a simple shop to occupy my time

i was out and about in the twin cities a few weeks ago and had some time to kill before an event. it didn't make sense to head home and double back, so i took penn ave to 494 and then lyndale, not to the quarry, but to three stars sportscards.

over the years, these folks have taken their singles inventory from almost exclusively online to having a large number of monster boxes at various pricing to dig through. i used to avoid this shop and their other location in the north metro, but with this newer development, i've been visiting a couple of times a year.

i knew that they typically had some oversized stuff, and quickly found a box of it near the back of the store. with everything priced at two bucks, i didn't think twice to grab this 2009 topps allen & ginter manny ramirez n43 boxtopper

here's the back

that's a pretty decent snapshot of mlb in 2009.

more bigger dodger cards were there for the taking, like this 2017 topps heritage high numbers advertising panel featuring brandon mccarthy

with an actual ad on the back

and this 2018 topps heritage panel featuring walker buehler and alex verdugo

that is ad-less but features anthony rizzo on the back

the backs aren't exclusive to the fronts, if that makes sense, but i don't think there is a kershaw or bellinger back with the verdugo/buehler card on the front.

one more for the post, a 2020 topps heritage willie stargell 1971 topps greatest moments insert

this one is showing a little wear, but it's still pretty cool. here'st he back:

stargell was a very strong man. i recall him taking bp at dodger stadium and hitting the ball very hard.

there were some quarter boxes that were all jumbled up with all sports mixed together, so i fairly quickly started looking at a dollar box. i found a few cards to pull, such as this 2018 bowman draft jeren kendall chrome prospects sky blue refractor /402

2019 topps finest walker buehler refractor

and 2019 topps heritage high numbers aj pollock chrome purple refractor

sure, a dollar is more than these cards are worth in hand, but i'll support retail brick and mortars. plus, with shipping costs rising, i may not be able to get these cards any cheaper anywhere else.

about this time i noticed another patron walking around with a matt kemp autographed card in hand. i asked him where he found it and he pointed to some "as priced" boxes in the center of the store. i mentioned my affinity for kemp, and he noted that he, too, was a dodger fan. in a scene reminiscent of that clip of henry cavill and joey batey quickly bonding over warhammer 40000, we exchanged tcdb handles and by the next day, we were "friends". he's "wischeese", by the way.

we wound up going through some of the 3 dollar boxes at the same time, and i asked him if he was finding anything. his reply was "a lot of dollar cards" which made me laugh. he wasn't wrong, but i still found a few cards to take home for the 3 dollar price.

this 2022 topps update all-star stitches tony gonsolin relic card is the silver parallel, numbered to 50

it was probably marked down because there is some film damage on the right edge, but i'll take it!

wischeese and i agreed that this 2021 panini donruss gavin lux red relic parallel numbered to 99

was at an ok price for the wisconsin native

how about a 2023 topps update jayson heyward card?

seeing that in a 3 buck box let me know that there was more than meets the eye, and sure enough, it's the advanced stat parallel, numbered to 300

one more numbered dodger card i pulled was this 2018 topps archives tommy lasorda purple parallel

it's numbered to 175 on the back:

and it had a "friend" that i will get to later

back to the dollar boxes, here are a couple of non-dodger cards i took. a 2019 topps chrome kevin pillar purple refractor

numbered to 299

and a 2019 topps gypsy queen blake snell fortune teller insert

which is also an indigo parallel, and numbered to 250

the back there predicted a no-no from snell in 2019. they were off by five years, as he threw his first career no-hitter in 2024. matt garza is still the only ray to achieve the feat.

returning to the cards i took from the three dollar box i perused, here's the other 2018 topps archives card i alluded to above - larry doby purple parallel

i guess purple was catching my eye, because here's another purple card i bought. this is a 2020 topps rip card of ozzie albies in purple parallel form

it's numbered to 25, but it's also already ripped

whatever card was inside was long gone, unlike my first encounter with a ripped rip card in a bargain box. just a few more cards to share, here's a 2021 topps update freddie freeman all-star game insert black parallel

numbered to 299

and this is a 2023 topps stadium club orange foil parallel of dontrelle willis

that is numbered to 199

seeing the commissioner's trophy on a card is always fun.

my favorite card of the day was this 2020 topps stadium club travis demeritte autograph card

i think we all agreed back then that demeritte's topps base card was one of the best of the year, and this card features a photo from the same weekend, at least. the scoreboard behind him explains that it was taken during negro leagues weekend, and we recognize the detroit stars uniform demeritte is wearing. i also appreciate the fact that this card provides the best representation of the tigers' retired numbers hanging in the outfield at comerica park that i have seen on cardboard. this one is a keeper for sure.

i made it to my event on time, even though i spent more time in the shop than i had intended. i'll definitely be back to peruse the boxes i didn't get to this time. i'm hoping that wischeese left some dodgers behind!

sarge pricing was not bad at all

i have on ongoing trading partner in sluggo, and every six months or so we exchange boxes of dodger cards for brave cards. as such i am always on the hunt for braves inserts, parallels, and hits at shows to add to the outgoing trade stack.

i came across this 2018 topps archives gary matthews fan favorites autograph card

just after i sent my most recent package to kevin. matthews, aka sarge, has an interesting signature to say the least. anyway, the price was good and when i looked more closely at the card i will admit i thought about keeping it. in a job well done by topps, matthews is shown with the 1979 topps design in a photo from the 1979 season when the braves wore a black armband for team executive bill lucas. i already had a matthews card representing the armband in my collection, however, so the auto will be on its way to sluggo next time i package up some cards. 

my return package from kevin is on its way, but i realized i have been slow to share the goodies from his most recent mailings. i'll try to do that over the next few weeks to do it justice, but in the meantime here are a couple of cards i've received:

2016 bowman inception corey seager auto-relic

and 2018 topps archives signature series joc pederson auto

solid stuff all around. thanks kevin!

my favorite cards of the year - 2018 edition

i recently introduced my mini collection focusing on my favorite cards from each year that i've been a collector. the basic gist is that i wanted to create a space for the cards that i most appreciated having in my collection in the year that they were released. these were cards that i acquired in the year that they were issued, and that i considered to be my favorites at the time. i have disallowed (most) cards that are already in other mini collections in order to avoid having a mini collection consisting of more steve garvey, double plays, and dodger stadium cards.

this one is pretty easy given that i had previously identified my favorite card of 2018 as part of p-town tom's annual contest.

favorite non-dodger card: topps gallery ian kinsler

you can read why i chose this card here, but basically, it's art!

favorite dodger card: topps archives tommy lasorda

i also posted (briefly) about this card before, too - saying "it's great". i can expand on that a bit here. to me, the norm was for managers to have their own card. this was because i began collecting with packs of 1978 topps which featured the fantastic then and now photos of (almost) every manager in the league. so, when i saw cards from 1979 lump the manager in with the team photo, i was bummed. i later discovered that 1978 was somewhat of an anomaly, as topps had combined the manager and team photo card in 1975, 1976, and 1977.

1977 was the first full year that lasorda managed the dodgers - he had taken over at the tail end of the 1976 season following walter alston's retirement, but all the 1977 topps set had to offer was a tiny photo of tommy on the team card. so, i was happy to see him get a solo card in the 1977 design in 2018. so what if the photo is from 1992.

up next, 2007 - stay tuned!

paired up

earlier this year, i complete a trade with brad's blog. i got rid of a number of phillies inserts, parallels and the like, and brad returned the favor with a bunch of dodger cards.  i've scanned some of the cards he sent, and paired them up, at least to start.

those cards are a 2018 topps archives clayton kershaw and a 2004 topps all-time fan favorites reggie smith. both use the 1977 topps design with much success.

there we have two cards from 2015 topps, although they are the purple toys 'r us parallels of brandon league and carl crawford. both of these guys had their best years before joining the dodgers, but they also had some decent moments in dodger blue.

buybacks! the best use of 1989 topps cards of orel hershiser and mike morgan since they were issued in 1989. these are from the 2017 rediscover topps series of buybacks. hopefully there are still enough 1989 topps cards to buy back for 2038 heritage. i am sure that there are.

here's another pair, although it's only one card:

i somehow missed a couple of these 2010 topps legendary lineage cards, including this one of duke snider and andre ethier.

next up is a trio of mike piazza cards, starting with a 2019 topps grapefruit league greats insert

followed by a 2019 topps allen & ginter ginter greats card

and finishing with a black bordered mini

also from 2019 topps allen & ginter.  piazza has been getting some love from topps in recent years as you can tell.

here are a couple of sandy koufax cards - one from 2019 topps allen & ginter

and one from 2015 topps

that last one is a gallery of greats gold parallel insert. it's purty.

one more pair of cards, both from 2017 topps chrome

a couple of xfractors there that look pretty sharp when scanned. the checkerboard is a classic design - reminds me of a pair of vans i had as a kid.

the last card i will show is just a single card and doesn't really fit the theme of this post

still, it's a short print of world series champion walker buehler from 2020 topps heritage. interestingly enough, his pants were still a bit loose back when this photo was taken.

thanks for the trade brad!

2x3 (and other sized) heroes right on time

i have written before about the patches that the dodgers wore in 1999 to celebrate different players, managers, and even a trainer that helped to shape the franchise in the second half of the 20th century.  back then, i bought four of the regular sized patches directly from the dodgers - bill russell, ron cey, kirk gibson, and steve garvey.  i've also picked up some other patches in recent years to flip when i see them being undervalued. these really are sought after by collectors, especially some of the ones that may not have been as popular at the time.

anyway, i recently came across a lot of the miniature version of the patches that included the garvey

i was very happy to bring this one home in to my collection, as the regular sized garvey patch that i own is currently sewn to my dodger jersey.  it measures about 2" x 2.5" and so fits nicely in to a 9-pocket page. 

i've been able to add quite a few pieces to my garvey collection this year, and i was very pleasantly surprised when i received one of the cards i won and found that the seller had included this custom vinyl sticker as a throw-in

it's about the same size as the miniature patch and is a great complement to the official issue.  both measure about 2" x 2.5" and so fit nicely in to 9-pocket pages.

that size is close to the standard card size, which is 2.5" x 3.5". it's so much easier, however, to say 2x3 don't you think?  speaking of which, jedi jeff stuck his head out recently and sent out some cards to many bloggers, myself included.  here's some of what i received...

a hot off the presses (at the time) 2020 topps stadium club mookie betts widevision box topper

it's not a bad job of photoshopping, but it is photoshopped nonetheless. the lack of the nike swoosh is the giveaway, and a search of getty images tells me that the photo used comes from a game in june of 2019.

2019 bowman scout's top 100 chrome alex verdugo

verdugo was the big piece that the dodgers gave up for betts. i wish verdugo well, but i like the trade. i do not like bowman and how it includes chrome cards in the "paper" release and then issues a bowman chrome set later. way too confusing.

2019 topps historic through-lines duke snider / cody bellinger insert

the duke hit 11 postseason home runs in his career (all in the world series, of course) and bellinger has 8 (2 in the world series) so far. steve garvey also had 11 postseason home runs (10 as a dodger) in his career, with only 1 coming in the fall classic.

2019 topps archives fan favorites autograph steve sax

a great certified auto of the 1982 nl rookie of the year. 

2018 topps cody bellinger highlights cards

there is 1/15th of the complete set. can't wait until 2021 for the luis robert highlight set.

2018 topps yasiel puig instant impact insert

including puig in this insert set was a no-brainer. in his first month as a major leaguer, puig hit .440 with 22 runs scored, 8 home runs, and 18 rbi. two months later, he was still hitting .350. that was a fun summer to follow the dodgers.

2018 topps allen & ginter yasiel puig full-size relic

more puig

2018 topps opening day yasiel puig before opening day insert

and even more puig.

2018 topps allen & ginter joc pederson mini

not 2x3 but it still works! 

2018 topps archives walker buehler coming attraction

buehler rookie insert!

2018 topps archives mike piazza turn back the clock subset

celebrating the dodgers' 13th rookie of the year

2020 topps gypsy queen jackie robinson sp

featuring the dodgers' (and the major leagues') first rookie of the year.

2019 bowman cristian santana camo parallel

santana spent 2019 in double-a tulsa, hitting .301. he was a non-roster invitee to spring training earlier this year, but didn't make the 60-man roster. not sure what he did during the season since he wasn't at the alternate training site as far as i can tell.

the last card from jeff to be featured is this defaced 1992 upper deck donn pall card

jeff says these cards were way overdue, i say they were right on time.  thanks jeff!