Signed, sealed, delivered

ZIM! ZIIIIMMMMMMM! Don't you love this card? When I pulled it out of the envelope the other day I instantly let out a laugh.

This is a Phungo card from deal at team Phungo. I received it as part of my winnings from the "Spot the Sig" contest. I was one of the runners-up. But after seeing what I received in the mail, I felt like I won the whole thing.

I'm not very good at figuring out autographs. First of all, I don't collect autographs, so looking at players' signatures is not something I do regularly. Secondly, people are much sloppier in their writing these days than they used to be (previously written about here). So it's not easy to do. I figured out only one autograph -- Alex Rios of the Blue Jays. But I won a whole bunch of bonus questions, based mostly on my knowledge of baseball card cartoons (see, mom, reading cartoons DOES pay off).

I like the Zim card for a variety of reasons. He's instantly identifiable by anyone who is a baseball fan. He's a great character, and he's a baseball lifer. And no matter what others may think, he's not a Ray or a Red Sox or a Cub or a Yankee or a Red or a Ranger. He's a Dodger. Another person brought up in the Dodger organization that made an indelible impact on the game.

I love that the card says "icon" on it. That says it all. And now I have cards of Zimmer in which he is a player:

A manager ...

And an icon ...

Zim was part of an eight-card pack of Phungo cards, that included Ryan Howard, Torii Hunter, Mike Mussina, and an up-close-and-personal shot of a stadium vendor. No, I have no idea why I got that card. But again, it amused me.

I also got lucky and pulled a Black Frame Insert card. This is from last season's Futures Game at Yankee Stadium. Dodgers prospect Ivan DeJesus Jr. was on the World roster in that game.

And here's a card -- Topps and Upper Deck take note -- of Greg Maddux in a non-photoshopped, DODGER uniform. Note the date of the photo -- Oct. 9, 2008. Playoff time. But yet there's a card of Maddux in the right uniform! Imagine that.

I also received several "traditional" cards, including this Pacific Spanish-language card of Dave Hansen. I'm wondering if deal picked this up during his World Baseball trip to Puerto Rico. Did you know they sell baseball cards at the Walgreen's in San Juan?

I also won some key vintage cards. Here's the 1974 Topps Dodger team card. I like this card a lot because it shows the Dodgers on the brink of greatness. After going seven years without making the playoffs, the Dodgers were about to reach the World Series four times in the next eight years. Unfortunately, the only players in this photo to end up winning a World Series for the Dodgers would be Cey, Garvey, Russell, Lopes and Yeager.

Two more 1971 cards that I need. These are the highlights of any trade. I am now at the 65 percent-completed mark with this set. With a whole bunch of difficult-to-find, expensive-to-buy cards left to go.

Lastly, a card I have admired for a long time. This is my favorite card out of the entire 1959 Topps Dodgers team set. I don't know how deal thought to send me this one.

I don't have many of the '59 Dodgers, but I do have one of those Surf books issued in the late '80s in which every card from every year for each team is pictured. I've stared at the '59 set many times, and the Labine card is the best one among the Dodgers. It's a terrific pose and a great stare on Labine's face.

Labine could have been the hero of the 1951 playoff series against the Giants. He stuffed the Giants in Game 2 of the 3-game series and was supposed to get the call out of the bullpen to face Bobby Thomson in the decisive Game 3, but he couldn't get his curveball over in warm-ups. The Dodgers went with Ralph Branca instead, and ever since that decision, Giants fans won't shut up about the game. Russ Hodges can put a cork in it. Well, he died like 40 years ago, so I guess I don't have to say that. But they can stop trotting out that audio tape any time now.

Anyway, Labine never got his due, I think. He was a great reliever for the Dodgers, and if attention was paid to relievers then like they are now, he'd be talked about a lot more.

Thanks for the fantastic cards, deal. I'll be looking forward to "Spot the Sig" again.