that'll do, rhubarb runner

it has been a while since i received this package from rhubarb runner.  i send him some twins stuff, and he reciprocated with dodger goodness.  he noted that he hoped what he had sent was enough to compensate for the cards that i had sent to him.  uh, yeah.

2001 leaf certified materials steve garvey jersey

my favorite relic set of all-time.  someday i will showcase the cards that i have from this set.  i especially enjoy that the garvey jersey that was chopped up was from his early days with the team - all wooly and what not.

2012 topps update bobby abreu gold parallel

the latest 'out of place guy' for the dodgers.  it looks like this year's entry will be brian wilson.  maybe.

2012 topps update kenley jansen gold parallel

2013 topps heritage carl crawford

2013 topps heritage clayton kershaw league leaders (strikeouts)

kershaw got the small box by just one strikeout.  at least topps figured out where to put the league leader on these cards this year.

2001 topps sandy koufax southpaw greatness insert

kershaw may well fit on this card someday in the future.  kudos to topps for using these pitchers' actual heights, by the way.  spahn is 6'-0", carlton 6'-4", koufax 6'-2", and the big unit is 6'-10" (all measurements according to baseball reference).

2004 playoff absolute memorabilia landon donovan fans of the game insert

i understand that donovan is not too bad at futbol.

the last card i will show from the goods i received is this 2013 topps opening day zack greinke super short print

i've posted this card before.  now i do own one.  even though i still think that cards like this are the antithesis of what opening day is all about, it's nice to have one in the collection.

so, yeah. rhubarb runner.  that'll do.

pop up tip-eo

let's take a break from all of the double play turns to continue with the weekly baseball tip, courtesy of steve garvey and the 1979 post raisin bran steve garvey's baseball tips box panel set.  here's the fifth installment.

anybody remember 'pop-up video' on vh1?  that was a fun show to watch, most of the time.  i enjoyed learning that the camera in a flock of seagull's 'i ran' video was covered with tinfoil for the scenes in the mirrored room.  anyway, the garv is here to remind us how to field a pop-up, also knows as a pop fly, but once it leaved the infield, it becomes a fly ball or sometimes a can of corn.

there are lots of good cards to showcase with garvey's tip in practice.  in fact, we can work our way through the fielding sequence.  here's mark grudzielanek pointing out that there is, in fact, a pop fly in play on his 1999 topps card.

then, on his 2000 topps stadium club, the g-man is positioning himself under the ball and signaling that he is going to catch it.

'not so fast!' says angel pena on his 2000 upper deck card

'you stay away from me', he continues, but it's cesar izturis who is getting his glove up into a position to catch the ball on his 2004 topps card

and then it is orlando hudson who finishes the play on his 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee card

garvey doesn't mention it, but outfielders do their own thing.  derrel thomas used to do the 'basket catch' in reference to willie mays, and some believed that jim edmonds purposely positioned himself so that he would have a greater likelihood of having to make running or even diving catches.  some outfielders just lumber over and catch the ball at their chests, like bobby abreu is about to do on his 2012 topps update card

or raul mondesi is another example, as he is shown loping after a fly ball on his 1999 topps stadium club card

i am guessing that he would tell you that you should catch balls the way garvey tells you - kind of a do as i say, not as i do thing.

incidentally, what is with the back of that mondesi card?

it's not the first time i've seen him posing as a lefty.  i'm guessing this photo was taken in jest, but with mondy, who knows?

only about 7 more weeks until spring training!

um, yeah. update is live.

i swung by the target near my work at quitting time to see if, by chance, they had any 2012 topps update lying around.  they sure did.  i picked up a blaster and a rack pack.  i was lucky enough to pull this card out of the rack pack

that's one of those pesky short print variations.  it's ichiro and it's a yankee, so i scanned the back as i knew i wouldn't be owning it for too long

sure enough, it sold about two hours after i listed it on ebay.  it's too bad that it wasn't the matt kemp or clayton kershaw sp, though.  or even the cc sabathia one with matt kemp sitting next to him.  still, ichiro covered the costs and then some of the cards i picked up, so that means all of these were free.

here's a red parallel of kershaw's regular card in the set

 as well as a red version of fellow lefty scott elbert's card

 i also pulled the regular version of elbert

i did pretty well as far as dodgers go, which is a change for me.  one of the reasons i stopped buying packs was because i wasn't getting any dodgers.  literally.  i'm glad i lifted my self-imposed moratorium today.  because, otherwise, i wouldn't have been able to show you the jerry hairston card i pulled.

it's still weird to see number 6 out there.

here's matt kemp's home run derby card

kind of a checklist waste, but whatever.

shane victorino as a dodger

i am still not a fan of that trade at all.

i also got a juan rivera gold card

i thought rivera was in series 2.  wasn't he?  yes he was.  not sure what's going on here.

that's a pretty good dodger haul, but there was more.  there were a couple of dodgers lurking, like bobby abreu on cody ransom's card

 and dee gordon on former dodger ryan theriot's card

 and, i should have had another dodger had topps realized that randy choate

 was included in the hanley ramirez deal.  they've got hanley in dodger blue, and nathan eovaldi

in marlins colors, but i guess they forgot that choate also changed teams.

there were a couple of cool double play cards in my packs, too.  i really like this jamey carroll card

it's better than this john mcdonald card

even though the photos are very similar.

i wasn't really looking for bryce harper, although he was there on rick ankiel's card

seems like an excuse to get harper on another card, if you ask me.  ankiel was released at the end of july.  typically, that would mean he wouldn't make the final checklist cut.  but, with harper in the picture, anything is possible.

i did pull a harper card in one of the last packs i opened.

pretty sure that's dodger stadium he's playing in, which would make sense since he debuted in la on april 28.

as luck would have it, i pulled two gold parallels of that card, too.

each blaster comes with a manupatch again, and while i didn't get the hanley patch, i did get yu darvish

this will probably go the way of the ichiro unless someone out there is interested.

overall, i'm pretty happy that i stopped at target.  take a bow, ichiro, for providing me with some free cards.

goose joak originals - the infield

orlando hudson's cycle got me to post his card already, but here is the rest of the dodgers' infield in their 2009 goose joak originals glory.

playing first base, number 7, james loney.
a nice centerfield shot of his nlds grand slam.

at shortstop, number 15, rafael furcal.i was really hoping ned would re-sign furcal. now i hope furcal stays healthy.

at third base, number 23, casey blake.last year, blake was wearing number 30. this year, hudson wore 30 once or twice. now, nobody's wearing it. makes me wonder if there's something going on with maury wills, even though the dodgers are notorious for not retiring numbers unless it's for a hall-of-famer (jim gilliam being the only exception).

now for some of the backup infielders. the theme this year is versatility. all of these guys can play just about any of the infield positions. even the injured doug mientkiewicz can play first and third.

blake dewitt.dewitt can play second or third, and even short, and we will probably need him in all spots before the season is through.

juan castro.

his second tour of duty with the dodgers. great glove - only 65 errors in his career playing all infield positions, except for one game in the outfield.

mark loretta.

he's already shown up at first, second and third.

tony abreu.

abreu saw a good amount of action in 2007 at second, third, and short, but is still waiting for another shot.

cards from the cheap seats

although i was shut out in dan's recent group break, he had already sent me many many great cards that more than make up for it. it has taken me far too long to document his generosity (i think i have received 2 or 3 packages from him since i last posted about one of our trades). sorry, dan. here goes.

first, dan sent me a bunch of 1978 topps to help with my upgrade project. i am going to post more about that set soon.

in addition, dan sent some bowman cards. i very rarely will buy packs of bowman product, so this is great. here are a few for our mutual entertainment:

2008 bowman draft picks and prospects (I think) clayton kershaw

no pressure.

2007 bowman matt kempthe card back says he ‘oozes with raw power potential’. i think that means ‘tremendous upside’.

2007 bowman randy wolfback for another spin with the dodgers this year. reportedly he bought a house formerly owned by slash.

2007 bowman chad billingsleyit’s the gold version. i wonder if chad speaks jive, like barbara billingsley did. apparently he is a believer in nolan ryan’s philosophy of extra throwing to develop arm strength. i wonder if that includes throwing a football around, too. there are some who believe that there are only so many innings in your arm, no matter how often you throw. here’s hoping chad has another 20 years of innings in his.

2007 bowman draft picks and prospects tj nallnall spent 2007 in the red sox and nationals’ organizations after 8 years in the dodgers’ minor league system, and it looks like that was his last year. now, here’s one of the reasons i don’t buy much bowman. this card is similar to the base cards above, but it is numbered bp91. i guess that means bowman prospect 91. it has silver triangles on the bottom front. otherwise it would look just like

2007 bowman draft picks and prospects austin gallagherthis one is numbered bdpp21 which i would guess means bowman draft picks and prospects 21. aren’t these two cards from the same set? someone educate me, please. gallagher played last year at the high a level, mostly at third base. i don’t know enough about him to know if he is a future contender for the rotating spot that is the dodgers’ hot corner or not. we’ll see.

2007 bowman draft picks and prospects tony abreunow, this one looks like the others above, except it is green and is numbered bdp29. i give up. according to the back of the card, tony was ‘discovered’ by luis polonia. they put discovered in quotation marks, which leads me to believe that polonia must have mistaken abreu for a young girl. anyway, tony is another middle infielder, along with chin-lung hu and blake dewitt that is probably bummed that orlando hudson was acquired.

there were also some shiny cards.

2008 topps chrome blake dewitt.speaking of dewitt, he will likely play the role of superutility man this season unless someone is injured. as much as i would like to see more of dewitt, i am hoping he doesn’t see any real regular action as a starter this year.

2001 topps chrome dodgers team carda nice card with the left field pavilion in the background. trust me, it's there. the 2001 dodgers were a fun group. kevin brown. gary sheffield being gary sheffield. darren dreifort injured for the entire second half. eric gagne, the starter. one of night owl’s alltime greg(g)s, gregg olson finishing his career. paul loduca coming out of nowhere to hit 25 home runs. as the church lady would have said: hmmmmm. good times all around.

dan, thanks for all the great cards. i hope you enjoyed the tribe and omar stuff that went your way.