i would gladly partake of your rhubarb trade bait

living in twins' territory makes it easy for me to find cards that would fit better in the rhubarb runner's collection than in mine.  he keeps a running list of trade bait sorted by team which makes it easy for me to say yes, please.  we completed another trade a while back, and here is some of the former rhubarb runner trade bait.

2004 playoff honors duke snider

i am not putting the set together, but i see this set as one of the best of the 2000's.  there is a good mix of retired players on the checklist, as well as a smattering of sharp black and white cards like the one of the duke.

speaking of black and white, part of what i sent to missouri was a partial set of the 2005 donruss 1965 twins sga release.  i kept one of the cards, this one of former twin rookie sensation jimmie hall

but sent the rest.  it's too bad the dodgers didn't get with donruss to commemorate the team that actually won that 1965 series.  now back to the cards that i received in the trade.

2007 topps '52 delwyn young chrome insert

not to be confused with former twin delmon young.  the dodgers' young had a couple of big seasons in triple-a las vegas in the mid-2000's which made me think that he might be the team's second baseman in the same way that russell martin, matt kemp, and clayton kershaw would become fixtures in the lineup. instead, ned traded him to pittsburgh in 2009, and he is currently playing in an independent league.

2005 playoff prestige pedro martinez changing stripes insert

when pedro enters the hall of fame, he will certainly be wearing a red sox cap, but let us not forget that he began his career as an undrafted free agent signed by the dodgers, and won his first cy young award with the expos.  unfortunately for dodger fans, pedro recorded over 3000 strikeouts after being traded away from the dodgers, which is a pain that the mets (nolan ryan), cardinals (steve carlton), expos (randy johnson), and orioles and astros (curt schilling) all share.

2005 bowman heritage matthew kemp

and 2014 topps matt kemp power players parallel

kind of a 'then and now' thing there.

2014 topps clayton kershaw saber stars insert

as i understand it, fip is kind of a measurement of the three true outcomes from the pitcher's perspective.

2014 topps hyun-jin ryu 1989 die-cut insert

i prefer the 1989 design to some (like 1988) but not too many of topps' other pre-2000 designs.  i wonder why they seem to be so eager to use it.

last but not least, 2014 topps alex guerrero gold parallel

turning two on tatooine.

thanks for the trade!

odd combinations

i don't have too many cards from the various topps co-signers sets in my collection.  i think they are kind of strange, actually.  still, i am open to picking some up if and when the opportunity arises.  like with this tommy john/bob welch dual-sticker auto card from the 2006 release.

there aren't too many certified auto cards of welch as a dodger, and that's a shame.  however, i find the pairing with john odd.  their dodger careers overlapped by just one season - 1978.  john moved on to the yankees for the 1979 season, and welch moved into the dodger rotation full time in 1980 after splitting two seasons between starting and relieving.

perhaps a better match for john would have been don sutton, who was john's teammate for six years.  and, while i am thinking about it, a better match for reggie jackson on this 2004 donruss leather and lumber 'rivals' card would have been bob welch

sutton did face reggie in four different postseasons (1974, 1977, 1978, and 1982) but i am pretty sure everybody recalls welch's strikeout of reggie to end game 2 of the '78 series over any sutton/jackson matchup.  but, then this card would be more of the 'classic confrontation' variety i suppose.

let's enjoy a few other combo type cards, like this 1997 bowman's best mirror image insert

i have this card because it features wilton guerrero, along with the suggestion that he might make some folks think of craig biggio.  the other side of the card features chuck knoblauch and donnie sadler, by the way.

this pairing makes some sense - todd hollandsworth and derek jeter on a 1997 pinnacle inside card

as they were both rookies of the year in 1996.  holly last played in 2006, and jeter is still (sort of) playing.

forget batman and robin, the real dynamic duo is delwyn young and andy laroche according to this 2007 topps 52 card

these two were teammates in la during the 2007 and 2008 season, and then were reunited in pittsburgh in 2009 and 2010.  laroche made an appearance for the blue jays this year, but young was released by washington prior to the start of the season.  as dodgers, they combined for 6 home runs and 26 rbi.

last, but certainly not least, here's a 1961 topps card featuring sandy koufax and johnny podres.

they're both leftys so why not put them on a card together?  it doesn't matter that koufax was only 8-13 in 1960 when the decision to make this card was made (podres went 14-12 in 1960).  poor danny mcdevitt, the dodgers' other southpaw in 1960, who went 0-7 and didn't make the cut for the card.