the almost daily dodger - angel pena

the dodgers sure seem to have had a large number of highly touted catching prospects since mike piazza took over behind the plate. maybe that just coincides with the proliferation of prospect focused baseball cards, but it feels like i've heard about more catchers in the dodger pipeline than any other non-pitcher position over the last 30 years.

one such prospect was angel peña, and this is his 1999 upper deck retro inkredible autograph card

i have seen this card so many times over the years, i would have sworn that i had it in triplicate. turns out, i didn't have it at all (i do have some other peña autograph cards). thankfully, night owl sent one my way.

peña was one of the catchers that the dodgers sent out in the post-mike piazza landscape during the 1998 season, but the team ultimately looked for some veterans to take over and he wasn't able to catch on (see what i did there) as anything more than a stop gap backup during his career.

night owl sent some other cards for my collection as well, including a1998 bowman chrome charles johnson card

johnson was the dodgers' catching solution immediately following the piazza trade, as he was part of the haul from the marlins that the dodgers received in exchange for the italian-american superstar slugger. johnson was then traded to the mets with roger cedeño after the 1998 season for the dodgers' next catcher, todd hundley.

here's a 1995 fleer ultra kevin gross card

that had escaped my purview. it's technically a rangers card, but he's still wearing his dodger duds so into the dodger collection it goes.

this 1999 bowman glenn davis card

is not chrome - it's the international parallel. the liberty bell is behind davis, a native of pennsylvania.

here's a 1998 pinnacle plus die-cut card of hideo nomo

it's a "lasting memories" insert, and i am not sure why it needed to have the patterned edge other than it was the 90's

i recently stated a desire to complete the dodgers' 2007 topps gold parallel team set, and getting this brad penny card

from greg was a push to make that commitment. so chunky!

he also sent a different parallel from 2007 topps update & highlights

the red text back

such nonsense.

here's a much more obvious parallel from 2010 bowman

featuring chad billingsley, along with a parallel (or not, depending on how you view the 2021 topps chrome sapphire edition set) of short-time dodger yoshi tsutsugo

he appeared in 12 games for the dodgers in 2021, in between stints in tampa bay and pittsburgh. the fact that he got a dodger card at all is pretty remarkable. perfect timing in terms of checklist development at topps.

one of my favorite cards in the package was this 2023 panini chronicles - classics card of jim gilliam

anytime i can add a new gilliam card to the collection is a good day.

there were also a few "hits" to take in, such as this 2020 bowman sterling autograph of onetime prospect jacob amaya

the dodgers dealt amaya to the marlins for miguel rojas prior to last season. he was just released by the marlins and picked up by the astros a week or two ago.

shawn green had a ton of cards during his dodger days, including relics. both of these cards - a 2001 pacific private stock game gear bat

and a 2004 upper deck authentic stars jersey

were new to my collection

finally, i  also added this 2004 topps cracker jack "take me out to the ball game" paul loduca relic

to my dodger collection because i don't care who the player is - if they are a dodger they belong in my collection.

thanks greg!

blue backs for not many greenbacks

 i recently completed my 1951 topps dodger team set by picking up the two blue backs

i was missing. they were the cards of bruce edwards

and billy cox

it is a great feeling to complete a vintage team set like this, and i will likely never complete another vintage topps dodger set as i am only missing cards from 1952 and 1953. i suppose 1953 is possible, but 1952 is almost certainly out of the question with all of those high numbers. i will be content with my jackie robinson card and maybe just try to complete the low number team set.

i was able to get these cards for "free", as i used a $25 ebay coupon and ebay bucks to cover the costs, and i owe a big thanks to josh at royals and randoms for alerting me to the possibility of the ebay coupon, and to night owl for reminding me that i should be paying attention to these needs of mine.

coincidentally, josh also sent some cards my way recently.  at the top of the package was this 1993 fleer flair pedro martinez card

that i had requested during a giveaway that josh was hosting. quite a lot of the package was heavy on these cards:

mlb showdown!

these cards spanned several years, and are great as they include some lesser known or infrequently featured players like gregg olson:

that card is from 2000, and features the 1989 american league rookie of the year in dodger blue. olson pitched (poorly) for the dodgers in 2000 and 2001, and i believe that this card is the only cardboard evidence of his tenure in los angeles outside of dodger team sga sets like keebler and police issues.

here's a 2001 mlb showdown card of another dodger reliever not often seen in dodger blue

mike fetters and his signature stare were featured on the dodger pitching staff in 2000 and part of 2001. i think he has one other dodger card outside of those aforementioned sga sets.

better known dodger relievers were also represented, thanks to this 2005 strategy card featuring eric gagne

the strategy cards are cool because they sometimes feature obscure players. that is not the case with this one from 2001 that shows kevin brown "airing it out"

but there is this one from 2003 that shows dave roberts being overmatched

as well as this one (also from 2003) that shows a bunch of dodgers on the mound.

i spy kaz ishii, mark grudzielanek, cesar izturis, paul loduca, and pitching coach jim colborn on that card. great to see the coach represented!

speaking of which, josh also included a few cards from the dodgers' 1999 police set. one of those cards was of the coaching staff!

jim tracy, manny mota, and john shelby up front, with glenn hoffman, rick down, davey johnson, rick dempsey, and charlie hough behind them.  it would turn out that there are three dodger managers featured on this card - former manager hoffman, future manager tracy, and then-current manager johnson.  davey also got a card of his own in the set:

johnson's tenure was pretty forgettable, and may be best remembered for the white hats and blue jerseys that the dodgers broke out a few times. it was sacrilegious to me at the time.  the last card i will show from the package received from josh is this jacob brumfield card from the police set.

i am fairly certain that this is brumfield's only dodger card, and i am happy to have it. he appeared in a total of 18 games as a dodger after being signed by the club on march 5, 1999. he was claimed on waivers by the blue jays two months later, so kudos to the folks who put this set together for documenting brumfield's short tenure within such a small window of time!

thanks again josh for the cards and the tip!