No 2013 Topps Today

The title of this post says it all about the words that I am about to type.  Whenever, a new set comes out, I try to avoid seeing scans or reading reviews of the new product.  I do this to not spoil the fun when I rip a few packs of the new 2013 Topps set.

I enjoy opening a pack of cards from a set that I haven't seen before.  I enjoy the surprise factor.  I don't avoid the blogs that post about the newest Topps release to be a jerk.  The time will come that I will get to see the new base cards, inserts, minis or whatever other creative ideas that the masterminds at Topps have come up with this year.

Mark of the blog called This Way To The Clubhouse has written a post about some 2013 Topps cards.  I just saw the title and the top half of a Miguel Montero card.  I at least think it was Montero.  The Diamondbacks aren't too recognizable these days.

Anyways, you readers should check out his post because it is probably totally awesome.  I will just wait to read it after I plucked a jumbo pack from my local card shop and I can compare my observations with the things that Mark noticed.  His posts are good, so even though I am a biased fan of his, I will guarantee that the post is enjoyable.

Another thing that is enjoyable is the trade package that Mark sent my way.  Finding new trade partners is a piece of blogging that I really dig.  It grows the community and gives me new player collections to find a fit for and want lists that I have never skimmed through in the past.

He sent me a couple flashy 90s cards that really caught my eye and blinded one of them.

The above card is of Karim Garcia and it is an atomic refractor.  These were at the top of the mountain back in 1996.  A card like this of a rising prospect in the Dodgers organization would go for a price that I was unwillingly to pay back in the day.

The 90s was the decade where the Dodgers were racking up rookie of the year awards as their farm system was pumping out quality talent.  Garcia was supposed to be in line to have big league success like the other top Dodger minor leaguers like Mike Piazza and Eric Karros.

Prospecting isn't new in this hobby and I am sure that some sucker bought up a bunch of Karim Garcia cards expecting greatness, a fat bank account and bragging rights of discovering the next Doyer star.

Stardom would not be in the cards for Garcia.  That is good for my collection because people are willing to send me an atomic refractor of him.  I am sure that Mark wouldn't send me a Piazza atomic refractor.

Piazza atomic refractors are hoarded by all collectors like Yu Darvish cards.

Mark included a card of a Dodger that actually won the rookie of the year award for the team.  This card blinded my other eye when I looked at it.  The rest of this post is being transcribed by my personal secretary.

This Rauuul Mondesi card is from 1999.  It is also probably one of the last cards to feature Mondesi in a Dodger uniform.  He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays before the 2000 season in a trade that brought Shawn Green to LA.

Mondesi hit a career high 33 home runs in 1999.  It was also a year of his second career 30/30 season.  Mondesi's first came in 1997 and I thought he was going to have about ten more 30/30 years. Mondesi was so good back then that I thought he might be able to be a 40/40 man just like Jose Canseco.

Rauuul Mondesi needs to somehow comeback to the Dodger organization in some capacity.  He was a very popular player while in LA and it would be cool seeing him around the stadium.  The Dodgers need a ripped dude with thick gold chains teaching the youngsters about how to properly wear heavy gold and big diamond earrings while trying to crush fastballs into the pavilion.

Playing with flair is a skill that Mondesi can teach.

Thanks for the trade, Mark.  Your cards should be arriving in a couple days.  Enjoy!

Standing In Lines

I have some pet peeves.  I am sure every human has some of their own.  Some pet peeves are just odder and stranger than the ones that bug me.  One of the common ones that I here from people are their disdain for waiting in long lines.

I'm not sure what gets people most upset about this ordeal, the waiting or being around so many random people that are also just waiting.  Long lines do bother me.  I am impatient at times and hoards of people often annoy me.

This is also coming from a guy that doesn't avoid crowds and lines.  I enjoy crowded, dimly lit dive bars.  I attend many sporting events, where lines and annoying people are prevalent.  I have also lived in or around big cities most of my life.

I can't avoid a crowd but, I enjoy complaining about it.

The Dodgers had their fan fest over the weekend.  Of course, I attended, well aware of the mayhem that was going to ensue in the stadium parking lot.  I was able to get tons of signatures last year.  It was crowded but, bearable.

The 2013 Dodgers Fan Fest was loaded with fans out to see some Dodger players on a nice January afternoon.  The crowd was way bigger than I had anticipated.  The Dodgers estimated that over 20,000 people showed up.  The line to get autograph wristbands was the longest line I have ever seen.

I didn't complain much about having to wait in a line for a couple hours or so.  I am so excited that baseball season is getting closer and to see a turnout like this means that other Dodgers fans are also getting the baseball fever.

One of the reasons that I didn't whine too much about the long wait for a wristband that was only going to guarantee me one signature, was getting to hangout with so many Dodger bloggers.  The Dodger collectors of the blog world had a nice showing.  We had our own mini fest in the parking lot and swapped some cardboard.

Dodgerbobble met up with me in line while I was chilling with Arno the I'm Ballsy blogger and Zakwin the dude that prefers Plaschke in argyle sweaters.  Oscar from All Trade Bait, All the Time also stopped by for a chat and trade while I was waiting with Arno and Zakwin.

Dodgerbobble traded me an extra Ramon Martinez auto that he had gotten at a Dodgers Dream Field dedication in the Valley.  He also gave me some cards that we needed for our autographs through the mail endeavor.

I thank Dodgerbobble for taking a few minutes out of his time from signing autographs for his fans at fan fest to trade some baseball cards with me.

This was the first time that I met Arno in person.  Luckily, he was a cool dude, because the risk of spending time with a near stranger for several hours, waiting in line seems like a scary idea in hindsight.  Arno is also the first person that I met from a place called Temple City.  This place is supposedly in LA and I believe it is on the eastern part of the county.

Arno also had some cards to trade with me.  At some point during our long wait in line, we exchanged some baseball cards.  A Chin-Lung Hu signature is always welcome in my collection.  Huuuuu is in the running with Johnny Podres for most signatures in my collection.  Such an odd pairing to be racing against each other in anything.

I checked out a trade bait link on Arno's blog and saw this John Ely signature.  Ely is no longer a Doyer.  He was traded to the Houston Astros this off season.  This card also features Ely in an airbrushed version of his Chicago White Sox minor league uniform.  Ely's signature also has zero discernible letters.  Maybe I will give him credit for signing something that resembles a "Y".

Now that I discredited, the usefulness of this card to my collection, I will slide it into my non-Dodgers box and will maybe look at again several years from now.

I really wanted to get new Korean import, Hyun-Jin Ryu's autograph.  Ryu is a new rookie, chubby and possibly a really good pitcher.  After, waiting for 2 to 3 hours to get a wristband, Ryu was due to sign shortly at this point.

Arno, Zakwin and I all got wristbands to meet Ryu.  Mission accomplished.  The line to meet Ryu was pretty big.  We went from one line to another.  We were inching closer to getting some ink on a baseball.

After, finally getting Ryu's signature after about a half hour wait in his line was a relief.  I was getting hungry at this point, especially after staring at about 15 food trucks all day.

Ryu is also much larger in person than I thought.  He looked like a large man in the photos that I saw of him but, didn't look as tall as he really is.  Ryu has the body of David Wells and the face of a professional gamer.

After getting Ryu's signature, we hopped into the much shorter Shawn Tolleson line.  I didn't have a baseball card for him to sign so, I decided to add him as the first auto on my random 2013 Dodgers ball.  Many more Dodger players should be added to this from this upcoming season.  Paco Rodriguez, your next in line to be added below Tolleson.

I waited several hours in line and only got two autographs.  Some people may think that is insane and not worthwhile.  Normally, I would think the same thing.  The chance to hangout with some members of the blog world made the ordeal not seem too bad.  I had a really fun time just standing in a parking lot for the most part.

It is also odd that I got more signatures while waiting in line for a chance to get a Ryu signed baseball.  The score was 3-2.  Winner to the generosity of members of the Dodger Blogger Union.

I am not even counting the bundle of cards that Oscar from All Trade Bait, All the Time gave me.  The rubber banded stack that he gave me deserves and epic trade post of its own.

I hope the Dodgers hold a fan fest next year.  I also hope that they can maybe, sell tickets just to be able to better judge how many people to expect.  The Dodgers probably weren't expectant of a crowd this large.  Selling tickets would at least put a cap on the number of people that attend.  That will make getting many more signatures an easier proposition.

Fun day at Dodger Stadium.  Thanks for hanging out Arno and Zakwin.  Thanks for stopping by to talk and swap cards Dodgerbobble and Oscar.

Inching Towards Baseball Season

The Dodgers Fan Fest is almost upon us.  The fest is this Saturday and has a great line-up of signers scheduled to appear.  The list of current and former players that are going to be signing autographs is quite impressive.

Some big names are going to be showing up in the Dodger Stadium parking lot to mingle with the fans.  Such names as Tommy Lasorda and Matt Kemp.

The names that I am most looking forward to meet are some of the newest dudes to the Dodger family.  One of my top goals is to get a Zack Greinke autograph.  The Dodgers newest import from Korea, Hyun-Jin Ryu, is a player that I hope to get a signature from as well.

Mark McGwire is the Dodgers new hitting coach for this upcoming season.  He is probably going to be a popular signature at fan fest.  I am hoping to get a signed baseball by him.  McGwire was one of the stars of my childhood.  He was a masher that could hit a ball 500 feet.

Not all juicers could hit a ball that far.

Many of the Dodgers bloggers that I communicate with have expressed that they will be rolling to the fan fest this weekend.  Not only should I get some Dodger signatures, but I should also be getting some trade packages.  Some of the other members of the blog world that I hope to meet up with on Saturday, have been working some trades with me.  We will be conducting some old school face to face trades.

I used to trade baseball cards with people in a face to face gathering.  The other kids in the neighborhood and I would meet up on weekends and swap some cardboard.  I was living in suburban Philadelphia at the time and mostly traded cards with Phillies and Mets fans.  There was also some kids that collected cards of some of the stars of the 90s like Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr.

I am glad that face to face trading isn't dead and is still a way for me to acquire some Dodger cards.

Another way that I accumulate Dodger baseball cards is by writing letters and getting some autos through the mail.  I got a couple nice returns recently.

Jerry Reuss was kind enough to sign this card for me.  This is also an odd photo choice for Fleer.  Reuss pitched over 200 innings, in 1983, the year before this card came out.  Fleer had many action shots to choose from but, settled on Reuss having a conversation in an empty stadium.  Weird move, Fleer.

Reuss made this card better with a nice blue signature.

I also miss Reuss as a Dodger broadcaster.  The Dodgers have Vin Scully as the greatest announcer ever.  They also have no one else in their stable of broadcasters that range from awful(Eric Collins) to mediocre(Rick Monday).

Fleer could have at least told Jerry Reuss to act wacky like Mickey Hatcher here.  Hatcher must be a league leader in goofy, comical baseball cards.  Roger McDowell may be up there as well.

A card that features a player in an odd pose, such as holding a giant baseball glove, always stands out in a dime box.  I noticed that an interesting photo on a card pops out of 3200 count boxes of ten cent cardboard.

I sent this card, as well as a couple others, to Hatcher while he was the hitting coach of the Anaheim Angels. I sent this through the mail request way back in March 2012 to the Angels spring training facility in Arizona.  When the Angels dumped Hatcher early in the 2012 season, I thought this return was lost in a TTM wasteland.

Hatcher rejoined the Dodgers organization in 2012.  He must have became a nicer person being apart of the LA baseball team and decided to send me a few signatures.

These were nice returns.  Some more signatures should be added to my collection this weekend.  I will see some of you at the fan fest.  I can't wait.

The New Trend

The blog world has always provided some instant happiness into my life.  Getting some baseball cards that fit into your collection, at random, from a fellow blogger is always a joy.

The new blogger craze of sending out a plain white envelope with a couple of cards enclosed has hit the Platter with some well loved greatness.

Christopher aka Nachos Grande, sent me this crunchitty, crispitty, crossed up Mike Scioscia card.  I had mentioned on his blog that I didn't have a copy of a '86 Donruss Mike Scioscia.  Nachos Grande came through and filled the void in my Dodger collection.

The plain white envelopes being sent all throughout the card collecting blog world is putting smiles on the faces of many dudes across the country.  It is a similar feeling to getting a greeting card during a holiday or getting an extra meatball in a sub.

Getting a card in this condition reminds me of a collecting adventure that I may get involved with.  I have been mulling over the thought of picking up some 1910-1911 tobacco cards featuring Brooklyn players of that era.  Some of the cards that I will probably be purchasing will be in a condition similar to this Scioscia.  Nachos Grande was just getting me mentally prepared to not expect perfect cardboard.

The Classic Card Collector has been kind and answered some questions I had about cards from the early 20th century.  He also sent me some thinks that had some good information to better my education before I start throwing some cash around towards my next cardboard adventure.

I also received an envelope with some cards in slightly better condition.  Pat, from a blog called Hot Corner Cards, sent me a couple golden Dodgers.

I say golden based on their borders not their on-field performance.

Pat and I had an agreement for a small two card trade.  I sent him some Tigers that may still be in transit.

The two Topps Gold Dodgers are in really good condition as you can see.  That somehow makes them less interesting to look at as compared to the Scioscia.  I enjoy the battle tested story that the Scioscia card has to say.

If this starts a trend of sending me beat up modern cards, please make sure that they are only of cards of players I hate.  Such players include Juan Uribe, Adam Kennedy, or Andruw Jones and other other ex-Dodger that you can envision my disdain for.

I probably will send out some plain white envelopes this week.  I enjoy riding on the fun filled blogging bandwagon.

Import/Export Business

The NBA is currently playing a regular season game in London.  The game is between the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons.  Has the NBA been sending over regular season games to Europe for awhile now?

I am not a big NBA fan so, I am not really sure if they have been exporting basketball to England for several years now.

This is a good idea for the NBA to grow in a large city like London that also has wealthy people living within the city limits.  It is also a positive because the game started at noon pacific time.  Not too many sporting options to choose from on a Thursday afternoon.  Sports junkies like me need my fix as often as possible.

Noon on a week day for a pro sporting event works for me.

This has also led me to think of other sports that can be imported or exported to countries that may not be known traditionally to view or participate in the given sport.

Rugby could be brought into this country from England.  England has a pro rugby league and we have stadiums that could suit the dimensions of the sport.  The sport has confusing rules that I think the American sporting public could grasp after viewing rugby matches played at a high level.  Rugby has the physical nastiness that Americans enjoy in sports, it has speed and kicking for points just like our football.

Send us some top pro teams, England.  The sport can grow here.

I think MLB could send baseball pretty much anywhere that the sport isn't appreciated yet and it will catch on eventually.  Baseball just takes years to learn and understand.  It may take generations to play, live and breathe with the sports until it takes root in a sporting nation.

The countries that Americans introduced baseball to are now rabid about the sport.  Think about the passion that Japan and the Domincan show for the game.  Baseball needs a European presence to become closer to becoming a global game.

Maybe MLB could stage some games in Europe someday.  Stadiums will be an issue though.  There has to be one baseball stadium in Europe, right?  Just one?

That was just a thought that I was having while watching some daytime NBA action and digging through a trade package that was sent my way from Jim of the blog GCRL.

The trade package that he sent my way was puffed up.  The reason for the bulkiness was this Hideo Nomo tin.  I was surprised to get this as part of our trade.  I enjoy collecting Dodger knickknacks like this.  Someday, I will have half my house filled with items like this.

This tin was made in 1997 by Topps and it contained one moving action baseball card.  This tin was empaty so, I am not too sure what a moving action baseball card really is.  Maybe it was a film strip that one could play on his old school film projector?

That wouldn't be a bad idea for a release.  How many people have film projectors?  Would collectors take the extra time to dust off an old film projector to view such an item?

Jim sent me a few cards from this 2002 SP Legendary Cuts set.  This set in new to me.  The photography is stellar and I enjoy the simpleness of the card design.

I will have to chase down more cards from this set.  There are probably some good classic Dodger photos in this set.

This trade helped me knock a few numbers off my 70s Topps Dodgers team sets.  This project is moving slowly.  I am somewhat close to finishing some of the team sets from the late-70s.

With some luck and kindness from the blog world, I should be able to wrap up at least a couple of the team sets.  That is another one of my random 2013 collecting goals.

Thanks for the tin and baseball cards, Jim.

Also, England please send us some rugby.  I need a new sport to get into.

Different Types of Art

The weather was once again warm in Southern California.  The temperatures have been as low as in the 20s recently.  The coldness of the air took a break today and the warm sunshine gave me some extra motivation to do something fun.

Today was an off day for me from work.  I didn't want to waste it watching European soccer or watching reruns of Law & Order.

I checked the internet for something to do in LA that would be interesting and cheap.  I checked up on some local museums.  The Norton Simon Museum has been on my list of art collections to go and visit.  I decided that today was a good day to check out some Van Gogh and Manet.

This was a worthwhile trip to the art museum.  I was able to view many beautiful paintings and snap a good amount of pictures.

While looking at some fine works, I was realizing that I study paintings in the same way that I study baseball cards.  This may sound strange, but yes, I was thinking about baseball cards while looking at some of the best works from European painting legends.

I view this Manet by looking at the clothes of the subject.  I also glance at the subject's facial expression.  My eyes study every detail of this painting from the shoes to the beat-up black hat.

This Pedro Guerrero mini card does not stack up to the works that I saw at the Norton Simon Museum earlier today.  Not even close, but the way I study the details that make this card interesting is the same way that I was studying famous paintings.

This card stacks up nicely, with the rest of the bundle that Madding sent me from Cards on Cards.  This was one of my favorite cards of the package he sent my way.

Guerrero seems to be wearing wristbands that have pictures of him on them.  I have looked at this card very closely and it looks like he is wearing his own photo on his wrist.  It takes a big ego to do that and Guerrero certainly had enough flair to try to pull this look off.

He also looks mad.  Someone from the stands must have insulted his taste in fashion and Guerrero is trying to fight the heckler with a death stare.

If you are a scrappy underdog, facing a Goliath, it is always best to wear almost nothing but thin cloth.  That is what this depiction of David has taught me.

I also wonder if there was ever a time, where you would show up to a life or death physical altercation dressed like David is here.  Goliath looks more prepared for a scuffle and still loses.  He loses badly.  David has a stinky, bare foot pressed on his face.  That is a bad way to lose a fight.

It is also weird for me to think that, at one point, baseball players showed up to play games in Montreal Expo gear.  This actually happened in the 2000s.  The Washington Nationals have been doing so well building up there team and stadium that it feels like the Expos are a faint memory, that almost seems lost in memory.

I really hope some baseball fans in Montreal are still wearing Expos beanies like Masato Yoshii is rocking on his baseball card.  The Expos had a good uniform and it is a shame that it is lost to baseball history.

One of my top current goals is to build up a Greg Maddux collection.  His Dodger cards are always welcome here as well as his cards as a Brave or Cub.  Madding sent me a few Maddux cards that will look great in a binder.

I hope Maddux makes it in the Hall of Fame next year so, his cards will go into my National League Cooperstown binder.  He deserves a spot among legends like Steve Carlton and Tom Seaver.

Today was a good day staring at works of art and going through the awesome trade package from Madding.  Thanks for the trade!

Learning About Vintage

It amazes me how popular old baseball cards are today.  I don't mean 1960s old.  I mean 1910s old.  Cards featuring players that may have never played a televised inning.  The players on early 20th century tobacco cards had to deal with opponents like Ty Cobb or unruly fans that enjoyed throwing rotten apples at rival players.

Those were harsh times.  Those little tobacco cards from that era fetch some good money at card shows in 2013.  When I was at the SoCal Baseball Expo on Friday, several folks were asking vintage dealers for old tobacco cards.  I didn't just over hear one or two guys asking.  I really mean that several fellows of varying ages asking for these types of cards.

I thought that was interesting and am glad that people love baseball history.  Baseball isn't just a game, it is a learning experience.  Someday, I will pick up some real tobacco minis when I learn more about them.  I need to learn more about the players from the first couple decades of the 20th century, learn the sets names, and know price ranges.  I also need to get some info on how to tell if a 1910 tobacco card is a fake.  This may be info that I need.

If anyone is an expert in collecting these cards, please leave me an email or a comment.  I will even take some answers from people that just think that they are experts.

A vintage vendor dude, had a box of cards labeled as new arrivals.  He stated that these were cards that he had just received and didn't sort them out by year yet.  The 5000 count box was filled with vintage goodness from the 40s-70s.

This Hank Greenberg really caught my eye.  I had never seen a card from this set before.  A fellow collector was sitting next to me.  As I was paying for my stack of cards, he noticed the Greenberg.  I asked him if he knew anything about this card.  I just knew the guy must be a vintage expert.  He brought reading glasses, a magnifying glass, and a briefcase.  This dude was legit.

Well anyways, he said it was from a set that came with a book.  The set is referred to as the 1961 Golden Press set.  These cards were a page in the book and had perforated edges for kids to rip them out.  The briefcase collector added that the set included all Hall of Fame players and was fairly cheap to put together.

I looked around online and found that the only cards from this set they may get pricey are the Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.  Not sure, if I will go for the whole set, but I will try to look out for some more singles from the Golden Press.

I have a lot to learn about the older card sets.  I know way too much about card sets of 2012 and I am not sure any of that information will be useful in 50 years.