highly fresh and completely mojo!

the cards you are about to see came to me by trade from brian at highly subjective and completely arbitrary. they have already been lapped by the in person trade we completed at a card show a couple of months ago, but the cards were too good to be ignored.

the note brian included with the package mentioned that he had got his dodger-pulling mojo back, and he wasn't kidding.  case in point, this 2019 topps chrome update will smith xfractor autograph

all of a sudden, the dodgers have some depth in the catcher prospect pipeline. here's hoping that they choose wisely when dealing from this perceived strength to bolster other aspects of the roster.

next up is a 1995 mother's cookies dodgers raul mondesi card

i had requested this card after brian posted a bunch of mondesi cards a while back. i have the team set in my dodger collection, but this card makes a great addition to the dodger stadium binder.  around the same time that this card came out, phil nevin was making his big league debut with the astros. i recall that he received a lot of flak prior to that for wearing these oakley shades as a collegiate player. it's true! rauuuuuul doesn't care. he's the guy who once sat down along the right field line rather than go all the way back to the dugout for the bottom of an inning. i guess he knew he wasn't going to bat.

transogram time!

i had the cody bellinger card from 2018 topps heritage, but not the seager. this one us actually from the heritage high numbers release.

more from 2019 topps chrome update!

koufax has a few different cards in the 150 years greatest moments/players/seasons set. i personally don't like the way topps spread this set around the different sets. in my mind, it should have stayed with flagship and update only. for example, don sutton's card is only available in signed versions through the clearly authentic release. on the other hand, i'm not trying to collect all of these, so whatever.

more koufax, along with clayton kershaw and jackie robinson

thanks to the faces of the franchise insert. i'll assume that this is the base version and not a red parallel. i missed noticing some of the color parallels of 2019 topps inserts earlier in the year, which prompts the question of why make them if folks don't recognize them?  this card brings to mind the "mt. rushmore" debates that were prevalent in sports media a couple of years ago. these three dodgers are solid candidates and appropriate franchise representatives. one could argue that tommy lasorda belongs as well.

this 2019 topps heritage high number david freese card

is the only card in my collection featuring the 2011 world series hero as a dodger. i was disappointed that he chose to retire because he hit really well as a dodger - .328 in the regular season and .400 in the postseason across 2018 and 2019.

last but not least, brian hooked me up with some mini-collection needs. this 2019 topps heritage whit merrifield card

is the dupe i needed to put in my tatooine collection (the only copy i had previously is in my double play collection), while this 1995 score pat meares card

fills a previously unknown double play need. i'll have to keep an eye out for another copy to add to the tatooine collection.

thanks brian!  keep up the dodger pulling mojo!

george sisler is in my hall of famer collection

george sisler was among those present when the hall of fame opened in 1939. he was elected to the hall that year, as the card that represents him in my hall of famer collection attests:

that's a 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic.  here's the back:

if it weren't for sisler being in that iconic 1939 hall of fame photo, he probably wouldn't be in my collection.  however, his presence there incited me to learn about him.

i think the fact that he spent most of his career with the browns has hindered his popularity among post-war fans.  i mean, i went to a game at camden yards in 1999 and there was a statue of baltimore native babe ruth, but i didn't see anything about sisler or the browns.  similar to what is going on here in the twin cities, where walter johnson and the old washington senators don't get a lot of attention, but i do know there are some displays at target field recognizing the earlier days of the franchise.  maybe the same is true at camden yards - i just didn't come across it.

sisler did get some attention back in 2004 when ichiro set the record for most hits in a season. it was sisler's record of 257 (set in 1920) that ichiro passed on his way to 262 hits.  anyway, sisler had an incredible start to his career. when the 1922 season ended, sisler had played seven and one-half seasons, and had a .361 average with 1,498 hits and 100 triples, along with 282 stolen bases. he also had an mvp award, which was won in 1922 - a year in which he hit .420 while racking up 246 hits.  he also eclipsed .400 with a .407 average in 1920, making him only the second man (ty cobb is the other) in the american league to top .400 more than once. unfortunately, sisler missed the 1923 season with a severe sinus infection but returned in 1924 and hit .320 over his final seven seasons.

the most interesting thing that i learned about sisler, however, was that he was another of branch rickey's finds.  sisler walked on to rickey's team at the university of michigan and later signed with the browns when rickey was in their front office.  that guy pops up all over the baseball landscape.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relics

george sisler - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relics

dizzy dean - 2001 topps tribute relics

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autographs

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

frank robinson - 1995 upper deck autographs

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

pee wee reese - 2001 topps tribute relics

jim hunter - 1998 donruss signature series significant signatures 0736/2000

gaylord perry - 2003 topps finest finest moments autographs

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autographs 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autographs

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback 048/147

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game

tony perez - 2004 fleer national pastime 2002 fleer greats authentic autograph buyback 30/59

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

paul molitor - 2016 topps museum collection archival autographs 021/125

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants past time signatures

andre dawson - 2000 fleer greats of the game autographs

alan trammell - 2001 fleer greats of the game autographs

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame

cards for christmas, but not the ones i expected

it's late january, so i may as well get this post up. i've been holding off in hopes that my secret santa cards would eventually show up, but it looks like the grinch prevailed this year. this is not a reflection on jon, who courageously hosted this endeavor again in 2019, but rather on the person who signed up, assumedly accepted cards from another, but failed to do their part.

still, i did receive some cards around the holidays, including some nice ones from kerry at cards on cards

those are some target throwback parallels of casey blake and manny ramirez from 2009 topps. it is a little weird that it has been so long since manny tore up the national league for the dodgers.

here's a more recent card, a 2019 panini donruss optic corey seager illusions insert

with the dodgers having shown interest in francisco lindor this offseason, it will be interesting to see what kind of year seager has in 2020.

also from 2019 is this perennial all-stars card of clayton kershaw from topps update

the photo here is from the 2014 all-star game at target field.

last card i will show from kerry is this 2019 topps fire walker buehler flamethrowers blue chip parallel

i am showing this card because it fits in nicely with some other cards i received for christmas.

santa was nice enough to put a couple of packs in my stocking, including a 2019 topps fire pack.  i did pretty well for a dodger collector, as the pack yielded this clayton kershaw en fuego blue chip parallel

as well as this kershaw and sandy koufax lasting legacies blue chip parallel

see? pretty good pack for a dodger collector. that doesn't happen to me too often.

i also received a ttm return right around christmas.  former yankee george zeber was kind enough to sign and return my 1978 topps card

i had sent out four 1978 requests earlier in the fall. they were the first requests i had sent out in quite a while, as i've pretty much exhausted the list of 1978 topps subjects who sign.  every once in a while, however, i will check sportscardforum and find a recent success for a player from that set that i hadn't noticed before. such was the case with zeber. zeber had two at bats against the dodgers in the 1977 world series, but i didn't hold that against him.

finally, i will show the last card that i purchased in 2019. it showed up just before new year's.

so that is a 2005 playoff absolute memorabilia padres team quads single relic spectrum card.  it goes straight to the steve garvey collection.

i've picked up a few cards so far in 2020, but am focusing primarily on the garvey collection and trying to finish my 1965 topps set. happy belated new year, everybody!