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

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mrmopar

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Jan 19, 2010
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Forgot to add these yesterday, figured I'd add them with today's mail, but didn't get anything today.

Ed Vande Berg. Vande Berg came to LA via trade in December 1985 for Steve Yeager. He went 1-5 with a 3.41 ERA in 60 games as what I will assume was middle relief, as he had no saves for the first time in his career. Almost a year to the day (about a week later) he was traded to LA, they released him. He found work in Cleveland the following year and ended his career in 1988 with the Rangers. s-l500-1.jpg

Ton Niedenfuer. s-l500-2.jpg
 

mrmopar

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Jan 19, 2010
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I have been a Dodgers fan since the early days of my baseball fandom. of course, you want your team to have the best players and I have always believed that any player looks great in those Dodger blues. Even if the player just passes through, having a Dodger card or signature is great, even if that player was more famous elsewhere. Sometimes just the fact that a player made an appearance with your team elevates that player's status. Such is the case for me and Sal Maglie. He was a rival in the 50s, on the hated Giants, but when he came to Brooklyn, all was forgotten. Plus, how cool is the nickname, 'The Barber"? His best days were behind him when the 39 year old joined the Dodgers, but he still managed a decent season in 1956 (13-5, 2.87, 110K), his last real good season before retiring 2 years later as a Cardinal. Maglie.jpg
Darrell Thomas. I love these team issue 8x10s, especially signed. I still need more, signed or not! Thomas.jpg

Jimmy Wynn, another cool nickname, "Toy Cannon". Another team issue, this one from the 5x7 stadium photo packs. I can't seem to get enough of these either, signed or not. Wynn just died earlier this year at 78. RIP Wynn.jpg

Bob Bailey. Bailey.jpg

Davey Lopes. Lopes.jpg

Gregg Olson. Another career capper as a Dodger. Gregg wrapped up his 14 year career with 2 seasons in LA, 2000-01. the 1989 AL ROY and 1990 AS was coming off a bit of a resurgence as a closer with Arizona, when the Dodgers signed him as a free agent. He certainly did not have the stats he had the prior 2 years, going 0-2 in 41 appearances, with 0 saves, in those 2 seasons in LA. Olson.jpg

Dick Williams. Williams.jpg

Jackie Collum got to play briefly in both Brooklyn and LA. In those 2 seasons, he contributed pretty much nothing in 5 games (7 2/3 IP), with no decisions and a 8+ ERA. The Dodgers had picked up him and Vito Valentinetti (who they flipped for some cash a few months later, having never stepped onto the field for the team) for Don Elston. When he departed LA, it was via an "unknown transaction" with the Twins according to baseball-reference. How is that for obscure AF! A player only a true team collector could love. Collum.jpg

Joe Hatten. Hatten.jpg

The capper for today is a guy who I almost forgot played in Brooklyn. Shame on me, as he was an eventual HOFer. Probably one of the easiest autographs of the T card era, Rube Marquard lived a long life and lasted long enough to satisfy a growing autograph collecting hobby. He died at age 93 in 1980. If you have a signed T card, it's probably Marquard.

He played in Brooklyn from 1915-1920. Looking at his stats, this is a guy that would probably get more comments about the Hall of Pretty Good argument if anyone remembered to mention him, as he was 201-177, 1593 Ks and a 3.08 ERA. Tommy John disapproves with his 288-231, 2245K & 3.34 ERA career statline! John did have 8 years of play on old Rube though, and pitched until he was 46. Maybe Marquard has similar numbers with 8 more years, pitching until he is 46 as well? s-l1600.jpg
 

deaconblues63

Well-known member
Oct 25, 2012
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@mrmopar I enjoy following your post.

I’m curious about a few things:

1) Although not a difficult autograph, just an expensive one, what do you have of Koufax? I think I remember you having at least one unexpected one you found in a program.

2) Do you have any of the tougher Los Angeles Dodgers autographs like Mike Marshall or Andy Messersmith?

3) Do you have a Glenn Burke? I would like to see this:


4) Do you have a Vin Scully?

5) Have you ever written about Clancy Smyres?

Hope you don’t mind all the questions.


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,188
4,100
@mrmopar I enjoy following your post.

I’m curious about a few things:

1) Although not a difficult autograph, just an expensive one, what do you have of Koufax? I think I remember you having at least one unexpected one you found in a program.

2) Do you have any of the tougher Los Angeles Dodgers autographs like Mike Marshall or Andy Messersmith?

3) Do you have a Glenn Burke? I would like to see this:


4) Do you have a Vin Scully?

5) Have you ever written about Clancy Smyres?

Hope you don’t mind all the questions.


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board


Not at all, I always love to talk about baseball stuff, especially stuff I collect. I appreciate the interest and support on your part.

1). Koufax - I have a number of Koufax sigs on a few vintage cards (just not the 56 Topps I really covet), some photos, 3x5, pretty sure an Auravision record and your memory is correct, I found one in a Media Guide I bought that was not noticed by the seller. I have his Donruss Significant Signature card (the one with LA I think w/o checking), so that is the known real one. I say this only because you never know. joufax was/is heavily forged and he sigs infrequently. His certified cards are actually starting to grow in volume, as he has been offered in quite a few sets in the last decade or so, but they are always pricy.

2). Tough Dodgers - I have at least 1 of ALL of the LA Dodgers since 1958 except for 3 new guys this year. Unlike some of the other team collectors, I will take any signature. I have a lot on Dodger items, but if I can save a buck and buy a few other autos, I'll take the discount. I would love to upgrade to all Dodger images/cards, but that would probably be impossible and it just is not worth the extra cash it would cost me. My new "key" need is Mookie Betts. His signature is expensive, so I will probably just wait and see if he has some certified Dodger cards issued (Topps already failed to include him in the special boxed set) and hopefully enough are issued to water down the market a bit. I also need Victor Gonzalez & Zach McKinstry. They don't seem to have any of those common MiLB cards like a lot of younger guys have had. I'll have to wait for them to have certified cards or maybe someone will sell some TTM/IPs.

Marshall I bought a few from Chris Potter auctions and also have one of the famous Sweet Spot glove cards that has nearly faded/bled into what looks like a grease spot! That still pisses me off to no end, because when they were live, i was trying for a glove or ball. Had I landed a ball card, the sig would still be crisp. UD screwed me (and everyone else) royally on that deal. As for Messersmith, his autographs are actually fairly plentiful. It is just that he has apparently not signed for quite a while. I have a number of vintage cards signed by him, pome PCs, etc. I would really, really like to have his 1979 OPC card signed though. That is a White Whale. I was one listed a few months back for $100 obo. I marked it in my watch list and was going to go back and make an offer and it was gone before I could even get back to it. I should have done it immediately.

I could go on about the more obscure players. Some are tough, just because they were so obscure, moved out of country, etc. Bob Wilson seems to be one of the lest found players in my searches. Bob Giallombardo is another that seems to be quite scarce. I think I saw in one of the guides (Smalling?) that he charges $25 TTM, which actually seems pretty reasonable given the lack of his signatures, but I have never tried. He only has the one real vintage card, 1959 Topps and it has a scarce variation. To keep the trend going, Bob O'Brien is unusually tough too. he shares a rookie card with Charlie Hough in 1972 Topps. Maybe he just doesn't like to sign? Some others that were a little harder were Sergio Robles, Gene Snyder, Noe Munoz, Larry White, Jack Smith, Orlando Alvarez. Since adding all of them, I have found other examples along the way, so nobody is impossibly hard. Like any team, they have their fair share of obscure players who played very little/short careers. The farther back you go, the harder it can be to find anyone who cared enough to grab those signatures.

3) Burke - I have Burke's 78T signed, but also have a couple neat multi-signed items as well. I wrote about them here...



As you can see, his signature varied quite a bit. i have to think that some (many?) of the 78s are fake? His sig seems easy enough to fake and can be pricy. He was out of baseball pretty quickly and ultimately died young too. Seems like a lot of sigs out there for such an obscure guy.

4). Vin Scully. I do have Vin. it's pretty lame (it's on the back of the VHS tape of the Dodgers 100th year video) and I am trying to upgrade, but the demand for his certified autographs (or any for that matter) is insane to me. They top $100-200 and higher every time. I also have Jerry Doggett, Ross Porter, Red Barber, Connie Desmond and Ernie Harwell, along with Jaime Jarrin. For a guy who was involved with baseball nearly 70 years and is still alive, Vin is stupid hard (unless you have a *** of cash).

5). I may have mentioned Smyres in a post or blog entry, but I don't think there is much to add to what I found written by Jim Stinson. That is an interesting tale, if anyone cares. https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.c...is-autograph-is-more-valuable-than-babe-ruth/

I certainly do hot have any first hand information either. Fascinating case and it just goes to show what completists will do to get every signature. I have seen articles where Smyres is compared to Ruth, only because he is so scarce that people might pay close to the same price if given the opportunity. Weird that the letter has no mention of Smyres on it. That is a little odd to me, given the value would be all about him on the ball.
Besides guys like him and because the Brooklyn history goes back to before the turn of the Century, I never even considered trying to get all the Brooklyn sigs. I'll get as many as I can find and add on a reasonable budget.
 

mrmopar

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Jan 19, 2010
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Speaking of Betts....at one point he had refused to sign a contract with Topps. Has that changed?
I do not know, so that may explain why he was not part of the Championship box set. That would be unfortunate, but I guess we'll see. I will get one eventually. I always do. I might have to wait 5 years, but I will nab one at my price eventually.
 

mrmopar

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Jan 19, 2010
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Today brings some certified items.
Garvey Jacket /25. Garv 25.jpg.

Shawn Green Archives /13. Green :13.jpg

Davey Johnson. Johnson.jpg

Al Oliver Snapshots /25. Oliver 25.jpg
 

mrmopar

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Todd Williams leading off as the only certified card. Williams was 2-2 in 16 games with the 1995 Dodgers. The Dodgers traded him to the A's for a minor leaguer. He went on to play 7 more seasons with 4 other teams, adding 10-12 to those initial totals. Not a Dodgers card, but still nice to have a certified card of someone so plain,Williams copy.jpg in a time before certified cards were the thing.

Kyle Farmer. It is almost common to find certified cards of most newer players, so I still like to grab some IP/TTM cards now and again. That was the core of my collection originally. Farmer.jpg

Ron Hunt. I remember this guy, even from when I was a kid, as being known for being hit by pitches. As it turned out, he lead the league 7 consecutive years from 1968-74. He has a modern era record for being nailed 50 times in 1971! Only Hughie Jennings had more, 51, in 1896. Interestingly, at the time, Hunt was #1 but was stripped of the record later, as it was believed at the time that the season high record was 48. Further research gave Jennings a few more HPB and Hunt slid back to 2nd place all time. Crazy way to get famous, although he did have 2 AS seasons as well and was not a bad player in general. In his only season in LA, he was plunked 10 times. The following season in SF, he began the consecutive HBP LL streak. Now I am getting lazy for documenting his time with LA, by stealing BB Reference transaction notes..

November 29, 1966: Traded by the New York Mets with Jim Hickman to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith.

February 13, 1968: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Nate Oliver to the San Francisco Giants for Francis Kasheta (minors) and Tom Haller. Hunt.jpg

Andy Kosco had his most productive season in 1969 as a dodger, with 19 HR and 74 RBI. He would not come too close to those totals any other year.

December 4, 1968: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Kekich.

February 10, 1971: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Milwaukee Brewers for Al Downing. Kosco.jpg

Wrapping up the day with some older players on photos/postcards:

Jim Bucher/ John Babich. Bucher played in Brooklyn from 1934-37, with a solid year in 1935, in one of his only full seasons.

October 2, 1933: Drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers from the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1933 rule 5 draft.

October 4, 1937: Traded by the Brooklyn Dodgers with Johnny Cooney, Roy Henshaw and Joe Stripp to the St. Louis Cardinals for Leo Durocher.

Babich played in Brooklyn in 1934-35. Both were rookies with Brooklyn in 1934. In his 2 seasons he was 7-11 & 7-14 for the Bums.

June 12, 1934: Traded by Mission (PCL) to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Ray Lucas and cash plus a player to be named.

February 6, 1936: Traded by the Brooklyn Dodgers with Gene Moore to the Boston Bees for Fred Frankhouse. Bucher Babich.jpg

Ernie Kruger played in Brooklyn from 1917-1921, primarily as a catcher. He died in 1978 at age 85. Krueger.jpg

Pete Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen.jpg

Bob Ramazotti. Ramazotti.jpg

Somehow missed this one that came in earlier. Spider Jorgensen. Jorgensen.jpg
 
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mrmopar

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Jan 19, 2010
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Andy Pages Heritage Minors Auto. pages.jpg

Pretty happy about this one. It was on ebay with a fairly high BIN price or offer, I want to say around $75 or so I provided a low, but reasonable offer. It was countered much higher and I countered again a few bucks higher than my initial offer, stating that I appreciated the sellers open mindedness to bargain, but I was going as high as I could accept. I felt it was a fair offer for the card, especially given the player. It was /5, but it was still Bill Russell, after all. Fan favorite, but by no means a marquee player. This works sometimes and in this case, the seller did accept my counter. I love the set and /5 is a nice bonus. I said it before, but really wish I had paid closer attention to this set in 2004 and chased more of the Dodger autos and parallels, especially the golds. I paid considerably more than I just got the same Northup /5 issue for, but still a nice price in my mind, around $30. Russell.jpg
 

mrmopar

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Happy Veteran's Day to any/all the current and former military out there. Of course, I forgot (after driving in to work for a special veterans gathering!) and checked the mailbox like a *******!
 

mrmopar

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Decent haul today, starting with a Garvey /10. garvey 10.jpg

Next is a dupe, I actually thought I would not win with a "who cares if I win or not" bid...and I won! The Muncy/Smith archives dual /25. Muncy Smith Dual.jpg

Rick Dempsey. I don't think he has a certified Dodgers auto, but that would be cool. Spent 3 years in LA as a part time catcher for the club, including the 1988 World Championship year. He played well in 4 games in the NLCS, but only appeared twice in the WS and was not much of a factor, still nice to get a 2nd ring at that point of your career, the year you were traded! Dempsey.jpg

Al Oliver Archives /10 (Can't help myself!). Oliver 10.jpg

Chris Perez. Wrapped up his MLB career in 2014 with the Dodgers, going 1-3 in 49 games with a single save. Not sure what happened to him, but after 4 solid years as a closer, (2 AS appearances and 123 saves) he came to LA and that was it. Perez.jpg

Eugenio Velez also ended his MLB career in LA, in 2011. He appeared in 34 games and was HITLESS in 37 AB. What a slump! Velez.jpg

Last item was another smaller lot of those Pittsburgh Hilton postcards. This lot contained 10 more, including 2 Garvey, 2 Lasorda, Mark Belanger, Dusty Baker, Tom Niedenfuer, Steve Sax, Ron Perranoski and Jerry Reuss. Another great price on these too, $8 plus s/h for the 10 signed cards. 10 Dodger PC.jpg
 

mrmopar

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I'll start with a card I somehow missed with yesterdays batch, Steve Sax. Sax.jpg

Today only brought one package with autographs.

Casey Blake. Blake.jpg

Carlos Hernandez 92T Traded. Venezuelan born Hernandez (1 of 4 MLB players with the same name as shown in BB Ref), held on for a 10 year career, the first 7 years (1990-96) of which were in LA. Mostly a back up behind names like Scioscia, Dempsey, Carter and Piazza, he did manage to get into about 225 games in those 7 years. His "best" year in LA would have probably been 1992, when he appeared in 69 games and hit .260. He signed as a free agent with the Padres in 1997 and after another partial year, he ended up playing in 129 games in 1998, his only close to full season in MLB with career highs in just about every category. He did not play MLB in 1999 and in 2000 would split the season between San Diego and St. Louis to wrap up his career. Hernandez.jpg
 

mrmopar

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I won the rest of the set minus this card a few weeks ago for a nice price, so picked up a dupe to finish off the set. I noticed along the way what I thought might be some fakes too. I have seen unsigned versions of this card, and that scared me a bit, because most come with the "cert". Of course, that is meaningless for the most part, but it makes some feel better.

Don Drysdale Nabisco, one of the greatest food issue ideas ever! Drysdale.jpg

Charie Manuel Archive Purple. Tried to win the blue a couple times, my default favorite for this set, but kept getting smacked down. Manuel Purple.jpg

Ron Negray Heritage Red Signature /57. The older commons don't seem to pop up as much, so I try to grab any with Dodger connections when the prices are right. Negray was a two-timer, starting his career in Brooklyn in 1952, with no decisions in 4 games. He then ended his career in LA in 1958, with no decisions in 4 games that season as well! In between he was 6-6 with the Phillies in 1955-56. He died in 2018 at age 88. negray.jpg

Charlie "Tim" Thompson also came with the Negray. He he is only the regular version though., Thompson began his career in Brooklyn in 1954, appearing in 10 games, hitting .154. 1954 was an off year for Roy Campanella, smack dab between two MVP seasons, he only hit .207 in 111 games, but was in no position to fear losing his gig to Thompson. The Dodgers traded him for a couple minor leaguers and some cash and he never did do much in the bigs. He hit .238 in 187 games career, but did have a 2nd Heritage autograph the year following this issue, which I also have, but the one shown is not my copy. Oddly enough, notice the signatures. Make up your mind man, is it Charlie or is it Tim?

Thompson.jpgs-l500.jpg

Wrapping things up with a couple TTM/IPs.

"Fat" Freddie Fitzsimmons. He pitched for 19 years in MLB, including his last 7 years in Brooklyn. Fitzsimmons.jpg

Mike Sharperson played for the Dodgers from 1987-93, including an AS appearance in 1992. The Dodgers did give up Juan Guzman to get Sharperson from the Blue Jays, so in hindsight that was probably a nod to the Blue Jays for that swap. Sharperson was mostly a utility player who never really played a full season. His best years, he played 128 & 129 games. He was working his way back up to the majors in the Padres organization in 1996 (his last MLB game was 1995 for Atlanta), when he was killed in an automobile accident in the Las Vegas area. Not wearing a seatbelt, he was ejected through the sun roof when he lost control of his vehicle after leaving the freeway in an early morning crash. He was 34 years old.Sharperson.jpg

Craig Shipley. Shipley.jpg
 

dano7

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Charles Lemoine "Tim" Thompson
Signed a 1958 card and also signed the back of the index card that I sent. That was is in 2014
 

mrmopar

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Got some goodies coming soon. No new names yet, but one new Dodger item and some nice cards in general that I was happy to capture. Today is just one. It's numbered to 5, so that is kind of special, but alas, another panini offering. Not a fan for the most part, but because I am a fan of Garvey, I keep shoveling their crap into my collection.

Garvey 5.jpg

Despite the Garvey collection, for my money, I'd take that Bill Russell Au/5 I picked up recently before the Garvey, all day long.
 

mrmopar

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1 from COMC, Zach Lee. Zach-Lee.jpg

Pee Wee Reese TCMA. A dupe, but a good deal that could not be passed up. Reese.jpg
 

mrmopar

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Another 1 and 1 day.

From COMC (offered yesterday, accepted today): Hanley-Ramirez-JJ-Hardy-James-Loney.jpg

Loney representing the Dodgers at time of issue and Hanley Ramirez would join the club later in his career. Hardy is a nice bonus, though no time in LA. He was a 3X Gold Glover, 2X AS and 1X Silver Slugger. At one point I was trying to keep up with autographs of anyone who made the AS roster or won an award of any kind. That was a big list and it just keeps expanding fast.

In the mail was a 4 photo lot of 4" x 6" custom photos. I bought a lot from this seller before for Paul DePodesta. Nice idea, I'd prefer card sized, but will take these too. A few real obscurities.

Gary Moore. 7 game career in 1970 with LA. He hit .188. The signature is not great unfortunately, as signed images of Moore seem to be somewhat sparse. He is much easier on a 3x5. As far as I know, he is still alive and is 75 years old now. Maybe he doesn't do much TTM or nobody but me cares?
Trent Oeltjen. 75 games in 2010-11. He hit .202.
Tim Hamulack. 33 games in 2006. Was 0-3 with 7.43 ERA.
Corey Wade. 82 games in 2008-09, the senior achiever of the group. He was 4-4 with a semi-decent mid 3.00s ERA.

The only one who joined the Dodgers and was involved in a transaction that involved other players was Hamulack, who came to LA from the Mets with Jae Weong Seo for Duaner Sanchez and Steve Schnmoll. Talk about a big name trade roster there!

4 Dodgers.jpg
 

mrmopar

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Jan 19, 2010
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This is the 2nd time this week that I got 2 mail days in one day. USPS must be way behind or something. I don't recall this ever happening in the past. Anyway, after getting mail earlier today, several more packages arrived. A couple included some more Dodger autos!

Starting round 2 with a dupe, but a decent one. Al Oliver Archive /10. Drake cards had some cool designs, especially the first year, and some great photography. This combines both features with a short printed buyback autograph. Much goodness!Oliver 10 Arch.jpg

The other item is a brochure for a book called "Ebbetts Field, A Memoir". This is signed on the front by the book's author, Irving Rudd & 8 former Brooklyn players including:

Cal Abrams
Dolph Camilli
Augie Galan
Babe Herman
Tommy Holmes
Clem Labine
Mickey Owen
Jim Romano

Apparently this had been sold, but the buyer flaked, so it was relisted. It only went for a little over $10 the first time, and what kind of fool doesn't fork out $10 for 8 deceased Brooklyn Dodger autographs they bid on to begin with, but I can't complain with the $13.55 final price I paid. I usually don't like oddly placed random signatures, but this is themed and it works.

Ebbetts Brochure.jpg
 

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