New stuff and old stuff

Have you ever promised a card in a trade and then forgot to include it in the package? I've done that a couple of times now. The Lidge sketch card is the latest example.

I promised to send it to Jim of The Phillies Room, along with some other Phillies, but somehow left it in my stack of Allen & Ginter. I guess Freud would say that means I really wanted to keep the card, but that's not the case. Sketch cards aren't my thing, so I'm happy to send them off. But unfortunately I've sent the package already.

That means Jim will be getting a second package!

Meanwhile, the cards he sent to me have arrived and I like this package a lot because it's a nice mix of new and old cards. I love me some variety. I try to mix it up on the blog, and if you can mix it up in the card package that's great, too.

I'll start with the new and then get to the super good stuff.

Staying with 2009 Allen & Ginter. Two cards for the quest. Two guys with lots of talent. One has put it together. The other one really hasn't yet.

One of the Dodgers' top three reliable starters, which is key for the postseason. L.A. needs to get Wolf some runs when he pitches, though.

I bought some fat packs of OPC yesterday and pulled three Dodgers I didn't have. So I'm down to needing four of the regular white-border Dodgers. Black-borders? Long way to go.

Oooh. A buy-back. One of those 20th-anniversary Upper Deck stamped cards. I love that it's Gibby, but buy-backs of cards from 1989 are just silly. Almost laughable, really.

I am guessing this is a card cut from the bottom of the '86 Topps box. The red background really threw me off at first. I don't know what the guy seated at the left is doing. It looks like he's putting on a gas mask or something. Very ominous.

OK, not that the previous cards weren't fun, but 1971 Topps is in a whole other zip code. Jim sent me eight '71s from my want list, and I'm going to show all of them.

Jim Fairey was a former Dodger prospect, then plucked by Montreal in the expansion draft. He actually returned to the Dodgers in 1973, and then his career was done.

Cecil Upshaw was a side-armer for the Braves, Astros, Indians and Yankees. I know him primarily for his 1975 card with the Yankees. He looks quite a bit older on that card. There are a couple of mentions of Upshaw's career being derailed after a teammate bet Upshaw that he couldn't jump up and touch an awning. Upshaw jumped and got his finger caught, tearing ligaments and messing up his pitching hand. Upshaw died at age 52 of a heart attack.

Norm Miller. I finally have this card! I have flipped through binders of 1971 Topps and passed over this card countless times. It is No. 18 in the set, meaning it's one of the first ones I see, but the combination of him being a guy I've never heard of, and that he looks like he just stared at strike three made me never pull the trigger.

Dan McGinn pitched in more games than any other rookie when he appeared in 74 for the expansion Expos in 1969. He is now the pitching coach for the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and had two kids who played pro ball.

This is Joe Hague after his best year in baseball, 1970. He was the Cardinals' regular first baseman. After that, he became known as a pinch-hitting specialist and played for the Reds during the playoffs in 1972. Hague also died at a young age, in 1994, at age 50.

Dave Giusti grew up about an hour-and-a-half from me and was a star pitcher for Syracuse University, back when they had a baseball team. He played for the team in the College World Series. But all that didn't stop me from spelling his name "Guisti" when I was filing his cards. I just had to go back and change it.

Every time I think of Mike Torrez, all I can see is Bucky Dent's home run sneaking over the left field wall at Fenway in the '78 playoff game. Talk about painful. That home run and Jack Clark's home run in the '85 NLCS are the two most painful home runs I have ever witnessed.

Dave Cash! One of my favorites from the 1970s. Is this his rookie card? Nah. He was on one of those rookie star cards in the 1970 set.

The last card I am showing is a great one of one of the heroes of the 1959 World Series. My first card of Chuck Essegian. I confess I still do not know how to pronounce his name. All of my knowledge of him has come from reading.

Jim, a hearty thanks for the trade! The Lidge card apparently didn't want to associate with those other cards. He'll be traveling separately.