His Name has Two Zs because his Packages are Twice as Good

Aloha, everybody, 

The blogosphere is filled with generous collectors and traders, some more known than others. My friend, Zippy Zappy, is one of those generous guys that trades under the radar. If you've ever been Zippy Zapped before, you know what I'm talking about. If not, dig this.

Let's lead off with a World Series Hero (Rookie Cup Edition)...

A hopeful future southpaw hero...

Speaking of southpaws, look out for these three next season...

When Kershaw was out with an injury, Alex Wood was mowing down NL batters. He earned a no-doubt-about-it spot on the All-Star team...

A Saxy throwback (that didn't end up in the first base seats)

How about this cool surprise? I thought these only featured football players. More of the big man later. 

While ZZ knows I'm not a Yanks fan, he tossed this into the mix. Who wouldn't appreciate this exceptional beauty? 

ZZ and I have recently became LA Kings/NY Rangers traders. Unfortunately, I've been committing rookie mistakes - sending Islanders instead of Rangers, but there are no errors in this hockey cardboard.

There's nothing like starting off your hockey collection with cool Oh-Pee-Chee cardboard...

Hat trick card! 

 Stanley Cup goalie! This is a good choice for a future auto. 

Gretzky with the Art Ross trophy (his ninth). This goes to the league's leading scorer. 

My first hockey relic. As a fan of the old time Kings, I'm glad he's wearing the original Kings' purple and gold. 

A zippy zapping isn't complete unless there are a few Japanese cutie cards. Good ol' ZZ came through once again...

I'm not sure why these gals are on trading cards, but they sure make my day happier.  

And now, something completely different. I'll bet you never got one of these in a trade package...

Yup, it's a program from the Met. Not a Mets game - The New York Metropolitan. I think ZZ tossed this in because I show my art side in my twitter life. Thanks, ZZ. I appreciate this little something extra. If I ever get to NYC, a visit to the Met would definitely be on the agenda. 

Finally, the big zapping from the package. Big Frank Howard makes his second appearance in a beautiful 8x10 photo, with a well-placed and great auto. 

Big Frank was a Dodgers Rookie of the Year and won a World Series with LA in 1963. He later played in Japan for the Taiheiyo Lions (Maybe that's the Zippy Zappy connection?). 

THANKS ZZ. What a zapping - the best yet. It's going to take some doing for me to even things out, but I'm working on it. 

Aloha! 

A JBF Tradeathon Leads to a Vintage-palooza

Aloha, everybody, 

Did you participate in JBF's recent Holiday Tradeathon? The creator of the Supertraders, the man who you never (but you really kinda do) wanna have a cardboard war with, is constantly finding new ways to spread his generosity around the blogosphere. 

This time it was a tradeathon. Wes offered up cards from different sports, autographs and well-loved vintage. The cards were offered to the first to call dibs, so one had to be vigilant to claim cards that were popular. 

I missed a couple of cards that I would have loved to claim, but there were plenty of others that caught my eye, and claim them, I did. 

Wes offered up a good amount of vintage and HOFers, both of which fit very well into my collecting wheelhouse, and here are the cards that I chose. 

A couple of posts ago, I decided to make a real go at collecting cards from defunct teams. Here's Frank Howard repping the Washington Senators from 1966 Topps...

 Howard, who broke into the bigs with the Dodgers, wasn't quite a HOFer, but he put up impressive enough stats: 
Rookie of the Year, 2-time AL home run leader, 4-time All Star, AL RBI leader, and a World Series champ. 
He'll slide into my collection just fine. 

Did I mention there was an offer of well-loved vintage? Who can resist 1954 Topps?
Bonus: Defunct team. 

Shantz was no slouch either: 3-time AS, AL MVP, 8 Gold Gloves, AL Wins leader, ML ERA leader, and WS champ! 
Bonus: Southpaw
Yeh, Mr. Shantz deserves a slot in my binder. 


In the three-hole, HOFer, Harmon Killebrew. I have a very modest PC of the Killer, and this card fit right in. 

This Killer card is an absolute beauty! Mirrory and refractory, it dazzles as it catches the light. 2014 Panini HOF Red Framed 08/50 

When I started collecting in the early 90's, Mickey Mantle cards were the bee's knees. I never lost my eye for Mantles. This one is an Upper Deck calling card commemorating the Mick's 500th homer. 
Bonus: Defunct Yankee Stadium 

The last of the cards I chose brings us back to 1966 Topps and another HOFer. This time it's one of the just 24 men to have pitched a perfect game... 

Bunning also pitched a no-hitter, was an 9-time AS, 3-time SO leader, and had his number retired by the Phillies, and he was a Dodger. Yup, I'll claim a Jim Bunning card. 

If those awesome picks weren't enough, good ol' Wes dropped in a bonus pack of 1995 Fleer. I pulled an abomination...

 And a second ex-Dodger, this time as a Met (I know, he's an ex-Giant, but we don't speak of such things in these parts), 

This card was the highlight of the pack. Gimme World Series Heroes every day of the week! 

Carter's WS heroic home run is forever implanted in my mind, so this was a great pull. 

Awesome cards from an awesome dude. THANKS, Wes! 

Aloha! 

A Small Trade With A Big Blogger

hey everybody,

i just don't know how the guy does it.  he writes an awesome blog that i faithfully read.  besides that, he writes yet even more blogs, which i'm quite sure are equally fascinating, but i confess, i don't read those as often.

keeping up with several blogs would be enough for any regular mortal, but that's not enough juggling for the Night Owl.  on top of all that, the guy has time for twitters, tweeters, listias and tumblers - and whatever the heck all those things entail. think he's done?  not even close...

then he squeezes in time to be a sportswriter, and a regular joe with a family and everything that comes along with those responsibilities.  whew!   he does all of that before finding time to maintain, catalog and love a huge card collection.  WTH - does this guy get an extra allotment of hours per diem that we don't?

you may ask yourself, "why should i care if some crazed blogger wants to eat, drink and sleep baseball cards?"  it's because the man still cares enough to use some of his carefully scheduled schedule to TRADE!  have we overused the term - 'he's passionate' yet?

which brings me to our latest trade.  Night Owl scored a couple of '65 topps Dodgers that he mentioned will be upgrades for his collection.  since i'm trying to collect that same year's Dodgers, i immediately requested, and was just as immediately given, those '65s.   if i was as busy as N.O., i would be forever crabby and have no time for others.  Good ol' N.O. shipped those right out to me, along with a fistful of other Dodgers.  coolness, indeed. 

here's the '65s that started this trade. i dig this set's design, colors and those pennants.

Howe's is a tragic story.  he was a truly good pitcher who never reached his full potential because drugs and alchohol kept taking control of his life.  this is a great photo because it seems Howe himself is wondering about what might have been. 

 here's a tragedy of a different sort.  Adrian Beltre came up with the Dodgers and played a solid third basewhile wielding a pretty good bat.  he left LA as a free agent, and while he suffered a few lean years, he is still around bashing multi-HR playoff games and still rocking the hot corner.  Beltre was recently awarded a gold glove for the 2012 season.  since Beltre's departure, LA has had about 500 third basemen.  among the 2012 Dodger third basemen, juan uribe.  a fricken tragedy indeed.

with a name like his, ol' Burleigh had 2 choices - play baseball or bootleg liquor in chicago.

my first Karros relic!

this Sheffield card is transparent awesomeness. 

i can never, ever have too many nomo cards. 

THANKS for a great trade, busy man.