Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Nate Colbert Report - Q1 2014

Hey, it's Nate Colbert's birthday! Happy 68th, big guy! A couple of you might remember how a while back I pondered the idea of supercollecting Nate Colbert (The "Supercollector" Conundrum)? Well, over these past few months I have indeed built up a respectable PC of the Padres' All-Time Home Run King. It's not going to floor anybody in its current state, but it's coming along nicely and I feel good about it. I'd estimate I've got about 90% of his "readily available" cards out there, plus a small array of relatively obscure stuff. Sure, it feels kinda like cheating, supercollecting a guy whose career missed the junk wax era and the subsequent parallel madness we're in now. And he rarely gets included in modern "old-timers" sets. But there are enough fun oddities to hunt down and keep me busy, yet not overwhelm me (I'm easily overwhelmed!)

I'm just going to go ahead and post the cards in my collection here without much commentary (fronts only), then a ways down the road when I have more time, I'll break down each card more in depth and probably get around to scanning the backs. (I wasn't planning on getting this posted quite yet, but figured I'd rush it out before the day was up to celebrate his birthday.)


Topps flagship




Topps color test blank backs




Topps variations


Topps oddballs


O-Pee-Chee



Kellogg's


More Topps/Other vintage oddballs


Minor league (coach) cards


Modern stuff



Known needs
1966 Houston Astros Autograph Picture Night Photos 6 Nate Colbert
1970 Dayton Daily News M137 41 Nate Colbert
1970 MLB PhotoStamps 111 Nate Colbert
1971 Dell Today's Team Stamps 223 Nate Colbert
1971 Topps Tattoos 3 Nate Colbert S1
1972 Topps Venezuelan Stamps 57 Nate Colbert IA
1972 Topps Venezuelan Stamps 126 Nate Colbert
1973 Deans Photo Service San Diego Padres 4 Nate Colbert
1973 San Diego Padres Photocards 2 Nate Colbert
1973 Topps Comics 5 Nate Colbert
1973-74 Linnett Portraits 48 Nate Colbert
1974 Deans Photo Service San Diego Padres 5 Nate Colbert
1974 Topps Deckle Edge 34 Nate Colbert
1974 Topps Pin-Ups 5 Nate Colbert
1975 Montreal Expos Postcards 9 Nate Colbert
1976 Montreal Expos Postcards 5 Nate Colbert
1975 SSPC 330 Nate Colbert
1977 Padres schedule cards - 13A Nate Colbert/Shown waist up
1977 Padres schedule cards - 13B Nate Colbert/Shown full/blank back
1977 Padres schedule cards - 14 Nate Colbert and friends
1987 Rock's Dugout - Wichita Pilots Nate Colbert CO
1986 TCMA All-Time San Diego Padres 1 Nate Colbert
1989 Best Riverside Red Wave 24 Nate Colbert CO
1989 ProCards 1391 Nate Colbert CO
1990 HOF Sticker Book 80 Nate Colbert
1990 ProCards 2622 Nate Colbert CO
2012 Panini Golden Age - Black 141 Nate Colbert
2012 Panini Golden Age - White 141 Nate Colbert
2012 Panini Golden Age - Mini Black 141 Nate Colbert
2012 Panini Golden Age - Mini Broadleaf Blue Ink 141 Nate Colbert
2012 Panini Golden Age - Mini Broadleaf Brown Ink 141 Nate Colbert
2012 Panini Golden Age - Mini Crofts Candy Red Ink 141 Nate Colbert
2012 Panini Golden Age - Mini Ty Cobb Tobacco 141 Nate Colbert

Update: Turns out many of the missing O-Pee-Chee cards I thought I needed don't actually exist! I foolishly assumed vintage OPC sets duplicated the Topps checklist, but the sets contain less cards, and looks like Nate got left out some years. Oh well, less cards for me to hunt down!

So there you have the Nate Colbert Report for April 9th, 2014. If you've got any cards of his not pictured here (or substantial condition upgrades of cards that are) that you're willing to part with, please let me know and I'll do my best to round up a nice trade package to offer you.. Thanks!
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8 comments:

  1. petethanApril 9, 2014 at 6:52 PM

    That's awesome. Especially the color test stuff. Amazing collection. It's particularly funny/interesting to me because Colbert is one of those players who randomly managed to avoid my collection for years. The Turn Back the Clock I got from Night Owl last year from his upgraded giveaway was my first, somehow. I just got the '76 in a repack last month. My '70s collection is hardly complete, but it was very odd to go that long without a card of such a prominent player. Weird.

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  2. night owlApril 9, 2014 at 11:24 PM

    Fantastic. Love that '75 color test card.

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  3. FujiApril 10, 2014 at 4:05 AM

    Holy smokes. This collection is so amazing! As my students would say... I'm very jelly.

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  4. jacobmrleyApril 10, 2014 at 6:28 AM

    First of all, this is one fine collection. Those test cards are magnificent, did you get those from Topps Archives auctions? Colbert is an excellent choice to amass some of these oddities en masse without breaking the bank like, say, Johnny Bench or Hank Aaron would.

    Secondly, the title of this post is absolute perfection.

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  5. Mark HoyleApril 10, 2014 at 6:39 AM

    Very nIce collection.

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  6. defgavApril 10, 2014 at 7:19 PM

    Thanks for the kind words, guys.

    The color tests were just bought off 3rd party sellers on eBay. They might've gotten em from Topps, but I'm not sure.

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  7. CaptKirk42April 10, 2014 at 9:25 PM

    Wow Cool Player Collection. Love the vintage love the oddball. Very cool on the color tests. Seeing those makes me wonder if they do that sort of thing now-days with everything computerized. Back in the day color testing was an essential part of the printing process, I am sometimes surprised that Topps and other companies saved some of the tests in the first place.

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  8. Joseph GarrisonAugust 2, 2017 at 5:39 PM

    Colbert's 1975 Topps card has him with the Tigers. He played for San Diego in 1974 but was traded to Detroit on November 18th, 1974. So that Tigers card had to be printed after that, using a photo where we really can't tell anything about the uniform... very generic. I find stuff like that interesting.

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