more (but not all that i hoped for) 2004 cards from the steve garvey binders

things get pretty thick on sheet 47 of the steve garvey binders. there are nothing but numbered cards, and a couple have patches that make for a thicker card.  that's why some of the non-relic cards look a little blurry in the scan.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 2004 donruss team heroes showdown bronze parallel /150
2. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material relic /250
3. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material relic /250 (with pinstripe)
4. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material combo relic /50
5. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection signature material auto/relic /50
6. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material combo prime relic /25
7. 2004 donruss throwback threads century collection material prime relic /25
8. 2004 donruss throwback threads generations /1500 (with shawn green)
9. 2004 donruss throwback threads generations spectrum /100 (with shawn green)

i haven't been good about noting the print runs on these cards in past posts, but i will in this one.  lots of padre garvey goodness on that sheet, although i was pretty pleased in '04 to see both garvey and green on a card together.

here are the backs:

sheet 48 continues the numbered and garvey/green goodness, starting with a dual garvey/green relic numbered to just 5.

those cards are:

1. 2004 donruss throwback threads generations material /5 (with shawn green)
2. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer /250
3. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer silver /100
4. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (blue ink)
5. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (blue ink/'6' notation)
6. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (black ink/'6' notation)
7. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (gold glove notation)
8. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto (world champs notation)
9. 2004 donruss timelines boys of summer auto silver /100

beckett doesn't have any info on the print run of the straight auto card from timelines, nor does it differentiate between ink color and/or notations.  no, that's what we supercollectors do.

here are the backs:

here's sheet 49:

 those cards are:

1. 2004 donruss world series
2. 2004 donruss world series blue holofoil /100
3. 2004 donruss world series october heroes /500
4. 2004 donruss world series october heroes signature material /100
5. 2004 fleer greats
6. 2004 fleer greats blue /74
7. 2004 fleer greats auto
8. 2004 fleer greats announcing greats
9. 2004 fleer greats forever dodgers /1969

there are a number of parallels from the world series release that i am missing, but it is the fleer greats release that really bothers me as far as cards not in my collection.  first, here are the backs:

so, i am really grateful to fleer for putting garvey and vin scully on a card together.  that is awesome.  however, i am really disappointed in fleer for going bankrupt in 2004.  when greats came out that year, there were a number of redemption cards issued for relics and autos, including many featuring garvey. i fought for and bought at least one exchange card of each (except for possibly the rarest one) on ebay and sent them in.  nothing happened, and then fleer goes belly up and i am sent consolation relic cards (including some basketball!?!) instead of receiving cards such as these:

2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game jersey relic sp
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game jersey relic logo /149
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game jersey relic number /99
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game patch dual relic logo /19 (with fernando valenzuela)
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game patch dual relic number /5 (with fernando valenzuela)
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game patch relic logo /49
2004 fleer greats forever dodgers game patch relic number /25

i was ticked off, to say the least.  how awesome would that dual patch relic with fernando have been? pretty awesome.  the orel hershiser 'forever dodgers' relic cards were completed on time to be included in the initial release, but i don't think i've ever tracked one down.  it's too painful.

random relics

relic cards aren't the draw that they used to be, that's for sure. questions about authenticity and overproduction have removed much of the luster from them.  the novelty that persuaded me to pay $20 for a pack of pacific game used back in 2001, only to get a piece of neifi perez's bat has certainly worn off.  these days, relic cards are practically a dime a dozen.

with that said, here are 10 that i am happy to have in my collection, even though they've been wallowing in my scanned folder without a post to display them for quite some time.  i'll note what each relic is, based on the guarantee on the back of the card.

2002 upper deck sp legendary cuts pee wee reese game used jersey

2005 upper deck classics bill russell game used pants

2005 upper deck classics pedro guerrero game used jersey

2001 upper deck sp game bat edition gary sheffield game used bat

2003 upper deck honor roll hideo nomo game used jersey

2004 donruss throwback threads hideo nomo game worn jersey

2004 upper deck vintage hideo nomo game used jersey

2004 upper deck shawn green game used jersey

because shawn green probably has the most dodger relic cards of anyone out there - at least from the peak era of relic cards.

2005 topps opening day paul loduca game worn jersey

you can see where the dodger script patch was removed from this particular swatch

2010 topps heritage james loney game worn jersey

on all of the cards except loney's, the guarantee on the back specifically ties the jersey, bat, or pants to the player on the front of the card and notes that said jersey, bat, or pants were worn or used in an official major league baseball game.  there is no guarantee on the back of loney's card, only the mention of "game-worn jersey" on the front.  i am left to assume that it is loney's jersey, but who knows for sure? also left unsaid is in what sort of game was this jersey worn?

i know this has all been said before, but i needed a vehicle to get these cards out of the scanned folder.  i'm still collecting these, by the way, as long as there's a dodger on the front of the card.

one of these dodgers is not like the others

2004 donruss throwback threads card takes us back in time to 1955, when dem bums ruled the baseball world.  there was the little admiral, pee wee reese at short, the silver fox, duke snider in center, and an older gray haired fellow named tommy lasorda who pitched them to victory.

right?  i am guessing that johnny podres was supposed to have been used but didn't sign off on the idea.  or maybe sandy koufax, although he wasn't that big of a part of the championship team.  that's why donruss had to scramble to find a photo - any photo - of lasorda.  after all, he only pitched a total of 4 innings over 4 games for the dodgers in 1955 before, as he claims it to be, he was replaced on the roster by the bonus baby koufax.  yes, i am sure that's what happened over at donruss in 2004.

so, as we look ahead to 2011, let's take one last look - and let's look correctly - back at 1955.  or, at least how donruss would have had us see it.

as they said in 1954 (and every year before), wait 'til next year!

let's bat around with steve garvey

i won’t go into the history and back story now, but know that i went from a set collector (topps) to a set (topps, fleer, donruss) and team collector (dodgers) and then/now a set (topps and other sets as they caught my eye), team (dodgers), and player collector. my main player target was and is steve garvey, and i had all of the topps, fleer, and donruss issues, along with a kellogg’s or two. life was good.

then came ebay. this was and is the single most significant thing that has happened, for me, in the hobby since i started collecting. in late 1998 i saw (in beckett, i believe) a 1995 upper deck sp championship card featuring kirk gibson commemorating his 1988 world series game 1 homer (i posted about this here). the local card store didn’t have it but suggested something called ebay. i looked and there it was. awesome. what would happen if i typed in ‘steve garvey’? wow. i had no idea there were so many cards made after he retired, and even while he was playing. i went crazy. the first card i bought on ebay was a 1999 upper deck retro incredible auto, which i wrote about here.

so, using ebay, i started buying garvey cards left and right – competing with the 4 or 5 other garvey collectors. book value? meaningless. our mutual desires drove the prices way up, and manufacturers began issuing more cards of former players like garvey, including relics, autos, parallels. i wanted them all and darn near bought them all. i spent $250 on a 2001 leaf certified garvey jersey # 6/6 (his jersey number!).yes, i was one of those collectors. while this card remains one of my jewels – (i think it is perfection on cardboard. i mean, just look at the red wool! it’s from an early 70s jersey, and from the red number on the front of the dodgers jerseys, which has always been my favorite part of their uniform) it is also one of the cards that reminds me of what is bad about the hobby. why do we need parallels? especially ones that are exactly the same as the base except for a serial number and maybe the color of the border? well, the answer is we don’t. but i thought i did.

i also bought other cards i liked, whether they were dodgers or not. the sheer volume of cards that existed, and being able to access so many of them was intoxicating. it got to be ridiculous, though. even just focusing on steve garvey was difficult. there was the base. base parallel. jersey. jersey/bat. jersey/bat auto. patch. patch/auto.and then the signatures were different. some were just ‘steve garvey’. some were ‘steve garvey #6’. some were ‘steve garvey 1974 mvp’ and so on and so on. i even have one he signed 'popeye'.pretty soon, my favorite player was driving me away from the hobby.

after a self imposed hiatus, i returned. wiser. i realized that it wasn’t steve garvey driving me from the hobby, obviously. it wasn’t even the manufacturers who were making all these cards. it was me and my collecting habits. i decided to be more focused. more selective. i have all the topps sets from 1978 on, with the exception of the 2003 and 2007 sets i am still working on. i still collect dodgers – i have all the topps team sets from 1970 on, and many many more from every conceivable manufacturer (i think). i have over 500 different steve garvey cards, and just bought the latest – 2008 donruss threads.i no longer go after all the parallels. i buy a few packs or a blaster here and there, and will collect a set or two if they strike me as being worthwhile (like 2008 allen & ginter). i am trying to streamline my collection to only the cards that i enjoy – all the others are available for someone else to enjoy. so feel free to contact me for a specific team, set, or player and i will see what i can do.

i won’t stop collecting again, because i understand that i can collect on my terms and not those of the manufacturers’. even with ebay - the best and worst thing to happen to the collector in me.