Where Do I Get My Yasiel Puig Swatch/Auto Card? (and trade bait)

so after a string of depressing, followed by awful, followed by lousy Dodger news, today Dodger fans get the headline that 'Magic' and the other Dodger owners tossed $42 million at some 21 year old cuban phenom named yasiel puig.   hmmmm....do i feel better? 

to be honest, i dunno if i feel better.  the guy hasn't played in a year, and he might not even appear  in the bigs for another 2 years.  apparently he can void the deal and renegotiate after 3 years.   jeez.  i get the idea of investing in prospects, but $42 mil????  to play triple A ball?

"you see boys, $42 million isn't really ALOT - depending upon who you are talking to."

i presume we have another $50 million hiding between the sofa cushions in order to get some immediate type help for this season?  now THAT would be good news.

on the trade bait front, i bought some packs of archives shortly after its release date, and i figure i've bought all i'm gonna buy from this product.  so it's time for me to dump - er - trade everything i dont wanna hold on to. 

since we're gonna beat the mets tonight, let's start with met trade bait

for you player or team collectors, here's some scanned archive cards.  for you archive 2012 set collectors, hope i can help you fill your set needs.  i'm not built for reading excel type spreadsheets or long lists of numbers, which is probably why i'm not a set collector, so i'm not really motivated to check long lists for the numbers people need to complete sets. 

time to get in on the last regular issue cards of ol' chipper

That said, after the scans, you'll find a list of the card numbers i have.  help me to help you - check against your lists, and i'll be happy to send em out to you for just one or two of something i collect. 

here's to happy trading...and $42 million triple A players....

nuh, i dint shoot that squirrel/cat/bird/neighbor

set chasers...here's your numbers:

5, 6, 10, 13, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 35, 35, 42, 47

52, 54, 58, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 77, 78, 80, 82, 84, 85, 86, 94, 97, 98

102, 107, 111, 112, 118, 121, 126, 127, 137, 143, 144, 147, 148,

151, 152, 157, 164, 169, 170, 172, 173, 179, 182, 183, 224

The Dark Hole Of Unbelievability Has Eaten My Team, and a trade post

hey everybody,

what the heck happened to my Dodgers?   I absolutely cant believe the way the Boys in Blue seem to be playing the game these days stuck in reverse gear.  SHEESH ! 

tomorrow i'm sure everything will be different because our "number 2 starter who pitches like a number 5 starter" (chad billingsly) will march to the mound at the bay.  hey bills, if you were ever gonna toss a no-no, this would be about the time to do it, son.

on the bright side of the Blue, i got some great new Dodger cards from a trade with Baseball Dad.  Let's check em out...

ANYTIME one opens a trade package and out falls a Kirk Gibson, TIS is a good trade package.  does it look to anyone else like Gibby is heat hallucinating and is swinging away at those imaginary o-pee-chee elfy things?

Brad Penny rocked that Dodger Stadium mound many a time.  he had a humongous barreled out upper body. i would ab-so-lut-ly hate to face his fastball.

 besides the Dodger's stinking up the bay today, here's the story that's gonna be missed.  despite how bad that game seemed, Kershaw gritted it up and actually threw good enough today that he shoulda won.

didnt see the box score yet, but it was a long, hard slog for kershaw, and he kept the boys in the game all game long.  hell, the starting pitcher nutted up and held the opposition to 2.  if he had ANY run support, it woulda been a different ball game.

they're gonna say Kershaw got out pitched.  'he lost because he gave up that homer. ' nope. that's not why he lost.  Kershaw gave his team a fighting chance to be in the game.  score an average of three runs a game, and you win games just like today's.  we lost because the offense is in a serious-ass funk, but also because of a bonehead decision by Mattingly.

in the 6th (?) inning we actually got a rally going.  shut out by 2 runs, we get 2 men on and Kershaw's spot comes up.  He kept us close and job done, he sits for a pinch hitter.  OK, standard managerial move - but Donnie B absolutely blows it !

Who does he send up in this clutch hitting situation? Manny Mota ? Not even close.  he sends up friggen wrong choice james loney.  really Mattingly ?  even though loney hits .500 against thier righty starting pitcher, he didn't get the start tonight.  why not? because obviously by choosing to bench Loney in the biggest game of the season up to this point - he's saying to all of us, the 'guy cant hit'. 

sooooo...with the game on the line, he sends up the guy who can't hit.  not...genius.  Send anybody but this guy and i bet we get more than that lazy fly he hit to the cavernous 400 foot center field.  Take your part of crow for this loss, Mattingly. 

 if bills should actually throw that no hitter tomorrow, it's still even money we lose with this offense. 

how about a great shot of the Bulldog at bat.  orel actually could knock that shite around.  steve bartman lurking.

here's another great card i never saw until it was mine. i guess Bulldog is mowing his lawn here, because he's certainly not in a standard LA cap.

good ol' Baseball Dad even tossed in some (also new to me) cardboard en espanol !

                                              THANKS for a great trade, Baseball Dad !

Yo Fuji, My Favorite player Was Ron Cey

Today's Post is in response to the bat around question over at The Chronicles Of Fuji.

yup, i'm talkin about the same ron cey that Good 'ol Night Owl sez was his favorite as well.

the ironic thing about this is, this one is the ONLY actual card i hold of cey.  i've got a few reprints of his, but this one is the only autentico.  for some reason or another i didn't see any of his cards when trolling shows, and i just haven't gotten any of his cards in trades (except for those reprints).  this reveals a huge hole in my collecting career.

the penguin was my favorite 'every day in the lineup, four at bats per game' Dodger.   i had another favorite childhood Dodger, but this bad ass didn't play every day, and he was only called upon to perform in very specific situations.  he's bad ass because in my memories he ALWAYS came through when called upon in those do or die stuations.   he invented the art of the walk-off game winner to me....

this here's his RC. naturally, he's posed with his weapon of choice.

this one is my favoite of mota's cards. doing what he does best, and striking a 'hammerin hankish' sort of pose, although mota was not a huge HR threat.  a classic photo rockin' the old 70's LA uni. 

i was also a big fan of Garvey.  he played the opposite corner from the Penguin, and he was no slouch with the bat.  besides that, we all thought he had the hottest Dodger wife.

yup - i still collect these guys and they are always welcome in trade packages.  *hint hint*

A Community Break Brings Gum Goodness

hey everybody,

how's your weekend going?  what a great sunday afternoon here.  I smell a neighbor's BBQ coming through the wind and occasionally i hear tiny yelps from our newborn puppies out in the back yard.

this and my next couple of posts will be catch-ups from trades and breaks i was involved in from a ways back.  today i'm covering the last break i was in, and because of new financial changes around here, maybe the last break i'll be in for a while.  i'm going to be scaling back on how many breaks i join.  maybe that's lucky for you other Dodger collectors, as I'll only be jumping in if the products are something i just can't resist. 

speaking of lucky - i caught some major, major break mojo on this group break from Community Gum and i hauled in my biggest catch yet of all the breaks i've participated in. Andy and Jon gave us a shot at a case break of 2012 topps archives. of course, my team was the dodgers, and i picked up some cool cards of a few guys from other teams as well.  here's the highlights -
 

of course it's a highlight when i get a jackie hit. love this card's great design.  aint all that blue purty? 

nice new cards from (last year's) stars

never been much a snider collector, but i like this one. 

i know some of you out there dig these stickers. bleh...

dee started the season as my favorite Dodger, but his struggles to be consistent are really testing my patience.  emerging as my new fave is elian herrera. he plays almost every position except pitcher and plays 'em pretty well.  besides that defensive value, on a team lacking offense, he's a consistent threat at the plate as well.  hey dee - i'm talking about somebody else on your card caption.  does that say anything to you?

3-D coolness

i always love to get a new mike schmidt card.  the straw looks great in this card.

clemente ALWAYS a good addition. sometimes i feel this dude walked the field with an aura you could see.

andy and jon included this note that gave me a good chuckle when i saw it.  'couldn't pull anything good for me?'  HA ! they only pulled my greatest hit of all ! check it out below ....

see that? a Fan Favorites Sandy Koufax AUTOGRAPH !!!  that auto was the entire reason i joined this break.  i was hoping to catch lightning and the boys at Community Gum helped me catch it this time !!  

I went to the topps redeemtion site and the only drag is i have to wait until september for delivery.   SEPTEMBER ???!!!???!! ARRRGHHHH !!!!   this might be the first time i ever wish for summer to pass quickly.  THANKS for the great break, Jon and Andy! 

My Contest Mojo Reaches Even Beyond Oceans

hey everybody,

hope all is well and good in your world tonight - especially in your world, roberto.  get well soon !

a long time ago i won one of the prizes in a contest over at the blog the fantastic dudes Martyn and Tony run, Cards Beyond Oceans.   It was a really fun contest with top prize of a Duke Snyder auto/relic.  I caught some luck and landed 6th place - but when i opened my package, the goods were so great, even though i didn't hit the snider card, i felt like i had won 2nd place !

i won a stack of cards from my favorite team.  in case you don't know which team that is - WHHHHAAAATTT !!!!!  of course you all know who my package was stuffed with - the Boys in Dodger Blue.  T & M sent me a whole lotta cool cards.   let's check out some highlights...

I never get tired of cards showing Gibby's awesome WS HR trot.  what an epic image.  my guy inside Dodger Stadium actually has this image tattoo'd on his arm!

I got a great stack of topps chrome.  this one is really nice with the modern shiny front and a cardboard back

how about martyn and tony tossing in a RELIC !  for SIXTH place ! wow, absolutely fantastic.  it's a great low numbered relic, and the shiny purple makes for a very attractive card face.

how about this cool catcher action? looks like we're at the toy car and giant soda bottle park, where martin's about to gun down some slow poke.

another GREAT addition to my winnings

one great thing is my winnings were chock full of product i dont usually buy, like bowman, goudey and topps chrome, so i got a hunka cards from favorite Dodgers that are new for my collection.

this is a great card - bowman platinum - that is really cheated by the scan, and the fact i didn't remove the card from it's toploader.  take my word for it, this is a great card.

more cards that are totally new to me. very nice additions for my fernando and pedro collections. 

man, this package even included Dodger HOF greats - both are players that i especially chase.

...and it included rookies ! Dodger fans are waiting for DeJesus to break out.  every time he gets his shot to play, he shows that he does have that special something to be a full-time big leaguer.

finally, a quartet of miiiiiinnniiiiiisss.

 as i said, this was just some of the highlights. it was a great contest and an equally great prize package. THANKS a bunch tony and martyn, for the fun contest.  perfect timing...it's fist pitch in the Dodger game.  talk to y'all later.  

My Favorite Vintage Card (for Fuji and all of you)

Hey everybody...once again I let too much time pass between posts.  It happens to most of us bloggers at one time or another; life complications get between us and our blog, or we temporarily misplace the spark that gives us our ideas for writing, or we just get tired of applying pressure to ourselves to update daily.

I got hit with one of those life complications that just made my blog seem so unimportant, and at times left me with no energy to get back into the routine of keeping up with routines.  i'm trying to get back to normal...so once again, it's the contest over at Fuji's Chronicles that serves as my inspiration. 

i like modern cards as much as anybody else because i love the action of rippin' packs and finding what's inside.  however, my real love is in vintage, so it was especially difficult for me to settle on a favorite.

so  - let's start with the runner up...

1959 Topps   #550   Symbol Of Courage

both this runner-up and the winner were acquired back in the day when i regularly trolled through the local card shows.  i knew of the campy card and i wanted it.  since it's a high number it's a tough find.  I looked through many a dealers box before i could find one in good condition, and that fit my budget.  it took a while, but that campy cardboard finally got into my collection.

however, as yoda once said..." there is another"(or something like that).  presenting my favorite:

1964 Topps    WS Inserts    Game 1    #136

  i didn't even know this card existed - but, man oh man,  this card has it all !  it's the best Dodger's pitcher ever !  in the Fall Classic !  starting Game 1 !  and the headline shows he struck out 15 !!    the vintage photo is awesome.  it captures sandy in full stride about to bring the heat down on some hapless yankee.  the colors and shadowing are classic of baseball photography from the era.  this card just drips baseball and cardboard history.  whatta card, indeed.

So who missed me ? and my pimpin' ways ?

hey everybody -

how's y'all doing out there?  i've been away for the month of june.  who noticed?

a brief explanation for my absence: some of you know i'm a college professor ( <--insert unimpressed yawn), but i'm also a department head (<-- insert tossed peanut).   so while summer is traditionally a time to slow down around most campus', it's actually my busy season, because i have to oversee the educational part of international groups who come for summer sessions at my university.  that means lots less time for blogging fun.   some of you may have noticed i've still been reading your blogs, and dropping comments here and there, but i've had very little time for scanning cards and crafting my usually fantastic and awesome posts.   :(

 i've been meaning to get back into the swing of things, and today i found the perfect reason to break my non-posting streak.  it's a chance for me to get involved in a blogger contest, and to help a fellow blogger pimp out his site.  fuji, over at The Chronicles Of Fuji is starting up his third annual super-contest.  so here comes a big hitta pimpology, Dodger Blue styleeeeee.....

Snoop sez: Check out tha chronic...les of fuji !

it looks like a lot of fun, involving commenting, answering questions, LOTSA prizes, and even a bat around.  how can i stay on the bench with this kinda action getting started?  so i'm adjustin' my blogging gloves like nomah and pine tarrin' my keyboard like brett.  time to get back into the game !