i went for blue on black friday

it's been well over seven months since black friday, so i am a bit unsure why it has taken so long for me to post about some of the cards i purchased that day.  especially since one of the cards i bought on ebay that day was this 1952 bowman duke snider card

it was cheap, thanks to some rounded corners, scuffing, and a bit of paper loss, but to me it looks the way vintage ought to look.  that is a pretty card.

i have been on the lookout for a 1972 topps venezuelan steve garvey card for a long time, but have only seen one come up for sale in that time. it was prohibitively expensive.  on the other hand, i picked up this 1977 topps venezuelan davey lopes card

for what i thought was a reasonable price.  these cards are really thin, with nothing on the back, by the way.

most of my black friday shopping was done on comc, where i picked up a 1950 bowman bruce edwards card

along with a 1951 topps blue back

ralph branca card

this was my first blue back - there are only three dodgers in the blue back set, and they seem to be a bit tougher to find than the red backs.

i found some post cards - 1961 post john roseboro

1961 post larry sherry

and 1962 post stan williams

that weren't butchered too badly by the scissor wielding children of the 60's and gladly added them to my cart.

it wasn't all vintage, however, as i purchased a couple of 1983 permagraphics cards of pedro guerrero

and fernando valenzuela

along with a 1983 topps glossy send-in valenzuela

i am pretty sure i have this card already, as i sent in wrappers for these sets pretty regularly, but i bought it anyway because it didn't look familiar.  i still haven't checked to see if it's a double or not.

the last couple of cards are blue and shiny.  from 2012 bowman, i grabbed the matt kemp

and duke snider

blue sapphire rookie reprint cards.  my black friday duke purchases spanned 60 years, now that i think about it.

this was money well spent without getting up early and fighting the crowds - i think i'll make a habit of 'blue' friday...

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.

the topps dodger autograph project - the brooklyn years

when i started doing ttm in 2009, i didn't really have a plan other than getting some players from the early days of my collecting to sign some cards.  shortly thereafter, i decided to try for all of the 1978 topps dodgers, and then former dodgers in general, along with other players featured in the 1978 topps set.  i finally included current dodgers with varying degrees of success.  about a year or so ago, i found a post at the lost collector about his topps yankee project in which he was trying to obtain, via ttm, a yankee autographed card from each year that topps had produced cards.

i took stock and realized that i was only a couple years short of doing this with the dodgers, so i decided to finish it off.  unfortunately, one of the years i was missing was 1951.  both gene hermanski and duke snider, good signers through the mail, had passed away, so i wound up purchasing a preacher roe signed 1951 topps red back online.  

it's jsa certified, if that truly means anything.  i could have picked up a ralph branca card and looked for a private signing to send it to, but decided to go this route.  so, already i am off the track that the lost collector followed.

my 1952 topps entry, however, cost me just two stamps beyond the cost of the card itself.  rocky bridges was kind enough to sign his 1952 topps card for me

this was one of the requests i sent out after deciding to complete the topps run of signed dodger cards.  before that, i didn't really think too much about getting a 1952 card signed - not sure why.  wayne terwilliger still signs occasionally so there were some opportunities.  anyway, the bridges cards sits alone in the binder as the sole 1952 ttm representative.

i have a couple of 1953 topps cards signed.  one is from dick williams (which required his signing fee of $25), and the other is this bobby morgan card

which was obtained through the mail free of charge.

1954 was the other year that i had to purchase a card online.  i found a billy herman card and picked it up.

herman is a hall of famer who obviously coached the dodgers in the 1950's.  tom lasorda was the only 1954 option through the mail, but the cost of buying (another) 1954 lasorda rookie card was not appealing to me.  especially knowing that it would cost me more to have it signed at a private signing.

for 1955, i chose don zimmer

i've had a couple of successes with zimmer, and this is the only signed 1955 topps card i have in my collection.  same goes for 1956, where the randy jackson card is all by itself

jackson had also signed a 1957 card for me, but i will feature each player only once, just as the lost collector did.  that means that 1957, the dodgers' last year in brooklyn, will be represented by carl erskine.

erskine is one of the best signers out there, so he's a great friend to the hobby.  i've sent a few cards his way, and they always come back looking nice.  the aforementioned jackson and this oisk card are the only two signed cards from the underappreciated 1957 topps set that i have in my collection.

as always, i am appreciative of the players who sign through the mail, and i am glad that there are so many former dodgers who do so.  i'll post some of the early los angeles dodgers to have signed for free through the mail in the next post.

the evolution of my oldest card

i'll take a break from my other evolutionary posts and jump on the 'evolution of my oldest card' bandwagon that has been perpetuated by night owl, the vintage sportscards blog and the number 5 type collection recently.

the first cards i ever owned were 1977 topps. i remember being given a pack probably around the world series that year, and opening it in the back seat of our car. the only card i really remember from that pack is this one, a 1977 topps mike schmidt card.

i previously feted this card here.  it was instantly the oldest card that i owned.  a few years later, i would be on the lookout for (and eventually the lucky recipient of) his rookie card, but only because of the presence of the penguin.

sometime in 1978, i came across this beauty, a 1976 topps reggie smith,

the details of which i wrote about here. this card then became the oldest card i owned.

there was some furious trading going on in my neighborhood in 1978, and i somehow landed a small sampling of 1971 topps cards, including this thrashed 1971 topps jim shellenback card

i have since sent this card to night owl as i upgraded it, but i still remember it fondly.

at some point that same year, i vacationed north of the border and was introduced to the wonder that was o-pee-chee. i also accompanied my parents to many a prairie antique barn, and, much like my reward in that 1976 topps reggie smith card, i found a few 1960 fleer cards, including mel ott, cy young, and this tris speaker card.

i told you i didn't object to antiquing!

in 1979, i was able to trade some giants cards to a guy who lived on the other side of my block. he humored me and gave me a 1955 bowman don hoak card.

for the first time, my oldest card was a dodger, and for a long long time, it was the oldest card in my collection.

fastforward to 2000 or so, and i decided that i would collect one card for each team, subset, and color combination variation from each topps set, from 1952 through 1977. at that time, i had complete sets from 1978 on (since then, i have completed the 1970 and 1977 sets, and am working on the 1971 and 1976 sets). it was fairly easy to do this, thanks to my topps coffee table book and ebay. the first 1952 topps card i purchased was this ralph branca card

it reigned as my oldest card for a couple of years before i purchased a vintage card lot on ebay that included this 1909-11 t206 dick egan card

as well as a 1951 topps luke easter red back. this t206 card was awesome, but i never really connected with it (i had purchased the lot more for the 1953 topps cards that were in it) so i sold it on ebay about a year and a half ago. around the same time, i also sold the luke easter card.

that meant that the 1951 topps gene hermanski

(and 1951 topps gil hodges) cards that i had acquired in the meantime were now my oldest cards.

that was until a couple of months ago when i plucked this 1951 bowman rex barney from the vintage bargain bin at the local card show.

i consider it to be older than the 1951 topps cards simply due to alphabetical order. the bowman card is the first card in my 1950's binder.

so there you have it. the evolution of my oldest card. i'm accepting new (older) entries if anyone has some pre-war dodgers to offer up!

happy easter!

appropriate today (in a manner of speaking) to post a card of a happy luke easter, his 1951 topps redback card, in fact.

this is a 'card i used to own' which went the way of trade or ebay a while back, i don't recall which.  i was very much in a 'dodgers only' state of mind and so rid myself of one of my oldest cards.  i'm sure whoever owns it now appreciates it more than i did.

in a similar vein, i was thinking about a larger post about cards i used to own, even to go so far as to host a bat around (remember those?) on the topic.  anybody have any thoughts in that regard?  good, bad, indifferent or otherwise?

in with the old

this is the oldest dodger card i own. it's a 1951 topps red back gil hodges.hodges debuted in 1943, going 0 for 2 in a single game. he missed the rest of the 1943 season, along with the 1944 and 1945 seasons while serving in the military. in 1950, he hit four homers in a game. his 17 bases in that game (he also had a single) tied the major league record.

he was quite a clouting first baseman, indeed!