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Tuesday, January 20, 2015

My First Helmar Brewing Company Card - Brooklyn Dodger Joe Dunn


For years I've been interested in something different for my collection.  For Baseball collectors that means Topps.  Sure, Panini is out there, but without team logos cards often look odd and amateurish.   There's still vintage, and goodness knows I've got a healthy wantlist there, but I firmly believe you just can't chase the old stuff alone.  I wanted something new and different to add, and I think I may have finally found something that fills that need.

Not to long ago I added my very first Helmar Brewing Company Card.

Helmar Brewing fills an niche that current products do not.  Starting in 2005 they produced retro-style Baseball cards to go along with their product line of beer, and almost immediately created a following among the collector set.  Their cards were attractive, modern day drawings of olde-tyme ballplayers that used designs borrowed from many different classic card sets.  They are not reprints.  Instead, they are unique collectible cards, often limited in number, that have the look and feel of something old.  Heck, their modern offerings are purposefully given a distressed look; including scuffed edges and rounded corners, in order to make each individual card look as unique as possible.

For years these cards were put into their beer, chips and caramel corn products, but based upon the high collector demand they now sell them directly online through eBay.  And this is where I recently got my newest card.  Check out photos of it above and below.

The card is of former Brooklyn ballplayer Joe Dunn, and it is a part of the "Our Guy" Helmar set.  The card is the same size as a vintage tobacco card, is made with thicker card stock than a vintage card and uses a design reminiscent of the T205 & T206 sets.  In fact, the drawing used for Dunn is the exact same image used in the T206 set.  

For several months I had placed numerous bids on many different Dodger Helmar cards, but always got outbid.  This time, I was able to walk away with this beaut for $13 delivered.  A steal when you consider that their cards often sell for far more; especially when they use a readily known design of a  well-regarded player.  For instance, a Burleigh Grimes Boston Garter Helmar card recently sold for $88.

BTW, Joe Dunn was a backup catcher for Brooklyn from 1908-1909 -- when they were known as the Superbas.   He got into only 30 games over that span; including 27 as a catcher. 

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *
* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

Blog Kiosk: 1/20/2015 - Dodger Links - Agon, Ryu and Gabe Kapler


Adrian Gonzalez spoke a bit about his walk-up song "El Mariachi Loco" with ESPN The Magazine.  Check that out here.  The photo above via @DodgersPR on twitter/Art Streiber.

Below are some more links to check out:
Sharing a meal with Song and the triplets, Ryu was asked about how he and his girlfriend date while in Korea.

“I come to Korea for two-and-a-half months in the winter,” Ryu said in a literal translation. “We spend time together, dating ‘hard,’ as in a condensed manner.”
Via Gabe Kapler: "One thing we want to do is avoid locking ourselves into any organizational philosophy that can't be easily altered or improved," said Kapler. "While mining for best practices, we have overarching themes and philosophies, but we don't want to say, 'This is what we believe' and get so dug in that we're not capable of being nimble as new studies present better ways to approach problems and development. That flexibility is a thought process that we have to constantly talk about it with players and staff.
It seems that the Dodgers were the only team willing to take a chance on Caleb Ferguson following his TJ surgery. It was a selection made with no risk to the Dodgers and a decision that a could reap significant rewards. Logan White, the Dodgers former Vice President of Amateur Scouting, said there is no longer a worry about athletes who have had the surgery. “It’s definitely more of a trend with the travel ball and the way these kids are playing all year round. I think it’s going to continue to be more common,”
  • Via David Cycleback at Sports Collectors Daily, "8 Sports Card Issues Rarer Than the T206 Wagner."
  • When I highlight an auction item I often wonder if it'll somehow make its way to a museum.  I'm happy to report that one such historically significant item will be going to a museum.  The MacPhail letter from the Lelands Auction that I shared last week will be going to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, via their tweet:  (BTW, the letter sold for $9,235.19)  You can read the entire document here.


    * Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *
    * Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *