One patch card leads to another

So last week I posted this card for trade ...

Colbey at Cardboard Collections was willing to let go of a child to acquire said card. Pretty good trade I guess, but have two kids of my own and cannot fathom having a third. Love my kids to death, but TWO IS PLENTY!!!

So, knowing his wife would veto a kid for a patch card, he asked if it was for sale, threw out a number and thru PayPal, the trade was complete. I in turn replaced the Tim Hudson with this:

A 2007 Upper Deck Rare Elements Dual relic with two patch pieces (3-colors in each window) numbered 27/35. Not too bad, a nice dual relic patch similar to the Edmonds that was also offered up for trade bait. I didn't have a Schilling relic and he will live forever in my mind for his gutsy performance in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS at Yankee Stadium.

So thank you Colbey, it was an easy trade and clearly a win-win for both of us!

Random pickings of a quarter box

So this morning after dropping off my daughter at school and in between grocery shopping stops, I hit a LCS (they also carry gaming cards, comics, & video games) in Worcester that I had only been once before. It's a small card section but did manage to find a quarter box while picking up some sheets.

Below is what I picked up ...

Quite the mix going on here.

1967 Topps Dave Morehead
Why I grabbed this card? For my 1967 Red Sox Team page. Dave played a role on the '67 dream team by contributing five wins in the August–September stretch drive.
Greatest career moment? Morehead threw a 2-0, no-hitter for the Sox against Cleveland in 1965. He showed flashes of brilliance, particularly early in his career, but extended success was thwarted by arm trouble.
Interesting card note: Front pic is taken from Spring Training. Graduated from Herbert Hoover High School, the same school that produced Ted Williams.

1975 Topps Paul Lindblad
Why I grabbed this card? For my 1972–74 A's Team page. Paul picked up a win in the 1973 World Series against the Mets.
Interesting career tidbit? Lindblad would go on to finish 18th in the American League MVP voting. Guys he finished ahead of; Don Baylor, Bert Campaneris, Bobby Bonds, and Carl Yastrzemski.
Interesting card note: Front pic is taken at the Oakland Coliseum. That turnstiles were first put into use in 1878. 

1975 Topps Dave Hamilton
Why I grabbed this card? For my 1972–74 A's Team page. Paul pitched in the 1973 World Series against the Mets.
Interesting career tidbit? Traded by the Oakland Athletics with Chet Lemon to the Chicago White Sox for Stan Bahnsen and Skip Pitlock. Obviously the A's outfield could have been pretty amazing with Lemon, Rickey Henderson, and Dwayne Murphy.
Interesting card note: Front pic is taken at the Oakland Coliseum. Date of birth is 12-13-47 ... just think, in three years his birthday will be 12-13-14. That is pretty cool.

1977 Topps Tim Foli
Why I grabbed this card? For my Cycles collection. On April 21, 1976, Foli hit a single, double and triple against the Chicago Cubs before the game was suspended. When the game was resumed the next day, Foli hit a home run to complete the first cycle in Montreal Expos history.
Interesting career tidbit? Was the first overall pick (New York Mets) in the 1968 amateur draft. Was involved in trades that included Ken Singleton, and brought Rusty Staub to the Mets and was involved in a deal with the Pirates that sent Jay Buhner to the Yankees.
Interesting card note: Front pic is taken from Spring Training. Date of birth was yesterday, December 8th. Happy belated birthday Tim.

1977 Topps Lee Lacy
Why I grabbed this card? For my 1977–78 Dodgers Team page.
Interesting career tidbit? Played in four World Series' from 1974–79, where he batted a weak .231. He did earn a ring with the "We Are Family" Pirates in 1979.
Interesting card note: Front pic is taken at Candlestick Park. Had a streak in April 1975 with 24 hits in 13 games.

1986 Topps Marty Barret
Why I grabbed this card? For my 1986 Red Sox Team page.
Greatest career moment? Was the 1986 ALCS MVP, while batting a .367 clip in helping the Sox come from behind and beat the California Angels.
Interesting card note: Front pic is taken at either Tiger or Yankee Stadium. This was the first year in which Topps included the stat line for Game Winning (GW) RBI on the back of it's cards.

2010 Allen & Ginter mini Francisco Liriano
Why I grabbed this card? For my 2010 A&G mini set.
Greatest career moment? Throwing one of the ugliest no-hitters in recent memory. on May 3rd, 2011 when he threw the first complete game and shutout of his career in no-hitting the  White Sox, 1-0. He still had problems with his control, however, as he walked six batters and threw only 66 of 123 pitches for strikes, but his defense turned three double plays and a number of gems behind him.
Interesting card note: Front pic/sketch shows the patch for the final season at the Metrodome.
Card number 338, a short print.

Another day, another trade bait post

Sorta a mish-mash here. Flipping through some boxes and these popped out. Let's see if we can generate some more trades. If anyone has any needs for some football, I can post some of that for trade as well. Came across some 60's, 70's, and 80's.

Pujols Gets His Wings!

... along with $250 – 260 Million green backs!!!!

Opinions Please

So while going through my cards, and arranging piles of cards into newer piles of cards, I found myself wondering how I should go about storing them so I get the best enjoyment from my collection.

Lately I have been hooked on the MLB Network's Baseball's Seasons series and MLB's Top 20 Greatest Games so much so, that I have started pulling together some "greatest teams" cards from the A's 1972-74 run, The Big Red Machine of the mid 70's, the 1983 Wheez Kids, the '04 Red Sox that broke the curse. These cards along with my No-Hitters and Cycle collections, World Series Cards, Leaders cards, etc... makes me wonder how would one of you out there organize this.

I have always been a sheets/binder guy, but also have a bunch (ok, maybe 1500) of Card Saver II top loaders.

Would you group the "greatest teams" in a binder, leaders in another binder, rare feats in another? Or would you have a binder for each decade?

Please send me your thoughts, I'd love to hear what others do. Thanks in advance!

S

More Trade Bait ... Patch Style

Ok, got a number of hits on yesterdays trade bait post that I am back with these two beauties. Ideally, I would like to get similar cards back that are Red Sox. I'll listen to any and all offers.

First up, a 2003 Fleer Patchworks of Tim Hudson showing part of the "Athletics" and some stitching to boot. Very thick card. Numbered 103/300.

Next, is a 2007 Upper Deck Elements "Rare Elements" of Jim Edmonds. This is a dual patch swatch card. Numbered 30/35.

Lunch Time Trade Bait

Throwing up this first of a number of trade bait posts. Will be adding to my want lists as well. Please let me know if you need additional scans of a particular card(s). As always, I will answer all trade requests and am a easy and generous trader (see the Trade Archive at right).

  

 

A long awaited thank you to My Mistress ...

My Cardboard Mistress that is.

So looking back in my scans folder, I realized I had a number of trade posts that I never got to. So somehow, even though it's barely 8:00 AM on the east coast, and my son has had his first sleep over, I think I may actually be able to post.

First up is a trade made with My Cardboard Mistress back in mid August. Going his way were a bunch of Allen & Ginters from 2006–2011 in exchange for the minis below. Adam made a nice dent into my Ginter mini needs ...

First in the batch was a couple of 2008's along with an assortment of inserts. D.B. Cooper makes a couple of appearances in the Ginter sets, the first being this card in 2009 (and also made A&G's World's Most Mysterious People in 2011). If you don't know the story behind "Mr. Cooper" it's rather fascinating!

Next, a nice batch of 2010 minis, including the 2011 National League MVP, Ryan Braun. Adam was also nice enough to include former Sox stiff Erik Bedard. We shoulda stayed with Rich Harden trade at this year's deadline. Harden certainly would have pitched with more Heeeeeaaaaarrrrrrhhhhhhhhttttt!

Next is a number of 2011 minis, including a NO NUMBER of Omar Infante. I'm still kicking myself for passing on a 2009 no number of Justin Verlander at a show earlier this year. I dealer went from $6 bucks to $3, but I had just got there and wanted to see what else was available. Dummy!! Nice to see Alex Gordon finally put everything together this year. I really hope the talent come along for Kansas City. I remember as a kid, I hated when the BoSox played in KC as they always seemed to have trouble with Brett, White, Wilson, and the rest.

Next, some 2011 black minis and again, some of the horizontal cards (Phillips) don't work well in the format. The Weeks is ok, but I think Topps should rid the landscape route for this product.

Some more mini '11's including, possible 2012 Red Sox closer, Daniel Bard. I have always loved Jim Thome but too bad he's going back to Philly, as I don't see how he'll get much playing time.

And rounding out the trade a number of 2011 insert minis. I like the Step Right Up set as it fits perfectly with the quirkiness that is Allen & Ginter.

Thanks again Adam for the great trade, sorry it took about four months to post. Hope to do it up again as I see you've landed some more minis!!!

Outta my funk ... Thanks to Emma

So it's been quite a while since I have found time to post. Part of it was the nonstop happenings of daily life and part of it stemmed from the Red Sox unfathomable September choke job. Just the way that team died during the stretch run, left a bad taste in my mouth. Many Sox fans should have seen this coming ... maybe we did and maybe we chose to turn a blind eye. That bitterness lingered into the playoffs.

Those feelings crossed over into my card collecting. I didn't have the enthusiasm I normally do for the end of the year Topps Traded/Update/Season Highlights. No hobby boxes, blasters, or packs crossed my hands. I think I visited my LSC twice since September. The first was when the Sox STILL had a chance and picked up some Allen & Ginter minis that had been held aside and the second, I actually bought some vintage football. On that second trip, I had little interest in anything baseball.

I did manage to watch the World Series and thought games 6 and 7 were some of the best in recent memory. It was good to see two teams from America's heartland going at it instead of the Sox, Yanks, Phils .... I mean no other sport can write the fairytale ending of David Freese's walk-off home run in the 7th game of the World Series. Local kid makes good while living out all of our backyard dreams of winning it all.

While I enjoyed the Series, I just didn't have the eagerness to collect.

So last weekend, got a chance to see a bunch of cousins, including Emma (actually second cousin). She is 9 and is a HUGE, HUGE Red Sox (and baseball) fan. Emma has Neurofibromatosis (pronounced neuro-fibroma-tosis), a genetic disorder that can cause tumors to form on the nerves anywhere in or on the body at any time. She has good days and some that are tough.

Look Daddy, we made SportsCenter!

She's a sweet, beautiful girl, not to mention a trooper. One thing I did not know about Emma was her love for baseball cards too!!!! She was so excited to pulled out her album and show me her cards. She had some 2011 Topps and Opening Day including one of those Stadium Lights cards (Pedro Alvarez I believe). She was thrilled when I told her that it glows in the dark. She had quite the array of cards, some Red Sox and some Yanks too (her mother and grandparents are Yankees fans), plus a nice 1977 Topps Burger King of Reggie Jackson. I pulled up Reggie's regular issue and pointed out why they looked different. Even the adults found it interesting. But the one card that was pretty cool, was a 2011 Topps Update Micheal Stutes Printing Plate Cyan Card 1/1!!!!  I told her that no one in the world has THIS card. It is the ONLY one in the world!!! Just like you Emma, you're the only one in this world!

Emma with her brother Josh and Sox pitcher, Clay Buchholz.

So thank you Emma, you didn't know it, but your love for baseball and baseball cards got me outta my funk. When I left, I made sure to hit Target and grab a couple of packs of 2011 Topps Update. All was right with the world once more.

* * * * * * *

Just like Bobby V, I'm back and will be righting this ship and posting more in the coming days. I got a whole bunch of cards scanning right now for trade bait purposes. Speaking of trades, Chris over at Nachos Grande, thank you for your patience, persistence, and finally getting our deal done. Your cards are in the mail and there's a couple of surprises for ya as well.

Some long awaiting posting

Just looked at the last post and couldn't believe it's been over a month. And then I realize that the freelance I have picked up has almost become a second full-time job. Certainly not complaining but between work, freelance, and my commute I find I haven't been able to find time to blog. Some days I feel lucky I have five minutes to go to the bathroom.

Well without further rambling, I will jump right into this while I have the time. Over the past month, I have made a couple of trades (My Cardboard Mistress, Smed, and Angels in Order) that I have scanned, just need to write and post. I have some vintage eBay winnings to post but right now, I will throw some vintage (cheap, cheap) from the LSC.

So I keep finding myself going back to a 1600 shoebox that has all sorts of 1960's Topps odds and ends, mostly '61, '62, and '63s and managed to pull these out. Still like the simple look to the 1961 Topps, strong colors and one of the largest photo image areas in the 1960's Topps. I like the Fairly card because it's clearly Spring Training and you can see that the "dugout" is barely a bench against the stands. Nice touch with all the batting helmets lined up too. I knew I had a 1968 Curt Flood but something about this fielding shot drew me in.

These four cards came from the same shoebox at the LSC. Always love grabbing some vintage leader cards, especially when they have some HOF'ers on them (in this case Jim Bunning). Jim King hit for the cycle on May 26, 1964 and Perranoski was a hell of a reliever for the Dodgers during the 1960's. I think the '65 set is one of my all-time favorites. Nice design with the baseball pennant, great colors ...

Next box I jumped into was a 3200 count of 1969 Topps. While it's not my favorite design, it certainly yielded some awesome cards!!! One them, the Say Hey Kid. Soft corners, and a crease but for $5.00 I was not going to Say Ney. I had been looking for a Mays off condition card but couldn't land one this cheap on eBay. Nice showing of three other HOF'ers as well, although Topps was lazy and had used this Joe Morgan pic in it's 1968 set.

Next up some star pitchers from the 60's including the two stars of the 1968 Tigers World Series championship.

 Some Miracle Mets although I was a little shocked I didn't come across a Seaver from this set. I believe Terrific Tom is a double, if not a triple print in this set. It's on my list of cards I definitely want to track down.

Next batch I pulled had some stars and minor stars from that decade. In all the vintage Topps '60s I have gone through at the LSC, this 1969 All-Star was the first Willie Horton I came across. Had to have it. Odd to see the "A" on the A's hats not have the "A's". They had just moved to Oakland in 1968 and it wasn't till the 1970 season did the apostrophe and "s" appeared.

And finally, some vintage leaders cards. I think I grab the four of these for maybe a buck total. Where else can you find three HOFers on the same card? Marichal, Gibson, Jenkins!!!!  McCovey, Santo, Williams!!!! Love these and don't mind that they're a little beat up.

And with that, it comes time to make lunch for the kids. Have a bunch of stuff to post and hope to do some writing tonight while putting back a Shipyard Pumpkinhead or two. 

How the Original Donruss Rated Rookies Turned Out

Just came across my Twitter feed and thought I'd pass along this blog write up from mental_floss' Scott Allen.

In 1984, Donruss released what some collectors consider one of the greatest baseball card sets of all time. In addition to 26 Diamond Kings—a subset of cards depicting a star player from every team—the 660-card set included 20 Rated Rookies, a new subset that highlighted a crop of promising young players selected by New York Daily News writer Bill Madden. The Rated Rookie would become a staple of the Donruss brand for years to come. (more)

One on my non-Topps favorite sets growing up as a kid. Have a factory set that I need to put into sheets and binder some day.

Got Ginter MInis To Trade Me?

Just uploaded me 2011 Allen & Ginter minis want list. So if you've got minis and you don't want 'em, I'll trade for them. Have some base cards left. If anyone is collecting the 2009 set, I have a number of base cards and short prints. Drop me an email and I'm sure I can find something to trade ya.

Happy to have finally purchased a hobby box but no big hits. Did see a guy at LSC hit on a pack ... Fielder/Howard patch book. Sweeeeeeeet looking card!!

Scanned my box for the Gint-a-Cuffs, just have to figure write up and scoring.

Trolling the 'bay

So in my ongoing effort to put some sense into my collection and to keep it fresh, I have been looking for cheap, off-condition vintage for my All-Decades Team Project. It is a project that will encompass Topps cards from 1960 to the present day. I hope to get some wants lists up in the next week as well as get some of the "team pages" scanned and posted.

One thing I have come across in my researching this project and trying to determine who ends up in my "starting lineup" and who rides the pine.

Take my 1970's California Angels for example. First base wasn't the best of positions for the Halos during this stretch ... Jim Spencer, Bob Oliver, Mike Epstein, Tony Solaita, Bruce Botche, Ron Fairly, and finally Rod Carew. So right off the bat I know it's going to come down to Spencer and Carew. Spencer had two solid years for the Angels and even won a Gold Glove in 1970. Carew had just been traded before Spring Training in 1979 and had a solid year for California. He was an All-Star but failed to be in the top 10 for hitting and his lone stat achievement was ranking 5th in on-base percentage. Right now Spencer is my starter, Carew, on the bench, and don't worry you Solaita fans, where he appears to have been a useful player for several seasons with the Angels, he too lives on for this team in a bench role.

And with that little tidbit out of the way, onto some good, off-condition, vintage finds I have recently acquired on the 'bay (I apologize for not scanning the backs, it was late and I had a number of other scans to do) ...

a little bit of everything in this first scan. Speaking of Angels, one of the originals, Eddie Yost. He was drafted off the Tigers roster as the 25th pick. Yost resides the pine on my 1960s Angels team on a "They-Used-to-Be-Great" page. A nice shot of a 1961 Topps Tito Francona, who was a pretty good ballplayer during his day. I love this 1965 high number Boog Powell. I'm a sucker for the old school O's look, especially the script and bird logo on the wool uniform. And lastly, a 1966 Topps Tom Tresh, who was a pretty damn good player for those power house Yankee teams of the early 1960's.

Second scan, five cards, five Hall of Famers, all of them cheap!! Got me self a nice Hank Aaron and being an All-Star card and a great pose, helps me not break the bank in looking for some of the superstars of the 1960s. One of the original New York Mets, Richie Ashburn, also his last card too. Not sure why Topps had to butcher the "NY" painting job in the circle photo when they clearly had actual photos of Richie in a real Mets cap. Next up, Mr. Cub, Let's Play Two ... your starting FIRST baseman for the 1960s Chicago Cubs ... ERNIE BANKS. Moving on, Whitey Ford's last Topps card and what a way to go out on the classic 1967 design. I wish Topps would bring back the multiple, series of releases only so we could revive these in-season "TRADED" cards. I once had this 1972 Frank Roby but I sent to Night Owl a couple maybe a year and a half ago. Welcome home Frank.

And with that, I wait one more day to rip my hobby box of Ginter.

* * * * * * *

HELP ME!!!! With the 2011 Ginter now LIVE, I will be attempting to collect the mini set and any mini inserts from this new edition. I do have a hobby box with me name on it for Wednesday, so that will get me a little bit of a head start. As for the base cards, SPs, hits, and any other cards in that come out of that box, they will be available for trade. If you can help, please, please drop me a line. For those of you still looking for 2011 Topps sparklies, I have a few from series 2, maybe I can grab a couple of minis for these??? Will also be posting some trade bait on Friday to help entice people to send mini Ginters my way as well.

Anyhow, drop me a line if you're not into the minis, and I'm sure I can find something to trade you.

Nothing beats cheap vintage—Part Three

Made another run to the Target at lunch and still no Ginter. Made a call to a LSC near work I haven't been to in quite a while (they sell mostly packs, boxes, team clothing) and they won't have Ginter till tomorrow afternoon. Looks like from reading the forums on Blowout Cards, that any retail Ginter was released in the Midwest (Illinois, Missouri) or Mid-Atlantic (NJ, Delaware) states before the rest of the country.

So in the meantime, might as well catch up on another round of cheap vintage I picked up a couple of weeks ago at my LSC. Same story, on this batch—cheap as in would you rather have these cards or a 3-pack blister of 2011 Heritage.

First on the docket, some vintage BoSox including "The Monster," Dick Radatz. This guy was absolutely dominating over the coarse of 3-4 years but sadly his career puttered out after over use. His last team was Montreal in 1969. Radatz cards always seem to be in demand in these parts of New England, he was a very personable guy and prior to his passing years ago, was a pretty good sports talk show co-host for WEEI. Love the Schilling card, such a great pose that is missing in today's cards and gotta loved the striped socks!!! Luis' last card was this 1974 Topps example. He had a couple of good years for the Sox in the early seventies and while most people remember Carlton Fisk's waived-homer, it was Bernie's bomb that tied the game up so that Fisk could reaped the praise.

Next to bat, a couple of 1964 Topps. Nellie's second to last card as he appears in the '65 set with an airbrush hat since the Colt 45's became the Astros. His 1965 Topps also carried the designation of "2B-Coach." Nice shot of Bill Freehan with the hulking old Yankee Stadium in the background. Nice clean photo. And while most people know that AL Downing gave up Hank Aaron's 715th home run, he was a pretty decent pitcher during the 1960's.

And speaking of Yankees, Elston Howard's last card in pinstripes. On August 3, 1967, he was traded by New York to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later and Pete Magrini. The Sox sent Ron Klimkowski (August 8, 1967) to the Yanks to complete the trade. That '68 Jenkins is a beautiful card. Corners are sharp as is the color but there is a tiny little wrinkle along the right edge of the card, just above the orange circle. This one only cost one buck!

And to close out this round of cheap vintage, we have three Hall of Famers: Kaline, Killebrew, and Wilhelm. Kaline's career was nearing a close as was Hoyt's while Killebrew went on to have his last big year in '71. He would league the AL in RBI and walks. And doesn't the "Toy Cannon" looked thrilled to have his mug taken in the 1974 Topps Traded.

All of these cards, now reside in my ongoing, All-Decades Team project, which I hope to start writing about later this month.

* * * * * * *

HELP ME!!!! With the 2011 Ginter now LIVE, I will be attempting to collect the mini set and any mini inserts from this new edition. I do have a hobby box with me name on it for Wednesday, so that will get me a little bit of a head start. As for the base cards, SPs, hits, and any other cards in that come out of that box, they will be available for trade. If you can help, please, please drop me a line. For those of you still looking for 2011 Topps sparklies, I have a few from series 2, maybe I can grab a couple of minis for these???

Anyhow, drop me a line if you're not into the minis, and I'm sure I can find something to trade you.

I want this Ginter Relic!!!

This is why I love Allen & Ginter!!!

A piece of travel wear ... the Rays BRayser!!!  I must have it!