let's play hockey! and to the game?

i really do appreciate folks who trade cards through the mail. whether it's through tcdb (i have yet to complete a trade that way) or through email or blog posts, it's not a small effort these days to pull cards and get them on their way. it's even more difficult to send cards into this country at the moment, so angus of dawg day cards deserves a hearty thanks for sending me some items in return for my "almost free stuff friday" event.

plus, it is now hockey season (although it's still baseball season in my world), and the local club started out the season strong with a shutout in st. louis. i'll get to the hockey content in a moment...

i really should have held off on my post showing some of the other returns i received, as these items were en route at that time and they really do bring the international flair i alluded to in the post. first up is a near complete dodger team set of stickers from 1992 panini

however, these are the canadian version of the stickers as you could probably tell by the french position translations. it's always fun to see "premier but" on baseball cards or stickers.

missing from the set are the dodger team logo/header sticker and mike scioscia's sticker. i will for sure need to track those down. the backs of the stickers invite you to "au jeu!"

which is how they have translated "play ball". based on my rudimentary french knowledge, i would have thought that "au jeu" would be "to the game" (and not to be confused with "au jus" which is "with juice"). with these stickers printed in italy, were there some further language barriers in place? i would be interested to know how a french speaking umpire would say "play ball", and now that i think about it "to the game" sort of makes sense.

the other card that angus sent was one of my most wanted non-dodger cards - a 2013-14 o-pee-chee luc robitaille card

minimal french, even on the back

but it's understandable as there is not really any room for a bilingual bio. robitaille remains my favorite hockey player and i was happy each time he returned to the kings. i've replaced this robitaille card with a ron cey oddball on my most wanted non-dodger list, but i would think luuuuuuuuuuuuuc would reappear on that list at some point. i really need to get the rest of my collection (including my robitailles) entered into tcdb so i have better access to what i am missing.

thanks angus for the cards and for avoiding strikes and tariffs!

still accepting autographs through the mail (and even unsigned returns, too)

it's been a while since i've sent out a autograph request through the mail - five months, to be exact - and even then it was just four requests. i am certainly not sending them out at the clip i was back in 2009 or 2010, that's for sure.  of the four that i sent out this past july, i've received two back. those would be andruw jones and a guy i'll show a little further down in the post.  i have, however, received  in the past few months some returns for which requests were sent well before july of 2016.

here is my latest return, and i'm calling it a qualified success.  that's because even though clayton kershaw did not sign the 2015 topps card that i mailed his way on february 15, 2015, earlier today i found that unsigned card and this card in my return envelope

that's not a regular ol' 2016 topps card.  turn it over, and you'll see what i mean:

it's a special card topps made for kershaw to highlight his kershaw's challenge charity.  go ahead and check out the website. i'll wait.  i have some kershaw ttm returns already in the collection, plus a few certified autos (including the one i pulled recently, which is not as some may suspect my favorite card of the year - stay tuned for that p-town tom inspired post), so i am actually pretty happy with having received this card instead of the one i sent.  the front is slightly embossed, too.  it's a fantastic oddball item, even if it's the same photo as his topps flagship card.

here's the other request from july that has been fulfilled - jose cruz jr on his 2006 topps card

it made its way back to me earlier this month, which is fairly quick compared to some other returns i've got back this calendar year.  for example, i received a 1978 topps card signed by steve swisher this past april. it was a card that i mailed to him in august of 2011 - 4 years and 8 months earlier!  brandon league signed and returned a 2013 topps card 3 years and 7 months after i first mailed it, and grady little returned a 2006 upper deck and 2007 topps card signed in february - almost two years after they were mailed to him.  bill north took 2 years and 8 months to return his 1979 topps card unsigned with a note telling me how to arrange for an autograph through a website, so it's safe to say that alfredo griffin came through with a quick turnaround on my request for him to sign his 1988 topps traded card

it came back to me in september, almost exactly one year after i mailed it out.

and then there is this pete mackanin 1978 topps card

that took 5.5 years! i sent it out in may of 2011 and got it back just last month.

that gives me hope for the shawn green request i sent back in 2003!