supporting north american free trade

jim gilliam spent two years playing for the dodger triple-a affiliate in montreal.  that's in canada, or quebec, at least (those crazy separatists!).  i recently received a fantastically conditioned 1960 topps jim gilliam card

from captain canuck, defender of  baseball card collecting in the prairie provinces.  there were four cards in the pwe that i received from the self-proclaimed waxaholic, but they were four glorious cards that tell a story of our fine continent.

in addition to the gilliam card, there were two 1977 o-pee-chee cards.  now, everyone knows all about o-pee-chee cards (thanks in some part to my blog, i hope), and the brighter backs associated with our northern neighbors' cards are an increasingly welcome sight for my aging eyes.  here's ron cey's 1977 o-pee-chee card back:

with a native american on it!

the other o-pee-chee card was the dave lopes/bill north league leaders card, and here is its back:

it's slightly miscut, with some of the grass that should be on the bottom of the card leaking onto the top of the card, but otherwise very clean.  and yes, don baylor once stole 52 bases.

the last card of the trade was this 2014 topps 75th anniversary buyback of vic davalillo

davalillo was famously (at least to us dodger fans) plucked from the mexican league during the 1977 season, and wound up getting one of most memorable pinch-hits in dodger history (but not the most, obviously). davalillo came up to bat for lance rautzhan with two outs and nobody on base in game 3 of the 1977 nlcs. the dodgers were trailing 5-3, and were on the verge of falling behind in the series two games to one.  davalillo bunted for a hit, and the game winning rally was on. and then reggie jackson destroyed my dreams.

so there you have it - a great trade between canada and the us, featuring cards with ties to both countries plus mexico.  as long as there are adam laroche cards to be uncovered (along with various other braves and hockey folks), i will support free trades like this one.  thanks captain!