the 2018 dodger 60th anniversary giveaways reach the 1990's

this is old news, but the most recent installment of the dodgers' 60th anniversary card giveaways celebrated the 1990's with the 1994 design and italian-american superstar slugger mike piazza 

receiving the hall-of-famer slot in the set.  piazza follows sandy koufax (50's and 60's), don sutton (70's), and tommy lasorda (80's) as the rotating player to accompany the usual suspects in these sets

piazza and his rookie-of-the-year cohorts get a mention on the header card, along with lasorda, chan ho park, and the o'malleys

the 90's were the first decade since the 1930's that the dodgers did not appear in a world series. i was dismayed at their lack of postseason success that decade - they won the division in 1995 and the wild card in 1996, but were swept in the nlds both years.  of course, they were in first place in the nl west when the strike occurred, so maybe 1994 was supposed to be their year.

the 2000's are next, with the giveaway in early august. the rumors are that the 2001 topps design is being used, and i am once again trying to guess who the hall-of-famer spot will go to.  i will assume that the 2010's set will feature clayton kershaw in that spot, so the 2000's has to be vin scully, right?  here's hopin'...

this won't be the last

i am bearing down on my 1971 topps set.  i was about ten cards away from completion when i pulled the trigger on card #630

i wanted a psa version for the authenticity assurance, but mr. clemente will soon be freed from the slab.  i also didn't want the clemente to be the last card that i needed to complete the set, in part so that i wouldn't be tempted to overpay just to complete the set.  i waited and watched for quite some time, and found a card that was in a condition and price range that worked for me.  now, with this card out of the way, the rest of the needs should be more manageable.  here's the list of cards i still need, just in case anyone has dupes.

there was an article on uni-watch a year or so ago that claimed the 1971 topps roberto clemente card was 'the perfect baseball card' based on the author's criteria, and i agree that it is a great card no matter your method of assessment.

however, there is another pirates card that gives clemente a run for his money.  no, not his 1973 topps card, but rather this 1988 donruss baseball's best bob walk card.

we all know how great bob walk cards are, and the fact that the pirate pitcher (and namesake of the recently retired bob walk the plank blog) is standing in dodger stadium just sent the baseball card perfection meter to 11.

but seriously, i added this card to the post because i wanted to add my voice to the others wishing matt all the best away from the blogging about cards. i appreciate the time that he gave to this community and his generosity in trades that improved so many of our collections.  thanks matt!

ttm blasts from the past

forever stamps are a good thing, especially when it comes to through the mail autograph requests.  one just never knows when (or if) a request will be filled.  i've received a few in the last couple of months that i figured i would share.

first up is danny heep, who signed a 1989 topps

1989 fleer

and 1989 score

card for me.  this return was relatively quick as i sent the cards out on february 1st, and received the cards back on june 13.

here's brett butler who has signed for me in the past. 

i didn't have a 1991 topps traded card in my autograph collection until this one came back, but i can't update my topps dodger autograph project since butler is representing a different release.  i sent that card to butler on february 11, 2017 and got it back on april 2, 2018.  not quite 14 months.

ken howell was the dodger bullpen coach for a long time. he was replaced this season by former phenom mark prior.  would you believe that i received my 1985 topps traded card back from howell over five years after i sent it to him?

well, you should, because that is the truth.  i sent to howell on february 18, 2013 and received it back on may 29, 2018.  that length of time was not quite the longest wait i've endured - pete mackanin took five-and-a-half years to return a card to me.

however, mackanin was unseated about a month ago when i found some todd benzinger cards in my mailbox - 1993 topps 

and 1992 topps stadium club

he kept a 1989 upper deck card.  i sent these cards (plus a 1989 upper deck card that he kept) to benzinger on december 10, 2009.  they came back to me on june 14, 2018.  that's 3,108 days!  8.5 years!  it gives me some hope for other outstanding requests.

as always, thanks to all who sign ttm - no matter how long it takes!

here's a post with all original content

well, all of my posts include original content, and when i am inspired by someone else's post i do try to link or at least reference it in my writing.  no, what i mean by today's title is 2015 topps original buybacks, baby!

i have a saved search on ebay for 2015 topps original 1978 buybacks, and not too long ago i checked and found this card up for sale:

how i enjoy the penguin's 1978 topps card!

for some reason, the 2015 buybacks appealed to me greatly, while i was lukewarm at best at the 2014 versions, and the 2016 and 2017 buybacks are not my favorite, either (although i do have some dodgers from all three of those years).  i have tried my hardest to complete the 1978 topps dodger team set as stamped and reissued in 2015, and ron cey was one of the few cards that i was missing.  no longer.

the other cards that i had not seen previously were tom lasorda, elias sosa, terry forster, lance rauhtzan (pretty sure that topps did not stamp the 4-in-1 rookie cards), and doug rau.  well, doug rau

was offered up by the same seller as the cey!  rau's card is looking a bit rough, but as i mentioned, i had never seen one previously so i jumped.

these cards showed up on ebay through comc's consignment seller, so i went to the comc website and quickly bought them.  i decided to see if the seller had any other interesting buybacks to add to my 'ready to ship' queue, and found a couple.

while the seller did not have a 1978 topps terry forster buyback, they did have this crazily-diamond cut 1975 topps league leader buyback card featuring forster and dodger dr. mike marshall

i also found the latter's 1976 topps card boughtback and stamped

and a 1979 ron cey buyback as well.

it's always worth pointing out the nbc game of the week sighting!  while i paid full asking price for the two 1978 cards, i made an offer on the three previous cards, and the offer was accepted a day or two later.

i love it when a saved search pays off!

in related news, there are a few 2015 buybacks on comc that i do not own, but have not purchased.  for the most part, those are offered up for sale by everyone's favorite overpricer, joelshitshow.  one of those cards was bill singer's 1969 topps card, so i was happy to see one on ebay 

that i was able to get for about 10% of what the hitshow wants for it.

while the 2015 buybacks (especially those few '78s i'm missing) are my main buyback focus, i'm still looking for other new dodger buybacks to add to my collection, and am actually looking forward to trying to pick up a bill russell rookie buyback in next year's heritage release!

stare off!

matt at once the cub and the 2018 opening day blog sent me a complete dodger team set from 2018 topps opening day which included the 'before opening day' inserts seen below

i thought it was an interesting pairing, as bellinger and puig seem to be locked in as stare down.  or, they could both be wondering who the funky muncy is and where did he come from?

thanks matt!

not my team card

one of the nicest cards that i've seen from 2018 topps series 2 features fireworks and dodger stadium

but not the dodgers.  that's the diamondbacks' team card which uses a photo from the pregame ceremony prior to the 2017 nlds game one.

there is another anti-dodger team card in series 2 - that of the pirates

which features josh harrison and medusa-like john jaso celebrating harrison's no-hitter ending, shutout-ending, extra-inning game-ending home run off of rich hill last august.  gross.

that was at pnc park, obviously, but we head back to dodger stadium courtesy of ehire adrianza's card

h/t to brian at highly subjective for noticing the 'la' logo in the lower right of the card which places ehire in the visitor's dugout at the ravine.

also included in series two are a number of 1983 style all-star cards, one of which was hall of famer rod carew.  the back is all about carew's performance at the 1980 midsummer classic which was held at dodger stadium:

no cards for steve garvey, davey lopes, bill russell, reggie smith, bob welch, or jerry reuss unfortunately, although of that group of dodgers who appeared in the game, only reuss did anything of note - he struck out the side (a real murderer's row, too - darrell porter, buddy bell, and tommy john (!)) in his lone inning of work and wound up with the win for his trouble.

i don't plan on keeping that carew card, but i did pick up another that i will keep - the walmart manufactured relic thingy showing the all-star game logo

the back references dodger stadium, so i'll put this in my dodger stadium collection.  as an aside, i am not so patiently waiting for 2020 topps update that should be full of dodger stadium cards thanks to the all-star game's return to blue heaven in july of that year.

back to team cards - this is more my style 

even though the celebration above was short-lived (the photo is from game 2 of the 2017 world series - a game that the dodgers ultimately lost).

and this one is really what i want a team card to be

this was the last card i needed to complete my upgrade of my 1979 topps set, and it is glorious.

time for another round of 'quien es mas macho?'

i skipped the road to opening day set from topps now this year, but i did pick up one card on the cheap.

kiké hernandez is a fan favorite, and i enjoy this card the same way i enjoy the 'big glove' mickey hatcher and yasiel puig cards from years past even though this card is more along the lines of the 1986 donruss scott bradley card

so, i ask the question: quien es mas macho?

topps missed the mark on kiké's card by just putting the "of" designation rather than "if - of" (hernandez has played everywhere but pitcher and catcher again this year), but bradley's card is too stiffly posed. plus, one of his many gloves is obscured by the yankee logo.

some may say that my bias is showing, but i don't care - kiké es mas macho!