Not All Giants For Dodgers Trades Are Bad

Aloha, everybody,

Current Dodgers front office suit and previous GM, Ned Colletti, came over to the Dodgers from the San Francisco Giants. 

As Dodgers GM, Colletti had a bad habit of acquiring former Giants. Those deals often stank. They stank enough to make a lot of Dodger fans wonder whether Colletti was in reality a spy from SF sent here to undermine the team from the inside. 

On the other hand, I often cite Jeff Kent as a good Giant to travel down the coast to join LA. Juan Uribe, once beloved in SF, even carved out a niche of his own here in LA. Thus, transactions between Nor Cal and So Cal can certainly work out well. Such was the case after I recently showed off a set of metal Willie Mays cards as trade bait. Of course, a Giants fan came a callin'. 

Arpsmith from Arpsmith's Sportscard Obsession put in a claim, and soon enough, another Dodgers-Giants trade was on. The Say Hey Kid was on his way to the bay and some good ol' Dodgers were headed down to LA. 

Leading off the loot that came from Arpsmith are a couple of 2013 schedules featuring the former 1-2 punch of the Dodgers pitching rotation...

"Hay un nuevo blue" translates to "There's a new blue". Prophetic, as the new blue rotation for 2016 will be all Kershaw and no Grienke.

Here come some new blue additions for my collection, from Pinnacle...

Arpsmith knows I like me some vintage, so these Dodgers were the meat of the deal...

I already had a 1958 Demeter, but this one is a considerable upgrade. 

Notable: Demeter's photo always looked to me like one of those creepy ventriloquist mannequins. 

The Harris card below is primo vintage - and it chips one off of my 1960 Dodgers team wanted list...

 It's a very clean card, with sharp corners and a good amount of surface gloss. Nope, nothing chewy about these cards. 

Finally, the trade capper. A triple-autographed Heritage Dodger Stadium tribute card featuring Claude Osteen, Manny Mota, and the guy who's auto sealed the deal for me...Mr. Maury Wills...

 I recognize Mota's auto as I have a couple of other IP autos from him, and these are my first Osteen and Wills sigs. I love that Wills added his number "30". 

I was initially disappointed that Wills signed low, in the shadow of the light standards, but it turns out I was looking at things all wrong. I was looking at the card as three separate autographs.   

I think Wills may have signed low in order to not cover up the action on the baseball diamond. Now I see and appreciate the entirety of the card as one whole piece. This new perspective makes the it look even better to me.

THANKS for this great batch of cards, Arpsmith. It's another trade between west coast rivals that benefited all.

Aloha!

What The Heck Am I Doing With Giants Cards?

Aloha, everybody,

Let's start off 2016 with a re-declaration of what ATBATT is all about. I do this because of something the venerable Night Owl mentioned in his post about some cardboard gold that I recently sent to him. Here is what N.O. had to say:

"So here we are at a package from All Trade Bait All The Time. Oscar doesn't really feature all trade bait all the time on his blog. It's mostly Dodgers he received, games he saw and beer he drank. But, I'm not showing any night owls on cards on my blog either. It's just a title."

 It is just a title, but some of you out there might think the cards I show aren't available for trade, unless I specifically mention it. Thus, I want to add a bit to N.O.'s observation, and gently assure you that almost every card I showcase on ATBATT is indeed trade bait - even the Dodgers. 

As with all of us, of course some cards in my collection are untouchable, but every man has his cardboard price, and I'm open to any offer for just about any card, if it will benefit both of our collections.

That said...we'll launch 2016 with a hearty, "What'll you give me for these?" 

Here's the back side...

 What we have here is a 5-card set of metal Willie Mays cards from 1995. They were a gift to me from mom. Bless her heart for supporting my card collecting hobby, but apparently she had no idea that giving me gift cards of a San Francisco Giant would be akin to gifting Johnny Roseboro a RC of Juan Marichal. 


The cards come inside a little tin with colorful embossing and a "sandblasted" surface texture...

Here they are in the tin, each metal card individually wrapped in plastic...

I discovered this tin while rummaging through my closet for Christmas wrapping paper. I hadn't looked at them in years. You saw card #1 from the set earlier; here come the other four, in order...

I know they're mass-produced junk metal from the junk wax era, but I've gotta admit, the design is right on, the colors are vibrant, and I like the raised stars and crossed-bats nameplate on the front...

...and rolled framing around the rear...

The cardmakers stumbled a bit on card #4, as it represents May's stint with the New York Mets, but fails to show him in a Mets uni on the front or back...

 Card #5 gives props to Willie, Mickey and the Duke...

It's a cool little set, and the Say Hey Kid was a great player, but it's definitely possible for me to have too many Giants in my collection.

So, if offering up for trade a gift from dear old mom won't convince folks that I'm sincere about "All Trade Bait, All The Time", then nothing will. 

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 !!!
 

Trade Me (Almost) Anything: Giants (Boo!) Part Dos

Well, it seems yesterday's inaugural "Trade Me (Almost) Anything" post caught a few readers, but hasn't generated any trade talk - yet.

No problem.  Let's toss a few more gigantes onto the pile and see if anyone bites.   Go ahead and take 'em, as there's no place in my collection for evil giants cards.  Here's 9 more...

That splotch is from the penny sleeve, not the card.

Yes, he's a Pirate here, but I tossed this in for the Bonds collectors.

Let's get some Conlon New York Giants into this trade party.

Wade Boggs bonus lurker!

THANKS for reading, everybody!

Trade Me (Almost) Anything For These: Giants (Booooooooo!)

Hey everybody,

Happy weekend!  Here comes another new feature for ATBATT - it's the "Trade Me (Almost) Anything" post. 

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Here's how it works:  In each post I'll offer cards from one particular ballclub.  I'm starting the offer at 9 cards, since 9 is what fits onto my scanner plate, and I can comfortably shoot 9 cards to you in a PWE. 

What do I want in return?  I'll accept whatever and however many cards you want to shoot back. It doesn't have to be 9 cards in return and they don't have to be all Dodgers.  My only request is you check out my "What I collect" or "Sets I'm chasing" pages here and use them as guides.

Once again, you don't have to match me for numbers of cards or perceived monetary value.  Say I send you 9 cards and you send me 1insert or vintage card.  Cool!

The intent here is simply to  TRADE, BABY, TRADE!
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Simple, right?  Since the Dodgers are currently playing the evil giants - and currently tied 9-9 in the 9th inning - here comes the first 9 cards.  As Vinny might well say, "Nines are wild!"

This one is from the Cards Your Mother Threw Out set.  It's not the original back.

THANKS for reading, everybody!

Did Somebody Say "Tradition"?

Let's Go...

Batter up...

We're taking...the...afternoon...off!

It's a beautiful day for a ballgame...

Those are the opening lines to a 60'ish song they used to play before every Dodger radio broadcast when I was growing up.  And I listened every chance I got. That song always meant Vin Scully, the Boys in Blue, and an escape into the wonderful thing that is my favorite team playing ball.  

Night Owl's great Opening Day post reminded us today that Baseball is indeed, Tradition.

For about 10 years straight it was my tradition to attend Opening Day.  Not so this year, but as the song says..."I'm taking the afternoon off"...and I'll be watching every pitch from the comfort of my living room, and Vin Scully will be right there too.  Aint life grand?

I hadn't yet come up with an idea for my Opening Day post, but good ol' Night Owl inspired me.  While our favorite teams deal with baseball tradition between the chalklines today, I'll deal with tradition as a cardboard blogger should...

Presenting some mighty fine cardboard baseball tradition: 1954 Bowman.

What better day than Opening Day to enjoy the Dodger Blue running throughout Labine's card? We've got the magnificent blue Brooklyn cap, blue silk Dodgers lettering, the Big Dodger in the Sky providing a great blue background, and don't forget Clem's baby blues. 

How 'bout a little more traditon, you say?  Here ya go...a little bitta tradition from today's opponents...

We're gonna cheer...

and boo...

and raise a hullaballo...

at the ballgame, tooooo-daaaaayyyy !

Here's to tradition !   PLAY BALL! 

Live Blogging Blaster - The Patch

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.......

The irony....

LOL...

Like I said, all I do is pull cards of these guys...

THANKS for following along, Greg Z, Night Owl, Brian, Josh, Chris and anybody else who followed silently in the background.  I really appreciate you joining in.  It makes it twice as much fun for me.

Looking forward to the next one.  Good night, everybody!

Live Blogging Blaster Pack 2

Chris Reed and Night Owl chimed in and gave me some great insight on one of the cards from pack one.  Seems that Brandon Phillips is a Super Short Print with a sparkle on the helmet.  Thanks for the info, boys.  I was certainly wondering about that sparkle myself.

BOOOOOO !!! Man, I hate always pulling this team from packs.  At least he's not wearing one of those black and orange hats. 

Here's a pretty nice looking card.  More sparkly action and the effect is very nice here.  Wish it had been a Dodger, but there's more packs to go.

Facial hair pitcher wars!

Yet even more facial hair!

Not a bad start.   Let's see what pack 3 has to offer...