Tour Swag

One thing I've quickly discovered when I started reading card collecting blogs is that bloggers like to write a series of posts that tie together. I myself do this frequently. This past year, one of the biggest and best series has finally wrapped up. I am referring to the Sports Card Tour on The Collector's blog. Chris took the four major American sports and did a post for each city that had a team. He highlighted players and cards from his collection. It was an epic series, and it's amazing how much hard work was put into it. It was a great series, and if for some strange reason you haven't read it, it's definitely worth you perusal! (My favorites were obviously Buffalo and Boston!)

Once the series concluded, Chris held a giveaway. Those that commented on his blog posts were awarded participation points, and list of top commenters were given the opportunity to  select not one, but two prizes from a very generous list!

With my first pick, I predictably picked a box of Red Sox cards. Chris and I are both fans of this team, so I figured there would be some pretty good cards coming my way. 

That's a lot of cards! I'll be honest, it's going to take me some time to go through this box, so this prize will likely end up as a separate post. But today, I'll show off my second pick.

I went with an unusual choice for prize number two, at least unusual for me. My curiosity was peeked at this 2007 Topps Heritage Team Emblem box topper:

This was just a cool little oddball item to add to my collection, and there were some great team logos back in 1958. So which one did I get?

Neat! The Athletics' elephant from their days in Kansas City! This is a good looking patch!

The mailer containing the patch also contained some cards. I'm guessing a bit of overflow from that box I also got:

One thing I wondered as I was claiming the first prize: Since we're both Red Sox fans, how many Red Sox cards that he has doubles of will be new to me? I decided I would keep a tally of which incoming cards would be needs and which would be extras. From the above picture, you can see these cards are mainly junk-wax era Donruss. That was right in my collecting wheelhouse as a teen, so I'm guessing I'll have most if not all of these. Anything in that box from the late 90's up through the past few years however, would fall in that time period when I wasn't actively collecting. There's a good chance I'll get some fresh cards from that era. I'm guessing once I go through the box it'll be close to a 50/50 split.

Among the lot shown above there were 4 that I actually needed!

I'm not used to seeing a clean-shaven Greenwell, and the other three are from the 1989 Topps Traded set. There were 81 cards total, so this batch netted me 5% new cards. Not a bad way to start!

Thanks again Chris! I'm going to really enjoy going through the rest of these cards!

Repack Haiku #66 (Brandon Webb)

Webb's tale a sad one

Three years of pure dominance

Then, just like that, done

2008 SP Legendary Cuts #96 Brandon Webb

This is the first card I've seen from this set, and I must say, I like it! I may have to look into some more of these...

Time Travel Trading Update #17

Eddie Mathews put on his uniform and looked in the mirror. It felt familiar, yet different. It felt different the first time he put on an Astros uniform too. Back then, he had spent 15 years with "Braves" across his jersey, up until he got traded to Houston. Back then, the Astros were a fairly new team, only coming around 5 years prior. Now, this same Astros team were no longer in the National League, no longer in the Astrodome, and the defending World Champions! 

As he walked to the batting cages, numerous Astros personnel flocked him. The team had given him a chance to play again, but under a new identity. He was referred to as Edwin Lee now, and even though that was an easy name to remember, the fabricated backstory of his rise though the system took some coaching. 

The young slugger, looking every bit of the 20 years the media guide said he was, took swing after swing. Each time the ball soared over the outfield fences. Some things may feel different, he thought to himself, but some things will never change...

*****

I apologize in advance if this post is sloppy. I had gone a few weeks since the last update with no new trade offers, and had resigned myself to creating another post offering a last chance on cards in the stack. The post was written and ready and just waiting to be published. Then I got a trade offer from Bo at Baseball Cards Come To Life! He offered up a pretty nice trade for eight of the cards in the pile, and as we emailed each other, a second, larger trade also developed. Did I mention that this all happened right before I left for a trip? By the time I got back, my cards were en route, and this post was mere days from being published. I had to not only scramble to get my end of the deal mailed out, but to completely redo this post! Throw in a little writer's block, and let's just say I'm glad I'm done, however it ends up.

Anyway, onto the cards:


More goodness from the late 60's and early 70's!


As you can see, beautiful vintage all around. I'm especially excited for the Steve Hargan game card. With this generous trade from Bo, the stack has some new life in it! Thanks a bunch, Bo!

You know the deal by now! Make me an offer, either through this post or on the TCDB (Member Name: Kep75).

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

2012 Topps
#396 Yoenis Cespedes (RC)

1993-94 Fleer (basketball)
#224 Michael Jordan (LL)

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

1990 Topps
#18 Carlos Quintana

1986 Sportflics
#122 John Tudor

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)

1982 Donruss
#NNO Checklist 545-653

1981 Topps
#63 Steve Renko
#704 Bill Travers

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

1979 Topps
#130 Bob Watson
#465 Reggie Smith

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

1977 Topps
#524 Rowland Office

1977 Topps (football)
#206 Cleveland Browns (CL)
#269 Archie Griffin (RC)

1974 Topps
#38 Don Kessinger
#67 Tommy Helms

1974 Topps - Team Checklists
#NNO Montreal Expos

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

1973 Topps
#18 Leroy Stanton
#36 Steve Barber
#79 Jim Willoughby (RC)
#98 Dick Woodson
#99 Carl Taylor

1972 Topps
#43 Rick Wise
#109 Jerry May

1970 Topps
#47 Bob Miller
#56 Phillies Rookies - Joe Lis/Scott Reid (RC)
#103 Frank Reberger

1970 Red Rose and Blue Ribbon North American Wildlife In Danger (non-sport)
#32 Polar Bear

1969 Topps
#139 Andy Kosco

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyre

1969 Topps (football)
#73 Bennie McRae
#154 Sam Baker

1968 Topps
#4 1967 AL RBI Leaders (Yastrzemski/Killebrew/Robinson)
#348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen

1968 Topps - Game
#15 Steve Hargan

1968 Topps (football)
#7 Earl Gros

1966 Topps
#154 Chuck Hiller

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

1966 Philadelphia (football)
#104 Rams vs. Browns

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

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

1964 Topps
#60 Frank Malzone
#79 Bob Heffner (RC)
#305 Jack Lamabe
#352 Eddie Bressoud

1963 Topps
#111 Al Jackson
#155 Bill Stafford
#246 Lee Strange
#343 Johnny Pesky (MGR)

1962 Post Cereal
#58 Frank Malzone

1962 Topps
#278 Ken Johnson

1960 Topps
#95 Frank Thomas

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

1958 Topps
#371 Marty Keough (RC)

1958 Topps Zorro (non-sport)
#83 Rude Awakening

1957 Topps
#66 Brooks Lawrence
#235 Tom Poholsky
#249 Dave Pope
#371 Bob Lennon

1956 Topps
#21 Joe Collins
#103 Willie Miranda (white back)
#156 Johnny Antonelli

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

1955 Topps
#126 Dick Hall (RC)

1954 Bowman
#16 Jim Wilson
#73 Don Mueller

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

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

The Time Travel Trading Project is simple in concept. I started out with a random pack of 2018 Topps Series 1 baseball cards. My aim was to trade every card in that pack for something older. Each card I receive in turn is then made available for trade, with the goal to get the oldest card I can get.

Number of trades completed: 23
Unique trading partners: 18

Number of cards mailed out: 49
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1956

Number of cards received: 120
Year of oldest card received: 1938

Payday Pack - The NSFW Pack

I got your attention with that title, didn't I? Today I'm showing off cards from not one, but two packs of Stadium Club I picked up last month. Enjoy these Top 3 cards at your own risk!

3rd Place

2018 Stadium Club - Never Compromise #NC-CR Cal Ripken Jr.

This is just a cool looking insert of an all-time great. He's definitely a good choice for a set called "Never Compromise".

2nd Place

2018 Stadium Club #237 Kyle Seager

I apologize in advance, because once you lay eyes upon this card it cannot be unseen. Maybe it's an unfortunate angle by the photographer, maybe Seager is having some fun at our expense, perhaps he just needs a cup adjustment. Whatever the reason, Kyle Seager is, um, really excited to be playing baseball...

1st Place

2018 Stadium Club #219 Josh Donaldson

This may be the perfect border-less card, because it actually looks like Donaldson is confined by the space of the card. He couldn't stand up if he wanted to, so he might as well squat and lean up against the edge of the card. Like many unfortunate mimes, he's forever trapped in a box.

Others Not Appearing On Stage:
#122 Chris Davis
#130 Eric Hosmer
#243 Adam Duvall
#153 Cameron Maybin
#22 Kevin Kiermaier
#233 Troy Scribner
#206 Cole Hamels

Repack Haiku #65 (Travis Hafner)

"Pronk" was a masher

Three years with M.V.P. votes

yet no All-Star nods 

2006 Bowman #105 Travis Hafner

Trade Recaps - Does That Say "23J"?

I'm playing catch-up today. I have a couple of trades that were completed earlier this summer to show off.

First, Eric from Old Red Sox Cards and I swapped some Red Sox cards. He asked for a Dustin Pedroia I had acquired last winter, while I left it completely up to him as far as a return goes. I guess he felt guilty taking a few months to complete the trade, because he ended up sending me this:

"Accrued Interest " as he put it! A beaut of a card, but Clay, my man, that has got to be one of the all-time worst signatures in baseball! I wouldn't have been able to place those lines without context if my life depended on it.

Next Tom from The Angels, In Order offered up a trade for some well-loved vintage checklists I had recently won. Tom took a peek at my So Close! page and found some good stuff to send me:

The Williams and Gooden completed two insert sets I was just shy of completing, while the McGwire knocks my 1990 Fleer set down to 5 missing cards.

Thanks for the trades, Eric and Tom!

Repack Haiku #64 (J.D. Drew)

Drew debut same day

that McGwire passed Maris

All-Star M.V.P.

2002 Upper Deck Diamond Connection #54 J.D. Drew

Some Goodwill Between Bloggers

Back in June, I showed off a bag of cards I had found at the local Goodwill. I found some good stuff, but the best thing I got out of it was a trade! Marc, a trading extraordinaire who runs the blog Remember The Astrodome, was eyeing any Astros I had in a stack of 1988 Score Glossy. I happily pulled the four cards I had and sent them, along was a few extras, to him. In exchange, he sent me:

In that same Goodwill post I also found some 1991 Donruss I didn't have. I mentioned how fairly close I was to completing the set, and Marc reached out to find out what else I needed. He ended up sending me most of what was missing. I'm now in the single digits towards completion!

Marc also graciously added a few cards from my "So Close!" page:

Those 2 Diamond Kings were the last two I needed for the 1990 Donruss set, and the Willie McGee completes the Bonus Cards insert set as well!

Thanks again for the trade, Marc!

Payday Pack - Shades Of The Past

A couple weeks after it's release, Stadium Club started showing up at my local stores. I was fortunate enough to snag a few packs while at Target before they all disappeared again. Since the packs only contain 5 cards, here's my 3 favorites from two packs I bought:

3rd Place

2018 Stadium Club #242 George Brett

Growing up, there were no shortage of George Brett cards. It's funny that after all this time, a high quality photo like this would completely stick out among his cards. A great card of a legend!

2nd Place

2018 Stadium Club #97 Miguel Sano

The best thing about this shot is how clearly you can see whats reflected in his sunglasses. Amazing!

1st Place

2018 Stadium Club #84 Nicky Delmonico

The White Sox have had a wide variety of uniform styles in their history, some better than others. This throwback jersey looks great, and makes me wish uniform numbers would show up on pants again.

Others Not Appearing On Stage:
#66 Jose Ramirez
#47 Matt Carpenter
#SCC-145 Giancarlo Stanton (Stadium Club Chrome)
#35 Marcus Stroman
#294 Sean Manaea
#PZ-NC Nelson Cruz (Power Zone)
#14 Daniel Murphy

Repack Haiku #63 (Billy Hatcher)

For shame, Upper Deck!

The sad "Ball got by me" shot

You did Billy wrong

1991 Upper Deck #114 Billy Hatcher

Time Travel Trading Update #16

Guillermo sat at his desk and compared the two lists before him. The list of people going through the time portals was much shorter than the list of people coming back through. These lists didn't even account for the few rebellious stragglers who jumped without authorization. It was enough to give him headaches.

Guillermo walked over to his bar and made himself a Tom Collins. He wasn't much of a fan of gin, but few drinks hit the spot on a hot August day quite like it. His thirst abated, he resumed his careful inspection of his lists. No matter which angle he approached it from, he couldn't see how the number could keep growing exponentially. Sooner or later, the universe would have to correct itself. How it would happen troubled him greatly. At least the powers that be had the forethought to use athletes instead of event-altering historical personalities. A baseball player could only alter the timeline so much, after all. That would limit any potential issues with this influx of players.

The jazz notes ringing from his phone interrupted his train of thought. The text was simple, but unexpected. Two more coming through. Two more to add to the list...

*****

Only one trade this go around. On the last update I showed off some new checklists cards, and once again Tom from The Angels, In Order decided to snag them. In return, he sent me these:


Thanks again, Tom!

It dawned on me recently that the trade stack has more cards just from the 1950's then the original 2018 Topps pack I started out with. The Joe Collins cards just increases that total even more. I never thought this project would net me a single card from that decade, let alone 16 of them. Thanks to everyone who has traded with me so far!

There's just so much good stuff here! You know the deal by now! Make me an offer, either through this post or on the TCDB (Member Name: Kep75).

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

2016 Topps Heritage - Baseball Flashbacks
#BF-EM Eddie Matthews

2015 Topps Heritage
#273 NL Aces (Adam Wainwright/Clayton Kershaw)

2012 Topps
#396 Yoenis Cespedes (RC)

1993-94 Fleer (basketball)
#224 Michael Jordan (LL)

1991 Conlon Collection TSN
#13 Red Ruffing (HOF)

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

1990 Topps
#18 Carlos Quintana

1986 Sportflics
#64 Bert Blyleven/Jerry Koosman/John Denny
#122 John Tudor

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)

1982 Donruss
#NNO Checklist 545-653

1982 Fleer
#660 Specials Checklist

1981 Topps
#63 Steve Renko
#704 Bill Travers

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

1979 Topps
#130 Bob Watson
#465 Reggie Smith

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

1977 Topps (football)
#206 Cleveland Browns (CL)
#269 Archie Griffin (RC)

1974 Topps
#17 Doug Bird (RC) 

1974 Topps - Team Checklists
#NNO Montreal Expos

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

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

1970 Topps
#47 Bob Miller
#103 Frank Reberger

1970 Red Rose and Blue Ribbon North American Wildlife In Danger (non-sport)
#32 Polar Bear

1969 Topps
#453 Mike Cueller

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyre

1969 Topps (football)
#73 Bennie McRae
#154 Sam Baker

1968 Topps
#4 1967 AL RBI Leaders (Yastrzemski/Killebrew/Robinson)

1968 Topps (football)
#7 Earl Gros

1967 Topps
#206 Dennis Bennett

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

1966 Philadelphia (football)
#104 Rams vs. Browns

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

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

1964 Topps
#60 Frank Malzone
#79 Bob Heffner (RC)
#305 Jack Lamabe
#352 Eddie Bressoud

1963 Topps
#111 Al Jackson
#155 Bill Stafford
#246 Lee Strange
#343 Johnny Pesky (MGR)

1962 Post Cereal
#58 Frank Malzone

1962 Topps
#278 Ken Johnson

1960 Topps
#95 Frank Thomas

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

1958 Topps
#341 Pittsburgh Pirates (CL, TC)
#371 Marty Keough (RC)

1958 Topps Zorro (non-sport)
#83 Rude Awakening

1957 Topps
#66 Brooks Lawrence
#235 Tom Poholsky
#249 Dave Pope
#371 Bob Lennon

1956 Topps
#21 Joe Collins
#103 Willie Miranda (white back)
#156 Johnny Antonelli

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

1955 Topps
#126 Dick Hall (RC)

1954 Bowman
#16 Jim Wilson
#73 Don Mueller

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

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

The Time Travel Trading Project is simple in concept. I started out with a random pack of 2018 Topps Series 1 baseball cards. My aim was to trade every card in that pack for something older. Each card I receive in turn is then made available for trade, with the goal to get the oldest card I can get.

Number of trades completed: 22
Unique trading partners: 17

Number of cards mailed out: 41
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1956

Number of cards received: 110
Year of oldest card received: 1938

Cards For Miles

Did you ever have 2 random but completely different thoughts come together for an idea?

Thought #1: Back in December, I bought a secondhand exercise bike. I bought it because I had my yearly checkup and my doctor challenged me to drop 10 pounds. I managed to do 8, but it was enough improvement to make him happy. I kept up with the bike riding for awhile, then eventually stopped. I need to get back to using it regularly, and I think part of my problem is motivation. It was easy when my doctor gave me a concrete goal, less so when it was all on me.

Thought #2: I was playing around on the TCDB recently and wondered to myself how many cards I've acquired this past year. From June 2017 to June 2018, my collection increased by 3,650 cards. That was a shocking total, given as I only really buy a few packs a month. Yet here I was, averaging exactly 10 cards a day! Most of that obviously came from repacks and the generous bounty I've received though trades and blog contests.

So then I had an idea - what if I challenged myself to bike 1 mile for each card I acquire from here on out? Now granted, I'm not in shape enough to just jump on the exercise bike and do 10 miles a day, but surely I can build myself up to that, right? This seems like an achievable goal to me, and worth a shot. To help me commit to this, I'm also planning on posting updates to the blog.

I made this decision in early July, so I made that my starting point. I even used this idea to justify my first purchase of the month, which was made even easier by the knowledge that Stadium Club had finally filtered its way to my local Target. I bought 4 packs - 20 cards. I was now on the hook for 20 miles. If I can do about 3 miles a day, then that purchase could be "earned" in about a week.

2016 Topps Now #475 Ben Zobrist

Now it was just a matter of keeping track of all the cards I get in and how miles I hit each time I ride. So how did I do? Here's the tally:

July Summary

 

Cards

07/07 - 20 cards (bought 4 packs of Stadium Club)
07/09 - 11 cards (trade package received)
07/11 - 12 cards (bought 1 pack of Bowman Platinum)
07/12 - 02 cards (trade package received)
07/13 - 04 cards (trade package received)
07/18 - 30 cards (bought 1 pack of Tops Big League)
07/20 - 25 cards (trade package received)
07/25 - 03 cards (rescued from parents' shed)
07/26 - 06 cards (trade package received)

113 Total Cards (3.65 cards/day average)

Miles

07/09 - 2.58 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/10 - 2.95 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/12 - 3.02 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/14 - 3.15 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/15 - 3.25 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/16 - 3.14 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/18 - 3.32 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/19 - 3.36 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/28 - 3.36 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/29 - 3.57 miles biked (10 minute ride)
07/31 - 3.56 miles biked (10 minute ride)

35.26 Total Miles (3.21 miles/ride average)

113 cards - 35.26 miles = 77.74 miles due

As you can see, I missed my goal by quite a bit. Not exactly how I wanted to start out, but I'm not disappointed. There are a few outliers here. The biggest factor is that I missed two weeks worth of biking (I didn't start until July 9th, then was on vacation for a week later on in the month). A full month would have made these numbers look much better. My main takeaway here is that my card average is very close to the average amount of miles I've been biking each time. That's encouraging.

That being said, I can tell you right now August is going to be much more difficult. I have another trip planned, for one. Then, of course, Topps Archives gets released soon. And then there's this expected delivery. (Not that I'm complaining!) I'll have my work cut out for me, that's for sure!

Can I defeat the odds? Will I ever catch up? Tune in next month and find out!

*****

In case you haven't heard, it's Blue Tape And Pull Tab Awareness Week! This initiative was started by defgav at Baseball Card Breakdown, and I for one have been trying to be a better trader because of it! I've got my blue tape, do you?

Repack Haiku #62 (Carlos Ponce)

Neither Topps nor Fleer

Showed Carlos any card love

Only this Donruss

1986 Donruss #595 Carlos Ponce (RC)