waiting for bills

i hope you didn't overdo the spending this past holiday season.  i think i did ok, so the title of this post isn't in reference to having to pay the piper in january.  rather, it refers to the lack of a healthy chad billingsley on the dodger roster.

i was at the game in august of 2012 wherein billingsley was injured.  as he walked off the mound in the fourth inning, i hoped that it was nothing serious.  he wound up missing the rest of the season.  billingsley was able to avoid surgery, however, and returned in april of last year.  two starts into the season he was shut down and underwent tommy john surgery.

billingsley will start the 2014 season on the 60-day dl, but should be back in time for the stretch run.  it would be great for the dodgers to get a pitcher of his caliber at that time in the season, so i hope he comes back, and comes back healthy and effective.

i have a bunch of billingsley cards that i've scanned at one time or another that haven't made it to print yet.  today is their lucky day.  this one is from 2009 topps ticket to stardom, and it features billingsley, a piece of his jersey, and a piece of a dodger game ticket stub.

this is the second one of these that i have - the other one looks the same but the ticket stub is from a different game - one in which billingsley actually started.  i assumed that they were all that way, but the game that this stub is from was a brad penny game.

here's a bills rookie card from 2006 upper deck update. 

that set has a few key dodger rookies in it - broxton, kemp, ethier, martin.  i recall buying a couple of packs when it hit the shelves, but didn't really pay much attention to it.  when i went back a couple of years ago to fill my dodger team set, i lamented the fact that i hadn't bothered to buy more packs at the time.

here's a 2010 topps turkey red insert

i am glad that we've seen the last of the turkey red cards.  except that i just remembered that they were still around in 2013 - you just had to go online to buy them.

this is a 2011 topps update toppstown insert

are we done with these, too?  i miss a base set without a ton (or any) inserts.

i sent some cards to billingsley back in 2010, and he signed them for me in fairly short order.

2007 fleer

2007 topps

2009 topps 206

and 2009 upper deck sp legendary cuts

billingsley has a pretty hefty team option on his contract for 2015, and his uncertain status makes it all the more tempting for the dodgers to pay the buyout.  like i mentioned up top, i hope that he comes back healthy and effective, and makes his contract decision a little tougher for ned.

thanks for signing my cards chad!

epic nomar and the (not really) team collector dilemma

there was a time when i considered becoming a nomar garciaparra supercollector.  i did have a pc going of his cards during the late 1990's and into the early 2000's, but those were mostly cards that i pulled from packs - i didn't go out and actively seek cards of his to add to my collection.  that all changed when he signed with the dodgers prior to the 2006 season.  i figured that i would go after all of his non-red sox cards.  that task was made easier by the fact that nomar didn't bother to re-up with topps after the 2006 season, but it turned out that there were still way too many releases and inserts and parallels for me to keep up with.

here are a few that i did track down, including an insert from 2006 upper deck epic that features him (mostly) as a red sox player.

there's a smaller picture of him as a dodger on the card so it's ok. there's really no team collector dilemma this time.  and, here's his completely dodger-iffic base card from the epic set

nomar didn't get a flagship dodger card from topps until the 2006 update set (i count update/traded sets as part of the flagship sets), but he did get a trading places insert in series 2 of their 2006 flagship release.  this one includes a bat relic

here are a couple of photoshopped cards from 2006 topps finest - base

and refractor

more shiny stuff from 2006 - bowman chrome

and topps chrome - this one a black bordered refractor

nomar also made it into the 2006 topps triple threads set - here's a green one

numbered to 99.  his 2006 upper deck ultimate collection card is also numbered, but to 799

this is what i was referring to when i suggested that all of the different issues and parallels and inserts and even the regular 'base' cards made it tough to become that nomar supercollector.

his card in the flagship 2006 upper deck series 1 set was him in cubs gear listed as a dodger.  so, i was please to see that he was put on the team checklist in the upper deck update series in real dodger apparel

nomar had fewer cards in 2007 despite his big comeback season in '06.  here's his 2007 fleer ultra card

and some 2007 upper deck 'predictor' parallels - blue and green - on both the team checklist card

and his regular card

i'm not sure what was being predicted, but whatever the reason, upper deck made some parallels.  another ud parallel from 2007 were the red backs in their goudey release.  here's nomar's

at least there were no 2007 topps red letter backs of nomar to chase.  here are a few more - a 2007 upper deck spx die cut base card

a 2007 upper deck spectrum die cut parallel thingy

and a low-end retail 2007 upper deck first edition pennant chasers insert

nomar helped the dodgers get to the postseason in both 2006 and 2008, but never actually successfully caught the pennant.  that was too bad, but we'll always have the 4+1 game, and i'll always have my incomplete nomar non-red sox super collection.

now that's what i call bowman

when i think of bowman these days, i think of draft picks that may or may not pan out and confusing card numbers.  i often tell prospective trading partners that i don't buy bowman products, so odds are that i don't have any dodgers from those sets.  this is usually followed by me receiving a bunch of leon landry cards, and now he'll not be wearing dodger blue if he ever makes it to the big leagues.

that's one reason i prefer the bowman cards from before topps acquired the name.  like this 1951 bowman gene hermanski card.

hermanski had been a dodger for years before this card was issued.  of course, he was traded to the cubs during the 1951 season, along with bruce edwards

that right there is a very nice looking card.  i love the color strata of the grass, dirt, and fabric backdrop.

both of those cards (and the rest of the cards you will see in this post) were sent to me by dhoff at coot veal and the vealtones.  he let me know that he had some cards for trade and we were able to work out a deal.

the first bowman cards i ever saw were from 1955 (thanks to a neighbor of mine in the late 70's).  dhoff had a johnny podres card from that set for me

podres would win the world series mvp award in the year that this card was issued.  that's pretty cool.

but then, there was a non-bowman bowman card in the trade package.  an abomination that dared to call itself 'bowman heritage'.  a shiny card from 2003 of someone named  jordan pratt

pratt was a fifth round pick of the dodgers back in 2003, and pitched his way up to aaa in 2010.  it looks like that was his last year in the dodger organization, and possibly in organized ball.  i realize that this wasn't the first year that bowman had rainbow or chrome type cards, nor was it the first year that topps issued the 'bowman heritage' brand.  it just struck me how non-bowmanesque this card was when it was included in a package along with those great vintage bowman cards above.

moving on, here's a nice oddball of everybody's favorite all-american dodger first baseman, steve garvey.

you might say he's swell, as in 1991 swell baseball greats.

marlon anderson, he of one of the back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs for the dodgers in 2006, makes an appearance

this card is from 2006 upper deck update - number 1157 in the set.  it's a short print to boot.

speaking of update, there were a couple of cards from 2010 topps update in the package, including a piece of andre ethier's all-star game workout jersey

and a golden vladdy

i am fairly shocked that vladdy hasn't made it to the big leagues in 2012.  i thought he had played fairly well for the blue jays' minor league team this year, and when he requested his release, i figured somebody would pick him up on the cheap.  i was wrong, unfortunately.

finally, dhoff hit one of my lesser known wants, sending a non-red sox nomar garciaparra card.  this one is from 2005 upper deck

nomah!

thanks dustin!