franklin stubbs through the mail successes!

it's franklin stubbs day over at oh my o-pee-chee!, but he's unfortunately shown as an astro headed to the brewers on his 1991 text variation. so, i figured i would show off the dodger cards he has signed for me over the last couple of years through the mail.

i know this blog has lately become a ttm blog and that's not really the intent.  hang around and i'll get back to doing other stuff that may be as equally boring. like the several trade posts i've not gotten around too or the last few 1978 topps bk dodgers cards that should have been.  but today, it's all stubbs.

here's a 1985 topps

that's a crazy signature.  how about a 1986 donruss?

i used to keep some batting gloves in my pocket, too.  just in case.  here's his 1987 donruss

and 1987 topps

1988 topps

stubbs was the dodger first baseman in the 1988 world series.  he hit .294 with a couple of doubles against the a's.  here's his 1989 topps card

and 1989 upper deck

nice to see dodger stadium.  finally, a 1990 upper deck card from somewhere on the road.

by the time this card had been issued, stubbs was in houston and the dodgers had a lefty reliever named terry wells to show for it.

after spending a few years in the braves organization managing and coaching in the minors, stubbs was the hitting coach for the dodgers' minor league team in the inland empire in 2010 and then this year took a similar job with their chattanooga team.

thanks franklin for signing my cards!  thanks to you guys for reading yet another ttm post!

ed vande berg through the mail successes!

in honor of ed vande berg's fantastic 1986 o-pee-chee team and text variation which is on display today over at oh my o-pee-chee!, i bring you the cards that the lefty reliever has signed for me through the mail.  there wasn't much to vande berg's time with the dodgers, and i remember him most as the guy who was acquired for steve yeager as the team of my youth continued to be dismantled.  still, he had a few dodger cards and was kind enough to sign them for a dodger collector.

here's his 1987 donruss card

and 1987 fleer card

both of which pale in comparison to his 1987 topps card

the topps card has an o-pee-chee variation as does his 1986 card as vande berg spent just one year in la.  still, that was enough time to make a mark on my collection - both then and now.

thanks ed!

another dodger lurker

i was recently looking through my 1991 o-pee-chee set when i came across this card of yankee backstop and recent a's manager bob geren

which features a photo from a spring training game with dodger juan samuel sliding in to home.  it's always nice to see dodgers lurking on other people's cards, especially when they can turn a yankees card into a keeper for me.

i have a soft spot for samuel because i followed his early years as a second baseman with the phillies pretty closely.  by the time he came into the league for good in 1984, i was playing pretty much nothing but second base.  so, i paid a lot of attention to samuel, ryne sandberg, and of course steve sax.  by the time the dodgers acquired samuel in a december 1989 trade for alejandro pena and mike marshall, he was playing center field.

the dodgers moved him back to second base and he even made the all-star team there in 1991.  after that season, the dodgers re-signed him to a big free agent deal but wound up releasing him halfway into the 1992 campaign.

samuel has recently been a coach with the orioles (and was their interim manager for a while before buck showalter was hired late last season), and that's where i sent him some cards to sign through the mail.  he came through a couple of times.  here's his 1990 topps traded card

and a 1991 donruss

here's samuel's 1991 topps card (his o-pee-chee card looks the same)

i'm glad there are no yankees on it.

his 1991 upper deck card may well be my favorite card of samuel's from his tenure as a dodger

it shows samuel breaking for second in dodger stadium.  samuel did steal 38 bases in 1990, but was caught 20 times.
i also like his 1992 pinnacle card

which again features a dodger stadium photo along with a double play turn

his 1992 card is pretty generic when compared to the pinnacle

i assume samuel wore number 10 instead of 8 (which he wore for most of his time in philadelphia) because joey amalfitano was wearing 8 for the dodgers and didn't feel like giving it up.  whatever the reason, samuel took over the penguin's number from dave anderson who left for san francisco.  when anderson returned to the dodgers in 1992, either he didn't ask for 10 back, or samuel refused to give it up so he wore 12.  it must not have meant too much to andy, since he kept number 12 even after samuel was released.

finally, i sent a 1988 topps all star card

because i couldn't find a 1984 fleer and i wanted something from his days as a phillie when he was one of the most exciting players in the league. just like back then, samuel didn't disappoint.

thanks juan!

who needs a twins autograph party?

this year, for the first time in at least several years, the twins did not host an autograph party.  in years past, it was held in mid-june with current players signing from 11-130 or so and former players going from 2-330.  something like that, anyway.  i had attended the last 3 years and had a good time each year, even if orlando hudson didn't sign dodger stuff.

apparently, after last year's rain dampened and somewhat crowded affair at target field, and the continuing complaints of the players, the twins decided to not have the party.  instead, they did some other community outreach events although i am not sure what replaced the fundraising aspect of the autograph party tickets.  anyway, i have had some recent twin ttm successes that helped soften the blow of not standing in line for hours on the crowded target field plaza.

1984 fleer kent hrbek

with chain link fence and an automobile in the background.

tom kelly lives nearby and signs quickly.  here's his 1993 topps managers card

with former dodger jeff torborg, as well as his 2001 topps card

kelly continues to associate with the twins. he has filled in on broadcasts this season, and is also often featured in their better 'twins territory' commercials.  tk with a mullet was almost as good as the jim thome as paul bunyan commercial as far as this year's crop goes.

here's carl pavano's 2009 topps heritage high number

i had also sent a 2000 topps from pavano's time with montreal but that one didn't come back.

speaking of coming back, here's the twins' closer joe nathan on his 2011 topps card

featuring a photo from 2009 since nathan missed the entire 2010 season.  he recently passed rick aguilera on the team's all-time save list.  nathan will someday be inducted into the twins' hall-of-fame like this year's honoree, jim perry

perry signed both of his 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams cards - one with him as a twinkie in 1965

and one with him as an athletic in 1975

perry spent just two and a half months with the a's during the 1975 campaign.  it was the final stop of his career.

here's former dodger jason repko who signed his 2007 upper deck card

repko has been getting a fair amount of playing time this year as so many twins regulars have been injured.  although repko is not immune to the dl himself.  he is signed only through this season and i have a feeling there will be a clearing out of the fringe roster players during the offseason.

finally, there is jon rauch.  this 2009 topps card

isn't a ttm success, rather i had it signed at an appearance rauch made during his time with the twinkies.

thanks guys for signing, as always. 

mos eisley on a baseball card

do you remember what obi-wan kenobi told luke skywalker about mos eisley space port?  "you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainry".  well, that's probably a bit harsh for this card, the dodgers team rbi leaders from the 2008 topps dodgers premium team set that features russell martin, jeff kent and luis gonzalez, but in the case of kent and especially gonzalez, it's not too far off from this dodger fan's way of thinking.

it should be noted that these are the same three guys that led the team in home runs (kent with 20, martin with 19, and gonzo with 15 in a tie with james loney).  and gidps.  martin, who led the team with 87 rbi in 2007, would fall under the category of 'villainry' because of his current status as a yankee.  i don't really blame him for leaving la, although it seemed as though ned was surprised and didn't really have a solid plan for the catcher position this season.

jeff kent had a pretty decent season for the dodgers in 2007 (20/79/.302), but i never really warmed to the idea of him as a dodger.  i think it was because of his time with the giants and his alleged personality, but i'm not sure which held more weight.  he is straddling the line between scum and villainry.

firmly ensconsed in both scum and villainry is luis gonzalez.  his 2007 season produced a line of 15/68/.278, and if james loney had driven in just 2 more runs, this post would not have been possible.  gonzalez's biggest fault, in my opinion, was the way he whined about playing time while at the same time he was blocking none other than matt kemp from being in the lineup more often.  it would have been nice if he had embraced a mentorship role, but he did not.

i suppose if there truly were mos eisley on a baseball card, it would feature that pig-nosed guy, walrus man, and perhaps greedo or the bartender who discriminates against droids.  and that card would be created by the guy who also made this three-dodger card featuring his favorite boys in blue (which is saying something because he's a padres fan).

that guy would, of course, be travis at punk rock paint.  he has a fantastic collection of retro-styled star wars cards that he has created over the last few months that are well worth your time, even if they don't include any of the mos eisley characters yet. 

mariano duncan through the mail success!

today i am featuring mariano duncan's 1992 o-pee-chee text variation over at oh my o-pee-chee!, so i figured i would show duncan some love over here, too.

i never really claimed any space on the duncan bandwagon when he hit the scene in 1985, and it had nothing to do with his jeri-curl soul-glo hair (as seen on this 1987 donruss card  - one of three cards he signed for me ttm a while back).  

i was still holding on to bill russell and duncan, like dave anderson before him, was doing his best to send the last remaining member of the infield of my youth out to pasture.  still, in what was really his only full season as a dodger, duncan played in 142 games, stole 38 bases and finished 3rd in the rookie-of-the-year voting despite a .244 average and 27 errors in the field.

two years later, duncan was firmly entrenched in tommy lasorda's doghouse, and after hitting .215 in 76 games during the 1987 season,

tommy didn't even allow him on the dodgers' roster for the 1988 campaign, although score included him in their set.

halfway through the 1989 season (with duncan back with the big club) he was dealt to the reds in the kal daniels deal.  duncan served as the dodgers' first base coach during the grady little and joe torre years, but was replaced this year by davey lopes this year.  the infield gets its revenge.

thanks for signing my cards, mariano!

diamond topps redemption time - can i leave negative feedback?

so, i got suckered in to buying a few packs of 2011 topps.  i also wound up buying a couple of those 4-pack blisters with a visible (and thus guaranteed) diamond redemption code.  well, i had extremely good luck in pulling additional codes.  i wound up with 12 or 13 of them.  after some wheeling and dealing, i recently had the cards shipped to me.  one of them has already been featured (the 1977 bill travers upgrade), but i'll show the rest here.

but first - a gripe.  12 cards shipped.  topps charged me $8.95 or something like that.  when the cards arrived, there was $2.07 worth of postage.  i don't recall if there was even delivery confirmation.  not quite a "giveaway".  i am thinking the only category i would give them 5 stars in is in shipping time. the cards came pretty quickly.  were they as described?  well, there was the disclaimer about the condition of the cards on the website, so i wasn't quite sure what to expect, although i had good luck with my cards from last year's promotion.

no to the cards.  one of my first redemptions resulted in a freddie freeman diamond die cut which i flipped for die cuts of both hanley ramirez and joe mauer.  the mauer then got flipped for this one, clayton kershaw

i spent the rest of my redemption time trying to fill holes in my want lists.  sadly, noone wanted to part with their 1966 bart shirley rookie cards or their 1967 al ferrara cards.  so, i wrangled some 1971 needs.

julian javier

cost me a 1967 jose tartabull card.  i had pretty good luck getting vintage cards with my codes, which made trading a lot easier.
clete boyer

cost me a 1967 denis menke card.  i found that trading for braves players was easier when using another brave as bait.

nate colbert

came my way for 2 cards - a 1969 astros rookies and a 1977 rob belloir.  i had redeemed the '69 card, and the belloir was part of a 20 card haul i got for that hanley ramirez die cut.

this 1971 dave giusti

was made mine in exchange for fellow pirate bob allen's 1964 card. 

and to finish up the black borders, i got this gary wagner i needed

in that aforementioned hanley ramirez deal.  it's the only card in that trade that i kept, actually.

on to another set i am collecting, 1973.  here's a former dodger bob bailey

who i got for a 1975 dan driessen (acquired for the hanley) and a 1975 phil niekro.

bailey's teammate, mike jorgensen

was obtained straight up for a 1973 dave goltz i redeemed with a code.

i was getting bored with the site, so i wound up with this bernie williams

in exchange for 22 cards, including most of the other cards from the hanley trade.  they were ranging from a 1977 mike ivie to a 1978 steve swisher to a 1995 curt schilling.
for this braves team card

i traded another card from the hanely deal, a 1968 tony cloninger.  a brave for braves.  including a little person!

finally, and just because, i picked up this 1974 bobby valentine card

for my 'confused' 1970 harry walker.

in all, i'm please with what i received, even if i paid too much in shipping.