A lovely Saturday for a card show

Great card show haul for me today! Bought a bunch of cards from the dimebox, nickelbox, fiddycentbox, and 3 relatively-pricier autos.


Let's start with those big money cards. I spent $15 total on these 3 cards.

Luis Torrens 2013 Bowman blue refractor auto #'d 148/150

LUUUUUUUUIIIIIIIIISSSSSS!!!!! I'm sure Zippy Zappy already has this parallel, so I got this one for myself. Zippy is a good judge of talent, so if he says this kid is going to be huge, I believe him and will invest my retirement fund on Luis Torrens cards. And I did good with this purchase. If you wanted to buy this card on eBay right now, the best you can do is $75 OBO for a PSA10, or $90 OBO for a raw copy (though, sure, they typically sell closer to $25 according to the completed auctions.)

Yeison Asencio 2013 Bowman gold refractor auto #'d 31/50

Never heard of this guy, but hey, he's a Padres farmhand and these gold refractors are nice-looking cards and not easy to come by. Checking out his stats, he had a nice 2014 season, batting .291 with 15 homers split between AA and AAA. Hopefully he keeps that up in 2015 and maybe cracks the bigs. Copies of this card are on eBay now for $150 OBO, but completed auctions show it selling for closer to $10.

Rafael Montero 2013 Bowman auto

I got this card basically thrown in. I had offered $10 for the Luis and the gold Padre together (a bit of a lowball, I'll admit); the dealer countered with $15 and I could throw in one of the other cheaper autos; I agreed and I picked this one since I've at least heard of this guy.

So yeah, that was a nice purchase. It was actually my last deal of the day, but I'll backtrack to my bin digs in the coming few days to show off my other pickups. Good stuff-- stay tuned! But that's it for today.

Thanks for swinging by.

This is a post about a superhero named Tony L.

Seems like I traded a few times with Off-Hiatus Tony about a year ago. But in recent months, he's been busy with important career stuff, and I've been, well, pretty much tapped on Brewers to send him.

But he dropped a damn fine package of cards on me the other day.

If you'd be so kind as to let me, I'd like to show you some cards he sent.

A whopping four TTM autos of guys I collect, including my first Bird signature. Incredible! To date, I've never done a TTM. I thought about it this year, but didn't get around to it and now it's probably too late to hit the sweet spot of early spring training. Maybe next year. I would love for one of you bloggers out there to post a "how to" sometime just to help me get a good grasp on how it's done. I know the basics aren't hard to understand, but there are some nuances I'm unclear about.

Also included is a ticket from the 1984 National featuring Mickey Mantle (my "ticket to randomland" as Tony's friendly note called it). That's a neat item!

Too Many McCoveys!

Some great Rollie and Gaylord cards.

More Cy-winning Padres.

The mortal enemy of the 9-pocket page: non-standard sized oddballs! Love the Ozzie 79 reprint mini encased in it's own little stand (Ozzie's 90 Topps is featured on the reverse).

A couple more cards I needed of dudes I collect.

Tony likes when people post Clash songs, so here's one for him..

Tommy Gun would've been a cool nickname, but I guess Tom Terrific is fine too. Love this lot of Seavers. Looks like 3½ of these cards share the same picture.

Some pairs of Padre greats.

Closing out with a few more Padres. That Andrew Cashner emerald parallel has clearly been enchanted by a leprechaun. Nothing wrong with that.

Thanks a ton, Tony! I've had a few cards set aside for you for a while, and will keep an eye out for more Brewers at the card show tomorrow.(!!)

Have a great weekend, everybody.

I challenge you to a dual

I'm typically not a fan of dual autograph cards. You usually have one guy you like and then some chump you're stuck with. Even when you get a couple guys you like on one card, chances are you'd rather have the autos on separate cards. It's why I went with a 2003 Retired Willie Mays auto even though I'm generally partial to 2004 Retired (all of Mays' autos in 2004 Retired are dual autos.) Plus it seems 99% of dual autos are stickers, not on-card.

But every so often, it's pretty neat to get two autos on one card. If it were up to me, these are the only types of dual autos there'd be:

• Long-time teammates (like Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker; Paul Molitor and Robin Yount)
• "Notable opponents" would be great, but I can't recall card companies having the balls to put many together (I'm thinking like Clemens and Piazza, Kirk Gibson and Dennis Eckersley)
• Other guys who get lumped together a lot. All-Star shortstops Ozzie Smith and Cal Ripken, juiced-up sluggers Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Stuff like that.
• Bloodlines. Father and son combos like the Griffeys. Maybe cousins, like Mo Vaughn and Greg Vaughn. And of course brothers.

Keeping the Giles Mania that started with yesterday's post going, he's a Christmas Card for this month.

It's a pretty cool card with bits of patches and an autos from both Marcus and Brian Giles. The autos are stickers, but it's still pretty cool, especially with the 12/25 numbering. This card is like a collection trifecta for me, with 2 hometown guys I collect plus being a Christmas Card.

Apparently there's an on-card dual auto from them in 2004 Bowman Heritage. I'd love to track down one of those sometime.

Happy Holidays!

Big mailday (package vs. letter postage?)

Mondays suck. But at least there seems to be a greater-than-average chance of cards in my mailbox thanks to the Sunday build-up. Let's check out the 4 mailings I received yesterday (and take a look at the shipping methods).

First package was from Julie at A Cracked Bat. Not to come off as a neanderthal, but I believe this was my first-ever instance of trading cards with a girl. Hopefully it's the first of many. Boys are gross.

Julie was able to get away with sending a bubble mailer with postage of $1.10, which impressed me greatly. Anytime I send a package like that, it's at least $2.32. As such, I try to stick to PWEs when I can. When I sent Julie cards a few days earlier, I used 2 separate PWEs (about 8 cards per) with a Forever stamp on each. I probably could have saved a few cents if I loaded up a long envelope, but alas.

But back to the the varying postage cost to send a bubble mailer.. I guess it depends if it falls into the definition of envelope or package. Maybe that's a grey area. Technically a bubble mailer is more of an envelope than it is a box, right? But I'm under the impression the USPS counts these as packages. Hmm. But yeah, if you can get away with calling it an envelope, I guess you can save a little money.

Julie used to work for USPS, if I recall her mentioning, so she must be a postage pro! Any good mailing tips to pass on?

But back to cards...

Julie offered up a bunch of off-condition Kellogg's cards on Valentine's Day and I called dibs on these two greats. The rest of the cards were surprises, as Julie checked my wantlist for guys I collect.

A couple Rickeys, including a thick Triple Threads base card and an always-appreciated Padres-era Rickey.

A couple Piazza cards I didn't have.

A couple legendary catchers.

A couple batting champs, Musial and Boggs.

Marcus Giles jersey relic! And a Padres one, at that! Very cool. And love the Ozzie Smith oddball.

Great stuff. Thanks, Julie! I hope the cards I sent in return are ok.


Next up were a couple Listia wins from the same guy.. a couple Roberto Alomar cards. He sent each card in a separate PWE. I always think this is so dumb to waste a stamp when you could combine both for the same postage. But maybe that would throw off the dude's flow or whatever. And I guess it's true that every once in a while a buyer gets confused when you send 2 separate wins in 1 envelope. "Where's the rest of my stuff?" It's all there, buddy.

I thought I had knocked Robbie off my wantlist thanks to accumulating 100 different cards, but then I counted and came up just a few cards short. So back to Listia for a cheap card here and there. I think now I've made it. Or at least on the cusp. Need to count again.


Next is Bru from Remember the Astrodome. He read my recent post about Ken Caminiti and graciously answered my call for more Caminiti cards.

Awesome! My Caminiti PC is much more respectable now.

And Bru didn't just stop there:

A few more guys I collect. Very appreciated! Thanks a ton, Bru. I'll try to hit you back with some cards you need soon.

Oh, and as for postage, Bru stuffed a long envelope and stuck on a couple 32 cent stamps. The letter arrived marked 27 cents postage due, but thankfully the mailman was cool and delivered it as normal.


We close with a stuft PWE (91 cent stamp, I think) from Johnny's Trading Spot. Man, John has really generously bombed me with cards over the past few months!

A bunch of Gavin Floyd cards, including a sweet numbered jersey stripe, and a nice looking relic from Brian Giles.

Bunch o' Bip! Love the Duracell card. Hell, I love all these, even if I already had some of them. Those Black Gold cards from 1993 Topps are still probably my favorite insert set of all-time. Close to the top, at least.

And more Brian Giles! Wow, this is a Giles Brothers-heavy post. I'm certain I've hit 100 different cards for Brian, so he's officially off the wantlist for now. I couldn't have done it without you, John! Thanks again. I've pretty much tapped out my Braves and other stuff I had set aside for you with the last package I sent you, so forgive me if it takes a while for me to get some return cards out your way.

There you go. Thanks again to Julie, Bru, and John for the cards.
And thank you for reading.

24 retired autos for sale

Remember the other day when I showed off my spiffy new Willie Mays auto? Well, it wasn't cheap, so I'm trying to sell a few cards that are no longer integral to my collection to help absorb some of the blow. So please help me out and let me know if you're interested in any of these. (I'd also consider trading for autos of certain guys on my wantlist.) Many of these cards will likely end up on eBay soon, but thought I'd try the blog first to avoid the headaches and fees that come with eBaying.

A couple Yaz autos, including the rare (yet faded) black ink (unofficial) variation (update: the "good" [blue ink variation] Yaz has been sold!). Also Ryne Sandberg ($65 might be too high for Ryne.. I'd be willing to come down a bit).

Rod Carew, Darryl Strawberry, Bob Gibson (probably the best deal here; should have put him in the $65 group), Buddy Bell (yeah, Bell might not be as big of a name as the rest of these guys, but this card doesn't pop up often). (nevermind, just sold the Bell to a guy over email moments before posting this.) (Strawberry and Gibson have also since sold.)

Tony Fernandez, Greg Luzinski, Rob Dibble, Ron Santo, another Ron Santo (update: the Santos have been sold), Bob Feller, Tony Oliva (sorry, slipping in one non-Retired auto).

Al Hrabosky, Jesse Orosco, Maury Wills, Fergie Jenkins, Bruce Sutter, Mike Cuellar, Tony Armas, Luis Tiant, Bob Grich, Bobby Richardson. For the 2nd half of this group (Cuellar thru Richardson) I'd be willing to do a "2 for $20" deal.

That's it for now. I can email more pics by request. Get in touch if you're interested. Thanks!

Cards and a toy from Tony's Sports Pub

I recently completed my first trade with Tony V. from Tony's Sports Pub. He really blew me away with a whole bunch of great stuff I needed.

Well-organized lots, and a bonus '80s G.I. Joe action figure! I'm pretty sure I owed Major Bludd here long ago when I was a kid, and it's great to be reunited.

Some Red Sox Royalty.. love em. The Ortiz bat relic is great because I think that was like the only major type of hit I was missing from him and I was wanting to get one since I'm on the cusp of knocking him off my wantlist when I reach 100 cards. That's a well-rounded PC now.

The only card I knew to expect, this Shane Spencer bat relic was the card that inspired Tony to propose a trade after reading my post about Spencer going to my high school from a couple weeks ago. Great addition to my Guys From Granite minicollection.

A couple Mantles, always nice.

Changing of the guard.

A couple neat Heritage Griffies. That silver bordered one is pretty thick.

Mr. Rod Carew.

Boomer Wells. Funny story in the news recently where Jay-Z met him at a party asked him about his legendary bloody sock game. Um, wrong guy, Jay!

Julio Franco. Did you hear he recently signed to be a player-manager for an independent Japanese team? He's a hero to old guys everywhere. Never stop, Julio!

A great trio of '83 Fleer. Bud Black also has a "Black & Decker" card out there. Obviously doesn't take himself too seriously, which is nice. Now if only he can lead the Padres to a dynasty...

Some old greats from the late 80s.

McGriff. Looks bizarre in a Dodgers uniform!

Rickey. Looks bizarre in a Dodgers uniform!

Piazza. Looks bizarre in a Dodgers uniform! Oh wait, nevermind.

Peavy, including a disturbingly close headshot.

A couple early Frank Thomas cards.

A couple HOF Padres closers.

Tony sent football cards, too.. including some 49er greats.

Elway and Aikman.

A nice lot of Chargers. Did you hear that they might be moving out of San Diego? That would bum me out. Sharing a new stadium with the Raiders, no less?! Hopefully it's just a bluff to secure a new stadium in San Diego.

Finally, some sweet basketball cards. Major Bludd thinks he can defend Jordan?! Fool!

Anyways, thanks again, Tony! Love the cards and the GI Joe guy. That really was a terrific trade package.