Jackie Robinson Day

What can I really say about Jackie Robinson that hasn't already been said? We all know his story and how his actions changed the landscape of Major League Baseball forever and forced Americans to confront their own racial prejudices, baseball fan or not. Perhaps the most important individual in MLB history, Robinson made his debut for the Dodgers on April 15th, 1947, and MLB teams annually honor him leaguewide on this date by wearing his now universally retired number 42. Let's take a moment to remember his legacy all these years later. 

-----

Of course, one of my primary player collections is Jackie Robinson, despite what my newly updated Player Collections page says. While I've managed to get most of my collection back in my hands in NYC, my dad still has a few of my binders back in California, including my Jackie Robinson/Sandy Koufax binder. Until I can get a better sense of what I do and do not have, I've removed Jackie from that page. I hope to have this updated soon!

A Final Visit to my LCS

Several weeks ago, I dropped by the LCS near my work. Detailed here by Zippy Zappy at Torren' Up Cards, Chameleon Cards & Comics was a 10-minute walk from my office and around the corner from Topps' headquarters. Unfortunately, the landlord decided to hike up the rent, and they had no option but to close--their last day was March 30th. 

Of course, this was beyond disappointing, especially since I had only recently discovered this LCS and it was by far the best NYC has to offer. Their unfortunate demise, however, resulted in a ton of cheap cards, something my frugality certainly appreciated. 

There wasn't a whole lot left by the time I made it into the store, but they still had several boxes of Series 1 hanging around. I had most of the Dodgers out of the set by this point, but it's not often I get to rip hobby packs for a buck each. (I'm still chasing a pair of Dodgers to finish up the Series One set.)

I bought close to twenty packs of Flagship, though I didn't pull anything staggering. This Robin Yount '84 is one of those 150th Anniversary parallels, meaning it's numbered to 150 (I think). Not bad. 

I failed to pull any short prints or #'d parallels other than that Yount, but I did get a Yoan Moncada relic. Not very exciting. Maybe he'll finally break out this year and I can flip it to help pay off student loans. A man can dream, right?

While ripping those packs, I noticed a pack of the Topps Silver promo set hanging out behind the register. I asked the clerk about it, and he said it was mine for five bucks. Sign me up!

The silver packs feature shiny chromium "mojo" cards, and the 50-card set list features current and past stars. Each pack includes four cards, and there is a decent shot at pulling some autos and numbered cards. Of course, as a big fan of the '84 design and a bigger fan of chromium/shiny/refractory cards, I was thrilled to rip the pack. 

This pack netted me the Mike Trout at the top of this post, as well as the sweet green parallel of Kyle Schwarber you see above. It's #'d /99 and will surely make a Cubs fan happy. 

The shop happened to have three more packs, so I bought those, too. 

A great mix of all-time greats (Henderson, Ripken, Mattingly), productive veterans (Posey, Altuve, Yelich) and young studs (Soto, Baez). 

These are some of the coolest cards I've ever seen, and the chromium finish really makes the colors pop. I'm hoping to get these on a scanner soon because my phone's camera is certainly not doing these cards justice. 

Despite the brilliance of the card fronts, the backs are slightly disappointing. Every card comes with the same boilerplate description of the 1984 set (which, fine I guess) but I was hoping Topps would do more to individualize these cards.  

While I walked away from the shop with a ton of great new shiny cardboard, this Ohtani takes the cake. I've been following Ohtani's career for nearly six years now, hoping for the longest time that the two-way phenom would sign with the Dodgers last year. And though he signed with the wrong Southern California team, it's hard not to root for the guy. I've been considering starting an Ohtani PC, though his cards are quite pricy, so I've been hesitant to jump in. 

I was considering collecting the entire set but decided against it. I plan on holding on to the Ohtani, but the rest of these are fair game for anyone that wants to trade out there. 

I only dropped by Chameleon Cards & Comics a handful of times, but I'm sad to see them go. For the city that claims to have it all, it's quite the wasteland for solid card shops. I'm glad I was able to stop in one last time. 

Vintage from the Interwebs

It's not that often I find myself buying vintage cardboard. There aren't many good hobby shops nearby and I haven't had the chance to make it to a card show. This means that most of my vintage comes via online purchases, not the most cost-effective way to track down vintage needs. And since I'm pretty light on vintage in my binders now, I need it to be cost-effective. 

And what better way to be cost-effective than with an eBay coupon for a whole three dollars off any purchase. I was tipped off to this coupon through Twitter, and I very quickly decided to put it to use. This 1963 Walt Alston, which is in great condition I might add, was originally $3.15 with free shipping. With that coupon, I snagged it for a meager .15 cents. You can't beat that. 

Just a few days before that purchase, I was back on eBay searching for deals when I came across this Gilliam from 1960. I put in a bid, went to bed, and woke up to find out it was mine for just a buck. After I threw in another greenback for shipping, I was able to call it mine for a shade under subway fare. Not quite as good as that Alston but not a bad deal at all. 

There are 37 Dodgers in the 1960 set and with the addition of the Gilliam, I'm now up to 7 (18.9%). That's nowhere close to completing the set, but it's surprising that I've made this much progress to date considering the large setlist. That Alston card from above marks only the second Dodger I've tracked down from 1963, so there is certainly more work to be done there, too.  

Tracking down cheap vintage may not be an easy task, but I still find it quite enjoyable--coupon or not. 

Contest Winner Announced

We have a winner for the Cal Ripken Jr. Medallion card!

I randomized the list 8 times in honor or Mr. Ripken, and here are the results. 

Congrats to Adam! I've got your address already, so I'll be getting this card out to you soon. 

Thanks to all those who participated!

It's Trading Season: Cards from Infield Fly Rule

I recently completed a swap with Adam of Infield Fly Rule. I had a few Rockies in need of a new home and some fun shiny stuff, so I reached out to Adam and we quickly came to an agreement. 

I've been largely working on building my Dodgers team sets from flagship for the past few months, and Adam definitely helped put a dent in some of my want lists. 

With the exception of 2015, I''m pretty close to completing most Dodgers sets from the past decade. 2011 Update Series has been a particularly hard set to finish off, so this pair of Ethiers was well-appreciated. I'm six cards away from completing the 2011 set, with four of those needed cards hailing from Update Series. I'm hoping I can knock out this set some point this spring. 

While I can probably knock out most of the sets from the 2010s this year, the Dodgers sets from the 2000s will probably take me much longer. Take the fun black-bordered 2007 set, for example. Including Topps Traded, the Dodgers checklist contains 33 cards. With the addition of the Proctor and Drew cards above, I now have three cards from the set.  I definitely need to get a move on here. 

My lack of cards from the 2000s is quite surprising actually. I started collecting back in 2002 after finding a Shawn Green card in a box of cereal while making myself breakfast. In fact, that card inspired me to really start paying attention to the Dodgers and baseball, and I've been hooked ever since. In hindsight, it's probably the most important bowl of cereal I'll ever eat. 

Despite the fact that I started collecting back in the 2000s, I only have a handful of cards remaining in my possession and they are mostly in my Shawn Green binder. The rest have been lost to bicycle spokes, ill-fated trips to Goodwill, and various family pets over the years. Most everything else was donated or sent across the blogosphere when I stepped away from collecting a few years ago. 

Still, I never managed to track down many Dodgers from the start of the millennium, so these two from 2004 are a push in the right direction. I've always been a huge fan of the 2004 set--you gotta love those foil silhouettes--though the cards aren't ideal for folks with iPhones. Lighting was not on my side, so much of the foil work on these cards is difficult to read. 

Another needed card from the 2000s, this time from the 2006 set. Hendrickson was a tall lefty listed at a healthy 6'9". His time with the Dodgers in 2006 and 2007 was fairly forgettable, but it's hard to ignore his impressive feat of pitching in the big leagues and playing in the NBA, one of only 13 players to ever do both. It's also hard to ignore the approaching fog behind Hendrickson. Quite the photo. 

Of course, Adam included quite a few other fun pieces in this trade, and I'm extremely thankful. Thanks for the trade, Adam!