allow me to show you one of my favorite sheets from my steve garvey binders

sheet 31 from the steve garvey binders keeps us in 2001, and it features what may be the jewel of my steve garvey collection.  take a look:

those cards are:

1. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (bronze)
2. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (silver/career)
3. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (gold/season)
4. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (century) - red patch
5. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (century) - blue patch
6. 2001 leaf certified materials fabric of the game relic (jersey number) - red patch
7. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's
8. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's (award winners)
9. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's bellbottomed bashers insert

2001 leaf certified materials is hands down my favorite relic set ever.  i have a few other dodgers, including a drysdale jersey number patch and an adrian beltre jersey number/logoman patch, but the garvey jersey number is my favorite card.  as you'll see on the back, it's numbered 6/6.  here are the backs, by the way:

the bronze version of the jersey relics are unnumbered, with the silver/career version being numbered to some significant career number.  in garvey's case, that would be 272 - the number of home runs he hit in the major leagues.  the gold version is numbered to a season related number, and for the garv, that number is 33 - the number of home runs he hit in 1977 (a career high).  it's strange that the front of the card talks about his 115 rbi that year, and not the 33 homers.  the century version is numbered to 21 (the 21st century), and i have two of these.  one features the red patch from his jersey number on the front of his uniform, and the other features a blue patch from elsewhere within the chest script.  i used to have a third century card with a blue patch, but sold it several years ago.  the sixth card on the sheet is the 6/6 card and it is gorious.  i am a big fan of the red dodger patch.

not to be ignored, the 2001 upper deck decade 1970's cards continue on sheet 32:

 those cards are:

1. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's decade dynasties insert
2. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat relic
3. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic all-star game mvp's
4. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic la dodgers
5. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic national league mvp's
6. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic 1974 world series
7. 2001 upper deck decade 1970's game-used bat quad relic 1977 world series
8. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial
9. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial relic

lots of great 1970's players featured on those bat cards - joe morgan, bill madlock, dave parker, johnny bench, george foster, reggie jackson, bert campaneris, willie stargell, and graig nettles, not to mention garvey, ron cey, bill russell, and rick monday.  every time i look at that particular card, i am reminded of how close upper deck came to creating a garvey cey russell lopes relic card.

here are the backs:

i suppose that it is worth noting that the upper deck minor league centennial card doesn't feature a photo of garvey from his minor league days, but rather a dodger photo with the team identifiers airbrushed out.  cards from that set continue on sheet 33:

 those cards are:

1. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial relic (gold)
2. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial auto
3. 2001 upper deck minor league centennial auto (gold)
4. 2001 upper deck prospect premieres heroes of baseball relic
5. 2001 upper deck prospect premieres heroes of baseball auto/relic
6. 2001 upper deck prospect premieres heroes of baseball dual relic with reggie smith
7. 2001 upper deck sp authentic cooperstown calling relic (gray swatch)
8. 2001 upper deck sp authentic cooperstown calling relic (white swatch)
9. 2001 upper deck sp game bat milestone edition quad relic

i found it interesting that the gold parallel jersey card was serial numbered to 25 by way of printing, while the gold auto parallel was hand numbered to 25, as was the auto/relic from prospect premieres and the 'base' version of the minor league centennial auto.  i believe that the dual jersey card with reggie smith was at one time reported to have an autographed version, but i've never seen one.  i may not be remembering that correctly, but the design of the card sure looks like it was set up for autographs.

you know that i had to have both white and gray swatch examples of the somewhat depressingly named cooperstown calling jersey cards from sp authentic, and it is again a bit sad that garvey is the only non-hall of famer on that last quad relic with puckett, winfield, and ozzie.

here are the backs to that sheet:

featuring lots of assurances from richard p. mcwilliams.

next up from the garvey binders, a whole lot of tony perez.  stay tuned.

trades in spades

the tail end of 2014 was fairly productive for me in terms of trades initiated and completed.  just check out the trade tracker to the right if you don't believe me!  here are some of the cards that i've reecently received from some great trading partners:

from tom at the angels in order, i received (by request) a 1990 fleer league leaders tim belcher card

and a forlorn looking steve sax to boot

i kind of collect all steve sax cards. sort of.  not officially or anything, but if i see one, i will usually pick it up or ask for it, as was the case here.

thanks tom!

now on to a trade i made with zippy zappy.  you know what that means - i now own a 2013 sega card gen card!  so what if mine is a ronald belisario card?

sure, he's stinking it up with the chisox now, but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to these hard to find cards.

belisario was joined by some stateside manufactured dodger cards, like this 2011 topps jackie robinson prime 9 insert

and a 2005 topps update & highlights russell martin card

i had hoped that the dodgers would reacquire martin for 2015, but i guess yasmani grandal will have to do.

here are a couple more from zippy zappy - a 1990 topps fernando valenzuela

featuring the always fantastic shot from the first base side photographer's well at dodger stadium, and a 1989 topps traded eddie murray card

i had high hopes for the dodgers in 1989 after they acquired murray, but there were just too many injuries. i couldn't and didn't complain, though - 1988 got me through even the terrible 1992 season.

thanks kenny - i hope you enjoyed our first trade as much as i did!

one more trade to show - this one comes from dennis at too many verlanders.  he found a davey lopes card and thought of me for some reason.  it's a 2001 upper deck prospect premieres lopes heroes of baseball relic card

with a photo taken from that same photographer's well as the fernando card.  very nice - thanks dennis!

i'm prepping a few packages that will go out shortly to the likes of catching up with collecting, the angels in order, too many verlanders, cards on cards, night owl, and am holding some cards for a couple of others.  let me know if you want in on the trading in 2015!