Top 5 Tribute: Tommy Lasorda

I have a confession. I was all but certain 2020 was going to take Tommy Lasorda. He had been sick for awhile, and I was thinking that 2020 line-up of deceased Hall of Famers was going to get their manager. It almost seems fitting Lasorda gave 2020 the bird and held out to 2021. Still, it's sad to lose one of MLB's most colorful characters. As I've been doing far too often, I honor his memory with my top 5 favorite cards in my collection:

 

1978 Topps #189 

1978 Topps has the best manager cards, and it's not even close. The then-and-now motif with a black-and-white postage stamp for their playing days is fantastic!

1981 Fleer #116

 In Lasorda's first two full seasons as Dodgers manager, he lead the team to back-to-back N.L. Pennants. In both years his team fell to the Yankees in the World Series. In 1981 however, Tommy and his boys got sweet revenge, beating those same Yankees. 

1988 Topps #74

Any Lasorda tribute that doesn't include his iconic golf cart card isn't a proper tribute. If I had a year like Lasorda's Dodgers had in 1988, I'd have a big smile too!

1990 Topps #669

It's been mentioned many times over but other collectors better than me, but Lasorda really does have the best cards of any manager out there. This one gets a big thumbs up from me!

 

1992 Topps #261

 If the 1988 Topps card isn't Tommy's best, than this one is. It's not often you see the field general actually leading his troops!

Rest in peace Mr. Lasorda, your legacy will live on!

Repack Haiku #188 (Darrell Porter)

World Series hero

Could not overcome drug use

Died at age fifty

 

1981 Topps Traded #814 Darrell Porter

 

Time Travel Trading Update #49

 

When I create these update posts, I try to prepare the next month's update in advance. I'll copy over the trade stack, and update things as the cards come in. That was a little harder to do this time around with the holidays and Covid, as I just didn't have the energy to stay on top of it. Needless to say I was scrambling a little to get this in. Hopefully next month will be easier as things get back to normal, but for now let's see what new additions are available!

 

My last update featured a great trade from Chris (The Collector/The 1993). He had mention during the trade that he wanted to send a little something extra, and just before the holidays he sent a PWE with some serious star power!

 

That Stan Musial card is fantastic, and I have a gut feeling this entire group will not last long in my trade box. Thanks for the extra cards, Chris!

Next up as a trade from Brendan, proprietor of the blog The View From the Third Floor.  This was an unusual trade, in that we had a difficult time communicating for some reason. He commented on my blog about wanting to trade and provided his email for me to contact him. I did, twice, but for some reason he never got the messages. I commented on his blog and gave him my email, but never got any messages either. Out of the blue, I received some cards from Brendan, along with a list of cards he was hoping to get in return. I was more than happy to send off some cards in exchange for what he sent me:

Thanks again Brendan!

I did get one more trade in, but it was close to when I wanted this post published and I didn't have time to take pics of the cards. I'll save it next time. I also have a pending trade which I hope to complete by then as well.

Let's start the year off with some trades! All cards listed below are available for an older card!

 

 

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

 

2018 Stadium Club

#52 Paul Goldschmidt

2018 Topps
#502 Xander Bogaerts

2017-1018 Pocket Schedule
Carolina Hurricanes

2017 Bowman
#12 Trea Turner

 

2011 Topps Lineage

#182 Frank Robinson

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#128 Tim Thomas

 

2004 Donruss Studio

#184 Stan Musial

2003 Donruss Classics

#24 C.C. Sabathia

1998 Score
#68 Scott Rolen
#74 Mark McLemore

1994 Sportflics
#113 Pete Harnisch

 

1993 Leaf

#271 Jay Buhner

1993 Classic Draft Picks (basketball)
#33 Will Flemons
#67 Bennie Seltzer

1992 Fleer Ultra
#594 Dave Righetti

1991 Upper Deck
#778 Dave Righetti

1990 Fleer
#629 Jose Canseco (POD)

1990 Upper Deck
#626 Frank Viola

1990 Pro Set - Theme Art (football)
#10 Super Bowl X Pittsburgh Steelers / Dallas Cowboys 

1989 Score
#495 Larry Parrish

 

1987 Donruss

#34 Terry Steinbach (RC, RR)

 

1987 Topps

#313 Roberto Clemente (TBTC) 

1986 Topps
#5 Rose Special '75-'78
#6 Rose Special '79-'82
#401 Fernando Valenzuela (Turn Back The Clock)
#510 Wade Boggs

 

1986 Topps Major League Leaders Minis

#65 Tony Gwynn

1985 Topps
#694 Joe Carter

1983 Topps
#70 Steve Carlton

1982 Donruss
#76 Alan Trammell
#214 Tim Raines
#NNO Checklist 545-653

1982 O-Pee-Chee E.T. The Extraterrestrial (non-sport)
#15 Among Elliott's Toys

1982 Topps
#3 Tim Raines (HL)
#34 Joe Sambito
#70 Tim Raines
#74 Bob Clark
#303 Bill Caudill
#399 Pat Zachry
#401 Johnny Bench (IA)
#462 Dave Chalk
#480 Steve Carlton
#651 Carl Yastrzemski (IA)
#754 Joe Morgan 

 

1981 Donruss 

#374 John Candelaria

#409 Carney Lansford

#420 Tommy Lasorta (MGR)

#421 Charlie Leibrandt (RC)

#531 Jerry Koosman

#565 Ken Landreaux

1981 Fleer
#27 Tim McCarver

#268 Rod Carew

1981 Topps

#82 Astros Future Stars (RC)
#98 Clint Hurdle
#121 Larry Harlow

#151 Claudell Wahington

#182 Bob Grich 

#194 Rod Scurry
#250 Ron Guidry
#259 Mets Future Stars

#350 J.R. Richard
#363 Geoff Zahn

#365 Graig Nettles

#414 John Pacella

#465 Bill Russell

#477 Luis Gomez 
#494 Bob Walk
#530 Steve Garvey
#560 Joe Morgan

#569 Al Williams

#632 Alan Bannister

1980 Topps
#29 Mark Wagner
#88 Ken Landreaux

#90 Manny Trillo 
#143 Bruce Bochte

#145 Darrell Evans
#157 Willie Wilson
#325 Dan Driessen
#362 Danny Goodwin
#406 Paul Molitor
#572 Jerry Morales
#642 Ken Forsch
#655 Tug McGraw 
#671 A's Future Stars

1979 Topps
#25 Steve Carlton
#130 Bob Watson
#214 Boston Red Sox (TC) 

#388 Jack Billingham
#465 Reggie Smith

 

1978-79 Topps (basketball)

#37 Mike Gale

#66 Lonnie Shelton

#76 Brian Winters

1978 Topps
#148 Andre Thorton

#373 Jim Willoughby
#385 Tito Fuentes
#424 Boston Red Sox (TC)
#482 Rick Miller
#706 Rookie 1st Baseman (Cage/Cox/Putnam/Revering) 

1976 Funky Sales Corp Funky Facts Baseball
#2 In A Trance
#3 Fans Vs Players
#5 Baseballeese

1976 Topps
#70 Roy Smalley/Roy Smalley Jr. (FS)
#196 1975 AL RBI Leaders (Scott/Mayberry/Lynn)

1975 Topps
#66 Willie Horton

#310 '74 Victory Leaders
#378 Derrel Thomas
#402 Bob Tolan

1974 Topps
#38 Don Kessinger
#67 Tommy Helms
#107 Alex Johnson
#141 Pat Bourque
#158 Jack Billingham
#158 Jack Billingham
#227 Mike Lum

#248 Tom Hull
#349 John Vukovich
#534 Eddie Watt
#572 Enzo Hernandez
#638 Ken Sanders
#660 Larry Dierker

1974 Topps - Team Checklists
#NNO Montreal Expos

1974 Topps - Traded
#270T Ron Santo

#458T Jim Ray
#496T Tom Murphy

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#53 Richard Lemieux

1973 Topps
#23 Dave Kingman

#29 Tony Taylor 
#30 Tug McGraw
#68 1972 Leading Firemen (Carroll/Lyle)
#75 Vada Pinson
#79 Jim Willoughby (RC)
#80 Tony Oliva
#102 Rudy May
#116 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#145 Bobby Bonds
#215 Dusty Baker
#225 Albert Oliver
#230 Joe Morgan
#232 Ken Singleton
#240 Bobby Murcer
#258 Tommy John
#325 Boog Powell
#329 Ed Kranepool
#365 Rico Petrocelli
#368 Bill Buckner

1972 Topps
#33 Billy Martin (MGR)
#43 Rick Wise
#163 Tug McGraw
#197 Johnny Briggs
#225 World Series Game 3 - Manny Sanguillen
#231 Casey Cox
#239 Tom Timmermann
#266 Bobby Bolin
#363 Ron Klimkowski
#373 John Mayberry
#438 Maury Wills (IA)
#451 Tony LaRussa

1971 Topps
#16 Ken Singleton (RC)
#63 AL 1970 RBI Leaders (Howard/Conigliaro/Powell)

#63 AL 1970 RBI Leaders (Howard/Conigliaro/Powell)

#69 AL 1970 Pitching Leaders  (Cuellar/McNally/Perry)
#71 AL 1970 Strikeout Leaders (McDowell/Lolich/Johnson)

#80 Bill Melton
#90 Joe Pepitone
#95 Luis Tiant
#105 Tony Conigliaro

#123 2nd Series Checklist #133-263 (CL, VAR)
#146 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#195 AL Playoffs Game 1 - Powell Muscles Twins!
#208 Billy Martin (MGR)
#270 Rico Carty
#328 World Series Game 2 - Buford Goes 2-4 (WS)
#374 Clete Boyer
#374 Clete Boyer
#388 Al Oliver

1970 Brooke Bond North American Wildlife In Danger (non-sport)
#32 Polar Bear

1970 Topps
#16 Charlie Metro (MGR)

#18 Carlos May

#37 Dick Drago 

#47 Bob Miller

#200 1969 AL Playoffs Game 2  

#206 Clete Boyer

#238 Jose Laboy (ASR)

#385 George Scott
#390 Willie Davis
#457 Rico Petrocelli (AS)

1969 Topps
#66 Orioles Rookies

#75 Luis Aparicio
#80 Norm Cash

#131 Chris Cannizarro 
#139 Andy Kosco
#182 Bill Rigney (MGR)

#484 Joe Gordon (MGR) 

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyer

1968 Topps
#4 1967 AL RBI Leaders (Yastrzemski/Killebrew/Robinson)
#7 1967 NL ERA Leaders (Niekro/Bunning/Short)

#39 Cookie Rojas 
#44 Frank Kostro

#46 Dave Ricketts

#53 Gene Alley

#90 Vada Pinson
#181 Jerry Zimmerman

#208 Willie Davis 

#257 Phil Niekro 
#260 Jim Wynn 
#309 Ken Henderson

#320 Frank Howard 
#348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen
#449 Gene Oliver
#519 Jerry Stephenson 

1967 Topps
#1 The Champs (F. Robinson/Bauer/B. Robinson)

#60 Luis Aparicio
#348 Tug McGraw
#366 Andy Kosco

1966 Topps
#46 Howie Koplitz

#104 Alex Johnson 

#154 Chuck Hiller

#575 Earl Wilson

1965 Topps
#17 Johnny Romano
#27 Dick Bertell
#86 Les Narum
#87 Nelson Mathews
#108 Don Mincher
#111 Lee Thomas

#139 The Cards Celebrate! (WS) - PENDING!
#178 Dalton Jones

#307 Barry Latman
#352 Alex Johnson (RC)

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

1964 Philadelphia (football)
#172 Ken Gray (RC)

1964 Topps
#18 Billy O'Dell

#45 Milt Pappas
#92 Steve Ridzik
#341 Jim Roland 

1964 Topps - Coins 
#7 Frank Malzone

1963 Topps
#155 Bill Stafford

1961 Fleer Baseball Greats

#56 Dolf Luque

1961 Topps
#32 Ray Sadecki
#38 Bob Lillis

#83 Bob Bruce
#96 Billy O'Dell
#98 2nd Series Checklist 89-176 (CL, VAR) 

#111 Jack Meyer

#114 Hobie Landrith

#258 Jack Sanford
#267 Norm Siebern
#399 Cliff Cook (RC) 

1960 Topps
#289 Willie Jones

1959 Topps
#298 Tex Clevenger
#424 Ken Aspromonte
#424 Ken Aspromonte  

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

 

1958 Topps

#273 Hal Smith

1958 Topps Zorro (non-sport)
#83 Rude Awakening

1957 Topps
#138 Minnie Minoso

#212 Rocky Colavito (RC)
#249 Dave Pope
#406 Bob Hale

1956 Topps 
#80 Cincinati Redlegs (TC, VAR)

#103 Willie Miranda (white back)
#156 Johnny Antonelli

#211 Murray Dickson 

#284 Ike Delock

1956 Topps Flags of the World (non-sport)
#70 Jordan

1955 Topps
#45 Hank Sauer

1954 Bowman
#16 Jim Wilson - PENDING!
#73 Don Mueller

1954 Bowman Power For Peace (non-sport)
#91 USS Coral Sea (CVB43)

 

1953 Topps

#35 Irv Noren - PENDING!

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

1938 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Tenth Series (J9-6) (non-sport)
#2 Black-throated Green Warbler

1922 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Third Series (J7) (non-sport) 
#7 Prothonotary Warbler

1915 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America First Series (J5)  (non-sport)
#1 Quail

The Time Travel Trading Project is simple in concept. I started out with a random pack of 2018 Topps Series 1 baseball cards. My aim was to trade every card in that pack for something older. Each card I receive in turn is then made available for trade, with the goal to get the oldest card I can get.

Number of trades completed: 78 (1 pending)
Unique trading partners: 41

Number of cards mailed out: 269
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1955

Number of cards received: 507
Year of oldest card received: 1915

 

Top 5 Tribute: Phil Niekro

I'm still playing catch-up, but I wanted to get this tribute in before it got lost in the shuffle. 2020 decided to take one last Hall of Famer when knuckleballer Phil Niekro passed away the day after Christmas.  As I have done way too many times these past few months, I offer my tribute of the Top 5 favorite cards in my collection:

 

1976 Topps #435

 This is the oldest card I have of his. Who doesn't love those 70's Braves uniforms?

 

1980 Topps #205 (1979 Victory Leaders)

I was 4 years old in 1979, so I have no idea how this unusual sibling rivalry played out. It's one of those little baseball quirks that two brothers tied for the NL lead in wins. I can only imagine what the phone conversations between the Niekro brothers must have sounded like. Fittingly, Phil and Joe would go on to have the most career wins by a pair of brothers in MLB history.

1986 Topps #204 (Record Breaker)

As much as I don't want to highlight a Yankees card, this record deserves recognition. Any time a player gets mentioned in the same breath as Satchel Paige, you know they must have done something noteworthy! (Coincidentally, I must add that he was 46 in this picture. I'll turn 46 this year, and it does my ego good to know I don't look anywhere as aged as Niekro does!)

1987 Fleer #626 (300 Game Winners)

I don't know how many times in MLB history a pair of 300-game winners faced each other in a game, but Fleer decided to highlight a game in June of 1986 between recent milestone-reachers Niekro and Don Sutton. Both pitched well, but neither got a decision in the game.

1988 Score #555

How could I not end this tribute with this glorious sunset card? Niekro was born on April 1st, which made him an ideal candidate for a blog prank I coordinated last year. For one day, 25 bloggers showed off this final tribute to one of baseball's greats.

R.I.P Mr. Niekro, and thanks for the memories.

Repack Haiku #187 (Lenny Dykstra)

Hired men to spy

And get dirt on umpires

Got better strike zone

 

1989 Fleer Update #U-105 Lenny Dykstra

 

Man, this guy was a piece of work, wasn't he? He actually admitted to hiring private investigators to get information on umpires that he could use to get a better strike zone and better calls. He did lead the league in walks in 1993 for what it's worth...

2020 Year In Review

For the past 3 years, I have taken a look at how the past year has impacted my collection, and I thought I should continue again this year and see what changed in 2020!

2020 Highlights

• 2020 saw this blog turn 3 years old. As any parent could tell you, the "Terrible Twos" has nothing on the 3rd year. Hopefully 2021 will be nicer to all of us! This year also saw me reach the 500 posts milestone!
  
• I initiated an internet prank for April Fools Day, getting 25 other blogs to post about the exact same card - a 1988 Score Phil Niekro (RIP Phil!)
• The Time Travel Trading Project continues to go strong! Although I didn't break any new ground for oldest card, I did make a record 24 trades this year, a average of two/month!
• Many of those trades came through the TCDB. I reached a new high with trading this year thanks to 42 trades through that web site. 
• I received a TTM autographed card of Kyle Hendricks, over 3 years after I first mailed it out to him!
  
• Last year's collecting goal, my Golden Sox Project, made some slow but steady progress, adding 4 more cards to the collection, giving me 8 out of 31 so far.
• I completed 5 sets/inserts in 2020, including my first "modern" set  since I got back into collecting! (2019 Topps Holiday, 1992 St. Vincent HOF Heroes Stamps, 1987 Topps - Glossy All-Stars, 1989 Fleer, 1994 Post Cereal) 

2019 Diamond Jesters Blog Stats

Number of posts: 174 (3 more than last year, and tied with 2018 for most in a year!)
Month with the most posts: 18 posts in January
Top 5 viewed posts: (Last year, my little blog had 44 posts with over 100 page views. I guess even the spam-bots had a down year, as I only reached that view mark 16 times this year.  )

1. 2020 Obligatory Hall Of Fame Post (218 views)
2. Repack Haiku #146 (Phil Niekro) (206 views)
3. Time Travel Trading Update #38 (204 views)
4. It Still Counts! (182 views)
5. Time Travel Trading Update #39 (128 views)

For the second year in a row, my Hall of Fame post gets the most views. I'm guessing the title is generic enough to show up in search engines, as I tend to see this post get more views during the voting season.

Most commented posts: Repack Haiku #146 (Phil Niekro) - 24 comments (This was a runaway winner - my blog-wide prank had a tremendous response!)
Followers: 60 (Somehow I gained 11 followers this year! Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read my little blog!)

My Collection

(Stats courtesy of the Trading Card Database)

 

Total number of cards: 44,088 (When I initially looked this up, it showed only a gain of 50 cards from last year. I knew that wasn't right, and then realized I didn't include over 800 cards in my trade collection - that made up the difference!)
Cards from 2020 sets: 356 (This is down from 1,268 last year - stupid Covid/stupid flippers!)
Red Sox cards: 4,250 (No other team has more than 1,900)
Autographed cards: 24 (7 new this year: Kelly Gruber, Kyle Hendricks, Deven Marrero, Francellis Montas, Jim Rice, Gabe Speier, Teddy Stankiewicz)

Graded cards: 1 (No new cards this year)
Relic cards: 18 (3 new this year: Josh Beckett, Derek Lowe, Kevin Youkilis)

Thanks again, Dennis!

At least from a collecting standpoint, 2020 was a decent year. I'm looking forward to what 2021 might bring!

Repack Haiku #186 (Mike Campbell)

"Player To Be Named"

In big Randy Johnson trade

Along with Langston 

 

1988 Donruss The Rookies
#2 Mike Campbell

 Campbell was eventually sent to Montreal along with Mark Langston in the franchise-altering trade that brought Randy Johnson to Seattle. Campbell never pitched for the Expos.

An Update

I knew I wanted to take a short break from blogging around Christmas, so I made sure I had some posts queued up and scheduled to go up through the end of the year. It's a good thing I did, because just before Christmas, I got the Covid virus. It's weird how quickly everything happened. The Sunday before Christmas, I was exhausted but otherwise felt fine. Monday comes, and the coworker in the cubicle next to me is out and has emailed the company that he had a fever and ended up getting tested. Tuesday two more coworkers are out with fevers, and the first guys test comes back positive. I got tested the Wednesday before Christmas, and lost my sense of smell and taste that same day. I was already scheduled off for a 4-day holiday weekend, and on the day after Christmas, I got my positive test result. My family and I quarantined ourselves in our home for the next 10 days.

I guess in retrospect I got a mild case. I never had a fever, and never had any difficulty breathing. I had a cough, and as I already mentioned, lost my senses of smell and taste for awhile. The big thing was the sheer exhaustion I felt. I didn't have the energy to do anything! I just wanted to sleep all day. We had groceries delivered to us, and on more than a few occasions had to use Door Dash because we just didn't feel like cooking dinner.

It was rough, but we're doing much better. My wife had it as bad as I did, but the kids only dealt with symptoms for a day or two. My in-laws contracted it too, and are still dealing with issues. My father-in-law is currently in the ICU because his blood sugar levels were dangerously high, and although he's doing better he'll probably have to use an oxygen tank for a bit after he gets released. I can't help but feel guilty that he probably got that from me. At work, the boss had to shut down the office to the public for awhile. Out of 9 people in the office, 6 of us tested positive. Fortunately, most of my coworkers could remote in to work from home, and I think that helped greatly. 

As far as the blog goes, I've stayed away. I didn't have the energy to read other blogs and comment, and I definitely didn't get a chance to work on some new posts. It's going to take me a while to get back on track, so if January is a light month, that would be why. There's a lot of posts I want to do this month, so we'll see how that goes. I have some cards I still need to send out, and now that it's safe for me to leave the house, I plan on getting out to the post office some time this week. To those expecting cards from me, I appreciate your patience.

I hope everyone reading this stays healthy. I was doing my part - wearing my mask, keeping my distance, sanitizing - and still ended up with it. That's just how life goes sometimes. It's not something I wish on any of you, and hopefully this will be the last "I got Covid" post we'll see within our little community. Take care, and be safe!

TCDB Trade Recap: Cards From Kalamazoo, MI

Happy New Year! Welcome to the Year 2020 Update Series! (Hopefully not, but would anyone be really surprised?) I'm still catching up on trades from last year, and today I'm highlighting cards from a TCDB member named Edward. I showed off a separate trade with Edward earlier this month when he participated in my Time Travel Trading Project. This trade is your more standard modern collection of cards.

 

2016 was the year I really got back into card collecting. I was missing most of the Series 2 Red Sox because most of my money was going to Archives, a set I really enjoyed that year. The 1989 Fleer was an upgrade to what was currently in my complete set, and the Tony Armas represents the last Red Sox card I needed from the 1986 set.

 

Favorite Card: A classy hat tip to David Ortiz!

Thanks again for the trade Edward!