mike vail through the mail success!

it's been almost two years since i received a couple of my cards back from mike vail.  he signed 'em in about a week.  being a dodger fan, i included the only two mike vail dodger cards i knew of (aside from the 1990 target card) - a 1984 fleer update card and a 1984 topps traded card, along with a 1978 topps card because i like to get those signed too.  he wound up keeping the fleer card, but he signed the topps traded

and the 1978 card.

he's got a little quentin tarantino thing going on in those photos.  i remember being disappointed in 1984 when the traded set came out and topps used the same photo for both the main image and the inset on vail's traded card.

he wasn't actually traded, either.  he had been released by the expos in march of '84 and signed by the dodgers in june.  that would explain why he didn't get a nice o-pee-chee variation, even though he was included in the set.  in fact, there were no 'now with dodgers' in the 1984 o-pee-chee set at all (where were you, bob bailor?) so i went ahead and made a card for vail, just because.

it would have been my favorite card in the set! vail had originally been drafted by the dodgers, way back in 1970. he chose not to sign and instead began his professional career in 1971 after being selected by the cardinals.  he went from saint louis to the mets while still a minor leaguer in a deal for future dodger ted martinez.  as a rookie in 1975, vail singled in his first big league at bat, and then a few games later started a 23-game hitting streak.  unfortunately, he was injured in an offseason basketball game and never really reached the level so many expected.

after a few years in new york, he split the 1978 season between cleveland and the north side of chicago.  then there were stops in cincinnati, san francisco, and montreal before vail ended his career in los angeles.  as a dodger, vail was used almost exclusively as a pinch hitter and was just 1 for 16 at the plate.  his lone hit was a big one though - a walk-off single against neil allen and the cardinals in the 12th inning on july 6th.

here's to you, mike vail!  thanks for signing my cards!

they came from indianaland

i am really far behind on trade posts, and trades in general.  if i owe you cards, or, if by chance you owe me cards, please leave a comment.  if you would like to trade, please leave a comment.  or send an email.  i have some stacks set aside for a few of you that i will get mailed out before too long.

on to a trade from may.  this one came from darren at indianaland.

we'll start with a 1990 topps tim crews card

the dodgers acquired crews from the brewers in the 1986 greg brock deal.  he pitched effectively out of the bullpen for 5 seasons as a dodger before the wheels kind of fell off in 1992.  crews pitched well in 1988, but was somewhat famously left off of the postseason roster.  1990 was arguably his best year, as he set career highs in games and innings pitched and his era was a tidy 2.77.  he even made 2 starts.  however, what we remember tim crews for mostly is how he died - in a boating accident during spring training in 1993 that also claimed the life of steve olin and injured bobby ojeda.  the dodgers wore a patch with crews' number on it for the 1993 season.
on a lighter note, here's a 1991 bowman domingo mota card

i'm not sure what the 'mvp' foil is all about, but mota had peaked by the time this card was issued.  he had a fantastic 1990 season in rookie ball, hitting .343.  a year later, after a decent 1991 season in a ball, the dodgers traded mota to the royals with chris gwynn for todd benzinger.  he never did make it to the big leagues.

2000 upper deck fp santangelo

santangelo and the umpire in the background are going their separate ways.  the dodgers signed santangelo as a free agent for the 2000 season.  he played in 81 games and hit a buck-ninetyseven.  he did hit a home run for the dodgers, a pinch-hit job against the marlins in a 7-3 loss.

1994 topps todd worrell

worrell was arguably the dodgers' first full-time closer since mike marshall and certainly their first 'modern' closer.  he was the first dodger to record 30 saves in a season, as well as the first to reach 40 in a single year.  his 44 saves from that year stood as the franchise record until eric gagne saved 52 games in 2002.  worrell also passed the dodgers's franchise saves leader (jim brewer) in 1997 (his final big league season), but he has since been surpassed by jeff shaw and gagne.  not sure that jonathan broxton will ever get close, however.  surprisingly, worrell's 127 saves as a dodger are only 2 fewer than he had for saint louis, although i would suspect most people (myself included) would think of worrell primarily as a cardinal.

here's a 1991 line drive kevin kennedy minor league card

kennedy had finished his playing career with the dukes in 1983, and became their manager in 1989.  he had managed in the lower minors for the dodgers starting in 1984 and had worked his way up to become relevant in the 'who will replace tommy' discussions.  1991 was kennedy's last season as the dukes manager as he left to take over the texas rangers and then the boston red sox.  he led boston to the postseason in 1995 where they were swept by the indians in the alds.  after the 1996 season, kennedy became a talking head, although his name might still pop up from time to time during managerial searches.

lastly, a 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee black bordered travis hafner

i am still half-heartedly trying to complete this set, and darren sent me a couple of needed cards including pronk.  even though it's not the right kind of opc, any help is appreciated.

thanks for the cards darren - hopefully we can trade again sometime.

i'm ready for the update

so we've seen what 2012 topps will look like.  yawn.  i still need some 2011 topps update.

i've been waiting patiently for tony gwynn jr and matt guerrier to get some topps dodger love.  checking the checklist at baseballcardpedia, i see that gwynn and guerrier will be joined by jamey carroll (finally), jon garland, mike macdougal, juan uribe and not one, but two jerry sands cards.  sadly, no dioner navarro which will make my upcoming double dipper post difficult. 

there should also be matt kemp, clayton kershaw and andre ethier all-star cards.  i doubt there will be any dodger highlight cards, unless kemp gets to 30-30 here pretty quick.  looking forward to the jim thome 600 home run card though.

i should probably show a card of some sort here, so here's juan uribe's 2011 topps dodger team set card
from which i hope his 2011 topps update card differs substantially.  starting with the jersey number.

2011 topps update is the only thing i really have to look forward to in october this year, unfortunately.

dot your i's, cross your t's, and put seams in your o's

when harmon killebrew passed away earlier this year, there was a lot of talk (at least locally) about how beautiful his signature was.  guys like joe nathan and michael cuddyer related stories about killer chastising them early in their career about their lazy and illegible autographs, inspiring them to sign with dignity, purpose, and above all, clarity.  apparently, killebrew also imparted his advice to joe mauer, but it didn't seem to stick.  anyway, for every killebrew there are legion scribblers.

some players do some fun stuff with their autographs, and i'm not talking about adding bible verses.  we've all seen pat neshek put seams in the 'p' in 'pat' and i am sure everyone knows about bill nahorodny and the way he dotted his 'i' with a baseball.  but what about short-term dodger victor alvarez?  are you familiar with his van halen-esque signature, complete with a 'seamed' o?

i wasn't until i stumbled across the 2002 donruss elite turn of the century auto (above) and the 2002 donruss studio private signings card below

alvarez pitched in 2002 and 2003 for the dodgers, amassing a career record of 0-2 in 9 games. still, his cards with the shiny stickers have to be worth something - at least in the novelty department.  i mean we're still talking about that 1980 bill nahorodny card 31 years later.  that's something for alvarez to be proud of and look forward to, right?

totally gross

today is kevin gross' wedding anniversary.  i know this because 19 years ago, gross threw a no-hitter against the giants, and vin scully let us know that it also happened to be his wedding anniversary.

it was the first dodger no-hitter since fernando valenzuela's no-no in 1990, which is not that long of a gap considering that the dodgers have been in a no-hit drought since hideo nomo's 1996 gem (in between gross and nomo, there was ramon martinez who no-hit the marlins in '95).  fernando didn't get so much as a highlight card to celebrate his no-no, but gross got a 1993 donruss spirit of the game card, the back of which was featured above.  here's the front

score also gave him a highlight card in 1993.  i sent a copy of it to him to sign a couple of years ago

in fact, over the past couple of years, i have sent a few ttm requests to the former dodger pitcher.  here's a 1991 fleer update

and a 1991 upper deck card

i like the 1992 donruss card because of all the blue

including the blue of the dodger bullpen

it's a rare case where i prefer 1992 donruss over 1992 topps (which had dodger stadium on the backs of the dodger cards)

on his 1993 topps card, gross is back in dodger stadium

i miss those field level scoreboards.  and the big unocal logos.

here's gross' 1993 upper deck card

which features a rare 'pitcher on the base paths' photo.  off the top of my head, i can only think of the 1989 fleer world series insert orel hershiser card that shows him sliding into third as another example.
in 1994, both topps

and upper deck had the same idea for gross

advantage upper deck.
1995 topps had another gross in dodger stadium photo

and his topps stadium club card from the same year went the oakley route

overall, gross was 40-44 with the dodgers, which was on par with his career.  he won exactly 60 games for the phillies, 20 for the expos, and 20 for the rangers, plus throw in 2 at the end of his career with the angels.  he also lost 66, 23, 24 and 1 games for those teams, finishing his career with a 142-158 record.  still, he achieved a level of baseball and dodger immortality thanks to his performance 19 years ago.

here's to you kevin gross, and thanks for signing all those cards!

600 non-dodger home runs for jim thome

congrats to jim thome who joined the exclusive 600 home run club tonight with not one, but two bombs in detroit.  this awesome (and perfect and immediately one of my favorites) card from 2011 topps seems appropriate

even though it's from a game at target field and is from a game against the white sox in which thome hit a walk-off homer.  he was still greeted by a crowd in detroit after 600 (which landed in the bullpen, so there was no drama about getting the ball back).

that means that as of now, thome has 36 homers as a twin to go along with 334 as an indian, 134 as a white sock (?), 96 as a phillie and exactly 0 as a dodger.  at least he has a few cards to remember his short stint in la by, like this 2009 upper deck signature stars card

a local fan shop had a private signing with the future hall of famer a couple months ago, and i figured i would get a card and my son's yearbook signed.  until i saw the price - over $100.  i still got the yearbook signed, but nothing else.  thome is also commanding a high price on baseball reference.  you can sponsor his site for $830.  there should be a fair amount of traffic the next few days, but still.

ron cey is looking like a steal at $65... 

eyes right, dick egan!

a couple of years ago, i rescued this 1963 topps gaylord perry non-rookie card from a vintage bargain bin.

i forgot he had a 1962 card, and thought i was getting a great deal on a hall of famer's rookie card, even if he was a giant.  oh well. there is some redeeming value, however, as i noticed something recently that makes me like the card a bit more.  it features dick egan, a reliever who eventually found his way to the dodgers.

egan pitched sparingly for the tigers in 1963 and 1964, and then was traded to the cardinals in january of 1965. a few months later, the reds purchased his contract, but he didn't make it back to the big leagues until 1966 when he was with the angels.  they traded him to the dodgers in may of '66 after egan had made 4 appearances for the halos, but he didn't crack the dodgers' big league roster until 1967.  that's also the year that topps issued his final card, on which they featured him with one of those non-descript, hatless photos but affiliated him with the dodgers.

it took me a while to obtain this card because it's a high number of sorts - number 539 to be exact.  it's not usually found in vintage bargain bins, but i think i picked it up for around $4.

notice how egan is looking to his right on both the 1963 and 1967 cards.  then take a look at his other cards.  he seems consistently distracted to his right.  then again, he was a lefty, so maybe that's just his 'in the stretch, looking in for a sign' pose.