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

[mrmopar]

Pretty hefty batch today (53 Dodgers signatures), mostly because of a stack of 3x5s. I'll do those separately.

Starting with the certified cards, several were COMC offers from late yesterday that were accepted, thus today's additions.

Jaren Kendall. COMC buy. Maybe this guy makes it, maybe he doesn't. Maybe the Dodgers end up shipping him off in a deal, as they have several catchers in the pipeline already. He is 23 and playing A ball. No MLB experience yet, but plenty of Dodger cards available of him.

Max Muncy. I do like the A&G mini cards.

Skip Schumaker /25. COMC buy. Most, if not all of his Dodger cards are logo-less. Still better than a poke in the eye! He played 1 season in LA, 2013. The Dodgers got him from the Cardinals or a minor leaguers, Jake Lemmerman. It was not an AS year, but he appeared in 125 games, mostly OF and 44 at 2B. He even pitched in 2 games! However, his prime years were behind him and he was done by 2015.

Terrance Gore. COMC buy. I think I saw he has a logo-less Dodger card, so I may try to snag one. He made his LA debut this year and only appeared in 2 games, 1 as a defensive sub and once as a pinch runner. He is on the 28 man roster currently. Maybe we'll see him in the playoffs?

Jake McGee. COMC buy. Baseball reference is missing some details for this guy. He last shows being released by Colorado in July 2020. However, his is on the Dodgers now and he has played 24 games for the Dodgers and is 3-1 with a 2.66 ERA and 33K in 20 innings of work. Not bad.

Al Oliver archives /30. What can I say, I like Oliver and the Archives set. More coming...

Blake Treinen. COMC buy. Another A&G mini, Blake is 3-3 in 27 appearances this year for LA.

Now comes the questionable "certified" cards. These come from "Historic Autographs". Basically, these guys sold packs of TTM/IP autographs on "vintage" cards, slapped a hologram sticker on the back and now you have "certified" pack pulled autographs. Where did their supply come from? How do we know they are not fakes? Good questions, likely without real answers from these guys. I know they have done a number of buyback type autograph offerings. Niche market stuff.

I got a lot of 9, only for the Garvey, but there were a few other neat cards and the Dodger tally came to 3. Garvey and Moon are Dodger cards and Bob Bailer would eventually become a Dodger. I don't know how many of any given player or card were issued this way, but I suspect they are somewhat limited. Neat item, for what it is.



The final card is a 1986 Jerry Royster. The signature is smudged, but I like this card image so I grabbed it with the 3x5 lot that is coming in the next post. Royster began his career in 1971 with the Dodgers organization. in 1973 he made his MLB debut and over the course of the next 3 seasons, logged in a total of 29 games and hit somewhere around .235. the Dodgers traded him in 1975 with Tom Paciorek, Lee Lacy and jimmy Wynn to the Braves for Ed Goodson and Dusty Baker. Several of those players would be captured in the 1976T traded set, but sadly not all. Would have been cool to see a Goodson Traded card in a Dodger uniform. Royster went on to have a decent career that lasted until 1988, mostly with the Braves.

To be continued...

 

[mrmopar]

The rest of the mail day consisted of a small stack of 4x5s. I have been buying 3x5s for years with the thought of possibly making some custom cuts in trading card size and format. Sometimes I have only 1, many times i have doubles, triples and even 10 or more of a given player. Sadly, knowing myself, I will never do anything with these 3x5 cards and they will eventually find their way back into the market for others to enjoy (or modify as I once wanted to do).

Lots of 4-5 cards each from: Cal Abrams, Roger Craig, Otto Davis, Harry Eisenstat, All Apperly, Woody English & Carl Erskine.

The singles to follow shortly...

 

[mrmopar]

Terry Forster. LA 1978-82 (Alive, 68 YO)
Sid Gautreaux. Brooklyn 1936-37 (D. 80)
Alex Kampouris. Brooklyn 1941-42 (D. 93)
Ken Lehman. Brooklyn 1952, 56-57 (D. 10)
Don Lund. Brooklyn 1945, 47-48 (D. 13)
Mal Mallette. Brooklyn 1950 (D. 05)
Johnny McCarthy. Brooklyn 1934-35 (D. 73)
Larry Miller. LA 1964 (D. 18)

 

[mrmopar]

Saturday brought me...

Luis Gonzalez Archives /34.

Brian Jordan Archives /18.

And a pair of Scoops. /24 & /38.

 

[mrmopar]

A "Monday-typical" mail day, but especially robust Dodger auto day as well. I get that there is an extra day that mail does not deliver, but I still find it weird that Monday is almost always a huge mail day, but 2 other consecutive days in the week aren't.

Garvey first, but a Padre appearance. A new shiny card, which I am slowly abandoning due to increased competition, plus just growing tired of the same old logo-less crap that Panini is spewing out. Garvey seems almost exclusive to Panini now. This one I did go overboard on. It's /5.

Then I finally nabbed an Archives Dave Stewart. he seems unusually popular in this set, at least for the Dodger cards. I am thinking, without checking, that he probably doesn't have any other certified Dodger appearances otherwise. the rookies sell strong, but this is a better looking card all around. it's /35. The centering bugs me a little, but i'll live.

A couple multi-signed and single signed 8x10s, postcards and smaller photos. The first is pretty sweet. Really wish he has been able to nab Myron White, as he has since passed away. The rest are still alive I believe (1 minor leaguer I have no clue about) and it would be cool to have complete, but w/o White possible anymore, why bother to continue it. Pedro Guerrero, Rudy Law, Ted Power, Mike Scioscia, Dave Stewart & Rick Sutcliffe. The Dodgers had a pretty solid farm system in the 70s/80s.

This one is manager/coaches. Also would be cool to have complete, but Lasorda is the only one left among the living. Gilliam died in 1978, so he is not too tough, but is not easy either.

Ron Fairly magazine photo.

Tom Haller PC.

Jay Johnstone photo

Ken Landreaux photo.

Ron Roenicke photo.

Pepe Frias. Can't recall if he has been profiled, but I don't get a lot of his signature, so i will just in case. Frias ended his career in LA after the rangers traded him to LA for Dennis Llewallyn and some cash. He mostly relieved Bill Russell as SS and did some pinch running duties. He managed 14 games in 1980 and 25 games in 1981 before calling it quits.

To be continued...

 

[mrmopar]

Rip Repulski.

Len Matuszek. Got this a while back, but must have missed pulling the scan from the file.

Howie Reed. Reed pitched for the Dodgers from 1964-66. He was 10-9 in those 3 years. He arrived in LA via a trade from the KC Athletics for Ed Rakow. The Dodgers later traded him and a player to be named later to the Angels for Dick Egan. Reed died of heart failure just 2 weeks shy of his 48th birthday in 1984, so his signature is a little less common than the average 60s journeyman.

A third dave Stewart of the day. Dave told me at a local signing that he preferred not to sign Rangers (and Phillies) items, so i always think of that when I see one. Perhaps it was a decision layer in life, as there does not seem to be a limited quantity and he did just this year sign some Topps cards for archives and I have seen a few Rangers cards.

Terry Whitfield.

A few 3x5s:

Jim Barbieri. in 1966, he hit .280 in 39 games and that would be his entire MLB career. He spent the next 4 years in AAA Spokane, then a year in japan before his playing career ended.

Al Gionfriddo. Gionfriddo is probably most well known for his catch more than anything else. You have seen the image, even if you didn't realize it at the time. It is one of the more famous baseball images there is. In 1947, the Dodgers gave up Hank Behrman, Kirby Higby, Dixie Howell, Gene Mauch and Cal McLish to the pirates for Gionfriddo and $100K. he only played 37 games that year for the Dodgers and hit a lowly .177, but he ended up appearing in 4 World Series games, where he was hitless in 3 AB, but stole a base and scored 2 runs! He also made his infamous catch to rob Joe D of a WS HR! I'll be damned if it is not the exact anniversary of that day, 73 years later! .

Another Haller.

The final item is a blue archives dual auto of Max Muncy and Will Smith. Was not sure how popular this card would be when I first saw that it existed. Thankfully Smith is not getting the attention of other young Dodger cards like Lux, Verdugo, etc. This one is /25. Perhaps my favorite Archive card of the year. It reminds me a little of the Master & Mentor card I has as a kid. If you are not familiar, check it out (can't add it, because I reached my scan limit). . Today, a card like this would never exist due to the wording (or maybe it's called something else), but i still love the card.

 

[mrmopar]

Matt Beaty, won both. Another example of why you should only bid on 1 card at a time. Both were cheap, so no complaints.

Paco Rodriquez from COMC. He seemed to be a decent middle reliever, at least statistically. He played in LA for 4 years (2012-15), appearing in 124 games (85.1 IP). 4-5 lifetime with 91 Ks and a 2.53 ERA. Then the Dodgers traded him and that would be the last time he saw action at the MLB level. The trade was massize, but essentially didn't involve anyone of significance. Thanks BB-Ref, as I don't want to type it all out:

July 30, 2015: Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Zachary Bird (minors) and Héctor Olivera to the Atlanta Braves. The Atlanta Braves sent Bronson Arroyo, Luis Avilan, Jim Johnson, Jose Peraza and Alex Wood to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Victor Araujo (minors), Kevin Guzman (minors) and Jeff Brigham to the Miami Marlins. The Miami Marlins sent Mat Latos and Mike Morse to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Miami Marlins sent 2016 competitive balance round A pick to the Atlanta Braves.



Finally, Chad Hermansen Lone Star auto. These are a cool design. I don't think any Dodgers have one, but if they do and I am just not aware, I want it/them! Hermansen was 1 of at least 6 CHADs that played for the Dodgers (Billingsley, Curtis, Fonville, Hermansen, Kreuter, Moeller). That may be a CHAD record! Most were very brief stints, including Hermansen, who lasted 11 games in 2003. He joined LA from the Cubs with Todd Hundley for Eric Karros & Mark Grudzielanek. About a year later, he was released. he played in 4 more MLB gamin 2006 for the Blue Jays before his career was over.

 

[mrmopar]

I am approaching 1 year of documenting my new LA Dodgers (as well as former) personnel autographs. Although I have enjoyed it, I think i will probably modify what qualifies after 2020 wraps up. Since I have so many Dodger autographs already, I rarely get anyone truly unique. As I have stated before, just showing the new autographs may be a pretty boring and infrequently updated thread. However, showing every autograph of every player who ever played (even pictured on another team), at the rate I get them, plus try to jazz it up with some fun facts, is getting tiring. Plus maybe this thread isn't as interesting to anyone else as it is to me.

I do want to finish the year by showing everything, as that will then be a 1 year record of what i added. Thankfully, I am not sharing prices, as I would probably be embarrassed at the sheer volume spent if I added it all up!

Then, for 2021 I may just show Dodgers cards (in uniform or as noted by team name), and any new and unique signatures to my collection regardless of what they are.

 

[MrMet]

Show it all, let’s go! Haha, people are watching...that sounds creepier than it was meant...


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[mrmopar]

Terrance Gore got 2 into games as a defensive replacement and a pinch runner, no at bats. How does he warrant an autographed card and Kenley Jansen has never had one? I'm sure it has more to do with Jansen than anything, but he is due. It might be like a Nomo autograph card by the time it happens though! Still, glad to have one even if it is a logo-less monster!

 

[mrmopar]

Starting out with the only certified card, a Heritage red Tommy Dean. This makes a 2nd copy of this one for me. /71.

Next card is a TTM/IP, but some might argue it has been made into a certified card. That depends on how high of a regard you have for Historic Autographs. They "certified" this by slapping their little hologram sticker on back. As far as I am concerned, it's still a TTM/IP. This is the 82 Topps Traded card of Oliver. I will buy some of these if there isn't too much of a premium. In the end, there has to be a fairly limited number of any given card, probably many 1/1s too.

Johnny Schmitz. I am not seeing too many vintage cards come in these days. I have most of what I can already afford and the covid bump across the board with a lot of product has left me out for many items I would like to win. This is a nice 1952 Topps card.

Sergio Romo, like so many pitchers, breezed through LA on his way elsewhere. In Feb 2017, he joined the Dodgers as a free agent and by July 22, they had had their fill and traded him to Tampa Bay for cash considerations. He appeared in 30 games, 25 innings pitched, and had a 1-1 record and a 6.12 ERA.

Ronald Torreyes joined the Dodgers in June 2015 when they purchased him from the Blue Jays. He made his MLB Debut that season, along with appearing in 7 additional games for LA. He was primarily a late game substitution, pinch hitter or pinch runner. The following January, the Dodgers traded him to the Yankees with Tyler Olson for Rob Segedin, another player who didn't last long in LA.

The quality of this one is OK at best, but the price was right. This is a magazine photo glued onto a thin piece of cardboard. It's also personalized, but for under $10 for a Reese auto, I am not complaining too loudly.

One more item, but need a new post to capture all the scans...

 

[mrmopar]

The last item was kind of an impulse/sentimental buy. Growing up in the 70s-80s, I really learned of baseball in 1978 as a 3rd grader and the Dodgers became my team, as I copied a neighborhood friend who had just moved up from southern California. He is the reason I am a huge Steve Garvey fan as well. As i learned about baseball and expanded my interests, the Brooklyn Dodgers were a team I really liked. Lots of history, great players and a cool book, The Boys of Summer, had come out a few years earlier. It was an early favorite of mine. It was interesting to learn more about the Dodgers, but also about what many of the players who were still alive in 1971 were up to. I still think it is a little ironic that I remembered from the book that Carl Furillo was working as an elevator constructor in the World Trade Center in NY as it was being built. Years later, I would begin a career myself in the elevator field.

So, this copy of The Boys of Summer caught my eye, as it was autographed by several former player. The owner of the book apparently obtained these signatures in 1973 and possibly later. I am not really a fan of autographed books. I prefer cards, but sometimes I make exceptions. This one had a decent quantity of signatures, although I am disappointed that the owner didn't want them signing their photos. Most of the signatures are in blank spots on non-text pages. A couple were in the photo section, but most are not. What really caught my interest at first was the signature of Billy Cox. Cox is not as well known from the batch of players that starred in the 50s, but he was a solid contributor. Cox was more a glove man than a bat man. In fact, prior to Brooks Robinson, it was said that Cox was considered one of the best gloves at that position. In a line up that included the likes of Snider, Robinson, Campanella, Reese, Furillo & Hodges, Cox hardly gets a mention most of the time. Aside from Robinson and Hodges, who both died in 1972 from heart attacks, and Jim Gilliam (1978 heart attack) most of the key players lived relatively long lives and into the era of autograph shows and such. Cox was another not as lucky, dying at age 58 of esophageal cancer in 1978, like Gilliam.

Cox joined the Dodger in 1948, coming over with Gene Mauch and Preacher Roe from Pittsburgh. LA sent Dixie Walker, Hal Gregg and Vic Lombardi to the Pirates in return. He would then be their primary third baseman through 1954. He was once again packaged with Preacher Roe and traded to the Orioles for a couple minor leaguers and some cash. Roe would never suit up and play a game for Baltimore (or MLB) and Cox after 53 games played was traded again in June to the Indians. However, he refused to report to the team so Baltimore sent Cleveland $15K to complete the deal. Cox never played again. Sadly, both missed the glorious 1955 World championship season the Dodger had the year after they were traded.

Signatures included in this book are:

Cal Abrams
Sandy Amoros
Joe Black
Ralph Branca
Billy Cox
Carl Erskine
Carl Furillo
Clem Labine
Bobby Morgan
George Shuba
Duke Snider

Black signed his photo, but was dark and the seller missed it, so I don't have a handy photo. The book also came with tickets/flyers for signings that represented each player (except oddly Al Giofriddo is shown, but his signature is not included). Especially cool is the one that shows the Brooklyn Savings Bank appearance, as the book was a freebie compliments of the bank (see cover). It's not a fancy COA, but it lends some credibility to the signatures, as the book was free during the signing, while supplies lasted. The book was less than $30, so I felt it was a great price. Erskine and Morgan are the only players still alive from the batch.

 

[mrmopar]

Don Zimmer archives/fan favorites. Perhaps the greatest idea in sportcards ever, a series of autographs featuring well loved players and personnel that weren't always the best in the game, or even on their own teams. An affordable way to expand an autograph collection and not have the same 3-5 guys from each team represented year after year. If only someone would have thought of this earlier, as we lost so many good names before the certified autograph card joined us for good.

 

[MrMet]

Man, I need Zim on a Mets card...


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[mrmopar]

Man, I need Zim on a Mets card...


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

Is there a certified card like that? From what it seems, most of the Zim TTMs are wifey signed. I was looking at all of mine when I put this away, so unless he changed his signing habit, the telltale was that the D is looped in most of my uncertified autos and on his certified autos, it is open on the top. Then again, how do we know his wife didn't sign his certified cards either, if she was in the habit of signing for him regularly?

 

[mrmopar]

Today's mail day after a Holiday weekend was large, but very few signatures for the thread. Today I landed a white whale of sorts and look forward to sharing it. I may bust out the rest of the cards that this one completes...and make sure I was correct in that this was indeed the last card I still needed. Stand by for that one in the next week or so.

For now, there is this ho-hum selection:

A Garvey 4"x6". Normally, I am not a big fan of the smaller photo/autos. I'd rather spend roughly the same money and have an 8x10. I got a nice deal on this, so I added it.

Next is a 2nd Terrance Gore. I didn't figure anything exciting would happen, but since he is on the 28 man roster for the playoffs, I figured I had better scoop these up just in case. The other one I got was a base, this is a gold /99.

Lat item is yet another Archives Al Oliver, this one is a 1/1 though. 1984 Milton Bradley card. The signature placement is poor, but still a nice one to add and at a fraction of the price of the other 1/1( 1972 Topps version) I missed out on earlier this year. I would like to see Oliver in the HOF same day. How many people would be caught looking with their autograph collection if he finally made it? There are no shortage of Oliver autographs and most can be had relatively cheap. Aside from potentially creating competition for myself, I recommend grabbing one if you collect autos and don't have one yet. The guy could hit!

Al Oliver Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com

Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Al Oliver. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com

www.baseball-reference.com

 

[deaconblues63]

Seeing you mention Bobby Morgan reminded me that he was very nice and sent me a couple of things after I booked him for a card show 15 years ago.

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[mrmopar]

Nice.

 

[mrmopar]

Let's lead off with a couple more Garvey 8x10s. I need to do another autograph count someday and see just how many of Garvey I have. It's more than 2 and less than a million, I know this for sure! I really only wanted the 2nd pose, but they came as a package deal.



Jacob Amaya Heritage. I don't tend to speculate on most Dodger prospects and he is no exception. I do like to pick up a variety of signed certified cards when i can get them cheap though, so Amaya #2, possibly the 3rd one. Lame signature, but I think it really only goes downhill from here on out for signatures. Gone is the era of beautiful, small works of art that players (and people in general) of the past used for their identification.

Matt Beaty. Had the regular, liked the gold/orange border look too. I am a sucker for multi-colored border parallels sometimes.

Garrett Anderson Archives silver /99.

And the winner for item of the day, goes to this Heritage Red Real One autograph of Gordy Windhorn. Damn you Topps for getting the card updated in time for his move to KC. This is clearly a Dodger card from a visual standpoint and since he didn't get a Dodger card that I know of until Target issued their massive set in 1990, this substitutes as a Dodger certified autograph. After playing in 34 games for the 1961 Dodgers, he had tallied up 8 hits and had a batting average of .242. In October, of that year the world's most "Meh" trade occurred, when the Dodgers sent Windhorn & Bill Lajoie (minors) to the Athletics for Stan Johnson, Bobby Prescott & Jay Ward. Not a household name in the bunch. Those 3 would contribute a combined grand total of 45 MLB games, 18 of which were played BEFORE the trade by Prescott & Johnson. Ward was the only player the Dodgers received to play in the majors after the trade, but never actually for the Dodgers. Windhorn would play another 54 games between the Athletics and Angels in 1962, logging in another 11 hits on the way to a scalding .172 average. This is the red version /62. Given this set is very collectible, I still feel I overpaid for the autograph of a guy with 95 career games and a .176 average at $32.50, but sometimes you don't ever get another shot with modern cards with limited print runs.

 

[mrmopar]

Kyle Farmer /35. About as close to tolerable for a non-logo card as I can get. If you can't tell, not a fan of the unlicensed cards. That decision was a kick in the balls for all (male, at least) collectors, in my opinion. Nice color and design, great action photo and the RR logo adds to it.

I wrote about this Pages card here...https://1978theyearitallbegan.blogspot.com/2020/10/i-cant-even-think-of-good-title-for.html



Devon White. I think I may already have this, but got one just in case.

Gene Snyder. his was tough for me to find when I was really checking off a lot of names in a short amount of time for my LA Dodgers autograph collection. Since landing the first, I have seen several others. His only card is another story. I thought I owned it, but didn't see it last time I was putting new cards away. 1959 Topps. If I see one at a good price, I will be a buyer. This is just a plain postcard, not even baseball related, but could make a nice cut later, if I wanted to, although it has a great early scene of the NYC skyline (Empire State Bldg was the tallest building in the world until 1970's WTC towers).