no more nomar

yes, i know nomar retired well before the season began, and that he's now a sometimes talking head on espn. speakinf of which, does anyone watch espn for their baseball coverage anymore?  anyway, i just recently picked up nomar's last card, his 2009 upper deck update card proving that he, like mike piazza before him, ended his career in an a's jersey.

i wonder how long it will be before he is included in topps tribute or other similar sets (will there be similar sets?) now that there is no more legendary cuts.  this assumes that nomar will sign a contract with topps, which is something he hadn't done since 2006.

i also picked up his 2003 upper deck vintage 3-d slugger short print

this is the only one of the subset that i have, and i have resigned myself to never completing the set because these are pretty hard to find, especially at a reasonable price.

i was big on the nomar bandwagon even before he left boston and was very excited when he joined the dodgers in 2006.  his homerun in the 4+1 game was probably the highlight of the franchise in the 2000's for me.  it was awesome. 

i was really hoping for a nomar 'final tribute' in 2010 upper deck, but alas, there was not.   even though there are no more nomar cards being made, i am sure there are some of his dodger cards that i am missing from my collection.  i'll have to figure that out and start tracking them down.

the giants won the pennant

having not been around or aware of my future dodger fandom, i was able to appreciate events such as mickey owens' dropped third strike and al downing serving up 715 for what they were - seminal baseball moments rather than dodger moments that live in infamy.  the best example of this is 'the shot heard 'round the world'.  as a kid in the late 70's, i knew that 'the shot heard 'round the world was the start of the revolution.  the minute men were ready, on the move.'  but i also knew that it meant 'the giants win the pennant!' ad infinitum, it seemed. 

as a developing baseball fan before espn, i truly enjoyed watching those highlight montages that would show up on 'this week in baseball' or on the dodger/giant pregame shows, and thomson's home run was a mainstay of those productions.  still, i couldn't relate to the heartbreak that the dodger fans of 1951 felt (although ozzie smith and jack clark would help me get there in 1985) and so, in an 'everest' kind of moment, i sent some cards to bobby thomson himself to sign last year.  the first three are all from the 1994 upper deck all time heroes set

and the last one is from 2001 topps.

whether he knew what pitch was coming or not, thomson still had to execute.  sorry dodger fans of 1951, but i am glad he did.

thanks bobby, and rest in peace.

the awesomeness of ausmus

brad ausmus has been traded 5 times, but has only played for four different teams.  that is kind of crazy.  he was traded as a minor leaguer from the rockies to the padres, for whom he made his major league debut in 1993.  the pads later traded him to the tigers who sent him to houston after just half of a season in motown.  two seasons later, the astros sent him back to detroit who traded him back to houston after two years as a tiger.  he signed with the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 2009 season.

i mention all of this because i find it fascinating that the tigers and astros seemed to value him so much, yet they parted with him so easily.  i also find it interesting that upper deck chose to include ausmus as the dodgers' representative in their 2009 update set.

not jim thome or george sherrill or even doug mientkiewicz.  backup catchers don't usually get this kind of love from card companies.  at least not since the 70's when the dodgers had four catchers featured in their 1979 topps set.  speaking of topps, they also included ausmus in their 2009 update set (with juan pierre lurking), and brad was kind enough to sign and return a copy for me.

and, with russell martin out for the year, ausmus has suddenly become the guy behind the plate which may garner him a card in the 2010 update set.  but, just in case it doesn't, i made a goose joak original for him

ausmus seems like a good guy.  he won 3 gold gloves with the astros, most recently in 2006, and he hit .295 for the dodgers last year as martin's back up.  but that was last year, and now on to the reality of this season.  there is no awesomeness anymore.  ausmus missed virtually all of the first half with a back injury, and since his return he has struck out 11 times in 33 at bats.  he is hitting just .162 on the season and his ops is well below .500.  he has come back as a 41-year old and has been asked to be more than just a back up back stop, and with no real alternative (sorry aj ellis) it looks like he'll be out there regardless of how he performs.  where's derrel thomas when you need him?

thanks brad and good luck!

gint-a-cuffs pack 24

i'm sitting on 179.  here's the last pack:

juan pierre.

bobby jenks.

eric byrnes.

chris young.

ron teasley a&g back mini. +2, +2

josh outman auto. +8

alex rodriguez mini. -1

this day in history jason bay/magellan. +1

total pack 24: 12

grand total: 191

mediocre at best.

gint-a-cuffs packs 21 through 23

i'm at 163 with 4 packs to go.  trying to break 200.  here's pack 21:

sacagawea.

jordin sparks.

dan uggla.

dan haren.

josh thole.

yunel escobar. a nice dp card!

world's wordsmiths - virgil. +4

this day in history grady sizemore/declaration of independence. +1, +2 (fp)

pack 21 total: 7

pack 22:

johnny damon. -1

mahlon duckett. +2

chad billingsley. +1 (ft)

evan longoria. +2 (fp)

jeff francoeur.

chris davis.

lords of olympus - hera. +3

this day in history alfonso soriano/first telephone call. +1

dodger #4 from my box:

pack 22 total: 8

pack 23:

shin soo choo.

jorge posada. -1

chris pettit.

joba chamberlain. -1

todd helton.

trevor cahill sp. +2

chase headley mini.

this day in history torii hunter/ty cobb. +1

total pack 23: 1

running total: 179

gint-a-cuffs packs 19 and 20

147 and counting.  here's pack 19:

raul ibanez.

kelly kulick.

miguel cabrera.

neil walker.

matt kemp. +1 (ft), +4 (fp)

derek holland.

david price a&g back mini. +2

this day in history joe mauer/american revolution. +1, +2 (fp)

let's take a look at matt kemp up close, since his days in dodger blue may be numbered. 

clearly there is frustration on both sides, and kemp's agent (dave stewart) is calling the dodgers on their end of things.  this could get ugly.

pack 19 total: 10

pack 20:

max poser.

drew brees.

jake peavy.

alfonso soriano.

aaron cook.

kelly johnson sp. +2

pablo sandoval black bordered mini. +3

this day in history jose reyes/continental congress. +1

pack 20 total: 6

running total: 163

gint-a-cuffs packs 16 through 18

i've got 128 points.  i'm about to get some more.  pack 16:

johnny strange.

ichiro suzuki.

dustin pedroia. +2 (fp)

john lackey.

ryan dempster.

ryan theriot sp. +2

ryan dempster mini.

this day in history josh johnson/explorer 1. +1

total pack 16: 5

pack 17:

tony hawk.

mark reynolds.

ruben tejada.

yovani gallardo.

nick johnson. -1

orlando cabrera sp. +2

national animals - gibraltar (barbary macaque). +2

this day in history ian kinsler/galileo. +1

total pack 17: 4

pack 18:

x-rays. +1

ryan braun. +2 (fp)

nick markakis. +2 (fp)

sergio santos.

nelson cruz.

casey mcgehee sp. +2

shin soo choo a&g back mini. +2

this day in history magglio ordonez/united states coast guard. +1

pack 18 total: 10

running total:  147