From the land of Isotopes

First, I'd like to direct your attention to the card that matches my blog layout the best (EDIT: that is before I changed my blog layout). I need to feature this card permanently on the blog somewhere. It's perfect. It's even better than the 1984 Topps Dodgers, which also had the yellow/blue theme going.

This is one of the cards that came from Patricia and Lucy at Dinged Corners. They sent a great collection of Dodgers all the way from the land of Isotopes. I'm a bit jealous that folks like Patricia and Lucy, as well as Kris of Cards in the Attic, can see the Dodgers' Triple A farm team on a regular basis this season. I know if I lived there, I'd be in the stands all the time.

The team's nickname needs some work, though. I much prefer the old Albuquerque Dukes. I know why they picked "Isotopes," but when I looked up the definition of the word, it just gave me a dull pain above my left eye. "Isotopes are any of the different types of atoms of the same chemical element, each having a different atomic mass," says Wikipedia. Ack! Chemistry! Ow! Ow! Baseball nicknames shouldn't make my head hurt!

Anyway, I hope they enjoy watching Chin-Lung Hu, Xavier Paul, Blake DeWitt (if he gets sent down), etc., this season. Wish I was there with ya.

Meanwhile, the return of the Dodgers to New Mexico seems to have boosted the quality of Dodger cards in the state. I received quite a few key ones in the package. The Heritage Kershaw is much appreciated, as is the Heritage Juan Pierre card. I think I'm about halfway to collecting all the '09 Heritage Dodgers.

I have no idea what the Dodgers have planned for Pierre. There's obviously no spot for him. The talk about him being sent to the White Sox has cooled off. He doesn't seem like the platoon type, and I definitely don't want him platooning with any of the outfield starters.

Ah! A Yankee! You got a shiver, too, when you saw this card, didn't you? Opening Day may be less than a week away, but I'm so not ready to see a million Yankee games on TV this year. I'm going to get sick of all the gushing about the new stadium before the first week is out.

But Torre is a long way from the hype now, isn't he? He looks like he's holding for dear life on this golf cart. I wonder how many years he lost managing the Yankees?

Here is my first die-cut Upper Deck X Dodger. A proud moment. I wonder if these cards are more aerodynamic than other baseball cards? I think I'll have to find out. It's only an X card. It's not like I have to worry about value.

Adrian, I think the ball is out of your reach.

The Dinged Corners ladies sent a pack from the "American Baseball" set that was sold in England. I already have the Eddie Murray and Mike Marshall cards from this set, so when I opened the pack I hoped for no duplicates. And my wishes were granted with the Hershiser card. Yay!

The back cartoon says a "strike" is a legal pitch called by the umpire due to one of seven factors. I'm pretty sure I cannot name them all without looking them up. So I'm not going to try.

A Ron Cey card I don't have! That's not easy to do. I think about five bloggers have found one that I don't already own. I'm fairly certain that Jim of gcrl has a boxload that I don't have. But those are his. I will only look longingly from afar.

I'll go old-school with the rest of these cards. A Fleer Greats card of Big Don ...

A great SP card of Pee Wee ...

And best of all, a Nestle odd-ball card from 1987 of Jackie Robinson. This card is 100 percent classic. The look, the colors, Jackie's smiling face. My favorite card out of the whole package.

Patricia was nice enough to send a pleasant note with the package. And I can say, folks at DC, that your blog is an inspiration to me, too. Thanks very much.