players from the city of angels, in order

it was in the early 1980's when i learned that the angels, at one time, played in dodger stadium (they called it chavez ravine) and were, in fact, known as the los angeles angels. once they moved to orange county, however, that name was changed, and for whatever reason, gene autry chose "california" over "anaheim". 

i wasn't at all annoyed when the california angels changed their name to the anaheim angels in the late 1990's when disney took control of the team and reached a deal with the city related to stadium improvements.  i was actually working on a couple of projects with disney at the time, and the name change made sense to me. besides, i was always a bit confused as a young fan that they were the state's team while there were four other major league teams within the state.

i was, however, quite annoyed a decade later when the team changed its name to the los angeles angels of anaheim without a corresponding move into the city of angels, or even la county. arte moreno just wanted the name, which funnily enough translates to the angels angels of anaheim. anyway, the blogosphere's biggest angel collector sent me some pwe's earlier this year.

it is hard for me to believe that this past spring, i was still in need of some 2019 topps flagship dodgers. tom from the angels, in order helped me out with this kenley jansen card

which kickstarted my efforts to complete the team set.

he also helped me complete the 2020 topps series 1 team set with cards of kenta maeda

and max muncy

along with an kiké hernandez card

that i can add to my dodger stadium collection.

tom was kind enough to include a corey seager players' weekend variation from 2019 topps big league, too.

is it weird that i was disappointed not to see the 2019 players' weekend monochrome uniforms in this year's big league release?

in a separate pwe a month or so later, tom went in to the way-back machine and sent some older dodgers.  here's a 1995 score gold rush brett butler card

which is somewhat rare in that butler isn't bunting in the photo used.

as you know, tom has a blog featuring the 1995 skybox emotion set, and he filled one of my needs with this masters raul mondesi insert from said set

no actual emotion is given, but on his card in the base set, he is shown as "attentive". weird.

we will now leave the city of angels with the last card that i will show from tom.  it is this 1993-94 fleer excel minors card of ken huckaby 

who is shown as a member of the dodgers' high-a affiliate located in vero beach, florida.  huckaby is probably best remembered for the opening day collision that injured derek jeter's shoulder and knocked him out of action for 30+ games in 2003. i also remember him as a dodger farmhand who was blocked by mike piazza during his tenure in the dodger organization.  the highlight of this card is the sweet sleeve patch that reveals vero beach (where the dodgers used to hold spring training) as "the hibiscus city".

thanks tom!