We Share the Same Obsession

Jeff of My Sports Obsession and I share a passion for trading.  I try to get trades together every week.  The weekly trip to the post office is part of my routine.  I am sure that Jeff has a similar routine.  Some trades don't come together after some emails are exchanged.  Some trades are quite simple.

Spiegel:  "White Sox for Dodgers?"

Jeff:  "Deal"

It is that simple when we get a trade going.

I love the blog world.  Where else would I come in contact with a White Sox fan?

This Conlon card of Zach Wheat was apart of a group of Conlon cards that were sent to me.  Jeff had a post featuring some cards from this set and I had to snatch up the Brooklyn players.

Zach Wheat is a Dodger legend.  He holds team records such as hits and doubles.  In 1923 and 1924 Wheat hit .375.  That is beast! Back to back years of such a high average.  If this dude played on the Dodgers right now, I would be wearing his jersey in the Left Field Pavilion at Dodger Stadium.

These are two very odd photo choices in the 1978 Topps set.  The card shows Dusty Baker and Tommy John just gazing into the stands.  How about a cool action shot of Baker running the bases? What about a picture of Tommy John at the plate?

Even a typical 70s photo of dude holding a bat during spring training trying to look serious would have been better.

I also hope that in both instances the players were scoping out some hot chicks.  Judging by the smile on Dust Baker's face, I am sure he has found a lovely honey.  Tommy John's face says he has found the looks of mediocrity.

   Jeff sent me this card which is in really nice shape.  This card along with some other 70s Topps Dodgers that were included in the bubble mailer, inches me a little closer to completing a team set.

I need to start pointing out cool sideburns more often.  I, myself, have cool sideburns.  So, I should compliment others that are in the same club.

The sideburns gave you the power to pitch in 106 games in one season, Mike Marshall.

Thanks for the trade!

The Platter Roots for the Hobbs' Knights

You may have noticed that I have been posting a lot more than usual.  The reason being is that I bought a new laptop a few days ago.  Now I can post at anytime of the day. The faithful readers of the Platter get more content to read on a daily basis.

Well, I at least hope to keep up at a rate of a post a day.

The people that are late night readers get a treat tonight from the Platter.  It is a midnight post.  There is someone out there in the blog world right now that is just surfing the net looking for baseball card content.  That is what I am gonna deliver for that dude.

That dude is getting a trade post to read!

Jason of Hobbs' Knights and I made a Orioles for Dodgers swap.  I'll start by showing 2011 Cy Young award winner, Clayton Kershaw.  Kershaw is so good that he makes me want to work more so, I have more cash to buy more of his cards.  Clayton Kershaw will makes me work harder and wins ballgames for Los Doyers.

The 2011 Allen and Ginter Kershaw is one of the best of the set.  The tossing of the ball up in the air while looking ahead is smooth.  Kershaw is a Jedi.

I also don't think that I have seen all that 2011 Gypsy Queen has to offer.  I think this may be my first Gypsy Queen mini with a red Gypsy Queen back.  I wish I had opened more of this product while it was still available.

Napkin Doon is going after the Gypsy Queen master set.  He recently posted some cards that he got in a trade from this set.  Some of those cards looked totally new to me.  Even though these cards were released months ago.

Jason hopped on board the bandwagon and sent me some 70s Topps Dodgers.  Jason as well as some of my other trade partners have been sending me Dodger cards from the 70s recently.  You guys are helping me chip away at the team sets.

Elias Sosa with some nice mutton chops.

The more I see 1976 Topps cards the more I dig the design.  The bottom logo and color scheme is eye catching.  It makes the card really recognizable.  1976 Topps doesn't have any clones or copycat sets that get me confused.

This is a 1997 Topps Finest Ramon Martinez card.  Nothing says the 90s like the plastic, protective coating over a luxury card.  This set was top notch back in the day.  The Finest set is still slick with a flashy design.

Should I peel this coating off?

I have gotten a lot of 90s cards with the protective coating on them over the years.  I am pretty sure that I have never peeled it off.  I don't want to damage the card.  Cards should look the same as they did fresh from the pack.  Even when I pull a 2011 Lineage '75 Mini relic from a blaster, I still keep the card in the sealed, plastic bag.

I still am tempted to peel this plastic off.....

I got some more Topps Stickers!  I hope to get doubles of the players I collect so, I can stick them somewhere.  I would like to stick some of them on my card binders or a wall of a dive bar.  Either place will do.

Thanks for the cards and stickers, Jason!

Another Bar Trade

Last Sunday the Oakland Raiders took on the Minnesota Vikings.  I went down to my bar hangout that I go to watch Raider games.  I was meeting some friends there to drink beers and root on the Raiders.  One of my friends owed me an auto for an Al Oliver auto that I traded him.  He has a killer Dodger collection so, I knew that he had something good to give me.

He gave me this sweet Pedro Guerrero auto!  I didn't have a Guerrero auto yet and I also haven't seen to many of his autos.  Guerrero seemed to have trouble fitting his whole signature on the sticker.  He just combined Pedro and Guerrero into a one word pile of blue ink.

This may have been my third post on a trade in a bar.  The bar trade posts may be the Platter's signature dish.

Have any of you readers traded in a bar since reading my posts?

I highly recommend doing it on a football Sunday.  You get beer, football, and cards all in the same place.

I also got to see the Raiders beat the Vikings.  First place AFC West!

Helping My PC At the Rose Bowl Swap Meet

About a couple weeks ago, I headed over to the Rose Bowl Swap Meet.  My sister had a booth there and I wanted to go to check out some sports memorabilia.  The swap meet always has some random sports items for sale as well as some baseball cards.

There wasn't many people there that day.  The crowd was abnormally slim especially with the December holidays right around the corner.  That was bad for my sister and the other vendors.  But, it was good for the consumer with less competition when negotiating on the price.

     One vendor had a really good mix of sports cards.  She had some autos, game used, vintage and even oddball.  I searched through her 5000 count boxes seeing if I could find some cardboard sweetness.

I was needing a 1975 Topps Bill Russell for my Dodgers team set.  I recently printed out the checklist for all the 70s Topps Dodger cards.  Just seeing the whole list made me realize what a tough task collecting all of them will be.  I am going to try and stockpile Dodger cards from this era whenever I get the chance.

The next card that I picked up was a 1979 Topps Davey Lopes.  Topps must of had a habit of using player photos on there cards with trees in the background.  Shots like these show that Topps must be using the same photography techniques as the guys who photograph Little League teams.

I was also able to snag a 1964 Topps Phil Ortega. I have so little 60s Dodger cards that when I see a cheap one I buy it knowing that I probably need it.  This card is in decent condition and was really cheap.  That works for me.

This is a really kick ass vintage card featuring four hall of famers.  I also would like to say that I would not have bought this card if Juan Marichal was the top photo.  Tom Seaver stands out the most with the big boy photo that I don't recognize Marichal as much.

Besides building 70s Topps Dodger team sets, another newer PC for me is vintage cards of dudes in the hall of fame.  This card fits nicely.  If you dig around for cards enough, your able to find some cool vintage cards featuring legends at a good price.

I love finding random TCMA cards featuring Dodgers.  I also never seem to be able to find more than one Dodger per any box that I am searching through.  I always seem to find just one Dodger TCMA and never a whole stack of them to purchase.  The cardboard gods are a tease sometimes.

One more thing on this Pee Wee Reese, the back of this card refers tom him as the "Little Colonel."  Did you guys know he went by that nickname?

Here is a nice 1991 ABQ Dukes Eric Karros card.  Karros is wearing a cheap looking hat.  It looks below even beer league standards.  Luckily, Karros made it to the bigs and got to wear a Dodger cap.

Someday I am going to count and catalog all my Eric Karros cards.  He played in the 90s and was on millions of baseball cards.  Karros may be in the top five for me as far as most cards owned by a single player.

I Met Tony Gwynn Senior!!!

It was a long trip but, I made it back to safety with a Tony Gwynn autograph.  I woke up really early last Saturday at 2am in order to meet up with some friends to head down to El Cajon,CA.  It was a really long drive.  The drive was a little over two hours and we got there around 5am after leaving the valley around 3am.  When we arrived, we were about 5th in line.  I thought that was pretty good.

As you can see, Tony Gwynn has a really nice signature.  I was going to go with a Goudey card but, my buddy Dodgerbobble was kind enough to trade me this 1990 Bowman while we waited in line.  I like this set and I also dig Gwynn's flip-up shades.  Those are glasses that are only for ballplayers.  That is a really limited market when you think about it.

I have been to a lot of Dodger signings and I know the crowds are usually pretty good.  This crowd was fairly small for a hall of fame Padre, who is signing for free in San Diego.  I expected a mob scene.  Then, soon enough I realized that Padre fans are kind of half-assed.  There also wasn't many people in Padre gear.  I did recognize a fair amount of people that I normally see at Dodger signings.

I kind of look homeless in this photo.  I look like I was just hanging out in the car dealership for warmth and the autograph was just a bonus.  I also don't know why I appear to be angry.  I am getting an auto from someone in the 3,000 hit club and just ate a good bagel a couple hours prior to this photo being taken.  My face doesn't match my mood.

I would like to thank the El Cajon Ford for hosting this event.  I would also like to thank San Diego for not showing up in droves.  This let me get a good spot in line and for me to get in and out quickly.

Trading Cards With The Emerald City

The Emerald City is a great nickname for Seattle.  The nickname makes it seem like a pleasant place to hangout.  Some city nicknames don't fit the city for which it is named.

An example is Los Angeles being known as the City of Angels.  I know that Los Angeles means "the angels."  But, when I hear "City of Angels," I first think of a heavenly place, where nothing bad ever happens.  Los Angeles is a city with a lot of sinners.  Some of these sinners have been famous such as O.J. Simpson or Phil Spector.  The name doesn't match the city.

Another city nickname that doesn't quite work is the "City of Brotherly Love."  Philadelphia is know for thuggish sports fans and is a hard drinking town.  Combine sports passion and pints of lager and the "Love" gets thrown out the window.  The nickname should be changed to the "City of Brotherly Love Unless Your From A Different City And Then We Hate You."

The nickname is long but, fits the city a lot better.

I made a trade with a Mariners fan over at the blog called Emerald City Diamond Gems.  Mariner1 is a great trader and has the best Seattle Mariners blog in the community.  He may have the only Mariners blog that I have seen.  So, it is a joyous occasion to send some Mariners that have been piling up in my trade box.

Jerry Reuss was a solid pitcher for the Dodgers in the 80s.  Reuss has the appearance of a nice grandpa.  He even looks like a nice grandpa during his playing days.

Fleer has made some really nice sets over the years.  I have a fond memory of Fleer because I collected a lot of there product during my childhood.  In the 90s especially, Fleer was using great photos and had sweet looking inserts.  By the time that I got back into collecting about a year ago, Fleer was gone.  But, I still am searching for some Fleer from the past.

Mariner1 was nice enough to send me some Mike Scioscia cards from the 80s.  I am a big fan of the 1988 Fleer set.  It has a good ol' American look to it.  Baseball and America are a power combo.  The photo shows Scioscia determined to block the plate in order to tag out a Giant.

My 1981 Topps chase rolls on.  I needed these two Dodger cards.  The Yeager is my favorite of the two.  Even though, the Rick Monday action shot is nice.  Monday just doesn't look as cool lining a double in the gap as Yeager does standing in his gear.

Mariner1 also sent me some 1981 Topps cards featuring hall of fame dudes.  I really hope the Astros bring back the orange uniforms.  The brightness of Nolan Ryan's hat really stands out.  It stands out a lot because these cards almost seem pack pulled.  They are both in really nice shape.  These two along with a few others that were sent my way, puts me even closer to finishing my 1981 Topps Chase.

Thank You Emerald City!

Going on a Fantastic Voyage Back to 1993

About a week and a half ago, I met a buddy for some burgers in Burbank.  He is also a card collector.  He had been mentioning to me about Burbank Sports Cards for awhile now.  I was a short drive away from the shop.  I finally decided to go to check out Burbank Sports Cards.  I may be one of the few collectors in the LA area never to be a customer of this card shop.

The shop looks like a big warehouse but, the store itself is very small.  Most of the purchases are done on a computer and the employees will get the card for you.  The shop did have some 2011 packs, a quarter box and some random packs from the 90s!!!  The 90s packs really got me jazzed to purchase some.  The packs were even cheaper now than they were back in the day. 

I picked up a handful of packs from my favorite era.  I may have another post or two showing my pulls from those packs.  I wanted to start off by showing you guys some cards from one of the best sets ever. 

1993 Upper Deck,baby!

The photography in this set is amazing.  Using a picture of a hall of famer clumsily stepping on first is a great choice.  Another great photo choice is of Joe Orsulak jumping to catch a homer run ball.  The ball is no where in the shot.  It is safe to assume that that ball is outta here!

Having good base cards are a way for companies to get me to buy a ton of packs.  It gets dull buying pack after pack of a set with bland base cards.  Most cards in the set are of the base variety so, card companies should keep those cards fresh looking just like Upper Deck did in 1993.

This is a Henry Cotto card.  Cotto is looking like a bad ass with a neatly groomed, cool mustache and wearing some Oakleys that every ball player wore in the 90s.  Probably most gym teachers had a pair of these shades also.

Here are some stars of the "Steroid Era."  Jose Canseco is chilling in the back and he was the ringleader of this outfit of cheats.  Juan Gonzalez was one of the better hitters in the 90s.  Gonzalez mashed homers and drove in a ton of runs by playing on some good teams.  Rafael Palmeiro was a sleazy looking spokesman for a boner pill.  I don't ever remember seeing Palmeiro have a big league at-bat.  He played a bunch of years but, I just never remember seeing him do anything on the field that stands out even though he had hit a ton of home runs and collected thousands of hits.  But, I do remember his ad campaign for Viagra.  Pudge Rodriguez is the only one in this photo to have played major league baseball in 2011.  He will probably get a couple million dollars to play in 50 games and mentor a rookie in 2012.

I dislike Gary Sheffield but, this card is super awesome.  It is also cool to see him making a diving play while playing 3rd base.  I just hope that when he got up to make the throw that his cleat got got in the dirt causing a wild over throw.

Upper Deck chose so many great action shots that I had to pass on posting them at the Platter.  I only opened 3 packs of this set and got several slick looking cards. 

Every card company should remember this formula:
Head first dive+Mustache+Gold Chains+Eye Black=Great Baseball Card

Baseball Heroes is a legendary subset.  But, even a legend like Willie Mays doesn't have a spot in my collection due to the ugly Giants uniform he is wearing.  This card is up for trade.

I would like a Mays card with him as a Met.  But, not for this card of course.  I expect something far less valuable.

I really dug this card as a kid.  The White Sox had some good teams in the 90s.  Frank Thomas was a beast.  He had a great eye at the plate and drew a ton of walks despite having a massive strike zone.  Thomas was also known for hitting the long ball.  Just thought I would mention that also.  Robin Ventura is the manger of the White Sox now.  Ventura spent a brief part of his career as a Doyer.  I liked him as a player and I wish him luck in Chicago.

The great photography goes on for this set.  If I ever try to complete an entire base set, 1993 Upper Deck will be on my shortlist of options.  Upper Deck even made Darren Daulton look athletic.  That is tough to do.

I will definitely head back to Burbank Sports Cards to buy more packs from the 90s.  I may even start posting regularly on the topic of 90s pack pulls. 

Also, I have posted the George W. Bush auto on Ebay.  I showed the card in my last post.  The card is up for auction and already has a ton of bids only after one day.  I will track the progress of this card and post about it.  This is the highest valued card that I have ever tried to sell.