what's more 'holsum' than a baseball card trade?

this latest trade post comes courtesy of tony at off hiatus. he sent me the front end of a trade package (i'll send a return package very soon), and it was chock full of good stuff.  here's a 1990 holsum superstars orel hershiser card/disc

holsum was a bread company - i would have guessed dairy. this is now the only holsum card i have in my collection, and i didn't even know it was coming. that's one of the best things about this whole experience.

here's another oddball from the package - a 1983 donruss action all-stars fernando valenzuela card

and even more fernando goodness in the way of a 1988 panini sticker

there were more stickers to be found, including the late bobby welch

and matt young

who was traded with welch to the a's prior to the 1988 season. i was happy to see welch (and young, too i suppose) win a ring in 1989 after the dodgers got theirs in '88.

here's a 1986 fleer mini steve garvey card

which we've also seen recently in one of the steve garvey binders posts.

it's pretty cool to find vintage cards in a trade package, and tony came through with a couple of cards on cards from the 1957 topps set - lindy mcdaniel

and bobby gene smith

he also hit one of my needs from the 1971 topps set with this fantastic rodney cline carew card

thank goodness the doctor who delivered carew on the train wasn't named fester fonebone.

thanks, too, to tony for sending me cards!

when your postman brings a package from jaybarkerfan's junk

yes, the joy that sandy koufax is displaying on his 2013 topps update postseason heroes card is pretty much how i want to react if i were to be home when the postman drops off a package from wes at jaybarkerfan's junk.  as it is, i am left to feel the excitement when i open the mailbox after a day at work and there is nobody around to exclaim my happiness to.

the result is a trade post that doesn't really do the cards, or thoughtfulness of wes, justice.  here are some of the other goodies i received.

2013 topps heritage then and now koufax and clayton kershaw

koufax led the league in era for five straight seasons, while kershaw has a streak of four era titles in a row.  other than that, he's matched sandy in cy youngs (3 in four years) and mvp awards.  now he just needs those four world series titles...

another kershaw - 2012 topps chrome orange parallel

and a 2009 upper deck spectrum card of another all-time pitching great who once (twice) toiled for the dodgers, greg maddux

maddux won 4 cy young awards, by the way.

here's a 1982 donruss bob welch card

welch was the dodgers' number 1 pick in 1977, and he has the highest career war of any of the dodgers' first round picks in history.  his 44.2 war is higher than rick rhoden (35.9), rick sutcliffe (34.3), paul konerko (28.1), and mike scioscia (26.0), who are third through sixth on the list.  in 2015, welch will be passed by kershaw, whose war through 2014 is 41.1.

how cool are pitcher's bat cards?  pretty cool.  this is a 2005 donruss champions tommy john bat relic card

that wes included in the package.

it wasn't all pitchers, though.  here's a 2013 topps heritage matt kemp new age performers insert

he'll be doing his new age performing for the padres, unfortunately.

i had not seen a 2006 upper deck special f/x card in person before receiving this jayson werth card from wes

what is most shocking about the card is that you can see jayson's cheeks, which haven't seen the light of day since he left the dodgers for the east coast.

last but not least is this 1994 topps archives 1954 card that should have been prospects card of roberto clemente

there's a nearly identical card in the 1995 topps brooklyn dodger archives set, so you have to look closely at the back to figure out which set these cards come from.  how cool would it have been for jackie robinson and roberto clemente (who was taken by the pirates in the 1954 rule v draft) to have been teammates?  at least as cool as this trade package, but not much more.  and, as cool as this trade package was, i received another one with a fantastic piece from wes not more than a week or so later.  i'll get a trade post for that one up in the near future.

thanks wes!

sunday morning target dodgers - super bowl sunday edition.

like clockwork, here's another edition of the sunday morning target dodgers featuring 15 more cards from a sheet in the 1990 target 100th anniversary giveaway set.  just because it's super bowl sunday doesn't mean i'm doing anything different or exciting.  i honestly couldn't think of anything different or exciting.  enjoy.

bert abbey

abbey had a record of 9-30 as a major league pitcher when he joined the brooklyn grooms during the 1895 season.  he went 5-2 in 8 games for the club that year, and then posted an 8-8 record for brooklyn the following season, which turned out to be his last in the majors. abbey then returned to coach baseball at his alma mater, the university of vermont.

johnny butler

butler didn't debut in the majors until 1926 when he was a 33-year old infielder with the brooklyn robins.  he hit .269 in 147 games that year, and then played in 149 games for the robins the following season, although his batting average dropped to .238.  he was picked up by the cubs for the 1928 season, and finished his big league career with the cardinals in 1929.

ivan dejesus

the dodgers signed dejesus as an amateur free agent out of puerto rico in 1969.  he appeared in 3 games during the 1974 season as a late season call-up for the dodgers, and then saw some playing time as a backup to bill russell in 1975 and 1976.   in fact, dejesus and rick auerbach filled in for the injured russell during a good stretch of the 1975 season.  ultimately, however, dejesus was expendable, and he was traded with bill buckner to the cubs for mike garman and rick monday prior to the 1977 season.  dejesus later was traded by the cubs to the phillies for larry bowa and a throw-in named ryne sandberg.

harry eisenstat

eisenstat was a brooklyn native who made his big league debut for the local nine in 1935, when he was just 19 years old.  he was 0-1 in his 2 relief appearances that season, but earned his first big league win (against 3 more losses) the following year.  in 1937, his last year with the dodgers, eisenstat was 3-3 in 13 games.  he went on to pitch for the tigers, for whom he took a no-hitter into the 8th inning on the last day of the 1938 season, beating bob feller of the indians who struck out 18 tigers that day.  coincidentally, the indians traded for eisenstat the following year, and he pitched in cleveland for the remainder of his career.

don elston

elston threw 757.2 innings as a major league pitcher, 756.2 of which came as a member of the chicago cubs.  he was acquired by the dodgers from chicago prior to the 1957 season, but was dealt back to the cubbies after pitching just one inning as a member of the brooklyn dodgers.  in that lone dodger appearance, elston took over for sandy koufax and pitched a scoreless 9th inning against the milwaukee braves. in addition to this card, elston also shows up as a dodger in the 1957 topps set which is nice given his short tenure with the team.

jim gentile

i don't think i knew that diamond jim gentile began his big league career with the brooklyn dodgers in 1957.  he also played for the los angeles dodgers in 1958, amassing a .139 batting average in 16 games over those two seasons.  his first big league hit was a home run off of the phillies' robin roberts, which was not a bad way to start.  i knew of gentile more because of his big 1961 season with the orioles in which he hit 46 home runs and earned a spot on the 1962 topps home run leader card with roger maris, mickey mantle, and harmon killebrew.  gentile also hit .302 with 141 rbi that season.

jerry grote

grote came to the dodgers late in the 1977 season as a third catcher and sometimes third baseman.  he remained with the team through the 1978 season, playing in the nlcs and world series both years. in fact, grote was on deck when ron cey scored the pennant winning run in the 1978 nlcs, and so is featured prominently in one of the celebratory photos that i used to make the 1979 topps card that should have been.  grote was also a dodger double dipper, as he returned to the club for the 1981 pennant run after coming out of retirement earlier that year to join the kansas city royals.

joe harris

harris was acquired by the robins via trade with pittsburgh during the 1928 season.  he appeared in 55 games for brooklyn, hitting .236 in what would be his final stint in the major leagues.  his was a career that lasted 10 seasons over 15 years, but had been sidetracked early on when commissioner landis banned him from the game for life due to harris playing in an independent league in ohio during the 1920 season rather than return to the cleveland indians for whom he had played in 1917 and 1919.  harris was obviously later reinstated, and became the first player to hit a home run in his first world series at bat.

butch henline

henline was the player that the robins received in return when they traded burleigh grimes to the giants in 1927. henline came from the phillies, who were the third team in that trade.  he served as the backup catcher for three seasons, hitting .243 in 149 games as a robin.

rube melton

melton kinda sorta looks like ted williams here, don't you think?  he was a pitcher for the dodgers for two years before and after serving in world war ii.  he joined the dodgers in 1943 and had a combined record of 14-21 over the '43 and '44 seasons.  melton spent 1945 and some of the 1946 season in the armed forces, but posted a 1.99 era with a 6-3 record for the portion of the '46 campaign that he did play in.  he pitched in just 4 games in 1947, collecting only a loss to go with a 13.50 era in those appearances.

andy pafko

pafko is best known as the guy who is on the first card in the 1952 topps set, which features him in a brooklyn uniform thanks to a june, 1951 trade with the cubs.  pafko also played for the dodgers in the 1952 season, hitting .287 in a career high 150 games.  he was traded to the braves prior to the 1953 campaign.

jimmy ripple

ripple had played in 417 games and two world series as a member of the new york giants when he was dealt to the dodgers in september of 1939.  he hit .330 for the dodgers in 28 games over the course of the last few weeks of that season, but the club still finished 12.5 games behind the reds in the standings.  ripple returned to the dodgers in 1940, but only appeared in 7 games before the aforementioned reds claimed him on waivers in august.  ripple went on to help cincinnati win the world series that year.

jack smith

smith pitched for the dodgers in 1962 and 1963, although he earned no decisions in his 12 appearances (all in relief) during that time.  he did not appear in the 1963 world series, either, and was soon thereafter lost to the braves in the rule v draft.

carl warwick

warwick began his career in 1961 as a member of the dodgers. he debuted on april 11 of that year, pinch-hitting for wally moon against ken lehman of the cardinals and promptly hit an rbi single into left field.  it turned out to be the only hit warwick would record as a dodger.  he was 0 for his next 10 (although he did draw 2 walks) and was traded to the cardinals on may 30.

bob welch

welch was the dodgers' number 1 pick in 1977, and he made his big league debut a year later.  he famously struck out reggie jackson to save game 2 of the 1978 world series and was a member of the 1981 team that finally beat the yankees in the fall classic.  as a dodger, welch was 115-86 over a 10 year stretch that ended with him being traded to oakland prior to the 1988 season.  i remember seeing him during the introductions prior to game 1 of the 1988 world series that paired the dodgers against the a's and felt sad that he was no longer on 'my' team.  i didn't feel too badly for him, however, as i obviously wanted the dodgers to win.  welch got the start in game 3, which was the only game the a's won in the series, but he got his second ring in 1989 when the a's beat the giants (although welch did not pitch in the world series that year). to cap things off, welch won 27 games in 1990 en route to the cy young award.  sadly, welch passed away during last season at the age of 57.

a christmas eve edition of random cards from the scanned folder

i'm putting this post on autopilot since it's december 24th and i'm traveling for the holidays.  enjoy some cards that i scanned without a clear purpose over the course of the last few years.

1994 pinnacle brett butler museum collection

i need to add cards from this parallel dodger team set to my nefarious 9.

1962 topps johnny podres

looks like johnny was out late in chicago last night.

1987 fleer league leaders bob welch

the wrigley field ivy in the background and the odd cropping of the photo reminds me of 1981 fleer

1991 upper deck dennis cook

batting practice in dodger stadium!  cook's wearing tommy john's number and doesn't seem to know what to do with the bat.  plus, a jim poole sighting as a background lurker.

1975 topps mini rick rhoden rookie card

in a related note, congrats to night owl on finishing his 1975 topps mini set.  he would not allow his scanner to skew a card from that set as wildly as mine has.

1998 upper deck black diamond alex cora

and here's the back of brett butler's 1995 upper deck collector's choice special edition card.

and so the post is bookended by butlers.  i'll try harder next time.

merry christmas to all, and to all a good night.

all i see are all-stars

with the all-star game tonight, it seems appropriate to show this 1992 trak auto sheet of stamps that honors every dodger all-star from 1962 through 1992

as you can see, it was available for purchase at trak auto stores, either on its own or with a case of valvoline motor oil.

the full sheet of stamps is in one of my steve garvey binders, because i can't find this particular stamp all by its lonesome

1977 was a big year for dodger all-stars, but not as big as 1962, 1975, or 1978 when the dodgers had seven players on the national league squad, or even a few years when they sent 6 players.  garvey represented the dodgers in eight straight all-star games, and was the mvp of the 1974 and 1978 contests.  here is a better look at the stamps for the stretch of games in which garvey, as a dodger, was the starter for the national league at first base.

you may have noticed that the only dodger to get his mug shown twice on the whole sheet is tommy lasorda.

as a member of the padres, garvey returned to the all-star game in 1984 and 1985 as the first base starter for the national league, making his final all-star appearance in the '85 midsummer classic, which was the last time the all-star game was held in minneapolis.  here's a 1986 donruss all-stars pop up card which commemorates his appearance in that game, complete with underside of the metrodome's roof in view

garvey, at age 37, was a participant in the home run derby prior to that all-star game - the first home run derby prior to the all-star game - and hit 2 out.  dave parker won the derby with 6.  it wasn't the same back then.

anyway, happy all-star game day!

35 gone at 57

i couldn't believe what i was reading yesterday afternoon.  bobby welch, the rookie pitcher from the team of my youth, had passed away at the age of 57.  definitely a need for black mourning crepe here on the blog.

there is no doubt that welch closing out game 2 of the 1978 world series was a huge moment for all dodger fans, but for me it represented the point of no return in my fandom, which at that time was barely a year old.  i had to wait until 1979 to get a card of welch, but once the packs hit the streets, i didn't wait long.  i remember opening about a dozen packs purchased at the 7-11 for a quarter apiece, and somewhere around the 6th pack, there was this card

let's take a stroll through welch's dodger career.

1980 topps

he suttons.

1981 fleer

my neighbor across the street was a yankee fan, and pulled this card from a pack.  i reminded him of how welch struck reggie jackson out to end the aforementioned game 2 of the 1978 fall classic, and he quickly handed the card over to me.

1981 topps

hatless and morose.

1982 topps

 1983 donruss

bad mustache.

1984 topps team leaders

welch is currently 9th on the dodgers all-time strikeout list, but is about to be passed by clayton kershaw.

1984 topps

similar to 1982 topps

1985 topps

similar to 1984 topps

1986 topps

what's with all the road uni photos?

1987 donruss

that's better - the ice white uniform with a dodger stadium backdrop

1987 fleer

back on the road

1987 topps

he was 15-9 in 1987, his final season with the dodgers, and he led the league with 4 shutouts.

1988 donruss diamond king

1988 donruss

1988 score

the yellow border fit in 1988, as he joined the a's as a free agent.

welch was 115-86 with a 3.14 era as a dodger, and 96-60 with a 3.94 era as an athletic, but 27 wins in 1990 means most will remember him as a member of the a's.  i'll remember him as the guy who made a young fan believe that the dodgers could beat the yankees, even if they didn't really get it done until 1981.