Collection: N28 Oarsmen

Was rowing so popular back in the 1880's that it warranted having 10 cards within the original Allen & Ginter set? My goodness, it's hard to believe this was that large of a spectator sport. Here are the 10 oarsmen in my set. Click any of the pics to enlarge them. One of these days I'm gonna replace that Ed Hanlan on the top right.

(click any pic to enlarge)

Hey! Tomorrow Night is LA Kings Night

Did you know it was LA Kings Night tomorrow? I didn't. Thankfully, the Dodgers PR folks sent a helpful reminder. Even better, some former Kings will be on hand to sign for fans, and team captain Dustin Brown and defenseman Matt Greene will be throwing out the first pitch. Being an avid Kings junkie I just had to pass this along.

For this upcoming event they should dub Dodgertown to Kingstown- just for me.

WHAT: The Los Angeles Dodgers will host L.A. Kings Night tomorrow and fans who sit in the dedicated Dodgertown, Kings section will receive L.A. Kings T-shirts and an all-you-can-eat menu including pastrami sandwiches, kettle-style potato chips and kosher-style pickles.

Kings Captain Dustin Brown and Assistant Captain Matt Greene will throw out a ceremonial first pitch accompanied by the Kings Ice Crew and mascot Bailey. Kings alumni Daryl Evans, Ian Turnbull, Jamie Storr and Brad Norton will be on hand for autographs and pictures in the My Town section.

Before getting to their seats fans can stop by the Ice Rider, the Kings mobile marketing vehicle, in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.

MISC: The Dodgers and Kings have worked together on numerous initiatives in the past, including several puck drops, ceremonial first pitches and other events.

To purchase tickets to sit in Dodgertown, Kings, visit www.dodgers.com/mytown.

Allen & Ginter: Some 1 of 1's

One of the great things about the modern Allen & Ginter release are the scarce inserts that are considered 1 of 1 cards. Personally, I've never pulled anything that rare in all of my years of breaking open packs, but that doesn't keep me from trying. Yes, Baseball cards is a lot like playing the lottery.

Since I doubt I will ever, by chance, pull one of these I figured the best I could do is search them out and post some of the rarities here. First, each card in the set has mini printing plates inserted for each player. Below is Matt Kemp's yellow printing plate. It recently sold for a seemingly tame $36.65 on eBay. Another one is on eBay- this time the cyan printing plate.
Each mini card in the set also has silk reproductions. Now, these are not "1 of 1's", but are limited to only 10 each. Below is a Jonathan Broxton silk card. Also, wooden reproductions are also available for each mini card, but I have yet to see a Dodger pop up.
Now here are the real doozies. Allen & Ginter has included "1 of 1" DNA/Hair relic cards in packs, and some of them have already been pulled. Below is Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis with a high price tag of $7,999.99 on eBay.
Or how about a strand of hair from good ol' Abe Lincoln.The coolest "1 of 1" to show up is clearly this jumbo box topper nameplate card. It is a rather large piece of one of Tony Hawk's skateboards. It recently sold on eBay at $700.67.

Seeing More of Manny's Ride

As I wrote about previously here, Manny has donated his 1994 Porsche 911 Turbo 964 to both ThinkCure! and Maryvale (a residential placement home for girls). Well, it is now up on eBay. Go ahead and check it out here.

eBay: A Pena Flicker Coin

I don't remember these little coin shape cards at all. I was only 13 years old at the time and a 7-11 was just down the street. Heck, I loved Slupree's. How did these cards escape my memory?

Below is a 1-1/4 " in diameter plastic disc featuring both a portrait and action photo shot of one of my favorite all-time Dodgers Alejandro Pena. The separate pics can be alternately seen by moving the coin slightly from side to side.

I can still remember the wind-up of slowest pitcher ever. Alejandro Pena's motion to the plate was like watching a cooling fan after the power had been turned off. He could literally lull batters to sleep.

(eBay Auction Link)

Collection: N28 Wrestlers

Here are some more Allen & Ginter vintage cards from my set. This time I highlight the wrestlers. There are a total of 7 athletes in the set. All of which, I am sure, deserve their own biography, but that task became way to daunting for me to tackle. (You'll notice that I didn't even try to write about each of the boxers I showed yesterday.) So, instead, I will try my hand at the one wrestler who immediately struck my interest when I first came upon it.

Matsada Sorakichi was Japanese born and a trained Sumo who found fame as an American middleweight wrestler. In 1884 he had his first American match in New York City against Young Bibby- who, coincidentally, has a card below. Sorakichi lost that match, but would soon go on a nationwide trek taking him from Chicago to Baltimore. His overall record is not impressive, at 27 wins to 25 losses, but it was said that he took on all comers; including wrestlers much larger than himself. In the end, he became more famous for his European-American wife who publicly complained that Matsada and his friends squandered her inheritance while keeping a Japanese mistress in their home in New York. In 1891 he died both penniless and friendless at the age of 32.