Did I enter a group break dressed as a Padres fan?

HEY! DID YOU SEE I COMPLETED THE '78 KELLOGG'S SET AND I TOOK A PICTURE OF ALL OF THE CARDS TOGETHER IN ONE PHOTO??!??!???

 

(Geez, you're a lot harder to impress here than on Twitter).

 

Maybe I'm posting on too many outlets. I guess I shouldn't start that youtube channel, huh?

 

So, anyway, cards are still flowing into the night owl nest at a good clip even though I haven't succumbed to the charms of TCDB, "the best place to trade". Why just recently I received a healthy-sized stack of cards from Rod of Padrographs.

I'm pretty certain that he entered a group break or two to grab some Dodgers for me. Either that or I had some sort of out-of-body experience and impersonated a Padres fan while I acquired Dodgers cards. Weird.

I have some recollection of watching a Nachos Grande group break series that I didn't enter and then hoping no good Dodgers were pulled (I don't know why I do that to myself). I'll bet Rod had the Dodgers in that break. He's a good egg.

Most of what I needed from that stack were -- no surprise -- cards from 2020, specifically cards that I didn't see on shelves anywhere in 2020.

Here's example one. 2020 Gallery. Didn't see it at all. The big reason for that is I've been inside Walmart just once since last February and Gallery is a Walmart-only product (or was, the way the hobby is going now, card product will be available only with a golden ticket).

 

More 2020 product that was scarfed up by dudes with screwed-up priorities. I never look for Bowman, but I do notice when it's on the shelves. Remember that one time in 2018 when I saw a pack? Like every other post-March product I never saw it last year.

 

Yeah, you would've had to pay me a lot of money to go to Walmart during Christmas 2020, which is exactly where Topps Holiday resided for all of 20 seconds. Thanks to my fellow blogging buds, though, I'm down to needing just the Bellinger card for the team set.

 

2020 Update? No chance. Even if it was available, the moment I realized what it was, I lost any interest. Nobody can explain why a second Gavin Lux 1985-themed card was produced for Update, or why there are chrome versions with a different photo, or why there are chrome update versions with yet a different photo, or why there are parallels of all of the Lux '85-themed cards. Gavin Lux played 19 games in 2020 and hit .175.

 

 

This is so pretty that it makes me forget that it is a parallel of a parallel set. I don't even know if A&G Chrome was available at retail stores. I've lost all track of what's available where and even when in some cases. I've gone from Overwhelmed to Fuck It.

 

 

Two of the first Dodgers I own from 2020 Heritage High Numbers, which I think didn't show up until 2021? Yeah, it's my fault that I can't figure out when stuff comes out.

Per usual, I haven't seen any of this in pack form in person.

 

I was pretty shocked when I pulled these out of the stack. Well, I was confused first and then shocked. The signatures -- um, scrawls -- were so brief that at first I thought they were just the facsimile autos that appear with the '71 design. Then my brain said, "idiot, these are in BLUE" and then it waited for the light bulb to pop over my head.

AUTOGRAPHED DODGER PROSPECT CARDS! I'VE EVEN HEARD OF THEM BEFORE!

Pretty cool.

 

Rod added a few 2021 Dodger needs, too. All Bellingers, who is everywhere in this year's product, just like in 2018. Topps apparently thinks three years is a long-enough wait before it hits collectors with another 30-card, retail-only Bellinger-themed insert.

There were a number of card that were not from the current time period that makes me so cranky. Most I had already, but a few I did not and that's very exciting.

These were all needs from 2003 Playoff Prestige. The base cards are somewhat repetitive.

 

Ishii and Nomo are together on a LOT of cards in 2002 and 2003. Wouldn't it be funny if they were sworn enemies?

 

 

This is one of those numbered rookie cards from 1999 Fleer Mystique. You're supposed to peel off the back, if I remember the Nachos group break segment correctly? I'm sure this will go well.

 

 

Here's an insert from 1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated that I've seen many times but never owned.

It's very strange. Fleer updated Hershiser's team affiliation because he had signed as a free agent with the Giants, from his previous team, the Indians. Why it was necessary to update the team on a commemorative card about Hershiser's 1988 Dodgers World Series performance is baffling. Fleer even shows Hershiser in a Giants uniform on the back next to a write-up on Hershiser's World Series performance. Huh? Good for you, '90s!

 

OK, now here's a proper '70s memorial from a '90s card! I just saw this card posted on another blog recently, and instead of being jealous of it, I said to myself, "Rod just sent me that card!"

Other than the fact the Dodgers lost this series, I love everything about this rectangle, the action, the teams involved, the magazine cover, the style of Sports Illustrated at the time. It's beautiful.

Even though I didn't witness the 1974 World Series, I've claimed that it has to be one of the more interesting Game 5 World Series because all but one game was decided by a single run.

 

So, I did pretty good for myself ... er, rather Rod did pretty good for me ... picking all those Dodgers.

 

I really appreciate it. Rod also sent something else that I'm saving for another post that no one will read because it's also about those boring '70s.

 

Oops, sorry for being a bit crabby there again. I let stuff get to me that shouldn't. Still working on that.

 

I'll be a lot happier tomorrow. Wait 'til you see.