Incomin' cardboard to welcome the summer

Happy Summer Solstice.. the longest day of the year. I'll take some of that elongated time to get caught up thanking the kind folks who've mailed me cards in the past week or two.

This wonderful quartet of loved vintage stars leads off a trade with reader Michael Y. down the road from me in Ashland, OR. Been wanting a Sparky Anderson rookie for a long time, and the other 3 are pretty damn cool too!

Some big names for my 1974 Topps setbuild!

More sweet 70s needs/upgrades.

And a pair of nice cards on the modern side, with a Didi RC auto and a Thome Sportscasters numbered out of 30 copies.. love those things!

Thanks for the great first trade, Michael! Here's to many more in the future.

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File this one under "random acts of kindness" as TCDB user "Shawn's Doubles" proposed a "trade" offering to send me this Ghostbusters 2 card from my wantlist for free. Hells yeah, brother!

Shawn seemed relieved to get it out of his house. I hope the card isn't... haunted?!

I've still got a dozen more needs to finish this one off, so please check out my wantlist if you've got some of these lying around.

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Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life surprised me with a fat PWE. Love adding more Black Gold cards I need.

Larry Walker in the house.

Some dudes I enjoyed watching when they played for San Diego.

Great stuff!

Thank you, Bo! I need to pack up a return to you soon.

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Alex from Chavez Ravining started a "trade stack" on this blog, and I ended up claiming the first one on the strength of this lot of gold Ginters. I figured I collect most of these guys (just not Pettitte or Sosa), so it was good bang for my buck.

And if the gold Ginters wasn't enough, these cards were already on the trade stack. Most of these will find a home in my collection, so right on!

We each boosted up our sides with additional cards and Alex hooked me up with some awesome stuff. The Jose Ramirez is a cloth parallel.

Thanks, Alex! Hopefully the cards I sent have arrived safe (if not, let me know, because it's been a week or so.)

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Last package (oops, I mean "huge PWE"!) to show off today comes from Nick at the Dime Boxes Blog. I called dibs on this clear Beltre from one of Nick's free-card events.

Along for the ride were a few other cards he had set aside for me, hitting me back for the few cards I sent him last time. Here we've got a pair of OPC cards of guys I collect, plus a nice lot of Hoyts.

That's a strong mix of Padres.

Closing out with an impressive pair of vintage oddballs of Padres legends. Is that Jerry Coleman a real 1952 Berk Ross Hit Parade of Champions card?! Wow, that might be the nicest card I've gotten in a blind trade in quite a while! And I love the '77 cloth Winfield a lot, too. I should note that it's the "One Star at Back Bottom" variation, which seems to be more scarce than the "Two Star" version. So that's pretty cool.

Thanks as always, Nick! Always look forward to getting cards from you. My collection is greater for having known you!


Thanks again to everybody who sent me cards, and thanks to you for reading. Have a great summer

Howard Hughes PC

In these days of being extra careful not to catch a nasty disease, Howard Hughes' later antics of "meticulous hand-washing" and "social distancing" aren't looking quite so crazy in hindsight. LOL. He wouldn't have missed a beat here in 2020!

Howard Hughes is an interest of mine thanks to being a link to connect with my late grandfather, who-- as a young amateur pilot himself decades ago-- admired Hughes' aviation feats and innovation. Before succumbing to mental issues, Hughes was one of the most famous, rich people in the world, known for his fast planes and titillating films.

My grampa was born on this day 105 years ago, so I planned this post as a little birthday celebration of showing off my Howard Hughes PC.

Let's kick off with a fresh-off-the-presses custom nine-card set I just put together.

We'll take a closer look at each card in a second, but here's how the set presents in a page. I like it! As you can see, I mostly wanted an excuse to make cards out of neat old movie posters that caught my eye.

Hell's Angels was probably his biggest hit film. I haven't seen it. Actually, don't think I've seen any of the movies Howard put out.. but I'll look to rectify that soon. Regardless, pretty cool looking artwork.

Another fun, if somewhat naughty one.

I wrote the backs, mostly paraphrasing/plagiarizing Wikipedia (Man, I wish Wikipedia was a thing back when I was in school! Writing reports would have been so much easier!). If you spot any typos, please keep them to yourself because I don't want to have to re-print anything. lol

This one might be my favorite! Love that image of rocketeers shooting over the Statue of Liberty or whatever. Looks really neat.

TIME Magazine cover deserved a card. I printed 2 copies of the set, by the way, with one currently paged and the other sleeved.

Jet Pilot was a flop of a film, but I liked the John Wayne poster.

I've seen the Al Pacino Scarface, but still need to watch the original sometime.

A nice photo of the man inside the Spruce Goose and a quick bio on the back. I often forget he and I share a birthday.. another decent excuse to collect his cards.

Then the 9th card wraps up his enduring legacy.

And so there's that! For the record, my grandfather was a devout Catholic and hopelessly devoted to my grandmother all his life, in contrast to Howard Hughes who was known as a womanizer and wasn't afraid to bend the rules to get what he wanted. Not sure if Grampa was a fan of Howard's films, but he was probably really just interested in the aviation scenes, if so. I never had the chance to talk to him about Hughes, as far as I remember, but what spurred on this "player collection" of mine is when we found this among his possessions after he'd passed...

My grandfather would have been about 23 years old when he got this program signed at a Chicago appearance by Hughes and his flight crew circa 1938. Probably the crown jewel of all my collectibles, especially given the personal connection.. but even if not, a Howard Hughes autograph that's confidently legit is something special.

I talked about this item more back in a 2015 post, so I won't rehash it too much now.

I've already got an idea for a "Series 2" of my Howard Hughes Collection custom set (a second page, that is), which I envision will include a card-sized reprint of this autographed program, plus individual cards for each person who signed it. (And I guess I'll fill up the rest of the 9 slots with more movie poster art or whatever grabs me.) But that's a project for another day.

Now onto some other stuff.

Rookie card! 1936 Goudey History of Aviation (R65) #1 Howard Hughes. Might be a stretch calling this a "card" as it's bigger than a CD cover and about as thick as a magazine page. But still very cool.

He's got another card in this same set, which I also picked up not too long after the other one..

Cool piece of vintage aviation art.

Unlike his other "playing days" cards, this 1939 Churchman's Kings of Speed tobacco card is quite affordable. Ran me just $5.46 delivered in a PWE.

According to the TCDB, I'm left with just one vintage whale to track down to complete my career-era Howard Hughes card collection...

1936 Heinz Famous Aviators 1st Series #7 Howard Hughes

Really nice looking old card. I hope to track one down someday. Other highlights from this set include Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. These 3 big names can get a bit pricey, but looks like the less familiar names in the 25-card set are readily available on eBay, so that's a good sign. I'll just have to have some patience.

The last card I've got to show off today is an ugly mother. It's a "relic" card featuring a clipping from a vintage newspaper article about Hughes. Really a poorly designed card covering up much of his face, but whatever.. wasn't too expensive. It allows me to be able to say I've got a Howard Hughes trifecta (using a loose definition).. owning his rookie card, an autograph, and a relic card. Winging Atlantic, alright.

I also have a few cards in my COMC inventory that I'll be requesting shipment on one of these days once COMC starts having more staff in the office and gets orders shipped out without the huge delays they're working with currently.

These pending PC additions include:
1985 LIFE Remembers #81
1991 Face to Face: The Famous Celebrity Guessing Game Cards #243 (gold)
1991 Face to Face: The Famous Celebrity Guessing Game Cards (purple)
1994-2001 Grolier Story of America #22-3
1995 Anngar International Who's Who? Game Cards

So eventually I'll have to do a follow-up post to this one with those cards plus the "series 2" custom set once I make that. Not sure if that'll be a year from today or sooner.. but someday!

I've also got his card in the 2002 Topps American Pie set, #106, but other than these, I'd be interested in any Howard Hughes cards/memorabilia I don't have.

Thanks for reading! Happy Birthday to my grampa up in heaven, and happy wedding anniversary to my wife and I. Six years today.. not too shabby.
See you next time.

The Pre-Covid19 Card Collector

I've been a bad blogger lately, not posting much by my standards, and not reading as many card blogs as usual either. Sitting out contests, free-card giveaways, and bat-arounds. Just been riding lowkey on the hobby lately, I guess. I half-joked on Twitter recently...

You know how there are "pre-war card collectors"? I'm thinking about becoming a pre-covid19 collector. Kinda done with 2020 cards. Seems like a good cutoff point. Not into all the $20-per online cards and recon missions for Bowman blasters in the wild hunting for 17-year olds.

And I try not to be too much of a Rob Manfred hater, but really feels like the current sport known as Major League Baseball keeps getting further and further away from the game I fell in love with 30 years ago. And when we start seeing games again finally, it'll be further still. Perhaps painfully so.

It feels good to just kind of draw the line and "set free" baseball and baseball cards to go do their thing without me being too emotionally invested over it from here on out.

No baseball season this year? Fine, whatever.
Constant overpriced gimmicks from Topps? Hey, good for everybody who's into that stuff, but I'll hang back.
Extreme hype over the latest hot prospect? Best of luck to the kid, but I don't really care.

And sure, this is mostly just talk from me, I know. If/when the Padres finally see dividends from their young talent and sniff playoff contention, I'll probably get excited and watch some games. And I'll still collect new cards of my favorite active players (in that I won't, like, forbid traders from sending me current cards).. but for the most part, I'm going to half-assedly try to confine my collection to be pre-2020 cards.

Anyways, this is really just yet another "look what I got" post, so here are some recent pickups. All older stuff, though.. which I suppose goes along with my intention of not messing with current cards much anymore.

Basically I want the hobby to remind me of "the good ol' days".. carefree days of childhood. Reggie Jackson was my first real "PC guy" as a kid. I still have the Reggie cards I accumulated back then, and have added a bunch since returning to the hobby as an adult. He's not really a priority these days, as I consider the PC "good enough" as it stands without worrying about the endless stream of post-career cards. But once in a while a card'll catch my eye, such as when I saw this 1970 Topps Super on another blog recently. Had to track down one for myself. Great shot of the young slugger grabbing a heaping helping of lumber at the old Yankee Stadium.

The back is basically the same as his flagship '70 Topps card, but here's a pic. I believe this is my first 1970 Topps Super card, though I already had a couple 1971 Supers so I knew what I was getting into.

The other main guy I collected as a kid, at least for a while, was Garry Templeton. I've explained why before, and I'm always conflicted about ever repeating myself on this blog. Probably over 99% of readers either don't remember or don't care about hearing it again, but I'm always concerned there'll be one reader with a sharp memory saying to himself, "Oh great, Gavin is explaining why he collected Garry Templeton again.. [eyeroll]" But yeah, I was a kid in San Diego just getting into baseball/collecting. My good buddy Doug was already collecting the obvious choice (Gwynn), so I didn't want to copy him and looked elsewhere. Garry Templeton was the Padres' captain at the time and longest-tenured on the squad. Plus he had a fun name that reminded me of Charlotte's Web. So yeah, while my peers were collecting flashy guys like Strawberry and Canseco, I took the road less traveled. haha

This '76 Tulsa Oilers minor league team issue is Garry's very first card. I had been after it for a couple years, finally scoring it at a solid price a little while ago. It's not quite as awesome as the first card I landed from this set, but still pretty cool.

The back. Wow, .401.. impressive.

Garry hit .321 for Tulsa in 1976 before getting the call to St. Louis in August. Tulsa has been in the news lately, apparently a rough place for black people, historically. I wonder how Garry enjoyed his time there. Allow me to take a moment to say #BlackLivesMatter. Racism is fucking stupid.
There's my soapbox statement, lol.

Sneaking in a modern card, here's Kris Bryant's 2015 Stadium Club RC. This was on my Desperate Double Dozen wantlist for a long time. It got to the point where I didn't even care that much about owning the card anymore, but I was just looking for some closure, so I gave up waiting for anybody to trade it to me and took a look for it on eBay and ended up winning this one for a few bucks. Done and done.

Switching to non-sports, I was pretty excited to score this Axl Rose rookie-- at least I think it's his earliest trading card.. correct me if I'm wrong.

It's a promo for the 1991 Brockum Rock Cards set, though funny enough neither he nor Guns N' Roses ended up having a card in the actual set. For better or worse, I consider GNR an all-time favorite band of mine. And especially since I've started my 1991 MusiCards blog last year, I've been more interested in music cards.

Yeah, in general, I've really been enjoying opening my card collection up to non-sports cards in recent years.. again, using cards as a way of reconnecting with stuff I loved as a kid.. first with Ghostbusters cards, Goonies cards, then Pee-Wee Herman cards (post forthcoming), and more recently MST3K cards (post also forthcoming) and music cards.


Let's close today with a really old card..

My interest in old-timey aviation is pretty much limited to Howard Hughes (post forthcoming later this week, hopefully), but I ended up stumbling upon this neat "playing days" Amelia Earhart card and had to pull the trigger.

1936 Carreras Famous Airmen & Airwomen #25. She has at least a couple earlier cards, so no "rookie card" top-loader for this one, but still super cool to have an Amelia Earhart card that was printed before her tragic disappearance the following year.


In conclusion..

Love this quote from the otherwise terrible Topps-produced Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987). Like this guy stuck in a bad movie, I'm deciding to leave mankind to its folly and retire here. Into this world of memories.


...I mean, not really.. But I think it's best if I try to focus on pre-2020 cards and stop worrying about the current state of things.
Thanks for stopping by.

Topps Retired Triad 3 - Tippy, Baines, Davey

More Topps Retired autos acquired in my neverending quest to collect 'em all. These here are all from 2005, the Return of the Jedi of the Retired trilogy of sets.

Hey, here my first Retired printing plate. Normally I don't mess with them at all (my negative feelings towards stickergraphs being a big reason), but this one popped up too cheap to deny. I think the seller forgot to mention in the listing title that it was a plate or 1/1, so that might have kept the price down to be comparable to what the base autos typically go for.

Since my collection of Retired autos is already a "frankenset" of base and refractors, figured adding a autograph plate to the mix would be cool.

Tippy Martinez was a reliever who came up with the Yankees in the mid 70s, but spent most of his career with the Orioles. His best season was probably 1983, helping Baltimore win it all that year as their closer.

And this Harold Baines base auto was cheap enough to justify, though these days I try to focus on refractors since I like them so much more.

As a "big Hall" guy, I was glad to see Baines in the HOF, though there are several more-deserving players still on the outside looking in.

Check out the front and back photos... The White Sox sure went through a lot of uniforms back before deciding to stick with what worked so well for the Raiders.

Refractor time! Last card today is Davey Johnson.

Davey is best known as manager of the '86 Mets, so it's no surprise the write-up is centered on that. As a player, he was a 4-time All-Star and won a couple rings with the Orioles ('66 & '70).

Wow, and Maryland native Harold Baines had 3 different stints in Baltimore during his career so I guess this post turned out to have a theme of notable Orioles of the past.

That's all for this time. Thanks for reading.