Well jeez I got distracted and meant to whip up this post last month, but yeah let's quickly bust out some incoming highlights.
The big lot of cards from Rod last month helped me add many new cards to my PCs of active players, especially current and recent Padres.
Six player stacks here, including 2024 Topps team set variations for all except Soto because of course he's not with San Diego any longer. The superfluous shiny parallel is kinda cool, though.
Jackson Merrill has San Diego feeling good about the future. He might have a shot at the ROY if Paul Skenes doesn't have too many more quality starts down the stretch.
Bobby Witt, Jr. is another young stud I don't have much from, so it's great to add an early card of his.
And while my Jose Altuve PC has been largely neglected since the Astros cheating scandal, I was still stoked to find a nice card of his within the boxes.. the variation on the right.
It's my first of those "Golden Mirror" variations I've been hearing about for a while. Pretty cool.
There were plenty more cards I could feature from that lot, but I might have to call it good here or maybe do a follow-up post with more later. The other few hundred cards are still in sorting triage of "non-active keepers", "decent cards for trade", and "for cardart". But then Rod stopped by last weekend for another handoff...
Only 1 standard-sized card this time-- the Dylan Cease no-hitter Topps Now card (sweet!)-- but some other cool stuff like unused tickets from the 1984 postseason (wow!) and a set of 1974 McDonald's disc-cards in the original plastic display ball case (!!!).
Here's a neat bit of Padres randomness: A letter from Jerry Coleman to a guy named Mike apologizing for losing the stuff he sent in to be signed.
I had a couple Tim Flannery cardart things for Rod so he didn't leave empty-handed. He helped further encourage my creativity with cards by giving me some fancy paper to work with and a rotary cutter tool that's already come in handy.
Thanks again to Rod for the cool stuff, and have a great weekend, everybody.
There's a thing going around on social media right now of picking 10 albums that you were super into during your teenage years. So I'm gonna do that here and work it into a post showing off some various recent pickups.
Ready for some early 90s alternative rock and pictures of baseball cards?! Let's go!
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Mike Trout - 2014 Topps Tier One red parallel autograph 12/25
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Paw - Dragline
CARD: Oh man, my 4th Mike Trout auto?! That's nuts. No more Trout autos for me; I'm done. Greg Z. gave me a heads-up on this Christmas Card on eBay, and well I put in a bid and ended up winning it. Love it. Great fit for my collection. Now I'm thinking about selling my first Trout auto, since it's sort of the odd man out after pulling 2 autos in a xmas gift box and then buying this 12/25 card. (If anyone wants to make me an offer for cards and/or money for that slabbed Chasing History auto before I put it on eBay, let me know.)
ALBUM: I know the whole "Trout / fish" gag is pretty tired at this point, but forgive me as I'm trying to link these cards to the corresponding album from my high school years. And "dragline" is a fishing term, right?, so there you go. But yeah, the band Paw was big for me, specifically Dragline. Loved the mix of grunge rock with beautiful acoustic sections keeping the listener on their toes (and lyrics that actually had some meaning, as opposed to, say, Nirvana, whom I also loved, but their lyrics are largely nonsense). The follow-up album Death to Traitors was ok, but the 2000 EP Home Is A Strange Place might be their finest work.
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Al "Red" Schoendienst & Johnny Bench - 2002 Topps Archives Reserve relics
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Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
CARDS: Pairing together a couple of "Reds," Red Schoendienst and Reds' legend Johnny Bench. These 2 shiny jersey relics go towards my long-term goal of collecting a "master set" of Archives Reserve. I've got the base sets, now I'm slowly picking away at the autos and relics here and there.
ALBUM: As far as "Reds" in music, the first thing to pop into my head is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their breakout album Blood Sugar Sex Magik was huge back in the early 90s. My best friend Doug and I loved it. They became his favorite band, and while I wasn't quite as obsessed as him, they were definitely a favorite of mine too. We'd watch the making-of documentary Funky Monks often. When I learned to play bass, I'd listen along trying to match up with Flea's playing. If I was lucky, I could figure out a bastardized version of the crazy shit he was doing on the bass. I also loved the long-awaited follow-up album One Hot Minute and the first big rock concert I attended was RHCP on that tour at the San Diego Sports Arena.
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Tony Gwynn - various
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Rocket From The Crypt - Circa Now
CARDS: Behold this bitchin' trifecta of Gwynn cards! That NBA-style Archives insert was atop my Desperate Dozen for the gist of 2016, so I was happy to see it turn up on COMC. And that relic card beside it isn't too exciting, but for just a buck-something in a combined-shipping eBay purchase, it was an easy choice. And below them is a spiffy basketball card from Tony's college days on the hardcourt, the latest addition to the SDSU faction of my Gwynn PC.
ALBUM: Seeing as Mr. Padre is San Diego's most beloved athlete, I went with my favorite San Diego band, Rocket From The Crypt. I had to give the honor to the album Circa Now, though Scream, Dracula, Scream (1996) is right up there as well among my all-time favorite albums.
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Kent Tekulve - various
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Weezer - The Blue Album
CARDS: These are a great cards to add to my Teke PC. The one on the left is a 1989 Topps box bottom, with the back touting his NL record-breaking number of games pitched. On the right is another veteran of my Desperate Double Dozen sidebar wantlist, the 1989 Kahn's oddball, one of the very few cardboard remnants of Tekulve's brief swansong with the Reds in 1989.
ALBUM: Kent Tekulve was known as being a dorky stringbean with glasses among a sport filled mostly with studly jocks. And so a natural artist to pair with him here is Weezer, a band who came along and kinda made it cool to be nerdy. The Blue Album was pretty huge for me around 1994. Just a real fun listen from front to back. I got Rivers' autograph in 2000 and talked about it more in an older post.
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Alex Rodriguez - 2001 Upper Deck SPX Winning Materials Jersey
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Nirvana - In Utero
CARD: This Alex Rodriguez dual relic was another card I threw in with that recent eBay order for a couple bucks or so. This is actually my 3rd A-Rod relic card, believe it or not. Not like I'm a huge fan of his, but he was a fun "bad guy" to root for after his fall from grace. Doesn't look like anybody's gonna risk giving him a contract in 2017, so I guess he's retired for good. Bummer.. would be cool to see him reach 700 home runs.
ALBUM: Of course I had to pick a Nirvana album for my list consisting mostly of alt rock from the early 90s. I gave the nod to In Utero, though Nevermind (and even Incesticide and Unplugged In New York) aren't far down on my list of favs. As for linking it to Arod here, well, I'm tying it into the track "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle".. Notice he's pictured on the card as a Mariner, though the relic part is clearly Texas Rangers all the way.
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Willie Stargell - various
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Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
CARDS: Willie Stargell is one of my favorite guys to collect, and here are a couple sweet relic cards, with a rookie reprint for my ARMS (Archive Reserve Master Set) and a fine-looking bat chip card.
ALBUM: Willie wasn't a quick one to find an album for, but yeah, the Smashing Pumpkins have a bunch of songs about stars/sky/night, so seemed like a good match for the celestially named Stargell. Oh, and there's their big hit "1979", which of course was the year Pops led Pittsburgh to World Series glory. I listened to a ton of Pumpkins in the 90s, with MCIS just barely edging out Siamese Dream as my favorite CD from them, with Gish and the rare tracks compilation Pisces Iscariot not far behind.
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Hoyt Wilhelm - various
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Faith No More - Angel Dust
CARDS/ETC: Another of my favorite old-timers is Hoyt Wilhelm. I'm not much for adding 8x10s to my collection, but for the price of a Big Mac, I couldn't help grabbing this signed photo in that aforementioned eBay combined-shipping purchase. Also got a cheap relic card of his with a tiny bit of jersey featuring a pinstripe. Pretty cool.
ALBUM: Faith No More are from the Bay Area, so I'm matching them up with a Giant (even though, yes, they were still in New York when Hoyt played for them, but close enough). Love FNM. Gotta go with Angel Dust as my favorite album, with King For a Day a close second. No "Midlife Crisis" for Hoyt, as he pitched till he was nearly 50.
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Jerry Coleman - 2003 Upper Deck Yankee Signature Series Pride of New York Auto
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Mercury Rev - Boces
CARD: This was one of the few widely-available Jerry Coleman autograph cards I was missing, a nice score for me at under $5 in that eBay bulk buy.
ALBUM: This one was another stretch for me, but Mercury Rev are from upstate New York, and that's close enough to link with the career Yankee, especially with the song "Bronx Cheer". They might be the most obscure name on my list of most influential albums from my teenage years, but yeah, I was big into them in the mid 90s. Boces, See You On The Other Side, and Yerself Is Steam are awesome noisy alternative pop albums. They reinvented themselves for 1998's Deserter's Songs, with the more mature work being their biggest hit (well, it was huge in Europe, even if they never really broke out here in the States). I've met the band at a show once (I made a fansite for them back in the day) and they were really cool to me. Another sports connection for them is they're Buffalo Bills fans, and even have a somber song for Scott Norwood.
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Ron Blomberg auto + Adrian Beltre relic
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Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
CARDS: Ron Blomberg went down in baseball history as the first ever DH. Just $2.25 got this auto thrown into that eBay purchase. Adrian Beltre hasn't been showing any signs of slowing, chugging along in what may very well shake out to be a Hall of Fame career. I think this bat chip is the first hit to add to my recently-started PC of him.
ALBUM: My favorite band in high school was Jane's Addiction, hands down. I was pretty obsessed. My collection of live and rare recordings was among the most complete around, not to brag. I was also really into Janes-related bands Porno For Pyros, Deconstruction, and Polar Bear. Lots of those albums got heavy play in my room and in my car in the 90s, though I had to give the nod in this list to Ritual, possibly my all-time favorite album. As for linking it to these above cards, well, lead singer Perry Farrell was a Jewish guy from New York who moved to Los Angeles to be a rock star, and was heavily influenced by Latino culture. So these two cards are a perfect fit there.
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Rhashan, Director of Smiles - 2016 Topps Pro Debut relic
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John Frusciante - Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt
CARD: Once again my collection was inspired by P-town Tom. I've seen this card on his blog and had to pick up one for myself. Landed one on COMC for a couple bucks, and now Rhashan's smile is part of my collection.
ALBUM: Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist put out this solo album in 1994 and it really smacked me in the face. Didn't sound like anything RHCP ever put out. Just lo-fi recordings of a guy creating incredibly honest music in his room on a 4-track recorder. Really showed me that you don't need slick production to create great music, and inspired me to get into recording songs myself. I listened to this album a ton back then, usually at night as I fell asleep. As far as linking it to the card, well, it's a T-shirt relic. And while not exactly an exuberant album, there are songs I can tie into the Director of Smiles card such as (I'm as Happy) "As Can Be" here and "My Smile is a Rifle". The follow-up album Smile From The Streets You Hold (ooh, more smiles!) is also an all-time fav of mine, as is 2004's more-polished Shadows Collide With People.
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Rod Beck - 1988 Midwest League All-Star
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Dig - Dig
CARD: A new earliest card for my Rod Beck PC! Gotta love these Baby Becks.
ALBUM: You'd think the musician Beck would be a shoo-in to match with this card. And while I listened to a lot of Mellow Gold, One Foot in the Grave, and Odelay back in the 90s, I couldn't quite put them on this list, though they weren't too far down. Instead I went with Dig, whose self-titled album was a mainstay of my 5-disc changer back in the day. I also loved the subsequent albums Defenders of the Universe and Life Like. Their biggest hit was "Believe" (great song!) but for this post I went with the track "Unlucky Friend" because, well, Rod was known for being a friendly guy, and he was unlucky in life in that he died at 38.
CARD: I love wave refractors. And I love Jabari Blash. He didn't turn out to be the under-the-radar secret weapon the Padres were hoping for, but hey, he's still a neat character with a cool name. Maybe he'll have a breakout year in 2017? Here's hoping!
ALBUM: This one was a tough one and the last one I matched up. I went with Frank Black's debut album because it was the last one left on my list. Well, there's a song called "Two Spaces", and AAA and MLB are two spaces Jabari's known to bounce between. But yeah, I really loved the Pixies in high school and the Frank Black solo albums that followed, with this 1993 CD probably getting the most spins of them all.
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Marty Schottenheimer - 1971 Topps Football
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The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
CARD: I knew Marty Schottenheimer as former head coach for the Chargers, and while I never really liked him much as a coach (though in hindsight, he was fine), when I found out he played and had cards from his playing days, I was inspired to pick one up to marvel at how young he looks, if nothing else.
ALBUM: Since this is the only vintage card in this post, I figured I'd go old school and pick one of my favorite albums from before my time. I listened to a lot of the Beatles in high school, and would probably have said Sgt. Peppers was my favorite, though today I think Abbey Road has narrowly risen to the top in my eyes, though all their albums are great.
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Dave Winfield - 2005 Topps Pristine Legends
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Morrissey - Your Arsenal
CARD: Dave Winfield pitching from his college days on a card with the 1982 Topps design and a serial number on the back? Yes, sign me up. Love these Topps Pristine throwbacks.
ALBUM: I was a big fan of the Smiths and Morrissey in the 90s (and full disclosure, I still love and listen to all these bands I've been listing off in this post. If I'm sentimental enough to still collect baseball cards at this point in my life, you bet I'm sentimental enough to still listen to music I liked as a teenager). I went with the album Your Arsenal because pitchers have an arsenal of pitches, though I'm not sure what was in Dave's arsenal. But yeah, I listened to that CD a lot back in the day (even rocked a shirt with the album cover), plus all the Smiths albums and most other Morrissey albums that were out by that point.
CARD: Here's the last one of the post (yeah, I went over the 10 album limit, sorry). Great to check off another 2004 Topps Retired refractor from my list, plus it's a guy I collect in former Padres great Rollie Fingers.
ALBUM: Rollie Fingers is known for his trademark handlebar mustache, with it's dual twirling spirals, so that's good enough for me to work Nine Inch Nails into this list. I was very into NIN in the 90s, with The Downward Spiral probably being my favorite CD, though Pretty Hate Machine and Broken got plenty of play, too.
So there are a few cool cards I've added to my collection recently, matched up with a few albums that I wore out when I was in high school. Hope you enjoyed! (Maybe do a similar post yourself if you want?) See you next time!
When I found out there was another widely-available (inexpensive) Jerry Coleman auto out there that I didn't have, I set a search for one with a low opening bid. A couple weeks later this one popped up and I ended up winning for just $6.39 plus shipping. Gotta love the Colonel, second only to Tony Gwynn in the hearts of Padres fans. I picked up an original '52 Jerry Coleman back in May 2014 (wow, has it been that long already?), and this tweaked certified auto version is a nice complement.
Before paying, I took a look at the sellers other's auctions and ended up winning this card too...
My first Starling Marte auto. He's quietly having another very strong year, making the All-Star team and batting over .300 for the first time. These Topps Tek cards always look nice, and as long as it's not a low numbered parallel, they're usually affordable. Landed this base auto for just $3.25 plus 50¢ additional shipping.
Just another photo of it, showing off the acetate-ness of it in the window.
I'm sure you guys are sick of everytime I post a football card, I go on a mini rant about how I don't care about football anymore. The only snaps I'll watch this year will be if I'm out somewhere and they happen to have a game on. Maybe if there are really interesting playoff match-ups, I'll actually put a game on voluntarily. If the Chargers PR nightmare of nearly moving the franchise to Los Angeles wasn't bad enough, then there was the ugly ordeal of trying to sign their first draft pick, Joey Bosa. They eventually agreed to terms, but both sides came out looking like assholes. So while of course I still hope San Diego surprises everybody and wins the Super Bowl for once, it'd be stretching it to really call myself a fan anymore.
Despite my animosity with the Chargers these days, I still have some sentimental fuzzies for the teams of the 90s and 00s back when I gave a damn. And so picking up a Darren Sproles stickergraph for just a lousy buck was an easy choice. He couldn't quite fill the shoes of the great LaDainian Tomlinson, but he had some exciting moments for the Bolts. I honestly had no idea before just now checking his Wikipedia entry, but apparently he's still active, currently with the Eagles. Good for him! Hopefully for his sake he retires soon, though.. Football is bad for you!
Unlike the previous cards, this next one was actually bought a few months ago, but I never got around to posting it here and since I'm talking about old Chargers guys I remember rooting for back in the day, here's this..
Shawne Merriman was a heck of a football player. His legacy took a hit with PED fingering, but hey, it's the NFL, that shit should be expected, right? I picked up this card while on my kick of going after xfractor autos.. they're just so cool looking! He had some great years with the Chargers. Then a couple meh years with the Bills, then called it quits before his 30th birthday. Good for him! Hopefully his brain isn't too damaged.
One last football card for today and long as I'm cleaning out football card pickups from the past couple months..
Ain't nobody better say nothing bad about Mr. Tomlinson! He's one of the all-time greatests. Good guy off the field, too. This 2016 Donruss Elite parallel breaks the post's theme of autographed cards, but it's the numbering on the back that called me to it..
Yep, my second LaDainian Christmas Card! (Could have sworn I posted the first one on the blog before, an auto, but I can't seem to find that post now.)
That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Hey, second post in a row recapping a nice PWE from a Cubs fan. Yesterday it was P-town Tom, and today it's Dimebox Nick.
This is not a blurry photo on my part! Nick sent some help with a new minicollection I'm trying to get off the ground: The Drunk Binder (tentative title. If that doesn't stick, maybe LSD Binder? Trippy Binder? Or hey, howbout the Bender Binder!? I like the sound of that one.) The idea is to have a binder full of nothing but trippy misprints.. not miscuts / off-center cards, but rather cards like this that seem to be drunk and/or high thanks to the printing plates not being properly aligned or whatever. If anybody has any more blurry/trippy cards like this available, I'm your guy. (Wait, one more potential name: The Tripping Balls Binder. Get it? LOL, I might have to go with that one. Or how's this for the official binder title: Tripping Balls: The Bender Binder. It is decided! I may go ahead and add more psychedelic cards to it too, like particularly hypnotic inserts and extra weird miscuts like that Kevin Appear from a few days ago.)
Here are some great Padres cards from carefree days of yore. Not to bring everyone down, but Eric Show (rhymes with "How") was apparently a bit of troubled nut who died young from drug abuse. And to ruin another fine card.. Fred McGriff's son (I'm assuming he's the toddler on the card) would-- years later as a young man-- get into legal hot water for leaving his dog in a car on a hot day with the windows rolled up. If you're scoring at home, that's a dog crime by the son of the Crime Dog. And to top it off, Rickey was picked off third moments after that photo of him was taken (ok, I just made that last one up.)
Here's a nice refractory Jake Peavy card I haven't seen before.
Here're a couple outstanding cards that my eyes lit up to find in the envelope. That minor league issue is my oldest Caminiti now. And love the Seals throwback on Rod Beck.
Legends! All appreciated PC additions.
Here's a cool Giancarlo.
And of course some Hoyt! Nick is the cardosphere's foremost Hoyt-head, and I'm lucky enough to occasionally get his dupes. Very appreciated!
Thanks again, Nick! I'll be dropping some cards your way very soon.
First off, congrats to Marcus over at all the way to the backstop and his wife for welcoming their 3rd child into the world yesterday. Allow me to "dedicate" this scan to newborn Maxwell Coleman:
Yes, it's a beautiful vintage 1956 Topps card of his middle-namesake, Jerry Coleman. Last time I saw a vintage Coleman pop up on Listia, I was tight on credits and could only watch it sail by. Luckily these days my virtual account is relatively bountiful, so I was able to pony up 7050 credits on this excellent addition to my PC of the Colonel. Actually, there don't seem to be a whole lot of mainstream playing-days cards left of his that I need, so I might be able to finish off his flagship Topps and Bowman runs sometime in the foreseeable future. Nice.
This scan is dedicated to The Card Papoy
Sticking with vintage, but changing sports, here's a sweet 81-82 Topps Julius Erving. I'm not a big non-baseball collector, but love occasionally picking up all-time greats such as Dr. J here. There's a bit a wax residue on the front that the seller neglected to mention, but it's fine. Set me back 1499 credits.
This scan is dedicated to Daniel Wilson
I've again struck gold(schmidt)! Sorry for the pun. My Paul Goldschmidt collection keeps expanding every week. That A&G is an SP. One of these came with a Marty Akins college football card I don't need, but was a cool bonus from the seller regardless.
I'll dedicate this one to Robert at $30 a Week Habit and Mark Hoyle. You guys gotta share the dedication, sorry.
Here are a couple more fixtures to my Listia recaps, Roberto Alomar and David Ortiz. The two of these Latin American greats are racing to see who gets off my wantlist first. (Once I accumulate 100 different cards of a player, I stop actively collecting him.. that's my plan for 2015 anyways.) And the end is in sight for both of them. The Robbie card is from 1995 Stadium Club, while Big Papi shares this 2012 Heritage card with Will Middlebrooks.. who I think might be a Padre now, if I'm not mistaken. So if he has a good season, I'll probably start collecting him too.
This one goes out to ARPSmith. --Well, the card stays with me, but I dedicate the scan to him.
Rod Beck is another bargain-bin favorite of mine. (Is that his hair, or is he standing in front of a dead bush?) Back when Wallet Card was getting started, at least a couple participants noted that these Studio faux credit cards would be perfect choices for the game. But perhaps a little too "on the nose," and I don't think anybody ultimately ended up picking one of these for their wallet card. This card, from 1995 Studio, has pointy corners, rather than the rounded corners most of these types of inserts seem to have.
This card came in an auction along with a Matt Williams insert I don't need. (The trouble with collecting a select few Giants is I end up with plenty of Giants that I don't want.)
So those are the Listia wins that showed up since last time. Now onto the webtraffic.
A young Gerbil tops this week's recap (1/14) 38 views. Man, I hate to bitch about clicks, but just 38 views for a post boasting a vintage rookie card of a big name? Oh well. Let's hope today's recap post can comeback with a decent turnout, otherwise I should probably think about nixing the concept.
A couple lots from Sportlots [HT throughout] (1/15) 63 views. This was a fun post with "hidden text" sprinkled within it. Got off to a slow start, but eventually blew past the 50-view target.
Tom Fordham went to my high school (Guys from Granite) (1/17) 35 views. The least-viewed post in quite a long time [*sob, sniff*]. But yeah, I get that Tom Fordham isn't exactly a sexy name. Thank goodness for Matthew Scott, the only person to comment on the last two Guys from Granite posts, for keeping my streak without a comment-less post alive. But now we're into the top 3, which are interesting "known" guys, so I'm hopeful the ratings for this series will rebound as we head toward the finale next month.
more silly animated gifs of baseball cards! (1/19) 90 views. There we go! I had to bring my A-game to help stir up some support for "blog of the year" award voting currently underway. Animated gifs of cards are always fun to whip up and usually get a good reception. The first 3 gifs were made the prior evening. Then that night I had the idea for the airplane one and whipped it up before work the next morning. I'm glad I did, because it cracks me up and seems to be most peoples' favorite too. Anyways, if you haven't voted yet, don't forget to exercise your democratic right and do so both here (A Cardboard Problem) and here (2 x 3 Heroes).
Alright, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by!
It's time once again for the Baseball Card Breakdown Weekly Wednesday (W)roundup.
I haven't been doing a whole lot of trading lately, though I've been active on Listia, so that sort of feels like trading. I keep on selling cards from my trade boxes (mostly football cards from a pennybox I bought at a card show a couple months ago), and then spending the proceeds on cool cards for my collection.
Here's my big score for the week...
Don Zimmer 1955 Bowman rookie card. It's in rough shape, but not too pricey, so I'm ok with it. Zim is a guy I've sort of started collecting over the past year. As I've said before, being a Padres fan doesn't allow for many vintage cards (pre-1969) to go after. So pre-Padres cards of prominent future-Padres is a decent solution for team-minded vintage collecting. And Zimmer fits into that group thanks to beginning his managerial career with San Diego in 1972-1973. And beyond that, he's just such an iconic baseball lifer who's fun to collect, and inexpensive for a "household name" from that era. This card features a rare photo from before he was bitten by a radioactive gerbil that morphed him into an adorable man-gerbil hybrid. In the offseason, I can picture Gerbil-Man in full costume fighting crime and promoting youth baseball in the inner-city. He was a good one.
Gaylord Perry is another oldtimer-turned-Padre. I had his 73 Topps card already, but picked up another for my setbuild. (I could've sworn I also won an autographed copy of this card on Listia a couple years back, but it's gone missing. I hope it turns up someday.) The Jim Hickman was another set need. It's a high number (#565). I'm approaching the homestretch with this set, currently at 86.55% complete.
Seems like one of the very few Padres-era cards of his I was missing, but didn't have Roberto Alomar's 1988 Fleer Update rookie, so put in a bid and won it cheap. Expect Robbie to be a mainstay on these Listia roundups until I finally crack 100 of his cards.
Love adding new Jerry Coleman cards to my collection. This also came with a similar Bill Dickey I don't need. Unfortunately they came from a clueless seller who threw the cards loose in an envelope, so of course corners were dinged in shipment. Oh well. (BTW, I'm really excited about another card of The Colonel I won recently.. look for it in next week's roundup.)
Paul Goldschmidt 2004 Topps AS camo #'d 55/99. Sweet.
Classic looking Mike Trout card. Set me back just 391 credits.
Doug Flutie is pretty cool. This card is #'d /1999 and cost me 495 credits. "Zone of their own" rhymes. I should start a minicollection comprised of subsets/insert sets that have a rhyming name.(No, I shouldn't! But someone should. Nick? John Miller?) "Call to the Hall" and the like. Now I'm trying to think of more. "Bringers of Dingers" isn't a real insert set (according to an eBay search I just did), but it should be. You guys should make up some fake rhyming insert names of your own in the comments below. Panini will be all over them.
Not pictured: David Ortiz lot of 15 cards. Sorry, I filed them away before scanning. I needed nearly all of them, so that was nice. Included were a couple sparkly cards and a couple numbered cards. The seller was delayed on sending and made up for it by including several more Red Sox.. very cool of him. Some of them I could use, and the rest will be headed to Hoyle. I'm now up to 85 different Big Papi cards. Just 15 more to knock him off my wantlist and into the Hundred Card Club.
Now for the part where I guilt you for not reading everything I post, also known as the webtraffic roundup.
Sock Card ain't no game [1/12] 55 views. A gripping, spine-tingling story from my childhood about the time I stole a baseball card. I'm thinking about turning it into a screenplay.
Surprise Hoyling [1/13] 38 views. Recap of a nice package of cards from Mark Hoyle.
And the charts.
So, not a bad week, but a sharp dropoff from the Wallet Card hype the week prior. Perhaps Wallet Card will end up being the Simpsons to my Tracey Ullman Show. By that I mean it will grow in popularity and go on for a very long time.. Long after the origins are forgotten and gone. But hey, if that ends up being my blog's legacy, I'm ok with that!
Anyways, here's my second-favorite gerbil hero behind Gerbil-Man: Lemmiwinks.
Here's the second of two posts showing off cards from my Black Friday COMC order (Part 1 here).
Let's start with some awesome additions to my Jerry Coleman PC.
1951 Berk Ross Hit Parade of Champions #1-6
I'm not familiar with this set, but seems like neat old vintage and wasn't too pricey.
1982 ASA The Johnny Mize Story Green #8
Jerry looks kinda weird or aggravated on most of his baseball cards, so it's nice to have at least one "happy card" of the guy, here apparently in a rousing rendition of Queen's "We Are The Champions".
1992 The Wiz/American Express New York Yankees All-Stars
"The Wiz"? Like from that Seinfeld episode? Cool.
My second auto of Jerry (though it uses the same photo as my first). Beautiful. Only set me back $5.25.
Now to some other guys.
1965 Topps Embossed Richie Allen
Another piece for my Dick Allen PC. Everybody hates these things. Weird looking and condition sensitive. At least they're cheap.
So... I wanted to pick up a couple cards to add to my glow-in-the-dark collection (plus Pads in the Hall). Well, when I got them in the dark...
... only the Piazza glew. LAME! The Robbie was listed on COMC as being a glowing parallel but obviously is NOT. It was less than a buck, so I won't make a stink about it, but I'm not happy about it. Oh well, he's a guy I collect, at least.
Whales! I've now got over half of this 2012 A&G Giants of the Deep mini insert set. I was a little disappointed that the backs are all just the checklist (HATE insert sets where every card is a checklist) instead of a little write-up about each whale. I'd still like to finish off this set, though, so please let me know if you've got any for trade.
Quisenberry rookie. One of the funniest cards ever, with Bill and Dan both giving a justifiably quizzical look to Renie, who obviously isn't real. He's a cartoon character who ties ladies to railroad tracks. How he wound up on a baseball card, I'll never know.
I've been wanting this Refridgerator Perry "SP" for a full calendar year, thanks to this post at The Chronicles of Fuji. As with most old-school footballers I like, my affection for them is not chiefly based on their success on the gridiron. When I was a kid, I was big into G.I. Joe, and I had Fridge's special edition mail-order G.I. Joe figure. I still don't feel like he was a real person.
Let's close it out with Rod Beck (Geez, 3 guys in a row who passed away too soon. I didn't plan this post that way. Sorry to be a downer.) I love adding a card here n' there to my Rod Beck PC, and this minor league issue is a nice one.
So that's my Black Friday 2014 haul. (There was actually one more card, but it will have to wait for a sexier day.)
