where in the world is my wallet card? - hanging out with mr. october edition

i took some time earlier today to head to the bi-annual regional card show that, oddly enough, was scheduled for the same weekend as the monthly local card show.  the reason i chose the regional show was it draws dealers from a broader range of locales, plus they bring in some interesting autograph guests.  the one signer i keyed in on a couple of months ago when i first looked at the lineup was reggie jackson.  

first of all, i could only go to the show on saturday, so that meant no bill madlock for me.  second, reggie is in the 1978 topps set (twice), and i have amassed over a couple hundred signed cards from that set.  third, even though he was a yankee who beat the team of my youth in back-to-back world series, he's still mr. october.

i arrived later than i had hoped, and missed out on handing over a 330-count box of cards to brian from hsca.  that's the box there under my 1978 topps jackson card, the autograph ticket, and my trusty wallet card - a beat up (even more beat up now) 1974 topps steve garvey card.

i chose reggie's base card over his world series recap card because, to me, it's one of his most iconic cards.  the guy behind me in line was having a 1969 topps rookie card signed, and that might be the only card more iconic than the '78.

the line for jim craig (usa! usa! usa!) was about the same length as reggie's, but they were only letting in a limited number of people at a time for craig.  there was no such metering of reggie's line.  that was ok, as the line was moving well, even as reggie took photos with some folks. he had a couple of guys helping him out - one taking the tickets and the other monitoring the stuff being signed.  i was wearing my dodger hat, and the first guy commented on it. i told reggie that he broke my heart in 1977 and 1978, but that game 6 of the '77 series was one of the most impressive things i've ever seen.  even at 6 years old, i knew enough to be impressed by 3 home runs in one world series game.  he thanked me for the words, and as i was telling him i wouldn't ask about him sticking out his hip in the 1978 world series, he reached for my wallet card.

the second guy made sure that reggie didn't sign it - i don't think he would have - but reggie did ask me who it was on the card, and i told him it was the garv and that i kept the card in my wallet.  he didn't say anything about that, but did offer his hand for me to shake which was pretty cool.

it turned out that the '78 topps card isn't the best to get signed since there's a dark background on the bottom half of the card, but i'll still take it.

wallet card and i have a nice little story to tell.

i browsed the wares of a few vendors, and found a guy selling various signed cards for a couple bucks apiece.  i couldn't resist buying a 1981 topps bill russell

a 1984 donruss bill russell

a 1967 topps jim barbieri

and a couple of 1978 topps cards - gene clines

and bob gorinski

seeing the gorinski signed in ballpoint reminded me that i had received a dave lemanczyk card signed

through the mail a couple of weeks back.

i picked up some other cards at the show, including some decent vintage for a few of you out there in blogger land.  keep an eye out.

another page of cards from the steve garvey binders - the padres have infiltrated the collection!

ten sheets into the main steve garvey binders and we start to see the brown and yellow padre uniforms.  take a look.

these cards are:

1. 1983 fleer
2. 1983 o-pee-chee
3. 1983 topps
4. 1983 topps traded
5. 1984 donruss
6. 1984 drake's
7. 1984 fleer
8. 1984 fleer (superstar special)
9. 1984 milton bradley championship baseball

and here are the backs

while the 1983 fleer card gives us a rare locker room shot, my favorite card of this bunch is the 1983 o-pee-chee due to the text and team variation it possesses.  the 1984 fleer superstar special celebrates the garv's 1,207 consecutive game streak, although it mistakenly lists him as "the major leagues' most durable player" even though his streak was ended due to a season-ending injury in july of 1983.  in fact, pete rose took over as the most durable player until his streak of 745 straight games came to an end about a month after garvey's.  to be fair, garvey did return to assemble another streak of about 300 straight games from 1984-1986.

the grounded flight of the bumblebees

i'm working on a trade with matt from bob walk the plank, so i'm pulling together some pirates.  these cards won't be leaving my collection, however, even though they feature the black and yellow.

1984 donruss dave parker

the cobra is giving me the stare down from inside dodger stadium.  i will keep this card in my dodger stadium binder.

1984 donruss lee lacy

the black jersey/yellow pant combo is just not a successful look.

1984 fleer lee lacy

here it is again.  the fact that lacy wears yellow sleeves under the jersey puts it over the top.

1984 fleer rick rhoden

ah, a simple white jersey with the pillbox hat.

1985 donruss rick rhoden

i spoke too soon - there's the full yellow ensemble

1986 donruss highlights rick rhoden

rhoden at the plate!  he was voted the nl pitcher of the month for june of 1986 when he went 5-1 in 6 starts with a 1.99 era, 3 complete games, and 35 strikeouts.  he also kicked ass at the plate that month, going 9 for 19 with 3 doubles, 4 rbi, and 0 strikeouts.  kudos to donruss for putting a photo of rhoden with a bat on the card.  if i had three of this card, i'd keep one, send one to matt, and send the other to nick.

1987 donruss all-stars rick rhoden

now donruss put him back on the mound.  rhoden was an all-star in 1986 - his first time at the game since 1976 when he was with the dodgers.

1987 topps mini leaders rick rhoden

rhoden was second in complete games and fourth in era in 1986, so he received a card in this set.

i'm keeping the lacy and rhoden cards because while i really haven't committed to collecting non-topps base cards of the 1978 topps dodgers, i am not necessarily opposed to the idea either.

finally, i am not sending this 1991 topps gary redus to matt (or to wes for that matter)

because dodger lenny harris is lurking.

don't worry matt - i'll have some different (and hopefully better) pirates in the mail this week.

the decline of western civilization began sooner than i had previously thought

just about five years ago, i mentioned seeing this card in 1988 and being frightened by what it meant for the future of stirrups.

at the same time that 1988 topps george hendrick card was released, we also received this fantastic 1988 score bert blyleven card

which celebrated the stirrup such that the new twins logo was fully visible.  and, a year later, we were treated to this 1989 score rookies and traded jerry reuss card

with nicely striped stirrups complementing the white sox uni.

i must have completely blocked out the memory of hendrick's 1984 donruss card

because he was wearing the long pants at least as far back as 1983.  the horror.

it's beginning to look a lot like all-star weekend

when the twins were awarded the all-star game a couple of years ago, i thought for sure that i would be attending a bunch of the events, including possibly the game itself.  now that it's almost here, i've actually turned down tickets to the futures game and celebrity softball game, as well as fanfest.  i thought about buying tickets to the home run derby, but decided not to go through with it.

i was in boston during the 1999 fanfest but didn't go, and i regretted it at the time (i think steve garvey might have been at that one).  there's a slight chance that i might pop into the local card show for a bit tomorrow, but i won't be at the fanfest.

anyway, i was thinking about this because there is a lot of coverage on the local news and downtown minneapolis is all decked out with all-star game graphics, and also because this 1987 topps fernando valenzuela glossy all-star card

has been staring at me from my scanned folder for quite some time.  it was included in a pwe sent my way by a certain jay barker fan.  and it wasn't alone.  a couple of weeks later, there was another pwe in my mailbox with more cards.  here are some of the cards from the two envelopes.

1981 topps jay johnstone

this card scanned kind of crookedly, which suits johnstone.  i am currently wondering who the player behind johnstone is.  it sort of looks like the second number on the back is a 6, which would mean it's rick monday, burt hooton, or pepe frias based on the 1980 roster.

1982 fleer tom niedenfuer

aka mr. judy landers

1984 donruss steve sax

we as bloggers don't show enough 1984 donruss i don't think.  this was such a high target set when it came out.  i completed multiple sets and sold one for about $80 in the late 80's as i recall.   i think i still have two sets today.

1990 fleer mike hartley

and another dodger who wore 43, raul mondesi and the back of his 1992 leaf gold leaf rookie insert

i am really intrigued by the lefty batting photos that leaf used here and on his 1993 leaf card.

2003 upper deck darren dreifort

and 2003 upper deck paul loduca

from 2002 through 2005, i largely ignored upper deck's flagship set, only buying product from carlsbad when it was stuff like 2003 chirography and 2004 legends, so these two cards were especially appreciated.

last but not least, here's a 2011 bowman hiroki kuroda card

i wonder if kuroda gives current teammate mark teixeira grief about spoiling his perfect game back in july of 2008 with an 8th inning double.  there are actually three braves who played in that game that now play with kuroda in new york - teixeira, brian mccann, and kelly johnson.  hopefully kuroda reminds them all that he dominated them that day as a dodger.

thanks for the cards wes!

dime box dodgers

here are some more cards that nick from dime boxes sent to me recently.  you didn't think he sent just double play cards, did you?

i will admit, i coveted the don mattingly and darryl strawberry cards from 1984 donruss more than i wanted sid fernandez's card 30 years ago

even though sid's was the only one of the three to have the coveted rated rookie banner.  it also features a dodger stadium as the background.  1984 was, of course, the first year that donruss added the rated rookie moniker to the front of the card.  in 1983, at least, it was noted on the back of the cards.  a waste of ink, that was.

here's a 1995 upper deck star rookie subset card of another dodger prospect from mexico, antonio osuna

and yet another mexican dodger prospect from 1996 pacific, karim garcia

sadly, there were no fernando valenzuela or dennis reyes cards in the package.

there were some cards of retired dodger stars, including this other pacific card from their 1988 legends set of frank howard

and a 1990 swell baseball greats of don newcombe

nick is good at finding cards from the 1992 conlon tsn set, and he sent me a johnny cooney (a dodger double dipper)

and a burleigh grimes

from the set.  my favorite grimes card of the package, however, was this 2001 upper deck legends of new york card

which comes with the fuzzy 'b'.  grimes was a hall of fame pitcher for the brooklyn robins and later a manager of the brooklyn dodgers, including the 1937 squad which was the year that conlon took those photos seen on the cooney and grimes cards.  so, upper deck should have listed grimes as a robin on their card since he is identified as a pitcher, not a manager.  still, i'll take all the grimes cards i can get.

thanks nick!  i've got some cards heading your way soon.

how about some fergie jenkins final tributes?

fergie jenkins was one of four hall of famers to end their career with the end of the 1983 season.  unfortunately for us card collectors, no one knew it at the time.  if we had, perhaps donruss would have put him on the 'b' insert card in their 1984 set with gaylord perry instead of rollie fingers.  and, perhaps fleer would have put him in their superstar specials subset as they did for johnny bench and carl yastrzemski and perry, or that topps would have added him to the highlight card that featured all three of those players - the other three future hof-ers who retired after the '83 season ended.  no, fergie jenkins had every intention of returning to the majors in 1984 for a 20th big league season.  unfortunately, the cubs released the right-hander during spring training.

that meant that his 1984 card releases became final tributes.  luckily, the fact that jenkins did try to return in '84 also meant that all three card manufacturers issued cards for him.  here's his donruss issue 

i like that it features a wrigley field photo with the ivy behind him.

here's the back

hey - his birthday was just two weeks ago.  happy belated 70th fergie!  this has been a bit of a birthday blog over the last week - garvey, rickey, and now fergie.  anyway, here's his 1984 fleer card

the back of which digs deep and goes all the way back to 1964 with the minor league stats.

fergie actually began his professional career in 1962 as a 19-year old with the phillies' miami marlins affiliate.

here's his 1984 topps card

with the complete major league stats on the back

since his retirement, i have considered jenkins' best stat to be his 997 walks.  he struck out 3192 batters, but walked less than 1000 in 4500 innings.  his career whip was 1.14.  of course, since jenkins' retirement, three other pitchers have surpassed 3000 k's with fewer than 1000 bb's - pedro martinez, greg maddux, and curt schilling - but jenkins was the first and i thought that was incredible.

jenkins was one of the guys i would use when discussing the merits of bert blyleven's hall of fame candidacy with friends.  that's not a knock on jenkins - it's (to me) an affirmation of blyleven's worthiness.  bert pitched in more seasons so one could discount the (slightly) greater win total, sure, but their career era is just about even (blyleven's was 3.31).  bert had just over 500 more strikeouts, but 325 more walks.  fergie had far more 20-win seasons, but in general, bert pitched on poorer teams.  it made for some interesting conversations, but no one really debated me because everyone in twins territory thought that bert should have been in the hall.

anyway, i've seen jenkins at twinsfest a time or two, and have wondered if he and bert ever talk about stuff like that.  i'm just glad that they are both in cooperstown.

penguins look strange in pinstripes

i picked up a new (to me) ron cey card a few months ago.  it comes from the 1983 thorn apple valley cubs set, and it features the penguin in the cubs' pinstripes

that is a stranger sight to me than steve garvey in the brown padres unis for some reason.  at least it makes cey look taller.

cey also appears on the team card in the set - that's him in the middle of  the second row

the photo used there reminds me of the parents standing off to the side taking pictures of their kids on santa's lap while the official photographer snaps away.

cey's 1984 donruss card also has him in pinstripes

but his 1987 o-pee-chee box bottom card has him in the away uniform

it's still strange to me though - i need a return to normalcy.

that's better