super 70s influx

Time for another trade roundup. Lots of quality Topps cards from the 70s to show off in this post. Our exhausting new puppy has cut into my spare time for carding activities, so I'm trying to limit my trading commitments.. but cards keep arriving and I try to keep afloat! (Apologies to the few guys I've been slow to send cards or reply to regarding trade propositions.. will try to catch up when I can.)

This first mailing up is a doozy! I believe it's my first exchange with Scott Crawford, who has been blogging a long time but we just hadn't crossed paths much before. But some of my music-related customs caught his eye and so we hammered out a deal sending him a short stack of Baseball Card Breakdown originals in exchange for some vintage Topps, heavy on '74.

Look at all these Hank Aaron cards within cards! These are pretty neat. I'm lucky enough to own a few of those older Aaron cards. I was excited thinking I had completed all the Hank Aaron cards in 1974 Topps with these, already having the "New Home Run King" card #1, but looks like I'm still short the All-Star card he shares with Dick Allen. I've got that card in my Dick Allen PC, but since I consider Mr. Allen one of the top dudes I collect, I'm reluctant to pluck out a PC card for a set (something I'm otherwise not all that opposed to). But maybe if I get down to a couple cards left and it's one of them, maybe then I'll cave and worry about replacing the PC card later. ("PC" in this context is for "Player Collection", for any newbs reading.)

And a bunch more '74s from Scott! Thanks to these, I'm down to just 45 more cards on my wantlist for the set (a decent percentage of which are Washington Nat'l variations).

And some big-name '79s. The Reggie on the end isn't a dupe, but rather a Burger King card. Note the difference in space above his helmet.

Thanks, Scott! Just mailed out your customs. Pleasure dealing with you!

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I know I said I'm trying to cool it a little on trading for the time being, but I made an offer on Twitter last week for anybody to send me vintage needs in exchange for a Joan Jett custom I made a little while back-- trying to swing a few quick and easy trades-- and got a handful of guys to take me up on it, with two swaps going through so far.

Night Owl sent me a PWE heavy on '77 Dodgers I needed for my in-progress set. Looking good!

And there were a bunch of Kellogg's in there, too! Always love to see those funky 3D beauties slip out among the cards I receive.. Even when cracked to hell! (Pops is shaping up to be the star of the post, and we'll see more of him in a moment.)

Thank you, Greg! A return is on the way to you currently.

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Here's another bounty thanks to Joan Jett.

John @phitter72 on Twitter is a guy I was familiar with due to his amusing "Literals Series" customs he shares (such as a card depicting Ernie Banks doing his banking). This was my first swap with him, netting me 4 solid names to check off my 70s vintage Topps wantlists, highlighted by Billy Williams' final card as an active player. Thanks, John!

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Reader David G. returned with a 3rd recent PWE of '88 Fleer needs for me, plus a Madlock and another wonderful Kellogg's need. Thanks, David.. I'll scrounge up another envelope of Cardinals for you soon.

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Wes, a.k.a. The Pancake King, dropped a shortstack of 3 PWEs on me in short order, each containing one Gavin card plus an autographed business card. Bonkers! Thanks for thinking of me, Wes!

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Last one for today is a great bubble mailer from ARPSmith, hitting me back for a package of cards I sent him recently.

Nice bunch of current cards featuring guys I collect. Man, this 2020 "season" is wild. I'll be surprised if we actually make it all the way to a World Series this year, but here's hoping for the best.

Complete Willie Stargell puzzle from 1991 Donruss! This'll be nice to bolster my Pops PC. If/when I get a second set, I'll bust out the pieces and piece it together.

The real punch of the package was the vintage. Been a while since I've added to my '57 Topps setbuild.. not since 2019, in fact. The pair are both from the toughest series, making them even more of a big deal. Same can be said for the '72: first time all year I get to update my needs spreadsheet, and it's a tough high number, to boot. Nice!

As far as the 74 and 79s, they might look familiar, as this same trio was among the cards I showed from Scott Crawford earlier in this post. Adam's copies are in better condition, so they'll go into the setbuilds.. But don't worry, Scott's cards can still find a home for now in the respective PCs since I collect these guys too.

Thanks for another great trade, Adam!

That's gonna wrap up the post. Thanks for reading, everybody. Stay safe out there.

Card Show Constipation

Let's check out some of my recent card show pickups.

The Dark Home Run King. Nice refractor. I think these were all 50¢ cards in this post.

Looks like this is /425.

Numbered Springer RC. Ugly card, but happy to throw it in the PC.

Schmidt happened.

1978 out of 1980.

Holy Cow! I've seen this Jordan plenty of times and finally picked up a copy. I'm lucky enough to have caught a lot of Harry Caray Cubs broadcasts on WGN back when I first got into baseball/cards in the early 90s.

I've never collected Nick Markakis much, but hey, he's put together a real nice career under the radar, having a career year now at age 34. Figured I'd pick up some early cards of the guy.

Trevor Story is a guy I collected during his hot rookie season, then cooled a bit on him when he hit a sophomore slump, but now he's having a good junior jumpback, so I'm warming up to him again. Yeah, I'm not always a very loyal player-collector.

Wow, this pic is tailored to Sport Card Collectors, with some Griffeys and Jeters and Mariano.

'75 mini Perez, Jackie Galasso, and '86TT Canseco.

Baby Beltre. Heard he just passed Chipper Jones for third place for homers by a third baseman. I assume Schmidt and Mathews top the list.

Gypsy Queen doesn't draw my interest much, but these tarot card are pretty cool. I could see myself trying to finish this insert set someday.

I still like Billy Hamilton, and was happy to add a couple shiny, early cards.

And we close with a shining Stargell and cool Correa. I suppose I prefer the days back when Topps Tribute had refractory base cards.

As for card show constipation, well, it's not that I've been backed up, but gotta admit these cards have been waiting in the chamber since last month's card show. I missed the August show the other day because I was busy doing family stuff. Always a bummer to miss the show, but nice to be out having fun.

Thanks for reading.

Getting some help with 1982 Topps from past me (+contest update)

When I first got into card collecting in the early 90s, I bought a lot of 1982 Topps packs. My local card shop had a box on the shelf, among the oldest unopened product he had available. I was fascinated by what to me as a kid seems like "old timey" vintage cards. So I'd often pick up a pack or two when I'd go in to spend my weekly allowance.

I eventually amassed probably about half the set from packs. Flash forward several years, the bulk of the cards were purged in anticipation of my move out of California. But I hung onto 20 or so favorites among the keepers I moved with me. While I tend to keep these "childhood collection" cards separate from my "grown-up collection" for sentimental reasons, I've been slowly integrating them.

And as I now close in on unfinished business from ~27 years ago, working on finally finishing '82 Topps, I figured I'd turn to the shoebox of childhood cards to see if past-me could check off any of my remaining needs.

Gotta start with the big boy. This was probably the best pull of my childhood. I vividly remember unwrapping the wax pack as my buddy Doug and I crossed the street walking home from the card shop. My eyes lit up and I proudly showed Doug the Cal, "Yes! Check it out!" That was a great day.

So there's the top card from '82 Topps taken care of.

And here are a couple Pirates cards that were on my wantlist. It was a thrill for me to have a playing-days Willie Stargell card; kids of '91 were taught/reminded about him thanks to the puzzle pieces in 1991 Donruss. As for the Pirates rookies card, I always dug Johnny Ray, in part from his [not really] inclusion in the "We Didn't Start the Fire" lyrics.

Three more needed cards that I happened to pull from packs years ago include old timers Tony Perez and Jim Palmer, plus a Dave Righetti rookie.

Here's where my 1982 Topps needs stand today, 6/19: (check my main wantlist for future updates.)
1 Steve Carlton HL, 2 Ron Davis HL, 5 Nolan Ryan HL, 59 Gedman, 66 Howe/Ryan TL, 81 Palmer IA, 110 Fisk, 185 Phil Niekro, 200 Brett, 201 Brett IA, 244 Linares, 337 Rose AS, 346 Seaver AS, 450 Bosley, 475 Trammell, 481 Steve Carlton IA, 492 Price, 493 Lemon, 496 Grubb, 497 Jim Anderson, 498 Bergman, 499 Mirabella, 505 Nettles, 535 Lance Parrish, 540 Dawson, 553 Winfield AS, 557 Gossage AS, 579 Brett AS, 582 Luis Pujols, 586 Fingers IA, 600 Winfield, 610 Rickey Henderson, 650 Yaz, 716 Stargell IA, 721 Luzinski IA, 754 Joe Morgan, 760 Buckner, 780 Rose

If you can help with any of those and would like to swing a quick trade, please get in touch! I'm pretty sure I've got several of these in PCs, so I may go ahead and raid PCs to knock off a few more numbers for the set if I don't get much trade traction.


Ok, now I've got the matter of a pending contest to get to. Thanks to all who entered, and for the friendly comments! Here are the entrants in chronological order:
shoeboxlegends
Jeremya1um
P-town Tom
Jon
Billy Kingsley
Rod (Padrographs)
Sport Card Collectors
Doug Hoback
The Turrdog
Tim B.
Matt
night owl
CrazieJoe
Mark Hoyle
The Lost Collector
Robert
Jafronius
Larry Presnall
ketchupman36
gcrl
JediJeff
Nick
Greg Zakwin
jasongerman9
Corky
Fuji
TSHenson
Bo
Julie Owens
Matt Stupienski
Brett Alan
EP

Randomized to just assign numbers (not pick a winner) gives us this:

We need to find two winners, and I'll do my usual thing of adding some extra randomization to the mix so I don't feel dirty if my friends win. Let's use tonight's 6/19/2018 A's @ Padres game to help randomly pick the winners. To spread it out, let's say Winner #1 is the combined number of runs for both teams in the game (so for example, a low-scoring 1-0 game would make Brett Alan the winner). Winner #2 is the combined number of runs + hits + errors for both teams. If it goes over 32, we'll cycle back around through the list. In the unlikely event both winning numbers are the same, we'll have a do-over for Winner #2 another day. Sound good? Good luck!

(Update: Congrats to Sport Card Collectors [6 runs] and Robert [21 runs+hits+errors]! Both bloggers I'm very familiar with and guys I've traded with before, so should be able to put together nice prize packages for you two. Thanks again, everybody!)

1957 Clemente and over the hump with 1964!

Earlier this week, I got an unexpected meeting notification for a one-on-one with my boss. I stressed out for the next hour or so until the meeting, anxiously wondering what it was all about, fearing something bad.

But I had nothing to worry about, and turns out I got a surprise raise!

Of course I wanted to celebrate with splurging on a card or two, and that evening I decided on picking off another big name on my '57 Topps setbuild.

And it's a great one. The legendary Roberto Clemente! It's graded PSA 3.5, in the sweet spot of looking good and not breaking the bank.

Look at that tiny "complete record" at that point! It's just his 3rd card. I'd love to pick up his 1955 rookie sometime, as well as his 1956.

Speaking of Pirates all-time greats, I also won an auction for a couple off-condition Willie Stargell cards, just $6 shipped for the pair. The '64 is his first solo card after having a floating-heads rookie in '63.

The '66 will go in the PC, and the '64 will go to the setbuild, though hopefully I upgrade it someday and this lesser condition card will get bumped to the PC. (I'm still conflicted whether to give priority to the sets or the PCs in situations like this. What do you guys do when you have 2 copies of a card of a guy you collect from a set you're working on and one is in better condition than the other?)

I also recently won an auction for a 33-card lot from 1964 Topps that worked out to less than a buck per, and included some nice ones in addition to commons.

Many big names in these League Leaders!

Plenty of minor stars.

Mostly in nice-enough condition, though some are upgradeable.

There were some dupes for me, but still a good purchase. Thanks to this lot, I've crossed the halfway point with the set. I've got an even 300 cards out of the 589 on my checklist, good for 50.93% complete.

So yeah, picked up a '57 Clemente and can technically say I've now got the majority of 1964 Topps.. it was a good week for the two vintage setbuilds I'm currently working on!

Trading Trader Jack (Great batch of cards from gcrl)

Happy Flagship Release Day, everybody. (Oops, I think it's technically tomorrow, though plenty of it is floating around already.) I didn't buy any flagship in 2017, and I don't plan to in 2018 either. Topps' designs since 2015 haven't done much for me. I'm content eventually adding cards I want from the set thanks to trader buddies.

Speaking of which, I was the grateful recipient of an unexpected trade package from the cardsphere's favorite acronymed blogger, gcrl. (Do any of you pronounce that "Guh-Curl" in your head when you read it? "Gee-Curl" perhaps?)

I remember hearing a little about this stadium giveaway from last year and was thrilled to get this near-complete set (gcrl plucked out the Garvey for his supercollection).
More info on this set swiped from an eBay auction:

Awesome 58 Card Set only available at 1 San Diego Padres Game this season. By far the largest standard size SGA sets we have ever seen. Sponsored by Sony and issued to commemorate JACK MCKEON induction into the Pads Hall Of Fame . The set features all 1980's Players McKeon drafted, traded for, or signed as Free Agents. Too many to name but it is loaded and a great trip down memory lane with TONY GWYNN STEVE GARVEY RICH GOOSE GOSSAGE ROBERT ALOMAR SANDY ALOMAR JR GRAIG NETTLES BENITO SANTIAGO OZZIE GUILLEN FRED LYNN KURT BEVACQUA JOHN KRUK JOE CARTER BRUCE BOCHY JACK CLARK etc.
The set is housed in a plastic case with a McKeon sticker on top. Because of how they were prepared, the cards were stuffed in the case and there are no gem mint cards. All are brand new but corners can have issues and that is the case with every set issued. No PSA gems to be had, but for the true collector one of the nicest sets you will ever own.

Pretty cool. I probably won't bother keeping it near-complete (though I wouldn't mind landing the Garvey someday), but rather break it up for my PCs since there are about a dozen guys I collect in there.

A couple of my top PCs right here in Gwynn and Bip. The description quoted above wasn't kidding when they said the cards weren't originally packaged with much care. Dinged corners and surface nicks abound.

Some notable guys with brief stints in San Diego. Happy to add new Padres cards of Freddy Lynn, Joe Carter, and Kevin Mitchell.

And the rest of the dudes I collect.

The backs are fine, but I wish they had a little copyright line at the bottom. It'll be confusing when uninformed collectors stumble upon these cards years from now. No card number, no year listed, no indication of who made them. For the record, I think these are referred to as 2017 Trader Jack Padres.

But that was only half of gcrl's trade package...

Here's the perfect card for the "We Didn't Start The Fire" binder to upgrade the placeholder for the "Brooklyn's got a winning team" line, commemorating Brooklyn's only championship before moving to LA. Love those great Laughlin cartoons.

Nice Stargell duo here including the 1983 Fleer card that had been atop my Desperate Double Dozen wantlist for a while.

It's a beauty of a sunset/final tribute card. Full career stats, even squeezing in a AAA season. He also got a Donruss card in '83, but of course they truncate stats to just the last few years. He didn't get a '83 Topps card.

Been wanting that gorgeous Stadium Club Winfield for a while now. Nice Margot additions too.

Andre Dawson PC got a nice boost.

Gavins representing.

More guys I collect.

Let's end the post with a big one. I always love getting Christmas Cards in trade regardless of the player/subject, but I really love when it's a Christmas Card of a main guy I collect!

Big thanks, Jim! I'll be getting a return out in the mail to you later this week.