Topps Retired Triad: October Edition

A few more pickups from over the summer I've been meaning to show off on the blog.

Steve Garvey still has some ardent collectors out there, including the cardsphere's own gcrl, but I was able come out on top when the dust settled for this '05 Retired refractor auto. Now I just need an '03 refractor of his to upgrade the base auto I've got and I'll be done chasing Garvey.

This post has an "October Edition" gimmick going since we're at the start of the division serieses, so I'll remind you Garvey was no stranger to postseason baseball, first with his Dodgers battling the Yankees, and then helping San Diego make it to their first World Series in '84.

Tragically, the Padres were mauled by the Tigers that year. But in a tiny blip of karmic retribution, I got this '03 Lance Parrish-- Detroit's backstop for that most-recent championship season of theirs-- for a good price, in part because the seller had it listed as a base auto, though the hint of shine in the picture had me suspicious and the serial number on the back confirmed it was a refractor parallel.

Solid career.

Printing plates aren't really part of my Retired setbuild, but if I stumble upon one cheap-- or less-cheap but a PC guy of mine-- I might take a run at it. The sticker auto slapped on a plate is kinda weird, but whatever.

No career stats on the back, no surprise, so you can't marvel at all the tiny text from his long career, but Jesse Orosco is still the all-time leader in Games Pitched. He won it all with the '86 Mets and '88 Dodgers. He also pitched for both the Brewers and Padres, who face each other in the postseason for the first time tonight. Let's go, Padres. Why not, right?

Ok, that was 3 cards, which will usually close out a "triad" post, but I snapped pix of a couple bonus cards to include here.

My 2005 Topps Pristine Legends refractor set is still 99.29% complete. I don't include the relics in my quest, but again, if the price is right and/or it's a dude I collect, I might end up with it.

I don't have to mention the October relevance here since this one does it for me.

Finally, here's a big get for my 2004 Chrome black refractor set that's still crawling along to the finish line (98.15% complete).

Chase Utley played in the World Series three times in his career, winning in 2008. I was kinda sad to see the Phillies lose the Wild Card series the other day. I still consider the Braves a secondary favorite team of mine, but I'd love to see Don Mattingly finally get a ring.

But anyways, should be a fun month of baseball. And with the lockout on the horizon, it could be the last MLB action for a long time, so enjoy it!

Been at this for a decade now

Hey, here are some cards I got in trade from my buddy Dennis at TMV. He found some autographs he was interested in from my trade bait page, and we were able to hammer out a deal that resulted in big help to vintage setbuilds of mine. 

I've been after a second-year Garvey for a long time. Needed it for my set (129 cards left to go.. pretty much all high numbers or variations), plus he's a solid PC guy of mine thanks in no small part to his Padres tenure (growing up in San Diego in the '80s, as I did). Being a tough high-number, I'm unlikely to score a dupe for the PC anytime soon, so I'll be content with just the one.

And how about another Dodgers legend? Freshly-minted Hall of Famer Gil Hodges was probably the biggest name left on my '57 Topps needs. Just 80 more cards left to go, and none of those should run me much into double digits. I should probably hit that quest harder, hunting down deals on my remaining needs and finally sticking a fork in what's my longest-running setbuild. --Scratch that, my blog archives reminded me that 1964 Topps was in the works (and still is) when I officially declared I'd be trying to complete a set of 1957 Topps back in February 2017.

Typically when I get a player's '57 Topps card, that's my oldest card of the guy, with my collecting focus not often stretching back past the 60s, but I'm very happy to own a beat-up Bowman rookie of Gil Hodges. Cool to add another playing-days card of the man.

Anyways, those 2 cards would have been fine in exchange for the pair of autographs Dennis was interested in, but he kindly threw in another cardboard heavy-weight to take the return over the top...

Yes, the Klutts rookie second-year! This was the main hurdle in finishing my 1978 Topps build. Just 34 cards left there, nearly all commons.

And for good measure, a new Gavin and 12/25 card from the set containing the most Christmas Cards ever, 2008 Topps Moments & Milestones. Chase Utley, not too shabby.

Thanks again for the trade, Dennis! Always a pleasure.

- - -o

I had some other Gavins and Christmas Cards I've been meaning to post about, so I guess I'll do that here. The below were all eBay buys. I don't focus as much these days on either minicollection, though once in a blue moon I'll do a search and see if I can find anything cool cheap. But I also have a saved search for cards that are both Gavins and 12/25.. and are autographs. Like this pair..

Gavin Williams again on the left. He's likely to crack the majors this year with Cleveland. And a pitcher named Gavin Stone (whom I also have a 12/25 auto of) made his debut for the Dodgers earlier this year. Two new MLB Gavins in the same year?! What a time to be alive. As a kid growing up with it being an uncommon name, never thought I'd see that day.

A better look at the numbering. The other guy, Gavin Stedman, is still an amateur, so we'll see if he ends up doing anything notable in the sport. Remember back when I collected Gavin Lux as an amateur? Then he was a 1st round pick and did well in the minors and his cards were really hot there for a moment? (I didn't sell any of his cards then, not even my dupes *kicking myself*) And then he struggled and then got hurt, and now his cards aren't worth much? The cardboard lifecycle. Now that I've been back in the hobby for over a decade, I've seen it plenty of times, and it's probably why I don't mess with modern cards much anymore.

This trio of Christmas Cards are the result of some more bids that came out on top. I don't collect Nick Fortes, just taking a flyer on a cheap 12/25 RC. Dick Williams is a PC guy (Pads in the Hall), and I don't think I had a relic of his, so that helped me go after this ugly card featuring a b&w photo of Dick with his back turned pooping out a white swatch. I sure don't chase modern Pinnacle at all (honestly never that big on Pinnacle even in its prime), but it was the cheapest Juan Soto christmas card I could find, so I went for it.

- -o

Oh, it's my 10 Year Blogiversary today, June 15. Normally I'd make a bigger deal of it, but I'm more in a working-on-stuff mindset at the moment, with some creative projects in the works that I'm excited to share soon. I'll try to do a "celebrating 10 years of Baseball Card Breakdown" thing later this summer, perhaps with a contest/giveaway aspect. But can't get to that today.

Oh wow, it's not serious, but technically speaking I just now found out I have cancer while working on this post. It's just a little basal cell skin irritation on my back that needs a 15-minute procedure to burn off and isn't at all likely to spread anywhere, but still, yikes. (Finally went to the dermatologist for the first time as an adult earlier this week.)

Ok then. Thanks for reading! Got a COMC package due tomorrow, so you'll likely be hearing from me again soon!

Garvey auto and also Khris Davis 9-pocket PC

In a way, Steve Garvey is my oldest PC. I had an oddball bread card of his as a kid before I really started collecting cards. Still got it today. The only cards I've owned for longer than that are 3 commons from 1980 Topps, and I've yet to start a Mickey Klutts PC, so that gives the collecting longevity honor to Garvey.

Ha, gcrl just posted this card today, but I had already started this draft. I too was compelled to snag this gorgeous Steve Garvey autograph from 2021 Stadium Club, which extends his active PC streak record in my collection. Savor the moment, Mr. Clean!

Oh, since we're coming off of blue tape and pull-tab awareness week, I figured I'd look at the packaging job by this seller. I wouldn't say it was "bad", but still a bit unorthodox, using blue tape on a paper towel wrapping the cards. (It originally looked nicer, but I restaged it after I thought to snap a photo.) No pull-tabs, though. The thrifty sumbitch I am, I was still able to salvage a few inches of usable tape to reuse. And when I get paper towels in packaging like this, I end up using it (like for wiping countertops and whatnot). Sometimes if the packages are big enough, I'll use them for picking up dog crap in the backyard. I figure that's a "green" thing to do.. save a bag, right? lol. But this one was too small, so it got trashed. (Just let me know if you want me to go more in-depth about my "poop patrol" innovations.)

But anyways, inside the paper towel was a team bag that contained the Garvey in a top-loader flanked by a few surprise 2021 Series 2 cards. Hey, always love random commons as a buffer bonus. I can often find a keeper or two for my collection. In fact, I was able to complete another "9-Pocket PC" page with a card from this lot.

Yeah, Khris Davis is a guy I kinda-sorta thought about collecting for a minute back during his historic run of batting exactly .247 for four consecutive seasons. Seems like a good dude. Hit some big blasts in his prime. Never quite added his name to my "PC guy" list, but I'll settle for a solid page of his cards here and call it good. A sharp Chrome RC gets center-square. That's a fishfractor below it, though not a great pic of it in action here. Looks like the lowly Rangers released Khris last month and he's still a free-agent, so that 2021 Series 2 card might end up being his flagship swansong.

My photo of the backs turned out blurry, but instead please accept some good fishfraction. (sorry, but I refuse to call these prism refractors. But I would also accept dragonfractor.)

Thanks for popping by, kind readers.

Home Displays

With many of us cooped up at home waiting for the coronavirus stuff to shake out, there's been some trends on social media with collectors sharing favorite parts of their collection.

I figured I'd do a post of the baseball/cards displays I've got up around the house.

Under our stockpile of wrapping paper and empty gift boxes, I've got some displays down in the basement in the little room with my drum set (I'm not much of a drummer, but I like to pound away for a few minutes from time to time). This Ken Caminiti display helps remind me of the glorious years 1996 and 1998 when the Padres were actually good. Also reminds me to not do hard drugs. Or steroids, unless prescribed by a licensed doctor.

The signed ball and wood plaque I got together for $5 at a card show a couple years back. Swapped out the Astros base card that came with it for the Donruss autograph. The jumbo Zenith dufex makes for a nice backdrop.

A couple of you readers might remember back when I did a post or two about making card stands out of LEGO? Well, I've got only one in use at the moment, and it's with this Julio Franco auto from '96 Leaf Signatures.

Might not look like much, but I love this Dave Winfield display. The signed postcard came from my close childhood buddy Chris who had been in little league with Dave's son a couple years earlier and got the autograph in-person. The '74 Topps rookie might be the 1st card I bought as an adult after leaving the hobby years earlier.

This one is in a part of the basement without good lighting, so it's a blurry photo. But that's a signed Steve Garvey flat along with a selection of Topps/OPC cards. This one came to me from the generous Padrographs Rod. He said he got the signature in person, and that Garvey said it was an unused shot for a bank ad or something along those lines. I have a lingering intention to perhaps swap out some of the cards someday, giving it more of a personal touch for me, but I've yet to bother getting around to it.

Another blurry one. This is the "1988 WS Game 1" display I've got. Bought it on eBay with the Kirk Gibson signed whatever-you-call-it ("Gateway cachet") on the top. The cards were originally 2004 Topps Retired autos, but I've since swapped them out with different cards of the same players. Posted about it back in the early days of this blog.

Another blurry basement one. We've got green LED Christmas lights up down there, which explains the green tint on this wooden plaque containing a signed Reggie Jackson 8x10. Got this for Christmas one year as a kid circa 1991.

Here's where I took a break to ride my bike to the post office to drop a couple things in the mail. My first time being out in the world since Thursday. Nice to get some fresh air, I suppose. First time I've ridden my bike in probably 3 or 4 years.

For the curious, here's my drum set. Above that...

Mystery Science Theater 3000 autograph display I put together recently. I need to do a real post on this at some point.

I recently started putting together a Glow-In-The-Dark Stuff shelf. Still plenty of stuff to add, but here are a few things. I envision this being chock-full of glowing stuff. Everything pictured here glows, at least in one little part of it. We will likely be moving soon, so the shelf may never achieve its promised greatness. Hopefully the next place has a similar shelf I can use for this idea.

Here it is glowing.

Here's a selection of wall in my card room with some cool stuff on display. My wife did the dog drawing to celebrate once when Annie got a bath.

Another corner of the room features my Goonies display, a Dick Allen white whale, and my framed Carrie Fisher TTM return.

Little Rod Beck frame.

This isn't baseball/card related, but here's a framed Decemberists gig poster I grabbed from the Casbah after their show there 4/6/04.

Guess that's about it as far as stuff on display in my house that anyone might care to see.

Thanks for reading and I hope you're all doing ok during this developing crisis!

Cards from Canada

This post is a control in my experiment with post titles including the word "cardboard" which allegedly causes an increase in views. Will only putting "cards" in the title instead of "cardboard" make this post end up with weaker numbers than my last few posts (that had "cardboard" in the title)? We'll see! Recap post coming soon.

But yeah, Douglas from the dollar store surprised me just the other day with a few nice cards imported from up north.

Tony Gwynn relic! Nice! Looks like a brown pinstripe, which would probably indicate a late 80s uniform, despite the photo used looking like a few years later.

I think I've only got a couple other In The Game cards in my collection. I don't know much about the company, but looks like they're based in Canada and put out hockey cards as far back as the 90s. Then in the 00s, after exclusive sports card licenses became a thing, they started putting out unlicensed hockey cards, and also began putting out unlicensed baseball cards.

A couple modern Padres. Dig that green Franmil Reyes. He's been a bright spot for San Diego this year. His 13 homers lead the club.
Mike Thompson didn't fare great in the majors and has been out of the game for years, but still, always kinda neat to get a certified auto in a blind trade.

And lastly some old school oddballs. I don't recall seeing those General Mills stickers before, but the bilingual text indicates they're a Canadian release. Cool addition to my Garvey PC.
And I love vintage Winfield cards I need, and hell, I love 70s Hostess cards in general and will likely try collecting them all at some point down the line after I finish the majority of the other many sets I'm currently working on. So yeah, this one's a hit for me!

Big thanks, Doug! I'll round up a return for you shortly.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

GCRLive: cards as I receive them

I briefly met gcrl a year or two ago when he was in Portland for business. When he came back around this time, we turned it into a big cardblogger meetup. He was nice enough to bring along cards for the group. Let's take a look at what he had for me.

Kicking it off with college cards of a couple Padres greats, plus some other very goods players of yesteryear.

Here are some current guys, including 3 additions for my new Eric Hosmer PC. That 2018 Donruss Arenado card was "pack fresh" as can be, as gcrl had the foresight to pick up a few packs at Target for us to rip together, and that was among the cards pulled.

A couple infielders who didn't quite pan out longterm in San Diego, Sean Burroughs and Marcus Giles. The encased gold refractor Burroughs is #'d 086/170.

The Marquis Grissom is appreciated for my big Marquis Mania project. The two 1980 Topps cards are upgrades for my set (they have unchecked checklists on the back, which I prefer over marked-on cards). And the four 1987 Fleer Update cards get me closer to completing that little set.

And we'll end with this sweet Norm Zauchin, a high number for my '57 Topps setbuild. Love getting help there via trades.

Thanks again, man! It was great seeing you. Sorry I'm running low on Dodgers at the moment, but hope you were happy with the cards I rounded up for you.

some set gets

My 1957 Topps setbuild crept over 20% complete thanks to a few recent pickups, with baby-faced Don Zimmer here being the highlight.

Funny thing about 1957 Topps is it was released in 5 series, but it's actually the 4th series that's the most scarce. So its "high numbers" can be deceptive. My '57 needslist had a couple long stretches of red "needs" rows that depressed me every time I looked at it, but thankfully these guy helped me break up the solid red with a dash of green "got it!" rows here and there. (Actually, most are marked with yellow "upgrade would be nice" though that's really for just in case someone has a nice copy to trade me or I stumble upon a good one cheap at a card show or something.. I don't plan to ever go out of my way upgrading this set. Whatever beat up cards I get will be just fine for me. I almost regret buying the nice Hank Aaron I did because it's destined to be out of place with the vast majority of my set.) Was very happy to find good deals on these from a seller whose cards I had already loaded up my cart with.

These too! Thanks to Cal and the late Darren Daulton here, I'm now just two cards (stickers) shy of completing the Glow Stars subset of 1993 UD Fun Pack.

Just need #80 Ryne Sandberg and #191 Kirby Puckett, if anyone can help me out. They're sneaky buggers. When I finally complete it, I'll have to do a gif-filled post of them all glowing in action. It'll be glorious.

Remember that Trader Jack Padres set I got recently from gcrl that was only missing the Garvey? A friendly guy on Twitter offered me a Garvey and didn't even want anything in exchange. Super nice of him! Thanks a ton, @TeeOhEmm

Next up, part one of a trade package from Tim B.

Lots of additions to my 2011 Topps parallel frankenset.

And I actually needed all of them, so he obviously took the time to check numbers on my list, not just blindly sending any he found. Very thoughtful.

Can't believe I still haven't hit the halfway point with this ridiculous project of mine. Currently at 563 cards down out of 1284, good for 43.85% complete. Yep, it's definitely a long-term goal.

More from Tim's generous trade return soon.
Thanks

Late addition!...

Good ol' mrhaverkamp surprised me with a PWE of 2 '87 Bohemian Bread needs! Both a bit creased, but good enough for me! Down to just Flannery, Gwynn, and Dravecky. Big thanks, Jim!