Springtime Christmas (catching up on a big bunch of trades)

Got a lot of good incoming trade packages lately. Let's check 'em out.

First up is a reader named Kermit who was keen to score himself some of the Simpsons cards I whipped up a while back, and though he isn't a sportscard collector, still rounded up a nice trade offer for me.

These minimalist Simpsons ornaments are cute. I'm torn if I should keep them in "new with tag" collectable condition, or take off the tags and throw them on the tree this December. I found a couple Marges on eBay going for around $15 each, but couldn't find Homer on there. (well, there are a ton of Homer tree ornaments, but couldn't find this specific one.)

As I mentioned, the guy didn't collect cards, but he did dig up some baseball pins that caught my eye. A few players I collect in this lot. (Plenty of dupes and guys I don't collect, too, so let me know if you want to trade for any of these.)

When he told me he had a bunch of old comics to offer, I perked up hoping for some vintage Amazing Spider-Man and Superman and stuff like that. ...

Welp, not exactly. But I was still moderately interested in these cartoon comic books from the 70s.

He was nice enough to throw together a nice sampler lot for me.

Definitely well-loved condition, these are "dollar bin" caliber, as he warned me, but should be fun to read through on a rainy day.

Should I maybe do a future post on these few comics? Might be fun to recap the story and show some of the more amusing advertisements. Eh, let me know in the comments if that's something you'd like me to post about.

It wasn't all 70s, though, as he had some modern Futurama comics to throw in, too.

Neat stuff. Thanks again for the trade, Kermit!

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Next up is a little trade/thank-you from Dimebox Nick.

Very happy to land the Sandberg glow star, as that finally completes that '93 UD Fun Pack subset for me. Now I gotta round up all the cards (some are in PCs) and do a glowing-in-action post with them one of these days.
As for the 2011 parallels, already had one, but the other was a need for the frankenset.
Also cool Trout insert and a couple shiny Treas.

And some Padres highlights from the package.

Thanks again, Nick!

-   - - ----o

At the card show last weekend, I bumped into Rod and he was nice enough to give me a box of cards.

While it wouldn't be stretching too much to get a week's worth of posts from the box, I'm lazy / have a lot going on, so I'm just going to call it good with this overview photo with some highlights visible.

I believe that Renfroe is the first Honus Bonus card in my collection. There are also custom autos of Matt Stairs and Glenn Hoffman.

Thanks as always, Rod!

-  - - ---o

Now here's a nice "Christmas in May" mailing from John Miller.

Cammy! HoloGrFX! Love it!

Ha, sorry, but these are kinda like opening a gift on Xmas morning and it's socks. John, I know your heart is in the right place, but Josh Donaldson, Trevor Story, and Wil Myers were knocked off my wantlist a few months ago. You can stop setting them aside for me please. What can I say, I'm a fickle player collector.

Some other cool miscellany.

Thanks, John! I'll round up some cards for you soon.

-   - - ---o

The yuletide celebration comes to a close with an incredible 4-card package from Raz.

12/25 Giancarlo!! With lasers shooting out from his crotch! Awesome card.

And here are a couple diecut 12/25's. I know Raz kinda/sorta is also a Christmas Card collector like myself, so he must keep an eye out for them, and was kind enough to share a few.

Shiny Michael Sam.. very cool. This might be the first minicollection double-whammy that hits both my Christmas Card collection and Pride PC.

Four cards and all 12/25.. wow, thanks, Raz! I know you said you weren't looking for a return, but I'll hit you back with a little sign of appreciation soon. (like it or not! lol)

Thanks again to Kermit, Nick, Rod, John, and Raz!
And thanks to you for reading.

Rounding third with 1982 Topps and 1984 Donruss

A pair of recent trades have gotten me pretty close to wrapping up a couple 80s sets I've been working on lately.

First up is another helpful package from Larry P. in Alabama.

Wow, a bunch of big names checked off my '84 Donruss needs!

And a real nice lot of '82 Topps.

Plus a sweet upgrade for my '64 Topps setbuild. Now I've got a dupe for the McCovey PC.

Thanks, Larry! I need to round up some cards for you soon.

-  - - ---o

The other package featured today is a Twitter trade with @MaxxxPower68.

More '84 Donruss cards I needed, including the Small Unit himself, the other Randy Johnson.

Great little '82 Topps lot here. While not huge names, the Phillies Future Stars card features a solid trio: a Cy Young winner, a Gold Glove winner, and a 2-time All-Star. The Mariners card on the other hand is all about Dave Henderson, as the other two guys never amounted to much. Already had it in my Hendu PC, but nice to have a dupe for the set now. (Hoping I might find somebody with an extra Ripken RC to trade me, but odds are I'll have to yoink it out of my Cal collection.) And here's one of the few Tim Wallach rookies that won't be hoarded by the Tim Wallach Collector Guy.

Appreciate the trade, Tim!

I'm currently around 50-something cards short from both '82 Topps and '84 Donruss. If you've got some available and want to trade, check out my wantlist and get in touch!

Thanks a lot and have a great weekend.

Custom TTM success, of sorts: Adrian Beltre!

The last TTM return I got was way back on July 8th, 2017, so it was a nice surprise when I finally got another envelope back in my own handwriting yesterday.

Adrian Beltre.. Sweet! I sent this request out to the Ranger's spring training facility just a bit before pitchers and catchers were due to report (Immediately afterwards, I started to worry I sent too soon). These days Beltre is known as a dependable auto-stamper, and looks like this return was no exception. But hey, for an active star, I suppose a stamped-auto return is better than it going straight into the clubhouse garbage. So I'm happy with this. I do have a couple real Beltre autos, though, gotten back around the time I originally whipped up this custom commemorating that amusing moment last season when he repositioned the on-deck circle during a game.

So yeah, this stamp doesn't bother me too much. An authentic autograph would have been preferred, of course, but what are you gonna do. My genuine thanks to Adrian and the personal assistant of Mr. Beltre's who stamped this card and returned it to me! Very cool addition to the PC.

Nice Boys (Guns N' Randoms)

Some more random pickups I've been meaning to show off.

Scored another Hoyt Wilhelm hit with this neat old-timey jersey relic #/50. Grabbed it for a few bucks in the same big order that landed me the Yaz rookie (most of the cards in this post are from that order).

And some minor league oddball Hoyts! Not from his playing days, of course, but there's one paying tribute to greats from the history of the Minneapolis Millers (1978 Halsey Hall Recalls), and a couple cards from his coaching career. That middle card (1979 West Haven Yankees TCMA)... wow, what a bizarre photo. Did Elmer Fudd just blast his beak off? Not sure what's going on there. I checked, and it seems all copies of the card are like this. The card with the group shot (1982 Nashville Sounds Team Issue) also features Johnny Oates (his first managerial card) and Eddie Napoleon.

Included a shot of the backs in case anyone's interested. I wonder if any of those Arby's Tennessee locations are still in business.

Minor league cards of a couple notable Padres of the past, Bruce Bochy and Nate Colbert.

I also gave a big boost to my Eric Owens PC, throwing a bunch of draft pick and minor league cards into my cart.

The last 2 in this batch are especially neat because they're imported cards from his stints playing winter ball in Venezuela.

I believe the Mud Hens issue is Eric's "sunset card" as that was his last hurrah in affiliated ball. He played a little in Mexico the following year before going into coaching. He made it back to the big leagues as assistant hitting coach for the Blue Jays in 2015 and 2016.

We close today with a cool assortment of Garry Templeton oddballs. Love the 1981 Perma-Graphic Credit Card. While I generally shy away from oversized cards, I was happy to score one of those original Sportscaster cards. When I was a kid, I had some similar cards, but I think they were of planes and ships. Nice to take me back to my carefree boyhood days.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

The LaValley of the Shadow of Death (clean version)

[Ok, my first draft of this post was angry and obscenity-laden. Let's take a deep breath and try it again with a better mindset.]

So Gavin LaValley got a card in 2018 Bowman. It's first first mainstream card since 2014 when he was in Bowman Draft and Panini Prizm Draft, both cards I rainbowed pretty hard, eventually getting down to a handful of scare parallels remaining. So I figured I might see about going hard after his 2018 Bowman card, too.

A while back, Mr. LaValley shared photos on social media of him signing 2018 Bowman autographs, but they didn't end up in this product. I guess that means they're going to be included in 2018 Bowman Chrome..? Either that or they ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor, I suppose.

But still he's got a base card ("paper") and a Chrome card in 2018 Regular Bowman. I figured I'd get a good foothold in a rainbow and I ended up winning an auction for a player break of 12 cases (8 JUMBO BOXES + 4 HOBBY BOXES). I was pretty sure that would land me some good stuff. The only question I had was if I'd walk away with only 1 printing plate or maybe I'd get lucky with 4 or 5 printing plates.

Well, queue the sad trombone. Not even one stinking base refractor! Just a fat stack of each base card and NOTHING ELSE. Wow. By far the worst player break I've been involved in. Never have I gotten such a brutal shaft, and this was easily the largest break I'd ever gotten into, so it just doesn't make much sense from a mathematical standpoint. I was crestfallen when I went through the package. I almost quit collecting right then and there. Twelve freaking cases -- not boxes, CASES! -- and not even one lousy parallel? That's ridiculous. The cardboard gods really kneed me in the crotch there. I mean, it only cost me a bit over a blaster, so it wasn't a huge financial hit, but still devastated me emotionally.

To the breakers credit, he threw in a bonus pack of 2018 Series One and a pouch of penny sleeves. That was a nice gesture, I guess. (There wasn't anything good in the pack.)

And anyways, I decided I'm not going to rainbow this card now. Too painful. Plus, turns out there are 5x7 Topps website-only parallels of it. Listen up: I vow right now here today to NEVER rainbow any card that has any 5x7 versions. I HATE oversized cards. Maybe an occasional big oddball can make it's way into my collection, but those 5x7 cash-grabs Topps puts out with various numbered parallels really irk me. I will never chase them.

2014 Panini Prizm Draft sure were ugly cards, but you gotta respect that there were no oversized versions. And no printing plates to chase! That makes for a very supercollector-friendly rainbow. I recently scored the /10 gold parallel of the non-auto.

That leaves me with only one last card for the MASTER RAINBOW. Just need the non-auto 1/1 "Infinite Black Prizm" (Panini's version of a superfractor). I've never seen it for sale, but I'll keep an eye out and hope to land it someday. I've got the auto version of it, as you can see in the upper right.

While I'm not happy with how '18 Bowman treated me, I'm still trying to score low-numbered LaValley parallels when I can find them reasonably priced on eBay.

Paper yellow plate.

Chrome Magenta plate.

Superfractor.

As for LaValley, last I checked he was hitting .214 in AA. Hmm.. well. I hope he starts raking and becomes the next Mike Trout, but regardless, it was quite the ride supercollecting him for a while there.

Thanks for reading.

Card Show Crapulence

May's monthly card show is in the books.

I don't collect Favre or anything, but I thought this was one of the most impressive lenticular cards I've ever seen. Looks like a damn video! This gif doesn't quite do it justice, but still neat. 1995 Skybox Impact - Brett Favre #N/A

Snagged a couple half-price 2016 blasters to give me something to rip. I'll probably sit on these for a little while and use them for my June "black friday stockpile" break since I had 2018 Archives boxes tentatively penciled in there, but turns out that product isn't coming out till mid August this year.

A pair of cool Eddie Murray inserts. That 1996 Fleer Update Diamond Tribute might have been my best deal of the day. Bought it for 50¢ and the cheapest one on COMC right now is $16.50.

A few buck-a-piece vintage pickups.

My boi Fernando Tatis Jr /399.

And let's close with a couple vintage additions to my Hoyt Wilhelm PC, my biggest pickups of the day. Might have overpaid a little for these (hey, win some, lose some), but still happy to knock a pair of needs off one of my favorite guys to collect.

So there are the highlights from my haul. Not too bad. Also grabbed some trade fodder and some nickelbox cards that aren't all that exciting. Plus I bumped into Rod and he had another box of cards for me, so I'm looking forward to going through those.
See you next time.

No Maas

I'm sorta proud of myself because this might be the season I finally stop being so susceptible to getting caught up in rookiemania. All of my other card-collecting years, I'd get swept up by the hot young guys and try to land a bunch of their cards. It was Judge and Bellinger last year.

But this year? I'm just not feeling it. I don't give a shit about Shohei. I couldñ't care less about Acuña. And I've got too much pride to collect anyone named "Gleyber" no matter how good he may be. Maybe I just got burnt out. (I should mention I'm still excited about Padres prospects, like Fernando Tatis, Jr. for what that's worth, and I'm hoping at least one of the rookies on the team this year can compete for a couple NL ROY votes.)

I started collecting in 1990, so my first real taste of a rookie phenom blasting onto the scene was Kevin Maas. Though his career was a comet that quickly burned out, he's a sentimental favorite to collect these days. And by special request, here's my updated Maas PC, starting with some neat minor league recent pickups.

This 1987 Pro Cards is his earliest card.. probably was a pretty hot commodity for a while there.

Ha, from his first pro season, looks like he was a contact hitter without much pop. That didn't last long, as his power soon went up and average went down.

Very similar photo on this one, but this is from 1994, once the bloom had fallen off the rose (or whatever). I believe this is the only card that exists from his brief stint in the Padres organization after getting cut by the Yankees at the end of spring training that year (I'm still bummed he didn't see any action up top in San Diego so he could officially be a "Once a Padre"), but I'm glad there's at least this card to commemorate his short-term stop in the chain. He actually only played 4 games for AA Wichita (hitting a robust 8-for-15) before being promoted to AAA Las Vegas where he was less impressive, eventually getting released on May 23 after 29 games. He then finished out the year with Cincinnati's AAA club.

This pair of sister cards is actually from Kevin's double-dip with the Yankees. He started 1995 with the Twins, but was soon cut loose and New York gave him another shot in their chain, though he never made it back to the Bronx. The blue bordered card is the Police version.

Seems to me the quote attributed to Kevin Kuhn, age 12, was plagiarized from Mr. T.

After splitting 1996 with Milwaukee's AAA team and in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers (I don't think there are cards documenting either stint), Maas returned to AAA in 1997, splitting the year between Houston's and the Reds' organizations before hanging up his cleats. I believe this '97 Best issue is the final card from his playing days.

And the back of his sunset card. Thanks to baseball-reference, I can fill in the missing Japanese stats for you: 63 games, 26 walks, 60 strikeouts. There's an error on his birthday; it's actually Jan 20th.

And now for the rest of the PC; here's his Topps, Score, Leaf, and Classic cards I've got.

Bless '95 Fleer for giving us the only card from Kevin's brief Twins stint.

Finally, the Upper Deck cards I've got from him, including an auto. Maybe one of these days I'll try a TTM attempt with my dupes. He's supposed to be a decent signer, I think.

Of course I'm down for adding any more Maases that I don't have via trade.
(UPDATE: see this post for a big update to the PC thanks to a trade with Bo.)
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. Card show weekend for me!