Black Refraction Appreciation Society

If you like black refractors from 2004, this is just the post for you.

I recently upgraded the Duke Snider card in my 2004 Topps Retired refractor auto set (still only missing Trammell).

Christmas Card! My 8th 12/25 card from 2004 Retired.

Around that same time, I received a friendly email from a reader I've transacted with a bit in the past, Eric P. He was on the hunt for a couple particular Dave Winfield cards from 2005 Retired, though I was unable to aid in his quest. Then he surprised me with an offer to send me a bunch of 2004 Chrome black refractors as a gift of appreciation for the blog. Awesome! They arrived in a glorious mailday at the same time as the yuletide Duke.

Look at that-- another encased Duke. Yes, it was a rare Double Duke mailday!

Tom Glavine was another highlight from the lot. Always nice to check Hall of Famers off a setbuild.

Mike Lieberthal here is my first in-person autographed 2004 black refractor. Love it! While the thought has crossed my mind, I'm probably not willing to get serious about getting more of these cards signed myself-- too much money and energy to try to make happen with private signings or whatever-- but definitely don't mind if they fall in my lap.

Some fan favorites of the cardsphere. Do you have that Tino, Lost Collector? It's a beauty.

More solid names.

And there were a bunch more too, but just wanted to show some highlights.

Before this invigorating jolt to the parallel setbuild, I was a little over 60% complete (293/487). After Eric's generously gifted needs, I'm on the cusp of three-quarters done, now checking in at 73% complete (356/487). With just 131 cards left to track down, this crazy project of mine might actually have a shot at completion someday if I keep at it.

Shortly after that mailday, I upgraded another 2004 Retired refractor.

Robin Yount was one of the first '04 Retired refractors I bought back in 2013. But since then, I've kinda wanted to upgrade because the signature on that one was a touch faded. So feels good to snag this one with a bold signature. (I've been coming to the realization lately that these cards shouldn't be left in the light for long or the ink will start to fade. After these photos, banished to the deep, dark box!)

Taking photos in direct sunlight can be tricky, lol. It's not the Christmas Card, but does have neat "ebay 1/1" numbering seeing as Robin's jersey number was 19.

And the twist to this post is that every card came from Eric P. Yep, he sent all those black '04 Chrome cards and was the seller of the Snider and Yount auctions. I didn't even realize it at the time of that first mailday and I was very confused for a brief moment when 2 packages from him showed up.

Thanks again, Eric! You're a true saint of black refraction, as far as my collection is concerned.

Have a great weekend, everybody, and thanks for stopping by.

PWE from the Best Bubble

Been a slow month on the blog so far, but I've been keeping busy. Here's a quick post to prove I'm alive.

Bob @ Best Bubble dropped another PWE my way recently. The "naughty" section of my Women on Cardboard sidecollection gets some eye-catching additions. A couple shiny Olivia II art cards (one kinda looks like Debbie Harry, yeah?) and a couple centerfolds from yesteryear. 

While I've already completed the Glow Stars subset from 1993 UD Fun Pack, I light up (no pun intended) whenever I'm sent any and all glow-in-the-dark cards. Maybe less enthused by duplicate Gavins, but the autograph is pretty sweet. That minor league Osteen was my very first card of any Gavin, pulling it from a pack back in the day, so it sparks some nostalgic "feels" whenever I see it. (Although.. he never responded to my TTM request a few years ago, so not exactly 100% positive feels. But like 98% positive and just a touch of dejection that comes with an unanswered TTM request. Maybe I should try him again sometime.)

Thanks, Bob! I'll be hitting you back with something cool one of these days, promise!

Rod filling my wallet again

I remembered to swap out my wallet card at about a quarter till midnight on January 1st. 

Here's 2021's 1990 Donruss Tony Gwynn All-Star as it's retired to the binder page. This card saw decent action, making 3 appearances on the blog this past year: in the snow, in the Pacific, in the Atlantic.

Following up red with green? Maybe I've still got the holidays on my mind, as I've tabbed Gwynn's '88 Score card as my wallet card for 2022. Not a great photo, but I love '88 Score, more for the backs really, and have been jonesing for a set for a while. Anyone reading have a 1988 Score baseball complete set available for trade or sale?

After this year, just one more to finish off a 9-pocket page of annual wallet cards. Then the plan is to pick a ride-or-die wallet card in 2024 and just stick with that in perpetuity. But we'll see how it shakes out. For what it's worth, I got a new wallet for Christmas since my old one was falling apart, so I'll be breaking in a new wallet in addition to a new wallet card. (It's kind of a satisfying life victory when a wallet is retired rather than lost or stolen, right?)

Speaking of weathered Tony Gwynn cards, stay tuned to see how the '89 UD card I put in a sunny spot looks after a year of sunbathing. I think that's coming up in February or March.

If you're wondering how I've got stacks of Tony Gwynn cards to "play with" like this, the vast majority came to me via Padrographs Rod. He's been bestowing bulk cards on me for years now, and one such time he thinned out a ton of his Gwynn dupes on me. I'm sure most if not all of my wallet cards have been sourced from that generous cache from Rod.

And that's a good segway to taking a look at highlights from the most recent 400-count box Rod was kind enough to swing by with last month.

Looks like Rod was able to find some current product. Happy to freshen up the collection with recent cards.

Entertaining assortment of nonsport.

There were a few solid Lakers cards in there and a bunch of Olympic cards. Like, a bunch. Anybody working on that 1991 Impel Olympic Hall of Fame set?

Available for trade, limit one per person.

Additions for my Women on Cardboard minicollection.

And the Giles Brothers, highlighted by an '09 vintage stock parallel.

Big thanks as always, Rod! I know your wantlist is pretty tight these days, but I'll hope to return the favor at some point, and of course I'm happy to help with any photoshop needs. Hope to see you blogging again soon too.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, everybody.

ignorable filler post: 1991 Cardboard Dreams #9 Mickey Mantle (time capsule post from 2020)

(This is a post I originally drafted back in mid 2000, I think, and for the sake of doing something different, thought I'd make it a "time capsule post" by scheduling it to be posted well in the future. So here it is, a year and a half later, the long-awaited return of this "ignorable filler post" series. LOL)

Mickey Mantle is #9 in this oddball set.

The action pic doesn't look much like him, but the headshot is a decent likeness. Maybe a little Edward Norton in there.

Always love the creepy doodles on the back. I didn't realize he was a high school football star, but it's no surprise.

- "Mickey says: 'Work hard, play harder.'"
Mickey later disavowed his hard partying, blaming alcoholism for relationship issues and health problems that caught up to him in retirement.

- "Mickey holds the World Series record with 18 home runs"
Many old school postseason career records have fallen thanks to more rounds in the expanded playoffs these days, but this World Series record is still intact and no active player is anywhere close. Chase Utley with 7 is the closest anyone's gotten in recent decades. Mickey's other standing WS records include most walks (43), extra base hits (26), RBI (40), and runs scored (42).

- "Mickey started out as a shortstop"
He played in 7 MLB games at short (just 1 start, in 1954). As far as other infield action, he also got into one game each at 2nd base (1 inning, also in '54) and 3rd base (4 innings in 1952). But otherwise he patrolled the outfield most of his career (mostly in center), then 1st base for his last couple seasons.

- "Mickey, in the minors, once played in the same outfield with his two brothers"
I wasn't able to find much more about this tidbit, but there were 3 Mantles who played for the 1954 McAlester Rockets: Maxie Mantle, Ray Mantle, and Roy Mantle. No Mickey, though.

As for me, he was before my time, but Mickey Mantle was a mythic figure when I was a kid. He was the favorite player of my best friend Doug's dad, which helped build up the legend for me even more. I know describing feelings is tough, but man, Mickey had a special feeling.

Once I got back into card collecting as an adult, scoring myself a vintage Mantle was a top priority. My first "big" card purchase (3 digits) was a sharp '64 Topps Mantle. Then I followed that up with a fuzzy corner '65 and a beat-up '57 (still my oldest card of his) and then a '68, and then a '69 (as part of a '69 Topps lot). More recently I picked up a slabbed '63 Topps Mantle at a card show last year. I'd love to one day complete a Topps base card run for him, but of course that '52 throws a wrinkle. And his '53 Topps is pretty tough too. (No '54 or '55 Topps card released.) And I hate his '56 Topps card (I think he looks like a creepy ventriloquist dummy on it). But a 1957-1969 run is a realistic goal for me. I used to try to land one need per year, but got a little relaxed in that pursuit lately. Bored "Covid Collectors" (investors) got prices running a bit high these days, but I'll eventually add another vintage Mantle along my quest.

But the pride and joy of my Mickey Mantle collection is this Score certified autograph I picked up a year ago. Love it!

(This whole post was drafted up earlier this month, but waited on taking this photo here later in August 2020 to be published.)

Now's the time of the ignorable post when I drunkenly ramble on about stupid shit.

Cute pix aside, I hate my dog. Looking to trade her for any 1990 Donruss needs. (nah, she's fine.)

Back to the Beach is one of my favorite summertime flicks. It's cheesy as hell, but I love it so. The random Pee-Wee scene is the cherry on top.

Look at this tough antifa motherfu*ker!
Nah, it's just me! :)
I forgot my mask when I got dropped off at work. Luckily I had a spare pair of (clean) underwear in my desk that worked as a mask in a pinch on my ride on public transportation on my way home.

You might be saying to yourself, wow you must shit yourself a lot to have backup underwear on hand, but no, the thing is in the winter I often wear long underwear ("lounge pants"), so the back up briefs are just in case I need to change into something for my workout shorts. Sigh.. I miss my 2:30 workouts, catching Pardon The Interruption in the work gym. Haven't "worked out" in months, though keeping active with bike rides (to the post office for work) and often running around dealing with this shitty dog.

But I have some good updates for you!

My old buddy who was probably moving up to Portland? (ref)

Yes, he did move up to my current home of Portland!

My attempt to get my 1991 MusiCard blog included on the popular sports card blogroll? (ref)

Yes, he did finally add my blog to the popular blogroll!

My attempt to get Johngy to comment on my blog? (ref)

Yes, he did comment on my blog!

So there are 3 nice "wins" for me to revel in. I should have done a giveaway contest to celebrate, but I've just been so busy/stressed lately that I don't want to take on too much. (Missed celebrating my blogoversarvy this year too.) Seriously, don't be surprised if I get struck down by a heart attack or something one of these days. Hopefully my wife will be able to pass on the news to my cardboard homies. I don't want to create any mystery about it if it happens. But if I don't post for a month, assume I'm dead. I would never go a month without a post. Never!

But no, I'm just being a diva, don't listen to me. I even have to make my favorite movies more stressful than they need to be.

Thanks to @Extension765 and @disnalldat, I now have a thing I do where I give my favorite movies a "remix" when I watch by playing them in black & white with only audio from Trent Reznor scores. It's weird and I kinda love it. pic.twitter.com/eqTJZvUhso

— Baseball Card Breakdown (@breakdowncards) August 3, 2020

#Goonies

This dog is a lot of work.

Thanks for reading!

p.s. UPDATE: I put another Ruby pic at the top on today, 9/25/2020, because I was sick of looking at that poor artistic rendering of Mickey Mantle as the thumbnail picture for this draft at the top of my Blogger post list because this post is scheduled for many months from now, so it's gonna be there a long time. So I'd rather it be a cute pup to look at. Maybe I'm tough on Ruby, but she is getting better and I bet by the time this post is eventually published I will think she's a good girl and love her a bunch. But we'll see. Hello from 2020.

12/31/2021 UPDATE: Yeah, Ruby is still more "!!!" than I'm looking for in a dog, ideally, but we love the cute shit-for-brains pit-wolf.

On high alert for scraps at my birthday/Christmas Eve dinner. (Great cut of beef this year.)

In other animal news, after closing for the summer, my hummingbird hangout is back open for business now that the temperatures have dropped.

Drink up, little guy!

The googly-eyed Bip featured earlier in the post has since been turned into a fridge magnet. It's fun.

I've still got this jumbo refractor on the wall and it always makes me smile when I notice it.

That's it for this post. While I'd like to eventually cover all 16 cards in the crazy little set, it's anyone's guess if/when the next in the ignorable filler post: 1991 Cardboard Dreams series ever comes out, but stay tuned! Or don't! LOL