off hiatus and off my want list

who sends a 1954 bowman billy loes card

as part of a blind trade package? luckily for me, tony at off hiatus does. or did, in my case.  billy is really caressing that baseball there - i hope he's more careful with it than lennie and his rabbits.  this card is gloriously worn and it's one less '54 bowman that i need.

here's another brooklyn dodger sent by tony - it's gene hermanski

on what appears to be a card made for the 5th national convention held back in 1984.  here's the back of the card that led me to that conclusion

i'm guessing that hermanski was signing autographs at the convention.

now we get to the los angeles dodger portion of the post, with some great oddball cards.

1988 kaybee superstars of baseball pedro guerrero

it's true - petey was still a superstar at that time. he had hit a career high .338 in 1987, but the dodgers brought him back into the infield in 1988 and his trade to saint louis that season was deemed to be addition by subtraction.

1988 starting lineup talking baseball steve sax

and fernando valenzuela

the only talkin' baseball i know has to do with willie, mickey, and the duke.  sadly, none of those guys were included in the set.

more oddballs of el toro - 1987 fleer mini

in which fernando is wearing his shiny pullover and a hat that was certainly not a game issue, and his 1986 fleer mini

which features an oddly cropped photo.

here's a little photo of don drysdale on a 2004 upper deck sweet spot classics manufactured patch card

that features the national league logo.  i think the american league logo is better, mostly because i think that the glove that the eagle is holding on to in the nl logo looks odd.  better to have a baseball in that talon, i think.

finally, here's a 2013 panini hometown heroes card of paul loduca

yes, this is a dodger card (note the 'los angeles' pennant in the upper left) even though the heart and soul of jim tracy's dodgers is wearing his mets gear in the photo.  as a met, loduca hit .455 against the dodgers in the 2006 nlds.

tony hit 1.000 with this trade package.  so much so that i'll show some more cards that he sent later on! stay tuned...

sunday morning target dodgers - a garvey, a heinie, and a black eye

i'm back with more cards - 15 to be exact - from one of the sheets in the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set.  things get started with my baseball hero, steve garvey.

interesting that his position is identified as 'inf'.  true, he did start out at third (he also played one inning of second base and a handful of games in the outfield), but pretty much everyone remembers garvey as a first baseman.  he was the dodgers' first baseman, just about every day, for over 9 seasons.  four gold gloves, an mvp award, 1968 hits, 211 homers, and a .301 average are what he earned as a dodger.  greg brock never had a chance.

randy jackson

a two-time all-star with the cubs before joining the dodgers, 'handsome ransom' played for the dodgers in 1956, '57, and some of '58.  he replaced don hoak as the team's third baseman, splitting time with jackie robinson as hoak had done during the 1955 season, although jackie got all of the playing time there in the 1956 world series.  he was neither a judge on american idol, nor a member of the jackson 5.

george jeffcoat

jeffcoat, the older brother of hal jeffcoat, pitched for the dodgers in 1936, '37, and '39.  he was 6-9 with a 4.68 era in 62 games for brooklyn, and was the last dodger to wear number 42 prior to jackie robinson.

tito landrum

prior to landrum, i think that the only other tito i was aware of was tito jackson, michael's brother, and that was only because eddie murphy had a bit in his 'delirious' special where he is portraying michael and asks tito to get him some tissue.  anyway, this tito hit .429 against the dodgers in the 1985 nlcs, so when he was released by the cardinals in 1987, they signed him right away.  he was used mostly as a pinch-hitter, and it was in that role that he hit his only home run as a dodger - off of phillie pitcher michael jackson.  and that is how you bring something full circle.

billy loes

loes was 50-25 for the dodgers from 1952 through 1955 with a 3.70 era.  he had also pitched for the club in 1950, but earned no decisions, and appeared in one game as a dodger in 1956 before having his contract purchased by the orioles.  he appeared in three world series (1952, '53, and '55), pitching in four games.  he took the loss in game 2 of the 1955 fall classic, but still earned a ring.

heinie manush

manush's given name was henry, and i suppose i see how 'heinie' might have come about.  still, the first time i read his name in lawrence ritter's 'the image of their greatness' i laughed.  manush had the last laugh, though, as he began his career playing alongside ty cobb in detroit and eventually finding his way to the dodgers for the 1937 season.  he hit .333 that year in 132 games, but lasted just 17 games for the dodgers in 1938 before he was lost to the pirates.  manush retired a year later with a batting average of .330, and was inducted into the hall of fame in 1964 by the veteran's committee.

jack mccarthy

mccarthy finished his career that began with the reds in 1893 as a member of the brooklyn superbas in 1906 and 1907.  he hit .304 in '06, but just .220 in 25 games in '07.

bill mcgunnigle

mcgunnigle was the manager of the brooklyn bridegrooms in 1890 when they joined the national league.  he promptly led them to the nl pennant (just as he had led them to the american association title in 1899), but there was of course no world series back then.  for some reason, he was replaced as manager prior to the 1891 season, but returned to the majors as the manager of the pirates later that season.

wally millies

millies' first taste of the big leagues came with the dodgers in 1934.  he was 0 for 7 while appearing in two games for the club that year, and never got another chance as a dodger.  two years later, millies hit .312 in 74 games for the senators.  he also played for the senators, and was a longtime scout for the mets, expos, and astros following his playing days.

johnny morrison

morrison pitched for the robins in 1929 and '30 at the tail end of a ten year career spent primarily with the pirates.  he was 14-9 with 9 'saves' over those two seasons with brooklyn.

tom niedenfuer

target really screwed up niedenfuer's last name there.  mixing up 'i before e' and adding a random d is pretty inexcusable when you consider that he had been with the team as recently as 1987 and had some decent years out of the 'pen.  of course, giving up a home run to a left-handed hitting ozzie smith and pitching to jack clark with first base open in the 1985 nlcs is also inexcusable although only one of those things is really his fault.

irv noren

noren is shown here from his coaching days with the oakland a's.  more specifically, he is shown following a brawl between the tigers and a's on august 22, 1972 when the two teams were in the heat of the pennant race.  noren was punched by a tigers player following a couple of high and tight pitches thrown at a's batters, the second of which resulted in angel manual charging the mound.  you can get all the details here, just scroll down about half way.  anyway, noren actually began his professional career with the brooklyn dodgers in 1946, but was purchased by the senators before he could reach the big leagues.  he faced the dodgers as a yankee in three world series (1952, 1953, and 1955) and eventually joined the club in 1960, his final big league season.  he appeared in 26 games for the blue, all as a pinch hitter, and was 5 for 25 with a walk.

frank o'rourke

o'rourke played for the robins in 1917 and '18, hitting .233 over that span.  he broke into the big leagues in 1912 and played into the 1931 season, after which he managed in the minors and then became a scout.  he worked for the yankees in that capacity for about 50 years, retiring in 1985.  he passed away a year later at the age of 92.  a native of ontario, he is enshrined in the canadian baseball hall of fame.

don padgett

padgett began his career as an outfielder with the cardinals in 1937.  the cardinals converted him to catcher due to enos slaughter's arrival in 1939, and he wound up hitting .399 in 92 games during that season.  he played a total of five seasons in saint louis, and after missing four seasons due to military service in world war ii, padgett joined the dodgers and returned to the majors in 1946.  with brooklyn, he hit .167 in 19 games and had his contract purchased by the braves in june of that year.

charley smith

smith was a third baseman who entered the major leagues with the dodgers in 1960.  he was traded to the phillies early in the 1961 season, and had a total of 91 at bats in 27 games as a dodger.  he is probably best known as the player that the yankees acquired when they traded roger maris to the cardinals following the 1966 season.

did i really just do that?

i had a hard time believing that i completed the dodgers' 1956 topps team set.  now, i am in a state of disbelief about doing the same for the 1955 bowman team set.

the last two cards i needed were carl furillo

and billy loes

i was helped in my endeavor by the fact that sandy koufax, jackie robinson, and duke snider were nowhere to be found on the checklist.  still, roy campanella, gil hodges, and pee wee reese were.  i count this as no small feat, and as the team set it took me the longest to finish - i got my first 1955 bowman card in 1979 from a collector in the neighborhood who gave me don hoak's card in exchange for some 1979 giants.  one of my favorite trades ever.

my pared down 1953 topps sampler

i've removed all the non-dodgers from my 1953 topps sampler set.  here is what i am left with.

that's 12 of the 21 dodgers in the set.  i just need some guys named robinson, reese, campanella, etc.

for those of you with eagle eyes, you've noticed that there are 12 dodgers instead of 11 that were included in the sampler set post earlier today.  that's because in between the time i scanned the cards and got around to posting, i picked up a charlie dressen card.

sorry, that's chuck dressen.  i also mentioned earlier today that my approach to the sampler sets was to not worry about position differentiation, just team, color combos, and subsets.  that meant that i didn't have a manager card in the 1952 set (dressen is a high number), and until i picked up this card, i didn't have one in the 1953 set either.

i wasn't prepared for sandy

no, i'm not on the east coast where hurricane sandy is bearing down (i hope everybody is doing ok).  the title of this post refers to what i saw at last weekend's card show.  so, to kill the suspense, i might as well lead off with my big pick up from the show - a 1955 topps sandy koufax card

i don't think i ever really considered owning this card before saturday.  i mentioned last week that i had completed the topps dodger team sets for the 1960's, but what i didn't say is that i had a fairly loose thought that my topps dodger team set collecting would eventually be complete only back to 1956, due in large part to this card.  now i have to reconsider things.  i had set my budget before heading out, but seeing sandy in the bargain bin (although it was the higher end dealer's bargain bin) made me throw my financial planning out the window.  at $85, sandy was $5 over what i had given myself to spend at the whole show.  still, i wound up only about $45 over my budget for the show, which isn't too bad when you consider the fact that i was able to get quite a few other vintage cards, too.

i picked up a few 1956 topps cards that i needed - don bessent

and carl erskine among them.

i also grabbed a billy loes

which was a slight upgrade for me, as well as an ed roebuck

that i thought i owned but actually didn't.  the '56's were $4 each, or 3 for $10.  i bought five, with the other two being double play cards.  that is, the secondary photo features the turn at second base.  heeeeeeeere's johnny

logan, that is.  looks like johnny is having a hard time getting the ball out of his glove to complete the double play.  credit the guy sliding in.

then there is this frank thomas

featuring thomas sliding in, trying to break up two.  i would bet dollars to donuts (what does that even mean?) that the fielder avoiding the slide is the dodgers' own jim gilliam.

quick - who was the last dodger to lead the league in batting average?  that's right, it was tommy davis, seen here on his 1964 topps stand ups card

complete with vintage scotch tape on the edges.  two bucks for tommy.  eddie murray should have won the batting title in 1990, but willie mcgee was traded to the american league just in time.

here's a 1994 upper deck fun packs mike piazza card

that i pulled from the 6/$1 bin.  it's heat activated, apparently, with a cartoon play at the plate scene that becomes visible when you apply heat.  yes, 18 cents is about right for that kind of nonsense.

here's another card i pulled from the 6/$1 bin, a 1994 ted williams rusty staub card

i probably won't wind up keeping the card, but it is really nice.  the expos' wool baby blues really pop on this card.  if only it were a manny mota or maury wills card from their time with the expansion expos.

the last card i'll show goes toward my 1974 topps set.  it's willie mccovey's washington nat'l league variation

it cost me $4, i believe.  not too shabby, considering mccovey's regular san diego card will probably cost me more when i am able to track one down.

i was a bit surprised that there weren't more dealers at this show.  this one is held quarterly as opposed to the monthly show in bloomington.  i was hoping it would pull in more of the dealers who work the big annual show in march/april, but there was only one guy there who i didn't recognize from the monthly shows.  he had some pretty good cheap common boxes (i picked up a few other '74 topps cards for my set at twenty cents a pop), but was going by the book for his star cards.  i think i will pick up a winfield rookie for under $20 online, rather than pay him the $35 he wanted.

or maybe i'll find one at a reasonable price at the monthly show this coming weekend, if i decide to go.  if i do go, i'll have a reduced budget thanks to sandy.  unless duke or jackie happen to show up.  then, all bets are off.

they're not mint, mister.

there's a big card show in the twin cities this weekend - a few hall of famers are signing on saturday.  i'll probably go on friday evening and not worry about that, however, no matter how badly i would like reggie jackson to sign one of his iconic 1978 topps cards for me.

i went to this same show last year, and picked up a hefty dose of bargain vintage.  being a dodger fan, and being a dodger fan without the backing of the guggenheim group, that means i bought non-mint stuff.  like this beautiful-to me 1957 topps don drysdale rookie card.

and you can't have a drysdale without a koufax, so i picked up a 1960 topps while i was there

now, the first thing i saw when i walked into the earle brown center was mr. mint.  he was set up at a table directly in line with the entrance.  right next to him was one of the regular twin cities' dealers with the vintage bargain bins.  i set up shop there, and kept one ear on what was going on at the mr. mint table.  he didn't have a whole lot of traffic and spent most of his time talking to his younger companion (son?) about real value vs. sentimental value.  he also had some stories about some of his past purchases, but i can no longer recall any specifics.

now don't get me wrong - i have no illusions when it comes to value of these things we collect.  monetarily, they are only worth what someone else is willing to pay for them.  and, if you are selling to mr. mint, you must understand that you are dealing with a middle man who wants/needs to make a profit off of what he is buying from you.  apparently, many folks don't understand that.  and, i am guessing that this is a speech that mr. mint has had to give thousands of times in the past, so the fact that he was so matter of fact about it while crushing the outlandish hopes of some would-be sellers should not have surprised me.  and it didn't, even though i still cringed at his brusk tone.

in the two hours or so that i spent poring through boxes of vintage cards, many with rounded corners and/or creases, no less than two babe ruth signed baseballs were presented to mr. mint.  he looked at them nonchalantly and made offers on each - offers that were far less than their owners had hoped to receive.  were they fair offers? i don't know.  even dealers came down to see what he might pay for some memorabilia.  not once did i see money or merchandise exchange hands.  he didn't seem to be enjoying himself, that's for sure.

i had a good time though.  i finally found a 1962 bob uecker rookie card that i could live with at a decent price.

being a dodger fan, this is one of the tougher multi-player rookie cards to pick up, especially in the upper midwest.  thanks doug camilli for making it difficult.

not to be outdone as far as rounded corners go, here's a 1962 post daryl spencer card

i am sure i could get a much better copy online for probably close to what i paid for it at this show.  but i don't care!

that's not to say that i didn't pick up some decent looking cards for their age, like this 1956 topps billy loes

 or this charley neal from the same set

and, this sandy amoros

and this don newcombe

from the 1958 topps set are both upgrades for me.  there was another dealer there who had a ton of mid-70's stuff, and he helped me (almost) complete my dodger team set from the 1975 topps mini issue.  for not much money at all, i picked up a 1956 mvp card featuring newk and some triple crown winner

 plus a 1955 campy (with some other catcher)

and a 1963 koufax featuring yet another yankee

this year i will try to complete my 1973 topps set (15 cards to go) and maybe pick up a 1959 topps koufax to finish my dodger set from that year.  and with my budget, mint cards need not apply.

anybody else need anything?