smaller fish from the rivercentre card show

growing up in the 1970's and 80's, video games were a huge part of my youth. we didn't have pong, which got its own card from 2021 topps heritage

but we did have a single console game centered around tanks that worked through a sort of maze firing at each other. we later skipped the atari 2600 and went for the atari 800 computer and then spent an ungodly amount of time playing centipede and frogger in our family room. when i wasn't sorting my baseball cards, of course.

the heritage card was one of many i picked up at the semi-annual card show in st. paul last month, in addition to the dollar box cards i shared previously in this post.

i began that show by picking out sixty cards from a dime box plus eight from a quarter box for 8 bucks. these boxes were sorted by team which was great. i found a number of dodgers for my collection, including 2022 panini capstone summit inserts of mookie betts and freddie freeman

and a pair of 2023 topps chrome sapphire edition cards of walker buehler and tony gonsolin

along with a 2023 bowman insert of andy pages

i learned recently that his last name is not pronounced as "pages" like a book.

there were a number of numbered cards that i grabbed, including a couple of dodgers

and some others that i can use in trades.

i grabbed a couple of insert cards that would fit in rex ryan's collection from 2022 topps

including a rare dime box appearance by mike trout.

the higher priced cards included parallels such as these

all former dodgers at this point, but still dodgers in my collection.

this seller and i bonded over the simple joy of sorting cards. he got a wistful look on his face while talking about it, in fact.

i also took 20 cards from a 50 cent box that i got for seven bucks. these included run of the mill parallels like a 2021 topps gypsy queen mookie betts green

and the chrome version of the 2021 topps update 1992 redux clayton kershaw card

i also found a fair amount of heritage in this box, including a 2024 emmet sheehan card

for the team set. in all, i didn't see a whole lot of 2024 heritage at the show which was somewhat surprising as it was the newest release at the time.

other heritage sets were represented, including the atari card above and 2021 high numbers with roberto clemente

and 1972 world series

inserts. i am sort of annoyed that these sorts of cards didn't happen with last year's heritage, because joe ferguson deserved a card for his throw from the outfield in game 1 of the 1974 world series to nail sal bando at the plate.

i also grabbed a couple of (very) base relic cards from 2021 panini donruss

the pache goes into my trade pile with sluggo, and i have a soft spot for keston hiura and hope he turns his career around. zot!

this seller told me that he spent thursday (i was there on friday) going through the bargain boxes of other dealers to populate his box, so i am guessing that these were all dime or quarter cards at the time he bought them.

speaking of dimes, i had two quarters in my pocket and so picked five cards from a true dime box that another seller had off to the side of their setup. this was a classic dime box with stuff that had probably been in there for 20 years or more. here's what i took:

1995 topps stadium club clearcut greg vaughn

1995 topps stadium club ring leaders will clark

1999 upper deck century legends memorable shots carlton fisk

and kirk gibson

and 2017 topps gallery canvas sean newcomb

the two century legends cards go in the name/number on the back mini-collection. the others include an acetate card and the most pacific looking insert topps has ever produced, and a card for sluggo. after i put down my fifty cents, the seller somewhat jokingly told me to "take some more" cards. i wasn't sure if they were serious, so i didn't follow through.

i found a fifty cent box from another seller that netted a couple of dodger needs, including a 2020 topps gallery jackie robinson short print

and a 2020 topps update mike piazza turkey red chrome parallel

along with a couple of other hall of famer cards:

 2020 topps gallery rickey henderson hall of fame gallery

and 2022 topps heritage hank aaron 1973 comics

which includes an eddie mathews appearance. i paid the full price of $2 for these! 

last, but not least, i took 3 cards from the 3 for $10 box that another seller had laid out. with this box, i limited myself to three cards and didn't pick any dodger cards. or any cards that i think will ultimately stay in my collection to be honest. they were more cards that intrigued me. like....

2012 leaf history of baseball jim colborn cut autograph

here's the back

this card amused me because colborn added the notation of "major league pitcher". i would love to know the background behind the source for this autograph. was he at a mixer? a celebrity golf tournament after party? did this come from a nametag? so many questions. as for colborn himself, he is a former dodger pitching coach with whom i've had a short interaction so the card spoke to me beyond just the interesting inscription.

2018 topps gold label lucas sims gold framed autograph red #/25

another one that will likely be added to the sluggo pile. wish i could find a similar card of a dodger in these boxes!

last but not least, here's a 2016 leaf perfect game yellow printing plate auto 1/1 of jo adell

and the back

adell is still only 25 years old, and is set as the angels' primary right fielder this year. he's on pace for just about 30 home runs, and i am rooting for him and prospectors everywhere that he breaks out! at any rate, a signed printing plate for $3.33 is not a bad deal as far as i am concerned.

i have some cards from one more seller at this show to share and then i'll move on to my visit to a houston card show and what came out of that. stay tuned!

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - setting your guardians down edition

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he took the mound against the guardians this past wednesday night in cleveland. he struck out 4 batters to give him 115 strikeouts on the season. those 4 guardians that he k'd increased his career total to 2,922.

in honor of his performance, here are 4 cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,919 through 2,922.

2,919 - 2019 bowman heritage veterans/rookies

2,920 - 2020 topps gallery heritage

2.921 - 2021 topps allen & ginter silver portrait

2,922 - 2022 topps allen & ginter pitching a gem

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who struck out 5 in his return from the il on tuesday, has a career strikeout total of 2,960. kershaw is now 38 k's behind greinke and 78 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw pitched only two innings against the guardians, as the grounds crew rolled out the tarp right after kershaw recorded his fourth strikeout of the night. there was no rain, however, until 28 minutes later. curious.

it looks like kershaw's next start will come against the diamondbacks in los angeles early next week, meaning he won't start on short rest in boston this weekend. regardless of when he makes his next start or how many k's he posts, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

the art (and the garv) in the deal

i may well be the last of the beneficiaries of nick's generous 10th anniversary giveaway to show my haul, but that's ok. the number of cards and effort put forth by nick should continue to be acknowledged - it really was a tremendous undertaking by him, and i am grateful for it.

it turns out that my favorite card of the package wasn't even one i requested. it was this 2020 topps gallery max muncy card:

fantastic. muncy's 2019 topps gallery card is on my nefarious nine (my most wanted list) as it will be a team set killer, but this card would have been on that list had i known what it looked like. it is the most artistic of the dodger base cards in the set and the background really reminds me of a paul klee work. i like paul klee works.

that's not to say that the rest of the cards weren't great - they definitely were! i mean, i don't receive reggie smith cards

in a trade package too often! even though i already had both his 1989 smokey dodger greats and 1981 topps scratch-off cards, it was great to see the right fielder from the team of my youth make an appearance.  ditto for the penguin

whose scratch-off card was also included.

there were plenty of cards that i did need, like this 2005 topps pristine johnny podres card

and this 2020 topps chrome will smith insert

this 2021 topps stadium club chrome gavin lux card

got me one step closer to completing that team set, as did this 1990 cmc glenn hoffman card

the then-future dodger manager is featured as the uncommon player/coach which is always fun to see.

this 2020 topps holiday metallic snowflake clayton kershaw card

was my first card from that set. 

nick is a fellow double play collector, and he sent a couple of regional oddballs for me to add to my collection - a 1998 msc brewers jose valentin

(hello sammy sosa), and a 1993 donruss mcdonald's blue jays roberto alomar

(hello kent hrbek).

one of the first cards i claimed in the giveaways was this 2019 topps big league mike trout wall climbers insert

it and this 2011 topps lineage david ortiz card

that i also claimed fit in my "name/number on the back" mini-collection.

there were usually plenty of vladimir guerrero cards that were included in the giveaways. i didn't claim any, but nick did send a few my way. a couple of them that were new to me are this 2003 topps 205 card

which is a variation due to the white in the expos logo, and this 2005 leaf card

always great to add to my vladdy collection!

the one card i claimed that i was most excited about was this 1986 fleer league leaders card of dave parker

it's not a rare card, nor is it of any real value, but it does feature ryne sandberg and (i am pretty certain) joe garagiola lurking in the background. but the biggest thing for me is the player to parker's left. i am confident that it is none other than steve garvey. the photo used here comes from the 1985 all-star game in the metrodome, and you may recall that parker and garvey (and dale murphy) were featured on a 1986 fleer superstar special card in the flaghsip set from the field of the homerdome. those three, along with sandberg and jack clark, represented the national league in the first all-star home run derby held prior to the 1985 midsummer classic.

i will admit that i didn't notice garvey there until after i had claimed the card and took a closer look. i am very thankful to nick for featuring this card and allowing me to add a card to my garvey collection! 

thanks nick and congratulations again on 10 years of producing enjoyable, entertaining, and informative posts! 

some cards i acquired all of a sodden

i've been pretty steady with ordering cards from sportlots for the last 10 years or so. it is fairly rare that i don't have an order in the works, in fact. just recently, i ordered some cards from a couple of sellers - nothing special, but still cards that i was able to remove from my want list.

cards like this 2021 topps mookie betts 52 redux

and a cody bellinger from the same insert set

i've mentioned before that clayton kershaw is my first go-to when i need to fill out a sportlots order to maximize my shipping value. i did just that when i picked up this 2018 panini donruss green holo parallel

of kershaw's 1984 design card in the set, as well as this blue holo parallel

of kershaw's 2021 panini donruss card.

i also picked up a pink refractor parallel from 2020 topps chrome

and a rainbow foil from 2020 topps update

of the dodger lefty.

i had not added any 2020 topps gallery to my collection (and i'm not complaining), but i did pick up two copies of this card

featuring kershaw and walker buehler - one for the team collection and one for the dodger stadium collection.

the other cards from this particular order were from 1994, such as a score gold rush parallel of darryl strawberry

a topps finest card of jim gott

and a golden rainbow parallel from topps stadium club of rafael bournigal

there was one other card in this haul, and that was this one - the golden rainbow parallel of orel hershiser's stadium club card

i posted a couple of weeks ago about selling my base dupe of this card on ebay. the next day, i followed up on a comment on that post and saw that someone had added this card to sportlots, but at the reasonable and normal 18 cents.  i bought it, along with all of the other cards in this post, with the earnings i made from the regular base version of the hershiser card. in other words, i traded a base card for its parallel version, plus 11 other cards. crazy times.