The Zappening

I've gotten plenty of nice cards from Zippy Zappy over the years, but this latest package, sent from Japan no less, might top them all. Let's check out some highlights.

Sweet! Big rookie cards I needed for my McCutchen and Altuve PCs, respectively.

Early cards of a pair of today's best third basemen, Arenado and Castellanos.

More big-name minor league cards.

And notable Bowman RCs up the wazoo.

More Bowman highlights.

Additions for the Arod and Jeter PCs.

One random basketball card, and a nice one at that, with this sparkly, diecut Kyrie Irving.

At first glance, this would seem to be regular ol' 2002 Topps Pudge, but no...

2002 Topps Kanebo Gum Japanese card! HOFer import! Very cool.
And this begins the Japanese-cards portion of the post.

Ohtani! Wowee!

More special Nippon Professional Baseball cards featuring Sadaharu Oh (home run king), Kazuhisa Makita (he's on the Padres now), Tetsuto Yamada (sparkly), and Wladimir Balentien (didn't do much in the majors, but has since had a fine career in Tokyo).

Here are a couple fun ones, including a lenticular card from 1996 and what seems to be a vintage (Calbee?) card on the right, though I couldn't say what's the story with them.

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Somewhat "NSFW" picture warning. Proceed with caution.
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Oh man! These might have been the most exciting cards of the package for me. I'm an admitted horndog female form enthusiast with a decent "girlie card" collection. I've got cards autographed by lovely ladies, and I've got cards with naked women on them, but I believe these are the first cards in my collection of autographed naked ladies. I try to keep my blog more-or-less "family friendly" so I've covered up the naughty bits. (The back photos are even better!) These are all numbered /200. Cool signatures.. especially the little drawing. Love these!

I think this is called an Icon box or something, right? Features a couple mini boxes of cards. Mariya Nagao here keeps clothed, though scantily clad.

Gonna end this post here rather than stretch it out too long, but man, still plenty of other good stuff in the package.. a bunch more rookie cards, minor league Topps cards, numbered parallels, etc.

Thanks so much, Zippy! This was a zippy zapping to remember. I'll round up a return for you soon.

Sweet Child O' Mine (Sadaharu Oh No!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! May the luck o' the Irish be with you. But this post is about a different O.

I recently won an eBay auction for a Mike Reinbach card (which I ended up already having) from a seller in Japan, and figuring I'd take advantage of combined shipping, threw several bids on other cards he was selling, all of legendary slugger Sadaharu Oh. I was hoping to win one or two, but ended up with 5! Realistically I only need a couple in my collection, so feel free to make me a trade offer on any of these. I believe they're all from the 1975 Calbee set.

Sadaharu Oh hit 868 home runs! Very impressive. One of the all-time biggest names in Japanese baseball. I always thought it would be cool to one day have a card from his playing days, now ending up with a few. And if I'd stare too long I'd probably break down and cry.

While the song "Sweet Child O' Mine" wasn't written about him (as far as I know), he is mentioned in the Beastie Boys song "Hey Ladies": "I got more hits than Sadaharu Oh."



Thanks for swinging by.

Zap you, Santa Claus?

I got a nice Priority box of cards n' stuff the week before Christmas. A case of the flu and normal mid-December craziness prevented me from really delving into it much until now. Some pretty sweet stuff in here! The sender fiercely values their privacy, so I will keep them anonymous in this post. Sort of like a Secret Santa.

This pair of cards kicked off the festivities. A surprise attack, indeed! As a Padres fan, I'm excited to see what happens with Rule 5 pickup, Luis Torrens.

A couple of nice Trea Turner cards for the PC. Bummer the Padres let him get away.

Ooh, very cool! Some autographs by way of the Big Apple.

Some Asia-exclusive parallels of Bowman prospects, including 3 shiny ones from a guy named Ryan McMahon whom I'm suddenly a big fan of for the simple reason that I love those wave refractors!

Hyped Yankees. I wonder how Gary Sanchez is going to follow up the red hot start to his MLB career.

Shiny Padres! Especially happy for the Hunter Renfroe.

Awesome! I needed these for my Trevor Story PC.

The man or woman who sent me these cards included a whole mess of Reds for whatever reason. Well, hey, I was able to pick out a bunch for my collection!

Here are some more cool random cards that this person was kind enough to share with me. Even a 2011 Topps parallel for the frankenset.

Some neat stuff from Japan, including a couple UD/Kellogg's cards and a little box.

The little box contains a little book featuring photos of a lovey young lady.

It's a cute, tiny book!

Very cool! Star Wars treats and stickers!

The person who sent this package included a sticky note discouraging me from eating the treats as they're kinda old, and instead suggested I just take the prize sticker inside and run. But hey, looks like the expiration date was just back in October.. not too bad. I'll probably brave a stale wafer and chomp 'em down anyway.

And there was a bunch of other stuff like programs and schedules. Pretty neat.

Ok, I thought I could end the post here, but I forgot about another stack of cards from the box, so here's some more stuff.

MOAR AUTOZ!!1

Additional Japanese cards!

And there were plenty more cards to mention but let's wrap this post up.


Super big thanks to the kind, anonymous soul who sent me this awesome stuff!! Very appreciated, whoever you are.

Happy New Year, all!

Mike Reinbach apocalypse (The Reinbachalypse)

One of my favorite lesser-known guys to collect, Mike Reinbach was the first person from my high school to play in the major leagues. After a brief debut stint with the Orioles in 1974, he'd go on to become a star in Japan. Last November, in my big post setting his story straight, I was lamenting the fact that I had been collecting his cards pretty aggressively for a couple years and I owned none of his many Japanese Calbee cards, nor had ever even seen one for sale besides on Japanese Yahoo Auctions, which I couldn't order from because I don't read/write Japanese.

Well, the universe is funny sometimes, and on the very day I posted that, a Reinbach Calbee card finally popped up on eBay. The flood gates were cracked open a bit after that, and I ended up picking up 3 additional cards on top of the first one that appeared.

Recently, I won a couple other auctions for Reinbach cards, adding 4 (well, 3) more cards to the PC.

The card on the lower left is actually a dupe for me, as it's another copy of the first Calbee card I won last year. This one is an upgrade, though, so that's cool.

Here's the checklist I'm working off on my way to being a Mike Reinbach supercollector:

x 1973-74 Venezuelan Stickers #104 Mike Reinbach 104
x 1975 International League All-Stars TCMA #5 Mike Reinbach 5 (more info)
x 1975-76 Calbee #608 Mike Reinbach 608
x 1975-76 Calbee #659 Mike Reinbach 659
o 1975-76 Calbee #705 Mike Reinbach 705
x 1975-76 Calbee #734 Mike Reinbach 734
x 1975-76 Calbee #784 Mike Reinbach 784
o 1975-76 Calbee #831 Mike Reinbach 831
o 1975-76 Calbee #966 Mike Reinbach 966
x 1975-76 Calbee #980 Mike Reinbach 980
x 1975-76 Calbee #1040 Mike Reinbach 1040
x 1975-76 Calbee #1076 Mike Reinbach 1076
x 1975-76 Calbee #1116 Mike Reinbach 1116
o 1975-76 Calbee #1146 Mike Reinbach 1146
o 1975-76 Calbee #1219 Mike Reinbach 1219
o 1977 Calbee #46 Mike Reinbach 46
o 1977 Calbee 200 Home Run Cards #1 Mike Reinbach 1
o 1977 Calbee 200 Home Run Cards #14 Mike Reinbach/Hal Breeden 14
o 1977 Calbee 200 Home Run Cards #22 Mike Reinbach 22
o 1977 Calbee 200 Home Run Cards #36 Mike Reinbach 36
o 1977 Calbee Osaka Series #26 Mike Reinbach 26
o 1977 Calbee Osaka Series #60 Mike Reinbach 60
o 1977 Calbee Osaka Series #87 Mike Reinbach 87
o 1977 Calbee Osaka Series #103 Mike Reinbach 103
o 1977 Calbee Osaka Series #111 Mike Reinbach 111
o 1977 Calbee Pro Series #56 Mike Reinbach 56
o 1977 Calbee Pro Series #178 Mike Reinbach 178
o 1977 Calbee Pro Series #190 Mike Reinbach 190
o 1977 Calbee Pro Series #250 Mike Reinbach 250
o 1977 NST Mr. Baseball #57 Mike Reinbach 57
o 1979 Calbee April-June Central League Stars #OF6 Mike Reinbach OF6
o 1979 Calbee August Best Series #19 Mike Reinbach 19
x 1979 Calbee July Best Series #23 Mike Reinbach 23
o 1979 Calbee May Best Series #21 Mike Reinbach 21
o 1979 Calbee October Best Series #11 Mike Reinbach 11
o 1979 Takara Hanshin Tigers #40 Mike Reinbach 40
x 1979 TCMA Japanese Pro Baseball #81 Mike Reinbach 81
o 1980 Calbee Large #26 Mike Reinbach 26
o 1980 Calbee Large #85 Mike Reinbach 85
o 1980 Calbee Small #85 Mike Reinbach 85
o 1980 Calbee Small #145 Mike Reinbach 145
o 1980 Calbee Small #170 Mike Reinbach 170
o 1980 Calbee Small #281 Mike Reinbach 281
o 1980 Takara Hanshin Tigers #40 Mike Reinbach 40
x 1991 Orioles Crown #376 Mike Reinbach 376
o 2013 BBM Tigers Legends #84 Mike Reinbach 84
x 2014 Topps Vault 1973 Color Negative Mike Reinbach

(x - acquired since originally publishing this post)

Still a long way to go, but hey, I've more than doubled the number of Reinbach cards in my collection over the past 4 months!

In addition to real cards, I've supplemented the PC with a few hardcopy customs. I've previously showed off cards-that-never-were from 1976 Topps and 1981 Donruss. After that post, Mike's ex-sister-in-law thanked me for it, and was kind enough to dig up a few rare pictures from Mike's minor league days to share with me. Naturally I used them to make more customs!

Mike played for the Miami Marlins in 1970 back when they were an Orioles affiliate. I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out!

This photo makes for a nice 1971 Topps card. There was some open space on the right, so I threw a Topps All-Star Rookie trophy in there for kicks. The back features a photo taken from a 1973 Rochester Red Wings team photo.. So that's fudging things a little, but it works. I also forgot to change the text to "Minor league batting record" but I'll likely leave that as an UER rather than redo it.

After that other post, Mike's son Brian was nice enough to comment and say thanks. Now I'm Facebook friends with him and if I bug him, he might help me get in touch with another big Reinbach collector who may be able to help me land a few more cards I need.

So yeah, cool stuff like this really makes blogging extra awesome. Not just all the trading and making online buddies who share your love of the hobby, but occasionally you might even get praise and help from the family of a deceased player you collect! Very cool.

A blistering Trade Roundup

This was a bountiful week for me, with lots of cardboard coming in! Being tight on time and heavy on pending posts, I'm going to give a quick rundown of what came in, though these could each have a post dedicated to them.

First up is Chris from Nachos Grande.

This 2008 Stadium Club Clemente was atop my Desperate Double Dozen for a while. Great looking card, even if Topps cheated a bit by artificially coloring a black and white photo. I like how the current incarnation of Stadium Club isn't afraid to include a few b&w images.

A couple Bips and a Giancarlo.

Ooh, a quartet of Munnatawket custom minis that Chris' friend makes. These are always cool.

Thanks for the cards, Chris!

Let me quickly give a plug for the upcoming Nachos Grande 2016 Topps Series 1 group break. It's going to include a full case of jumbo boxes, plus Chris always throws in a bunch of bonus stuff to add to the fun. I jumped in and called dibs on the Cubs. I figured they have a lot of cards in the product (Topps is celebrating "100 Years of Wrigley" this year), plus I seem to have a lot of Cub collector trading buddies at the moment.. P-town Tom, Tony Burbs, CC, Nick-- I'll likely have you covered for team sets!). I should be able to restock the Cubs section of my tradebox, and hopefully land a sweet Kris Bryant or Ernie Banks for myself. Anyways, there are still many teams available so check out his post and consider signing up!

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Next up is a surprise PWE from Sport Card Collectors.

SCC is a fellow shiny card enthusiast, and was able to share eye-catching cards of Griffey, Verlander, and Darvish.

Not shiny, but still nice: A couple Donruss Padres. I'm bummed about Gyorko getting traded away this offseason and should type up a post about it someday.

Thank you for the cards, SCC!

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Marcus from all the way to the backstop dropped a stuffed medium-size flat-rate Priority Mail box on me. Ok, this one will need its own post! Looking forward to digging through everything.

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Next is the 2nd bunch of cards from Todd, the guy I got the Japanese cards assortment from just a couple weeks ago.

Cool cards of some big names here! Tanaka, Iguchi, Darvish.

And here's a nice lot of Japanese cards from 2000. I hadn't realized Tony Fernandez spent a year in Japan near the end of his career.

These cards are made by Hudson (easily identifiable by the cartoon bee) which I associate with one of my favorite old school Nintendo games, Milon's Secret Castle. I even made a little fansite for it back in 2002. I guess Hudson is a pretty big company in Japan.

Here's some more various baseball cards and a crazy lady wresting card for good measure.

Jumping from Japan now over to England, the real wow of the package has to be this lot of old British tobacco cards. Look for these to be featured in upcoming installments of Supervintage Sundays here on the blog.

Very cool! Thanks for the cards, Todd!

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Lastly for today, I've been reading The Raz Card Blog for a long time, but we've just finally swapped cards for the first time (well, I still need to send a return). Raz sent some good stuff.

Love this Mookie Betts purple refractor #'d /250.

Very happy to see this among the cards. I think it's my first Adam Jones relic.

Sgt. Slaughter is one of the few wrestling guys I collect, mainly because I remember him fondly from G.I. Joe in the 80s.

Now here's the main card Raz had set aside for me. He prefaced it by telling me not to get excited and it was basically a gag card to give me. I kept the image small because it shows kind of a disturbing picture of a blistered hand from an unidentified race car driver from 1971. Click to enlarge if you dare. The back talks about how back then, it was common for drivers to tear up their hands on the steering wheel. Kinda gross!

But the cool thing about this card..

Yep, a Christmas Card! A strange card indeed, but a welcome addition to my collection of cards serial numbered 12/25. It's always very rare and appreciated when I get one of these in a trade.

Big thanks, Raz!

Have a great weekend everybody.