i'm a fan of jaybarkerfan

i didn't win the world cup of trading hosted recently by jaybarkerfan's junk.  i chose a card from the group of death and my return was slaughtered by the generosity of bob walk the plank.  still, wes sent me some stuff - just not the gary redus trophy.

instead, i received a bunch of dodgers, including my favorite player of all time on a 2003 topps retired signature card

even steve garvey was not immune to the 'wear your jacket under your jersey' trend that was prevalent in the early 1970's.

here's a 1986 fleer pedro guerrero

from when he was one of the 5 best players in the league.

speaking of best players in the league, here's a 1995 score mike piazza hall of gold card

piazza never did win the mvp, but he finished 2nd twice in a row to go a long with a few other top 10 finishes

here's a card i had never seen before - a 2005 topps pack wars milton bradley

i had heard of pack wars as an event at card shops, but didn't know there were specific cards created by topps presumably for the event.  and, it features a photo from tatooine as well!

this is a 2011 topps pee wee reese 60 years of topps insert

it's been nice to see pee wee get some love from the card companies over the last few years.  i assume that topps will ride sandy koufax and jackie robinson and duke snider for as long as they can, but it would be nice to see some gil hodges cards, too.

2012 topps heritage andre ethier black border parallel

i believe ethier is the longest tenured dodger - he debuted in 2006 a couple of weeks before matt kemp. he is also the odd man out in the outfield.  i am slowly becoming a proponent of adding the dh to the national league, and that would certainly help ethier's situation. i believe that there is no chance that the american league will ever dump the dh, and i think it is silly that there are two sets of rules for the same game.

wes included a 2003 playoff piece of the game kevin brown jersey card

times kevin brown wore a dodger uniform in the playoffs, however, equals zero.

there were also two autos in the package, this 2011 bowman chrome prospects blake smith card

which features a former 2nd round pick who has been converted to a pitcher in the dodger system, and this fantastic jaybarkerfan/hamburgler auto

that goes in the binder right next to the fuji auto!

thanks as always wes.  good stuff.

adding some heart and soul to my collection

paul loduca ranks pretty high on my list of least favorite dodgers.  part of it stems from the reaction that jim tracy had after loduca was traded to the marlins in 2004 for brad penny and hee seop choi.  tracy broke down, saying that loduca was the heart and soul of the team, and even wound up switching his uniform number to 16 to honor the departed catcher.  i think tracy wound up taking his frustration out on poor hee seop.  anyway, i don't dislike loduca enough to keep him out of my collection, and this 2003 playoff piece of the game auto/relic card will attest to that.

it was one of many cards in a dodger lot i recently purchased on the cheap.  the lot also included this 2004 playoff absolute memorabilia auto of jason frasor

frasor was acquired by the dodgers from the tigers in 2002 but never appeared in a big league game wearing dodger blue. he was dealt to the blue jays for jayson werth prior to the 2004 season.  jim tracy didn't mind that trade as much, since he was stockpiling ja(y)sons (werth, phillips, repko, and grabowski) and the net ja(y)son loss in that deal was zero.

there were a couple of eric gagne relics in the lot - this one from 2004 bowman sterling

and this one from 2006 upper deck

darren dreifort was the highest draft pick the dodgers have ever had.  he was taken second overall in the 1993 june draft right after alex rodriguez.  this is a 1993 classic four sport autographed card

i wonder if dreifort would have had more success and fewer injuries had the dodgers kept him in the bullpen, although you don't use the number 2 pick on a reliever.

the previous year, one of the dodgers' first round picks had been ryan luzinski, seen here on something i believe to be a 1995 signature rookies autographed card

luzinski was a sandwich pick as the dodgers' compensation pick for the loss of eddie murray who signed a free agent deal with the mets (luzinski was selected a few spots ahead of johnny damon, for what it's worth).  it's worth noting that the dodgers' regular first round pick was lost to the blue jays thanks to the tom candiotti signing.  the jays took shannon stewart with that pick.

fast forward ten years, and the dodgers selected greg miller with their 2002 sandwich pick as compensation for the loss of chan ho park (james loney was the team's regular first round pick that year).  like luzinski, miller never made it to the bigs, but he did get a relic card in upper deck's 2002 prospect premieres issue

miller was looking like the real deal in 2003, but he ran in to shoulder problems and missed all of 2004. he returned to the dodgers' minor league system in 2005, but was never able to regain his control or finesse.

finally, here's a 2006 bowman heritage bat card of rafael furcal

furcal replaced cesar izturis as the dodgers' shortstop just as grady little was replacing jim tracy as manager.  and, as far as i can remember, little didn't freak out when izturis was traded to the cubs for greg maddux.  he must not have been the team's heart and soul.