It'll Take Two Nights of Posts for This Buncha Cards from Night Owl

Aloha, everybody, 

We've all got our favorite trading partners, and the dean of our community, Sir Night Owl, is obviously one of mine. We both share a collecting passion for the same team, and our Dodgers have their ever-lovin' mugs on a lot of product, so that often makes our trades chock-a-block-fulla-stuff. That's exactly how I would describe this little ol' box of goodness that came to my way from N.Y. 

How's that for a fun bunch of cardboard to sift through? And it was definitely fun. Obviously, you don't want to see all of these cards, but there are so many great ones in here, that I'm pretty sure it's going to take two posts for me just to show the best ones off. 

So let's go...

First up is a new addition ( 2002 Upper Deck) for my Shawn Green PC. I'm digging the lineup nostalgia on the left. Check out the leadoff batter: Dave Roberts, now the manager. 

Next up are a couple from today's top Dodgers prospects. I'm very happy to receive my first Willie Calhoun, whom I'm hoping the Dodgers don't trade away this week. 

I collected Score '95, but I don't think I ever pulled one of these Artist's Proofs. I checked around, but couldn't find any info on how limited these are. That doesn't matter beyond info that helps me know about my card, as I love these proof cards regardless. 

 I remarked in a recent post that I'll be actively collecting early Konerko Dodgers cards, but ol' Night Owl took it to another level. You want early? How about a minor league (now defunct) Albuquerue Dukes card...

The scan is pretty dark, but I had to include this awesome mirror-finish Bowman which features Eric Young admiring a hit while standing before some kind of atrocious Gaza Strip-looking apartment building. 

The 90's gave us much more than gigantor-sized athletes playing among tiny citiscapes, They also loved to use....die-cut tech!

Leaf Studio was never at the top of my list for purchases, but this Ramon Martinez card is a beaut. 

Can't have too much Bulldog! This is actually a Fleer design I like. 

My eyes opened and jaw dropped when I gazed upon this cardboard gem from Topps Gallery. (lurking Wrigley)

That's it for today. Stay tuned for Part Two of the Buncha Cards from Night Owl, featuring tribute cards, more 90's goodness, Jackie and viiiiiiiiinnnntaaaaaaage !

THANKS, buddy. Aloha! 

More Cards Migrate from the East Coast to LA (this time, from Mark H)

Aloha, everybody, 

Continuing on with getting caught up on PWEs that have been sitting way too long on top of my card table. 

This fistful of cards comes to me via my good friend, trading partner, and Twitter buddy, Mark H. 

Leading off is a couple of right-handers from the 1988 Worlds Champions...

Orel looks so young. 

Here's a cool little cut-out card of Corey...

Dodgers ace Ramon Martinez (20W - 6L in 1990) is the veteran in this group from 1991 Fleer. Lots of folks don't like this banana yellow 1991 Fleer set, but these specimens are NM condition, so the bright and glossy finish actually looks pretty good in hand...

How about some more Fleer, and Fernando flashing tight yoga pants...

Prospect Jack Savage never caught on with the Dodgers. He later changed his name to Jeff Kent and had a pretty good career up in Frisco...

Speaking of guys who had pretty good careers...

Ol' Gonzo is reportedly considering retirement if the herniated disk in his back doesn't heal up. From the forlorn look on Adrian's face, it looks like they snapped this photo right as that realization hit him. 

Howie Kendrick is represented by this tiny sticker. Which come to think of it, represents the tiny contribution he made as a Dodger. 

Finally, from the "I didn't know I wanted it until I had it" files, a binder page full of Dodgers coaches from the late 80's to the early 90's. 

There's Tommy Lasorda's long-time mafia of coaches (Amalfitano, Perranoski, Mota) and others who I suppose made good coaches, but were terrible managers (Hoffman, Tracy). 

THANKS for the cardboard trip down memory lane, Mark! Great cards. 

Aloaha!

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! 

When There's No Topps Heritage In Stock, You Buy This...

Aloha, everybody,

Last week I saw 2016 Heritage popping up around the blogosphere, so I popped over to Target to get my share of the new cardboard. 

While my local store is usually right on time with stocking the latest product, there was no Heritage to be found, so I was left with a choice - buy more 2016 Topps, or take a chance on something like this...

They had me at 1:4 boxes contain a hit. That sure is better odds than I'm getting with the smoke set from Topps. Besides, the worst that would happen is I'll find one Dodger and I'll gain 99 more cards to replenish all of your trade stacks. With a repack we all win! It was settled. 

The card box also included one pack...

1992 Score. The back of the pack says the big pull from this one will be a Todd Van Poppel rookie insert. Somebody wondered the other day if anybody remembers when Van Poppel was big in the hobby. Here's a pack from those days. I went right into ripping this one. How did I do? 

The Van Poppel still eludes me. On to the rest of the repack, which might still contain a hit!

I got one World Series hero. Fleer took what could have been a simple, but decent enough card, and blew it with that Rocky and Bullwinkle curtain. I suppose it was also too much trouble to add Frank Viola's name.
 

I got some scrubs. Ol' Donny looks pretty much surprised that he actually hit the ball. 
 

I caught this very attractive purple shiny one. Is that Mount Fuji in the background? 

 I did catch a player that I collect - and on a DK that I didn't yet have! 

  More scrubs. 

And a past Cubbie...

Is that a portrait of Dunston on his sweatband? Did all of the Cubs have their portraits on their arms? 

I even pulled a Dodgers scrub...

Here's Landreaux in a familiar pose - checking how high his pop up is headed. 

Did I mention yet this repack was obviously meant to be shipped to the bay area? It was FULL of Giants.

 Lincecum is on the downside of his career now. It seems the Padres are taking a hard look at him. Part of me is hoping the Dodgers will lock him up cheaply - just to keep him out of the rotations of our division rivals, and he may have some gas left in the tank. 

I saw him pitch up at Toy Car Stadium in Frisco back in 2013. It was one of the best pitching performances I've seen in person. He struck out 18 Cubs that afternoon. The happy ending was the Giants offense couldn't score and the Giants still lost the game.

I got a nice minor leaguer card. 

And not one, but two of the same checklist...

How about this Braun card...
 

I could swear my grandmother had a portrait on her wall of Jesus with the exact, same eyes. 

I pulled another Ramon Martinez card (again, new for me)...

And you can never go wrong with Michael Jack Schmidt...
 

 These All-Star cards seem to always be found in these repacks, but thats ok, because it's Schmiddy. 

 Oh...did we beat the odds and pull a hit?  

You bet we did - but it's a hit with a grain of salt. 

It seems the kid has a lot of potential, but he's struggled in showing concrete results. The Blue Jays are moving him from a starting pitcher to the bullpen, so we'll see what happens with that. 

On the bright side for Cardona, he's young, so there's time for everything to work out.

The bright side for us is I pulled 2 new Ramon Martinez cards for me and 98 for all of you. 

Aloha!