Dodgers Blue Heaven: Dec 21, 2012

Friday, December 21, 2012

2012 Bowman Sterling Baseball - Dodgers Cards

Topps just released a new Baseball card set earlier this week and it is called 2012 Bowman Sterling. It is a set that focus' on prospects and rookies, so by consequence it is very light on Dodgers players. In fact, I could only find two Dodgers in the entire set- Corey Seager and Jesmuel Valantin (both are 2012 Dodger draft picks).

There are no Dodgers in the base sets, but both Dodger farmhands do have autographed cards inserted into packs. Unfortunately, it appears that Corey Seager didn't sign his cards in time, so redemption cards can only be found. See the Jesmuel Valentin autographed prospect card below. A Seager version exist, as well.

#BSAP-JV Jesmuel Valentin

There is also a dual autographed card featuring both Valentin and Seager, and for some strange reason these cards are inserted into packs. These appear to be sticker autographs rather than the "on-card" autographs like the one above.

#DA-SV Jesmuel Valentin / Corey Seager

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Zack was in the Tweet Seat

I had meant to write about the "Tweet Seat" event the Dodgers held last week for Zack Greinke much earlier than today. If you don't know, this is a kind of "ask me anything" exchange between a twitter user and a Dodger player. Last week, following the Greinke press conference at Dodger Stadium they did a short #AskZack dialog on twitter, and I was happy to follow along.

(tweet link @Dodgers)

As you might know, the Dodgers had done the same thing for Hyun-Jin Ryu when they held his press conference the day before, and I wrote a post poking fun at some of the ridiculous questions asked then. See that post here.

I figured following the Greinke "Tweet Seat" event would provide just as many laughs. Instead, I was bored silly. Maybe the fact that Ryu's name cast a wider net of goofballs since it's related to a popular video game character had something to do with it.

Anyway, I just didn't run into the same kind of idiocy in the Greinke Tweet Seat as I did in Ryu's. So, instead, I thought I would share some of the answers Greinke gave to eager fans. The complete thread is below.

There wasn't really much to learn except that he's an Orlando Magic fan (boo!), and his favorite Dodger is Sandy Koufax (yeah!). On top of that, he list Adrian Gonzalez as the one player on the Dodgers roster he is most happy not to have to face again. If you remember back, he said in the press conference that there were two Dodgers on the roster that he had no real plan on how to get out, but refused to name them. Well, I think it's safe to say that Adrian is one of those Dodgers.

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Collection: Duke Snider 1994 Nabisco Autographed Card

Featured here is a 1994 Nabisco All-Star Legends autographed card of Duke Snider in my collection.

There is no doubt in mind that this is the most common Duke Snider autographed card in the hobby. I remember going to card shows over the past couple decades and seeing giant stacks of them for sale- literally stacks in the hundreds. They were so plentiful you had to figure they just tied Duke to a chair and had him sign non-stop for months. Really, there are that many of these cards out there.

My recollection is that upwards of 5,000 cards were signed by Duke, but I can't seem to find exact information anywhere. A 2010 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards does not provide a total. I do know that they were distributed as part of a proof of purchase marketing program through their snack products. You would send them $5 bucks, and they would send you an autographed card of a Hall of Famer. Really, that's the best deal a collector could ever want. Other Hall of Famers available in 1994 were Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson and Jim Palmer. A Sparky Lyle cards is also available that year, but they were personally handed out at local events. The 1993 promotional set includes Ernie Banks, Catfish Hunter, Phil Niekro and Don Drysdale.

BTW, if you're looking for an inexpensive Snider autograph this card is the best way to go. You really shouldn't pay more than $10.00 for one on eBay, and be sure that it includes the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) - as shown above. Although each card is not numbered and the COA doesn't specifically correspond to the card, you still need it for peace of mind.