remember the astros?

earlier this year i completed a trade with bru, whose site used to be call 'remember the astrodome' but now oversees a much more personally named site.  anyway, the trade went so well, that we are in the midst of another one as i type this in early november.

it's always nice to get some brooklyn boys - pee wee reese, gil hodges, and duke snider

all were needs/wants. it was nice to see topps bring gil hodges back in to the fold last year. i see that hodges fan steve garvey has appeared in a couple of releases late this year, which is hopefully a sign of things to come.

i did not buy any 2019 topps holiday cards last year, so i am thankful (i guess) for those i receive in trade packages, like this cody bellinger 

i do appreciate the design of the 2019 holiday cards more than those of previous years.

here's a 2020 panini donruss rated rookie card of gavin lux

lux will turn 23 in a couple of days, so he has time to live up to the hype. it's a bit crazy that there remains a premium on his cards though as he has not looked up to the task so far.  

here are a couple of clayton kershaw cards - 2019 panini leather & lumber and topps stickers

topps left the open fly on the sticker.

here are three cards of world champion max muncy

2019 topps allen & ginter, 2019 topps stickers (back), and 2002 panini donruss. muncy wound up doing better in the postseason than he had in the 60-game "regular" season - he had an obp over .400 in the last three series which was nice to see.

here's a lot of sticker backs from the 2019 topps sticker set - kershaw, aj pollock, justin turner, bellinger, walker buehler, and kenley jansen.

world champions, all! now, i would have preferred the dodgers to have beat the astros back in 2017, but what happened happened. i am glad that the two teams didn't meet again in 2020, because who knows what damage george springer might have wrought.  thanks bru - looking forward to more!

2x3 (and other sized) heroes right on time

i have written before about the patches that the dodgers wore in 1999 to celebrate different players, managers, and even a trainer that helped to shape the franchise in the second half of the 20th century.  back then, i bought four of the regular sized patches directly from the dodgers - bill russell, ron cey, kirk gibson, and steve garvey.  i've also picked up some other patches in recent years to flip when i see them being undervalued. these really are sought after by collectors, especially some of the ones that may not have been as popular at the time.

anyway, i recently came across a lot of the miniature version of the patches that included the garvey

i was very happy to bring this one home in to my collection, as the regular sized garvey patch that i own is currently sewn to my dodger jersey.  it measures about 2" x 2.5" and so fits nicely in to a 9-pocket page. 

i've been able to add quite a few pieces to my garvey collection this year, and i was very pleasantly surprised when i received one of the cards i won and found that the seller had included this custom vinyl sticker as a throw-in

it's about the same size as the miniature patch and is a great complement to the official issue.  both measure about 2" x 2.5" and so fit nicely in to 9-pocket pages.

that size is close to the standard card size, which is 2.5" x 3.5". it's so much easier, however, to say 2x3 don't you think?  speaking of which, jedi jeff stuck his head out recently and sent out some cards to many bloggers, myself included.  here's some of what i received...

a hot off the presses (at the time) 2020 topps stadium club mookie betts widevision box topper

it's not a bad job of photoshopping, but it is photoshopped nonetheless. the lack of the nike swoosh is the giveaway, and a search of getty images tells me that the photo used comes from a game in june of 2019.

2019 bowman scout's top 100 chrome alex verdugo

verdugo was the big piece that the dodgers gave up for betts. i wish verdugo well, but i like the trade. i do not like bowman and how it includes chrome cards in the "paper" release and then issues a bowman chrome set later. way too confusing.

2019 topps historic through-lines duke snider / cody bellinger insert

the duke hit 11 postseason home runs in his career (all in the world series, of course) and bellinger has 8 (2 in the world series) so far. steve garvey also had 11 postseason home runs (10 as a dodger) in his career, with only 1 coming in the fall classic.

2019 topps archives fan favorites autograph steve sax

a great certified auto of the 1982 nl rookie of the year. 

2018 topps cody bellinger highlights cards

there is 1/15th of the complete set. can't wait until 2021 for the luis robert highlight set.

2018 topps yasiel puig instant impact insert

including puig in this insert set was a no-brainer. in his first month as a major leaguer, puig hit .440 with 22 runs scored, 8 home runs, and 18 rbi. two months later, he was still hitting .350. that was a fun summer to follow the dodgers.

2018 topps allen & ginter yasiel puig full-size relic

more puig

2018 topps opening day yasiel puig before opening day insert

and even more puig.

2018 topps allen & ginter joc pederson mini

not 2x3 but it still works! 

2018 topps archives walker buehler coming attraction

buehler rookie insert!

2018 topps archives mike piazza turn back the clock subset

celebrating the dodgers' 13th rookie of the year

2020 topps gypsy queen jackie robinson sp

featuring the dodgers' (and the major leagues') first rookie of the year.

2019 bowman cristian santana camo parallel

santana spent 2019 in double-a tulsa, hitting .301. he was a non-roster invitee to spring training earlier this year, but didn't make the 60-man roster. not sure what he did during the season since he wasn't at the alternate training site as far as i can tell.

the last card from jeff to be featured is this defaced 1992 upper deck donn pall card

jeff says these cards were way overdue, i say they were right on time.  thanks jeff!

max, dugie returns

neil simon wrote a bunch of great plays, many of which he adapted in to screenplays. "the odd couple", "the sunshine boys", "biloxi blues", and "brighton beach memoirs" are examples that come to mind. he also wrote screenplays. one of my favorite movies of his is "seems like old times" with chevy chase and goldie hawn.  anyway, all that is a long way to go to get to simon's 1983 film "max dugan returns". 

the film came to mind when i saw the cards that jay from the card hemorrhage blog sent my way in a trade recently.  the first card was a 2019 topps archives max muncy

followed by a similarly posed alex verdugo 2020 topps heritage card

there's even a baseball connection to the movie, as matthew broderick plays the grandson of max dugan who is struggling in little league. dugan, who has embezzled a bunch of money and wants to give it to his daughter and grandson, hires white sox hitting coach charley lau to give broderick's character some batting lessons. they pay off as broderick hits a home run at the end of the movie.

there were other non-neil simon connecting cards included, such as another 2020 heritage need of ross stripling

and even one of those sweepstakes/insert cards from 1989 bowman of jackie robinson

unlike that oversized release, this trade did not disappoint!

and, since it's taken me so long to post about this trade, we've completed another!  this time, in exchange for some closer cards, jay sent me a bunch of cards from the 1991 topps archives ultimate 1953 set, including this jim gilliam card:

since this is a card that i needed, and it is one that still eludes me from the actual 1953 dodger team set, i'll go ahead and show the back, too.

thanks jay, and if you haven't checked out his blog yet - do so. you know a guy who has the 1978 topps greg minton card as his avatar knows what's what.

update-ing my mini collections

when update is released each year, i know that i will find a number of cards for my various mini-collections. or, at least there will be some for my memorial patch mini-collection, as the all-star patches move those sorts of things to a different spot on the uniform, and we all know that update these days is chock full of all-star cards.  i won't be showing any of those cards in this post, however, but there were still a lot of cards to add to my other mini-collections.

case in point is this legends variation card of willie mays

this card goes in to my 'lurker' mini-collection, as roy campanella is bearing witness to mays crossing home plate.  and look, there's will clark! no, number 22 for the giants back then was don mueller. and check out monte irvin's arms - nothing but muscle!  i figure that this photo is likely from april 24, 1955 when mays took don newcombe deep at ebbetts field (he's wearing the giants' away uniform). irvin was batting behind mays, and mueller scored on the dinger.

update also came through with some cards featuring dodger stadium in the background. next year's version should have a lot more, as the midsummer classic will be back in chavez ravine for the first time since 1980. i am most definitely looking forward to 2020 update!  anyway, here's joe kelly pitching at night in dodger stadium:

and here's drew pomeranz doing the same:

peter lambert is there during the day:

as is christian yelich:

and it's looking like twilight on cole tucker's card:

topps also chose some double play turns for some update cardboard. perhaps the best card is this 'veteran combo' card featuring josh harrison and tim anderson:

i didn't bother to scan the back, but harrison's relay was too late to get the second out at first base. i find this card a tick better than the old 'classic combos' cards that were in topps releases circa 2008. still pretty random.

there are some other double plays in the set, like this one on tommy lastella's card:

as well as that of his teammate, luis rengifo

boston rookie michael chavis also gets a double play shot on his rookie card

in addition to update, i've also added some other cards to my mini-collections recently.

for example, i picked up this card from 2019 topps archives

because dennis martinez is standing in dodger stadium after his perfect game on july 28, 1991. the other thing i remember about that weekend is that martinez's teammate, mark gardner, had also no-hit the dodgers through 9 innings two days prior, but the expos failed to score. the dodgers got three straight hits in the bottom of the 10th to win the game, 1-0.  such is baseball.

also from archives is this brandon crawford double play turn.

another giants card i am glad to have in my collection.

a couple weeks ago brian from highly subjective completely arbitrary gave me some cards when we met up at a card show. he included a couple of double play turns that were new to me from 1994 topps stadium club - bret barberie

and luis polonia

looks like polonia was successful in breaking up the dp.

there was also a new tatooine card in the package brian gave me - this 2011 topps marquee david wright card

i found a few more cards at that show in the bargain boxes, including this 2011 topps udpate willie bloomquist gold parallel double play turn

plus a couple of juniors - 2010 bowman had ken griffey jr in dodger stadium

and 2006 upper deck had willie mccovey lurking

more of a cameo, actually, but it goes in my lurker collection.

one more for that collection from the show - this 2019 topps rainbow foil parallel of eduardo nunez featuring max muncy

i guess i won't have to worry about seeing this sort of card in 2020 topps.  still, as i said up above, i am looking forward to 2020 update and hoping there are some good shots of dodger stadium in the background.  speaking of which, i found a couple of junk wax astros to add to my dodger stadium collection, too. a 1990 donruss steve lombardozzi and a 1992 fleer rob mallicoat:

i am hoping 2020 update has more of the lombardozzi type photos and fewer of the mallicoat ones. we'll see in about 11 months.

al kaline is in my final tribute collection!

the other day, i posted the al kaline card that represents mr. tiger in my hall of famer collection. within that post, i mentioned my disappointment in topps for not producing a regular card of kaline in their 1975 topps set that would fit my criteria for a final tribute card.  i even mentioned that i had at one time called topps and while on the phone, suggested that they include those sorts of cards in an archives or fan favorites type release.  that was about 16 or 17 years ago, and i think the example i used was a 1970 topps don drysdale card, but still, a 1975 kaline fit the bill, too.

well, topps didn't listen to me, but whether by coincidence or through thoughtful application, for the second time since fan favorites/archives have been a thing, i've been able to add a card from a topps archives release to my final tribute collection.  it's all thanks to this 2019 offering: 

here's the back:

so, topps used a photo of a younger kaline, and the stats on the back aren't his complete career yearly stats, but the bottom line is that this is a 1975 topps styled card, with his major league totals shown on the back.  i'll take it, and it will join the 1980 topps style jim hunter card from 2012 topps archives in my final tribute mini collection.

who knows what designs will be in next year's archives, but i'll be hoping for another happy coincidence!

bonus content:  here's another card from this year's archives that fits squarely in not one, but two, of my mini collections:

that's a double play with cody bellinger lurking.  still need a second copy of this one if anyone has one to spare!