2009 topps hta jumbo pack goodness

i made it to one of the local hobby shops (beyond shinder's on washington in mpls in case slette is reading) and picked up a jumbo pack with the babe on the wrapper.

here's what i got inside:

miguel cairo

ryan braun

brandon jones

ivan rodriguez

eric gagne

evan longoria

ryan madson

rafael furcal

erik bedard

edgar renteria

jair jurrjens

chris burke

manny delcarmen

george sherrill

alfredo amezaga

ryan garko

francisco liriano

josh outman

dustin pedroia - mvp

[note - that was 13 horizontal cards in a row]

jackie robinson - legends of the game regular version

hmmmm. we'll come back to this card.

justin morneau - gold parallel

tony larussa - ring of honor

curtis granderson - turkey red

francisco rodriguez - topps town

willie harris

alcides escobar

greg golson

angel salome

matt tuiasosopo

chan ho park

daric barton

jon rauch [note the tattoos. he really stunk for the d-backs last year. god bless him]shin-soo choo

jerry manuel

brad hawpe

cody ransom

nick hundley

trey hillman

jonathan vanevery

casey blake

andy sonnanstine

manny acta

justin morneau

jason kubel

pat burrell

oh, that card in the middle. it was this.not sure where the 'r' comes in, but still. i am not a fan of manufactured patches (although i have all the ones upper deck created for steve garvey) but i must say this card looks pretty nice. it's numbered 47/50 and will probably wind up on ebay.

good times.

2009 goose joak dodgers

simply because i have too much time on my hands, i asked dave over at goose joak if i could whip up some dodgers for his original set. here are the first few.

manny. i could have gone the safer route with a picture of him batting, but i am too intrigued to turn away from his red white and blue mouthpiece. i really wanted to use the picture of him high-fiving the fan during a red sox game last year, and then photoshop it into dodger stadium ala stadium club, but my photoshop skills are not at all advanced.

clayton kershaw. the horizontal card works well here. no pressure on this guy. not at all.

jeff kent.

this would be the final tribute. i wanted to use a picture i found of him all wet in the clubhouse after the dodgers clinched the west last year, but the resolution wasn't good enough.

nomar.
a walk-off final tribute? we'll see if he signs anywhere. there just aren't enough nomar cards these days.

next up will be the kids - jeanson-martin, kemp, loney, etc.

2009 topps - a six pack review

trust me, i really did have to go to target last night...

these may be the only 6 packs of topps retail i will buy this year. not because i don't like the cards (i do - no wide borders restricting the size of the photos makes me happy), but rather because i would rather cherry pick the cards i want from various sources and build a set through trades than buy more packs every time i am at target.

and away we go.

first of all, i even love the wrapper design. even if it is a-rod on there.

pack 1:

craig counsell (former dodger)

mike gonzalez

carlos zambrano (batting, not pitching or no-hitting)

grady sizemore (1st horizontal card - nice!)

mickey mantle legends of the game (nice card - very legendary cuts-ish)

ryan howard topps town

juan miranda

bobby parnell

alex hinshaw

garrett atkins

matt kemp (1st dodger of 09!)

tug hulett

pack 2:

juan uribe

johan santana

kyle kendrick

alex rodriguez

ryan madson

ben sheets turkey red

hanley ramirez topps town

michael bowden

hideki okajima

joe torre (2 for 2 with dodgers!)

brandon moss

dexter fowler

pack 3:

ivan rodriguez

eric gagne (former dodger number 2)

josh banks

david ortiz

nolan ryan legends of the game

evan longoria topps town

alcides escobar

david eckstein (turning two!)

glen perkins

joe saunders

juan castro (former dodger and current dodger spring training invitee)

ryan church

pack 4:

matt joyce

luis ayala

kosuke fukudome

guillermo quiroz

elijah dukes

bob gibson legends of the game

jake peavy topps town

jason motte

josh hamilton

john russell

matt antonelli

ricky nolasco

pack 5:

kyle lohse

reed johnson

david newhan

rich harden

postseason highlights lester/bay

al k leaders burnett/santana/halladay

alfonso soriano topps town

jonathon niese

jack hannahan

jj hardy

francisco liriano

brandon boggs

pack 6:

kyle kendrick

chris young (pads)

ichiro

david eckstein (first double of 09)

chris dickerson

aubrey huff turkey red

lance berkman topps town

topps attax promo chamberlain/howard

jason motte (another double)

mickey mantle (base)

chase utley

ty wigginton

dallas mcpherson

all in all, i really like these cards. i also like the legends of the game inserts, and the fact that i didn't get any gold cards in my 6 packs.

now, if only i could find some upper deck...

one and done

with the release of 2009 topps and upper deck, and the fact that manny ramirez still hasn't signed anywhere, i am guaranteed several more cards of manny in a dodger uniform this year.

that wasn't the case with frank robinson, who was traded to the dodgers in december of 1971, after the orioles lost the world series to the pirates. while topps featured him on an orioles card in the first series, they also issued this - his only dodger card (as long as you don't count his horribly airbrushed 1973 card) - in the last series of the 1972 topps set as part of the traded subset.

robinson played for the dodgers only that one season, appearing in only 103 games and putting up one of his worst years statistically. almost a year to the day after joining the dodgers, frank was traded to the angels, where he rebounded a bit, finishing the 1973 season with 30 home runs.

i have to admit, when 2008 topps update & highlights came out, i was worried that this would be the only manny dodger/topps flagship base card i would get.

now, whether he re-signs with the dodgers or not, there is at least one or two more topps cards of manny in dodger blue.

taking a stand against fun and bubble gum

night owl recently posted this card in his bat around submission. i agree that it is a fun, frivolous card. what he didn't show was the back of the card and the brackets showing just how kurt bevacqua was crowned the champion.apparently, each team had a contest to determine who their rep would be (rick rhoden was the dodgers' entry) and then the brackets were drawn up. i am assuming that these matchups were not conducted face to face, by the way, but i really don't know. i also find it curious that angel mangual won the a's team contest, but was not their representative in the final tournament. that honor went to glenn abbott.

anyway, rhoden beat mike sadek in a first round rivalry matchup against the giants, and then beat john stearns of the mets (who had a first round bye) to advance to the three way semi-finals where he and the astros' mike cosgrove fell to johnny "satchmo" oates of the phillies. bevacqua, meanwhile, had a first round bye before beating walt williams of the yankees in round 2, followed by mickey scott of the angels and eric raich of the indians in the semis. i am assuming that he destroyed johnny oates in the finals.

why were there two first round byes, you might ask? well, it seems that the tigers and pirates declined to participate in the contest. i would guess that the pirates were to face the mets, and the tigers were to battle the brewers, and it was too late to change the matchups.

i am also guessing that joe garagiola was using this event to promote alternatives to tobacco use. i think he used to go around to teams during spring training and talk about the perils of chewing tobacco. maybe that's why the tigers and pirates both passed - they didn't want to sit through the lecture.

a premature final tribute to the president

that would be el presidente, of course.dennis martinez was released by the mariners in may of 1997, at which time he announced his retirement. he was 1-5 in 9 games with the mariners, posting an era of 7.71 and a whip of 1.92! he retired with 241 wins, just 2 wins behind juan marichal who was the winningest latin pitcher of all time.

in 1998, upper deck released this card with their final tribute shield to celebrate the complete career of el presidente. unfortunately for upper deck and marichal, dennis returned to the majors in 1998 with the braves, winning 4 games before retiring for good. i seem to recall that marichal was a wee bit pissed at the time.

dodger fans will always remember martinez for his perfect game pitched against the dodgers on july 28, 1991. what killed me about that game was that mike morgan pitched well, too. both expo runs were unearned, granted by two alfredo griffin errors in the 7th inning.

it was also the culmination of perhaps the most offensively anemic series the expos have ever endured. two nights earlier, martinez's teammate mark gardner no-hit the dodgers for 9 innings only to lose in the tenth because the expos couldn't score off of hershiser or kevin gross, and the day before, they were shut out 7-0 by bobby ojeda for a series total of 2 unearned runs scored. at least they made them count.

the awesomeness of ausmus

well, i don't know if there really is any awesomeness there, but if he gives russell a rest here and there i suppose he will have done his job.

here he is pictured at beautiful dodger stadium on his 1994 upper deck collector's choice card.and so, we add ausmus to the immortal ranks of recent dodger backup catchers, such as ardoin, bennett, lieberthal, mayne, bako, hall, rose and krueter.

good luck, brad.