Opening a PWE from Cardboard Clubhouse

Aloha, everybody,

Here comes a PWE blast of Dodgers greats of the past from Adam, over at Cardboard Clubhouse. THANKS Adam, these guys are much appreciated.

Aloha!

Here's a TRADE that's SPOT on

Aloha, everybody, 

Rest assured, readers and trade partners, ATBATT may run a bit slow at times, but I'll always get around to posting about the great cards you've sent my way. Scanning is finished, but my appreciation is still running high up to the Dodger blue sky. 

It's time for me get caught up and show off what's been added to my collection over the past couple of months. In no particular order, let's get things started with some police sets from Johnny's Trading Spot. 

John went into the time machine and pulled out some giveaways from waaaaaay back...

These cards are from the '89 set. There are only a couple, but this one's a doozy, featuring the World Series trophy. 

Jay Johnston (below) is still around. I saw him a few months back - and snagged his autograph - at the induction ceremony for the Shrine of the Eternals. He's still full of jokes and a generous attitude...

Here's a great overheaad shot. If you squint, you can see where I was born - just to the left of the downtown LA skyline. 

Just like Cheech sang back in the day, I was "Born in East LA!" 

The big bulk of John's package was this fistful of cards from the 1983 set. Let's take a trip  down memory lane and spot some of the stars and scrubs from the squad who won 91 games, but came up short of the World Series. They lost to the Phillies in the NLCS...

There are former World Series heroes Pedro Gurerro and Bobby Welch. I was a big Derrel Thomas fan back then. Jose Morales and Pat Zachry, not so much. 

Above are backstops Boomer Yeager and the Rock, Mike Scioscia, and present-day player's agent, Dave Stewart. 

There's Steve Howe, who was gone too young, and Tom Neidenfuer, who's fateful playoffs pitch to Jack Clark put him into the Dodgers Hall of Infamy. 

This last group is mostly scrubs, with the exceptions of  Dodgers legend, Rick Monday, and pretty good shortstop, but lousy manager, Bill Russell. 

THANKS for the great - and not often seen - cards, John! 

Aloha! 

When Soviets Hack The Election, Dimebox Sends Cards to You

Aloha, everybody, 

As Dimebox Nick so accurately put in his note to me, it's been way too long since we last exchanged cardboard. 

2017 is starting off differently, and I'm sure that we won't be waiting until the calendar clicks off another year before we swap again. In celebration of this new attitude, let's take a look at the fistful of Dodgers cardboard that ol' Nick sent over to me...

Pay-droh Goo-rare-ooooh figured prominently in a recent Twitter conversation between myself, Sir Night Owl and Zippy Zappy, so he gets lead off privileges. 

This Guerrero Diamond King is new for my collection. I love the World Series-inspired bunting. Perfect for a WS MVP. As for those storm clouds brewing behind him - that's what the Yankees saw whenever Pedro stepped to the plate. 

In fact, all of the Dodgers cards that Nick sent were new to me. How about one of Pedro's teammates...

You want more tribute? Coming right up...

I can read that headline ALL DAY LONG. 

A wonderful card. Jackie broke into the NL, Larry Doby did the same in the AL a few months behind Robinson. Unlike Robinson, who put in a year in the Dodgers' AAA minor league, Doby went directly to the majors from the Negro League. 

From the underrated Ted Williams release...

Jim Gilliam, like Doby, joined the Dodgers' big club straight outta the Negro Leagues. 

In this fantastic action shot, Gilliam is stealing home, as evidenced by the Dodgers batter beside the catcher, who's lost sight of the ball, which is flying above the batter's head. 

Nick included present-day Boys in Blue. Here's ROY Corey Seager in ugly San Diego colors, but his card is adorned with Home Run Derby and RC shields. 

These snowflake cards have been all over the blogosphere, but until now, I didn't own any. 

Trayce was starting out fairly well in his inaugural big league season, but he suffered an unfortunate leg injury. We'll have to see how well he can bounce back in 2017. 

Montas was traded to the Dodgers along with Trayce Thompson in 2015, but like TT, he was also hit by the injury bug. After being mostly on the DL, he was shipped off to Oakland for SP Rich Hill and master con man, Josh Reddick. 

Finally, one more most excellent Dodger rookie, Senor Urias...

All of these cool cards (and more) are welcome additions to the binders. THANKS so much, Nick! 

Aloha! 

It's Sticky Fingers' Birthday! Let's Celebrate With Some Rock and Some Cardboard

Aloha, everybody, 

Not only is it Saturday (TODAY!)...it's also the 45th birthday of one of my favorite albums of all time.

So let's celebrate this legendary album's cuts, and check out some cool cardboard that I've curated to match...

BROWN SUGAR

Brown Sugar goes out to the man who if ever a man would be named Brown Sugar, this guy could pull it off. 


Mr. World Series Hero, the man who brought the big blasts...

SWAY

Sway gets a double shot of the Tornado's famous twist...

WILD HORSES

Wild Horses goes to Yasiel Puig, who was nicknamed the Wild Horse by the venerable Vin Scully. 

CAN'T YOU HEAR ME KNOCKING

This one goes out to a couple of the Dodgers' prized farm hands who are knocking on the door to the bigs...

YOU GOTTA MOVE

This one is for the middle infielders who gotta move to stay alive...

BITCH

Love is a bitch. So's loving a player who despite coming up through the ranks and embarking on a  Hall of Fame career with your favorite team, later goes on to badmouth and disown that team and its fans. 

I GOT THE BLUES

The blues are all about losing things. I will forever have the blues over losing these two players who went on to have solid careers - just not in L.A. - where they started.

SISTER MORPHINE

The tragedy of waking up in a hospital bed unfortunately belongs to the one and only Campy...

DEAD FLOWERS 

Dodger fans and his former teammates will never forget the greatness that big Don Drysdale brought to the club. 

MOONLIGHT MILE

Sure, Wally Moon is an easy choice for Moonlight Mile, but then again, however else will his baseball cards remain alive on the blogosphere? 

Happy Birthday, Sticky Fingers. 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!

When A PWE From JBF, Isn't

Hey everybody,

As most bloggers out there know, Wes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk is an outstanding trader and more.  The guy is much more than a trader, as he generously sends out PWE bombs to his fellow bloggers just because he's cool like that.

I've received PWE's in the past, but today I'm showing off some cool cards that came my way in a YBM - a yellow bubble mailer.  Of course that package contained a nice fistful of cards, but I'm trying to get this posted before the start of the Dodgers game, so in the interests of time, I'll just show off some of my favorites.  Let's get to it...

I love cards of Pay-dro, the World Series hero.  This is a great looking, high gloss card, and the orange provides a nice contrast against the Dodger Blue.

You go Pay-dro, with the old school stirrups.

Next up, speaking of old school, some vintage featuring the greatest pinch hitter ever...

How about this blast from the past....

We were all so young back then. 

Speaking of young players, how about the breakout kid of 2014?  Dee Gordon is surprising almost everyone with his newfound bat skills and consistent play at second base.  In addition to that, pitchers around the league are looking up and seeing Gordon look like this very, very often...

SAFE! (again)

What about some hits, you say? Let's start off with an autograph...

Justin's claim to fame was after finally making it to the big club, he was dropped to make room for Manny Ramirez.

Here's my first swatch of El Jaguar...

How about a guy who's young at heart, and the last manager to take The Dodgers to the Fall Classic...

 

There were lots of Gypsy Queen Dodgers in the package, so I chose one to represent all...

Thanks a bunch for the great cards, Wes.  Enjoy the weekend, everybody.