i still need more nomar

i was pretty excited to see that nomar garciaparra was featured as a dodger in the 2015 topps museum collection release - at least as far as the relic cards go.  i was so excited that i almost forgave him and topps for not being a part of the 2007, 2008, or 2009 sets.  almost.

i went out and found some relic cards from the museum collection set, and here they are:

jumbo (or momentous material)

quad jersey

and quad bat

i've eyed a couple of relic/autos, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

i hope that this is a sign of things to come, with nomar dodger cards eventually showing up in archives or tribute or somewhere else.

until then, here are some cards that were made during his dodger tenure that i haven't shown before:

2006 bowman heritage

2006 topps turkey red (red parallel)

and 2007 upper deck

maybe my opinion will change should topps flood its products with nomar dodger cards, but i'm willing to take that chance.  please, topps - more nomar!

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.

giving thanks for through the mail successes! (part 2)

steve kemp signed his 1978 toppsand 1984 fleer cardskemp is channeling lou ferrigno in the 1978 card. i collected his cards because i expected big things from him.

al hrabosky signed his 1978 toppsand 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic cardsthe mad hungarian. nuff said.

jon olerud signed his 1994 upper deckand 1999 upper deck century legends cardstwo of my favorite upper deck sets. i was a big fan of olerud's when he played in toronto.

sean casey signed his 2003 donruss studioand 2006 bowman heritage cardsthe studio card was mine, but i sent another card that the mayor replaced with the bowman heritage card.

finally, craig breslow signed his 2008 upper deck timeline cardi pulled these cards like nothing. i must have had at least 6 or 7 (short print my arse) but by the time i got around to sending out the request, breslow was with the a's. still, he came through and that's what counts.

thanks to all these guys (and all the others) for keeping the through the mail dream alive!

mr. (night) owl, how many packages do you have to send to gcrl before he writes a post?

let's find out.

one:

1980 kellogg's davey lopes
if only that mustache really were in 3-d.

1986 topps glossy send in fernando valenzuela this set reminds me of a tcma issue. but in color.

2009 upper deck spectrum matt kemp (the heretofore unbeknownst to me blue variation) the question is, why?

2006 bowman heritage wilson betemit

interesting that we had, at one time, both furcal and betemit at the same time. just like the braves did.

2006 upper deck sp authentic julio lugo thankfully, lugo was a short-timer. unfortunately, ned traded for him in the first place.

2006 fleer greats of the game dusty bakeras seen on night owl's blog recently!

2009 upper deck spx clayton kershaw here's hoping the 2009 postseason is really his month long coming out party.

2008 upper deck timeline james loney sp perhaps my favorite first baseman since popeye himself.

ta-whooooo:

1985 fleer frank dipinoa very nice card with the right field pavilion and it's color palette complementing the astros uniform.

2002 upper deck kaz ishiinow we have the left field pavilion with diamond vision, a carl's jr ad, and half of tommy lasorda's outfield fence mural. plus the overhyped ishii in street clothes. ishii, because of the hype, was the dodger that got all the short prints which sucks when trying to complete my 2003 upper deck vintage set, among others.

2009 upper deck a piece of history james mcdonaldmcdonald hasn't made or seen much history yet.

2009 upper deck clayton kershaw 20th anniversary

another kershaw. this one from a subset within an insert set. i don't understand upper deck sometimes.

2009 topps target throwback chan ho park

did topps do this for series 2? did anyone care?

2009 topps attax vladimir guerrero

shiny must mean parallel. again, why?

three:

2009 topps finest russell martin

a disappointing season hopefully means fantastic postseason. or at least a bargain in next year's fantasy draft.

2009 topps jackie robinson turkey red insert

now that's a nice card!

2009 bowman manny ramirez

sans umpire. very very bad.

2008 upper deck goudey pee wee reese

i wonder what ken griffey jr does say about pee wee? any guesses?

2008 topps chin-lung hu trading card history

a glossy version of the 1959 set. as opposed to the more traditional versions in the 2008 heritage set. speaking of which,

2008 topps heritage vladimir guerrero chrome looks like it's snowing in anaheim

1997 pinnacle zenith wilton guerrero

i wish wilton had been more like vlad.

1993 score select rick trlicek

a pitcher with a hockey name. he actually debuted with the blue jays in 1992. recorded his only career save and hit (off of tom glavine) in his one season as a dodger.

so, the answer is three. each package filled with dodger and set building goodness, which is even better than the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop.

thanks greg. i'll get another package out to you soon.

those blue jays of spring

before i moved to minnesota, the blue jays were my american league team (except in 1979 when i rooted for the angels). now, i still have a soft spot for them and would like to see a twinkies/jays alcs. i was happy to see a blue jays centric blog (blue jays cards) appear a few weeks ago, and even happier when charles offered to send me some dodgers in exchange for some blue jays.

here's a sampling of what he sent:

2009 upper deck first edition starquest manny ramirez this card kind of reminds me of the donruss threads release from last year because the logo on the helmet is obscured. here, it's because of pine tar, not photoshop.

here's a bunch of the base cards from 2009 upper deck first edition, including a former dodger, takashi saito.

if cory wade can stay healthy the rest of the year, i don't think i will miss sammy.

greg maddux - a final tribute!

still, it's kind of weird to see a maddux card now. i figured the later releases wouldn't bother.

james loney.

i'm waiting patiently for some of those doubles to turn into home runs.

andre ethier.

i like these cards better than the flagship upper deck because of the use of the logo. however, i don't like the 'first edition' bar, and i find it hilarious that the holograms are missing on the back. now, i don't think anyone is going to go out and counterfeit these cards, but the hologram was one of the impetuses behind the creation of upper deck! it's like their hallmark. crazy.

charles also sent some 2006 goodies, including:

2006 upper deck greg maddux.

this is from his first dodger go-round. he went 6-3 for the dodgers down the stretch, but had a forgettable start against the mets in the nlds.

2006 upper deck kenny lofton.

this was when kenny was going 'one and done' for several teams. he played for 9 different teams in the 6 seasons after leaving cleveland for the second time. his year with the dodgers was pretty good, too, but ned replaced him with juan pierre. nothing against pierre, but i would have rather kept lofton for one more year before handing things off to kemp and ethier. hindsight, i guess.

finally, ol' mr. grumpy gills, jeff kent on a 2006 bowman heritage card.

i actually like the red background here. it would look even better if you could see more of the red uniform number.

thanks charles! here's hoping the jays stay atop the al east wire to wire. and be on the lookout for your cards - they should be there soon!