a classic to keep

i recently plucked a card from one of my monster boxes to place in my more permanent collection:

that's a 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic don baylor classic greats autograph. no fading!

i pulled that card from a box back in 2003, but relegated it to that monster box for over 18 years. i decided to move it to my "meaningful or just because" mini-collection because it is the only pack-pulled autograph of baylor i have ever found on my own, and because he was my first favorite non-dodger.

baylor was one of the first guys i sent some cards to when i first began ttm collecting. he obliged my request which was awesome. i know he has other certified autographs out there, and i am keeping my eyes out for a 2013 topps archives all-time fan favorites autograph that uses the 1979 design - that was peak baylor greatness as he won the al mvp that year.

anyway, i am glad to have this card in its proper spot in my collection. who knows what else i will find tucked away in that same monster box?

my favorite cards of the year - 2003 edition

i recently introduced my mini collection focusing on my favorite cards from each year that i've been a collector. the basic gist is that i wanted to create a space for the cards that i most appreciated having in my collection in the year that they were released. these were cards that i acquired in the year that they were issued, and that i considered to be my favorites at the time. i have disallowed (most) cards that are already in other mini collections in order to avoid having a mini collection consisting of more steve garvey, double plays, and dodger stadium cards.

2003 had some great sets for this dodger collector and fan of topps archives and heritage releases that came out starting in 2001.

favorite non-dodger card: topps all-time fan favorites brooks robinson

i had aggressively collected both of the topps archives releases in 2001 and 2002, even though they were essentially reprints of existing cards except for some of the rookie cards that were removed from a multi-player format in to a solo card. when topps rebranded archives in 2003 as all-time fan favorites, i was even more excited, and this brooks robinson card was one reason why. my interest in the set even prompted me to call topps and suggest that they use this set to create "cards that should have been", such as a 1970 don drysdale, a 1988 steve garvey, and a 1978 brooks robinson. although the phone call was prompted by a quality control issue, the robinson card shown above prompted my suggestion of a 1978 version. the photo topps used definitely featured a late-70s robinson, and the back, with his complete career stats

just screamed, in my opinion, for a true final tribute treatment rather than the 1964 design. the person i spoke with didn't react to my suggestion (i recall a recording while i was on hold that said they did not accept suggestions - i suppose to avoid lawsuits), but i felt better having said my piece. i understand that 1964 might have been chosen for robinson, as he was the american league mvp that year, but that reasoning wasn't applied across the board to other mvps or players in general. while it was a missed opportunity by topps, i was ecstatic to see them issue cards of retired players on a variety of old designs.

favorite dodger card - upper deck sweet spot classic jim gilliam

i remember considering getting out of the hobby in 2003, but then i found out about the 2003 upper deck sp chirography release with a very dodger friendly checklist of autograph subjects (especially from the team of my youth), and so i continued to buy cards, including the fan favorites set mentioned above. i later found that year's sweet spot classic set that also had some great dodgers included - steve garvey, ron cey, don sutton, tommy lasorda, kirk gibson among them. 

my favorite of the dodgers in the set was jim gilliam.  i became a fan of gilliam through unfortunate circumstances, as i didn't know much about him until he passed away during the 1978 postseason. the dodgers wore a memorial patch for their former player and first base coach during the world series which peaked my curiosity about his career. by the time this card came out, i counted gilliam among my favorite dodgers, and so i was pleased to see him included in the release.

up next in this series, 1981. stay tuned!

(b)ringing the bellinger

i'm not sure if andre ethier or adrian gonzalez is the one filling the role of wally pipp these days, but cody bellinger looks like he is in the big leagues to stay.  i was beyond surprised to find a 2017 panini diamond kings dual relic card of the dodger rookie

in the latest batch of cards sent to me by brian at highly subjective completely arbitrary.  actually, these are the first cards brian has sent me, as our other trades have been made in person.  i haven't been able to get to a card show lately, however, so i asked if we could trade through the mail this time instead.

brian sent a bunch of other dodger goodness, including the base and variation versions of duke snider's 2017 panini donruss card

i used to eat a lot of jiffy pop on vacations as a kid. it was campground/campfire-time goodness (we weren't a s'mores family), but unfortunately jiffy pop didn't start including cards with their product until i was pretty much done with the family's rv vacations.  anyway, this card is from 1987

i do appreciate the dodger stadium background - it almost cancels out the lack of a logo on pedro guerrero's helmet.  speaking of pedro, the last news that i saw noted that he was out of the coma that followed the stroke he suffered last month. i hope he is on his way to recovery.

here's another oddball, although it's actually a broder card

featuring giant kirk gibson standing in wrigley field.

and then there is this promo from 1996 fleer metal universe

that has eric karros trying to hit his way out of a kelp forest.

brian most likely knew that my want lists included this 1994 upper deck all-time heroes ron cey 125th mlb anniversary parallel card

but even if he didn't, he knows that all cards of the penguin are appreciated here.  just like steve garvey cards.  brian sent this great 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic patch card

of my favorite dodger which hits a big hole in my dodger collection. i have a couple of these in the garvey binders, but not in the dodger binders.  my dodger collection takes a hit when it comes to garvey autos and relics, but this helps.  awesome.

for a while, matt kemp was my favorite dodger, and i still recall his time with the team fondly.  i'll search for cards of his every once in a while, and so i was happy to see this 2009 topps allen & ginter auto

amongst the cards brian sent.  i actually forgot that kemp was on the braves earlier this season, but he seems to be doing pretty well.  his 14-game hitting streak was just snapped yesterday, but he's batting over .330 for the season.  i hope it continues.

these days, my favorite dodger is clayton kershaw, but corey seager is on the short list.  brian provided me with my first look at last year's gold label issue from topps by way of this seager card

and then capped the trade package off with a corey seager auto

from 2017 topps gypsy queen! (full disclosure - i thought at first that this was chase utley).

that is how we do it in the twin cities - home of hubert h. humphrey, mary tyler moore, prince, the replacements, and kick-ass trade packages.  thanks brian!