Go Away Winter!

The weather is even gloomy in LA during this time of year.  The sky is gray and the rain has been off and on. The rain won't even get in a downpour that may be cool to look at.  Outside is just really glum and makes me very sleepy.

I wish the winter months were a boom time for receiving trade packages from the blog world.  The weather is much worse in most other parts of the country right now and I am sure a few collectors out there need a boost that comes with getting a bubble mailer stuffed with baseball cards.

This recap of a trade package that I got from Roy from Plain Gray Swatch will be the last bubble mailer from a blogger that I have sitting on my desk.  The trade packages are clear from my desk.  I think this only occurs during the holiday season.  During baseball season, I can't keep up with all the cards that I am swapping.

Here is a nice Chin-Feng Chen rookie card.  Chen had a whopping 2 hits in 22 major league at-bats spanning 4 seasons.  He also had 3 walks in his career as well as 13 foul tips.

I am actually that collector that wanted this card because of Chin-Feng Chen's appearance on the card beside Cory Patterson and Josh Hamilton.  Chen last played major league baseball in 2005.  Patterson, surprisingly saw big league action in 2011 with the Toronto Blue Jays and St.Louis Cardinals.

Josh Hamilton is going to sign a huge contract pretty soon.  He has been one of the better hitters in baseball over the past few seasons.  If the National League had the designated hitter like the American League, I believe the Dodgers would probably make a run at him.  Instead, Hamilton will hopefully stay in the AL with little chance to hurt the Dodgers.

I love getting older cards of Eric Gagne.  Gagne is shown here wearing the unfamiliar number of 48.  His hat looks clean too.  It doesn't have the sweat stains on the cap that was seen as sexy by thousands of female Dodger fans.

Gagne was a few years away from winning a Cy Young award when this card came out.  Nobody thought that this guy had Cy Young potential back in 2000.

Former Dodger Chan Ho Park announced his retirement from professional baseball a few days ago.  Park was a very good Dodger starter in the late 90s-early 2000s.  Park had back to back 200 strikeout seasons in LA during the 2000 and 2001 seasons.

Park left the Dodgers after the 2001 season and signed with the Texas Rangers for big money.  The signing turned out to be a disaster while Park had an ERA over 5 in each of his 4 seaons as a Ranger.

Park returned to LA in 2008.  He pitched well that season and helped the Dodgers get to the NLCS.  Park will always be remembered as a Dodger first because he pitched a lot of seasons for the team and he had his best seasons in LA.

Thank you for the trade, Roy.  This is one of my favorite Chan Ho Park cards.