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A Long Night's Journey Into G'Day Mates

March 22, 2014, 11:21 am
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How beautiful is this?


Staying up last night/this morning to watch the 2014 season open up Down Under was like hopping into a time machine. And not just because, thanks in part to a rain delay, I didn't get to sleep until some people were already brewing their morning coffee. Watching a game at the Sydney Cricket Ground, with that stunning backdrop, felt like watching one of the games from those fabulous old-timey Library of Congress baseball photos. And I'll stay up all week if it means watching Clayton Kershaw do his thing.

Happy 2014 MLB Season everyone!

Back to cards tomorrow. More sleep now. G'Nite mates...
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First Dime Box Card Show: Reminiscing in Blue

March 23, 2014, 11:50 am
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So here we are, just now at the halfway point in our look at the results of one of the best ideas I've ever had: asking the King of the Dime Boxes, Nick, to be my Card Show proxy shopper. And the early report is in from Nick that the Second Dime Box Card Show yielded more fab cardboard dividends yesterday. Add in the two Dodger wins Down Under, a vacation day for me to watch my girls' high school softball season open tomorrow, and the fact that I just won a contest over at Once A Cub, and this is shaping up to be a pretty sweet weekend! On with the show...

Last time we looked at Dodgers whose careers spanned my attention as a fan, which began when I was ten years old, in 1980. Today we'll look at players of a more vintage vintage.

2002 Topps American Pie Maury Wills LAD #29
2001 Topps American Pie Reggie Smith LAD #68


Nick seemed to instinctively understand that I would absolutely love these retro sets. I'll even forgive him for putting the song American Pie into my head every time I look at these (although in my head I'm singing Bye-Bye, Celebrations With Pie).

2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970's Steve Garvey LAD #61
2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970's Ron Cey LAD #64


Fortunately, I had the enjoyment of seeing these guys toward the end of their time as Dodgers, when they finally got their revenge on the Yankees. But the heart of their careers took place in the 1970s, as these cards evoke. In fact, it's something very specific that these bring to mind: 1975 Topps. Nick didn't just get these modern retro cards. In fact, he didn't get just any 1975 Topps cards either. He got... take it away, Nick...


1975 Topps Mini Bill Russell LAD #23
1975 Topps Mini Joe Ferguson LAD #115
1975 Topps Mini Mike Marshall LAD #330
1975 Topps Mini Von Joshua LAD #547
1975 Topps Mini Ken McMullen LAD #473




MINIS!!!!!!, indeed! Between what the Vintage Virtuoso, Mark "Harry" Hoyle, has sentmerecently, and this Dime Box Card Show haul, I'm well on my way to having the Dodgers team set, which is MAXI cool!

1979 TCMA The 50's Dodger Braintrust: Jake Pitler/Walt Alston/Joe Becker/Billy Herman BRO #187


Nick wisely threw some Brooklyn Dodgers into the Card Show shopping cart as well, including this absolute gem from TCMA's 50's set. This is another set (to add to a list of thousands) that I'd love to complete someday.

1979 TCMA The 50's Jim Gilliam BRO #290
1993 Ted Williams Card Co. Roy Campanella BRO #9


Until then, Nick's added a few nice pieces to that work in progress. Although I don't think I've ever mentioned it to him, he also seemed to instinctively understand that I have tons of 1994 Ted Williams, and very little from the 1993 set, from which this Campy hails.

1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes Carl Erskine BRO #187
1989 Swell Baseball Legends Joe Black BRO #177


Carl Erskine is a real favorite of mine, and this is a fantastic action shot, from yet another set that I have ambitions of completing someday. Then there's Joe Black, from the 1989 Swell set, which I also one day... well, I think you get the point.

2009 Topps Ring of Honor Don Zimmer BRO #RH15
2001 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Gil Hodges BRO #28


A coupla future managers, who were no strangers to the post season. If only I could have been born about thirty years earlier...

1965 Topps Jim Brewer LAD #416


Hey, does this look familiar? Nick used his special powers (he has them, I guarantee it) to locate vintage Dodgers for mere pennies. Even if I may have had one or two of them already, you never want to pass up an opportunity like this. Any Dodgers collectors out there want a well-loved '65 Jim Brewer? I'll give it to you for a 1993 Topps George Brett (or somesuch).

1960 Topps Wally Moon LAD #5


Same goes for Wally Moonshot, here, and his magical brow...

1955 Topps Johnny Podres BRO #25


But ain't nobody gettin' their hands on this! A 1955 Topps card of the hero of the 1955 World Series, the only championship for Brooklyn. How sweet is that!? I sent Nick to a card show with a few bucks and he comes back with a gazillion cards... and a 1955 Johnny Podres!

And that is so not all. So stay tuned. You don't want to miss the trip that lies ahead.
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Skybox Charity Group Break: Curtain Call for Chris

March 24, 2014, 10:31 am
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Way back in November, Chris, of the Royally excellent View from the Skybox, decided to do something about the suffering of millions in the Philippines caused by Typhoon Haiyan. That something was to hold a charity group break, from which the proceeds were donated to ChildFund International.

1997 Topps Stadium Club Darryl Strawberry NYY #82
1997 Topps Stadium Club Bernie Williams  NYY #57
1997 Topps Stadium Club Mike Piazza LAD #31



I had joined Chris's 2012 Panini Prizm break a couple of months prior, my first ever. So Chris contacted me about this one early, and I jumped on board immediately. Not only that, I brought my wife along for the ride.

1999 Topps Stadium Club Orlando Hernandez NYY #35
1999 Topps Stadium Club Adrian Beltre LAD #162


We were particularly excited about this opportunity for two reasons. There were the cards, of course. Chris had managed to put together a really sweet selection of ten boxes of great stuff, plus a few other bonuses besides...

2008 Topps Finest Hideki Matsui NYY #84
2008 Topps Finest Refractor Jeff Kent LAD #118


...like a mini-box of these '08 Finest, and a jumbo pack of '09 Bowman. My wife, Cathy, is the Yankee fan (I jumped on the bandwagon, myself, for a while there). So she took her team and took mine. Godzilla, here, was her favorite player when she first started enjoying baseball. Unsurprisingly, Cathy was gracious enough to let me have her part of this haul.

2009 Bowman Nick Swisher NYY #124
2009 Bowman James Loney LAD #161


The other reason, besides the cards, that this particular break hit home for us is the fact that Cathy, along with her/our five kids, came here from the Philippines. Thankfully, none of their close friends or relatives was hurt. But, naturally, we were all concerned for the people of her native country, and happy to help out.

2009 Upper Deck X Die Cut Chien-Ming Wang NYY #63
2009 Upper Deck X Die Cut Russell Martin LAD #45


Of course, all we did was send along a little money. And we got these great cards in return. The real hero is Chris, who saw a need and took action. He had to be patient and persistent. Since this happened going into the holiday season, it wasn't easy to find people for whom this fit into their budget at the time.

2010 Topps 206 CC Sabathia NYY #263
2010 Topps 206 Clayton Kershaw LAD #174


But Chris kept plugging away. In addition to mentioning the break on his blog every week or so, he sent out PWEs to people, urging them to join in the effort. He even sent me one, even though I'd never needed any persuading.

2010 Topps National Chicle Lou Gehrig NYY #299
2010 Topps National Chicle Duke Snider BRO #252


For a while, it looked like it was possible that Chris wouldn't be able to fill the break, dooming his plan to help. But thanks to his persistence it was filled by the deadline, and things finally got underway, three months after we had signed up on that first day.

2011 Topps Lineage Reggie Jackson NYY #60
2011 Topps Lineage Sandy Koufax BRO #1


I've never hosted a group break, but tuning in to watch most of it live, I could see that Chris's work had just begun. You'd think that busting a bunch of packs would be nothing but fun on East Street. But I could see that it was a lot of work. And that didn't include all of the sorting, packaging and mailing that had to take place after the camera was turned off.

2011 Panini Playoff Contenders Prospect Ticket Dante Bichette, Jr. NYY #RT39
2011 Panini Playoff Contenders Draft Ticket Crystal Collection Logan Verrett NYY #DT23 (86/299)
2011 Panini Playoff Contenders Winning Combos Clayton Kershaw/Matt Kemp LAD #21



To be honest, I would have been thrilled with this break even had it not been for charity. Early on, Chris replaced boxes of 2013 Topps series one and two with the 1997 and 1999 Stadium Club, and that really put the selection over the top for me.

2013 Topps Mini Mariano Rivera NYY #600
2013 Topps Mini Chasing History Yogi Berra NYY #MCH-12
2013 Topps Mini Matt Kemp LAD #242



These Topps Minis were a big draw, too. Between a small eBay lot that I won, and what I got from this break, I'm in pretty good shape for completing the Dodgers team set, despite not having bought a single pack of these. And I'm thrilled to have Mariano, as well. (Though I missed out on Kershaw... if anyone with a spare is wondering what they have to trade that I might like.)

2013 Topps Archives Hiroki Kuroda NYY #147
2013 Topps Archives Hyun-Jin Ryu LAD #163


There were a few things in the break that I didn't still need, but those will make for some nice trade package food, so it's all good.

2013 Panini Triple Play Robinson Cano NYY #57
2013 Panini Triple Play Adrian Gonzalez LAD #40
2013 Panini Triple Play Blue-Bordered Stickers Clayton Kershaw LAD #8



Thank you, Chris, for your selfless nature, your hard work, and your friendship in the blogging community. And I'll thank you again tomorrow, when I show off even more of your generosity (along with your sense of humor). Also, you all may have also noticed someone missing in this mess of cards. I have a felling he shows up tomorrow, in a big way. Stay tuned...
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Skybox Charity Group Break: The Spoils of Charity

March 25, 2014, 11:21 am
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Yesterday we looked at a small portion of the cardboard benefits that my wife and I reaped from the Typhoon Haiyan Charity Group Break put on by Chris, of View from the Skybox. It was a labor of love for Chris, with an emphasis on labor. Even so, he didn't stop at just sending out the cards we'd paid for. He also included some fantastic "extras."

2013 Bowman Chrome Purple Refractors Hanley Ramirez LAD #60 (177/199)


Like this "extra" copy of a shiny purple Dodger MVP candidate, of which only 199 exist! Chris's beneficence obviously extended beyond his good work in helping the people of the Philippines.

2013 Panini Pinnacle Autographs Cory Luebke SDP #CL
2009 Bowman Chrome WBC Prospects Phillippe Aumont Canada #BCW2


He sent us a big-leaguer's autograph and a much-coveted World Baseball Classic card.

1997 Topps Stadium Club Garret Anderson CAL #61
2013 Panini Triple Play Mike Trout LAA #36


And he sent us some Angels (an unclaimed team) from the break, including a future Dodger and some guy named after a fish. One would hardly expect "extras" in a break for charity, but Chris is clearly that kind of person. We can't thank you enough, Chris, for the wonderful idea and the way you put it into practice.

I showed a lot of the cards that we received from the break yesterday, but I held back a few for today, like my wife's favorite ('cuz it's perdy):

2013 Topps Archives Gallery of Heroes Yogi Berra NYY #YB


Nice. But the the real star of this break's haul was, fittingly, The Captain.

1997 Topps Stadium Club Derek Jeter NYY #55


Cathy didn't just land Derek Jeter base cards in this break. The inserts just kept coming, as well...

1997 Topps Stadium Club Millennium Derek Jeter NYY #M1
1999 Topps Stadium Club Derek Jeter NYY #65


Especially when Chris got to the box of '09 Upper Deck X, a set that I had no taste for... until now.

2009 Upper Deck X Derek Jeter NYY #62
2009 Upper Deck X Xponential 3 Derek Jeter NYY #X3-DJ


What, no X2 or X4? What a rip off! Kidding, of course. I'm fairly certain that no other player showed up in insert form more than once.

2009 Upper Deck X Xponential 5 Derek Jeter NYY #X5-DJ
2009 Upper Deck X Xponential 6 Derek Jeter NYY #X6-DJ


There was Jeter artwork...

2010 Topps 206 Derek Jeter NYY #162
2010 Topps National Chicle Derek Jeter NYY #36


Tiny Jeter...

2013 Topps Mini Derek Jeter NYY #2


Retro-framed Jeter...

2013 Topps Archives Derek Jeter NYY #38
2013 Topps Archives 1983 All-Stars Derek Jeter NYY #83-DJ


Kid-friendly Jeter...

2013 Panini Triple Play Derek Jeter NYY #56
2013 Panini Triple Play Tattoos Derek Jeter NYY #9


But nothing from the Playoff Contenders box. I joked to Chris during the break about getting skunked, and he was happy to rectify the problem on the spot...

2011 Panini Playoff Contenders Skybox Skunk Proof Derek Jeter (UER #3) NYY (1/1)


You can bet that this will be filed with the rest of my Jeter cards. Look for it on eBay in 2037.

Thanks again, Chris. You're one of the good ones.
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Nachos Grande Group Break: I Took the Yankees and the Dodgers Still Won!

March 26, 2014, 11:07 am
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Over the past couple of days we took a look at what I got in a group break held by Chris that featured some sweet turn-of-the-century Stadium Club. Today we're going to look at what I got in a group break held by Chris that featured some sweet turn-of-the-century Stadium Club. Confused? That's okay, you'll fit right in around these parts.

It was the Typhoon Haiyan Charity Group Break put on by Chris, of View from the Skybox that yielded all of those Jeters you saw yesterday. These Jeters come from a different group break held by another Chris, he of the excellent Nachos Grande.

2000 Topps Tek Architeks Derek Jeter NYY #A2
2000 Topps Tek Derek Jeter NYY #32-2


Der-ek... Je-ter... (This is the part where you clap rhythmically.)

1999 Topps Gallery Derek Jeter NYY #20
2001 Topps Stadium Club Derek Jeter NYY #30


Der-ek... Je-ter... (I got to do this with the Bleacher Creatures in Section 39 of the real Yankee Stadium.)

2001 Topps Stadium Club Capture the Action Derek Jeter NYY #CA6
2001 Topps Stadium Club Diamond Pearls Derek Jeter NYY #DP3


Yup, it was another Derek deluge. And that was pretty much the idea. You'll notice a distinct lack of Dodger Blue this time around. That's because (recent spending habits to the contrary) I ain't made of money. I wanted in on this break, but with a budget for only one team, the time period dictated that I side with the Evil Empire on this one. It just made sense. I can always go bargain shopping for Todd Hundley and Eric Karros cards. You're not gonna find the Jeters and Marianos in those bargain bins.

1995 Fleer Flair Wade Boggs NYY #63
1995 Fleer Flair Paul O'Neill NYY #67



Plus, as I've mentioned once or thrice, I was an unabashed front-runner during this period as a citizen of New York. This break starts when the dynasty began, as we see a couple of veterans in '95 Flair form who helped get that ball rolling. (Looks like Boggs blew his "Wad.")

1999 Topps Gallery Orlando Hernandez NYY #95
1999 Topps Gallery Roger Clemens Masters NYY #115


Friggin' Clemens. I hate showing cards of the jerk, but I don't hate getting them. They make me cringe, even growl if I'm feeling particularly grumpy. But I want 'em. He's part of the story, for better or worse. (Worse.)

2000 Topps Tek Bernie Williams NYY #14-1
2000 Topps Tek Bernie Williams NYY #14-6


Topps Tek was a real draw in this break. In addition to the obligatory Jeters, I ended up landing three different El Duques and these two Bernies, which are among the better background designs in an inconsistent bunch.

2000 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Jorge Posada NYY #32
2000 Topps Stadium Club Chrome David Walling NYY #240
2000 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Mariano Rivera NYY #87
2000 Topps Stadium Club Chrome David Cone NYY #75




As with the Skybox break, Stadium Club provided most of the best-looking cards in the bunch. And I was glad to land Mo in each of these. I was certainly happy with the Jeter haul from the two breaks, but if I'm forced to chose between Jeter and Mo, I think I've gotta go with Mo. (David Walling? Getting a Grip, of course.)

2001 Topps Stadium Club Bernie Williams NYY #8
2001 Topps Stadium Club Alfonso Soriano NYY #182
2001 Topps Stadium Club Mariano Rivera NYY #76
2001 Topps Stadium Club Jorge Posada NYY #49




It did cause a bit of a twinge in the gut to forego the Dodgers in favor of the Yanks, but I'm pretty sure I made the right call here. And, thanks to Chris, any lingering queasiness was erased when I saw this fall out of the package...

2013 Munnatawket Mini Clayton Kershaw LAD #6


Chris had posted an interview with this set's creator. In fact, Chris has his own card in this set. How cool is that!? When I commented with something like "it wouldn't suck to get one of these with the group break package," I certainly didn't expect to receive the one card in the set that I had to have! Thanks to Chris, the best card that I got with the Yankees in a group break was... a Dodger. You can't beat that. Thanks, Chris!
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Playing With My Dodgers: Preacher Roe

March 27, 2014, 11:32 am
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One of my prized possessions is my Grandfather's old copy of Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer. It might be a first edition. I have no idea. But it's properly worn out from the readings it's provided for Grandpa and me over the years. The players who appear in Kahn's masterpiece became more like mythical characters than regular ol' ballplayers to me growing up. Those Brooklyn Dodger teams are better known for their offense. Robinson, Reese, Snider, Campanella, Hodges, Furillo... these are the names that come most readily to mind. But, as with any perennial contender, the Dodgers of this era enjoyed the backbone of an excellent pitching staff. And if Preacher Roe's name isn't as widely remembered today, it's neither for a lack of talent nor personality.

A flamethrower in his youth, injuries had turned Roe into the proverbial crafty lefty by the time Branch Rickey brought him to Brooklyn in 1948. In fact, the extent of his craftiness was well-known around the league, and was revealed by Ol' Preach himself shortly after his retirement. Motivated to encourage Major League Baseball to once again legalize the spitball (and/or by the $2,000 that he was paid by Sports Illustrated to make the confession), Roe admitted to including the banned pitch in his repertoire throughout much of his career. The son of a doctor, a college man himself, and a high school math teacher in the offseason, the Arkansas native played to the media by affecting the stereotypical drawl and mannerisms of a hillbilly bumpkin. But the bottom line is that the man could pitch. Roy Campanella considered Roe the best pitcher he ever caught. "He was a guy who knew what he was doing every second of every minute," said Campy.

Perhaps Preacher Roe's finest moment in baseball came in the 1949 World Series. Brooklyn had dropped a heartbreaker in the opening game at Yankee Stadium, with Allie Reynolds outlasting Don Newcombe for a 1-0 victory, courtesy of a walk-off homer by Tommy Henrich. Preach got the call for game two, facing Vic Raschi. Jackie Robinson doubled to lead off the second inning, and was driven in with two outs by Gil Hodges to give Brooklyn a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, the Yanks' Johnny Lindell ripped a shot back through the box that tore half a nail off of Preacher's glove-hand ring finger. There was so much swelling that the Dodgers' trainer had to drill a hole in the nail to relieve the pressure and allow Roe to stay in the game with what turned out to be a broken digit. Ol' Preach hung tough and shut out the Bombers for a six-hit, 1-0 victory to even the series.

1954 Topps Preacher Roe BRO #14


This is yet another vintage gem chosen by my proxy shopper, Nick, for the First Dime Box Card Show. You can see the confidence, intelligence, and country charm on the face of Ol' Preach. You can picture him whittling away at a piece of wood, straw dangling from his lips, as he languorously takes in the day from a rocking chair on his porch. Or you can just as easily envision the man as a wise country doctor, keeping a frazzled farmer calm while delivering his wife's baby in a barn. Being a city guy, myself, Preach might as well be a mythical character. This is a fantastic piece of cardboard that further brings to life for me one of The Boys of Summer. Thanks for exercising your considerable card show powers to bring this great card home to its rightful place in the PWMD set, Nick.
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First Dime Box Card Show: Trippin' on Oddballs

March 29, 2014, 8:50 pm
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Nick's brilliant choices as my Dime Box Card Show proxy shopper had me giddy from the start. I mean, just looking at groovy cards like this has to give you the warm and fuzzies...

2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970's Dave Kingman NYM #75
2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970's John Mayberry TOR #10


But then something odd happened about the time that Nick passed me this...


2003 Fleer Tradition Jung Bong ATL #435


Jung Bong?


Woah...!

2013 Topps 75th Anniversary Donkey Kong #81
2013 Topps 75th Anniversary Battlestar Galactica #73



Suddenly I found myself thinking about my childhood, back when people didn't give me funny looks when I said I felt like playing. Visions of sitting in front the the Atari with a six pack of Pepsi by my side came floating through my brain. I said "felgercarb," whatever that means, as a barrel came rolling toward me at dangerously high speeds. I saw a robotic dog and a mad gorilla. I remembered that I had a crush on Erin Gray, though I couldn't remember who that was. It was just so... what's the word...?


Dude. Right. Random. I was totally going to say that. Random. Ran. Dom. What a trippy word. Ran. Dumb. Fan. Gum. Bran. Plumb.

1991 Post Rickey Henderson OAK #27
1993 Hostess Darryl Strawberry LAD #7


Then, just as suddenly, I was hungry. I wanted cereal with strawberries. I wanted Ding-Dongs and Twinkies and Sno Balls...

1992 Markesan Police Department Chris Bosio MIL
1993 Jimmy Dean Doug Drabek HOU #19


I wanted sausage, too. And I began to develop an irrational fear of the police. Dude, I wasn't doing anything wrong. Why did the fuzz wanna harsh my buzz? (Wait, I have a buzz...?)

1995 Kraft Singles Superstars Barry Larkin CIN #24


(Why do I have a buzz...?) Ooooooo, look! Cheese slices. These will go great with that sausage! And there's a baseball card... with instructions? Woah. After reading the instructions, like, eight times, I finally gave up and started tugging and pulling on different parts of the card. I mean, I had to play with the thing, right...?


No... friggin'... way! I just sat there and stared at this thing for, like, three hours (or was it 30 seconds?). Whatever, man, it's all 3-friggin'-D, dude!

What was I talking about, again? Oh yeah, I think it was baseball cards or something...

1989 Star Brian Champion Durham Bulls #69


Wow, this guy must be good. He's a star. He's a champion... bull rider...? Is that how his teeth got that way? And what's that stuck to the end of his bat? And isn't he worried about that giant set of eyes watching him? You see them, don't you? It's not just me, is it? Why am I so paranoid!?

Com'ere. Lemme tell you a secret. I don't know if I should be telling you this, but the Dime Box king sent three dime bags in this package. They were minor league team sets for a cool dime apiece. Too bad you can't just walk up to some guy in the park and buy stuff like this.

1989 Best Stockton Ports Chris Moreno/Mike Wickhan Batboys #26
1989 Best Stockton Ports Danny Fitzpatrick #12


Where else are you gonna find batboy cards, or a big burly Irishman who doubles as a bouncer when the game is over? (Is that logo a drawing of the bouncer holding a bat!?)

1990 Best Knoxville Blue Jays Woody Williams #18
1990 Best Knoxville Blue Jays Pat Hentgen #4


Where else you gonna find future solid major-league pitchers who are now retired with baby faces, just getting started?

1990 Best Jacksonville Expos Richie Lewis #20
1990 Best Jacksonville Expos Lorenzo Bundy CO #27


Or a guy who clearly lost a bet? (I'm not the only one who sees a stuffed little guy on his lap, right?) Or your first card of the new Dodgers third base coach? And how about that logo? They took the Expos logo and rolled a J for Jacksonville. The logo sure looks happy to be here, doesn't it?

Those minor league cards were great, huh? You're certainly not gonna get stuff that good from that guy who's always standing on the corner in a trench coat, even when it's eighty degrees out. Wow... These cards are really starting to get to me. I'm not sure how much more I can handle...


Uh-oh...

1961 Post (Box) Jerry Lynch CIN #187


I'm starting to lose my sense of time. One minute I thought it was 2014, the next, I'm in the early 1960s...

1960 Leaf Tom Borland BOS #26


Now things are turning black and white! (Hey, that guy stole Don Mossi's ears! Give 'em back, dude!)

1969 Globe Imports Willie Davis LAD #9S
1962 Exhibit Stat Back Wally Moon LAD #27


Now my sense of proportion is starting to go. I could have sworn that one of these cards was tiny and the other huge!


I had all but lost touch with reality by the time Nick started to reel me in...


Thanks, Nick. I needed that! Stay tuned. When next we revisit the First Dime Box Card Show, we'll take Nick's advice to heart. In the meantime, pass the peanuts and Cracker Jacks, wouldja...?
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I May Not Have Been an Oscar Winner... But I Sure Got One Heck of a Booby Prize!

March 30, 2014, 5:13 pm
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With the Dodgers and Yanks even at a game apiece, Sal Maglie took the mound for Brooklyn in the pivotal game five of the 1956 World Series. The winner of the series opener, "The Barber" was on his game, tossing eight innings and allowing just two runs on five hits to the Bronx Bombers.

2001 Topps Archives Sal Maglie BRO #97


But there was to be no victory for Maglie in this game, or for the Dodgers in this series. Sal's game five start came against Don Larsen, pitching the game of his (and just about every other pitcher's) life. Brooklyn would fall to the Yankees (again) in seven games.

It probably comes as cold consolation (perhaps it's lukewarm), but the World Series losers do still get a nice cash bonus for coming up a buck short on the field. Well, I got to experience something similar recently, only in my case the consolation prize was white hot. It took me well past consolation, past contentment, and all the way to Dodger Blue bliss!

2002 Fleer Greats of the Game Preacher Row BRO #59
2002 Topps Super Teams Walt Alston MG BRO #15


And who better to serve up Blue bliss than a fellow Dodger fan? Oscar, of All Trade Bait, All the Time, he of the Grand Salami of Trade Bait, recently returned to his blog from a brief hiatus and celebrated by holding a simple contest. A comment on his post would get you into two randomized drawings for a stack o' cards from your favorite team. Now that's my kind of effort level!

1994 Topps Archives 1954 Junior Gilliam BRO #35
1989 Smokey Dodger Greats Maury Wills LAD #69


A couple of days later the results were in. It was time to see how far down the lists my name would pop up. There are a lot of deserving card bloggers out there, and one of them not named Ethan invariably ends up on top. And this time it was no different. Well, it was a little different. This time I finished second. Both times!

1983 Fleer Stickers Steve Garvey LAD #113
2002 Topps Archives Ron Cey LAD #5


It was an interesting way to lose, at least. I commented: "What's the booby prize for finishing second both times? Sheesh! (Just Kidding.) Thanks for the contest." Oscar replied: "Ask the Broncos. LoL. Tough break, kid." (That's a football reference, right?) So, cute story. End of story. Right?

1990 Topps Big Willie Randolph LAD #43


Wrong. (You'd probably figured that out by now.) A few days later I check my email inbox and see this message from Oscar: "What a burn to finish second ...TWICE !! I feel ya on that one. Since we're fellow Dodger fans, I can certainly help out a second place winner. Shoot me your address and I'll get some Dodgers out to you."

1993 Donruss Spirit of the Game Kevin Gross LAD #SG-19



That was certainly nice of him! Cool, a Dodger booby prize. I'd probably get a few base set commons that Oscar had lying around. Or maybe one nice card, like, I don't know, Aaron Harang displaying a grip for my mini-collection, or something. Right?

1999 Flair Showcase Row 1 Eric Karros LAD #113 (4132/6000)


Wrong. (I know you're too smart to fall for the suspense gag, while I'm showing you the cards... but, hey, let's face it, unless you're Oscar, and maybe even if you are, you're just looking at the pretty pictures of great cards, anyway.)

2000 Fleer Impact Gary Sheffield LAD #52
2003 Topps 205 Shawn Green LAD #25


And they are great cards. Yes, this is my booby prize. Correction: it's a minority portion of my booby prize. And it's not just a bunch of commons. It's stars, oddballs, serial numbered cards, relic cards, inserts... you name it! All Blue, and all beautiful!

2002 Upper Deck Diamond Connection Paul Lo Duca LAD #65
2001 Topps Heritage Chrome Kevin Brown LAD #CP21 (512/552)


And all right in the wheelhouse of my collection void from about 1997-2007 (except Topps base sets). Repeating that often has paid off. But rarely, if ever, has the payoff been this friggin' fabulous. All for finishing second twice. As Vin would say, "Deuces Wild!"

2001 Private Stock Game-Used Gear Kevin Brown LAD #90


I don't know how he did it, but Oscar seemed to know exactly what i needed and exactly what I wanted. Hell, I don't even have that kind of grip on my own collection. Dude must be psychic or something!

2004 Fleer Platinum Hideo Nomo LAD #135
2009 Upper Deck Goudey Takashi Saito BOS #103


For example, look at that Nomo! There are a lot of great cards of Hideo out there, and I have a fair number of them. But I'd never seen this one, and I love it! The play of the sunlight, Nomo's motion caught as he's poised at its pinnacle, before The Tornado whips his way forward, with the Platinum logo seeming to twist with the twister... awesome.

2008 Topps Year in Review Derek Lowe LAD #YR65
2011 Bowman Gold Hiroki Kuroda LAD #147


Oscar knew that I not only enjoy Dodgers, I particularly enjoy pitchers. How sweet is that gold Kuroda? (And are you now stuck on "My Sharona" like I am? G-G-G-Gold Kuroda!)

2012 Topps Heritage Aaron Harang LAD #363


Hey, Oscar did send Aaron Harang displaying a Grip for my mini-collection! Whaddaya know!? Looks like Harang was trying to hide it, but to no avail.

2011 Topps Stickers Juan Uribe LAD #264
2011 Topps Finest Matt Kemp LAD #32


I chose today to display Oscar's generosity because it's a big day for us Dodger fans. We get to see our team win its third game of the season before anyone else manages to win a single contest! In fact, I hit the "publish" button the moment of the first pitch. I'll let Oscar chime in:


Go Dodger Blue, indeed. Happy 2014 everyone! The year really starts now. And thank you so much for the booby prize, Oscar! (Yes, I do just like to type the word "booby.") I may not have been an Oscar winner, but Oscar sure made me feel like one.
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Playing With My Dodgers: George Hildebrand

April 2, 2014, 1:36 pm
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What a great story. If you're interested, I've posted the back of this card for you to read the details. Long story short: George Hildebrand was a minor-league outfielder at the turn of the Twentieth Century, playing mostly in the old Pacific Coast League, who invented the spitball. Then he became an American League umpire, serving in that capacity for 22 years, from 1913 to 1934. The pitch that he'd invented was outlawed by Major League Baseball in 1920, meaning that it was his job to make sure pitchers didn't illegally employ "his" pitch!

Oh yeah, and his entire major-league career consisted of eleven games for Brooklyn in 1902.

1993 Megacards TSN Conlon Collection George Hildebrand UMP #708


Here is another excellent example of the power of Random. This is one of the many excellent cards chosen by Dime Box Nick, as my card show proxy shopper. I don't know what Nick knew about George Hildebrand, if anything, when he grabbed this card for me. You would have to read to the end of the text on the back of the card to determine that Hildebrand had anything to do with the Dodgers. It's my guess that Nick simply saw a nice Conlon card, with the truly Random element of an umpire labeled as a "spitballer," and figured that alone would make this a card destined for my playground. If so, he would have been entirely correct, at that. But the fact that it depicts a Dodger (Superba, actually) who played in just eleven big-league games, all back in 1902, naturally vaults the thing into PWMD perfection. Thanks again, Nick, for your uncanny ability to channel the power of Random.
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Feeding the Habit: Spring Training Edition

April 3, 2014, 11:04 am
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March was the last big pack-busting month of the year for me until November. At least that's what my budget is telling me. We'll see what willpower has to say about all that. You can guess why November is pegged for the return to digging for gold in earnest. I'll be employing the ultimate attention grabber, the game depicted on these little cardboard addictions, as my distraction for the itch.

Spring training baseball, however, seemed only to fuel my desire for busting packs, without providing enough of a distraction to slow me down. So March was another big month for Feeding the Habit. As usual, we'll start with the repack finds. Let's play...

1976 Topps Nate Colbert MON #595
1978 Topps Rowland Office ATL #632
1979 Topps Joe Zdeb KCR #389
1980 Topps Tug McGraw PHI #655


It was a particularly good month for Random vintage from repacks. These were all '70s needs, and a really nice Tug McGraw upgrade from my overly-played-with childhood copy.

1999 SkyBox Premium Barry Larkin CIN #87
1996 Score Barry Larkin Star Struck CIN #362
2002 Upper Deck Barry Larkin CIN #714
1991 Score Barry Larkin Dream Team CIN #888


The star of the month was Barry Larkin, who seemed to show up in just about every repack.

2002-03 Upper Deck UD SuperStars Greg Maddux ATL #16
1998 Score Cal Ripken, Jr. Interleague Moments BAL #257
2000 Pacific Paramount Green Chipper Jones ATL #21
1999 Topps Stars Two Star Scott Rolen PHI #44


But there was also a nice variety of fabulous Hall-of-Famers (current, future, and potential) from my collecting dead period. Just enough to keep me addicted to 1990-Donruss-infested repacks.

1995 Score Zenith Jim Edmonds CAL #73
1998 Topps Finest Eric Davis BAL #93
2005 Bowman's Best Red Scott Mitchinson #129 (41/199)
2009 Bowman Chrome WBC Prospects Brad Harman Australia #BCW60


Lots of shiny this month, including an autograph "hit." Rare for my type of cheap repack mining.

2002 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks & Prospects Ricardo Rodriguez LAD #BDP149
1998 Donruss Preferred Wilton Guerrero LAD #112
1989 Upper Deck Juan Bell LAD #20
1998 Fleer Tradition Update Carlos Perez LAD #U47


Got some shiny Dodgers, too, as well as others that were new to me.

2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Hideo Nomo LAD #60
1997 Score Select Hideo Nomo LAD #29
2000 Upper Deck Adrian Beltre LAD #140



I was surprised to also land a couple of great Nomos that were new to me, as well as a Beltre.

1988 Fleer Glossy Bob Welch LAD #529
1990 Bowman Tiffany Rick Honeycutt OAK #450


Another thing that repacks are great for is glossy/tiffany cards. Honeycutt is the first Bowman Tiffany that I've seen, and I dig it. So, he's pictured with the A's... but he'd just finished a stint with the Dodgers, he would become a longtime (and current) Dodger pitching coach, and the picture on this card was taken at Dodger Stadium. Good enough for me...

2012 Topps Gold Kyle Blanks SDP #261 (530/2012)
2012 Topps Allen & Ginter J.J. Putz ARI #167


Here are a couple of nice cards from packs within repacks. If there's any card in the 2012 Topps set to have the gold version of, it's Blanks. What a great-lookin' card! Meanwhile, J.J. (I'm a D-Bag... I mean, D-Back so I must be a) Putz is, of course, sporting a Grip...

1993 Topps Stadium Club Rick Sutcliffe BAL #246
1987 Fleer Rick Reuschel PIT #619
2001 Fleer Platinum Denny Neagle COL #155
2008 Upper Deck Goudey Cole Hamels PHI #144
1999 Topps Chrome Pete Harnisch CIN #388



...as are these fine refugees from the repack populous. Happy to give 'em a real home, even if it's only a cardboard box.

2013 Panini Pinnacle Clear Vision Complete Game Nolan Ryan TEX #CV21
2013 Panini Prizm Rookie Autographs Shawn Tolleson LAD #RST


On to the current stuff, which for me includes 2013 Panini products. You may recall that I got a Mariano Rivera "Complete Game" card last time I fed the habit. Now this one makes a lot more sense. I also had my redemption filled for this Shawn Tolleson autographed job. It looks better than I'd expected, though the sticker aspect kinda sucks.

2014 Topps Heritage 1965 MLB Draft Nolan Ryan NYM #65MLB-NR
2014 Topps Heritage Red Hanley Ramirez LAD #437


Speaking of Nolan Ryan, his was one of the cooler cards in my three packs of Heritage so far. I'd been worried because I wasn't sure I was going to be able to afford to dive into Heritage yet, as much as I was jonesing. But my Aunt Irene's generous birthday gift saved the day, and I'll be busting a hobby box slowly throughout April. Thank you Aunt Renie!

2014 Panini Donruss Hall Worthy Derek Jeter NYY #2
2014 Panini Donruss Power Plus Joe Morgan CIN #9


I will not, however, be busting much more than the three packs of Donruss that I've already ripped into. I don't hate 'em, but I don't love 'em. And I can't afford 'em, so they're off the radar as far as pack busting goes. Too bad, because I have really liked the inserts that I've pulled. (By the way, if anyone wants my wrappers for the wrapper redemption, let me know. No way I'm making it to 36 packs, or whatever it is.)

2014 Topps Opening Day Blue Hyun-Jin Ryu LAD #213 (676/2014)
2014 Topps Opening Day Stars Yasiel Puig LAD #ODS-15


Fortunately, Opening Day is cheap. So I'll probably come pretty close to building the set a pack at a time. I've had some really nice luck so far, from the perspective of a Dodger fan. Tip o' the cap to Nick, for his advice on how to get the 3-D scan to look spiffy. You don't want to see my original vertically-scanned version.

Opening Day also threw me the biggest curveball of March:

2014 Topps Opening Day Mascot Autographs Pirate Parrot PIT #MA-PP


The autograph of a guy or gal in a parrot suit (or some completely unrelated designated signer). Well, the way I collect, I want a little bit of everything. So this certainly brings me one step closer to that.

End transmission.
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Johnny on the Clock; Ethan off His Ritalin

April 5, 2014, 12:18 pm
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I have a very workmanlike trade relationship with John, of Johnny's Trading Spot. He sends me a handful of envelopes filled with eighteen cards each. And I spend the next few weeks setting aside Braves from his want/need list while I'm sorting, sending back an envelope at a time as they're filled. Then we repeat the process.

2005 Topps Cracker Jack Mark Mulder STL #147
2005 Donruss Billy Wagner PHI #291


We go about our business very differently, though. Of course, exactly how John does his thing can't be known to me. But the way he had, like, a gazillion envelopes ready to go for me days after our initial contact, as well as his relentlessly entertaining regularly-scheduled posts, gives me a mental picture of a man who can multitask and get the job done with the best of 'em. John knows how to get a Grip.

1994 Score Jon Ratliff Draft Pick CHC #454
1996 Topps Dustin Hermanson SDP #218
2000 Fleer Impact Kip Wells CHW #42



Meanwhile, over on my playground, it's Short Attention Span Theater. I'm like James Caan being lured into a trap by Homer Simpson. "Oooo... piece of candy!""Oooo... piece of candy!""Oooo... piece of candy!" Right now, baseball is that candy. And making sure that I keep sorting and posting is a lot more difficult than it should be.

1985 Topps Joe Morgan OAK #352
1987 Topps Barry Larkin CIN #648
1989 Topps Ryne Sandberg CHC #360
1981 Topps Bill Russell LAD #465


But John just keeps churning out mini-collection hits for me, eighteen cards at a time. His emphasis on efficiency has meant that he's sent some Topps base set specimens that I'd already had covered. But even with these, they're such great cards that I'm sure they'll be of use to someone. Anyone have a need for any of the great '80s Doughnut lovers above?

1991 Bowman Steve Finley HOU #561
1997 Score Marquis Grissom CLE #334


Turtlenecks have been John's specialty so far. (In fact, come to think of it, that Sandberg Doughnut is a Turtleneck, too!) You sport a little extra fabric in the neck region, you're gonna find yourself in an envelope headed my way. Not all of them meet my exacting (i.e., Random) standards for this mini-collection. But many do, like this Bowman Finley, which pairs nicely with the Topps Traded card that sealed the deal for me when it came to this mini-collection.

1993 Upper Deck Luis Alicea STL #605
1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Jason Jacome NYM #327


On any given night, you might find me in the card-sorting headquarters that used to be our dining room, getting through my third pass at sorting cards into the Ge-Gl region of the alphabet, for example. Setting aside a few Glavines to help slowly fill an envelope to send to the Trading Spot.

1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Mo Vaughn BOS #281
1998 Score Mo Vaughn BOS #227
1996 Topps AAA Stars: Eric Owens/Butch Huskey #104



While John fires envelopes onto this playground as though from a machine gun. He even forced me to add a new category to the 42 Collection, called the Grandfathers Gallery. The keen eye that John has shown for reading meaning in the shadows on his blog has definitely been employed to my mini-collecting advantage as well. For example, he didn't get duped by the 35 on Mo Vaughn's cap, zeroing in on the 42 on his sleeve. He even managed to spot another mini-collection hit with the other Vaughn... even though I haven't announced that collection yet! On top of his other talents, John appears to be psychic as well!

1998 Topps Opening Day Mariano Rivera NYY #7


My favorite part about John's Grandfathers Gallery has been his good taste in sending more Mo. It's cards like this that motivate me to go back on the (imaginary) meds long enough to to keep diggin' for Braves. (Plus you can't go wrong by sending just about any Opening Day cards from before 2012...)

2000 Upper Deck Victory Ultimate Johnny Damon KCR #30
2002 Donruss Fan Club Roy Oswalt HOU #12


Maybe 95% of the cards that John has sent have either been Dodgers or directed toward my min-collections. But he's also sent a few cards that are great just because they're great, like the two above. It's always a good day when an envelope arrives from the Trading Spot. Thanks, John! Keep up the good work. And I'll... wait, what was I doing, again? Oh yeah, I've still got to get these things onto their mini-collection pages...

Oooo... piece of candy!

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The Vintage Virtuoso Strikes Again

April 6, 2014, 11:28 am
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There were a couple of weeks there when it looked like my budget wasn't going to allow me to enjoy much more than a few packs of this year's Topps Heritage for a while. Fortunately, my awesome Aunt Renie came through with a birthday gift that rectified that tragedy. But before that happened, the Vintage Virtuoso, Mark "Harry" Hoyle sent me something that made me forget all about 2014 Heritage for a while.

1965 Topps Tommy Davis LAD #370
1965 Topps Wally Moon LAD #247


He sent the real deal! Who needs Heritage that looks like '65 Topps when you can have '65 Topps!? How beautiful are these cards? Unbelievable.

2014 Topps Stickers Yasiel Puig LAD #274
2014 Topps Stickers Hanley Ramirez LAD #276


I may have dubbed Mark the "Vintage Virtuoso," but the fact is the man's not out of touch with what's hip and now. He knows we (middle-aged wannabe) kids love stickers. And he hooked me up with some Dodgers and some pitchers. I guess maybe I am an old man, after all, though. I don't plan to stick these on anything.

1969 Topps Stamps Don Drysdale LAD #42


And you certainly shouldn't be looking for this on any envelopes that I send out. That's a 1969 Topps Stamp of Hall-of-Famer, Big D! How awesome is that!? Let's take a closer look, shall we?


Sweet.

1963 Topps Johnny Podres LAD #150


Speaking of sweet, thanks to Nick's recent proxy shopping, and now this fabulous piece of vintage Topps goodness from Mark, my Johnny Podres collection is suddenly looking pretty darn good.

1959 Topps Don Bessent LAD #71
1969 Topps Hank Aguirre LAD #94


Mark has made his mark on this playground by supplying a steady stream of Playing With My Dodgers inductees. This package was no exception, as we'll see tomorrow. Even though this isn't the card of his that's been earmarked for the PWMD collection, I'm excited about this Bessent, as he's one of the select few world champion Brooklyn Dodgers. And with this Aguirre, I now have both of his Topps Dodgers cards, the altered cap here to go along with his capless '68 PWMD card. (Nick recently explained over on Dime Boxes why this card, among many others, doesn't sport a (then) current photo.)

1969 Topps Willie Crawford LAD #327


Mark has sent very few vintage Dodgers that I already had in my collection, and there was only one in this package that was technically not a need for me. But, as you can see from this side-by-side comparison with the card that was already in my collection, this Crawford was hardly superfluous.

Before the Vintage Virtuoso came along, the single biggest contribution of vintage cards to my collection came from the same place where I got that tattered Crawford when I was a young teen. I think it's safe to say that Mark is a better source of cards than a paper bag someone set out with the trash in my back alley. How's that for a compliment, Mark? Thanks, as always.
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Playing With My Dodgers: John Purdin

April 7, 2014, 3:44 pm
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It couldn't really be as easy at it probably seemed. And, eventually, it wasn't. But the first taste of big-league action for 21-year-old John Purdin in 1964 had to be pretty heady stuff for the Ohio native.

The first batter he faced, coming out of the bullpen in the sixth inning on September 16, with the Dodgers trailing Pittsburgh by five, was Bill Mazeroski. He retired the future Hall-of-Famer on a grounder to third, and worked a scoreless inning. In the seventh, he retired Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Donn Clendenon in order. Not a bad debut.

But it would get even better. Purdin got the start his next time out, facing Larry Jackson and the Cubs at Dodger Stadium on September 30. Cubs catcher Dick Bertell singled in the third and fifth innings. Those would be the only two hits allowed by Purdin in a 2-0 complete-game victory. Purdin would get one more chance, starting the final game of the year for the Dodgers, at home against Houston on October 4. He would finally surrender a run on a fourth-inning leadoff homer by Jimmy Wynn. But he picked up the win with five solid innings in an 11-1 rout.

Purdin was never going to be able to sustain that kind of success. And he didn't. Another brief trial in 1965 wasn't pretty. He spent all of '66 and '67 in the minors, was effective out of the Dodger bullpen in '68, and then not so much in '69. And that was it for his major-league career.

1969 Topps John Purdin LAD #161


The Vintage Virtuoso, Mark "Harry" Hoyle comes through again, continuing to stake his claim as the biggest, baddest contributor to the PWMD collection. In this case, perseverance paid off, as Mark had sent me Purdin's only other solo Topps card in the very first package that he sent my way. Way to employ the process of elimination, Mark! Thanks again for being the Santa Clause of baseball cards. I have no idea how I managed to get on the "good" list, but I'm sure glad to be here.
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First Dime Box Card Show: Get a Grip, Bro!

April 8, 2014, 1:37 pm
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I'm just now coming out of the fog from our last look at Nick's picks as my card show proxy shopper. Nick brought me out of my stupor by not only telling me to get a grip, but by picking up many a grip for me, as well...

2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970's Jon Matlack NYM #77
2007 Upper Deck Goudey Jason Isringhausen STL #194


Anyone who's been following things around here knows that I play favorites. Favorite team: Dodgers. Favorite players: Clayton Kershaw and A.J. Ellis. Favorite mini-collection: Getting a Grip.

2005 Topps Total Ramon Ortiz CIN #251
2003 Topps Total Wes Anderson FLA #606


So Nick loaded up the ol' Card Show shoppin' cart with some Total-y awesome Grips!

1992 O-Pee-Chee Rob Dibble CIN #757
1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Trevor Hoffman SDP #296


He Dibbled me with a Topps Gold as well as this OPC, and he Trevored me with this Collector's Choice in mini-collection hits.

1992 Bowman John Ericks STL #48
1992 Bowman Allen Watson STL #634


Whatcha got there kiddo? Look, Ma, we're Getting a Grip!

1992 Bowman Don Peters OAK #244
1992 Bowman Damon Buford BAL #224


Nick didn't ignore the other mini-collections. Don Peters doesn't care what him mom thinks (I mean, look at that hair). But Damon Buford was a good boy and put on the clothes his mom laid out for him. At least his mom knows I likes me some Turtlenecks.

1992 Bowman Lou Whitaker DET #630
1989 Upper Deck Brian Downing CAL #485


Mmmmmmm... Doughnuts! Doughnuts? Where were these when I was Trippin' on Oddballs!?

1992 Bowman John Roper CIN #528
1992 Topps Stadium Club Dave Burba SEA #348


Not sure where Burba's going with that grip, but wherever Roper's going his mommy dressed him up nice, too.

2008 Upper Deck Homer Bailey CIN #463
2013 Topps Heritage Gavin Floyd CHW #198


Now these two really know how to show that grip. In your face, people!

2007 Bowman Heritage Prospects Brad Knox OAK #BHP32
1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Bobby Ayala SEA #311
2005 Topps Turkey Red Bobby Livingston SEA #279
2011 Panini Donruss Elite Extra Edition Michael Pineda SEA #21


Grippy gripitty grip. (Hey, I'm not getting paid for my time, here, you know...) Oh, hey, remember that last guy? Good to have him back for my final year of rooting for the Yanks. Anything that might help The Captain get one more ring works for me (that is, in the unlikely event that the Dodgers aren't representing the National League in the World Series...).

2004 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Hoyt Wilhelm NYG #51
2004 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Phil Niekro ATL #89


Nick knows knucklers, especially the guy on the left. And he knows they're the kings of Getting a Grip. That's because the man is the king of the Dime Boxes. It's good to be in the good graces of the king.
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(Not) Junk Wax: 1990 Pacific Senior League

April 14, 2014, 6:58 pm
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I was one of the few people on the planet (and even fewer who were still in their teens) who was excited about the Senior Professional Baseball Association when its teams took the field in the winter of 1989.

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers SPBA Inaugural Season


I say I was excited about the Senior League at the time. But like most people, I didn't watch many games. In fact, I couldn't swear to watching more than one. And I don't remember a thing about it, other than that baseball was being played by ex-big-leaguers in the winter. That was good enough for me. But apparently not good enough for ESPN or anyone else to televise (or at least publicize) more than a handful of games.

1990 Pacific Senior League Curt Flood Commissioner #220


I picked up three Senior League card sets back in the day: the excellent woodgrain-bordered Topps set, a surprisingly decent effort by "Elite Baseball Cards," and a spotty affair from "T&M Sports." For some reason, the two Pacific Senior League sets managed to slip by me at the time, which made them perfect fodder for a couple o' recent (Not) Junk Wax box purchases.

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers St. Petersburg Pelicans


Pacific organized their set (for the most part) by team, in the old Fleer fashion. Taking another page from Fleer, they included a team (or league) logo sticker in every pack. I'm going to ramble about the cards and the set in extemporaneous fashion, while Pacific's set organization skills will allow you to enjoy something more structured for the visual portion of this post.

1990 Pacific Senior League Ron LeFlore St. Petersburg Pelicans #4
1990 Pacific Senior League Doc Ellis St. Petersburg Pelicans #15


The cards look and feel a little cheap. Pacific's second Senior League effort (which we will be looking at soon) was a colorful, high-gloss affair. This first effort... not so much. There's a fine line between silver and gray, and these borders look more like a dirty (almost brownish) gray than the shiny silver they were probably going for. The card stock has a grainy matte finish that doesn't help.

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers Winter Haven Super Sox


That said, I have pulled glossy cards from this set out of repacks. Information is sketchy, so I don't know if there's a separate "tiffany" set out there (maybe factory sets were glossy, while the cards in wax packs lack gloss?), or perhaps it's just a case of wildly inconsistent production quality. Whatever's going on here, I wish I were loaded down with glossy cards instead of these.

1990 Pacific Senior League Bill Lee Winter Haven Super Sox #28
1990 Pacific Senior League Ferguson Jenkins Winter Haven Super Sox #29
1990 Pacific Senior League Rick Wise Winter Haven Super Sox #31
1990 Pacific Senior League Cecil Cooper Winter Haven Super Sox #42


Matte or glossy, though, you just can't beat bonus cards like these. It's like extra innings. Free baseball. More cards of players I grew up watching, or who maybe retired just before I became a fan in 1980. And it was a pretty solid cross section of big-league talent that populated the eight SPBA rosters.

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers Gold Coast Suns


For the most part, Pacific's photo choices are pretty decent. You get mostly posed shots, but with just enough action to keep things interesting. It's a very '80s Topps feel, in terms of photo composition, although the use of lighting here is not up to that standard. (They managed to catch Earl Weaver's pack of cigarettes "concealed" beneath his jersey, though...)

1990 Pacific Senior League Earl Weaver MG Gold Coast Suns #56
1990 Pacific Senior League Luis Tiant Gold Coast Suns #77
1990 Pacific Senior League Bert Campaneris Gold Coast Suns #63
1990 Pacific Senior League George Hendrick Gold Coast Suns #61


The design is not half bad. They're reminiscent of 1987 Topps, in that the logos are featured over a diagonal turn in the border. The name plate color coordinates with each team's uniform, which is nice. I even find that I don't hate the rather remedial stars lined up on two sides of each card. That's probably because they help to mitigate against the muddiness of the "silver" borders.

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers Fort Myers Sun Sox


Geeze, there's a lot of space to fill in this post, isn't there? And, as you may (or may not) have noticed, I haven't exactly been in a writing mood lately. The muse comes and goes. I guess it doesn't matter that much. I mean, how many people out there are actually reading this, anyway?

1990 Pacific Senior League Amos Otis Fort Myers Sun Sox #83
1990 Pacific Senior League Dan Driessen In Action Fort Myers Sun Sox #105


But if you are still reading, and you see something you like, let me know. I got a fair number of dupes that I'll be happy to send your way. A few of the obvious guys are already set aside for various team collectors. (Major league teams that these guys played for, that is. I don't see many Fort Myers Sun Sox card blogs out there, for instance.) But anytime you see one of these (Not) Junk Wax posts, chime in with any needs/wants you may have. You'll be helping me out. I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what to dig up to send to you people...

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers St. Lucie Legends


As it turns out, the 1989-1990 season would be the only one to be completed by the SPBA. It may have been a failed experiment as a commercial venture. But for fans and collectors, it was one of the coolest ideas ever. And it must have been tons of fun for many of the players to have one more opportunity to compete against their peers.

1990 Pacific Senior League Bobby Bonds St. Lucie Legends #128
1990 Pacific Senior League George Foster St. Lucie Legends #114
1990 Pacific Senior League Vida Blue St. Lucie Legends #215
1990 Pacific Senior League Graig Nettles MG St. Lucie Legends #115


The league was rife with player movement. For example, Bobby Bonds took over for Graig Nettles as the Legends manager...

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers Bradenton Explorers


...while Nettles (and his brother) would move on to join the Explorers, under Clete Boyer. It was like fantasy league baseball come to life. It was like "what if?" scenarios playing out on spring training fields throughout Florida. It was one of the greatest ideas ever... in theory. There just weren't many people who ever really saw it take place in practice.

1990 Pacific Senior League Graig Nettles Bradenton Explorers #158
1990 Pacific Senior League Clete Boyer MG Bradenton Explorers #149
1990 Pacific Senior League Hal McRae Bradenton Explorers #133
1990 Pacific Senior League Al Oliver Bradenton Explorers #142


I mean, wouldn't you love to see a league like this sprout up again today? I know I'd love to see Jamie Moyer pitch to Jim Thome again. I'd love to see Omar Vizquel turn two again. Or Jason Giambi hit one out of the park (oh, wait, he's actually still gainfully employed in the majors, isn't he?). Manny Ramirez would have a place to go and be Manny. Maybe Vlad Guerrero would be out there. Maybe Julio Franco would want to play. It's never gonna happen, but you can see why this looked like such a great idea at the time.

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers West Palm Beach Tropics


Dick Williams' Tropics were the class of the league in its only full season, going 52-20 to easily outpace their Southern Division rivals. They lost, however, to the Northern Division champion St. Petersburg Pelicans (42-30) in the finals of a three-game, single-elimination tournament to determine the league's first champs.

1990 Pacific Senior League Dick Williams MG West Palm Beach Tropics #166
1990 Pacific Senior League Dave Kingman West Palm Beach Tropics #164
1990 Pacific Senior League Rollie Fingers West Palm Beach Tropics #161
1990 Pacific Senior League Al Hrabosky West Palm Beach Tropics #179


The Tropics were also the class of the league when it came to uniforms. Nothing captured the '80s retired-in-Florida vibe like these fabulous salmon and turquoise monstrosities, with a palm tree for a logo! Totally radical! (The Tropics also cornered the iconic facial hair in the bullpen demographic, as well.)

1990 Pacific Senior League Logo Stickers Orlando Juice


If the Tropics had the best unis, the Juice had the best logo. OJ! Splat! Now that's product placement...

1990 Pacific Senior League Jose Cruz Orlando Juice #188
1990 Pacific Senior League Bill Madlock Orlando Juice #214


Hey, that's a nice turtleneck that four-time batting champion Bill Madlock is sporting. Now that we've looked at each of the league's eight teams, let's see what else this set has to offer for my mini-collections... Well, not much. Four Turtlenecks (Rivers is my favorite) and one Doughnut.

1990 Pacific Senior League Doug Corbett Orlando Juice #193
1990 Pacific Senior League Marty Castillo Fort Myers Sun Sox #88
1990 Pacific Senior League Mickey Rivers West Palm Beach Tropics #163
1990 Pacific Senior League Rodney Scott West Palm Beach Tropics #177


As obscure as the SPBA may have been, this set in particular caused a minor stir at the time among collectors who were still glowing from the "excitement" of Billy Ripken's 1989 Fleer high jinks. Pacific seems to have been keeping a close eye on the ways of the Fleer Corp., as they... accidentally?... allowed this Homage to Fuck Face slip through "quality control."

1990 Pacific Senior League Jim Nettles St. Lucie Legends #126


Nettles denies having knowledge of the expletive at the time the photo was shot, instead blaming an unnamed teammate. Maybe. Pretty interesting coincidence that the bat was held at the perfect angle to display the message, though, isn't it?

Final Statistics
Base Set Completion: 220/220 (100%)
Logo Stickers: 10/10 (100%)

Coalition in this box was excellent, as it delivered the complete set with reasonably-distributed duplicates. Only one minor quibble: although I got a minimum of three of each of the logo stickers, I came nowhere near completing either of the (way too) large puzzles of Amos Otis and George Foster that were on the backs of these. Also, the machine that sealed the packs appears to have been overly-aggressive in its work, as many of the cards facing the fold suffered from very noticeable blunt trauma wounds.

1990 Pacific Senior League Dave Kingman "Blast From the Past" West Palm Beach Tropics #186


In all, this box delivered on the fun in the same way that the SPBA did, by providing a strange but welcome Blast From the Past. This box was not a bust.
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Diggin' the Oddball View From the Skybox

April 21, 2014, 1:42 pm
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As if further proof were necessary to classify Chris (View From the Skybox) as "one of the good ones," allow me to submit Exhibit O (for oddballs).

When I participated in his recent Typhoon Haiyan Charity Group Break (aka, Exhibit A), I did quite well, netting a box stuffed with goodies, including some nice bonus extras from the man. I saw that some of the others who had participated received a few unopened packs of 1995 Phil Rizzuto's National Pastime cards by Comic Images, which is a set full of the kind of Random oddball gems that light up my Card Nights. My box had been a bit too stuffed to include any, but I asked Chris if he could set aside a pack or two for me for the next time we worked a trade.

1995 The National Pastime Phil Rizzuto's Baseball Adrian "Cap" Anson CHC #77


Instead, the man sent me a separate package stuffed with unopened packs. For me, this was high-grade addiction food. I love nothing more than busting packs of cards that are guaranteed to include a few surprises. And we'll look at a lot more of the wackiness when I've finished opening all of the packs. But for now, here are two cards that help to sum up what I love about these things.

I'm a player collector, above all. Which players? All of them. This set features mostly Random artwork, magazine covers, advertising, toys and games, etc., from the early years of baseball. But some of these feature identifiable players, such as the fabulously solemn and dignified plate sporting the visage of (the admittedly racist) baseball pioneer, Hall of Famer, Cap Anson. It was the first card I saw when I started busting these open, and a fine addition to my collection.

1995 The National Pastime Phil Rizzuto's Baseball Tobin Lithographers (Jack Glasscock IND) #38


And then there's this thing. Now this is friggin'fabulous! Slick-fielding Jack Glasscock (seriously!) was by most accounts the greatest shortstop of his era. And now he is represented in my collection by this absolute beaut of Randomocity. How sweet is that!?

But Chris didn't stop with the National Pastime packs. He also threw in three more Random packs for my oddball enjoyment. Though I was a little dubious of his intentions when I opened this pack of Leaf Baseball's Greatest Grossouts...


Grossout, indeed! When I opened this pack I found myself glancing at my closet, hoping I might somehow find a spare hazmat suit in there. I triple dog dare anyone to try chewing this gum! (I think I just threw up a little in my mouth...) You are looking at the first baseball card that I've ever thrown out. There would have been a bit of a moral dilemma if it had actually been a card of a player...

1988 Leaf Baseball's Greatest Grossouts Loony Lyle #78


Once I got past the crazy elephant and the bio-hazard gum, though, there was some fun to be had here, too. As soon as I saw Loony Lyle, I instantly recognized him. At least there was a player who came immediately to mind. How about you? Who do you see when you look at Loony Lyle? (Keep reading to compare your answer with mine.)

1993 Jimmy Dean Rookies Tim Salmon CAL #9


Chris sent some more conventional oddballs as well, including a little pack o' Jimmy Dean rookies from 1993. I'll bet Jimmy Dean would have prefered that the Angels' young stud went by Tim Sausage instead...

1986 Topps Mini League Leaders Cal Ripken BAL #2
1986 Topps Mini League Leaders Mike Schmidt PHI #55


Finally, there was a pack of 1986 Topps Mini League Leaders in Chris' package! Which was awesome because I have a ton from '87 through '89. But I'm pretty weak on '86, and these top-tier Hall of Famers were new to me. Thanks for the Random packs of kindness, Chris! You provided me with a ton of Card Night fun.

Okay, who was your Loony Lyle, people? Here's mine. Did anyone else come to the same conclusion?

1988 Leaf Baseball's Greatest Grossouts Loony Lyle #78
1979 Topps Greg Luzinski PHI #540


No offense meant to Mr. Luzinski. It was mostly the L on the cap, the powder blue uniform, and the muscular bulk that led me to the comparison. So if "The Bull" is out there somewhere and sees this, please don't hunt me down! You can do a lot of damage with those three bats and the crazy teeth. (Oh, wait... which one was Luzinski again...?)
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Cards From Cards on Cards

April 23, 2014, 2:00 pm
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I was recently able to knock out a good chunk of the 1985 Fleer set building needs of Kerry from Cards on Cards. It's always satisfying to be able to dig up something that a fellow blogger can use. It's especially satisfying for me because I'm so disorganized (or, more euphemistically, in organizational flux) that it's no small achievement for me to get my shit together enough to do so (pardonnez mon français).

Of course, there's satisfaction, and then there's benefits. On with the benefits...

2009 Upper Deck X Xponential 2 Derek Jeter NYY #X2-DJ


This was one of the cards I was most interested in liberating from Kerry's trade bait chum bucket. That's because I had rather unbelievably managed to land the X3, X5 and X6 Jeter inserts in the recent Typhoon Haiyan Charity Group Break put on by Chris of View from the Skybox. I figured that since I got that close, and the X2 showed up on Kerry's blog, I might as well try to complete the run. (In case you missed it, I still need the X4... hint, hint.)

2004 Topps Chrome Update Homer Bailey CIN #T72


This was the other card that caught my eye, for obviously Gripping reasons. The rest of the cards in the package were dealer's choice, and Kerry was dealing aces.

2014 Topps Luis Valbuena CHC #318
2014 Topps All-Rookie Cup Team Derek Jeter NYY #RCT-5


I recently put up my first set building tab, which currently features 2014 Topps series one. And Kerry put that to good use, hooking me up with my final base set need and some fab inserts. Valbuena and his retro jersey makes for a nice way to put a lid on the series one base set. And, needless to say, I'm thrilled with the Rookie Cup Jeter. I'm realistic about my chances of actually building a master set. But I am very serious about completing the Super Veterans and All-Rookie Cup Team sets.

2014 Topps Upper Class Matt Cain SFG #UC-22
2014 Topps Upper Class Felix Hernandez SEA #UC-29


Kerry managed to hit me with a couple of Upper Class inserts that were not only needs, but Grips as well! King Felix tried to hide his Grip in his armpit, but to no avail.

2014 Topps The Future Is Now Zack Wheeler NYM #FN-11
2014 Topps The Future Is Now Jose Fernandez MIA #FN-22


Wrapping up the Topps inserts was four from the Future is Now set, including a couple of excellent young hurlers.

1995 Pinnacle UC3 Mike Piazza LAD #39
1995 Pinnacle SportFlix Eric Karros LAD #50



Kerry filled out the package with some Dodger Blue, including cards from two different Pinnacle lenticular sets from 1995. The back of the Karros card lands it in The Turtleneck Collection.

2003 Upper Deck Shawn Green Season Highlight Checklist LAD #261
2003 Upper Deck Adrian Beltre LAD #192


Just about anything that's not from a Topps base set from between 1997-2006 has a great chance of being a need for me, and these two sweet Upper Deckers were no exception.

2005 Topps Update Jeff Kent LAD #UH50
2005 Topps Update Jeff Kent All-Star LAD #UH192


I'm (98%) good when it comes to Topps base sets since 1980. But there are a few Update sets that have managed to fall through the cracks, and 2005 is one of those. So (despite the fact that it's Jeff Kent) these were very welcome additions.

2005 Fleer Showcase Duke Snider BRO #115


But I think this was my favorite of the Dodgers that Kerry sent my way. The retired star idea is always welcome, but can get a bit redundant in terms of photos and design. This card of the Duke of Flatbush, however, is really nicely done.

Speaking of Fleer, Kerry is down to just five cards to complete his 1985 Fleer set. Be sure to help him out of you can. Thanks for the excellent cards, Kerry! Look forward to the next opportunity to send some cards to Cards on Cards for more cards.
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First Dime Box Card Show: Curtain Call

April 25, 2014, 12:45 pm
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After six Dime Box Card Show posts, as well as three PWMD inductions that came from this show, it's time for one final curtain call for Nick's picks.

2002 Fleer Tradition Update Randy Johnson Curtain Call ARI #U374


The greatest (only?) drawback of not being able to attend a card show in person is that I'm not the one picking the cards for myself. But that also happens to be one of the greatest benefits of this proxy shopper arrangement. Sure, I enjoy buying cards that I know I need and want. But I always have more fun opening packs, and especially repacks, because of the Random factor. I love to be surprised. And Nick fed that compulsion for me with his selections about as well as it could possibly have been done.

1995 Topps Traded John Kruk CHW #116T
2000 Topps Traded Adrian Gonzalez FLA #T81


Sure, there were a few cards that I already had, which I wouldn't have picked up if I'd been shopping for myself. But at the other end of the spectrum, Nick seemed to have ESP in many cases as well. As I've repeated here like a mantra, I've got just about all of the Topps base set cards that I need since 1980. But I do have a few holes in the Update set department that I haven't talked about much. Yet, Nick managed to hit me with a couple of gems from two of those sets.

1995 Comic Images The National Pastime Phil Rizzuto's Baseball Rally Day Postcard (Batter) #73
1983 Larry Fritsch Cards One-Year Winners Dick Luebke BAL #66


It was the oddballs that really floated my boat, though (which you'd know if you shared my trip with me a couple of weeks ago). Chris, of View from the Skyboxturned me on to these Rizzuto's National Pastime cards, and Nick hooked me up with a gem from that set. It's a shiny hot mess, but I love it. It's an uncorrected error, with the card back getting mixed up with another card in the set. It's supposed to be "Batter." Though unidentified, I'm 97.34% certain that I actually recognized this player as Amos Strunk. I'm so confident that I'm not even going to do any research, so if someone knows I'm wrong, be sure to publicly humiliate me in the comments. Meanwhile, these Fritsch One-Year Winners are something I've been eyeing for a long time. Being a player collector (all of them), they're right up my proverbial alley.

2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Rick Cerone NYY #209
2012 Bowman Chrome Jamie Moyer COL #216


Synchronicity. The day before the Card Show arrived in the mail, I had placed a 1982 Donruss Rick Cerone on Nick's trade package pile. It's not a mini-collection hit for him, and I don't think Cerone is one of his player collections. I just thought it was a neat-lookin' card that Nick might enjoy. If the picture on this Goodwin Champs card isn't from the same photo shoot, I'll eat my hat. (Do the incredulous still eat their hats these days?) Meanwhile, can you go wrong with an ancient wonder like Jamie Moyer? No. No, you can't.

1979 Hostess Ross Grimsley MON #5
1978 Hostess Bruce Bochte SEA #81


Grimsley looks like most of the Hostess cards in my collection. But Bochte was a revelation for me. It's hard to tell from the scan, but it's been cut out far enough outside of the dotted lines that it's almost the standard 2.5" x 3.5" card size. Which made me realize that, if you were to track down uncut boxes, you could theoretically cut yourself standard-sized Hostess cards! How incredible would a complete set of such a thing be!? Now there's a baseball card daydream...

2001 Fleer Platinum Cal Ripken, Jr./Jerry Hairston, Jr. Franchise Futures BAL #472


I'm only now beginning to warm up to multi-player cards, mainly because so many of them make little to no sense. This one is more than worthwhile, however. You get two great guys, both second-generation baseball people (well, third-generation for Hairston). You get the Hall-of-Famer, Ripken, and the future Dodger, Hairston. And the concept is a good one, too: passing the generational torch within an organization. This card tells a story in a way that 95% of Fleer's Super Star Specials, or Topps' weird Team Leaders choices fail to do.

2011 Panini Donruss Elite Extra Edition Chris Perez CLE #5
2012 Panini Prizm Matt Wieters BAL #17


Nick seemed to know just which of the mostly-avoidable random non-Topps modern shiny monstrosities to pick up for me. Chris Perez is ridiculous, and this card helps to memorialize that fact. He's also a Dodger now, so bring 'em on. And it's always great to get Matt Wieters cards because if you're just collecting Topps stuff the man doesn't exist. And for a collection like mine, whose purpose is to tell as much of the story of baseball as it can, this is a very welcome addition.

2003 Fleer Authentix Rontrez Johnson Ticket to the Majors OAK #124
1991 Frank Chong Modesto Athletics Craig Sudbury #14


Look, I just love cards. And Nick knows that because he loves 'em too. It's cool that so many people have so many different niche interests in this hobby, and that you're out there sharing those interests for our entertainment and enjoyment. Nick is kinda unique though, in that a card doesn't have to fit into any specific category for him to want and enjoy it. I think that's the main reason he's made an ideal trade partner and a good friend. And I can't thank him enough for all of the fun he delivered with this Card Show.

2004 Topps Cracker Jack Mini David Eckstein ANA #46


The Dime Box King sent one card along that wasn't from the Card Show. And it's a perfect representation of what I think we both would like to consider ourselves as collectors and bloggers. David Eckstein wasn't the most physically-gifted ballplayer. But he was a team player, who always gave it his best, loved what he was doing, and never took for granted how lucky he was to be doing something he enjoyed. It's an attitude to which I aspire, and for which Nick is an inspiration. Thanks again, Nick. Looking forward to sharing the Second Dime Box Card Show with the community soon.
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Playing With My Dodgers: Henry Schmidt & Darren Dreifort (or, "I'm No Sandy Koufax")

May 5, 2014, 10:20 am
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There have been five pitchers to win 20 or more ballgames in their final big-league season. The most recent was Mike Mussina of the Yankees, who posted his first and only 20-win campaign in 2008. Two of these pitchers (Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams) had their careers ended prematurely by their participation in the Black Sox scandal of 1919. And Sandy Koufax was forced by injury to retire after what may have been the best season of his legendary career.

The final man on this list is unique in that his 20-win season was not only his last, but his first and only season in the major leagues. Henry Schmidt went 35-20 in the independent California League in 1902 for the Oakland Clamdiggers (or Oakland Dudes, depending upon your source), prompting the Brooklyn Superbas to sign him for the 1903 season. The 30-year-old righty would lead Brooklyn's staff in victories, going 22-13, despite posting the highest ERA (3.83) of any member of the club's rotation. The Superbas wanted Schmidt back for the 1904 season, but the reluctant hurler returned his contract unsigned with a note that read, "I do not like living in the East and will not report," bringing his one-year big-league career to a close.

1990 Target All-Time Dodgers Henry Schmidt BRO #1063


Schmidt may have had a card or two made of him during his career on the west coast. But maybe not. I haven't seen any evidence that such a thing exists. And even if there is something out there, I'm unlikely to ever come into possession of it. So, blurry photo and all, this Target card of the only man to have a single-season, twenty-win big-league career is a beautiful thing.


I've been doing this card blogging thing for about a year now. I started (the currently hibernating) Top of the Topps on April 16 of last year. It's an anniversary that I'd intended to acknowledge at the time, maybe even by reawakening that blog for the spring. But that didn't happen.

I had a very productive month o' March as a blogger. April? Not so much. If I were a big-league pitcher, my blogging skills would translate into the kind of player that I don't much care for. I'm streaky. Inconsistent. And I was in a big-time slump last month. Not the kind where you're just missing the corners and every little blooper is finding a hole. No, this was the kind of slump where you routinely get knocked out of the box before you even get used to the mound. Translating that back into blogging, I not only had writer's block, but scanner's block, cropper's block, and just about any other kind of block that you can think of. When that happens, I start to compare myself to the steady veterans out there who post just about daily, month after month, year after year. I start to feel like maybe I don't belong in the big leagues. The slump snowballs, and it becomes harder and harder to get back on track.

So, does that mean I'm going to be like Henry Schmidt? Am I going to have one pretty good year of blogging, and then disappear?


Eric Gagne (chemically-enhanced), Sandy Koufax, Clayton Kershaw, Hideo Nomo, Chan Ho Park... Darren Dreifort. Sixth in Dodgers' franchise history with 8.27 strikeouts per nine innings is Darren Dreifort. This fact does more to point out what might have been than what the highly-touted righty actually accomplished in his twelve seasons as a Dodger. Only four pitchers have spent more seasons with the franchise (Don Sutton, Don Drysdale, Orel Hershiser and Johnny Podres). But thanks to twenty surgeries in his big-league career, causing him to completely sit out three of those twelve years, among many other stretches on the disabled list, Dreifort's long career really never got on track.

This was made all the worse by the fact that his agent, Scott Boros, would work his "magic" by getting the Dodgers to agree to a five-year, $55 million contract when Dreifort became a free agent after the 2000 season. Dreifort was coming off his finest big-league season, in which he went 12-9 with a 4.16 ERA. His career record at that point was 39-45. He would never again win more than four games in a season. He was unable to pitch in the final year of the contract (and his career), despite being the seventh-highest paid player in the National League in 2005.

2000 Fleer Tradition Darren Dreifort LAD #330


I got this great card from Jeff over at 2x3 Heroes as part of his awesome 'Tis the Season package that he sent my way. It's a gift that keeps on giving! It's tough not to like these great '50s Topps knockoffs. And I'm a big fan of red borders and backgrounds for Dodgers cards. Good stuff. Thanks again, Jeff.


So, am I more like Darren Dreifort? Will I stick with this blogging thing, occasionally flashing signs of potential, but struggling through slumps and periods of inactivity? Or might I find it in me to step up my game, stick this thing out, gain some consistency and maybe find a way to shine on occasion? I'm no Sandy Koufax. But, hopefully, I'm also no Henry Schmidt or Darren Dreifort, either. Can I be Don Sutton? Maybe not. Fernando Valenzuela? That would work. Nap Rucker? Possibly. Van Mungo? We'll see. Only time will tell.

I have some catching up to do around here, especially in the trade post department. As the Night Owl recently pointed out, trade posts aren't exactly the marquee matchups of the card blogging world. So I'm going to continue to explore this theme of what kind of blogger and collector I may be, and want to be, while I bring things up to date and give some much-deserved thanks to a long list of generous bloggers (and a couple of non-bloggers, as well).

In the meantime, I hope you'll hang in there with me while I continue to figure out my place in this world. My "career" is in the balance, and as Random as things can be around here, anything can happen.

(To be continued...)
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Thanks in Part to Zach, I'm Back on Track (or, "Remembering Remember the Astrodome: Thanks for the Trade, Marc")

May 6, 2014, 11:19 am
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Yesterday I wrote about the recent blogging slump that I'd been suffering through. It won't be the last. It's just who I am. No matter how into something I may be, I just seem to require a break every so often. It isn't that I've lost interest during these periods. I want to want to keep on posting. But sometimes I just can't make it happen.

When I'm in a slump like that, I need something to come along and snap me out of it. Well, the fact that I started this post by referencing what I posted yesterday indicates that there's a very good chance this most recent dry spell has come to an end. So what snapped me out of it? A couple of things. The final straw came over the weekend. I'll save that story for the end of this "series." (I'll give you a hint: Vintage Virtuoso.) But the spark that began the awakening arrived in my inbox last week.

Out of the blue I got an email from a guy named Zach. I'd never had any prior interaction with Zach. Just a one-way correspondence that I had long forgotten about. Sometime last summer, before I'd even started this blog, I asked Nick of Dime Boxes if he needed a 1993 Upper Deck Mike Scioscia. The card shows Scioscia with the Padres, for whom he would never play a regular season game before retiring. That made it a "zero-year" card and a "sunset" card, both things Nick really enjoys. But he already had the card, so he suggested that I send it to another blogger that he knew to be good peops. I did so, and then I eventually forgot all about it.


But I hadn't forgotten about a quick and easy little PWE trade with Marc of Remember the Astrodome. I just hadn't posted about it yet because of that nasty little bloggin' slump.

I like these kinds of trades, for reasons that I'll go into more detail about later in this "series." (It's a conceptually loose "series," with connections that will probably fail to make it out of my brain as something recognizable in the real world. But I'll keep calling it that, if for no other reason than to motivate me to post consistently.) Anyway, I recently hooked Marc up with the Astros team set from my (Not) Junk Wax box busting of 1994 Score Rookie/Traded. In return I got a couple of pieces for some set-building needs, plus this sweet Reggie insert:

2012 Topps Gold Standard Reggie Jackson CAL #GS-10


I wasn't a huge fan of the 2012 Topps base set design, so I bought the factory set instead of busting packs that year. I regret that decision, in retrospect (as I always have when I've gone that route). Of course, one of the biggest bummers of foregoing pack busting is the consequent lack of inserts. I never buy enough packs to come close to completing master sets, but at least I usually get a fair representation of what's on offer. Not so in 2012, so I'm always happy to get these where I can. Plus I've always enjoyed Reggie's stint with the Angels, as part of their Super Veteran lineup of the early '80s.


Back to Zach. I was mired in writer's (and scanner's, and cropper's) block when I received his email. Zach runs The Underdog Card Collector, but just around the time I'd sent him that PWE last year his account was hacked and he went out of business for a while. Well, he made a comeback last month, and to my amazement he not only remembered that I'd sent him a couple of Random cards, but he acknowledged it with a post on his relaunched blog. I'd sent him those cards so long ago that he refers to me as the writer of the Top of the Topps blog! If that's not an inspiration to get my ass in gear and stop worrying about recovering from a few weeks of inactivity, I don't know what is. So thanks for remembering me, thanks for helping to pick me up, and most of all, welcome back, Zach!

After yesterday's prologue, this is the first of seven trade post/collection introspection pieces in my slump-busting "series." So, stay tuned, if you're into that kind of thing. I promise more pictures of cards in the posts to come. We all know the cards are the real stars of these blogs, after all.

(To be continued...)
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