Oh won't you please take me home! I thought this risque 2017 Chrome refractor photo variation of Kris Bryant was hilarious when I first saw it making the rounds last year on Twitter, and had to include it in my latest COMC order. Here, Kris seems to be enjoying an intimate moment with the Cubs logo, or perhaps someone out of frame. Or you could look at it another way and see the design as some sort of robotic wiener. Regardless what's going on, it's a very amusing card and a nice addition to my KB PC. The pride of the University of San Diego is off to a good start this year, among league leaders in hits and average in the season's first couple weeks.
I was really happy to finally track down this Mike Reinbach minor league card last month.
The O.G. Guy from Granite, I've made several 70s customs for him, but I believe this is his only actual playing-days card before he went to Japan and became a star over there. It's also my oldest minor league card now, put out my TCMA in 1975.
And here's a Japanese Mike Reinbach card. I actually had this one, but hey, it was an upgrade for me, plus it was probably cheapest vintage Japanese card I ever bought. Put in a low bid and ended up winning it.
Also snagged this Reggie Bush in my latest COMC order. I think I searched serial-numbered cards sorted cheapest first, and looked for anybody I collect that I could pick off cheaply, with Helix High's Reggie Bush among the few finds.
I showed this card like a week or two ago on the day I bought it, but that was a pic from eBay and felt like cheating putting it on the blog, so now that it's in hand, here's El Cajon's own Greg Louganis.
My obsession with black refractors is well documented on this blog, and I love this Kevin Kouzmanoff eTopps card in the 1985 Topps design, another COMC pickup. Kooz had 3 nice seasons in San Diego, then bumped around for a while and battled injuries before finishing with a terrific 13-game comeback with the Rangers in 2014.
There's the back, if you're interested.
Oh! And hey, speaking of Topps revisiting their old designs, for those of you not on Twitter you might not have heard yet, but details of 2018 Archives were announced today. The cards in the base set will use the designs of 1959, 1977 and 1981. I'm very happy about this since Topps has yet to totally wear out any of those designs. Particularly 1981 rarely gets much love from today's Topps. Another cool thing about this year's Archives is it will include The Sandlot inserts, with autos, to boot. Hopefully they're not impossible pulls that Archives sometimes uses to toy with us (Heavy Metal autos, Charlie Sheen autos, Will Ferrell autos, Kevin Costner autos, etc.) Anyways, I'm excited for it and will likely pre-order a couple hobby boxes soon.
Here's a late, great pair of San Diego fan favorites. Both numbered Pacific cards, though the Cammy is definitely more eye-grabbing.
This is a special custom I cranked out for Cardblogger Con NW '18 last month. It was a coincidence that our favorite players suited up for the Padres (Kerry- Ozzie, me and Rod- Gwynn, and gcrl- Garvey). I think it makes for a nice little memento of the meetup.
I didn't spend much time on the back, but I did hand-number them /4, keeping this one for myself. I should note that I whipped these up right before I thought to invite Ken, which is why he got snubbed (Sorry, Ken!). Had I known he would be able to make it, I might have also included Rickey in a Padres uniform, since he's one of Ken's main PC guys (I did make a special Rickey custom for him that I gave him along with a few other customs, so I don't feel too bad about the situation.)
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend! May the grass be green and the girls be pretty!
"Take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and the cards are shiny"
Great looking caminiti!
ReplyDeleteI'm so so so so so so so so so so so happy that Topps decided on 1981 for one of the designs in 2018 Archives. A top-ten Topps set for me and one that's almost never honored these days.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I had no idea what Topps was thinking with that Bryant photo. There's really only one thing that could possibly be going on there...
I still haven't broken down to get one of those Bryants. Some day. I love how tacky the "Holo Gold" label is on the Rod Beck, too.
ReplyDeleteNice Rod Beck. Like Nick, I'm also pretty stoked about the inclusion of 1981 Topps in Archives this year. Have you seen the Ohtani Coming Attraction card on the '93 design? That's a sharp looking card.
ReplyDeleteLots of stuff to comment on in this post...
ReplyDeleteA. Awesome photo of Bryant. At first I was just impressed by the shine and his happiness. But after reading the paragraph... I saw things from a different perspective.
B. I used to wear a Hanshin Tigers replica jersey just like Reinbach is wearing on that card. I've gained 20 lbs since then... and now it's just hanging up in my closet. One of these days, I hope to be able to fit into the jersey again.
C. Cool Louganis autograph. I should grab a copy too. I remember cheering for him during the Olympics back in the 80's.
D. Awesome Caminiti shine! Go SJSU!
E. That Cardblogger Con custom is sweet! Did you have each of the bloggers sign the back under their favorite player's name?
Oh man, that would have been cool to get the guys to sign there! But no, I didn't think of that. Maybe next time I'll try something along those lines.
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