Dodgers From a Dodger Lover to Another Dodger Lover

Aloha, everybody,

I'm sure you all remember GCRL Jim. Did you know he can now be found at Frankendodger? 

Good ol' Jim is the master of dissecting Dodger cardboard. He'll tell you all about the sets they came on, the stories behind the photos, and the player, in glorious detail. 

I recently received a fistful of Dodger cards from Jim, and here are the highlights...

I usually start off these posts with modern cardboard, but when Dodgers fans/collectors/writers swap cardboard, I firmly believe it's the old cards - the vintage, that really gets our Dodger blue blood up and running. 

Jim took a swing at my Dodgers team set wish lists and hit them solidly. Every one of the cards in today's post knocked one more into my "Have it" list. 

How about 1962 Topps Dodgers...

 Pete Richert only pitched for the Dodgers for a couple of years. The young southpaw set a record by striking out the first six batters he faced, and by recording a four-strike out inning on his debut.

 Johnny Rosenoro is most famous for getting his hair parted by Giants pitcher Juan Marichal with a baseball bat. Roseboro took one to the noggin while trying to save Sandy Koufax from that bat in one of the most infamous moments in the Dodgers/Giants rivalry. 

Jim chipped one more from the '65 Topps list...

The '70 Topps list...

The 1971 Topps list...

The two cards below and the team card that led off for this post are all from the 1978 Topps set...

Finally today, "Happy" Hooten from 1979 Topps, which now drops me to only needing two more '79s for completion. 

This lineup of nine was a great leap forward in my hunt for vintage Dodgers cardboard. What a sweet lot. 

And those are just the first half of the package. In Part 2, we'll check out the modern stuff.

Aloha!

GCRL Never Really Went Away - Part Two

Aloha, everybody,

Happy Super Bowl weekend. My Raiders didn't make it to the bowl ( yet again), but the rival Broncos did, so I'll be cheering against the ponies. 

Although, I've gotta admit - I'm a bit torn about this one, because there's a piece of me that would like to see Payton Manning end his career with 200 wins and a storybook, come from behind, Super Bowl victory. Either way, it should be a good game. 

Now, where were we with that package full of cardboard goodness from GCRL Jim? 

Let's (cheap Super Bowl reference coming up) kick off part two with something Jim knows a little bit about...Steve Garvey cardboard...

 

It may be the year of the bat flip (see Topps 2016), but 70's cardboard also knew a thing or two about showing off the batsmen. 

Drake's Big Hitters gives us a wonderful shot of the Garv shucking his bat off to the side, as his work with the lumber is done. It looks like he's eyeing a line drive gapper. Wonderful choice of photos.

Above is a shot of Garvey's long time teammate and what I believe to be a lurking popcorn vendor. Who else would wear such a hideous shirt? 

On to another master with the lumber...

The 80's were full of ugly or otherwise boring card designs, but these Pedro cards made some pretty good design choices. 

Sure, the Drake's has some kinda mystery shape in the corners of the frame. What are those things? Pomegranate seeds?  

The '86 Fleer gives a nod to the comic books of the day, but both designs hold their own without being obtrusive. That was quite an accomplishment for 80's cardboard. 

How about one with mercenary Eddie Murray obviously hiding something under his hat?

Jim included this card which took me way back in the memory banks...

Fimple made it to the bigs, but he was mediocre on his best days, so he's not the point here. 

The memory this card tweaked was about the Dukes, the Triple A club the Dodgers used to have in Albuquerque, NM.  

Back when I was growing up, that was the club most Dodger stars such as Ron Cey, Mike Piazza and Pedro Martinez came up from. Tommy Lasorda won a championship as their manager. The Dodgers eventually swapped the Dukes for San Diego's Las Vegas club. 

Speaking of Mr. Piazza, here's a shot of him anticipating a crash at the plate...

How do I know that's about to happen? Because we've seen Piazza's "impending impact" face before...



 Jim didn't only include sluggers in the package; I got some never seen before, oddball cardboard from a couple of my favorite pitchers as well...

Revco?

Q: What's a trade between Dodger collectors without some vintage? A: Lacking. 

This package wasn't...

 Bob Darnell pitched a whole seven games for Brooklyn, but it was enough to get him immortalized on the 1955 Bowman TV set. I now have four Dodgers from this set, and I'm itching for more! 

Jim also dropped in a good assortment of miiiinnnnniiiiiiiiis.....

And finally, just when I thought I received every Roger Cedeno card I could ever want (and a few I didn't)...

That's right, an auto from the kid. 

Cedeno was mediocre as a Dodger, but he went on to do fairly well with the Mets - who promptly traded him off into obscurity. Hope you're doing well, Roger, wherever you may be. 

THANKS for a fun package of cards and some great new additions to my collection, Jim. I'll be putting together a package for you over the weekend. Enjoy the Super Bowl, wherever you may be in the ether of former blogger land. 

Here's one for all of the bloggers who have moved on...

 

Aloha!

Old Bloggers Never Die - They Just Fade Away Into The Trading Zone

Aloha, everybody, 

When I first started blogging, it was a truism in the blogosphere that there were more Dodger bloggers than those from any other baseball team. 

That of course brought with it various plus and minuses. An example of a "negative" is all of the other bloggers out there had to somehow divvy up their Dodger giveaways if they traded with more than one of us. On the flip side, the Dodgers are somewhat plentiful on cardboard, which means there are lots of cards to go around. 

I haven't checked lately on how the high number of Dodger bloggers is holding up, but I do know that number dropped by one when Jim, from the now defunct, but forever cool,  Garvey, Cey, Russel, Lopes, hung up his keyboard. 

Jim didn't disappear, though. He's remained in the background dropping comments on our blogs, and dropping packages off at the post office. A couple of days ago I received a fat one of those myself. 

Jim's GCRL blog focused on "the Dodger infield of his youth". I've thought about focusing ATBATT in a similar way, but my collecting brain just doesn't compartmentalize like that. While I do love collecting the Dodgers, I'm more of a "shotgun collector", with interests that scatter around a variety of themes and teams. 

Jim's note was the first time I've seen cards referred to as "sludge", but I immediately knew what he meant. While every jam-packed package is going to have a few pass-along cards, there were far more than just "one or two" that filled player/set needs and satisfied my cool cards wants. 

 Believe it or not, it's only recently that I've begun to focus on completing team sets from past Topps issues. I've got a pretty good start on them, and Jim helped me to fill in a lot of blanks. 

I'll be updating my team set want lists shortly after this, so you all can see if you've got any extra past Dodgers that can help me complete those sets. 

To a scattershot collector like me, it's even better when cards hit on more than one level, like the Conlon Collection, players with cool nicknames, and old-time Brooklyn Dodgers...

The back of this card says Rattlesnake got his nick from his oft-told stories of growing up in Texas with snakes galore. According to the story on this card, a rattler once bit into one of his car's tires, and the rush of escaping air filled the unlucky snake like a balloon, until he actually exploded. Yikes! 
 

Often the best parts of these cards are the backgrounds featuring long gone stadiums, rudimentary wood dugouts, and fans in suits. 
 

Below is a great card from a great set. Once upon a time I had a lot of cards from this Upper Deck set; I think I sold most of them back in my old card show days. 
 

What a photo! A play at the plate, Billy Martin flying, World Series action, and best of all, Campy giving it his all on two good legs. 

 Above is an aging Duke, no longer in Flatbush, but always a Dodger. 

When I first saw this card, I figured it to be a pretty good action shot (despite the bad crop job) of Carter about to throw down to second. 

Thinking more about that half-unseen batter and Carter's eyes, I imagine that would be something like the look on Johnny Roseboro's face when Juan Marichal was coming at him with a bat and the intent to rearrange his hairstyle. 

More scattershot cardboard appreciation...

 Brett Butler was another one of those ex-Giants whom I came to appreciate as a Dodger. This is a a very cool action shot capturing Butler just at the end of his crow's hop - which is such a simple, yet graceful, baseball maneuver. Extra bonuses in the photo are Wrigley's ivy and the Tim Crews death patch on Butler's sleeve. 

Finally, a card from a set that I've always loved more for the photos on the rear, rather than the fronts...

1993 Leaf shopped the players onto their team's cities in such a way that presented them as gargantuan athletes. I've always dug the Godzilla feeling of these players stomping around and throwing baseballs between skyscrapers. Awesome. 

That's it for Part one of the GCRL package. Tune in next time for Part Two. 

Until then, let's dig some 60's go-go action...

Aloha!

Yet Even More Cardboard Goodness From Jim (GCRL) and Brian (30YOC)

Hey everybody,

I received another batch of cool cards from a couple of great, generous traders who run a couple of the most awesome card blogs out there.  Readers, if you're not yet visiting and following Jim at GCRL and Brian at 30 Years of Cardboard, get on over there and get in some fun and educational (cards-wise) reading.

It's late tonight, so without further ado, let's see some cards.  First up, from 30 YOC...

 Most everyone has commented on their love of these Collisions at the Plate from 2013 Gypsy Queen, and the dude abides.  These cards are super cool.  It doesn't get much better than this one. 

The L.A. Times just started to run a series on the top 20 Dodgers of all time.  Sutton was listed as number 20.  I don't think I would place him that low on the list, but I'm glad he made the cut.

But of course, I hadda have this one.

Here comes the cards from GCRL...

It's vintage because we say it is. 

 Shawn Green cards are always welcome, as Green was one of my sons' favorite Dodgers while they were growing up.  Green's cards always go right into their collections. 

 The same goes for Sheffield.  He was my oldest son's favorite Dodger.  As he was was growing up through PONY baseball, my son always had the Sheffield bat wig-wag.  Lucky for him, he also had the bat speed and power to back it up.

On July 2, 1957, good ol' Lee hit for the cycle.  Atta boy, Walls!

 

My second all-time favorite Dodger manager.  Check out that seismograph, ancient phone thing behind Alston.

Love this card.  Hatch looking like it's pure joy to be on the diamond.

Meet the boys.

 THANKS for the great, great cards, Brian and Jim.  I really enjoy our trades.

THANKS for reading, everybody!

G-reat C-ards R-each L-A. I'm a L-ucky C-ollector

Hey Everybody,

Whew, that was a tough title to construct!  As you can see, I worked in the initials from the two bloggers who most recently sent some great cards my way. 

Super-blogger - not just Super Dodger Blogger, but Super Overall blogger, Jim, from the Super Dodger blog, Garvey, Cey, Russell, Lopes (GCRL) recently sent a package to me full of Dodgers goodness.  Just out of the Dodger Blue, he sent a set of the 2013 Topps Dodgers to me.  WOW ! How cool is that?  Well, if you're a Dodger fan, or just a fan o' the cardboard, you certainly know how cool that is.

 Just to make an already generous action even MORE AWESOME, Jim added some cardboard cherries on top. Check it out....

Man, I can't have me enough Dodgers vintage.  Awesome!

I'm really glad to see other bloggers starting to talk about chasing vintage because vintage cards really are what I love the most.  New or re-newed interest in older cardboard is great news for me because I'll enjoy checking it out on everyone's blogs and I anticipate we'll increase it in our trades across the board.

My first card of ol' 3-Dog.  Thanks, Jim.  :)

Only the best pinch hitter there ever was.  Or ever will be. 

Perranoski went on to become a member of Tommy Lasorda's Dodger Coach Mafia.

'Rube' Walker was a Brooklyn Dodger who transferred over to L.A.  N.Y. fans might remember him as a pitching coach for the Mets. 

Great cards.  I also jumped on a vintage trade offer from A.J., The Lost Collector , who is quickly becoming someone I trade often with.  A.J. posted up some vintage for trade, and I took this bait...

 I remember Campy from my first days of watching baseball.  He was a steady player for the A's, and I considered him to be one of their star players.  Catching this card was one of those examples of a hunka cardboard that reminds me of being very young and watching baseball on TV, without a worry in the world.

Keeping the streak of receiving 2013 Topps Dodgers alive, A.J. added this cool Matt Kemp insert.
Once again, a card I didn't have, brought to me by the generosity of my fellow bloggers.

THANKS, Jim and A.J., for all the great new cards.

Next post: Loot from the Great Baseball Card Giveaway of 2012.