A Surprise Zapping of Tigers from Japan

Aloha, everybody, 

I received a surprise package from Japan, and it turns out it was a Zapping from our old friend, ZZ. 

Inside was all kinda goodness, foreign and domestic (no matter which side of the Pacific you're standing on), and a bonus mini-CD. 

Let's have a look. Aloha! 

I Was Stealth Zippy Zapped & Beer Review (The Dudes' Brewing)

Aloha, everybody, 

 It's happened once again - I've been Zippy Zapped - and let me tell ya, this one was a doozy. 

A few days back I received a surprise package from a "John Miller". I had no idea who it was, and set it aside to be opened in my next (this) YouTube video. Turns out JM was an alias for ZZ. My buddy Zippy Zappy stealthed me, and that was the smallest of the surprises in that little package that packed a huge punch. 

Watch and enjoy as I unveil several surprises: (SPOILERS FOLLOWING!)

The entire LA Dodgers 2017 Bowman Draft Team Set
A personally autographed LA Kings card Steve Duchesne. How awesome is that? As ZZ says, giving personal autos to fellow collectors is an underrated aspect of our hobby. What an incredible and unique surprise gift for a fellow collector! A special item indeed. 
A fantastic Hanshin Tigers flashback card of Jiro Ueda and his 568 strike outs submarine delivery.
Finally, an auto of the next great Dodgers pitcher, Mr. Buehler. 

Also included is a beer review of Grandma's Pecan British Style Brown from The Dudes' Brewing Company out of Torrance, CA. 

Enjoy (and please like and subscribe) 
Aloha! 

A Mini-Zapping? This Was Nothing of the Sort

Aloha, everybody, 

I received a package from my east coast friend and trading partner, Zippy Zappy, the proprietor of Torren Up Cards. 

ZZ included a note, as those of us who've ever received a zapping know he always does. The note called this batch of cards a "mini-zapping". There was nothing mini about this one. 

Gotta start things off with The Teenager. Reports from the Dodgers' ST camp are Urias is definitely ready to rock in 2017. He'll take the mound tomorrow for the first time. 

ZZ sends me lots of Bowman, which means lots of Dodgers prospects for little ol' me. 

Here's the one who got away. 

The Dodgers traded JDL for Logan Forsythe, our new second baseman. It was a "win now and gamble away the future" move. I wanted De Leon to be a Dodger...I'm still a fan of his, no matter the team. 

More prospects! 

Here's Jerry Hairston, who now is on the TV broadcast squad for the Dodgers. It's hard to find a bigger homer than Junior...

ZZ knows I'm a big fan of Kenta Maeda, so he zapped me good with some Maeda-san cards from his days with the Hiroshima Carp. 

Awesome! 

This Genesis card is the Bomb! 

In case you've never seen the back of a Japanese baseball card...

ZZ knows exactly what is going to make my collector's eyes open wide. Brooklyn Dodgers...yup. 

A bad ass Eric Gagne card that's new for my collection...yup.

Speaking of knowing how to make my eyes open, ZZ dropped a handful of these on me....

I love American baseball, but one thing we sorely lack, and the Japanese win on - is they've got cheerleaders. 

I suppose I shouldn't call them cheerleaders. The cards clearly state they're Dancing Heroines. Yup, that'll work. 

The Osaka Hanshin Tigers are my favorite Japanese team, so ZZ knocked it out of the park with these lovely cards filled with lovely Dancing Heroines. 

Wanna see a couple more? 

In case you've never seen what the back of a Dancing Heroine card looks like...

Fresh-faced, cute and wholesome. Best of all, she likes the Tigers. Just like a gal you can bring home to meet mom. 

Yes, those cards opened my eyes, but ZZ wasn't done. He dropped a card on me that I've been wanting for quite a while. 

It appeared in 2013 Topps Archives, and while most folks (who cared about such things) were clamoring for the Beatles card... I secretly coveted this one... 

Now it's mine!  THANKS, ZZ for all the great cardboard. 

A mini-zapping? No way. This one rocked! 

Aloha! 

Zippy Claus Zapped Me

Aloha, everybody, 

Christmas is just around the corner, so I'll take this opportunity to wish all of my fellow collectors, traders and readers a very Merry Christmas. I may post again before the big day, but who knows who will be reading then, so I'll take advantage and send these holiday greetings to you all right now. 

I've talked about it too many times, but WTH, it's the holidays, so I'll bring it up one more time. The reason I launched this humble little blog was to connect with like-minded folks across the country, but I had no idea just how wonderful it would be to meet you all through our community. 

One of the best guys that I met in the blogosphere (and with a friendship that has expanded to the Twittersphere) is Zippy Zappy, from Torren Up Cards. ZZ has earned a reputation of creative generosity through his legendary Zippy Zappings (trademarked yet?), and the joy of Christmas brought one to me. 

See that? It was in a plain brown wrapper, but the fact it was from ZZ meant there was nothing plain inside. I began oh-so-carefully snipping at the outer wrapping like I was trying to defuse a nuke. 

Hmmm...bubble wrapped goodies of various shapes and sizes. You can't see it in this photo, but through the plastic wrapping I thought I saw....

"THE ROLLING STONES".....what? No way. 

More careful snipping revealed the stash! 

Whoa! 

Sure, cards are nice...but as anyone who has known me for more than five minutes knows, I'm a big Rolling Stones fan, and ZZ just dropped a 3-cd anthology of Stones musical goodness on me! 

Bonus: The CD booklet with photos and liner notes. This is really important to me. Most people buy digital music these days, and like them, I recently bought the latest Stones release in digital form. The drawback is...no booklet, no liner notes, nothing to read - and hold - while listening. This time I got one! THANKS, ZZ!

I know, this is a card blog, you didn't come here to read about the Glimmer Twins, you want to know about cardboard singles. Let's check out what else was in that bubble wrap...

Leading off is the NL's shiny new ROY, Corey Seager, on a shiny, shimmery card. Beautiful. 

Here's some more Seager goodness, this time he's sporting number 12, 

ZZ specializes in prospects and rookies, so natch he sent a few more of those to me. 

Here's Rob Segedin, former Yanks prospect, now a Dodger. In his first game, Segedin had a franchise rookie debut record, 4 RBIs...

Another Dodger who just joined the big club in 2016...

 Really nice to get some Urias pre-Dodgers cardboard in my collection. Here he is with Oklahoma City...

For those of you who noticed Julio's left eye and don't know the story, his near-closed eye is a result of a birth defect. He's had one surgery to correct it, and I believe there is another one to come. Good luck, Julio! 

Richy here was sent to the Phillies as part of the Chase Utley trade...

This blue Richy is numbered 166/199...

I didn't mind Richy being traded so much as I hated to see first-round draft pick, Grant Holmes get sent to Oakland. The Dodgers got Rich Hill, whom they just signed to a three-year deal (might be worth it), and Josh Reddick, who was a bum as a Dodger, and somehow duped the Astros into wasting millions on him for 2017. 

Alex Verdugo is still with the Dodgers. Look for him to play beside fellow Dodger Adrian Gonzalez for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. 

ZZ keeps close connections with Japan, which allows him to get cool stuff from overseas. Like these cards from my favorite Japanese team, the Hanshin Tigers...

My scanner does no justice to this beautiful card of Atsunori Ito. The card is from close to the end of Ito's career. He's now a coach with the Tigers. 

Here's a Tigers team card...

I love the team displayed in one riot of bats ready to take on all comers. If only they played as well as they look on cardboard. 2016 wasn't a good year for the Tigers. The Colonel will stay dry until 2017. 

And then there was this...

A custom job commemorating the patron saint of ZZ's blog. 

Am I the only guy in the blogosphere who doesn't make customs? 

Oh, almost forgotten was this little guy...

NOW I've been Zippy Zapped.  Thanks for everything, ZZ. Whew!

Aloha!