cards from nick always make me smyly

yet another trade with nick at dime boxes is in the books, and as always, it was a good one. nick responded to my call for some 2024 topps series 2 base needs, including drew smyly's card

which is a welcome departure from the other cards in the set. i wish topps would find a balance between candids and action shots and not lean so heavily in one direction or the other.

nick included several other base needs from the latest flagship release, and also threw this thing in there

it's not the meijer purple parallel but rather some sort or purple holofoil parallel. not sure where these are found (and not going to bother to look it up) but it's appreciated nonetheless.

some other dodgers that nick sent include a james outman 2023 topps chrome platinum anniversary card

it's a card that would have been much more popular if it were actually released in 2023.

nick is always good for some new to me vladimir guerrero cards, and this time there were a bunch. two of my favorites are this one

(which is not, in fact, from 2004 topps, but rather a 2006 topps walmart exclusive insert!) and this one from 2003 fleer ultra

that refers to his team as "mon expos" which means "my" expos but is really just a strange way of abbreviating "montreal". i would have expected "mtl".

nick is also good for some new to me double play turns, and there were four this time around.

2017 topps jason kipnis rainbow foil

2001 fleer ultra barry larkin

2000 pacific edgardo alfonzo

and 2004 mlb showdown edgar renteria

these next two were my favorite cards of the bunch. the first one is a 1996 upper deck hideo nomo highlights card

it's a duplicate, but one that i was able to find a home for in my collection because of the back

i was at the game referenced on the back and got to see nomo's performance that night along with an on-field division clinching celebration by the dodgers, and i shared my experience (along with another card that tangentially references nomo's performance that night) in this post. because this card directly references the game i was at, it goes into my "cards featuring games i attended in person" mini-collection.

the other card that i want to share is this one

a 1960 topps don drysdale all-star card! it's one of nick's bargain finds at a recent show and was a bit of a surprise to see among all the newer cards.

if you're not trading with nick i don't know what to tell you.

thanks nick!

head over heels for junior

ken griffey jr is 52 years old today. happy birthday to the guy formerly known as "the kid". i've said it many times - time waits for no man.

anyway, i used to have a pc of griffey, and i recently moved this 2001 fleer ultra card

from that defunct collection in to my lurker mini-collection. it wasn't until about a year ago that i noticed that the other player on the card was a dodger, and so it qualified for that collection. i am pretty sure that it is mark grudzielanek who is upside down on the card, with this photo coming after a hard slide by junior breaking up a double play attempt on april 23, 2000. here's a photo of the play from a different angle. 

at some point in the last year or two, gavin at baseball card breakdown showed this 2000 pacific omega card on his blog

and so i tracked a copy down for the dodger stadium collection. that's the "e" in "dodgers" behind griffey as part of the murals that used to adorn the outfield wall at chavez ravine in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

not to be outdone, brian at highly subjective completely arbitrary showed this 2007 upper deck scott hatteberg card

at some point which had me hunting down a copy for the aforementioned lurker collection. that's griffey with the backwards hat (of course) at the right of the card.

i also added a couple of other cards featuring an uncredited griffey - this 1997 donruss mariners team set jay buhner card

and this 2017 topps stadium club roy oswalt card

griffey is a foreground lurker on this card that is reminiscent of the 1976 topps tom seaver record breaker card. 

the last card in this post is another one that i salvaged from the pc. it's griffey's 1996 select card

and it's been installed in my "meaningful and just because" mini-collection. this was one of my favorite cards back in '96 and i still enjoy looking at it. not only does it remind me of the mariners' run to the alcs in 1995, but griffey in that moment exuded pure joy and happiness. that game helped bring me fully back in to my fandom, and griffey's style and attitude was a big part of it.

happy birthday junior!