it's not alway as good the second time around

do you remember seeing these things back in 1996?  the pinnacle zenith moziacs?

i did not own one, but was made aware of them somehow.  i thought they looked pretty cool, but was probably more seduced by their perceived rarity - 1 in 10 packs (although i didn't buy more than one or two packs, so i figured they were less prevalent than that).

the 1996 version is buoyed by the presence of three-fifths of the five straight rookies of the year - raul mondesi, mike piazza, and hideo nomo (eric karros and todd hollandsworth, not shown).  two of those three guys were home grown dodgers, with nomo joining as a free agent.
then, in 2005, donruss revived the moziac as part of their zenith release, and the dodgers' version of the card featured jeff kent, milton bradley, and jd drew.

a less dynamic design, coupled with the fact that all three of those guys were free agent signees and turned out to be dodger short-timers for the most part, make me fairly amibivalent toward the card.

also from donruss in 2005, i have this prime patches milton bradley autograph

i picked it up back around the time it was released, as i was rooting pretty hard for bradley to succeed.  even after he was traded to oakland, san diego, seattle, and chicago - i kept hoping for the best.  now he's facing some serious charges and it's apparent that the best is already gone from the realm of possibilities.

back to the mozaics - if panini were to revive it today, would they go with matt kemp, clayton kershaw, and andre ethier? or would it be adrian gonzalez, zack greinke, and hanley ramirez.  i know which one i would prefer.

posting in real time

from the mailbox to the blog in about 3 hours - that's a first for me.  usually cards i receive in trades take a lot longer to make it into a published post.  in fact, there are some trades that i have yet to acknowledge here - cards from which have been sitting in my scan folder waiting for their time to shine - and yet i am posting about stuff that just arrived today?  not cool.  actually, yes cool.

i received two cards from captain canuck today.  and, knowing how much of a chore it must be for the captain to slog across the frozen prairie to get to the post office, i figured that the least i could do was post about the stuff he sent.  plus, i want him to know that when i send him stuff in return, i will include the stamps he used because neither the canadian post office or the us postal service bothered to cancel them.  that's nafta!  

ok, enough of that.  how about the cards?  the first card is a 2005 donruss zenith sandy koufax promo card, and it measures about 8x10 (suitable for framing, but not wrapping fish).

it's shiny and tron-ish and koufax-y and large and it's no wonder that it is only a promo.  the other card was from 2001 topps heritage, and it features jackie robinson and alex rodriguez.

just like john cocktoaston's parents - that's an odd combination.  apparently they were both fourth in runs scored (in 1952 and 2000, respectively) or some such nonsense.  don't get me wrong - i like seeing that same old photo of jackie robinson - but this card seems like a stretch.  especially since they weren't even playing the same position.  maybe pee wee would have been better?

i also got a ttm return today.  i haven't sent too many out lately, but i have four or five out that i expect to get back at some point.  the one i received today is john montague's 1978 topps card

montague was the first relief pitcher in the history of the seattle mariners.  he pitched 5.1 innings in relief of starter diego segui in their inaugural game, and then picked up first save in team history a few days later.  i remember him better as a member of the 1979 california angels, however.

cool stuff.  thanks brian and john!