Finding Tiffany at the Mall

Time for more stuff I picked up at the monthly Portland card show at Mall 205 this past weekend. Back in the late 80s, it wasn't uncommon to find Tiffany at the mall. But turns out here in 2019, you can still sometimes find Tiffany at the mall if you're lucky.

When I came across a modest cache of Topps Tiffany in a 50¢ box, the beating of my heart was the only sound. (Sorry; a reference to Tiffany's hit single.) This Strawberry is a great looking card.

Just in case you're unfamiliar: Topps Tiffany Baseball cards are basically fancy versions of the company’s sets from 1984 through 1991. These premium "Collectors' Edition" factory sets had relatively small print runs. The cards are on bright/white cardstock and the fronts are glossy. The gloss can be tough to spot if the cards are in sleeves or if you're in dim lighting, but the bright backs usually give them away. (There are also Topps Tiffany Traded cards, which are harder to spot since standard Traded cards already feature the better cardstock.)

Pudge! Man, this is a nice card.. even nicer when tiffanied.

SEE?!! Glossy!!

I doubled up on Fisk, also grabbing an '85 record breaker.

Howbout this All-Star trio of First-Balloters? Tiffany! I love it. I even took a look on eBay last month to see what complete sets go for. And ouch-- even the "crappy" sets like '88 Topps are pretty pricey in Tiffany versions. Maybe if I live long enough and amass enough disposable income, I'll put a run of Topps Tiffany sets on my collecting-goals list, but odds are I'll just have to be content with picking up a some singles here and there.

HOFers keep coming with Lasorda and Berra.

And some more that aren't exactly bullseyes for my collection (not guys I collect), but I had to add them to my stack anyways. I could probably be talked out of these above 8 cards in trade, though I may hang onto them just in case I start working on Tiffany sets someday down the line. But even then, it'd likely make more sense to watch for decently priced complete sets on eBay rather than try to piece together by hand.

Ok, ok... These aren't Tiffany, but close, in that they look like standard Topps flagship at first glance, but upon closer inspection are more special. Cousins to the North, O-Pee-Chee. Like Tiffany, I could see myself going after complete sets of these someday once I eventually finish my other collecting pursuits, if that ever happens. But yeah, a nice quartet of stars here I dug up from the same box.

Thanks for reading. If anyone has any stray Topps Tiffany cards among their tradeables, I'd likely be interested in 'em!

Strawberry, way to go!

This Charm Pops album is one of my favorite obscure indie/alternative/pop albums from the 90s. And there happens to be a song on there called "Strawberry" and it even has some baseball references in the lyrics, so I had to upload it to YouTube as a soundtrack to this post.

Back in 2016, I was lucky enough to win a complete base set with SPs of 2016 Allen & Ginter from Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits, one of the cardsphere's premiere A&G collectors, who holds an annual batch of contests around the time the set comes out. I must have some SF Giants style even-year mojo, as I was one of the lucky few here in 2018 too. I wasn't expecting to land my first choice out of the sweet options Matt made available, but it was a wonderful surprise when the package showed up today.

Darryl Strawberry framed mini auto! Love it. I've already got a couple nice Strawberry autos (2004 Retired refractor [as partially seen under the B in "Breakdown" in my header] and a Simpsons custom), but I'm happy to add another one. I enjoy collecting The Springfield Nine, plus Ginter mini autos are always pretty cool. This makes the 2nd such 2018 card I've gotten, with the Tommy Wiseau auto I showed off last post.

Matt was gracious enough to surprise me with a bonus too...

Awesome Mike Trout boxloader!

Since we're still in Blue Tape and Pull Tab Awareness Week, let's look at his packaging.

Very nice. Bubble polymailer (bonus points for it being purple) with the cards snuggly packaged between repurposed pieces of cardboard, with blue tape keeping it together, plus additional bubble wrap around it. No pull tabs, so he'll have to settle for a grade of A-, but not much to complain about here.

Huge thanks for the prize, Matt! Your generosity is very appreciated and always makes Gintertime bright and full of cheer!

COMC pickups + Joy of a Completed Set: 1984 Fleer + joining TCDB

Just got in my first COMC order since last Black Friday. I probably should have waited till the "Spring Cleaning Sale Event" (or whatever) when they might offer free shipping, but I got impatient.

Frank Robinson's getting lots of face time on my blog lately, first with a '57 rookie card the other day, now a couple of legend variations from 2011.

More sweet legends variations, coincidentally three New York players here.

And yet more liquorfractors for my 2011 Topps parallel frankenset. Highlights for me here include the last Padres Cy Young winner, Jake Peavy, and fellow Grossmont College alum, Sean O'Sullivan. 44.86% complete now (576/1284).

Also snagged a half-dozen needs for my 2004 Topps Chrome black refractor parallel set. Can't get enough of these! 28.95% complete now.

Sometimes I search 1957 Topps by cheapest-first and see what needs I can pick up for a buck or less. These are all "filler grade" and I wouldn't mind upgrading them someday (though I'd be fine with an off-condition set), but I'm happy to check them off my wantlist. Regular readers of this blog are likely getting sick of seeing '57 Topps on here, but these will likely be the last of it for a while. Now up to 29.98% complete.. Just a card away from cracking 30%!

More from my COMC order coming soon, but let's end this post with a card generously sent to me by friendly reader Fred S...

This Rickey Henderson brings me to 100% complete on 1984 Fleer! It's a very nice looking set. I never had many cards from it in my collection, but always liked it. Feels great to own the complete set now. (Would love to compliment it with the '84 Fleer Update set, though that one might be tougher to complete thanks to Clemens and Puckett. Maybe someday!) And like '83 Topps before it, I completed this one entirely through trading, no purchases, which makes it a bit more special to me. Got it done pretty quickly, too. Night Owl got the build going just last August.

Big thanks for the generous PWE, Fred!
(He also included a 2017 Bowman Chrome Gavin Lux.) Check him out on the Trading Card Database, user CubinSTL and CubinSTLSets. One of these days I'll figure out how to use TCDB and dig up something to return the favor.

In fact, I just went ahead and registered (user defgav), and while I don't think I'll ever enter my entire collection to the site, I'll likely try to use it to work up some trade help for sets and whatnot. Any TCDB users have tips for me?

Darryl Strawberry custom Simpsons auto!!

A few weeks ago I got an email from a guy who works at the card store Dave & Adam's who said he dug my Simpsons customs and that Darryl Strawberry was scheduled to do a signing in their store. We worked out a deal where I hooked him up with some Strawberry customs and in turn he got me an autograph at the signing.

Turned out awesome! Thanks, man!

Darryl was super cool and he was pretty excited about the card. He laughed and said, "I haven't ever seen one of these before. This brings back memories."

Nice! I love when a subject gets a kick out of one of my customs and I can break up the monotony for them.. You gotta figure they've signed thousands of the same few mainstream cards over and over for years.

I whipped up a dumb little back for it and stuck it on after the fact.

I would love to someday get autographed Simpsons customs for all MLBers who've ever guested on the show. That won't be easy, especially since most of them aren't known as good through-the-mail signers, but hey, never say never. Now I've got Strawberry to go with my first such success, Wade Boggs.

Thanks for swinging by.

April may be the cruelest month, but the April card show was very kind to me

Oh man! Today was one of those days that card collectors dream about. First off, it was the monthly card show day. Scored a bunch of good cards there. Plus I ran into Padrographs Rod who hooked me up with a big bag of probably a couple thousand cards. Then I met Ken from Cardboard Hogs for the first time and he gave me a sweet Gavin Escobar relic. Always cool to meet a fellow cardblogger in person. Then I came home to find a contest win from Summer of 74 (by way of Tony L.) plus one of my coolest TTM returns ever (well, not technically a TTM, but rather an in-person autograph done by proxy).

Wow, I'm not even sure where to start as far as posting about the new cards. Well, the lot from Rod will take several days, if not weeks, to sort through, so that'll have to wait.

I made 2 purchases at the card show: 57 cards for $41 from my regular dealer Bill's 7/$5 bins, and then 60 cards from a nickelbox for $2.

Let's go ahead and start with a post on the 57 cards for $41. For added entertainment, I got to listen to Bill talk about his marital drama with another older gentleman while I thumbed through his cards. I'll spare you the details, but it was pretty juicy. I hope he and the mrs. are able to work things out.

Best foot forward here with a couple impressive autographs. I was surprised to find this Wade Davis Chrome RC refractor /499 in there for under a buck. I'll hang onto it then sell it for a big profit when he saves Game 7 this November. And the Vlad auto isn't certified, but sure looks legit to me.. nice addition to that PC.

Permission to approach the bench? Aaron Judge has been carrying the Yanks on his ample shoulders so far this season. Had to get onboard the bandwagon and grab a couple of his cards. Sustained!

Corey Seager's still hot, right?

I love those Leaf Signature cards and will pretty much always pick up any I don't think I have if the price is right. And the Beltre 1st Bowman has some chipping up top, but it's the International parallel, so I thought it was worth it. (Checking it online right now, none available on COMC and the cheapest on eBay is $18.49.. so yes, was definitely worth it.)

Crazy 90s diecuts! Big Hurt and Crime Dog.. solid players, oddly shaped cards.

My love for wave refractors is well documented on this blog. Pretty cards!

Johnny Bench and Roberto Clemente black Gypsy Queen minis, each #'d /199. Couldn't throw these on to my stack fast enough! Well, the Clemente for sure.. the Bench I debated about for a few seconds.

Here's the vintage-y portion of this haul. Darryl Strawberry will be prominently featured on this blog soon (foreshadowing!). The Yaz decle is a bit beat up, but could be worse. And the '74 Seaver is a cool card.

A trio of /199 gold parallels from 2013 Archives.

Early '00s Donruss serial numbered cards. Thome /2500, Bonds /1381, Arod /623.

Some Bowman parallels and such. Manuel Margot is a guy I really like collecting, so was excited to find that green refractor #'d 12/99.

More cards. Another early Wil Myers "catcher prospect with the Royals" card for the PC. Don't know who Ryan Boldt is, but took a flyer on this card #'d 17/25. I can't say no to Stephen Strasburg cards where he's pictured in his SDSU uniform. Go Aztecs!

A couple Topps Tribute blue parallels, #'d /199. Paul Molitor and Tony Perez.. nice cards.

Some Triple Threads numbered parallels.

I came into a rich deposit of relic cards, and just grabbed them all, which will close out this post. I collect Billy Hamilton and Cutch, though the Hanley is available if any of my Sox trader buddies wants it.

Some Team USA relics. Not familiar with these guys besides Cavan Biggio. I think Craig meant to name his son "Gavin" but coughed and accidentally named him Cavan instead, sadly. These are available for trade, I suppose.

Last card of the post. Surprised to find this sweet-ass triple relic #'d 36/36 for under a buck! I don't collect Carlos Martinez, but it'll make for solid leverage next time I'm working out a deal with a Cardinals fan.

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by! Plenty more fun cards to show off this coming week.

The Simpsons custom set for Homer at the Bat

A couple years ago, I did a blog series called The Simpsons Fortnight where each day I posted about a player who guested on the classic "Homer at the Bat" episode of The Simpsons (it ended up not lasting the full fortnight I had originally planned, but I did cover all 9 players from the episode). Each post featured a couple junk-era custom jpg's using images from the show. This was back before I was making hardcopy customs, though a while later with the help from a guy I knew, I did make a limited run of magnet cards featuring some (not all) of the virtual Simpsons cards I had whipped up.

Anyways, now that I've gotten the hang of printing out customs, I had been meaning to make hardcopy customs out of these designs. And so that's what I did!

The autographed Simpsons cards from my recent Wade Boggs-centered contest were easily the most popular of the 3 designs I made, based on the response in the comments. It was no surprise when both contest winners chose that one. (That means I still have a couple each of the Cheers card and the Always Sunny card available for trade, BTW.)

The other catalyst for this project came from negotiating a trade with a reader named Josh, who had a couple nice cards I was interested in, and to seal the deal, he inquired about a set of my Simpsons customs. So I've spent a few hours over the past fortnight cleaning up those original digital customs from 2014, as well as creating backs for them, and making them a physical reality.

So without further ado, I present to you The 2016 Baseball Card Breakdown Simpsons "Homer at the Bat" Custom Card Set!

Wade Boggs cards from The Simpsons

Jose Canseco cards from The Simpsons

Roger Clemens cards from The Simpsons

Ken Griffey, Jr cards from The Simpsons

Don Mattingly cards from The Simpsons

Steve Sax cards from The Simpsons

Mike Scioscia cards from The Simpsons

Ozzie Smith cards from The Simpsons

Darryl Strawberry cards from The Simpsons

Cool stuff, huh?

As with most of my customs, these are up for trade. Drop me an email if interested.
(Sorry, but these are not for sale. It's just too much of a headache from a legal standpoint.)

And if you missed out on the original blog series (it didn't get much traffic at the time), here are links to all 9 posts:

Wade Boggs

Jose Canseco

Roger Clemens

Ken Griffey, Jr.

Don Mattingly

Steve Sax

Mike Scioscia

Ozzie Smith 

Darryl Strawberry

80s cards.. well 77-87, actually (card show recap)

Next up, here are some cards dating from the 80s that dug out of discount bins at the recent card show.

Here's a card that I could only dream of owning back in my early collecting days. One of my best friends collected Strawberry as his #1 guy, but I don't think even he had this card. But yeah, now I have a RC to go along with my Darryl auto.

Continuing with more 1984 Fleer, a cool set that's very underrepresented in my collection, here are couple new additions to my Yaz PC. The big 3 card companies all put out cards in the same vein as that "Retiring Superstars" card, but only Fleer went the extra mile and also gave the man a true final tribute / sunset card...

Glorious complete career stats. --well, almost! I guess they couldn't quite fit his 1961 stats. At least they gave it a good effort.

A couple mid 80s semi-oddballs from guys I semi-collect. Can't remember if I already had that 85 Leaf Reggie, but let's hope that dime wasn't spent in vain. I believe that bizarro 86 Topps Fisk is a box bottom, right? It appears to have been cut out.

I'm a sucker for mid 80s Fleer. I've always had so little in my collection that it seems fresh to me. Love that "Ouch!" card, though a photo of Baylor actually getting plunked would help it. And I couldn't resist that gem mint David Cone 87 Donruss rookie for a dime.

Ok, now we're cheating and getting into the late 70s a little. That Eddie Murray second-year has some nasty creasing I didn't notice when I bought it, but oh well.

I've needed this card for my Bill Madlock collection for a while. The fact it's also an early George Brett appearance has made it tougher for me to track down cheaply.

I ripped a lot of 82 Topps when I originally started collecting back in the early 90s.. My LCS had some boxes and it was the closest thing to vintage I could ever dream to open. I pulled the Ripken (still probably my greatest pull ever), but there were a few other big cards that eluded me, such as this Hrbek RC. So it feels rewarding to pick it up finally. (Still need the Chili Davis.)

I already had one of these Jack Morris rookie cards, but when I noticed this one was signed, I went ahead and threw it on my stack. Pretty sweet.

That's it for this time.