a retired favorite

paul molitor reaches retirement age tomorrow. at least, what standard retirement age used to be: 65. i believe molitor has stated that he is, in fact, retired from managing, but with tony larussa returning to the dugout at the age of 76, who knows for sure whether or not molitor could be lured back to a uniformed position.

i followed molitor's career pretty closely from start to finish. he was a rookie in the 1978 topps set - the first set i ever saw and collected - and had enough early success that i quickly paid attention. he finished his career playing for his hometown team, and the timing of his return to minnesota pretty much coincided with my move to the land of 10,000 lakes.

once steve garvey's career ended, i anointed molitor as my favorite non-dodger. he remained so until the strike in 1994, after which i started paying attention to shawn green. here are the cards of molly that i have in my "favorite non-dodger of the year" mini-collection:

1988 score

1989 fleer

1990 donruss baseball's best

1991 topps

1992 upper deck

1993 fleer flair

1994 topps black gold

i tried for some variety amongst manufacturers to get some different designs in the collection, but there is only so much that can be done from this peak of the junk wax era. it's a little bit daunting to see people i followed as a youngster hit milestone ages, but time waits for no man. happy 65th molly!

blue backs for not many greenbacks

 i recently completed my 1951 topps dodger team set by picking up the two blue backs

i was missing. they were the cards of bruce edwards

and billy cox

it is a great feeling to complete a vintage team set like this, and i will likely never complete another vintage topps dodger set as i am only missing cards from 1952 and 1953. i suppose 1953 is possible, but 1952 is almost certainly out of the question with all of those high numbers. i will be content with my jackie robinson card and maybe just try to complete the low number team set.

i was able to get these cards for "free", as i used a $25 ebay coupon and ebay bucks to cover the costs, and i owe a big thanks to josh at royals and randoms for alerting me to the possibility of the ebay coupon, and to night owl for reminding me that i should be paying attention to these needs of mine.

coincidentally, josh also sent some cards my way recently.  at the top of the package was this 1993 fleer flair pedro martinez card

that i had requested during a giveaway that josh was hosting. quite a lot of the package was heavy on these cards:

mlb showdown!

these cards spanned several years, and are great as they include some lesser known or infrequently featured players like gregg olson:

that card is from 2000, and features the 1989 american league rookie of the year in dodger blue. olson pitched (poorly) for the dodgers in 2000 and 2001, and i believe that this card is the only cardboard evidence of his tenure in los angeles outside of dodger team sga sets like keebler and police issues.

here's a 2001 mlb showdown card of another dodger reliever not often seen in dodger blue

mike fetters and his signature stare were featured on the dodger pitching staff in 2000 and part of 2001. i think he has one other dodger card outside of those aforementioned sga sets.

better known dodger relievers were also represented, thanks to this 2005 strategy card featuring eric gagne

the strategy cards are cool because they sometimes feature obscure players. that is not the case with this one from 2001 that shows kevin brown "airing it out"

but there is this one from 2003 that shows dave roberts being overmatched

as well as this one (also from 2003) that shows a bunch of dodgers on the mound.

i spy kaz ishii, mark grudzielanek, cesar izturis, paul loduca, and pitching coach jim colborn on that card. great to see the coach represented!

speaking of which, josh also included a few cards from the dodgers' 1999 police set. one of those cards was of the coaching staff!

jim tracy, manny mota, and john shelby up front, with glenn hoffman, rick down, davey johnson, rick dempsey, and charlie hough behind them.  it would turn out that there are three dodger managers featured on this card - former manager hoffman, future manager tracy, and then-current manager johnson.  davey also got a card of his own in the set:

johnson's tenure was pretty forgettable, and may be best remembered for the white hats and blue jerseys that the dodgers broke out a few times. it was sacrilegious to me at the time.  the last card i will show from the package received from josh is this jacob brumfield card from the police set.

i am fairly certain that this is brumfield's only dodger card, and i am happy to have it. he appeared in a total of 18 games as a dodger after being signed by the club on march 5, 1999. he was claimed on waivers by the blue jays two months later, so kudos to the folks who put this set together for documenting brumfield's short tenure within such a small window of time!

thanks again josh for the cards and the tip!

let's bat around with the reminiscence bump

night owl's recent post hit on a topic that i would imagine is common among adult card collectors. i know that it was a familiar topic for me.

for the record, i also enjoy the musical stylings of maria mckee and lone justice, and i saw them in concert in los angeles in 1987.  good show.

i also enjoyed the style of night owl's writing in that post. it reminded me of dr. manhattan's reminiscing in alan moore's "watchmen". i'll write this post the same way.

on to the cards.

1977: i am six years old. i am sitting in the back seat of our light blue volvo station wagon. i can tell you the license plate number if you'd like. my uncle, for reasons unknown, hands me a pack of baseball cards.  i get my first look at cards, and mike schmidt's is one of them.

that same year, my mom takes my brother and i to a barbershop for haircuts. the barber is telling me a story about a boy who squirmed and had his ear cut. i do not squirm. my mom sends my restless brother, who had his hair cut first, to the store next door. it is a comic book and baseball card store. when my mom and i walk in after my haircut, i am awestruck. it smells like old paper and there are comics and cards on display everywhere, along with still photos from movie shoots (not sure why, but our lcs had a ton of these set photos).  i look at my brother and his eyes are as big as saucers.  we see a 1971 topps brooks robinson card

in the display case, and we note that it looks like the guy is looking for droids on tatooine.

1978: i am seven years old and baseball card collecting has captured the attention of the six neighborhood boys, myself included, along with some other nearby kids.  we spend hours trading and discussing cards, and make frequent weekend runs to the 7-11 to buy packs. one day, while waiting for the oldest of the group to return from a pack run, i ask the question of one of the other kids: "what if i get a steve yeager card?!"

the answer to that question is that i would then have a steve yeager card, which is exactly what happened when i opened my packs later that day.  i have also morphed in to a set collector after initially storing my cards by team in a card locker my dad gave me.

that same summer, we are visiting family in canada and i am discovering the bright backs and variations of o-pee-chee cards.  i get home and pin ron cey's o-pee-chee card

on my wall.  it is one of the first cards that i scanned for my first blog.

1979: i am eight years old, standing on the doorstep of a man's house on the other side of my block.  one of my friends at school found out that he was a giants fan and that he had some cards. i ask his wife if he wants to trade with me, and she smiles and calls him over.  he looks at what i have, and takes my gary lavelle card and a couple of others.

one of the cards he gives to me in exchange is a 1955 bowman don hoak card.

true story.

1980: i am nine years old in the fall of 1980, and my dad has taken my brother and i to los angeles. we had a day off from school, and he has a business meeting. my brother and i sit in the lobby of an office building waiting for his meeting to end.  we note that we are not far from the westin bonaventure hotel, which my brother recognized from his buck rogers card collection (he had switched to non-sports cards when our local card store started carrying star wars cards).  during a break in the meeting, my dad walks my brother and i around a couple of blocks of downtown la. we go in to a convenience store to get something to drink, and i notice packs of cards at the register. my dad buys me a pack and i am excited to find reggie smith's card inside.

later that day, we meet up with my uncle, and the four of us go to a japanese restaurant. i order a hamburger.

1981: i am now eleven years old (just barely), and my dad has given to me for christmas the 1981 topps traded set.  i make him take my picture holding cards of fernando valenzuela, ken landreaux, and fred lynn.

this was the year that i really started to collect dodger team sets back to 1970, and began adding fleer and donruss to my set completing ways - although we bought a 1981 donruss set through the mail.

1982: the first year that we (my dad is now a co-collector) bought boxes of cards. we open packs together, and he makes me put the cards in numerical order as we go which irritates me. we are somewhat repulsed at 1982 fleer and the blurry photos, although i am excited that the dodgers are at the front of the set with dusty baker

sitting at number 1.

moving forward, we continued to buy cards and put together sets through 1987.  none of my friends kept up with collecting past 1983 or so, but i persevered. in 1988, i bought mainly packs (exclusively topps) before heading to college in the fall.  i did buy a box of topps in 1989, but again ignored other card manufacturers.  in 1990 i began buying hockey cards as well as baseball (still just topps) as it seemed like every strip mall had a card shop.

my dad had taken me to a few card shows in la and anaheim earlier in the decade (including the first national in 1980 where i sold my 1978 and 1979 dupes - including multiple eddie murray rookies - for $10), but now i was able to go on my own.  i went to a bunch of different shows during the late 80's and into the 90's, including the national in anaheim in 1991. that year, i bought some upper deck and thought that i would retire on my chipper jones cards. i was also all-in on topps that year, buying a ridiculous amount of cards.

1993: i have graduated from college and secured a real job. a liquor store near my office sells cards at the register. it is the first time i see something called "flair". i can't believe i am spending $3.99 on a pack of cards.  one of the cards i get is a jim edmonds wave of the future insert.

i would have preferred the mike piazza card.

this post is getting way too long, but there are so many memories.  i know i am falling short of the intent of the topic, having skipped a bunch of years within that 10-30 year-old period, but i'll finish up by saying that since 1977, there has never been a year when i did not buy cards, nor a year in which i did not follow the game, and i could point out specific cards that hold specific memories for me from each year.

as for my post-bump years, i started reading and commenting on jon weisman's 'dodger thoughts' site in 2005, which gave me a sense of an online baseball community.  then in 2006, i was made aware of ben henry's baseball card blog, and after that found more and more card blogs to read. with all of the excitement going on surrounding the second half of the dodgers' 2008 season, i decided to add my voice to the blogs. in my second post, i showed off this card

it takes me back to the summer of 1978, a candy store in southern saskatchewan that sold cards, a transistor radio on the table at home, and a collection just beginning.