Stargell, Star Wars, and Sopranos (trades n such)

Here I'm watching the finale of The Sopranos. I hate watching more than one "heavy" show at a time, so really wanted to finish it off before Game of Thrones comes back this weekend.

Some good fellas sent me trade packages I couldn't refuse this past week, over here.

Love these customized penny sleeves from Brian at Collecting Cutch from this runner-up prize for posting my favorite PC guy Top 10 Cards a few weeks back. These are going into my Cutch PC as-is!

Trouts and a Harper. Nice!

Xander! So close to a final All-Star spot. Keep it up, kid!

Nice selection of recent random Padres.

And the hits from Brian include a random auto (Ji-Man Choi, currently on the Yankee's bench) and a beautiful Christmas Card of Willy Garcia (made his MLB debut with the White Sox earlier this year).

Very nice. Big thanks for your generosity, Brian! I'll keep an eye out for rare Cutches for ya.

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Next up is a PWE from Sport Card Collectors.

Loved this Billy Williams red parallel from '17 Archives when I saw it on SCC's blog and said I'd be happy to take it. I think it's a great looking card. I essentially traded a base Aaron Judge Archives RC for it. Will it turn out to be a dumb deal on my part? We'll see! Oh well, it was a dupe for me, anyways. This Sweet-Swinging Billy is #'d 11/25 (Sometimes-Thanksgiving Card?).

A couple Wils and an Anderson. Think I've already got the Myerses, but lovin' that Espinoza refractor (/499).

(Oh good, a main bad guy just got killed. Was hoping for that. #Sopranos)

SCC also threw back to a couple old-tyme Padres. While I don't like buybacks that much, one cool thing with them is they allow you to add cards to dormant PCs of guys who haven't had new ("new") cards in decades. As is the case with that Dave Staton '91 Bowman.

And when I first saw the back of that '71, I was excited to get an upgrade to my 1971 Topps set, and funny to say but I was a little disappointed when I turned it around and saw it was autographed. LOL. (Nobody ever sends me vintage set needs!) Don't really know the name Bob Barton. But nice card, anyway.

Big thanks, SCC!

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Next is a PWE from reader T. Henson.

Good stuff. Needed that Altuve. Think I might've needed that Bryce. Pretty sure I've got the Floyd.

And a few more Myerses. Pretty sure I've already got these, but I appreciate the thought regardless. In fact, inspired by this trade package, I'm going to go ahead and move Wil Myers off my active wantlist into my 100 Card Club (I haven't actually counted yet, but I'm pretty sure he's in.) Boom.

Thanks, T! I'll get some Indians off to you ASAP.

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(Tony Soprano always reminds me of my old friend Chris, and not just because he's a big, balding white guy.
I can't believe Jr. lasted the whole series! #sopranos)

Last pack for the day is from Matt over at Heartbreaking Cards. I think this was our first trade, though I've read his blog for a long time. I hooked him up with cards for his freshly started Bill Madlock PC. He hit me back with a great selection:

Fantastic lot of Willie Stargell.

(Oh shit, "Don't Stop Believing" started. #Sopranos)

Kitty Kaat! Pretty sure I needed all these.

Love Dick Williams. Think I had that '88, but the All-Time Sox card is new for sure.

Dick Allen in the house! Some upgrades for me here, including the Kmart card with a clean back (my previous copy had a gum stain on the back).

And the centerpiece of the package: a bunch of Star Wars 40 needs. Would love to finish off his set before my big b-day coming up near the end of the year. I'm now 30 cards short. Anybody with available cards to trade from this set, check out my wantlist and drop me a line!

(quick cut to black. The end. #Sopranos)

Thanks, Matt!!

RIP Tony. RIP my Uncle Joe.
Thanks for reading.

Awesomeness is a Virtue

Daniel from It's Like Having My Own Card Shop was the lucky winner of my latest contest (for the Stranger Things customs), and while he definitely didn't have to, he very kindly sent me a thank you gift:

Ka-Boom! It's not often you get surprised with a card of that magnitude. And I know Daniel is a huge Dbacks/Goldy fan, so for him to part with this card says a lot!

Paul Goldschmidt 2014 Five Star auto Rainbow Foil parallel #'d 12/25. Christmas Card of a top tier guy I collect: direct bulls-eye for my collection! Thanks so much, Daniel!

He even threw a few Gavin Floyd cards along for the ride. Sweet!

Again, huge thanks, man! I really appreciate it.

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I also recently got a great package from Mark Hoyle.

Check it out! 1939 Play Ball #60 Schoolboy Rowe Detroit Tigers RC. I sure love getting neat old pre-war (or thereabouts) vintage cards. Mark told me he recently came into a lot of Play Ball cards and ended up with a few extras to spread around. He picked this one to send me because Schoolboy Rowe has San Diego ties, finishing his pitching career in 1950 with a stint on the PCL Padres. Very cool.

As for the Yaz.. could you fill me in, Mark? The back is a standard "peel here" sticker thing, with no real identification or anything. The corners are perfectly sharp, so I'm assuming this isn't a true vintage sticker..? Regardless, it's a nice addition to my Yaz PC.

Some Sox, with a 2016 Paw Sox pocket schedule featuring Travis Shaw and Mookie Betts. Plus a Bowman card of current Padre Manuel Margot.

Goldy makes his second appearance of the post, this time on a 2016 National Baseball Card Day card I had been hoping someone would send me. Also a Dick Williams senior league card and a Garry Templeton tattoo, great oddball additions to those respective PCs.

While I try to limit my collection to cards-only, I make exceptions for top-tier dudes I collect, and Dick Allen is definitely one of them. Terrific to add these vintage Sports Illustrated magazines to my collection. The one on the left is a badass photo of Allen juggling in the dugout whilst a cigarette dangles from his mouth. And the issue on the right features a cover photo from his one year in St. Louis. Dick Allen as a Cardinal is something you don't see very often these days. Love it!

Great stuff.. huge thanks, Mark! I just dropped a package off for you the other day, so expect it soon.


Thanks again to Daniel and Mark.. a couple of the cardsphere's awesomest mofos and we're lucky to have them in our little community.

Blurring the lines between contest winnings and trades

I seem to have settled on a weekly trade roundup post every Tuesday or Wednesday. Maybe Monday would make more sense, but I typically fall behind with blog reading over the weekend and then end up spending my free time Monday trying to catch up, so often I'm unable to get a post of my own off on Mondays.

Let's get going with this week's roundup...
It was just about three weeks ago that I showed off some cards sent to me from Jeff Jones (with the Jedd Gyroko auto Christmas Card being the big highlight). I figured Jeff was just starting up another blind trade, and so I scrounged up a return bunch of Braves soon thereafter. But then I realized that what Jeff sent was actually my prize for being a winner in his Super Bowl contest. So I had actually begun a new trade circuit rather than completed an old one. Rather than simply accept the cards I sent as a "thanks for the contest" gift (which would have been completely fine), Jeff was quick to shoot another batch of cards my way. Nice guy!

Check out this great lot of 1979 Kellogg's! A bunch of guys I collect in there.

Colin Rea made the club after a solid spring training, but that's all I really feel like saying about the Padres right now. I caught an inning or so of their opener against the Dodgers and it was painful. Looks like it's gonna be a long, depressing season for San Diego fans. Again.

Also included here is another 2011 Topps parallel for my frankenset, an awesome minor league Giancarlo, and BOOM a Gavin Escobar auto #'d /299, plus it pictures him in a SDSU Aztecs uniform with logos left intact.. nice!

Thanks again, Jeff!

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Next up..
Fuji was a lucky winner in my big 700th Post contest a while back. He was so happy with the prize package, that he decided to surprise me with a mailing of cards to say thanks. That's some cardsphere generosity, right there! He obviously didn't have to do that, but I'm not one to turn down cards.

This quartet of autos kicks off the package with a bang. Love the Kevin Kouzmanoff auto. His might be my most impressive passive PC, meaning I've accumulated a pretty sweet Kooz collection without really trying.
Mark Loretta is another Padres fan favorite guy.
I had to look him up, but Walker Weickel is a big right-hander the Padres drafted out of high school in 2012 (55th overall) who has been creeping his way up through the minor leagues with mixed success.
And of course, a Fuji auto, this one in the style of 2015 Topps. These are always cool to get, though I must admit it's a dupe for me. Would it be weird to send out another blogger's personal card in a trade package? LOL. Maybe eBay?

Here we've got a couple neat dufex cards, a Target parallel, and a Gwynn diecut.

And some more Gwynns and other Padres of the past and present. That's a cool looking McGriff I don't think I had yet.

Great stuff. Thanks again, Fuji!

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Here's a funny one. I recently won a contest from Sport Card Collectors (remember the Game of Thrones Hobbit 1/1 art card).. well, soon after that, SCC surprised me with a "thanks for winning my contest" bonus PWE! Ha, ok, maybe that wasn't the purpose of it, but that's what it felt like. Maybe it was a consolation prize because I came in 2nd in his subsequent contest. Can you imagine if I won two of his contests back-to-back in such a short time span? He might have to lay a lifetime ban on me! Haha, no, what kind of prick would do something like that?

This tight 4-card blast featured a gold theme to it, with 3 gold parallels, plus a red one. I think the Wil Myers is my favorite here, though the Headley #'d /199 is pretty sweet.

Very cool.. thanks, SCC! I'll drop a few Yankees and/or NY Giants your way soon.

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Finally for today..
This one doesn't have anything to do with a contest. A Darryl Strawberry supercollector named Eric found out about the Darryl cards included in my Simpsons custom set and he got in touch to inquire if I had any other Strawberry customs kicking around he might be able to procure. It turns out I did have a spare magnet card from a while back. Eric was down for that, and we quickly agreed on an easy trade.

Some top guys I collect here, with most of these being needs for me.. Gaylord Perry, Dick Williams, Dwight Evans, and Bill Madlock.

So many Julio Franco cards! I must have cracked 100 different cards by this point. I need to sort out all I got and weed out dupes.

And we close with the main card of the trade.. the elusive 1984 Donruss Tony Gwynn. This may have been the final card I was missing from Tony's mainstream/flagship runs. I need to do another big sort to check what I'm missing (yeah, I'm definitely not one of those guys who keeps good records of his collection), though I think now I've got all the main base cards from his career. That's a quite a milestone for me, though probably something I should have accomplished long ago seeing as Tony's my all-time favorite player.

Thanks again, Eric!

Checking in with 1964 and 1965 (feat. Mays, Clemente, and Aaron)

Creeping along in my progress to complete these vintage sets.

Reader Nick K. emailed me a couple weeks ago saying he's working on '64 as well and had plenty of doubles to trade. I ended up with a nice lot from him.
Some highlights!

Here's one of the biggest cards of the set, the legendary Willie Mays! The card is a bit miscut, but I think it works in this instance. It's hilarious! Willie seems to be yelling at the left border for screwing up his card. "What da hell you think you doing making this card all 'bout you?! You get back in your place dis minute, ya hear?!"

A few other big names.

And some more.

Those were just some of the bigger names from the lot of 80+ cards Nick sent. With his help, I'm now at 23% complete with '64 Topps. Pretty good considering I only really decided to go after this set a month or two ago!

Thanks again, Nick. Best of luck with your setbuild.

These were a couple separate Listia wins. Gotta love Wally Moon. Turns out I would get a Johnny Callison in Nick's lot, so it was pretty much a waste of credits. Oh well.

Now onto 1965.

My bro P-town Tom surprised me with a PWE with this beauty earlier this week. Very appreciated! I'm now at 47% complete with 1965 Topps.

Tom also included a pocket schedule from the Padres' magical season of 1998. Very cool. Thanks for the PWE, Tom! Hopefully my return has shown up safely by now.

And lets close out with another vintage set I'm kinda-sorta working on.

These 2 were overpriced Listia wins. I haven't even rounded up my 1957 Topps cards yet, but I probably only have a dozen or so. That's something for down the road. But picking up a new Dick Williams (a PC / Pads in the Hall guy) is always good.

So that's the recap of the vintage sets I'm currently working on. And yes, 1971 Topps is conspicuously absent in this post.. I seem to have stalled at around 3/4 complete with it. I haven't been motivated to go out of my way picking up needs for it, and they haven't been falling in my lap lately. But I'm sure it'll progress along eventually. No rush. I'm still basking in the afterglow of polishing off 1973 Topps last weekend.

Take care, everybody.

This is a post about a superhero named Tony L.

Seems like I traded a few times with Off-Hiatus Tony about a year ago. But in recent months, he's been busy with important career stuff, and I've been, well, pretty much tapped on Brewers to send him.

But he dropped a damn fine package of cards on me the other day.

If you'd be so kind as to let me, I'd like to show you some cards he sent.

A whopping four TTM autos of guys I collect, including my first Bird signature. Incredible! To date, I've never done a TTM. I thought about it this year, but didn't get around to it and now it's probably too late to hit the sweet spot of early spring training. Maybe next year. I would love for one of you bloggers out there to post a "how to" sometime just to help me get a good grasp on how it's done. I know the basics aren't hard to understand, but there are some nuances I'm unclear about.

Also included is a ticket from the 1984 National featuring Mickey Mantle (my "ticket to randomland" as Tony's friendly note called it). That's a neat item!

Too Many McCoveys!

Some great Rollie and Gaylord cards.

More Cy-winning Padres.

The mortal enemy of the 9-pocket page: non-standard sized oddballs! Love the Ozzie 79 reprint mini encased in it's own little stand (Ozzie's 90 Topps is featured on the reverse).

A couple more cards I needed of dudes I collect.

Tony likes when people post Clash songs, so here's one for him..

Tommy Gun would've been a cool nickname, but I guess Tom Terrific is fine too. Love this lot of Seavers. Looks like 3½ of these cards share the same picture.

Some pairs of Padre greats.

Closing out with a few more Padres. That Andrew Cashner emerald parallel has clearly been enchanted by a leprechaun. Nothing wrong with that.

Thanks a ton, Tony! I've had a few cards set aside for you for a while, and will keep an eye out for more Brewers at the card show tomorrow.(!!)

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Card Show Recap! My biggest and smallest buys ever

Yesterday was a big day for me. First, brushed up my resumé and cover letter to apply for a promising new job (I'm still employed, but probably won't make it through October). Then I had to squeeze in a quick run to the card show and be home in time for midday shopping and lunch with the wife and mother-in-law. (BTW, the grocery store had no random old hobby boxes this time.) From there, my mother-in-law dropped my wife and I off at a big music festival, Project Pabst. As the name implies, it was put on by PBR, so there was a lot of cheap beer on hand.

This post will focus on the card show haul, but I'll try to weave in a little concert review as well.

First up at the fest was K-Flay, a lady rapper, and the act my wife was most excited for. I wasn't expecting to like her much, but she definitely won me over. Super cute, too.

While I was under the gun for time, I was efficient and it turned out to be my most prolific card show to date, picking up cards from 4 different dealers.

First thing through the door, a nickel box caught my eye. The guy obviously ripped a ton of recent stuff and these were mostly the base cards. For 5¢ each, I found a bunch of cards to take home.

Let's see: J.P. Crawford (Phillies prospect I'm not familiar with, but thought it was a neat-looking diecut), Philip Rivers xfractor, Jimmie Johnson (my former classmate), Smoltz, a couple Kershaws, Miggy, Pedro, a McCovey mini, and some various Bowman base.

You math majors out there may have calculated all those nickel cards add up to 75¢. I didn't have change or want to break a one, so I poked around in his other boxes for a quarter card to fill out my dollar purchase (the smallest card show total for me to-date).

I ended up with lil' Julio Urias to be my missing piece. The dealer saw it and asked if I was a Dodgers fan. I scoffed and explained I picked out the card because I've heard of this kid being an upcoming phenom.. might as well grab a card of him.

The second act we caught was the Violent Femmes. The first real rock show I ever saw was the Violent Femmes way back on the very day the Chargers lost the Super Bowl. It was pretty cool to see them again nearly 20 years later. First they played their classic debut album in its entirety, then some other favorites, closing with my personal fav, "American Music".

Second purchase was a quick dig through another dealer's dollar box. I picked up a Lincoln's worth.

The first card that got my attention was the Super Gaylord, a nice hit for my PC. Couldn't pass up that Bert Campaneris RC in gem mint condition.. same with the pristine '68 Dick Allen, a definite upgrade for me. A Hoyt deckle and Clemente oddball round out the purchase.

Now I'm skipping ahead to the end, both of the concert and the card show, in an attempt to save the best for last. Tears For Fears closed out the show. Quick story, when I was a little tyke in the mid 80s, before I was even really "into music", I have a memory of rollerskating at somebody's birthday party at the late Aquarius Roll-A-Rena in La Mesa, CA. Most of the music they played there didn't register with me at all, but I distinctly remember hearing "Everybody Wants to Rule The World" and thinking to myself, "Wow, this is a great song!" So I've been a fan of the band for a long time, and this was my first time ever seeing them. That was pretty great.

Another dollar bin dig, this dealer I've bought from a couple times before. He's a quirky character and always seems to have a bunch of good cards.

They were actually less than a buck each, I think 7 for $5. A few cards not pictured I bought really just for their cases. Like that basketball card on the right, there? Yeah, I mainly got it for its crazy refractory case. The best of this lot has got to be the vintage.. checking off a nice 59 Dick Williams I needed, and a Johnny Bench for my 73 setbuild, plus a sweet Stargell. And there's a couple 89 rookie cards that have evaded me throughout the years, with the Bowman Griffey and UD Randy Johnson. A couple Gwynn inserts round out the lot.

The band that inspired me to shell out for a ticket to this event was Rocket From The Crypt, one of my all-time favorites, and perhaps the most notable rock band to ever come out of my hometown of San Diego. I was there for their "final show" several years back. They recently reunited to rock out some nostalgia and make a few bucks. Good for them. They put on an excellent show, and even my wife who's not into them at all (much to my chagrin), had to admit their set was a lot of fun.

My big purchase of the morning, and in fact my largest card show pick up ever, came from a guy with a bunch of vintage (not my regular "vintage guy", though.. didn't see him this time.) For $60, I picked up some big-name needs for my 73 set plus a gem of a card.

A half-dozen A-Listers to check off my needslist for 73 Topps. A who's-who of star pitchers from the time, plus Fisk's iconic 2nd-year card. The Steve Carlton is a bit creased, and some cards have corner issues, but overall in nice shape (The mark on Gibson's chin is from the top-loader/flash, not on the card.)

And now for the star of my card show haul:

1958 Topps Roberto Clemente! Clemente-mber goes out with a bang! This gorgeous card is now my oldest Clemente, the only one I've got from the 50s. The corners aren't perfect, but it's actually in really nice shape.. perhaps even the best conditioned card out of all my vintage Clementes.

Love this card. By the way, check back tomorrow for what may be-- not to oversell it-- the greatest Roberto Clemente themed baseball card blog post of all time. I'm excited for it.

Anyways, there's a recap of the card show and music festival, both making for a big, fun-packed day for me. Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share the tale with you!