baseball card set night at the ballpark

I caught my first live baseball game of the year yesterday. The Portland Pickles are a collegiate woodbat team. It's always a fun time at the ballpark, with atmosphere similar to a minor league game. It was a hot one, in the upper 90s, but there was plenty of shade.

What made me want to go to this particular game was the fact they were giving away a team set of baseball cards. The team has been around for 4 years, but this is apparently the first time they've had official baseball cards produced. The website said first 700 fans get the set, but a tweet from them said first 500 fans. So I'm not exactly sure what the print run was on these, but I guess around 500-700. Didn't seem like there were much more than 500 fans in the stadium for the game, but I was just a little too late and they weren't giving them out when I arrived. But I asked a guy working the gate about it, and he graciously pulled a set out of his pocket for me and told me it was my lucky day, so crisis averted!

I met up with my wife at the gate (she ran a bit late getting out of the house, while I went straight from work) and found a nice spot near a friend of hers also at the game. Well, it was nice for an inning or so until a talkative group of women (including one who looked very much like Drew Carey in drag) sat on one side of us, and then a group with like 5 or 6 small children sat on the other side of us. Could have done without all the extra noise and distraction, but hey, that's live baseball for ya. I took a walk around the stadium mid-game to escape and stretch my legs-- and also to see if I could find an unwanted extra card set somewhere (hey, we bought two tickets, only fair). I did witness a heartwarming exchange where an older guy gave 4 sets to a younger father for him to give to the kids he was supervising. The dude and the kids were very appreciative; it was sweet. Then I made my way over to a table by the gate to grab a pocket schedule and roster sheet, and noticed they had a couple card sets on the table, so I happily grabbed one.

The game was fine, though the good guys couldn't really get it going. The hometown Pickles lost to the Ridgefield Raptors 3-1. We ended up leaving a little early to catch the Max back home.

Turns out the second set I grabbed included a card autographed by Dillon the mascot.. cool! Apparently before the game, 4 players and Dillon were signing. Turns out this 2nd set was missing card #23 (Gabe Skoro), but oh well.

Here's a look at some of the cards, a mix of action shots and posed headshots. As you can see, the design is closely based on 1965 Topps. Hey, that's among my all-time favorite designs, so I'm a fan of that choice.

Most of the cards are current Pickles, though there are also 3 "Pick of the Past" fan favorites included.

An oddity about the 31-card set is there is no card #16, yet there are two of the same #18 (Brendan Power). Both my sets were like this, and Padrographs Rod confirmed his set was like that too. Must have been a blunder at the printshop. I wonder if #16 is out there in limited quantities.. a modern day Honus Wagner. LOL.

Here's a look at the backs. Players have vital stats while the coaching staff each get a write-up.

Here's the full roster, though by the size of it, I'm sure they're not all active for every game. I'll have to take a look in a few years to see if any of these guys make a name for themselves in the game. Would be cool if one of these guys went on to become a Major League star someday, though the odds must be tough.

It's always funny/awkward for people who aren't really baseball fans when there's "KKK" on the outfield fence signifying there have been 3 strikeouts. No, the Klan is not a sponsor, lol. There were 3 strikeouts for an uncomfortable length of time, but thankfully more came eventually. The Pickles struck out 5+ guys so everybody got a coupon for free fries at a local restaurant. We've been there several times (used to live very close to it) and they've got tasty food, so we will likely put these to good use.

Wrapping up, it was a fun evening at the ballpark. I hope to catch another Pickles game or two before the season's over.. maybe even get some of these cards autographed (I intended to get 2 sets so I could try getting one signed, and keep the other set as-is). And if they make another card set next year, I'll definitely do my best to catch that game as well.
Thanks for reading.

I ♥ the '80 Topps

Got a couple nice trade packages in last week. Reader Larry P. followed up the big lot I got from ARPSmith with another nice lot of 1980 Topps. Included were 100+ needs, upgrades, and wanted dupes for PCs. I'm now at 94% complete with the set! 43 cards to go.

The "Highlights" and "League Leaders" subsets have both been completed now. Nice to be rounding the corner with this set already thanks to generous traders.

I appreciate it, Larry! I've got your return package ready to be dropped in the mail asap.

-   - - ----o

The other trade package I received was from Tom from the Angels In Order blog. He expressed interest in the Jim Piersall auto I had available, and I used the opportunity to thin out my tradeable Angels on him while I was at it, filling up a small flat-rate box.

Tom sent me a sizeable stack of 1980 Topps. Unfortunately, most of these were trumped by better condition copies from Adam or Larry, but there were still a handful of cards in there I could use. While I had gotten a Nolan Ryan in Adam's lot, I'm happy for the dupe from Tom since I've got a PC of the guy, so no harm there.

There were also about 100 cards from the 1987 Fleer Update set. I'll have to whip up a wantlist soon and see if I can track down the missing cards eventually. (Anybody have any '87 Fleer Update to trade? Let me know!)

Vintage! A need for my '64 Topps setbuild and the first upgrade of '65 Topps I've received since recently completing the set.. much appreciated! Felt good to replace the old copy of Les Narum in my set that had tape stains on the corners.

And I was happy to see this '93 UD Fun Pack Glow Star among the cards, with Andy Van Slyke making his second appearance of the post. I'm now down to only needing 4 more cards to knock off this one-per-team subset: 80 Ryne Sandberg, 130 Cal Ripken Jr., 142 Darren Daulton, 191 Kirby Puckett

Thanks for the trade, Tom!

Oh wait, I also got a great trade package from gcrl the other day, but I don't think I'll be able to fit it in this post, so it'll have to wait another day.
Thanks for reading.

Joy of a Completed Set: 1965 Topps

Man, this one feels good to have wrapped up!

I've always really liked the look of 1965 Topps. It's just a classic design. If you looked up "baseball card" in the dictionary, there should be a picture of a 1965 Topps card. Simple design with the pennants on the front. And the real secret weapon is the awesome cartoons on the back.

I officially kicked off my Strive for '65 ("Strive for 65" ® and ™ CaptKirk42) back on August 14, 2015 after a few months of rounding up '65s from trades and the like. I probably would have started on it sooner, but 2014 Topps Heritage kinda burned me out on the design for a while.

This lot from COMC were the last cards I was waiting on, highlighted by a couple HOFers and a Yankees team card. While these were the last cards to arrive, they had been sitting in my inventory for a while, waiting for COMC's Black Friday sale for the free shipping. So, although it arrived in-hand before these, the final card I secured was actually...

..this Denny McLain rookie I scored on eBay back in October. Even sprung for a graded copy for added oomph.

Big thanks to all the traders who've helped me out with this set over the past few years. Special shout-outs to Mark Hoyle, gcrl, Kevin G, and Stubby who each contributed 20+ cards to the cause.

I've still got about 77 "fair" condition cards in the set that I'd like to eventually upgrade (such as Joe Morgan and Mickey Mantle here), but that's a low priority for me right now. There are also plenty of guys I collect in the set that I wouldn't mind having another copy of their '65 card for the PC (such as Clemente), but again, not a huge deal for me. I have no interest in the accompanying embossed insert set, so as far as I'm concerned, other than upgrades and dupes for PCs, I'm sticking a fork in 1965.

My set includes a couple "official" variations (checklists with minor differences), plus a couple unofficial ones, such as this "yellow" Len Gabrielson. I guess either the magenta was running low on this print run, or else maybe it had been displayed in direct sunlight for a few years.

Twelve cards in my set are graded. None are particularly "high grade" but I don't plan to break them out anytime soon. –Maybe someday if I decide to put the set in a binder.

But at least for now, I'm a box guy.

Years ago, I printed out 4 labels back at my old job for sets I wanted to complete. I don't put the label on the box until the set is complete. As you can see from the photo, the last set from this 4-pronged collecting goal of mine is 1964 Topps. So you'd think that'd be next up in my crosshairs now that '65 has been put to bed.

But nope! After spending a lot of time and money on '65 last year, stressing out a little trying to make my self-imposed deadline of finishing it by the end of 2017, my goal for 2018 is to not complete any vintage sets (nothing pre-late 70s, at least). I'm taking a breather.

Going easier on myself, my goal for 2018 is to complete 1980 Topps. As I've mentioned on the blog before, I've got a sentimental soft spot for 1980 Topps since I ended up with 4 or 5 cards from the set as a kid in the mid 80s, the first baseball cards I ever owned. Personally I've always considered 1980 the last "vintage" set, but I know that hobby term doesn't have an exact definition that everyone agrees on.

Over the past week, I finally sorted my pile of cards from the set so I could get serious about it.

I was hoping to be at around 70% out of the gate, but I ended up with a lot of dupes. Still though, 55% is a very good starting point, thanks to the couple starter lots I was sent last year. I raided my PCs for some cards, such as the Rickey rookie, but hopefully I'll be able to eventually score dupes to replace them. I'm optimistic I'll be able to knock off the rest of the set via trades over the year, but we'll see.

Got my wantlist up here: 1980 Topps wanlist
Please drop me a line if you've got some cards to knock off my list and we'll work out a trade.

Thanks!

Various vintage variations? Yaz, please.

I was sorting my Yaz PC yesterday, pulling out dupes, and was just about to take out one of these 1969 deckle edge inserts when I noticed one didn't have the facsimile signature. Ooh.. Not a dupe! On closer inspection, the signature is there, just grey and very faint. I was a little perplexed by this and turned to COMC to see if they had variations of this one on there. Looks like the OPC versions have a grey signature instead of blue, but it's not this faint. Plus, the OPC deckles have blank backs, whereas these two...

...both have the standard Topps back. Is this is a "real" variation? Probably just a printing flaw, like the cyan coloring didn't make it onto this particular pressing. Regardless, I'll consider them different in my PC. If Mark Hoyle or anybody else has any info to share on these, please let me know.

As long as I'm turning this discovery into a blog post, I figured I'd add a couple other vintage variations I've stumbled upon recently. And hey, coincidentally, Yaz's Sox are also involved with these other two.

These 1973 Topps team checklists are the same on the front, but feature a minor difference on the back:

The left card has one asterisk at the bottom, while the right card has two. These are a known variation, but they somehow slipped by me when I was compiling my 1973 Topps checklist. I tried to be really "master set" thorough with it, getting all the known variations. So, damn it, I may have to reopen my "completed" 1973 Topps setbuild to hunt down the asterisk variations I'm missing. It won't be a high priority, but just something to try to eventually take care of. Anybody know if all teams have this variation, or just some of them?

I should hopefully be posting a "Joy of a Completed Set" post for 1965 Topps shortly after my latest COMC order arrives. There are only a couple '65 variations that I'm aware of, both checklists, the "Cannizzaro/C.Cannizzaro" variation, and one which has slightly bolder text than its counterpart. But I think I found another "bold text" variation. Take a look and see if you agree:

Seems to me like the one on the bottom has bolder text. I think it's most obvious at "182":

There's some white space between the "2" and the blue border on one, while the other "2" actually crosses the plane into the blue. Not a big deal or anything, just something card collectors like us might find interesting. I'll include it in my set as like an unofficial variation / notable printing variance since I already have it, but I probably wouldn't bother tracking it down if I didn't.

Thanks for stopping by.

1965 Topps nearly wrapped up

If you're getting sick of the frequent 1965 Topps posts on my blog lately, well, good news.. I'm nearly done with the set!

Featured today are some recent eBay pickups. I also have several recently purchased cards sitting in my COMC inventory, but I think I'm going to try to exercise some patience and wait a couple months until Black Friday weekend to take advantage of free shipping.

Barring any mistakes in my recordkeeping, I'm down to needing to secure just one last card:
#236 Denny McLain
If anyone wants to be a hero and knock off the final card for me, that'd be sweet, but if so, don't be long. Since I'm likely waiting till late November to get the COMC cards shipped, I figure there's no rush on the Denny, but I'll get around to it sooner rather than later, I'm sure.

Killer, Boog, and the Mick.

Another Mantle appearance. Neat action shot.

A slabbed Yogi.

Sweet-swinging Billy Williams.

Good ol' Don Drysdale.

Tony Oliva with the majestic All-Star Rookie trophy.

No surprise that there's a bunch of Yankees among the final few needed cards for a vintage set.

And the rest. Jesus Alou is probably the biggest name of this bunch.. and an SP to boot.

Thanks for reading!

Card Show Coronation

Productive card show for me today! Let's scratch the surface of my haul.

Forget my goal of finishing 1965 Topps by the end of the year.. I might knock it out by the end of the month! Yesterday, I won a bunch of cards from one seller on eBay, and I've got a few cards sitting in my COMC inventory. The above 6 cards were picked up at the show from the old vintage guy. He let me have them all for a total of $20.. a very solid deal for some pesky cards. The Masanori Murakami RC is the biggest card here, notable for featuring the first Japanese player to play in the MLB.

Other than the '65s, I grabbed a bunch of cards from Bill's bins, some 50¢ each and a bunch of dimebox cards.

There are always so many Griffey cards that I'm overwhelmed and usually just pass them by. But once in a while, I grab a few that catch my eye. The mini-type one is a magnet and dated 1989 (oddball rookie!)... Looking for more info on it, I find a few similar 1990 ones (Phoenix Industries), but couldn't find another one of these. So I'll assume it's worth hundreds.

Not one, but two mustache-less Mike Schmidt cards!

Plucked some Pucketts out of the dimebox, too.

Also grabbed some late-career Rickey cards.. always fun.

Well, I think that's enough for now, but I'll be sorting through the rest and posting more this upcoming week. Thanks for stopping by!

1965 Topps mailday knocking off some big names

If I complete my set of 1965 Topps by the end of the year, there will be a lavish parade in my honor and Miss Oregon will gently place a golden crown upon my head to rapturous applause. "You did it!," she'll whisper in my ear, then kiss my cheek.

... Er.. Wait, no, nevermind. Actually nothing special will happen. Whether I finish it tomorrow or in 2029 doesn't really matter, I'll just feel a nice sense of accomplishment whenever I get the final card in my clutches. But for the sake of, um, having collecting goals, I guess, I've given myself the goal of finishing it by the end of 2017. And since we're into September already, I've got to keep my eyes on the prize.

Last weekend I took aim at some of the bigger cards still on my needslist, and they just showed up, so let's check them out.

I believe Steve Carlton is the biggest (most expensive) rookie card in the set. I figured I'd hit it head-on instead of waiting till it was among the last few needed cards remaining. Found a decent looking auction, put in a bid, and ended up on top. I didn't spring for a graded copy, and maybe I was paranoid because of that, but when it showed up, it was so nice, it almost seemed counterfeit. But I put it in a stack of other '65s and it passed the cardstock test, so I'm confident it's legit.

Poor Fritz Ackley. His brief MLB career had come to a close before this card came out.

Here's a nice Al Kaline. Both Kaline and Steve Carlton are guys I had little PCs going for a while, but dropped them from my wantlist a while back trying to tighten up my collecting focus and not fall into the trap of collecting all Hall of Famers. Still though, love vintage setbuilding to give me an excuse to add a great card of theirs to my collection here and there.

Funny he never won another batting title.

Yaz! Here he's doing that classic goofy pop-up pose.

Been wanting to add this card to my collection for a long time.

Looks like this Frank Robinson was well-loved by a kid in the 60s. Then at some point in recent years, it was entombed, and I picked it up for a good price with combined shipping.

It's on the low end of the scale for condition I'm trying for with my set, but it'll do.

Last one for today, it's a Mets 4-player RC highlighted by Tug McGraw.

Again, it's a bit rough, but it's a short-printed high-number rookie card featuring a fan favorite, so I'm fine settling for a more affordable copy such as this. You could say there are 2 fan favorites on here, since Ron Swoboda endeared himself to Mets fans of the era, being a key member of the 1969 Miracle Mets.

I'm now at exactly 95% complete with this set. Just 30 more cards to go. After checking off these big names, I'm feeling good about my chances of meeting my year-end goal.