Sports Card Tour 2018 - Los Angeles II

Buenos dias, mis amigos! We're celebrating Cinco de Mayo weekend in the City of Angels. 

If I packed all of L.A.'s sports teams into one post it would be almost as long as an unproduced screenplay. Which is why I gave the Dodgers their own post. That only leaves:

the Rams - Most of my Rams cards are from their 20+ seasons in St. Louis
the Chargers - You'll see these in my San Diego post. I don't think I have any from L.A.
the Clippers - That won't take long. I don't have a lot of Clippers cards.
the Lakers and the Kings. 

So this post will be about as long as a three-team city. That's not so bad, right?

There are all the Rams cards I have from their return to L.A. (I just bought a football repack box so you'll see some new NFL cards soon). Goff and Gurley are in my star box. Maybe Donald should be, too. Jared's dad Jerry Goff was a major league baseball catcher.

Some of my original Rams cards. I'll never forget a pro tip from Flipper Anderson in an issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids. He said the best way to catch a football is to make a triangle with your hands. Deacon Jones was a major reason why sacks became an official stat; I don't know exactly how good he was because there's no tally of his total.

My wife was a big Jim Everett fan back in the day. She had his jersey and a copy of a GQ magazine with Jim on the cover. She also had a few Everett cards. Don't call him Chris!

I mentioned in my Indianapolis post that I had a few more Eric Dickerson cards in my collection.

This Immaculate relic is one of my favorite football cards. These are numbered to the player's uniform number (#29 for Dickerson) I bought this on COMC, where I foolishly passed on a Steve Largent from this set.

Uhh..guys, I just realized something. That is not the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It appears that these Rams cards should have been grouped under Anaheim. The Collector regrets this error.

Guess that means I should include Los Angeles Raiders cards in this post.

If I remember right, Dickerson was in Packers camp at the end of his career - but he didn't have anything left in the tank and retired.

I am this close to starting the 1986 Topps football set. Maybe next year..if I get a better job and/or finish a few other projects.

Hall of Fame Raiders. 1993 Fleer Ultra is a sharp looking card set. 1991 Fleer.. not so much.

The Raiders only won a single Super Bowl in L.A. (after the 1983 season) but their swagger and sleek color scheme was a hit with kids across the country, thanks in part to hip-hop icons N.W.A.

The Los Angles Kings also wore silver and black in the late '80s and early '90s, ditching these purple-and-gold unis when Wayne Gretzky arrived in 1988.

I've never owned a copy of this "sweater" card from 1988-89 Topps. The Gretky cards I do have (including Kings issues) were featured in my 99th Post.

Luc Robitaille's wife > Wayne Gretzky's wife. (they don't call him "Lucky Luc" for nothin')


The Kings never won a Stanley Cup with Gretzky and/or Robitaille. Their first championship came in 2012, when they were the 8th-seed in the Western Conference.

Unfortunately they defeated my New Jersey Devils in six games. No one expected Jersey to get that far, and having home ice against an 8th seed should have been an advantage.

Jonathan Quick was a brick wall that series. Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk & co. could only manage seven goals against him in six games. I was so crushed that the Devils lost to L.A. The only silver lining for me was that Quick is from Milford, CT - which is right next to my hometown (the card show I went to in March was in Milford.)

The city even honored him with a "Jonathan Quick Day" which of course I missed because I live in NJ now. Also my daughter wad born during that series; we watched Game 3 from our hospital room.

Martin Jones was Quick's backup on the Kings' second Cup-winning team in 2014. He's now the number one netminder in San Jose.

Kings captain Anze Kopitar is a finalist for the Hart Trophy as NHL's MVP. The world's most famous Slovenian had a career year in '17-18 but he's facing some tough competition from Devils winger Taylor Hall. 

I don't necessarily collect Kopi cards but this Prime patch was too good to pass up when I saw it on COMC. 

This Drew Doughty jersey card came from Wes/JBF, as part of his Holiday gift-a-thon that also included an autographed Lenny Moore helmet. (Damn, that man is generous!)


No Los Angeles-based team has more championships than the Lakers. The 16 Championships won by the purple-and gold are more than all the other Los Angeles sports franchises combined. 

I probably have more Lakers cards in my collection than any other NBA team, because they've had so many great players over the years. 

The first issue of Sports Illustrated I ever saw was this cover with Karem Abdul-Jabbar.

I must be a warlock. Either that or I cracked the code on sports somehow. When Kobe was about to play his first game in Denver since the rape allegations, sports talk radio was all in a tizzy, thinking he'd be distracted and whatnot. I told my best friend at the time that they're all overreacting - Kobe would score 31 points and the Lakers would win.

My friend was amazed later that night when he watched SportsCenter and saw that Kobe scored exactly 31 points and the Lakers won. Spoooky.

I must have been too young to take sides in the Lakers-Celtics rivalry because I liked Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. I remember watching his HIV/retirement announcement and feeling all but certain that he was going to die within five years.

1988-89 Fleer basketball is another set I'm planning to build - but I'm not sure if I should get graded copies, ungraded, or a combination of the two.

These two Travis Knight rookie were among the very few cards I saved after purging 90% of my basketball card collection. (I saved 'em cause he's a UConn alum.) One of the cards I used to have was this Kobe Bryant SP rookie card:

When I bought my LeBron James Topps Chrome RC I had actually been shopping for a Kobe Chrome RC. But they're soooo expensive and tough to find well-centered. I had to settle for another copy of the SP RC. Much easier on my wallet.

 

You'll see more Pau Gasol in my next post. Memphis will be our shortest stop yet.

Last but least.. the Clippers.

The Clippers' history pales in comparison to their co-tenants at the Staples Center. The franchise has never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs, and they have never had any all-time great players like the Lakers have.

Chris Paul might be the best player in Clippers history (no wonder why David Stern sent him there.) These are the only six Clippers cards in my star player box..

And these are the best 'hits' in my Clippers collection, including a DeAndre Jordan insert I pulled from a pack of bargain-priced Panini Complete. I definitely need better Clippers.

Before we leave Hollywood, we've got to include at least one celebrity. I've mentioned Taryn Southern and Katherine McNamara more than enough; y'all probably don't even know who they are. 

So here's a name you're likely more familiar with - Transformers star and Rams fan Megan Fox:

Favorite Rams player: Aaron Donald or Cooper Kupp

Favorite Clippers player: DeAndre Jordan

Favorite Lakers player: Brook Lopez

Favorite Kings player: Jonathan Quick


Next tour stop: Memphis (contest time!)


Thanks for reading!


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