You already know there are as many baseball card styles of collecting as there are collectors out there. For example, while many of you are completing sets from particular years, that way of collecting just doesn't float my cardboard boat.
I do however, chase team sets of the Dodgers from the 50's to the 80's. If you want to know what to place in my Christmas stocking, just gather some Dodgers from those classic/vintage sets and I'm a happy card-collectin' geek.
That's exactly what Dennis from Too Many Verlanders did. I sent him a little something in Operation PWE, and he sent over a fistful of Dodger cards to me as well.
In our email conversation we played with the semantics of whether this was a trade or a gift exchange. In the end, terminology really had little to do with it, as Dennis is a regular on my Operation PWE list, and he already had some cards set aside for me just because.
Call us trade partners or friends exchanging gifts, either way, it means Dodgers for my binders! And that's what Christmas is all about, right? Let's see what I got in my PWCS (plain white Christmas stocking).
Dennis started me off with a batch of 1979 Topps. I'm almost finished with this team set, but a couple of nice thing about doubles are, the new ones can serve as upgrades, and replaced cards are now freed up to help out some set collector out there, or a Dodgers collector who's low on vintage.
UPGRADE
UPGRADE
UPGRADE
Young Don Sutton in a beautifully nostalgic Spring Training photo from 1973 Topps.
Dennis got me down to needing just one more card to complete 1977 Topps...
This is one of my favorite Steve Garvey cards.The Garv at the ready. Hat pulled low, forearms pumped, stirrups not effing around, and a slight smile that says, "Hit it to me." All in a gritty 70's film style. I've been wanting this baby for quite a while. Now I've got it!
It wasn't all vintage. Dennis tossed in a bonus tribute card of big Don Drysdale from Upper Deck Legends...
The photo shows Drysdale holding a ball marked #3 and the date 10/5/1963. It was taken following Game 3 of the 1963 World Series.
The Dodgers swept the Yankees in '63. Drysdale pitched a three-hit, complete game in Game 3 and won 1-0. A great photo from a great day.
It was also a great fistful of cards. THANKS, Dennis. Let's not wait an entire year until we send each other cards again!
Aloha!
