2001 Topps Rafael Furcal

Who is this? DODGERS shortstop Rafael Furcal.

What is this? An autograph card from 2001 Topps, card number GAA-RF.

Where'd I get it? Probably an auction.

How much did it cost? Too much.

Why is this not so special? RAFAEL FURCAL IS A FINK.

Take yer stupid hurt back and yer stupid agents and your stupid DUIs and go back to LA ya bum! Kelly Johnson's a better second baseman anyway! Yunel Escobar's a WAY better shortstop! You better hope you're back on the DL on July 31st when you come back to Turner Field or you'll hear a chorus of drunk rednecks booing lustily! BOOOOOOOOOO! You're dead to me Fookie! No, wait. I have sympathy for the dead. I have respect. I HAVE NONE OF THAT FOR YOU. you, you, turncoat... backstabber... dasher of hopes and dreams... you.... you...

YOU ARE J.D. DREW TO ME.

Whew! I feel better now.

1972 topps ron cey (with ben ogilvie and bernie williams)

Who is this? the penguin, ron cey

What is this? an autographed 1972 topps rookie card

Where'd I get it? from kit young sportscards mail order catalog about 14 years ago

How much did it cost? i think i paid around $20

Why is this so special? ron cey was the third baseman for the long lasting dodger infield of my youth, that's why. actually, the penguin was arguably the dodgers' best player during his tenure. he was the los angeles dodgers career home run leader until eric karros came along.

this card is his rookie card, a high number to boot. plus it features ben ogilivie and (not that) bernie williams. notice that he is listed as an outfielder. the entire dodger infield were converted from different positions - garvey from 3rd and russell, lopes and cey from the outfield.

cey would appear on another group rookie card in 1973, this time as a 3rd baseman with some guy named schmidt.

the auto itself is pretty nice - strong blue sharpie with cey's uniform number "10" inside the loop of the "R". pretty standard cey auto.

2004 upper deck legends timeless teams mickey hatcher

Who is this? mickey hatcher

What is this? an autograph card from 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams

Where'd I get it? ebay

How much did it cost? about $6

Why is this so special? mickey hatcher is one of the stunt men. the backups, pine-riders, role players - whatever you want to call the guys who come of the bench and/or spot start. in 1988, he got the start in left field when kirk gibson couldn't play in game 1 of the world series. all the hatch did was hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first, and almost overtake steve sax on the basepaths.

mickey came up through the dodgers' organization. i remember listening to the game he made his major league debut in - i believe his first at bat was with the bases loaded. a chance to do something special. he walked.

traded to the twins for ken landreaux, hatcher missed out on the dodgers 1981 world series championship. then, he was released by the twins and signed with the dodgers prior to the 1987 season. this means, of course, he missed out on the twinkies' first championship, too. so it was nice to see hatcher get his ring in 1988 after just missing out twice.

now a coach with the angels, i had a chance to meet him at spring training this past season. a nice guy all around.

the auto here is nice and clean, on the card and pretty darn cool looking. i love this set, and am glad upper deck is using it again in their current timeline release.

1999 upper deck retro inkredible steve garvey

Who is this? steve garvey

What is this? an autograph card from 1999 upper deck retro

Where'd I get it? ebay

How much did it cost? i don't remember. i may have overpaid.

Why is this so special? steve garvey was my favorite player. he is the "g" in "gcrl". he led the dodgers to 4 world series in 8 years, was the national league mvp in 1974, won gold gloves (meaningless, i know) from 1974-1977, a ten-time all star and a two-time all star game mvp (again, meaningless), and a two-time nlcs mvp. he was, by all appearances, the all-american guy. i have a ridiculous number of steve garvey cards, inserts, variations, autos, relics, etc.

plus, this is the first card i ever purchased on ebay.

as for the card itself, the little photo of garvey leaves a lot to be desired. there is such a huge space on the card for the autograph, it's almost as if upper deck expected steve to write a short paragraph on why he irritated so many of his teammates.

the signature, while off-centered on the writing surface, is crisp, blue, and on the actual card. no stickers back in the 20th century.

2002 Fleer Greats Maury Wills

Who is this? Dodger shortstop Maury Wills.

What is this? An autograph card from 2002 Fleer Greats.

Where'd I get it? Atlanta Sports Cards in Alpharetta.

How much did it cost? Five bucks.

Why is this so special? I'm not sure if I'm ecstatic for getting a certified autograph of an all-time great for five bucks or mad that I found it so cheap. This card cost something like 1/1000th of a scrub prospect's superfractor. Can someone explain this to me? It's not the first time Maury was disrespected, on the advice of their scouts Topps declined to sign Maury to a contract in the minors. Later on they scrambled to get him on a card once he hit the bigs and became a star. Upstart Fleer beat them to the punch in 1963, and Topps ended up faking a 1962 rookie card in their MVP subset in 1975. Maury's '62 season was amazing as he won the MVP award and broke Ty Cobb's single season stolen base record. Like Maris a year earlier, Maury got the dreaded Asterisk because he played in a 162 game season that year. Asterisk or no, he revolutionized the use of the stolen base as a weapon in the 60's and led the Dodgers to 3 World Series titles. Plus he named his son Bump. How cool is that. I bought a ton of these packs when they first came out but never landed an autograph. I would have been thrilled to pull this gold sparkly card with Maury's John Hancock. You suckers buy the superfractors, I'll buy up the stars.

2003 Topps Paul LoDuca

Who is this? Dodgers catcher Paul LoDuca.

What is this? An autograph card from 2003 Topps, TA-PL

Where'd I get it? Out of a pack.

How much did it cost? Two bucks for the retail pack.

Why is this so special? I actually remember exactly when I got this pack. I was going to visit a friend who lived on the other side of town. He bought a house in the neighborhood where I grew up and this was the first time I had been back in a while. A Target had been built a short way away after I had left. I went in to check it out and get a couple of things I needed. I got a couple of packs of Topps and this card was inside one of them. My reaction was "Yeah, an Auto! No! I already have LoDuca!"I'm not sure what the odds of pulling two autographs of the same player from two separate products within a few weeks time is, but I managed to do it. Paul either has a very tight, nervous signature or his hand got used to signing all those Topps205 cards and it cramped up the rest of the autos he had to sign. It's still a good looking card though, I kind of like it best out of the two.

2005 Topps Heritage Johnny Podres

Who is this? Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres.

What is this? An autograph card from the 2005 Topps Heritage Team Topps insert set, card TT-JP

Where'd I get it? Out of a pack of 2005 Topps Heritage pulled from Champion Sports Cards in Kennesaw, GA.

How much did it cost? The price of a pack of Heritage, about $3.50 or so.

Why is this so special? I normally don't like pulling shiny cards out of Heritage products, but in this case I'll make an exception. Johnny was a long time pitcher for the Dodgers who will always be best known for defeating the Yankees in the 7th game of the 1955 World Series, bringing Brooklyn their only championship. Podres had a fantastic changeup and went on to teach it as a successful pitching coach after his playing days were over. Sadly, Podres passed away yesterday at the age of 75. Unfortunately in our hobby this is often seen as an opportunity to change the price tag on the card. The $6.00 price tag on this card was stuck on an old top loader I recycled to protect my great pull. It will not be changed. So long, ya bum.

2003 Topps205 Paul LoDuca

Who is this? Dodgers catcher Paul LoDuca.

What is this? An autograph card from 2003 Topps205, card TA-PL.

Where'd I get it? This was one of the hits from a box of Topps205.

How much did it cost? One twenty fourth the price of the box, which I can't remember.

Why is this so special? Topps205 is one of my favorite sets, this is one of three autos I have from that product. I like the mini card in a frame concept as well. Paul LoDuca is an all-star caliber catcher even though he played for some of my not-so favorite teams. He did a really good job squinching his autograph on the tiny card without making it illegible, although it's a bit outside the lines. LoDuca signed with the Washington Nationals this offseason.