some things old, some things new, some things acquired, (almost) all things blue

i have a few random additions to the collection that i want to show, plus a blogosphere meet-up to recap. those are always two great things to share, and i am going to start with this 1957 topps brooklyn dodgers team card

this card does not replace the one i already have in my dodger collection as it's somewhat blurry and creased, but rather brings me one card closer to completing the entire 1957 topps set. i am down to needing just 30 cards. i think this is definitely something i can finish in 2023.

here's a 2010 topps heritage manny ramirez chrome parallel

i look back fondly on the "mannywood" days, despite how it ended with his positive tests for peds. i may turn a focus to heritage chrome now that my base chrome sets are nearly complete.

this next one is a 2021 topps archives retired player signature card of andruw jones

it's his photoshopped 2008 topps card, numbered 04/16 which is fairly low. i didn't really intend to keep the card (one andruw jones auto is enough for me - this one came in a lot of dodger cards that i purchased for the other cards included in it) but i figure people who want a low-numbered andruw jones auto would prefer that it be with him as a brave. not a dodger or a ranger or a white sock or a yankee.

now that we have the random acquisitions covered, here's the skinny on the meet-up.  i was fortunate to have lunch with friend of the blogosphere mr. haverkamp yesterday as he visited family in the land of 10,000 lakes. it was great to exchange cards in person!  i unloaded some giants cards, and was able to add some in return. i was given a couple of the 1982 union oil volpe portraits (steve garvey and dusty baker) along with a dusty baker post-dodger pc need:

that's a 1989 mother's cookies giants coaches card. i enjoy adding these to my collection, and mr. haverkamp has provided more dusty items to my collection than anyone else over the years.

the last card mr. haverkamp handed over was this 1977 msa disc of steve garvey

it's the detroit caeser's variety 

and is the first of these cards that i have slabbed and graded by psa.  we had a short chat about these items and the scarcity of the fbi discs that are on a number of collectors' player collection want lists. i have no illusions about ever finding a steve garvey fbi disc, although i do know of another collector who has one - mrmopar.

although mr. haverkamp does not blog, i'll still add this meet up to my list of blogosphere folks that i've been able to meet in person - here's the list:

paul from carl crawford cards

brian from highly subjective and completely arbitrary (several times)

gavin from baseball card breakdown (twice)

madding from cards on cards

rod from padrographs

ken from cardboard hogs

mr. haverkamp

i hope to add more folks to this list in the future. in fact, i was oh so close to meeting up with fuji earlier in the month, but a last minute change of plans on my end kept me from heading to san jose. hopefully next time i will be able to keep to the script and add that meeting to the list!

thanks mr. haverkamp! great to put a face to the cards you've sent over the years!