Trading with the Enemy

Turns out that AJ from The Lost Collector, aside from being a Yankees fan, is a really cool trader. This trade started back a couple of months but between work and life, the trade took longer to wrap up. He saw one of my Ginter posts and had some minis and a jersey relic to offer up.
 
Going to the Big Apple was a bunch a Yanks cards from 80's oddballs to present day items. The key card in the batch was an 2007 UD Elements Posada dual jersey relic that had pinstripes in each jersey cut.

Coming back was this batch of Allen & Ginters ...

Now clearly the Posada dual jersey trumps the Marcus Giles relic, but I did not have a relic from the 2007 A&G edition so I didn't mind. Also in this batch of minis is a '11 Gypsy Queen hobby box variation of Johnny Mize. AJ pointed out that even though Mize is pictured in pinstripes, the back of the card carries the St. Louis Cardinals logo. Eventually need to put a GQ list together but it's kind of on the back burner for the moment.

Next up, some Red Sox favorites that I'm sure AJ was eager to part ways with ...

And to round out the trade, some vintage Red Sox and Yankees for my All-Decade teams project.

Love the '78 ALCS card with Frank White trying to evade a sliding Mickey Rivers.

Thanks again for the trade AJ and look forward to trading with you again!

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HELP ME!!!! With the 2011 Ginter release just days away, 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.

No Ginter yet, but did find a handy tool

After hearing some Targets had Allen & Ginter retail, I decided to check at the one nearby during my lunch break ... no luck on the North Shore (MA).  Anyone out there come across any retail yet?

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Speaking Allen & Ginter, Adam over at the My Cardboard Mistress has created a fantastic tool for those on the Gint-A-Cuffs this year. It's dubbed the "The A&G Boxbreaker Tool."  Adam put together a MS Excel workbook to help him with his Allen and Ginter boxes.  

"I got tired of typing every card number, name and type. Add on to that having to do Gint-A-Cuffs scoring, and you can lose a lot of time logging every single card." 

Here's a screenshot of the sheet:

 

I downloaded it and tested it myself and it works great! Best of all, it's FREE. 

He says "It's one of those things that started as a useful thing for myself, so if it is useful to others, I'm more than happy for them to use it."

Thanks Adam!

Filling up on vintage before Ginter release and looking for HELP

So with the kids away at the in-laws this past week, I was looking forward to heading back to my LSC to go through a small pile of vintage cards I had looked at a couple of weeks ago.  I still have to post these scans but was too excited about what I landed this weekend that these scans needed to go first. 

What I didn't realize was that there will be many, many boxes to go through in the weeks and months ahead.

While looking at some off-condition vintage in the case, I noticed a boxed behind the counter. The owner said it was a mish-mash of stuff and more than happy to let me go through it. I went through that (and will go through again I'm sure of it) and then a good sized box of 1966–68 Topps cards.

So without further ado, let's dig in and see what I pulled ...

First to bat, a 1960 Topps Vic Power and some 1961 Topps. "Dr. Strangeglove" is the most beat of this bunch which is quite appropriate for his nickname.

Next up, some '62 woodies! Been trying for a while to pick up a cheap Ken Boyer and Mike McCormick will be forever know for getting "blown off" the mound in at the 1961 All-Star game at Canndlestick.

Some 1963 Topps ... Dick Groat almost won the 1963 NL MVP award after being trade by the Pirates to the Cardinals. He would be moved a couple of years later to the Phillies in a pack with Bob Uecker and Bill White.

Moving into the mid-60's ... 1964 Topps ... wonder who had the bigger unibrow; Wally Moon or the O's Andy Etcheberran?

Onto one of my favorite 1960's Topps designs, the 1965 release. In this batch is O's great, Mike Cuellar ... imagine if the Cards hadn't traded him to the 'Stros. Gibson, Carlton, Cuellar ... love the specks on Bob Veale

Mving down the line, 1966 Topps. Still need to read Jim Bouton's Ball Four.

Another of my favorite designs from the 1960's, the 1967 Topps set.

The first batch of many '68 Topps. When I was younger I actually really liked this burlap design ... of course, I then grew up and still don't know why Topps thought this was a good look. I finally landed a Drysdale to go along with my Koufax. Don is a little beat up but with serve well in my All-Decade's project. The Bunning had some massive wax residue but with a little rubbing of some nylon, all clean!

You like the long-ball???? These sluggers could do the trick!

Are slick fielders more to your liking? Can't go wrong with any of these guys. Looking at this photo selection makes me wish Topps would shoot/choose more of these looks in their design selection.

And to round haul, more burlapped beauties.

All of this for less than two, 2011 Topps Value boxes and all with find there respective places in my All-Decades Team project. And with more boxes to go through, they'll be more vintage posts to follow!

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HELP ME!!!! With the 2011 Ginter release just days away, 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 a can grab a couple of minis for these???

Nothing beats cheap vintage—Part Two

Gonna jump right into this post as I am hoping to also post a random mish-mash of trade bait material.

So three more cheap vintage cards and three more Hall of Famers!

While all three did not quite come as cheap as this morning's post, these still we all had for a little more than the cost of a blaster box. All three did come with free shipping so I didn't mind paying a little bit more per card.

Love the 1960 Warren Spahn card. Has a lot of rich color and the corners are pretty decent. I had tried landing this card a couple of times but got outbid in the closing seconds. There is a super light crease than can only be seen if you tilt the card just right, still, a pretty sweet card of one of my favorite Topps designs of the sixties. Regarded as a "thinking man's" pitcher who liked to outwit batters, Spahn once described his approach on the mound: "Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing."

Next up is a 1961 Topps Frank Robinson. A young Robinson would go on to win the National League MVP in '61 scoring 117 runs, while mashing 37 homers and knocking in 124 Redlegs. Oh, and he could run too, the 25-year old stole 22 bags that season. While not the card I was trying to get (I liked his '62 Topps better), this year always seemed to be priced pretty low compared to some of his other cards. Frank helped the Reds to the NL pennant in 1961 but, the Reds lost the 1961 World Series to the Yankees.

And finally, the 1974 Topps Nolan Ryan. This is a great shot of Ryan from the mound, menacing and intimidating. Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher. He is tied with Bob Feller for most one-hitters, with 12. He also pitched 18 two-hitters. Despite the seven no-hitters, Ryan never threw a perfect game, nor did he ever win a Cy Young Award. Nolan is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in Major League baseball games in four decades.

Speaking of vintage and trade posts, I hope to start putting some vintage up for trade bait to help fill in holes with my All Decade teams. I know I'll be throwing a 1960 AL Kings (Kuenn/Fox), a 71 Rose, and a '73 Seaver just to name a few off the top of my head so stay tuned.

Nothing beats cheap vintage—Part One

Ahhhh, feels good to get back in the swing of blogging, and feels good now that Friday is here. It was a crazy week at work in which my company laptop/computer crapped out and then IT had to wrestle with the Mac Powerbook in order to crack it open to retrieve the hard drive and put it into another old Mac. Thankfully, the HD was A-Ok, but then the next night, the power cord died while I was working on a rush project. Thankfully, after this episode, and pleading for the last year, a new Mac Powerbook Pro will be in my hands come Tuesday.

So now that I have caught my breath, I have been going through some stuff I had picked up on eBay and had scanned, but never posted. So with out further ado, let's kick off the weekend with some cheap vintage ....

First up, three super star pitchers of the 1960's, all three are Hall of Famers, they all threw No-hitters, and all three will anchor their respective All-Decade team pitching staffs.

I had forgot what I had won these cards for, so I went back into my eBay history and forgot just how cheap I won these for. I hate paying shipping, so figure it was either free or no more than a couple of bucks per card. The 1964 Juan Marichal was had for $1.54 and 1965 Jim Bunning was purchased for $1.86. So two mid-60's, HOFs in pretty nice shape (no creases, sharp color) for less than two, 2011 Topps packs. Hell yah!!! Sign me up!!!

Of the three cards, the 1966 Sandy Koufax is clearly the worst of the bunch, but I finally have myself a Koufax!! 'Ol Sandy has some creases, soft corners, but still a nice looking card. This one I went a little over $10 bucks in order to win the auction. If I could go back in time, Koufax and Bob Gibson would be the two fireballers I would have loved to see pitch in person.

Looking at the back of Juan Marichal's '64 Topps, you'll see he won 25 games in 1963. This would start a stretch in which he would go onto win 20+ games a season in six of the next seven years! Marichal would win more games than any pitcher in the 1960's, yet he appeared in only one World Series game. He started game four of the 1962 World Series against the New York Yankees. His final line was 4.0 IP, 2H, 0ER, 2BB, and 4SO. He did leave with a 2-0 lead but did not figure in the decision, a 7-3 Giants win.

When looking for a factoid for Mr. Bunning, I found this one and couldn't believe it. "When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career strikeouts in Major League history; he is currently 17th." Number one at the time of his retirement was Walter Johnson, number three ... Cy Young. Now you can see why I might have been wowed. I knew Bunning was a pretty good pitcher in his day but as one who was born in 1973, I never realized how good he was. Having thrown a no-hitter for both Detroit and Philly, Jim is only one of five pitchers to accomplish the feat.

And what can so you say about Koufax, he was absolutely brilliant from 1961–1966 before arthritis ended his career at only 30 years old. However, it is one moment in which Sandy will always be remember for, his decision to not pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur. This decision garnered national attention as an example of conflict between social pressures and personal beliefs. From the "Did You Know Department?" ... on September 29, 1957, Koufax became the last man ever to pitch for the Brooklyn Dodgers before their move to Los Angeles, by throwing an inning of relief in the final game of the season.

And there you have it, some good 'ol cheap vintage for a good 'ol Friday. Check back for later on tonight for part two.

LCS visit brings in vintage and retro vintage (PART TWO)

So many times I look at the boxes and boxes of cards and wonder, how can I organize my collection better. How can I make it truly mine? How can I keep this "fun" for me? What's a good way to pull out a binder and explore the history of the game? The players, the uniforms, the crazy hair of the 70's, odd nicknames, etc. ... I know other blogs have "built" All-Time team binders and the like, but how can I do this for myself in a way that encompasses the stars and not so stars of America's pastime and showcase Topps' design through the years?

I have thought about just doing a page of each Topps baseball card design, but there is no way I would be able to limit myself to say, nine cards from any given year. Hhhmmm, what if I did that and didn't limit myself?  Well then I might have nine pages of 1971 Topps but only one page of 1988 Topps. That won't work.

I went back and thought about doing the All-Time teams bit again and again ... a project that would be easier to tackle and more attractive thanks to all the recent reto set products. However, I am a bit anal and wouldn't want a 2011 Gypsy Queen Honus Wagner next to a nice 1964 Topps Bill Mazeroski. So what to do, what to do, how can I pull this together? I needed to answer the question of "what is it about baseball and baseball cards that I love the most? What always draws me back to looking at these pieces of cardboard?" The answer was easy and stems from one of my favorite baseball books in my library, Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups.

So with a little bit of fine tuning on my end, I am starting a new collecting project that will be one of All-Decade teams for each Major League ball club from the 1960's till present in Topps baseball card form. Each ball club for each decade will have; one, 9-pocket page for the starting line up that will include a pinch hitter/utility/DH, one, 9-pocket page of a starting rotation of five, a couple of bullpen saviors, a closer, and one, 9-pocket page of bench guys and/or highlight cards such as post-season or record breaking performances.

I will begin posting these teams little by little and would love to hear feedback even if it's in the form of "What the hell are you thinking putting player A over player B????"

So with this project in mind, how could I not pass up this Roger Maris for only $3.00!!  I mean, would you rather have this 1964 Topps card or a $3.00, crap pack of 2011 Bowman????

Sure, there's a lot of wear on this baby, but all the stats are there to peruse and the card really has some nice color. It's my first and only Yankee so far for my 60's Yanks, All-Decade team and what a way to kick this collection off.

Next up, a high number ... all for the price of a 2011 Topps Rack Pack ...

Your starting second baseman of your 1960's Pittsburgh Pirates, BILL MAZEROSKI!!! The 1964 Topps design is a little underrated I feel. The set has some great color, the color photos spilling over onto the white borders, and the game/quiz on the back of the cards is a cool touch. Seems like the 1960, 1962, and 1967 Topps designs get all the love but this, I think, will be the next Heritage set I'll collect. It's a just a classic and clean set.

Next up for the cost of a couple of new packs, more guys to help fill out the rosters for my '60s teams for the Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, and Phillies to name a few ...

Love, love this shot of Callison!!  I mean, look at that color and the classic wool uniform against a backdrop of an old school ballpark.

Here's a bunch of 1968 Topps with Shannon probably being my pinch hitter as Ken Boyer will be the starting third baseman for the this '60s Cards team. At one point when I was a teen, actually had a chance to buy a partial set from this year and for whatever reason, I decided not to. Still kicking myself on that one. I think would have been maybe $80 for about three quarters of the set. For some reason, I still like this design over the '69 ... Oh well.

And speaking of 1969, here's the last three vintage pulls from the LCS. Maxvill fills out my Cards infield alongside the '68 Javier, above, and Veale was a pretty good lefty in his day.

So with that, I have begun putting these guys in sheets as well as begun putting together a wantlist for other cards I will need for the 1960s and 1970s teams. I hope you'll help me along the journey and hope it sparks some pretty good debate in the comments section.

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CONTEST, CONTEST, CONTEST!!!!
And finally before I forget, I'd like to pimp This Card Is Cool's blog contest over here. Ryan's always has some good reads and he steps it up a notch in celebrating his 200th post. Congrats Ryan, keep up the great work and thanks for the cool contest!

LCS visit brings in vintage and retro vintage (PART ONE)

So finally, finally I made it a point to visit the LCS one town over from me. About the only day I can get over there is on a Friday, but lately my Fridays (off days) have been the sort that has me running all over creation doing errands and what not.

I had already made about two passes on the LCS's Allen & Ginter minis but that was when I was only planning to doing a "Frankenstein" set. Now that I am boldly, err ... insane attempt to complete all the mini sets from 2006 to present I have been wanting to get back and make one last pass. So 100 minis later for 10 bucks or a dime a piece, I ransacked what he had left.

And with that, I scanned in some of my favorites from each year ...

Out of all the A&G sets, I think the 2006 set might be my favorite. The artwork is just awesome. I actually already had the Tim Hudson and Chipper Jones but I wanted the black borders just to break up the look on what ever page they happen to fall on.

Next up, 2007s ... gotta love the Ferris Wheel card too. One problem with these mini being popular around these parts, Red Sox minis are few and far between. I know I haven't been able to land any of them at my LCS in the last two years. Nice to see Corey Patterson having a resurgence north of the border. I remember when his card was the one to own in the 1999 Topps Traded set. The guy has always had talent, just couldn't take a walk to save his life.

Some 2008s here and I think the weakest of the Ginter designs. They're not bad but not as classy as the '06s and '07s. I also think a number of cards were over Photoshoped with whatever filter Topps was using.

The Ginter looked rebounded for sure with their 2009 version and I think these black border beauties might be the best of the lot. When I saw this Florence Nightengale card, all I could think about was that scene in Meet the Parents when Greg Focker is playing water vollyball and was called out for his shoddy play ...

If Florence Nightingale would play some defense.
I missed one shot!
It was a big shot!

And finally, some 2010 Ginters and the only insert cards I was able to acquire.

The Russian Bear and the Bald Eagle, side-by-side, who ya got???!! How would you like your national animal to be a cow? Ugh!

So that wraps up Part One of my visit to the LCS. I thought I'd put the vintage together in the same post as the retro, but decided against it since Part Two will be a launching point of a new collecting project I am in the middle of putting together. So until then ....