a simple shop to occupy my time

i was out and about in the twin cities a few weeks ago and had some time to kill before an event. it didn't make sense to head home and double back, so i took penn ave to 494 and then lyndale, not to the quarry, but to three stars sportscards.

over the years, these folks have taken their singles inventory from almost exclusively online to having a large number of monster boxes at various pricing to dig through. i used to avoid this shop and their other location in the north metro, but with this newer development, i've been visiting a couple of times a year.

i knew that they typically had some oversized stuff, and quickly found a box of it near the back of the store. with everything priced at two bucks, i didn't think twice to grab this 2009 topps allen & ginter manny ramirez n43 boxtopper

here's the back

that's a pretty decent snapshot of mlb in 2009.

more bigger dodger cards were there for the taking, like this 2017 topps heritage high numbers advertising panel featuring brandon mccarthy

with an actual ad on the back

and this 2018 topps heritage panel featuring walker buehler and alex verdugo

that is ad-less but features anthony rizzo on the back

the backs aren't exclusive to the fronts, if that makes sense, but i don't think there is a kershaw or bellinger back with the verdugo/buehler card on the front.

one more for the post, a 2020 topps heritage willie stargell 1971 topps greatest moments insert

this one is showing a little wear, but it's still pretty cool. here'st he back:

stargell was a very strong man. i recall him taking bp at dodger stadium and hitting the ball very hard.

there were some quarter boxes that were all jumbled up with all sports mixed together, so i fairly quickly started looking at a dollar box. i found a few cards to pull, such as this 2018 bowman draft jeren kendall chrome prospects sky blue refractor /402

2019 topps finest walker buehler refractor

and 2019 topps heritage high numbers aj pollock chrome purple refractor

sure, a dollar is more than these cards are worth in hand, but i'll support retail brick and mortars. plus, with shipping costs rising, i may not be able to get these cards any cheaper anywhere else.

about this time i noticed another patron walking around with a matt kemp autographed card in hand. i asked him where he found it and he pointed to some "as priced" boxes in the center of the store. i mentioned my affinity for kemp, and he noted that he, too, was a dodger fan. in a scene reminiscent of that clip of henry cavill and joey batey quickly bonding over warhammer 40000, we exchanged tcdb handles and by the next day, we were "friends". he's "wischeese", by the way.

we wound up going through some of the 3 dollar boxes at the same time, and i asked him if he was finding anything. his reply was "a lot of dollar cards" which made me laugh. he wasn't wrong, but i still found a few cards to take home for the 3 dollar price.

this 2022 topps update all-star stitches tony gonsolin relic card is the silver parallel, numbered to 50

it was probably marked down because there is some film damage on the right edge, but i'll take it!

wischeese and i agreed that this 2021 panini donruss gavin lux red relic parallel numbered to 99

was at an ok price for the wisconsin native

how about a 2023 topps update jayson heyward card?

seeing that in a 3 buck box let me know that there was more than meets the eye, and sure enough, it's the advanced stat parallel, numbered to 300

one more numbered dodger card i pulled was this 2018 topps archives tommy lasorda purple parallel

it's numbered to 175 on the back:

and it had a "friend" that i will get to later

back to the dollar boxes, here are a couple of non-dodger cards i took. a 2019 topps chrome kevin pillar purple refractor

numbered to 299

and a 2019 topps gypsy queen blake snell fortune teller insert

which is also an indigo parallel, and numbered to 250

the back there predicted a no-no from snell in 2019. they were off by five years, as he threw his first career no-hitter in 2024. matt garza is still the only ray to achieve the feat.

returning to the cards i took from the three dollar box i perused, here's the other 2018 topps archives card i alluded to above - larry doby purple parallel

i guess purple was catching my eye, because here's another purple card i bought. this is a 2020 topps rip card of ozzie albies in purple parallel form

it's numbered to 25, but it's also already ripped

whatever card was inside was long gone, unlike my first encounter with a ripped rip card in a bargain box. just a few more cards to share, here's a 2021 topps update freddie freeman all-star game insert black parallel

numbered to 299

and this is a 2023 topps stadium club orange foil parallel of dontrelle willis

that is numbered to 199

seeing the commissioner's trophy on a card is always fun.

my favorite card of the day was this 2020 topps stadium club travis demeritte autograph card

i think we all agreed back then that demeritte's topps base card was one of the best of the year, and this card features a photo from the same weekend, at least. the scoreboard behind him explains that it was taken during negro leagues weekend, and we recognize the detroit stars uniform demeritte is wearing. i also appreciate the fact that this card provides the best representation of the tigers' retired numbers hanging in the outfield at comerica park that i have seen on cardboard. this one is a keeper for sure.

i made it to my event on time, even though i spent more time in the shop than i had intended. i'll definitely be back to peruse the boxes i didn't get to this time. i'm hoping that wischeese left some dodgers behind!

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - giants in the ravine edition

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he took the mound against the giants on saturday night in los angeles. he struck out 5 batters to give him 132 strikeouts on the season. those 5 giants that he k'd increased his career total to 2,939.

in honor of his performance, here are 5 cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,935 through 2,939.

2,935 - 2018 topps heritage 1968 deckle edge

2,936 - 2019 topps gallery heritage

2.937 - 2019 topps national baseball card day gallery preview

2,938 - 2020 topps big league orange

2,939 - 2020 topps stadium club red foil

a fitting card for that last strikeout given its dodger stadium location.

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who struck out 5 guardians last wednesday, has a career strikeout total of 2,972. kershaw is now 33 k's behind greinke and 61 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw pitched five innings against the giants in what may have been his final regular season start at chavez ravine. once the postseason is over, it will once again be time to wait and see if he will return to pitch in 2024 and whether he will do so as a dodger. i really hope he sees the 3k milestone as one that must be reached and that he decides to do it as a dodger.

it looks like kershaw's next start will come this weekend in the series against the giants in nocal, and will obviously be his final start of the regular season. know that i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

lux-y me!

so gavin lux has been playing fairly well of late which has been great to see. he was hyped prior to his debut late in the 2019 season as much as a prospect can be hyped and then didn't really have a chance to live up to the hype in 2020.

in late may i came across a nine-card lot of lux rookie cards that i pulled the trigger on because of three cards in particular.  the first one is his turkey red insert from update

according to my dodger spreadsheet checklists, i had the chrome parallel version, but not the regular one. that card alone, however, wasn't enough to justify the purchase. there was also this card

which is the factory set rookie variation. i didn't have this card either, but i still could have picked up those two for less than i paid for this lot. what got me to hit the "buy it now" was this card

which is the stadium club photo variation. it's also a double play on tatooine, but i don't see being able to pick up another two copies for those mini-collections. i don't know how scarce or rare these variations are but the price was right as far as i was concerned. it was clear that the seller didn't realize that they had the variations in the lot which was fine by me.

even now i am still celebrating

it's been just almost three weeks since the dodgers won the world series, and about one week since i received the game 6 topps now cards that i ordered to commemorate the event. i had a post last week that railed a bit on topps and a couple of their cards from this year's "now" release, so i will try to focus on the positives here.

mookie betts

there is so much joy in how mookie plays the game. i love it. his reaction when making a big catch or hitting a big home run is infectious. it took me awhile this season to understand the "keep the wheels turning" motion he would make after legging out a double, but there is no confusion about the celebration he enjoyed after hitting a solo home run in the 9th inning of game 6. i am happy his exuberance was captured on cardboard.

dodger bullpen

dodger pitchers struck out 16 rays in game 6, and i agree with topps in counting the game's "opener", tony gonsolin as part of the bullpen. the dodgers used seven pitchers in all that night (not pictured are dylan floro, alex wood, pedro baez, and brusdar graterol), but victor gonzalez got the win and julio urias the save, so it made sense to show them on the front.  wood is the only other pitcher who gets a mention on the back:

since he was part of the threesome that topps thought "issued most of the damaged". check your tense there, topps. 

julio urias

i was happy to see dave roberts keep urias in the game for the ninth inning. in fact, i think he handled the bullpen well in games 5 and 6, which is to say that his moves proved successful. urias became the fourth dodger southpaw to end a clinching world series game for the dodgers - johnny podres (1955), sandy koufax (1963 and 1965), and steve howe (1981). in fact the only other two pitchers to close out a championship for the dodgers are larry sherry (1959) and orel hershiser (1988). urias is also second all-time to fernando valenzuela in postseason wins by a mexican pitcher.

champions!

i am assuming topps is saving the on-field team photo for 2021 heritage card #1 (which will be awesome), but this is ok, too.  having missed out on a card of the 1981 world series mound celebration back in 1982, i do appreciate this scene being featured.  there we have max muncy, gonsolin, urias, austin barnes, baez, wood, and graterol, with the famous chico (francisco herrera) coming in to the fray.  as the scene unfolded, i realized that there was no concern about fans rushing the field, and so the discarded hats and gloves were safe until chico could go back and round them all up.  

corey seager

i have to say i was a bit surprised that seager was named mvp. he had the numbers, sure, but mookie betts would have been my choice. mookie was held hitless in the two games the dodgers lost, but in the other four, he was the key to the offense, particularly in games 5 and 6. plus, his stolen base and run scored on a fielder's choice in game 1 afforded the dodgers some breathing room. in fact, he lived up to the hype and the theme of the 2020 topps stadium club bash

and burn

insert.

no matter, the dodgers are world champions and there will be plenty more cardboard to collect that documents that fact!

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!