Joy of a Completed Set: 1979 Topps

My last post excitedly shared the news that we just bought our first house. But in the ensuing few days, we've been nervously just hoping both our new and current homes stay standing. Much of Oregon is on fire. It's fucking bad. The fires haven't crept into Portland yet, but we're keeping an eye out for possible evacuation notice and anxiously waiting for some rain to help the situation. The air quality here is just about as bad as it can be from all the smoke.

So terrible all you can do is nervously laugh (and stay inside with the doors and windows closed). Just when I thought 2020 couldn't get any worse!

But hey, one good thing to happen to me this year is I just completed another vintage Topps set. That's something.

Yep, 1979 Topps is in the books! Let's give 'er a quick rundown. The big card in the set is the Ozzie Smith rookie. As a Padres fan, it's nice that we've got that going for us.

Only one true error/variation in the set, so I went ahead and snagged both Bumps. (I suppose you could also include Burger King cards if you wanted to go nuts with '79 Topps-- they put out team sets for Phillies and Yankees using the same design-- but I don't think I'll go after those. Maybe someday. I suppose I'd at least like to get the few BK cards that feature a different photo than the flagship counterpart. Is there a blogpost or something out there with a list?)

I'm considering my set complete now, though there are still 57 cards that I've got marked as "upgrade would be nice" and one that I've raised the severity level to "upgrade needed" and that's this A's team card that looks like it was a wad at one point. If you've got some sharp 79s available, feel free to take a look at my 1979 Topps spreadsheet and help me upgrade my set. There are also 11 cards currently marked as "dupe wanted for PC".

And here's a card that I'd like to upgrade (thanks to some rough corners), and if/when I get a better copy, this one will hop over to the Nolan Ryan PC. I collected like 98% of the set through trades, but got impatient and turned to Sportlots for the last few commons, and to eBay for the Bump Wills error and then this, what I thought was the final card I needed. But before the Ryan Express even pulled into the station, I did a final sort and couldn't find #469 anywhere despite being marked off on my spreadsheet.

But I mentioned it in a previous post, and reader Brett Alan stepped up with Lance Parrish here to officially finish my set.

I'm slowly working on a run of the 70s Topps sets, with '73 (completed in 2015), '71 (completed in 2017), and now '79 done.

Brett kindly included a few surprises along for the ride, such as these '77s.

And my fledgeling 1976 Topps set now has an Eckersley rookie in it! The '78 Zimmer is a "dupe wanted for PC" acquisition.

Thanks a lot, Brett! You've helped breathe some joy into an otherwise very stressful time.

ignorable filler post: 1991 Cardboard Dreams #2 Nolan Ryan

Yeah, yeah, I hate art cards (as opposed to real 1/1 pieces of art which I love, but once you mass produce it, the gloves are off). This is fine. You got young Nolan on the Mets in the portrait, and a current (at the time) Nolan on the Rangers in the action shot.

OMG! ADORBS!! Look at lil nolan on that lil pony! So cute!

I don't think these are real quotes. He wouldn't really say, "No-hitters are easy for me." would he?

"His real name is Lynn Nolan Ryan"

You don't see Lynn as a man's name much (and really, it's not a super popular womens name either). Notable MLB first-name Lynns include Lynn McGlothen (1972-1982) and Lynn Jones (1979-1986).

Mookie Betts' middle name is Lynn. He was born just a bit after this '91 card came out (1992). Other ballplayers whose middle name is Lynn include Bob Welch, Todd Helton, Kyle Farnsworth, Jarred Cosart, Adam Duvall, and Danny Jackson. Who knew?!

And funny enough, Gary Nolan (of the Big Red Machine) had the middle name Lynn! Gary Lynn Nolan is just a one, rearranged letter off from Lynn Nolan Ryan. 6753 career strikeouts between the pair with only a G/N difference in their full names. Wow.

I'd wager that the best known "Lynn" ballplayer is Fred Lynn. MVP/ROY in 1975, and had a few other excellent years too. As far as standout Nolans, well 2nd place after Ryan would likely go to Nolan Arenado. Other good "Ryan" players include Howard, Braun, and Klesko. (Honorable mention to Ryne Sandberg.)

"All-time leader in strikeouts and walks"

Nolan Ryan is still 1st all-time in strikeouts (5714). Second is Randy Johnson (4875). As far as active players at the time of this writing,  CC Sabathia is 17th with 3080, followed by Justin Verlander at 18th with 2949.. neither of which has much chance of catching the Express at this stage of their career.

Nolan is also still #1 in all-time walks allowed with no one threatening his mark of 2,795. It's probably one of those unbreakable records, honestly. The next closest guy is Steve Carlton in a distant second place with 1,833. The highest of active guys is CC again with "only" 1,094. With how bullpens are used these days, it's safe to say Nolan will still be standing as the all-time strikeouts and walks leader when the sun explodes and ends all life on earth. Unless in like 2099 cyborg pitchers overtake the record books, in which case, all bets are off. Those robotic freaks could throw 400 innings a year and never tire.

"Nolan pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in the 1969 World Series with the N.Y. Mets"

Funny that one game in relief in '69 by young Nolan would stand as his only World Series experience. But hey, it was good enough for a championship ring, something that plenty of Hall of Fame players never got.. (Williams, Banks, Killebrew, McCovey, Gwynn, etc).. though I'm sure he would have rather gotten some more.

My Best Cards

I've got a couple Nolan Ryan autographs, not to brag ..a pair of Topps Retired refractors.

And my oldest card of his is 1971 Topps..

Not in great shape, but "Royal Crown" here is a treasured part of my rough '71 Topps set. Also have him in my '73 Topps set. Need him for my '70 and '72 setbuilds.

Hat's off to you, Nolan Ryan!! One of the greats.

Mr. Jones and Me. Custom TTM success with an awesome note!

Oh man, this was a sweeeet TTM return for me.

I can't really explain it, but I was nervous about this one. It was way back in January when Padrographs Rod hooked me up with the elusive mailing address.. and it took me until the middle of August to finally get around to making the request, though it was high on my to-do list that whole time.

Chris Jones has been an enigmatic figure in my collection for a while now, sort of my personal Moonlight Graham. He was only the second person from my high school to play in the major leagues. And the first (Mike Reinbach) passed away many years ago, so Mr. Jones is by default the reigning patriarch of the Guys From Granite fraternity. The fact that "Chris Jones" is a very common name only further clouds the enigmatic nature of the situation, as searching for his cards is not easy, and googling him is pretty much a waste of time as 99% of the results will be for the other baseball player named Chris Jones (who debuted with the Reds in 1991), or maybe the other few guys with that name who've played in the minors over the past few years (or the football or soccer players who also have that name).

I just wanted it to be perfect. You never know how a TTM request will be received.. especially when customs are involved. I've heard about some old-timers who are like, "This is a FAKE CARD! I wasn't paid for the use of my likeness with this! Grumble grumble!" Worst case scenario is upsetting the guy.

Another concern of mine was the weather. Yeah, seems funny, but my customs are susceptible to the ink running when they get a little damp. I figured mid August would be safe, but lol, the day before this return came in, it rained. Thankfully it was dry the day the mailman dropped the return envelope off for me.

But enough lead-in, let's get to it!

Boom, if I may say so myself. Chris never got a real MLB card, so I made my own using the only photo I've ever seen of him not in a minor league uniform. I colorized the b&w pic and put it in a 1987 Donruss design (which might look familiar if you read my post from last month about 87D customs).

I sent 4 copies of this custom, and in my note I asked for one signed in return and said he could keep the extras, which he did. (I also sent a fine-tip red Sharpie for him to sign with [and keep].. an advanced TTM move I've only done once before.. for when you really want it to turn out well and not risk a crappy ballpoint pen or dried-out Sharpie ruining your request). I also mentioned how we both went to Granite Hills High School, and then Grossmont CC and SDSU (I nearly asked him which elementary school he went to, curious if our scholastic paths mirror back that far, though I resisted, thinking it might be creepy to do so).. and mentioned how collecting cards of players who went to my high school is a way I connect with my hometown after moving away a decade ago.

I think the back turned out pretty good, too! I take pride in my custom backs, gotta admit. Helps me stand out from other custom card makers who don't bother with the backs. But really it's just my OCD on the matter, as a blank-backed card feels incomplete to me. This is not only a rated rookie (that never was) but also a sunset card with full career stats. Turns out Chris read it and gave me props in a great note he included in his return...

Transcribing for posterity, he says:

Hey Gavin
Thanks so much for the cards. You did your homework on the career highlights. I didn't even remember that Nolan R. was pitching the game of my debut. I do remember that being on the same team as he was my greatest memory in the ML. Such a great guy as well as HOF no brainer. Take care and thanks again.
Chris  --->
That picture was in spring training during an intersquad game on deck to face Vida Blue. Nice game face! I ended up punching out looking on a 3-2 slider. Nice!

Wow! I've received nice little notes with my custom TTM requests before (including from Vida Blue himself!) but this takes the cake. I couldn't have dreamt of a better reply. This epitomises the greatness of the hobby for me and what it's all about.

Chris even wrote "Go Eagles!" on the back on the return envelope, a reference to our shared Granite Hills heritage.

Oh man, I'm so very happy with this return! While I wouldn't expect it to have big value on the secondary market, this signed card is now easily in the inner circle of best cards in my collection, right up there with my Trout autos and vintage Mantles.

Again, huge thanks to Mr. Jones for making my day by taking the time to sign and return my card and write that wonderful return note. And big thanks also to Rod as well as Brian at ABC Unlimited, the autograph dealer who kindly supplied the address. Much appreciated!

1992 Classic Minor League set break (and lamenting the lack of ladies on the blogs)

I won a sealed factory set of 1992 Classic Best Minor League Baseball Cards from Julie way back in January. I exercised some patience, but finally ripped into it last night, deciding to raid it for my PCs and dump the remainder in the spirit of tightening up my collection a bit.

These are the big 3 of the set, no doubt. Jeter, Piazza, and Chipper.

A few of the other guys who went on to solid careers.

These 4 were all PC needs for me.

Giving you a look at the backs and a few of the more quirky names in the set.

Classic snuck in 3 MLB stars. I often see that Griffey at the card show whilst digging through bins and for a second I'm like, "minor league Griffey card!" then I notice the "1992" and I'm like, "hey, Junior was already an established star by that point. 👎"
The Nolan Ryan is a nice card.. and one I don't recall seeing before.
The Mike Schmidt card is a bit of a head-scratcher. It has nothing to do with minor leagues. He had "a minor league card" in the previous Classic Minors set (the only such throwback in 1991 Classic Minors), so I guess I understand them not wanting to repeat themselves, but still wanted to milk their association with him. So we get a card commemorating his 500th home run from a few years earlier. The back features the full box score of the game, yet neglects giving the date. (Google tells me it was Apr 18, 1987.)

And an artist's rendering of one of the Schmidt photos (see 500th HR card) is used on every checklist. As a player collector, I feel like I should include these in my Schmidt PC and count them towards my goal of 100 unique cards of the guy.. but I don't necessarily feel good about that. Kind of like breaking up a no-hitter in the 9th with a bunt. Or losing the popular vote but still getting elected.

Anyways, there are some highlights from the set. But yeah, the gist of the cards are guys I've never heard of. Any team collectors out there (who also collect minor league affiliate cards), feel free to get in touch regarding trades. But do it ASAP, because I'm currently loading up a big box of cards to dump on Billy, and the majority of this set will likely end up in there.
Red Sox trader buddies... do you need/want the Sox from this set?
Same question to Cubs collectors. And Braves? Brewers? Pirates? Let me know.

Big thanks again to Julie for surprising me with this set as the prize for losing a contest of hers. Very nice of her to do.

On a side note...
It's a bummer that Julie hasn't been seen around the cardsphere for quite a while now (7 months since a new post on A Cracked Bat, and I don't recall her commenting anywhere since then either). I hope things are going well with her and she makes a comeback soon. And thinking about women cardbloggers... it's kind of depressing. The lady from Portugal (Hobby Cards Europe) hasn't posted much in the past several months. Caitlin, the young collector from Canada, seems to have gotten run off the blogs for reasons I'm not privy to. Funner Here, the cardblog run by a female Phillies fan, is completely dead and gone now. A Cardboard Problem isn't updated very often anymore (though Sooz is active on Twitter, with #CardChat being a cool weekly social event she runs). But yeah, it sucks that the cardsphere is such a sausage party these days. Even Fashion Shoes hasn't been around lately! (ok, that one was a joke.) I'd love to see more diversity around these parts.. gender, race, age, etc. But what can you do? I don't really have any suggestions other than to say collecting cards is fun, and it's made even better by being part of a community who shares your interest. So start a blog if you haven't already! Even if you're a middle-aged white guy.. but especially if you aren't!
 👯👱👳👵👶👸😎
(Have you noticed Blogger now has an "insert special characters" button on the blog compose page? LOL. These are fun. I hope the faces are actually showing up for everybody, not displaying as plain squares or whatever.)

Ok, enough rambling.
Thanks for stopping by!

Battle of the Boxes ('16 High Numbers vs '13 Hometown Heroes)

Time to wrap up the trio of posts breaking down my card show haul from last weekend. Along with the singles I dug out from bins, I also picked up a couple unopened boxes to rip: a 2016 Topps Heritage High Numbers blaster, and a box of 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes. Each ran me $15 from the same dealer.

Let's start with the latest & greatest: Heritage High Numbers. As far as base cards, there were two I was hoping to pull: Gavin Floyd's first card as a Blue Jay, and Padres fringe fan-favorite Jabari Blash.

Welp, I got the Blash. Still need the Floyd. Also got a Pujols/Trout and Neshek, but that's it for guys I collect. Pretty weak, but then again I suppose High Numbers isn't really about packing in starpower.

Other notable pulls, a /999 Chrome parallel of Jameson Taillon and a couple SPs.

Inserts. I'll probably hang onto the Seager, but the other 2 are available to the first of my bountiful Cubs and Sox trader-buddies who call dibs.

And the rest..

I don't think I pulled any gimmicky parallels.. such as fake errors, photo variations, gum stains, red back, or flipped stock (glossy back). Anyways, these are pretty much all available for trade, so let me know if you need any of them.

Next up is the 2013 Hometown Heroes box. The product seemed to be a hit on the cardsphere, with even collectors who normally don't dig logo-less Panini admitting it's a pretty fun set. It's chockful of fan favorites, both big names and lesser-remembered guys from yesteryear, plus some current players to make it feel a little more relevant. It's got a retro design, reminiscent of 1965 Topps, plus a decent price point, too. But for whatever reason, it was a one-and-done product. I haven't previously ripped any of it myself, but have gotten a few cards in trades here and there.

Well, as far as quantity, the $15 box on the left definitely comes out on top. Both sets are on similar, vintage-style stock.

In contrast to the meager PC additions High Numbers had for me, Hometown Heroes delivers with dozens of cards of guys I collect. As you see at the bottom, some guys even have a couple different cards. I only got one SP, though, #300 Andre Dawson.

Some foil stamp parallels, with four states and one zip code. I'm hanging onto the Gibson and Ryan, but the other 3 are available for trade.

Some insert keepers for me.

And some inserts that are available for trade. I believe the gold and black borders are somewhat scarcer parallels, though I didn't pull any serial numbered cards.

If anybody's working on this set, I've got plenty of base cards available. I'm almost tempted to collect 'em all, but don't think I'll go through with it. I will say though that in hindsight, I would have forgone the Heritage box and just bought a couple Hometown Heroes boxes instead. I might go for another box if the dealer still has them for $15 next show.

I even pulled a hit! While a Tony Fernandez auto isn't exactly a big-money card, I have fond memories of him from his time in San Diego when I was a kid, so I was happy with this pull.

So yeah, a couple decent boxes at a good price, with Hometown Heroes coming out victorious as far as most fun to rip.
Thanks for checking them out with me.

2016 Diamond Kings blaster

I recently worked out a deal with a guy named Jim S. who grabbed a few things off my Amazon wishlist for me. Included was a blaster of 2016 Diamond Kings which had some good stuff in it.

Howdy! That's a nice hit. Rob Refsnyder has been playing well for the Yankees.

Dual jersey relic stickergraph numbered 4/25. eBay tells me this is about a $10 card. If any of you Yankees fans have eyes for it and have a comparable card that fits in better with my collection, I'm up for trade offers.

Here's a red framed card numbered /99 on the back. Frankie Montas is currently with the Dodgers organization.

A smattering of inserts, heavy on catchers (surprisingly not in catchers' gear, which you'd think would be in Panini's wheelhouse thanks to less logos to worry about). Funny to see Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip on a Panini card, seeing as how it's sort of ingrained as a Topps card image by this point.

Here are some base cards of dudes I collect.

I thought it was odd that I pulled 2 Miguel Sano cards from the same blaster, but upon juxtaposing them, the uniform is obviously different. They both have the same card number on the back, so I guess one must be a variation or something. Seems kinda pointless.

So yeah, there were the highlights. It was a decent blaster, thanks mostly to the /25 auto I pulled. Diamond Kings tend to give you decent bang for your buck, so I like to rip some to check out, though I'm not sure I'll go out of my way to pick up any more this year.

some repurposed sketchcards

I'm admittedly not a great artist, but in the interest of "practice makes perfect" I try to draw something every once in a while. Lately I've been getting into the habit of making a sketch card out of any card-like media I come across that would otherwise just be thrown away. I'm talking about stuff like fake credit cards that come in junk mail or expired bus passes. Give me a paper rectangle that fits in my hand and I will scribble on it and hope for the best.

These are 3 instances of where I just drew a random baseball player and after-the-fact decided who I was trying to draw based on who I thought it looked like. Not exactly spitting images of Bryce Harper, Nolan Ryan, and Bert Blyleven, but close enough for me.

These are the backs. Looks like I even signed and dated one of them.

Here's a Mickey Mantle 1/1 for my collection. LOL

The creative muse in my house doesn't just stop with me...

Here's a guest appearance by my wife! Sometimes a simple "HB" on the egg carton is enough to signify them as being hard boiled, but sometimes you need to get creative about it. I love her!

Thanks for visiting! Happy Memorial Day! Thanks to all the brave men and women who gave their lives fighting for the USA.