these cards maeda my day

he may not pitch for the dodgers any longer, but i can still get excited about adding kenta maeda cards to my collection. i recently added two numbered parallels, in fact, including this very nice 2016 topps finest gold card

and this red parallel 2016 donruss optic card

from kevin aka the diamond king. he also threw in a pink wave refractor of craig kimbrel

from 2022 topps chrome update, which i was also happy to accept. these cards were in return for me sending a couple of 2016 topps julio urias cards kevin's way, and i think he may have overcompensated me!

earlier in the spring, i received a text from mr. haverkamp letting me know that there would be something showing up in my mailbox around opening day. here is what he sent:

you have likely seen these cards if you do any player searches on ebay. it's an aceo card by edward vela, and there are a few garveys out there. here's the back:

i've never pulled the trigger on any of these, but i am happy to have one. jim reported that he came across a seller at a show that had quite a few for sale. thanks for thinking of me, jim!

before that even, i received some cards from nachos grande as part of his "not so secret santa" project. i was happy to find a couple of 1995 score summit dodgers that i needed

among the stack of cards that were sent. so happy, in fact, that i went out and picked up billy ashley's card

to complete the team set

chris also sent a trio of vlads that i needed

hailing from 1999 pacific, 1999 topps opening day, and 2000 topps stars. merry belated christmas!

bo at baseball cards come to life reached out to me earlier this year to see if i wanted some 2006 bowman chrome dodgers that he had found. i sure did!

there was also one from 2007

and all were needs that i was able to check off the want list. thanks bo!

more recently, jon at penny sleeves held a ridiculous giveaway that many of us benefitted from. i claimed a few cards, including this 2012 panini cooperstown

insert that extolls the virtues of don drysdale's career.  jon also sent me a 2017 topps silver pack jackie robinson card

so much generosity out there in the blogosphere - thanks to all for contributing to my collection!

kazmir confusion

i took part in one of the affordable group box breaks hosted by colbey at cardboard collections recently. it was for the one and done 2017 honus bonus release.  i had actually opened a couple of packs of this when it came out (the packs were included in an ebay purchase from a seller that i used to buy a bunch of loose packs from) but i had found no dodgers in those packs.

i wasn't able to join any of the subsequent breaks, so i requested shipment of the cards.  when they arrived, this was the card that was showing on top.

scott kazmir pitching in san francisco threw me for a loop. my first instinct was "these are the wrong cards". i had completely forgotten that kazmir was a dodger in 2016. the lack of logos didn't help, but the next card put me in the right mind.

that's a clayton kershaw silver foil parallel.  the rest of the cards from my haul were normal, recognizable dodgers:

it's a colorful black & white set.

colbey also threw in some cards, perhaps from a different break? these were 1995 topps bazooka cards, and among the dodgers he included were these two guys

tim wallach and billy ashley just happened to be the two dodgers i was missing from my team set! i had not expected to complete a team set with this break, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

i encourage you to watch colbey's site. his affordable group breaks feature some fun releases, and they are quite affordable.  thanks colbey!