How to Destroy Wishlists - Part Two

Aloha, everybody, 

In my last post I showed off the utter carpet bombing that Tony from Off Hiatus Baseball Cards laid upon my cardboard wishlists.  

1958 Topps Boss and Power - Nuff said.

 See that cardboard work of art there? That was the totally unexpected, atomic-powered, surprise that Tony dropped in my package along with everything else. 

Lots of times I would have held the blockbuster card until later in the post, but this one is just too good on several levels. 

First of all, Jedi Master and eagle-eye, Jeff from 2x3 Heroes immediately spotted it and mentioned it in the comments for Part One. Jeff got me to thinking it's simply too good a card to hold off on until later. 

Something I figure the Supertraders will be focused on is the latest, limited edition, autographed on card, hits that are out there. Nothing wrong with that. I dig that stuff too. 

But a hefty portion of my collecting heart loves vintage. Needs vintage. I gotta have that vintage. 

I've seen and coveted that Boss and Power card since my earliest days of crawling the card shows; it's price always a bit out of reach (or overvalued, IMO). 

And then Tony dropped that elusive, vintage, white whale into my package as an extra. KA-BLAMMO! I won't forget it, and I'm going to make it a point to do just like that in future packages for others whenever I can. 

I know, that was a lot of words for one card, but vintage Dodgers are always worth it. Here are some other favorites from that package...

Night Owl recently showed off a spittoon-full of chaw chewin' ballplayers. It appears Mr. Weiss has a jawful himself. Or early mumps? He also appears to be sporting the same ridiculous eyeglass frames I wore in high school. 

Come on, who don't like cards of Tommy laying down the law?  
 

 Boomer's big swing...

No logo? No problem. Murray's no-nonsense mustache is the logo here...
 

I never even knew this card of future World Series hero, Mickey Hatcher existed. He looks like a young Danny Aiello here. This was a very cool surprise. 
 

A beautiful card of Scioscia in action. Note the "Yeager-protector" dangling off the mask. All catchers wore that following a near-tragic accident when a broken, jagged bat slashed Boomer Yeager's throat. 

How about a card featuring two heroes from the 1981 World Series? 
 

Tony's Wantlist Crushing Machine also attacked PC Ron Cey wishlists...

"Oscar Gamble who?"

  
More excellent surprises in the form of Fernando cards...

Three years after the World Series and Pedro was still tearing it up...
 

 Thanks again for that wonderful package, Tony. My collection just took a big step forward. 

Aloha!

Sunday Night (Owl) Cards (Part Two)

Aloha, 

In last Sunday night's post we began to review the cards that Night Owl sent to me. In honor of the regular baseball season ending today, let's take this review all the way to the end as well. 

The last post featured some oddball highlights, and today we'll lead off with tribute cards and inserts, which I thoroughly dig...

 Typical of dem Bums, this card commits to eternity the memory of how the Brooklyn club managed (yet again) to pull heartbreak out from the jaws of victory.  *Sigh*  As Vin Scully (the Master) has observed so often, nothing ever comes easy for the Dodgers. 

In praise of all the great left-handed hitters in general, and southpaw Dodgers in particular...

 GREINKE FACE!!!!!!!!!

How about some more sweet vintage oddball....

I've got a few color variations ( or just color fades?) of this Jackie Robinson; I've got two shades of green and at least three shades of orange/tan...

Puig recovered from a bad hammy just before season's end, so let's squeeze one of his cards in before the review ends...

GREINKE FACE!!!!!!!!!

 

Any cards celebrating Piazza's rookie baby-mustache and Matt Kemp's powder Blue throwback uni are perfect fits for my collection...
 

Now the "conventional" cardboard highlights, but first...

 GREINKE FACE!!!!!!!!!

 My binder happily welcomes this knuckleballer Charlie Hough RC...

More Dodgers vintage coolness...

                                            A TV set Dodger!  

 On the card back Russ mentioned kids should resist the urge to grow up too fast...

 Teenagers in the 60's must have had a hard time resisting all that when those big breasted Russ Meyer comedies like Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! hit their local drive-ins. 

We'll finish with a card from the man who will take the ball to the mound against the NY Mets in Game One of the NLDS. It's a magnificent, burnt-orange refractor, featuring one of my all-time favorite Kershaw baseball card photos...

THANKS for these fantastic new additions to my collection, N.O. !

As you mentioned, the previous post about these cards brought good luck to the Dodgers for clinching the division. Now let's hope this one will bring Blue Good Luck against the Mets. 

Aloha!

 

Sunday Night Cards From A Night...Well, You Know Who

Aloha everybody,

I have mixed emotions on this moon eclipse evening. The Oakland Raiders have now won two in a row, but my beloved Dodgers can't win and shut the playoffs door on the hated Giants. 

They say you win some and you lose some, but I beg to differ.  When you're friends with the greatest Dodgers baseball card collector/blogger there ever was, it's always a Win when a package from ol' Night Owl arrives in the mail. 

You see, Night Owl has more Dodgers cardboard than any other five Dodger collectors COMBINED, so that means he's got plenty of cool Dodgers loot to share with other collectors of the Boys in Blue. 

This particular N.O. package had an oddballs theme, but of course, it was packed so that it contained plenty of other "conventional" cardboard as well. So much so that it will take a couple of posts for me to give proper respects and shout outs (and that's showing just the highlights). So let's get started...

 So let's begin with one of the oddest. This Saxy circle is a player disc from one the Cadaco All-Star baseball games, which go all the way back to the 60's. That means there are game discs with some serious Hall of Famers floating around out there. 

 Here's one of my favorites from N.O.'s package - an oversized boxtopper, World Series MVP, "Paaayyy - drooohh  Goo - rare - ohhhh!" That's the way the Dodger Stadium announcer would call out Pedro's name when he came up to bat at Chavez Ravine. 

Ol' Pedro has been coaching in the Mexican minor league and led the Rioleros de Frontera to the League Championship in 2014. 

Next up are some playing card Dodgers...

Naturally, Ramon (Pedro's big brother) is the Ace, as he was for so many years with the Dodgers. 
 

How about more logo-less discs featuring timeless Dodgers...

Here's what the backs look like...

Here's another nice thing that I have in common with N.O. - we both love the Penguin - which means he's got plenty of Ron Cey cardboard.  Which means further, he can share that Penguin bounty with me. 

 Steve Garvey got all the headlines back in the 70's because of his all-American looks and Popeye forearms, but nobody carried a big stick and rebounded from a World Series beanball like the Penguin. 

For the purposes of this post, we'll call early-80's DonRuss oddball. However, a decade later, DonRuss had become my favorite brand. 

That's enough for tonight, as I'm now going to run outside and catch the blood moon eclipse - the first in 37 years. 

UPDATE: The eclipse is a bust from my viewpoint, as it is being obscured by clouds. Well, you win some and you lose some. 

Next: Part Two of the Night Owl package. 

Aloha! 

The Dodgers Score Bunches Of Runs And I Score Bunches Of Cards

I've been hinting at it, and here's the first in a series of posts about an absolutely fantastic box o' Dodger cards that I recently received from good ol' Night Owl. 

See that box above? It's chock full of Dodger cards. If I were in one of those movies where the bad guys rob a bank or knock off an armored car, I would have tossed all the cards in the air and showered myself with them. That's how I felt about this awesome cardboard score.

There were so many cards I can't show them all to you, so I'll be dividing the posts into sections - even then, I've had to limit myself to only showing my favorites. First up is the vintage group. 

Remember when Dodger managers were wise field tacticians?  *sigh*

You'll notice that most of these are written on - or as we sometimes say, "well loved". That's just fine with me, as many of these are new additions to my collection, and I do so love vintage Dodgers.

 Jeez! Who was this kid???? The utter tragedy of defacing a Podres card!

Perranoski was long-time pitching coach under Tommy Lasorda.

 Here's my theory on the W's and the R's on the cards. I think they belonged to two brothers. Each brother marked his cards with his initial.  Do you have any back story on these cards, N.O.? 

These next two got me closer to finishing the Dodgers 1960 set, but I've still got a looooooong way to go...

 How about a batting helmet with no ear flap?  I remember getting helmets like this at the giveaway nights when I was a kid.

The great Tommy Davis. Another card that belong to William, or Wally, or Westmoreland. 

Finally, a great World Series card from 1968 Topps...
 

The back of the card says Reynolds got the win for the Yanks after Don Newcombe pitched 8 shutout innings and lost to a lone Yankee home run in the ninth.  Some things never change for the Dodgers. 

That's it for Part One of the Night Owl Box. 
See you all again for Part Two.