did frank mccourt visit the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man?

have a looksie at this 2009 upper deck piece of history stadium scenes insert featuring russell martin and beautiful chavez ravine. 

this photo may have captured an opening day festivity on the field, which obviously included some red white and blue wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tubes.  i wonder if frank mccourt took advantage of a shipping error to stock up on those wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tubes.  well, as i mentioned in a recent post, upper deck enjoyed recycling photos almost as much as topps did back in the 1960's.  here's the back of a 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams jerry reuss card with the same photo, although differently cropped.

mccourt, of course, bought the team in 2004, so maybe it was rupert murdoch who cut a deal with al harrington, even though it seemed more likely that mccourt, a new englander, would have been out on route 2 in weekapaug.  giggity.

today's secret ingredient is...rhubarb!

yes, it's battle rhubarb here at gcrl today.  i recently completed a trade with rhubarb runner at 'e rayhahn rayhahn' for the second or third time.  it's always fun to see what dodgers i get in exchange for some twinkies (not the hostess kind).  shall we begin?  allez cuisine!

2002 fleer ultra chan ho park jersey

big chan ho looks pretty ticked at full body chan ho.  but, as we shall see later, what this card has going for it is that it is all dodgers. there is no ambiguity.

2005 donruss diamond kings edwin jackson

i wonder how many times white sox 'announcer' hawk harrelson has called jackson 'e-jack' so far.  or worse.

1991 donruss mike hartley

as this card shows, the beauty of dodger stadium cannot be diminished, even on a 1991 donruss card.  still, let's cleanse the pallete with this card:

2010 upper deck dodger stadium

ah yes, a shot from the parking lot (the price gouging parking lot).  this is the right field corner, with the 'all you can eat' right field pavilion, palm trees, and the stadium club restaurant being showcased.  the visitor's bullpen is between the pavilion and the main part of the stadium.  that gagne poster means that this photo is likely from the mid-aughts.

2003 fleer ultra paul loduca

buh-bye.

2008 upper deck a piece of history andruw jones jersey (with torii hunter)

here's where things get strange.  a brave and a twin.  no, sorry, that's a dodger and an angel.

2009 upper deck rafael furcal jersey

a brave?  well, at least the dodgers logo is more prominent than the text on that jones card.

2009 upper deck a piece of history rafael furcal jersey

now this is more like it.

thanks david!

thorzul rules in mannywood(land)

check out this cool card i got as part of a 2009 ud piece of history break hosted by thorzul.  mannywood!  awesome.

actually, the card i received was of the original hollywood sign, but since frank mccourt has stolen the idea and used it for the left field pavilion at dodger stadium (even though it was hugh hefner that saved the real sign) i figured i could bastardize it some myself.  here's the original card.

speaking of manny, he was pulled in triplicate - base

blue parallel

and green algae color parallel

one of the very few cards you will see of manny with his glove.

i think i got the complete base set with manny, kershaw, russell martin

and matt kemp

this is kind of a throwback pose - the twisted torso/swing follow through, but it doesn't look like he's posing.  i wonder where the photographer was positioned to get this shot.

i also got the two dodger rookies - james mcdonald and scott elbert

both mcdonald and elbert are at aaa, but with the way things are going with the pitching staff on the big club, they could be up very soon.

i also got a few inserts, like this derek lowe timeless moments

he got his first dodger win on jackie robinson day, 2005

and then there is the obligatory white swatch jersey piece, this one of rafael furcal

hot pink baseball cards!  wowza.

thanks thorzul for hosting!  night owl, i got a few doubles i will set aside for you.

mr. (night) owl, how many packages do you have to send to gcrl before he writes a post?

let's find out.

one:

1980 kellogg's davey lopes
if only that mustache really were in 3-d.

1986 topps glossy send in fernando valenzuela this set reminds me of a tcma issue. but in color.

2009 upper deck spectrum matt kemp (the heretofore unbeknownst to me blue variation) the question is, why?

2006 bowman heritage wilson betemit

interesting that we had, at one time, both furcal and betemit at the same time. just like the braves did.

2006 upper deck sp authentic julio lugo thankfully, lugo was a short-timer. unfortunately, ned traded for him in the first place.

2006 fleer greats of the game dusty bakeras seen on night owl's blog recently!

2009 upper deck spx clayton kershaw here's hoping the 2009 postseason is really his month long coming out party.

2008 upper deck timeline james loney sp perhaps my favorite first baseman since popeye himself.

ta-whooooo:

1985 fleer frank dipinoa very nice card with the right field pavilion and it's color palette complementing the astros uniform.

2002 upper deck kaz ishiinow we have the left field pavilion with diamond vision, a carl's jr ad, and half of tommy lasorda's outfield fence mural. plus the overhyped ishii in street clothes. ishii, because of the hype, was the dodger that got all the short prints which sucks when trying to complete my 2003 upper deck vintage set, among others.

2009 upper deck a piece of history james mcdonaldmcdonald hasn't made or seen much history yet.

2009 upper deck clayton kershaw 20th anniversary

another kershaw. this one from a subset within an insert set. i don't understand upper deck sometimes.

2009 topps target throwback chan ho park

did topps do this for series 2? did anyone care?

2009 topps attax vladimir guerrero

shiny must mean parallel. again, why?

three:

2009 topps finest russell martin

a disappointing season hopefully means fantastic postseason. or at least a bargain in next year's fantasy draft.

2009 topps jackie robinson turkey red insert

now that's a nice card!

2009 bowman manny ramirez

sans umpire. very very bad.

2008 upper deck goudey pee wee reese

i wonder what ken griffey jr does say about pee wee? any guesses?

2008 topps chin-lung hu trading card history

a glossy version of the 1959 set. as opposed to the more traditional versions in the 2008 heritage set. speaking of which,

2008 topps heritage vladimir guerrero chrome looks like it's snowing in anaheim

1997 pinnacle zenith wilton guerrero

i wish wilton had been more like vlad.

1993 score select rick trlicek

a pitcher with a hockey name. he actually debuted with the blue jays in 1992. recorded his only career save and hit (off of tom glavine) in his one season as a dodger.

so, the answer is three. each package filled with dodger and set building goodness, which is even better than the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop.

thanks greg. i'll get another package out to you soon.

traded cards jackpot in review

andy at traded sets recently sent me his contest jackpot - a bunch of unopened packs. i already had the 1988 score traded set and all the 2008 topps i need, so i told him not to send that. what he did send was enough. let's take a look.

2009 topps heritage pack 1:

casey kotchman

alcides escobar

young hill stars - kazmir, price & shields. this reminds me of those pictures that have some idiot in the background ruining the shot. topps cut shields out of this same shot for their flagship set.

ryan ludwick chrome 0803/1960

brian roberts

rafael furcal

brian fuentes

torii hunter

2009 topps heritage pack 2:

dodgers team

alfredo simon

rival all-stars - wright & rodriguez

doug davis

andy sonnanstine

news flashback - first televised presidential debate. tricky dick and jfk.

jake peavy

hiroki kuroda

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 1:

jose contreras

matt kemp

will venable

daisuke matsuzaka starquest - gold rare

giants team leaders

adam laroche

prince fielder

adrian gonzalez

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 2:

brandon lyon

vladimir guerrero

kenny rogers

ken griffey jr. - season highlight

bobby abreu - ysl game 6705

tigers team leaders

melky cabrera

jason isringhausen

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 3:

alexei ramirez

aubrey huff

rafael furcal

john major - ud 20th anniversary retrospective

josh hamilton - season highlight

jamie moyer

cliff floyd

roy halladay

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 4:

mark reynolds

jacoby ellsbury

gary matthews

a's team leaders

dustin pedroia - stars of the game. i think ud stole this insert from topps, too.

josh roenicke

brad penny

carl crawford

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 5:

edinson volquez

jeff keppinger

brian bannister

donavan tate - usa baseball team

joakim soria

craig monroe

clayton kershaw

jeff clement

2009 upper deck series 1 pack 6:

john smoltz

jim thome

matt holliday

hanley ramirez/jose reyes - rivals

josh geer

daric barton

feliz hernandez

jesus flores

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 1:

chase utley

joe mauer. he's looking for matt wieters - gonna show him who's boss.

cal ripken jr - ud 20th anniversary retrospective

women's suffrage - historical moments

robert parnell

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 2:

tom glavine

ken griffey jr

ryan howard

1989 san francisco earthquake (actually the loma prieta quake) - historical moments

gaby sanchez

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 3:

kevin youkilis

rick ankiel

brian roberts

devon lowery

i have a dream speech - historical moments

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 4:

albert pujols

jason giambi

josh roenicke - green (?) 091/150

jesus delgado

cubs win 1908 world series - historical moments. wait 'til next year - i mean century!

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 5:

jay bruce

justin morneau

thanksgiving becomes holiday - historical moments

will venable

national league established - historical moments

2009 upper deck piece of history pack 6:

john smoltz

alfonso soriano

chipper jones red/pink/whatevershairon martis

warsaw pact - historical moments

that's it. quite a bunch of cards, just for being lucky.

thanks andy!