remember when manny launched one 461 feet in houston?

it's been just over six years, so, no, i don't recall that particular home run.  however, thanks to bru at remember the astrodome who sent me this 2010 upper deck insert card

i can at least bluff my way through it and say "oh, yeah - that was the one he hit off of roy oswalt". while that particular manny home run didn't come in the astrodome, obviously, he did hit a couple there during his time with the indians during interleague play.  as an aside, wallet card and i agree that the astrodome is worth remembering.

back to the cards - here's another home run related card from the trade package, a 2015 topps mike piazza first home run insert

kudos to topps for using a photo of piazza from 1992 (note the uniform number is 25, not 31, and the presence of the 30th anniversary of dodger stadium commemorative patch).  piazza hit 7 homers in the astrodome during his career, by the way, but his first career big fly came at dodger stadium against the giants.

let's take a look at a few more cards from the package sent by marc. this is a 1978 tcma the 1960's card of jim gilliam

gilliam did not hit a home run in the astrodome, nor did he homer at colt stadium, the home of the colt .45's before they became the astros and moved into the astrodome when it opened in 1965.  gilliam did, however, hit .400 with 2 triples in his 8 games inside the 8th wonder of the world.

here's a 2014 topps hanley ramirez 1989 design die-cut mini

ramirez didn't debut in the majors until 2005, and by then, the 'stros were in enron/minute maid park.  so far, hanley has hit 3 homers in houston in his career.

like hanley, justin turner (seen here on his 2015 topps heritage card)

didn't make it to the big leagues until well after the astrodome was decommissioned. still, he hit the first of his (so far) 17 career major league home runs in houston during the 2011 season.  too bad he wasn't included in the 1st home run insert set.

here's another card from this year's heritage release - it's dodger manager don mattingly

i feel for the teams who don't get manager cards in heritage releases, and i would like topps to bring the skippers back to the flagship.  donnie baseball never played in houston since the astros were a national league team during his playing days, but as a manager, he's 9-6 against them overall, and i assume some of those wins have come in texas.

speaking of texas, here's a 2015 topps heritage league leader card featuring dallas' own clayton kershaw and a couple of other guys

kershaw's only career home run thus far was his opening day blast at home against the giants in 2013, but on the flip side, he's only allowed one homer at minute maid - to carlos lee in 2009.

i'll finish up this trade post with a card of a guy who hasn't pitched anywhere in the majors yet - julio urias and his 2014 bowman draft picks & prospects mini 'future of the franchise' refractor card

he's only 18, and his k/9 ratio so far as a professional pitcher is over 11.  i'll take that for this franchise's future for sure, just like i'll take great trades like these anytime.  thanks bru!

where in the world is my wallet card - local monthly card show edition!

wallet card and i ventured out in the cold to a recent local card show.

that's my beat up 1974 topps steve garvey card in the foreground of the familar twin cities sports card collector's club card show signage.

inside, i found some things to purchase, including another vintage dodger from one of the main vintage bargain bin dealers i've written about so many times.  one of the cards he sold me was this 1955 topps duke snider card

i took duke home and promptly freed him from his cage

i am pretty sure that whomever had the card graded spent more on that than i spent on the card.  anyway, it's the last card in the 1955 set, and one of the ones i thought would take me the longest to find one that met my budgetary needs.  i was wrong - there are still a few other dodgers i need from that '55 set.

there were some modern dodgers from a two-dime box at another dealer that suffered the wrath of my dodger digging.  here's a 2011 topps pro-debut ethan martin blue parallel

i have a hard time passing up blue dodger parallels, even when they are former prospects that no longer pitch in the organization.

case in point, here's a 2014 bowman chrome dan haren blue parallel

it's a card only a dodger team collector could love.

more blue - this time a 2012 topps chad billingsley golden moments relic card

that features a swatch from the 1940 throwback unis that the dodgers wore for a few games in 2011.

here's a piece of (supposedly) adrian gonzalez's bat from 2014 topps allen & ginter

the relics were only a buck apiece.

there were a bunch of grant holmes cards in the two-dime box, and i grabbed this 2014 bowman draft picks and prospects draft night insert of the first round pick 

he had a k/9 ratio of over 10 in his rookie league debut last year. i'm interested to see what he does this year.

i have a hard time passing up tim wallach cards when i see them in discount boxes, so i grabbed this 1995 topps stadium club card.

to be honest, i've seen this card so many times, i should make sure that i actually own it before i ship it off to new mexico.

also from 1995 topps stadium club, i grabbed this brett butler virtual reality insert

based on the haul i took from the card show (i'll be showing more of it in another post), the fist bump is warranted.