i chose poorly

i grabbed a rack pack of 2015 topps stadium club the other day while at target and was disappointed in the parking lot when i opened the pack.  clearly, i chose my pack poorly. here are the 12 cards i received

i had already ordered a few cards off of sportlots (including the adam laroche card featured in the recent minnie minoso memorial patch post), and i was hoping for some of the other standout cards/photos.  instead, what was in my pack was some pretty standard stuff aside from maybe the ivan rodriguez and tim hudson (boo) cards.  two yankees, a diamondback, and a giant make for a pretty lousy pack for this dodger fan.  

on the bright side, the adam dunn card was a nice surprise.  since dunn retired after the 2014 postseason, this card is a final tribute, with his career totals on the back

there are only 34 people in history with more home runs than adam dunn (he's tied with jose canseco), but there are only 2 people (reggie jackson and jim thome) with more career strikeouts.

how about a blog bat around challenge? the subject: cards that i (you) used to own

i have been buying packs (and sometimes boxes) of baseball cards since 1978.  some years, i bought more than others, but it's been a constant thing in my life since i was handed my first pack in 1977.  throughout that time, i've traded some cards away, and sold others, to further my collection.  there is one card, however, that i regret having dismissed from my hands, and that is the subject of this post. the card that i used to own that i wish i still did.

the very first card i felt remorse over trading was a 1978 topps steve garvey.  i had a double, but i was planning to start my dodger team set collection.  however, i needed a mickey rivers card for the full set, and my neighbor offered to give me rivers for garvey.  i made the deal, and my regret didn't last too long as i was able to get another garvey card fairly easily not too long thereafter.  before i get too far along, i'll show some cards that i used to own that i am ok with having sold or traded.

first up is this 2003 upper deck legendary cuts bill dickey cut auto numbered 09/25

i bought a box of legendary cuts that year for $60 and found this card in one of the packs.  i have no regrets about putting this up on ebay and taking the $200-ish that it commanded. still, i kept a photo of it for posterity.

similarly, i pulled this 1/1 mickey mantle magenta printing plate from a box of 2006 topps chrome

and sold it on ebay.  no regrets.

i've owned some non-gimmick cards that were pretty cool, but for one reason or another didn't fit into my collection.  like this 1909-1911 t206 jack egan card

and this 1951 topps luke easter card

both are nice and were cool to have, but likely fit better in the collections of some random ohioans.

there have been some other, even less spectacular cards that i've traded away yet felt the need to scan first and show here now, like this 1960 topps mound magicians card

this 2011 topps josh hamilton commemorative patch card

this 2012 topps carl yastrzemski facsimile auto stitch card

2011 topps diamond dig contest kelly johnson diamond die-cut black #/60

why did that have to be a d-back instead of a dodger?  obviously, i had no problem ejecting that card from my collection.

but now we come to the card that i do regret letting go of.  almost.  first, another story.  back in 2000, a friend and i split a box of upper deck legends.  one of my packs contained a mickey mantle jersey card with a pinstripe.  i shortly thereafter put it on ebay with a pretty high reserve, and while it was sitting there, my friend questioned why i would want to sell that card - "isn't that why you collect?", he asked. "to have a card like that?"  he was right, of course, and i was secretly happy that the card did not reach the reserve (it came within $15, as i recall).  i still have that mantle card, plus a couple of ruth bat cards that i've pulled from tribute packs, and several other non-dodger, non-double play, non-any of my mini collections that are just cool cards to own.

now, seriously, on to the whole point of this post.  i used to own this card:

well, not exactly that card, but another of the only 30 versions of the 2001 topps tribute walter alston patch cards that exist.  i could not find a photo of the card (i know i took one), but it featured a portion of the 100th anniversary of the national league patch worn by teams in 1976 (and visible on the 1977 topps manny mota card), which means that the uniform it was taken from was worn by smokey in his final season as the dodgers' manager.

i found the card in a local card/comic store.  it was on the 'markdown' wall, and was listed on sale for $49.99.  that was about the cost of a pack of 2001 topps tribute, if i recall correctly, and i knew that it was worth more than that.  now, i was not fully entrenched in collecting at this time (i bought cards more so out of habit and tradition), and really hadn't thought about what my collection was beyond maintaining my yearly dodger team sets from the topps flagship and traded sets, as well as my run of complete sets of those releases (a habit i abandoned a few years ago).  so, i bought the card with the full intent to sell it for a profit.  let me repeat that.  i, a dodger fan and collector of dodger cards, bought a 2001 topps tribute walter alston patch card with the intent to sell it.  and i did.  i made about $160, which was great, but future gcrl would become very disappointed in that past gcrl.

so disappointed, in fact, that i have kept my eye out for another version (or the same one) ever since.  i did find one on ebay (hence the picture of the card above), but it was already gone by the time i saw it.  my card sold to someone in alabama or arkansas - i do not remember which - so folks down that way, please keep an eye out.

in the meantime, i have added a different dodger manager's 2001 topps tribute patch card to my collection

that's alston's successor, tom lasorda, and his card features the red number patch that i enjoy so much.  i also own another patch from this set, one i pulled from a pack from a box i purchased in 2004 or so.

it's been about 11 years, and it may not neatly fit in my collection, but i'm not sure that i'm ready to part with eddie mathews yet.

so, what do you say?  what cards have you owned that you regret are no longer in your collection?  i'd like to read about it - either in the comments or as a bat around - because i feel your pain.

have you seen the turning of two?

somehow a number of double play cards have been accumulating in my scanned folder, and it's time to thin the herd.

2000 topps gallery todd walker

the heir to chuck knoblauch could hit pretty well, but manager tom kelly didn't care much for his defense, and so walker was traded to the rockies during the 2000 season.

1993 classic best tim stutheit

stutheit only played in 24 games in 1993, including just 19 for the a-level chiefs.  at least we have this double play card to remember him by.

1993 topps stadium club john valentin

valentin led the league in defensive war in 1993 (and again in 1995) but eventually had to move to third to make room for nomar garciaparra at short.

1996 upper deck collector's choice roberto alomar

and a silver signature parallel

i originally passed on these cards when looking through my collection for double play cards because it's a posed shot, but then i figured so is the 1953 bowman color pee wee reese.  welcome to the double play binder, 1996 udcc roberto alomar!

2004 topps total adam kennedy

what has five legs, three arms, and turns a double play? this card.

2001 upper deck victory felix martinez

felix the shortstop wpent about a month in the dodger organization in 2002, but didn't appear in any big league games for the blue.

2001 upper deck victory tony womack

and 1997 upper deck collector's choice tony womack

which womack wins? i prefer the '97 card thanks to the full photo crop and the mix of colors, although i do not like applebee's. double play cards, however, i do like.

turning two in front of signs

here's former twin denny hocking turning two on his 1995 upper deck electric diamond parallel card

two things strike me on this card, aside from the pivot at second base.  first, that's the big hurt sliding in, and second, there is an ad for a florida (either fort myers or sarasota) liquor store on the outfield fence in the background.

likewise, there is a big ol' hot dog in the background of roberto alomar's 1997 upper deck collector's choice orioles team set card

that distracts from the play at hand.

the outfield wall at the oakland coliseum shows up on homer bush's 1998 pacific online card

the red ball and blue 's' is part of the sports channel ad in right-center.

nothing much to see in the background of this 2003 topps orlando cabrera card

so let's move on to michael young's 2005 upper deck first pitch card

sean casey is sliding in hard to break up the turn, which is nice to see.  the ad on the wall in the background here is for a wyler car dealership somewhere in the greater ohio area.

this 2008 upper deck brendan harris card

runs on dunkin'.

not sure who let this edgar renteria card, also from 2008 upper deck,

in this post with nothing but green growing things in the background.

here's a 2009 topps stephen drew card two ways - base

and gold parallel

with a scoreboard in the background

at least on troy tulowitzki's 2011 topps card

we have a partial ad (although not a static sign) to go along with a partial scoreboard.

i'm not sure if that's an ad or a partial logo on the wall behind sean coyle on his 2011 topps heritage minors card

but i am pretty sure it's a replica of the green monster that the thing is hanging on.  i believe most of the red sox minor league affiliates play in stadiums that replicate the fenway park experience.

meanwhile, though he's not in fenway, here's dustin pedroia turning two on his 2014 topps stadium club card

sportscenter may be up next, but i prefer mlb tonight on the mlb network.

steve finley dodger cards are in short supply

despite hitting one of the biggest home runs in dodger regular season history, steve finley did not appear  on too many cards as a dodger.  he was featured in the 2004 topps traded set after joining the dodgers in a deadline deal with the diamondbacks, but by the time the 2005 season rolled around, finley was playing for the angels in anaheim.  thankfully, there are a few dodger cards of finley (his 2005 fleer ultra card is one of the best, but i'll show it in a future post).  i recently picked up a couple - more specifically this 2005 donruss longball leaders insert

this 2004 donruss studio high numbered/update sort of thing

and his 2005 donruss diamond kings card

those are clearly dodger cards of the guy whose 2004 game 161 walk-off grand slam against the giants eliminated the no-cals and gave the dodgers the nl west crown.  these next few are not.

here's a 2005 fleer classic clippings card of finley

he's a dodger on the card, but it's actually a card that falls under the anaheim angels domain.  same goes for this 2005 upper deck espn card

and this 2005 upper deck mlb artifacts card

cards that show a dodger, but claim him as an angel. thank goodness for comc - i was able to search for 2005 steve finley cards and identify a bunch that featured dodger blue but were not on my radar due to the angel affiliation.  of course, i then went out and bought them from sportlots.

same goes for shawn green, who is a dodger on this diamondback card, also from 2005 upper deck mlb artifacts

as well as this 2005 upper deck pros & prospects

there are plenty of shawn green dodger cards, however, so my collection is not hurting in that regard.  any other team collectors look for these types of cards - the laundry is right, but the team affiliation is not?

a couple packs and a blaster worth of cards

more 2015 topps cards from my recent purchase. these all came from a couple of loose packs and a blaster.

clayton kershaw highlight/checklist

nice.

clayton kershaw league leader (wins)

nice of topps to use a different kershaw photo from that on the checklist above or his base card.  no such dice for adrian gonzalez, whose image on the rbi league leader card

is the same as his base

here's andrew heaney

who was a dodger for a few short moments this offseason

eric sogard

this would be a good year to be an a's collector.  i was one, once, around 1981.

masahiro tanaka

like evan gattis in my last post, i am left wondering why tanaka gets the future stars foil.  it used to be that you graduated from future star status on cards once you made the all-rookie team.

trevor cahill

not a good game face.

i did ok with the inserts from a dodger perspective - i pulled two cards from the jackie robinson story - #3

and #10

plus 1st home run inserts of paul konerko

(need his base final tribute), and yasiel puig

these seemed to be the most prevalent insert. i also pulled matt adams

jason heyward

jose abreu

who also has the future stars/rookie cup thing going on on his base card

here are some archetypes inserts - mark mcgwire

mike trout

cal ripken

and yoenis cespedes

who also shares space with jim rice on the red sox version of the inspired play insert

here's matt harvey and tom terrific on the mets version

i found a fair number of red sox inserts, including the two above.  this is a mookie betts robbed card

plus a first pitch from meb keflezighi, marathon winner

the phillies were also represented - this is the only rainbow foil card i pulled, and it's of marlon byrd

this is a jim bunning baseball history insert

i can think of other history being made in the baseball world in 1955

how about a mike schmidt highlight of the season card?

followed by yankees.  here's babe ruth on his own highlight of the season card

plus a babe ruth's call your shot game card

this thoroughly confused me, until i discovered that this card is not a game card, just a coupon.  the game cards are scratch offs.

from the sultan of swat to the straw that stirs the drink, reggie jackson makes an appearance on a free agent insert

as i hold out hope that steve garvey is on the series 2 checklist.  any insert set that honors free agency's anniversary should include andy messersmith, but topps ignored rick monday with their 1965 draft cards last year, so i don't expect to see messersmith.  garvey has a better, although very slight, chance.

finally, here's the commemorative 1st home run medallion i pulled.  derek jeter

although i would have preferred a base jeter/final tribute card.  maybe in the pack i pick up with the 50 cent coupon.