Gary Carter and the rise of the Christmas Eve Cards

Back around Christmastime, I posted announcing a new niche minicollection I intended to grow in 2017: Christmas Eve Cards (any card serial numbered 12/24). They're sort of like harder to come by relatives of 12/25 cards, not only because there's one less produced, but because card companies rarely use 24 as a print run for parallels. We're off to a good start this year already, recently landing a new "best card" for this little group:

Gotta love Gary Carter. His pure love for the game always shined through. HOFer, 11-time All-Star, Expos legend, key part of the '86 Champion Mets. Looks like he was filled with the holiday spirit, finishing with 1225 career RBI. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I'd like to believe it was his subtle nod to ol' Kris Kringle, calling it quits once he reached that magical number. Haha, no, I'm kidding of course.. a deeply religious man, his RBI total was clearly a tribute to the Baby Jesus.

Normally I'm not a fan of stickergraphs, but this one can be forgiven by the fact that this auto card wouldn't be possible otherwise. It's from 2014 Topps Tribute. Gary sadly lost his battle with brain cancer in early 2012, well before this card could have gone into production. Topps must've had a few sheets of signed stickers from him still on hand, as they included Gary Carter autos in a couple products that year. Looks like that was the last year you could have pulled his auto, without resorting to cut signatures.

And I think I like this style of auto sticker-- holographic scroll effect-- better than the "clear piece of scotch tape" style that is used more often these days. You're not fooling anybody with that.

So that's a nice crown jewel of my Xmas Eve cards, but I also went on COMC to score some more. Unfortunately they don't make it easy for you to search by specific serial numbers (How I would love to be able to just type in "12/24" or "12/25" and see everything available with that serial number, but that doesn't work). However, you can do a search and then sort it by print run.. 1/1s through unnumbered cards. I know that Donruss/Panini Elite often has gold parallels numbered to 24, so I did a search for that product line, made my way to the /24 cards, and picked up a few that were #'d 12/24 and reasonably priced. Let's check 'em out...

Elvin Hayes is a HOFer who got his professional start with the San Diego Rockets (How am I from San Diego and didn't know that the Houston Rockets started as an expansion team in San Diego? In my defense, they were only there for a few years and had moved to Houston before I was born.) though he had most of his success with the Bullets. This card commemorates the neat fact that Elvin played 50,000 minutes in his career.. not "over 50,000" or "about 50,000" but exactly 50,000. It's a little hard to see, but dangling out of his shorts is the 12/24 serial number.

Speaking of sports teams leaving San Diego (***grr.. fucking Chargers ownership***), I was happy to see QB Philip Rivers in my search results, a guy I kinda collect despite my conflicting feelings about the Chargers these past few years. At this point, the team is dead to me, but I'm mainly a player-collector after all is said and done, so whatever. I'm just thankful my interest in football has majorly deteriorated since I moved out of San Diego, otherwise this turn of events would sting a lot more. But anyways, yeah, this is a sweet 12/24 card.

Here are a couple more football pickups. Trent Green is a name that's vaguely familiar to me as a casual football fan. He was originally drafted by the Chargers, then went on to get a Super Bowl ring with the Rams (though their championship run was largely due to his backup Kurt Warner filling in). Trent then had a couple Pro Bowl seasons with the Chiefs.
As for Derrick Ross, he's bounced around with 10 teams since this 2006 RC came out. He's currently with the arena Jacksonville Sharks.

Back to basketball, Tyler Hansbrough was a big deal at UNC, leading the Tar Heels to the 2009 NCAA championship, and has since played for the Pacers, Raptors, and Hornets. Ömer Aşık helped Turkey win the silver medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, and currently plays in the NBA with the New Orleans Pelicans. Quentin Richardson played with various NBA teams from 2000 through 2013 and is currently director of player development for the Detroit Pistons.

We'll close today back with baseball. You might have noticed that most of these Elite cards are diecut into wacky shapes. This one might be the oddest of them all. It's just... why? But it's shiny and proudly features an extra thick "12/24" foil pressing, so I frickin' love it! Googling Joe Kennedy will give you a ton of results for The Kennedy Joe Kennedy. But narrowing the search down to baseball, I can tell you that this Joe.. oh man, he died from a heart issue in 2007 at 28. That's sad. Turns out he was from my old stomping grounds of East County San Diego, and is a Guy From Grossmont, attending the same JC as me, Grossmont College. So this card hits 2 of my narrowest niche minicollections. Wow.

So yeah, there you have a bunch of cards numbered 12/24. Great to add to this fun stack of mine, and interesting to learn about these players that I otherwise wouldn't be likely to seek out for my collection.

Duke Snider and Gary Carter autos to show off (+ more prize details)

I just wanted to show off shiny autos of a couple greats I've picked up recently.

I always keep an eye out for Retired refractors, as I work on my 2004 Retired auto set. When this Duke Snider from 2005 popped up with a great BIN price, I jumped at it. Great looking card! I just realized thanks to a Frankendodger post that this photo is recycled from his 1962 Topps card.

#'d /25 with glorious full career stats.. even those forgotten stints with the Mets and Giants.

This Gary Carter is a great addition to my Archives Reserve Master Set project.

It was neat to realize Duke and Gary suited up for the same organizations, with Carter spending a year each with the Dodgers and Giants at the end of his career. So that kinda ties this post together a little.

Duke never played for the Expos, but coached and broadcasted for them after his career wrapped up.

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Ok, have you entered my big 800th Post contest yet? I'll probably keep the entry window open a few more days.

I want to sweeten the pot to reward loyal readers of the blog, so I'm throwing in a conditional bonus. If the grand prize winner has posted a comment on a non-contest post of mine in 2016 prior to this contest, included in the grand prize will be a set of "series one" of the 2016 Baseball Card Breakdown Hostess-style customs. I call it series one just because it's the cards I've made so far, but will probably make a few more ("series two") before the year is up.

Thanks for reading!

a nickelbox haul not for the faint of heart

Ready for more card show pickups? Here are a couple bucks' worth of nickelbox cards.

Dwight Evans 2nd-year? J.R. F'ing Richard? Both in pretty good shape for a nickel!

I already had that classic "bat-barrel" Wallach rookie, to be honest (pack-pulled by me back in the early 90s), but I had the crazy notion to start collecting every copy of every Tim Wallach card ever. Two down! As for that Goose, how the fudge do I not remember heretofore ever seeing this epically ugly card?! Let's take a closer look at his dying-fish face, checking out the reflection in his glasses.

Sorry for doing this to you:

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Our left (Goose's right) seems to have another player standing near, and on the right is the photographer snapping the infamous shot. Meanwhile, Goose is pondering how long he can survive out of water. My god! Somebody at Donruss in late 1982 was looking through photos of Rich Gossage and said, "Let's use this one." I hope he refuses to sign this card.

1985 is represented nicely with a Sabes RC and Gary Carter OPC with the ever-desirable bonus updated text.

Here's a mishmash of 90s and early 00s. Let's see.. some Bowman.. an Ortiz.. amateur Konerko.. Vlad tek (That guy was a beast in his prime).. Robbie-- I didn't even know Stadium Club had a Chrome offshoot one year (2000).. Full-bleed Chrome! I like it.

Four Trevors and four Rickeys. All Padres cards except one Brewer (which I see as a plus, since I had few, if any, Trevor cards from his late-career stint in Milwaukee). It took much restraint not to make that Holographix card into a gif. Sorry, guys: I've done a lot of "refraction action" gifs over the past couple posts. Gotta leave you wanting more!

Here are some more Padres and a couple pre-Padres Templetons.

A couple more Alex Gordon cards. Hunter Pence. Ever since pulling that /20 framed 2015 Topps Cole Hamels in a group break last month, I've sorta started collecting him. Kinda sorta.

We close out today with a scanner-full of old-timers. A trio of Josh Gibson cards. Clemente. A couple Hoyts. A Sparky. And an Archives reprint of Reggie and Stargell.

Good stuff for 5 cents a pop, eh?

Sorry again about that Goose closeup. I hope it doesn't haunt your dreams for too long.

That pretty much wraps up my haul from last Saturday's card show, though I still have a bunch of cards I got specifically as trade bait (or failing that, Listia fodder), so stay tuned for that soon.

Awesome bonus from an apologetic eBay seller

I bought a certified Lou Brock autograph the other day. I believe it's my first card from 2005 Topps Retired Signature Edition, my least-favorite of the three Topps Retired sets. I'm just not a big fan of that year's design.

Still, though, some of those cards in that set are pretty cool.. and sometimes interesting player / team selections, too.. Brock as a Cub? Ozzie as a Padre? Nice! So yeah, while my first love is 2004 Retired, and my second love is 2003 Retired, I'll occasionally check out the 2005 Retired selection available.

I love Lou Brock.. I was just talking about him on the blog a few days ago. I think a '79 Topps Lou Brock was the first card I ever got as a kid that was "a vintage card of a Hall of Famer" and so he's always had a sentimental place in my heart. Cherished that card! And so I was excited to add a reasonably-priced certified auto of his to my collection. And I love that it pictures him as a Cub even though he really had all of his accomplishments in St. Louis.. but we're all a little sick of the Cardinals these days, aren't we?

Anyways, a week went by that I bought it, with no card received or update from the eBay seller. Then he got in touch saying he was sorry but he forgot to send the card out with the previous week's mailing and he'd get it sent out soon. I was a little peeved, but not much, and I'm generally a pretty forgiving guy and wasn't really in any huge rush to get the card. I wrote back saying it was cool, but if he could throw in a little bonus card or something, that'd be sweet.

I hate when a seller just says "sorry." Say you're sorry by throwing in a bonus! That's how you do it. Rare occasions that I'm slow to get a package out, I'll usually throw in a little extra to make up for the wait. Gifts are a great way to get forgiveness. Or just throw in a bonus for the heck of it.. Always a great way to win someone over.

So anyways, I was hoping/expecting a little something.. perhaps a card of some guy who hasn't been selling lately.. maybe an unopened pack of junk.. something like that.

But no, the guy came through with a very pleasant surprise..

A Gary Carter rookie! I've wanted this card for a long time! Very happy to have it thrown in for me as a surprise bonus "sorry the card you bought took an extra week to arrive" gift! It's a bit miscut, but excellent condition otherwise. I'll take it!

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btw... Hey Fuji, JediJeff, and Bo.. you guys won my contest last post. Reply with which glowing card you want and which card from the prize pool you want.. first come, first serve between you 3.. then email me your address. You've got until the end of the weekend to claim your winnings! Thanks!