Incoming cards from Wes and Bru

I've had a couple semi-surprise trade packages show up recently.

First up is a stack from the Pancake King, the former JBF. Good to see Wes still out there spreading the cardboard love even after stepping away from blogging.

I love seeing Winfield in the brown and gold.

A couple hits here, with an Xavier Nady certified auto and a printing plate of Sean Thompson from 2007 Bowman.

A bunch of Padres parallels here. The Huston Street black refractor is #'d /10. Pretty sweet.

Striking gold here, with a Gavin crashing the Padre party.

And finally a couple football cards and the Pancake King's calling card.

Thanks, Wes! Good stuff. I plan to work on those customs for you soon, plus I have a Willinghammer or two set aside for you.

 - - - ---o

Next up is a package from Bru from the Remember The Astrodome blog that's now become marcbrubaker.com.

Looks like Bru was able to take a chunk out of my '88 Fleer wantlist, including a couple HOFers.

Also a need for my nearly-complete '88 Topps set, plus some early 90s Padres.

And some recent Padres. Pretty sure that Goose is my first 2019 Archives card (well.. and the Urias coin is from '19 Archives, too.)

Thanks, Bru! I'll continue keeping an eye out for interesting Astros to send your way.

Heavy-Weight Trade Bait

Here's a post with some high-dollar cards I could part with. Please note that I'm only interested in quality-for-quality trades with these, no "nickel & diming" with quantity (unless maybe we're talking pre-1974 vintage). Also, since these are pretty good cards, if I haven't traded with you before, for safety and to dissuade scammers, I reserve the right to wait until I receive your end of the trade before I send.

I'm specifically after Topps Retired refractor autos I need, as well as big names on my vintage setbuild wantlists, currently focused on Topps sets from 1957, 1964, 1970, and 1972. Other stuff I can think of that would be great to get in exchange: 1984 Fleer Update Roger Clemens (need all that Update set besides Kirby), Clayton Kershaw RC (2008 Topps Update or Ginter). Pete Rose rookie. Willie Stargell rookie. 1952 Topps Hoyt Wilhelm. 1914 Cracker Jack Gavvy Cravath. 1956 Jackie Robinson. Bip Roberts 1/1's. 2011 Update Altuve RC diamond or cognac. Rare/numbered Trouts are always nice. Complete sets (or near-complete) of 70s Hostess, Kellogg's, or OPC would be sweet. And in the rare chance you've got early vintage Mantles/Clementes available, I'd likely be interested.

And I would love work out a deal for pack-certified on-card autograph cards from any of these folks: Mickey f'ing Mantle, Ted f'ing Williams, Joe f'ing DiMaggio, Daisy f'ing Ridley, Mark f'ing Hamill, Harrison f'ing Ford, Patrick f'ing Mahomes II, Tim f'ing Duncan, Michael f'ing Jordan, Albert Pujols, Randy Johnson, Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman, Craig Biggio, Corey Seager, Mariano, Jeter, Judge. The current hot young dudes: Acuña, Vlad Jr, Juan Soto, Yordan Alvarez, Alonso, Gleyber, Lux, Wander, Tatis, etc.

So there are some ideas, but I'm up for listening to any offer you think might get my attention. Here's the link to my main wantlist. Note that I'm not really looking to sell, but I suppose I wouldn't rule out selling either. I'm listing "estimated eBay value" for most of the cards in this post, but that's to give folks the idea of return I'd be wanting in cards.

Without further ado, here are a bunch of nice cards I've got up for trade:

1957 Topps Willie Mays PSA 3
Estimated eBay value: about $70. Recent completed listings range from $55 up to $144.

1965 Topps #3 Home Run Leaders feat. Mickey Mantle / Harmon Killebrew / Boog Powell PSA 4
Estimated eBay value: $25-30

Cal Ripken, Jr 2017 Topps Five Star green parallel auto #'d 9/15
Estimated eBay value: Only one for sale right now is asking $134.99 OBO. Sold auctions include $55 (graded BGS 8.5) and $76 (also graded BGS 8.5). I assume this copy I pulled (and went directly from the pack to a one-touch) would grade better than an 8.5, so I'd ballpark it a little above that.

Reggie Jackson 2003 Topps Retired Signature Edition Autograph
Estimated eBay value: No recent completed sales. There are a couple currently listed both around $100, though a more realistic price would be closer to $70.

Harmon Killebrew 2003 Topps Retired Signature Edition Autograph (not serial numbered, but an announced print run of 76 made)
Estimated eBay value: Probably around $80.

Gary Carter 2004 Topps Retired auto
Estimated eBay value: Probably around $50-60

Tony Gwynn 2004 Topps Retired auto
Estimated eBay value: $250? (Realistically, probably more like $150-200, but since Tony is my favorite player, I'd have to put a premium on this card.) It's not numbered but has an estimated print run of 75 copies (Group C).

Stan Musial 2004 Topps Retired auto
Estimated eBay value: $200.
Notes: Not numbered, but as a "Group B" card, it has an estimated print run of 50.

Cesar Geronimo 2004 Topps Retired auto
Estimated eBay value: $100+.
Notes: I recently acquired the refractor parallel of this, making the base expendable to me. As I mentioned in the refractor post earlier this month, Cesar doesn't have many certified autos out there, so "the base version of this card sells comfortably over $100 these days-- the two most recent sales were both around $130 (print run estimated at /468)".
And by the way, as an epilogue to that post, the seller did eventually come clean, explain his side of the situation, and apologize for lying, which I thought was admiral of him.

2004 Topps Retired autos
Estimated eBay value: These guys probably run about $10-15 each.

Greg Maddux Panini stickergraph auto #'06/25
Estimated eBay value: $40-60

Mark Trumbo 2014 Gypsy Queen wood mini #'d 3/5

PS3 games
Estimated eBay value: $10-20 each ($50-75 as a lot)
Notes: Figured I'd throw some non-card stuff onto the list of things up for trade. Our PS3 console broke a few months ago and we decided not to get a new one, meaning we've got several games to get rid of now (plus a few original PlayStation games, which also play on a PS3). Some of these we never even got around to playing, though I think all were bought second-hand, except for DuckTales which was new. I'd love to work out a deal to trade all these to someone for some cards.

Whitey Ford auto
Estimated eBay value: $80-100

Paul O'Neill auto
Estimated eBay value: $20-30

Goose Gossage auto
Estimated eBay value: $20-30

2003 Topps Retired autos
Estimated eBay value:
Spahn $20-30
Stieb $10-20
Evans $80-90
Cey $10-20

Jim Lonborg 2005 Topps Retired refractor auto /25
Estimated eBay value: $30-40

I also have a similar Zane Smith (Braves) refractor auto available.

Gavin Lux - 2015 Leaf Perfect Game (high school) auto #/25
Estimated eBay value: Only one on eBay currently is $200 OBO, though a more realistic figure would be half that.
Notes: Lux has been ranked as the #2 prospect in baseball at the moment and has been named Baseball America’s Player of the Year for 2019, so his cards are very hot right now. I collect him, but this is a dupe for me.

MST3K
Nearly an entire run of Mystery Science Theater 3000 here on DVD and burnt DVD-R. I'm just looking to get rid of these and at least cover the postage. Many hours of hilarity await you here. I don't need them anymore (backed up).. do you want them? Let me know!

Ken Griffey Jr 2016 Topps Archives Father & Son auto 1/1 black parallel
Notes: This is my best pull ever. I threw out some feelers a while ago, wondering if any high-rolling Griffey collector would pay me $5k for it, but the answer was no. Still though, I think around 2-3k would be a fair price for a certified, on-card, fully-licensed 1/1 Topps Ken Griffey Jr auto. I'm not anxious to part with it (don't want to regret letting go of my all-time greatest pull if it didn't landed me a mind-blowing grand slam return), but I'd listen to offers.


There you go.. some heavyweight trade bait. Get in touch if you're interested in maybe working out a trade. My wantlist. Thanks and have a great week.

customs overload

FINALLY today I finished designing the long list of customs that John Miller sent me last year. I've still got a lot of printing to do now, so the project isn't completely finished yet, but at least it feels good to have the heavy lifting out of the way. I've moaned about it before, but it was tough going. While I normally enjoy making custom cards, to have a big list hanging over my head made it feel like a job and I quickly grew to resent it and avoided working on them. Nothing against John, who was quick to tell me no rush and hooked me up with plenty of cards to return the favor, but I wouldn't agree to another large custom commission order like this again. I'd rather do several small commissions, just a few cards at a time, than to get bogged down with one big list of requests.

Anyways, thought I'd get a post out of showing off some more of the highlights, following earlier posts here and here. Most of these customs are for his "same name" binder.

Jackie Brown pays homage to blaxploitation films of the early/mid 70s, so I figured 1973 Topps would be a good design to use.

Gotta admit I didn't really know about the Chuck Taylor behind popularizing Converse shoes, so it was interesting to learn about him as I was working on the card (These all include backs with little write-ups).

Yeah, it probably would have made more sense to use a football design for this Craig T. Nelson card, but whatever.

A couple very different guys both named Michael McDonald.

John doesn't mind multi-player cards, though he prefers them to be vertically oriented, which limits the options. But this league leaders design from 1970-71 Topps basketball worked for squeezing 3 guys onto 1 vertical card.

Gotta love Tom Jones.

Steve Martin's The Jerk was released in 1979.

Towards the end of the list, to hurry things along, I started mainly sticking with the 1989 Pacific Baseball Legends design because it's quick and easy. I sometimes changed the border color to spice it up. Looks pretty good in blue here (the real cards have a grey border).


Thanks again, John. I should be able to have these printed and in the mail soon.

Customs next on my "to do" list include a few for Jaybarkerfan and Dimebox Dad.

Let's close things out with a new gif...

Made this yesterday to celebrate Mike Schmidt turning 70. I believe that's a clip of him hitting his 500th homer. Pretty neat.

Gwynning!

I must have slept funky a couple nights ago because I woke up with my neck and chest all tight and sore. Then a day later, I also started having some abdominal discomfort in addition to my sternum situation, and I was like, "oh shit: pancreatic cancer, here we go." But thankfully, it seems to be getting better. I think I just held in a pee too long and irritated my kidneys. But I'm no doctor. What I'm getting at is I took a day off work today to get myself right. It also happened to be the day a very special card was due to arrive in the mail, and while that wasn't the catalyst for the unplanned PTO.. ain't gonna lie, it was among the several factors.

My pup Annie joined me waiting for the mail carrier, our hearts filled with longing. When? When? When?!!

Finally at 4:45 PST, the sound of beeps from a tracking number being scanned graced my doorstep.

2005 Topps Retired Tony Gwynn refractor auto!

Oh man, I love this card!

Number 05/25. Check out all them batting titles!

Had to take it outside for a photoshoot in the fresh air on this pleasant late September day.

I'm obsessed with Topps Retired refractors, and Tony Gwynn is my alltimefavoriteplayer, so this card is a grand slam for me.

So pretty.

This might be one of my favorite photos ever! Tony in the foreground and Annie chasing a squirrel in the background. LOL. Beautiful.

Sign Here (and here and also here)

Despite being a double bullseye for my collection, here's one "Gavin Christmas Card" I will never own. Geez, that's a lot of cash! I was watching the auction for a while, but it quickly jumped up to too rich for my blood territory, before ultimately ending up in are you fucking kidding me?! territory. Gavin Lux has been bumped up to #2 overall on some recent MLB Prospect lists (behind Wander Franco), and he's been holding his own in his September call-up with LA as a 21-year old, so his cards are trending steeply upwards. At this point I've probably been priced out of adding any more nice Lux cards to my collection any time soon.

But at least I can feel smug in the knowing that while there are 25 copies of that above orange card, there's only one "sign here" variation of his 1st Bowman:

I showed off this oddity in the Gavin Lux PC retrospective post earlier this month the day he got called up. And it got me curious about other "sign here" cards for sale on eBay, and well, I ended up snagging a couple more for a few bucks each.

Ben Grieve 1999 Bowman's Best - Rookie of the Year "Sign Here" non-auto

Eric Chavez 1999 Bowman's Best - Rookie Locker Room "Sign Here" non-auto

Not sure what happened to the "S" on the Chavez, but perhaps there was a piece of paper or sticker partially covering the card.

These two were won from different sellers, but funny how they're both A's autos from 1999 Bowman's Best, and they seem to be "signed" by the same Topps representative. Perhaps this guy has sticky fingers and played a part in backdooring these cards onto the secondary market, while Topps' Quality Control protocol would surely call for them to be destroyed. But whatever.. I'm happy to have them, and may occasionally do a search to see if any other reasonably priced "sign here" cards pop up that I can add to this quirky little minicollection.