People Actually Read My Words

I know that some folks do read my blog.  I have known this since I got my first few followers when I first opened up the Platter.  I always thought that my readers were all other bloggers in the card world.  Then, I got an email from Reader Steve.  Steve doesn't have a blog but enjoys reading about and collecting baseball cards.

I was so happy to actually receive a trade offer from a reader.  This marks a milestone in the Platter's history.  Steve got a bubble mailer full of cards from the New York baseball teams.  He sent me a nice mix of baseball cards featuring Japanese baseball players.

This is a nice looking vertical Ginter card of Kosuke Fukudome.  It almost looks like an unlicensed card that is trying to hide some MLB logos.  It would be hard to figure out what team is supposed to be featured on this card.

Steve also sent me a shiny Dice-K from last years Topps Chrome set.  2011 Topps Chrome is coming out shortly.  I hope that Topps has fixed the curvature problem that plagued last years set.  I have seen some pictures of 2011 Topps Chrome and it looks pretty good.  So, we shall see.

I don't really understand Fleer Ultra's subset called Lucky 13.  These cards feature rookies from that particular year.  I think that there is a store in my local mall that sells clothes from a company called Lucky 13.  That is what I think of when I get a Fleer Ultra Lucky 13 card.  I think of fat teens wearing tight Lucky 13 t-shirts to try and look tough.

This was the big hit of the package.  I had told Reader Steve that I didn't have anything to send him for this card but, he mailed it to me anyways.  The generosity in this community is superb.  Collectors are always looking to help out there fellow man.

Thanks for the trade.  I love having readers!

Bid Board Goods

About a month ago, I started going to a card shop called Valley Sports Cards in Tarzana,CA.  This shop was recommended to me by Dodgerbobble.  This shop isn't very close to me.  It takes me about a half an hour to get there.  But, the drive is worth it.

One of the better aspects of this card shop is the bid board.  People pin up some random cards on a wall once a week and you bid on the items.  Ebay style!  Except it's in person and interactive.  I even put some items up there to get a few extra bucks on something more fit for my collection.  Since, this shop is in Dodger territory a lot of people put up Dodger items for bidding.

A customer of the store posted up tons of 2005 Dodger Medallions.  These are metal, coin-like objects that are slightly bigger than a quarter.  The set includes Dodger legends as well as players on the dreadful 2005 team.

Gagne is my boy so, I had to pick this one up.  He has a nice drunken, lumber jack beard going on.  I hope Gagne gets a job with the Dodgers as a coach someday.  Gagne can teach the young ball players how to use roids yet still have a beer gut.

This is was the best medallion that I saw at the shop.  Yhency Brazoban was briefly the Dodgers closer in the mid-2000s.  He had 21 saves for the Dodgers in 2005.  Brazoban wasn't very effective in getting those saves but because the team was awful and had some injury issues, he was allowed to close.  He had a ERA of 5.33 and a WHIP of 1.40.  Not exactly dominating stuff.  His career fell down each year after 2005.  Brazoban had arm troubles and troubles with obesity.

The Dodger Medallions were kind of random to find.  But, I do live in a Dodger hot bed.  This graded Kaz Matsui is even more random.  This card is a 1994 BBM Matsui RC graded at a 10.  Awesome!.  I have never seen this card probably would have never found it in my life but, then here it was in Tarzana,CA.  This card makes me want to find more graded cards.  I hope it will be the vintage kind of card.

2011 Topps Lineage Trade Bait

I showed off my Dodger pulls from the 2011 Topps Lineage blaster that I bought on my last post.  This time around, I am going to show some of the cards that are for trade.  I pulled some solid cards of other teams but, the Dodgers were the best pulls.

All the cards that I am going to show are for trade. 

These cards are really cool.  The 1975 Minis from this set are awesome looking retro cards.  It also makes me want to get some 1975 Topps cards.

I pulled these two Dan Uggla cards in the same pack.  The shiny one is a diamond platinum parallel which is laying next to the base card.  I don't mind opening a pack like this.  If a Braves fan opened this pack, it may make there day.

Here are a couple of the diamond parallels that sparkle more than shine.  I wonder how much glitter Topps had to purchase to make these cards.  Topps may have the biggest warehouse of silver glitter in the country.

This pop-up Albert Pujols should go quick.  He is a star and still hitting tons of home runs over the past decade.  I also really dig the old school 80's design on the rookie cards.  Corey Luebke is having a solid season but since, there are no Padre collectors this card may sit in my trade binder for a while.

Please leave a comment or send me an email if you would like any of these cards for your collection.

Lineage Blaster Break:Dodger Style

I couldn't resist opening up some packs of 2011 Topps Lineage.  I have opened a couple of hobby packs when it was first released.  I enjoyed some aspects of the new set.  The 1975 minis were cool.  The diamond parallels are still looking hot to me.  But, I was mostly trying to avoid buying a blaster.  Those things are a $20 gamble that favor the house which in this case is Wal-Mart.  I even joined a group break to try and get a lot of Dodger cards from this set.  The group break yielded me most of the Dodger base cards and nothing else.

I went to Wal-Mart to pick up some red shirts for work and a new binder.  Those were my two main objectives.  Getting those two items was the key to my trip.  The store happened to be packed on Sunday.  The store was packed with fat people in sweat pants and whiny little kids.  Some of the shelves were pretty barren.  Wal-Mart looked like it had been picked through by a bunch of animals.  The store was out of red shirts and only had small binders left not the bigger ones that are better for baseball cards.

Luckily, Wal-Mart has a card aisle.  Since, I wasn't able to get the two items that were on my want list, I decided to see what baseball cards that they had for sale.  First, I checked to see if they had any good discount blasters.  The shelf only had a 2010 Upper Deck blaster on sale.  I just opened one of these recently and was underwhelmed.  I passed on that. 

The 2011 Topps Lineage blasters guarantee one relic.  Awesome!  I really want to get a 1975 mini relic.  So, I splurged a little and picked up a $20 blaster.  I didn't get a crappy red shirt but, I got some baseball cards!

I happened to pull a ton of Doyers from this break.  The Jackie card is a cool leaping shot of him.  I can't wait to chase the parallels for these base cards.

I also pulled a couple more Dodgers base cards.  These two of current Dodgers, Andre Ethier and Clayton Kershaw.  Ethier is currently playing through an infected ingrown toenail.  That sounds so gross.  But, still not as gross as someone having an injury called a pulled groin.  When I hear that some player has a pulled groin, I think of a more painful, dirty image than what the injury actually entails.  You know what I'm saying.

Topps adding some refractorness to this set was a nice move.  Seeing a Roy Campanella card with some modern flashiness to it is a plus in my book.  The Diamond Platinum Parallel is seeded at 1:4 packs.  The blaster only contains 7 packs.  I was going to get at least one of these and I am glad it was a Dodger. 

I only got one of the cloth sticker cards also.  This one turned out to be of the great Sandy Koufax.  I am so happy that his cards are popping up in Topps products this year.  No Dodger fan will ever get tired of getting Koufax cards.  Koufax is above everyone. 

I still think that Koufax can pitch in today's game.  Probably in the bullpen.  He still has a solid fastball.  Just last year he killed a lion, who was attacking some school children, with his fastball.  True story.

This blaster was meant to be purchased by a Dodger collector!

The One and Only

There are many Dodgers collectors.  There are also many Yankee, Red Sox and Phillies collectors.  Most of the big market, older franchises have lots of fans that collect cards.  The Angels on the other hand don't have many people that collect cards of men in red.  The Angels are celebrating there 50th anniversary this season.  I knew that they had been around for awhile but, just seeing the number 50 makes me a little surprised. 

By being around that long in a big market, which Orange County as a whole is, you would think that they would have more Angels team collectors.  So, cards of Angel players usually sit around in a binder or box in my bedroom waiting to find a home that would appreciate them.  Luckily, I trade with Tom of the blog, Angels in Order.

He is the only guy I know that collects Angels cards.  I live in northern LA County.  My home is pretty far from the OC so, I don't know many Angels fans.  I don't cross paths with them.  Tom is my guy when it comes to swapping Angels for Dodgers. 

I believe this is the second time that Tom and I have traded.  He always sends me a good bubble mailer full of Doyers.  Hideo Nomo has been on some cool baseball cards.  Since his career was from the mid-90s to the early 2000s during the era of a million new sets per a year, Nomo has been on a ton of cards.  Also, since he had a funky, unique wind-up, that made for a great photograph.  Every now and then I flip through my Nomo binder and find a lot of sweet looking photos of his pitching motion.

This is a rainbow-ish, super shiny 2007 Bowman Heritage Russell Martin.  I really like the shine on a retro set.  The 2010 Heriatge and Topps 206 looked killer when it was chromed out and full of shine.

What happened to the Bowman Heritage sets?  They came out when I was on a collecting hiatus.  They looked to be cool looking cards.  Did they flop when they were released?

Andre Ethier looking damn cool!  He probably hit a huge bomb off the Giants and now he is strutting around the dugout like a pimp.  Ethier also throw a guy out at home during this game and made a diving catch.  It was a wonderful Dodger victory over the Giants!

Tom sent me this really cool Nomar from 2008 Baseball Heroes.  This is the Oakland Raiders Silver Parallel numbered out of 399.  This has to be one of the biggest sets of 2008.  The base design is classic and the different parallels is a simple concept that works.

What was the collecting world's reaction when this set came out?  I know the buzz that certain sets have gotten this past year.  Just wondering what the anticipation was like for some of the better sets of recent memory.

Tom you are my Angels guy!  There is nobody out there that will be competing with you for my Angels cards.  We will trade again real soon!  Thanks.

Name The Set

When I attend a swap meet, I often try to find some oddball or cards that are mysterious to me.  Swap meets offer a great chance to find some random cards that I have never seen before.  I went to the Rose Bowl Swap Meet over the weekend.  I already covered the Raiders cards that I picked up in my last post. 

I saw this card featuring Bob Feller and Satchel Paige and I had to purchase it.  This is my first card of Satchel.  This card states that these two played in an exhibition game in 1946.  This was before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier so, white and black players would only play in exhibitions in 1946.  This had to be a big ticket game where ever the game was played.  Feller vs. Paige!  That game was probably a ticket scalpers dream.

I also have no idea what set this card is from.  If I had to guess the year that it would have been released, then I would say late '80s?  It has a similar card stock to the cards made in that era and the condition is pretty good so, it can't be too old.

Here is the back of this card.  The card is telling a background story on Bob Feller.  The story continues on other cards from this set.  The back of the card doesn't give any year or company information.  This makes it harder for me to figure out where this card came from.

What set is this card from?  What year did this card come out?  Please let me know.

Swap Meet Finds Colored Silver and Black

My sister had a table set up selling shirts and greeting cards that she makes.  The table was at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet in Pasadena,CA.  This was a great excuse for me to visit with her and go on the prowl for some sports cards or memorabilia.  The Rose Bowl Swap Meet doesn't have many card dealers.  They have a sizable amount of people selling toys or comic books in the locker rooms underneath the stadium.  But, as far as guys selling cards, well, there are a lot of people that sell junk and those vendors may have some cards at there table.

I try to go on the look out for people with cards that are scattered or in a card box that looks old.  Because cards that a vendor may have are ones that he is tired of lugging around to different swap meets.  With the vendor thinking that cards are too heavy and take up space, they may be more willing to sell some on the cheap. 

Also, swap meets usually have a wide mix of cards available for sale.  You never know what your going to find there.  The Rose Bowl Swap Meet is huge.  It was hot and there was a lot of walking.  I was chugging waters like an animal just to keep going on my quest.

I found one guy that was selling random junk.  There are tons of vendors at the Rose Bowl that are selling a lot of random items such as furniture, clothes, and old books.  This guy was one of those sellers.  He also had a box of cards!

His box of cards were marked at a buck a piece and I knew that I wasn't going to be paying that.  These cards are packaged in top loaders and in a card box that looks like it has been through many shows in its life.  Every thing is negotiable at a swap meet.  That is an aspect that adds some fun to the purchase. 

I picked up some of the oldest football cards that I have now.  This card is a 1978 Topps Ken Stabler.  Stabler was the leader of the Raiders in the 70s.  He was a total bad ass and played hard like a true Raider.

I am not a big football collector at all.  But, I do love the Raiders and love the team's history.  This 1976 Topps Ken Stabler is in nice condition.  I may start to collect Raiders cards of the 70s.  I only have a small amount of Raiders autographs and GUs.

Stabler showed up to games on Sunday hungover and he still would dominate.  Stabler will always have a special place in Raiders lore.  If I was a kid in the 70s, I would probably have a Ken Stabler poster in my bedroom.

These Stablers that I picked up from this seller are in really good shape.  They appear to have been sitting in this box untouched for awhile.  This was a great find in order to get me started on my 70s Raiders PC.

This is a 1979 Topps Fred Biletnikoff!  I love the way the helmet looks to be made of cheap plastic.  I could buy a helmet of similar design nowadays at Wal-Mart on the cheap.  Biletnikoff and other receivers of the 70s had to be real men going across the middle.

Jack Tatum was a wild man patrolling the Raiders secondary.  If he had a shot to take someones head off, he would take that chance.  Tatum put fear into every wide out that he played against.  I need to find more Jack Tatum cards.  There must be some good action shots of him made in the 70s.

Art Shell was the man that I first remember seeing as the coach of the Raiders in the 90s.  The early to mid 90s is when I started watching the Raiders play and Shell was walking up and down the sidelines coaching up the players.

Shell was also a great player as an Oakland Raider.  He is a hall of fame offensive lineman.  He was a monster of a man that crushed his opponents.  His bushy beard featured on this card has mauled several defensive ends in 1980.

That is a recap of the bulk of my findings at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet.  This will also be the beginning of a nice old school Raiders collection.  Please help me out if you have any for trade.

Also, how many of you guys collect football cards?  I know of a handful of bloggers that do collect baseball and football.  To people that know more than me, what is considered football's junk wax era?  Also, what era is considered vintage football?  I need some background on football collecting.  Please help a friend out.