I'm A Show Off

It is a dreary day in Los Angeles right now.  The sun hasn't risen in a few days and the dark clouds have finally burst with filthy, acidic rain.  My little Fiat has been sliding over the roads as I cruise along the freeways of the Valley.  It is better to just stay in and enjoy the glorious cardboard that has been sent my way from the blog world.

I started to write out a daily task list each morning.  I heard this was the best way to try and accomplish some goals.  I had actually heard this over a decade ago and I let procrastination get the best of me.  After two whole days of writing out a to-do list, I am finding out that listing out goals may actually work.

One of the objectives of this cloudy Thursday, was to write up a mega trade post.  Some bubble mailers have been piling up on my desk and it was time to start sorting through them.  

Democratic Roadkill is a big time Allen and Ginter mini collector.  I have been trying to complete some Ginter mini sets of my own from 2012.  This has proven to be an extremely tough task and is taking a very long time.  I have been reluctant to even put up the 2013 Allen and Ginter sets that I am currently trying to finish.  I was just hoping that readers of the Platter could just see into my mind and send me some 2013 mini Ginter inserts.

Democratic Roadkill has knocked off many of the 2012 Ginter cards that I was after.  This has given me the motivation to post up the 2013 Ginter cards that I am chasing.  I am very thankful for that.

One of the keys to my collecting heart is getting cards of my childhood idols.  Specifically, receiving 90s inserts of my favorite Dodgers.  Some might say that getting 90s inserts of my favorite players is the key to my collecting heart.  Actually nobody says that.  Only I find that to be true.

The Lost Collector brought some shiny greatness into my collection.  I would have traded a Fleer Ultra insert of Cal Ripken Jr. or of Frank Thomas back in '96 for this Mike Piazza card.  This would have been highly sought after by a young bike riding Spiegel.

The Piazza wasn't the only 90s gem to fall out of a bubble mailer sent to me by the Lost Collector.  He also sent me this embossed Raul Mondesi insert from '95 Fleer.  Back in the day this card would have cost me a John Kruk or a Tim Salmon insert.  I would have gladly dumped a mullet haired fat guy or a rotting salmon for a muscular Rauuuuul.

The Lost Collector made my heart warm and fuzzy with these two cards for my collection.  What a swell fellow.

Sometimes I bump into bloggers on other corners of the collecting landscape outside of the blog world. Over at the Sports Card Forum, I ran into Tim from the Home of the Toddfather blog.  We worked out a trade and sent each other cards of our favorite teams.  

This Hideo Nomo is new to me which is always a good thing at the Platter.  This card hails from a set I had never heard of called Ballpark Idols by Upper Deck.  This card also features Nomo standing on the edge of the mound peering at an incoming grounder.  This photo may have been taken during some sort of fielding drill as no other players are standing in the background.

I used to watch pitchers work on fielding drills back in the day during spring training in Vero Beach.  Pitchers always seemed bored going through these drills.  Fielding your position is important and fans always get hulk style angry when a pitcher boots an easy comeback dribbler during a game.  

Nomo looks focused in the picture.  He was a true professional.

 

I was sent many great cards from this bundle from Tim but this is my favorite.  This actually may be one of my favorite cards of all time.  Tommy Lasorda drinking a milkshake?  In the form of a cartoon caricature? As the card states this is fun stuff.  Cards like this makes me so proud to be an avid collector of Dodger baseball cards.

This Lasorda is definitely the show stopper for this mega trade post.  Thanks for the cards my fellow bloggers.  Time to drop the mic and walk off. 

Ending A Cold Streak

Opening up a pack of baseball cards is a pure gamble.  You pay money to rip open foil packaging in the hopes that the cards inside are ones that you would like to keep.  Hopefully, the pack at least contains cards that you can flip for something that suits your collection.

I have been on a cold streak when it comes to playing the pack ripping lottery.  Over the past couple months, I have gotten some nice parallels, base cards and inserts.  But, none of those cards made me jump up with a high kick like David Lee Roth.

The game used and autos haven't been pulled has frequently.  This Mark Reynolds 2012 Allen and Ginter Game Used Jersey was one of my more recent hits pulled from a pack.  I got this one from a blaster that was being sold for a little under 20 bucks at a card show.

Luckily, the blog world is home to many Baltimore Oriole collectors.  One of them will get their hands on this card at some point.

This card also didn't get me too excited when I pulled it.  I was mostly surprised that I even was able to pull something with cloth on it from a blaster of Ginter.

I needed to start buying some packs of something non-Topps.  I felt the best way to change my luck and pull some nice cardboard was to give Panini a try.  I have seen some photos and read about the 2012 Panini Cooperstown Baseball set.  It was time to give this product a shot.

The card shop that I go to had some packs of Cooperstown.  This Tommy Lasorda was the top card of one of the first packs I opened.  This card sold me on this product.  I haven't seen this photo before and Lasorda hasn't been popping up in many Topps sets lately.  A black and white photo of Lasorda and his gut throwing batting practice is classic.

The cards in this set remind me of the Conlon Collection cards from back in the day.  The glossy photos featuring baseball legends is a welcome return to the hobby.

Cooperstown also has an insert set featuring the legendary baseball announcers in the Hall of Fame.  I pulled the Red Barber from this set.  Vin Scully is also in this set and I will get my hands on that card soon enough.

The Voices of Summer set also have Harry Kalas, Ernie Harwell and Ty Cobb on the checklist.  Wait?!?!  Ty Cobb was a voice of a summer?  That doesn't seem right but, that is another card that I will eventually get my hands on.

Panini went all out by using some great photography for this release.  Some old school ball parks are included in an insert set.  This is a card featuring the former home of the Boston Americans.  The stadium was called the Huntington Avenue Grounds.

The park seems to have a seating style mostly seen at a Nascar event.  The field also seems to have a short porch in right field.  It must have been a haven for bombs hit by left handed hitters.

Boom!  I actually pulled an autograph of a card that I will keep.  I won't have to do the extra work to trade it for something I want.  This card is the first Hall of Famer signature that I have pulled myself.  I have met Tony Gwynn Sr. and got his autograph.  I have traded for a Gaylord Perry auto before.  But, never pulled one from a pack that I bought myself.  That makes this card mean a little bit more to me.

This is the type of pull I have been talking about.  An on-card autograph of Fergie Jenkins fits in my Hall of Fame collection and ends a cold streak of the dullness I have been pulling.

The Jenkins and the Lasorda base card makes opening 2012 Cooperstown worth it.  The set offers a lot for fans that love the history of baseball and collectors that enjoyed the Conlon Collection sets.  The photography is superb and the checklist is amazing.

This set is Platter approved and I will be opening up more of this product.  I will also be chasing the Voices of Summer insert set.  Please be on the look out for the want list that I will be adding for that pursuit.

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.....