uni-watch looking out

a spike in post specific views is rare around these parts, so to see a few hundred views of a couple of recent posts peaked my interest.  the posts in question had to do with my 'memorials' collection - i'm looking to have a card showing each instance of a team wearing an armband or patch in memory of someone or in remembrance of a tragic event.  just like on this 2000 upper deck cal ripken jr checklist

where the iron man is wearing a '7' patch in honor of his father cal ripken sr.  ripken sr, a heavy smoker, passed away in march of 1999 from lung cancer and the orioles honored their long time minor leaguer (player and manager)/manager/coach/scout who spent 36 years with the organization.

as always, if you have a card that shows this memorial better, i'd like to trade for it.  however, i doubt very much that there is a better one for cal ripken sr than this one of his son wearing the patch.

back to those readership spikes - this post and this one, too, saw about 150 more views than my normal readership on monday.  and, thanks to an email from jeff of 2x3 heroes, i quickly understood what was going on.  my memorials endeavor had earned a mention in the uni-watch ticker on monday.

for those of you who don't at least occasionally read uni-watch, what is possibly going on that is keeping you from doing so?  i used to read it more regularly than i do now, but i still manage to take a peak now and then.  back in 2006, i even contributed an uncredited tip published in the uni-watch ticker thanks to sending in a heads up about kenny lofton's apparent disdain for the 'la' patch on the left sleeve of his jersey.

so that's pretty cool that someone noticed and thought to let paul lukas know about this latest collection focus of mine.  i appreciate the additional traffic he threw my way - maybe a couple of those folks will come back from time to time.

hansell sans gretel but with autograph

i received my 1995 upper deck greg hansell card back in the mail the other day, signed and delivered after a few months.

i remember when hansell was first called up to the dodgers in 1995.  he was coming off a pretty good year in albuquerque where he was 10-2 with a handful of saves and a ridiculously low (sub-3.00) era for the pcl.  he pitched in 20 games for the dodgers in the first half of the '95 season, posting an 0-1 record along the way.  on july 31, however, hansell was dealt to the twins in the kevin tapani deal.  he didn't return to the majors until 1996 when he was 3-0 with 3 saves despite an era of 5.69.

it was during his tenure as a twin that he signed this card, a 1992 upper deck minors card

that i picked up at a local card show a couple of years back.  after minnesota, hansell bounced around a bit - pittsburgh, milwaukee, japan, omaha, edmonton, trenton, and arizona to name a few destinations.

thanks for signing my card greg!

making the news

the dodgers announced on facebook yesterday the participants of the revived oldtimer's game in a very cool way.  they used baseball cards

i am guessing that some of these guys will just be observers, and it appears that rickey will be wearing pinstripes (or yankee grays) along with graig nettles, bob watson, and some other former bronx bombers.  and, if i recall correctly, sandy koufax indicated during spring training that the oldtimer's game on june 8 was one of the functions which the dodgers wanted him to participate in when he returned to the fold.

i went to an oldtimer day back in the late 1970's.  it was pretty cool.  hank aaron played for the non-dodger oldtimers and we were sitting in right so we had a good view of the hammer.  i recall jim campanis, only a few seasons removed from the majors as the offensive star of the game for the dodgers.

anyway, there was something familiar but odd about the photo - the 1972 topps dave lopes card.  that's a card that doesn't really exist except as a card that should have been.  i'm guessing that whomever compiled this image did a google search for images and my lopes creation popped up.  that's cool - i like the way it turned out

oldtimer games are fun, and i wish i could be there to see the infield take their positions one more time.

a triple play of trades

today's quick post features cards i received from three sources, two of which have to do with triple plays.  make sense?  the first couple of items come from topher at crackin' wax.  i looked on with envy as he pulled matt kemp tattoos (not the grandparent kind)

and clayton kershaw eye blacks

in a recent 2013 panini triple play break.  he was kind enough to send them my way!

mr. haverkamp, a very nice giants fan by the way, sent me another kind of triple play - a 1977-79 sportscaster triple play to be precise.  i have a copy already, but it is still pretty cool to get one of those cards in the mail.  he also sent a couple of cards to help with my 1974 topps set pursuit, hall of famers even.  here's fergie jenkins

and jim palmer

jenkins must have known something was up when the photographer asked him to remove his cap.  sure enough, 1973 was his last year with the cubs.  that's ok - he won a career high 25 games for the rangers in 1974

finally, the third leg in this trade stool, jon from community gum sent some cards that i need for the 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee set

i'm getting close...mike pelfrey where are you?

thanks to all three of these nice guys for sending me cards!

no getting around it, this is a trade post

a while back, reader brian was interested in some 2013 topps opening day cards that i posted and initiated a trade.  i appreciate that - both the reading and the trading.  i apologize that it has taken this long to get a post up showing what he sent my way.

brian shops at toys r us, thankfully, and sent me some purple dodgers from 2013 topps.  here's matt kemp

chad billingsley

and randy choate

there were a couple of cards from 2013 topps opening day, too, such as this adrian gonzalez blue sparkle parallel

and a trade wouldn't be complete these days without a double play card - here's brandon phillips turning two

upon closer inspection, it looks like the padres player is wearing a '48' memorial patch in honor of bullpen coach darrel akerfelds who passed away in june of 2012 from pancreatic cancer.  i'll look for an actual padres card showing the patch before i put this one in the memorials collection.

thanks for the trade, brian.  i hope you keep reading and we keep trading!

50 years later - the 1963 fleer team set completed!

four of the 67 cards in the 1963 fleer set feature dodger players.  i wish there were more.  i've shown two of the four cards before, so i'll start with the other two - the most recent acquisitions.  to be honest, i completed the dodger team set sometime last year, but the year of the 50th anniversary of the team that swept the yankees in the world series seems to be a better time to post about the cards, wouldn't you agree?

as the story goes, maury wills was ticked at topps for their lack of interest in him for their sets, so he signed with fleer instead.  he then convinced sandy koufax

and don drysdale

to do the same, although both of them were still dealing with topps.

tommy davis

had just hit .346 with 153 rbi, so he could do whatever the heck he liked.

and as for wills,

he was the reigning nl mvp and understandably all smiles.

notice how the player sketch in the yellow diamond is simply reversed from the koufax card for drysdale.  the lefty batter sketch (shown for some reason on roberto clemente's card) is not, however, the reverse of the righty batter shown on davis's card.  i am guessing that for maury's card, they would have gone with the fielder sketch had he not won the mvp, as he was a switch hitter.

i find it somewhat amusing that i am able to complete a team set like this, but am having a hard time finishing off a set like 2006 heritage.

that's not gentle, ben

gentle ben was a tv show starring dennis weaver, ron howard's brother, and a bear.  it was set in the everglades.  are there bears in the everglades?  i saw a few episodes of the show thanks to mid-70's reruns, and don't recall if the bear was escaped from the circus or what.  anyway, the coolest part about the show was dennis weaver going about his job as a game warden via airboat in the swamps.

this 1953 topps ben wade card that i picked up recently looks as though it might have been run through the airboat's fan or mauled by a bear

it is trying hard to be oval, as another blogger recently said about a different vintage card (i forget which blog i read that description on - sorry, as i would like to give you credit).

the wade was a tagalong to the card i really wanted - this 1956 topps duke snider

which is in better shape and allows me to cross off the last card i needed to complete the 1956 topps dodger complete set.  yay me.

i crossed wade off of my want list, too, even though the card is in rough shape.  i doubt i will ever complete the team set for that year, so i am not going to be looking for upgrades of the cards i do have any time soon.  still, try not to let any bears maul your vintage dodger cards.