Added Intrigue

When you make a trade with a fellow blogger, I usually know what type of cards will be sent my way.  Even when a blind trade is agreed upon, the cards that the bubble mailer will be stuffed with, will fit into my team collections or player collections.  The only element of surprise is usually the quality of Dodgers that are sent to me.

One of my favorite bloggers, Napkin Doon, sent me a rare item in our latest trade.  He sent me a few random packs of baseball cards.  Getting packs of baseball cards in a trade does not happen often.  The included packs added an element of surprise because Napkin or I had no idea cards will stumble out of the wax sealed packs.

The '89 Topps and '89 Donruss are packs reminiscent of my childhood.  I remember opening tons of those packs, especially the '89 Topps.  That was and still is one of my favorite sets.  Napkin Doon must have used his special powers to figure that out or maybe I just mentioned my love of '89 Topps before at the Platter.  Either way, I am pumped to rip open some actual wax encased cardboard.

I don't remember opening up any '90 Topps Big as a child.  Opening this pack was fresh to me despite this set being over 20 years old.  The over sized gimmick must have intimidated a younger version of me.  Minis are cool, the big cards are too scary and tough to store.  Even the youthfulness of my collecting habits knew this.

I have decided to pick out my favorite cards from each pack.  This Mike LaValliere beat out the rest of the bunch.  LaValliere has a chubby face, a bad mustache, and a whirl coming out from under his Pirates cap.  Yup, that wins him the honor of best of pack.

Diamond Kings have a certain nostalgia feel for me.  These were the cool, flashy cards to pull for a young collector in the late 80s to early 90s.  I enjoy the artwork by Dick Perez and these stood out so much when pulled from a pack.  They added some contrasting colors and were able to have a slightly different card design from the regular base cards that added some flair to '89 Donruss.

I have no recollection of ever seeing Ed Whitson play baseball.  He may not even be a real person.  Whitson could just be a mythical ballplayer character created by Dick Perez.  The background of this card has a 70s style trippyness which may explain why Perez created a mythical baseball player.

 
The '89 Topps pack was the funnest one to break open.  I may have to find a cheap box of this set and try to complete it.  I wonder if one '89 Topps box actually contains one whole set?

Carlton Fisk just looks like a ballplayer in this photo.  Fisk is not doing anything athletic or gritty on this card.  In fact, he is just standing trying to decipher some had signals from his third base coach.  It is hard to describe into words, what "looks like a ballplayer" truly means.  It seems to be just an expression baseball fans use to describe some players.  Baseball fans just have that sense and Fisk just looks like a ballplayer.

Napkin Doon sent me some other really nice cards.  I think that I will do him the honor and make this trade post a two parter.  That doesn't happen often at the Platter but, the trade package Napkin Doon sent to me deserves a sequel.

That Is How It Is Done

Being able to write a solid trade post is a basic element of being a baseball card blogger.  A trade post may be the most common type of post written by members of the blog world.  It is a good way to show appreciation to the person that sent a bundle of cardboard your way.  Sometimes I feel extra pressure in writing one of these trade posts.  I want to show proper respect, not only because of the cards that I have received, but also to show respect to the blogger who's writing that I enjoy.

Nick, from the blog famous Dime Boxes blog, is one of the better writers that the card collecting community has.  His posts are frequent, well worded and just plain interesting.  I have read almost all of his posts and sometimes if I miss a few, I will go back and read them to catch up.  Nick may mention a little collecting endeavor that he is working on such as players signing autographs or players dressed in clothes that aren't their baseball uniforms.  I don't want to miss out on what type of new category that Nick is going to collect next.

Take the time to check out his blog and you will come away impressed.  When it comes time to type a trade post about a blogger with superior writing skills to me, that adds some pressure not to disappoint the one reader that will greatly appreciate the words that I am typing.

If you are a new blogger or are looking to get into the blog world, please take a gander at a trade post that Nick wrote.  That is the blue print for how to write one up, that your fellow blogger will appreciate.

Now let me show you some of the top cards that Nick sent my way.  Not only can he write well, but Nick knows how to bundle up some quality cards that make it to my mailbox.

The first card that I would like to show off is a card featuring me.  This picture of my likeness was.....wait one second.  This card has Ichiro's name written on the bottom.

This must be some sort of super rare error card.  No wonder Major League Baseball gave Topps an exclusive license instead of Panini.  Topps never makes errors this egregious.

Now here is an actual baseball card of Ichiro.  This a great action shot of Ichiro slapping a double down the line at Wrigley Field.  If you look really close, you can see Cubs fan Nick in the background.  Those are some nice seats which may be hard to come by in Chicago due to a smallish stadium and a large fan base.

I still don't have an actual, genuine Dodger Frank Robinson card.  This is as close as it gets for me.  I have a reprint of a Dodger Frank Robinson card but, I don't count that.  This was a sadly airbrushed 1973 Topps card of Robinson.

This card is so close to being a Dodger card.  Robinson is in a Dodger uniform, this photo was taken at Dodger Stadium and the game was played against the Phillies.  The team name of the California Angels sticks out and it feels like it is being rubbed in my face.

I also find it arrogant that at one point in the Angels history, they claimed to be the team of California.  I am sure fans of the other teams in California have something unkind to say about that.  The name California Angels is almost as bad as their current name which I won't even mention.

Are sunglasses one of the fashion accessories that are timeless?  Style of sunglasses worn decades ago, still look grand today.  People still wear the style that Steve Yeager is sporting on this 1981 Fleer card and they look good while wearing them even if they are ugly.

Nick once again impressed me with the wide variety of cards that he sent me.  He sent me all types of cards that are going to look good in binders.  I can't wait until our next trade because he is a collector with enough collecting categories that it makes for a fun search.

Thank you for the cards, Nick!

Your My Dogg, Dog

When card collectors get together, we often talk about the different aspects of the  hobby.  We have conversations about what cards we have just picked up or maybe a sweet, victorious Ebay win.  The collecting world is so diverse and many cardboard hounds spend their days in various realms tracking down cards for their collection.

Some collectors go to sports card shops or card shows to purchase cards.  Other collectors order cards online and swing a deal with collectors hundreds of miles away.  We all may spend times in these different venues to acquire cards but, we also have our preferences, our little niche and comfort zone in our expansive hobby.

One of my friends is a high-end guy.  He busts expensive, classy hobby boxes of the major sports and sells the cards that he doesn't need online for some extra cash.  Selling on Ebay and opening high-end product is completely foreign to me, even though we both are involved in collecting the same Dodger cards.

We often exchange questions about our different corners of the hobby.  He asks me about the blog world and one of the questions that he asked was, "Who do you trade with the most?"  My answer was that I usually swap cards with fans of the big city teams with large fan bases.  Fans of the big clubs are the ones that collect their teams the most.

One team that doesn't really fall into the category of "big market team" is the San Diego Padres.  Over the past year, some Padres blogs have been popping up.  The NL West wasn't as well represented when I first started the Platter.  There was always a fair amount of Dodger blogs but, the other teams in the division weren't as prevalent in the blog world as they are today.

Padre cards used to just build up in my trade box until guys like the Underdog Card Collector started popping up.

 
The Under Dog must be able to appreciate a good under dog team like the Brooklyn Dodgers even though he is a Padres fan.  The Brooklyn Dodgers were the scrappy, lovable loser team of the first half of the 20th century.  While the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, the team endured much heartbreak and crushing World Series defeats.  The Dodgers only won the World Series once while in Brooklyn and that year was the classic victory over the New York Yankees in 1955.

The Under Dog sent me a nice stack of Brooklyn Cards like this Preacher Roe.  Many of the Brooklyn cards that he sent my way were from sets that are lacking in my collection.

An old school looking Topps card with some 2001 gold-ness splashed on the borders.  Campy is also painted to look dolled up and with enough make-up to be on his way to a stage on Broadway.

I also got some cards of macho looking ballplayers that aren't painted with a rosy hue.  Kirk Gibson looks like a bad ass with a blank blue cap while playing in a weekend beer league softball game.  Gibson was just chugging beers and eating Cap'N Crunch before his four homer game during his '88 beer league season.  You can never go wrong with a mustache and Cap'N Crunch.

This trade package was sent to me sometime ago and I am glad that I finally had the time to post about it.  The Gibson card alone makes this trade superb in my mind.

Thanks for the trade!

Keep Mentioning It

As I am sitting here watching a soccer match between Sunderland and Liverpool, I am reminded that after the Raiders NFL season ended, I have no sports to truly feel passionate about until the Spring.  The NHL seems to not want to resume games.  Hockey is one of my favorite sports and watching the NHL gets me threw the doldrums of the baseball off season.

I try to watch some NBA action and it just doesn't interest me as much as baseball, hockey or Raiders football.  I also occasionally watch the English Premier League.  The EPL is where I get my soccer fix.  I at least try to feed my sporting fix with soccer.  It is a struggle for me to get into a league and a sport with so much history and tradition.  Learning about English soccer will take me several years to fully understand the sport, culture and where the location of Queens Park is.

My sporting interests will be sort of rested until baseball season.  That will give me extra days to build up some anticipation and passion for the 2013 Dodgers season.

Luckily, the blog world really has no off season.  I never have a chance to really take a break from my collection or from the Platter.  Baseball cards always offer me a chance to type some words about or flip through a binder to enjoy some of my pick ups.

Trade packages always show up year round.  Trading takes a slight dip in December but, never fully disappears.

This trade package was sent to me from Adam, whose blog is called My Cardboard Mistress.  Adam is the one that sent me my favorite Topps parallel.  A nice shade of blue surrounding Hawaiian tough guy, Brandon League.

This card shows League's tattoos on his arms and protruding from his chest.  The art of his tattoos will probably help me give him the benefit of the doubt if he struggles in 2013.  I may go easy on him with my commentary from the Left Field Pavilion at Dodger Stadium.

It also helps that League looks like someone who may be related to me.

  
Adam included a bunch of Allen and Ginter insert needs for me.  The more I mention the insert sets that I am chasing, the greater the chance that a fellow blogger will mail me some.

I don't want to say what Rocky Mountain Oysters are.  Please look it up online or just try some for yourself.

Napoleon and Cyrus the Great getting featured together at the Platter.  I am showing range and variety on this blog now.  That has to count for something.

I just showed Napoleon looking like a distinguished champion.  Now, let me even things out and show Napoleon's major defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.  That is only fair, right?

I sent out a bunch of bubble mailers today to complete some trades.  The Blog of Trade Bait has been quite lately due to the holidays.  With the holidays over, let us get some trades going.

Thank you for the trade, Adam.  

The Better Collection

The year 2013 is upon us.  I am actually looking forward to the new year.  I am usually pessimistic about the new year and expect the worst to happen.  Going into 2013, my thought process is more positive and am looking forward to a brighter outlook.

Some people I know may read that opening paragraph and think that I have lost my mind.  It is rare when I want to point out positive aspects of life.

In my last post, I talked about going after the 2013 Allen and Ginter set.  Set collecting will be a part of the fold for me this year.  I have completed insert sets before but, chasing a base set is foreign to me.  Trying to hunt down short prints to complete 2013 Allen and Ginter next year is one of the collecting adventures that I look forward to in 2013.

Bill Madlock played 15 seasons in the big leagues.  He played about 2 and a half seasons with the Dodgers.  He doesn't have too many Dodger relics out there.  Brad, from Brad's Blog, had this card above listed as trade bait on his blog.  I needed a tiny piece of Madlock's jersey for my collection so, a trade was born.

One of the things that makes Brad a cool dude is that he grew up in the same suburb of Philadelphia that I did.  We went to the same schools a couple years apart, we probably bought hoagies and iced tea from the same Wawa.

It's really neat finding a fellow blogger that you have a past link to,that you learned about through a passion for baseball cards.

Aside from set collecting in 2013, I will also make it my goal to buy some singles of the newer Bowman products.  I am not a fan of prospect heavy sets.  I need my sets to have star power, scrub relievers and old school ballplayers.

Bowman packs don't even get touched by my hands.  I don't even remember opening any Bowman packs in 2012 or maybe even 2011.  That is, if any pack of Bowman is memorable.

Bowman also has a lot of parallels to go along with its base set.  I probably need to track down several versions of this Clayton Kershaw to have a colorful looking binder page.  The chase will be on in the singles bin.

The "Singles Bin"?  That should be the name of a new singles bar that I am going to open up in Reseda.

Another thing that makes Brad cool is that he sent me this mini of Julius Caesar.  This is back to back trade packages that have sent me a Allen and Ginter insert need.

I am slowly chipping away at those sets and should have at least one completed by this day in 2014.

Thank you for the trade, Brad.  Richboro pride!

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.

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.

I Am A Reader

Before the Platter was born, I was a baseball card collector that read blogs about baseball cards.  The joy that bloggers had for their collections and the hobby in general, made me want to be like them.  I wanted in on this great community.  I even traded with some card bloggers before I started my own blog.

Baseball card blog fan, Steve, is the type of trader that I once was.  He doesn't have a blog of his own, but he must enjoy some of the words we write.  Reader Steve, as he is known as in the blog world, makes swaps with a bunch of other bloggers as well.  I see his name pop up in trade posts more than the names of people that actually run a blog.

Reader Steve liked a Bernie Williams Bat Relic that I posted on my other blog called Blog of Trade Bait.  Him and I have traded before and I gladly sent him the Williams along with some other Yankee cards with some New York Mets thrown in.

I was happy to get this auto of Kyle Russell and it is on-card as well.  Russell was a 3rd round pick of the Dodgers in 2008 and has worked his way up the minor league system as a power hitting outfielder.  He isn't much of a prospect being that he is 26 and just reached Triple-A last season.  That doesn't deter me from adding this signature into my collection.  Even if he never makes the big leagues, this card will still be in my collection.

You have seen this swell card from Reader Steve and now back to talking about being a blog reader.  I still read a bunch of blogs out there.  Each card blog has its own tone and offers something different than the next blog.  I enjoy all types of different themes that other people come up with.

A post by John from the blog called Donruss 1982, listed his Top 20 blogs of the year.  I really like seeing another blogger give out some recognition to his fellow card writers.  This list got me thinking about which blogs entertain me the most.

I don't really wanna list them out in any order.  I would feel bad for slighting someone because I am sure that most of us spend a decent amount of time tending to our little hobby.  I just want to give a shout out and a thanks to some of the blogs that have helped me feel the sense of camaraderie and entertainment in 2012.

The Adventures of Napkin Doon is one of my favorite blogs to read.  Napkin Doon is a cool alter ego or is possibly a dude named Napkin Doon that is crazy enough to believe he has an alter ego.  Either way, his blog makes me laugh and his posts about an auction he rolls to at a magical card shop called Cleve's is a must read for me.  The Adventures of Napkin Doon should be a must read for you as well.

Does everybody read Night Owl's blog?  The answer to this question is yes, of course.  Even non-collectors probably read the words he types.  There is a reason that he is considered top dog in the blog world.  His posts are very well written and Night Owl has a good sense of humor.  I love it when he slams the Giants or takes a jab at the Yankees.  When you are the best in the business, you can get away with stuff like that and Giant and Yankee fans will still trade cards with you.  I am still too self conscious to put down other teams very often.  Night Owl is also a Dodger fan, which makes his blog that much more enjoyable to me.

One more blog that I would like to give props to for doing a good job this year is The Chronicles of Fuji.  This blog is run by Fuji and he is a good man from the Bay Area.  Fuji is such a good man, that every now and then he takes some Giants base cards off my hands to give to his students.  Fuji also just wrote a nice piece on former Oakland Raider punter Ray Guy.  Fuji was making the case that Guy should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Since I am an Oakland Raider fan, I fully agree with Fuji and when I read your words and agree with your statements, that scores points with me as a reader.  I also enjoy Fuji's posts about the items he finds at flea markets.  He finds some cool oddball cards and starting line-up figures.

I just wanted to mention a few blogs that made my life a little bit more fun this year.  I read many more blogs and will probably write about some more of them between now and 2013.  Many more blogs deserve praise and credit for their awesomeness.

Thank you for reading these words.

Can't Find A Fit

I am the lucky guy that has this weekend off.  I haven't had a weekend off in awhile.  Earlier today I ventured out to a card show.  I remembered to write down a list of things to focus on at the card show.  Whenever I go to a card show, focus seems to be a problem.  A good list helps immensely.

One of the things on the list of items to keep an eye out for was supplies.  I needed some top loaders and maybe a binder if it was cheap.  Another aspect of hunting down supplies is trying to find plastic holders for oddly shaped cards.  This can be tough at times because some dealers may not be selling any random protective plastic casing for the one dude that may need it on that particular day.

One of the cards that needs to be encased is this 2002 Flair Box Topper Kaz Ishii.  This card was sent to me by Napkin Doon and it is my first Ishii autograph.

This card is also thick due to the slice of wood that Ishii signed.  I will have to roll by my local card shop and try to find something to help display this card.

Napkin Doon also sent me this card which has the ability to stand on its own.  See evolution is real.  This baseball card proves it.  Cards have the strength to stand now.  Pretty soon they will be walking and causing a ruckus.

I am not sure what type of plastic case I will buy to house this card.  Maybe something that is used for ticket stubs?

I really like this card.  Not only were Shawn Green and Paul Lo Duca two of my favorites in the early 2000s but, this card has a lurking Eric Karros.  Karros is seen walking up towards the plate while Green and Lo Duca are congratulating each other for a job well done.

Napkin Doon writes a unique blog and he sent me some interesting cards which I appreciate very much.  Napkin Doon's blog is always entertaining and has good wit to it.  Go check it out especially for his Cleve's Auction posts.

Thanks for the trade!

Sinking Into A Bad Habit

If you are forming a poor trait, isn't one of the first steps to bettering yourself is to admit you have a problem?  You would have to notice a bad situation in order to solve it.  The bad habit that is becoming a part of you must be spoken about and solved through discussion.

So, here I am to admit a bad habit that I have acquired.  It is a terrible blogging issue.  I have become a bad trader.  I write up trade posts before I even send a return package.  I have become that guy.  The guy that waits and procrastinates about sending out trade packages.

I need to work through this.  I am sorry for the nice people of the blog world that haven't into the same habit as me and send out their trade packages in a prompt manner.

Not only am I admitting my trading problem so, I can get back into better trade practices, I am also here to show off some cardboard.  The Daily Dimwit made a trade with me and I still have some cards for him sitting on my desk.  They will go out soon.

The Daily Dimwit sent me this Matt Kemp black refractor.  I haven't seen this parallel yet.  The card isn't as shiny as some of the other refractor parallels.  This card will probably get the top left corner of a 9 pocket page.  A brighter version of this card will get the middle pocket.

Framed relics always look sweet.  The frame adds some class to a piece of fabric.  This card will also look nice to get signed.  A lot of  open space on the card surrounding the cloth.

What is Kenji Johjima up to these days?  I know I can just Google this but, I am curious to see if someone just happens to know this.  For all I know, he is the assistant to the traveling secretary for the Seattle Mariners.

Some trade packages have already been sent out.  Some will be on their way soon.  Once again, I am sorry and I promise to get better.

New Trade Agreement

The post office must make good cash from bloggers.  Bloggers venture into the post office quite often and usually have multiple bubble mailers or boxes to ship off all over the country.  Before the Platter was born, I probably almost never walked into a post office.  I think most other people are that way.

Today marked a day where I actually spent double digits at the post office.  I let my trade packages build up and now had to get them out to avoid more shame of delaying a shipment.  There are hundreds of other bloggers just like me that ship off cards on a regular basis.

A blog that was started in the summer is a new trade partner of mine.  Home of the Toddfather is a blog with a sweet name and a really cool blog design.  The blog is named after Todd Helton and is run by a Rockies fan named Tim.

The design is very eye catching.  The color scheme of black and purple really works well and is a unique color pattern.  Most other blogs don't use black and purple.

I praise the blog that Tim writes and I also praise his trade package.  This is my first Takashi Saito relic.  I have raved about Saito before at the Platter.  Saito gets praise too.

I am not too big of a fan of the Upper Deck X base card design.  The Upper Deck X design does look nicer with a piece of cloth in it.  When I was a card collecting kid in the 90s, I thought all baseball cards would have this design in the future.

I was wrong of course.  Luckily kids don't design card sets.  Sadly adults design card sets and some of them look atrocious.

My collection is lacking in Yu Darvish cards.  The blog community must be hoarding them.  Tim was nice enough to spare one for me.  This is a nice purple parallel of Darvish's 2012 Topps Chrome RC.

Darvish had 221 strikeouts in his rookie season.  He walked a lot of guys and if he cuts down on those he is going to be even more dominant.  I understand the hoarding of his cards, he may be a great pitcher.

Darvish also passes the eye test as well as having good rookie numbers.  The pitches he throws just dance while zipping towards the plate.  Darvish will also probably play on some good teams also.  This will give him more postseason starts to shine in front of a larger audience.

If anybody can spare some of his cards, please let me know.

Thank you for the trade, Tim.  I will be on the lookout for more Rockies for you.

Crazy Summer Weekend

It has been a whirlwind type of Summer this year for Dodger fans.  The team has looked awful at times, key players and scrubs have been injured as well.  The team has looked dominant at times as well.  The Dodgers have played better on the road than at home recently.  The Dodgers had a 7-3 road trip and then only won 2  games this past week at home.

Oh yeah, this Summer has also seen the new Dodger ownership group throw big money all around and acquire some big name talent.  The team has committed themselves to hundreds of millions of dollars work of contracts since the new owners took over this season.

Seeing Adrian Gonzalez batting in the clean up spot for the Dodgers is going to be fun to watch for the next several seasons.  I am so pumped to see a hitter of his caliber batting for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers are only 2 games back of the Giants for the NL West division title.  Should be a fun finish to the season and I am thankful that I get to root on such a beast line-up.

 
Hey!  Look it is Zach Lee!  He is a Dodger pitching prospect that is still in the Dodger system.  So, he must be good because the Dodgers only trade away bad prospects like Carlos Santana and James Macdonald.

Oh, wait......I hope Rubby De La Rosa doesn't come back to haunt us.

The Dodgers have traded away some "top flight" prospects before that turned out to be bums like Andy LaRoche and Joel Guzman.

Maybe Rubby De La Rosa won't come back to haunt us.

Besides watching baseball, I have also been making some trades in the blog world.  These cards were sent to me by Josh at the blog Royals and Randoms.

Josh sent me a good amount of Hideo Nomo cards.  This is my favorite Nomo card of the lot that he sent my way.  One of the reasons that Nomo is a cardboard superstar is that most of his cards came out in the 90s.  Nomo was a big league star and a cultural icon during the era of a bunch of card companies making tons of cards.  The 90s has the best looking sets.  Nomo had a funky wind-up that photographed well combined with the artistic creativity of the 90s was the perfect storm for a cardboard superstar.

Josh also included several of these circular cards.  I didn't have many of these before this package arrived but, now I am better off due to this trade.

Cesar Izturis was a Dodger fielding whiz that played shortstop for the team in the early to mid 2000s.  I enjoyed watching him play because he fielded everything so smoothly and I never got worried if a ball was hit to his side of the diamond.

Kaz Ishii on the other hand made me worry every time he took to the mound.  He always had high pitch counts because he lacked control of the strike zone.  Kaz was my whipping boy on the team while he played in LA between 2002-2004.  Even though, he helped the Dodgers lose some games, I enjoy having at least one stiff on the team that gets the opportunity to screw up.  The crummy player on the team that sticks around for some years and plays poorly but, still plays in a lot of games.  That gives me more innings out of a season to crack Ishii jokes.

Thinking of Ishii reminds me of James Loney.  So frustrating to watch and just waiting for him to turn into something he is not.

So long James Loney.

Thank you for the trade, Josh.

The New Guy

I was at the Dodger game a couple days ago for Kirk Gibson Bobble Head Night.  Zakwin from the blog called Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle was also attending the game.  I was a part of his epic card draft that he hosted.  The draft had a ton of cards to choose from and went on for weeks, possibly months.

It was fun to pick some cards that fit my collection or that can be used for trade bait.  The blog world offers many different ways to obtain cards.  Some dudes host group breaks and some folks like, Zakwin, host card drafts.  I recommend any blogger to help a fellow blogger out and join a break that they are hosting.

I met Zakwin outside the Left Field Pavillion at Dodger Stadium before the game.  He had my cards from his draft and some extras that were added as a trade we worked out.  I had forgotten some of the cards that I drafted.  I had also forgotten to bring some cards to give to Zakwin.  Luckily, I remembered to wear clothes that day.

One of the cards that I didn't remember picking until Zakwin mentioned it to me was this Bowman Sterling WBC Relic of Hanley Ramirez.  He had just been acquired by the Dodgers just days earlier.

The card is sweet because it shows him in a non-Marlin uniform.  I am not going to collect cards of Hanley in a Marlins uniform.  I am going to wait until Topps starts pumping out Hanley cards for the masses of Dodger collectors waiting for them.

However, I will try to track down some Hanley cards of him in a Dominican uniform.  Those cards will still fit into my collection.

This is the first Hanley Ramirez card that will enter my personal collection.  Welcome to LA, Hanley and welcome to my collection.

Why Do I Own the Things I Own?

I love having the energy and enthusiasm to write a post.  Sometimes, the drive I get for typing words at the Platter is when the Dodgers get a victory.  The Dodgers completed a 3 game sweep today over the Mets in New York.  The Dodgers won 8-3 in 12 innings thanks to a clutch hit by back up catcher Matt Treanor.

That is a great way for the Dodgers to start off a road trip.  Having a good road trip should go a long way in shaping GM Ned Colletti's mind on how many prospects he should dump to try and win now.  St. Louis is next on the schedule and that will be a good test for the Boys in Blue.

Vin Scully for the most part doesn't broadcast games outside of California.  The broadcasting duties for a huge chunk of the schedule is given to some ESPN or Fox announcers on the national broadcasts and the other option for Fox Sports Prime Ticket is Eric Collins and Steve Lyons.

The Lyons and Collins duo do most of the television announcing on the Dodger road games.  Lyons seems to make unintelligent comments about the game of baseball.  He seems too lazy to do research and relies on the things he observed as a player.  I prefer announcers who know about the current players that the Dodgers are playing against.  I only get to watch the Dodgers play the Mets a handful of times a season.  I would like some new, informed info on someone like Lucas Duda.  Lyons needs to make me a smarter baseball fan, which he fails to do.

I hope kids don't listen to Lyons speak on television and believe what he is saying is baseball gold.

This card was traded to me by Dodgerbobble in one of our many swaps.  Dodgerbobble probably told Steve Lyons how big a fan he is of him.  Then thanked him and quickly got in touch with me to trade it to me.    No Dodger fan is a fan of Steve Lyons.  Dodgerbobble lied to Lyons but, got the job done.

Now for some reason, I am going to keep this card in my collection.  Lyons may have been a bum of a ball player and a terrible announcer but, he does have a nice signature.  He also added his nickname "Psycho".

Collectors are weird.  I am one of those odd dudes that has signatures of people that I make fun of.  I mock them yet, collect objects with their photo on it.  We are a strange bunch.  I hope some of my brethren in the blog world also have autos of players they clown on because I wouldn't believe I am he only one.

I am not sure sometimes, why I own the things I own?

Spanning The Decades

Recently, I was going through my trade packages in order to sort and catalog them.  I picked up a bubble mailer with Napkin Doon written on it.  This package was from must contain some great cards from Napkin Doon.  Sure enough, the cards that I sifted through were awesome.  The package was a wide mix of cards from the 70s to the 2000s.

I am still trying to fill some gaps in my 70s Topps Dodgers team set pursuit.  Many of the cards that were inside that bubble mailer will fill some of those gaps.  That will give me some work tonight to binder and catalog those cards.  I love the kind of work where you don't get paid to do it, but you fully enjoy your night.  The work that pays you is usually more of a chore and aggravating at times.

Part of the slew of 70s Dodgers that were included were these two here.  Ron Cey is taking some hacks in the batters box.  It must have been great being a Dodger fan in the 70s and watching Cey mash doubles and homers.  It sure beats Juan Uribe.

The Dodgers beat the Mets tonight by a score of 7-6.  I am super thrilled that the Dodgers started off a long road trip with a victory.  What makes me a little down on this win was having the displeasure of watching Uribe have one at-bat.  He pinch hit and flew out.  Just looking at him pretending to be a big league ball player made me slightly ill and I hope I don't have to call out of work tomorrow.

Hey, a Hideo Nomo card on a blog named after him.  Woooo!  This probably needs to happen more.  Nomo was a great strikeout pitcher.  He was also a great guy for sports photographers.  Nomo made a great baseball card.  Tons of his cards were produced throughout his career.  His ability to become a baseball card superstar is one of the reasons he is so fun to collect.

This Raul Mondesi relic must have been the centerpiece of our trade.  I am unsure but, this card is so sweet that I must have sent something top notch to Napkin Doon for it.  This card leaps to the top of my Raul Mondesi collection.  Mondesi is one of the past Dodger stars that I don't have cataloged on Microsoft Excel.  I am unsure how many Mondesi cards I have but,it is probably quite a few.

Nomo, Piazza and Kemp may be the top three.  Mondesi may be top five on my list.  The 90s produced a ton of cardboard so, the 90s stars will always rank high.

This card has a game used bat and is super shiny.  That puts it at the tops of the hill of Raul Mondesi cards in my collection.

Does anyone have a certified auto of him for trade?

Napkin Doon writes one of my favorite blogs.  His posts about the auctions at his local shop are a fun read.  He seems to find some interesting cards for great prices.  Also, be sure to check out his posts on the All-Star game activities that he partook in.  

Thanks for the trade!

Rallying Back

It has been awhile since I have typed up some words at the Platter.  I also have cut down on my card buying significantly.  I still have a lot of trade packages to scope through and there are still stacks of cards on my bedside.  That is the reason for not purchasing many more cards.  I have so many that I still need to box, binder and enjoy, sitting right next to me.

The best way for me to get back in the habit and mood for blogging is to write something up that I am most passionate about.  A part of blogging that I dig the most is building trade partnerships with people thousands of miles away.  Night Owl and I seem to always set cards aside for each other.  We send bubble mailers from California to New York about once a month.

 
There have probably been a handful more blogs that have popped up since my last post.  Some of you may be new readers at the Platter.  Just to get the new guys acclimated to my blog, I collect all types of Hideo Nomo cards.  That may be obvious from the title of my blog.  This is also a Dodger themed blog.  I collect Nomo in any uniform including his stint in Detroit.

I remember asking Night Owl to set this card aside for me several weeks or several months back.  He has many trade partners, I have no idea how he keeps track of all his card swaps.

I love shiny cards of Dodger hall of famers.  This card features a young looking Don Sutton.  I am so used to seeing Sutton with a curly 'fro that is shocks me that he didn't always rock the curls.

Sutton must have started growing a clownish style of hair as he progressed through his hall of fame career.  He must have done so, to hide his big ears.

I have a signed version of this Frank Howard card.  The signed version has a Topps Heritage feel and is an on-card autograph.  This shiny one is sweet though.  I wish the shiny version was signed also.

The Dodgers need a player like Frank Howard right now.  The 2012 Dodgers need a big, hulking, right handed hitting first baseman.  I am sick of watching James Loney bat.  I am also sick of seeing the 2012 Dodgers line-up loaded with lefties against left handed pitching.  Give us a righty Ned Colletti!

Hell, get Frank Howard back in the batting box.

Great card of Cy Young winner, Clayton Kershaw.  This is when he was repping Team USA as youngster.  Kershaw probably knew even back then that he was going to become a beast Doyer.

The Dodgers start a big series against the Frisco Giants tonight in about and hour.  Night Owl will probably be watching the game thousands of miles away.  Viva Los Doyers!

Thank You!

Just The Hits

I recently saw Greg Zakwin from Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle at the Dodger Fan Fest last weekend.  We talked some baseball and about cards for a bit.  I actually handed him a couple cards that he had asked for a while back.  Zakwin and I had made a trade at Valley Sports Cards several weeks ago and these two cards completed that trade.

That trade involved me giving him a huge chunk of my Ryan Braun collection.  I only collect cheats that are Dodgers because they were at least risking their long term health for Doyer victories.  But, cheats on other teams steal MVPs from Matt Kemp.  Not cool, Ryan Braun.

Anyways, when I saw Zakwin at the fan fest, I mentioned that I still needed to post the cards that he gave me weeks ago.  He looked sad and disappointed.  He even cried a little and then that made me cry as well.  I felt that I let him down by my long awaited trade post.

The tears have went away now and I am ready to show off the goods from Zakwin.

I hate hybrid cards with a different team name as compared to the uniform Adrian Beltre is wearing.  My love for bat relics and Beltre power makes up for Upper Deck tackiness.

The Dodgers have been on an endless search for an above average third baseman since Beltre left after the 2004 season.  Casey Blake has been the best of the bunch.  That doesn't say much because guys like Juan Uribe and Mike Edwards have manned the hot corner since Beltre's departure.

In 2003, Chin-Feng Chen was known as a future phenom in some circles.  In 2012, Chin-Feng Chen isn't known as anything to anybody.

Chen was a big time power threat coming out of Taiwan.  He hit 31 home runs in his minor league debut season as a 21 year old in high-A ball.  He was a consistent 20-25 homer guy throughout his minor league career after his 31 homer season.

He only ended up with two hits in the majors in 25 plate appearances.  Chen never got much of a chance at the big league level.

Welcome to my collection of Dodger busts, Mr.Chen.

 
Another Andre Ethier to add to my collection.  Ethier is having a really nice season so far. At the beginning of the season, I was thinking that the Dodgers shouldn't resign him after the season.  His demands may be too high and he was coming off some injury plagued and sub par seasons.

So far, Ethier has been a beast in 2012.  He has hit lefties better and seems faster this year in the outfield and on the base paths.  I am now kind of hoping the new Dodger owners give him an extension.

 
This is a super flashy card of Kaz Ishii with a piece of white jersey.  The previous card of Andre Ethier has a piece of gray jersey.  Not much more color but, gray is better than a white piece of cloth.  Oddly, this Ishii card is numbered out of 25.  Leaf should have made the Ishii card with a piece of a number or letter.  Maybe a small piece?

Sorry for the delay on this post, Zakwin.  Next time we meet up, we'll swap some cardboard again.