a quick trip to tatooine

with the trade of juan uribe to the braves, i would expect alex guerrero to eventually settle in at third base. at least until hector olivera is ready.  however, most of guerrero's playing time of late has been in the outfield, since both yasiel puig and carl crawford are injured.

last year, topps included guerrero in many of its sets, and listed him as a second baseman.  that made sense then, but he has yet to play at second in the major leagues.  here are three of those cards, with guerrero turning two to boot.

2014 topps walmart blue

2014 topps chrome purple refractor

and 2014 topps mini pink parallel

notice that the cards show guerrero throwing to first without a lick of grass in sight.  that's what makes a tatooine card a tatooine card.

here are some others from my mini collection

1994 donruss bobby bonilla

1995 upper deck luis lopez electric diamond parallel

1996 upper deck brady anderson vj lovero showcase insert

2000 topps stadium club bobby abreu

2001 fleer tradition corey koskie

2011 topps carlos beltran

and 2012 topps emilio bonifacio

i am guessing that there is all kinds of mischief one can get into at mos eisley spaceport, so the vegas code probably stands - what happens on tatooine stays on tatooine.  unless you're luke skywalker bragging about taking out womprats to a group of rebel pilots.

i received congratulations from bob walk the plank

yes, matthew from bob walk the plank sent me some congrats recently.

those, of course, are the backs of three baseball cards - a 2014 topps mini bill buckner autograph,

a 2001 fleer greats of the game ron cey autograph,

and a 2007 upper deck ultimate collection chad billingsley autograph

that wasn't all.  here's another card back

that's the back of a 2014 topps archives bill russell gold parallel autograph card

the shortstop for the team of my youth! numbered 6/50 (that's garvey's jersey number and one-third of russell's jersey number - got to be a 1/1, right?!?).  this will pair well with the base and silver autos i already owned.

but wait - there was more!  i noted on a recent bob walk the plank post that i regretfully did not own a john candelaria autographed card featuring the candy man in dodger blue, having been rebuffed in previous through the mail attempts.  here's the back of the last card matthew sent

yes, that's a 2004 donruss recollection collection 1992 donruss card, signed by candelaria himself

matthew, did we just become best friends?

thanks for the congratulations and the autos!  i'm working on another package to be heading your way soon!

double plays in miniature

after i struck out on a justin turner card in the 2014 topps mini box break hosted by cards on cards, i decided to pick one up on sportlots, along with a few other double play turns, to go along with another alex guerrero card

since i did receive one in the break.

i picked up two of mark ellis' card

one for the dodger collection, and one for the dp binder.

here's the elusive turner card

i like all of the colors.

rickie weeks joined the shopping cart

as did jonathan schoop

jose altuve (with mike trout)

donovan solano

and jonathan villar

i also had this 2013 topps mini ian desmond card hanging around,

waiting for the proper post to come along.  today was its lucky day, i guess.

i picked 'em poorly but came out ahead

i participated for the first time this past year in cards on cards' college bowl pick 'em league.  i wound up getting slightly less than half of the winners right, although i did get my highest confidence pick correct.  anyway, i was well out of the prize slot, but kerry sent me some cards anyway.  most of these come from his 2014 topps mini break, in which i took the dodgers and the mets.  i was hoping for a justin turner card as part of the mets team haul (he's turning two on the card), but it didn't pan out.  just like my picks.

here are some of the dodgers from the 2014 topps mini set that kerry rescued from sealed packs for me:

clayton kershaw cy young

the now retired josh beckett

the now unsigned free agent chad billingsley

the now unsigned free agent brian wilson

the now red sox left fielder hanley ramirez

the now full-time dodger left fielder carl crawford

the now still a fourth outfielder andre ethier

the dodger right fielder yasiel puig (unless joc can't handle center)

plus a 'the future is now' puig insert

i should probably show some of the ny metropolitans that came my way, so here are bobby parnell

and ey jr

kerry also sent a few cards towards my 2001 topps heritage set, including former and current twin torii hunter

plus a nice 2004 donruss classics rickey henderson card

which counts as a final tribute since rickey didn't appear in the majors after his 2003 stint with the dodgers

no active player has more stolen bases that ichiro, who sits at 487.  rickey had 1406 in his career.  although barry bonds eventually passed rickey in career walks, he is still the career leader in runs scored, with the closest active player (alex rodriguez) over 350 runs behind.

last, and maybe least, here is a 1986 fleer update card of alex trevino

who played catch under the watchful eye of a stalker after joining the dodgers.

thanks kerry! i'll be sending some cards on cards your way soon!