TTM Success: Night Owl!

Here's a fun one that just came back.. I got noted cardblogger Night Owl's autograph on a real minor league card that features a photo he's in.

How cool is this? Got his signature plus a nice "night owl" inscription. Looks great! And as someone who's name also starts with G, it's interesting to me to check out how other people sign a capital G.

Night Owl referenced this card in a post earlier this year (and linked to an older post where he got more into it.):

"This is the card where I make my trading card debut. I'm the guy in the press box, fourth window from the left, talking to the scorekeeper in the fifth window." 

In the comments of that post, Jeremy asked him if he'd be cool with signing the card, and Greg replied in the affirmative. Sounded like a good idea to me, so I tracked down a copy of the card to send to him.

I don't need to slurp Greg too much here, as if you're reading my blog, you're no doubt already familiar with Night Owl Cards and likely recognize it as the GOAT of baseball card blogs, or at the very least a lock for inclusion on the hypothetical Mount Rushmore of the cardsphere.

I've mentioned before that his blog was my main inspiration for starting Baseball Card Breakdown back in 2013. And funny enough, he recently inspired me to start a new set-blog (kicking off next month). So yeah, he's been a guiding light for me as a blogger for a long time (not to mention a great trading partner) and it's very cool to have him included as a tangible part of my card collection now.

Here's the back of the card, if you were interested. Gotta love old school minor league cards.

Thanks a lot, Greg!
(And hey, coincidentally, it's the 11th blogiversary of Night Owl Cards today!)

I need to round up my other blogger cards and make this a full-fledged minicollection. I think I could at least fill a binder page at this point, perhaps two. Several bloggers make customs of themselves to throw in with card packages to trader buddies, and those are always fun to receive. I know it's not really Night Owl's style to do something like that, but the minor league stadium card is perfect.

Have a great weekend, guys!

1994 Carolina League 50th Anniversary All-Time Set

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.

And this bird you cannot change: My Mark Fidrych PC

I recently made a couple more minor league-heavy orders online, so expect to see a bunch of them on the blog over the next couple weeks. Included was what I believe to be a complete run of Mark Fidrych's minor league cards (for a great price, too). I'd be tempted to nickname them "Baby Bird" cards, but in fact they are post-MLB cards (not pre-), so that doesn't really fly [pun].

Love old school minor league cards!

This pair is from 1997.

And as long as I'm showing these minor league Fidryches, I thought I might as well turn this post into a "PC post" and include everything else I've got from him. For such a big character in 70s baseball history, he doesn't have all that many cards out there (thanks to the very short peak, I suppose), so being a Mark Fidrych supercollector probably wouldn't really be all that hard.

As far as his playing-days MLB cards, I've got most of them. Well, the mainstream ones, anyways. He's got some oddballs I need (1977 Kellogg's, 1977/78 MSA Discs [and variations], 1978 Sportscasters, and all his OPC cards). Also need his 1977 Topps ERA Leaders card shared with John Denny. And surprisingly I need all his 1981 cards (Topps, Donruss, Fleer). I guess I don't technically have "most" of his mainstream cards after all.

I've got some post-career cards, though I'm sure there are plenty I'm missing.

I don't have a certified autograph of his (yet), but I do have a signed 1978 Topps card I got in a package from Tony L. two or three years ago. I believe it was a TTM success from when Tony was young. Love this card! Mr. Fidrych tragically passed several years ago at the age of 54 in a farming accident.
Rest in Peace, Bird.

Enjoy your weekend, everybody!

Minor League Classics

Moore recent minor league pickups.

Legend Jim Moore. Very happy to add this iconic card to my collection.

Julio Franco still had a few decades left in his career at the time.

This horribly-designed card can't decide what's the correct orientation. Nice addition to my Crime Dog PC, all the same. Dale Holman was a decent hitter in the minors but never made the show, sadly. Fred McGriff belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Baby Benito.

HOFer pre-rookie! I already had a couple Trevor Hoffman minor league cards from back when he was an infielder. This is a transitionary card for him, with the position listed as pitcher, but still with hitter stats on the back.

(I got an extra copy of this and am giving it away on my Padres Breakdown Twitter account. Also a couple more cards in this post in my main twitter account. Follow and RT to enter.)

I've mentioned before, but I still consider Pete Rose, Jr the top-rated prospect in MLB. The second coming of Pete Rose?! Slam dunk! Sign me up!

I've got a mess of Dick Cummings on my hands after this recent load from a seller with a huge minor league selection. Seemin' to me that the 1992 card is a Junior? (Or else Dick really shaped up over those few years.) According to Linkedin, Dick Cummings (II?) is still sticking around inside the Cubs' organization today.

Thanks for reading this shit.

I want my baby beck, baby beck, baby beck. I want my baby beck, baby beck, baby beck

Been on a minor league card kick of late, specifically from the 80s and early 90s. That used to be a favorite part of my collection as a kid, but since returning to the hobby, I've only dabbled a little bit. But now I'm dabbling a bit more.

Today I'm featuring Rod Beck cards, in his "pre-rookie" days, or "Baby Beck" as I call 'em. He's one of my favorite players to collect, and somewhat under the radar since he wasn't a huge star. But with his career starting in the overproduction era, and lasting into the rise of parallel mania, it's not like I could ever dream of supercollecting up a master collection of the guy. But along with my standard player-collecting goal of obtaining 100 different cards, tracking down all his minor league cards might be more feasible of a goal. I already owned 3 or 4, and now here are a bunch more.

Here's my new oldest Beck, 1988 Clinton Giants ProCards #695. Oh wait, I just remembered I have another '88 card of his too. Well, it's tied for my oldest Beck card, at least.

A couple things I hadn't realized (or perhaps knew but forgot), he was originally property of the A's, traded to the other Bay Area team for a pitcher named Charlie Corbell who never made it out of AAA. Unfortunately I don't think Rod got any cards from his two early years in Medford. That would have made for a neat "zero year/short-term stop"-type card to see him suited up in green.. eh, Nick?

The other interesting thing is he was a starting pitcher in the minors. He had 99 starts in the minors, and not one in the majors. I suppose that isn't uncommon for MLB relievers.

JUST SAY "YES" TO BOOKS! I love corny stuff like that on oddballs and minor league cards.

Here's a new design not previously in my collection. 1989 San Jose Giants Cal League Cards #209. Sort of a black parallel take on 1966 Topps. In this picture, Rod reminds me of my co-worker Ben (who is a skinny nerd, I say with all due respect as he's a good dude).

1989 San Jose Giants Star #1. This halloweeny team-set card is very similar to the his card in the larger minor league set Star put out that year with a yellow border. I already had that one and posted it in a Rod Beck PC post a couple years back.

I really love this wooden plaque design from 1990 ProCards. I should whip up a custom template with it sometime.. could make for some nice-looking TTM customs. I ripped a lot of that product back then, though don't think I ever pulled this one. Were the wax packs technically a different product than the team sets? I'm still a little confused by that set and it's mammoth 2445-card checklist all these years later. I should ask that Greatest 21 Days blogger who specializes in this set (Here's his post on this card). 1990 Shreveport Captains ProCards #1435.

Here's another Star card. 1990 Shreveport Captains Star #2. Don't see a lot of purple sets.

1991 Phoenix Firebirds ProCards #59. I never had much from this spiral-notepad design set, but it's pretty memorable, I'll give it that. Seems to be a nod to scouting. I wonder if scouts ever collect cards. It'd probably be a good way to get familiar with players.

Last one. 1991 Line Drive AAA #378. This was Shooter's final stint in the minors (at least until later in his career when he hit a rough patch and had to re-prove himself). I ripped a lot of this product back in the day, but again, don't recall pulling this one. I believe AAA cards have red text, and AA have blue. I have made a template for this design, cranking out 2 or 3 customs with it, most recently a Jeter.

Checking out the Beck checklist on Beckett (try saying that 5 times fast) just now, I believe I've completed my Baby Beck miniplayercollection! Hooray! The only other minor league card I found that I'm missing is from his later-career stint with the Iowa Cubs in 2003. Now my next focus will be trying to get all his Padres cards. I don't think he has many, probably only a small handful I don't already have, but there are likely tough parallels to trip me up. We'll see. (*looks it up* Yep, the 2004 Topps Total Press Plates will prevent that miniplayercollection from ever being 100% completed. Oh well, I'll still try for all the non-1/1 cards of him in a Padres uniform.)

Thanks for reading, Nick, maybe the other Nick, and the other 2 or 3 guys who read this post, and have a great weekend, everybody!