postcards from paradise

a funny thing happened on the way to this post.  i misplaced all of my dodger postcards.  i had scanned them, some of which are shown below, but i had planned to further investigate and try to determine the exact years that they were issued using the information on their backs and some of the very scattered data available on the interwebs.  oh well, i'll have to tackle that task another time.  in the meantime, it's summer, and i assume some traveling folks are still sending postcards to the poor saps that are stuck back at home working.  in that vein, here are some dodger postcards that i will classify as 1962 (circa) to 1971 (circa) dodger team issue postcards.

big d!

i chose 1962 because that is the season that dodger stadium opened, and beautiful chavez ravine is the backdrop for many of these.  some, including the don drysdale postcard above, the ron perranoski postcard below,

this larry sherry postcard

and this maury wills postcard

all feature the three sisters palm trees closed up as they were first installed.

these next two are certainly from 1967, as that was the only season that ron hunt

and gene michael suited up for the dodgers.

plus, the palm trees have opened up!

i figure that these wes parker

and jeff torborg postcards

are from 1966, but that's only based on the relative youthfulness of torborg and this website.

sadly, the postcards moved out of dodger stadium later in the decade to what i assume to be vero beach.  these al ferrara

and bill singer postcards

are assumed to be from 1968 based on the fact that the singer photo is essentially the same as this mudcat grant photo

and this zoilo versalles postcard (i think) has the same info on the back

i wish i could find these things to confirm.  anyway, grant and versalles were only dodgers in 1968, so it's pretty easy to figure those, just like the hunt and michael.  same goes for these next couple - maybe - as long as the dodgers didn't wait to use these photos several years after they were taken.

billy grabarkewitz

and bill sudakis

are both wearing the mlb 100th anniversary patch from 1969, so i figure these to be 1970 postcards, although they could also be 1969 items if the dodgers were really on the ball and published these right after the photos were taken during spring training.

i'm not quite as sure of this tom haller postcard

since he was a dodger from 1968 through 1971, but this dick/richie allen postcard is certainly from 1971 (his lone year with the team)

and it's back in paradise - dodger stadium.

i may get back there yet this season, and if i do, maybe i'll drop a postcard in the mail...

obectively, brian earned some vintage

i received a package from brian, the brains behind highly subjective and completely arbitrary, a couple of weeks ago now.  i had just sent out 12 packages and a couple of pwe's of my own to various folks, but now need to compile a return package for brian.  there will be vintage included in that package, because brian sent me some older dodgers.  i asked 'who wants to deal for vintage?', and brian responded.  have a look.

1963 topps peel-offs don drysdale

hadn't seen these before.  the backs actually encourage the kids who bought these packs to peel the back off and stick big d on folders and the like.  i'm glad that the kid who got this one didn't follow directions.

1971 topps tattoos wes parker

i did not realize the the mid-80's tattoos were a revival of a previous issue, but here you have tattoos from 1971.  nice of brian to send my way.

1954 bowman carl erskine

there was also a 1954 bowman george shuba card which is a nice upgrade for me, but the erskine was new to my collection. i realized after i opened the package that i hadn't deleted shuba from the want list.  that is sloppy want list maintenance, folks. i'll try to do better.

brian also included some more modern pieces, although still quite interesting.  this is a 1982 national baseball hall of fame sandy koufax card

it's the type of thing you might see in a panini set these days. it's really simple, but way cool, to have hall of fame plaques on a standard card rather than a postcard.

speaking of sandy, here's a 2015 topps archives card that brian also sent

how cool are those two kids over sandy's shoulders?  it would be great to see myself on a card like this.

from koufax to kershaw, with a 2015 panini diamond kings clayton kershaw card

i see now that kershaw (as of 7/9) had the lowest career era of any starter over the last 100 years.  lower even than koufax.

2015 topps heritage hyun-jin ryu holofoil parallel

another dodger lefty, though he hasn't realized as much success as the previous two.

2003 donruss studio hideo nomo studio stars

studio stuck with the credit card insert for many years. too many, in my opinion.

last card of this post is a 2015 donruss carl crawford jersey kings relic card

the card says 'los angeles' but the relic screams 'tampa bay'.

thanks brian!  i'll pull some cards together to send back your way soon!

when the cards go blue

it's nice when the coloring of a card accentuates elements in the photo, and it is particularly nice when it is dodger blue that is being accentuated.  following up on my recent decision to complete the 2007 topps chrome blue refractor dodger team set (which is not really a recent decision - as a team collector, i had already decided to complete it - it's more like prioritizing), i have picked up a trio of cards.

2007 topps chrome jd drew blue refractor

2007 topps chrome brad penny blue refractor

and 2007 topps chrome juan pierre blue refractor

see what i mean?  jd's helmet, brad's stirrups, and juan's fake blue jersey all look better surrounded by those blue borders.

here are some other blue parallels.

2010 topps finest manny ramirez blue refractor

and 2010 topps opening day manny ramirez toppstown

go ahead. steal the code.

sometimes, the blues don't quite match, which was the case with the walmart parallels that started showing up in 2012.

2012 topps dee gordon walmart blue parallel

2013 topps kenley jansen walmart blue parallel

2014 topps hanley ramirez walmart blue parallel

2014 topps update chone figgins walmart blue parallel

and then there are some blue parallels that sparkle, like this 2013 topps dee gordon silver slate blue sparkle parallel

with dee turning two.

sometimes, the blue is subtle, as is the case with this 2014 panini hall of fame don drysdale blue refractor

numbered 54/75 - one off of his jersey number!  just kidding - that does not excite me, but blue cards featuring the big blue wrecking crew (yes, by that i mean dodgers - not new york football giants) do.

so much galasso, so little time

tony from off hiatus sent me some cards a while back, and i'm just getting to posting them today.  in an earlier post, i showed off some good stuff like a 1954 bowman billy loes card and some oddballs, but there were enough 1977-84 renata-gallaso cards in the package to make up a post of their own.  keep in mind that all these cards cost me were some brewers cards. 

roy campanella

campy has a couple of different cards in the set - this one celebrates his third mvp award while the other  is more of his base card

max carey

and tony cuccinello

carey and cuccinello were part of the first all-star game which was played in 1933.  carey, the dodger manager, was a coach on the national league squad helmed by john mcgraw, and cuccinello was a reserve.  cuccinello did make it into the game, however he struck out as a pinch-hitter for carl hubbell against lefty grove to end the game.

here are some more recognizable dodgers from the set:

don drysdale

gil hodges

sandy koufax

jackie robinson

dazzy vance

and, not a galasso, but instead - a nolasco

a 2014 topps toys r us purple parallel, to be exact.

thanks tony!

off hiatus and off my want list

who sends a 1954 bowman billy loes card

as part of a blind trade package? luckily for me, tony at off hiatus does. or did, in my case.  billy is really caressing that baseball there - i hope he's more careful with it than lennie and his rabbits.  this card is gloriously worn and it's one less '54 bowman that i need.

here's another brooklyn dodger sent by tony - it's gene hermanski

on what appears to be a card made for the 5th national convention held back in 1984.  here's the back of the card that led me to that conclusion

i'm guessing that hermanski was signing autographs at the convention.

now we get to the los angeles dodger portion of the post, with some great oddball cards.

1988 kaybee superstars of baseball pedro guerrero

it's true - petey was still a superstar at that time. he had hit a career high .338 in 1987, but the dodgers brought him back into the infield in 1988 and his trade to saint louis that season was deemed to be addition by subtraction.

1988 starting lineup talking baseball steve sax

and fernando valenzuela

the only talkin' baseball i know has to do with willie, mickey, and the duke.  sadly, none of those guys were included in the set.

more oddballs of el toro - 1987 fleer mini

in which fernando is wearing his shiny pullover and a hat that was certainly not a game issue, and his 1986 fleer mini

which features an oddly cropped photo.

here's a little photo of don drysdale on a 2004 upper deck sweet spot classics manufactured patch card

that features the national league logo.  i think the american league logo is better, mostly because i think that the glove that the eagle is holding on to in the nl logo looks odd.  better to have a baseball in that talon, i think.

finally, here's a 2013 panini hometown heroes card of paul loduca

yes, this is a dodger card (note the 'los angeles' pennant in the upper left) even though the heart and soul of jim tracy's dodgers is wearing his mets gear in the photo.  as a met, loduca hit .455 against the dodgers in the 2006 nlds.

tony hit 1.000 with this trade package.  so much so that i'll show some more cards that he sent later on! stay tuned...