Stacking Plates

I've scored myself 3 printing plates in the past few months and I figured I'd round them up into a post.

Here's big Dave Winfield bursting out of the batter's box. I'm always keeping an eye on active Topps Retired auctions, mainly searching for 'dem sweet /25 refractor autos, but sometimes I stumble upon other cool stuff, such as a reasonably priced printing plate of one of my main PC guys.

A cyan plate of a Blue Jays card counts as a color match, don't it?

Well, howbout a magenta plate of a Cardinals card?

Khalil Greene played during years I wasn't collecting cards, but I specifically recall thinking to myself that he's a guy I'd be all over if I were collecting at the time. An interesting young kid on the Padres who came up big occasionally but ultimately never quite fulfilled his promise of being a good MLBer. After I got back into collecting a few years later, I started putting together a respectable PC of his cards, helping remind me of that era of Padres baseball, as well as my "lost years" out of the hobby.

2009 Topps is Khalil's sunset card. The Padres had just traded him away to St. Louis, though the change of scenery sadly didn't help his numbers. That was his last season in baseball despite an impressive spring training with his new club, to the point where he was batting clean-up on Opening Day behind Albert Pujols, but Khalil's problem seems to be that he put too much pressure on himself and couldn't turn the page, to the point of self-harm. Perhaps if he was coming up today, there would be more mental health assistance available and his career might've turned out differently.

Last guy for today is another Padres fan favorite..

After a long wait, I finally scored another Bip Roberts autographed plate! Yep, 2014 Topps Archives included Bip in their Fan Favorites Autographs checklist. Giddy with this development, I smashed buy-it-now on a base auto on the product release day and I've been building the rainbow ever since.

Back in June 2014, I traded with former blogger ARPSmith for the magenta plate that he pulled. A few months later in November 2014, I scored the yellow plate on eBay. Then a decade went by with no progress until the cyan plate popped up just last November. Now there's just the black plate left to try tracking down.

Turns out there also a 1/1 red parallel (non-plate) that I also need to complete the rainbow. And dang it, I haven't been keeping an eye out for that, so it's probably too late by this point. But whatever, I'm more interested in the printing plate quadfecta.

The following year, 2015, Topps put Bip into Stadium Club (with the sombrero, but no autos). Those are the only two instances to date of Topps showing the Bipper any post-career love. But I guess I shouldn't complain, because if they put out more Bip autos I'd probably have to buy them all. lol

Anybody know what Bip is up to these days, by the way? Last I heard he was a part of the extended broadcast team in Oakland, but that was a while ago, and now Oakland doesn't even have a team anymore.

Speaking of Bip, I skimmed a recent Pitchfork article about how "Bip" is a hip slang word on the rise. The writer failed to mention Mr. Roberts nor bipping as "surprising someone with several copies of the same trading card", as we on the cardsphere know it, but rather among several possibilities, could mean "conducting illicit transactions, driving around smoothly while conducting those illicit transactions, or just masterfully driving in general. [...] In its other, more benign definitions, getting “bipped up” means you’ve gotten a fresh haircut or hairstyle."

Safe bippin' out there, y'all!

some COMC highlights

Showing off some various pickups from my latest COMC order.

I was happy to hear Dick Allen and Dave Parker got the "Call to the Hall" the other day, though in Allen's case, it was bittersweet since they jacked him around so much when he was still with us. But being honored posthumously is better than not being honored at all, I suppose.

It's kinda surprising to me, but I'm still the #1 ranked Dick Allen collector on TCDB. I'm also ranked #1 for a couple obscure guys who most people don't remember, but to be ranked #1 for a HOFer isn't so easy. The rankings can change quickly, but whatever happens in the future, it's neat to have been the top-rated Dick Allen collector per TCDB on the day he made the Hall of Fame.

Thanks to the above modern parallels (btw, screw Topps for waiting until the moment he died to start putting him in new releases again), I'm up to 91 unique Dick Allen cards (2nd place collector is at 84). Call it an unofficial New Years resolution to break triple digits by the end of 2025.

Some vintage pickups. Mike Reinbach has a whopping 13 cards in the 1975-76 Calbee set, which as I understand it were distributed via packs of chips in Japan. And this one with the fielding shot was the last one of the 13 that I needed. So that makes for a nice little accomplishment. But he has several later Calbee cards from 1977-1980 still out there, so the search for Reinbach will continue unabated.

Nolan Ryan takes me to the cusp of completing my first Kellogg's set, now down to only Yaz and Garvey to wrap up the set from 1980. Back in 2020, I wanted to expand my wantlist to facilitate more trading, and I decided to take a run at all the vintage Kellogg's baseball sets (1970-1983). These few years later, trading has slowed for me and my collecting mindset is more on wrapping things up than finding new things to chase. Most of those Kellogg's sets are out of my reach unless I really prioritize them at some point, but I sure would love to at least knock out one or two years. Besides '80, the only other set I'm anywhere close with is '81 Kellogg's, with 16 cards remaining.

As for the 1974 Rookie Pitchers, thanks to this card I can claim to have a complete base set of 1974 Topps. See, my previous copy of this card erroneously assigned Dave Freisleben to Washington, and so it was technically an error variation taking the slot in my set. So with a correct San Diego designation on this card, my set is now a complete base set including some variations. For a master set, I'm lacking 9 Washington variations, the "Apodaco" typo of #608, and another version of the above #599 (I still need the small print variation, where the "S" in Padres aligns with "B" in Freisleben).

Bobby Richardson is a new refractor for my 2005 Retired auto set. That's at over 71% complete as a mix of base and refractors. That's just behind my 2003 Retired auto set that's at 79%. And of course 2004 Retired is still just waiting for a Trammell refractor. (*sigh* Will 2025 be the year I finally land that whale?)

My 1975 Topps needs are the same as they were last time I posted them on the blog, but now I've got these in-hand that had been "pending". Looks like my half-assed goal of completing the set during its Heritage Year won't come to pass, but luckily for me that doesn't really mean shit to anyone anyway so I'll just complete it next year instead. I spent like an hour trying to come up with a trade return for fellow blogger S.A. 75, but it was one of those frustrating experiences where like you go through a stack of cards checking numbers, and after a while of misses you get excited when you find a card that's one number off-- oh, so close!-- lol, and at the end of the stack you're lucky to have one need for the guy. But hopefully we're able to swing a trade one of these days if I can scrounge up more needs of his.

[In better news, I did complete a couple sets thanks to this COMC order, but I'll do separate "Joy of a Completed Set" posts for them soon rather than cover them here.]

Another set knocking at the door of completion. Just 38 cards left to go with 1972 Topps.

Shiny Bips.

Just one Christmas Card in the order, a rookie auto of a guy named Xavier Grimble. Sometimes I just browse looking for 12/25 cards that catch my eye. It was cheap and "Xavier Grimble" is a fun name. He had a decent little NFL career, seeing action in 47 games with the Steelers in the latter part of the previous decade.

Here's a Kevin Mitchell minor league card. I don't have much to say about it, but it's a Mets card, or close enough, so I wanted to take a moment to pay my respects to bloggin' buddy "Warren Zvon" of the blog Mets Baseball Cards Like They Ought To Be (a.k.a. Mets Fantasy Cards). Turns out he was one of the many people globally who didn't make it through 2020 alive, though I only recently found out about his passing thanks to Blogger being weird and bumping up some old posts in the reading list. But yeah, I loved his blog. His outside-the-box thinking with his digital customs helped inspire creativity with my own customs and cardart stuff. Lots of really cool ideas and animated gifs among the hundreds of Mets customs he featured on his blog. Good guy. Sad he's gone. RIP Warren.

Also sad to see Chris The Collector not just stop blogging but delete his blog too. Hopefully he comes out the other side of what he's going through and eventually returns to the cardsphere. We're rooting for you, Chris!

And sad that Nick at Dimeboxes is taking another leave of blogging duty. Him and Night Owl and Fuji have always been the "big 3" that I looked up to as a card blogger. It's a bummer when he goes quiet.

Best of luck out there, Nick! Hope to see you back to blogging before long.

As for me, my post total for the year will shake out around 30-something posts, vying with last year as my least-ever number of blog posts. But don't worry, guys, I'm not planning on closing up Baseball Card Breakdown any time soon. I don't get around to typing up posts as often as I'd like-- other things distract me from typing away for the hour or two or more it takes me for a typical post-- but I do have plenty left I want to blog about, in addition to the usual "check out these cards I got from Check Out My Cards" and trade recaps, etc. As the world accelerates its burning, I've been trying to wean myself off social media for my mental health's benefit. I'd rather just hang out on my little chunk of the cardsphere with my head in the sand than stress out over all the bullshit and injustice going on, you know? Easier said than done. But yeah, expect more blogging from me in 2025, not less.

Closing out with a Jose Canseco 1986 Donruss Rated Rookie. Just an iconic junk wax era card I've never owned but always kinda wanted. And now I have one. Had hoped to find someone to trade me one for the past few years, but finally gave in and bought the cheapest one on COMC.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading!

Definitely the last Incoming Cardboard Post before the move

Ok, I'm in the middle of moving. It's exhausting. It's times like these that I really wish I didn't have the "collecting gene"! I'm excited to get settled in at the new place, but it's gonna be a lot of work.

Here's the last cards triaged in from my old house. It's a very generous "thanks again for your help" gift from Alex T., whom you may remember for the fantastic guest post he did for Baseball Card Breakdown a few weeks ago about his mission to create a TTM masterpiece featuring Jim Walewander and the Dead Milkmen.

These are a coupe low-key iconic cards that maybe not everybody knows about, but those who know.. know. This pair has been in my Desperate Double Dozen wantlist for several months, so it's great to cross those off the list. Canseco's zero year card with the Expos means I now only need a card with him on the Yankees (a much higher population of card) to complete another 9-card page in the Vagabond Binder. And that box-bottom Doc Gooden is such a perfect shot. Got recycled in Stadium Club not long ago, but hard to beat it on a vintage (excuse the term) 1985 card. Panini needs to go their own version of Project 2021 going and should be sure to include this card among the selections.

But really what Alex wanted to share with me were a couple extras from his big project. I picked these 2 from the few available options because I like how the lyric seems to match with the photo. I forgot to grab a picture of the backs (and now they're all packed up and I may not see them again for weeks... lol!), but the backs are both autographed by Mr. Walewander. Awesome off-the-wall addition to my collection. I need to find strength in the real joy-sparking parts of my collection like this during times I'm overwhelmed at the mountain of cardboard I'm stacking all the way up into the heavens.

Muchos Maas! Alex also kicked up my Kevin Maas PC with this little complete set of Star cards dedicated to the rookie phenom of 1990. I've mentioned it before, but I first started collecting cards in 1990 (Celebrating 30 Years theme), and even though his comet burned as briefly as it did brightly, I still get a thrill of adding new cards of his.

Some other long-time loves of mine, glow-in-the-dark and black gold.

A pair of Padre fan favorites from the time. Silver Signature Bip and a blue signature Dave Staton.

And Bip is back, here snug in the womb of the packs that birthed him so many times. Forever Bipping. Cool to add a couple unopened packs to the Bip Roberts PC.

Big thanks, Alex! Always a pleasure. (If you guys know Alex, ask him to share the story about returning a signed ballcap to the family of a deceased former player. It's something special.)

And thanks to everyone reading. I'll see you on the other side of this move.

Rainbow in the Dark

I'm still living in a giant smoke cloud, stuck inside with record-breaking bad air quality. It's supposed to ease up around Thursday or Friday. At least the wildfires haven't been moving closer to me, but they're still uncontained.

While I wait for the sky to clear and that metaphorical rainbow to stretch over the city, I've acquired a baseball card rainbow. 🌈

Base, Purple (/150), Silver (/99), and Blue (/25). All that's left is the Gold 1/1, but I haven't seen that surface yet. No printing plates are included in the auto set this year, which on one hand is kind of a bummer, but at least there's less for me to worry about. I think my favorite of these is the grey one, with the border matching the Yankees uniform.

According to the back, he still lives in El Cajon, so that's cool. I just did a Shane Spencer PC post last month when I first learned about this 2020 Topps Archives autograph, so I won't rehash too much, but he's a guy who graduated from Granite Hills High School a couple years before I started going there. Neat to think I walked down the same halls and pissed in the same locker room urinals as a future World Series champ. lol. Probably had some of the same teachers, too.

Shane Spencer is the second Topps Archives autograph rainbow I've gone after. The first was back in 2014 when Bip Roberts unexpectedly got a card. What the heck, let's revisit that one real quick.....

Base, Gold (/50), Silver (/25), Purple (/10), Blue (/5), and a couple printing plates. Apparently there's also a 1/1 Red parallel out there, plus the remaining two plates, of course. I still have a saved search for them, so maybe someday I'll add to this group. These parallels are pretty underwhelming thanks to Topps' baffling refusal to modify the 1990 Topps border at all, instead just putting a tint on the background of the photo. The silver looks the same as the base, and the purple looks pretty similar to the "sapphire" (blue). So that's lame. But still a lot of fun piecing together a Bip rainbow.

Rock on.

I wanna be your backdoor man

I'm back with some more "backdoored" stuff for my collection purchased from a certain eBay seller with a large selection of internal proof cards and whatnot that were never intended to make it out into the world.

These Ring Leaders inserts from 1995 Topps Stadium Club are ostentatious enough as they are-- but a slightly oversized proof?! Even more intense! I wanna make this image my desktop background. Looks even better in hand, all nice n' shiny.

For comparison, here's the packed-out version. You can see the edges have been trimmed off of the original artwork. The proof has more of the eagle wing and a bit of Crime Dog's shoe.

I also got a similar Gwynn, but this one has a color bar attached to it too. The googly-eyed Bip is there for scale (and comic relief). These are both blank-backed, btw.

My way of thinking is if you're gonna do the oversized card thing, make it a shiny card. The more shiny, the better.. right? These Power Players inserts from 2000 Topps are pretty cool looking.. and the untrimmed proofs add a little more to the story. These have standard backs. The Nomar was picked up as trade bait, so if any of my Sox-collecting trade buddies want me to set it aside for you, just let me know.

The 2009 Bowman red parallel is an unnumbered proof (regular size). The packed-out versions of this parallel are 1/1. Just a neat little addition for my Xavier Nady PC.

Basketball even got into the action, picking up a pair of shiny untrimmed Tim Duncan proofs. These look great.

Foil-less, untrimmed proofs of Dwight Evans (1992 Stadium Club) and Eric Owens (1996 Topps Gallery).

Some Fleer stuff too. More slightly oversized proofs. 2005 Fleer Classic Clippings Gavin Floyd, Khalil Greene, Brian Giles, and Adrian Beltre.

Some of the big names are priced a bit steep-- occasionally outrageous even-- but Bagwell and Thome here were just a buck each, so I added them to my cart, spicing up those little PCs with an out-of-the-ordinary item. Most of the cards in this post were a buck or two. The Gwynn Ring Leader was the priciest card at $3.

The Hoyt is a blank-back of his 1991 Archives card, a 1953 Topps reprint. Not very exciting, but happy to add another Hoyt to the collection as I work toward my goal of 100 different cards. And yes, I definitely count these backdoored cards in my PC totals, though some collectors may choose not to. Cards like this obviously aren't listed in Beckett or TCDB or whatnot, but I just consider them bonus oddballs. Maybe a step above customs and unofficial sketch cards.

Rod Beck was the star of the order with 8 different cards. As for the two cards that look like dupes, one is blank-backed and the other has a standard back. The 1995 Topps Finest refractor (bottom right) isn't a proof or anything.. just a regular card the seller had that was a good price and I needed it, so I threw it in the cart. It is possibly a backdoored card, but no real way to tell the difference with a packed-out version in this instance, I guess.

Let's close out with a Bip Roberts lot, another of my favorite under-the-radar guys to collect.

Here are the backs. Again, just some quirky PC additions.

Typically, I'm not a fan of oversized cards as they're more of a pain to store, but these cards that are only slightly oversized are still small enough to fit in boxes with the rest of my cards, so it's not too bad. I might just have to put them in team bags instead of penny sleeves.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Bipoffs and Ripoffs

Fuji recently scored a trio of Bip Roberts autographed index cards and challenged me to a Bipoff (asked if I could spice them up). It was his idea to have one each for me, him, and Rod.. basically the only active card-bloggers these days who are Padres fans. Very generous of him! Fuji has shown off the version I made for him. Rod still hasn't gotten around to posting his, but maybe one of these days. And now here's mine.

The effect didn't really work, but it was supposed to sort of have a superfractor background. This is just an overlay; I couldn't bring myself to cut up the index cards since they've got a PSA/DNA sticker on the back, and plus the signatures were so big that it'd be hard to squeeze them down to standard card size. According to baseball-reference, the only time Bip wore #6 in his MLB career was his time in Cleveland.. a stint that lasted only 23 regular season games plus 16 in the postseason, as the Indians won the pennant but fell to the Marlins in the World Series. But I think the autograph might actually be from his minor league days in the mid 80s. (Fuji's index card has a similar signature, and we were able to date that one from 1986.) I'm pretty sure by the 90s, he had simplified his autograph and abandoned this style of signature with the B and R combining. Too bad Bip deleted his Twitter account because I'd love to ask him about this.

Certified! For what it's worth.

Great guy, that Fuji! And then, when in a recent post when I was mentioning I was after a few Sandlot coins from 2018 Archives, he let me know he had some available.

I don't typically go after non-card items, but I'm going for a "master set" of Sandlot cards (not including parallels) and wanted to complete this 5-coin subset. I already had the Squints coin, and I currently have the Ham coin sitting in my COMC inventory waiting for my next shipment, so this part of the goal has now been checked off. Thanks again, Fuji!

Coins can be a pain to store. Here's my go-to way to do it.. stacking them up in a thick top-loader.

I had planned to shoot Fuji over some cards to return the favor, but he said not to worry about it and that these were just a thank-you for the Bip custom. Wow. Again, what a great guy! Thanks, Fuji!

I can't compete with the him and the other most generous folks on the cardsphere, though I try to put together solid trade packages and run a couple contests every once in a while. (I didn't sign up for Secret Santa, though, as stuff like that stresses me out.)

But one thing I've never done in all my years is ever rip anybody off. And this has been on my mind lately because I got an email out of the blue yesterday from a guy accusing me of screwing him over a deal way back in 2008. Yes, a freaking decade ago! His email just said, "Asshole. You never sent it." with a forwarded message he sent me back then asking about a DVD I sold him. I searched my old email and found a Paypal receipt for a $3 payment he made me. I know I've never pulled a "take the money and run" so I have no doubt I mailed out the DVD. His address was listed as Alaska, so I can only assume the DVD got lost in the mail going up north thru the tundra.

While there should be some unwritten statute of limitations after a decade, I pride myself on being an honest man and so I refunded that prick the $3 thru Paypal. No surprise that the garbage person he is (who sends an email to somebody after 10 years with, "Asshole. You never sent it."), he didn't even bother to say "thanks" or "sorry for the way I handled the situation"... nope, no reply from him yet. (The guy's name is Peter Jackson, so maybe he's an asshole because he's sick of people making Lord of the Rings jokes at his expense.) Whatever. I could have just deleted his email and forgotten about it. But it would have nagged at me. Burning three bucks to keep my conscious clear works for me.

As I like to say at least once a year, PLEASE let me know if you think I owe you cards or anything. My worst fear is that I'm on someone's shitlist because they sent me cards and I either didn't receive them or maybe I forgot to send them a return.. I would feel terrible if someone out there is stewing over me. So again, please let me know if I owe you cards.

Here are the people I know I currently owe cards: Billy, John Miller, GCA, mr. haverkamp

I will try to even the score with these guys soon.

As for my personal shitlist (yes, I hold grudges): View From The Skybox never hit me back for a few Gypsy Queen minis I sent him circa 2013. Play At The Plate never hit me back for a PWE with a couple decent Rangers cards circa 2014. Pat at Hot Corner Cards never returned anything for a nice box of Heritage needs I sent him circa 2015. A guy named Brett had me do some Hoyt Wilhelm photoshop work for him, with the promise of sending me back some Hoyt autos and copies of the custom set he was making (what the 'shopped images I made him were for), but he has been unresponsive to my emails for over a year now. Breaks my heart that a Hoyt head would rip off a fellow Hoyt head. [UPDATE: Brett eventually came through in a big way in January 2020! Thank you, Brett!]

And most recently, James (dominicfdny) promised me a stack of 1974 Topps needs in exchange for a few customs of mine. He got them and said "hay Gavin the cards got here 2day and there as awesome as the guys on your blog say thanks again and I want to let u know I'm putting your cards in the mail Saturday cuz I had a situation at home come up sorry for the delay thanks again"

That was way back on October 25th and I haven't received the cards nor gotten a response to my emails checking in since. Hopefully he eventually comes through, but I'm not feeling good about my chances at this point.

But over all, I've had 99% great experiences trading cards online.

Thanks for reading my ramblings!
And always remember:

The Sacred Five

There's an unofficial Blog Bat-Around going around of narrowing down your collection-- if it came down to it-- to just 5 of your favorite collecting passions. Like if your significant other gave you an ultimatum to shed all but the 5 favorite avenues of your collecting pathways. Or maybe times are tough and you just need to sell part of your collection for financial reasons. Whatever the cause, that's a tough question to think about! Let's see how I do.


1. Topps Retired refractor autographs

"My babies!" I credit this product for getting me to dive back into card collecting after a couple decades away. (Topps Archives got me to stick my toe in the water, but Topps Retired got me on top of that diving board.) I like the base cards and regular autos, but the refractor autos are king. If I were forced to split the 3 sets up separately, 2004 is the one I'm keeping, no question (see header), though I'd be sad to see 2003 and 2005 go. Just recently picked up the above '05 Cal Ripken refractor and it's a great looking card!


2. Vintage sets

I'm really proud of building my favorite old sets over the past few years. In order, I completed 1973 Topps, 1971 Topps, and 1965 Topps. Currently working on 1957 and 1964. I've put a lot of time and effort (and $) into these and think I'd feel a big void if I had to part with them. Like, I might not have many Koufax cards, but if his name comes up, I feel good knowing I've got his '65 card, as an example. And all the lesser-known non-star guys filling out the set are fascinating too. Vintage set collecting is great. If money were no object, I'd go nuts on all of them, but as it stands, I just pick a few of my favorites to work on.


3. Player collections

Ok, this one is a cop-out because I think I've got well over a hundred player collections, making up a good portion of my collection as a whole. So for this exercise, I should parse them out (as I organize them in real life) into 3 main categories: HOF (all-time greats I like who are in the Hall of Fame, plus Pete Rose), Retired (fan favorite guys who aren't in the Hall), and Active. If I could only keep one of these 3 buckets, I would probably have to go with the Retired guys, as they are typically the most fun for me to collect. I just finally added Bip's two minor league cards from back before the Padres snagged him in the Rule 5 draft from the Pirates.. and I absolutely love them. (Can you imagine if Pittsburgh held onto Bip? They would have been a championship dynasty of killer B's with Bip, Bonds, Bonilla, Bream, Bob Walk, doug draBek, Rafael Belliard.) Anyways, yeah, I don't think I could give up those PCs. Guys like Dick Allen, Nate Colbert, Bill Madlock, Rod Beck, Ken Caminiti, Fred McGriff, Khalil Greene, Julio Franco.. all high among my favorite guys to collect. It'd be hard to say goodbye to my HOF PCs (Hoyt! No! Gwynn?!) and active PCs (love my good Trout cards), but that's how it goes.


4. Guys From Granite

Collecting cards of guys who went to my high school gives me a personal connection to my collection. "Remember your roots" and all that. Cool to think these guys walked down the same halls as me as a teenager on their way to Algebra II or whatever, and then went on to become pro ballplayers. There might be some "living vicariously through them" stuff going on here.


5. [umm... arg?!!]

Man, that's too much of a Sophie's Choice for me. In the running would be:
Christmas Cards (cards serial numbered 12/25 and 12/24)
Gavins (guys like me named Gavin)
Glow-in-the-dark cards
Modern sets (my completed sets from the 80s plus projects like my 2004 Chrome and 2011 Topps parallel setbuilds)
Pride PC

Gun to my head, I might have to go with my non-sports cards as my final pick. Lumped into that would be my Girlie Cards, Ghostbusters auto set, Goonies auto display, MST3K, Simpsons, and Star Wars cards, among others random stuff.


Stuff that would be first on the chopping block?

Other sports... sorry football, basketball, and hockey.
Random Padres cards.
Various rookies, hits, and "doesn't fit elsewhere in my collection" stuff.
Non-card stuff like figures, bobbleheads, postcards, etc would also be gone, not that I have much to begin with. (Hopefully I could hang on to my small collection of old toys.. GI Joe, Transformers, etc.)

But thankfully, it was all just a theoretical bad dream. I can keep on collecting whatever I want. Whew!

How about you? What would you keep/part-with if it came down to it?
Thanks for reading.


BONUS CONTENT:

On this day in 1989, Bo Jackson leads the AL to victory in the 60th All-Star Game.

Made another animated card gif. Tried something different with the back of an '89 UD. This one isn't taking off on Twitter nearly as well as the Satchel Paige one I made the other day (170 retweets and 450 likes! Wow, that's gotta be my most popular tweet ever), but still fun to make and people seem to like 'em.

I'm wearing Brian Giles' pants right now

Yes, I'm wearing Brian Giles' game used pants right now, no joke, but that's a topic for another day. Lots of incoming cards n' stuff lately piling up, waiting for its moment in the sun on the blog, then to be filed away. Time for a blast of awesomeness.

Oh first, I made a couple new baseball card gifs to show off! I really should do more of these; they're fun and seem to get a good response. I spent some time this morning (took longer than I care to admit) on this Ken Caminiti in honor of what would have been his 55th birthday. He's a favorite of mine.

I also whipped up this Mark Fidrych gif last night to help plug yesterday's post. Love it.

1980 TCMA minor league cards are neat. Just showed off the Fidrych from this set yesterday, and here are a couple other favorites of mine I was happy to pick up. The red borders make me think of McDonald's, though the Julio Franco card is decidedly affiliated with a rival chain.

The Julio Franco card was an eBay win. I took a look at the seller's other items and snagged a couple bonus cards for a buck each including this beautiful Hank Aaron refractor reprint.

The other combined-shipping add was the gold Hoffman. And then the other day I got another minor league card of his for the PC. Still ecstatic he made it to the HOF.

A couple nice new Gavin cards. Score an assist to Doug at the Dollar Store for emailing me with a heads up about upcoming hockey guy Gavin Bayreuther. I was able to pick up this autographed custom for a few bucks. Always cool to add a new "autoGav" to my collection. I wish him a successful career on the ice! And I was also happy to score that Gavin Sheets acetate Leaf Trinity auto for cheap recently. Take a closer look at the upper right corner... Christmas Card, baby!

I got a sweet deal on this lot of 1987 Bohemian Hearth Bread Padres. All the cards are in less-than-mint shape, and I only needed the Gwynn, but it was too good of a deal to pass up. And now I've got dupes for my Templeton and Garvey PCs, with the rest available for any Padres fan who might want to trade. I'm down to just needing Dravecky and Flannery to finish off this oddball set.

Speaking of my Garry Templeton PC, here's my first managerial card of the man.

Another Padres fan favorite, here's a Bip Roberts card from his last year as an active player, bouncing between Detroit and their AAA affiliate before being traded to the A's to wrap up his career in 1998. (I struck out trying to get Bip's early minor league cards from back when he was property of the Pirates.. but one of these days.)

And here's the last Rod Beck minor league card I needed. (Actually, there's apparently a "glossy" version of an '89 San Jose Giants card that I still need.. grrr, can't even escape parallels when dealing with minor league issues.)

And let's close with this lot of Vince Coleman minor league cards. Two from his early days when the world was his oyster, and two from the twilight of his career when he was struggling to stay in the game. Great cards to spice up my little VC PC.

Thanks for reading! I'm going to go take off these pants now!