Aloha, everybody, 

The arrest of Julio Urias has fans making hard choices about fandom and forgiveness.  Not just about the player, but about the Dodgers organization. 

Julio Urias Arrested - but That's Not The Dodgers' Biggest Problem

Aloha, everybody, 

LA Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias was arrested for domestic violence. That would be bad enough, but this is not an isolated case. This is, unfortunately, the latest and most public in a line of ugly incidents involving young Dodger players. 

My New Twitter Trade Partner is All Hero

Aloha, everybody, 

Time to get caught up on trade posts. The good news is I made a new trade connection through Twitter. The better news is Basecard Hero sent over a fantastic fistful of cards from a set I don't usually buy, so all of these cards are new to my collection. 

That's a very shiny, good thing. We'll lead off with some inserts...

The cards are well-designed, with great photos and an unimposing abstract background, topped off with a slick, shiny surface. 

The surfaces are so slick, the cards wanted to slide all over my scanner from the slightest touch. 

On to the base cards. They switched up the background to a half and half mix of abstract design and the team logo. Again, it works.

How about some Hanley? 

Some very attractive cards, and great new RCs of Corey Seager, Maeda and Urias. Thanks, Basecard Hero!

I've got your cards in a pile. I'll be hitting the post office soon. 

Aloha! 

It Only Took a Decade and a Friendly Enemy to Land my First One

Aloha, everybody, 

As far as rivalries go, sports rivalries are among the bitterest. Often for no other reason than being born into a family of fans from one team, we're raised to hate a different team, it's stadium, colors, and fans. 

If the rivalry is held deeply, just the sight of another person wearing a cap or jersey can set off a Pavlov-like reaction. We've seen it with the Yankees and Red Sox, Dodgers and Giants, the Orioles and...heck if I know who...but you get the idea. 

Some rivalries, like the Dodgers and Giants, go waaaaaay back, all the way to the days the teams shared bandbox stadiums in the boroughs of New York. Well, this isn't one of those. The timeline isn't as long - stretching back to 1988, but when it runs hot - baby, it runs red hot. 

Bulldog was the 1988 NLCS MVP vs the Mets

I'm talking about the Dodgers and the Mets. These two teams are far apart geographically, and sometimes in the standings, but when they meet, the fire from their playoff battles in 1988 and again, in 2016, burns bright. I remember heated Dodgers/Mets blogger battles after the Chase Utley slide controversy. 

I lay all of this groundwork because that's what makes the friendship between myself and Kaz all the more special. Kaz used to blog back in the day, but he's since moved on to other things. Luckily, Twitter is one of those things, so we've been able to keep channels open that way, and we continue to send each other cards from time to time. 

Topps Turkey Red 

Kaz recently sent a PWE to me, and that's why we're gathered here today. I showed off a couple of cards already, let's check out what I else found in that envelope...

Returning to the Hershiser card, we have the rear shot. I loved opening packs of 1993 Leaf because I couldn't get enough of these crazy shots of gigantic baseball players dwarfing their cities. 

Love this card tribute to Julio Urias' major league debut, when he was just 17 years old...

Kaz tossed in some minis from the 2011 MLB sticker album...

 This Jackie Robinson is high gloss and shiny (nice!)...

Finally, this baby. My first printing plate. By all weights and measures, rivals would never share with each other. But this is the card collecting community. We operate on a different level...

It seemed as though everyone in my collecting circles had at least one printing plate, but not me. Not until now. 

Sweet, right? My collection is continuously expanding, thanks to the usual suspects - and even from the occasional enemy (but an enemy only inside the chalk lines). THANKS, Kaz! 

Aloha! 

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! 

The Golden Age of Blogger Events, Games and Prizes

Aloha, everybody, 

Is it just me, or have these past couple of months in the blogosphere been a whirlwind of contests, giveaways and big time trade-a-thons? 

It's not a bad thing. Not at all. Increased interaction among us is a great thing. Our periods of "quiet blogging" are punctuated by the occasional contest and blog bat around, but it seems to me this is different. We're in the middle of a golden period of interaction, trades and gifting in our community. 

Fittingly, my brother from another mother, who we all recognize as one of (if not THE) most generous of bloggers around, good ol' Wes, kicked all of this off with his revival of the Big Fun Game. That set the ball rolling and the blogosphere has been filled with one event after another ever since. Some events, of course, have bee more successful than others. 

One idea that I liked, which unfortunately has stalled (for now), was the Fun-at-a-Time book chain, which was launched by Matt, from Summer of '74. The book chain slowed up here on ATBATT, but it did spur some positive comments. A good suggestion came from Jon, the proprietor of A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts. He surmised we would have more time for reading books in the baseball offseason. I'm thinking we may have to revisit the book chain at that time. 

As I mentioned, the book chain stalled, but it won't stop. Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown mentioned he wants to read Mint Condition (the first book in the chain), so Gav, as soon as I'm finished reading it (I'm presently about a third of the way through), I'll be sending it off to you. There's no obligation that you run the book chain. I'm just completing my part in the chain, and I'm happy to pass off a good book to someone who wants it. 

But I digress. Back to our golden age topic. I'm backed up with winnings posts, so the next few will be featuring my loot from a few contests. 

Here we go with my winning item from The BFG over at Johnny's Trading Post. Check this out...

It's a heavy duty, and I mean HEAVY, bronze, Roberto Alomar RC from the Highland Mint. 

It's a pretty cool relic, but I'll have to admit, I'm not really an Alomar or Padres collector, so I'd like it go to a loving home. Anybody out there fancy a trade? My ears and eyes are open. 

John also included some bonus Dodgers for me that I do collect. Yahoo! 

 Finally, hard luck Julio Urias, whose out for who-knows-how-long with arm troubles. This despite the Dodgers' best-intentions of pampering him. I'm hoping for the young southpaw's speedy and complete recovery.

Aloha!