Signing Off.....(for 2009)

This is going to be my last post for 2009, I figured I'd end the year off by showing the Steve Garvey cards (minus certified versions) and photos that I have signed in my collection.

I hope everyone has a safe New Year Eve's and a Happy 2010.

The photo above I acquired as part of a bulk eBay purchase. In doing a little research, I found that it was photographed by someone named J.D. McCarthy.

Steve signed this 1978 Topps card for me when he was visiting someone in the office of one of my old jobs. It was around the year 2000.

This 1983 Fleer card and the next three all were included in a bulk purchase of Steve Garvey cards I made a couple years ago.

1983 Topps

1984 Donruss Action All-Stars

1984 Donruss Champions

If I remember correctly, Steve signed this for me in 1996 at MLB's All-Star Fanfest in 1996.

In 2005, I attended a Meet n' Greet with the Dodgers famous infield (Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey) and was able to get this photo signed as well as have a picture taken with all four players. Note: I'd show the photo but it's framed and doesn't scan that well.

This is a 1982 Dodgers Union Oil Volpe. I actually got this one as a kid from the local Union 76 gas station. It isn't signed yet but probably will be the next time I attend an event where Steve's at.

The backs of these are loaded with information.

As a kid in the 1970's, Steve was one of three Dodgers that I met in person. I meet Steve during an in store signing at the local JcPenney department store in 1977 and he signed the photo above. Unlike the other two Dodgers shown below, I wasn't able to have a picture taken with him.

In 1977, I attended a Dodgers Meet n' Greet at the local golf course with my father. Don Sutton and Maury Wills were the guest speakers. Until my father passed away a few years ago, one of his favorite stories was my interaction with Don Sutton during the Question and Answers Session.

Essentially what happened is that in preparation for the event I reviewed Don Sutton's 1976 and 1977 statistics and noticed that Don's Wins and Strikeouts decreased and his ERA increased. When the Q&A session began, Don decided to lead off with me because I was a cute eight year old. I proceded to ask a question about what was the reason for Don's sudden drop in production statistics-wise. Don responded by saying "who planted this kid" and then the room broke out in laughter. Note: Don gave an answer but I don't recall what it was.

With that said, I'm hoping one of these days to attend an event where Don is appearing to get the photo above signed that shows Don teaching me how to throw a curveball as well as ask him if he remembers me asking him the question.

Unlike Don Sutton, Maury Wills wasn't an active Dodger when I was a kid and as a result it wasn't until years later that I was able to appreciate what a special player Maury was. I'd note that Maury was a last minute replacement for this event because Tom LaSorda had to back out.

I attended a Meet n' Greet in 2006 that Maury Wills was headlining and had him sign the photo above that was taken at the event in 1977. Besides the fact of finding out what a great personality Maury Wills has, I'd say the best part of Maury signing this was having him stop and look at the photo for a few minutes and them asking me, "If the kid in the picture is you" and "Wow, that suit and my hair takes me back".

Recent Pickups

Below are some cards that I purchased online recently. They fill in some holes in posts that I've written in the past.

1981 O-Pee-Chee #251 (front)

This card has the feel of a completely different card (compared to 1981 Topps) because of all the French writing.

1981 O-Pee-Chee #251 (back)

1982 O-Pee-Chee #179 (front)

The 1981 and 1982 O-Pee-Chee cards will eventually be added to this article.

1982 O-Pee-Chee #179 (back)

1982 Fleer Stamps #9 (front)

Great action pose by Fleer. 1982 Stamps didn't have anything on their card backs. This stamp, the 1983 sticker and 1985 Fleer Limited Edition (shown below) will eventually be added to the Fleer Oddball section.

1983 Fleer Stickers #113 (front)

Fleer did a one season attempt at mini-stickers (ala Topps/Panini). Along with Steve's 1982 Topps' 1981 World Series Sticker, this might be my favorite sticker of Steve's because of all the blue.

1983 Fleer Stickers #113 (back)

Props to Fleer for including a picture and biographical information on the back.

1985 Drakes Bakeries #11 (front)

This is the only Drakes Bakeries of Steve that I didn't have in my collection. You can see the others here.

1985 Drakes Bakeries #11 (back)

1985 Fleer Limited Edition #9 (front)

This is one of the first of many box sets that Fleer produced in the mid-1980's.

1985 Fleer Limited Edition #9 (back)

Thanks

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah. I wanted to thank a couple of fellow bloggers who sent me packages recently. The first came from MattR who writes a couple of blogs I read regularly. The second came from gcrl. Below is sampling of what I received.

1981 Topps Super Home Team #45 (front)

MattR sent two of these to me as well as a bunch of Dodgers from this set. I purchased a few packs of these as a kid but I never was able to pull Garvey from a pack. I do remember pulling a Rick Burleson (for what it's worth).

1981 Topps Super Home Team #45 (back)

It's interesting how Topps had 12 Dodgers and only 6 Angels in the Los Angeles version of this set. They did the same thing with the New York release by favoring the Yankees.

1983 O-Pee-Chee #198 (front)

This card and all the ones below came from gcrl. The brown on the bottom of the card clashes with the rest of the card.

1983 O-Pee-Chee #198 (back)

I remember as a kid how sad I was that the Dodgers didn't want to pay a few extra dollars to resign Steve. Part of the reason was that the Dodgers farm system was churning out Rookies of the Year from 1979 to 1982 and they had another candidate in Greg Brock ready to step in.

Unfortunately, Dodgers GM Al Campanis was overly influenced by Brock's inflated Albuquerque Dukes stats. I'd note that Al also lived by the saying that it's better to release a player a year too soon that a year too late.

1984 Nestle Dream Team #12 (front)

This is a new card to add to my collection.

1984 Nestle Dream Team #12 (back)

The Nestle set has the same back as 1984 Topps.

1984 Ralston Purina #18 (front)

Interesting aspect of this set is that Topps' released a Cereal Set that had the exact same design as this Ralston Purina set.

1984 Ralston Purina #18 (back)

The fact that a Junior High School in Lindsay, CA was named after him was mentioned a lot during his career. I figure one of these days someone famous will have passed through the school. It's also interesting to note that the school never changed it's name (from what I can tell).

1985 Topps Glossy All-Stars #2 (front)

I remember these came with 1985 Topps Rack Packs.

1985 Topps Glossy All-Stars #2 (back)

1985 Topps Stickers #1 (front)

This sticker and the one below fill out my want list for Steve Garvey Topps Stickers. Topps went overboard with Steve in their 1985 set. He's got six stickers total.

1985 Topps Stickers #1 (back)

1985 Topps Stickers #2 (front)

1985 Topps Stickers #2 (back)

1986 Quaker Granola #6 (front)

As a kid I wasn't a big fan of Granola Bars. I remember seeing these cards being advertised on Quaker boxes and almost being tempted to buy the product.

1986 Quaker Granola #6 (back)

Topps used similar designs for their Ralston Purina and Quaker Granola card backs.

1987 Sportflics #40 (front)

Good old Sportflics. After the novelty of seeing the cards move, I think I ended up not liking them because they're so hard to identify in plastic pages.

1987 Sportflics #40 (back)

I believe this is the first time a card company used a color photo on the back of a trading card.

1990-91 Michigan State Collegiate Collection 200 #105 (front)

Steve as a Football Player!

1990-91 Michigan State Collegiate Collection 200 #105 (back)

Though not mentioned on this card, another event in Steve's life that is covered a lot on his trading cards is that he played in the "Game of the Century".

1990-91 Michigan State Collegiate Collection 200 #107 (front)

The Collegiate Collection produced Trading Cards for numerous schools in the early 1990's.

1990-91 Michigan State Collegiate Collection 200 #17 (back)

1990-91 Michigan State Collegiate Collection 200 #176 (front)

1990-91 Michigan State Collegiate Collection 200 #176 (back)

1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes of Baseball #213 (front)

Upper Deck must have been making a lot of money to sponser the Heroes of Baseball games that were played in the early 1990's. Steve doesn't look right with the Upper Deck cap on his head.

Other than the feel good emotions of seeing old-timers back on the field again, the only thing I remember from an old-timers game played was seeing highlights of a 70-something Luke Appling hitting a home run off Warren Spahn in 1982.

1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes of Baseball #213 (back)

1995 Upper Deck SP Championship #106 (front)

Here's Steve signing autographs which is something he's always been good at.

1995 Upper Deck SP Championship #106 (back)

I believe SP Championship was originally only offered to retail stores in 1995.

2002 Upper Deck A Piece of History #64 (front)

Nicely designed card by Upper Deck.

2002 Upper Deck A Piece of History #64 (back)