all that and a bag of balls

i figured i would follow up yesterday's post about tommy lasorda's manager tree with a semi-recent pickup that has been on the fringes of my most wanted items for a long time

that's a 1955 golden stamps, well, stamp, of lasorda that also features a bag of balls. there is a transactional joke in there somewhere although the only thing/person ever traded for lasorda was wally burnette who went from the yankees to the a's in the middle of the 1956 season in exchange for the future hall of fame manager.

the person managing the dodgers at the time that golden stamps set was released was also the guy lasorda would eventually succeed - walter alston. i picked up alston's 1980-87 sspc baseball immortals card

along with that of lasorda's brookly teammate roy campanella

around the same time to complete the team set for that release. as for the golden stamps, lasorda is the only one i own and i don't expect to seek many other dodgers out from that set. 

however, i've long thought that the image on the golden stamps issue would have been a great one for a 1957 topps card. lasorda was reacquired by the dodgers in may of 1957 so it would have been possible for topps to sneak him into one of the later series. of course, lasorda didn't appear in the majors after his 18 appearances for the a's in 1956 (note that i am not counting his 19th appearance that year in which he was announced as a pinch hitter but called back to the dugout after the opposing team switched pitchers) so it is understandable for topps to have left him off of the checklist.

still, i went ahead and created a 1957 card for tommy

it works.

i missed the memorial patch for bobby bragan

nick from dimeboxedonia sent me some cards early in the summer. being a fellow vladimir guerrero collector, that usually means i am in store for some new vladdys for my collection. nick didn't disappoint, sending these nine new to me cards:

these cards cover just about guerrero's full career from montreal to texas - no oriole cards, unfortunately. what i added to my collection includes 1997 fleer circa, 1998 leaf rookies & stars, 1999 fleer tradition, 2000 topps gallery, 2001 upper deck pros & prospects, 2002 topps 206, 2003 upper deck game face, 2004 fleer legacy, and a 2010 bowman gold parallel.

all great cards, but it was the bowman that really caught my eye

i didn't recognize the patch on guerrero's right sleeve, so i went digging. i found a better view of it at getty images:

it's a bobby bragan memorial patch! the text reads "bobby bragan 1917-2010" as bragan passed away on january 21, 2010 - just a few weeks before the start of spring training. i had no idea that the rangers wore patches to honor the former dodger player, minor league and major league manager, texas league president, and longtime ranger front office employee, and so i am happy to add a card to my memorials collection.

of course, i went looking for a card that showed the patch a bit better, and settled on a 2010 bowman chrome refractor of vladdy

not the cleanest scan, but it will do.

bragan may be best known by many to have been one of the players who requested a trade from the dodgers when jackie robinson was added to the roster. he later rescinded that request and was a teammate of robinson's in both 1947 and 1948. he later managed in the majors and minors, including a couple of stints in the dodger organization where he encouraged maury wills to become a switch hitter. 

he left the dodgers after serving as walt alston's third base coach in 1960 to join the expansion team in houston as their farm director, but after a couple of years he found himself managing the braves in their last few seasons in milwaukee and their first in atlanta. after that, he went to lead the texas league and eventually joined the rangers in a public relations role in 1979, beginning what would become a 30-year stint in their front office.

i think it's great that the rangers celebrated the life of a baseball lifer with the patch, even though it was only worn during spring training.

nick included other cards for my dodger collection, including a couple of 1980-87 sspc baseball immortals of two other jackie robinson teammates - pee wee reese and don drysdale

plus a 1997 pinnacle certified hideo nomo card

a shiny 2022 bowman virtuosic vibrations wilman diaz insert

and a 2022 topps opening day albert pujols card

i want more pujols dodger cards! speaking of which...

that 2022 bowman pujols arrived in my mailbox last friday - the same day pujols hit home runs number 699 and 700. i figured i would add it to this post and congratulate pujols on the milestone. it was cool to see adrian beltre and dave winfield in attendance, with beltre being included in the celebration.  now back to more cards from nick.

nick and i share another mini-collection (along with jeff from 2x3 heroes wherever he may be), and that is cards showing the double play turn at second base. i received a few new ones for my collection, including this 1993 topps stadium club toys 'r' us box set carlos baerga card

and these six beauties

four of which are parallels.

great stuff as always nick - thank you!

saturday morning quarterboxing

a couple of fridays ago, i stopped in at a mall card show.  there were very few dealers set up when i was there (it was still early), but with an impending blizzard, i figured even fewer would have shown.  i left without buying anything, as i didn't feel like digging through boxes of modern base cards advertised as $1/each.  eight days later, i was at a different show (this one was in a church gymnasium) where i recognized some of the same sellers from the mall.  my goal had been to dig through some bargain boxes, but even the show's host - one of the regular dealers with some vintage bargain bins - seemed to have left lower priced stuff back at his shop.

i did find one quarter box along the outside row of dealers, and took 3 dodger cards from 2017 topps gallery and corey seager's 2017 topps chrome update/mega box card with me for a buck.  i began perusing the tables of wares in the middle of the gym when i walked past a table where the dealer pointed to a small, unorganized box and said "a dollar each", as if that were a good thing when one of the cards visible was a 1989 donruss kirk gibson diamond king. i was ready to be disappointed.

then i found the guy with the multiple quarter boxes.  current and retired stars, sorted by name in a couple, plus three boxes of nothing but hall of famers, and another of parallels and inserts.  the hall of famer boxes were legitimate (meaning that they weren't just filled with bruce sutter and barry larkin cards) with oddballs and early '80s topps and greats of the game type sets, while the insert box had just about everything aside from game used or autographs.

i dealt with other buyers crowding in and managed to pull 100 cards from these boxes.  i wound up with a number of dodger cards that i needed, plus some stuff to send in future trades, and maybe a card or two to flip.  here are some of the highlights:

2011 topps heritage jackie robinson story short print

this was one of the first cards i came across, and it drew me in.  a jackie sp for a quarter is a good deal, even if it had been the one of him as a baby.

1980-87 sspc baseball immortals jackie robinson

another jackie that i needed.  there were quite a few oddballs in these boxes, and i found a few of the dodgers that i needed from this set.

1996 upper deck collector's choice mike piazza you crash the game

it's cool seeing piazza cards in hall of famer boxes these days.  this particular card was a loser as far as the promotion went - piazza was 8 for 14 over the three game set in houston, but did not homer.

1994 upper deck collector's choice mike piazza checklist gold signature parallel

i found a couple of gold signature parallels in the boxes, and while this in no way satisfies the craving for a certified piazza auto that i am searching for, i couldn't pass it up.

1994 o-pee-chee ozzie smith

a new-to-me double play card featuring the wizard! oh my o-pee-chee!

1994 ted williams ty cobb

there is nothing really special about this card, but i added it to my stack in order to further investigate what appears to be a black armband on cobb's left sleeve.  the image is colorized, so i wasn't sure if it truly was an armband or a heavy shadow.  upon further inspection, i think it is an armband, and so would be the one worn in 1920 in honor of ray chapman.  according to the hall of fame's website, that would be the only armband cobb wore.  so, the card is interesting, but it won't replace the other cobb card that i have in my memorials collection.

1994 topps gold dan pasqua

some of you may recall that the pasqua card did not appear in the base flagship set in '94.  it was included in the gold parallel set in place of a checklist.

2013 panini cooperstown wade boggs color

another short print.

2003 topps retired signature don sutton

topps retired signature singles for a quarter? yes, please!

2007 fleer mike cameron mini die-cut gold

2007 fleer was the last of the brand.  upper deck discontinued the fleer name after that, and i suppose i didn't really miss it.  a mini parallel set with a die-cut rounded corner is not that exciting, but these gold parallels are pretty rare.  i don't know the print run on them, but it has got to be low.  i pulled one of a scrubby marlin a few years ago in a repack, and was able to flip it for the price of a blaster.  maybe there is a mike cameron super collector out there that really wants this card!

there were lots of other cards that i could show and write about, but i'll do just one more.

1960 leaf duke snider

i assumed that this was a reprint when i set it aside, and i am still not sure.  i couldn't find any information about an official reprint set, and it looks just like the roger craig that i have in my collection already, so... could a 1960 leaf duke snider card have been secured for a quarter?