This post isn't crime related, just the next song up on the list of Guns N' Roses songs that I pull from for post titles when I want to show off some random recent cards I've picked up and can't think of a decent title.
It wasn't exactly a steal (eh? eh? tying it in with the post title), but this slabbed Adrian Beltre rookie was a pretty solid deal and I used an eBay discount code to help me out further. I showed off my Beltre PC a month ago and mentioned the one card I still had a hankerin' for was his 1997 Bowman Chrome card. And so now with this pickup, I'm satisfied and feel like the PC is at peace. (Though a final tribute/sunset card next year with complete [non-truncated] career stats would be nice.)
"Has tools of a Gold Glover at third." It's a rare instance where Bowman's hyperbolic write-ups were correct, as Adrian brought home 5 Gold Gloves.
The rest of the cards in this post are more from my latest COMC order. I think I was just looking for cheap Goldy parallels and ran into this yellow one from 2014 Topps retail. Or maybe I was looking for cheap yellow parallels from 2014 Topps retail and ran into this Paul Goldschmidt. Sad to see him leave AZ. He basically left a team I don't like and joined another team I don't like, so that's not a big deal, but I really thought he was the face of the franchise and had a shot at being a rare-these-days one-team career player. That would have been cool. Oh well.
As for the Caminiti, I don't have much cool inserts from the mid/late 90s, and wanted to snag one of the old Instavision inserts from Stadium Club. Pretty cool card from the past days of holograms on baseball cards.
A couple Padres autos. I was a Carlos Baerga fan when he was a hot rookie in the early 90s. Heartbreaking that the Padres delt him away, but kinda cool that all these years later he gets a card in a San Diego uniform.
I think I was looking through cheap autos, looking for anybody I collected, and found the 2016 Topps Archives 65th Anniversary Ryan Klesko auto for just $1.44.
A couple lumber sweet sigs. I actually bought these to destroy them, the Brian Giles one, at least. I want to pull out the signed wood piece and use it in a big custom with the laundry tag from the game-used pants of his I've been cutting up.. so I can make it a big oversized relic/auto box-topper type extravaganza. I might not get around to that anytime soon, but it's on my to-do list. At least the Giles card already shows some damage around the cutout, so it won't hurt me quite so bad to tear it up. I don't think the wood piece is actually from a game-used bat or anything, but it's still cool. Maybe I'll end up doing it "overlay style" so I won't have to actually destroy the card.
Rod Beck PC additions! One of these days I want to add all my Rod Beck cards to the TCDB and see how far away I am from being his #1 collector on there. The Sports Illustrated card is the Extra Edition and numbered to 500 or something. The 2002 Topps card is a gold parallel #'d /2002. The die-cut is kinda neat. And as for the illustration.. full disclosure, it's not actually Rod Beck, but rather Mario. For whatever reason, I really wanted to snag a 1982 Topps Donkey Kong card (sticker) after seeing one on the blogs a while back, and went with this one. Whack!
Last thing for today-- a late addition to the post-- my boss just gifted me this Tony Gwynn figure for Christmas today. What a cool boss, right? This might be my first McFarlane's figure. While I generally tend to stay away from stuff like figures and bobbleheads, this is a big hit with me. My favorite player, plus he's in my favorite uniform (their white/brown/yellow/orange getup from the early 80s)!
Not exactly a spitting image in the face, but close enough. I'll likely keep this displayed at work.. Probably keep it in the package for now, but might bust it out of there at some point.
For my coworkers, I gave them little magnets of stuff they like (similar to the minis in rip-cards I sent to my trader buds a year or two back), with a cool nickname for our department on 'em (Data Force! lol). Like, one of my coworkers is a big Frank Zappa fan, so I made him a little Frank Zappa magnet. And my boss is a Batman nerd, so I made him a Batman one. They seemed to go over well. That was fun. Now I'm looking forward to a 5-day holiday weekend.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. I've gotten in a few nice trades and a contest-win that I need to post about ASAP. And I need to round up some prizes for a contest of my own on the horizon. So that'll keep me busy leading up to Christmas.
Chuck Fick. You're probably not familiar with his name, but the chances are good you've seen him work behind the plate, perhaps watching his highlights many times. If you're young enough, you might have even watched him in action more than Yogi, Munson, Bench, and elite backstops of their ilk.
Got this card in my latest COMC shipment. Very happy to add a playing-days card of this catching legend.
If you still haven't placed him, here he is with some contemporaries...
Yep, he's the Angels catcher in The Naked Gun.
I found this out while reading a great Sporting News article on that classic baseball scene earlier in the year.
“I didn’t realize what I was getting into,” said Chuck Fick, a former minor leaguer who played the Angels’ catcher in the film. “I didn’t know it was a slapstick at first, and I started reading the script, and once I saw the umpires got (a player) in a pickle, I knew something was up.”
Fick learned quickly that it was best to just embrace the wackiness. In doing so, he ended up with the most screen time of any player. As the catcher, he was in nearly every shot involving Nielsen as the undercover umpire, including a few close-ups and even some lines of dialogue — a total of more than two minutes overall.
And guess what? Not only was he the catcher in Naked Gun, but also...
Yep, that's him trying to make the tag at the plate when The Jet steals home at the end of The Sandlot.
So the guy is basically in my favorite two baseball movies. Had to pick up a card of his!
- 1997 Arli$$ (TV Series) ... Umpire, episode How to Be a Good Listener (1997)
- 1993 The Sandlot - Giants Catcher
- 1993 Homefront (TV Series) - Coach, episode Like Being There When You're Not (1993)
- 1992 Mr. Baseball - Billy Stevens
- 1991 Babe Ruth (TV Movie) - Waite Hoyt (This also featured Pete Rose as Ty Cobb)
- 1991 Quantum Leap (TV Series) - Ryker, episode Play Ball - August 6, 1961 (1991)
- 1991 Talent for the Game - Baseball Player
- 1990 Pastime - 1st First Base Umpire
- 1988 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! - Angel Catcher
- 1986 A Winner Never Quits (TV Movie) - 2nd Baseman
Other fun facts about Chuck Fick (aka Charles Fick or Charles Joseph Fick):
- He played in the short-lived Senior League (1989-1990), and there are a couple such cards of his out there. (I wouldn't mind adding them to the PC someday.)
- He's the brother of former MLB player Robert Fick, an All-Star with Detroit in 2002.
- He's the father of C.J. Fick (aka Chuckie Fick), who pitched in the majors in 2012 with the Cardinals and Astros.
- He is now the scouting supervisor for the San Francisco Giants.
So yeah, an interesting story of a baseball guy you probably didn't know about!
Just received my big COMC order placed over Black Friday weekend to get the free shipping. The majority of the cards were either vintage set needs (lots of '57s and '64s) or additions for a certain history-themed binder project of mine, but those will wait for another day.
I've mentioned before that I'm always keeping an eye out for Topps Retired autos. The 2004 Retired Bobby Grich auto is super common, with several affordable copies kicking around eBay and COMC at any given moment. But the 2003 Retired version (pictured).. Well, that one comes around much less often. I snatched this one up quickly when it popped up on eBay via COMC consignment, jumping over to COMC for it, as the prices are often a little cheaper there plus you can save on shipping as opposed to buying the card on eBay.
You don't hear a lot about Bobby Grich these days, but he was an elite second baseman in the 70s and early 80s. According to Hall of Stats, he's a slam dunk Hall of Famer, though has thus far been kept out by Cooperstown voters. Happy for this addition to my very long-term goal of eventually maybe completing the 2003 Retired autos. I've got over a third of them now. I've also got about a third of the 2005 Retired autos, and I've completed the 2004 Retired autos (my major collecting accomplishment of 2018.. or really probably my entire time in the hobby).
Another project along these lines is my Archives Reserve Master Set (ARMS). I've got the base sets (the two baseball sets and the one football one), and like to pick up an auto or relic from time to time. Here's a name that's familiar to most on the cardsphere, thanks to Matt at Sport Card Collectors supercollecting Rodney Hampton. I keep an eye out for scarce Hampton cards as trade fodder for Matt, and that's probably how I stumbled upon this auto for a good price, but this one's for me.
And another card for the ol' ARMS. I'm almost finished with 2001 Topps Archives Reserve Future Rookie Reprints (the only non-hit cards I've got left to chase in my quest). After checking off Jim Edmonds here, I'm down to just needing Bernie Williams and Sammy Sosa, both of which being 1990 Topps reprints.
Another long-term goal of mine... I seem to grab at least one or two 2004 Topps Chrome black refractors with each COMC order. I just sort by cheapest-first and try to find any I need for under a buck or so. It's slow going, but I'm nearly to a third complete here, currently at 32%.
I just love how these cards look, spilling over from my obsession with the similar looking 2004 Topps Retired refractor autos (as seen in my header). The biggest names in this lot were should-be-HOFers Larry Walker and Carlos Delgado.
I found myself itching to finalize my order but with 99 cards in my COMC inventory, needing one more to hit the $5 credit that comes with shipping out 100 cards in a month, and so I checked for cheap 2011 Topps parallels-- yet another of my long-term projects (2011 Topps+Chrome parallel frankenset.. still not even to the halfway point with it)-- and landed on Charlie Morton here. He's built himself a solid career, recently signing with the Rays after a very successful stint in Houston.
I'm a little late, but here's my Reminiscence Bump post, as popularized by Night Owl Cards. This is a rundown over the years of how I got into card collecting and some cards that are linked to specific memories for me. I'm also throwing in some tunes while I'm at it, documenting how I got into music. ♫
1985 - I'm a kid playing on a grassy field with my friend William. I give him like a piece of candy or something, and to return the favor, he gives me 4 or 5 baseball cards, all of which are Oakland A's cards from 1980 Topps (who knows why). I don't really care about baseball, preferring to watch cartoons and play with my G.I. Joes, but I happily toss the cards in with my inventory of toys.
♫ 1985 - I'm attending a friend's birthday party at a local roller rink (hell, it might have been William again, I don't remember). While skating around under the dim lighting of rays bouncing off the mirrorball, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" comes on over the soundsystem and hits me in a wonderful, unfamiliar way.. the first time music really connects with me.
1986 - As a kid in San Diego, I'm aware of big names such as Tony Gwynn and Steve Garvey of the Padres.. and I recall seeing those distinctive "black top" 1986 Topps cards owned by friends of mine, though I don't have any of mine own. I do somehow manage to acquire a few '86 Topps Football cards from a buddy somewhere along the line. Highlights are a Bernie Kosar rookie, Busta Rhymes, an Eric Dickerson "1000 Yard Club" insert, and a Rushing Leaders card with Marcus Allen and Gerald Riggs. I don't care about football, but am happy to expand my tiny sports card collection into another sport.
♫ 1986 - I watch a lot of The Monkees in syndication on weekday afternoons over summer break, being watched (babysat) by family friend Kit, hanging out with her three daughters, Missy, Kristy, and Cindy. Seems like those guys are having a lot of fun on tv. I start making it known that I'd like to be a musician when I grow up. My music collection begins by receiving cassettes of greatest hits albums for my birthday of the Monkees (Then & Now... the Best of The Monkees) and the Beach Boys (The Beach Boys – Do It Again!), the latter of whom I'm a fan of thanks mostly due to "I Get Around" being featured in the film Flight of the Navigator which I like a lot.
1987 - I still don't care much about baseball, but every so often I run across a new card for my tiny collection. My mom buys a loaf of bread that strangely has a baseball card in it and I'm mildly happy to get a card of one of the few ballplayers I know of, the legendary all-time great Steve Garvey. (Years later, I would be shocked to learn he wasn't in the Hall of Fame.)
♫ 1987 - I'm riding in a car in Chicago with some family members on our way to my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party. Somebody asks me about the music I like and I mention I like that "I was standing, you were there" song, which I caught on the radio once or twice, and my cooler older cousin Siobhan perks up and seems to be impressed, "INXS?" Yeah, that one. In a rare moment, I kinda feel cool.
♫ 1988 - My card collection is stagnant for 1988. As for music, my favorite cassettes are Paula Abdul - Forever Your Girl and Roxette - Look Sharp.
♫ 1989 - My card collection still consists of just those few A's cards from William and an oddball or two I wound up with. Cards are totally off my radar, though in hindsight the "overproduction era" was ramping up like never before, so it's almost surprising it hasn't gotten to me yet. As for music, I've found my first official "favorite band" with Def Leppard, being a huge fan of their album Hysteria even though I know I'm a couple years late to it. I'm also into some popular rap, with Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock's It Takes Two getting a lot of play on my little boombox. This is the year I buy my first "explicit lyrics" cassette tapes-- Guns N' Roses Appetite For Destruction and Tone Lōc's debut album, Lōc-ed After Dark. My mom snatches them behind my back to give a listen as a concerned parent. She returns them without incident-- even says she kinda enjoys that "Take me down to the Paradise City" song-- though I am extremely mortified at this turn of events. Specifically, GNR's "Rocket Queen" is nearly impossible to listen to now, what with the naughty lady noises.
1990 - Baseball cards hadn't been very popular at my elementary school, but then here in this first year of middle school-- BOOM! Damn near everybody collects. I'm hesitant to jump on the bandwagon at first. My locker in P.E. is right next to a cool kid named Troy. He's a good dude, but not the sharpest tool in the shed. Troy is always having problems opening his locker. I help open it for him each day and he returns the favor by giving me a random baseball card. They're all '90 Topps and '90 Donruss. The name "Howard Johnson" sticks with me, perhaps due to the hotel/restaurant chain of the same name. I eventually amass a decent little stack of Troy's castoffs, and my life as a card collector has officially begun. I soon start buying packs myself, trying to get a sampling of all the options on the market, even the pricy Upper Deck. I begin watching all the televised baseball I can, plus read the sports section, pouring over the box scores to see who had a good game the day before, learning who the good players are. I may be a late bloomer to the sport/hobby, but I hit it hard and it basically consumes my 6th Grade.
♫ 1990 - My best friend Doug and I are nuts for the two big pop-rap albums ruling the charts, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em and Vanilla Ice's To The Extreme. Nearly every day after school, I hang out at his place and we listen to a side of one of these tapes in his room while goofing off. When Christmas rolls around, my (cool) cousin Siobhan gives me a couple cassettes: New Order Substance and Fine Young Cannibals The Raw & The Cooked. Brilliant move by her taking my love for danceable pop, but guiding it a little further from the mainstream. These albums knock me for a loop and open my eyes to what would soon become known as "alternative" music.
1991 - I've got the pedal to the metal with my card collection. I make weekly trips to the local card shop, PB's Baseball Cards, to spend my allowance, which is conveniently just a couple blocks from my home. I buy at least one pack of any baseball card set that comes out on the shelves, though I mostly stick to the big boys: Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck, and Score.
♫ 1991 - I've forsaken the "pop" radio stations I used to listen to (San Diego's Q106 and Z90), and now am a loyal listener of 91X "the cutting edge of rock" (San Diego's "alternative" station). I get a CD player for Christmas and the first two CDs I buy happen to both be from 8 years earlier, 1983: Yes - 90125 (love that "Owner of a Lonely Heart" song!) and my old favorite Def Leppard's Pyromania ("Photograph" might in in the running for my favorite song of all time).
1992 - I'm still balls-to-the-wall with collecting baseball cards, though I've also expanded into spending some allowance money on comic books, too.. with Spider-Man being my focus. My two best friends have chosen their favorites to collect: Doug: Tony Gwynn and Wolverine, Chris: Darryl Strawberry and Punisher, Me: Reggie Jackson and Spider-Man. Not much change from the prior year as far as my collecting habits, as I try to sample a little of every baseball card pack PB's has available, though I tend to stick to the major releases. I also buy a lot of "old" packs that the card shop has on the shelves, as I look to "diversify" my collection, including several each from 1986 Leaf (bizarro Donruss!) and 1982 Topps (so vintage!), the latter of which ends up giving me the best pull of my life up to that point, as I rip a wax pack while crossing Jamacha Boulevard and get a Cal Ripken rookie, excitedly showing my bud Doug. I'm floating on air as we make our way back home.
♫ 1992 - I gotta give my mom a lot of credit for shaping my taste in music.. Among the albums I listen to this year are a lot of artists I became familiar with through my mom's record/CD collection, including Paul Simon, Talking Heads, and the Beatles.
1993 - My intense baseball card collecting fascination for the past 3 years has finally started to ease up. I buy a handful of packs, mostly 1993 Topps, but apart from the thrill of pulling a Frank Thomas Black Gold insert, am just not getting the enjoyment from the hobby I once did. Once I'm in high school, my friends and the rest of the guys at school have pretty much stopped collecting cards, too, so I don't really have anyone to connect with there. For the first time, comic books take priority for my allowance money, with my favorite monthly titles being Spider-Man 2099 and Image's The Maxx. But by the end of the year, I lose interest in them too, as I get my first serious girlfriend and most of my interest/money goes toward that relationship.
♫ 1993 - Actually, what really starts taking priority for my allowance money in 1993 is my music collection, buying lots of CDs. Something about starting high school and music suddenly having a much more important role in your life. My favorite band is now Jane's Addiction (and their new offshoot Porno For Pyros). Also listen to lots of Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Catherine Wheel, Lemonheads' Shame About Ray, and Matthew Sweet's Altered Beast.
♫ 1994 thru 2004 - My cards and comics are packed away in boxes, with no new additions over the next decade save for maybe a random oddball found in a box of cereal or something. I instead get my collecting fix by tracking down every live recording I can find from my favorite bands, mainly Jane's Addiction and related side projects. Pixies, Frank Black, Paw, Dig, and John Frusciante are also among my top artists. Lots of buying bootlegs and trading fellow collectors for live tapes, eventually building up an impressive collection.
2005 - After many years, I stick my toe back into the card collecting waters in the summer of 2005. I'm impressed by how easy it is to find/buy specific cards now thanks to the rise of eBay. Among the earliest cards I pick up online are a 1986 Donruss Fred McGriff rated rookie (which I had always hoped to pull from those '86 Leaf packs as a kid back in the day, but came up short)-- and not only that, it's my first ever graded card-- which is a concept that kinda blows my mind. I also buy singles of 1980 Topps Ozzie Smith, 1974 Dave Winfield rookie, 1972 Topps Harmon Killebrew (base card + his In Action card), a lot of few '73 Topps cards (my favorite vintage set), and I also relive the thrill of opening packs for the first time in years with a lot of 20 unopened packs of 1984 Topps, a set I've never had much of (they weren't carried at my LCS in the early 90s), so I figure they'd be somewhat "fresh" for me, and they're cheap. I spread them out over a few days and pull a Boggs and Ripken and feel pretty good about it. I also end up trading live recordings to a guy for a few good cards including a John Elway rookie and a Ryne Sandberg Fleer rookie. But despite this flurry of card-collecting activity, it doesn't really take, and I then go dormant a few more years.
♫ 2005 - I'm no longer into Jane's Addiction that much (though I never really turn my back on music I once enjoyed; hell, I still listen to MC Hammer, Roxette and Paula Abdul every once in a while to this day), with the title of my favorite band now belonging to Neutral Milk Hotel. Again, the collector in me compels me to hunt down every circulating live & rare recording of theirs out there. I even spend much of my spare time working on a fansite for the band. I finally finish up college and briefly get a job at a computer shop with my buddy Chris. My days are generally very lonely, having no luck with the ladies or making new friends. My best friend Doug got married a few years back and no longer has much time for hanging out with me other than occasionally having me over to watch a Chargers game. I write and record a lot of my own songs, though no one listen to them. Seriously, 1994 through 2007 were dark times for me.
2008 - I'm at Target and notice a box of current baseball cards near the checkout and throw one in my basket on a whim. It's my first pack of new/current cards in 15 years. When I get home and rip the pack, I'm not all that impressed by them. A CC Sabathia insert is the only card that stands out in the slightest. I later do make one eBay card purchase this year, though (Saturday, Nov 22, 2008, to be specific.. yeah, that's not from memory but thanks to searching old emails), spending $3.14 + $1 S&H on a Topps 1973 Roberto Clemente. I get a thrill reminiscent of my early collecting days landing a vintage card of the great Roberto Clemente, a mythical figure if there ever was one. Me as a kid would have been blown away! But again, my interest in the hobby is fleeting and I step away for a few more years.
♫ 2008 - My favorite band now would probably have to be Rilo Kiley. I've been listening to them for a few years now. I've got a fansite for them too. I'm also a moderator on a popular fan message board for the band. One night the year prior, I drunkenly flirted with a certain female regular on the forum I had thought was really cool for a while. We ended up sparking a relationship, but she lives way up in Portland, so the long-distance thing is a strain.
2012 - Yep, I live in Portland now, moving away from San Diego in 2009 to be with my special lady. I've finally got a job with some extra money to spend (just a temp job, but still). I take a curious look on eBay at the current state of baseball cards. I'm intrigued by this new Topps Archives product, with its comforting familiar designs for me and a nice mix of active players and favorites from the past. I buy a blaster, then a couple more, and before I know it, I'm back in the hobby. I'm thrilled by pulling a Roberto Clemente rookie reprint during a very rough period (our awesome dog Lucy is dying of cancer) and it gives me strength and reminds me what a positive force card collecting can be. Around this time, the band message boards I moderate fall apart and I find myself without an online community to be a part of. It's a hole in my life to not have a bunch of buds to check in with everyday. I somehow stumble upon an old blog dedicated to 1988 Topps-- while that's always been among my least favorite sets, I still find it fascinating reading the author's take on the cards and players. From the commentators on that blog, I find a guy named Night Owl who seems to have some interesting things to add, too. I find out he has his own daily card blog, and I become a loyal reader of it.
♫ 2012 - Man, music-wise, everything seems to blur together around these years. I'm not sure what I was listening to in particular. I'll go with Metric here. I would still find new bands online from time to time, but mostly I got to the point where I stuck to listening to stuff I already liked. I guess that comes with getting old.
2013 - Ok, I've been reading card blogs for a while now. I'm really impressed by how cool the community is, sharing info about cards and trading and generally being great people of all ages and backgrounds. I even take the plunge and start writing my own blog in June of 2013, and soon do my first cards-for-cards trade in over 20 years (trading Marcus an extra McGriff rated rookie I ended up with). I must be on the right track, as I narrowly squeak out a win for "Best new blog of 2013" in awards voted on at another blog. As for my collection, I rarely spend real money on cards, though am active on Listia, selling crap for credits that I can turn around and spend on cards. One particular card I win on Listia is a really sharp looking autograph of Bill Madlock, a guy I got an in-person autograph from as a kid. Turns out the set is called 2004 Topps Retired Signature Edition and I'm in love with everything about it. I think I'll try to get some more of these cards. Yeah, maybe! Speaking of being in love, I ask that girl I've been shacking up with to marry me and she says yes!
2014 - I have pretty much focused my collection on retired greats and fan favorites from yesteryear up to this point, but inspired by reading card blogs, I finally come around to the current state of baseball and slowly start collecting some active players in addition to my old favorites. Funny enough, there are a few active card blogs that focus on the Padres, and they help teach me about the current lineup, and even though the team has broken my heart so many times in the past, I slide back into being a fan, for better or worse. Speaking of for better or worse, we get married over the summer.
2015 - I kick off the year by posting The game of Wallet Card, an idea I had come up with at the end of the previous year which I think is a fun concept for the cardsphere. It damn near goes viral and gets attention of collectors online far beyond my blog's normal reach. Feels like I've "made it" as a part of the baseball card collecting scene. My collecting habits expand further as I enter the world of working on vintage sets, deciding to make a run at my favorite set, 1973 Topps.
2016 - My dream of making my own baseball cards sort of comes true as I start toying with designing/printing my own custom cards. I have lot of fun coming up with various "cards that never were" and cards of hot rookies. I fly a little too close to the sun and start trying to make a little extra card-spending money by selling my custom cards online. After scary (though honestly a little flattering) legal threats from Topps and a Texas newspaper, I give up any intentions of making money off my customs. It doesn't matter much to me, though, as I'm lucky enough to score a good job with the company my wife works for. I no longer need to pinch my pennies quite so much, and start splurging on adding nice cards to my collection here and there.
2032 - I die of heart failure in a storage unit I've been crashing in since the money ran out. Alone with nothing to my name besides my beloved card collection boxed up all around my lifeless body, with no next-of-kin to be found, my collection is auctioned off for a few hundred bucks to a pawn shop asshole who turns a tidy profit on them and then puts a down payment on a mid-priced new card for his teenage son.
And I guess that's pretty much it. These days I've got lots of various collecting project in the works, with my focus for the first time being less on player collections and more on vintage sets and other fun/off-the-wall stuff. Still going strong with the blogging here as 2018 winds down, fortunate to have kind folks reading and interacting, both on the blog and twitter. Lots of incoming cards. Enjoying the hobby very much.
We're entering that ol' season of giving, and while in the past I've done mailing-blasts and blog-events leading up to Christmas, it always ends up being an exhausting undertaking, what with all the other stuff going on this time of year. So this year, I'm thinking a nice post-xmas giveaway. It'll likely be a card "draft" giveaway not too unlike Night Owl's recent event, with lots of prize options and multiple winners. I've been a lucky winner in a few recent cardsphere contests (not to mention greedily calling dibs on a bunch of primo slots in Wes's big 12/25 event), so I feel the need to give back. So stay tuned for that and be sure to take a moment later in the month to check in with the blog for a chance to win some cards.
Got a few different incoming mailings to cover in this post, and this first one is from Doug at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. This card is one of those gimmicky but fun cards from Panini where they take a photo of a guy wearing a Santa hat, then make relic cards from the hat. Nice card to spice up my modest PC of this guy I went to high school with.
I think these are the first 2018 Heritage Minors cards in my collection, maybe. Good selection of future Friars, highlighted by a blue Logan Allen.
Some 1970 Padres.. imported from Canada....
O-Pee-Chee! Always fun.
More nice Padres cards of promising guys who failed to become quality major leaguers or are on their way to such a fate (prove me wrong, Francisco, prove me wrong!). Sean Burroughs bat relic, in case you can't read the tiny text. Keyvius Sampson made the majors with the Reds in '15-16, but looks like he was out of baseball last year. Neat auto. Like most Padres 1st round picks, Donavan Tate washed out of baseball after an unimpressive minor league career. The former two-sport star tried to return to football last year, but doesn't look like that panned out.
Some other PC cards. Good stuff.
And cards of lady wrestlers I collect. I think my Alexa Bliss PC doubled thanks to this mailing!
Very appreciated, Doug! I think this return makes the Felix Millan auto you traded me for pale in comparison, but I'll try to hit you back next time.
- - - ----o
Next up is my prize from Night Owl's recent 10 Year Anniversary giveaway. I was lucky enough to get into the list of eligible players, though the randomizer threw me down near the bottom of the draft board. By the time I was on the clock, most of the cards that caught my eye were gone, though I was able to add a nice Andre Dawson 2011 "legend variation" to the PC.
Greg was kind enough to throw in a bonus card for my recently-begun '72 Topps setbuild. I am at 6.6% complete with this godforsaken set and already know it will be the Baines of my collecting existence for the next several years. I just need to keep telling myself it's a long term project. Just moving along with a random card here and there, such as Jim Brewer here, and eventually down the road, I'll have it in my sights.
Thanks, Greg!
- - - ---o
Next up is a PWE from Sport Card Collectors.
Lovely pair of cards here. Billy Hamilton was surprisingly let go by the Reds recently and picked up by the Royals. Best of luck to him in KC.
Some Astros and Bellingers.
Thanks, SCC! Hope you like the return PWE I sent.
- - - ----o
Here's a surprise holiday PWE from Billy at Cardboard History.
A half-dozen basketball dudes I collect. Tim Duncan trio, Dirk, TJ Leaf, and Manute Bol.
Thanks, Billy! I've been working on sending some cards your way soon.
I wasn't expecting this lot of Brian Giles cards.. and though my PC of his is pretty large, pretty sure I needed just about all of these!
The prize in the contest was Jeremy would send you a few customs he made of your choice. I was a little confused if he had already made them or not, and I asked about Chris Jones, a guy from my high school who played in the bigs but never got a real card from his MLB career. Jeremy kindly obliged. Glad to have these whipped up for me!
I also asked about some missing Rod Beck cards that Topps neglected to make, and he came through big there, too! (Beck has a Gold '92 Topps card-- a replacement for a checklist-- but not a standard issue in the set.)
Of course I'm partial to the San Diego era cards, but all are appreciated.
Thanks so much, Jeremy!
Thanks again to everybody who's sent me cards. And thanks for reading.
