more cards from across town

earlier today, i posted some of the cards that fellow twin-citian brian (he of the highly subjective and completely arbitrary blog) sent my way.  there are more to be shown and enjoyed.  like this 1998 upper deck collector's choice of raul mondesi signing autographs at dodger stadium on photo day.

photo day, which used to be called camera day back when i was a kid, is when fans can arrive early and go on to the field (stay behind the barriers, folks) as the players walk slowly by and stop to pose for a picture of sign an autograph or two.  the first time i ever went on the field at dodger stadium was on photo/camera day circa 1979.  i've been on the field once or twice since then, but only for concerts.

here's a 1995 topps stadium club card of delino deshields also signing autographs

but he's on the road somewhere, not at chavez ravine.

also from 1995 topps stadium club, here's a close up of a concerned looking eric karros

that is actually a virtual reality parallel.  perhaps karros is pondering the age old question, "what is real?"

or maybe he is trying to figure out who is on the front of this 1998 topps mystery interleague match-up card

it could be karros, it could be mike piazza, but it could also be an angel.  i haven't peeled off the front to find out.  i'll keep karros guessing.

brian included a few inserts from 2015 topps series 2, which is nice because i haven't bought much of that product.  here's melissa mccarthy getting ready to throw the first pitch at dodger stadium

i understand that the pitch came out of her hand "like lava".

2015 topps adrian gonzalez stepping up insert

2015 topps clayton kershaw hot streak insert

41 innings is impressive.  zack greinke is currently at 35.2 scoreless innings.  he still has 23.1 to go to catch orel hershiser.  incredible.

2015 topps yasiel puig hot streak insert

it would be nice for puig to get on a hot streak again sometime.

brian also hit a couple of peculiarities in my collection.  this is a non-dodger dodger card from 2005 donruss throwback threads of kazuhisa ishii

it's really a mets card, but it's got a dodger on it, so it belongs in my collection.

brian also sent along this 1995 topps stadium club carlos garcia card

featuring nothing but dirt - a tatooine card to end the trade post.

thanks brian! i'll get a return package out to you soon!

i chose poorly

i grabbed a rack pack of 2015 topps stadium club the other day while at target and was disappointed in the parking lot when i opened the pack.  clearly, i chose my pack poorly. here are the 12 cards i received

i had already ordered a few cards off of sportlots (including the adam laroche card featured in the recent minnie minoso memorial patch post), and i was hoping for some of the other standout cards/photos.  instead, what was in my pack was some pretty standard stuff aside from maybe the ivan rodriguez and tim hudson (boo) cards.  two yankees, a diamondback, and a giant make for a pretty lousy pack for this dodger fan.  

on the bright side, the adam dunn card was a nice surprise.  since dunn retired after the 2014 postseason, this card is a final tribute, with his career totals on the back

there are only 34 people in history with more home runs than adam dunn (he's tied with jose canseco), but there are only 2 people (reggie jackson and jim thome) with more career strikeouts.

only bo is so precise with sending me cards for my tatooine mini collection

well, others have sent me tatooine cards (cards with only dirt in the photo background), but bo recently sent me a lot of them.  here are some of them.

1995 pinnacle reggie jefferson

1995 upper deck collector's choice wayne kirby

1995 upper deck collector's choice ray lankford

1995 upper deck collector's choice dick schofield

1995 upper deck collector's choice se derrick may

1995 upper deck collector's choice se lou whitaker

1996 topps stadium club al martin

2006 topps jake westbrook

1998 fleer tradition kevin young

1998 fleer tradition desi relaford

because you can try to keep desi close, but desi is going to run.

thanks bo!

baseball cards that travelled from bo in single file to hide their numbers

there are many things that i like about this 1993 donruss tony fernandez card

first of all, it was sent to me by bo from baseball cards come to life in a trade package, which is great.  second, it features the o-pee-chee-esque 'traded' text with a mets logo on what would otherwise be a padre card.  third, there is a double play turn on the back.  and fourth, there is only dirt in the image, so it's a tatooine card.  bo sent a number of those cards for my mini collection.  here's another, also from 1993 donruss, featuring the tigers' phil clark

here are some more.

1993 score select royce clayton

1993 upper deck scott brosius

1993 upper deck craig grebeck

1993 upper deck jose vizcaino

1994 pinnacle kirt manwaring

1994 score bob zupcic

1994 upper deck dave hollins (back)

1994 upper deck collector's choice brian hunter

1994 upper deck collector's choice scott livingstone

1994 upper deck collector's choice dave magadan

1995 donruss junior felix

thanks bo.  these are the cards i was looking for.

i am running out of tatooine references from the star wars movies for these types of posts.

bo knows how to select double play cards

the recent package from bo featured a large number of double play cards, many of which were new to me.  here are some that i hadn't seen before

1993 score select jay bell

1993 score select mariano duncan

which happens to feature the aforementioned jay bell

1993 score select scott fletcher

whom i either forgot or did not know played for the brewers.

1993 score select mike gallego

1993 score select rene gonzales

1993 score select manny lee

now, i am assuming that he is turning two here, but there's always a chance that he's jumping just for the heck of it.

1993 score select robby thompson

looks like an expo sliding in. i miss the expos.

1993 score select john valentin

1993 score select lou whitaker

sweet lou showed up a couple of other times in the package:

1993 topps stadium club

and 1995 upper deck collector's choice

hello, thrill.

the tigers were pretty well represented in the turning two category in that set with alan trammell

(again, an assumption about turning two, but why else would the shortstop be coming across the bag like that?) and choice chris gomez

here's a padre, luis lopez,

also turning two in the set, and doing so on tatooine.  the back of lopez's card also features a photo from the desert planet

as does the last card of this post, 1996 upper deck chris gomez

and the cosmic ballet goes on.

thanks again for the cards, bo. i will be showing more in the near future, so stay tuned...