Back into Beckett

I got a kick out of the Night Owl Cards post from last month titled Ego trip. Not only was it the high quality blogging that Greg's known for, but also there was a cool little easter egg in there for me. See, he was talking about his latest article to be published in Beckett, one showing off highlights from his impressive Dodgers collection, and a custom card I made for him made it in there.

"Hey, I made one of those cards!"

I printed 3 of these cards that Ron Cey was nice enough to sign and return through the mail. I surprised Night Owl with one, traded one to Stealing Home Oscar, and kept the above for myself. Not my best custom or anything, but I like the celebratory image even if it's not very sharp.

The iconic June 1990 Beckett with football/baseball Bo Jackson photo was the first one I bought as a kid. I feel like that transaction pinpoints the moment I officially became a full-fledged baseball card collector. "Alright, let's get serious about this stuff!"

This copy of the magazine is actually my second, picked up later. The original got cut up. I remember I had this 2-page Bo Jackson collage taped up in the little "card room" area of my bedroom.

(Ernest P. Worrell on a Todd Worrell card, lol!) I made a few "fun cards" like this back then, though never got around to mailing anything in for publication consideration.

I don't think I ever ponied up for a subscription, but seems like I would buy the new Beckett from the local card shop every month for the next 3 years, eventually cooling on the hobby for other teenage interests around mid 1993.

Jump a couple more years, and I ended up in a bookstore or something in 1995 and decided to buy a Beckett for old time's sake and take a curious check-in on the hobby and the prices for some of my inactive collection. I got rid of most of my old Becketts over the years, but saved this Kenny Lofton since it was the most recent one I owned and therefore had the most accurate price guide. (LOL)

So anyways, very cool for me to kinda sneak into Beckett, even if just in a tiny way. Me from 1990 got his mind blown, for sure. 

Now let's hit a few incoming cards I've been meaning to post about. Not many (ungraded) Topps baseball cards from 1990 sell for more than a buck each these days, but I've got a few to show off.

I love these "Kmart greenies" as I call them. The quirky blue gloves and fat trophy are just awesome. 1990 Topps Batting Leaders.. basically inserts only available through special Kmart rack-packs of '90 Topps. They're pretty rare, as far as Topps cards from 1990 go. The red ones from 1989 are ever rarer, but I prefer the green. Found an eBay seller with these 3 big names for a good price.

Little easter egg I noticed with these is that they're numbered by rank on the active career batting leaders (going into the 1990 season). So like, Boggs' .352 batting average earned him the #1 spot on the checklist, with Gwynn's .332 placing second (though Tony would pass Wade later in the decade, which I must point out as a Padres fan). I now have 6 of the 22 total Kmart greenies. Completing the set isn't a priority at the moment, but I'd at least like to keep an eye out for the rest of the guys I collect if I can find them for a decent price.

It's a sentimental "twofer" for me, being from the year I started collecting, plus I worked at Kmart for a year in high school.

I still have/use the mug I got the time I made employee of the month! Reads "Safety & Shortage Control" and pictures a dog giving double thumbs-up. I think it also came with $50 store credit or something like that. I wasn't collecting at the time, and I don't recall cards sold at the Kmart I worked, so that store credit didn't go to cards. But this was circa 1995, so hey, maybe I bought that Kenny Lofton Beckett with it? We had a pretty decent magazine selection; could have carried Beckett then.

More Topps cards from 1990 that manage to rise above the "junk" classification of the era. The same seller I got the 3 greenies from also had this pair (1990 Topps TV Glossy All-Star Set) cheap with combined shipping, so I added them to the order.

As far as non-normal backs go, these are pretty cool. MLB Service time isn't a stat you see listed on cards very often!

Now let's do a quick Topps Retired Triad. Got three 2005 Retired refractors lined up.

Paul O'Neill is better remembered as a Yankee, but cool to see him pictured with the Reds from the first half of his career. Teacher supply store billboard in the background gives the card some extra character.

Part of the Reds team that won the World Series in 1990, keeping with the loose theme of the post. And who did Cincinnati vanquish that October to claim their title?

...

Tony LaRussa lead the A's on an impressive run back then. Nice photo of the skipper helping out with defensive drills.

But really though, Mrg. LaRussa didn't really have any business in a set called 2005 Topps Retired Signature Edition. He was still active at the time, not retired. The year after this card came out, he won the World Series with the Cardinals. Crazy that he's active again now, keeping the White Sox in the thick of the pennant race this year. I can't think of any other cards in the three-year run of Topps Retired where the career stats on the back advanced after the card was made. (Bob Brenly has a 2005 Retired card, though 2004 was his last year of managing, so he came close. Brian Cashman got a card in 2005 Retired despite being an active front office person. I guess Topps Non-Active Player Signature Edition wasn't quite as catchy. Oh wait, I found another Retired card with old career stats: Grady Little was in 2005 Retired and then went on to manage the Dodgers for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Oh, and one more: Jimmy Leyland has a 2005 Retired card and then managed the Tigers from 2006 through 2013.)

Jay Buhner closes out today's trio of recent pickups. A bigtime Buhner collector was liquidating some PC cards and actually had two of these refractors. I called dibs on this one because it had a more pleasing signature-- just enjoy it for a moment; beautiful, right?!-- and another buyer snagged the other, less beautiful one a little while later.

Fine career for Junior's bash brother in Seattle and cause of consternation for Frank Costanza.

That'll do it for this time. Thanks for reading!

The Changing of the Wallet Card

Oh yeah, can't forget about my annual Wallet Card update. 

This particular Tony Gwynn 1990 Topps All-Star had the inauspicious honor of being my 2020 wallet card. The "before" pic can be found at the end of last year's wallet card update. Despite spending so much time at home-- and therefore not having a wallet on my person very often-- it still took a lot of wear.

It wasn't all pocket purgatory for Wallet Gwynn; he got some time in the sun...

The only #walletcard photos I recall taking in 2020 were during my Hawaiian vacation in February back before everything went to shit, sharing three such pics in my big post recapping the trip.

Here's one I didn't include in that post since the card came out dark. Man, that vacation is going to go down as one of the best weeks of my life. Good times indeed. Riding that high really helped my wife and I get through the following rough days of last spring.

Here's how the updated binder page looks. My plan is to get through 3 more years to finish the page, then I'll likely either stop doing Wallet Card or pick a "ride or die" card to stick with in perpetuity. Or perhaps I'll keep having a card each year, but pick a different player for a new page. Guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Drumroll for 2021's lucky dupe...

Yep, I'm continuing the trend with an All-Star card from 1990, but giving Donruss its first turn in my wallet. I've always liked this card a lot since back then, more so than Tony's relatively drab base card in the set.

This dupe already has some dinged corners, so it doesn't hurt me too bad to sacrifice it to getting royally roughed up. Also, you can see it's the corrected variation ("All-Star Game Performance"), not the "Recent Performance" error, which I wouldn't be able to bring myself to destroy, even if those are only worth about 18¢ a pop these days.

Good luck to 90D AS Gwynn in his role as my wallet card for the year 2021. Let's make it a great year!

-  - --o

I was planning to end the post there, but hey, I just got a Sportlots box order in that completed my 1990 Donruss base set, and so might as well tack that onto this post and make it a full-on celebration of that red-headed setchild.

These were the last cards I needed for the main set, the Bonus MVP inserts, and Yaz puzzle. Feels nice to wrap those up, though narrowly missing finishing in its 30th anniversary year which had been my penciled-in goal (and why I bothered to buy these "junk" cards rather than patiently wait for them to eventually trickle in from trades.. buying them on Sportlots in early December, but the "box order" ended up taking a little longer than I was expecting thanks to holiday mail slowage).

Technically I'm not finished with '90 Donruss yet, as I'd still like to complete the Grand Slammer inserts (which were available via cello packs and factory sets, but weren't in wax packs). I still need #6 Will Clark and #12 Bo Jackson.

And someday I'd like to complement this red set with the two blue 1990 Donruss Baseball's Best sets and the green '90 Donruss The Rookies set, I suppose. I'm not going to bother hunting down all the many errors/variations of 1990 Donruss, but wouldn't mind adding the Juan Gonzalez reverse negative (I feel like I might have one buried in my collection somewhere).

I know 1990 Donruss isn't exactly beloved by collectors, but seeing as that year was my introduction to the hobby, I've got a soft spot for cards I was wide-eyed rippin' that summer.

cardboard cardings

Just squeezing in a quick late-nite post with a few recent additions to my collection because I haven't posted in a few days. (On my to-do list for the weekend is a big Sentimental Sundays post about my long-lost little comic book collection, which I've recently found but not opened yet.) 

1990 Kmart Batting Leaders-- one of the very few "junk era" Topps offerings that still goes for decent money today. I'm not expecting to ever complete the set, but hey-- there are only 22 cards and life is long, so never say never. I already had Rickey and Julio Franco, so only 19 more to go. The red '89 version is a little scarer, but I think the green '90 cards are more appealing.

A solid pickup for the Kirby PC.

Check it out, an elite starting pitcher for San Diego! Haven't seen that since Jake Peavy's prime. Wait, just Topps having some fun with an SP variation, but I'll take it. I discovered these "Nat'l Lea." cards in 2020 Archives earlier in the month and ended up grabbing one with Max Scherzer here.

Topps didn't bother making the stats on the back easy to read. He's only got 175 career wins, but still pretty much locked in for Cooperstown with 3 Cy Young awards. I've got a decent Scherzer PC, but am still in the market for an auto.

Last card I needed to complete the Jose Canseco page in my Vagabond Binder was one with him on the Yankees, which I snagged on Sportlots with a cheap 2000 Pacific Omega card. And I could get 3 more cards from the seller without increasing the postage, so I went with these guys from the same set for the 18¢@ minimum. McGriffey Henderson.

I don't have much Pacific in my PCs, so always a safe bet when I can add cheap cards of guys I collect.

(BTW.. Currently working on my first Sportlots box order, which I'll post about once that's all in-hand.)

Last thing for today: Cool Papa Bell auto! Picked up this index card autograph over the summer. My custom cardmaking operation has been on ice for a couple months (thanks to the move and issues with my computer/printer), but one of these days I'm gonna get back on track with making cards and plan to whip up something fun out of this boring index card.

Did you hear Negro Leagues stats count as major league stats now? I love Satchel Paige and Buck O'Neil, and have deep respect for other big names like Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell, but my knowledge of that part of baseball pretty much falls off a cliff after that. But yeah, I'm all for righting wrongs and removing racism. It'll be interesting to see how the statistical history of the game shakes out with all this.

That's all I've got for today. Have a great weekend.

Kerry Cards

Unfortunately covid kinda put the kibosh on in-person card swaps downtown with fellow Portlander Kerry of the blog Cards on Cards, but there's still the handy USPS to help us out (in exchange for a reasonable fee). 

Several terrific highlights in this latest crosstown package, but I gotta give the shiny Juan Soto relic top billing. I've got a respectable little Soto PC, but I think this is the first swatch linked to him in my collection.

The shine continues on this trio of players who were pretty hot a year or two ago but seemed to cool off this year. Still welcomed in my collection!

Some "free card friday" picks here. The last batch of cards I got from Kerry included several of those Tatis inserts, but I still needed this pair (There are 30 total of these things, geez).

Three additions to my Damian Lillard collection, plus a slick Chrome Hammer and a dilemma of which PC the Phillies card goes to.

I called dibs on these Victory cards from another Free Card offering a while back.

The '90 Donruss lot was a pleasant surprise. Now there's a sentence that very few people have ever said! LOL, but no, I mean it.. would love to put this set to bed before the 30th anniversary year ends. Time's running out for that, but as for base cards, I'm now down to just the Chris Bosio DK (#20) and #276 Paul Kilgus. I think I only had a couple of the MVP inserts before Kerry hooked me up with most of them. I've got 7 more of those left on my wantlist, plus one more Yaz puzzle piece (19+20+21), and all dozen of the Grand Slammers. It's funny, I have the Smoltz MVP error picturing Tom Glavine that I pulled myself way back when, but don't think I ever had the corrected version before this.

Another "junk" set that I've been trying to complete for the past couple years after receiving a starter lot. Still a handful of '88 Fleer left on my wants, but the end's in sight. Nice bunch here including a Caminiti rookie.

I finished '79 Topps recently, but these upgrades are appreciated to help sharpen up my set a bit.

My Xander Bogaerts PC got a surprise boost with an oversized box topper and Chrome parallel, both from 2020 Stadium Club. What a shot of him getting loose on the field before game two of the 2019 MLB London Series against the Yankees at West Ham London Stadium.

I happened to have a spare frame handy, so I've framed the big one up for now.

Big thanks, Kerry! Eclectic mix of good stuff. I'll get a return over to you soon.

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.

Another Padre fan in Portland

My old best friend Doug was in town staying with us for a few days this past week. I've mentioned Doug a few times on the blog (he collected Tony Gwynn when we were kids, which prevented Gwynn from being my "main guy" back then because I didn't want to copy him) plus I've mentioned Doug a few times on my 1991 MusiCards blog (we were always sharing our CD collections and musical discoveries back in the day, and he helped turn me on to a lot of bands I love). But yeah, he had moved to San Diego in the middle of the school year in Fourth Grade and we were thick as thieves into our early 20s. But then my brother-from-another-mother got married to a gal who was a bit controlling and basically strained the other relationships in his life, so after that we didn't hang out much other than catching a Chargers game on tv together once in a while. And once I moved away from San Diego, we weren't really in contact other than semi-annual check-ins on Facebook.

But the other day he drops the news on me that they're getting a divorce and he's looking to make a fresh start, with Portland being a top consideration for relocation. So he was in town for a job interview, got the job, and now plans to move up here in a week or so. What a crazy turn of events! Of course I feel bad for the guy going through a divorce (they are still on friendly terms, at least), but I'm very excited to have my buddy back. It'll be great to regularly hang out with him again.

Us at Disneyland in 1990. Ha-- that shiny "air force" jacket I had! Pretty sure I still have that Ghostbusters shirt in storage somewhere (the ghost glows in the dark!) Funny how Doug's so much shorter than me here. I think he might be a little taller than me today.

Ruby was a big fan of Doug while he was here, rarely giving him a moment's peace.

So anyways, that's cool. And it'll be nice to have another Padre fan in Portland.

And on that topic... another local member of the Friar Faithful, Padrographs Rod, dropped a great box of assorted cards on my doorstep the other week. Let's check out some highlights!

Nice lot of 2020 Big League. I haven't ripped any of this, so I appreciate the chance to add some PC guys and notable rookies.

And same with 2020 Bowman.. I haven't even tried to locate any of this on shelves.

Some miscellany here. That Rob Riggle is going right to my Thumbs Up binder.. starting a second page. Dick Clark here completes a 2nd set of American Bandstand cards for me (both from Rod). If anyone wants one (for either a hair above postage cost or trade equivalent) just let me know.

Panini representing the land of the logoless. Some neat parallels in here.

My buddy Doug isn't really an active card collector these days, though it's my understanding he does have a tiny collection, at least (a few Gwynns and a couple Trevor Hoffmen). I'll have to try to nudge him into collecting again once he gets settled. Sure would be cool to trade cards with him again 30 years later. Plus I'd love to have someone to dump my dupe Bips and Gwynns on!

Bip's cards with the Royals always seem extra cool to me. So strange and dangerous! lol

But these '95 Score parallels were probably the highlight of all the Bips in the box.

And some more cool cards.

This Sparky Anderson autographed index card was offered up in one of Rod's recent giveaways.. glad I was able to snag it! The signature is too big to fit into a standard size card, but I'll try to think up something to spice it up with my custom card making ways.

And some more stuff that might not stick in my collection, but still fun to thumb through.

Big thanks as always, Rod! I'm very lucky to be the recipient of so much great stuff from you over these past few years.