Champs!

What a season. What a series. The Red Sox are world champions again, for the fourth time in fifteen years. 

This is the same franchise that sold Babe Ruth, that couldn't get Ted Williams a title. That iconic Carlton Fisk homer came in a series the Sox lost. And then there was Bucky bleeping Dent... Bill Buckner... Aaron Boone...

It's 4 to 1 Boston since 2000

This century is starting off a lot like the last one did. The Red Sox have now won four of the last fifteen World Series. Boston won five of the first fifteen World Series played from 1903 to 1918. Then they didn't win again for 86 years. 

So for those of you who are (understandably) sick of seeing the Sox win..there's always the chance that this '18 title will be the last of our lifetime. 

I doubt this is of any consolation to the Dodger fans out there... but this was the hardest one for me to enjoy. In 2004, it was all about breaking the curse. In 2007 it was about proving '04 was no fluke. I liked the Rockies and Todd Helton (former New Haven Raven) but I had no problem rooting against the still-new franchise. In 2013 Boston played the Cardinals (again) - a flagship franchise I had a lot of respect for - but one that had just celebrated two seasons prior. 

The Dodgers though..I like the Dodgers a lot. They were the first World Series champion of my baseball-loving life. They were my favorite aunt's favorite team. I was cheering for them last year. In that post I mentioned a picture I took at a photography studio in Cooperstown, posing as a 'lil Dodger. Here it is:

It's nice to see Dodger Stadium host two straight World Series, and it's great that Vin Scully and Tommy Lasorda and Sandy Koufax are still around and cheering for the boys in blue.

L.A. has always had great pitching, from Koufax and Drysdale to Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, Clayton Kershaw, and now Walker Buehler. And they've been finding hidden gems like Max Muncy and Chris Taylor to plug in around Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner. Nearly all of their starters can play multiple positions. Dave Roberts has been a wizard with that roster.

I felt this on a spiritual level... pic.twitter.com/GeIHP8xOtc

— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) October 25, 2018

Win or lose, the Red Sox-Dodgers series would have been memorable for that reunion alone.

Yes, Yasiel Piug is a weirdo and Manny Machado is kind of a jackass (Henry pointed out that Manny made the last out of the WS. Poetic justice I suppose.)

Which leads me to another reason I enjoyed this season less, despite the 108 regular season wins and the playoff wins over the hated Yankees and defending champion Astros...

The one guy who was injured all year..the one guy who didn't contribute..was my guy. 

Dustin Pedroia is my favorite Red Sox player and has been for a decade. Some Boston fans may be souring on him, but not me. I'll always admire his heart, his hustle, his max-effort swing and second base play. The guy's a grinder. He's the last link to the 2007 team, and one of the last two links to the 2013 team. (Then-rookie Xander Bogaerts is the other.)

Pedey and David Ortiz are the only Sox this century with three rings. Ortiz did it all in '13; he carried that team to the title and was pretty much the only player coming through in the clutch. Pedroia got one hit in '18. Total. All year.

This will be the crown jewel of a career for some potential Hall of Fame players. Mookie Betts. David Price. Craig Kimbrel. Chris Sale. Possibly Ian Kinsler and Xander Bogaerts. 

My latest COMC purchase. I also picked up a 1933 Goudey card...of a Dodger.

And now that they have the ring, it's time to get paid. Kimbrel and Kinsler are free agents, and Price can join them if he opts out. He's said he won't ..but that was before he did what the Sox paid him to do.

Sale, Bogaerts, and Rick Porcello are unsigned beyond next year. J.D. Martinez can opt out after the '19 season; he's as good as gone. Hope you enjoyed this group, Sox fans.

Kershaw can opt out of his Dodgers contract this winter. I hope he doesn't - or if he does, I hope it's only so he can sign a long-term deal to stay in L.A. 

Sky-high salaries are one thing. But these opt-out clauses are ridiculous. Basically, if you do what you're supposed to, you get to leave and/or make more money. If you suck, the opposite should be true...right?

Think this will work on David and J.D.? Yeah...neither do I.

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Sports Card Tour 2018 - Los Angeles

May the Fourth be with you! The Collector's Sports Card Tour returns to the Golden State. Today we're in Los Angeles.

There are six pro sports teams in L.A. (eight if you count Major League Soccer - and they definitely do) which means I've got no choice but to split the city into two posts: Dodgers and not-Dodgers. 

The Dodgers are defending National League champions; the 2017 World Series was their first appearance in the fall classic since defeating Oakland for the title in 1988. I was cheering for them to beat Houston last year, but the Astros won in seven games. 

When did you become a baseball card collector? I'm sure if you asked a hundred people (Family Feud-style) the number one answer would be 1988. Topps singles from this set are the definition of overproduced "junk wax" but the affordability and availability (especially compared to today's products) made many of us collectors for life. Well played, Topps.

Kirk Gibson's heroic home run was the first memorable baseball moment I ever watched. As great a play-by-play man as Vin Scully was - and he was the greatest in my lifetime - dismissing Gibson's availability was what motivated him to grind it out for one magical at-bat.

The Dodgers won just one World Series in their 70+ years in Brooklyn (they weren't called 'Dem Bums fer nuthin') then added three more championships to their total within the first eight years of moving to L.A.

Clem Labine and Carl Furillo were among the many players who won rings in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. I bought both of these cards ungraded on COMC for less than $5, then submitted them to PSA.

Don Zimmer was part of that group, too. I kind of feel like he should be a Hall of Famer - not for his playing career, but for a lifelong contribution to the game of baseball.

Then again, he did go charging after Pedro Martinez. Don't forget that - he went after Pedro.

Zimmer apologized, of course. And I can't recall how Pedro addressed it at the time, but when he was elected to the Hall of Fame he told Bob Costas that the Zimmer incident was the biggest regret of his career.

I also bought this Jim Gilliam card on COMC, for about $1.15. It's too off-center to submit for grading, but I'm happy with it.

Gilliam was from the town next over from me. My father-in-law told me he passed by "Junior" 's house back in the day. Not sure if Pop ever met him.

The rest of my Brooklyn-to-L.A. legends. The Reese is a "Cards Your Mom Thew Out" insert, which is certainly possible for Pop. [edit: it's not a CYMTO, it's a 60 Years of Topps]

This Ron Fairly is one of my favorites from the stack of 1963 Topps cards P-Town Tom traded to me.

One of my favorite card-related stories concerns another '63 Dodger, Don Drysdale:

Growing up I used to frequent a few cards stores in town - one in particular called "Who's On First". Eventually I ended up working there, and the owner paid my salary in cards. Which was just perfect for me; I could clean offices for my mom if I needed cash - and I probably would have spent it on cards anyway.

After a while the owner lost his interest in the store and showed up less and less while trying to sell the business. I had been picking out cards on "payday" and showing him what I wanted, but after four or five times he told me that this was unnecessary. Bad idea.

The owner had a few random boxes behind the counter. One of these had a small stack of cards marked for grading. This was the first I had ever heard of PSA or any card appraisal services. I examined two of the cards - they looked immaculate. I had never seen any vintage cards that looked so pack-fresh.

I waited a week. My boss/dealer didn't submit them. And so I put them in a stack with some other cards I wanted to take home. I offered to show him the stack but he declined. And that's how I got a near-mint Don Drysdale (and a Warren Spahn that got a NM7 - stained) just for working in a card shop.

I trace my love of vintage and PSA-grading back to that day at my LCS. Thanks, Harvey!

I'll never be able to complete the 1968 Topps set - in any grade - but I do enjoy picking up high-grade singles whenever I can. This Claude Osteen was part of a COMC purchase that also included Gary Peters and Dennis Ribant. I think the threesome cost about $35 total.

Which is about what I paid for this Mike Piazza rookie card on 4 Sharp Corners. For some reason the Fleer Update XRC is the more "valuable" Piazza but I would prefer this card no matter the price.

It wouldn't shock me if Piazza did use PEDs at some point in his career - but he strongly denies using anything stronger than Andro, and his HOF acceptance speech was so powerful and passionate that I was convinced he respected the game too much to cheat. (Then again, I believed Ryan Braun, so...)

I was fifteen when Nomo-mania swept the nation. His tornado-like windup was fun to watch (and that splitter/forkball was nasty) I had a decent Nomo collection for a while. There was a blue #16 jersey hanging in my closet for a long time. If I still have it, I will find it this month when I do some Spring cleaning.

Which reminds me - COMC's Spring Cleaning sale starts Monday. Hope you all find some great deals. (If you're selling on the site, link your port in comments and I'll check it out.)

There wasn't a whole lot of cards that jumped out at me during their Fall/Black Friday preview sale, so I bought this triple relic for about $12. I offered it up as tradebait, but no one bit. Probably not the best time to trade or sell it right now.

Corey Seager is out for the year and will need Tommy John surgery. Julio Urias is slowly working his way back from shoulder surgery. He's still got potential, but the young lefty probably won't pitch again for at least a couple more months. 

Let that be a lesson, kids. Never invest in pitching prospects. Unless they share your birthday... or they're Clayton Kershaw.

I haven't checked the value of this Kershaw RC but it's been sitting in my Bowman Chrome set for years. His first-year cards are well out of my price range. 

Bowman Chrome might have more prestige as a RC/prospect brand, but I absolutely had to have this Upper Deck Rookie Edition card of "The Claw" which recreates the ground-breaking 1993 SP foil subset.

Two more of my favorite Kershaw cards. The Atomic Refractor was acquired in a trade with Henry (Cardboard Greats) while the Topps Heritage was pulled from my 5-box break. All of the Action Image variations in 2017 Heritage were parallel to short-printed singles - except this one.

The rest of my Kershaw singles. Someday I'll get an oversized version of the '91-style Archives card. Perhaps that day will be Monday. ;)

Fernando Valenzuela pitched Saturday. Not scheduled to pitch till Wednesday. 

Some Dodgers cards I saved from the eBay mystery box. I'm probably keeping about 200 cards and the rest of the 4,000 or so will be available for trade packages and/or contest prizes. 

This was the guaranteed relic in a Fairfield repack I bought a couple years ago. Sure could do worse than Shawn Green.

Refractor faves. I think I got the Nomar on COMC, though it might have come in a trade. The Starling Heredia was the only 'hit' in one of a handful of Bowman packs I bought from Target.

This Rick Rhoden also came from a pack I bought at Target; there was one original Topps card (not a stamped buyback) in packs of 2008 Topps I found in the discount bin a couple years later. Bill Bene was the one card missing from Pop's 1989 set build; he used to tell me how that card always eluded him until he found three copies at a nearby card shop. 

Raul Mondesi was my high school best friend's favorite player (he used to call Mike Piazza "Michael Pizza Paya") Paul LoDuca is the baseball representative of my 'Debtor Hall of Shame'. Glenn Burke invented the high-five..or so the legend goes. 

Dodgers card I'd like to own: This 2009 O-Pee-Chee checklist card depicting Dodger Stadium.

I've been to Fenway Park, old Yankee Stadium, new Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, the Skydome, and Wrigley Field. But the one ballpark on my 'bucket list' is Chavez Ravine.

Favorite Dodgers player (all-time) : Sandy Koufax and Duke Snider (Jackie Robinson never played in L.A.)

Favorite Dodgers player (current) : Clayton Kershaw

Next tour stop: The rest of L.A.'s sports teams


Have a great weekend everyone. Thanks for reading!

~

I Love L.A.!

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League pennant last night, for the first time since 1988. Clayton Kershaw pitched six strong innings in an elimination game against the defending World Champion Chicago Cubs. (that sentence would sound ridiculous 3 or 4 years ago.)

L.A.'s pennant drought was the second-longest of this year's ten playoff teams; only the Nationals (who have never won a league crown) have waited longer.

Kershaw gets all the accolades but the Dodgers have plenty of other stars, such as rookie slugger Cody Bellinger, third baseman Justin Turner, and last night's hero Enrique "Kike" Hernandez.

As is often the case, the NL playoff games have been my stress relief from the anger and frustration of the AL playoffs. I've cheered for the Cubs sporadically over the past two decades, and it was a strange sight to see Wrigley Field so quiet as Kee-kay and the Dodgers offense kept piling on the runs.

The silence and the one-sided score gave me a lot of time to think (and watch the Devils win an overtime game against Ottawa.) I haven't ever disliked the Dodgers, but I haven't emotionally invested myself in them, either. Part of that is because their games usually start at about 10pm Eastern time, and I don't see many NL West games as a result. The record-setting payroll and roster construction had something to do with it, too.

But this year, I'm returning to my roots. The first year I truly became a baseball fan was 1988, when I was 8 years old. The first World Series game I remember watching from beginning to end was the Kirk Gibson game.

As any Dodger fan will tell you, that '88 team was unique in that it didn't have any true superstars. Orel Hershiser was untouchable that year - and he was the greatest pitcher my eight year-old eyes had ever seen - but there were no Hall of Famers on that squad. Nearly every World Series winner has at least one.

In fact I can hardly remember anyone else on that roster without looking it up. I know Mike Scioscia was the catcher, Mickey Hatcher played third base (I think?) and Steve Sax was at second. I don't even know who pitched on those seemingly rare occasions when Orel didn't.

But last night as all these old memories came flooding back to me I realized that, in some ways, the Dodgers were my first favorite baseball team. The first team hat I ever owned was a Dodgers hat I plucked off a display wall at a five-and-dime type store. I remember examining the logo like "I A? What's I A stand for?" It didn't dawn on me for a while that it was an interlocking L I was looking at.

The first time I visited Cooperstown was in the summer of 1991, for my 11th birthday. Best three days of my life. And the first day, my mom and aunt suggested we pop in to a baseball-themed photography studio. There was this stadium backdrop and you could pose as a baseball player with a glove, or a bat - and the team uniform of your choice.

I chose the Dodgers. I'd scan up the pic but my mom has it in Connecticut, in a stand-up frame on her dresser. Every time I see it I pause and smile. Fun times.

I've never been to Los Angeles (the furthest west I've been is Chicago) but it's on my bucket list. Dodger Stadium is the only classic ballpark I haven't been to, and the City of Angels is home to so many other interesting things and places and people. In fact earlier this week I had to do some research for my collections job when I came across something called "The Grove LA"..what the heck is that? I wondered.

Oooh, perdy. Just like my two favorite women, who happen to be L.A. locals (perhaps they'll show me around the Grove one day...in my dreams.  

I guess you could say I love L.A. even though I've never been there and don't know much about it other than Hollywood, the Dodgers, and what I've heard in rock songs.

I'd love it a lot more if the boys in blue could bring a World Series championship to Chavez Ravine. Maybe Kershaw can be this year's Orel Hershiser.

Maybe injured shortstop Corey Seager can come off the bench and be this year's Kirk Gibson.

And hey, if Seager needs someone to pinch-run for him, maybe he can turn to his manager.

Do it again, Dave. Beat those f#@!ng Yankees.

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