Breaking Down Cards With a Whole Lotta Words

Aloha, everybody, 

My humble little collection has been blessed these days by the arrivals of PWE's and packages full of cardboard goodness. This of course means my humble little blog is blessed with plenty for me to show off and write about. 

Gavin, the custom card artist and master blogger behind Baseball Card Breakdown, recently sent over a surprise PWE, and he asked if I could follow up my 100 words post with 75 words about the cards he sent me. 

I'm sorry, Gavin, my good friend, but squeezing my usual long-winded-posts into just 100 words was pretty difficult for me. Cutting an additional 25 words off and giving justice to what you sent to me just isn't in the cards (as we say). 

Heck, I've probably already written close to 100 words and I haven't even shown a single card yet. So let's fix that right quick...

Bam! Leading off is a beautiful Topps Chrome third-year card of the longest tenured Dodger, Captain Clutch. 

I have high hopes for Ethier this year. It may be Andre's last year in Dodger blue, but he's currently sidelined with a sore back, so we'll see how that goes. 

Moving from the oldest Dodger to the newest one, it's a couple of cards of Logan Forsythe as a Padre...

That's a great double play of Forsythe RCs in base and cognac diamond versions. (I wonder if I sent any of these over to Gavin before, and they've now come full circle back to me.) 

It's been a while since I received any diamond parralels. I'd forgotten just how cool they look in hand. 

Here's another shot of cognac. 

Javy was a favorite of mine, but the Dodgers DFA'd him. After bouncing around a couple of clubs, he recently signed with his former manager, Damn Mattingly over in Miami. Good luck, Javy!

Gav wasn't finished with the diamonds. Here's a sweet Ethier...

Man, these cards are beauts! I sent a bunch of these diamonds away some time ago to someone who was collecting these parallels. Seeing them again, I'm gaining a new appreciation for them. 

Finally, not cardboard diamond, but a player who was a diamond when he was with the Dodgers. 

Like a diamond, he took time to change from a lump of coal to something appreciated and coveted. 

You see, Juan Uribe came over to the Dodgers from the Giants. Lots of us hated to see a former Giant join our favorite team, and to top things off, he kinda sucked at first. 

Eventually Uribe found his stroke and filled out the Dodger home whites quite well. I loved to see his great friendship with Hyun-Jin Ryu. 

One of his biggest games was when he shrugged off Damn Mattingly's galactically STUPID call for a bunt and blasted a two-run home run to kill the Braves and send the Dodgers to the NLCS. 

This Uribe card is my favorite of the bunch. He went from a hated Giant to a beloved Dodger, and I just don't have enough Uribe Dodger cards. 

It's such a cool card, let's see it again. Check out that cool powder blue Brooklyn throwback uni, and spot-on swing. 

Beautiful and awesome, just like the PWE. THANKS, Gav. 

Ummm...how many words was that? 

Aloha! 

A Zippy Trade For Some Zappy Dodgers

Happy Labor Day, dear readers and trade partners,

I'll be hitting the grill today, but that'll be later, after the temp goes down a degree or two.  Until then, I'm inside, watching the Dodgers Rockies game, and enjoying my baseball cards.

Here come a few that I received from cool trader, Zippy Zappy. 

First up is the tragedy of 2013, poor Matt Kemp, who has missed most of the 2013 campaign.  Word is the ankle injury has healed sufficiently enough to get him some rehab time in the minors, but Bison can't seem to hit the ball yet.  He's something like 0 for 11, with only one ball leaving the infield.

Guerra here is enduring his own sad baseball story.  Before Kenley Jansen settled in as the Dodger's closer, and before the (other) baseball tragedy that is Brandon League, the Dodgers thought they had a legitimate closer in young Javy Guerra.

I was a believer in Guerra myself.  There was a period where Javy pitched very well, and he showed a great amount of composure and gravitas on the mound.  Unfortunately, Guerra lost his mojo, lost too many games, and eventually lost his place on the big club.  He's down in the minors now.  Good luck, Javy!

Below though, below is the card that makes this trade Zip Zip Zippy, Zap Zap Zappy....

BOOM !

Good ol' Zippy Zappy helps me to get my hands on a great Puig RC.  Dodger Blue rain abounds. 

Thanks for the cool cards, ZZ!  Happy Grilling, everybody!