Definitely the last Incoming Cardboard Post before the move

Ok, I'm in the middle of moving. It's exhausting. It's times like these that I really wish I didn't have the "collecting gene"! I'm excited to get settled in at the new place, but it's gonna be a lot of work.

Here's the last cards triaged in from my old house. It's a very generous "thanks again for your help" gift from Alex T., whom you may remember for the fantastic guest post he did for Baseball Card Breakdown a few weeks ago about his mission to create a TTM masterpiece featuring Jim Walewander and the Dead Milkmen.

These are a coupe low-key iconic cards that maybe not everybody knows about, but those who know.. know. This pair has been in my Desperate Double Dozen wantlist for several months, so it's great to cross those off the list. Canseco's zero year card with the Expos means I now only need a card with him on the Yankees (a much higher population of card) to complete another 9-card page in the Vagabond Binder. And that box-bottom Doc Gooden is such a perfect shot. Got recycled in Stadium Club not long ago, but hard to beat it on a vintage (excuse the term) 1985 card. Panini needs to go their own version of Project 2021 going and should be sure to include this card among the selections.

But really what Alex wanted to share with me were a couple extras from his big project. I picked these 2 from the few available options because I like how the lyric seems to match with the photo. I forgot to grab a picture of the backs (and now they're all packed up and I may not see them again for weeks... lol!), but the backs are both autographed by Mr. Walewander. Awesome off-the-wall addition to my collection. I need to find strength in the real joy-sparking parts of my collection like this during times I'm overwhelmed at the mountain of cardboard I'm stacking all the way up into the heavens.

Muchos Maas! Alex also kicked up my Kevin Maas PC with this little complete set of Star cards dedicated to the rookie phenom of 1990. I've mentioned it before, but I first started collecting cards in 1990 (Celebrating 30 Years theme), and even though his comet burned as briefly as it did brightly, I still get a thrill of adding new cards of his.

Some other long-time loves of mine, glow-in-the-dark and black gold.

A pair of Padre fan favorites from the time. Silver Signature Bip and a blue signature Dave Staton.

And Bip is back, here snug in the womb of the packs that birthed him so many times. Forever Bipping. Cool to add a couple unopened packs to the Bip Roberts PC.

Big thanks, Alex! Always a pleasure. (If you guys know Alex, ask him to share the story about returning a signed ballcap to the family of a deceased former player. It's something special.)

And thanks to everyone reading. I'll see you on the other side of this move.

The Nickening

Looks like I'll have a string of trade recap posts this week. Yesterday was Zippy, today is Dimebox Nick, and waiting in the wings are packages from Angus and Wes that just showed up. With all these great incoming cards, it's easy to ignore the release of 2019 Topps Series One today. I feel like my interest in current flagship couldn't be lower, though I don't hate the design this year and am glad to see the return of full stats on the back.

Here's a nice one to kick off with. McCovey is a big PC guy for me, plus I'm thinking I'd like to make a run for Kellogg's sets at some point in the coming years.

A little deja vu from yesterday's Japanese girlie cards, another one of those boxes with a bunch of swimsuit cards of one particular young lady. Jun Amaki here is quite lovely. Perhaps this was re-traded by way of Zippy? Hey, I'll happily take any unwanted girlie cards (and probably pass off any I don't want to Billy.)

Back to baseball, here are some minis. Always love adding a new Hoyt.

These old Baseball Card Magazine pseudo-customs are fun. I had been debating whether or not to cut the sheet I recently got featuring the Kevin Maas card, but thanks to this already-cut one from Nick, I can leave the other intact.

And more various cards of  guys I collect.

Solid selection of Padres from this decade. Looks like I needed all 3 of those 2011 Topps parallels for my frankenset, so that makes me happy.

Trea Turner is a guy I recently bumped off my wantlist and retired the PC into the Hundred Card Club. That didn't take me long.. feels like he was just recently a rookie, fleeced from San Diego's org. Hopefully Tatis Jr at shortstop takes the sting out of that transaction soon. Anyways, nice lot here.

Nick and I are both Rod Beck collectors, and he's good about throwing his dupes my way.

And of course Mr. Padre. Dig the cartoon fly with backwards hat.

Impressive lot of George Springer cards.

Bunch of Brian Giles.

And little bro, Marcus.

More Pads of the Past. Some nice ones here. Note the minor league Bochy with "C/CH" position. That was his last stand as a player.

The package wraps up with some vintage cards from Nick's dad, buttering me up for another batch of music customs on the horizon.

The '64 Topps needs are much appreciated. Inching toward ¾ complete with this set.

The highlights here are legendary manager Walt Alston and a combo card featuring Yaz. (Not sure how Chuck Schilling squeezed onto this "Sox Sockers" card; the guy hit a total of 23 homers in his entire career.)

Big thanks, Nick! (and Nick's dad!) I don't think I've got much left set aside for you right now, but I'll keep an eye out. And just let me know when your dad wants to get that custom project going.

No Name on Front

No Name on Front cards are some of the coolest error cards out there, I'd say.

There was recently some talk on Twitter of an eBay seller with a nice selection of 1992 Topps cards with no names on the front. I thought the cards looked great.. a fresh spin on an old classic. Just a simple, elegant frame around a photo. They were just a buck each plus flat $3 shipping, so I grabbed a few guys I collect. If you don't recognize him out of his Red Sox uni, that's Dwight Evans above.

Caminiti, Joyner, Templeton, and Maas here. What these cards are are Gold parallels missing the gold foil. Turns out this is the same seller from whom I bought a few proof cards back in 2017.. she must have either worked at Topps in the 90s (or perhaps at the print shop Topps used?) or have a close associate who did. She has thousands of backdoored stuff like this in her eBay store. (In fact, I just placed another order of stuff from her while working on this post!)

They have regular backs. You can tell they're Gold parallels by the logo in the background of the stats box.

While I'm talking about NNOF cards, I figured I'd include a couple others I've got, such as this 2014 Bowman Draft card of Gavin LaValley that's missing the foil, and therefore the name. Nice unofficial variation for that rainbow.

Of course the best known example of a no-name error is the 1990 Topps Frank Thomas. I'd love to pick one up someday when I've got 4-figures to burn on a baseball card, but for now I'm content with official reprints. These are both from 2010 Topps.

One is the standard Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert, and the other is the more scarce original back reprint. The latter is probably my favorite reprint in my collection... love it!

That's it for today. Thanks for swinging by.

cards as I receive them

Got a couple more recent trades to recap.

Good ol' gcrl set over some vintage set help, including these '74s. That Billy Williams is a classic "wtf?" card. Apparently Topps felt Billy washed into the background too much in the photo, and bizarrely decided to tint the background yellow in order for Billy to pop more. Either that or a lemonade stand exploded behind him.

Nice looking pair of '78s, too.

A few big names to check off my 1979 Topps build!

Seems like my '84 Donruss chase had stalled there for a while, so it's great to score a few more needs, highlighted by rookie cards of Van Slyke, Carmelo, and Wynne.

Jim rounded out the package with a few young dudes I collect.

Thanks, man! Much appreciated.

-  - - --o

I also got a bonus "thank you" package from Alex T. for a few customs I've been cranking out for him.

Panels of "Repli-Cards" from BBC.. gotta love these early custom-like cards. I was down for the Kevin Maas rookie I needed for the PC, and Alex went ahead and sent the whole panels from the issue. Now I have the conundrum of whether to cut these out or keep them intact. Thoughts? They did a good job picking rookies. These are all familiar names for me from the year I dove into baseball hard, 1990. Only the Brewers pair are "who?" names for me.

Alex also surprised me with a set of Portfolio '92 swimsuit cards. Lots of lovely ladies.. I'm sure I'll be able to find some worthy additions for my "girlie card" minicollection in here. The photos in this set are pretty tame for the most part, but if you keep an eye out, you might catch an occasional risqué card, like Colette there.

Thanks, Alex!

There's no trade like a Bo trade

As you might know, Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life recently dropped the "no going after vintage" guideline to how he collects, diving headfirst into old cards now. So that's opened up some trade possibilities with him, and I was able to find a bunch of available vintage to send his way. He hit me back with a nice return package.

Bo's recent influx of vintage included some dupes, including this lovely '68 Phil Niekro I needed for the modest Knucksie PC I've got going.

I needed that '81 Bird too, plus an '87 Fleer Update need taking me down to just 5 more cards to wrap up that update set (I recently caved and bought the Maddux and McGwire rookies during the recent COMC sale).

More Didis for my PC.

Wow, my Kevin Maas PC just doubled!
No wait, make that tripled..

¡Mas Maas! ¡Gracias!

Some good star-power here in this '82 Topps lot. Won't be long till I knock this one off.

And a big lot of 1978 Topps. Very nice. Gotta love that awful Greg Minton card. I think I'm probably past halfway with this set now.

Big thanks for the trade, Bo! I'll round up something to balance the scales soon.

No Maas

I'm sorta proud of myself because this might be the season I finally stop being so susceptible to getting caught up in rookiemania. All of my other card-collecting years, I'd get swept up by the hot young guys and try to land a bunch of their cards. It was Judge and Bellinger last year.

But this year? I'm just not feeling it. I don't give a shit about Shohei. I couldñ't care less about Acuña. And I've got too much pride to collect anyone named "Gleyber" no matter how good he may be. Maybe I just got burnt out. (I should mention I'm still excited about Padres prospects, like Fernando Tatis, Jr. for what that's worth, and I'm hoping at least one of the rookies on the team this year can compete for a couple NL ROY votes.)

I started collecting in 1990, so my first real taste of a rookie phenom blasting onto the scene was Kevin Maas. Though his career was a comet that quickly burned out, he's a sentimental favorite to collect these days. And by special request, here's my updated Maas PC, starting with some neat minor league recent pickups.

This 1987 Pro Cards is his earliest card.. probably was a pretty hot commodity for a while there.

Ha, from his first pro season, looks like he was a contact hitter without much pop. That didn't last long, as his power soon went up and average went down.

Very similar photo on this one, but this is from 1994, once the bloom had fallen off the rose (or whatever). I believe this is the only card that exists from his brief stint in the Padres organization after getting cut by the Yankees at the end of spring training that year (I'm still bummed he didn't see any action up top in San Diego so he could officially be a "Once a Padre"), but I'm glad there's at least this card to commemorate his short-term stop in the chain. He actually only played 4 games for AA Wichita (hitting a robust 8-for-15) before being promoted to AAA Las Vegas where he was less impressive, eventually getting released on May 23 after 29 games. He then finished out the year with Cincinnati's AAA club.

This pair of sister cards is actually from Kevin's double-dip with the Yankees. He started 1995 with the Twins, but was soon cut loose and New York gave him another shot in their chain, though he never made it back to the Bronx. The blue bordered card is the Police version.

Seems to me the quote attributed to Kevin Kuhn, age 12, was plagiarized from Mr. T.

After splitting 1996 with Milwaukee's AAA team and in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers (I don't think there are cards documenting either stint), Maas returned to AAA in 1997, splitting the year between Houston's and the Reds' organizations before hanging up his cleats. I believe this '97 Best issue is the final card from his playing days.

And the back of his sunset card. Thanks to baseball-reference, I can fill in the missing Japanese stats for you: 63 games, 26 walks, 60 strikeouts. There's an error on his birthday; it's actually Jan 20th.

And now for the rest of the PC; here's his Topps, Score, Leaf, and Classic cards I've got.

Bless '95 Fleer for giving us the only card from Kevin's brief Twins stint.

Finally, the Upper Deck cards I've got from him, including an auto. Maybe one of these days I'll try a TTM attempt with my dupes. He's supposed to be a decent signer, I think.

Of course I'm down for adding any more Maases that I don't have via trade.
(UPDATE: see this post for a big update to the PC thanks to a trade with Bo.)
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. Card show weekend for me!