almost free cards - international edition

this 1998 bowman chrome dennis reyes international parallel

came to me a while back from night owl. greg sent me cards in exchange for the card he claimed in my most recent "almost free stuff friday" event which took place back in march. technically, it's not a giveaway so i guess i'll call it an event. he wasn't the only one to participate, as tom from the angels, in order sent this 2014 bowman platinum alex guerrero card

in exchange for the cards he claimed.

bo from baseball cards come to life sent a few cards - certainly more than he claimed - including this 1998 pacific online bill simas card

yes, i collect bill simas cards as he was a high school teammate of mine.

bo also sent some minor league cards

of an array of one-time dodger prospects.

i am still hoping to receive a return card from the international participant, but until then, here are some more cards from night owl. he attacked my sportflics needs with this 1990 orel hershiser card

and these other dodgers from that set

plus three from 1988

here are some more cards greg sent:

1995 leaf eric karros

1997 donruss vxp 1.0 hideo nomo

1998 leaf raul mondesi state representatives

1998 leaf rookies & stars raul mondesi ticket masters

b/w paul konerko

2023 topps finest mookie betts headliners

2020 topps archives snapshots gavin lux

2020 and 2022 panini donruss justin turner holo parallels

2021 panini donruss dustin may

2022 panini absolute roy campanella and gil hodges historical duals

and a 2023 panini chronicles pinnacle campy card

lots of great adds to my collection from these traders!

and here are some bonus free cards that a couple of random ebay sellers included with some cards i purchased recently.

2023 panini select al lopez holo prizm

2025 topps chrome freddie freeman

my dodger luck with 2025 topps chrome has been absolutely horrible, so this was a nice surprise.

2020 topps tribute sandy koufax

that card was included with a bigger koufax purchase i made recently.

another seller threw this sticker

in with a purchase, and it is much appreciated! looks great on my water bottle.

finally, here's a card that wasn't free, but does touch on the international theme

it's from a set called 2005 artbox harry potter and the sorcerer's stone. it features the scene where the first year students are learning how to fly on brooms. hre's the back:

i picked it up because it features a nice shot from inside the walls at alnwick castle in northumberland, england. the card goes into my meaningful and just because collection as my wife studied abroad during college at this castle, and she has taken me there for reunion events a couple of times. we've stayed in the dormitories inside the castle and walked the grounds. it has been a really cool thing to experience and we enjoy returning to the uk each time.

thanks to all for the cards - there may be another edition of almost free stuff friday coming along later in the year so stay tuned.

the almost daily dodger - angel pena

the dodgers sure seem to have had a large number of highly touted catching prospects since mike piazza took over behind the plate. maybe that just coincides with the proliferation of prospect focused baseball cards, but it feels like i've heard about more catchers in the dodger pipeline than any other non-pitcher position over the last 30 years.

one such prospect was angel peña, and this is his 1999 upper deck retro inkredible autograph card

i have seen this card so many times over the years, i would have sworn that i had it in triplicate. turns out, i didn't have it at all (i do have some other peña autograph cards). thankfully, night owl sent one my way.

peña was one of the catchers that the dodgers sent out in the post-mike piazza landscape during the 1998 season, but the team ultimately looked for some veterans to take over and he wasn't able to catch on (see what i did there) as anything more than a stop gap backup during his career.

night owl sent some other cards for my collection as well, including a1998 bowman chrome charles johnson card

johnson was the dodgers' catching solution immediately following the piazza trade, as he was part of the haul from the marlins that the dodgers received in exchange for the italian-american superstar slugger. johnson was then traded to the mets with roger cedeño after the 1998 season for the dodgers' next catcher, todd hundley.

here's a 1995 fleer ultra kevin gross card

that had escaped my purview. it's technically a rangers card, but he's still wearing his dodger duds so into the dodger collection it goes.

this 1999 bowman glenn davis card

is not chrome - it's the international parallel. the liberty bell is behind davis, a native of pennsylvania.

here's a 1998 pinnacle plus die-cut card of hideo nomo

it's a "lasting memories" insert, and i am not sure why it needed to have the patterned edge other than it was the 90's

i recently stated a desire to complete the dodgers' 2007 topps gold parallel team set, and getting this brad penny card

from greg was a push to make that commitment. so chunky!

he also sent a different parallel from 2007 topps update & highlights

the red text back

such nonsense.

here's a much more obvious parallel from 2010 bowman

featuring chad billingsley, along with a parallel (or not, depending on how you view the 2021 topps chrome sapphire edition set) of short-time dodger yoshi tsutsugo

he appeared in 12 games for the dodgers in 2021, in between stints in tampa bay and pittsburgh. the fact that he got a dodger card at all is pretty remarkable. perfect timing in terms of checklist development at topps.

one of my favorite cards in the package was this 2023 panini chronicles - classics card of jim gilliam

anytime i can add a new gilliam card to the collection is a good day.

there were also a few "hits" to take in, such as this 2020 bowman sterling autograph of onetime prospect jacob amaya

the dodgers dealt amaya to the marlins for miguel rojas prior to last season. he was just released by the marlins and picked up by the astros a week or two ago.

shawn green had a ton of cards during his dodger days, including relics. both of these cards - a 2001 pacific private stock game gear bat

and a 2004 upper deck authentic stars jersey

were new to my collection

finally, i  also added this 2004 topps cracker jack "take me out to the ball game" paul loduca relic

to my dodger collection because i don't care who the player is - if they are a dodger they belong in my collection.

thanks greg!