Late Night, Early Morning Read

I just got back from tonight's Dodger game.  Clayton Kershaw outdueled Tim Lincecum again.  Kershaw is no 5-0 against the Giants this season and is 4-0 against Lincecum head to head.  He has been dominating the rivals up north this season.

The atmosphere was pretty good at Dodger Stadium tonight.  There was more electricity in the air as opposed to other games that I have attended this year.  People were pumped for Kershaw vs. Lincecum.  My favorite match-up to watch.  This was also the last game that I am going to this year.  It was a night that I got to witness Kershaw getting win number 20 against the hated ones.  It was a great final live game for me.  I don't think that I will be going to any games next season as long as Frank McCourt is in control.  I won't be renewing my mini plan but, I could still see myself going to a handful of games next year.  Just, much less than in previous years.

I haven't posted in a while.  So, lets see some cool cards that I have gotten recently.  That's what I came on to blogger tonight to show you some of the good stuff. 

I am just rewinding from a thrilling baseball game.  My adreneline from the game has given me the energy for some night time posting.

Wicked Ortega hosted a group break done draft style on his blog.  His blog is called My past time...I love it. 

Wicked had a wide range of game used, autos, and vintage to choose from.  Most of my picks are going into my PC.  I picked up some trade and sale bait that I may show you guys at another time. 

Since the Dodgers won tonight by beating the Giants, let me start by showing you guys the only Dodger that I picked up from Wicked Ortega.  This card is a 1968 Topps Dodgers team card.  The condition is really solid.

Don Drysdale and Don Sutton are lurking on this card somewhere.  This photo may not have ever been taken.  The faces are impossible to make out.  The players may have been painted in a generic fashion from a far distant.  That is a fact over here at the Platter.

The 1968 Topps Dodger team card was the only Dodger that I added to my collection from this break.  I did however manage to get some nice cards of players that have worn Dodger Blue.

Kirk Gibson will always be remebered in Dodger lore for what he did in the 1988 World Series.  I had to pick this card even though it is him as a Detroit Tiger.  Gibson is a Dodger legend, who is now managing the Arizona Diamondbacks to a division title.

2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot has some sweet looking GUs.  This is the Upper Deck set that I would like to see some back.  The autos are cool looking from this set also.

Here is another card featuring a dude that has played for the Dodgers.  This is a 1999 Just Minors autograph of Jayson Werth.  The auto is on-card and features Werth as an Oriole.

Werth was a player that I really liked on the Dodgers in the mid-2000s.  I was always happy to see him have success when he went to the Philadelphia Phillies.  Werth is now struggling after signing a huge contract with the Washington Nationals.  He traded away winning with the Phils for losing and a lot more cash.  I just hope that his performance picks up to at least warrant the kind of deal that was given to him.

This is my first Mike Piazza relic.  It is a bat relic to boot!  But, it is Piazza has an Oakland A.  I give that just a 1/2 notch below him as a Dodger.  But, it is better than seeing him as a Met or Padre. 

Bowman Heritage was nice enough to print Piazza's full name on the card.  I find it important to know Piazza's middle name.  It is an added sign of respect to the greatest hitting catcher.  Check out his stats for the 1997 season.  It was his last full season as a Dodger and it was a year only a beast can have.

Thank you for 1997 Mike Joseph Piazza.

Since, I have other PCs other than ones that involve the Dodgers, I picked up this Dice-K GU.  Dice-K is a future Ned Colletti signing.  I feel it in my gut.

Dice-K is a "name" player.  He is also on the downside of his career.  Dice-K has also had surgery this year.  That sounds like a Colletti signing this offseason.  So, this card will be of more interest to me in 2012 when Dice-K is donning Dodger Blue.

This was a preemptive pick for my PC.

The Best of the Best

The trade packages have been piling up by my bedside.  I am always glad to see new cards that other people send me.  The more packages that pile up the more new cards I have.  The packages that I had waiting to be cataloged and posted about are all grade "A" trade bundles.

It is time to give a warm thank you to the generous bloggers that trade baseball cards with me.  This is going to be a massive trade post at the Platter.

Only the best card from each package has made it onto this post.  It was a tough battle between cards because many of the bubble mailers were filled with cards that were worthy to be considered the Best of the Best.  Also, these cards weren't chose because they have the highest value.  They landed on this post because they were my favorite card that was sent to me.

The Diamond King sent me this top notch card.  This card is in good enough condition to possibly get a PSA 10.  Also, this card was #1 on my most wanted list.  The Diamond King is da man!

The 1992 Bowman Mike Piazza rookie card has been alluding me since childhood.  I have wanted this card since the mid-90s when Piazza was a hitting god and I was really starting to get into collecting.  It was way out of my price range in the 90s.  I didn't have the means to spend big money on one baseball card.  Thanks to blogging and card trading, I was able to obtain this card and fill the void in my collection.

Thank you, Diamond King!

Ever since I have put Adrian Beltre in my minor PC section on the sidebar, I have been getting a lot of nice hits of his.  It was a great idea for me to start a minor PC section.  Many more nice cards have been sent to me since I expanded what I collect.  It was a great idea by me.  Let me just pat myself on the back real quick because I am all about boasting my own self esteem.

This card was sent to me from David at the blog "e rayhahn, rayhahn".  This is the first time that I have traded with him.  I sent him some nice Twins loot for his collection.

This card states on the back that this piece of jersey is from a World Stage Game.  I am not sure what that tournament was.   I do like that it is a little different and kind of an oddball GU.

Justin Sellers was a Dodger minor leaguer before he got called up and has been getting some playing time with the big club.  He has been playing stellar defense at short stop and second base.  Sellers is becoming one of my favorite players this season. 

Ray from the blog called Shot Not Taken and I have traded once before.  He really hooked me up last time.  This time around was a much smaller trade.  The Sellers autograph was a pleasant find on Ray's trade bait section on his blog.  I didn't even know Sellers had any autos out there.

This card shows the great uniforms that Sellers got to wear while playing for Team USA.  That jersey just screams patriotism.  USA!  USA!  USA!

This 1981 Topps Pedro Guerrero was sent to me by Dustin from No Relics Pulled and he also sent along some other 1981 Topps cards that I need for the Dodgers team set.

This is one of my favorite cards from this set.  The picture of Guerrero makes me wonder what the night before was like for him.  I seems to be smiling at someone with a devilish grin.  Guerrero must have seen or done something crazy that makes him equal parts guilty and satisfied.

I picture Guerrero and Dodger relief pitcher Bobby Castillo going out to a hip LA nightclub.  Of course, the booze was flowing and the women scantily clad.  It was the 80s.  Ball players would go out and get into crazy antics.  This was before TMZ.  A player in the 80s could do a line of coke off a bowie knife in the middle of a crowded intersection and there would be no photo evidence to prove it. 

Here is a card that speaks to me.  It is an old school tobacco card that is promoting Player's Cigarettes.  I am a big fan of smoking cigs so, its cool to have a piece of history from the tobacco promotions before my time.

Greg Zakwin from Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle sent this to me.  I mentioned to him that I was interested in a card like this while we waited in line at a Clayton Kershaw autograph signing. 

This is by far the oldest piece of cardboard that I own.  I like the picture on this card.  The man is dressed as a Gentleman at Arms.  Which was a body guard to the King of England.  Dudes, like this back in the day probably some some sleazy antics and had to cover up a lot of dirt to save the name of the King. 

This is a great card for my collection.  A card of this caliber is one of the best of my collection.  Thanks, Zakwin!

Robert is the name of the dude that runs the blog called $30 a week habit.  He sent me a very nice trade package.  I sent him a bunch of Blue Jays that he seemed to appreciate.  He just posted about the cards that I sent him the other day on his blog.

My favorite card that he sent me is this Ichiro card with a guest spot from Mr.Met.  I hope Ichiro is having a good laugh right in Mr.Met's face just before Ichiro spikes him in the groin.

For a little background, for the basis of my last statement, I hate mascots!  They just annoy me so much.  Mascots are distracting and juvenile.  Baseball is a very serious and important game.  The game is the distraction from whatever else is going on in your life.  I don't need a mascot to try and divert my attention from a baseball game. 

Mascots also appeal to little kids.  When I see young children laughing it up while seeing a mascot at a ballgame, I just get really tense.  My temperature goes up and I clench my fists.  Luckily, I only see this happen while watching a game when the Dodgers are on the road.  The Dodgers don't have a team mascot like they do for less important teams.

I have made several trades with a blog called Cards From The Quarry.  The blog is run by a cool dude named Johnny.  We have made several Dodgers for Rockies swaps.  This time around the big ticket items in this trade was to bulk up our other PCs.

I sent him a Brady Quinn GU and he sent me this awesome 2009 Icons Ian Kinsler autographed manupatch #ed/10.  This is a crown jewel in my slowly growing Ian Knisler collection.  I was surprised to see such a nice card sent my way.  This is a prime example of blogger generosity.

This will conclude my Best of the Best trade post.  I thank everyone that has sent me some nice cards.  Now it is time to get another pile of cards from the blog world.

The Goods From The Card Shop

I made a trek out to my local card shop today.  I had the day off from work so, spending some time hanging out in the card shop sounded like a good idea.  I cruised threw some traffic on the 101 freeway to make it to Valley Sports Cards in Tarzana,CA.

Going to the card shop is great.  I probably don't need to tell you guys that.  It's a great place to talk sports and baseball cards.  Now only if they served beer....

Not only did I talk some Dodger baseball and crack some Frank McCourt jokes but, I also picked up some cards.  I won this 2011 Topps Pro Debut Garrett Gould auto off of the bid board.  Gould is a Dodger minor league pitching prospect.  I was able to get this for $1.50.  I thought that my bid was kind of low but, it won! 

I like how Gould makes his G's.  He signs them in proper cursive as opposed to the G's I write which is part cursive part block lettering.  This card could become a steal of a deal if Gould ever makes it to the big club. 

I also opened up some 2011 Topps Chrome baseball packs.  I was excited to see if the cards still have a warped bend to them.  Luckily, the cards lay flat this year.  I was pleased with my four pack purchase except for the fact that I pulled no Dodgers.  I at least got some sweet trade bait.

I pulled two Heritage Chrome cards #ed/1962.  One is of White Sox rookie reliever Chris Sale.  The other is a card of some dude named Derek Jeter. 

The Jeter card show go quick.  I also don't like the smile on his face or the way he is looking at me.  Please take this card off my hands!

I was happy to see some gold gleaming from the pack until I saw that it was a card featuring a Giant.  This card is #ed/50.  I may put this card on the bid board for a nickel.  I may also let my cat use it as a chew toy because she loves gold.  My cat is all class.

This card is definitely available for trade.  Please let me know if your interested.  It won't take much to get this Matt Cain card out of my house and stuffed in a bubble mailer to send to a faraway land.

Digging in the dime box at Valley Sports Cards is a lot of fun.  I spend a lot of time searching threw cards of all eras.  They have cards from the 60s to 2011 stuffed inside a bunch of 5000 count boxes.  I pulled these 2007 Allen and Ginter Sketch cards for trade bait.

These cards remind me of the Diamond Kings that I used to pull back in the day.  I know Dick Perez has been drawing ball players for a long time.

Today was a fun day off.  The card shop is a grand place to spend a day.  If you are ever in Tarzana,CA, stop by the shop.  The staff is super cool and the prices are reasonable.

Don't Worry,I'm Back!

I started a new job a couple weeks ago.  I have been working a lot and the job has drained me and made me lazy on my days off.  Since, I started my new job, I think that I have posted only twice.  I have missed being involved in the blogging community.  It feels like I have been gone for awhile.

I usually keep the trade packages that I get organized and in order.  My trades received pile is generally kept manageable.  I try not to let bubble mailers that people have sent me build up.  People send me such nice cards that I am excited to post about them, catalog the cards, and place them in the proper binder or box.

The bubble mailers have been piling up by my bedside.  I have the next few days off from work due to some shift swapping.  See, baseball card trading must help me with swapping shifts. 

These next few days will let me catch up on my blogging duties.  Matt from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius had sent me a trade package about a couple weeks ago. 

I'll start by showing a couple very cool 2011 Bowman cards of Cy Young.  Kershaw has a huge wing span.  This photo captures that very well.  I am also a fan a cards with parallels.  I will probably have a 9-pocket page full of this card with different border colors.  Matt gave me a nice start for that to happen.

This may be one of Hiroki Kuroda's last baseball cards in a Dodger uniform.  It is still unclear if he is going to stay with the team after his contract runs out at season's end.  The Dodgers may not be able to afford him and Kuroda may want to return to Japan to finish out his career. 

Kuroda also has been rocking a cool mustache recently.  It has been taking him awhile to get it grown fully but, he still has a few weeks left of the season to finish growing one.  Good for him.

Matt also included a surprise autograph card.  This is a signature of the Dodgers 1994 2nd Round pick Gary Rath.  Rath pitched a grand total of 8 innings in the late 90s.  That was his entire big league career.  Of course, I can't knock him too much because I have pitched ZERO innings in the majors, minors, or college. 

This is the big hit of the package.  It's a nice relic of former Dodger Adrian Beltre.  This is a good boast to my Beltre hits collections.

Thanks for the trade,Matt.  Please check out his blog.  He was running a contest over the weekend and you may still have a chance to enter.  I may be wrong about that but go and check it out anyways,