hu

in addition to the cards i specifically requested, he sent some bowman.  gold bowman

shiny bowman

refractor bowman

crazy xfractor bowman

photoshopped shiny confusing set name bowman (of the son of the dodgers' third base coach)

seriously, what is this set?  2009 bowman chrome draft? 2009 bowman chrome draft picks and prospects? 2009 bowman chrome draft picks, prospects, and wbc?  put the name of the set on the back like upper-freakin'-deck did in the last few years of their existence.  that would be a big help.

here's a 2008 upper deck goudey card that i must have even though it didn't look familiar to me at all.

do ken griffey jr. super collectors include the national league cards from this set in their collections?  just curious.

there was even a 1995 classic 5 sport auto card of roger cedeno in the package.

but the coolest card in the package was probably this 2010 topps update manufactured bat barrel card of manny ramirez

thinking back, i asked if the manny 'relic' or the laroche/hu auto would be available.  scott sent them both.  that is several kinds of awesome.

consider my brain eaten, or mind blown.  just a great trade.  thanks scott!