Aloha, everybody, 

The arrest of Julio Urias has fans making hard choices about fandom and forgiveness.  Not just about the player, but about the Dodgers organization. 

Julio Urias Arrested - but That's Not The Dodgers' Biggest Problem

Aloha, everybody, 

LA Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias was arrested for domestic violence. That would be bad enough, but this is not an isolated case. This is, unfortunately, the latest and most public in a line of ugly incidents involving young Dodger players. 

It'll Take Two Nights of Posts for This Buncha Cards from Night Owl

Aloha, everybody, 

We've all got our favorite trading partners, and the dean of our community, Sir Night Owl, is obviously one of mine. We both share a collecting passion for the same team, and our Dodgers have their ever-lovin' mugs on a lot of product, so that often makes our trades chock-a-block-fulla-stuff. That's exactly how I would describe this little ol' box of goodness that came to my way from N.Y. 

How's that for a fun bunch of cardboard to sift through? And it was definitely fun. Obviously, you don't want to see all of these cards, but there are so many great ones in here, that I'm pretty sure it's going to take two posts for me just to show the best ones off. 

So let's go...

First up is a new addition ( 2002 Upper Deck) for my Shawn Green PC. I'm digging the lineup nostalgia on the left. Check out the leadoff batter: Dave Roberts, now the manager. 

Next up are a couple from today's top Dodgers prospects. I'm very happy to receive my first Willie Calhoun, whom I'm hoping the Dodgers don't trade away this week. 

I collected Score '95, but I don't think I ever pulled one of these Artist's Proofs. I checked around, but couldn't find any info on how limited these are. That doesn't matter beyond info that helps me know about my card, as I love these proof cards regardless. 

 I remarked in a recent post that I'll be actively collecting early Konerko Dodgers cards, but ol' Night Owl took it to another level. You want early? How about a minor league (now defunct) Albuquerue Dukes card...

The scan is pretty dark, but I had to include this awesome mirror-finish Bowman which features Eric Young admiring a hit while standing before some kind of atrocious Gaza Strip-looking apartment building. 

The 90's gave us much more than gigantor-sized athletes playing among tiny citiscapes, They also loved to use....die-cut tech!

Leaf Studio was never at the top of my list for purchases, but this Ramon Martinez card is a beaut. 

Can't have too much Bulldog! This is actually a Fleer design I like. 

My eyes opened and jaw dropped when I gazed upon this cardboard gem from Topps Gallery. (lurking Wrigley)

That's it for today. Stay tuned for Part Two of the Buncha Cards from Night Owl, featuring tribute cards, more 90's goodness, Jackie and viiiiiiiiinnnntaaaaaaage !

THANKS, buddy. Aloha! 

Zippy Claus Zapped Me

Aloha, everybody, 

Christmas is just around the corner, so I'll take this opportunity to wish all of my fellow collectors, traders and readers a very Merry Christmas. I may post again before the big day, but who knows who will be reading then, so I'll take advantage and send these holiday greetings to you all right now. 

I've talked about it too many times, but WTH, it's the holidays, so I'll bring it up one more time. The reason I launched this humble little blog was to connect with like-minded folks across the country, but I had no idea just how wonderful it would be to meet you all through our community. 

One of the best guys that I met in the blogosphere (and with a friendship that has expanded to the Twittersphere) is Zippy Zappy, from Torren Up Cards. ZZ has earned a reputation of creative generosity through his legendary Zippy Zappings (trademarked yet?), and the joy of Christmas brought one to me. 

See that? It was in a plain brown wrapper, but the fact it was from ZZ meant there was nothing plain inside. I began oh-so-carefully snipping at the outer wrapping like I was trying to defuse a nuke. 

Hmmm...bubble wrapped goodies of various shapes and sizes. You can't see it in this photo, but through the plastic wrapping I thought I saw....

"THE ROLLING STONES".....what? No way. 

More careful snipping revealed the stash! 

Whoa! 

Sure, cards are nice...but as anyone who has known me for more than five minutes knows, I'm a big Rolling Stones fan, and ZZ just dropped a 3-cd anthology of Stones musical goodness on me! 

Bonus: The CD booklet with photos and liner notes. This is really important to me. Most people buy digital music these days, and like them, I recently bought the latest Stones release in digital form. The drawback is...no booklet, no liner notes, nothing to read - and hold - while listening. This time I got one! THANKS, ZZ!

I know, this is a card blog, you didn't come here to read about the Glimmer Twins, you want to know about cardboard singles. Let's check out what else was in that bubble wrap...

Leading off is the NL's shiny new ROY, Corey Seager, on a shiny, shimmery card. Beautiful. 

Here's some more Seager goodness, this time he's sporting number 12, 

ZZ specializes in prospects and rookies, so natch he sent a few more of those to me. 

Here's Rob Segedin, former Yanks prospect, now a Dodger. In his first game, Segedin had a franchise rookie debut record, 4 RBIs...

Another Dodger who just joined the big club in 2016...

 Really nice to get some Urias pre-Dodgers cardboard in my collection. Here he is with Oklahoma City...

For those of you who noticed Julio's left eye and don't know the story, his near-closed eye is a result of a birth defect. He's had one surgery to correct it, and I believe there is another one to come. Good luck, Julio! 

Richy here was sent to the Phillies as part of the Chase Utley trade...

This blue Richy is numbered 166/199...

I didn't mind Richy being traded so much as I hated to see first-round draft pick, Grant Holmes get sent to Oakland. The Dodgers got Rich Hill, whom they just signed to a three-year deal (might be worth it), and Josh Reddick, who was a bum as a Dodger, and somehow duped the Astros into wasting millions on him for 2017. 

Alex Verdugo is still with the Dodgers. Look for him to play beside fellow Dodger Adrian Gonzalez for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. 

ZZ keeps close connections with Japan, which allows him to get cool stuff from overseas. Like these cards from my favorite Japanese team, the Hanshin Tigers...

My scanner does no justice to this beautiful card of Atsunori Ito. The card is from close to the end of Ito's career. He's now a coach with the Tigers. 

Here's a Tigers team card...

I love the team displayed in one riot of bats ready to take on all comers. If only they played as well as they look on cardboard. 2016 wasn't a good year for the Tigers. The Colonel will stay dry until 2017. 

And then there was this...

A custom job commemorating the patron saint of ZZ's blog. 

Am I the only guy in the blogosphere who doesn't make customs? 

Oh, almost forgotten was this little guy...

NOW I've been Zippy Zapped.  Thanks for everything, ZZ. Whew!

Aloha!