Scribbles and cloth bits

 

Like many collectors I am completely over relic cards. When searching for a card I want, I'm never looking for a relic card. I don't list them among my wants, I don't consider them when I'm looking to complete a team set.

To a slightly less degree, the same goes for autograph cards. I do search for them on occasion, but very rarely is it a card quest of mine. There isn't a single set issued today in which I'll say "ooh, I want that autograph."

 

My collecting background does not include chasing hits, so this is pretty much par for the course for me, but they're even more irrelevant than ever to me.

 

So when Johnny's Trading Spot shipped me two long boxes of Dodgers, about 75 of which contained cards with scribbles or embedded with cloth bits, my brain stared at them for a bit. Sure, some I really liked, but a bunch I honestly don't know what I'll do with them. For now, the best thing they're good for is a blog post. I went through them and selected my 10 favorite autograph cards and my five favorite relic cards.

 

Here they are now, with explanations, of course, because this is a blog.

 

CLOTH BITS

 

5. Will Smith, Allen & Ginter (2022)

 

This is one of the three cards I requested when John was doing his Trade Night for the Dodgers (hopefully he got the cards I sent OK). I don't know off the top of my head if I had a relic of Will Smith yet, and it's a nice-looking A&G card.

 

 

4. Shawn Green, Leaf (2004)

 

The most-fun "Shirt of My Back" relics are the ones where the relic hole is shaped like a little shirt (think that's 2005). But it's a fun name anyway and I've always wanted one. So here it is.

 

 

3. Shawn Green (2004 Cracker Jack)

A number of years ago, I did a relic card purge (that's how long relics have been out of favor) and removed a lot of Shawn Green cards. Now they're all coming back to me. That's how many Shawn Green relics there are.

I like the original Cracker Jack look and the '04 look as well. This card completes the two-card Dodgers relic set for me.

2. Bill Madlock (2007 SP Legendary Cuts)

I love Bill Madlock Dodger cards. He pops up in a Dodger uniform quite a bit considering his relatively short time with the team.

1. Chad Billingsley (2008 UD Ballpark Collection)

The relic-auto combo was the ultimate card brag back in 2008. I still think it's a little bit cool, although this isn't my first Chad Billingsley relic-auto card in my collection. I don't even think it's the second. Maybe the third? Fourth?

SCRIBBLES

 

10. Chad Billingsley, 2005 Jacksonville Suns

 

It's Chad Billingsley again. I have a half-dozen certified Billingsley autos, but I did not have one of him as a Jacksonville Sun until now. It looks like Johnny picked up somebody's collection of in-person autos at the Jacksonville park. This isn't the last one you'll see.

 

 

 9. Connor Wong (2019 Bowman Platinum)

Just my fourth Dodger card of Connor Wong, who never played for the Dodgers. He's the last remaining player on the Red Sox from the Mookie Betts deal. So it's nice to have an auto to recognize that.

8. Ken Howell (2005 Jacksonville Suns)

A coach card! May there always be minor league team sets so there will always be coach cards. The minor leagues seem to be the only place where coaches and managers are worthy of recognition on cards. Howell, of course, was a reliever for the Dodgers in the 1980s, so it's fun to get a card of him when he's older and SO UP CLOSE.

7. Bill Russell (1986 Donruss)

No shortage of Bill Russell autographed cards in my collection. This is my fifth, and my fourth in-person/TTM version.

6. Yasmani Grandal (2018 Topps Gallery)

It's not difficult to find special cards of players like Yasmani Grandal, but this is my first Dodger autograph of him. The latest version of Gallery doesn't need to exist, but at least they livened up the autographs with color borders.

5. James Loneys (2004 and 2005 Jacksonville Suns)

Look I've got an autographed Suns card of him for hitting and fielding! 

4. Pedro Guerrero (1986 Donruss)

Pedro Guerrero is the rare player for which I would take on any autographed card of his with no limit to the number. This is just the fourth in my collection. I thought I had more (Also, nice centering, Donruss).

3. Kyle Farmer (2018 Topps)

This card shows Kyle Farmer getting the game-winning hit in the 11th inning in his first major league game to help the Dodgers beat the Giants in 2017. The first Topps Now card I bought (and almost the only one) has the exact same picture. At the time I bought that card, I didn't know whether Farmer would ever have another MLB at-bat. Of course he's had over 1,600 since, but it's nice to have an autographed card when all I knew was excitement.

 

 

2. Gene Richards (2002 Jacksonville Suns)

 

Another card I specifically requested from John. Gene Richards was one of those late 1970s favorite players of mine, even though he played for the Padres. I really liked his 1978 Topps card, those stolen-base guys really did it for me. So, to see a card of him in the Dodgers organization -- even as a coach -- I had to get it. The scribble was incidental.

 

 

1. Steve Yeager (2013 Hometown Heroes)

The final card I requested. Yeah, it's from an unlicensed set, but it's one of my all-time favorite unlicensed sets. It's also the first certified Steve Yeager auto I have as the one other one is an in-person/TTM card not requested by me. Yeager is one of those guys from those first Dodger teams I rooted for so I need stuff like this.

 

So after those two lists, there are 60 more autos and relics that I didn't show. A couple of them I really like, and then, like I said, I'm not sure what to do with the rest.

 

This isn't the end of posts about this send either. I haven't even gotten to all the Dodgers cards that are simple base cards or parallels -- you know, things I collect.

 

More on that next week. It's a process man.