the luck of the irish

last summer, when i began entering my dodger collection on tcdb, i was surprised to find out that there were a couple of the 1962 topps green tint dodgers that i was missing. i may have ignored them back when i picked up the lee walls, frank howard, and wally moon variations since they aren't as striking as those three (two of which use different photos), but if that were the case i had forgotten about my decision, and present day gcrl wasn't having it! 

i was curious to see if i had a green tint pete richert card in my dupes box, but instead found this one:

yes, the babe ruth dodger card is the other one with a green tint variation, and i actually had one stashed away in a box. with that stroke of luck, i decided to lay out a couple of bucks for the richert variation

so that i could feel complete with my dodger team set.

with st. patrick's day coming up in a couple of days, i may as well continue the green theme and show off some shawn green cards that entered my collection in 2022, and there were a few!

the newest cards come from 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary

those would be the base, xfractor, and black & white mini diamonds refractor. green looks a bit creepy on these cards, like topps put him through a de-aging cgi program.

green wasn't included in the dodgers' 2000 topps stadium club set, which is probably why i did not have his 2000 topps stadium club chrome card until last year

and the same goes for his 2000 topps stadium club chrome refractor card

the checklist i was using was just a straight copy of the non-chrome set. this is one of the things that tcdb did for me - clarify some old team sets that were cobbled together from sometimes less than reliable sources.

here's his 2000 topps stars card

which i think was among my most wanted cards for a while.

green had a second card in the 2000 bowman's best set

and he has a bunch of cards in 2000 topps tek

thanks to all the patterns involved. these four cards got me up to six different patterns, i believe.

i already had his 2003 upper deck first pitch season highlights card, but added another

since it highlights his 4 home run game in milwaukee that i had the good fortune to attend in person. in to the "cards featuring games i have seen in person" mini collection!

2004 bowman chrome

is one of the more forgettable bochro designs with the speed hump. topps wasn't trying very hard.

2004 donruss studio

gives us a shot of downtown la. i've always enjoyed being able to see downtown from dodger stadium.

2004 fleer showcase

captures green with his goatee 

2005 donruss prime patches

is called "prime patches" but this is just a big piece of blue jersey.

2005 topps gallery artist's proof

i like this impressionist rendering of green's swing.

and now for some shiny. sort of.

i have learned that 2001 bowman heritage chrome

does not scan well.

slightly better is 2003 topps heritage chrome

and better than that is 2004 topps heritage chrome

but only because the background wasn't black to start with.

not a lot of difference (besides the card design) between that 2004 heritage chrome and green's 2005 topps heritage chrome card

but the refractor really sings!

one more refractor, this one from 2005 topps chrome 

that's a lot of green, and as any competent leprechaun knows, there is always gold

at the end of the rainbow post.

have a happy and safe st. patrick's day and don't forget your green!

chronicles of trading with fuji

living where i do, there are plenty of opportunities to pick up kurt suzuki cards, and when i do, i send them to fuji.  i recently sent a 2016 topps chrome blue atomic refractor suzuki card to fuji, as well as a 1991 topps desert shield rickey henderson card, and he returned the favor by sending me some dodger goodness.

leading things off is this 2015 topps pro debut alex verdugo distinguished debut card

baseball america hasn't reached the dodgers yet in their 2017 prospect rankings, but verdugo will be high on the list.  i am hoping that the dodgers don't go crazy trying to get brian dozier from the twins and add prospects like verdugo or cody bellinger to their offer.

other cards that fuji sent reminded me not to get my hopes up too high with verdugo, bellinger, or any of the other dodger prospects, because at one time, greg miller (seen here on his 2002 bowman chrome draft picks & prospects auto card)

thomari story-harden (seen here on his 2003 bowman chrome xfractor)

and jonathan meloan (seen here on his 2008 topps finest green refractor auto card)

were all highly regarded prospects.

one guy who did pan out for the dodgers was willie davis.  fuji and i recently completed a good ol' one-for-one straight up swap of 2015 topps original 1969 cards - my rick monday for his willie davis

3-dog is still high on the los angeles dodger career leaderboards in many categories, leading in hits, at-bats, and runs scored, among others, and i am still actively pursuing dodger buybacks from 2015, so this was a good pickup for my collection.

thanks as always for the trades fuji!