cards that made the writer's journey

i received a surprise envelope from jt at the writer's journey recently.  it made sense that two of the cards in the envelope were of eric the red - a 1993 topps card

and a 1993 upper deck card.  that particular card is one of my favorites, thanks to the great shot from dodger stadium that adorns the front, but i'll show the back since it is reminiscent of the topps card above

both feature davis in the pullover warmup with the sleeves turned up for maximum tattoo display.  plus, personalized wristbands!

here's a card from a simpler time that also made the trip - a 1983 donruss mike scioscia

the most interesting item sent was this rafael furcal postcard

the back indicates that it was printed in support of the dodgers dream foundation (now simply known as the los angeles dodgers foundation).  jt said he received it in a fan pack a few years ago (all i received in my most recent dodger fan pack was a mini pennant), so i'm calling it a circa 2010 dodgers dream foundation postcard.

all of the cards were found folded inside this page from a 2015 hall of fame calendar

that's some pretty good stuff to find in an unexpected envelope.  thanks jt!

here's the next installment of sheet from the steve garvey binders

here are sheets 8 and 9 of the first of two main steve garvey binders keep us in his los angeles years, but just barely.  here's sheet 8:

these cards are:

1. 1981 o-pee-chee
2. 1981 permagraphic
3. 1981 squirt
4. 1981 topps
5. 1981 topps scratch-off
6. 1982 donruss (diamond king)
7. 1982 donruss
8. 1982 drake's
9. 1982 fleer

here are the backs:

the 'oddballs' on this sheet - permagraphics, squirt, and drake's - all have some topps influence to them.  the photo on the permagraphics card is the same on garvey's 1981 topps (and o-pee-chee) cards; the 'dodgers' text on the squirt card is the same as the 'dodgers' text on 1978 topps cards with the back being a firm reproduction of 1981 topps; and the back of the drake's card is clearly the same design as 1982 topps.

one thing to note - i maintain that garvey was not included in the team photo that appears on the 1981 topps dodger checklist/tom lasorda card.  so, i don't have that card in the garvey binder.  if anyone can prove me wrong, i'd be happy to add it.

sheet 9 looks like this:

those cards are:

1. 1982 kmart
2. 1982 kellogg's
3. 1982 louisville slugger
4. 1982 o-pee-chee
5. 1982 o-pee-chee (in action)
6. 1982 permagraphic
7. 1982 topps
8. 1982 topps (in action)
9. 1983 donruss

and here are the backs:

the louisville slugger card came attached to a baseball glove. it may be from 1981 (or 1980 even - garvey is wearing the 1980 all-star game patch in the photo as he is in the o-pee-chee and topps cards), but i put it here in 1982 since beckett lists these things as '1982-89 louisville slugger' tags.  there's one of the garv in padres gear, too, which we'll see in a future post..  i know i am missing the 1982 permagraphic gold card that would go on this page, bumping 1983 donruss to the next.  maybe someday.

a pirates' memorial patch for pops

willie stargell wrapped up his hall of fame career for the pirates in 1982.  his performance had declined rather swiftly following the team's championship 1979 season, in which stargell shared league mvp honors with the cardinals' keith hernandez.  stargell was used almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter in 1982, appearing in just 74 games and hitting only 3 home runs that year.

topps decided not to issue a card of the pirate great in 1983, but donruss did

as did fleer

i appreciate the full career stats on the back of the fleer card, and i also like the text on the back of the donruss card that acknowledges stargell's retirement.  not a bad pair of final tributes.

sadly, stargell passed away in 2001 on april 9, putting a damper on the pirates' home opener and debut of pnc park.  in response to his death, the pirates added a memorial patch to their jerseys for the remainder of the season.  it recalled the 'stargell stars' that were handed out to players by pops in recognition of a great play.  you can see the patch on tony mcknight's 2002 fleer tradition card

and on aramis ramirez's 2002 topps total card

here's a closer look at the patch

which shows up again on ramirez's 2002 upper deck pros & prospects card

that's the one in my memorials binder.  the pirates brought the stargell stars back for the playoffs last year, but were quickly told by the powers that be that they were uniform violations.  i'm glad bowie kuhn didn't care about that back in 1979 - i can't imagine the pirates' hats without the stars.  or the pirates without stargell for that matter.

do iou?

i decided sometime in may that i needed a better way to track trades.  previously, i had used email folders to remind me of trades that had been agreed to - i had one folder for 'i have sent' and one for 'they have sent' and one for 'completed', and i would move the email around based on the status of the trade until it was in the 'completed' folder.  it worked for most of the last 5+ years, but now there are some packages that show up without warning (which is great), and so email is not all inclusive when it comes to trades.  

for example, i owed the writer's journey as jason sent me some cards unannounced.  included in his envelope was this 1983 donruss greg brock card

brock and i have a complicated relationship, thanks to the fact that he was supposed to replace steve garvey in 1983.  not his doing, but what was a 12-year old to do but wish that brock continued to be blocked by the nl iron man.  regardless of how i felt, this card was a hot commodity in my neighborhood in 1983 due to brock's 44 home runs in triple-a in 1982.  my friends and i were perplexed, however, by the text on the back - brock was a '1983 donruss rated rookie'

we didn't know what that meant.  the guy at the card shop didn't know either.  it became clear in 1984 when donruss moved the designation to the front of the cards that it was just another way of saying 'future star' and the like.

jason also sent a 1982 kellogg's ron cey

and a 2014 topps stickers carl crawford

i put together a return package and sent it off  - you can read about it here.

i also knew that i owed reader mark who sent some cards for my 1971 topps set

and i recently got the return package in the mail.

i know that i still owe dennis from too many verlanders for sending me a pwe with this card inside - a 2002 fleer fall classic steve garvey/tony perez rival factions insert

i've also received some cards from dennis as part of his recent giveaway that i will show off later.

anyway, in order to help me track my trades and not lose track of who i owe, i have added a 'trade tracker' gadget to the blog.  it's over there on the right (if you're reading this with the mobile version of the site, you need to select the web version to see what it).  it's pretty self explanatory, i think.  'incoming' are cards that i have received, and 'outgoing' are cards that i have sent.  (1) indicates which package was sent first to initiate the trade, and (2) indicates which package completed the trade.  any incoming packages marked with a (1) means that i owe cards to the sender.  so, you can see that i currently owe not only dennis, but also bo and pat at the hot corner (since march!), and you can also see that i have recently started and completed trades with fuji and the rhubarb runner.

i will probably leave completed trades up for a month or so (or until i publish the trade post which sometimes takes longer).  in addition to cards for dennis, bo, and pat, i am also working on packages for people (patp, nick, dollar store), and i don't know if these are return or initial packages to be honest.  i will assume that they are all return packages just in case.

the whole point to this is that i don't want to leave anyone who has sent me cards without a return package.  if i owe you cards, please leave a comment or send me an email, and i will add you to the tracker and send some cards.  like i said earlier, i tried my best to keep track, but i may have missed someone at some point.  and, if we haven't traded before (or even if we have - and thanks very much, by the way), rest assured that i will complete a trade so let's make it happen.

35 gone at 57

i couldn't believe what i was reading yesterday afternoon.  bobby welch, the rookie pitcher from the team of my youth, had passed away at the age of 57.  definitely a need for black mourning crepe here on the blog.

there is no doubt that welch closing out game 2 of the 1978 world series was a huge moment for all dodger fans, but for me it represented the point of no return in my fandom, which at that time was barely a year old.  i had to wait until 1979 to get a card of welch, but once the packs hit the streets, i didn't wait long.  i remember opening about a dozen packs purchased at the 7-11 for a quarter apiece, and somewhere around the 6th pack, there was this card

let's take a stroll through welch's dodger career.

1980 topps

he suttons.

1981 fleer

my neighbor across the street was a yankee fan, and pulled this card from a pack.  i reminded him of how welch struck reggie jackson out to end the aforementioned game 2 of the 1978 fall classic, and he quickly handed the card over to me.

1981 topps

hatless and morose.

1982 topps

 1983 donruss

bad mustache.

1984 topps team leaders

welch is currently 9th on the dodgers all-time strikeout list, but is about to be passed by clayton kershaw.

1984 topps

similar to 1982 topps

1985 topps

similar to 1984 topps

1986 topps

what's with all the road uni photos?

1987 donruss

that's better - the ice white uniform with a dodger stadium backdrop

1987 fleer

back on the road

1987 topps

he was 15-9 in 1987, his final season with the dodgers, and he led the league with 4 shutouts.

1988 donruss diamond king

1988 donruss

1988 score

the yellow border fit in 1988, as he joined the a's as a free agent.

welch was 115-86 with a 3.14 era as a dodger, and 96-60 with a 3.94 era as an athletic, but 27 wins in 1990 means most will remember him as a member of the a's.  i'll remember him as the guy who made a young fan believe that the dodgers could beat the yankees, even if they didn't really get it done until 1981.

dodgers for indians

the dodgers have made a few trades with the indians that i can recall off the top of my head.  they acquired pedro guerrero from cleveland, sent rick sutcliffe and jack perconte to the tribe for jorge orta, traded franklin gutierrez for milton bradley, and shipped carlos santana off for casey blake.  well, several months ago, i made my first trade with indian fan baseball dad.  it's taken me a long time to get to this trade post, but i finally made it.

the most unusual card in the return package was this 1993 topps commanders of the hill tom candiotti card

the candy man pitched for the indians (twice), but signed with the dodgers as a free agent after a short stint in toronto.  according to baseballcardpedia, these cards were available on military bases and were sold with the purchase of a fountain drink.  that explains the coca-cola logo on the back.  very cool - i had not seen these before.

i had seen these before - 1982 donruss burt hooton

and 1983 donruss terry forster

but it is always nice to get cards featuring two pitchers from the team of my youth!

1995 fleer rudy seanez

not quite 6 years of blogging, and i had not shown a 1995 fleer card until just now.  not sure if that is good or bad.

1999 topps stars adrian beltre - one star

and two stars

good thing topps stopped at four stars, otherwise you'd be in beltre's nose

2002 upper deck prospect premieres james loney

the dodgers' first round pick in 2002 still hasn't turned those doubles into home runs (11 doubles/1 home run so far in 2014), but he hit a huge home run for the dodgers in the 2008 nlds.

2005 leaf steve finley

finley also hit a memorable grand slam for the dodgers - his walk-off job won the nl west title for the dodgers in 2004

2009 upper deck x manny ramirez x5 insert

2008 seems like so long ago, but manny absolutely destroyed the competition after joining the dodgers.

2014 topps hanley ramirez target red parallel

believe it or not, this was the first 2014 topps card i owned.  that's how long it's been since this trade.  thanks baseball dad!