the missing link

buybacks are a divisive topic, and stamped buybacks may be even more of a polarizing idea.  i have pulled two non-stamped buybacks from packs during my near 40 years as a collector, and i was disappointed both times due to the fact that there was nothing distinguishable about the cards.  i was fairly oblivious to the stamped buybacks topps put in packs in 2014, but i went all-in on dodger buybacks in 2015.  i liked the "topps original 2015" stamp design (better than the variable sized topps logo used in 2014, i thought), and i liked the fact that the buybacks spanned from 1957 through 1980.

i began seeking out dodger buybacks with the goal to have at least one from each year and a complete team set of the 1978 club, but i quickly found that 1964 and 1965 were not included - most likely due to the heritage buyback inserts the previous couple of years.  i also found that the 1980 buybacks were limited to the first dozen or so cards in the set (but thankfully included the manny mota record breaker).  i fairly quickly had dodger buybacks from 1957-1962 and from 1966-1980.

you will notice that i did not have a 1963 dodger buyback. for about 18 months, i would check ebay and comc for these buybacks, and at one time found an auction for a lot that included johnny podres' 1963 card. i lost that auction, but shortly thereafter, the podres appeared on ebay as a single.  i lost that auction, too, with the single podres going for more than the lot had.  so, my search went on until about a month ago when a kind seller listed this card for sale on comc:

the wally moon buyback was only the second dodger card i had seen from 1963 in all that time spent looking.  i quickly scooped it up, and now my run of dodger buybacks is fully representative.  i'm still keeping an eye out for a few 1978 dodgers, but they may not have been included in the buyback program so i'm not too stressed about it.

that is not the only wally moon card that i have added to my collection recently, however.  nick at dime boxes sent me the unibrowed one's autographed card from 2017 topps archives

in a blind trade. topps did a good job with this card as it is pretty similar to moon's actual 1960 card, aside from the dodger logo.

nick also sent along a 2015 topps original 1970 topps alan foster

and some modern dodgers such as kenley jansen

 and justin turner

 from this year's archives, and another turner from 2017 topps bunt

turner, as you may know, won the final vote for an all-star spot.  he might be my favorite current dodger behind clayton kershaw these days.  i appreciate his play the same way i appreciated the play of the last dodger third baseman to make the all-star team.  that was mike sharperson back in 1992.

nick is a fellow double play collector, and he sent me some cards that were new to me, but i assume were duplicates to him.  they were all from 1993 upper deck sp, which has some great photography - double play or not.

rich amaral

is turning two on the front and back

as is benji gil

jeff blauser's card features an inaugural season marlin

while mickey morandini's card hits three of my mini-collections

double play, dodger stadium, and dodger lurker - brett butler is sliding in.

thank you nick, and thank you random comc seller, for some great additions to my collection!

chronicles of trading with fuji

living where i do, there are plenty of opportunities to pick up kurt suzuki cards, and when i do, i send them to fuji.  i recently sent a 2016 topps chrome blue atomic refractor suzuki card to fuji, as well as a 1991 topps desert shield rickey henderson card, and he returned the favor by sending me some dodger goodness.

leading things off is this 2015 topps pro debut alex verdugo distinguished debut card

baseball america hasn't reached the dodgers yet in their 2017 prospect rankings, but verdugo will be high on the list.  i am hoping that the dodgers don't go crazy trying to get brian dozier from the twins and add prospects like verdugo or cody bellinger to their offer.

other cards that fuji sent reminded me not to get my hopes up too high with verdugo, bellinger, or any of the other dodger prospects, because at one time, greg miller (seen here on his 2002 bowman chrome draft picks & prospects auto card)

thomari story-harden (seen here on his 2003 bowman chrome xfractor)

and jonathan meloan (seen here on his 2008 topps finest green refractor auto card)

were all highly regarded prospects.

one guy who did pan out for the dodgers was willie davis.  fuji and i recently completed a good ol' one-for-one straight up swap of 2015 topps original 1969 cards - my rick monday for his willie davis

3-dog is still high on the los angeles dodger career leaderboards in many categories, leading in hits, at-bats, and runs scored, among others, and i am still actively pursuing dodger buybacks from 2015, so this was a good pickup for my collection.

thanks as always for the trades fuji!

some year end garvey gets

i was busy looking for steve garvey cards to add to my collection in 2016, and i found quite a few.  here are some that recently arrived.

2013 panini extra edition bloodlines dual auto #/25

this one was on comc with a reasonable price that i put an offer on to make even more reasonable.  it features garvey and his son ryan, who was in the rockie organization at the time, on the other side of the card.  sticker autos for both!

here are a couple of cards that i found on the beckett marketplace just a couple of weeks ago. they are from 2005 playoff absolute memorabilia, and are the padres' team quad cards from the set

rickey henderson, tony gwynn, willie mccovey, and garvey.

here's the spectrum version

i have three of the different game used versions of this card, but never picked up the base.  in fact, i hadn't seen either of these cards for years.

this is the zip code parallel from 2013 panini hometown heroes that was part of my comc order

i had the state version already, but not this one.  i would have preferred garvey to have been featured under the 90012 zip code.

that's enough padres stuff - here's a dodger card (sort of) of the garv that was undervalued on comc in my opinion.  it's a 2015 topps original 1975 topps nlcs card

comc did not identify this as a garvey card, and the seller had a pretty low price on it.  i was very happy to stumble upon it.

you'll notice that none of these are from 2016, but don't worry - i've picked up quite a few garvey cards from this year's releases.  i'll be showing many of them, including my favorite, in a future post.

happy new year!