Card Show Haul

Aloha, everybody, 

Everyone loves personal time. Personal time plus spending money is even better. When this combination falls my way, I love to hop in the car and drive out to the Saturday card show. I was lucky enough to do that a couple of times last month, and I'd like to show some of the cards I came upon while I was out. 

Leading off is a quick pick up of my favorite dual sport athlete. Step aside, Tim Tebow...

 Back in the 90s, when Donruss used to be able to show logos, they were my favorite brand. One reason was their inserts. I loved chasing - and catching those inserts. One of my favorites was Press Proofs. 

While browsing the dealer boxes I came upon this Press Proof, numbered 64/199. I picked it up with Matt in mind, but if Matt doesn't want/need it, I'll be happy to pass it on to someone else, or add it to my (very small) press proof collection...

Here's a new addition to my defunct teams collection. This comes from a 1962 oddball release...

I tried to come up with a "shadow shot" interpretation for the card, but I only drew a blank. I suppose I would fail a psychiatrist's ink blot test as well. 

Coming up is one that I've seen around and been chasing for a while. Finally, I've got my own copy of the Flying Spikes card...

These next two will notch two more off my vintage Dodgers team sets. First up from 1958 Topps is Don Bessent. I can't believe I'm down to 11 needed for this year...

I've still got a long way to go for 1959, but Mr. Kipp chips one more away. 

Check out his signature. It reminds me of my father's autograph. My father was a southpaw that the army forced to be a right-hander. He always signed like that afterward...

I don't usually pick up Fleer from this era, but I hadda have this one for a lotta reasons...

Sure, it's a little chewy, but what vintage lover would not love this Zinzinatti vintage? From 1960 Topps...

 Here are a couple more Dodgers for the team sets...

These are for my World Series subsets, and I'm now just two cards shy of completion for the 1971 WS...

Finally, this guy...

I couldn't resist those glasses, and he fits right into my Defunct Teams collection, so I snatched it up. 

I also picked up some surprises for a couple of my trade partners, but they're surprises, so you won't see them today. 

Enjoy your weekends, everybody, wherever you may be. 

Aloha! 

It's Dodger Blue Friday: Vintage Cardboard of a Vintage Manager

Aloha, everybody, 

One more Thanksgiving has come and gone, with one more celebration of the family traditions. Continuity finds its spots throughout our lives, including within our favorite sports franchises. 

When I was growing up, one aspect of Dodgers familiarity was having the same manager year after year. Although the Dodgers had a long tradition of only offering one-year contracts to their manager, it was understood the gig was practically a lifetime appointment. 

The first Dodgers skipper I ever knew was Walter Alston. He managed the club from 1954 to 1976. Today is the 63rd anniversary of his hiring to lead the team. Here's my small collection of Alston cardboard.

Leading off is 1958 Topps and one of my favorite vintage Dodgers cards, Boss and Power. 

1960 Topps. The Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles, but were still playing in the LA Coliseum.  They wouldn't play their first game in Dodger Stadium until 1962. 

Backside...

1961 Topps

1963 Topps. The Dodgers are now in their new stadium at Chavez Ravine. You can tell it's new by the state of the art rotary dial phone in the corner...

 1969 Topps. The world seemed to be topsy-turvy with hot and cold wars, revolutions, and protests everywhere. Among all the chaos there was one certainty, the Dodgers' skipper remained the same. 

Here's the backside cartoon....

1971 Topps. I was just discovering my lifelong love of baseball and all things Dodgers. 

Alston would manage until 1976, a 22-year run. Tommy Lasorda was named his successor, and he ran the club for the next 20 years. 

Continuity certainly has its place. Aloha! 

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!

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!

A Number 5 Type Collector Sends Over Some Number 1 Type Cardboard

Hey everybody,

Continuing on with the great packages I received before the holiday weekend, here comes the first trade that I've put together with Matthew from Number 5 Type Collection. 

Number 5 was a new blog for me, and if you're not familiar with Matthew's great blog, I suggest you hurry and get over there for some great information and real love for vintage cardboard - and I do mean vintage with a capital "V".  You'll see some awesome stuff over there.

Matthew was willing to part with some of that awesome stuff in order to help me in my chase for the 1958 Topps Dodgers.   Thanks to Matthew's generosity and coolness factor, I'm now 3 steps closer to completion.

First up, is Don Bessent, who had a brief, but eventful pitching career with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles versions of the Dodgers.

He pitched 3.1 scoreless innings in the 1955 World Series, certainly doing his part to help the Dodgers win their very first WS championship.  Brooklyn went to the WS again in 1956, and Don won Game 2, but the Dodgers ultimately lost the series.

Don later died from alcohol poisoning.  Having learned that unpleasant fact, I will forever see what I originally thought was water damage to the card as an omen of the alcohol tragically rising up on ol' Don to eventually consume him and take its toll.

Intellectually I know Zimmer played for the Dodgers, but I will always emotionally connect Zim with being the Cubbies skipper.  I also will never forget Pedro Martinez and Zimmer (both ex-Dodgers) mixing it up in a Yankees/Red Sox basebrawl. 

Speaking of World Series heroes, here comes the guy who's incredible outfield snag of Yogi Berra's bash in Game 7, eventually saved and sealed the win for the '55 Dodgers. 

Here's that catch...

Check out all the men in the stands wearing suits!

There are 30 Dodgers in 1958 Topps, and I now have 14.  Thanks a bunch, Matthew!