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!

Another trade with “é rayhahn, rayhahn”

So a while back, I had written this post on some Allen & Ginter relics when “é rayhahn, rayhahn” offered to trade a Ginter relic for another Ginter relic. Of course, fillers going both ways netted each of us some cards off our lists. Already having a Ginter jersey relic of Joe Mauer, I was fine with parting it for a sand colored jersey of Matt Latos.

Too bad this wasn't a piece of the yellow and brown retro jerseys, now that would have been pretty sweet. Up next and definitely a pleasant surprise, THREE great cards off my '75 Topps wantlist!!!!
Gotta love the Maris/Roby card, off course of the three of four of these MVP cards I need, they are all Mantles.

Thanks again D for the great trade.

* * * * * * *

So while trolling the 'Bay for more Ginter minis, I came across some RIP minis. Often these are pretty much priced out of my budget and therefore just a pipe dream. However, I came across some minor star RIP minis that were definitely available. One being, well ... at one point in his career, a star.

Welcome Jake Peavy, a RIP mini from the 2007 Allen & Ginter set. One thing I had not realized, since I have not seen one in person, is that the backs have are gray instead of the normal cream-white color. Also in separate auctions, I landed my first "Team Orange" from the 2008 A&G edition. The story goes that this "team" are fictional players based on people that work at Topps. 

The cards were found one in every 144 packs. Beckett's Chris Olds wrote about these cards back in in 2009. In the article, he confirms through an unnamed Topps employees that indeed these Team Orange legends weren’t baseball players at all, rather Topps employees.

So "Minty" Beans is actually, John Doldan, Art Director for the Topps Company. So it's quite appropriate that the one TO card I have, shares the same profession as this collector. I aside from wanting to be the next GM of the Red Sox, Art Director at Topps would be right up there on my dream jobs.

Also in the above image, two more Baseball Icons also from the '08 set. Tris Speaker and Jimmie Foxx. Of the seventeen cards in this insert set, I am know up to four of these. I think it's one of the better insert sets that A&G model has developed. Below is the entire checklist.

• BI1 Cy Young
• BI2 Walter Johnson
• BI3 Jackie Robinson
• BI4 Thurman Munson
• BI5 Mel Ott
• BI6 Honus Wagner
• BI7 Pee Wee Reese
• BI8 Tris Speaker
• BI9 Christy Mathewson
• BI10 Ty Cobb
• BI11 Johnny Mize
• BI12 Jimmie Foxx
• BI13 Lou Gehrig
• BI14 Roy Campanella
• BI15 George Sisler
• BI16 Rogers Hornsby
• BI17 Babe Ruth

So if any of you have one of these cards you want to part with, I'm sure I can find something to trade you. Until then, thank you again for reading, and stay tuned for more posts this weekend and some trade bait posts as well.

Adding more minis to the collection

Relic minis that is.  This was part of my eBay buying binge over the last two weeks. Put a bid on this lot and kinda forgot about it until I was notified that I was the winner.

 We have some white swatches ...

Some gray swatches ...

And some colors and a bat chip. This lot broke down to be about a buck per relic—I thought might as well and if I didn't win, no big deal.

These all came from the 2008 Allen & Ginter set and eventually would like to have a page of relics from each of the A&G years. So, if you have an extra 2006, 07, 09, or 2010 Ginter relic, I would be open to trading a couple of these to pick up another year. About the only one I would not trade is Tulo. Mauer would be available as I already have a 2009 gray w/pinstripe jersey swatch.

In two other separate auctions, I completed my World's Deadliest Sharks insert set with the Great White Shark from the 2008 A&G set. And on top of that, I picked up my first World's Deadliest Snakes card from the 2007 edition in the King Cobra. These Snakes seem to run about $20 or so each so I was pretty happy when I got this guy for half that.

I have a couple more Ginter auction wins to showcase that were part of this spree as well as some vintage HOF'ers joining my No-Hitters collection. Hopefully I'll get all that up by the weekend as well as find a creative way to get some trade bait posts up as well for next week. So stay tuned and Go Sox!

Some More 2011 Topps Goodness

So while it's snowing, sleeting, raining, and back to snow again here in Massachusetts, I have no desire to trek out into the winter weather mess. So, that means no Topps for you!! errr, no Topps for me!!!

So I am left to read the blogroll with emptiness, while many lucky souls have found Spring in newly arrived foil packs. In any case, while reading the blogs and snooping on eBay, I can across a fantastic 2011 Topps relic card.

 Behold, the genius of Bill Veek ... Rich Gossage relic (jersey is from 1975 judging the pinstripes) but the photo is from August 8, 1976 when the White Sox, needing a stunt to draw people (they were 19 games back), wore shorts in the first game of a double-header against the Kansas City Royals.

White Sox starter Rich Gossage was called on to shut down the Royals and secure a win. In 1975, Gossage was anointed the closer for the Sox and came through with a 26 save season and a 1.89 ERA.  For his stellar 1975 record, Gossage was voted the Sporting News Fireman of the Year Award. At the beginning of the 1976 season, Gossage was converted to a starter by manager Paul Richards since there just wasn’t enough quality talent to go around. His record for 1976 was a forgettable 9 wins, 17 losses and a 3.94 ERA with a surprisingly high 15 complete games. Upon entering the infamous game in the 8th innning in 1976, Gossage proceeded to revert back to his closer form and shut down the Royals for two innings with one walk and one strikeout to earn his first and only save of the 1976 season.

As a big fan of the blog UniWatch, I knew the background to Veek's idea and had seen the photos and video, but to my knowledge, this is the first time I have seen the White Sox shorts on a trading card. Now that, is some Topps Goodness.