spring has sprung

spring training camps have been broken for the year, and the dodgers are now in southern california passing time with the angels until their season opens on monday.  arpsmith is also in socal, and that's where he presumably acquired these cards that i received recently.

2015 topps adrian gonzalez spring fever

there's only one local card shop that i go to these days (i think there are 3 or 4 in the twin cities), but i don't know if they participate in this promotion or not.  thankfully, arpsmith has a guy who does.

here's a midsummer card - 2014 topps update dee gordon all-star relic

that would be a piece of the all-star game warm up or practice apparel. kudos to topps for getting a photo of dee from the asg to use on the card.

here's another relic - 2014 topps gypsy queen zack greinke

i'm expecting big things from zack since this is an opt-out year for him.

2014 topps heritage minors jesmuel valentin

valentin is the son of jose valentin, who is currently the padres' first base coach.  the dodgers traded jesmuel to the phillies last year as one of the players to be named later in the roberto hernandez (fausto carmona) deal.

2001 topps heritage gary sheffield

arpsmith sent me some cards towards my 2001 topps heritage want list, including the sheff above. i recently took a quiz to see if i could name the top 21 los angeles dodger home run hitters of all time. i got 18 of them right - i forgot john roseboro and ron fairly, who were tied with 90 at the bottom of the list, but i am ashamed to have not named sheffield who put up some of the best offensive numbers ever by a dodger.

last, but not least, here's a 1987 fleer bill russell card, signed by the shortstop of the team of my youth himself

russell did not make the list of the top 21 la dodger home run hitters despite playing his entire career there and appearing in more games than any other la dodger.  russell had only 46 home runs during his career.

thanks for the trade adam! here's hoping the giants give someone else from their division a chance to win the world series this year.

half of the infield showed up in my mailbox

thanks to p-town tom at waiting 'til next year.  he sent a 1975 sspc davey lopes card

and a 1977 rc cola can of the penguin, ron cey

i haven't flattened the can yet like i did with the garvey can that mark hoyle sent a while back, but i plan to.  it's cool that the can mentions double plays.

speaking of half of the infield and double plays, the junior junkie also sent me some cards featuring second basemen and shortstops turning two.  there were quite a few that were new to me.

here's a 1991 leaf felix fermin card

with legs of three different people.

1993 topps stadium club was well represented, with cards of carlos baerga

gary disarcina

rico rossy

and craig shipley

how did i not have those cards already?

1994 upper deck collector's choice luis alicea

1995 score jeff blauser

2001 topps stadium club quilvio veras

2014 topps gypsy queen jedd gyorko

gyorko may have been a bust in 2014 (i added him to my fantasy team thinking he could fill in at third until manny machado returned from the dl but quickly dropped his unperforming arse), but at least he had this card to redeem himself in my eyes.

thanks for the cards (and can) guys.  stuff like that is appreciated.

the last dodger pitcher to win the mvp award is clayton kershaw

the national league hadn't had a pitcher win the most valuable player award since bob gibson took home the hardware in 1968.  now, for the first time in my lifetime, a pitcher has won the nl mvp award and it's a guy who throws for my favorite team.

you can say that it's because giancarlo stanton got hurt towards the end of the season, but it doesn't matter.  clayton kershaw is the 2014 nl mvp.

from such humble beginnings - this is his rookie card from 2008 topps update & highlights

don't worry - i've got more cards to show.

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee

2011 topps diamond duos, with madison bumgarner

bumgarner had a historically fantastic postseason, no doubt.  kershaw did not.  hopefully that just means that his eventual championship run will be that much sweeter.

2011 topps marquee

the brooklyn baby blues.  i wonder if the dodgers will ever play in the robins' 1916 checked uniforms.  maybe in a couple of years to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the franchise's first world series appearance?

2012 bowman chrome

2012 bowman's best

both of those cards show the duke snider memorial patch.  duke never won an mvp award, although he and teammate roy campanella came very close to sharing the award in 1955.

2013 topps toys 'r' us purple parallel

2013 topps mini

2014 topps allen & ginter pastime's pastime

with a nod to his philanthropic efforts on the back

2014 topps gypsy queen n174 insert

2014 topps heritage

2014 topps heritage league leaders

2014 topps heritage then and now with sandy koufax

kershaw has more in common with the 1963 version of sandy koufax - that was the year that koufax won the mvp award.

kershaw has joined a select list of players with this award, and he also joins maury wills, koufax, steve garvey, and kirk gibson as los angeles dodgers to win the mvp.  i am hopeful that in 2015 kershaw will join koufax, garvey, and gibson as a player to win a postseason mvp award as well.

a memorial patch for the navy yard shooting victims

tomorrow (9/16/14) marks the one-year anniversary of the navy yard shootings in washington dc.  the nationals wore a memorial patch for the last few weeks of the season in honor of the 12 victims killed in the rampage.  ian desmond's 2014 bowman card gives a good view of the patch on the right sleeve of the jersey

and the same photo was used by topps on his 2014 gypsy queen relic insert

the patch was initially worn on the chest, but i don't have any cards showing that placement.  my thoughts are with the families of the victims as they mark this anniversary.

a 2x3 heroes guessing game

jeff at 2x3 heroes sent me one of his plain white envelopes a while back, stuffed with a third of a nine-pocket sheet.  each of the three pockets had some cool cards in it, and jeff added a note saying 'guess which pocket was not from a nickel box.  let's see if i can figure it out.

pocket #1 - 1987 fleer fernando valenzuela all-star team insert

this was a tough pull for me back in 1987.  there's a steve sax card in the insert set, too.  this could have been more than a nickel

1985 fleer limited edition steve garvey

this card is from a boxed set, so it could go for more than 5 cents.

2004 topps all-time fan favorites steve garvey

all-time fan favorite cards shouldn't be selling for a nickel.  especially ones with steve garvey on them.

pocket #2 - 1990 pacific baseball legends steve garvey

garvey in a dodger uniform is worth more than a nickel

2001 upper deck decade 1970's steve garvey

i wonder if upper deck ever had plans to do a 1980's set like this.  they could have used a modified 1983 topps design and made cards of guys like dale murphy and orel hershiser.   i would have collected that set, just like i did with this one when it came out.

2013 topps hanley ramirez chasing history insert

it's not the foil version, so it could be in a nickel box, i suppose

pocket #3 - 2013 topps mini adrian gonzalez

miniature dodger stadium background action available only online.

2014 topps gypsy queen yasiel puig

a short print of the dodger right fielder

2014 topps gypsy queen yasiel puig glove stories insert

one of puig's two cards in this insert set

ok, i think it is pretty obvious which pocket did not feature cards from the nickel box.  puig is still in the cases at the card shows, and i'm hoping that he plays well enough to keep his cards under glass for a long time.

thanks for the cards jeff!

i do have some newer stuff, too

earlier today i showed (mostly) some vintage duke snider cards.  and, while my vintage needs grow smaller (in theory), topps and others keep churning out new dodger cards.  i've obtained quite a few of those recently.

2014 topps clayton kershaw spring fever

which has a different color palette than the 2014 topps hanley ramirez spring fever card

which is great, because variety is the spice of life.

here's a 2014 topps gypsy queen clayton kershaw 'debut all-stars' insert

cheers to topps for going back and using a photo of kershaw from the 2011 all-star game, his first.

jeers to topps for using a photo from 2011 on this 2014 topps league leader card

that was the last dodger card (not counting the short prints i am ignoring this year) that i needed for the series 1 team set.

on to series 2, which includes this kershaw cy young award winner card

now for a couple of cards from 2014 topps opening day - adrian gonzalez

and matt kemp

kemp's base card in this year's topps flagship set didn't come out until series 2, but it was so familiar to me when i first saw it that i was momentarily confused.  anyway, i pulled the gold version from a pack

which is always nice

zack greinke makes an appearance thanks to 2014 topps archives

intense!

and here's kemp's card from this year's archives.

i think that photo is the same one (or very similar) to the one topps used on a short print variation of the bison last year.

matt kemp cards abound!  here's his 2014 bowman card

and hanley's too!

yes, i bought a multi-pack of bowman, and didn't do too badly as far as dodger ratios.  here's a bowman chrome prospects card of brandon trinkwon

and a bowman prospects purple parallel of bobby coyle

trinkwon was a 2013 draft pick while coyle was taken by the dodgers in 2010.

here's julio urias' 2014 bowman prospects card

this guy is kind of a big deal.  he's only 17, and is was recently ranked as the 13th best prospect in the game.  just another lefty pitcher from mexico for the dodgers, speaking of which

here's fernando valenzuela's 2014 topps archives short print

if only there had been a 1980 topps traded/update set, we might have seen that card 34 years ago

here's another dodger short print from this year's archives - dusty baker

that's a card that easily would have fit into the 1980 set.  well done.