Perfect Crime (Guns N' Randoms)

This post isn't crime related, just the next song up on the list of Guns N' Roses songs that I pull from for post titles when I want to show off some random recent cards I've picked up and can't think of a decent title.

It wasn't exactly a steal (eh? eh? tying it in with the post title), but this slabbed Adrian Beltre rookie was a pretty solid deal and I used an eBay discount code to help me out further. I showed off my Beltre PC a month ago and mentioned the one card I still had a hankerin' for was his 1997 Bowman Chrome card. And so now with this pickup, I'm satisfied and feel like the PC is at peace. (Though a final tribute/sunset card next year with complete [non-truncated] career stats would be nice.)

"Has tools of a Gold Glover at third." It's a rare instance where Bowman's hyperbolic write-ups were correct, as Adrian brought home 5 Gold Gloves.

The rest of the cards in this post are more from my latest COMC order. I think I was just looking for cheap Goldy parallels and ran into this yellow one from 2014 Topps retail. Or maybe I was looking for cheap yellow parallels from 2014 Topps retail and ran into this Paul Goldschmidt. Sad to see him leave AZ. He basically left a team I don't like and joined another team I don't like, so that's not a big deal, but I really thought he was the face of the franchise and had a shot at being a rare-these-days one-team career player. That would have been cool. Oh well.

As for the Caminiti, I don't have much cool inserts from the mid/late 90s, and wanted to snag one of the old Instavision inserts from Stadium Club. Pretty cool card from the past days of holograms on baseball cards.

A couple Padres autos. I was a Carlos Baerga fan when he was a hot rookie in the early 90s. Heartbreaking that the Padres delt him away, but kinda cool that all these years later he gets a card in a San Diego uniform.

I think I was looking through cheap autos, looking for anybody I collected, and found the 2016 Topps Archives 65th Anniversary Ryan Klesko auto for just $1.44.

A couple lumber sweet sigs. I actually bought these to destroy them, the Brian Giles one, at least. I want to pull out the signed wood piece and use it in a big custom with the laundry tag from the game-used pants of his I've been cutting up.. so I can make it a big oversized relic/auto box-topper type extravaganza. I might not get around to that anytime soon, but it's on my to-do list. At least the Giles card already shows some damage around the cutout, so it won't hurt me quite so bad to tear it up. I don't think the wood piece is actually from a game-used bat or anything, but it's still cool. Maybe I'll end up doing it "overlay style" so I won't have to actually destroy the card.

Rod Beck PC additions! One of these days I want to add all my Rod Beck cards to the TCDB and see how far away I am from being his #1 collector on there. The Sports Illustrated card is the Extra Edition and numbered to 500 or something. The 2002 Topps card is a gold parallel #'d /2002. The die-cut is kinda neat. And as for the illustration.. full disclosure, it's not actually Rod Beck, but rather Mario. For whatever reason, I really wanted to snag a 1982 Topps Donkey Kong card (sticker) after seeing one on the blogs a while back, and went with this one. Whack!

Last thing for today-- a late addition to the post-- my boss just gifted me this Tony Gwynn figure for Christmas today. What a cool boss, right? This might be my first McFarlane's figure. While I generally tend to stay away from stuff like figures and bobbleheads, this is a big hit with me. My favorite player, plus he's in my favorite uniform (their white/brown/yellow/orange getup from the early 80s)!

Not exactly a spitting image in the face, but close enough. I'll likely keep this displayed at work.. Probably keep it in the package for now, but might bust it out of there at some point.

For my coworkers, I gave them little magnets of stuff they like (similar to the minis in rip-cards I sent to my trader buds a year or two back), with a cool nickname for our department on 'em (Data Force! lol). Like, one of my coworkers is a big Frank Zappa fan, so I made him a little Frank Zappa magnet. And my boss is a Batman nerd, so I made him a Batman one. They seemed to go over well. That was fun. Now I'm looking forward to a 5-day holiday weekend.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. I've gotten in a few nice trades and a contest-win that I need to post about ASAP. And I need to round up some prizes for a contest of my own on the horizon. So that'll keep me busy leading up to Christmas.

card show haul conclusion

Here's the rest of my January 2018 card show haul.

Between card shows and COMC orders, I've picked up a few of these 2005 Leaf Sportscasters inserts lately. I just think they're neat. This Piazza is #'d 17/30 on the back. Seemed like a good deal at 50 cents.

Turns out I've already got these 2 checked off on my 2011 Topps parallel frankenset, but hey, I also collect both these players, so to the respective PCs they'll go.

I was just talking about '97 Fleer Soaring Stars inserts yesterday, and how I'm bummed the glow-in-the-dark parallels turned out to be a myth(understanding). Gotta admit I picked up this pair mainly in a hail mary that maybe they glew [sic]. But no, these do not glow. Oh well, still cool cards, and again, I have PCs for both these guys, so they'll have a home in my collection.

Some non-hits from high-end products.

I hate these cards and regret buying them. But to the PCs they'll go.

Above is a card reminding everyone of the regretful trading away of Ozzie Smith by the Padres. At the time, it didn't seem so bad. Garry Templeton could play a solid short and hit .300. But Garry's numbers declined in San Diego, while Ozzie became a legend in St. Louis.

I'm pretty sure I already have that 1972 HR leaders card, but at just 50 cents, figured I'd grab a dupe since I collect both Stargell and Aaron.

That Optic is my first 2017 Mickey Mantle card. Weird that he's no longer a Topps property.
I've already got a certified autograph of Dale Scott, but was excited to find this signed 1990 T&M Umpires card in the 50 cent bins. Wikipedia is telling me he just recently retired from umpiring due to concussion concerns. All the best in the next chapter of your life, Dale!

Some funky 90s stuff. The Klesko is a Player's Private Issue parallel and has a serial number "346" on the back (not sure what the print-run was there). Oh wait, I looked it up: "The print run on these cards is 999, but a couple things should be noted. First, the first 100 cards were sent to the players themselves, hence the name of the parallel. Second, it was announced after the 1996 season that Topps destroyed a whopping 400 sets, leaving 499 left in circulation." (source)
Then there's a Griffey lenticular card from '95 and a Griffey PowerDeck cd-rom from '99. I should pop that in and check out the highlight reel one of these days.

Hard for me to pass up cheap, serial-numbered Rated Rookies, even if these dudes have cooled off considerably since their top-prospect days.

Here's the last group for today, featuring a couple 2017 Gold Label cards. Before I put the Yoan Moncada on my stack, I strained my eyes for like a minute trying to read the tiny text on the front that says what "class" the card is. When I determined that it's Class 3 (a tough pull) I decided to pull the trigger.

So I think that's it for this show's haul, not including cards I picked up as trade bait. I'll probably put up a trade bait post in the next few days (would love to get a flurry of trades going before the 1/21 increase in postage rates), so check back for that.

late night trade recap

Wrapping up another successful awareness week. Thanks to all of you who helped support the use of blue tape and pull tabs. Ours is a noble and just cause.

Let's crank out a trade recap post. First up is Night Owl. We've been trading back and forth for a while, and honestly I've forgotten when I get cards from him if he's getting me back for the last batch of cards I sent him, or starting a new cycle. But no matter, I'm happy to keep things going.

A couple sweet relics of Padres I collect. I assume that red Klesko warm-up jersey swatch must be from his time on the Braves, right? (edit: whoops, I missed the All-Star stuff. It's most likely from his All-Star Game warm-up jersey, as Night Owl pointed out in the comments.) That Khalil Greene might feature the tiniest bat chip I've ever seen in a card, but I'm still happy to add it to the PC.

Some Padre cards with foil stamps. I remember posting a comment on Greg's terrific blog offering to give the Gwynn a good home a while back, and here he is!

A few days ago, I posted a plea for traders to please stop sending me Wil Myers cards, but this package was already in the capable hands of the USPS by then, so he gets a pass.

"Knoxville! Knoxville! Knoxville!" I wanted that Sunsphere card because of the classic Simpsons episode where Bart and his buds take a road trip to visit it, years after the World's Fair. Also here are a couple Confortos I needed, plus a 2011 parallel.

A bunch more current guys I collect, mostly from 2017 Opening Day.

Beltre! I saw that faux Wheaties box card on Oscar's blog a few days ago and thought it was pretty cool, so I was very happy to find it among the stack.

1984 Fleer! I've got this set on my "maybe someday" list, and this is a nice starter lot for if/when I get serious about it. I believe Greg is also working on the set, so these must be some dupes he had available.

And finally a couple glowing cards.
See?....

Thanks, Greg! Very appreciated. I'll round up some cards for you soon.

Oh, since we're closing up Blue Tape & Pull-Tab Awareness Week, I guess we should take a look at his packaging:

The ol' team bag with a piece of blue tape over it. Billy from Cardboard History mentioned in the comments that folks taping a team bag is a big pet peeve of his (specifically when it's a new team bag with the adhesive strip that still has the covering over it). But I get it; sometimes, especially with a team bag that's already been used a few times, it's hard to trust that the sticky part will hold. So yeah, I give N.O. a thumbs-up here.

-  - -- - ---o

Next up is a trade with a new Twitter bud, @DJSeneseiNJ. I tweeted out my needs from Star Wars 40 and while I got some likes and retweets, he was the only person to answer the call and knock some numbers off my list.

He found a nice baker's dozen of needs for me, taking me to 17 left to complete the 200-card set.

[My current 2017 Topps Star Wars 40th Anniversary needs: 8, 15, 23, 29, 37, 42, 46, 49, 57, 58, 69, 80, 90, 108, 157, 180, 190]

Thanks, man!

He sent the cards in a little ziplock bag (from 100-count penny sleeve pack, perhaps?) with a blank card for protection and a piece of tape to keep it tight. No pull-tab, but I'll still give him an A- here.

- - - ----o

Finally, here's a surprise PWE from Kin of I Feel Like A Collector Again.

Card Saver in a PWE. Fine choice when you're just sending a card or two. Score; uncanceled 1¢ stamp! A "please don't bend" plea might not actually do a whole lot, but I guess it doesn't hurt. What kind of creeps me out is how did he know the extra 4 digits of my zip. Hell, *I* don't even know those extra 4 digits! LOL

It's a cool Chris Sale parallel and a blank little card that I didn't even notice at first.. Pleasantly surprised to discover it's another 2017 A&G Constellation mini!

Very nice!

And a glowing pic. I've now got 3 of the 10 of these things. Not bad. My 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter "Constellations" glow-in-the-dark mini inserts needs: C-1, C-2, C-3, C-6, C-7, C-8, C-10

Thanks, Kin! I'll find something to return the favor soon.

Thanks again to these kind traders, and to you for reading, and everyone who does their best to package cards is a courteous way!

Bountiful Trades That Which Did Occur

Seems like September was a quiet month on the trade front for me for the most part, but in the past week or so I've gotten several nice trade packages in the mail. Let's check 'em out!

Judson from My Cardboard Habit leads us off:

Three big needs off my Desperate Double Dozen!

That's the Burger King variation of Reggie Jackson's 1977 Topps card, a marked improvement over the airbrushed flagship version we're all more familiar with.

And speaking of Reggie PC needs, that's a gorgeous Reggie Sanders rookie. I remember when I was a kid, I held 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies in high esteem the equivalent of a superfractor today. I pulled the Von Popple and it was a vaunted centerpiece of my collection for quite a while. Took me a while, but glad to finally add the Sanders all these years later.

As for the Klesko, well I have a ton of his cards as a Brave and Padre, but it's nice to round out the PC with cards of him from the brief stint in San Francisco at the end of this career.

Oversized stuff like this can be awkward to store, but neat to add to the ol' collection. The Ginter box toppers of Harper and McCutchen are pretty sweet. The '16 Heritage panel is right up the alley for a guy like me who's a Padres fan and also has some Red Sox sympathies. It's the only thing from this package I was expecting. When Judson first offered up the panel a few months back, it was the Mookie Betts appearance that most interested me, though since then Travis Jankowski has become a guy I kinda collect too. I heard Christian Bethancourt might be used as a triple threat next year: catcher, outfielder, and pitcher! That would be pretty cool if a guy got regular playing time at all those positions in the majors. We'll see if it shakes out.

Big thanks for the cards, Judson! Glad we good! Best of luck to your Rangers this postseason.

(Funny enough, the other 3 trading partners in this post are all Cubs fans, so good luck to them too!)

-  -  - -- --o

Next up is my first trade with Trevor P. from Bump and Run Football Card Blog:

Some awesome gimmicky cards from a simpler time! A pair of Boggs, and short-time Padres favorites Robby Alomar and Roddy Beck.

Some old-timers I collect. I botched at tetrising the cards for this picture; should have put the 2 horizontal cards together in a row, and the 3 vertical cards in another row. Tetrising is in fact a valid word according to my spellchecker.. go figure!

Ah! Now there's a properly tetrised photo! Tetrised is not a valid word according to my spellchecker. So, tetrising? Yes. Tetrised? No. Ok, got it. Anyways, these are cards of active guys I collect, featuring a couple Sales, including a sweet Chrome refractor, plus Adam Jones with a bat barrel poking out of his butt (ouch!), and a McCutchen GQ mini.

I think Trevor's mainly a football guy, so it's no surprise he was able to hit a few of my football interests, possibly the best well-rounded football lot I've ever gotten in a trade, as far as guys I collect.
Marshall Faulk - SDSU legend.
Robert Smith - Honestly like him just from his brief MST3K appearance.
Tommy Vardell - Guy from Granite!
Reggie Bush - fellow East County San Diego boy.
Ricky Williams - I ran track against him back in the day (ok, not sure if I specifically ever had a race against him, but we were both around city invitationals at the same time, so maybe? Some of my track teammates did race against him.)
Gavin Escobar - We're both named Gavin and both went to SDSU.

Other sports were included too, with this nifty trio of cards. Mutombo is a fun dude to collect. I went to high school with Jimmie Johnson. And Gretzky is one of my very few hockey PCs.

Awesome stuff, Trevor! Thanks a lot. I'll get a return out to you soon.

-   -  - - - ---o

Dimebox Nick is always good for a stuffed PWE to hit the spot.

Nice lot of Padres from the past.

And a bunch of current Padres, with emphasis on Tyson Ross. I hope he can bounce back healthy for next season.

Are you guys sick of seeing 2011 Topps parallels on my blog yet? Well, this little lot brings me to 19% complete. It's a fun frankenset to put together, but still a long way to go.

And here's a pair of Padres legends pictured in their less-familiar uniforms (I kid).

Great stuff as always.. Thanks, Nick! I dropped a PWE in the mail to you a couple days ago.

-    -   -- ---o

Last up is a surprise PWE from Tony Burbs:

Nice boost to the Bryce Harper PC. Gotta love those Bunt Program inserts.. happy to land this one.

And a bunch of Sox, both of the Red and White variety. Very nice! I had eyes on that Hoyt Wilhelm newspaper giveaway from a few weeks back, so it was a very nice surprise to see it pop up.

Speaking of socks.. Can I talk about socks for a moment? I pretty much only wear grey socks. White socks are too bright and can be distracting to an outfit. Black socks seem to be too hot and get sweaty easily. Grey socks are a great middle ground! Plus, if you're a household who divides laundry between whites and darks, well, grey socks can go in either load, no problem. Grey (or "gray" if you prefer, though I favor the old-school "e" spelling) socks are clearly superior footunderwear, though despite this, they don't seem to be widely accepted. When it's time for me to buy new socks, I have to go online because basic grey socks aren't typically available in stores. This just seems wrong. Please consider converting to being a grey sock wearer and thereby helping make it easier for me to buy socks. We must rise up! Grey socks are the best way to go!
Ok, that's enough rambling about socks.

Thanks, Mr. Burbs, for the excellent cards! Hopefully I can scrape up enough Cubbies to get a sufficient return out to you shortly.

Thanks again to all these trader-buddies and thanks to you for reading. One more recent card package I need to get to, a big box from John Miller, but I think it'll need its own post, as it is not family-friendly. (Anybody know if Blogger allows pictures of naked ladies? Probably not, huh. I might have to do some censorship.)

Trade with $30 a Week Habit

I hadn't traded with Robert from $30 a Week Habit in probably a couple years, so I dropped him an email seeing if he'd be down to swap some cards, and he was kind enough to give me his new address and send me a bunch of good stuff.

The headliner of the package might've been a sweet lot of 45 cards to put toward my 2011 Topps parallel frankenset, highlighted by a beautiful Mickey Mantle orange refractor. Some other big names in here too, such as Chipper Jones and Todd Helton. Up to 16.82% complete with this monster.

The shiny continues with a great looking Wayne Gretzky Holographix card, as Robert hits me with a pair of Great Ones and a pair of LaDainian cards.

Pepitone! Robert is in the homestretch with his 1964 Topps set, and looks like he had a couple dupes I needed for my set, bringing me up to 28.52% complete. Very appreciated!

Jim Thome is a guy I've PC'ed on and off since pulling his first Upper Deck card from a pack as a kid, but only recently went ahead and put him on my wantlist, hoping to get him into my Hundred Card Club one of these days. Robert also collects him and had some nice dupes to send my way.

Wrapping up with a gold Klesko. I love the fat foil serial numbering on the back that you don't really see much anymore these days.

Big thanks for the trade, Robert! I rounded up a respectable return package for you today that I think you'll like, and will put it in the mail very soon.