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

[Therion]

I don't know why, but I always love the Archives autos.

 

[mrmopar]

Konerko is the only item in todays mail for me.

 

[mrmopar]

I don't know why, but I always love the Archives autos.

Its a great issue, along with Heritage. Classic designs and more lesser known and recognized players, instead of the same top guys over and over. i hope they don't die in the hands of Fanatics.

 

[mrmopar]

At one time I aspired to complete the 56T Dodgers team set, signed. Yeah, that isn't going to happen! I did get down to the big 4 though. Have not added one in a while, dupe or otherwise.

 

[mrmopar]

This was a solid Dodger mail day. 2 exciting Garvey additions, including his Burbank Exclusive certified autograph 2023 Topps. Reportedly the first 300 people who bought a box of 23 Topps from Burbank got the signed card as a gift. This is the kind of stuff I absolutely love. Now if only I could nab that 2022 ASG exclusive Auto too!

Also got a nice 6/50 Gypsy card. I still really enjoy getting the jersey serial number cards, but have had to let a lot of them go in the recent past because someone wanted them more than I and was willing to pay dearly. This one was pretty reasonable.

I thought I had this, but turns out I didn't. I had his 63 Heritage where he is shown as a Dodger, so added this one too. Ed Roebuck.

Rick Rhoden, easy to forget he was even with the Dodgers. Gone after his 1979 Topps offering, he was with Pittsburgh most of my youth. This one /26.

Al Oliver, of course.

Jessica Mendoza. I may already have one version, i feel like maybe a silver one that I got when the issue was new, but I can't remember now. This last one gets the nod because she covers the Dodgers now. I think I have one of the Archive Jose Mota cards as well, who is a co-host with Mendoza.

 

[Dodgerfan74]

This was a solid Dodger mail day. 2 exciting Garvey additions, including his Burbank Exclusive certified autograph 2023 Topps. Reportedly the first 300 people who bought a box of 23 Topps from Burbank got the signed card as a gift. This is the kind of stuff I absolutely love. Now if only I could nab that 2022 ASG exclusive Auto too! View attachment 346180

Also got a nice 6/50 Gypsy card. I still really enjoy getting the jersey serial number cards, but have had to let a lot of them go in the recent past because someone wanted them more than I and was willing to pay dearly. This one was pretty reasonable. View attachment 346181

I thought I had this, but turns out I didn't. I had his 63 Heritage where he is shown as a Dodger, so added this one too. Ed Roebuck. View attachment 346182

Rick Rhoden, easy to forget he was even with the Dodgers. Gone after his 1979 Topps offering, he was with Pittsburgh most of my youth. This one /26. View attachment 346183

Al Oliver, of course. View attachment 346184

Jessica Mendoza. I may already have one version, i feel like maybe a silver one that I got when the issue was new, but I can't remember now. This last one gets the nod because she covers the Dodgers now. I think I have one of the Archive Jose Mota cards as well, who is a co-host with Mendoza.

View attachment 346185

I grew up in Burbank. I went to the store before it got huge. I would have loved to get that card

 

[mrmopar]

I grew up in Burbank. I went to the store before it got huge. I would have loved to get that card

I think there is one on ebay now, with a BIN/BO.

 

[mrmopar]

These thrill me less and less each year they continue to flood the market, but occasionally I still win one. This one is /8, but isn't all that special either. Whoo Hoo!

 

[mrmopar]

Just 1 signature today, Podres /35.

Also came across this book and liked the cover and it was cheap, so I bought one. I rarely read books anymore, but will have to try to read it.

 

[mrmopar]

I like flats. Cards will always be #1. I don't dislike 8x10s, but they tend to be more expensive for the same auto than say a card or 2x5/PC. Still, I have a healthy collection of 8x10 autos too and this one was such a good deal that I couldn't pass. Carl Furillo.

I will also pick these up signed whenever the deal is right. Most of mine are unsigned, but I probably have 1-2 dozen or so that have been signed too, including a couple I can't find unsigned! Niedenfuer.

Garvey rounds out the day, with this logoless Leaf card /12. I will never get used to the airbrushing of these unlicensed cards,

 

[mrmopar]

Leaf Johnny Bench//Mike Schmidt/Steve Garvey

I wanted to try to get 1 version of each of these multi-signed Leaf cards (done chasing all the stupid color/print run variations of the unlicensed issues like Leaf), and I am disappointed overall in what you get, especially for the $. The signature quality is OK, but they seem rushed. The players are in their 70s or older now mostly so the signatures are starting to show their age, but still feels a bit hasty. I don't know how many signatures they miked out of these guys, but it can't be too many with the absurd low print runs of everything Leaf does. In a pleasant surprise, the Garvey actually looks pretty good. Bench and Schmidt are somewhat disappointing though.

The card images, especially a washed out Bench, are meh at best. It's numbered to 8 copies, so there is that. Not sure I'll be able to win any others at a price I am willing to pay. I am still a partial sucker for player collector pressures and this is my penalty for being one, a cheap unlicensed, artificially scarce card that costs way more than it should! Now you kids get off my lawn!

 

[BucCollector]

Have to agree with everything you said about this card.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Like the design and the idea but the execution is lacking. Who designed that with the Bench like that and though it was okay?

 

[BucCollector]

I'm also a hater of these multi-team cards. If I were a Garvey collector I would prefer Steve Yeager and Bill Sudakis to Bench and Schmidt.

 

[mrmopar]

I'm also a hater of these multi-team cards. If I were a Garvey collector I would prefer Steve Yeager and Bill Sudakis to Bench and Schmidt.

I can agree with you to a certain extent. I do love multi-player team centric cards, but its hard to trade out a Bench and Schmidt for a couple fan faves at best (unless they nabbed a super obscure guy like a Mike Marshall).

Today brings a pretty big haul and I have not gotten the mail yet. This all came yesterday and didn't have time to deal with it.

Garvey Leaf /4. This card is dark. Too dark! It's hard to read what is printed in the huge black area. Leaf pretty much sucks at designing good cards. They need to hire someone with some skills.

I had never seen this box in "the wild". Someone offered me one on Net54 out of the blue and I liked it, but he wanted too much for a modern off brand empty box of what is essentially a repackaging club from the 90s. Since then, I have not seen another until one popped on ebay. Still more than I really wanted to pay, but much cheaper than the last guy, so I bit. Thankfully nobody else cared and I got it at the opening price. Would love to see a full/sealed box if they even exist. I have some other stuff featuring Garvey from this club, they did packaged full sets, team sets, collectors kits, etc. Most of what they were peddling was junk and most of the packages I see are beat up pretty good, plus it's hard to justify buying a massive amount of 1990 Donruss team sets in blister packs just for a tiny image of Garvey on the backer card! Still, this box is pretty damn cool to a Garvey collector.

Same seller of the above box had a number of other boxes. I lost several to presumably another player collector. What i managed to win was a Cookie crisp box, Raisin Bran and a countertop Gillette display piece. The Raisin Bran box is the best. I have multiple panel sets and a number of the boxes. Would like to have a complete box/panel set too. I am not sure how close I am not as those are stashed away. Not a huge fan of non-flats as I have said often, but I made a few exceptions and i can always flatten most of them later.



Since I am maxing on images before completion, I'll share the 3 certified Dodger autographs I got and then continue into a new post. Matt Beaty /99, Dustin May and Gavin Lux. Beatty is new, the other 2 are dupes.

 

[mrmopar]

This Hodges fooled me at first. It looked really clean, then I saw some creasing. I bid appropriately, as i don't buy many regular vintage cards anymore these days. I got most of what i wanted and could afford BEFORE prices spiked even more. This is a really cool card, somewhat like the Reese from the same set. The Schaefer Beer scoreboard in the background confirms Gil was in Ebbetts Field and adds to the coolness. I had a couple copies of this card already. Definitely better looking than one and maybe a little worse than the other. I would love to have this card signed!


I think this may be his only certified auto card. I have been trying to get one for a while, ever since I found out about it. It felt like a price fixing scheme, as ever single one I found was priced quite high for a player of Mayne's caliber. I finally found one that was BIN/BO and the seller even offered free shipping! Got it at a nicer price. Score. Mayne had a rather plain 14 year career, bouncing around to several teams, finally landing in LA for a couple months of his final season in 2004. he appeared in 47 games for the Dodgers and hit an unimpressive .188. One of 4 catchers on their roster that year, I am not sure if he backed up starter Lo Duca or maybe replaced him during an injury. He logged in more games than other back-up catchers David Ross and Tom Wilson though in his 2+ months of service.



This is my big addition of the day. Known much better as a the long time Tigers voice, this man started his long time MLB HOF broadcasting career with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948. He was actually traded to the Dodgers from the independent AA Atlanta Crackers for MLB player Cliff Dapper! He was brought in to temporarily replace Red Barber while he recovered from an ulcer. He broadcast for the Dodgers for 2 years until moving on to the Giants and Orioles before landing in Detroit in 1960, where he remained until he retired in 2002, minus a brief stop in 1992 for the Angels. I had not yet discovered the Archives brand and my love for the obscure autographs they offer when this set was released. Harwell's popularity kept this a high demand card and that just grew after he died in 2010. After I learned he was a one time Dodger broadcaster, that sealed it. I had to have one! I paid dearly for it, but now I have it. i do love the 68 design as well, which makes sense due to their WS win that year and especially glad it wasn't the 1984 design.

2002 Topps Archives Ernie Harwell.

 

[mrmopar]

I wasn't going to mention these, but got to thinking that this is the kind of stuff I enjoy just as much as the bigger finds. I collected a lot of cheap certified cards issued between the 90s-present when I was back filling my Dodger autograph wantlist. I was buying certified cards for $1 or maybe a little more regularly, adding names and often multiple different cards of each player. I am hooked on autos and I can't get enough. it's not for the reselling or greed, I just love seeing 3,4 or 25 different autographs of a single player. that doesn't even consider duplicates, as I sometimes can have anywhere from 2-3 or 10+ copies of a given signed card. They say it's a sickness...

Here is a batch from a guy who is local to me. Never met him, he is a bit of a drive to my North. Ex navy guy like myself. He lists "junk" certified autos weekly, starting them at 99 cents and will let me hold winnings for the max time and ships in 1 package. My kind of seller. Many of the cards i get don't have any competition and I get them for a buck. A few get bid up and on rare occasions, I even lose a few here and there.

All these guys played for the Dodgers at some point, but few are pictured with the team. The joy and downside to certified auto cards.




Some of these guys are plentiful, but someone like Rojas didn't get much fanfare. That is the gold version of the card too, which used to mean something back in 1996! 5 games (5 IP) win no decisions or saves in 1999 for the Dodgers, his final season, and I have a certified autograph!!

 

[mrmopar]

Today just adds 1, Joc Pederson in the style of 1993 Finest, /99.

 

[Therion]

I love those oddballs!

 

[mrmopar]

OK, definitely done with Gallo. Wanted at least one licensed Dodger card, since I saw one was issued. This is /25.

Got another of those Leaf Garvey GU cards, this one /25. Little easier to read, but not much better.

A cool multi-player Banty Red.