This and That

The Fall semester for school ended for me on Tuesday night.  The U.S. History class that I took focused on more modern years than the past classes that I have taken.  The years of the 1970s to the 1990s aren't my strong point in history knowledge.  It was a good time to learn about some years that my parents have lived through as well as some years of my life as well.

I can focus a little more time to my baseball card collection now.  I only have a certain quota to words that I can type/write in a week.  School eats up most of those words, so the Platter may be closed for days at a time while class is in session.

How about a long, entertaining trade post that features a guy with a superb level of focus that he delves into dime boxes for hours at a time?

Nick, from the blog called Dime Boxes:The Low-End Baseball Card Collector's Journey, has the super power of a long attention span.  It is hard for me to imagine sifting through a dime boxes for hours.  I love baseball cards for a dime.  I just have trouble getting though 800 cards or so.  I need a break and start getting antsy.  If I make it though an entire column in a 5000 count, I start to get a crazy thought in my head.

The thought to just buy the entire 5000 count box of dime cards.  I know that I will enjoy the some of the cards that I haven't even looked through yet.  Just buying the whole box would save me time and would allow me to go on my way to my next task.  Whatever that next task may be.

I appreciate the passion that Nick has for dime box digging.  It benefits his varied collection as well as the collections of many others in the blog world through his awesome trade packages.

This Brett Butler probably came from a dime box.  There was probably a table at a card show about five feet away from Nick that was selling high end autos/patches.  This card probably topped most of those and was purchased for pocket change.

Some Dodger fans have probably forgotten about this guy.  Some have had a special and expensive surgery done to remove all thoughts of Odalis Perez.

I remember that Perez did have some good seasons for the Dodgers in the early 2000s.  I also remember him complaining about his teammates lack of hitting publicly.  That didn't make his teammates or Dodger fans like him.  I also remember his awful playoff performance against the Cardinals in 2004.  He gave up 8 earned runs in 5 innings over the course of 2 starts.

The Dodgers lost both those games.  Thanks, Odalis.

I have been pondering whether or not to put up my want lists for the 70s Topps Dodgers team sets I am building.  Of course, this will be very helpful to the nice people that trade baseball cards with me.

Bloggers like Nick, have been sending me a solid amount of 70s Topps Dodgers without the aid of a list.  I am constantly upgrading the cards that I already own.  This Dave Lopes beats out my previous Dave Lopes card from 1976.

That is why I am hesitant to put a want list up.  I will probably would just have all the numbers listed for each set because there will always be a better card out there that will be closer to perfect.

After looking up some stats on old pal, Odalis Perez.  Did you know that Perez had a whip of .990 in 222.1 innings for the Dodgers in 2002?

Anyways, I enjoy cards of Dodger pitchers hitting.  This card of Chan Ho Park made me try to remember if he was a good hitter or not.  I surprisingly had no recollection whether Park was a hitting beast by pitchers standards or a no effort bum with the bat.

The internet is a great invention.  I looked it up to see how Park did in his Dodger career as a hitter.  I know he played on other teams but, those at-bats don't mean much to me.

Park had a breakout year at the plate in 2000 by notching 15 hits and even belting 2 home runs.  I am also intrigued by Park's 2001 season as a hitter.  That season he drew a career high 5 walks.

Who are the stiffs that walked Park 5 times in 2001?

One of my collecting goals for 2013 is going to be getting this card signed by Ron Cey.  I owe it to the greatness of this card to get a signature from Cey.

Cards from the Ted Williams sets need to find their way in a dime box that I frequent.  Cards from this set seems so rare to me.

The black and white photo background and the color photo in the front has you staring at this card a little longer than normal.  Your eyes study the detail in the photos.  These are going to be great binder cards.  The Ted Williams sets got it right.

The style of shin guards that Roy Campanella is wearing was still being used in the 90s.  Campy's gear was from the 50s.  I remember seeing catchers wearing those in the league that I played in while growing up playing baseball as a kid.

I am always happy to trade with the Dime Boxes blog.  Nick sends some great cards to me.  Thank you for the trade and having super dime box skills.