Rod Rams Cool Cards into my Collection

A few days ago I posted about at a ton of great cards Zippy dropped on me, now it's time to tackle the other big card gifting I was on the receiving end of in January, this one handed to me in person by Padrographs Rod at the latest card show. February's card show is coming up this weekend, so I'd better get this post finished now before I fall further behind!

Plus I've got a motherload of (MST3K) cards scheduled to be delivered to the office on today that I'm very excited about. (Like "the pinnacle of my collecting life is nigh" levels of excited.) Update: it's in-hand! Will wait until tonight to bust it open.

Though my posting frequency has been down so far this year, between the monthly card show, Kenny, Rod, and online purchases, it's already been a very plentiful year for cards. They've been coming in faster than I can get them sorted and filed away, as often is the case, making me feel like I'm barely keeping afloat in a flood of cardboard. But I love cards so I suppose it's a good problem to have. Reminds me of that one simpsons gag...

Yes, I have too many cards, and yes, I want more.

[I'm not buying any 2020 Topps Series 1, at least, but keep me in mind if you pull any Lux, Tatis, Soto, or photo variations with powder blue Expos unis.]

But onto the cards from Rod! Again, there are a lot of them, so this post is going to be mostly like this.. photos of stacks of cards with some highlights on top and maybe some quick commentary from me. I believe most of these cards are from teams Rod was looking to clear out of his trade box (that went unclaimed in his pleas to find takers). So, as I would be digging through the cards, there'd be a cache of a hundred or so Orioles cards, for example, followed by maybe a hundred Rangers, etc. Maybe a third of the cards were "keepers" for me, with the other two-thirds headed toward my trade box.. perhaps to be one day thinned out on someone else, repeating the cycle.

Oh man, there were a lot of Astros cards in there, presenting me with a dilemma. I (used to?) collect several current Astros, but after all the cheating ugliness, they've quietly been removed from my wantlist. I guess I'll wait and see how the season plays out before I decide to officially break up these PCs or perhaps forgive-n-forget. I guess they're sorta paused for now. If cards fall into my lap like this, I'll sort them into PCs, but I'm not going to actively work to build them. (Hey JediJeff, that doesn't mean you're off the hook for that Correa relic you've owed me since 2018.. lol)

AL ROY Yordan Alvarez seems to have gotten through the scandal relatively unscathed since he wasn't around until his call-up last June. But if he falters to start the season, expect to see his card prices nosedive. Still though, excited to find these two.

And howbout the Polar Bear himself? I previously only had a card or two of Pete Alonso in my collection, so I'm very happy to score this RC lot of the reigning NL ROY. Seems like a good dude.. I should probably officially add his name to my list of guys I collect.

The Young Stud train keeps rolling with this terrific bunch of Juan Soto cards. This probably doubles my Childish Bambino PC. Love it!

Some unopened packs! I'll probably leave that 1987 cello hanger as-is and file it away with my Hendu PC.

Nick Margevicius is a guy Rod specifically collects, so I've got to give even extra thanks to him for gifting me this one. He knew this particular auto would be a hit with me...

Christmas Card!

Some great misc. stuff here. A few old cards that I'll need to check against my vintage wantlists.
That 1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown Card (Dwight Gooden) appears to be a new set I need to add to my umbrella collecting goal of early 90s black gold. Seems to be a 30-card box set that also has Dufex and promo variations of all 30 cards (rare/expensive).
The Garbage Pail Kids are from a set focusing on musicians, so that's kinda cool. Maybe I can work them into my music blog at some point.
The Sandlot sneaks into the action with a still-sealed set anniversary cards plus a few Archives inserts. Sweet!

Many autographs!

Many Hall of Famers.

Bunches of Beltre plus some other fan favorites.

There was a decent chunk of wrestling cards, mostly of the female variety. Lots of lovely ladies here, with my Alexa Bliss PC in particular getting several nice additions.

And some more cards I found interesting.

Wow, some more Juan Soto cards I missed before. Very cool.

And we'll close it out with this. Any old Beavers baseball would be kinda neat to get, but what makes this one even better...

It glows in the dark!! Awesome.
Now I've got both a glowing bat and ball.. just need a glowing glove and I'll be all set for some midnight baseball! :)

Rod, you're the best! I'm forever in your debt. As always please let me know if I can ever help you out with any cards, customs, or photoshop work. Thanks again!

The Sandlot collection

I posted about the Sandlot a bunch in 2018 (maybe too much. sorry). Now that I've re-completed the 2018 Archives auto set (picked up the hobby-only Karen Allen auto that came out later), I've been meaning to do a comprehensive post of my Sandlot collection. The film premiered 4/7/93, 26 years ago today, so seems like as good a time as any! (Er, didn't get it published quite as early as I liked, but it's still 4/7 here on the west coast as this post goes live.)

• Patrick Renna as Hamilton "Ham" Porter

• Karen Allen as Mrs. Smalls

• Marley Shelton as Wendy Peffercorn

• Chauncey Leopardi as Michael "Squints" Palledorous

• Victor Di Mattia as Timmy Timmons

• Shane Obedzinski as Tommy "Repeat" Timmons

• Brandon Quintin Adams as Kenny DeNunez

• Grant Gelt as Bertram Weeks

• Marty York as Alan "Yeah-Yeah" McClennan

• Tom Guiry as Scotty Smalls

• David Mickey Evans as Narrator aka the adult Scott Smalls (also The Sandlot's director and co-writer)

Here are the base (non-auto) inserts from 2018 Archives. These and the autos all have various parallels that I'm not bothering going after.

And here are the 5 retail-exclusive coins from 2018 Archives.

This is the card set that was included in the 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition home video release. I've kept mine sealed-in-wrap so far, but you can see all 10 cards in a post of Fuji's from last year.

Also in the '62 Topps All-Star design: exclusive Squints auto from the 2018 National Baseball Card Convention.

And this set was included with the 20th Anniversary DVD release. The last one (Wendy) is a "card that should have been"... whipped it up a few years ago and it's still one of my favorite customs I've made.

More customs. Well, the Chuck Fick is a real minor league card (After his playing days, he became a "Hollywood" baseball player-- including playing the catcher in Naked Gun and the catcher in The Sandlot's final scene). I very much love the Karen Allen auto (which I made and sent out to her as a TTM request before it was announced she'd have an official auto in the long-delayed 2018 Archives hobby edition.)

The most recent addition to my collection is the Mr. Mertle "playing days" custom (available in both "vintage" and "reprint" styles), a mash-up from his Bingo Long character, imagining this was Mr. Mertle in his prime.

And closing out with my favorites: custom "Babe Ruth" cards I was thrilled to get signed by Art LaFleur himself.

So there you have it! I gotta think my Sandlot card collection measures up pretty well to any others out there, though I know there's still plenty of stuff I don't have. Feel free to get in touch if you've got anything available that I need.

Cards in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings

There are baseball cards in the end credits for the 1976 film The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings. The cast notably includes Richard Pryor plus pre-Star Wars Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones.

I've just added this to my List of Baseball Cards in Movies & TV, but wanted to give it its own post to feature the cards in all their glory. Usually when I post customs on this blog, I've whipped them up myself, but these were ostensibly made by somebody in the Universal Pictures art department back in the mid 70s. I'm tempted to print out copies for my collection.. the James Earl Jones card, especially. (You can almost think of it like a prequel to his character in The Sandlot.)

Rico Dawson and Sam Brison were real Indianapolis Clowns ballplayers, one of the last Negro League teams to disband. It's my understanding that the team was essentially like baseball's version of the Harlem Globetrotters, where they have fun goofing around for the crowd but are also really talented players.

Jophery Brown pitched in one MLB game (for the Cubs on September 21, 1968) and later became an actor/stuntman, appearing in notable films such as Jurassic Park (1993) and Spider-Man (2002).

Three-time AL All-Star Leon Wagner should be familiar to vintage baseball card collectors.

Tony Burton is best known for his role as Tony "Duke" Evers in the Rocky films.

DeWayne Jessie is best known for his portrayal of singer Otis Day in National Lampoon's Animal House.

Ted Ross is best known for playing the Cowardly Lion in The Wiz alongside Diana Ross (no relation), Michael Jackson, and Nipsey Russell.

Mabel King was also in The Wiz, though may be best remembered as Mama on What's Happening!!

Alvin Childress played Reverend Trimble on a couple episodes of Sanford and Son.

Ken Foree is best known as the protagonist Peter from the horror film Dawn of the Dead and as Kenan's dad on the Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan & Kel.

Another guy known as a TV dad, Carl Gordon was on the early 90s Fox series Roc playing the role of the title character's father.

There's even some bonus baseball card stuff in the DVD menus.

So there's that.

Worth a watch if you haven't seen it. Not exactly a Negro Leagues documentary or anything, but a fun baseball film that you don't hear about too often these days. I rented the DVD from Netflix, but it's also available from Amazon.

What put this movie on my radar is it was listed as a recommendation on the DVD of Brewster's Millions (1985), another Richard Pryor flick with some baseball action in it that I rewatched recently.

Here's a quick custom I made for that one.

Thanks for reading!

An unheralded catching legend

Chuck Fick. You're probably not familiar with his name, but the chances are good you've seen him work behind the plate, perhaps watching his highlights many times. If you're young enough, you might have even watched him in action more than Yogi, Munson, Bench, and elite backstops of their ilk.

Got this card in my latest COMC shipment. Very happy to add a playing-days card of this catching legend.

If you still haven't placed him, here he is with some contemporaries...

Yep, he's the Angels catcher in The Naked Gun.

I found this out while reading a great Sporting News article on that classic baseball scene earlier in the year.

“I didn’t realize what I was getting into,” said Chuck Fick, a former minor leaguer who played the Angels’ catcher in the film. “I didn’t know it was a slapstick at first, and I started reading the script, and once I saw the umpires got (a player) in a pickle, I knew something was up.” 

Fick learned quickly that it was best to just embrace the wackiness. In doing so, he ended up with the most screen time of any player. As the catcher, he was in nearly every shot involving Nielsen as the undercover umpire, including a few close-ups and even some lines of dialogue — a total of more than two minutes overall. 

And guess what? Not only was he the catcher in Naked Gun, but also...

Yep, that's him trying to make the tag at the plate when The Jet steals home at the end of The Sandlot.

So the guy is basically in my favorite two baseball movies. Had to pick up a card of his!

Here are his other acting credits via IMDB..

- 1997 Arli$$ (TV Series) ... Umpire, episode How to Be a Good Listener (1997)
- 1993 The Sandlot - Giants Catcher
- 1993 Homefront (TV Series) - Coach, episode Like Being There When You're Not (1993)
- 1992 Mr. Baseball - Billy Stevens
- 1991 Babe Ruth (TV Movie) - Waite Hoyt (This also featured Pete Rose as Ty Cobb)
- 1991 Quantum Leap (TV Series) - Ryker, episode Play Ball - August 6, 1961 (1991)
- 1991 Talent for the Game - Baseball Player
- 1990 Pastime - 1st First Base Umpire
- 1988 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! - Angel Catcher
- 1986 A Winner Never Quits (TV Movie) - 2nd Baseman


Other fun facts about Chuck Fick (aka Charles Fick or Charles Joseph Fick):

- He played in the short-lived Senior League (1989-1990), and there are a couple such cards of his out there. (I wouldn't mind adding them to the PC someday.)

- He's the brother of former MLB player Robert Fick, an All-Star with Detroit in 2002.

- He's the father of C.J. Fick (aka Chuckie Fick), who pitched in the majors in 2012 with the Cardinals and Astros.

- He is now the scouting supervisor for the San Francisco Giants.

So yeah, an interesting story of a baseball guy you probably didn't know about!