it got dusty in here, and then some

i recently received a couple of plain white envelopes from fellow collectors, which was a nice surprise. as many have noted, trading as of late is not what it had been in headier days, and i am as much to blame as anyone else. i do have some stacks of cards building for a few folks that i hope to send out in the near future.  at any rate, i have already returned a few cards to mr. haverkamp who sent me a 1995 mother's cookies giants dusty baker card

as well as a 2006 topps allen & ginter baker black-bordered mini

for my collection of the left fielder of the team of my youth.

mr. haverkamp reports that the mini came from the national, which made me appreciative that my collection was being thought of as cards were being pulled from dealers' wares, but also made me wonder if there was cubbies markup on the card given the convention was in illinois.  

there was probably no markup on dodger cards out in the pacific northwest, as the team has long since left affiliations in ogden and spokane.  still, kerry from cards on cards was able to find a few cards that i was happily able to delete from my want lists.

here are a couple from 2004 donruss classics - hong-chih kuo and shawn green

and two from 2004 donruss team heroes - paul loduca and another shawn green 

loduca was definitely a hero to manager jim tracy, but i was not a big fan.  green has been in the dodger conversation lately given that cody bellinger has a chance to eclipse his franchise record of 49 home runs this year.

stepping back a year, kerry also sent this 2003 fleer platinum eric gagne card

that was also a need.  gagne may have been considered by fleer as an unsung hero heading in to 2003, but he won the cy young award that year and so received the highest of sung praises a pitcher could receive.

one more card from kerry, and it was a need even though i don't have a want list for 2019 cards.  it's a 2019 panini diamond kings alex verdugo squires insert

verdugo was playing well this season until he got sidelined by injury. his status kind of reminds me of  when matt kemp was trying to break in to the lineup while the dodger brain trust was signing guys like kenny lofton and luis gonzalez to block his path.  the dodgers signed a.j. pollock prior to the season despite already having joc pederson, cody bellinger, chris taylor, kiké hernandez, and verdugo who all play in the outfield. maybe they should have picked up an actual second baseman instead, so that max muncy could be a full-time first baseman?

regardless, i am thankful for the cards!