another one down, still nine to go - and that doesn't include the one i found that i didn't know about

you might recognize the title of this post as i've used it before. it means that i have added one of my "nefarious 9" - my most wanted cards. of course, that also means that a new card has been added to the list. the list is dead, long live the list.

this time, the card obtained was....

1982 tcma baseball's greatest pitchers burleigh grimes

here's the back

here are the facts about this card:

position on the nefarious 9 list: 4

how long was it on the list? it predated my current tracking, so that means it's been on the list for longer than ten months (march 1, 2025 was when i started these posts tracking the list)

why was it on the list? this card was the last one i needed (i thought) to complete my dodger team set of the "greatest pitchers" and "greatest hitters" sets, regardless of back color (tan or white). more on that in a bit.

how was it obtained? this card was mined out of a 5 for a dollar bargain bin at the monthly collector's club show in december of 2025

what replaced it on the list?  1984 topps stickers #83/357 rick monday and pete o'brien

why was this card added? this is the last sticker that i need to complete the dodger team set from this issue.  last year i added the alejandro pena and steve yeager stickers

that come with bruce benedict and john wathan, respectively. these two additions left me just a monday/o'brien sticker short of another 1980's team set being complete.

back to the tcma card and my thinking that grimes was all i needed for the team set. i hit a vein of these "baseball's greatest" cards in one of the monster boxes and wound up pulling this wes ferrel (ferrell) card

because it didn't look familiar to me. turns out i was right - ferrell is not listed as a dodger on the checklists for the set. instead, he's an indian which is what is shown on the back

it's really great that tcma has a photo of him in a dodger uniform (assuming that is really him) because he appeared in exactly two games (one as a pinch-hitter and one as a relief pitcher) for the brooklyn squad. that was back in 1940 as he was trying to work his way back from elbow problems. it's worth noting that even his 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary card shows him in a red sox uniform.

at any rate, i now believe that my 1982 tcma baseball's greatest team sets are complete, so it's on to the next one. can you help a blogger out?!

summer sortin' had me a blast

i have a bunch of cards to sort through and haven't dedicated the time to do so in recent months. or is it years? anyway, i was envious of fuji who noted that he was doing a big summer sorting project and now i have become one of the beneficiaries of his work!

i received a bubble mailer full of dodger (and selected other) goodness that ran the gamut from oddballs to parallels and even a custom pinback.

i was able to add some cards to my collection from 1986 sportflics including a tri-star card of fernando valenzuela that also features vida blue and john denny.

denny is a good outlier for me to use on the immaculate grid from time to time thanks to him being a non-steve carlton phillie cy young award winner who was featured in the 1978 topps set. i try my best each day to complete the grid using players from that set.

there were a number of fernando items, including stickers like this one from 1984 topps

that is a sears catalog worthy pose!

fuji also sent me my first 1993 topps micro dodger cards, including darryl strawberry, orel hershiser, and eric karros

i've had some of these in the past of other players, but these are the first keepers for me.

these next two items aren't new to me, but i did want to show how clayton kershaw went from a ryan reynolds lookalike on his 2012 panini triple play sticker

to a more hirsute individual on his 2013 panini triple play sticker

it's a transformation similar to what was seen for some players between early 1970's topps flagship sets - 1970 and 1971 richie/dick allen comes to mind (yes i know the photo on his 1970 card is an older photo).

these next three are all new to me - 2013 panini prizm mike piazza diamond dominance

and yasiel puig fearless

inserts, plus a 2018 panini diamond kings jackie robinson portraits insert

obviously, those cards are all lacking logos, but i think i prefer that to whatever it is that todd hollandsworth is wearing on this 1995 signature rookies card 

it kind of looks like a rec league jersey, but hey - the card is 1 of only 25,000!

there were cards with logos, including one that is just the logo

from 1987 donruss opening day.

with fuji being a padres fan, i wasn't surprised to see some steve garvey cards make the mailing. here's a 1986 donruss pop ups card

that celebrates garvey's (last) all-star game which was played at the metrodome in 1985.

my favorite item of the package was this pinback

that was constructed using his 1982 donruss diamond kings card. this is right up there with the coaster that p-town tom sent to me using a 2012 topps mini matt kemp card in terms of custom coolness.

finally, there were a handful of cards from the 2021 topps complete set (gold star edition) for my collection, including corey seager

and the championship fireworks

it's been a long time since i received a gold star from a teacher!

thanks mark! enjoy the last few days of your summer vacation!