trades in spades

the tail end of 2014 was fairly productive for me in terms of trades initiated and completed.  just check out the trade tracker to the right if you don't believe me!  here are some of the cards that i've reecently received from some great trading partners:

from tom at the angels in order, i received (by request) a 1990 fleer league leaders tim belcher card

and a forlorn looking steve sax to boot

i kind of collect all steve sax cards. sort of.  not officially or anything, but if i see one, i will usually pick it up or ask for it, as was the case here.

thanks tom!

now on to a trade i made with zippy zappy.  you know what that means - i now own a 2013 sega card gen card!  so what if mine is a ronald belisario card?

sure, he's stinking it up with the chisox now, but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to these hard to find cards.

belisario was joined by some stateside manufactured dodger cards, like this 2011 topps jackie robinson prime 9 insert

and a 2005 topps update & highlights russell martin card

i had hoped that the dodgers would reacquire martin for 2015, but i guess yasmani grandal will have to do.

here are a couple more from zippy zappy - a 1990 topps fernando valenzuela

featuring the always fantastic shot from the first base side photographer's well at dodger stadium, and a 1989 topps traded eddie murray card

i had high hopes for the dodgers in 1989 after they acquired murray, but there were just too many injuries. i couldn't and didn't complain, though - 1988 got me through even the terrible 1992 season.

thanks kenny - i hope you enjoyed our first trade as much as i did!

one more trade to show - this one comes from dennis at too many verlanders.  he found a davey lopes card and thought of me for some reason.  it's a 2001 upper deck prospect premieres lopes heroes of baseball relic card

with a photo taken from that same photographer's well as the fernando card.  very nice - thanks dennis!

i'm prepping a few packages that will go out shortly to the likes of catching up with collecting, the angels in order, too many verlanders, cards on cards, night owl, and am holding some cards for a couple of others.  let me know if you want in on the trading in 2015!

a few of a couple of cards from arpsmith

here i am very slowly digging myself out from a backlog of trade posts.  these cards, and many more like them, came my way courtesy of arpsmith.  i have known a few giants fans in my time, and have successfully traded with five or six of them which is a level of diplomacy that should be emulated by all in conflict over such trivial things as laundry.

there were a couple of cards from the 1991 topps archives 1953 set, such as bill antonello

and bob milliken

antonello's lone big league action came in 1953 with the dodgers, but unfortunately did not include and playing time in the '53 world series.  he played some for their st. paul affiliate and wound up staying in the twin cities after his playing career ended.  milliken, on the other hand, spent parts of two seasons with the dodgers (1953 and 1954) and did make an appearance in the '53 fall classic against the yankees.  he held the yankees scoreless for two innings in the decisive sixth game, but billy martin's game (and series) winning single off of clem labine in the 9th happened anyway.

there were also a couple of cards featuring mid-90's dodger starters like this 1996 leaf limited ismael valdes card

and this 1996 upper deck collector's choice hideo nomo 'scrapbook' insert card

valdes and nomo were two-fifths of the dodgers' international rotation.  in addition to valdes (mexico) and nomo (japan), the dodgers also had ramon martinez (dominican rebublic), tom candiotti (usa), and chan ho park (south korea).

there were a couple of jackie robinson cards - this 2010 topps sterling card

and a 2012 topps allen & ginter 'what's in a name' insert

the ginter insert was one of a couple included - the other being clayton kershaw's card

jackie's middle name is in honor of teddy roosevelt, but topps didn't give my any insight into kershaw's namesake.

adam included a couple of ricky nolasco cards from 2013 topps update - an emerald parallel

and a gold parallel

the gold one was one of a couple of those, with the other being ronald belisario

neither nolasco nor belisario are with the team any longer, both having relocated to the american league central.

finally, there was only one signed card in the package, but it was a nice one.  bill russell signed his 1986 fleer card, either in person or through the mail.

that's a nice card of the shortstop of my youth with the right field pavilion in the background.

thanks for another great trade, adam.  sorry it took so long to post.

weekday update

i stopped by target yesterday afternoon after noticing some 2013 topps update cards show up on ebay. sure enough, there was update aplenty on the shelves.  i picked up a variety of packs - two loose packs, a hanger/rack pack, a blaster, and a value/hanger box.  here's what i found in the loose and hanger packs.

pack 1

edwin jackson
wilson betemit

in a photo from 2012, betemit makes the checklist for 2013 update thanks to his appearance in 6 games late in the season for baltimore.

bryan shaw
jose veras
joe mauer

wil myers

zach wheeler target red parallel

bo jackson chasing history

bo knows how to hit the ball a long way.

jake peavy

jose iglesias

francisco rodriguez

zoilo almonte

pack 2

jonathan pettibone

juan uribe

first dodger.  uribe missed out on the flagship set thanks to his .191 average in 2012 and uncertain status on the roster.  he has rebounded decently this season.

kelvin herrera
casper wells
mike pelfrey
drake britton (target red)
nolan ryan postseason heroes

i am guessing that there are some dodgers in this insert set.  oh, hello there jerry grote!  yet another grote lurking experience!

jose fernandez

bryce harper

josh phegley

yasiel puig

nice.  this is one of approximately 47 puig cards in update.  this one is his 'rookie debut'.  there are more.  many more.

carlos gonzlez

rack pack - top

jose veras - my first double. plus, it's an astro.
alex sanabia
robert andino
maicer izturis
mike pelfrey
chris davis
david ortiz
junichi tazawa emerald parallel

back to back bosox.  both displaying the boston marathon armband, too.

yasiel puig making their mark insert

more puig, please!

jonathan villar
salvador perez
matt moore
johnny hellweg
shaun marcum
ronald belisario

belisario returns to a card checklist for the first time in a couple of years, i believe. i didn't think he would be back after he missed 2011.

josh thole

i really like the blue jays' red jerseys.  plus the flag patch is nice.

chad qualls
jarred cosart

rack pack - bottom

skip schumaker

his first dodger card, and it's a photoshop job.

elliot johnson
mark reynolds
edwin jackson - double
wilson betemit - i've seen this pattern before
bryan shaw - yup
lyle overbay - at least it's not jose veras
daniel nava
casper wells
joey votto 1971 topps mini

buster posey chasing history

blake parker

nice throwbacks.  this has the look of an sp, but i can't believe that there is an sp of parker in the set.

aj pollock

there are not one, but two ajs on this card.  that's aj ellis lurking in the foreground in this scene from the april 14, 2013 game between the dbacks and dodgers.  pollock is about to score the game winning run in the bottom of the 9th to give arizona a 1-0 walk-off victory.

joey terdoslavich
joey votto - a votto superpack!
craig kimbrel
carlos beltran
alberto callaspo

not too bad.  i'll show the blaster and value box goodness later tonight or tomorrow.

topps serves up more dodger variations - a side by side comparison of the 2010 dodgers

yes, it's time to compare the dodgers from the flagship set(s) to their team set counterparts.  2009 was a year with many variations.  how will 2010 fare?  let's find out.  as always, it's flagship/update card on the left, team set card on the right.

first up, lad1: manny ramirez

nice of manny to make an appearance in the team set in 2010.  topps left him out of the 2009 set, i suppose because he was unsigned after the '08 season.  the only variation i detect here is the topps logo, which is slightly displaced.

lad2 is james loney

from the home whites to the away grays.

ronald belisario is lad3

topps didn't issue a belisario card in series 1, 2 or the update set.  maybe they had visa problems.

lad4 is clayton kershaw

it's the same.

as is lad5, jonathan broxton

and lad6, casey blake

lad7, matt kemp

gets a tighter crop in the team set

andre ethier is lad8

with no variation.

lad9 is ronnie belliard

belliard had to wait until the update set to get his regular topps card, which is rotated and not airbrushed like his team set card.  at least i think that's airbrushed.  belliard came aboard at the end of august, 2009 so there is a slight chance he is pictured in an actual dodger uni.

lad10 is chad billingsley

and his card gives us a different angle on his delivery.

russell martin is lad11

and his cards are cropped slightly different.  a fairly weak variation.

lad12 is the departed rafael furcal

the team set photo is a tad racy, with furky standing between musial and slaughter.

lad13 is the also departed george sherrill

mega-crop variation!

hiroki kuroda is lad14

again with the cropping!

lad15 is mark loretta

who was shut out in the topps regular sets.  because he retired.  would have preferred a jamey carroll card instead.

lad16 is hong-chih kuo

whose update card is different from the team set card.  the team set card photo comes from san francisco, which seems to be a default locale for dodgers pitcher's cards

the final card, lad17, is blake dewitt

and thankfully, his topps base card is different from the team set card.  dewitt looks like a vampire on his team set card.  no joe torre in this set, although he is there in dewitt's card, lurking blurrily in the dugout.

final count: 1 logo variation, 6 photo variations, and 4 cropping variations.  plus two cards that had no comps in the base topps sets.  not a bad haul - definitely worth a pick up for the team collector.