I Got Penny Sleeves in this Trade (Cool Cardboard too)

Aloha, everybody, 

If you're not following A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts, well, you just aint doin' it right. Jon runs one of my favorite blogs. Quality writing, insight, and a good variety of cards and genres (unlike those of us who tend to blog about the same team 95% of the time). 

Jon and I don't make specific trades, we just gather cards and send when it seems there are enough. Lately, we've begun corresponding with each other about things large and small beyond the cardboard. I told Jon that I feel like the old days when authors, artists and friends would write long letters to each other. I really love it. 

Anyways, you're here for the cards, right? Let's check 'em out...

Some of you might be saying to yourselves, "Hey, my browser just switched over to Bob Walk the Plank. Nope you're still in ATBATT. Jon remembered I collect Hall of Famers, and he dropped this Honus Wagner with its marvelous photo on me. Besides, I dig these Fleer Greats sets as well.

Something else I chase are defunct teams like the Senators...

I have mixed feelings about Roger Craig because he later managed the hated Giants - seemingly forever. I never knew him as a Dodger, so even though he wears the Brooklyn flannels, my brain still registers him as the leader of the bad guys. 

More Killer cardboard, sir? Yes, please. Mucho more...

And gimme those career stats...

Good ol' Ossie here spent his entire career with the Senators, from player to All-Star to World Series champ to coach to manager. 

Did someone say I like baseball legends on cardboard? This'll do...

Now for some Dodgers. We'll go from a gorgeous old set...

...to a beautiful modern, acetate of The Tornado...

 World Series Hero Mickey Hatcher! Awesome

 Here come some more Konerkos. Some will say this card design is over the top, but I think it's just right. Even his cleats are getting in on the act. 

Did Konerko put his jersey on upside down? 

There we go, right side up again. 

 Speaking of ballplayers destined to be great - for another team!! Nonetheless, this card will look great in my binder.

Finally, Jon drops the extra spicy dose with some Kershaw swag! Nice! 

What a great batch of cards. THANKS, Jon. I really appreciate them. 

Shotouts to P-Town Tom and Tom Tessier for cards recently arrived. I'll get some posts up for you soon! THANKS :) 

Aloha! 

This Was Not a Pedestrian Trade

Aloha, everybody, 

Have you seen Boston and the Red Sox getting all that negative press over the racist taunts that were thrown at Adam Jones from the Orioles? 

Regardless of whatever a few idiots at Fenway feel toward others, I'm here to say I had a very pleasant encounter of the trading kind with one Red Sox fan - Chris, the Pedestrian Collector. 

The Dude abides new coast-to-coast trade partnerships! 

Just the other day there was a "name someone you don't remember playing for your team" theme running on Twitter. Someone mentioned Jim Thome and the Dodgers. Here's proof that actually happened...

Marc from Remember the Astrodome sent a couple of MLB debut cards (Duke Snider and Piazza) to me, and this Koufax makes three...

Now I need Kershaw, Jackie and Fernando to complete the Dodgers part of the set. 

I know Nomar first made his mark playing in Boston, but he's a Dodger to me. I'm kinda hoping Chris is a purist who only wants cards of Nomar as a Red Sox, and all his Dodgers cards will find their way to Los Angeles and my humble collection...

Flair made some of the most beautiful cards to come out of the early 90s, and here's one of 'em...

Would you like another Fernando card, sir? Yes, please. 

Pitcher hitting alert! Bonus: Lurking friendly confines. 

With these stacks, one year's team set is complete...

And another is kicked off with a starter set...

It's been said that every grand trade, at least with a Dodgers fan, should include a little bitta Brooklyn. Let's add to that - every grand trade in general should include something you didn't know you wanted, until you received it. 

Exhibit A:

Very simple and not the real deal, but these ticket stub reproductions just work. First up is one for Game 7 from the 1952 World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers. 

This one completes the connection between Boston and Brooklyn fans. It commemorates August 22, 1948, the date behind one of Jackie Robinson's signature stealing home plays...

Here's the play...



I'm sure Jackie heard some crap language coming from the stands when the Dodgers played the Boston Braves, just as Adam Jones experienced last night, over 50 years after Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. 

The cynic in me says we'll always have to contend with the ignorant and hateful, even 100 years from now. 

But my inner optimist keeps me hopeful because we'll always have cool and open-minded folks like Chris bringing us together through common interests and shared experiences. It's simple, but grand. 

Just like stealing home. Just like trading amongst friends. 

PS: Here's my latest LA Dodger Report video, with a beer review for Dayslayer from Stone Brewing...

Aloha! 

Once More Around The Sun For Us!

Aloha, everybody, 

It's raining here in LA, but today is my birthday...so... Yahoooooo!!! 

There's no deep message or carefully constructed theme behind today's words and cards. Let's just have a simple party showing a few cardboard heroes in celebration mode. 

Of course, the Dodgers shall lead off. Here come a couple of big time World Series MVP pitchers, Mr. Podres and Mr. Koufax...

That's Sandy celebrating a 1963 World Series win. BTW - Koufax (2-0) and Podres (1-0) pitched back to back wins as the Dodgers swept the Yankees. 

I first thought about showing Kirk Gibson celebrating as he rounded the bases after his big home run in the 1988 World Series, but I found this card of the guy who hit twice as many as Gibby, and just as many as the Bash Brothers hit in that series...

 Gibson's 9th inning heroics would have come up short if not for this Game One home run from Mickey Hatcher in the bottom of the first inning. 

How about a little bit more Dodgers happiness...

Next up is a happy gallop from another one of my all-time favorite World Series homers...

I chose this Winfield card because he looks like he's rocking a home run celebration smile on his 1984 Topps card.

Of course somebody who was not shy about on-field celebrations was this man...
 

The pitcher usually bats last, so we'll close today with another of my favorite pitchers, whom I am happy to share my birthday with...

Happy Birthday to the man they called The Express.

I coulda went with that birthday song from the Beatles where they say it's your birthday, but I don't like the Beatles, sooo...let's run with a funky little tune from my old new wave days...

 

Aloha! 

I Went To A Card Show & A Trade Fest Broke Out

Hey everybody,

(The below post was written last night and finished too late to post...but here it is in its original form.) 

LtoR: Ernest, Zawkin, StealingHome, Spiegel

 Today's post about the card show out in Culver City is going up a bit late because I went to the card show with a friend.  After the show we hopped over to Santa Monica and I just got home.

What a cool card show it was!  It was held in a city auditorium...

 You can read Spiegel's review of the show as a dealer  here.

Here's our dealer hero now!

 I left before the end of the show, so I don't know if Spiegel was able to sell off all the rest of this below, but he did tell me he had already made back his table fee and every sale from there on was Champagne Money! Woo-Hoo!

As Spiegel mentioned, it was more than a card show, because it was a great chance for several Dodger bloggers to get together, talk cards and get a couple of trades going.

It was extra cool for me because even though I have been blogging for a little more than a year now, I'm still a relative newbie when it comes to meeting up with my fellow Dodger bloggers. As a matter of fact, I'm such a newb that I met Ernest from Dodgers Blue Heaven today and I thought I had simply met a cool guy.

Ernest, I apologize I didn't make the connection that you're the guy behind that great resource blog of all things Dodger Blue.  I'm looking forward to the next time we meet and talking a bit more.

How about a couple more shots from the show...

It wasn't a huge card show, but vintage was well represented.

Speaking of vintage, there were some very cool old-time bats here. Zawkin said he held Hack Wilson's bat.

 My friend who joined me at the show today doesn't know much about baseball, but this guy was definitely a familiar face...

 Did I mention some trades took place?  First up was a card exchange between Spiegel and myself.  He gave me a great stack of cards; here are just a few highlights...

Above is a very cool -and new for me - shiny card honoring the best third baseman the Dodgers have had in a decade.  A DECADE !  Do you hear me, Ned Colletti????

THIS was the best card of the trade for me.  My first card of the Dodgers new K-Kid. 

How about this one? Dodger pitcher relics are cool, but I really appreciate a bat relic from a pitcher.  Nice one, Michael.

 There was also a quickie trade between Zawkin, from the great blog,  Plashke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle and myself.  First of all, I've gotta say the only thing I expected to get was the cold shoulder because of the way I've chewed up Zawkin's favorite player, Matt Bison Kemp here at ATBATT in the past.

Well, because Zawkin's cool like that, he dropped a very nice card on me...

  

I now have my very own Mickey Hatcher autograph.  A-way back in March, Zawkin posted about a trade that netted him the above Hatcher card, and I commented that I've gotta get one of my own.  Zawkin is such an awesome dude that today he gave me THAT very card because as he said, he knew, "I liked it"!  Zawkin, THANKS, man.

Most of you non-Dodger fans are probably thinking who-the-heck is Mickey Hatcher?  Some of you probably know him as the dude with the giant baseball mitt from his '86 Fleer and '91 Upper Deck cards, or as the former batting coach for Mike Scioscia's Angels.

Mickey is much more than that.  To me, Hatch is the unsung hero of the 1988 World Series.  Everybody remembers Kirk Gibson's 9th inning heroics from Game 1, but that never woulda had a chance to happen if it wasn't for Hatcher's 1st inning, 2-run HR off of A's ace, Dave Stewart.  Hatcher and Gibson's homers were the only ones for the Dodgers that night.

That wasn't all for Hatcher.  After Gibby knocked out that legendary HR, he never appeared in the series again.  Who replaced him?  Yup, Mickey Hatcher.   He provided a great spark of enthusiasm and fire for that Dodgers team that ran hard on Tommy Lasorda's unique brand of baseball spark.

Nobody hit another home run for the Dodgers in that series again until Game 5.  Like he was placing bookends on the WS, once again Hatcher stepped up and blasted a 2-run HR in the 1st inning to help lead the Dodgers to win that 5th and final game of the series.

After hitting only 1 homer all season, Hatcher replaced Gibson in the freakin' World Series, no less, and went on to bat .368 with 2 homers and 5 RBI's. When Baseball's Spotlight shone the brightest and hottest, Hatch delivered and he truly became a World Series hero.

Oh yeah, there was a card show today, which means I also bought a few cards.  That post is yet to come.

What was the secret joke that made us all laugh in this shot?

THANKS for reading everybody! 

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!