andre ethier is the current 'dean of the dodgers' (he's been with the big club since early in the 2006 season), and he's starting to get close to being the top 10 in some dodger career categories such as home runs (he is eleven behind pedro guerrero, who is currently in the 10-spot).
those aren't the only lists he's on, as one of his cards was among my top 10 most wanted (well, top nine, actually) that are posted as the 'nefarious nine' at garveyceyrusselllopes. it was his 2007 topps chrome blue refractor parallel, to be exact.
yes, that's the card.
i bought it as part of a beckett marketplace transaction. it doesn't seem like too many bloggers use beckett; certainly not as often as ebay, just commons, sportlots, or check out my cards, anyway. i've made a few purchases there over the years, and when you are looking for something in particular and relatively obscure, all avenues are worth perusing.
i'm down to needing only takashi saito and greg maddux to complete my team set of these beauties, but i haven't seen either of their cards pop up in the 18 months that i have been tracking them (april 2015 is when i completed my 2011 topps chrome atomic refractor team set and decided to turn my attention to 2007 topps chrome blue refractors). these things were retail only inserts which may explain the scarcity on the secondary market, although i wasn't paying too close attention back in 2007 when they were first released, and there could have been hundreds of them then. but, that was then and this is now. i think those other two cards from this set will be on that nefarious nine list for a while...
I have used the Beckett marketplace a few times over the last couple of years. In fact, I just had an absolutely terrible experience with a seller on there about a month ago, and because of that -- it will probably be quite some time before I think about using that site again. But I wouldn't want my bad experience to dissuade anyone else from buying there, as they do tend have quite a few things that aren't available elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the find. I've never used Beckett Marketplace. I've located a few cards that I need on there, but ended up finding them through my usual means over time.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to the Dodgers tonight!
That's pretty cool that Ethier has spent the last 10 seasons as a Dodger. Shows loyalty between the player and the franchise... something that's becoming less and less common in the sport. I think the longest tenured Athletic is Doolittle... and he's only been playing at the Coliseum since 2012 (shaking my head).
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