jaybarkerfan's junk sends the blues

it's hard not to be excited when a package from wes at jaybarkerfan's junk shows up at your doorstep.  now, i have not been drawn into one of his trade wars (thankfully, as i know i would not be able to keep up), but we've traded several packages over the last couple of years.  this latest return from wes was certainly no disappointment.

first up is perhaps the bluest card i've seen - it's a 2002 donruss cesar izturis rookie crusade card

good golly miss molly, that's a blue card.

onelki garcia's 2014 topps chrome blue refractor parallel

pales in comparison.

but then there is this 2014 bowman platinum chrome prospects zach lee sapphire parallel card

that is pretty blue.

the blues end there, sort of, as we still have dodger cards, but they aren't of the same hue.  this is an emerald parallel of chris anderson's 2014 bowman platinum chrome prospects card

that brings the green rather than the blue.

there were some regular cards in the package as well, including a 1988 fleer mini kirk gibson card

and a 2005 topps roger craig dem bums insert

craig is fortuitously flashing his bum on the card, by the way.

wes also hit my list of most wanted cards, sending two of the remaining jackie robinson story inserts from 2015 topps that i needed my way

two pretty important milestones there.

i'll finish up with some more hued parallels - these are of the dodger first baseman of the moment, adrian gonzalez.  first is his 2013 bowman chrome purple parallel

and next is his 2013 topps triple threads emerald parallel

both are pretty colorful, bun not as colorful as this 2014 donruss gonzalez elite dominator card

which was not part of the package wes sent, but fits in nicely with this post.

thanks wes, for another great trade!

sunday morning target dodgers - from allen to zimmer

another sunday, another 14 cards from a sheet of the 1990 target dodger set.  let's get right to it.

frank allen

allen pitched for the dodgers, superbas, and robins - in that order.  he broke into the majors in 1912 as a dodger (the franchise used that name in 1911 and 1912) and went 3-9 in 20 games.  in 1913, the team went back to being knows as the superbas, and allen was 4-18 despite a 2.83 era in 37 appearances.  wilbert robinson took over the managing duties in 1914, and the team became known as the robins as a result.  allen's results were about the same - he was 8-14 with a 3.10 era in 36 appearances before moving to the federal league to finish out the season.  he returned to the national league a couple years later, but with the boston braves, not the robins.

ralph bryant

bryant played in a total of 79 games for the dodgers from 1985-1987.  he hit .253 with 8 home runs, and found greater success in japan.

roger craig

craig made his big league debut as a dodger in their championship season of 1955.  he started and won game 5 of the world series that year, earning the first of his three championship rings (he also won titles with the dodgers in 1959 and the cardinals in 1964).  after seven seasons with the dodgers, craig was selected by the mets in the expansion draft, and became the first starting pitcher in the franchise's history, losing their inaugural game 11-4 to the cardinals.  sadly for dodger fans, craig later became a successful manager for the giants of all teams.

brad havens

havens came to the dodgers in the 1987 trade that also brought john shelby to the club in exchange for tom niedenfuer.  he had no record in 31 games that season for the dodgers, recording one save and making a start as well.  he posted a 4.66 era in 9 appearances to start his 1988 season, and was released by the dodgers in may of that year.

dutch henry

henry debuted as a 19-year old for the saint louis browns.  after two seasons with the browns, he was traded to the robins.  in his two seasons with brooklyn, henry was 5-8 in 33 games, 13 of which were starts.  he threw two shutouts as a robin, and also hit .236 for the team.  following his stint with brooklyn, henry pitched for the giants and the white sox.

willard hunter

hunter pitched in exactly one game for the dodgers.  it came in april of 1962 at candlestick park.  he allowed the first three batters he faced to reach base, with the third giant being willie mays who hit a 3-run homer off of him.  he retired the next three batters, but was roughed up in the following inning, his last as a dodger.  in all, hunter allowed 10 runs (9 earned) in two innings of work.  he was soon thereafter traded to the mets as the player to be named later in the charley neal/lee walls deal.

tom hutton

hutton came up with the dodgers as a first base prospect, getting a cup of coffee with the team in 1966.  he returned in 1969, playing in 16 games and hitting .271.  stuck in the minors behind wes parker, bill buckner, and steve garvey, hutton was traded to the phillies following the 1971 season for larry hisle, who himself got stuck in the dodger minor leagues for his lone season with the organization as well.

hal lee

lee spent the 1930 season, his first in the majors, with the robins.  he hit .162 in 22 games, many of which he appeared in as a pinch-hitter.  in fact, he hit his first big league home run while pinch-hitting for the robins that year.  lee is better known as the player on the 1935 boston braves who replaced babe ruth in the bambino's final big league game.

morrie martin

martin had a 10-year big league career, the first of which was spent with the dodgers in 1949.  he was 1-3 with a 7.04 era in 10 games that year, and spent the entire 1950 season back in saint paul with the dodgers' affiliate.  he was lost in the rule v draft following the season to the philadelphia a's.

otho nitcholas

i would have guessed that target misspelled 'otto nicholas', but no - this guy really was named otho nitcholas.  he appeared in 7 major league games, all for the 1945 brooklyn dodgers.  he was 1-0 with a 5.30 era, but found far greater success both before and after his time with the dodgers in the minor leagues, where he won over 250 games over the course of his career.

derrel (not derrell) thomas

thomas was a member of the 1981 world championship dodger team who was best known for his ability to play all around the diamond.  i, in fact, was in attendance at one of the four games in which thomas started as the dodgers' catcher during the 1980 season (i was at the april 18 game - the one that saw thomas hit his lone home run of the season).  thomas was a dodger for 5 of his 15 seasons in the majors.

jeff torborg

torborg spent 7 seasons with the dodgers, from 1964 through 1970.  he began as the backup catcher to john roseboro, and remained a backup even after roseboro was dealt to the twins following the 1967 season.  even so, torborg caught sandy koufax's perfect game in 1965 and bill singer's no-hitter in 1970.  torborg joined the angels prior to the 1971 season and stayed with them through 1973, catching nolan ryan's first no-hitter in 1973 to become one of two catchers to catch a no-no in each league, and the only person to catch a no-hitter thrown by koufax and ryan.  torborg later became a manager, and won the 1990 american league manager of the year award for his work leading the chicago white sox.

john ward

ward, known as 'monte' thanks to his middle name being 'montgomery', was a brooklyn groom in 1891 and 1892.  he led the league with 88 steals in his second year with the team, but that was less than the 111 steals he had with the giants to lead the league in 1887.  earlier in his career, ward had been a pitcher, but was converted to a fielder by the giants.  he finished his hall of fame career with a second stint with the giants in 1893 and 1894.

don zimmer

the late zimmer had two separate stints with the dodgers.  he began his career with the brooklyn dodgers in 1954 and moved to los angeles with the team in 1958.  following the 1959 season, he was traded to the cubs and later became an original met, becoming their first third baseman.  in fact, along with craig and zimmer, the mets had former dodgers charley neal and gil hodges in their inaugural game lineup.  zimmer returned to the dodgers in 1963, but had his contract purchased by the senators later in that season.  zimmer passed away earlier this year, and was remembered as a baseball lifer - his affiliation with the league lasted 60-plus years.

i've got friends with vintage bargain bins

it's been a while since i've been to a card show.  the last time might actually have been when i met up with carl crawford cards at what was a pretty weak show.  now that i think about it, it was the show that i grabbed the 1955 topps sandy koufax card.  either way, just because i haven't been to a show for while doesn't mean i don't have cards to show from previous visits to one of the monthly gatherings of like minded dealers and collectors.

i've posted a few times about the two vendors with the vintage bargain bins.  they both are at the point where they recognize me and will sometimes hand me a vintage dodger card from behind the counter when i approach.  case in point, my 1956 topps gil hodges card

one of the dealers knows that condition is not always my biggest concern, and he greeted me at a show last year by telling me he had something that he was sure i would be interested in

why yes, i was very interested in a cheap version of a 1956 topps dodger team card.  sharp corners aren't going to make me appreciate the card any more than i do already.  world champs!

there are some less heralded cards that i have picked up over the last couple of years that i also appreciate, as they helped me finish off my 1960's dodger team sets.  here's a 1961 topps john roseboro

and a 1961 topps roger craig

craig's card is a high number, which meant it wasn't in the bargain bin.  no, it was in the 'half priced' bin which had cards priced well below book further reduced by half.

joe moeller's 1964 topps card is also a high number

but it was in the bargain bin.

that's also where i found ron fairly's 1964 topps card

i thought about passing on it since it is miscut, but it was only a buck if i recall correctly.

here's one more card i picked up on the cheap - a 1962 topps don drysdale all-star card

with that card, i have all of the drysdale's issued by topps - from 1957 through 1969, plus his 1963 fleer.  but that's a card for another post.

back for more - revisiting some ttm successes

i recognize that i have become a hoarder of sorts.  acceptance is the first step, right?  here are some guys who i have asked to sign some more baseball cards for me.  first up, roger craig and his 1960 topps card:

i previously had craig sign a 2001 fleer greats of the game card.

here's another 1960 card, this one belongs to bob lillis

here's my earlier success with lillis.  had i been thinking (and willing to spend another $5 on craig) i could have had two former dodgers sign this 1974 topps card

as both lillis and craig served on preston gomez's staff in houston.  both lillis and craig later became major league managers themselves, too.  we'll see more of gomez tomorrow.

here's another former dodger who became a coach, ron perranoski

the last time perranoski signed cards for me, he signed both his 1962 and 1987 topps cards.  each of those cards were far more interesting than his 1967 issue.

elias sosa is fantastically consistent with his signature.

the vertical one he added to his 1977 topps card is just as nice as the horizontal facsimilie.  he also signed one of his 1978 topps cards for me

unfortunately, he didn't sign the back as he had done the first time i bothered him.

next up is lerrin lagrow.  i previously had success with lagrow when he signed a 1978 topps and a 1980 topps card for me.  this time, i sent him a 1979 topps

and another 1980 topps card

with the intent of including it with others in a trade with cory, the grapher who helped me out with the 1978 topps rick monday as well as a bunch of other dodger autos that i haven't posted yet.

lagrow's teammate, derrel thomas signed his 1980 topps card, too

along with a 1984 topps card

thomas had previously signed some cards for me before taking a hiatus from signing.  he has started responding again to ttm requests so i took another shot.  as always, i am appreciative and thankful for all of the through the mail successes.

roger craig through the mail success!

former brooklyn and los angeles dodger roger craig graciously signed and returned my 2001 fleer greats of the game card in about a week last summer.

he charges $5 which is fine by me.  he is, after all, a three-time world series champion (twice with the dodgers), winner of game 5 of the 1955 world series, an original met (their 6th pick), and a two-time 20 game loser.  even the fact that he managed the padres and giants for a while didn't dissuade me from sending the card off.

in the same vein of the modest 1978 topps dodger autograph project i have going on, i am kind of pursuing a dodger ttm set of 2001 fleer greats of the game.  it's a nice one for signatures as there is a lot of space at the bottom for the autograph, although craig chose to sign over his chest.  and, while there are quite a few deceased dodgers in this set, there are still a good number of living guys, and i have a good start on them, including maury wills, duke snider, carl erskine and (any day now) ron cey.  i'll keep you posted...

thanks roger!