Spiff, of Texas Rangers Cards, and I are in the midst of our second team trade. Rangers for Dodgers, of course. I'm less than 10 hours away from sending his Rangers out. But in the meantime, my Dodgers arrived late last week.I received 51 cards in the mail. I needed about a third of them. But even the doubles are great. Spiff sent a number of 1984 Topps Dodgers. I have the entire '84 set, but I've never been willing to break up the set to move the Dodgers to the team binders. Now I don't have to! That Spiff, he's a problem-solver.
But I really like the new stuff, so that's what I'm going to show here, starting with the Jeff Kent Hit Parade insert from 2007 Topps at the top of the post. I am happy to say that he is officially "ex-Dodger Jeff Kent" now. Wonder if anyone will pick him up.
Hideo Nomo, 2003 Topps. I have so few of these 2003 Topps Dodgers. I have about 5 Adrian Beltres, a couple Kevin Browns and a smattering of others, and that's a shame, because I like the design, I love the color blue, and the whole scheme goes well with the Dodgers uniforms. I guess I'll have to add 2003 Topps to my want list!
Jim Neidlinger, 1991 Upper Deck. Another card company getting smart and showing the pitcher taking a hack. OK, UD, I'm calling your bluff. I'm finding out just how good a hitter Mr. Neidlinger was:AB: 25
Hits: 3
RBIs: 2
Avg: .120
OBP: .185
Slg: .120
Yikes. Kind of like giving a dog a fork, huh? Poor Neidlinger didn't know what to do with that bat. Which is why UD should've shown the guy PITCHING.
This isn't a card. But I wanted to feature it because I love it when I get neat stuff like this in blog trades. I never opened a pack of Bazooka cards, but I'm assuming that's where this cartoon came from. It's got that whole Bazooka Joe feel, right down to reading the comic and then going, "huh?" which I did with about 90 percent of Bazooka Joe strips._NEW.jpg)
Duke Snider, 2004 Donruss Studio. This is an interesting mix of old world meets modern bright lights.
Snider, of course, was a longtime broadcaster after his playing career ended. I recently learned from a post on Padrographs that he started broadcasting in San Diego. I knew Snider's broadcasting from his days in Montreal, and I always wondered how he ended up broadcasting for the Expos. Well, according to this story, Snider was a hitting instructor for the Montreal Expos in 1974. After batting practice was over, he'd go up to the booth and broadcast the game. Eventually, manager Gene Mauch told him to pick coaching or broadcasting, and Snider picked broadcasting.
Mike Nixon, 2002 Upper Deck Future Gems jersey card. Nixon was a future gem all right, a future gem for the Arizona State football team, where he started at linebacker this season.Nixon made it all the way to Triple A after being signed by the Dodgers with a $1 million signing bonus. He even got the Dodgers to pay for his college tuition at UCLA. Then after stalling out in the minors, he left pro ball, enrolled at Arizona State and joined the ASU football team and is now a standout on defense. Wow, I wish I could play my cards like that.
Once again, kids, cards are educational. I didn't know half this stuff until I got these cards from Spiff. Thanks!
Comments