random cards from the scanned folder are like a box of chocolates

look deep into scott erickson's eyes on his 2005 topps total card

he'll make you forget that this is a post of cards thrown together with little to no thought or common theme.  just a bunch of cards i have scanned over the years, but not posted for one reason or another.  as an aside, i forgot all about this card when i went to a signing that erickson attended three years ago when the twins celebrated the 1991 world series team.  that's ok - his wife was there, and i forgot all about baseball cards for a moment.

now it's time for some edwin jackson.  this is a 2005 topps turkey red card

and this is a 2005 upper deck all-star classics

jackson made his big league debut on his 20th birthday (9/9/03), squaring off against randy johnson and the diamondbacks.  the dodgers made him a winner that day, and again a couple of weeks later in san francisco (a game that i attended).  jackson was wild in that game, walking 8, but he struck out barry bonds and allowed no runs and only 2 hits in his 6 innings of work.  jackson was back with the dodgers for a handful of games in 2004 and 2005, but was traded to the devil rays prior to the 2006 season.  in his 12-year career (so far), jackson has pitched for 8 teams.

2005 upper deck espn cesar izturis web gems

izturis won a gold glove in 2004 which largely explains his appearance in an insert set

2011 panini playoff contenders chris reed

reed was the dodgers' first round pick in 2011.  he was born in london, but attended high school in socal and went to stanford after that.  he's currently a double-a chattanooga. 

2011 bowman andre ethier gold parallel

and 2011 bowman ted lilly gold parallel

ethier only gets one parallel in this post, but lilly gets three.

2011 topps ted lilly diamond anniversary platinum parallel

and 2011 topps update ted lilly cognac parallel

i still prefer lilly's 2013 topps card.

here's a few more from 2011 topps update.  remember javy guerra?

who comes in cognac form

and platinum parallel fashion as well

guerra was picked up on waivers by the white sox earlier this year, so he and ronald belisario are making it deja vu all over again in the chisox bullpen.

one more from 2011 topps update - it's matt guerrier

guerrier was dealt to the cubs last year for carlos marmol, but signed with the twins prior to this season. he was just recently dfa'd by the club, although aside from his last outing he hadn't pitched that poorly.  i was a fan - as much as one can be of a non-closer reliever.

in other news, chris capuano is now a yankee.  here's his 2012 topps update card

and his 2013 topps gypsy queen white framed parallel

he had started the season with the red sox after two years with the dodgers, but was released on july 1. after a short stint with the rockies' organization, capuano had his contract purchased by the yankees and made a start for them just the other day.  he turned in a quality start, but didn't get a decision.

even more dime box dodgers by proxy

i hope you've enjoyed (or at least tolerated) seeing so many of the cards i received from nick at dime boxes a while back.  here's the last post that the trade generated.

2013 topps clayton kershaw (and two other guys) league leader target red parallel

of the three, only kershaw will make a return appearance on league leader cards in 2014.  cueto had a decent era in 2013, but he only pitched in 11 games

here's another multi-player card, this one comes from 1997 donruss and it features tim salmon and raul mondesi

usually tim salmon was paired up with mike piazza (they were both rookies of the year in 1993) but i'll take another mondesi card in the collection.

here's the guy that the dodgers got in return for mondesi - shawn green

that's a card from 2002 donruss diamond kings.  i recall the 2005 diamond kings set, but not this 2002 version.

one of the worst sets ever has to be topps cosigners.  here is an example from the 2006 set.  it features jeff kent and rafael furcal

yes, it's a bad looking set, but team collectors like me take the bad with the good.  and with the throwaway inserts, like this topps pennant insert thingy from 2012 topps

in case you are wondering, the answer is lou johnson who hit a double in the 7th inning.  johnson also scored the game's only run, although he did that earlier in the game on a walk, sacrifice by ron fairly, and a steal of third combined with a bad throw by the cubs' catcher.

i'll finish with three cards from 2013 topps - chris capuano

who just had his 2014 option declined by the dodgers, and paco rodriguez who will hopefully be around for a while

and last but not least, a shiny chasing history insert of matt kemp

who will hopefully be back at full strength next year.

thanks again nick - let's trade again soon!

another trade collision

i received some cards from fuji and p-town tom within a day or two of each other recently.  there was some overlap, but that's ok because dodger overlap is the best kind.  fuji sent some 2013 bowman gold in the form of clayton kershaw

i appreciate the dodger stadium shot, with the brooklyn cap.  the photo must be from jackie robinson day in 2012, right?

before we see some other 2013 bowman niceness, here's a 2012 topps chris capuano walmart blue parallel

i appreciate the airbrush - at least topps got his number right.

ok, back to the 2013 bowman.  here's a josh beckett home state parallel

josh hails from texas.  yee-haw.

here's his gold parallel version

as well as that of hanley ramirez

not since 1996 donruss has there been a set that seemed to censor the crotchal region like this.

p-town tom sent the same hanley

and beckett gold cards

but he also included the blue parallel hanley

as well as a beckett base

he also sent an andre ethier base

and a hyun jin ryu gold parallel

plus a joc pederson card, too.

and, just to be different, there was some 1991 donruss studio in the package too.  here's hall of famer gary carter

thanks guys!

cards from the hot corner

i am, once again, woefully behind on trade posts. here are some cards that i received from hot corner cards.  i have completed several trades with pat, and he always sends good stuff.  here is but a small part of the most recent package.

1982 kmart steve garvey

this was the first retail box set i can remember buying.  i wasn't sure at the time what the 20th anniversary was about. i guess it was kmart's 20th, but to me, the local kmart looked like it opened in 1940 and hadn't been updated since.  this set was also the second time i had seen 'cards that should have been' as it used the 1962 topps maury wills card that had been created for the 1975 topps mvp subset.

garvey's was one of four dodger cards in the set; the others being wills, sandy koufax (1963), and a don drysdale highlight

not all cards need to be of mvp's or boyhood heroes - so here's a 1986 fleer ken howell card

 and a 1993 fleer ultra mike sharperson card

that's two days in a row that i've shown sharpy on the blog.  as a guy who played all over the infield myself, i appreciated his versatility.

now we've entered the new and shiny and/or parallel part of the haul.  from 2013 topps, pat sent me the chris capuano emerald parallel

 and the target red parallel

plus clayton kershaw's target red parallel

 and aj ellis's as well, with kershaw in the foreground

as i understand it, the dodgers have a standing dare for someone to approach kershaw in the dugout during one of his starts and ask him an oddball question, such as 'was the end of inception a dream'.  maybe that's what is being discussed in this photo.

here's andre ethier's 2013 topps heritage chrome parallel

is this the last heritage release that will feature ethier as a dodger?  we should know in about 8 weeks.

the last couple of cards i will show are double play turns.  this one is from 2010 topps pro debut

and yes, i will consider this a turn even though i can't see the second base bag or a runner sliding in.  it's my prerogative.  goins is in aaa this year, by the way, but didn't get a call up when jose reyes was injured.

here's a no-doubter - 2012 topps opening day erick aybar

thanks for the cards pat!

queen me! and has anyone seen my adrian gonzalez mini?

i recently participated in the 2013 topps gypsy queen group break at andrews baseball cards blog, taking the dodgers (of course).  the only card that i knew for sure i would be receiving after the break was an adrian gonzalez photo variation mini.  turns out, that card didn't make the trip, but these did.

clayton kershaw dealing aces

this reminds me a bit of the 2000 pacific invincible aces inserts.  just in that they both play off of the playing card concept.  i went crazy for invincible that year.

here's the one card i was really hoping to get in the break - sandy koufax no-hitters insert

too bad there weren't four of them in the set!

as for the base, i received a bunch of dodger southpaws - kershaw

koufax

paco rodriguez

and chris capuano

plus rightys josh beckett

and don sutton

it's nice to see sutton in this set.  and thank goodness he's a dodger and not an astro or a brewer.

here's aj ellis

andre ethier

and adrian gonzalez, regular sized

the only mini that was in my mailer was this duke snider

so, for the team set, i was just duke, matt kemp, jackie robinson, and hanley ramirez short.

my random team was the padres, and one of the two cards that fell my way happened to be this hall of famer

if there's no steve garvey card to be had, the next best padre is tony gwynn.

thanks for hosting the break andrew - and if anyone comes across that gonzalez mini, please let me know!

now, i had also purchased a couple of stray packs of gq and wound up with a few nice (dodger) cards.  here's a play at the plate collisions insert of buster posey

with hanley ramirez sliding in.  speaking of hanley, here is his base card that eluded me in the group break

and here is the duke snider base as well

plus jackie robinson!

my pack purchasing skills were right on the money.  i guess that matt kemp base card will be the next one added to the nefarious 9 when a spot opens up.

i also pulled a kershaw white bordered insert

not sure if that is a target exclusive insert or not.  i didn't expect to go after gq this year, but after seeing some of the inserts and sutton on the checklist, i gave in.  i'm mostly glad i did.