I got a LeVar Burton auto.. but you don't have to take MY word for it.

Reading Rainbow, Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation.. now that's a frickken impressive triple crown of a résumé right there. Sprinkle in a dash of Big Bang Theory and Family Guy, and you're a pop culture icon, no question.

I wanted to snag a LeVar Burton auto for my collection, and I recently made that dream come true.

Pretty cool! And on-card! LeVar's got a pretty spectacular, intricate signature.. always nice to see as opposed to a couple quick squiggles. Very happy to add this one to my collection.

While I don't specifically remember LeVar's Family Guy guest appearance (I guess it's just these couple lines in a big TNG cast sequence?), I'll take it. I won't lie and say I'm a big Star Trek guy, but growing up, my mom was a loyal Next Gen watcher, so the show (and Geordi La Forge) is close to me whether I want it to be or not. Personally, I'm more of a Reading Rainbow fan. As far as educational kid shows, it was right there with Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood as the best around in the 80s.

THAT's MY JAM!!
Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend, guys.

Xfraction

My recent COMC order included a bunch of inexpensive xfractor autos. They're just cool cards, what can I say?

Logan Kensing has a 1.93 ERA in 3 relief appearances with the Tigers this season.

Some Braves which I will likely send away before long.

These were the cheapest xfractor autos from the world of football and basketball, just a bit over a buck each.

Adrian McPherson is currently with the Toronto Argonauts.

Wilson Chandler is with the Denver Nuggets, but missed this season with a hip injury.

Brett Wallace has been a surprising bright spot for the Padres this year. Well, by Padres standards, at least.

Good ol' Jedd Gyorko is hitting .215 with the Cardinals.

I'll leave you with some refraction action:

A baseball Bark Box and an eBay blaster's worth

I've talked about Bark Box here before, which is a company that sends out a monthly grab-bag of dog goodies. My in-laws got it for us (--well, for our dog) a couple Christmases ago and renewed it for another year. There's usually a loose theme to each box, and this month it's a baseball theme, so I figured I'd work it into a blog post.

They use a few different sized boxes, but this is the standard size they seem to go with most often, and I'm always happy when this one shows up because I use these particular badboys for storing my cards. I'll cut off most of the flap to use as a divider, and it's a great size for two rows of cards large enough to accommodate top-loaders and the like.

They included this oversized baseball card with a cutout in the middle so your dog can have a card. It's obviously inspired by 1965 Topps, a great choice. If you've got a tiny dog, you can put their face in it, but if you've got a medium/big dog like mine, you just gotta hold it up in front of them. I took a few photos with Annie and this one turned out the best. She's lucky she's around to pose for it, seeing as yesterday she got a little over-excited to go to doggy daycare and slipped out of her collar and dashed across the street, with a driver slamming on the brakes to come within inches of hitting her. She's usually a good girl, but occasionally goes nuts and pulls shit like that. The Mrs. and I were quite upset with her, but she's a cutie, so it's hard to stay mad at her for too long. Looks like she'll be wearing the dreaded gentle leader (harness that goes on the snout) while going to daycare from now on.

Here's a better look at the card. I might end up using this as a "box topper" for my '65 Topps setbuild.

Here's a mitt chew toy. Annie used to tear up her toys, sometimes in mere minutes, but as she's gotten older (she's 3), she seems to have gotten more gentle with them and they last longer. So now she's got a ton of toys, with a couple more coming each month via Bark Box. We should really toss or give away some of the old, neglected ones.

Anyways, the cards I'm showing off in this post are a few autos I got in a combined-shipping order from an eBay seller for a few cents under the price of a blaster. Since this toy is called the Yogi Barka Mitt, I've paired it with a Yankee. Jacob Lindgren, a 2nd round pick in 2014, is projected to be a solid major league reliever soon. This 2015 Topps Chrome purple refractor is numbered /250.

Next up we've got a Leaf clear Gavin Lux auto. This was only $1.99 + shipping and the catalyst for me placing this combined order. I've got a pretty decent Lux collection going now, and hopefully the kid will go on to a nice professional career, though he's still in high school. Since he's just a "pup" I've paired him here with a bag of treats from House of Pups. As you can see, I've torn these open moments before snapping the photo. Annie gobbled it down quickly, but she pretty much loves all treats, so it's no surprise. These are kinda cool in that they look like baseballs, a nuance that is likely lost on her canine brain, but a human baseball fan can appreciate.

Now here's a 2014 Bowman Chrome refractor auto /500 of Edwin Moreno, a 22-year old Padres prospect out of the Dominican Republic. His stats generally haven't been great so far, but he hit .308 in A ball last year, so who knows.. might make something of himself one day. At $3.99 it sounded like a good deal, as Bowman Chrome Refractor Autos are like the gold standard for prospect cards. Plus I like the Padres. These "Sliders" dog biscuits might be stretching the baseball theme, but sure, there definitely is sliding in the game of baseball, so it counts. (update: And as Johnny reminded me, a slider is also a type of pitch. Duh.)

Here's a photo of my dirty kitchen rug with a duck treat stick and a 2015 Bowman's Best Cole Tucker auto. Maybe you recall I pulled a printing plate of this guy from a box of 2015 Pro Debut a while back? Well, since I'll eventually be sending that off to Matthew Scott (who by the way has now been mentioned in 3 straight posts on my blog!), I figured I'd throw a cheap auto of him in my cart so he'll at least still have some representation in my collection. As for the treat, I'm sure Annie will chomp this down quickly, though personally ducks are one of my favorite animals, so I avoid eating them or buying duck meat products as best I can. Seriously, they can walk, swim, and fly! That's the triple crown of bodily movement! Respect, ducks. Respect. Plus ducks are cool. They just chill and don't bother nobody. Geese on the other hand, fuck them, they're assholes. Eat all the goose meat you want. And I'm not sure what this treat has to do with baseball other than I suppose sticks of dried meat look vaguely like bats.

Finally, here's a 2015 Bowman Chrome Prime Positions auto of Robert Stephenson, a top pitching prospect with the Reds. He made his ML debut earlier this month and has been good so far, winning both his starts, with an ERA of 3.00. So yeah, I went ahead and threw a cheap auto of his into the order with no additional shipping cost. The toy here is a stuffed hamburger that comes apart in sections thanks to velcro. Kinda cool, though I'd say a hot dog would fit better in the baseball theme. But whatever, close enough. It's all the same to a dog anyway.. soft and squeaky.

So there you have it.. some dog goodies for the pooch and some card goodies for me, all under a baseball umbrella.

Thanks for checking it out and we'll see ya next time!

Oh, and sad to hear about the passing of Prince. He was pretty damn cool and I like a bunch of his songs. I would link a YouTube video here (probably "7" -- great song), but he was a bit overprotective of his music, so there don't seem to be many videos to choose from online, unfortunately.

Got my Eddie Murray autograph!

A few months ago I made a list of Top 10 tough autographs I'd like to get someday and added it to my wantlist. It's got some legendary (expensive) name like Clemente, Mantle, and Ted Williams, but some more realistic guys too. I finally checked a name off the list recently, scoring this Eddie Murray auto/relic:

With 504 home runs and 3255 hits, he's an all-time great. Eddie has never been a very prolific signer, so he's one of the trickier modern-era HOF guys to land a certified autograph of for under $30.

This on-card auto fits the bill for me, though it's not perfect. Some chipping near the bottom (note the white dots in the corners). And the photo of Eddie staring at you in front of a red curtain could be more interesting. Looks to be from his brief later-career double dip in Baltimore rather than during his initial run with the O's. Steady Eddie's signature is as steady as ever, and the bat chip made to look like a baseball is a nice touch.

More chipping on the back in the bottom corners. To the seller's credit, he did mention, "Card has just a touch of white on bottom left and on bottom back of the card." I wasn't too particular about condition in this case, so I was happy to go after the card as an affordable option.

Now if you'll excuse some bitching, this card was the source of some frustration for me. When I set a sniping bid for it, I was unaware that the auction ended on Eddie's birthday... Always a mistake for a buyer. Times you don't want to buy include right after the guy is in the news (his birthday, his deathday, after he does something that gets attention). Those are good times to sell, as the guy is on people's minds and they think, "Hey, maybe I should buy a good card of the guy." So that probably cost me a few extra bucks, though it was my fault for setting the bid where I did.

And a big eBay pet peeve of mine is when a seller sends an invoice moments after the auction ends. It's like.. "Yeah, no shit, buddy. I know how eBay works."

Here are times when it's appropriate for a seller to send an invoice:
- Winner won multiple items and the seller is giving a combined shipping discount.
- It's been over a day since the auction ended and the winner still hasn't paid.
- The winner is new to eBay and has little to no feedback. Even then, give them a couple hours.
- The winner requests an invoice (Maybe they need it for work or their records or whatever).

Being sent an invoice for 1 item moments after the auction ends is annoying and if I'm feeling cranky, may result fewer stars when it comes time for me to leave feedback.

The worst part about the Eddie Murray seller is that even after his impatient invoice which I paid right away, the guy still took a freaking week to drop the card in the mail. And he hasn't bothered to leave feedback for me yet, no surprise. It's not enough to classify him as a "bad seller" but I'd rather avoid the jabroni in the future.

I wish it was possible to add like virtual "sticky notes" to sellers in eBay, because I don't often even look at the seller's ID, much less remember it later unless it's a guy I've bought from multiple times. It'd be great if I could add a little note saying "Stay away from this guy" that would pop up every time I viewed an auction from a seller with whom I had a bumpy experience. I wouldn't want to totally block the seller though, just in case it was something worth putting up with a headache for. If I was a programmer type of guy, I would totally make an app/ browser extension for this. That's a million dollar idea, right there!

Anyways, sorry to sully this post with so much negativity. I'm still very happy to add an Eddie Murray auto to my collection, and along with the 1978 rookie card Junior Junkie sent me a few months ago, it's a great crown jewel pairing to my modest Steady Eddie PC.

Wil Myers auto (or what passes for his auto, at least)

Recently got my first auto of offseason Padre pickup Wil Myers. He seems to be widely regarded as having the worst signature in the game, just some waves that I suppose could be interpreted as an intertwined "WM" with a little imagination. I don't have a very legible signature myself, so I tend to be forgiving about lazy efficient signers, though of course beautiful autographs are better. Plus the guy's wrists are basically made of paper mache, so I guess he's trying to save wear-and-tear on them. That's probably why he dropped the superfluous L from his first name, too. Wil's been on the disabled list most of the year because of wrist issues, just like Tampa knew he would be when they suckered the Padres into giving up a couple top prospects for him.

C'est la vie. Hopefully he's back in the lineup and playing well soon.

While not as cool as the Fisk auto I showed off yesterday, still a fine looking card. Nice framed mini from 2013 Allen & Ginter. Plus I got it on Listia so it was "free" (a fat chunk of credits).

Another Netflix-inspired pickup (or two)

We watch a lot of Netflix at my house. My wife doesn't care much for documentaries, especially sports documentaries, so those are usually left for solo watching. I guess I'm suggestible in this solitary state, and often hit eBay while I'm watching and see if I can find a reasonably priced certified auto of the featured athlete(s).

Let's see, there was the two kids from Hoop Dreams a few months ago.

And after watching the Battered Bastards of Baseball, I picked up a Jim Bouton auto.

And most recently, I checked out No No: A Dockumentary about Dock Ellis. Very entertaining, highly recommended.

And yep, I set out searching for an auto. I was hoping for a nice shot of him in a Pirates uniform, since the best part of his career was with Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, it seems he's only got two readily available certified autos on the market, and both are from Yankee-centric sets put out by Upper Deck in 2003 and 2004. (Deja vu, as Jerry Coleman's two main certified autos are from the same sets. And like Dock, use the same photo both years. I got the Jerry from the same set (2004); I think it's a nicer design than the 2003 set.)

2004 Upper Deck NY Yankees Classics Dock Ellis Autograph #AU-14

Photo selection complaints aside, it's a pretty cool card, and a nice "memento" from that enjoyable film. I gotta admit I wasn't all that familiar with Dock, but now I might need to start a little PC.

Another Netflix-inspired mini-PC of mine is Buck O'Neil. I already had his 1962-style Fan Favorites auto among that tiny collection of cards, and I recently added another Buck auto...

It's impossible to watch any of Ken Burns' Baseball and not fall in love (manly speaking) with Buck O'Neil. It's streaming on Netflix, and while I've already watched through the whole thing a year or two ago, I'll still sometimes re-watch a bit of it if nothing else in my queue grabs me.

Buck O'Neil only has maybe a dozen different cards out there, so it's not a tough PC to "finish" assuming you don't worry about obscure oddballs and various modern cut-autos and the like. And this auto, featuring a happy photo from his days as a coach with the Cubs, is a great addition to my budding Buck PC.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pat Venditte, the switch-pitcher

Recently, I read a couple articles online about a guy who was in spring training with the A's, Pat Venditte. His is a neat story about growing up with a dad who was so supportive of his love for baseball, that he built lil' Pat a state-of-the-art batting cage in his backyard. As sort of a long-term experiment, Pat Sr. taught his kid to pitch with both hands growing up. It worked to make Pat Jr. a true ambidextrous "switch-pitcher." He's got a special glove so he can switch hands depending on who he's facing.

Being a fan of quirky stuff like this, I thought that was pretty cool. While his pro career hasn't exactly been a fairytale-- he's now 29 years old, with 7 years in the minors under his belt (b-r stats)-- he seems to be on the cusp of making the show, I believe currently with Oakland's AAA affiliate. I went looking to add a good card of his to my collection, and ended up bringing this auto home for a few bucks:

Despite being a sticker auto, it's a really nice looking card, with some purdy refractor shine on the front and #'d 041/199 on the back.

Best of luck, Pat! It'd be pretty neat to see you switch-pitching in the majors sometime soon.

Just pulled my 1st-ever non-promised auto!

I've definitely ripped my share of wax/foil in my time, earning the reputation of a "hitless wonder" in the process. But I just finally hit my first non-promised auto (meaning, not from a "2 autos per box!" type situation, but rather a good ol' luck of the draw).

I hadn't busted any packs in a while, so I found a couple cheap (blaster-priced) hobby boxes off eBay recently for my fix: '98 Bowman (Series 2) and '99 Bowman (Series 1). I don't have much from either of these sets in my collection, so I in addition to the fun of tearing open packs, figured I could probably pull a few PC guys, and replenish my trade box a bit. (If you trade with me sometime in the next several weeks, expect to get some late '90s Bowman thrown in as filler.)

But yeah, about halfway through the '98 box I pulled this guy:

An autograph! Jacque Jones. Sure, not a huge name, but we're talking Bowman here, where much of the auto checklist is guys who never actually do squat in the majors. So to pull a guy who went on to have a very respectable career is pretty sweet. And while I don't expect this card to be worth more than about 3 bucks, it must be a reasonably tough pull because I can't find any copies currently for sale on eBay or COMC. According to the odds on the wrapper, autos are seeded 1:102 packs, so one in 4.25 hobby boxes.

Anyways, that was a fun thrill to finally pull an auto. It's a nice-looking card with bold, on-card autograph, and I'm happy to add it to my collection. Jacque gets bonus points for being a fellow San Diego boy, three years ahead of me across town (San Diego High School).

Stay tuned for the rest of the notable cards from the box in a future post.

Sy Berger contracts

I added to my Topps contract collection recently. I had first bought one a few months back, bringing home an original contract signed by turn-of-the-millenium Padres fan favorite, Eric Owens. This time I didn't really care much about the player on the contract, though.

See, I noticed a few contracts of small-name players relatively cheap. Catching my eye in particular was one signed by the late, great baseball card pioneer Sy Berger. The auction description made no note of his presence, which I think is unwise, as certified Berger autos are in demand these days (case in point, one of his Fan Favorite autos recently sold for $200). The tributes poured in after his passing in December 2014, and a lot of card collectors such as myself were reminded what a giant he was in the hobby, and how he influenced the lives of countless boys and girls through his innovations with bubble gum cards.

So I thought it was a cool find. Then I got a little nuts and picked up a few more. Then a few more. Now I own 10 Sy Berger contracts. Ten! Probably a little foolish of me. I figure I'll hang onto one or two, and either trade or sell the rest.. perhaps (gasp!) even making a small profit. (Though it always seems like bad karma when I try to profit in the hobby, and as I should have expected I ran into a hiccup, but we'll talk about that later in the post.) These might not be the same as a certified auto card, but still, these are pretty neat and essentially "1/1" items, certified authentic by Topps.

Let's take a look.

Brook Fordyce

I best remember Brook Fordyce for his "top prospect" card in 1991 Upper Deck while a catcher in the Mets organization (I sure loved those UD prospect subsets from those days. Once they made it into it's own set, it kinda ruined it). Fordyce didn't exactly deliver on that hype, however. It wasn't until '97 that he was able to stick in the majors for more than a cup of coffee, getting into 47 games with the Reds. His best year with the bat was 2000, when he hit .301 with 14 home runs, splitting time between the White Sox and Orioles. He finished his career with a year in Tampa Bay in 2004. He currently owns and operates a baseball training center in Stuart, FL.

Mario Diaz

Mario Diaz was a utility infielder who spent time in the bigs each year between 1987 and 1995. With his career spanning the overproduction era, chances are you've got a couple of his cards in your collection whether you want them or not. He was called up with the Mariners in 1987, bouncing between AAA and Seattle until being traded to the Mets during the 1990 season. He signed with the Rangers in 1991, and then with the Marlins in 1994 (batting a nice .325 in 32 games), and closing out his big league career with them in 1995, though he played with several organizations till calling it a career at the end of 1999.

Jay Howell

Jay Howell was one of the game's premiere relievers in the late 80s and early 90s, getting selected for the All-Star team thrice. Originally drafted by the Reds, he spent a year with the Cubs and a few years with the Yankees. He went to the A's in the big Rickey Henderson trade, then landed in LA where he probably had the best years of his career. He was the closer on the championship Dodgers team of '88. He currently ranks 56th in career saves (155) and 67th in games finished (360). After retiring, Howell coached Cal State Northridge from 1998 to 2005 where he led the Matadors to two Big Sky Conference Titles.


Gil Heredia

Gil Heredia played on Team USA in 1986 as an amateur before eventually making his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants in 1991. On August 18, 1992, he was traded to the Expos. Heredia played four seasons with Montreal putting up an ERA of 3.85. After one season with the Texas Rangers in 1996, he missed the entire 1997 season. He returned to the majors the following year with the Oakland A's. A relief pitcher for most of his career, Heredia did not become a full-time starter until he joined the A's. He pitched a career-high 200 innings in 1999, his first full season with the A's. In 2000, he recorded a career-high 15 wins. He retired after the 2001 season. He is currently a minor league pitching coach in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.


Wes Gardner

Wes Gardner pitched 8 years in the majors, first coming up with the Mets, but spending most of his career with the Red Sox. His best year was probably 1988 when he pitched 149 innings, starting 18 games as well as coming out of the pen, helping Boston reach the playoffs. He finished his career in 1991 with a few games playing for the Padres and Royals. In 2001, Gardner was inducted into the University of Central Arkansas Bears Hall of Fame.


Rene Gonzales

Rene Gonzales was a utility infielder who sometimes went by the name R.C. Gonzales, such as on his 1989 Donruss card. He came up with the Expos in 1984, then went to Baltimore and ended up playing much of his career with the Orioles. He spent 1991 with the Blue Jays, and later played with the Angels, Indians, and Rangers, before finishing out his major league career with 2 games for the Rockies in 1997. After his playing days ended, he managed in the Brewers organization for a few years.


Jeff Kunkel

The 3rd overall pick of the 1983 amateur draft, Jeff Kunkel was a handy utility player for the Rangers from 1984 through 1990, even finishing a couple blowouts on the mound. His last taste of major league action was a few games with the Cubs in 1992 backing up Ryne Sandberg and Shawon Dunston. 

Paul Kilgus

Paul Kilgus pitched in 6 seasons with 5 teams. He originally came up with the Rangers, then went to the Cubs as part of the big trade that sent Jamie Moyer and Rafael Palmeiro to Texas. He won a career high 12 games for the Rangers in 1988, with 3 shutouts that year. Also played with Toronto, Baltimore, and St. Louis.

Jose Guzman

I didn't plan it this way, but coincidentally, Jose Guzman is the third guy in a row who played most of his career with the Rangers and then a bit with the Cubs. In 8 seasons, he put up a 80-74 record with a 4.05 ERA. He missed '89-'90 with an injury, then won the 1991 AL Comeback Player of the Year Award. He last played in the bigs in 1994 (and in affiliated ball in 1996), so it's odd this contract is dated 1998. He must have been in spring training toying with the idea of another comeback. In fact, he did eventually make another comeback in 2001, pitching a couple years in Independent ball.


Tim Mauser

Tim Mauser was a reliever who pitched for the Phillies and Padres in the early 90s. Nothing else really interesting to mention about him.


After buying a few of these contracts, it's become apparent that Sy sometimes used a stamp or autopen to sign his name. That's a bummer for collectors such as myself, who obviously prefer a hand-signed signature.

Let's play spot the stamps!

Did you spot the stamps? I've identified a couple different stamps or autopens that Mr. Berger used, with two sets of signatures being perfect matches:

The gifs don't lie.

Besides these four, I believe the other contracts were hand-signed, but I couldn't say for positive.

So there you go, a bunch of Sy Berger contracts. My favorites are the Fordyce (blue ink!), Howell (Word Series champ!), and Gardner (fun Topps-Bazooka logo!). The rest are all available for sale or trade, so please drop me an email if you'd like to see about working something out for one of them.