A Fistful of Dodgers From Bo's Box

Aloha, everybody, 

As you may remember, I'm showing off some samples from the large box of cards that Bo sent over to me. We're down to the last couple of posts, so let's get started. 

Here come some great Dodgers cards from the shiny and creative '90s and beyond. Leading off are a few Beltres...

Now some shiny (and new!) Nomos...

Tribute reprints that came off very nicely...

I wonder how many reprint versions of that Steve Garvey All-Stars card are out there? This is my third different one. 

Let's get modern with some Diamond Kings...

These DKs work just as well on the backside. I like stats on the back as much as the next guy, but I'm also a big fan of the snippets I can read that give me context...

Takeshi Saito didn't get on a lot of cards back then, but boy, I'm glad he made it onto this cool blue Spectrum specimen...

I don't think there's another ex-Dodger who's cards make me feel sad, like Pedro's...

This Mondesi card has a nice textured surface to go along with the shiny stars...

I wonder if we'll ever get sparkly, glittery cards again...

Let's close with a couple of lights-out pitchers...

As always, THANKS for these cool cards, Bo! 

Aloha! 

When Cellophane Was King

Aloha, everybody, 

Here are some more goodies from my big box o' prizes that I scored from the Big Fun Game. Let's rip some packs (and a box)!

This was the first Victory pack I ripped. I was surprised to find said Victory cards and Upper Deck Choice cards in the same pack. Was that a usual thing? 

I'll bet it wasn;t usual to pull a Dodger from each of the brands...

The rack pack gave up a few cool cards. I don't remember Omar Vizquel playing for the Mariners. 

It's a couple more Dodgers! 

These packs are great for old school unis. From Score...

Yowza! Mike Scioscia in a rare batting photo...

Finally, a mixed batch from the 1987 Fleer League Leaders set. Check out Goose with the Roy Krok sleeve patch, Brett and Schmidtty in baby blue, and keeping my Dodgers streak alive, Bob Welch in the photo Fleer didn't even bother to center correctly. 

More cool packs and cards and stuff to come from my big prize box soon. 

Aloha! 

I Won A Royal Contest, And That Aint Random

Aloha readers and trade partners,

It's another sweltering, sunny day in L.A. The Dodgers are up in the bay - no, not Ebay! - Frisco bay, to battle the Giants and defend their position at the top of the N.L. West, and I'm getting ready for first pitch with a cold beer and my winnings from a contest held over at Royals and Randoms. 

As Josh reminded me in his note (seen below), the contest was held a few months back. I totally forgot I was a winner, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because my prize cards arrived more or less Randomly, which made them a very Royal surprise. 

Since I totally forgot what the "Baseball Sheep" were, I went over to Royals and Randoms and rediscovered what a fun contest it was. 

In it, Josh asked a series of baseball and card collecting survey/opinion questions. He tallied the answers and awarded prizes according to who had the highest points. It was fun to participate and see everyone's answers. The contest Q & A can be found here.

Josh, you mentioned possibly running a contest like that again in the future, and I hope you do. That was a fun one. 

Although I didn't win first prize, I took third place behind The Lost Collector by just one point!   

Let's check out my great prizes... 

Leading off is an autograph! Gorecki pitched one year each for LA and Tampa Bay back in the 90's.  He left behind a record of 2-2 with an ERA over 7.  Well, he did better than I ever would have. 

The second card carried the winnings envelope the way he wanted his bat to carry the Dodgers.  Before we had Matt Kemp and his giant ego patrolling the outfields of Chavez Ravine, we had another big ego with a big bat to match in this guy...

 This is quite an attractive, but simple card. The card features a nice shot of Sheffield wig-wagging his bat, paired with a slice of bat adorned with the LA logo. 

I was a fan of Sheffield when he played here, but unfortunately his ego and mouth got him traded away. We've also got a foul ball that Sheff hit.  My son came out from under a pile of fans with that one. 

Dodger fans might also remember we got Sheffield in the dark, black trade that the Fox idiots put together sending Mike Piazza away forever. Score one for the bad baseball memories pile.

THANKS for the cool cards, Josh. They're great! 

One hour to go for the battle of First Place up in the bay.
GO DODGERS !!!
 

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!

A Small Trade With A Big Blogger

hey everybody,

i just don't know how the guy does it.  he writes an awesome blog that i faithfully read.  besides that, he writes yet even more blogs, which i'm quite sure are equally fascinating, but i confess, i don't read those as often.

keeping up with several blogs would be enough for any regular mortal, but that's not enough juggling for the Night Owl.  on top of all that, the guy has time for twitters, tweeters, listias and tumblers - and whatever the heck all those things entail. think he's done?  not even close...

then he squeezes in time to be a sportswriter, and a regular joe with a family and everything that comes along with those responsibilities.  whew!   he does all of that before finding time to maintain, catalog and love a huge card collection.  WTH - does this guy get an extra allotment of hours per diem that we don't?

you may ask yourself, "why should i care if some crazed blogger wants to eat, drink and sleep baseball cards?"  it's because the man still cares enough to use some of his carefully scheduled schedule to TRADE!  have we overused the term - 'he's passionate' yet?

which brings me to our latest trade.  Night Owl scored a couple of '65 topps Dodgers that he mentioned will be upgrades for his collection.  since i'm trying to collect that same year's Dodgers, i immediately requested, and was just as immediately given, those '65s.   if i was as busy as N.O., i would be forever crabby and have no time for others.  Good ol' N.O. shipped those right out to me, along with a fistful of other Dodgers.  coolness, indeed. 

here's the '65s that started this trade. i dig this set's design, colors and those pennants.

Howe's is a tragic story.  he was a truly good pitcher who never reached his full potential because drugs and alchohol kept taking control of his life.  this is a great photo because it seems Howe himself is wondering about what might have been. 

 here's a tragedy of a different sort.  Adrian Beltre came up with the Dodgers and played a solid third basewhile wielding a pretty good bat.  he left LA as a free agent, and while he suffered a few lean years, he is still around bashing multi-HR playoff games and still rocking the hot corner.  Beltre was recently awarded a gold glove for the 2012 season.  since Beltre's departure, LA has had about 500 third basemen.  among the 2012 Dodger third basemen, juan uribe.  a fricken tragedy indeed.

with a name like his, ol' Burleigh had 2 choices - play baseball or bootleg liquor in chicago.

my first Karros relic!

this Sheffield card is transparent awesomeness. 

i can never, ever have too many nomo cards. 

THANKS for a great trade, busy man.