A visit from the Easter Roddy

Padrographs Rod dropped a couple boxes of cards on my doorstep the other morning, and in the absence of an Easter basket this year (yes, my mother-in-law still does the Easter basket thing for her grown kids), I saved checking them out until this Easter morning. Let's take a look at some highlights.

Some of these I claimed from Free Stuff Days giveaways Rod has been cranking out on his blog. And some of them are cards that were offered up but went unclaimed. I'm very happy to have any such leftovers dumped on me, with plenty of them finding a home in my collection.

This Juan Soto parallel might be my favorite card of the lot (though the "March 26, 2020" Opening Day date listed can't help but make you sad). He's a fun kid to watch and among my top favorite current guys to collect.

More hot young talent in the game itching to get back on the field and show what they got.

Here's my first in-hand look at 2020 Donruss. Don't hate it, but doubt I'll search out more.

Some more shiny and/or Chrome stuff.

Nice group of beautiful women for that minicollection of mine.

More non-baseball stuff. Anybody need a DMC? That NCIS relic probably should have been included in the previous photo (never watched the show, but dig the cute goth look she's got going on). I've never messed with Pokemon, but hey, I'll hang onto that Dark Vileplume in the interest of "diversifying" my card collection a bit.

Some more baseball keepers for me.

A few older guys I PC.

Yep, plenty of cards found their way onto my Keepers stack.

Thanks a bunch, Rod! I'm very lucky to have local trading buddies like you and Kerry. Hopefully the USPS doesn't get killed off by this wretched administration (the concern is growing!) because that would really be a kick in the crotch for the hobby (I complain about the post office as much as the next guy, but if it went away, that would reeeeally suck!), but at least if that does happen, well, there will still be the possibility for local handoffs.


Oh, and I take back what I said at the top of this post.. turns out we did get an Easter basket this year.

My mother-in-law is a great lady. Some tasty stuff here.

Happy Easter and thanks for reading!

Nate Colbert Report - 2020 edition

I last showed off my Nate Colbert PC way back in 2014. It's the big guy's 74th birthday today, so figured I'd celebrate by checking in with what I've got from him. I briefly toyed with supercollecting Nate, still the Padres' career home run leader, back in the day, but gave up on that endeavor after a while because supercollecting is a pain and expensive. But I still pick up a cool item for the PC once in a while.

Let's check it out! This is the Colbert Report.

Rookie card! It's a high-number '66, so that jacks up the price a bit. I ended up with a graded one. Cool.

Here's his '68 Topps card. Nah, I'm yanking your chain. Nate actually didn't get a card in 1968, not breaking into a big league lineup yet. This is a custom Bru made last year.

His first real solo card was 1969 Topps. Padres got him in the expansion draft to be the big bopper in their inaugural lineup.

1970 Topps is a nice looking card. I'm confused if these Scratch Off things are from 1970 or 1971, but here they are. I count these 2 as different because of the following...

One is scratched off (mostly) while the other is still in more or less "like new" condition.

Check out this trio of black-bordered cards they put out in 1971. Great stuff!

Bonus look at the backs.

1972 Topps. Don't think he got an O-Pee-Chee card that year.

Ooh baby! Three great cards from 1973. The middle one was autographed long ago.

You're not seeing double. You're seeing triple!!! (or are you...?) Different cards all.

1975 OVERLOAD is what I title this above image. The first card is a proof that's missing the black ink. That's the kind of shit you have to buy when you're a supercollector, and they're usually priced.. well, you know, not cheap. The card on the far right is just a dupe but I kinda count it different because of a couple printing flaws on it. You know you're really serious about being a player collector when you hang onto cards that are really dupes but there's a tiny printing difference so you count it as a different card. Bottom row is the mini version (weird printing issues in its own right) and the OPC card (here mislabeled "QPC" because the pen gave me trouble. BTW, of course I'm only writing on the sleeves, and very gently at that!)

The middle 1976 Topps card is the polka-dotted pants variation. Very rare! Nah, I'm joking again, it's just another weird printing flaw.

Nate got a couple cards in 1976 besides his Topps card. (More old oddballs will be covered later in this post.)

If someone were to ask me if I have Nate Colbert's 1977 Topps "Turn Back The Clock" card, I would have to scream the word yes at the top of my lungs. Just look at all these! It's ridiculous. These are a bunch of different proof cards (another thing I bought during the brief stretch I was trying to be a Nate Colbert supercollector). The card on the end is the regular card.

Nate didn't get a base card in the 1977 Topps set, sadly. So I made this custom using a photo from a Topps photo negative that I myself actually own. I thought that was pretty neat.

Sunset card! Full career stats on the back!

I need to make a custom of him in a A's uniform one of these days. Don't have any cards from his time in Oakland (eerily similar to a couple other favorite players of mine, Willie McCovey and Dick Allen.. Topps dropped the ball on A's short-term stops of the mid 70s.)

Check these out!

Oh my! Vintage oddballs at their finest!

More good stuff.

Kellogg's! Love, love, love. At first I was happy to take that dupe out to put towards my setbuild I'd like to get going. But then I noticed they were different. Notice it? One is perforated and one is clean cut on the edges. Count it: Different card!

Nate went into coaching after his playing days, and he has several minor league issues.

On these, I've got both a "single" and an uncirculated team set that includes the card. Some might call that a dupe. A true player-collector? Count it: different card (even if it's not).

Panini was cool enough to include Nate in a Golden Age set a few years back. There's a few parallels to chase there.

Backs of those.

Closing out the post with the hits! Three certified autos. The bottom ones are actually two of the same card, but the one on the right has a custom overlay I made over it.

That's the end. Thanks for reading!

Topps Retired Triad - The Wizard Rises

Topps Retired Triad is a new feature here where I show off 3 cards from my Topps Retired collection. Today's selections are all 2005 refractor autos.

Check out this Ozzie Smith refractor auto! I love this card, especially considering I'm a Padres fan. Just beautiful!

Sure would have been cool if San Diego had been able to keep him for more of his career.

Charlie Hough is tough enough!

That's a long career! Not quite Phil Niekro, number-wise, but still an impressive run for the fellow knuckleballer.

Denny McLain closes us out for today. Looks great!

Not a long career-- especially following Old Man Hough-- but a few nice seasons, including an extraordinary 1968.

Bunny update: It was a nice day and I spotted this cutie sunbathing for a moment before munching down on some grass.

cardboard concentration

I don't get bored very often. Despite being home most of the time for the past couple weeks, still feels like I have dozens of little projects I want to get to one of these days. If I ever get to the point where I run out of things to do, then I might start getting worried-- but I doubt I'll ever get to that point. Always more cards to sort.. customs to make.. trade packages to put together.. and that's just talking about card stuff! Other around-the-house stuff to do too.

And I'd love to post more, both here and at my MusiCards blog. How is it I seem to have more free time to post while at work than when I'm working from home?! LOL, don't make no sense.

I'm also behind in reading the card blogs. I still haven't gotten to the wave of '88 Score Phil Niekro posts.. but almost there. Should be fun reading through all those.

But anyways, I received cards from a couple folks this week, so that's good motivation to squeeze out a quick post.

Johnny Miller has been doing some fun giveaway games lately. I got in on one of them and ended up with this well-loved vintage Mickey Mantle checklist from 1967. This'll be a sweet addition to my Mantle PC.

John also included this 1980 Kellogg's Bruce Bochte. Another project on my long to-do list is to sort all my Kellogg's cards and finally put up wantlists for them. The long-term goal is to complete every Kellogg's set from 1970-1983, but I'm sure that'll be tough and take several years. Hey, no rush. Not sure where I'm at now, but doubt I'm anywhere near even halfway with any of these sets.

Thanks a lot, John! Your generosity is appreciated! I've got some cards set aside for you I'll try to drop in the mail one of these days.

-  - ----o

The other cardsphere mailing I received this week is from Nate at The Bucs Stop Here. He put together a great package of cards for me with guys I collect.

Impressive Kris Bryant lot right here. The holiday card is one of the metallic snowflake parallels.

Kris' teammate Javier Baez was along for the ride as well.

Young Dodger studs represented here with Cody Bellinger and Gavin Lux.

Woo! A pair of Vlad Jr RCs. You know I'm a sucker for hyped-up rookies. I was really looking forward to seeing how his 2020 season shaped up.. but it'll have to wait.

More good stuff. Vogelmonster gold #'d 0057/2020. Early Didi. Tim Duncan refractor. Bol Bol RC.
Not sure if you saw my tweet from a few days ago, but I recently sorted my little basketball card collection. Tim Duncan was the largest PC by a comfortable margin, which I guess isn't a big surprise. I've gotten a lot of help from friendly traders.

Let's end on a hit. Nate hooked me up with this Joe Musgrove RC auto. I already had the base auto, but this badboy is the refractor parallel, #'d /499. Musgrove is from my hometown, so there's a little personal connection for me there.

Thank you for the excellent trade, Nate! I'm sorry my Pirates selection is a little thin at the moment. I'll keep an eye out for more Buccos and hope to balance the scales next time we swap cards.

My wife and I made up a "seclusion safari" game where we earn points by spotting cute animals from our windows. She's been kicking my ass so far. But it's just something fun to do while stuck at home. Always brightens our day when the backyard is visited by a local bunny. Funny how much entertainment value we get from watching the adorable little guy nibble on the lawn.

Guess that's all for now. Thanks for reading and stay safe!