relics from deadlines past

seven years ago yesterday, the dodgers traded joel guzman to the devil rays for julio lugo.  i have only this 2005 bowman heritage relic card to remember him by.

guzman was part of those jacksonville sun and las vegas 51s teams that featured the future - russell martin, james loney, chad billingsley, joel hanrahan, delwyn young, andy laroche, etc.  for me, guzman was the guy that, out of all of those others, was going to make it.  as a 20-year old in 2005, guzman hit 16/75/.287 in aa, and was hitting 11/55/.297 in 2006 at aaa las vegas when he was dealt away.  i believe guzman's stock dropped due in part to the emergence of matt kemp.  anyway, julio lugo played in 49 games for the dodgers, hit .219, and then left to become the primary shortstop on the team that won the world series in 2007.

guzman, meanwhile, had a short stay with tampa bay and then bounced around the minors.  he is currently playing in mexico, according to baseball reference.

more recently (three years ago to be precise), ned traded away blake dewitt at the deadline.  here's a 2008 topps heritage relic card

dewitt went to the cubs in exchange for ted lilly and ryan theriot.  lilly stuck around (although he was recently dfa'd), but theriot bolted after the 2010 season ended.  like lugo, he went on to play for the world series champions the following year.  then he did lugo one better and played for the champs in 2012 as well!

a small and handpicked sample, i know, but drew butera might find himself an in demand free agent this winter...

more happy returns

yesterday i showed off some of the coaches and retired types that reader cory was able to coax into signing some of my cards for me.  here now are some actual players.  like andre ether, who signed a 2008 topps allen & ginger

as well as a 2009 topps allen & ginter

james loney

and hiroki kuroda

also signed allen & ginger cards, both from 2008.  i think we can all agree that allen & ginter looks just fantastic signed.

less awesome looking, but still pretty cool, are the cards that chad billingsley signed, including his 2005 topps rookie card

(hello joel guzman, my former dodger salvation) and his 2009 topps heritage card

also signing a 2009 topps heritage was juan pierre

and george sherrill

although his is from the high-number release.  for the record, i've had separate ttm successes with bills, pierre, and sherrill.  but not with chin-lung hu who signed a 2008 upper deck timeline card

that looks just as nice signed as do the actual 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams cards on which this card was based.

also from the timeline set, i had sent a reed johnson card which he signed

unfortunately for me, johnson has never returned his lone dodger card from 2010 topps update that i sent to him last spring.  finally, it just so happened that alfredo amezaga was in dodger camp in spring of 2010, and i sent a 2009 topps card just in case.

amezaga signed it but never did appear in a big league game for the dodgers.  that's not a bad haul, but there was more.  i'll show the rest tomorrow.

great (mr.) scott!

i recently received some cards from mr. scott.  he sent a bunch of dodgers which is just what i wanted.  here's some highlights!

1999 topps darren dreifort

little d at home in dodger stadium.  i really like this card because of the bright home whites and the outfield mural.  too bad darren couldn't stay healthy.

1993 topps eric davis.

this card could be bad ass, with the tattoos showing and the pose, but i would guess he loses points with the pullover tucked in and the oversized sweatband with what i assume to be his likeness.

2009 topps unique manny ramirez

not too sure what is so unique about these cards.  moving on...

2003 bowman chrome leigh neuage

the thunder from down under.  not really, although he is from australia.  neuage's last year in the minors was 2003, when he was 19.  he debuted in the rookie league at age 17.  i wonder if there was an injury or something.  it looks like he had good control (3:1 k:bb) but he gave up a lot of hits.  we will never know.

2006 upper deck ovation jd drew

the only ovation i am inclined to give jd drew is the kind he still gets in philly.  if you can call that an ovation.

2004 upper deck sp prospects shawn green

i have never understood the thinking behind putting the same photo on a card twice.  although i do like 1994 upper deck, and one of the photos on those cards is all scrunched.  i hate when i contradict myself.

2006 bowman joel guzman jersey

joel was once my baseball salvation.  i could not wait for him to get to the majors and lead the dodgers to the dynastic destiny that no doubt awaited them.  it didn't quite work that way, but i still have matt kemp!

thanks mr. scott!  i will have some yankees to you soon!