off hiatus and off my want list

who sends a 1954 bowman billy loes card

as part of a blind trade package? luckily for me, tony at off hiatus does. or did, in my case.  billy is really caressing that baseball there - i hope he's more careful with it than lennie and his rabbits.  this card is gloriously worn and it's one less '54 bowman that i need.

here's another brooklyn dodger sent by tony - it's gene hermanski

on what appears to be a card made for the 5th national convention held back in 1984.  here's the back of the card that led me to that conclusion

i'm guessing that hermanski was signing autographs at the convention.

now we get to the los angeles dodger portion of the post, with some great oddball cards.

1988 kaybee superstars of baseball pedro guerrero

it's true - petey was still a superstar at that time. he had hit a career high .338 in 1987, but the dodgers brought him back into the infield in 1988 and his trade to saint louis that season was deemed to be addition by subtraction.

1988 starting lineup talking baseball steve sax

and fernando valenzuela

the only talkin' baseball i know has to do with willie, mickey, and the duke.  sadly, none of those guys were included in the set.

more oddballs of el toro - 1987 fleer mini

in which fernando is wearing his shiny pullover and a hat that was certainly not a game issue, and his 1986 fleer mini

which features an oddly cropped photo.

here's a little photo of don drysdale on a 2004 upper deck sweet spot classics manufactured patch card

that features the national league logo.  i think the american league logo is better, mostly because i think that the glove that the eagle is holding on to in the nl logo looks odd.  better to have a baseball in that talon, i think.

finally, here's a 2013 panini hometown heroes card of paul loduca

yes, this is a dodger card (note the 'los angeles' pennant in the upper left) even though the heart and soul of jim tracy's dodgers is wearing his mets gear in the photo.  as a met, loduca hit .455 against the dodgers in the 2006 nlds.

tony hit 1.000 with this trade package.  so much so that i'll show some more cards that he sent later on! stay tuned...

some cards are no longer nefarious

i've had my nefarious 9 - the list of my most wanted cards - up there on the right side of this blog since july of 2009.  sometimes, the cards listed are fairly obscure, and sometimes they are just a wayward base card that has eluded me for some reason.  sometimes i wait, and sometimes i pull the trigger quickly to acquire one (or more) of the cards.  these days, i wonder how many people actually look at this blog via the web version, as the list doesn't show up on the mobile version as i currently have it configured.

anyway, the list today consists of the following:

1 - 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic steve garvey/reggie smith dual auto

2 - 2008 donruss threads steve garvey #/250 
3 - 2011 topps chrome clayton kershaw atomic refractor parallel #107 
4 - 2011 topps chrome chad billingsley atomic refractor parallel #167 
5 - 2014 topps update justin turner black parallel
6 - 2014 topps update justin turner camo parallel 
7 - 2014 topps update justin turner pink parallel
8 - 2014 topps alex guerrero target red border 
9 - 2014 topps chrome alex guerrero xfractor

this is a relatively new version of the list, except for number 1, which has been sitting there for quite some time.  that means that there have been some formerly nefarious acquisitions, some of which i will show here this morning.

it took me about two years, but i did finally pick up the fourth jackie robinson card (here are the other three) from 2004 upper deck sweet spot classics

this one celebrates his first minor league game.  he hit a home run that day (and was 4 for 5 overall), and was greeted at home plate by george shuba.

here's a 2014 topps archives duke snider card

that was on the most wanted list for a couple of weeks last year.  i appreciate the use of the 1980 design, as that's the year that duke was inducted into the hall of fame.

the next three cards were on the list for an even shorter time.  somehow, i missed a 2014 topps update paul maholm card

when putting together the team set on sportlots.  omission reversed.

i also wound up finding duplicates of a couple of parallels of justin turner's card from last year's update - the target red parallel

and the walmart blue version

i had put both on the nefarious 9 as i wanted doubles for the double play binder.  you'll note that there are still a couple of parallels of that card on the list.

another card on the list is steve garvey's 2008 donruss threads parallel numbered to 250.  i thought that i had one already and was missing the version numbered to 100 when i purchased this

turns out i already had the /100 version, so i still need the /250 one.

as always, any help is appreciated and rewarded.  please help a blogger out - i need to make room on that list for some 2015 cards!

manupatches, man. manupatches.

when i started posting about memorials (armbands and patches) worn by teams to honor players and other people, i also considered starting a series on patches worn by the dodgers.  the first special patch i recall seeing on the dodger jerseys was the jim gilliam memorial patch, but i also remember noticing the 1980 all-star game patch the dodgers wore, as well as the 1981 city of los angeles bicentennial patch.  anyway, if i were to do a sort of dodger patch series, this one might be my favorite. 

that's the patch (a replica of it, actually) that the dodgers wore in 2012 for the 50th anniversary of dodger stadium.  it's featured on a 2013 topps manufactured patch card of adrian gonzalez, who wore the patch for about a month after he was acquired by the dodgers.

before i get started on the idea of manufactured patches, here's a manupatch card from 2010 topps that doesn't feature a dodger, but rather a memorial patch worn by the marlins in their inaugural season

in honor of their team president carl barger.  i don't know of any other memorial patches reproduced as manupatches by the card companies, but i'd be interested to find out if any others exist.

the idea of manufactured or commemorative patches first came to my attention in the early 2000's with upper deck. i was on the lookout for patch cards featuring dodger blue or red, and began to see cards that were touted as patch cards, but not of the game used variety.  although these were not the first i encountered, here are a couple of good examples from 2004 upper deck sweet spot classic - leo durocher

and jackie robinson

the logo on the jackie patch is obviously the dodgers' brooklyn logo, but the durocher patch features a design created by upper deck.  the 1936 all-star game was played in boston at the braves' home stadium, and durocher was the starting shortstop for the national league.  of course, he was on the cardinals at the time.  anyway, at least the 'b' in the logo matches the braves' boston 'b', and not the dodgers' brooklyn 'b'.

i briefly considered collecting the 2012 topps commemorative patch set that focused on retired numbers, but settled for the three dodgers in the set - jackie robinson (42), sandy koufax (32), and tommy lasorda (2)

that set was, to me, an improvement on the 2011 topps commemorative patch effort that included putting modern players, such as matt kemp, on cards with old logos

i don't believe the dodgers ever wore a 'brooklyn' sleeve patch

before all that, however, there were these sorts of patches that were part of upper deck's 2003 sweet spot classic release, in addition to the game used variety.  steve garvey was featured as both a dodger

and a padre

on the logo manupatches, with the san diego version being hand numbered.  these were made to look like they were taken from the team hats, but they were not.  the garvey dodger card, by the way, features the 1981 la bicentennial patch i mentioned earlier.

in addition to the hat logos, garvey had two more manupatches in the set - this 1977 themed patch

and this 1981 patch

neither one is close to the official mlb world series logo from either year, although anything would be an improvement on the 1977 logo.

the 1981 world series patch upper deck created was first seen in the 2002 upper deck world series heroes set as part of the patch collection inserts - some of which were signed, like this one featuring the autograph of steven patrick garvey, who happened to turn 66 years old yesterday.  

here, you can see that the 2003 garvey manupatch card above actually has a condensed version of the patch.  the back of this card confirmed that the patch was 'specially created for the upper deck company'

i know manupatches are loathed by some, but obviously, i've got a few in my collection, and i am ok with that.  maybe someday topps will make a series featuring the dodger hero patches from 1999. i'd be all-in for that.

thoughts of fernando and newk

i was thinking about fernando valenzuela and don newcombe last fall as jose fernandez made his late season run.  if you have forgotten, the marlins rookie was 8-2 with a 1.43 era over the last 3 months of the season, and had 103 strikeouts in 88 innings during that time.  i was thinking about fernando because back in 1981, he became the first pitcher to win both the rookie of the year award and the cy young award in the same season, and i thought that fernandez had a shot at duplicating the feat.  however, because clayton kershaw won the cy young over fernandez, valenzuela remains the only pitcher to win both awards in the same season.  crisis averted.  now, here are a couple of el toro's cards that i've had scanned for a while.

1987 topps glossy send in

1988 topps

 and 1995 upper deck electric diamond

and 2004 fleer greats of the game

back in dodger blue.  it should be noted that fernando finished 5th in the league mvp voting in 1981 - the highest he would get in his career.

i mentioned up top that i was also thinking of don newcombe.  like fernando, newcombe won the rookie of the year award.  newk won his in 1949, but he didn't win the cy young award that year, mostly because the award didn't exist.  here are some cards of newks' that i've been saving for a rainy day.

2004 upper deck sweet spot classics

2007 upper deck sweet spot classics

and 2005 topps pristine (uncirculated)

now seems like a good time to show a couple other cards from that set - davey lopes

and don zimmer.

but i digress.

newcombe may well have won the cy young had it existed in 1949, but he did win it once it came into being.  newcombe was the very first person to win the award when it was initiated in 1956.  and that was when there was just one award for all of major league baseball.  he also won the mvp award that same season, making him the first player in history to win the rookie of the year, cy young, and mvp awards.  here's a 1961 topps card celebrating his mvp win that newk signed for me through the mail four years ago.

dwight gooden came as close to the trifecta as fernando had when, in 1985, the 1984 rookie of the year won the cy young award and finished 5th in the mvp voting.  ultimately, it was 2006 al rookie of the year justin verlander who, in 2011, became the second pitcher to achieve the feat.  still, newcombe is the only national league pitcher to do it, which brings us back to fernandez.  fernandez certainly looks like he has the stuff to pull it off, and he is one-third of the way there.  of course, he pitches for the marlins so he will have to be spectacular if he is to win an mvp award any time soon.

swing and a trade

it's time for an overdue trade post.  this one features cards i received from bert at swing and a pop up last year.  i was able to help out with some of his set needs, and he sent me some dodgers in return.  works for me.

here's a 1985 donruss alejandro pena

quick - what does pena have in common with dazzy vance, johnny podres, sandy koufax, don sutton, kevin brown, and clayton kershaw?  well, beside the fact that they all pitched for the same franchise, they are the only brooklyn/los angeles pitchers to have led the league in era.  pena was the leader in 1984, the only season in which he was used exclusively as a starter.  unfortunately, he hurt his shoulder late in the season and didn't return until the end of the 1985 season.  he wound up in the bullpen, and was the winning pitcher in game 1 of the 1988 world series thanks to kirk gibson.

now for a 1988 kmart pedro guerrero card

pena missed out on guerrero's scorcher of a june in 1985, but i didn't.

it was awesome.

i had thought that there was a chance that the dodgers would break their rookie of the year drought last year with yasiel puig.  it didn't happen (maybe this year with alexander guerrero?).  here's the guy who started the run of roys in the 1990's, eric karros, on a 1993 score card celebrating his award

karros eventually was traded to the cubs, and the dodgers replaced him with fred mcgriff.  here's his 2004 topps opening day card

this was kind of like 1989 when steve sax went to the yankees to replace willie randolph, and willie randolph went to the dodgers to replace steve sax.  i was among those that thought mcgriff would hit his 500th home run as a dodger (he needed 22), but he was limited to 86 games and hit only 13 bombs. that was still one more than karros hit for the cubs, and they each drove in 40 for their respective teams. karros did have that big home run to deny roger clemens his 300th win when the yankees visited wrigley field for the first time since the world series in 1932.

here's a 2004 upper deck sweet spot classic jackie robinson

one of four or five cards he has in the set, i believe.  i have added the one that i still need to my 'nefarious 9' (which now stands at only 3 cards. i'm working on it!).  send one my way, and you will be rewarded.

i still miss russell martin.  here's his 2007 topps allen & ginter card

and here's a 2008 upper deck sp authentic card on which he shares space with the padres' jake peavy

cards like this give me pause.  did upper deck put these two together for a reason? or were they just (at the time) high profile or in this case up and coming division rivals?  for the record, through 2013, russell martin has faced only two pitchers more than jake peavy (dan haren and matt cain).  in 39 plate appearances, martin has only 4 hits (one double), no rbi, and 11 strikeouts.  advantage, peavy.

before there were blue borders, there were walmart black parallels, like this 2010 topps andre ethier card

and before that, it was pinnacle that ruled the black-bordered world.  here's a 2013 panini pinnacle card of carl crawford that brings to mind those releases from the early 1990's.

bert - thanks for a great trade.  let's do it again sometime.

more cards rescued from the lcs

these cards all came from a dime box at one of the two local card shops in the twin cities.  i spent a few minutes digging through the boxes in the front of the store and found some cards for some of my collections.

this 1998 donruss preferred rickey henderson

doesn't really fit any of my current collections (although i used to have a pc of rickey), but i couldn't pass up a rickey card showing him in an angels uni.  besides, it has that o-pee-chee-esque text on the back

i did pick up a few vladdys for my neglected pc - 1999 upper deck

2005 fleer ultra - base

and insert

2007 upper deck

2009 upper deck team leaders

and a 2010 upper deck biography card

you would think that the card is all about matt garza.  it's not too often that you see the pitcher in focus while the batter trots around the bases on a baseball card.  i like it.

i grabbed another angel card from the box, thinking it might be a double play.  upon further inspection, this 2010 topps brandon wood card is not a dp turn

on this particular play, there were two outs with michael young on first.  wood fielded the grounder hit by marlon byrd and threw to first to end the inning (thanks baseball reference - also confirmed by getty images).  the card does show the nick adenhart memorial patch, but i've got vladdy representing that in the binder.

most of my other sub-collections were added to - here's a 1992 fleer kenny lofton card featuring an image from dodger stadium

and here's a lurking mike scioscia on a 2004 upper deck sweet spot classic card of gary carter

it's a very similar image to that which was used on carter's fantastic final tribute from 1993 score select. speaking of 1993 score select, here's brian harper's card from that set, featuring a lurking mark mcgwire

but the best play at the plate card i found was this 1992 upper deck johnny bench baseball heroes card

those are all good cards, but i don't think they are enough to lure me back to this particular lcs.  you see, when i asked to look through some non-dime boxes that were held behind the counter, i was instead pointed to a desktop computer that they had set up.  i was welcome to check their inventory online, and if they had the card i was looking for, they would be happy to pull it for me.  well, i was just wanting to browse through some mid-2000's ultra looking for dodger stadium shots or double plays.  their online database couldn't help me there.  besides, there was already a frustrated patron trying to use the computer at the time.  i did ask for a 1974 topps card that i needed at the time to complete my set - they looked it up, but didn't have it.

i understand that online sales are a big part of the card business - i do most of my shopping and all of my selling online - but it was a turnoff for me to experience that in a brick and mortar lcs.  i may purchase cards from this shop in the future, but if i do, it will be through sportlots.