night owl sent a lot of lefties

i am glad that night owl is a dodger fan.  the well deserved popularity of his blog brings with it an expanded trading pool, and other dodger collectors like myself benefit from the hand me downs.

it's been quite a while since i received my most recent package of dodgers from new york state, yet i haven't finished putting together the return package.  what do you get the card collector that has too few holes in his collection?  i'm working on it.

one thing i noticed was that there were a lot of left-handed dodgers in the package he sent.  like johnny podres, of whom there was a 1961 post card

fast forward about 40 years, and we find kaz ishii on a 2002 fleer tradition update this day in history relic card

and a 2005 topps heritage chrome refractor

the relic card references may 4 (may the fourth be with you, by the way), as that was the day in 2002 that ishii made his sixth major league start, and earned his sixth major league win.  he was 8-10 over the course of the remainder of the season.  i saw his 9th start of the season in milwaukee, and he did not look very good.  he walked 6 in 5+ innings of work, but still got the win since that was the game that shawn green hit four home runs and drove in seven.

here's a 2010 topps update hong-chih kuo relic card

2010 was a good year for kuo. he was an all-star, and his era during the regular season was 1.20.  unfortunately, things seemed to fall apart after that.

2014 bowman chrome prospects julio urias

urias is 18 years old this season, and his k/9 ratio is still well above 11.  his win-loss record at the moment is 1-2 in double-a, but i don't think anyone is worried.

folks shouldn't be worried about clayton kershaw, either, as he shut out the nationals over 8 innings yesterday while striking out 14.  here's his 2014 panini prizm diamond dominance card

receiving that card in the package was a surprise, as it means that at least a couple of people bought packs of prizm and sent that card to night owl.

here's a 2015 topps fernando valenzuela highlight of the year insert

that was nice to receive.  fernando was never my favorite pitcher on the dodgers - i would say bob welch and then orel hershiser held that title during fernando's run - but his start to the 1981 season was undeniably awesome.

enough with the pitchers, here are some lefty batters that also showed up in the package.  this is a 2005 donruss champions jd drew impressions relic card

and this is a 2011 topps lineage andre ethier 1975 mini relic card

like i said, i'm glad night owl is a dodger fan.

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...

1955 type collection

i was lucky (yes, oh so lucky) enough to win the fifth anniversary giveaway contest at number 5 type collection.  if you read that blog, and you should, you know that matthew appreciates the fifth card from a set and vintage.  here's most of what my winnings included

1955 bowman gil hodges

hodges' face is framed by the creases nicely, and i am one card closer to finishing the 1955 bowman dodger team set

staying in 1955, here's a '55 topps bert hamric

wonderfully rounded corners and miscut top to bottom. i will leave it to more curious minds which player hamric is sharing space with.  whenever i see the green bottom on a '55, i think of ted williams, but he had appeared in more than 200 games.

a few interesting things to note here.  first, we have firearms on the back of the card.  second, we have a full name of 'odbert'.  you may have noticed the facsimile auto on the front also showing that bert was short for odbert.  hamric is, to date, the sole big leaguer to have been named odbert.

enough about the name - the text on the back brings us to the conclusion that hamric can hit.  if i had been a brooklyn youngster in 1955, i would have been excited to see this minor league success story with the big club.  well, hamric made it to brooklyn, but was given just one at bat - as a pinch hitter - and he struck out.  his only other appearance that year was as a pinch runner.  three years later, hamric resurfaced in baltimore where he struck out in 5 of his 7 at bats.  he did get a base hit, however, so all was not lost.  add in a pop out, and you have hamric's big league career - 8 at bats, each of which came as a pinch hitter.

oh, i couldn't resist.  it's joe coleman who is creeping on to hamric's card.

unibrow alert!  here's a 1961 post wally moon card

the card is shaped more like a backwards nebraska than a colorado, but i'm not complaining. it's got character!  and again, it's another card crossed off of the want list.

here's a 1977 tcma renata galasso burleigh grimes card

grimes played for the dodgers when they were known as the robins, but he did manage the dodgers for a couple of seasons in the 1930's.  his hall of fame plaque has a 'b' on the cap, but i don't know if the dodgers have any sort of acknowledgement of grimes at the stadium like they do for the other dodger hall of famers.  the most obvious recognition are the retired numbers, but grimes played for the franchise before numbers were worn.  i suppose they could do something like the giants have done for the likes of john mcgraw and just put the 'b' logo in a circle for him.  same goes for zach wheat and others, now that i think about it.  in a similar vein, number 2 is retired for tom lasorda, of course, but i suppose supporters of leo durocher could see that as his number as well.  kind of a yankees/bill dickey/yogi berra number 8 thing.

and, while we are on the topic of numbers, here is the back of a card numbered 4 in its set - a 1981 topps squirt steve garvey card

so close to being a part of the number 5 type collection!  instead, matthew is stuck with a reggie jackson card.  man - look at those stats from 1974 through 1980.  i really thought that we would see number 6 in the rafters at dodger stadium.

thanks for the cards matthew! and here's to many more years of number 5's!

card show recap - dealers 3 and 4 and the assault on my 1974 topps want list

all right.  moving on to the meat of the card show from last week.

before i get there, however, remember to let me know what you think i spent on these cards in the comments.  whoever is closest (or first with a precise guess) gets some cards featuring a team of their choice.

now then.  my primary goal was to complete my 1974 topps set.  i would have gone to dealer 3 first, but he was still setting up shop when i arrived.  this is the guy with the vintage bargain bins.  i have been buying slightly-off vintage from him for 14 years or so.  he also has a half-price vintage box with cards in better shape marked at half off of what i assume to be book.  who knows the last time he updated the prices, though.

i took some cards from there, including a 1974 topps nolan ryan

1974 topps nolan ryan/tom seaver league leaders

1974 topps bobby murcer/pete rose all-stars

1974 topps hank aaron special #2

i didn't need the hank, but i picked it up for a certain calgarian.  the ryan was the most expensive card i bought at the show.

now for those true bargain bins

1961 post johnny podres

1967 topps stan bahnsen/bobby murcer rookie stars

1967 topps john werhas

1968 topps deckle edge frank howard

1969 o-pee-chee jim lonborg

1969 o-pee-chee rick monday
1971 o-pee-chee clete boyer - love the 71 opc backs!

1971 o-pee-chee lew krausse
1971 o-pee-chee rod gaspar
1971 o-pee-chee merv rettenmund
1971 topps willie smith

1972 o-pee-chee mets team - featuring gil hodges

1972 o-pee-chee vida blue in action - look at how often new york shows up on the back

1972 o-pee-chee 1971 nl playoffs bucs champs
1972 o-pee-chee 1971 world series game 1
1974 o-pee-chee ramon hernandez
1975 o-pee-chee yogi berra/roy campanella 1951 mvps

yes, it it miscut, but it is a campy o-pee-chee.  in the most bargainy of all of this guy's bargain bins.  here's the back for you frenchies

ptd in canada!
1975 o-pee-chee joe niekro
1975 o-pee-chee mickey rivers
2 1971-72 o-pee-chee hockey cards for $30 a week habit

yes, i found some vintage o-pee-chee.  that doesn't happen - ever - at these shows.  the podres is the second 1961 post card in my collection (both from this show) and the werhas, while creased, was worth picking up because it took me so long to find one for my collection that i thought there might be a dodger collector out there that would be ok with one that is creased in half.  the murcer rookie was an impulse buy, but the '71 willie smith goes in my set.  not completely sure what i will do with most of these cards, however.  i am not about to start building any more opc sets (i have from 1977 through 1992 and just the variations from prior to '77).

on to dealer 4

i don't recall exactly when it was that i last attended this show, but whenever it was, i talked to this guy about my need for a few 1974 topps washington nat'l variations.  he emailed me later to let me know that he had the ones i needed and that he would bring them to the next show i attended.  i emailed him last week to let him know i was coming, and he brought the cards i needed.  unfortunately, i had already obtained a copy of one of the cards since our last meeting.  that would be the glenn beckert variation

here are the ones that are new to me - nate colbert

cito gaston

dave roberts

and the whole darn 'nat'l lea' team.

i became so so close to finishing that set after these two guys helped me out.

let me know how much you think i spent with dealer 3 and dealer 4 in the comments.  i am looking for individual amounts, not total.  next post coming later this pm.

card show recap, part one. with a contest!

over the course of a few posts,  i am going to recap the card show i went to last saturday.  at the end, i will list all the cards i purchased and ask for guesses as to how much i spent.  i am comfortable with what i spent, i am just curious as to what you all think.  the closest guess will win some cards from a team of their choice.  i will also ask for guesses on each post.  again, the closest will get some cards from a team of their choice.  these will all be pre-1980 cards, unless you are a fan of the rockies, marlins, rays, or diamondbacks.

let's start with the first dealer i went to.  this was the guy that sold me the koufax rookie last year.  he had a bunch of stuff that he picked up at the national on his vintage bargain table.  plus, he offered to buy folks a hot dog and soda.  you see, he sends out emails prior to the shows he attends locally, and noted at the bottom of his most recent (and lengthy) email that he would treat those who actually read the whole thing to a hot dog and soda.  i mentioned it after we settled up on cards, but declined the offer since it was only about 9:30 in the morning.

here's what i took from his loose vintage bargain table

1956 topps johnny temple

1956 topps eddie o'brien

because they are double play cards.  that temple card is sharp.  at first, i was certain that i already had the o'brien card.  then i realized that it looked familiar because bob lemke used it to create the 1956 topps bill mazeroski card that should have been.

1959 topps frank torre

maybe for a trade?

1963 topps tommy davis

1963 topps dave stenhouse
1963 topps chuck cottier
1963 topps bud zipfel
1966 topps mike brumley
1966 topps dp combo - schofield and lanier
1966 topps jim lefebvre

1966 topps don mossi

1966 topps don mcmahon

1966 topps clete boyer
1966 topps gene mauch
1966 topps howie koplitz

most of those cards are for patp.  the tommy davis might be an upgrade for me, and i just can't leave a 1966 topps jim lefebvre card on a bargain table (although i did leave about 5 others there in the stack).  and the don mossi, well, it's the ears!

1961 topps harry bright
1961 post jim gilliam

my first 1961 post card.  not the only one i picked up that day, however.

1970 topps bill mazeroski
1971 topps tim mccarver

the maz might be an upgrade for my set, and the mccarver is for my 1971 topps set which i need to re-focus on.  plus i can consider this my 'good riddance' post to the retiring mccarver.

so.  what do you think those 19 cards cost me?  place a guess in the comments.  the second post will be up later tonight.