mailday at tiffany's

one fine day last month, there were a couple of trade packages in my mailbox. both full of dodger goodness, and both featuring this guy

that's chuck tiffany on his 2005 bowman chrome refractor. it came from oren, a generous reader of blogs who i've now traded with a couple of times.

similarly, night owl sent this card

a 2005 topps update & highlights chuck tiffany gold parallel. not bad cardboard representation for tiffany, who was traded by the dodgers to the devil rays in 2006 and unfortunately never got beyond double-a ball. he did pitch for both the vero beach dodgers and vero beach devil rays which not many folks can say.

oren sent more fantastic parallels, including a black border matt kemp card

from 2014 topps heritage. i'm not sure if these were limited to a print run of 50 back then like they are now, but even if not it's the first one i've seen.

here's a parallel that is definitely limited in number - 557 to be exact

that's nomar garciaparra's 2006 topps heritage chrome refractor, and it is very much appreciated!

sticking with the shiny, here's a 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary tommy john aqua wave refractor parallel

and my first glimpse at the 2023 version of chrome platinum anniversary with bobby miller's base card

i am sure these cards refractor up nicely.

i had to laugh when i opened oren's package, because he included this 2021 topps chrome mitch white blue wave rookie autograph card

and i had just picked one up at the card show i attended in houston a couple of weeks earlier. what are the odds?

and, while i did pick up a karim garcia autograph at the same show, it wasn't this one

which is from 1998 donruss signature series. oren also sent wilton guerrero's card

plus his millennium marks parallel

for good measure. looks like wilton needed some better guidance on where to sign the cards!

a tip of the catcher's mask (courtesy of this 2006 topps updates & highlights toby hall gold parallel)

to you oren !

meanwhile, night owl completed a couple of team sets for me by sending these two 1997 topps stadium club members only box set cards of mike piazza and todd hollandsworth

as well as this 2023 topps stadium club jd martinez card

i had purchased the stadium club members only sets directly from topps in 1995 and 1996 but didn't bother in 1997. it's as if i knew the cards would be readily available on the secondary market decades later. as for the martinez card, it may as well be manufactured by panini. no team mention on the front and no distinguishing apparel. the palm trees are nice, though.

night owl came with the parallels, too, including this red foil parallel of michael grove's gorgeous 2023 topps stadium club card

a red foil parallel of jackie robinson's 2022 topps stadium club card

and, just to mix things up, a royal blue parallel of mookie betts' 2023 topps card

there was shiny in this group of cards, too, with betts showing up again on a 2023 topps chrome update all-star game insert

and this holo prizm card of clayton kershaw

from 2022 panini chronicles - spectra.

night owl provided some new relic cards for my collection as well, with this 2005 upper deck espn sportscenter swatches card of jd drew

(yes, it is a dodger card because of the logo to the left of the swatch) and this 2014 topps michael young trajectory relics card

and finally, not a relic but a commemorative city connect patch of walker buehler from 2023 topps

to commemorate another great trade with night owl - thanks greg!

double nickels

there was a big deal made on social media (and even in some mainstream outlets) after the dodgers signed shohei ohtani and it was revealed that he gifted joe kelly's wife with a new car after she let it be known that ohtani could have number 17 - joe kelly's number. it's something that comes up a lot these days with veterans moving around - the claiming of "their" number for some price - but it doesn't always happen.

case in point, when the dodgers acquired albert pujols in 2021, he did not seek out his number 5 from corey seager. instead, he added another 5 and wore 55. here's his 2021 bowman heritage card showing the double digit number:

before pujols, it was russell martin who wore the number, although it wasn't always visible on his cards. here are a couple of parallels of martin's 2011 topps card - cognac

and walmart black

that don't show 55 but are cool, nonetheless. before he was called up, as in spring training, martin wore number 70 (among at least one other number) as seen on his 2005 topps update & highlights gold parallel

however, when he debuted in the big leagues, he was given 55.

for the dodgers, that number is mostly associated with orel hershiser. this 1986 topps sticker of the bulldog (and mike young)

doesn't show his number, but i am featuring it because it is a former "most wanted" card of mine. it completes the team set for me, which is nice (please be sure to check my current list of most wanted cards and see if you can help me out - you will be rewarded!).

here's number 55

on his 1987 fleer card

according to baseball reference, hershiser only wore number 53 (in honor of don drysdale) when he went to the giants (shawn estes already had 55), but this 1998 pinnacle plus card

shows him wearing 56. must be spring training or something, but it's best not to dwell too long on hershiser pitching for the giants.

anyway, it's 55 days until the dodgers and padres kick off the 2024 mlb season in south korea. that's less than 8 weeks!

in other news, 2023 topps stadium club is out, and i can't wait to receive the boxes i ordered. the thurman munson card is fantastic!!!!!