A couple cool connected Kirbys

I stumbled upon a neat looking Kirby Puckett card that I pulled the trigger on way back on September 21, 2017.

I generally love "official customs"-- you know, when a card company puts out cards-that-never-were-but-belatedly-now-are.

When you consider Donruss was ahead of the curve by releasing a Fred McGriff Rated Rookie in 1986-- with Topps and Fleer not giving a card to him till their '87 update sets-- it's not that far fetched that they'd scoop the competition on Kirby Puckett a couple years earlier.

So yeah, I really like the card and soon decided to go after the complete run of 2002 Donruss Originals "What If" inserts which are in 3 groups: "1978 Donruss", "1980 Donruss", and "What If Rookies".

I've been stuck on 2 remaining "Rookie" cards for several months until finally scoring the companion Kirby that just arrived today...

It's the first time I'd seen it for sale in the 5+ years I've been keeping an eye out. Man, I smashed that buy-it-now button super fast!

I'm now down to just the Don Mattingly retrofitted Rated Rookie to close the books on this collecting pursuit. I've seen the Mattingly for sale 2 or 3 times, but it's always been slabbed and that's helped push it out of my price range.. dang crazy Mattingly collectors! lol. But hopefully a reasonably-priced raw copy pops up one of these days that I'm able to score. For now, it's bumped up my mental list of whales I'm scouring the cardboard oceans for.

While I've got an okay Mattingly PC and like him fine, Kirby is one of my favorite guys to collect-- such a fun player to watch and root for, even if he turned out to have a dark side off the field-- so even if I die before tracking down the Don, it's still very satisfying to finally secure that Kirby I've been after for quite a while. There's another Kirby I've spent a lot of time searching for, one of my top whales, though I've accepted in this past year or two that the card was never actually released and no one has even ever seen a picture of the card much less own one.

But hey, Kirby's "1984 The Rookies" card from 2002 exists and I've finally got it! Feels great to complete the pairing of '84 Donruss Kirbies that never were. I'm fortunate enough to own his real 1984 Fleer Update card, as well as a Topps "1984" card that never was from last year's Update (oh yeah, I also completed that insert set recently but haven't gotten around to blogging about it). He had no minor league cards released in '84 (just one in 1983, which I don't own) nor any other oddballs I'm aware of, so that completes a run of Kirby Puckett "1984" cards for me. Nice!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

White Whale or just a ghost? (the case of Kirby Puckett's 2003 Topps Retired auto)

I think I've identified a "ghost whale"... you know, a white whale that might not actually exist.

Regular readers know I'm nuts for the Topps Retired product line. And Kirby Puckett is one of my favorite guys to collect, so his autograph in 2003 Topps Retired has been a holy grail of mine for a while now.

But I'm beginning to suspect that the card doesn't exist, and hopefully this post (and reader response) can help settle it.

To start at the beginning, Topps Retired Signature Edition debuted in 2003 and Kirby Puckett was listed as an autograph signer in the marketing materials and even on the bottom of the hobby box (above), though key to note is "this list is subject to change" small print attached. He was among the Group B odds group (Group A being the toughest pulls, and Group G being the most common), with a stated print run of 75 base Kirby autographs and 25 serial-numbered refractor parallels. This is common info provided on card checklist sites like TCDB, Beckett, and baseballcardpedia.. So according to that, there should be a total of (100) '03 Retired Kirby autos out there.

Sadly, Mr. Puckett died on March 6, 2006 after years of failing health, though he has other on-card certified autographs through 2004 on the market, so it's certainly possible he signed '03 Retired cards.

I've been watching Retired autographs on eBay for nearly a decade at this point. I think it's safe to say I've seen all other autograph subjects from the product for sale-- some I may not have seen the refractor yet [all numbered to 25 or less], but I've at least seen the base available once or twice over the years. In fact, there's currently a seller with "complete" autograph sets from all 3 years of Retired on eBay. His listing for 2003 Retired has an asking price of $30,000 OBO, beyond the realm of possibility for me to think about, but still a helpful resource. I poured over the photos in the listing-- the lot is highlighted by a slabbed Hank Aaron refractor (all other cards in the lot are base autos)-- but Kirby is nowhere to be seen.

The base (non-auto) set of '03 Retired is 110 cards deep. Of that checklist, only two players don't have corresponding autographs included: Dave Concepcion and Johnny Sain (with Kirby possibly being the 3rd). I gotta assume these guys were slated to have autos in there, but just didn't return their signed cards to Topps in time to be packed out (and there were no redemptions in the product, as far as I'm aware). Concepcion, like Kirby, is listed on the box bottom (in Group C), making Johnny Sain the only player in the set without his name on the original autograph list. But Concepcion, unlike Kirby, isn't included by checklist sites in the autograph listing for the product. So Topps knew it wasn't getting those Sain cards back for whatever reason, but was holding out hope for Kirby and Concepcion. And eventually Topps gave up on Dave Concepcion (ostensibly leaving him off updated marketing materials that were used by the checklist sites), but the Kirby question remains.

TCDB lists 0 collectors with either '03 Retired Kirby auto marked as being in their collection (though plenty have them on their wantlists). And none for sale (or "sold out") on COMC.

I even checked the PSA population report for 2003 Retired autos, and no one has sent in a Kirby auto for grading. You'd figure at least one of the 100 cards would have been submitted.

I've done Google searches, tried digging into historical eBay listings, and still have found no sign that a 2003 Topps Retired certified autograph of Kirby Puckett exists.

So with all that layed out, what do you think? I'm interested in hearing your take on the matter, especially if there are any Kirby Puckett supercollectors reading this who may've already gone down this rabbit hole themselves.

Does anybody have this card, or could at least share documented proof that it's out there beyond a text checklist?

Please let me know. Thanks!

Shiny cards in various sizes

More highlights from my big COMCOVID shipment.

After getting shut out for comments in my previous post, I'd better bring out the big guns.

Well, a big card and a tiny card. One shiny, one shiny and also sparkly. Two greats of the game.

At $14.99, the SuperVlad refractor was my priciest pickup of the order. I don't consider it an addition to my card collection as much as an addition to my fine art collection.

It's going up on the wall where it will serve as a motivational poster. "Fully extend for your dreams."

Here's a closer look at the sparkly micro Kirby along with his proud papa. 

The oversized bat further confounds the image and is really messing with my sense of scale! Somehow tiny Kirby is even tinier and regular Kirby is ginormous.

A few different micro cards of stars were created as prism parallels and included as a bonus with the 1993 micro factory set. At least that's my understanding of the proto-Atomic Refractor/Cracked Ice little fella's origins. Does that make it the very first sparkly parallel? I know there were sparkly baseball stickers in the late 80s; not sure if they count. But anyways, yeah, I found out about these cool things and had to pick up one for myself. Cost me a buck.

I picked up a few needs from my foolish quest of a black refractor parallel set of 2004 Topps Chrome. Three commons for around a buck each, and then splurged on Mad Dog for $10.25. Nice to cross another big'un off my wants-- 223 cards left to go-- plus he's a PC guy for me, so I can appreciate it on that level too.

Mr. Elroy Face was the lone pickup in this shipment for my ARMS (Archives Reserve Master Set). A gracious man when it comes to his signature, this card cost me what shipping alone would have cost me on eBay. Man, I sure hope COMC eventually returns to being a convenient place to purchase-and-then-soon-receive cards for decent prices. Anyways, just 136 cards left to go until I have a full master set of Topps Archives Reserve cards.

See ya next time

cardboard cardings

Just squeezing in a quick late-nite post with a few recent additions to my collection because I haven't posted in a few days. (On my to-do list for the weekend is a big Sentimental Sundays post about my long-lost little comic book collection, which I've recently found but not opened yet.) 

1990 Kmart Batting Leaders-- one of the very few "junk era" Topps offerings that still goes for decent money today. I'm not expecting to ever complete the set, but hey-- there are only 22 cards and life is long, so never say never. I already had Rickey and Julio Franco, so only 19 more to go. The red '89 version is a little scarer, but I think the green '90 cards are more appealing.

A solid pickup for the Kirby PC.

Check it out, an elite starting pitcher for San Diego! Haven't seen that since Jake Peavy's prime. Wait, just Topps having some fun with an SP variation, but I'll take it. I discovered these "Nat'l Lea." cards in 2020 Archives earlier in the month and ended up grabbing one with Max Scherzer here.

Topps didn't bother making the stats on the back easy to read. He's only got 175 career wins, but still pretty much locked in for Cooperstown with 3 Cy Young awards. I've got a decent Scherzer PC, but am still in the market for an auto.

Last card I needed to complete the Jose Canseco page in my Vagabond Binder was one with him on the Yankees, which I snagged on Sportlots with a cheap 2000 Pacific Omega card. And I could get 3 more cards from the seller without increasing the postage, so I went with these guys from the same set for the 18¢@ minimum. McGriffey Henderson.

I don't have much Pacific in my PCs, so always a safe bet when I can add cheap cards of guys I collect.

(BTW.. Currently working on my first Sportlots box order, which I'll post about once that's all in-hand.)

Last thing for today: Cool Papa Bell auto! Picked up this index card autograph over the summer. My custom cardmaking operation has been on ice for a couple months (thanks to the move and issues with my computer/printer), but one of these days I'm gonna get back on track with making cards and plan to whip up something fun out of this boring index card.

Did you hear Negro Leagues stats count as major league stats now? I love Satchel Paige and Buck O'Neil, and have deep respect for other big names like Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell, but my knowledge of that part of baseball pretty much falls off a cliff after that. But yeah, I'm all for righting wrongs and removing racism. It'll be interesting to see how the statistical history of the game shakes out with all this.

That's all I've got for today. Have a great weekend.

Once again dipping into the Archives Reserve

Splurged on a few more cards for my Topps Archives Reserve master setbuild over the past few weeks.

Love this Harmon Killebrew!

2002 Archives threw a wrinkle into the backs by including the stats from the year the original card came out (e.g., stats from the 1969 season on the back of a reprint of his '69 Topps card.. kinda hurts your brain to think about, but I suppose it's kinda cool. It's not like Topps to give themselves more work to do on reprints. The stats here get blocked somewhat by the authenticity hologram that Topps was using at the time.

From one Twins legend to another, here's the first Kirby Puckett relic added to my collection. Looks good with the pinstriped swatch. Magnifique!

We round out the trio of 2002 Archives Reserve hits with this lovely Big Dave Winfield bat card. As a Padres fan, I always appreciate seeing a young Winfield in the brown and gold. I kinda dig these relics that are essentially mini refractor reprints with some extra stuff included around it. 

Unlike those above relics, this little fella really is a mini card (though framed). It's regular Archives (not Reserve), but I'm squeezing it in as a bonus into this post for the heck of it.

2013 Archives was among the first new sets I got into after returning to the hobby as an adult. Ripped a fair amount of it hoping for something cool like one of these 1973-style minis, but to no avail. But now here a few years later I ponied up for this Will Middlebrooks. Not a big name today, but well, the big names are very expensive. The fact it's a Christmas Card helped me justify biting at the cost-of-a-blaster asking price. 

Middlebrooks had a sharp decline after his promising '12 debut, and his days as an active player are already behind him. He was able to taste the thrill of victory with the 2013 Red Sox, so he's got that going for him. I suppose the fact that he was a Padre (for 83 forgettable games in 2015) is a plus for me. And Will seems to have kept "on the scene" thanks to a good social media presence (@middlebrooks), plus the fact that he's married to a sports reporter who's also good at social media (@JennyDell_).

Back to the card, yeah, it's right up my alley. I'd probably say 1973 Topps is my all-time favorite design, and I think the mini interpretation is cute. I also really like the frame design.. I'm pretty sure that's paying tribute to a vintage card thing, though I couldn't tell you which off the top of my head.

Nice that they made a full back for it, too. 

So yeah, fun pickup for my 12/25 collection.

Oh, and the seller of the Kirby relic threw in a couple random Nolan Ryan cards. Cool.. pretty sure I needed them for the PC.

Thanks for reading. This is my first post written with Blogger's annoying new site design, so hopefully it looks ok. Took a few more clicks than the old site, so that's a bummer. But hey, as long as it keeps working and is free..!

A visit from the Easter Roddy

Padrographs Rod dropped a couple boxes of cards on my doorstep the other morning, and in the absence of an Easter basket this year (yes, my mother-in-law still does the Easter basket thing for her grown kids), I saved checking them out until this Easter morning. Let's take a look at some highlights.

Some of these I claimed from Free Stuff Days giveaways Rod has been cranking out on his blog. And some of them are cards that were offered up but went unclaimed. I'm very happy to have any such leftovers dumped on me, with plenty of them finding a home in my collection.

This Juan Soto parallel might be my favorite card of the lot (though the "March 26, 2020" Opening Day date listed can't help but make you sad). He's a fun kid to watch and among my top favorite current guys to collect.

More hot young talent in the game itching to get back on the field and show what they got.

Here's my first in-hand look at 2020 Donruss. Don't hate it, but doubt I'll search out more.

Some more shiny and/or Chrome stuff.

Nice group of beautiful women for that minicollection of mine.

More non-baseball stuff. Anybody need a DMC? That NCIS relic probably should have been included in the previous photo (never watched the show, but dig the cute goth look she's got going on). I've never messed with Pokemon, but hey, I'll hang onto that Dark Vileplume in the interest of "diversifying" my card collection a bit.

Some more baseball keepers for me.

A few older guys I PC.

Yep, plenty of cards found their way onto my Keepers stack.

Thanks a bunch, Rod! I'm very lucky to have local trading buddies like you and Kerry. Hopefully the USPS doesn't get killed off by this wretched administration (the concern is growing!) because that would really be a kick in the crotch for the hobby (I complain about the post office as much as the next guy, but if it went away, that would reeeeally suck!), but at least if that does happen, well, there will still be the possibility for local handoffs.


Oh, and I take back what I said at the top of this post.. turns out we did get an Easter basket this year.

My mother-in-law is a great lady. Some tasty stuff here.

Happy Easter and thanks for reading!

The Well-Traveled Envelope Challenge passes thru

Gregory over at the new Nine Pockets blog recently started a little challenge thing where we see how many times one group of packaging material can bounce around the cardsphere. Since the idea was inspired by the suggestion of reusing shipping supplies in my Guide to Shipping Sports Cards Safely and Cheaply post, he gave the choice to be the first recipient, which I happily accepted.

Unfortunately, when the package showed up in my mailbox, it had slipped my mind that I was supposed to be on alert for it and I didn't recognize the return address, so I just cut into it willy-nilly. Oh well, can still work with this.

In fact, I've already sent it on its way, along with the traveling team bag and bluetaped pair of top-loaders for protection. I had been meaning to hit Angus back for the lot of Tommy Vardell and Brian Sipe cards he sent me a few weeks back. The few Browns cards I've picked up for him would probably fit ok in a PWE, but one of them is a relic and I'd be worried about it getting damaged-- very risky to send relic cards in a PWE-- so this package-reusing challenge seemed like a good opportunity. I checked in with him first to make sure he was up to the challenge and he gave the thumbs-up.

But back to the cards Gregory sent me..

In addition to the lovely 2013 Jose Altuve refractor at the top of the post, here's a solid lot of '78 Topps needs, highlighted by Ferguson.

Always love scoring more Kirbys.

And a few more cards, including a mini Didi Rookie.

Thanks again, Gregory! Good stuff. I know sending a return isn't necessarily part of the challenge, but I'll shoot you over a few '80 Topps cards on your wantlist to return the favor.

Check out his post on The Well-Traveled Envelope Challenge to learn more about it. It'll be fun to track its progress. Hopefully the package racks up a lot of mileage!

If they were full bleed: 1985 Topps edition

Here's an old blog series I haven't done in a while: If They Were Full-Bleed. It's where I mess around in Photoshop and whip up an approximation of what classic card designs would have looked like had full-bleed (no border) designs been all the rage back then like they are these days.

Be warned, it might hurt your brain to see very familiar cards turned inside-out like this!

Here's a Kirby Puckett rookie in what 1985 Topps may have looked like without borders.

And howabout Steve Carlton? Lefty's '85 Topps card isn't among his best, but getting a little more of the photo not eaten by the border doesn't hurt.

What do you think? Is it blasphemous to see '85 Topps without borders, or could you see yourself hypothetically collecting a set like this? I think it could have pulled off the full-bleed look just fine.


And here's a bonus "what if?" card for you. What would Jose Canseco's iconic 1986 Donruss Rated Rookie card look like if he had a full mustache instead of the peach fuzz?

Probably not anything like that, but I still think it's pretty funny! LOL

Thanks for reading. Have a great October.

1984 Fleer Update Kirby Puckett!

This was a white whale type of card for me that I hoped to land one day, and am very proud to own it now. Got a solid deal on it with the help of an eBay coupon code. I wanted a PSA-slabbed copy since I know there are known to be counterfeits of this one out there. It doesn't bother me that it's graded a 5, which isn't very good for a modern card, though I've given it a close look-over and am not sure what knocked it down. I guess the upper right corner is a tad discolored, but not bad at all. If that helped drop the price on an otherwise beautiful card, I'm totally cool with that.

This is his "one true rookie" since he didn't get a Topps or Donruss card until 1985. (..though being in an Update set, you could argue it's not actually a "true" rookie, but rather an "XRC".)

I'd like to eventually get the Roger Clemens as well as the rest of 1984 Fleer Update to complement the '84 Fleer set I built a few months ago. But I've got the big one out of the way now.

With the new arrival of Kirby, I feel like I've completed the trilogy of best 80s rookie cards. Objections welcomed. pic.twitter.com/KOxBHwBbwX

— Baseball Card Breakdown (@breakdowncards) July 21, 2018

I tweeted this out last night and got a lot of good responses. If we're talking "back in the day", you could make a strong case for the '85 McGwire Team USA card, perhaps the Canseco Rated Rookie, Mattingly rookies, and the "big 3" from 1983 Topps. But here in 2018, the only 80s rookie card I think would have a shot at challenging for the podium of "Top 3 rookie cards of the 80s" would be the '82 Topps Traded Ripken (which I'd like to score someday). But that's just my opinion. Fun to hear other takes on the matter, so feel free to chime in.

In the crosshairs: 1984 + 1985 Donruss

I've never completed a Donruss set, but now that I've gotten into the groove of being a part-time set collector, I figured I'd go after my favorite offerings from them. I think 1984 has a real nice, simple design (with today's collectors being reminded of it thanks to its inclusion in 2018 Donruss). Though there are probably too many boring headshots, there are also some neat photos in there as well. Plus apparently the print run that year was a bit lower than other major sets of the era, which-- can't lie-- appeals to me.

ARPSmith kicked off my setbuild a few months ago with a little starter lot. Then recently, Larry in Alabama sent me a nice big chunk of the set. Turrdog then came in with a bit of a brick to fill some holes and bring me to a manageable wantlist to officially post.

The Mattingly RC is probably the key card in the set. Big thanks to Larry for taking care of that one for me.

Larry also gave me the Sandberg, with Turrdog completing the trio of sophomore stars with the Gwynn and Boggs.

Thanks again for the trades, Larry and Turrdog!
I'm down to less that 100 cards to go. (Note that I'm not bothering to go after any of the many errors/variations; I'll be happy with one copy of each card number, regardless if it's an error or correction.) My 1984 Donruss needs are now on my main wantlist, so if you think you might be able to help and want to trade, please take a look at get in touch!


And now for 1985 Donruss which I'm working on concurrently. I always thought it was a cool "bad boy" set with its "Knight Rider" design, though I never owned many cards from it. But now thanks to the trading tandem of ARPSmith, Larry, and Turrdog, I'm in spitting distance of finishing it.

Again, Adam got me off the ground with a starter lot, then Larry did some heavy lifting with a few hundred cards, and then the Turrdog topped it off with important needs, including the two biggest rookies in the set, Clemens and Kirby.

It's a nice looking set!

Just 15 cards to go with 85D! (again, unconcerned with variations.) Check my wantlist for the up-to-date needs if you think you might be able to help me out.

Thanks yet again for the trades, Adam, Larry, and Turrdog! I should be able to knock out the rest of these two sets before long.