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 taken

in addition to the charity group break hosted by topher at crackin' wax, i picked up a few cards from his 'take my cards' promotion.  a buck donation to big brothers plus a sase and i received a 2007 topps allen & ginter andre ethier card

a 2013 topps allen & ginter adrian gonzalez mini

with the a&g back

and a 2010 upper deck dodger stadium card with no logo on the back, but still plenty of info with words like 'wonderful', 'splendid', and 'all-you-can-eat'.

derrick hall is right, though.  no swimming pool.

thanks topher!

it wasn't supposed to end like this

one of my favorite players of the last 20 years called it quits the other day.  vladimir guerrero, who hadn't played in the majors since 2011, officially retired.  he was 36 when he suited up for the orioles in 2011, and didn't perform too badly, although his power was in decline.  he was the o's dh in 145 games, and he hit .290 with 13 homers and 63 rbi.  still, i was definitely surprised when no team took a chance on him in 2012, and i was then disappointed when the blue jays signed him to a minor league deal but released him rather than promote him to the big club.

so, having played in so many games the previous year, vladdy was a lock to get a card in the 2012 card releases, right?  well, kind of.  here's his 2012 topps card

now that would be a fantastic final tribute card!  plus he's wearing the mike flanagan memorial patch.  unfortunately, it's just a checklist card that denotes the fact that guerrero passed julio franco to become the all-time hits leader among players from the dominican republic.

if only topps hadn't waited until series 2 to put vladdy on the checklist, we might have had a real final tribute card in the set.

thankfully, there is topps heritage.

with vladdy's complete career stats on the back

he finished his career 9 hits behind steve garvey, but 205 home runs in front of the garv.  right now, vladdy is 82nd all-time in hits, 35th in ops, 45th in total bases, 36th in home runs and 52nd in rbi.  that's not a bad career.

once vladdy left the angels, i kind of got off track with my pc.  then, sometime last year, i started picking up his cards again.  here are some 2011 cards - topps

and topps update

man, did i want the rangers to win the world series in 2010.  not only because they were playing the giants, but also because of vladdy. unfortunately, vladdy was just 1 for 14 as the giants won the title.

here's a 2011 bowman

with the gold parallel, too

and a turkey red insert from 2010 topps update

this 2010 topps national chicle card

could go either way as far as vladdy being an angel or a ranger, but there is no doubt about the team affiliation on this 2007 topps a&g relic card

or this 2011 topps 60 relic card

with vladdy officially retired, i am not sure who my favorite non-dodger player is.  there's joe mauer, i suppose, but his stock has fallen a bit with me.  i do know that it is not hunter pence - the guy with perhaps the only swing worse to look at than vladdy's.

here's to you vladimir guerrero.  enjoy retirement and say hello to wilton for us dodger fans.  as usual, we had the wrong brother.

yeah, i took his cards. big whoop. wanna fight about it?

here are some cards that i took off of topher's hands, courtesy of the crackin' wax 'take my cards' process.  i made a donation to big brothers, chose some cards, and sent in a sase.  it was just that simple.

i was late to the allen & ginter party, so anything prior to 2008 i am not quite sure what i have in the way of dodgers.  i picked up a rafael furcal

and brad penny

card from the 2007 set.  it kind of looks like furcal is posing in front of a map of yellow eurasia.

here's a 2007 topps chrome juan pierre card

i cringe every time i see a version of this card.  the blue jerseys that were worn in games only during davey johnson's reign.  not good.

speaking of not good, that is how i remember luis gonzalez's time as a dodger.  still, i needed his 2007 topps heritage card for the ol' collection

here's another furky, this one comes from 2010 upper deck

i like recalling how this was 'series 1' as if there was going to be another series after upper deck didn't try so hard to obscure logos.

here's a 1987 donruss opening day steve sax card.

and a 1989 donruss orel hershiser '59 and counting' card

i don't recall requesting orel, but a card featuring a dodger juggler is always welcome.  but please don't start sending me your 1989 donruss cards.  those are cards i won't take.

thanks topher!

doug mientkiewicz through the mail success!

you knew i would have to follow up a billy grabarkewitz post with a similar one featuring the similarly last name addled doug mientkiewicz, didn't you?  i already featured one of the cards i received (a 2005 donruss champions (twins) card) in this post.  here are the others that i recently received back in the mail, signed by the nomadic first baseman:

2005 donruss champions (red sox)

2005 donruss champions (mets)

2007 topps allen & ginter

the donruss champion cards aren't short prints or variations - dougie just got three cards in the set.  i think his only dodger card, and may be his only dodger card, is a 2010 upper deck card.  garret anderson beat him out this spring, and so mientkiewicz is currently weighing his options.  i hope he gets picked up by someone or sticks with the dodgers in some capacity so i can try to get that upper deck card signed along with a 2004 topps which showcases the metrodome.

anyway, at one point minky was my favorite twin.  the guy hit the game winning home run for the 2000 usa olympic gold medal team, had a fantastic glove, and was fun to watch.  he had a couple of bad moments, including going public with his dislike of tom kelly and his demotion when justin morneau was called up, but he was still such a fan favorite after his trade to boston that his shirts remained full price at the metrodome concession stands.  i was impressed.

since leaving the twins, he's had a series of 'one and done' seasons with the red sox (2004 world series champion, thank you very much), the mets, the royals, the yankees, the pirates, and the dodgers.  his 2009 season was largely lost due to a shoulder injury he suffered in april after hitting a 2-run pinch hit double against the giants.

thanks doug!

random is as random does...

...and david at indian cards, for whatever length of time has done some random. first, i asked for and received some random angels. then, i put in for some true all around randomosity. here are some highlights:

1993 upper deck jay buhner.buhner is crashing jr's party, much like eric karros is known to do.

1992 fleer ultra jose oquendo

that's eddie murray halfway in the shot.

1996 topps shawn green. in triplicate!

1996 pinnacle summit gary disarcina

a double play turn against the dodgers!

1989 upper deck mark mclemore

another double play turn

2008 upper deck chone figgins season highlights

figgins is in there somewhere...

2008 topps stadium club john lackey

in yankee stadium. i think if lackey pitched on the east coast he would be much more appreciated.

2007 topps allen & ginter jered weaver

at least it's not jeff.

2007 topps allen & ginter gary matthews jr sketch card

the angels seem to make their 4 outfielder rotation work a lot better than the twins do.

2005 upper deck flyball garret anderson

i thought this guy would finish his career in anaheim. i liked edmonds and salmon more, but ga has outlasted both of them.

2002 donruss originals darin erstad

scrappy.

1999 upper deck encore mo vaughn

the best part about this card is the gene autry patch mo is wearing.

2005 upper deck robb quinlan

the former gopher is the epitome of the 26th man or the aaaa player.

2001 topps heritage darin erstad

still scrappy.

1999 skybox thunder charles johnson

from piazza to johnson to hundley in two seasons. yikes.

1996 pinnacle jim abbott.

this guy was such a fan favorite - there was much rejoicing when they brought him back.

1995 upper deck minors luis raven

sponsored by molson. i used to have a canadians hat that looked like that helmet, but i felt too much like a hot-dog-on-a-stick worker to wear it in public.

1994 topps team stadium club salomon torres

i was happy to see torres have a decent career because the dodgers crushed him on the last day of the 1993 season (his rookie season) with a postseason berth on the line.

1994 score rookies and traded gold rush bo jackson

bo knows parallels.

1994 leaf ken griffey jr.

jr's earring is really shiny on this card.

1993 donruss bryan harvey

a bit of an opc flavor. harvey certainly had the moustache to be a closer.

1991 upper deck greg brockthe heir apparent to steve garvey playing out his career in milwaukee, back when it was an al city.

1991 topps stadium club casey candaele

candaele looks all of 5'1" in this picture.

1991 upper deck kirk gibson

another former dodger in a small market al central team's uniform.

1991 topps stadium club dave winfield

another former gopher.

1991 score tom niedenfuer

go crazy folks, go crazy!

1990 classic bert blyleven

bert was sticking his tongue out well before michael jordan made it fashionable.

1987 fleer reggie jackson

must kill the queen...must kill the queen...

1991 opc premier dave winfield

winfield had the funkiest swing i think i have ever seen. it was effective, though.

1989 upper deck wally joyner

anaheim's answer to fernandomania. he made people forget that rod carew existed, unfortunately.

1986 topps buddy biancalana

just because.

1991 score john wetteland

i love the black bordered 91 score cards. i wish the whole set had been black borders.

1992 leaf brett butler

a card that doesn't show butler bunting!

1991 score pat perry.

i'll take pat perry for $100, alex!

thanks so much david! these were a lot of fun to go through!