My Favorite Babe Ruth Card

I was bored again and decided to make another homemade card creation last night. Here is Babe Ruth in a vintage Brooklyn Dodger uniform on a 2007 Topps card design. This time, though, I decided to use photoshop.

Auto Collection: Ron Cey- An Originals Auto

Unfortunately, the scan did not come out very well.

In 2004, Topps bought back certain quantities of a vintage Topps cards from dealers and had the players sign them. They then made a special wax box called Topps Originals and sold them as limited and encased vintage autographed cards. The big pull was a 1952 Topps card signed by Willie Mays. They were quite a rage back then and unopened boxes are hard to come by today.

Here is a the 1983 Ron Cey autographed card number 38 out of 87.

REA: A Rare Vintage Jackie Pin

According to REA, this is a newly discovered, possibly one-of-a-kind, pin featuring Jackie Robinson. I'll let the auction description tell the story.

The late 1940s and early 1950s were the heyday of the "stadium pin," so in the years that followed his Major League debut, additional Jackie Robinson pins were also issued. Aside from Babe Ruth, perhaps no player has ever been the subject of more pins (and more interest from pin collectors) than Jackie Robinson. Because of the nature of pins, advanced collectors know it is always possible that significant new discoveries will surface, but these discoveries are naturally very few and far between. We thought we had seen and handled every Jackie Robinson pinback that had ever been produced but when sorting through the Ron Menchine Collection we found that Ron had one that was, to the best of our knowledge, previously unknown.

Considering it does not have a photo it sold for an impressive $1,700.00.

(Auction Link)

REA: That Cuss Old Hoss

These next group of items from REA's recent auction features probably one of the more colorful ballplayers every to play the game. Some of you may now him best from his, back from the dead, raspy twitter feed known as @OldHossRadbourn. As his frequent twits suggest, he was tough, surly, arrogant and vain. Charles Radbourn could drink anyone under the table then beat you to a bloody pulp for not being man enough to take him down. He was difficult to like, but must have been a joy to see on the field.

"Old Hoss" was one of the best of all time on the mound. In 1884 he started 73 games and completed all of them. Yes, ALL OF THEM. He also won 59 games that year and pitched a total 678 2/3 innings. It took him only 11 seasons to win 300 games. His radiant personality, though, came out during games. In fact, he was suspended once for throwing at his own catcher and knocking him down. The catcher had committed the offense of dropping a third strike.

Anyway, REA's auction featured several vintage cards featuring that old cuss. Check them out below.

Here is a N172 1887 Old Judge card showing Billy Nash tagging out Old Hoss. It sold for $1,200.00.

(Auction Link)

This next item is even better. This is a 1884 National League scorecard with Radbourn on the cover. It sold for $1,700.00.

(Auction Link)

This is the rarest item of all. This is a circa 1887 cabinet card of Charles Radbourn. It sold for $4,500.00.

(Auction Link)

Hawksworth Knows Golf and Hockey

This was taken last week when a couple members of the Kings threw out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium. On that day, a special putting green was set up in the dugout for players to enjoy as a competition broke out between Blake Hawksworth and the Kings players. Hawksworth shows his stuff and sinks one with, what I can only imagine is, a wood driver.

I'm not sure if the photo is from the Dodgers or the Kings Media so I can't provide appropriate attribution, but I did find this on tumblr at LA Kings: In the Media.

2011 Bowman Dodger Base Cards

Here are the Dodger base cards within the recently release 2011 Bowman Baseball card set. Typically noted for being a rookie and prospect set, there are some normal regulars, minor league prospects and one rookie card from a 30+ year old that, in my opinion, makes it a winner for Dodger collectors. Check them out below.

8 Ted Lilly

13 Matt Kemp

65 Clayton Kershaw

66 Andre Ethier

82 Chad Billingsley

147 Hiroki Kuroda

207 John Lindsey - RC

This is probably the most exciting Dodger base card in the set. Our feel-good story of 2010 has his own MLB card within the base set. That's big time my man.

Prospects

BP61 Matt Magill

BP79 Rafael Ynoa

BP80 Dee Gordon

BP89 Allen Webster

BP91 Blake Smith

BP105 Kyle Russell