Many Tasks

The hobby of baseball card collecting can be time consuming.  An entire day can be spent tending to your collection.  Hours can be occupied organizing and sorting your baseball cards.  I feel that is one of the better parts of the hobby.

Some people may have simpler, bland hobbies that aren't as time consuming.  Those folks may have hobbies that don't involve a psychotic level of attention to detail.

I love the hobby that I chose.

Earlier to day I got to go to my local card shop and purchase some baseball cards.  I then brought those cards home to sort in various spots such as in trade packages or in piles to be placed in binders at some point later tonight.

I also went through some trade packages that were sent out to the Platter recently.  One of those bubble mailers came from the Diamond King, who sent me this Fernando auto.  A signed Fernando Diamond King card from the Diamond King.

Perfect.

The Diamond King also sent me this autograph of Claude Osteen.  Osteen was a solid pitch for the Dodgers.  He helped them win the 1965 World Series.  He pitched 14 innings against the Twins that series and had a 0.64 ERA.

Almost as important as Osteen dominating in the World Series while wearing a Dodger uniform, is his first name Claude.  That is a sweet name.  For all the folks that are reading this blog and are thinking about having kids or have one on the way, please consider the name Claude.  You would be doing America a favor.

Thanks for the trade, Diamond King.  Your cards are packaged and will be sent out on Monday.

One more thing before I go, I have recently sent out some cards to Check Out My Cards.  The cards have been processed and are up for some bidding.  Please check out my page and email me a link to your store on that site if you want.

"O" Yeah, Trade Post Time

I currently have stacks of cards on my bedside mantle.  The stacks have never been this big before.  This is a good and bad thing.  The good is that I have tons of baseball cards.  The bad is that I have to take the time to catalog and put them in there own resting place.

The stacks are separated by trade bait, computer catalog, and straight to binder cards.  I also have a growing stack of commons that I put in boxes based on year and set. 

I also have a bunch of trade packages that I have to sift through.  I have already opened all of them to see the awesome cardboard that people send me.  Now, I just need to write a post about them.

Posting about the trades is a fun project for me.  I don't view posting as a chore.  Sometimes I feel that actually putting my cards away is a chore.  I just wanted to inform you guys on the state of my collection.

Newly married Ryan "O" Another Orioles Blog, sent me a really grand trade package a few weeks ago.  I sent him a Cal Ripken Jr. GU and he sent me a slew of cards that fit my PC.  One of those cards that he sent me is a classic early 90s Upper Deck card of Fernando.  I love the triple photograph displaying Fernando's wind-up. 

Here is a 2005 Bowman Gold Kurt Suzuki card.  Suzuki is looking mean.  He is trying to intimidate me with this photo.  Suzuki is a mad dog just waiting to attack.  I must make sure that I keep this card safe or else he may jump out of this photo and smother me in my sleep.

These retro mini game used cards that came out in the 2011 Topps Lineage set, may be my favorite part of the 2011 collecting season so far.  They have a 70s coolness to them and they are mini!  Mini cards just look better to me.  This card also contains a piece of jersey worn by Ian Kinsler.

Kinsler is repping the Texas Rangers in the World Series that is currently being played.  Kinsler is one of the reasons that I am rooting for the Rangers to beat the Cardinals.  Despite my last statement, I hope the Cardinals win the next game because Game 7s are the golden game of sports.  I am pulling for a Game 7 Rangers victory because of the excitement that will bring to baseball.

Adrian Beltre is another reason why I'm rooting for the Rangers.  Beltre is probably the best fielding third baseman that I have ever seen.  I lived outside of Philly in the 90s so, I got to see a lot of Scott Rolen also.  I give the nod to Beltre because he fielded the hot corner in Doyer Blue.  I am biased.

This is the best Beltre GU that I have.  I love the low serial number and the enlarged jersey piece that Upper Deck crammed in there.

Ryan also sent along a card that fits into my faded Dodger prospects PC.  Joel Guzman was supposed to be a stud coming out of the Dominican Republic.  He did look like a ball player.  Guzman was tall and lean.  He had the body type that scouts probably said he has room to grow. 

Guzman never panned out in the big leagues.  Guzman was given a big bonus by the Dodgers back in the time when the Dodgers actually tried to sign top teens from the Dominican. 

This card has a piece of jersey from the Futures Game.  Ryan was nice enough to send this to me because I may be the only guy to appreciate a Joel Guzman card.  Except, maybe for Guzman's mother.

Thanks for the trade,Ryan! 

Where Did It Go Wrong?

The Dodgers put up another clunker of a performance tonight.  They lost 6-0 to the New York Mets in a vacant Dodger Stadium.  It was another pathetic output by a flawed roster that is so typical of the 2011 Dodgers.  How did it get to this? 

The easy answer is Frank McCourt.  He is the cause of most of the problems the Dodgers have.  McCourt doesn't seem to care about wins or losses on the field.  These days he is more concerned about court appearances.  Even before his divorce, he seemed to care more about money and smiling in front of cameras.  He always came across as a politician.  McCourt always wanted to say what he thought was the right thing to say rather than do the correct thing with his actions.  He still doesn't get understand that he is supposed to be more of a caretaker of the Dodgers as opposed to being an owner. 

The poor decisions made by Dodger ownership is not just a McCourt disease.  Fox, which owned the team before they sold hit to McCourt, made an awful move by dumping Mike Scioscia.  Now Scioscia has been the manager of the Anaheim Angels for about a decade.  He has won a ring and always seems to have a pretty good team. 

I would love to blame Frank McCourt for Scioscia managing the Angels but, that would be unreasonable.  When Fox was dumping him and Scioscia was teaching the Angels how to win games, McCourt hadn't even known baseball was played west of Chicago.  This move by Fox totally changed the modern Dodger history books.  Things would be different if Mike Scioscia stayed in the Dodger organization.

Jim Tracy managed the Dodgers in the first half of the 2000s.  Except for the 2004 Dodgers, most of Tracy's teams would come close to a playoff spot and then fall just short.  The teams he managed always seemed to fall apart in the second half.  He seemed like a nice man though.  But, nice guys finish second, I guess. 

Tracy is probably happy to be out of LA.  I don't blame him.  I wouldn't want to work for an owner that views winning as not the main goal.  Winning for Frank McCourt is down on his list of priorities between buying a third country club membership and hiring a tenth public relations person.

When Joe Torre was hired as a manager prior to the 2008 season, he brought over his coaching staff from the Yankees.  Don Matingly tagged along and for some reason McCourt promised that he would be next in line to manage the Dodgers.  Once again, Matingly seems like a nice guy and a smart baseball man.  He has done an okay job given the flawed roster that GM Ned Colletti put together.  It just seems like pure laziness that you would give a man a manger's position despite having no experience at that job on any level.

I believe Frank McCourt did this to save money.  That always seems to be what drives his decisions.  He was probably too cheap to bring in an experienced manager because they cost more money.  It also probably costs money, time and resources to even interview different candidates. 

He didn't even interview Dodger hero, Kirk Gibson, for the job.  Gibson is now at the helm managing the surprising Arizona D-Backs.  It is kind of similar to the Scioscia situation a decade ago.  Someone with Dodger blue in there blood isn't given a chance to manage the team.  I am sure McCourt probably doesn't even know recent Dodger history and know how much it irks Dodger fans to see Scioscia in Angel red.  Gibson would have been a fine choice over the Yankeeness of Don Matingly.  McCourt blew it again! 

I am just kind of ranting at this point.  This season is already wearing on me.  The McCourt regime is just pissing me off so much.  He is whats wrong with so many things surrounding the Dodgers.

Ok....deep breath...deep breeth....

The card above is from the 1988 Mother's Cookies set.  It shows Kirk Gibson as a player wearing the uniform that he should be wearing now.  Those were happier times in Dodger Land.  It was a time before McCourt was getting weekly $150 haircuts.

Ok...deep breath....deep breath....

This is a blog about baseball cards not about raging against Frank McCourt.  There are many other great sites doing that a lot better than me.  The first half of this post may have lost some people expecting just to see some cardboard and a couple remarks about each card.  I'll get on track towards the end here.

Tommy Lasorda has been quiet while the McCourt mess has been going on.  Which is surprising because he is always loud and opinionated.  I also wonder what he has been thinking about the current state of the Dodgers.  I view Tommy as the president of Dodger Land.  He seems so happy on this card.  Once again, this card is from a happier time not the 2000s.

Fernando isn't a current or former major league manager like the guys shown previously.  He is now a Dodger broadcaster on Spanish radio.  When I first started writing this post, I was hoping that it would be about the wrong choices the Dodgers have made with managers.  It was a half assed attempt with a lot of anger and negativity.  So, I wanted to end it with a card of a smiling Fernando.  It is a smile that would light up Dodger Stadium whenever he would take the mound.

I also wonder if Fernando would be smiling if he unloaded his famous screwball right at Frank McCourt's face.  That would be awesome!  Frank McCourtColletti!  He passed over Kirk Gibson!  He put the team in poor financial standing!  Oh no, the anger is coming back.  Sorry!

Ok....deep breath....deep breath.....