black as night

proving that it sometimes pays to comment, night owl sent me some cards after i gave an opinion on one of his 'name the design' posts.  these cards included this 2010 topps jon garland walmart black parallel which is not a night card.

the package also included this 1993 topps dave hansen gold card

and, lookie here!  another parallel card, although this 1997 score showcase series artist's proof ismael valdes card is not your typical black, gold, red, blue, green, pink, or camo parallel!

that card looks like it should have been made by pacific in 1993 or so.

moving on to the hologram portion of the post, here is a 1996 upper deck spx mike piazza card

this one is marked as a 'tribute' which is odd since he had only 3 full seasons under his belt when the card was released.  by the way, what is piazza thinking in blaming vin scully for some sort of falling out with the fans?  i never stopped cheering for piazza - i think the vast majority of fans realized that the fox group was wrong and didn't blame piazza for wanting a ton of money.  i guess he really is a met.

this here is a 2010 topps chrome clayton kershaw card (obviously)

and this is a 2012 topps sticker james loney...sticker.

i have to admit that i didn't know what this thing was, though.

i picked up some singles of 2010 topps pro debut, but didn't realize that they had made another set in 2011.  welcome to the blog, scott schebler.  see you again in a few years, hopefully.

i will end this post with a 2000 pacific omega adrian beltre card

not as garish as many other pacific cards, and i miss having beltre at third for the dodgers.  it would have been nice to avoid the revolving door at the hot corner that existed prior to his arrival and that has returned since he left.  which gets me to thinking that i need to do the evolution of the third baseman series of posts.  stay tuned.

thanks greg!

topps serves up some variations again - a side by side comparison of the 2011 topps dodgers

now that 2011 topps update is out, i can finally put this post to bed.  here's a comparison of the dodger cards made by topps and included in the blister team set and their flagship series 1, 2 and update counterparts.  the topps dodger set cards are on the right.

andre ethier

topps isn't messing around.  the topps logo is in the same spot, unlike some cards from previous years.  these card fronts are exactly the same.

chad billingsley

ditto.

clayton kershaw

ditto again

this is getting boring.  here's rafael furcal

very very nice card, but still the same. 

matt kemp

ditto ditto.

hiroki kuroda

finally!  topps eschewed the photo of kuroda with his eyes closed and went for one with his cheeks full of  mashed potatoes.  po-ta-toes!

ted lilly

back to the same ol' grind

rod barajas

even seeing a lurking clayton kershaw twice isn't enough to make me happy for a lack of variation, especially with the dearth of rod barajas dodger cards

vicente padilla

just one variation so far.  so sad.

jay gibbons

hey hey!  mr. mitchell report got a card in the team set, but was off the roster by the time series 2 rolled around.  good that his short time as a dodger was documented, though.

here's double dipper jon garland

same deal as gibbons, except garland got a heritage card. i would guess that garland would have been in series 2 had he not been injured.

james loney

so much for variations.

hong-chih kuo

hong-chih status quo

casey blake

another nice card.  twice as nice?  not really.

juan uribe

uribe's flagship card is from the update set.  i would guess that we will see a few cards next year with the baby blues.  i like the variations going on here - a different position and the fact that topps guessed (wrongly) at the number uribe would wear when they airbrushed his team set card.  he wore 9 for the short time he was actually on the field.

jonathan broxton

two variations in a row!  i think the team set broxton is similar (if not the same) to his chrome card.  i don't have any 2011 topps chrome so i don't know for sure.

finally, we have dodger stadium

there is no equivalent in series 1, 2 or update.  i really like this card.  i'll write more about it in a future post.  so there you have it.  17 cards, 3 photo variations and 3 checklist variations.  topps can do better.

jon garland, double dipper

[this is the fifteenth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, and mike maddux.]

now that it's official, i'll add jon garland to the list of dodger double dippers.  official, as in garland finally made his first appearance for the dodgers after rejoining them following a year sabbatical in san diego.  you'll recall that garland pitched for the blue over the last couple of months of the 2009 season and did fairly well - he was 3-2 with a 2.72 era.  he was thusly rewarded with this 2010 topps card

later, garland appeared in topps' update series as a padre since he signed a free agent deal with them before the start of the 2010 season

after a 14-win season in san diego, garland was once again a free agent and ned was stocking up on starting pitching.  garland chose to return to los angeles, and he made his first start of the season after a bout of forearm stiffness.  it didn't go so well as he gave up 5 runs against the cardinals, but there's always next time.  as in tomorrow.

garland is featured in 2011 topps heritage as a dodger (sans hat) but i prefer this card from the 2011 topps dodgers team set

welcome back jon! 

time to pay the collector

yes, it is once again time to pay up for i am joe collector's monthly box break.  while i haven't been delinquent in my payments, i have been slow in posting the bounty i have received.  here's a smattering from the april breaks.  you'll note that it's been so long that only one of the players i am showcasing is still with the dodgers!

and that player is russell martin, shown here on a 2009 topps unique card

martin's done for the year, though, so that almost counts.  in fact, he may not be back as a dodger next year.

jim thome is now a twin

along with joe mauer

ok, so mauer was never with the dodgers.  i don't know if the red or the black is the base in this set.  i think it's the black.

here's yet another twin, orlando hudson on a 2009 topps u&h card

this is also the card hudson refused to sign (but he did so very politely) at the twins autograph party.

here's his 2009 topps heritage high number card.  it's an sp, i believe.

here's that thome fellow again.

i wish he would have hit at least one homer as a dodger.

how about jon garland?

he's a padre.  i think we could have used him this season.  11 wins?  yes, we could have used him.

finally, there's mark loretta

he's retired and presumably tired of waiting for me to post his final card.

thanks for hosting the breaks, jeff.  keep 'em coming!

and now i wait...

about 11 months ago, i jumped into the ttm fray.  i had sent out a couple of requests in february '09 (along with one or two in the early 2000's), but didn't decide to really get into it until the end of march which means i pretty much missed out on spring training.  i decided i would give myself a year of sending out ttm requests, with the last ones going out at the start of spring training 2010, and so, over the last couple of weeks i have sent out about 50 requests to current and former dodgers c/o their spring training addresses, with a couple of other players thrown in.

the focus of my requests has been on guys who either played or coached (or announced!) for the dodgers, followed by players and managers featured in the 1978 topps set.  in addition to that there are players that i followed during my youth or guys that are good about ttm for whom i happen to have a few cards laying around.

in total, i have sent out about 450 requests in the past year, and to date have received 259 back (not all of which i have posted yet), which means i'm running just below 60%.  i would expect to wind up around 70% when all is said and done, but then that's the beauty of ttm - you never know just how long you might have to wait.

just in the last couple of days, i have received the first of my spring training requests back in the mail - it's a 2010 topps jon garland

a 9-day 'wait', sent c/o the padres.

i do reserve the right to send out an occasional request going forward, because it's just too cool to get stuff like this back in the mail

shhhhhhhweeeeeeeeeet.

i am staggered and heartbroken and bipped all at once

although it's a mini-bip, courtesy of heartbreaking cards of staggering genius.

five 1994 donruss special edition ramon martinez cards.  i can deal with that.

there were many many more cards included, such as a 1986 topps carlos diaz

carlos was born in honolulu, which is fairly rare for a major leaguer - baseball reference shows only 35 hawaiians have played in the big leagues, and not all of them were from the capitol city.  of course, diaz is the second third dodger pitcher to be born there - charlie hough and sid fernandez are is the others.  here's some trivia - the dodgers traded fernandez to get diaz in 1983!

2005 topps total hee seop choi.

jim tracy's whipping boy manning first in dodger stadium.  i sure wish topps would bring total back.  where else am i going to get a brent leach card?

2007 upper deck mark hendrickson

i wish the dodgers would go ahead and retire maury wills' number already.  i know it's against their policy (other than the jim gilliam exception) but come on.  when dave roberts wore it, he had maury's blessing.  i doubt big bird did.

a couple of autographs - 2004 fleer greats jeff torborg

it's a sticker, but still...

and a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams mickey hatcher

on card stunt man!  i wish mickey would sign ttm.  the only time i have met him (a couple years ago at spring training) i was unprepared.

finally, matt sent me my first 2010 card.  not just dodger, but card. 

it's true - i haven't bought any 2010 stuff. yet. i probably will, although i will likely just buy singles.  until i really feel the need to open packs.  which should be any day now.

thanks matt!

garland, thome and belliard - oh my!

in what may be the last of the dodgers' 2009 goose joak originals, here are the latest acquisitions.

jon garland.jim thome.ronnie belliard.

that is all.