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

[mrmopar]

This one arrived 3 days ago, but I just got it today. How is that possible you may ask? Simply, it showed delivered on Monday, but was not in my mail box. I waited until Tuesday's mail to see if there was some sort of mix up. Still no card. I called the PO that day and filed a claim. Today it arrives in my mailbox. They claim it was delivered to my neighbor, who has the identical address except he is "Street" and I am "Place". I accept that answer, although it is not the first time, probably won't be the last and it get's a bit tiring to have to file a claim for something so easy and avoidable.

Orel Hershiser Archives/Fan Favorites.

And what the heck, it's not Dodger related (but maybe w/o him, I am not collecting Dodgers cards today?), but is a cool pick up from a similar set. Sy Berger! These certified autos were inserted in packs, but I think this one may have been either from his personal supply or I guess it is possible, a forgery. Mine does have a JSA sticker on back. However, most of the copies I saw were mostly in blue sharpie but no back images and these in the black ink have no sticker on the back. I stole this image from a different card with the certified seal on front. The only difference is mine has a JSA sticker over that spot and this one didn't. I'll have to check my other copy to see if I have the blue sharpie version with a Topps sticker. I hope I do!

 

[dano7]

This one arrived 3 days ago, but I just got it today. How is that possible you may ask? Simply, it showed delivered on Monday, but was not in my mail box. I waited until Tuesday's mail to see if there was some sort of mix up. Still no card. I called the PO that day and filed a claim. Today it arrives in my mailbox. They claim it was delivered to my neighbor, who has the identical address except he is "Street" and I am "Place". I accept that answer, although it is not the first time, probably won't be the last and it get's a bit tiring to have to file a claim for something so easy and avoidable.

Orel Hershiser Archives/Fan Favorites. View attachment 114752

And what the heck, it's not Dodger related (but maybe w/o him, I am not collecting Dodgers cards today?), but is a cool pick up from a similar set. Sy Berger! These certified autos were inserted in packs, but I think this one may have been either from his personal supply or I guess it is possible, a forgery. Mine does have a JSA sticker on back. However, most of the copies I saw were mostly in blue sharpie but no back images and these in the black ink have no sticker on the back. I stole this image from a different card with the certified seal on front. The only difference is mine has a JSA sticker over that spot and this one didn't. I'll have to check my other copy to see if I have the blue sharpie version with a Topps sticker. I hope I do!

View attachment 114753View attachment 114754

Sy signed one TTM for me in 2004, so my guess it's a TTM sig.

 

[mrmopar]

Devin Mann Refractor TTM/IP Auto. This 22 year old is a low level minors infielder prospect. One of many early prospect cards featuring the player as a Dodger. I am essentially "forced" to get these for two reasons. 1). This is an actual MLB Dodgers card, even though he has never played a game for the big club. 2). If I wait to see if he actually makes the big club and truly becomes a Dodger I need for my collection, he could explode like a Kershaw, Puig or Bellinger have in the past, making it much harder to add them later. The down side? He may be traded away or never break the MLB ranks. I will still always count no MLB experience players in my collection, especially if they have legit MLB Dodgers cards like Mann does.

It would be nice if EVERY SINGLE Dodger prospect Bowman auto was not treated like they were going to be the next Trout though. Exaggeration I know, but guys who may never makes the bigs are selling for 2-3 digits on pure speculation, leaving collectors like me to grab up the scraps like these TTM/IP version.

 

[mrmopar]

Hitting a dry streak so I went COMC shopping tonight for some cheapies! These were all around $2-3 or less.

Victor Alavarez, 2002-03 pitching prospect, career 0-2 in 9 games.

Andre Ethier.

Carlos Garcia, pitching prospect in the early 2000s that never broke into the bigs, but had several MLB auto cards, like this one.

Jose Cruz Jr, spent 2005-06 with the Dodgers, playing just under a years worth of time in those two years. Nothing exciting to report.

Mark Grudzielanek.

Scott Kazmir, 3X AS played his final season in 2016 with the Dodgers. Won 10 games for them. Dodgers signed him as a free agent and he was packaged into the deal that brought Kemp back to LA, but he never played with the Braves.

Ricardo Rodriguez, Dodgers pitching prospect in the late 90s/early 00s. Had some Dodger auto cards, but never made the team. They sent him to Cleveland in 2002 with Terry Mulhollland and a minor leaguer for Paul Shuey. I like these Crusade autos, otherwise he was really not worth buying as a former Dodger.

 

[mrmopar]

Made an offer the other day that was accepted, so this COMC purchase is highlighted today on a no mail day.

Kyle Farmer.

In this pose, you can almost forgive the lack of logos, as you would not see one normally anyway. Too bad his career isn't as cool as this image.

 

[mrmopar]

Al Oliver. This guy may one day be a Hall Of Famer. I think he deserves it personally. This card is /50.

By the time he got to the Dodgers though, his career was nearly over. In fact, he split the year between LA and Toronto in his final season of play. He hit .253 in 35 games. In his final 5 years, from 1981-1985, he played for 6 different teams (Rangers, Expos, Giants, Phillies, Dodgers & Blue Jays). However, 3 of those seasons were AS performances, 3 of 7 times awarded. He is a career .303 hitter, with 2743 hits.

 

[mrmopar]

Diego Cartaya, a 17 year old Venezuelan catcher prospect in his first professional year of the Dodgers organization in 2019. I couldn't touch any of his Bowman redemptions when they came out, but this card might have been a steal if he ever goes on to do anything good. Or, it just becomes another failed prospect card that I overpaid for to avoid missing the next big thing! Ah, the woes of pure team autograph collecting. This is a gold 2020 Pro Debut, numbered to 25. Got it for $11.50 plus shipping.

Davey Johnson, manager for the 1999-2000 Dodgers. His Dodgers tenure was pretty meh, but he did get a certified card, which is cool.

He was a 4X AS as a player, mostly for the Orioles in the mid-60s/early-70s and later with a Braves. Was also Manager of the Year twice, once with the Orioles and once with the Nationals. He won a WS at the helm of the 1986 Mets, but was beat by Houston's Hal Lanier for MOY that year.

 

[mrmopar]

I am trying to pull back a little, as covid has given me more time to seek out deals. I tend to dig deeper for stuff, rather than focus on what I really, really want/need. This leads to more fringe purchases. I do have a massive mail day coming up though, but it is in line with my collecting goals. It is the remnants of the guy I have been buying from that has the various odd looking cuts. These were what looks like the "left over" lots. This may set a record for individual autograph count in one mail day, but the price was bargain basement!! I look forward to sharing it when it arrives.

Here is today's mail in the meantime.

Jacob Amaya. Same situation as Cartaya yesterday, trying to get anything Bowman is futile, but I scored his Topps Pro Debet for less than $10 delivered. I just want the auto. I prefer a Dodger MLB card, but will take a Dodger MiLB card too. Amaya is a 20 year old infielder prospect who first played in 2017. He has been as high as A+ league so far. Hopefully he eventually makes the parent club, at least for a few games, if not more.

Brusdar Graterol is another prospect with no time under his belt with the Dodgers...yet. I should know better, but like I explained before, if I miss the wrong guy it could be a Bellinger or Kershaw all over. This one was surprisingly cheap compared to the Bowman stuff (but that isn't even a Dodger card) at under $5 , probably because it is non-licensed. I will try to upgrade later if he makes the big club. Another Venezuelan like Cartaya, he joined the franchise in 2019, already with a slight taste of MLB experience with the Twins last year, going 1-1 in 10 appearances. The Dodgers traded Kenta Maeda to get Graterol. There is future consideration (player to be named later or perhaps some additional cash?) for the Dodgers in the deal, plus 2 minor leagues were involved that may someday make a name for themselves on either side of this trade. We won't know for a while who got the best of this deal.

Last item is an interesting piece that could fit into several different collections. I bought it for the signature on front, but the signature on back is a bonus. Elten Schiller was probably most well known as a San Diego Padres executive, SVP of Baseball Operations in the 70s/80s. He worked for the Padres from 1971-1988, but prior to that he worked for the Dodgers within their minor league organization from 1947-1971. Mr. Schiller was also a huge collector of baseball cachets/first day covers & signatures. Some of the covers you might find on ebay these days may have been owned by him at one point. This item is a personal check that he wrote to former ***** League star player and Hall of Famer, Leon Day. A whole $4, wonder what that was for? Maybe it was to capture a signature for his cover collection. Smark way to do it back in the day when you actually got checks back from the bank. Day has endorsed the check on the back side, so a double signature. Day died in 1995 at the age of 78, the same year he was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Schiller died in 2012 at the age of 88.

 

[mrmopar]

Got the big package I was expecting, but since I will have to split it up regardless, I may not report out until later. I will list the single items from other sources now.

Start it off with a COMC auction on ebay, that will be transferred to my portfolio for future delivery. Bill Russell /25. Apparently there is a crease. I can't see it in the scan.

I got another one of these stupid The Bar 5x7 cards. I bid opening price of $10 again and won another one.

I also got a smaller magazine photo as well.

Tony Gonsolin, the last guy I needed from last years team. I have several now, but this was ultra cheap and kind of cool looking.

I guess this guy isn't expected to do much. I got this card /10 for pretty cheap. It is an off brand and non-licensed, but still. Logan Boyer. He may never break the bigs, so this is kind of a gamble. It was cheap.

Finally a few assorted non-Dodger images, including one I have not seen before, Johnny Podres as a Red Sox. He must have been a coach at one point.

Mike Garman.

Phil Garner.

Willard Hunter. I don't think i have discussed Hunter before, although maybe I have. He appeared in a single game for the 1962 Dodgers. 2 IP, 10 R, 40.50 ERA! Hunter was the player to be named later to complete the trade that sent Charlie Neal to the Mets for Lee Walls. He finished the season on that woeful 1962 Mets team, 1-6. Hunter appeared at the MLB once more in 1964 and retired with a record of 4-9. His autograph requests are interesting, because most of the 3x5 cards I have seen are signed twice, using 2 similar names/nicknames.

Johnny Podres. I'll have to dig deeper to see what this is about. Baseball-Reference doesn't mention any time with the Red Sox, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. He was not I player, I know that much.

Last but not least, Boog! I learned several years back that Honochick was an ump and he starred in some Light Beer commercials with Boog too. Neat item that grabbed me when I saw it, so I bid.

I'll highlight the other roughly 167 small photos and cut items sometime soon...There are a lot of no MLB service (prospects/minors) guys and some that were big leaguers and never played for the Dodgers, but were with the Dodgers in the minors at some point.

 

[deaconblues63]

Finally a few assorted non-Dodger images, including one I have not seen before, Johnny Podres as a Red Sox. He must have been a coach at one point.

Johnny Podres. I'll have to dig deeper to see what this is about. Baseball-Reference doesn't mention any time with the Red Sox, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. He was not I player, I know that much. View attachment 114968

He was a pitching coach with the Red Sox.

Johnny Podres | Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com

Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board

 

[mrmopar]

Todays new haul...

Onelki Garcia /50. 3 games with the 2013 Dodgers is his tenure with the team.

Hung-Chih Kuo, 2005-11 with the Dodgers. 1X AS and was lifetime 13-17 in 218 games. So is baseball-reference wrong or is UD wrong? Hung or Hong? They have the name spelled differently.

Tom Niedenfuer. played with LA 1981-87. He was good for double digit saves most years, but nothing earth shattering. Probably more well known for his wife, Judy Landers, a woman who was popular in 70s/80s TV shows and posed in Playboy with her sister. Niedenfuer went to high school with my older brother and later attended WSU. Coincidentally, when I was in HS, I attended school with another future WSU and MLB alum, Aaron Sele...who also would eventually play for the Dodgers too. Kind of neat personal trivia connection. .

 

[mrmopar]

POST 1 OF 3:

As I went through the pile of small, crudely cut items from this large Dodger collection I received yesterday, there were quite a few that were career minor leaguers. I don't think listing them would be time well spent, nor would anyone find it interesting to know I got some 2 year single A guy's autograph. A few seem to have no tie to the Dodgers at first glance, but whoever compiled this collection seemed to dig deep, so maybe they were a minor league coach, scout or something else at some time. I know some were for sure.I have decided to show you the pics and the final tally was 166 signed items. There was at least 1 that was incorrectly identified and was such a bad cut that I will probably just trash it. I was unable to locate the actual stats of one player, although it's listed on back as Luis Garcia. There are a lot of Luis Garcia's that played pro and minor league ball and was just not worth checking, especially since the signature looks like Manuel and some of those Latin American names can get lengthy, with several surnames! I could be looking for hours and still never find the right one.

There are a few harder to find guys, mostly very obscure 70s guys. I may mention a few at the end.

The first couple groupings below include 20, 23 & 24 items each:







To be continued...

 

[mrmopar]

POST 2 of 3

Group of 50 #1 (maybe 49, as one advertised as 50 was actually 49)

. The guy next to Perconte is my mystery Luis Garcia


To be continued...

 

[mrmopar]

POST 3 of 3

Last group of 50 (or 49)



Now a lot of these, most of them in fact, are UGLY. I don't have most of the minor leaguers, but anyone who played with LA I had already. However, these were pretty cheap (less than 50 cents/auto) and in some cases, a few obscure guys more than make up for a high volume of minor league scrubs.

Here are a few I was happy to grab a dupe for, even if it was ugly!

Sean Maloney. This guy seems to be extremely tough. I have an index card, couldn't even find a Dodger photo. This guy appears to have photographed a TV still for his image, with flash and all! 0-1 in 11 games for the 98 Dodgers. Also played for the Brewers, 0-0 is 3 games in 1997.

Terry McDermott. This is the first time I have seen anything but a 3x5 signed. This is a crappy photocopy of a Target card signed in green ink, but not a 3x5. He hit .130 in 9 games at 1B for the 72 Dodgers, his entire MLB experience.

Earl Naylor, 3 games for the 1946 Dodgers. Think I featured him before.

Mike Ramsey. 2 Mike Ramsey's. Both were Michael J. Ramsey. Both played in the 80s. Both played for the Dodgers at one point, although not at the same time. This is Michael James Ramsey, not to be easily confused with Michael Jeffrey Ramsey, who also played for the Cardinals. At a glance, easier to tell them apart (one is black, one is white), on paper, not so much. He played 48 games for the 1987 Dodgers, hitting .232. That was the extent of his MLB career.

Sergio Robles. He was tough before someone (maybe Chris Potter?) had a private signing, but prices are high for examples you might see. he has no Dodger card except for the target one. Hitless in 6 games with the 1976 Dodgers.

Jack Smith. This is just a tough name for verifying you are getting the right guy! No decisions in 12 games with the 1962-63 Dodgers. He has 2 Topps cards though, oddly enough.

Larry White. Probably another tough name to weed out the fakers with. He was 0-1 in 11 games with the 1983-84 Dodgers.

Besides these few, there are a few dozen other semi-obscure guys. It was a nice haul. I would have NEVER done this to autographs or cards though. The guy who put this collection together seemed to care a great deal about getting a Dodger image paired with a signature by any means necessary, with some real Frankenstein's in the process! Sometimes the whole autograph didn't make the cut. A shame, because otherwise a very extensive selection of signatures.

 

[mrmopar]

Kenta Maeda Heritage Red /68. Spent 4 years with the Dodgers and was 47-35 with a 3.87 ERA. He was 2-1 in 14 postseason games as well. He was sent to the Twins in the deal that brought Brusdar Graterol to LA.

Chris Taylor Topps Now. These are flat out too expensive when they are issued. I was hoping that someday I could nab an Enrique Hernandez card, but I've only seen a couple and they both ended higher than I was willing to go. At this time, I believe that is only his 2nd autograph and the only Dodger version. I will continue to wait and hopefully get one someday. in the meantime, Taylor was more affordable. Tyalor was a Mariners prospect that came to the Dodgers in trade for Zach Lee. Score one for the Dodgers. Lee is another 1 game Dodger. There are a lot of them it seems. Taylor on the other hand has been a decent pick up and had some nice post season moments as well, including NLCS MVP in 2017.

Al Oliver is part of the 2020 Signature Series Archives set. I would love to get them all, but I won't even try. There are a few I will go after, if the price is right. He has some decent cards. His time with the Dodgers was brief (35 G in 1985) and at the end of his career, a borderline HOF career in my opinion. 7X AS, 3X SS, 2743 H and a lifetime .303 BA. This one is a great action shot while he was with Texas and is /99.

I'll go ahead and count these too, as they are both currently on the Dodgers 40 man roster. These are both COMC buys, just to get the auto in case they end up playing for LA. Both were cheap and I end up doing this each year. Sometimes they make the team, sometimes they do not..

Terrance Gore. Gore originally came up with KC in 2014, went to the Cubs in 2018, but was most recently back with KC in 2019. His MLB resume has 100 games on it in those 6 years. He does a lot of pinch running and has 9 games of post season experience with KC and Chicago as well.

Jake McGee. McGee has 10 years experience in MLB with Tampa Bay and Colorado. He is a reliever and in 522 games, he is 25-22 with 45 saves career.

With the 2020 season officially started, I am now 1 away from being 100% again for every player to appear in a game for the LA Dodgers all-time. This sounds good, but it is actually bad. I ended the 2019 season at 100%. My one new need is a doozie though! Mookie Betts. This may take me a few years before they drop enough in cost or more are issued to water the market down. In this case, I will likely add an actual Dodger card, which is great. I'll get one eventually, just have to be patient.

 

[mrmopar]

Steve Finley /25 is the only certified auto today. I didn't notice in the description that it was creased. It's pretty heavy, but for $4, I can live with that price. Finley played 54 games with the 2004 Dodgers. The Dodgers gave up Reggie Abercrombie, Koyie Hill and Bill Murphy (who you say?) for Finley and Brent Mayne. Finley was at the end of a 19 year career, one that compiled a pretty decent set of numbers, including 2548 Hits and 304 HRs.

Mike Devereaux's first 2 seasons were with LA in 1987-88 and he ended his career there in 1998 with a return home. in between he had a couple decent seasons and was NLCS MVP in 1995 with the Braves. The Dodgers traded him for Mike Morgan, which was not a good deal for them in the long run.

Carl Erskine.

This one is cheating a little, as Gibbons never played with the Dodgers. I do like 70s-80s minor league cards though. The Dodgers traded Craig Shipley to the Mets for Gibbons.


The "other" Gwynn, Chris. The far less successful brother of Tony. Gwynn played 2 times for the Dodgers like Devereaux and also came up with the club in 1987. I remember both had Score prspect cards that I thought were cool at the time. The Dodgers traded him and Domingo Mota to the Royals for Todd Benzinger.

Mike Huff got in 12 games with the 1989 Dodgers and was another Score prospect card. He hit a round .200 for them before being drafted away by the Indians in the 1990 Rule 5 draft.

Jack Savage was 0-0 in 3 games (3.1 innings of relief) for the 1987 Dodgers. I don't want to type all this out, so quoting baseball reference here: "December 11, 1987: Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the New York Mets. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Bob Welch and Matt Young to the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Athletics sent Alfredo Griffin and Jay Howell to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Oakland Athletics sent Kevin Tapani and Wally Whitehurst to the New York Mets. The New York Mets sent Jesse Orosco to the Los Angeles Dodgers."

To Be continued...

 

[mrmopar]

Three more 65T non-Dodger cards also showed up today.

Larry Miller. Miller was 4-8 in 16 games with the 1964 Dodgers. The Dodgers traded Miller to the Mets for Dick Smith.

Manny Mota.

Ken Rowe. Rowe was 1-1 with 1 save for the 1963 Dodgers in 14 games. The dodgers then sold him to the Orioles.

 

[mrmopar]

Garvey Calendar, a nice buy at a buck plus s/h.

 

[mrmopar]

Will start it out with the certified Dodger cards.

Tony Gonsolin. I should have enough of him now, but I do like this design. Sometimes it is the design as much as the player.

Andruw Jones. This one is /31. Love those Archives!

Followed by a pair of Garvey items. First is one of those off brand larger (11x14 roughly) prints. These are the items The Bar (could be the same company for all I know) cut up and called relics in their 1/1 set, the 5x7 Garvey items I have shown here that I despise other than a cheap Garvey auto on something different. . The second item is one of the 1983 Topps Foldout league leaders postcards. I won the Blue as well, but he was never a Dodger, so he only gets this passing mention.

Last item is another archives Al Oliver. I don't think this will be my last Oliver either. Now I have 81T and 86T. Hint, I have the 76T coming too, to be featured at a later date. If they do a 70 T, I want it, as well as 78T and 85 T Traded (if they do that one). Others may make their way into my collection for the right price as well. We'll see... I like the oddness of the Blue Jays card. He played for several teams, but the Blue Jays stint was at the end of his career.

 

[mrmopar]

Jesse Orosco had 2 stints with LA, the first in 1988, just in time for the World Series. The 2nd was from 2001-02. In total, he appeared in 146 games and had a record of 4-5 with 10 saves. His best years as a closer were past him before he even made his first stop in LA. He was a 2X AS with the Mets (1983-84) prior to joining the Dodgers and has a career high 31 saves, also in 1984. Besides his role in the 1988 WS for the Dodgers, he also appeared in the 1986 WS with the Mets. That followed a phenomenal NLCS where he won 3 games! The 2004 Timeless Teams was a great set for fan favorite autographs too. Loaded with guys who didn't have autos in many other sets at the time. A lot of these were limited to certain print runs, but they were not serialized. I do not know off hand if this is one of them, but they did also have autographed gold versions #'d to 5 and a platinum 1/1 for each autograph as well.

The Duke! This is a lot less offensive Tri-Star Signa Cut card than many I have seen. At least they got an image of him to include. That is an underhanded compliment, but you also have to understand that so many of these cards are absolute garbage, simply a way to sell repackaged TTM/IP cards as certified, limited edition cuts. This one is /25 and I would guess that each of the 25 versions for him were completely different. That does add a level of collecting interest, if you can get past the poor layout and choice of cuts that plague so many.