the birds and the betts

there was no monthly collector's club show in july here in the twin cities and after attending the august show a couple of weeks ago, i think i know why. the building that the show is held in is an old armory in a first tier suburb and has no air conditioning. it was stuffy in august and would have been unbearable in july.

at any rate, i found some cards as usual. i am sure that from the title you expect to see some blue jay or cardinal cards, but actually i was thinking about this 1977 hostess mark fidrych card that i found in a 5/$1 box

it is poorly cut but that's ok.

there were a bunch of hostess cards in the box, and i grabbed a couple others including this horrendously cut 1976 hank aaron

worth twenty cents for sure. still, i wonder if someone was using their toes to work the scissors with this one.

the other part of the title is more obvious - i added a few mookie betts cards to my collection at the show. here's a 2015 topps "robbed" insert

and a 2019 factory set exclusive all-star game variation

i was also happy to find a cache of 2022 topps uk edition cards, including the "career year" inserts that were only found in that release. here's betts' card from that set

and here is the lone dodger in the set, clayton kershaw

2014 was not a triple crown year for kershaw, but it was the year that he won both the cy young and mvp award.

this same seller also had dollar boxes that were really 71 cent boxes and then even less when all is said and done as this guy gives pretty good discounts.

i found a few parallels from these boxes such as a green foil miguel rojas 2024 topps card

and a 2001 fleer ultra tom goodwin gold medallion edition card

one of my favorite card finds was a 2017 topps rediscover topps buyback card of joel skinner from 1992 topps

i appreciate this card because back in 2001, i pulled a 1992 joel skinner card from a pack of topps. they were inserting buyback cards in packs back then, but not marking them in any way. so, while i beat the odds, what i really had was just another 1992 common. so, i appreciate the stamping of buybacks these days.

other cards of interest that came from this seller include a 2016 topps heritage clay buchholz card

it's not a variation as far as i can tell, but buccholz is wearing the 4th of july hat and uni from 2015

here's the original 1967 design but it's a diamond cut vada pinson card

i also randomly picked up a 1997 upper deck collector's choice ken griffey jr checklist

that explains the difference between a subset and an insert

i was an annual collector of collector's choice but i don't remember these checklists.

there's another regular seller with dime boxes that i typically spend some time with, and i found some keepers there this month. this 1993 pacific nolan ryan texas express 27 seasons card

goes into my retired number collection as a sort of header card. i suppose it could also be a lurker card as rod carew is featured along with ryan.

a couple of new to me double play cards include a 2023 topps heritage brandon drury card

and a 2013 topps asdrubal cabrera purple parallel

here's another 2013 topps purple parallel that i picked up - it's carlos pena

i have cooled my pursuit of tatooine cards, but the color combo on this card appealed to me.

i also found some vladimir guerrero cards for my collection including this 1998 fleer ultra kid gloves insert

and then there is one for my name/number on the back collection from 2023 topps black & white

my first thought when i saw this card was when did cody bellinger play for the rockies?

another seller had some cheap autos and relics, and i bought the 1996 leaf signature series steve sparks card

just because of the knuckleball grip he is sporting

there were some in person autos in the box, and while i tend to shy away from these, i did pick up two bob welch signed cards

and one davey lopes card

for the collection. those were just under two bucks apiece.

the last dealer i stopped at had vintage bargain bins filled with oddballs. i chose a 1963 topps tommy davis peel off

and a 1975 hostess twinkies don sutton panel

with plenty of black bar showing on the back

that was the most expensive card of the day for me with a tag of $5

the last card i bought was another "bird" - a 1975 fleer cloth patch old hoss radbourn card

featuring his famously extended middle digit. here is the back:

as i was asking the seller about reducing the price of the sutton panel, i heard the person to my left say my name. it was none other than brian from highly subjective completely arbitrary! i've met up with him at this show many times, but didn't think to check with him before heading out to this one.

as always, brian had some cards for me, which brings me to even more mookie betts cards!

2024 topps heritage white border parallel

2023 topps stadium club mookie betts chief fantasy professional insert

and a 2024 topps royal blue parallel

that also features freddie freeman

a non-mookie card from brian that was great to see was this 2016 topps bunt joc pederson moon shots insert

it's numbered to 50 which belies the low end product that bunt was thought to be back then.

let the leftys have their day

it's international left handers day. i am not left handed, although i hit left handed well enough - or at least i could a few years ago. ned flanders can assure you that left handed folk living in a right handed world face an array of challenges, so i suppose they can have a day for themselves.

topps played on the left handedness of some all-time great pitchers back in 2001 with this combo card:

the mullet is strong with the big unit. the card comes from 2001 topps chrome. i bought it recently when i decided to turn my attention to topps chrome dodger team sets. i am still in need of some base cards, but i couldn't pass up a cheap insert like this one that features randy johnson, warren spahn, steve carlton, and sandy koufax. 

speaking of koufax, here's a 2019 topps allen & ginter card

that was, at one time, one of my most wanted cards.

a few years ago, the dodgers' starting rotation was 80% leftys, with hyun-jin ryu, rich hill, alex wood, and clayton kershaw each starting at least 24 games. here's a kershaw insert card from 2020 topps

and a 2016 topps bunt card of a current left starter, julio urias

that card came from the collector as part of his recent basketball pwe swap. thanks chris!

here are a couple of cards from cards on cards featuring the other lefty in the dodgers' current rotation, david price. this one is from 2020 topps update

and this is from 2020 topps chrome update

thanks kerry!

i bought this 1999 fleer si greats of the game tommy john autograph card

many months ago. john was one of the leftys on the team of my youth. 

tommy john never did win a world series, but the rest of the guys in this post all know the feeling conveyed on kershaw's 2021 topps stadium club card

so let them have their day.

champions!

not much more to say other than i am very happy with the results of the 2020 baseball postseason! 32 years is a long time for die-hard fans, but i recognize that the same fans of other teams have waited longer (or are still waiting) for a title.

i didn't start writing this post until this morning, given the fact that the rays were still alive and the dodgers had lost game 4 in disturbing fashion. i didn't really relax until julio urias struck out willy adames to end the series, and even then i had a jack buck moment - "is this really happening?". it was and it did and i am happy for the organization and my fellow fans.

to celebrate, here's a 2016 topps bunt titletown insert that i've been wanting to post for awhile now

it's the gold parallel, and it's numbered 06/50. that is steve garvey's number as well as the number of titles the dodgers had until last night. duke snider, sandy koufax, and the garv should make room on this card for orel hershiser and clayton kershaw or mookie betts or corey seager.

here's the back of the card

offering the same view of los angeles as on the front. the asterisk can be removed - the dodgers now have six world series titles in los angeles.

i mentioned the skyline on the above card because i have another card to show that missed that mark.  as you are aware, the los angeles lakers are also world champions just as they were in 1988 - the last time the dodgers won the title. until last night.  this is a printing plate from 2019 leaf in the game used sports

specifically, it's the "we built this city" (i am really sorry if that song is stuck in your head now) black printing plate of the kareem abdul-jabbar and steve garvey dual relic card

but the skyline is not that of los angeles.  kareem was also a member of the 1982 champion lakers, who won that title in june of 1982. at that time, garvey and the dodgers were still world champions of baseball. there is another card in this set that matches up magic johnson and fernando valenzuela, and now magic is part-owner of the dodgers and was in texas last night for the clincher.

it is strange that the title was won in texas by beating a team from florida, but that is what happened. the dodgers have still not been able to celebrate a world series win in dodger stadium since 1963. since then, the dodgers have celebrated in minnesota (1965), new york (1981), oakland (1988), and now texas, while the yankees (1978), astros (2017), and red sox (2018) have claimed the title in los angeles.  i recently added a card to my dodger stadium collection from 2018 topps now that features one of those celebrations.

the back of the card shows the red sox raising the trophy in dodger stadium with the retired numbers (and microphones) of dodger greats appearing in the background. at least, that's what the picture on topps' website showed

those numbers don't show up on cardboard too often, so i bought the card on ebay for cheap. when it arrived, the back was much darker and looked like this:

i am pretty sure that the photo shows all but pee wee reese, tommy lasorda, and duke snider, but it is tough to tell, even when referencing the photograph from getty images.  

i am thinking that i knew this back in 2018 when the card was issued and that is why i didn't buy it then. oh well.

here's another picture from getty images of the left field facade that hosts the numbers and microphones:

those numbers would be 1 (reese), 2 (lasorda), 4 (snider), 19 (jim gilliam), 20 (don sutton), 24 (walter alston), 32 (koufax), 39 (roy campanella), 42 (jackie robinson), 53 (don drysdale), plus two microphones for jaime jarrin and vin scully.

do you know what is mounted on the right field side of the stadium? the championship banners:

and now they'll have to make room for another!

journey to the bottom of the box and other killer tales of trading

i've made quite a few trades over the last few months, and i dutifully began drafting trade posts for each transaction.  failing to publish these posts has led me to consolidate and use this singular post to get caught up. almost. it began innocently enough, but i have added more and more trades to the post, and so this has been over two months in the making. time to hit 'publish'

jt at the writer's journey sent a few dodgers my way, including a 1989 fleer kirk gibson box bottom card

which was great because i'm trying to kill 1989 from my want lists once and for all.  other cards included in the pwe were a 2016 topps holiday adrian gonzalez

and some 2016 topps bunt dodgers - koufax, joc, and julio urias

i requested a block of 2016 topps stadium club from 2x3 heroes as part of his annual card purge, and jeff obliged.

here's brock holt doing his steve holt (steve holt!) impression

a nice derek norris tattooine card

and one from peter o'brien as well

and finally a freddy galvis double play

jeff also included some dodgers, like this 2016 topps national baseball card day corey seager card

and this 2016 topps museum club yasiel puig parallel

not to be outdone, i received a great pwe from brian of waxaholic, which included three base dodger cards from that set, including puig

with kenley jansen and joc pederson along for the ride.

also included were cards from 2017 topps archives, such as this clayton kershaw card

and the manny mota autographed card!

plus, brian included a relic of triple-crown line king, marcel dionne

i've pared down my hockey collection to largely a luc robitaille collection, but dionne, in the purple forum blue jersey, will have a place.

p-town tom sent me a bunch of dodger cards, many of which featured rookies of the year

1997 topps jackie robinson

2001 fleer focus joe black roy collection

1993 topps gold mike piazza

1993 topps traded mike piazza

now, that 1993 topps traded card was one of the most highly anticipated cards for a dodger collector since, perhaps, the 1988 topps traded kirk gibson card.  topps didn't disappoint, with what looks like a shea stadium home run, but i was also looking forward to piazza's 1994 topps card.  topps took the lazy route for that one

they used a photo from the same play, and one that was not as interesting.  that's the gold parallel version, by the way.

continuing on with roys, here's a 1995 fleer ultra raul mondesi card

and a 1996 fleer ultra hideo nomo card

tom - you can go ahead and send me all of your corey seager and cody bellinger cards, too.

speaking of roys, colbey at cardboard collections has a recurring "free cards" segment, and i was able to snag this 1997 fleer circa todd hollandsworth fast track insert

which features a felt surfaced green background for some reason.  four years later, upper deck gave us the most well known felt set with the 2001 legends of new york release.

more roy action from jon at a penny sleeve for your thoughts.  he loaded up the package with rauuuuuul featuring cards from 1996 leaf steel

this one is a promo

and here's a 1998 leaf anniversary card featuring mondesi's 1992 gold leaf rookie card reimagined as a fractal matrix card

the 90's were strange times

jon also added a few pacific cards - 1996 pacific crown collection gold crown die-cut

1998 pacific revolution

(that's the base card!), and 1998 pacific revolution showstoppers

gavin at baseball card breakdown also brought the pacific, but in the form of a 2000 kevin brown serial numbered parallel

plus he sent another serial numbered card, this one a 2011 topps tier one jackie robinson card

gavin also sent a bunch of customs of mine that he prepped and printed for which i am very grateful.  and then, i received my cards from his big fun game which included a couple of doug fister cards

along with some other items such as the gold surfer parallel of the beach boys' dodger stadium card

and some customs of gavin's own making - cody bellinger

and a diff'rent strokes reggie jackson/gary coleman mini

just because he could, i suppose.

more custom goodness, this time courtesy of gio from when topps had (base)balls.  this was not really a trade in the standard cards-for-cards sense, but i did purchase gio's 1978 topps custom booklet which featured his take on a 1978 topps brooks robinson card that should have been

it is very well done.

peter at baseball every night sent me a sandy koufax card from 2017 topps archives

and i hit him back with a 1995 topps john kruk card.  sounds unfair to me, but i think he was pleased!

night owl continues to send me some of his hand-me-downs, including a 1977 dover reprint of willie davis's 1969 topps card

i had the dover reprint pages that covered the 1909-11 t206, 1933 goudey, playball, and other releases, but i did not know dover was reprinting modern cards at the time.

here's a 2013 panini hometown heroes card of shawn green

it's the gold parallel of his curtain call insert which celebrates his historic day at the plate on may 23, 2002 in milwaukee - a game which i attended, i am happy to say.  i don't recall green giving a curtain call since it was in milwaukee, but i was busy high-fiving my friend and others around us after the fourth home run, so i don't really recall for sure.

some other cards night owl included were of help in my quest to finish the 2016 topps allen & ginter numbers game insert set (i still need a few, by the way).  two of the cards allow us to play another installment of "quien es mas macho?"

both rollie fingers

and felix hernandez

are in the set with their number 34.

the back of the fingers card lists other greats to have worn 34

as does the back of hernandez's card

with the difference being that fingers is named on the back of the hernandez card, while hernandez is not named on the back of the fingers card. for this battle, i will say that rollie fingers es mas macho.

i'm writing this part of the post on may 3 while watching the dodgers play the giants.  vin scully was inducted into the dodgers' ring of honor before the game, julio urias held the giants scoreless through five innings, and pedro baez has done the same through 2/3 of the sixth inning.  so, i'm in a good enough mood to give thanks to one of the blogosphere's best giant fans.

mr. haverkamp sent me some cards as he has done in the past, but this time there were no dodgers.  instead, he took a swing at my 1972 topps set.  he did better than harmon killebrew, who looks to have popped up a pitch on his in action card

i would say that the cards sent my way went for extra bases, as there were two league leader cards. one featured killebrew and two future dodgers

and the other featured tony o, a future giant, and possibly the best known merv not named griffin

next up is a boyhood photo of willie stargell as a baseball player

no trout fishin' or accordion playin' for pops.

tony perez was another card that i needed

and was reminded instantly of the days of the big red machine squaring off against the big blue wrecking crew even though perez was an expo when i started following the game.

the last of the 1972's to show here is dodger nemesis jose cruz

cruz hit .286 against the dodgers over his career, most of which was spent with the astros.  as a kid, i would have thought that he was batting over .400 against them.  he always seemed to be on base. i remember listening to a game in which he hit a game ending home run to beat the dodgers and had already accepted it as fate before he actually hit the ball.

jim also sent a couple of cards for my 2002 topps 206 set build, one of which being the team 206 larry walker card

larry looks like someone just told him that they thought mike piazza should have been the mvp in 1997. i'd like to believe that, but walker had some ridiculous numbers that year - better than piazza's - even though he didn't win the batting title with a .366 average (tony gwynn hit .372)!

thanks to mr. haverkamp and all the others for the great cards! i'm still in a good mood because the dodgers are up 1-0 now, and ross stripling struck out the side in the top of the 7th! go dodgers!

since i failed to hit publish on the 3rd, i can report now that my mood turned as the dodgers went and lost the game in 11 innings.  still, i am happy to have complete all of these trades! thanks for the cards!

ps - i waited so long to post this that mr. haverkamp sent me another envelope with a couple of goodies - this 2016 topps allen & ginter joc pederson mini

and this 1981 topps ron cey collcting box

you've probably seen it already on another blog, but it's a cool enough item of a member of the infield of my youth to show here as well.

thanks again mr. haverkamp and all of my trading partners!