A Buncha Cards From Night Owl, Part Two

Aloha, everybody, 

Welcome to Part Two of the (very small sampling) from the box o' cards that my pal, Sir Night Owl sent me. Let's begin...

There are only two former Dodger managers worthy of a place in my collection. Walter Alston, who's cards I rarely come across, and good ol' Tommy, who's cards show up often - thankfully. 

That's a Topps Museum Canvas Collection card. These were seeded one per box. Nice. 

I never turned on Zack Greinke like some Dodger fans did when he left LA for more money. I remembered that's why he came to LA in the first place. I accepted he's a mercenary, and I'm glad he had this scoreless innings streak while wearing LA blue. 

Topps Heritage shiny card, numbered 631/1962 

Followed by a beautiful Kenta Maeda game face RC. 

You know a buncha cards from N.O. is going to have some vintage in it. My first Scratch Off card tells me Claude was team captain. 

Here's 1960 Topps Larry Sherry. I need his brother Norm, but he's a high number (#529), so it appears Larry will be lonely for a bit. 

How about those rooftops behind Larry. Looks like this was shot in somebody's back yard. 

World Series hero Charlie Neal is my fourth Post Dodger. Time to start collecting more of these. 

Isn't that a crazy thing about our hobby? Having one or two of a set or subset is cool and all, and then someone sends you a couple more. That's great and all, but now you're at half a binder page. That's gotta be fixed, and soon you're off on another chase. Citizens would never understand it. I love it. 

Here are a few Brooklyn tribute cards. I've got a few reprints of this 1952 Topps Pee Wee Reese, but this Archives Reserve is NEW for me! 

Some cool Upper Deck issues from The Legends of New York. Of course, I now have enough of these to check and see how many more I need to complete the Brooklyn part of the set. 

Leo the Lip, The Man and Pee Wee again. 

Here's a nice framed Duke...

 Also time to check how many of these Jackie Robinson Story cards I need to complete the set...

I super dig this fold out of the Straw. Looks like a normal, semi-boring card at first...

And then, fold it out - BOOM! A very cool shot of long and lean Darryl fighting off fans to make a catch at the stands. 

Finally, the man who more or less prompted this trade...

In some comment conversation on someone's blog a while back, N.O. mentioned he had "an extra" Ron Cey autograph lying around. Well, that got my Penguin senses tingling, and I immediately let him know I could give a loving home to an extra card. 

Good ol' Night Owl dropped this baby in the box to make it complete. What a beauty...

Whew! How about that buncha scans. Pretty good, right? 

Thanks so much, Night Owl. I'll dig into my archives and find some cool Dodger Stadium things to send your way. 

Aloha! 

Final Batch - The Night Owl Big Box O' Cards

Aloha readers and trade partners,

Did your team make it to the playoffs? How are they doing? One  benefit of the Cardboard Blogoshpere is the ability to share the playoffs through my contacts and friends out there in the nets. 

Some of you back teams that are already out, like Matt, a Pirates blogger over at Bob Walk the Plank, and some back teams that are still in, like Arpsmith over at Arpsmith's Sportscard Collection. The Dodgers have tied their series - Madding over at Cards on Cards knows - and we pick it up again on Monday in St. Louis. 

Some of you are fellow Dodger fans, like Night Owl over at Night Owl Cards, who sent me a big box o' Dodger cards that I've been posting my favorites from.  Today we get the final installment, the cards from today's Dodgers. And awaaaay we go!

 While young Joc Pederson did not make the playoff roster, he was a September call up for the big club. Pederson was a beast in AAA and Dodger fans were clamoring all season to get him out of the farms and into a Dodgers uniform. 

When he got his chance, he became one more option for Dumb Mattingly to use instead of Andre Ethier. I believe if the kid had actually been able to continue his power hitting at the major league level, he would have made the playoffs over Ethier. Alas, Joc couldn't figure out big league pitching fast enough, so he's watching the games on TV with the rest of us. 

  
The above card is beauty in blue. Crawford got hurt a lot during the season, but he's currently healthy and doing well in the playoffs. 

Here's the star pitcher from last night's Dodger win. Dodger fans are spoiled to have Clayton Kershaw, whom is often referred to as the new Sandy Koufax. 

I wish the media would give Greinke his due as an ace in his own right, and refer to Kershaw and Greinke as the new Koufax and Drysdale. 

Can I play skipper? Come on, lemme play.

A very attractive shiny card in the style of '61 Topps - and it's limited to /1961. Bison was the other hero last night, blasting a tie-breaking home run in the bottom of the 8th, allowing the Dodger Nation to breathe again. 
 

Poor Clayton Kershaw. It wasn't exactly his fault that the Dodgers gave up a 6-2 lead over the Cardinals in Game One. He pitched good enough to be winning 6-2 on a 95 degree, hot-ass day. But Damn Mattingly didn't trust his shoddy bullpen, so he left a tired Kershaw out there to pitch on fumes. 

If Kershaw has one more bad postseason outing, deserved or not, people are going to start thinking of him as the Fran Tarkenton of baseball, but at least Tark was able to get his team to the Super Bowl.  

Sunday Night Bonus! How about a few of my favorite tribute cards from the box...

  

What's a fistful of cards from Night Owl without miiiiiiiinnnnnniiiiiiis? Nice choice on this one N.O. I really dig this card.

 Cool matchup here with a Dodgers-Reds coin (?) pog (?) from the Ted Williams card company. 

We mentioned Brushback Drysdale earlier, and we get a little extra with this card featuring Campy. 

We'll finish off with the one and only...

Here's hoping some Koufax Dodger magic will filter down from heaven and help Kershaw and the Dodgers to beat those Redbirds. 

That was a fantastic box, Night Owl! Thanks so much. What fun it was to sort through all of them and write about them. Much appreciation and Dodger love from LA to NY. 

Now let's knock those Cardinals out of the way and get at those Giants once again. 

The Night Owl Big Box O' Cards - The 2000's

Let's continue onward with the penultimate installment of  my favorite cards that were sent over to me from Big Daddy Night Owl.  Let's check out some cool cardboard...

 I dig the blue on blue color schema and Metropolis design here. Nice action photo as well. 

 Not easy to tell from this scan, but Sheffield is on one of the card fads from the early 2000's. Back then, card companies were trying different media like metal and plastic. Here is a beauty of a card on transparent plastic. 

Our PED pitcher can strike out your PED batter!

 The 90's gave us card photography that bled out to the edges. In the next decade, frames returned in a big way.

 Diamonds are forever, but alas, Russ was a Dodger for only 5 years. I love Dodgers vs Giants cards. Note how this guy is about to be out by a mile.

 My previous post in this series sparked an interesting debate (in the comments) on who was the best Japanese pitcher for the Dodgers - Hideo Nomo or Hiroki Kuroda. 

Zippy Zappy chimed in that Kuroda had better stats over a longer period of time. My take was stats don't tell the entire story in this case as Nomo had to also deal with the psychological stress and pressure of being the first Japanese pitcher in MLB. He carried the weight of a country's pride on his shoulders and had to deal with the press and Nomomania everywhere he pitched. 

In the end, ZZ made the great point that our debate was a bit like the apples and oranges argument. The important thing is it was a fun back and forth between two passionate fans and friends. I'm also glad they both pitched for my favorite team.  

 How about ol' Paulie Lo Duca in a great action shot that we rarely see on cardboard - despite the fact we saw a similar photo earlier in the Russel Martin card. 

We usually get defensive shots of catchers chasing pop ups or blocking the plate, but this time we get Lo Duca captured mid-play at Dodger Stadium throwing to a base trying to nail an advancing runner. From the angle of the runner and Lo Duca it looks like he's throwing over to third.

Is that a Pirates uni? He was probably out. :) 

Kids, note the perfect fundamentals here.

 I loved Nomar as a Dodger. Loved his Lowrider walk-up song, loved the 2-minute drill of adjusting his batting gloves -after every pitch, and loved his home runs. He does a great job on the Dodgers braodcasting network these days.

What's a big box o' cards without some swatch love? I get my first relic of Derek Lowe and it's extra sweet because he's pitching at Giant Soda Bottle Stadium up in the bay area. I'm sure he won that day. 

As I was also a winner with all of these cool additions to my Dodgers collection, thanks again to Night Owl.  That box was so jam-packed, there's still one last installment to come - The Dodgers on the current squad. 

Aloha! 

The Night Owl Big Box O' Cards - The 90's

Aloha readers and trade partners, 

Speaking of trade partners, the champion of sending me the most Dodger cards in terms of sheer volume is Night Owl. Earlier this month Night Owl sent a big box of Dodger Blue cardboard, and I've been showing off my favorites from this massive, awesome gift. 

Last week Night Owl featured a post that paid homage to Dodger cards of the one who was traded away - Paul Konerko. I feel Night Owl's pain involving Konerko being traded away. I still remember cursing under my breath at Tommy Lasorda when he pulled that one off.

Just as N.O., I love Konerko cards from his time as a Dodger, and this newest card for my collection is a good starting place for the best cards from the 90's.

 This is an awesome Konerko card, but what the heck is going on behind him? Is that a close up of the moon? A cell of ebola virus?

 E.K. holds the record for most home runs by an L.A. Dodger. I'm of the belief the record is a bit padded and misleading because Karros hit a ton of homers in Colorado, and he seemed to hit a lot of his homers in games with lopsided scores. 

That said, I definitely dig old-timey Bakersfield Dodgers cards. 

Lots of Dodger fans silently suffer when current catcher A.J. Ellis comes to bat, as he's pretty much an automatic out. When was the last time we had an easy-out catcher?  It was this guy...

 But he's got a beautiful card. 

"Yeah, I'm on a Cap'n Crunch card. Whataboutit?"

 The best Japanese pitcher the Dodgers ever had...

 Before Pedro, there was the great Ramon...

Martinez looks like an amputee here, but that's what happens to these 90's shiny cards when they get scanned.

 I love these Ovation cards, but I rarely see them floating around. If you've got any of these with Dodgers on 'em, I'll be happy to take them off your hands. 

These 3-D cards are a great example of 90's shininess. They look horrible on a scan, but great in person. 


 Then again, who needs shiny gimmicks when you've got beautiful simplicity on cardboard...

The unluckiest Japanese Dodger pitcher...

I've got a fistful of Piazza cards. Too many? No way. 

One more Mondy card with a beautiful bat barrel shot for Nick to enjoy...
 

 Finally, another bat barrel card that takes us from the thrill of a sharp line drive to the frustration of strike three...

Be sure to catch the next post folks, when we cover cardboard from the 21st century. 

The Night Owl Box O' Dodgers - The 70's And 80's

Aloha,

Continuing on with the highlights from the box of Dodgers cards sent to me from the biggest Dodger fan on the East coast, Night Owl. 

Today we cover cards from the 70's and 80's...

 Leading off is the best third baseman the L.A. Dodgers ever had. The Penguin is a World Series MVP, a genuinely friendly person, and can still be found walking around Dodger Stadium today. 

Below is my favorite of all Ron Cey's cards...

FERNANDOMANIA!!!!

ODDBALL FERNANDOMANIA!!!!

 

 Manny Mota's card rocks because of the fantastic old-time Dodger Stadium background. We get the legendary palm trees known as The Three Sisters and those multi-colored pavilion benches. 

Derrel Thomas wasn't a superstar, but was very solid for a couple of seasons. 

Speaking of solid, below are a couple of past Dodger mashers...
 

Dusty pre-toothpick days

Next time - The 90's and 00's.