Hit by a bombshell

I'm thinking I probably won't have much time to devote to cards today, so I should find something interesting to put on here in the event that I don't get back to the blog until the wee hours of Tuesday.

A recent card package should do the trick.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the front door and pulled four yellow envelopes that were jammed in the mailbox. It's been awhile since that many have arrived all at once, and the old thrill that I experienced when I first started trading through the blog a few years ago came back again.

I believe I have blogged about most of the packages finally, but there is one that remains, and it dwarfed all of the others in size. On the front, in BIG, black letters, the package proclaimed that it was from the Troll!!! Well, didn't that put a smile on my face. It's been awhile.

Troll reassured me that he was still collecting feverishly, but there wasn't much time to blog (fortunately, he's found some time lately). But he and the wife wanted to send along a birthday gift. Yes, my birthday was a month-and-a-half ago, but as a wise man once said, "I don't care if Santa is real or not, there are still gifts under the tree, right?"

And, wow, what a birthday gift.

Picture vintage baseball cards delivered to your door by awesome, rocking, derby girls on roller skates. Yeah, yeah, the derby girls weren't actually there, and the Troll was mostly responsible, but I'm focusing on the Bombshells. In the package, I received a bunch of programs and informational cards (someone does a great job with the designing), and this:

Buttons!!!!!!!

There's a great mix of baseball and bombshells right there. I can't wait to put the '84 baseball buttons with the others my folks got me. And I've already got plans for the non-baseball items that bloggers send me, so I can't wait to put that into action, too.

It was really a variety filled package featuring:

Stickers.

O-Pee-Chee.

And a bunch of modern offerings.

But you're here for the vintage, right?

I thought so.

Gander this:

I'll start with Walt, because it's just a tremendous spring training shot. And the back of the card reminds me that Alston was a great power hitter in his day. Just couldn't get to the majors for more than a game.

Willie! When people talk about being too young to see certain players play and wishing they could, I immediately think of the 1960s Dodgers. I am more than a little disappointed that I never got to see Koufax, Drysdale, Willie Davis, Tommy Davis and Maury Wills. Pitching and speed is what makes the bells go off for me.

Johnny! Let's count all the ways that Podres is great:

1. He won a World Series for the Dodgers as a 20-year-old
2. He's a lefty
3. He grew up only a few hours from me.
4. That World Series thing.

Wow this card is in great shape.

This one is ... um ... not. But isn't it great? Bob Darnell has so many creases in his face that he looks like he's Frankenstein or he's crying. Or he's a crying Frankenstein. Darnell pitched in just seven major league games. But he did a pretty good job of picking out which baseball card would be his lone card. You can't get much better than '55 Bowman.

Heh. This one took you by surprise, huh?

There aren't enough cards of Don Drysdale. This is his '65 card, the one that ends a five-year streak of Big Don not smiling. Look it up. No smiles from 1961-64. Drysdale decided to lighten up a little bit in '65. Because he knew what was ahead in '65.

This is my favorite card in the package. I've had my eye on a '65 Drysdale for a little while now, but I started to think it would be a long time before it was mine. The Troll does it again.

But I'm not finished. Amid all the programs and buttons and notes and cards, was a baseball card wrapper. A BIG baseball card wrapper.

Super Baseball!!!!! Way cool!!!!!

I remember these when they came out in 1984. I bought one pack. I don't remember there being three cards in a pack. All I remember is the Al Holland card I pulled and I never bought another pack.

Let's see if I have any better luck:

Weeeeeee! My first Super Baseball Dodger card! I will treasure this card more than any other when I'm 88 and can read only large print.

But what's this? Something else in the wrapper?

Fernando and two other guys from 1986 Drake's Cakes!!!

Have I mentioned how much I love food issue cards? If I ever have a temptation to chuck my whole collection and focus on just one kind of card, it will be food-issue and store-issue cards. You heard it here first. The blog idea is already in my head.

But the front of the wrapper promised three items, didn't it? Let's see what else is in that thing:

Awwwww. It's an autograph from Esther Gin-n-Juice with the whole Bombers team!! Silver marker, too. Very snazzy.

This means a lot, that the Troll and Esther G&J thought enough to personalize the package like that. A bunch of smiles came from everything that emerged out of the big, yellow envelope that day.

It seems like old times getting a package from Florida and reading regular posts from Troll at the Plate.

You guys all rock.

Oh, and you, too, Troll. All the fire-breathing and everything.