A Pair of A&G Blasters

Several months back, my girlfriend and I were apartment hunting and found ourselves in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. We were a bit early for an apartment viewing, so we decided to take a stroll around the area to get a better sense of what the new neighborhood might be like. We passed by several pizza shops (all claiming "The Best Slice in NY"), a Dunkin', and far too many empty storefronts. 

We were about to turn around and head back for our appointment, when I happened to read the sign in front of an absurdly large collection of buildings: "EBBETS FIELD."

Wait a minute. Ebbets Field?!? Of course, I know the Dodgers spent the first half of their existence in Brooklyn, but I never thought about where in Brooklyn they used to play. 

We didn't end up taking that apartment, instead opting for a much spacier place in Kensington, but it was certainly quite the find on that pleasant Sunday evening. 

As was the above Pee Wee Reese card that slid out of a pack of A&G a couple of weeks back. I didn't look at the A&G checklist (and still haven't) before picking up a pair of blasters at Target, so it was cool to add another Pee Wee to my Dodgers Legends binder. 

Speaking of legends, The Left Arm of God. Koufax is probably in most Topps releases nowadays, and though the photos sometimes get repetitive, I won't ever compain about adding more Koufax to my collection. Plus, is there a better combination of colors on these cards than red, white, and Dodger blue? I don't think so. 

My girlfriend and I ended up doing a "blaster box war," if you will, taking turns opening packs one by one and comparing cards to see who had the better box. She has very little baseball knowledge and resists my attempts to convert her into a Dodgers fan--she's from just outside of Cleveland and roots for the Indians--so there were many discussions to be had about the who pulled better players, celebs, and eggs. Of course, she ended up pulling the doozy of a card above--a Casey Stangel Brooklyn-back mini #'d 16/25--surpassing my blaster by far. Not bad. This went to eBay shortly after pulling it, and it just about paid for the blaster it came from.

The real draw of Allen and Ginter for me this year is the Mares and Stallions set. The checklist contains only 15 cards, but I'm making a concerted effort to track them all down as quickly as possible. The "Horse in the Race" 25-card mini set from '17 A&G still haunts me--I only have 2 of the 25 cards. 

I think I've mentioned this before, but my girlfriend is a life-long equestrian (hence the horse card collection I'm working on), so chasing these cards together has been quite fun. Though Topps found a way to mess that up. I'll let her explain...

"I was so excited to have found a few horse cards in the packs I opened, but as soon as I saw the Appaloosa card, my excitement dwindled. The Appaloosa is a breed characterized by its spotted coat. While the card above does show a bicolored coat, it is most certainly a paint (or at least pinto)--it's cowlike markings are nothing like those that characterize an Appaloosa. Appaloosas come in a variety of patterns, but to see a bit of the spectrum of an Appaloosa coat, take a look at the images below:

from https://www.saddleupcolorado.net/blog/appaloosa-horses/

from http://www.appaloosamuseum.org/

That said, it was still great to see a few horse cards, the incorrect picture notwithstanding."

Yep, so a bit of a disappointment when all is said and done, but it's still nice to move closer to the complete set. 

The fun didn't stop with the Mares and Stallions, however. In an attempt to match the other blaster, I pulled a pretty cool relic of Yadier Molina. I'm not at all a Cardinals fan (I dislike their devil magic), but there are enough Cardinals bloggers out there that this should have no difficulty finding a new home. 

All in all, we had a great time breaking open some boxes and ripping packs. I've always enjoyed doing this solo, but it's great to have someone to crack some packs with, and even more fun to chase a set together. 

A Couple of Relics, One Auto, and Some Spectacular Base Cards

I recently completed my first trade with Dustin of Cool Veal and the Vealtones. Dustin is synonymous with trade bait, at least that is what his blog is filled with. Make sure you head over and see what he has to offer. 

His trade bait posts made this trade happen, as I saw a card I was interested in and contacted him about it. We discussed a few more cards, and a deal was made. 

And here is the card that sparked my interest. AJ Vanegas was the Dodgers 11th round pick (339th overall) out of Stanford this year. He projects to be a reliever, and should have a quick path to the majors. 

Turns out I missed an even better card in the same trade bait post. However, Dustin was quick to offer this card up to me. Hand numbered to just 99, this is my first autograph of the eventual Dodger (hopefully). 

The Vanegas cards weren't the only hits of the trade though. Dustin sent along this sweet relic of former Dodger, Shawn Green. I really miss those Dodger away uniforms from the mid 2000's. 

I love hits, but sometimes I love base cards even more. Case in point: this fantastic shot of Pee Wee Reese. It's not often I see Reese on cardboard, but Topps really hit it out of the park with this one. On top of a solid card design, we see Pee Wee making a helluva throw in what looks like a double play. Though the player sliding looks like he is also wearing a Brooklyn uniform. If the awesome shot wasn't good enough, it appears Jackie Robinson makes a cameo. Which makes me wonder: what other cards does Robinson make a cameo appearance in?

Since we are on the topic of Hall of Famers, let's talk some more about Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider. This may actually be the cardboard debut of The Duke, but I could be wrong. *EDIT: It's not* These cards come from 1989 Bowman, a set I couldn't care less about. I'm not a big fan of the oversized Bowman cards from that time, but I am happy to make an exception for two of the greatest players to don a Dodgers uni. 

Which brings us to possibly the best player to ever wear a Dodgers uni, Sandy Koufax. Dustin was nice enough to send over this card of the best lefty to play the game. I had yet to see this image of Koufax on cardboard, but he looks to be tossing in the bullpen prior to a game. I, for one, would love to see some bullpen shots on modern cards, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Clayton Kershaw is often compared to Koufax, if only because he pitches with his left arm. You can't deny his greatness however, as he is having one of the most dominant seasons by a pitcher in recent memory. I'm glad Dustin was able to find a Kershaw I needed. 

We finish of this trade post with an appearance from Scott Van Slyke. Van Slyke, the Dodgers 5th outfielder, debuted on cardboard with a wonderful shot of him spinning a batting helmet on his fingers. However, his epic beard was not yet in development. He has, however, worked on his signature a bit. 

The package was filled with a bunch of other goodies, so my thanks goes out to Dustin. Hope we can deal again soon!

Dodger Game in Review: Autographs, a Bobble Head, and a Win!

I'm finally back from my trip, and I can honestly say I had a great time. Dikran and I took the 4 hour trip to Los Angeles, leaving around 9am on Saturday morning. After a quick pit stop at Denny's, we finished our drive and arrived at our hotel. We got checked in, checked out the local Target to see if we could unearth some cheap cards to bust, but nothing was to be found.

We then took off to Dodger Stadium and met up with Matthew (Dodger Penguin) and his wife around 4pm, then drove in to the stadium together. This was the first time Matthew and I have met in person, and I have nothing but nice things to say about him. We then walked into the stadium and headed straight for the baseline. Most fans were unable to enter the stadium until five, but thanks to Matthew we were able to get in early for batting practice and autographs.

Matthew got a couple of Drew Butera autos earlier in the day, and added to his loot with a J.P Howell auto. Unfortunately, getting autos is hit and miss, and me and Dikran came up empty. However, even without autos, it was a surreal experience getting that close to the field and the players.

You can see where we were posted up. Dan Haren and Hyun-Jin Ryu decided to come and toss directly in front of us. Thankfully Haren was able to catch everything thrown at him, or I may have taken one to the face. I was hoping he would turn around and sign after tossing, but he took off in the opposite direction.

Here is a bearded Chris Perez. Kenley Jansen is to the left of him and one of them is tossing with J.P Howell. I cannot remember which one.

 Dikran was able to snap this pic of Matt Kemp warming up. I really wish he came over to sign.

Fortunately, two former Dodgers were signing behind the left and right field pavilions, so I was able to head over there and get some guaranteed autos.

I visited Lee Lacy first. Lacy was a fantastic guy, and very chatty. I approached him with his 1973 Topps rookie card, which I was lucky to have, and he was more than happy to sign it. I think I may have caught him off guard with it, as he surprisingly exclaimed, "You got my rookie card!"

He also signed, and personalized, a postcard of himself. 

After a brief conversation about the first-place Dodgers, I started off only to find Dikran was following without stopping to get an autograph. Fortunately, Lacy also noticed this and called out for Dikran to come back. We both headed back to the booth and Lacy signed a postcard for Dikran and joked with him for a minute. Dikran later told me he didn't realize that we were both able to get autographs, but I suspect he was a little intimidated by the former Dodger.

We then took the trek around the stadium to the left field pavilion in search of Derrel Thomas, the other signer. After finding it, we noticed the line was about the same length as Lacy's was. Lacy's line took about 30 mins to get through, but we were out of Thomas' line in 10 mins. Thomas spoke very little and did not look to really be enjoying himself. I approached him with a copy of his 1984 Topps card and he signed it, but didn't even respond when I asked how he was doing. I was hoping he would also sign one of the several hundred postcards he had stacked up, but he didn't. Dikran was standing right next to me, but Thomas never even acknowledged him and signaled for the next person in line to come up after signing my card. Long story short, Dikran did not get an autograph of Mr. Thomas. 

It had been a long day up to that point, so we grabbed a couple of Dodger Dogs and headed back to our seats without any further exploration.

Here is the beautiful view from our seats. Dikran snapped both of these pics, one prior to the game, and the other in the middle innings. The stadium filled up quite nicely.

Shorty after the game started, Greg of Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle and I met up for our first in person meeting. Like Matthew, Greg is an awesome guy and we ended up talking about the Dodgers, Archer, and life for about 2 innings. We didn't miss much, as the bats were quiet for both teams throughout most of the game.

Both Matthew and Greg brought cards for trades we made, but I mistakenly forgot the bag with their cards in it at home. I didn't realize it until we were headed to the game, so I was disappointed with myself. In the same bag was an 8X10 of Matt Kemp that I was hoping to get signed, so that obviously did not come to the game with me either. I packed that bag a few days in advance so I would not forget to do so before we left, yet I forgot it anyways. Arghhh.

It was bobble head night at the stadium, featuring this magnificent bobble head of Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella. Campanella was famously paralyzed from the shoulders down after an auto accident in 1958. On May 7th, 1959, the Dodgers hosted Roy Campanella night in which Campy was pushed onto the field by former teammate, Pee Wee Reese. The bobble head perfectly encapsulates that fantastic moment in Dodger history. 

The Dodgers ended up winning the game on a walk-off sacrifice fly by A.J Ellis, after a double from Adrian Gonzalez and a pair of walks in the inning. It was the first time I've ever attended a night game at Dodger Stadium, and the first time I've ever attended a walk-off win. The walk-off perfectly capped off the wonderful night. 

Because we parked outside of the stadium, Dikran and I had a nice stroll around the stadium before we took off. We visited the retired numbers at the Top of the Stadium. 

I am posted up next to Jackie's infamous number, but I don't look too happy. This was taken about 30 mins after the game, but there was still a decent sized crown roaming around. We asked the same group of people to move three times so we could get a picture, but they made it seem like a big inconvenience. We took five other photos that didn't come out, so I was a bit annoyed. Rather than try and capture another one with a happier expression, we moved on to other numbers, but those pictures did not come out either. So I was left with one photo off me at the stadium to show off. 

I'll finish off this post with some other various pictures from our day. Enjoy!