look what i got

a certified, on card auto of the left arm of god.  1998 donruss signature series sandy koufax auto.

i had been thinking that i wanted a sweet spot auto of sandy's, but never saw the right one at the right price during the year or so i was watching, so i submitted a best offer on this one, and it was accepted.

a while ago, i kind of whimsically noted that i have a goal of obtaining autographs (ttm or otherwise) of all the players for whom the dodgers have retired a uniform number.  while this gets me closer to that goal, there are still a couple of toughies (jackie and campy) before that's done.  which reminds me, i still have a couple of others that i have added to my collection but haven't yet shared.  stay tuned.

it's like having my own gary sheffield dealer

i recently completed a trade with daniel over at it's like having my own card shop in which he sent me a bunch of late 90's/early 00's dodger cards.  that means a healthy dose of gary sheffield.  take a look:

1998 donruss signature edition

1998 topps gold label

i miss the outfield murals

1998 leaf rookies & stars

2000 pacific vanguard

i've been halfway thinking about doing some sort of post that tries to capture the craziness of pacific in 2000.  this card looks like sheff is flying through space as part of the pinkish lantern corps.

2000 upper deck spx

2000 upper deck mvp

that's a goodly amount of sheffield cards, and i don't think i showed them all.  i've said it before, i was just getting comfortable with sheffield as a dodger when he started to pull his shenanigans.  still, the guy put together one of the best offensive stretches in dodger history.  and, if he ever finds his way into the hall of fame, he might go in as a dodger.  he spent four years in la (eclipsed only by his six years in florida) and got more hits and hit more home runs as a dodger than anywhere else he played.  if that happens, what do the dodgers do?  do they retire his number?  and if so, which number - 5 or 10?  i can't see that happening, but it would be a first if he were to be enshrined in a dodger hat and they didn't retire the number.

they don't have to worry about all that with this next guy - shawn green on his 2000 upper deck mvp card

he didn't make the cut this year for reappearing on the hall of fame ballot, so he's one and done.  here is his 2000 fleer gamers card

and his 2003 fleer ultra gold medallion card

on which he makes like roberto clemente by losing his helmet.  speaking of which, anybody else out there see 'chasing 3000'?  i watched it a couple of weeks ago, and it was cool to see some old footage of clemente.  not so cool to see some recent footage of ray liotta.  shoeless joe is not aging too well.

here's a 1998 ud spx chan ho park card

and a 1999 upper deck black diamond adrian beltre card

just to prove that there were dodger cards from this timeframe that weren't either sheffield or green.  sometimes it seemed like the only players i was seeing in packs were those two and kevin brown, but there were others.  i can't imagine having been an astros fan and only getting cards of the killer b's over and over and over.

thanks daniel!

proving hiflew right

hiflew left a comment recently on a post at dime boxes noting that eric young consistently had good cards.  now, i have a large number of eric young cards thanks to his double dipping status as a dodger, as well as the number of double play turns he made that were caught on cardboard.  and, i can assure you, hiflew was right.

case in point, ey's 1993 upper deck sp card

fellow dp turner kurt stillwell takes him out while eric gregg isn't looking.

here's a 1994 topps stadium club super team insert

on which the turn is completed and all vinny castilla can do is stand and admire young's midair acrobatics.

vinny does it again on young's 1994 upper deck card

looks like mike benjamin is going in for an awkward and late slide.  speaking of sliding, ey can do that, too, as evidenced by his 1997 pacific card.

he's losing his helmet, but it looks like he'll get in under mike piazza's leg.  nice to see ey back at dodger stadium on that card, just as he is on his 1997 new pinnacle card.  or is it pinnacle new?

mr. karros, you are out, sir.

back to turning two, young gets a shiny card in the 1998 upper deck 10th anniversary preview insert set

he's turning two one more time on his 1993 topps card

and then there is this acrobatic beauty, a 1998 donruss signature edition card

and that's just scratching the surface of the eric  young collection.  so much better than posed head shots.