Friday, June 29, 2018

Payday Pack - Big Smile!

I got paid this week, so I treated myself to some of Topp's latest offering, Series 2. Let's see if I pulled anything fun...

3rd Place

2018 Topps #448 Max Kepler

This Kepler card is showing a nice catching angle pose, but what caught my attention was the rectangular bulge in his back pocket. There used to be a time when you could tell what players chewed tobacco due to the circular can protruding from their pockets, but these have become rarer now. The rectangular object is most likely a defensive positioning card that is often used by outfielders to help them figure out where the opposing batter is likely to hit the ball.

2nd Place

2018 Topps - Gold #587 Chris Davis

Chris Davis is not having a good year. In fact, it could be historically bad. Not what the Orioles were expecting when they signed him to that big contract. Still, that is the look of a happy ballplayer. We should all have a reason to smile that big!

1st Place

2018 Topps #659 Arizona Diamondbacks

Fireworks make any card better! You can really see the rocket's red glare in this one!

Others Not Appearing On Stage:
#531 Chris O'Grady (RC)
#661 Christian Villanueva (RC)
#672 Brandon Nimmo
#525 Johan Camargo
#83-12 Dilon Peters (1985 Topps Rookies insert, RC)
#386 James Shields
#446 Lucas Duda
#666 Eric Sogard
#657 Derek Dietrich

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Repack Haiku #57 (Darren Daulton)

Phillie favorite
Ended career as Marlin
Crowned World Series champ

1992 Topps #244 Darren Daulton

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Top 9 #9 From the Last 9

There's a contest going on at It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. He has been celebrating the 9th anniversary of his blog all month long. The theme of his posts has been the number 9, and now he's running a contest where fellow bloggers can enter by posting some sort of list of 9.

A list of 9 is easy enough, but a list of what? I decided to fully embrace the 9 motif and look at the #9 card from each Topps base set from the past 9 years. Who the greatest #9? Using each player's career WAR, here's how they would rank:

9. Jesus Montero (-0.3 WAR)

2012 Topps #9 Jesus Montero (RC)

The only negative WAR on the list belong to one of This decade's all time great busts. Montero was a highly rated prospect who just flat out couldn't succeed at the MLB level.

8. Jon Gray (5.7 WAR)

2018 Topps #9 Jon Gray

If this list was rating cards based on their hair, Gray would win hands down. He looks like he could be in a shampoo and conditioner commercial.

7. Dustin Ackley (8.1 WAR)

2014 Topps #9 Dustin Ackley

Ackley hasn't played a major league game since 2016, but he's still kicking around. He signed with the Angels this past April.

6. Dee Gordon (11.0 WAR)

2013 Topps #9 Dee Gordon

I'm hoping Stephen King writes a sequel to one of his books called "The Girl Who Had No Strong Feelings For Dee Gordon."

5. Eric Hosmer (15.9 WAR)

2016 Topps #9 Eric Hosmer

Hosmer is one of the celebrated leaders of a World Series team, and signed a nice contract with San Diego this off season. Yet, as of now, he's behind another Royal...

4. Gil Meche (16.9 WAR)

2011 Topps #9 Gil Meche

Gil Meche, ladies and gentleman!

3. Tim Lincecum (19.7 WAR)

2010 Topps #9 Tim Lincecum (AW)

Was there any pitcher more dominate from 2008-2011? Lincecum's card celebrates his second straight Cy Yong award.

2. Hunter Pence (30.0 WAR)

2015 Topps #9 Hunter Pence (WS)

Back-to-back Giants! Hunter Pence gets 2015's #9 slot after his heroics in the World Series.

1. Chris Sale (39.8 40.4 WAR)

2017 Topps #9 Chris Sale

When I initially looked up the career WAR stats on Saturday, Sale led the list with 39.8 WAR. Then he pitched Sunday, throwing 7 shutout innings with 13K, and look how much his WAR jumped! This guy is a beast, and I'm glad he's doing it for my favorite team!

Monday, June 25, 2018

Hockey Cards From Cardboard History - Pack #6

I'm continuing my series of posts showing off the endless bounty of cards I received from Billy at Cardboard History! Another pack, this with a shiny goalie as the top card:


There's something is a little different about this pack...


Hidden Red Sox! This was a pleasant surprise! Billy is a collector extraordinaire, but his focus is mainly on the NBA, NHL, and NASCAR. He obviously found a few baseball cards to pass along my way as well. Can't go wrong with a Hall of Famer, a Red Sox legend, a postseason hero, and a two-time All-Star!

On to the hockey portion of the pack! As usual, there are a lot of great cards that I've never seen before. I'll highlight a few...

1989-90 Topps - Sticker Inserts #9 Geoff Courtnall

As far as All-Star cards go, this one is pretty sharp looking. What makes it different is that it is actually a sticker! I wonder how many kids actually peeled these and stuck them somewhere.

1990-91 Bowman #218 Mike Richter (RC)

I swear there is a guy somewhere in there! Is this the same Louisville that makes bats for baseball players?

1990-91 Pro Set #567 Buffalo Sabres Logo (TF)

This was a cool little fact card of the Sabres' team history. In the 18 years since, they've added 1 more appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals (1999), 1 Prince of Wales Trophy (1999), and 1 Presidents' Trophy (2007). Their Top Coach would now be Lindy Ruff, and Great Players would have to include names like Dominik Hasek and Pat LaFontaine.

1993-94 Parkhurst #236 Eric Lindros (SS)

Eic Lindros was the Connor McDavid of my childhood - a player of such extraordinary talent. This is a cool card from his sophomore season.

1999-00 Upper Deck #234 Luc Robitaille

Foil on cards can be very hit or miss. I think gold foil with the dark blue and black banner looks great! I think I have a few baseball cards with this same design.

2006-07 McDonald's Upper Deck #50 Alexander Ovechkin

I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge this great oddball card of the current Stanley Cup champ and Conn Smythe winner Alex Ovechkin!

2017-18 Upper Deck #146 Evgeni Malkin

I'll finish this up with a great action shot of Evgeni Malkin celebrating. Kudos to the photographer!

As always, my sincere gratitude to Billy for his generous package!

Friday, June 22, 2018

Goodwill Bag Of Junk Wax

There's a Goodwill about a quarter of a mile down the road from where I work. Occasionally I take my lunch break and wander around for a bit. This store never has baseball cards, but one particular day last month I spotted some:

Plastic bag free with purchase!

I agree, not much to look at. Junk wax galore, and not necessarily in the best of shape! It was only 99 cents however, less than I spend on a 30 card repack from the Dollar Store. What the heck, there might be something interesting among all those early 90's Donruss. At least I get a blog post out of it!

I separated the cards out into 4 piles - The two largest sets (1991 Donruss and 1988 Score), all other baseball cards, and all non-baseball cards. I'll keep track of  cards I need, Red Sox cards, and any Hall of Famers. Lets see what I ended up with!

1991 Donruss


As it stands now, I'm 35 cards short of completing this set. There's a chance I may actually pick up a few cards I need!


What do you know? 6 cards closer to completion! Not a bad way to start!

Total Cards: 114
Cards I Needed: 6
Red Sox: 3
Hall of Famers: 7

1988 Score


This set, on the other hand, I have completed already. I still sorted through them however, on the off-chance there was an error card or two.


Good thing I did! It turns out that almost half of the cards were of the glossy variety. Shows what I know - I didn't even know Score had glossy cards then! Apparently they were part of a factory set. All those glossy are technically needs...

Total Cards: 134
Cards I Needed: 63
Red Sox: 2
Hall of Famers: 0

Random Baseball Cards 


The rest of these cards were a neat assortment ranging from 1984 - 2000. There were some noteworthy things in here, including:

  • A complete 2010 Topps Philadelphia Phillies team set


  • A 1988 Leaf Rated Rookie of Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar

 
 
  • A couple of Senior League Cards

 
  • A 1993 Fleer Final Edition Ozzie Smith. Apparently, Fleer forgot to add Ozzie to the base set, and they took a lot of flack for that.  They put him in the Update set to make up for it.


Total Cards:116
Cards I Needed: 63
Red Sox: 3
Hall of Famers: 7

Non-Baseball Cards


Unfortunately, there were a lot of CCG gaming cards in this bag, mostly Avatar and World of Warcraft. I have no desire to keep any of it, so I'll probably just send these back to Goodwill. There were however two cards that I thought were cool and worth showing off:

  • This Protoceratops card from Sunkist Fruit Snacks - These dinosaur fact cards were issued by Sunkist in the late 80's. I especially like the artwork on it.


  • One of the Avatar game cards was one of those 2-in-1 pull out cards. Even though I no nothing about the card or the game, it's still interesting.


Total Cards: 83
Cards I Needed: 0

The Grand Total

Total Cards: 447
Cards I Needed: 132
Red Sox: 8
Hall of Famers: 14

So out of 447 cards in the bag, about 30% are cards I didn't have, and all for under a penny apiece! Not a bad haul for a random stop at the local Goodwill!









Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Repack Haiku #56 (Matt Mieske)

Padres traded him
With others to the Brewers
for Gary Sheffield

1991 Bowman #694 Matt Mieske (RC)

Monday, June 18, 2018

Time Travel Trading Update #13


Bruce Bochte was a fan of vintage photographs. Whenever his family went to a theme park, he'd always drag the wife and kids to get an old sepia-toned photograph of them dressed like an Old West frontier family. When he saw the ad in the paper looking for volunteers to recreate the 1982 New York Giants, he just knew he had to be a part of it!

The studio was in a once thought abandoned building just outside of town. No sooner had he walked through the doors then he was whisked to a dressing room to get fitted with an authentic vintage outfit. Bochte couldn't help think of how well crafted the clothing was - it was almost like it was really from the late 1800s!

As he stood on the platform with his "teammates", Bruce noticed that there was a lot of computers and strange equipment behind the camera set-up. Men in lab coats stared back at him with anticipation. Something's not right here, he thought.

The man with the camera smiled. "I don't really follow baseball, so forgive me if I mess up the terminology. After many strikeouts, I think we're ready to finally score a goal. Say hello to Phil Rizzuto for me!"

The flash of the camera was the last thing Bruce Bochte remembered.

*****

The bad news: No one wanted the Rickey Henderson or Art MaHaffey cards, so their time traveling has come to an end.

The good news: As you can tell by the above story, I was able to get a new trade in! Doe from the blog Now and Zen, who previously sent me the set of 1986 Topps Pete Rose tribute cards, reached out to me requesting the card of the 1982 New York Giants. He offered me my choice from four 1980 Topps, and my return package just came in on Friday:


As you can see, in addition to the card of 1979 All-Star (It's true!) Bruce Bochte, Doe also sent along a couple of Red Sox inserts from this year's Opening Day set. It's good to have some fresh faces for the trade stack again! Thanks Doe!

Since it's been awhile, I'll recap the project: I started out with a pack of 2018 Topps Series One baseball cards, and have traded every card in that pack away for something older. The primary focus is to keep trading cards and getting an older card in return. The name doesn't matter, the condition doesn't matter. I just want to see how far back in time I can go!

Make me an offer on any of the cards below! You can comment on this post, or initiate a trade through the Trading Card Database (Member Name: Kep75). Help me keep this project going!

The Time Travel Trade Stack:


2018 Topps Opening Day - Before Opening Day
#BOD-AB Andrew Benintendi

2018 Topps Opening Day - Team Traditions and Celebrations
#TTC-SC "Sweet Caroline"

1990-91 Hoops (basketball)
#168 Glen Rice (RC)

1990 Topps
#18 Carlos Quintana

1986 Topps
#2 Rose Special '63-'66
#3 Rose Special '67-'70
#4 Rose Special '71-'74
#5 Rose Special '75-'78
#6 Rose Special '79-'82
#7 Rose Special '83-'85
 #401 Fernando Valenzuela (Turn Back The Clock)

1981-82 Topps (basketball)
#14 Moses Malone

1981 Topps
#63 Steve Renko
#704 Bill Travers

1980 Topps
#143 Bruce Bochte
#671 A's Future Stars

1979 Topps
#130 Bob Watson
#455 Bill Lee

1978 Topps
#24 Don Money
#193 Rich Chiles
#347 Terry Forster
#445 Mike Ivie
#471 Roy Smalley
#581 Lynn McGlothen

1977 Topps
#294 George Medich
#524 Rowland Office

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#53 Richard Lemieux

1973 Topps
#18 Leroy Stanton
#36 Steve Barber
#98 Dick Woodson
#99 Carl Taylor

1972 Topps
#374 Jack Heidemann

1970 Topps
#103 Frank Reberger

1969 Topps
#453 Mike Cueller

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyre

1969 Topps (football)
#154 Sam Baker

1967 Philadelphia (football)
#109 New York Giants (TC)

1966 Topps
#444b Checklist 430-506 (CL)

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

1964 Philadelphia (football)
#172 Ken Gray (RC)

1964 Topps
#305 Jack Lamabe

1963 Topps
#111 Al Jackson
#155 Bill Stafford

1962 Post Cereal
#58 Frank Malzone

1962 Topps
#278 Ken Johnson

1960 Topps
#95 Frank Thomas

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

1956 Topps Flags of the World (non-sport)
#70 Jordan

1954 Bowman
#16 Jim Wilson

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

1938 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Tenth Series (J9-6) (non-sport)
#2 Black-throated Green Warbler

Friday, June 15, 2018

Blog Bat Around Participant Summary


 Last month, I created my first Blog Bat Around. As a young blog with a relatively small number of followers, my expectations were modest. I was hoping to have enough participants to at least be able to make a list of those posts worthwhile. Here's a list of other bloggers who have shared their thoughts:

Summer of '74 - Blog Bat Around Doubleheader

The Chronicles of Fuji - The More The Merrier

This Card Is CoolBlog Bat Around: Oh, Oh, Oh, It's Magic (Infinity Wars BBA)

I've also had a few people share their responses in the comment section of the post itself. If there is anybody I'm missing, please let me know and I'll update the list! Thanks to everyone who joined in!

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Repack Haiku #55 (Rock Raines)

All time great Expo
Second Hall of Fame haiku
His nickname still rocks!

1989 Topps #560 Rock Raines

Monday, June 11, 2018

Top 5 Tribute: Red Schoendienst

Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst passed away on June 6th at the age of 95. Like most people my age, I knew him more from his days as the manager of the Cardinals than I did from his playing career. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1989 along with Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski. 

In honor of his life and career, I am showing off my 5 favorite cards of him that I have.

#5

1972 Topps #67 Red Schoendienst

To be honest, it was a toss-up between this card and his 1973 issue, but I went with this one since it didn't include the caching staff. He's smiling more in this one too.

#4

1971 Topps #239 Red Schoendienst

I'm pretty sure this is the first card of his I ever got. The stadium in the background really makes card stand out.

#3

1990 Topps Traded #113T Red Schoendienst

Red was named the Cardinals' interim manager in 1990, making him one of a handful of Hall of Famers to manage a team after they were elected. I like how the border complements his red jersey.


#2

1988 Topps #351 Cardinals Leaders

At the time a Special Assistant Coach for the Cardinals, what makes this card great is the smiles he and Tony Pena are sharing. There is a true sense of camaraderie here.

#1

2012 Panini Golden Age #66 Red Schoendienst

The only card I have of him showing him from his playing days, Panini did a good job with this simple but classic looking set.

R.I.P., Mr. Schoendienst...

Friday, June 8, 2018

Mitch Moreland, All-Star?


2018 Topps #104 Mitch Moreland

Last Friday, MLB released the ballots for this year's All-Star Game. (Count me as one of the fans grateful they did this later in the year, as opposed to early May.) As a Red Sox fan, I have a good guess who will represent Boston: Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are locks, Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrell are very likely, with Xander Bogaerts and Andrew Benintendi having outside shots to crack a strong field of contenders. One name that didn't enter my mind: Mitch Moreland.

If you're not familiar with "Mitchy Two-Bags" I don't blame you. He's always been one of those solid but not spectacular professional ballplayer types. His main claim to fame is a Gold Glove award with the Rangers in 2016. For most of this year he's been platooning with since departed Hanley Ramierez at first base. He's just starting to get full time at-bats this season. He's easy to overlook.

As per usual for this time of year, many writers are sharing their ballots, and Moreland is showing up on a lot of them:

These 10 Players Could Be First Time All-Stars

Still Too Early MLB All-Star Rosters


And you know something? They're right! Even in a part-time role for most of the first couple months, Moreland has been one of the best options at first base. I honestly didn't realize how weak the AL was at first this year. The only other real option is Chicago's Jose Abreu, but look at the numbers (as of 06/07/18):

Moreland: .302 AVE, 10 HR, 30 RBI, 1 SB
Abreu:        .300 AVE, 10 HR, 35 RBI, 1 SB

Almost identical, wouldn't you agree? But Moreland has put up those numbers with almost 80 less at bats than Abreu! That's roughly 2 weeks worth of games! I'm convinced, Moreland not only deserves All-Star recognition, but he deserves to start!


My All Star Ballot







The only ones I had to think about was Rosario over Judge (No way Judge won't win, but anyone that strikes out 8 times in a double-header really shouldn't be a lock for anything!), and Yelich over Kemp. Otherwise, I'm quite happy with my ballot!

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Repack Haiku #54 (Miguel Garcia)

Pitched eleven games
Plus 8 Earned Run Average
Done by twenty-two

1989 Donruss #622 Miguel Garcia





Monday, June 4, 2018

Time Travel Trading Update #12


For the first time since I started this project, the number of cards in the trade stack has decreased. I pimped out a couple of cards two weeks ago, and didn't generate any interest. So Stephen Drew and Rudy May officially join my collection, and two more cards are put under the spotlight. This time around, I'll lead off with some legitimate star power:

1992 Topps #560 Rickey Henderson



I know, I know, it's junk wax era. But as far as cards from that era go, this one is one of the better ones! The picture of Rickey swinging is perfectly framed by the matching color border.

How Acquired - Received with 2 other cards in exchange for 2018 Topps Atlanta Braves, 2018 Topps Legends in the Making Carlos Correa insert, and a 1985 Topps Dick Williams.

Why Should You Want This Card? - It's Rickey, man! Look at all that red on the back of his card!

1960 Topps #138 Art Mahaffey (RC, RS)



Mahaffey hasn't been in the trade stack for as long as most of these other cards, but with so many cards featured in the post, I'm curious if it got overlooked. This is a great vintage card!

How Acquired - Received with 1 other card in exchange for 2 1971 Topps cards, Ken Brett and Hal McRae.

Why Should You Want This Card? - The 1960 Rookie Star subset is one of the most recognizable designs vintage has to offer. Also, check out that amazing cartoon on the back!

It's been over 6 weeks without a Time Travel trade! Who will stop this sad slump I'm in? Make an offer!

The Time Travel Trade Stack:


1995 Comic Images Phil Rizzuto's Baseball
#24 New York Giants

1992 Topps
#560 Rickey Henderson

1990-91 Hoops (basketball)
#168 Glen Rice (RC)

1990 Topps
#18 Carlos Quintana

1986 Topps
#2 Rose Special '63-'66
#3 Rose Special '67-'70
#4 Rose Special '71-'74
#5 Rose Special '75-'78
#6 Rose Special '79-'82
#7 Rose Special '83-'85
 #401 Fernando Valenzuela (Turn Back The Clock)

1981-82 Topps (basketball)
#14 Moses Malone

1981 Topps
#63 Steve Renko
#704 Bill Travers

1980 Topps
#671 A's Future Stars

1979 Topps
#130 Bob Watson
#455 Bill Lee

1978 Topps
#24 Don Money
#193 Rich Chiles
#347 Terry Forster
#445 Mike Ivie
#471 Roy Smalley
#581 Lynn McGlothen

1977 Topps
#294 George Medich
#524 Rowland Office

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#53 Richard Lemieux

1973 Topps
#18 Leroy Stanton
#36 Steve Barber
#98 Dick Woodson
#99 Carl Taylor

1972 Topps
#374 Jack Heidemann

1970 Topps
#103 Frank Reberger

1969 Topps
#453 Mike Cueller

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyre

1969 Topps (football)
#154 Sam Baker

1967 Philadelphia (football)
#109 New York Giants (TC)

1966 Topps
#444b Checklist 430-506 (CL)

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

1964 Philadelphia (football)
#172 Ken Gray (RC)

1964 Topps
#305 Jack Lamabe

1963 Topps
#111 Al Jackson
#155 Bill Stafford

1962 Post Cereal
#58 Frank Malzone

1962 Topps
#278 Ken Johnson

1960 Topps
#95 Frank Thomas
#138 Art Mahaffey (RC, RS)

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

1956 Topps Flags of the World (non-sport)
#70 Jordan

1954 Bowman
#16 Jim Wilson

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

1938 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Tenth Series (J9-6) (non-sport)
#2 Black-throated Green Warbler