celebrating the spirit of giving

merry christmas!

'tis the season - and it has been the season for a while - for giving and receiving. here in the blogosphere i have been the happy recipient of cards from a number of traders and bloggers. let's take a look at some of the cards i've received....

starting off, of course, with the holiday custom card created by gavin at baseball card breakdown

gavin modified a 1991 fleer update gary carter card and added the artwork overlay showing the hall of fame catcher prepping to add the tree topper to the ol' tannenbaum. very creative and festive and a great addition to my custom card binder. thanks gavin! i'll have to see if i can find something to send your way.

a month or so earlier, i received an envelope from rod at padrographs

that's a 2004 upper deck padres davey lopes card that the former dodger and padre coach signed through the mail. i was happy to see that rod was looking for some help on a 70 years of topps project so i could send something back his way. check it out and see if you can help a blogger out!

i think everyone has noticed that tom from angels, in order has returned to active blogging thanks to a few giveaways. i wound up claiming a couple of cards from one and he included this gem in the envelope

that's a 1982 fleer stamp fernando valenzuela box "card". tom was kind enough to note what it was on the back:

now, i used to cut out "cards" from boxes all the time in the early 80s and even later, so this is definitely something that fits in my collection. thanks tom - i hope the cards i sent are still needs of yours.

nick from dime boxes also held a giveaway recently, and he offered up some dodgers that i needed, like this 1994 upper deck collector's choice orel hershiser silver signature parallel

this 1995 score rafael bournigal gold rush parallel

and this 2005 upper deck flyball eric gagne

the gagne brings me to one card remaining to complete this oddball set, and it's giovanni carrara. i've added it to my nefarious 9 list of most wanted cards, but it is such an oddball of a largely forgotten player that it may be difficult to track down.

it turned out that i already had the bournigal card, so i put the dupe in my lurkers binder thanks to the presence of italian-american superstar slugger mike piazza on the card.

the fourth card i requested was this 1995 upper deck collector's choice special edition fernando valenzuela silver signature parallel

i've recently toyed with the idea of reestablishing my post-dodger fernando pc. he has so many great cards from his time with the orioles, padres, cardinals, and phillies, including this one. for now, this card sits in my dodger stadium binder.

it wouldn't be an envelope from nick without a double play card, and this 1994 select carlos baerga card

was a new one to me.

a couple more dodgers just because - 2021 topps archives mookie betts 1963 peel off

and 2022 topps update hanser alberto gold parallel

once again, i will ask topps to identify the sets that cards come from on the backs of all of their cards like upper deck used to do and like panini does. i spent a lot of time figuring out what set that betts belonged to, thinking it was heritage. thank goodness for comc, and thank goodness for nick and his generosity. i am looking forward to continuing to swap envelopes with nick in 2023!

another thing i am looking forward to in 2023 is the next installment in thorzul's "trade me anything". this year i sent him something and he sent back these cards that i requested, all from 2022 topps update:

will smith silver pack

jose miranda silver pack grey parallel

joe ryan generation now insert

ronald acuna jr all-star game insert

the acuna is part of my near-complete set of the all-star game inserts. i only wanted the ones that used photos from the actual game, and i will show those cards off in another post.

finally, i'll show some cards from cards on cards. kerry/madding has been probably my most frequent trading partner through 2022 and i hope it continues in 2023. these images have been sitting in my scanned folder for varying lengths of time and represent a number of envelopes received.

1986 true value pedro guerrero

actually, this is a sealed "pack" and so also contains cards of steve garvey and eddie murray. i already have the garvey so i left it sealed. a great addition to the dodger collection for sure.

2021 topps allen & ginter tommy lasorda mini

it's been nice to see lasorda in ginter sets recently, but i could really go for some bill russell cards if topps wanted to recognize a different former dodger manager. i know that won't happen as russell is nowhere near as checklist worthy as lasorda, but i would rather see some former players get a shot at the checklist in lasorda's place. i know this year steve garvey finally got a base ginter card (although it's a short print) and you'll see some of those cards in a different post, but how about reggie smith or orel hershiser or in a year or two matt kemp?

i am not going to do the rest of these cards justice, but i will show them nonetheless

if there were one panini product i would like to see more of, it's the obsidian subset of chronicles. those cards, like the mookie above have been pretty sharp looking the last couple of years.

thanks to all who have and continue to trade cards with me - it is appreciated! 

padrographs gave me the finger

my business travels have taken me all over the lower 48 in the last 15 years or so. i see it as a perk, so i don't mind it at all.  i get to see some different cities, and on a few occasions, i've been able to get to a new ballpark and meet some new people during my visits.  eighteen months ago or so, i was in portland and arranged an in person trade with gavin at baseball card breakdown.  he was the third blogger i had met in person (paul from carl crawford cards and brian from highly subjective completely arbitrary were the others).  fast forward to 2018, and i found that i would be travelling to portland again. i reached out to gavin, and he arranged a meet up featuring the two of us, plus kerry from cards on cards, ken from cardboard hogs, and rod from padrographs.  it was a blast.

rod was someone that i've traded with before, but it had been a while, so it was great to exchange cards in person.  one of the cards rod handed over was a 1981 fleer ron cey card (finger on back variation)

the "finger" (sometimes referred to as a "hand") is that mark in the lower right corner of the stat box.  it's some kind of scratch or other imperfection from the printing i assume, and there are a few cards in the set that have it.  although i was looking for the "craig" nettles error, i didn't bother with these back in 1981, and to be honest, i'm not entirely sure whether or not i have any in my complete set that i put together back then.  i did not have any in my dodger team collection, and so now with the cey in hand, i am looking for the davey lopes finger on back variation card to complete the set.

while rod didn't provide that davey lopes card, he did give me two great cards of the former infielder.  he had both the 2004 upper deck padres team set

and 2005 upper deck padres team set

lopes cards for me.  as fate would have it, a recent focus on my post-dodger collections of lopes and other members of the team of my youth meant that i had just purchased the 2004 card at the beckett marketplace a week or two earlier, but the 2005 card was new to me and much appreciated.

lopes just recently announced his retirement from baseball after a 45-year career in the game - quite a career! he played for the dodgers, a's, cubs, and astros, and coached for the rangers, orioles, and padres before managing the brewers.  after that, he returned to coaching for the padres, nationals, phillies, dodgers, and finally back to the nationals.  i am glad that i had the opportunity to tip my cap to him (and get a thumbs up from him) last fall in washington dc. by the way, that was a different work trip.

thanks rod! and thanks to gavin, ken, and kerry, too.  i'll show other cards i picked up at blogger con nw 2018 in future posts.