is it mini-collection worthy?

i know with the advent of topps now, some have begun mini-collections of cards from games which they attended.  i believe i have only been to one game that was worthy of a topps now card - dodgers vs. nationals last september - however i have been to a few other games that have been featured on cardboard.

i was at steve garvey's 1,118th consecutive game which was included in one of the fleer sports illustrated sets, and i attended game 1 of the 1988 world series which has been featured on a lot of cards over the years.  i also attended shawn green's 4-homer game in milwaukee back in 2002.  cards related to that event are a little more scarce - there are some that reference the game, but the photos may or may not match.  here's a card from 2003 fleer box score that includes the dodger side of the box score (duh)

as a result, this card would be part of my games attended mini-collection, but as of now i don't have such a thing.  any cards from the games listed above are already in my steve garvey or dodger collections. i suppose if i am ever at a twins game (or other non-dodger game for that matter) that earns a topps now card i will pick it up, but until then this is one mini-collection that i am not pursuing.

i'd buy that for $0.07! and i did!

i made it to the monthly card show on saturday for the first time in a while.  i made purchases from three dealers. the first guy had a decent dime box from which i found 40 cards.  good deal.  the third guy had his 15/$1 boxes, and i had to quickly dig before the people next to me decided to buy the full boxes at $12/each.  one guy did pull two boxes before i could get there, but i found some pretty decent stuff, including a 2017 topps update yu darvish photo variation short print.

yu had some friends, including the robinson cano

and joey votto

photo variation short prints from the same set.

i've never completed my 2017 want lists, so i wasn't sure if i needed the darvish or not.  it didn't matter in the end, as i wasn't going to leave him there for less than a dime.

in all, i found 75 cards to take from the boxes - some to flip and some to keep for my mini collections.  this is a 2005 upper deck mvp batter up card of phil niekro

who happens to be standing in dodger stadium.  you might think phil was there for an old-timer's game, but knowing the way ballplayers aged back then, this could be phil in his 30's.

here's a new double play for that collection - a 2012 topps erick aybar golden sparkle parallel

comc calls these parallels "golden moments", but i go with the sparkle.

my big daddy vladdy pc is represented by his 2001 upper deck legends card

here's a 2017 topps all-time all-stars card of eddie mathews

i like this insert set a lot, but it would have been even better had they included a certain dodger first baseman who won the all-star game mvp award twice.  oh well.  as much as i like this mathews, it was not the best one i picked up on saturday.

the last time i was at the card show, i picked up a big name (roberto clemente, to be exact) for my 1957 topps set build, and i did the same on saturday with this card

this came from the second dealer i purchased from, and i also grabbed another 10 cards from the set from him.

while i was looking at the 57's, i heard a person next to me talking about building the 1964 topps venezuelan set, and i knew that it had to be brian from highly subjective completely arbitrary. and so it was.  we had just recently completed a trade, so we didn't have any cards to exchange, but it was good to see him nonetheless.

here are a couple of the cards he sent me recently:

that's a 2018 panini diamond kings original materials relic card of clayton kershaw, and this is a 2018 topps stadium club kyle farmer auto

i like it when brian is assigned the nl west in his transatlantic box breaks!

as for the rest of the show, i was pulling cards from a quarter box at another seller's table when he began a homophobic rant to the seller next to him regarding someone who had walked by earlier. i loudly put the cards back and said no thanks. i wouldn't buy that at any price.

i cey it is so - i collect cards of ron cey as a cub (and an athletic)

the title of this post says it all, really, but i do collect any and all cards of the penguin.  even those, like this 1986 gatorade cubs oversized oddball

that feature the stocky third baseman in pinstripes and stretch-waisted pants.

here's the list if you happen to have any non-dodger ceys that need a new home.

next year may be the last for jimmie hall cards

so, i have a pc of former twin jimmie hall.  he had cards produced from 1964 through 1970, and so i've been adding some buybacks over the past few years.  this year, i was able to add his 1969 topps card boughtback and stamped as part of 2018 topps heritage

just as i had done in 2017 with his 1968 topps card

with 1970 topps being the last set to include hall, next year's heritage will probably be my last chance to add "new" cards of the guy.  topps seems to have otherwise cooled on the idea of buybacks like this 2014 buyback of the 1969 card

so it seems that there is a hard stop on my pc.  that assumes that hall is not included in future archives releases which is probably a decent bet.  hall still has fans here in minny, but the only way he would supplant the likes of oliva, carew, or puckett on the checklist is if he were to be part of the autograph checklist, and even then there are other fan favorites like hrbek and torii hunter to consider.

i added a regular ol' vintage hall card not too long ago for my 1965 topps set build

although i still need a stamped version of this card (assuming it was part of the 2016 topps heritage buyback release).  his aforementioned 1970 card is a high number, so a buyback may be pretty scarce, but i'll still be looking for it to add to my collection.

another original post - with rankings!

this post is not about 2015 topps original buybacks, but rather 2004 topps originals - a set that included signed buybacks.

1975 topps cards are not the best to get signed as they already have the facsimile auto on them, but i decided not to pass up a 1/1 of steve garvey

yay!

the 1975 topps card may be my least favorite of the garv's dodger flagship cards, but it is still a card of my favorite player and i have a card that nobody else does.

with that said, let's see how i rank the aforementioned garvey cards.

13. 1975

chronologically, this is the first garvey card that features the all-star designation, but not the first one i saw.  plus, 1975 topps is not my favorite set overall, and so this card suffers from formed opinions which are not this particular card's fault.  however, there are cars in the background and the gray uniform coupled with the pose that obscures the red number or blue script on the front of the jersey makes the colorful border only exacerbate the dullness of the photo.  plus, the pose is pretty passive.

12. 1982

this image is not too far from the one that i like so much on another card, but it is not as good in my opinion, so here we are.  the modern helmet and dual batting gloves (not a garvey look i was used to), plus the use of pink and purple detract from the aesthetic. i do like the 1980 all-star game patch and the bright blue sky, and the batting pose is a bit more authentic.  with a better card design, this one would be higher.

11. 1976

not too different from the 1975 card.  i just find this one kind of blah with an inauthentic pose and a washed out photo.  perhaps if the cropping had been different so that his feet were shown symmetrically it would be more appealing to me.

10. 1980

there are a lot of batting cage shots for the dodgers in the 1980 set, so this card didn't really stand out to me back then.  i do like the black all-star banner, and the ribbon design.

9. 1983

i was really looking forward to this card, even though i knew it would be his last as a dodger.  i didn't mind the porthole design, and i liked the photo selection for the main photo, even though there's a lot of white and brightness.

8. 1981

more pink for the dodgers, something i know night owl has addressed in the past.  i liked the unusual photo selection, even though i've always wondered where his bat is and how many steps out of the batting box he's taken.  it can't be that many - i assumed that this was the first step - but then where is the bat?!?

7. 1979

the second garvey card i pulled from packs, this was a letdown following the 1978 card, but i liked the fact that it featured some in-game action against the giants (hello, marc hill), and i thought that the all-star ribbon was well-integrated into the design.  i have no idea, obviously, what garvey and hill are reacting to, but i figured that garvey had tried to check his swing on a slider away and didn't care for the first base umpire's call.  his inability to lay off the slider away cost him a lot of walks and who knows what else.

6. 1977

another in-game photo, but this one features garvey in his entirety. i've always been confused by the plurality of the all-star banner on the 1977 cards, but i'm glad that topps didn't crop this card any differently due to the presence of the banner.  i don't recall who it was that pointed out to me that 1977 topps was really just a 1971 topps re-do, but i can't unsee it.  aside from the position pennant, they really are similar.  anyway, i like this garvey card.

5. 1973

this one ranks this highly because of the 'passing of the torch' symbolism of wes parker reaching out to garvey at home plate.  it is otherwise an odd photo choice, and the cropping is pure 1973 topps.  still, it is one of my favorite cards of garvey's.

4. 1972

there was a time, about 38 years ago, when i thought that i would never own a 1972 topps steve garvey card.  it's a high number, and was a legend like bigfoot or the loch ness monster in my neighborhood.  as such, i probably like it more than i should.  it does show garvey in the 1971 away uniform with the piping on the shoulder, which makes it unique among these other cards.

3. 1971

the rookie card.  from the time i first saw this card, i was enthralled with his youthful appearance, the black batting glove, the mlb anniversary patch, the fact that he played 3rd base, and the card design itself.  i still like it very much.

2. 1974

this is one cool card.  it's dark and moody and horizontal and awesome.  it's also my wallet card.

1. 1978

yes, there are a couple of light standards and a scoreboard/billboard thing in the background, but the colors, the all-star shield, and everything else results in perfection on cardboard.

every time you cross a card off of a want list, an angel gets its wings.

attaboy, mr. haverkamp.

everybody's favorite non-blogging, trading giants fan recently sent me this card of the reds' jim stewart.  it was one of four cards i needed to complete my set. and to think, i get to send giants out of my collection to thank him for sending me a set need! it's a win-win!

i'm down to one as i type this, and i have a target set on boog powell!

thanks for the help mr. haverkamp!

into the ethier

andre ethier is officially retired, and gets a ceremony tonight in dodger stadium to mark the occasion. topps really surprised me by including ethier in the series 2 release this year, and i have no complaints because final tribute!

ok, i do have one complaint.  no complete career stats on the back!

ethier wasn't a homegrown dodger, but he did play his full major league career with the club. as a result, he finds himself firmly in the teens when it comes to many dodger career stats.  his 1,367 hits are just shy of the penguin's 1,378 dodger hits which puts ethier in 17th place.  he's 13th in total bases, although current dodger matt kemp is 14th with a very good chance at passing ethier this season.  a bit higher on the leaderboard, ethier is 8th in dodger doubles, sandwiched right between jim gilliam and eric karros, and is tied with shawn green for 12th place for home runs.

ethier's final playing appearance came in game 7 of the 2017 world series when he delivered a pinch-hit single to drive in the dodgers' only run of the game.  one of my favorite andre ethier fun facts is that he followed in the footsteps of fellow arizona state alumni rick monday and paul loduca to wear number 16 for the dodgers.  number 22 (previously worn by sundevils bill buckner and brett butler) would also have been acceptable.

here's to you, andre ethier! congrats on a great dodger career.