MrMopar's New Dodgers Autograph Thread (and other interesting items on a slow mailday)

[mrmopar]

Murray /75. That makes /15, ?50 and /75. Probably done there.


Turner /25


This one is unusual, as he is apparently already out of baseball, with a career 0-1 record (Dodgers). His is one autograph I am still needed for my Dodger collection too. As far as I know, he never got any regular cards. There are a couple minor league cards for him. Now i just need to figure out how to get him to sign this!

Darien Nunez /50 relic

 

[mrmopar]

Rollins /79.


Willard Bill "Hawk" Hunter. He always seemed to sign twice, full name and shortened with nickname. He died in 2021. I will pick up dupes when they are cheap. I have plenty of his signature now, but he was a little tricky early on.

 

[mrmopar]

OK, took a chance on some new customs. I try to stick with the really good types (Banty/Sporting Life) these days due to the garbage i was ending up with before, but these were pretty nice. I did negotiate a better price for the 2 than ebay had listed, which also helped. I am cheap and try to save where I can. They are about the same size as a standard card, but not as wide across. The RETRO is a watermark from the ebay listing. if you like customs and this style, I would recommend this seller. The penny was a nice touch and they were stamped with a heart and a Puerto Rican flag type design.



This one took a while and i have to give the Canadian seller credit. he sent it to the wrong buyer, ended up in Texas. Apparently the recipiant wanted to keep it, but he talked them into returning it. Resent to me. I think i paid Feb 8, so over a month to finally get it, but I did. Archives that had been removed from it's factory holder, but I knew this going in. I really like the original card design and this is /17.


Another Green showed up as well, this one Archives fan fave /99. Green Foil.

 

[mrmopar]

Saturday and todays mail

Garvey photo with Fisk catching behind him, from an ASG.


Green /10. I liked the look of the card, despite the logolessness (if that isn't a word, it should be!). Its really thick too, which I am not a fan of. No need in this case.


Furcal /27

 

[mrmopar]

Garvey /5


Garvey /10.


John /60. I think I have a certified card of just about every team he played for at this point.


Then one IP/TTM. Couldn't remember if I had it and it went cheap so worth a risk of dupes.

 

[mrmopar]

A couple Garvey RC Cola cans. For those really sick player collectors who chase weird variations, I discovered that there were different bottling addresses on these cans, but finding singles and getting decent shipping on them makes it hard to chase these with any seriousness. I have no idea if I need either one, but a lot of 2 on the cheap was worth buying regardless.


Line Drive with the 85 Team Roster.

1958 Topps Team, creased but it was $3 and I think my copies are a little worse for wear.


Green (been on a hot streak winning Green Autos lately) mini /50

 

[Dodgerfan74]

I like the RC cans Garveys

 

[banjar]

Now you just need to blow out your UCL and get a certain surgery!

John /60. I think I have a certified card of just about every team he played for at this point.
View attachment 355341

 

[banjar]

So after my flippant comment above, I got to thinking a bit about Tommy John himself...it often gets lost that he was a hell of a pitcher.

- In 17 of his 26 seasons (26!!!) he won 10+ games.

- He won 288 games in his career. And if he didn't have to undergo the first Tommy John surgery, in the prime of his career, and missed the entire 1975 season as a result, he would definitely have picked up another 12. And therefore would have been an automatic inductee into the HOF.

- His regular season ERA was 3.34. Damn good!

- His postseason ERA in 9 series was 2.65. And that's f'in fabulous! If you're going to crap on pitchers like Kershaw for their postseason ERA ballooning way above their regular season performance, then you have to give it up to Tommy John.

- There is now a men's underwear company named Tommy John. Listen, guys, if you ever get a clothing line named after you that keeps your junk in order, you're a damn legend!

 

[mrmopar]

John is one of those "borderline" HOF candidates/snubs because he was not dominating, but that surgery saved his career for sure. Seems like he is tossed in HOF conversations with the likes of Mussina (now a HOF), Kaat (now a HOFer), Blyleven (now a HOFer) and a few others that didn't quite make 300, although that pool of non-HOFers is shrinking!

As a reminder, all (24) 300+ winners are in the HOF except Roger Clemens.

Here are all the pitchers with 260-299 Wins. I included Verlander in there because he was right there and still active. Almost every single one of them is a HOFer already or a guy almost nobody has heard of because they played in the way back when days. Moyer is his only non-HOF contemporary, and you will hear load groans if moyer and HOF are spoken in the same breath, and perhaps rightly so as he and John both had extended careers of mostly mediocrity.

I should have gone down to the nice round 250 win mark, just because...6 of 8 are also in the HOF. If you think about it, only 49 pitchers in the entire history of baseball have played well enough and long enough to register 250 career wins. It's still a pretty damn elite class.

 

[mrmopar]

Today brought a Green Archives Blue foil /25. another Shawn green auto!

 

[banjar]

Yeah, John is borderline HOF. When I first wrote that post I said he was definitely a HOF'er, but deleted that later. The Tommy John kool aid was tasting pretty good.

I do think he merits some more consideration though. He's eerily similar to Don Sutton, who of course has his detractors but is still in the HOF. So maybe John has a chance. The veterans committee could put him in.

 

[mrmopar]

A great Garvey mailday, although both were Padre cards.

1/1 Archives.



6/19 Archives (Jersey number).

 

[mrmopar]

Sporting Life custom

87T ink print flaw

Reese /18

Penny /100

Gagne /25

Pair of Sheehan. Of course, trying since these came out to win one, can't win one and make a best offer on a lower priced one. As soon as the offer is accepted, I win an auction for same card!



A Gonzalez


Did it to myself again! No wonder there was no competition. READ the frigging descriptions! This came with glass, because it's STUCK to the glass. Neither heat, nor freezer method is working. It's a pretty rare item, but almost worthless as is. Will I ever learn to slow down and read...

Bob Miller Wilson Meats signed promotional photo

 

[mrmopar]

Yes, another Green. This one /25

 

[mrmopar]

Have several of these, but as I think more and more about selling eventually, i see deals that are too good to pass with the thought of resale. This piece at $15 was one. UD Authentic autographs of Larry Doby, Steve Garvey and Rollie Finders.


Thome Archives /18.

This might be my first card from Germany ever. I have won quite a few cards over the years that have come from Canada, South America, Asia, Australia, but Europe is not a frequent selling location for me. Ring of Honor Dusty Baker.

 

[mrmopar]

More liked the olden days, mostly Garvey mailday and Powell.

 

[mrmopar]

I finally found an unsigned/uncancelled version of this postcard. Of course, it had to be in a small lot with a Gwynn too. I believe these are 1983. I am almost certain I dated one based on a postmark from fan mail on the back of one of mine, so this would make the Gwynn a rookie year issue.


Muncy

 

[mrmopar]

For those not familiar with this crudely done oddball set, an enterprising collector named Clarence Mengler had these 3x5 "cards" made in 1975, what appeared mainly for the purpose of having them sent to players to sign or getting in person signatures. This was right around the time SSPC set was taking heat for lack of proper licensing and the MLBPA apparently went after Mengler as well to cease and desist.

I have had both the regular blank back and one with a copyright. These are a special type of item that not everyone collectors, but even so, the regular Garvey rarely ever comes up for sale. I stumbled upon Mengler himself on ebay and we ended up chatting. He told me he had sold a few original art cards and was going to list more soon, including the Garvey. These are 1 of 1 with the original pencil sketches on them, used to make the issue. After discussing the possible purchase of Garvey, he tossed out $100 as a number. At first I passed due to the cost, then thought about it and decided that this was a unique piece of history, so to speak. He had also gotten the Garvey signed with a vintage signature as well. When I reached back out to commit to buying it, he said $100 was the STARTING POINT and that he'd need more than that for it. I passed again, saying it took enough to convince me to pay the $100 I thought the price was.

Can't recall how long passed, it was a bit, but finally I saw that he had posted a bunch of them, some signed, some just the original art and unsigned. There was Garvey and the opening bid was $50. Within a day I think, someone had bid on it and I worried that maybe I would end up losing out. Thankfully my bid in the end held up and I actually got it for $61. More than many of the art cards he was selling, but 40% less than I was ready to pay sometime last year. Pretty happy to have this in my collection now.



The rest of the mail seemed a little less exciting
Garvey /10
Garvey GU /4
George Kelly PC Au
Gonsolin
Deluca upgrades my minor league/weird brand card
Prince
Bradley /150.
Campy Banty

Sutton iron on. Advertised as unused, but I think it may have just been applied to some sort of fabric sheet. Either way, very cool item. It's about 8x10 sized, likely meant for a T-Shirt.

 

[mrmopar]

One card past the 10 scan max and since I can't seem to land any of the Dodger versions, this gets it's own post. It's an even less seen Brewers version and a great action shot. Until I can get one of the Dodger Archives, this will do and is a 1/1 to boot.