some things old, some things new, some things acquired, (almost) all things blue

i have a few random additions to the collection that i want to show, plus a blogosphere meet-up to recap. those are always two great things to share, and i am going to start with this 1957 topps brooklyn dodgers team card

this card does not replace the one i already have in my dodger collection as it's somewhat blurry and creased, but rather brings me one card closer to completing the entire 1957 topps set. i am down to needing just 30 cards. i think this is definitely something i can finish in 2023.

here's a 2010 topps heritage manny ramirez chrome parallel

i look back fondly on the "mannywood" days, despite how it ended with his positive tests for peds. i may turn a focus to heritage chrome now that my base chrome sets are nearly complete.

this next one is a 2021 topps archives retired player signature card of andruw jones

it's his photoshopped 2008 topps card, numbered 04/16 which is fairly low. i didn't really intend to keep the card (one andruw jones auto is enough for me - this one came in a lot of dodger cards that i purchased for the other cards included in it) but i figure people who want a low-numbered andruw jones auto would prefer that it be with him as a brave. not a dodger or a ranger or a white sock or a yankee.

now that we have the random acquisitions covered, here's the skinny on the meet-up.  i was fortunate to have lunch with friend of the blogosphere mr. haverkamp yesterday as he visited family in the land of 10,000 lakes. it was great to exchange cards in person!  i unloaded some giants cards, and was able to add some in return. i was given a couple of the 1982 union oil volpe portraits (steve garvey and dusty baker) along with a dusty baker post-dodger pc need:

that's a 1989 mother's cookies giants coaches card. i enjoy adding these to my collection, and mr. haverkamp has provided more dusty items to my collection than anyone else over the years.

the last card mr. haverkamp handed over was this 1977 msa disc of steve garvey

it's the detroit caeser's variety 

and is the first of these cards that i have slabbed and graded by psa.  we had a short chat about these items and the scarcity of the fbi discs that are on a number of collectors' player collection want lists. i have no illusions about ever finding a steve garvey fbi disc, although i do know of another collector who has one - mrmopar.

although mr. haverkamp does not blog, i'll still add this meet up to my list of blogosphere folks that i've been able to meet in person - here's the list:

paul from carl crawford cards

brian from highly subjective and completely arbitrary (several times)

gavin from baseball card breakdown (twice)

madding from cards on cards

rod from padrographs

ken from cardboard hogs

mr. haverkamp

i hope to add more folks to this list in the future. in fact, i was oh so close to meeting up with fuji earlier in the month, but a last minute change of plans on my end kept me from heading to san jose. hopefully next time i will be able to keep to the script and add that meeting to the list!

thanks mr. haverkamp! great to put a face to the cards you've sent over the years!

i saved ferris

enjoy this former most wanted card of mine that i saved from someone's sportlots inventory several months back to add to my collection:

like the guy said, "life moves pretty fast..."

if peter piper picked a pack of player pictures...

so with the packets of postcards that were in my giant dodger box, any doubt that i had about the mix and match approach the team took towards selling postcards has been dissolved. i have long been similarly suspicious with the 5x7 black and white photos that the team sold in "player picture packets", and so i finally sat down to do some sleuthing.

my dad bought me one of these packets back in 1978 and i had a few of the photos pinned up one of the walls in my room. 

yes, that's my wall as it was in 1979.  

the photos in question are way to the left - i see ron cey, rick monday, and steve yeager. there's don sutton and steve garvey black and white photos, too, but they are not from one of these packets. there's a matt keough photo as well from a meet and greet that my dad helped organize with a local bank. not pictured are my other posters - i had don sutton, a 1978 american league all-star montage, and a gordie howe poster below garvey and cey. i also had a "signed" darth vader promo photo from when some guy dressed as vader made an appearance at a local department store and a los angeles rams poster of no player in particular.

anyway, my set from back then is long gone, but my dad did pass along one that he had buried in a box from 1973. i know it is from 1973 because it has both andy messersmith and pete richert in it, and they were only teammates in 1973. this is what the garvey photo from that set looks like

here's the packet envelope:

for the record, the dodger players (and manager and coaches) in this packet are:

red adams

walt alston

jim brewer

bill buckner

willie crawford

willie davis

al downing

steve garvey

jim gilliam

tommy john

von joshua

tom lasorda

ken mcmullen

andy messersmith

claude osteen

tom paciorek

doug rau

pete richert

bill russell

don sutton

aside from the pictures that i had back in the late 1970's, this is the only complete packet i have ever seen. that will soon change as you will see...

now, natural intuition tells me that these pictures were not redone every year - there are not 12 different steve garvey pictures, for example - but i figured i would take a deeper dive.  i found that the dodgers had been selling these sorts of pictures for decades - far back in to their brooklyn days, in fact. 

when they moved to los angeles, the familiar packaging was developed, and, in 1959 at least, they actually identified them with a specific year on the envelope. after that, as far as i can tell, the reference to year was gone. this makes sense, similar to how topps left off specific year numbering on their early cards of the 1950's - it extends the shelf life of the product.  

anyway, i wound up purchasing a couple more envelopes over the last few weeks. first up is one from 1974. i know it is from 1974 because it has both greg shanahan and jim wynn in it, and they were only teammates in 1974. the garvey from that one looks like this:

both photos shown so far are from 1969, for whatever that is worth.

here's the envelope:

right away the theory of reusing photos from year to year was confirmed, as pitching coach red adams' photo was the same as the one in the 1973 packet i already owned. same for manager walter alston.  here's the full list of dodgers in this packet:

red adams (same photo as 1973)

walt alston (same photo as 1973)

monty basgall

jim brewer (different photo than 1973)

bill buckner (different photo than 1973)

ron cey

joe ferguson

steve garvey (different photo than 1973)

jim gilliam (same photo as 1973)

von joshua (same photo as 1973)

dave lopes

mike marshall

andy messersmith (same photo as 1973)

manny mota

doug rau (same photo as 1973)

bill russell (same photo as 1973)

greg shanahan

don sutton (same photo as 1973)

jim wynn

geoff zahn

next, i bought a packet that is from 1977. i know it is from 1977 because it has rick monday (the same photo that was on my wall) and ed goodson. those two were only teammates in 1977. the garvey from that set looks like this:

here's the packet envelope:

you can see that the price doubled at some point between 1974 and 1977.

there are a lot of new faces in this packet, but still some from the previous sets i've shown. some of those subjects have new photos and some do not. here's the full list of dodgers in this packet:

dusty baker

ron cey (different photo than 1974; same photo as on my wall)

steve garvey (different photo than 1973 or 1974)

ed goodson

burt hooton

charlie hough

tommy john (same photo as 1973)

lee lacy

tom lasorda (same photo as 1973)

dave lopes (different photo than 1974)

ted martinez

rick monday

manny mota (different photo than 1974)

johnny oates

doug rau (different photo than 1973/1974)

rick rhoden

bill russell (different photo than 1973/1974)

reggie smith

don sutton (different photo than 1973/1974)

that's only 19, which is a bummer. based on what i had on my wall, i would say that steve yeager is the missing player, although since i think it is clear that these were mix and match from previous years, it could be that some other player or coach was in this packet when it was originally purchased.

you might have noticed that garvey is the only one with a different photo in each of these three packets. that is by design, as i was seeking out different garvey poses. speaking of which, i also bought a packet of these pictures from 1982. i know it was from 1982, because mark belanger was among the photos, and he was only a dodger in 1982.

this is what garvey's photo looks like in this packet:

here's belanger's photo

just for kicks. and here's the envelope:

another price increase!

the photo subjects in this set are:

dusty baker (different photo than 1977)

mark belanger

ron cey (different photo than 1974 and 1977)

terry forster

steve garvey (different photo than 1973 and 1974 and 1977)

pedro guerrero

burt hooton (different photo than 1977)

steve howe

ken landreaux

tom lasorda (different photo than 1973/1977)

rick monday (different photo than 1977)

tom niedenfuer

jerry reuss

bill russell (different photo than 1973/1974 and 1977)

mike scioscia

derrel thomas

fernando valenzuela

bob welch 

steve yeager

again, only 19 pictures. i've seen a set online that includes a dave stewart photo, so i would guess he or maybe steve sax would be the missing subject here. in fact, i've seen a set that has both a stewart and sax photo, along with different photos of thomas and yeager. that set didn't have the howe in it. a second set from 1982 with both sax and stewart in it that i've seen also had a different garvey photo from any that i've shown here in this post. i am definitely on the lookout for that one, but not at the crazy price that particular seller is asking.

[edit - i picked up another 1982 set whose player contents were identical to the list above, with the addition of steve sax. the garvey in that packet looked like this:

this is the fifth and final version of garvey player pictures that i have seen. for the record, the photos for dusty baker, terry forster, garvey, steve howe, jerry reuss, bill russell, mike scioscia, derrel thomas, fernando valenzuela, bob welch, and steve yeager were different from the other 1982 packet.]

for good measure, i also picked up a 1971 set that had the same garvey photo as my dad's 1973 set. i know this set was from 1971 since it had dick rich allen 

in it.

allen in dodger duds is the good stuff.

any other thoughts or knowledge about these 5x7 items is appreciated!

crossing paths

with the nfl draft kicking off tomorrow, i figured it was a good time to share another card that i keep in my "meaningful and just because" collection.

that's a 1989 pro set irv cross announcers card. here's the back

which is a better representation of how i knew cross. his playing days, even though they included time with the rams, were over before my fandom began.

to me, cross was one of the people on tv before, during, and after nfl games providing insight and analysis. this was back when cbs had the nfc and nbc had the afc, so i paid close attention to cross and his cbs cohorts, including jimmy the greek, phylis george, jayne kennedy, and, of course, brent musberger, as they discussed the rams but more often they talked about the cowboys.

i believe it was april of 2004 - maybe 2005 - but definitely april as the nfl draft was happening the following week. i was in washington dc for work and was at reagan national waiting to return to the twin cities. as i was standing near the gate, i noticed a man who looked familiar walk up and stand next to me. it was irv cross. 

at this time, cross was the athletic director at macalester college in saint paul, so i wasn't wondering why he was heading to msp. before boarding began, there was an announcement of some short delay, and so i took the opportunity to turn to cross and ask "so, what are the vikings going to do in the draft?" he lit up and we had a short chat about defense and the overall outlook for the vikings. it was surreal to have this man who talked to me through the television screen for so many years be talking to me in person.

after cross passed away last year, i made it a point to add one of his cards to my collection to remember my encounter by. he was very friendly - i later saw him on the plane chatting with other passengers - and it really felt like i was catching up with an old acquaintance.

50% of not quite 50th anniversary cards

a few years ago, i told myself that it was likely that the first steve garvey topps heritage buyback i would own would be from 2022 heritage - his 1973 topps card. that's because 1971 is his rookie and 1972 his card is a high number. i didn't think there would many (if any at all) of those cards bought back and stamped for the heritage releases.

i don't recall seeing either of them on ebay in 2020 or 2021, although at least the 2020/1971 card shows up in the beckett checklist for garvey. i have seen two of his 2022/1973 cards, however, and i bought the second one

the first one sold before i saw it, so i was pretty sure i wasn't going to let the second one to come up get away. it's dumb and weird and confusing, but i like the buyback idea for heritage. i also really like the 2015 topps originals buyback effort. the other years - 2014, 2016, 2017 - not so much. i am already looking forward to next year's heritage which will feature garvey's fantastic 1974 card in buyback form (hopefully).

2022 marks the third year that i've obtained a bill russell buyback

his 1972 card is also a short print, and like the garv, i don't recall seeing any offered for sale at any time. i've previously added russell's 2019/1970 and 2020/1971 buyback cards to my collection.

this is the first year that, in theory, all four dodger infielders would have buybacks available, but ron cey shares his second year card with mike schmidt (and topps should be ashamed if they stamped one of those cards). dave lopes is also on a multi-player rookie card, but i would expect one of those cards to show up at some point - maybe with high numbers. for now, i'll settle for having half of these 49th anniversary cards of the dodger infield of my youth.

i actually bought a blaster of heritage from amazon of all places. i haven't opened all the packs yet, but i did find a real one auto of diamondback (of course) tyler gilbert and a dodger i needed - gavin lux

yes, that's the same background as most of the other dodger cards. i also found one of enrique "kiké" hernandez' cards 

for my double play collection.

finally, i am not sure yet what i will do with this card

but i couldn't leave that sweet, sweet buyback sit around with a low buy it now. 

what's in the box?

it wasn't really bidding under the influence, but a few weeks ago, i threw a $1 bid on a lot of dodger stuff that was supposedly from an estate sale. i saw a few things in the photos that made me feel comfortable with spending $21 on the stuff, as shipping was $19.99.

nobody else bid, and a few days later, a large flat rate priority mail box showed up on my doorstep.

i thought i knew what to expect, but there was a fair amount of dodger ephemera that wasn't visible in the photos. let's have a look.

probably the most interesting item to me was this 1988 world series pinback button:

i did not see this button in the photos, so it was a surprise. there was a lot of stuff like this for sale at dodger stadium during the 1988 world series - stuff that says "national league champions" - which is now less desirable (i assume) because the dodgers went on to win the series. for example, my dad bought a national league champions sweatshirt at the stadium during game 1 of the series. he still has it, but never bothered to buy a world champions sweatshirt to supersede it.

the oldest item was this "quick" magazine

from april of 1951 featuring don newcombe on the cover. it was interesting to flip through the magazine which appears to be a sort of reader's digest of the weekly news. the baseball stories were short, including the one regarding newk.

there were seven loose 5x7 black and white dodger player pictures. interestingly, the more recent players - gary thomasson, bob welch, doug rau, reggie smith, bobby castillo, and manny mota - were all in worse condition than this duke snider

i am working on a separate post that deals with these pictures that the dodgers sold at the stadium and through the mail - stay tuned for that!

back in 1982, you could pick up some dodger ephemera at unocal/union 76 gas stations as well as builder's emporium, which was a home improvement store. there were a bunch of these items included - from the union 76 volpe portrait set, there were four mike marshalls, one pedro guerrero, six steve garveys, two dusty bakers, three mike scioscias, and twelve (!) mark belangers.

as for the builder emporium sheets, there was a steve garvey

two steve sax sheets (in rough condition), four dusty baker, two jerry reuss, and two tom lasordas - both 

of which appear to have been signed.

there was a 1983 dodger program/scorecard (unscored)

from a series later in the season, with pedro guerrero on the cover and a nod to 1981 topps there on the front. there was a page inside dedicated to the ceremony that the team held for ron cey when the cubs came to town earlier in the year:

looks like the penguin received a few plaques.

one of the largest volume items in the box were commemorative sheets from 1984. these were available at union 76 gas stations just as the volpe portraits had been in 1982. they marked great moments in los angeles dodger history. i think i fell just short of a complete set (missing the four 30-homer dodgers, and the "tenth" man sheets), but there were eight willie davis hitting streak sheets, two jerry reuss/bill singer no-hitter sheets, four 1981 world series champions sheets, two record setting infield (yay!) sheets, four 1959 world series champions sheets, nine don drysdale scoreless streak sheets, three manny mota pinch hit sheets, three maury wills 104 stolen bases sheets, two 1977 nlcs sheets, three 1965 world champions sheets, seven fernando mania sheets, one bob welch strikes out reggie jackson sheet, and four roy campanella night at the coliseum sheets. that's 52 sheets! here's the 1959 world series champions sheet

since it has some imagined baseball cards on it.

the dodgers gave out baseball cards at games starting in 1981. they were sponsored by the los angeles police department, and were oddly sized. this box included a couple of loose 1982 cards of mark belanger and ron roenicke

as well as 15 loose cards from the 1986 set. there were three tom lasordas and two ken landreaux cards, and single cards of the coaching staff, steve sax, franklin stubbs, pedro guerrero, alex trevino, jerry reuss, bob welch, ken howell, reggie williams, and orel hershiser.

that wasn't all, however, as there were 10 complete sets of the 1986 issue. 

eight were still sealed, and two were loose.

there were a bunch of dodger postcards, including three sealed packages. this fact lends credence to the idea that you could buy bundles of loose postcards from the dodgers (the first postcard sets sold at dodger stadium, i believe, were offered in a booklet form). i opened the packages up and found the players to be identical in each group:

dusty baker

greg brock

pedro guerrero
burt hooton

mike marshall
jerry reuss
bill russell

derrel thomas

fernando valenzuela

bob welch

however, one of the three packages had different postcards for baker, hooton, reuss, and russell than the other two. all three packages featured a mix of postcard years. i think this has been suggested before - that the dodgers, while they printed new postcards most years in the 1970's and early 1980's, would combine various years when putting together groups for sale. at any rate, this is a batch that was put together in 1983 at the earliest given the presence of brock and marshall.

there were also six other postcards included loose in the box - two brocks and a guerrero to match the ones in the sealed packages, plus two manny mota and one each of tom lasorda and davey lopes. those six were also from a mix of years.

of the seventeen different postcards (out of 36 total), the only one i needed was this dusty baker

which i would catalog as a 1982 issue based on the research that i presented in this post.  in fact, baker is the m-13 card 

which i was unsure even existed! this all reminds me that mrmopar provided me with some checklist information for dodger postcards after that post ran, and i need to go through and apply that information to my theories. 

there was a lot of other dodger ephemera, including:

8x10 team issue color photo john roseboro

8x10 photographs of kirk gibson - one in home uniform and one in away grays

1985 dodger media guide (with bill russell on the cover)

2 issues of dodgers magazine, both from 1990 - vol 3 #1 and vol 3 #3. both unscored

2 1988 nlcs programs, both unscored

1990 dodgers yearbook - their centennial season with cover art by leroy nieman

and, of course, there were cards, including an intact, non-separated sheet of 1994 dodgers police cards. it's not in the best shape, however.

as for "normal" cards, i counted 228 of them, including a few fleer stickers. the oldest cards were from 1968, and there were two of the jack billingham/jim fairey rookie card

the other '68 was willie davis.

by far, the newest item in the box was a random 2013 topps juan uribe gold parallel

i knew it was in there based on the auction photos, and i knew it was a need for my collection. however, i didn't expect to find any other dodger cards that i needed. i was pleasantly surprised.

these 1985 fleer star stickers of orel hershiser and alejandro pena

completed my team set. always nice to get a hershiser rookie of any variety!

there were a bunch of 1986 fleer mini dodgers, but only one set of the mini stickers

which i needed (they weren't even on my want list). i also needed these 1987 and 1988 fleer sticker inserts,

(or are they 1988 and 1987?) and i decided to add this 1983 fleer bob welch card

to my lurker collection - hello ron cey!

these 1986 topps and topps traded cards were needs

because they are the tiffany versions. just need alex trevino to complete the traded tiffany set.

there were a few oddball sized cards:

2 1985 donruss 3x5 all-stars pedro guerrero

1 1984 topps super pedro guerrero

2 1984 topps super fernando valenzuela

of those, i needed one of the 1984 topps super valenzuela

cards for my dodger collection

here's a signed 1987 topps reggie williams card

that was included

there were more non-dodger steve garvey cards than dodgers:

and there were a few other random cards that didn't really belong at all

although i guess i could sort of understand a mattingly card

in amongst the dodger stuff - just not a 1990 leaf.

finally, there were some 1985 topps r.j. reynolds cards

and by "some" i mean 88 of them. it's his rookie card - i wonder if he'll pan out.

i had a lot of fun going through this box. if anyone needs an '85 topps rj - you know where to find me!