what, me quarry?

you betcha i quarry for cards.  in fact, i just completed my first trade with hiflew of 'cards from the quarry' and i couldn't be more pleased.  in exchange for a bunch of colorado rockies, he sent me this 2012 topps sandy koufax manufactured retired numbers patch

back in 2001, i was pretty excited about the first topps tribute set (still trying to complete the set, too).  the checklist was comprised of only players for whom franchises have retired numbers.  i knew there would be a lot of dodgers in the set, but i was really hoping for a steve garvey card.  yes, the padres retired garvey's #6 in 1988.  unfortunately, garvey was not included in the set; nor was koufax even though topps had included him on a couple of inserts in the flagship release that year.  anyway, retired numbers are cool, and i like this insert set that topps put out.  i have the jackie robinson, but still need the tommy lasorda.  it's too bad that they didn't make a card for all the dodgers with retired numbers, but that's just me being greedy.

  the next card up from the trade package was this fantastic 2011 topps rafael furcal card

i really like this card, mostly because of the landscape double play turn.  this version, however, is a bit more special thanks to the 'sparkle' from furky's belt.  this is the first of these short prints that i own, and i'm glad it's this furcal.

the other cards i will show from the package are also new to me.  here's a 1996 pinnacle aficionado checklist card of mike piazza

look at the italian-american superstar slugger taking infield practice!  remember when such a big deal was made about him spending time at first base in new york?  i do.  he spent exactly one inning at first base during his dodger years, and that was in his rookie season of 1993.  not sure why he was in the field when this photo was taken.

here's another dodger catcher - paul loduca - on a 2003 fleer double header card

if loduca had more cards like this, maybe i would have liked him more.  no, that wouldn't have helped.  i do like this card, though.

finally, here's one more card from 2003, and it's one i had never seen before.  it comes from the fleer genuine set, and features a short-time dodger, fred mcgriff

the crime dog hit career home runs 479-491 with the dodgers, but could muster only two more when he finished his career with the devil rays.  i was really hoping that he would get to 500 as a dodger, especially since there wasn't much to root for in 2003 after the team dropped 13 out of 15 just before the all-star break to go from tied for first in the west to 8.5 games back.  whatever, mcgriff didn't get to 500 and the dodgers moved shawn green to first the following year as mcgriff returned to tampa.

thanks for all the cards johnny!  let's do it again soon!

plain blue envelopes

continuing my futile effort in keeping up with new mail, i received three plain white envelopes in the mail on thursday.  see?  it's already saturday - this stuff is two days old.  plus, i'm only showing the contents of two of the envelopes.  and i haven't even mentioned the two bubble mailers that showed up the same day!  nor have i posted about a half dozen or so other trade packages i have received recently.

the envelopes, though plain and white, contained pretty much all blue, as in dodgers.  i will acknowledge this one - from new blogger kalib at cubs cardboard.  he sent me two blue parallels from 2013 topps, including joe blanton

who finds himself down the 5 in anaheim these days.  actually, he's still in arizona, but eventually will be throwing at the big a.  so, for minor league prospect ryan o'sullivan, this colletti pick up garnered 10 starts, a 4.99 era, and a 1.42 whip over 57.2 innings of work.

hopefully, adrian gonzalez does better

i read somewhere that this photo might be from his first ab as a dodger, in which he hit a three-run homer.  that's nice, if true.  i went to the first game of that series against the marlins, when the trade with boston was becoming something more than a rumor.

the other pwe i received was of the sase variety.  it contained a ttm autograph return from former dodger, former red sox (part of the gonzalez trade), and current pirate ivan dejesus jr.

i sent to him at pirates camp, and it took only about a week or so.

thanks ivan and kalib! and thanks to hot corner cards, play at the plate, dayf, arpsmith, hiflew, bo, cards on cards, topher, and the junior junkie for also sending me stuff recently.  i will get all of the trade posts posted soon, and if i owe you cards (kalib, hot corner, arpsmith, junior junkie), i will get those in the mail soon, too.

of willie, mickey, and the duke - the only one to get a 'final tribute'

as many of you know, i am a fan of 'final tribute' cards.  those would be cards that feature a player's entire career stats on the back, issued the year following their final season.  i don't consider cards issued today of a player who retired in 1987 to be a final tribute, and i don't consider cards issued in the final year of a player's career to be one either.

so many great players did not get feted in this way - sandy koufax, don drysdale, roy campanella, hank aaron, duke snider, willie mays, harmon killebrew - the list goes on and on.  many bloggers, including myself, have taken a shot at creating these cards that should have been for many of these players.  still, there's nothing like the real thing.

i have wanted a 1969 topps mickey mantle card for a long time, and i finally picked one up.

i believe it to be the second greatest true final tribute card that there is, trailing only the 1973 topps roberto clemente card (and just slightly ahead of the 1988 score steve garvey card).  the mick played his final game on september 28, 1968 against the red sox at fenway.  starting at first base, mantle popped out to shortstop against jim lonborg in the first inning, and was replaced in the field by andy kosco - no doubt removed from the game to an ovation even from the red sox faithful.

topps made the unusual choice to feature mantle in the 1969 set (in a late series, no less) even though he had announced his retirement during spring training.  in fact, it was 44 years ago today.  so sayeth the back of his 1969 card.

so that's what an 18-year career looks like if you're the mick.  he was only 36 when he played his last game, but his knees were shot.  he finished with 3 mvp awards, a triple crown, and 7 world series titles, and was third to babe ruth and willie mays in home runs at the time of his retirement.

i am glad that topps gave mantle his due - my collection feels a little more complete today.

they're not funny...they're art

there are three cards in the 1978 topps set that are absolute artistic masterpieces.  

there's greg minton

 and mike paxton

and my personal favorite, dave kingman

when i was making my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set, i tried to pay homage to these works of art with a gerry hannahs card that should have been.  it turned out to be most like the kingman card - more based in reality than the minton or the paxton.

i'm really confused by the minton card.  he had been with the giants since 1975, and topps had made a card of him in the 1977 set using an actual photograph, even if there was some airbrushing going on.  why they couldn't have used that same photo for his solo card in 1978 is beyond me.  minton only appeared in two games during the 1977 season, but that fact, coupled with the lack of a usable photo, apparently wasn't enough to deter topps from keeping minton on the checklist.  their determination is our gain, for sure.

as for paxton, he made his big league debut in 1977 and pitched in 29 games for the red sox.  i guess topps couldn't get a photographer to boston.  come to think of it, do we really know if that is a painting of mike paxton?  or could it be someone from the national portrait gallery with a red sox cap painted over the revolutionary war era wig?  well, actually, we do know that it is mike paxton, because...holy smokes - here's a link to the actual photograph used to inspire the painting.  his hat really did look like that!

but enough of that.  this post is really about dave kingman and his 1978 topps card.  kingman started the 1977 season with the mets, for whom he had hit 37 home runs in 1976.  he played in 58 games for them with 9 home runs in 1977 before he was traded to the padres.  had kingman stayed with the mets for the entire season, his 1978 topps card might have looked like this

in san diego, kong appeared in 56 games and hit 11 home runs, including two grand slams.  but he didn't finish the season there, either.  had he done so, we might have had this card in the 1978 topps set

but no, kingman was picked up off of waivers by the angels on september 6, 1977.  he played in 10 games for the halos and hit 2 home runs - both of which came in the same game (september 13th against the rangers).  unfortunately, kingman was traded to the yankees on september 16, 1977, depriving us of this card in the 1978 topps set  

back in new york, kingman appeared in 8 games and had 6 hits - all for extra bases.  in addition to two doubles, he hit four home runs, including one in each of his first three games as a yankee.  despite that power display, kingman became a free agent, and signed with the cubs on november 30, 1977, giving topps plenty of time to put him in a cubs' cap instead of a yankees hat, denying us this card

speaking of kingman's actual 1978 topps card, the third time was the charm for me recently, as kingman signed and returned one to me after two previous attempts

that's awesome.

and, for your cultural enrichment, here is a consolidated warholian approach to the 1978 topps dave kingman cards that might have been

marilyn monroe, campbell soup, and dave kingman.  art.

current events on the ttm front

in an effort to stay current with my ttm returns (which doesn't make sense when i have some ttm successes from 2009 that i haven't posted yet), here's a card i received in the mail on tuesday.  it's a 1983 topps traded greg brock card

the heir to steve garvey's position signed the card in about a week which is awesome.  thanks greg!

and don't worry - there is a much more interesting post in the hopper for this afternoon.  be sure to come back and check it out, if you like art.

how to succeed at collecting without really trying

well, i guess you have to try at least a little bit.  in this case, you would need to develop an ebay rivalry with another steve garvey super collector and then start a blog and trade with him instead.  you send him a little 17-card factory team set, and he will send you a big box filled with oddball dodger stuff that you didn't even know existed, plus some cool steve garvey stuff.

yes, i traded with curt from 1978, the year it all began. it wasn't the first time he and i had made a trade, but it was likely the most lopsided.  i had asked him for a scan of a steve garvey sga item, and he obliged.  he also offered to send me a hard copy of it, and i told him i would send him a 2009 topps dodger factory set in exchange.  he didn't mention that he was also going to send a map.

from 1970, that is a aaa map of dodger stadium.  that is pretty cool.  i should have unfolded it and taken a picture of it.  it looks so easy on paper - so many freeways.  still, heed my advice if you go - plan to get there early.  no map will save you from stadium way or the downtown gates.  unless you get off the freeway and use the sunset route, but that's only for people in the know.

here's the garvey sga that started the whole transaction

this is what's on the back

it's all about consecutive game goodness.  the photo is from garvey's 1000th consecutive game, but the sga occurred on the occasion of his moving into fourth place all-time with his 1104th consecutive game.  of course, garvey went on to pass billy williams in 1983, but he was a padre by then.  he played in game number 1118 at dodger stadium, though, and my dad was kind enough to take me to see the game in person.  it is still to this day the only time i have received a steve garvey autograph in person.

more garvey goodness in the box, including this 1977 pepsi glove disc

i was hot and cold with these oddballs until just a few months ago.  i did have a few in my garvey collection, but not more than a couple.  now i have several of the msa discs that came out in the 1970's into the 1980's, including a 1981 blank back (trust me)

and a 1976 towne club version

speaking of discs, there were others in the box - and not just of steve garvey.  here are pedro guerrero

and fernando valenzuela

from the 1984 7-11 slurpee coin set.

fernando and garvey are together forever on this 1987 m&m's panel

those padres hats look really bad without the logo.  they look only slightly better with, however, as we see on this 1984 fun foods pin proof

i am glad curt sent this to me.  it is much easier to store in the binder than the actual pin back.

here's steve garvey in the metrodome, courtesy of the 1986 donruss pop-ups set

it's hard to believe that garvey was part of the home run derby held prior to the 1985 all-star game in minneapolis.  his slugging days were behind him by then, unfortunately.

there really was so much cool stuff in the box.  media guides, team issued photos, union oil portraits (from 1962 and 1982), fernando valenzuela perfect attendance certificates, magazines, and more.  it was the package that keeps on giving.

i'll show two more cards - this one is from 1977 landsman playing cards and features jackie robinson down the third base line

i think jackie is the five of diamonds or something like that.  these are similar to the playing cards that pepsi put out in 1978

last but not least is this 1987 donruss all-stars card of steve sax

with garvey gone, saxy became my favorite dodger and subject of a pretty good pc, but i never did pick up one of these.  now i have one and i hardly even had to try for it.

thanks curt!  that really was an awesome box of goodness.

jamie hoffmann double dipped

jamie hoffmann is a dodger double dipper even though he has never appeared in the major leagues for any team other than the dodgers.  it may seem strange to you that i do not consider the likes of shane victorino or ted lilly or scott proctor to be dodger double dippers because they never appeared in a big league game as a dodger before they were sent to other teams only to eventually return.  nor do i consider ramon martinez (pedro's brother) or willie crawford or tommy lasorda to be dodger double dippers because they never appeared in a big league game as a dodger after returning to the franchise, yet i do consider someone like denny lewallyn to be a dodger double dipper, even though he did not appear in a major league game for another franchise in between his stints as a dodger.  still, he left the organization after appearing in the big leagues as a dodger, and appeared in a major league game as a dodger after returning to the fold.  make sense?  well, such is the case of jamie hoffmann.

[this is the fiftieth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, and joe beckwith.]

hoffmann was signed by the dodgers as an amatuer free agent in 2003, and made his big league debut with them in 2009.  here's a gold parallel version of his 2009 topps update card

over the course of 14 games that year, hoffmann went to the plate 24 times and had 4 hits, three of which were for extra bases - two doubles and a home run.  he also had 2 sacrifice flies and 7 rbi in total.  after the season ended, the washington nationals selected him in the rule 5 draft and immediately sent him to the yankees as the player to be named later in an earlier deal between the two teams.  during spring training in 2010, hoffmann was returned to the dodgers by the yankees.  he spent the entire year at aaa albuquerque, hitting .310 with 8 homers and 74 rbi.  the next year, he was hitting .297 with 22 home runs and 84 rbi, which earned him a callup to the big club.  in 2 games with the dodgers, hoffmann was 0 for 4, but he was officially a dodger double dipper in my eyes.  since there are no cards of hoffmann as a yankee, and i don't think there have been any cards made for him since 2009, here's a chrome refractor version of the card i showed up top.

since his return to the dodgers, hoffmann has been selected off of waivers by the rockies (december 2011), signed as a free agent with the orioles (march 2012), and signed as a free agent with the mets (november 2012), but he has yet to resurface in the majors.  he's only 28 though, so there's still time for him to join juan castro as the only triple dipper in dodger history.  make it happen, ned!