empirically, these cards are fantastic

i recently had the opportunity to meet brian, he of everybody's favorite new blog highly subjective and completely arbitrary at the local monthly card show.  we had agreed to meet near one of the vintage bargain bin dealers that i have written about so frequently and swap some cards.  it turned out to be a fitting location, as one of the cards brian dropped on me was this one:

clemente, carty, and aaron.  card number 1 in the 1965 topps set - a set which i am making slow progress towards completing.  like i said in the title - fantastic.

there were a bunch of dodgers, too, like a 2015 topps clayton kershaw rainbow foil parallel

a 2014 topps stadium club clayton kershaw field access insert

(which uses a photo that very well could wind up on a panini release), and another kershaw - this time with sandy koufax, warren spahn, and steve carlton on a 2013 topps archives 1969 4-in-1 decal insert

that's heady company for the dodger ace, but he's deserving of it.  here's another dodger lefty who garnered some high praise early in his career, fernando valenzuela on a 2915 topps baseball history insert

among the things that brian and i discussed was the appeal of o-pee-chee.  brian already knew about my  opc blog, and is actually collecting the 1965 o-pee-chee set.  he included a 1979 opc burt hooton card in the trade

which was again, fantastic. 1979 may be my favorite o-pee-chee set because of the logo in the ball.  the logo appeared again in 1982, but i prefer '79 to that set.  the only drawback to the '79 set is that there is no french on the front.

here's a 1993 topps gold jay howell parallel

and a 2008 topps gold foil casey blake parallel

and a 2003 upper deck 40 man card of paul quantrill

that quantrill would fit nicely in brian's sunglasses mini collection, but i am happy to have one of the few cards of quantrill as a dodger.

this was the second blogger i've met in person (paul from carl crawford cards is the other), and it was fun to connect with another collector like that. especially when cards like these were exchanged.  thanks brian - looking forward to the show next month!

a mcmemorial mcpatch for ray a kroc

raymond albert kroc was, among other things in his lifetime, a milkshake mixer salesman when in 1954 he met the mcdonald's brothers and recognized the potential for expansion that their hamburger business offered.  kroc eventually bought the brothers out of the business and took the restaurant worldwide.  in 1974, he used some of the money he had made from his mcdonald's empire and bought the san diego padres.  after he died of heart disease in january of 1984, the team added his initials to their left sleeves in tribute.

here's a 1985 topps steve garvey card that shows the memorial worn in 1984, the first year the padres appeared in the postseason

and it shows up on garvey's 1985 topps record breaker, too.

it's there on eric show's 1985 topps card, too

and carmelo anthony's 1985 donruss card offers a really good look at it

but i've got this 1984 star steve garvey card in the memorial binder as the 1984 example of the memorial

thanks to the fact that it's garvey and he's wearing a mcdonald's wristband.

the padres wore the memorial again in 1985, perhaps inspired by the chicago bears who had begun wearing george halas' initial on their uniforms following his death in october of 1983 and continued to do so the following year.  in fact, the 'gsh' on the bears jerseys has never been removed since it was first added over 30 years ago.  anyway, here are some examples of the memorial from the 1985 season.

1986 leaf dave dravecky

and 1986 topps mario ramirez

the ramirez card is in the binder, too.

the pads wore the memorial in 1986 as well, and there are some 1987 cards that show it fairly well.

1987 fleer garvey

1987 topps tony gwynn

with dodger catcher alex trevino lurking

1987 topps carmelo martinez

1987 donruss garry templeton

1987 donruss randy asadoor

and 1987 donruss ed wojna

those last two cards feature a nice dodger stadium, so they are both in that binder, but i have the wojna card in the memorial binder, too.

although the padres did not wear the memorial beyond the 1986 season, it has shown up on a few cards since then, like this 1992 fleer ultra tony gwynn commemorative series card

and this 2013 topps archives gwynn card

and, when the padres wear their 1984 throwbacks, the memorial makes a return as well, as evidenced by yorvit toerralba's 2010 topps update card

kroc, who once apologized to fans over the stadium loudspeaker for the padres' poor play, was a benefactor to many charities, including those involved in the research and treatment of various diseases, including alcoholism.  he also oversaw the development of the ronald mcdonald house charities and was a member of the inaugural class in the san diego padres hall of fame.

a memorial patch for gary carter

after gary carter passed away in february of 2012, the mets added a patch to their jerseys in his honor.  the plate shaped patch with his nickname (kid) and number 8 can be seen on kirk nieuwenhuis' 2012 bowman platinum card

sometimes, the patch was worn on the upper right chest, as seen on josh edgin's 2012 topps update card

and during the 2012 all-star game, the patch was worn by the met representatives on the upper left chest, as evidenced by david wright's 2012 topps update card

usually, however, it was on the right sleeve as demonstrated by the nieuwenhuis card up top, and by this 2013 topps archives johan santana card

which edged out the nieuwenhuis for a spot in the binder.

carter played only five seasons with the mets (1985-89), but he drove in over 100 runs twice in that time, and finished third in the mvp voting in 1986.  of course, carter's leadership of the club played a big role in their world championship that year, and he probably deserved the series mvp award more than ray knight.  it was carter who tied the score in game 6 with an rbi single, forcing extra innings, and it was carter who started the improbably rally in the 10th inning with a 2-out single.  he also drove in the tying run in game 7.  creach the hall of fame, but montreal had lost their franchise to washington dc, and the nationals did not wear a patch similar to the mets.

carter was diagnosed with brain tumors in 2011, and despite treatment, new tumors were found in 2012 shortly before his death. he was just 57 years old.  it is worth noting that carter's number had been retired by the expos following his retirement in 1993, and he was the first expo to reach the hall of fame, but montreal had lost their franchise to washington dc, and the nationals did not wear a patch similar to the mets.

is he back?

matt kemp's got his average up to .283 for the season, and in the last two weeks, he's hitting .391 with 6 homers and 13 rbi plus two stolen bases.  still, that's not necessarily 2011 matt kemp or even 2012 matt kemp, but it's better than 2013 matt kemp.  i am hopeful that the injuries are healed and the confidence is back, and that don mattingly doesn't overthink his four outfielder situation and just lets kemp play.  meanwhile, this is kemp's 1972 topps basketball design insert from 2013 topps archives

featuring the brooklyn dodger helmet and the la dodger sleeve patch.  must have been a photo from an april 15 game.  i've been meaning to show that card for about a year now, but i guess i've been waiting for signs of life from the dodger (former) center fielder.

let's take a trip back in time and visit some card backs.  this one is from 2005 bowman

so, the dodgers hoped kemp "would develop into a bigger version of…brian jordan".  kemp is just 29, and i would say that mission has been accomplished, aside from the nfl career.

here's the front of the 2005 bowman card

sadly, i don't have one of the chrome autographed versions.

here's another back, this one from 2005 topps total

so, it appears that matthew could excel at the high-a level?  27 home runs, 90 rbi, .306 batting average, and an ops of .918 in 2005 at high-a vero beach.  yes, he did excel at high-a.

here's the front of that card, with kemp sharing space with heath totten

totten got his k/9ip ratio up to 6.2 in 2005 at triple-a, but that wasn't enough proof that he could "mow down hitters" to earn a call-up from the dodgers.  instead, he wound up going to the phillies organization before eventually returning to the dodgers' minor leagues in 2008.

here's one more kemp - this one from 2012 topps heritage featuring the league rbi leaders from 1963 and 2011

the "then and now" theme plays well with kemp's return to form.  i just hope there is a lot more of his "then" in his "now".

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em

back in 1974, the dodgers faced off against the oakland a's in the world series.  james augustus hunter, better known as 'catfish' made two appearances in the series - he earned the save in game 1 by striking out the only batter he faced (joe ferguson) and then got the win in game 3 after starting and going 8 innings.  in that game, bill buckner took him deep for a solo home run - the only run the dodgers would score against him.  also in that game, davey lopes was 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 steals against hunter, which qualifies as a classic world series matchup according to the 2002 upper deck world series heroes set.  here's a davey lopes jersey relic from that set that p-town tom of the blog waiting 'til next year sent me a while back

i do so appreciate relics of ron cey, lopes and bill russell, since they are not as plentiful as those of steve garvey.  i think cey is the only one without a jersey card in this particular set.  anyway, lopes later went and joined the a's following the dodgers' world series victory in 1981.  he was traded to the cubs late in the 1984 season, but topps still showed him in a's gear in 1985.  here's his 1985 topps tiffany card as proof

tom also sent an autographed card of one of the other dodger infielders - ron cey signed a copy of one of his cards from the 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams set

cey is a great ttm signer, so i would imagine that's how this one got signed.  i do plan to finish the timeless teams blog, by the way.  this year for sure.

not all of the cards in the trade package were of the infield - there were lots of other dodger goodies.  here's a 1982 tcma baseball's greatest pitchers card of don newcombe

and even a 1989 score jay howell card

can be appreciated for the unocal logo and old field level scoreboard from dodger stadium in the background.

dodger stadium is in the background of mark ellis' 2013 topps walmart blue parallel as well

but seeing part of a bud light sign is not as nice as that scoreboard on howell's card.

tom sent another relic card, too.  from 2013 topps archives, it's andre ethier giving up the shirt on his back

speaking of archives, i understand that the 2014 set will use the 1973, 1986, 1989 and 1980 set designs.  why use 1980 again? it was just used in 2012 archives.  i'm guessing that there will be one or two short prints (again) that use the 1978 design, but it would be nice if topps used it for the base set sometime.  of course, if they have bill russell on the auto checklist this year, i might give them a pass.

thanks for the trade tom!  and it looks like, once again, you will be waiting until at least next year for your cubs.

1978 topps redux

because it was the first set i collected, i think that the 1978 topps set design is great.  i plan on buying some heritage in 13 years due to that fact, and, i have completed my 1978 topps extended set by acquiring the variation and 'missing' cards that were included in the various 1978 burger king releases and 1978 topps zest.  heck, i even created a bunch of cards for the dodger players from 1977 and 1978 that weren't featured as dodgers or at all in the set.  i love this set.  

now, like many others, i can see a touch of the 1978 topps design in the 2014 donruss release.  it's really too bad that they also tried to incorporate 1987 donruss into it as well, because the borders are too wide as a result.  i am not a fan of 2014 donruss.  i am a fan, however, of topps archives and fan favorites releases that used the 1978 design for some of their cards.  like dusty baker here from 2005 topps all-time fan favorites

that card would have fit right in with the rest of the dodgers in the real 1978 set.

as would have this jack clark card from 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

and this mark fidrych card, also from 2003

i pulled an autographed version of this from one of the two boxes i broke back in '03.  i'm too lazy to go find it right now, however.

ron guidry's card is nice, but the black armband means it would be better as a card from 1980, 81, or 82.

still, i'll take it.

the last of the cards from the 2003 topps atff release that uses the 1978 topps design (as far as i know) is this jim rice

it's nice, but i like the laughing jim rice better on his official 1978 topps card

moving on to the 2005 topps all-time fan favorites set, and in addition to the johnnie b. baker card up top, we have a good looking bob boone card

and another dodger, rick monday

this card is much better than mo's actual card from 1978 upon which he is wiping mustard from his chin.  the back is nice - it keeps the 'home run' value that his original card had - but it adds a reference to his 1981 nlcs home run

rather than his 3-homer game in 1972, which is what his original 1978 card had.

when topps archives was released in 2012, i was curious if the 1978 design would be used.  it did wind up on a couple of autographed short prints, like this greg luzinski

and a george foster card that i have yet to obtain.  if anyone wants to pick a foster up for me, rest assured, you will be rewarded.

in 2013, there were two short prints from the topps archives set that used the 1978 design - larry bowa

and the cobra, dave parker

i'm not used to seeing parker look so happy on his cards, but i sure am glad to see this card design again.