My collecting habits don't typically including going after team sets, but it is neat to realize you've knocked off an entire team from a set you're working on. And here's a post to make Red Sox fans a little jealous, as I've now got refractor autos (#/25) of all Boston cards in 2005 Topps Retired.
The top card in the team set is Yaz. Snagged this one a year or two back, and so it's a repeat on the blog, but worth another look.
Jim Lonborg is another one I've had for a while. I think I've actually picked up a dupe since.. as sort of an ace-in-the-hole in case I need to bring out the big guns for a trade with a Sox fan.
This Johnny Pesky is a new one. He's a name you don't hear about too much these days, but he would've likely won the Rookie of the Year award had it existed in 1942, and put together an impressive career. Led the AL in hits 3 times, batted .307 lifetime, while missing 3 years of his prime serving in World War II. After his playing days, he continued working in baseball for decades, with stints as manager, coach, and broadcaster.
After obtaining the Pesky, I noticed-- with thanks to TCDB-- that I was only Grady Little away from the Boston team set, so I said "F' it" and pulled the trigger on this overpriced one that had been sitting on eBay for years.
So there's the team set!
Wade Boggs is featured as a Yankee in the set, FYI. I don't have that one yet.
I do have a couple other "honorable mentions" though, on the other Sox...
2005 Retired features Fisk on the Pale Hose, after having a Boston card in the '03 and '04 incarnations of the set. Daryl Boston never played for the Red Sox, which is a shame with such a fitting last name. Dig the nutty pants uniform numbers on both of these!
My White Sox team set is far from complete, as there are a couple big ones I'm missing: Tom Seaver and Bo Jackson. Also Harold Baines is no pushover-- Hell, he's in the Hall of Fame!
I've got 35 refractor autos from this set now (out of 115).. with another on the way. 2005 Retired isn't as high priority as 2004 Retired for me, but I still like to pick them up when I find them for a decent price. What can I say? I just love these shiny beauties!
My haul from this past weekend's card show was pretty much evenly split between cards for my collection (pictured left) and cards picked up with others in mind / trade bait (right).
This post will feature some more of my keepers. Again, they're all numbered parallels I picked out of a 50¢ box.
Lots of shiny here. The non-shiny card is /99.. the only copy of which on COMC right now is $10+, so I'll count that as a nice deal for me.
Red Sox legends Yaz and Dewy.
More HOFers. The Smoltz is the lowest numbered of this bunch at /100.
Slugging 3rd basemen. I'm thrilled my Padres signed Machado, but with such a big, long deal, you can't help but be nervous. But give me just one championship over those 10 years and I'll be over the moon.
More San Diego-centric cards.
New cards for my PCs of Mike Jacobs (though it's technically a Hanley Ramirez card) and Mark Buehrle (though it's technically a Paul Konerko card).
A pair of /99 Tigers.
Here are more cards. Vlad, D-Lee, and Chili.
Some hip young dudes with blue hues. Lewis Brinson has been having an incredible spring training with Miami (5 HR in 26 AB as of this writing).. maybe this'll be his breakout year.
Let's end on some thicc cards. Tribute, Triple Threads, Inception, etc.
Solid card show haul. I think I've got one more post to get out of it: the trade baits. Coming soon.
I've been emailing with Alex T. (the reader who kindly traded me the George Brett and Robin Yount rookie cards recently). He's an interesting dude whose collection is focused on older minor league sets. This post will take a look at a set Alex gave me a tip on: 1994 Carolina League 50th Anniversary All-Time Set (sometimes also referred to as being from 1995). As many of the cards in the customs revue from my last post show, I get a kick out of seeing my favorite players in unfamiliar uniforms. This set features several PC guys of mine in their minor league duds. Right up my alley! Luckily there was one for auction on eBay for a solid price and I ended up winning as the lone bidder.
Young Yaz and Stretch.
Carew and Bench. So weird seeing Bench in anything other than a Reds uniform.
Speaking of strange sights.. Howbout Teke without his trademark glasses?! Also here are li'l Dave Parker, Barry Bonds, and Ron Gant.
And the rest. I'm torn between keeping the set intact or perhaps trading off the non-PC guys.
Solid, simple backs with stats and an occasional highlight mentioned. Including nicknames is a nice touch.
So there you go. A fun minor league set with a few big names.
Really happy with this 2009 Dick Allen auto, even getting past my mild triskaidekaphobia to put in a winning bid on it. What makes it extra cool is it's a rare Cardinals card of him. Allen moved to the city of St. Louis in 1970, but his '70 Topps card features a deceptive photo of him from his Phillies days. Then in 1971, he moved on to the Dodgers, and his '71 Topps card features a pre-season photo posing in his new LA duds (see my old rollercoaster of a post investigating this matter). The only other card I can think of featuring a real photo of him on the Cardinals is his 1971 Kellogg's card (which identifies him as a Dodger on the back). So yeah, this auto is a unique hit for the ol' Dick Allen PC.
While the Cardinals are low on my list of favorite teams, let's go back-to-back with another Redbirds auto. This Willie McGee 2003 Topps Retired auto doesn't come along at a reasonable price very often, so when one did, I put in a decent bid and ended up winning it.
We rented Happy Days season 1 disc 1 on DVD recently (it's not streaming online anywhere, surprisingly, and I had a hankerin'), and that had me poking around Wikipedia reading up about the show and its cast. Gotta admit when I was a kid in the 80s watching the show in syndication, I didn't realize it was a throwback show.. I thought it was actually shot in the 50s! LOL. Anyways, reading up on Marion Ross, I found out her alma mater is San Diego State University. While collecting fellow Aztec alumni isn't a big priority for me, I do want to work on adding cards of notable names. So I looked to see if she had any decent autograph card options on eBay and ended up settling on this non-certified 1998 card for a few bucks. Looks good to me.
Here's the back so you can tell it isn't just a signed photo.
Here's another SDSU grad, Fred Dryer. He had a nice NFL career with the New York Giants (1969–1971) and Los Angeles Rams (1972–1981), then went into acting, most notably as TV's Hunter..
I picked up that relic/stickergraph #/50 for a good price late last year. Would like to add some of his vintage cards one of these days, too.
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The past week has been slow for incoming trades, but I did get a nice PWE from Shoebox Shane a few days ago. Let's check that out now.
Bowman Chrome refractor autos are always awesome to own, even when it's a 31st rounder I've never heard of. At least Jared Wells cracked the big leagues for a few games in 2008.
Shane is always good about setting aside 2011 Topps sparkly parallels for me.
These 2 were clearly the highlights. I know Shane is collects both these parallels, so they must be dupes he had available. Love those atomic refractors! And the legends variations can be tough to track down, even base versions, so this cognac Hornsby is much appreciated.
Big thanks, Shane! I've got some solid buybacks set aside for you and will load up a return PWE shortly!
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Some late nights after my wife goes to bed, I'll have a drink or four, queue up an 80s cartoon on Netflix (usually The Real Ghostbusters or He-Man) and if the creative urge strikes, I'll scribble out a sketch card or two. These are from last weekend. Not my best work, but I guess I like them enough to show them off here.
In one of my recent online orders, I snagged a bunch of cheap Yaz oddballs. I collect him plus I trade with several guys who collect him too. So these are headed for the PC, but are not untouchable if trader buddies need any of them.
And some oversized cards, including a postcard I neglected to include in my big Tim Blackwell post the other day. For what it's worth, Yaz and Blackwell were teammates in '74 and '75. I think Yaz & the Stache would've been an awesome 70s buddy cop show.
I was loading up my cart for an online order the other day and wasn't too far from the seller's "15% off your order" threshold. I did a search for Yaz and saw a newly listed 1960 Topps rookie for comfortably under the price of a blaster.
Needless to say, I was all like "OMG Yaaaaassssss" and jumped at it. It's got rough corners and a crease around the brim, but I'm totally fine with that at such a great price ($13.31 after the 15% discount, with free shipping). I've got a respectable Carl Yastrzemski PC, but this RC was a big need I had hoped to snag one day, so it's great to finally land it.
I'm in that anxious waiting period where I have a bunch of posts I want to write, but they're held up waiting on cards, mostly from my big COMC order that's currently being filled.
But for now, here are a few other cards I've gotten in recently. First off is a consolation prize PWE from John Miller. I'm admittedly a bit of a sore loser when I miss out on contests, especially when I give my all and still fall short. So a thoughtful little bonus like this goes a long way to help me quit crying like a baby.
This makes two posts in a row leading off with a vintage Yaz card. Well hey, he is kind of the mascot/poster boy for my blog, or at least his 1966 Topps card is, so it's fine. I recently semi-sorted my Yaz PC, as I mentioned last post, and so I know that this beauty from 1972 Topps is a need for me.
Here are a couple more Yastrzemskis, but I already had these. In fact, I had several of those 1978 cards. I wonder if it was double printed or something, since it seems to be so common. The only Yaz I had more copies of was his 1990 Donruss "here's what the completed puzzle looks like" Diamond King card.
Johnny dropped some more "guys I collect" vintage on me. I just saw that Rose featured on Night Owl's Best Cards of the 70s countdown, so very cool to add it to my collection now.
Big thanks, John! Much appreciated.
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We've still got some time, so let's also take a quick look at a recent Sportlots PWE.
Snagged a couple SP needs for my 2016 Ginter X quest which is nearly complete thanks mostly to a big trade that I'll be posting about soon. The penny sleeve reflection gave Starlin Castro a funky aura here in my pic.
Since I had room for a couple more cards before the shipping cost would go up, I took a quick look at the seller's other stuff and ended up adding a pair of 18¢ cards for the heck of it: 2011 Finest Adrian Beltre and 2011 Bowman Finest Futures Mike Stanton. I wonder if Giancarlo's cardboard will see a little bump in interest once he gets out of Miami.
I was sorting my Yaz PC yesterday, pulling out dupes, and was just about to take out one of these 1969 deckle edge inserts when I noticed one didn't have the facsimile signature. Ooh.. Not a dupe! On closer inspection, the signature is there, just grey and very faint. I was a little perplexed by this and turned to COMC to see if they had variations of this one on there. Looks like the OPC versions have a grey signature instead of blue, but it's not this faint. Plus, the OPC deckles have blank backs, whereas these two...
...both have the standard Topps back. Is this is a "real" variation? Probably just a printing flaw, like the cyan coloring didn't make it onto this particular pressing. Regardless, I'll consider them different in my PC. If Mark Hoyle or anybody else has any info to share on these, please let me know.
As long as I'm turning this discovery into a blog post, I figured I'd add a couple other vintage variations I've stumbled upon recently. And hey, coincidentally, Yaz's Sox are also involved with these other two.
These 1973 Topps team checklists are the same on the front, but feature a minor difference on the back:
The left card has one asterisk at the bottom, while the right card has two. These are a known variation, but they somehow slipped by me when I was compiling my 1973 Topps checklist. I tried to be really "master set" thorough with it, getting all the known variations. So, damn it, I may have to reopen my "completed" 1973 Topps setbuild to hunt down the asterisk variations I'm missing. It won't be a high priority, but just something to try to eventually take care of. Anybody know if all teams have this variation, or just some of them?
I should hopefully be posting a "Joy of a Completed Set" post for 1965 Topps shortly after my latest COMC order arrives. There are only a couple '65 variations that I'm aware of, both checklists, the "Cannizzaro/C.Cannizzaro" variation, and one which has slightly bolder text than its counterpart. But I think I found another "bold text" variation. Take a look and see if you agree:
Seems to me like the one on the bottom has bolder text. I think it's most obvious at "182":
There's some white space between the "2" and the blue border on one, while the other "2" actually crosses the plane into the blue. Not a big deal or anything, just something card collectors like us might find interesting. I'll include it in my set as like an unofficial variation / notable printing variance since I already have it, but I probably wouldn't bother tracking it down if I didn't.
If I complete my set of 1965 Topps by the end of the year, there will be a lavish parade in my honor and Miss Oregon will gently place a golden crown upon my head to rapturous applause. "You did it!," she'll whisper in my ear, then kiss my cheek.
... Er.. Wait, no, nevermind. Actually nothing special will happen. Whether I finish it tomorrow or in 2029 doesn't really matter, I'll just feel a nice sense of accomplishment whenever I get the final card in my clutches. But for the sake of, um, having collecting goals, I guess, I've given myself the goal of finishing it by the end of 2017. And since we're into September already, I've got to keep my eyes on the prize.
Last weekend I took aim at some of the bigger cards still on my needslist, and they just showed up, so let's check them out.
I believe Steve Carlton is the biggest (most expensive) rookie card in the set. I figured I'd hit it head-on instead of waiting till it was among the last few needed cards remaining. Found a decent looking auction, put in a bid, and ended up on top. I didn't spring for a graded copy, and maybe I was paranoid because of that, but when it showed up, it was so nice, it almost seemed counterfeit. But I put it in a stack of other '65s and it passed the cardstock test, so I'm confident it's legit.
Poor Fritz Ackley. His brief MLB career had come to a close before this card came out.
Here's a nice Al Kaline. Both Kaline and Steve Carlton are guys I had little PCs going for a while, but dropped them from my wantlist a while back trying to tighten up my collecting focus and not fall into the trap of collecting all Hall of Famers. Still though, love vintage setbuilding to give me an excuse to add a great card of theirs to my collection here and there.
Funny he never won another batting title.
Yaz! Here he's doing that classic goofy pop-up pose.
Been wanting to add this card to my collection for a long time.
Looks like this Frank Robinson was well-loved by a kid in the 60s. Then at some point in recent years, it was entombed, and I picked it up for a good price with combined shipping.
It's on the low end of the scale for condition I'm trying for with my set, but it'll do.
Last one for today, it's a Mets 4-player RC highlighted by Tug McGraw.
Again, it's a bit rough, but it's a short-printed high-number rookie card featuring a fan favorite, so I'm fine settling for a more affordable copy such as this. You could say there are 2 fan favorites on here, since Ron Swoboda endeared himself to Mets fans of the era, being a key member of the 1969 Miracle Mets.
I'm now at exactly 95% complete with this set. Just 30 more cards to go. After checking off these big names, I'm feeling good about my chances of meeting my year-end goal.
