Forgetfulness and Thoughtfulness

If you're a regular reader of my blog, then you know that I've been routinely showing off winnings from Johnny's Trading Spot. Johnny has become a game master of sorts. Every week he hosts a Big Fun Game, he's been sending raffle tickets along with the prizes, and recently has even added BINGO to the mix.

I've been having a lot of fun, and was more than eager to participate in June's offerings. Unfortunately, when my BFG was held, I completely forgot about it!

I knew it was coming, was ready for it, and even had an idea what number I'd pick. But that Friday turned into one of those work days where you're nonstop busy, yet feel like you got nothing accomplished. I was gassed when I got home, and my evening was spent eating dinner and enjoying a family movie night. It wasn't until the next day that I realized I forgot to play in the BFG!

Oh, it gets better too! That Saturday was Johnny's first BINGO round. Guess who forgot to play? Yep, me again! Back-to-back opportunities completely missed!

Johnny's a generous game master, though, and still sent a few consolation cards, along with another raffle ticket!

I've seen these Honus Bonus cards on the internet before, but this is my first look at them up close. For a non-licensed product, it's not bad. I kind of like the juxtaposition of the black and white player against a color background.

Thanks for the cards, Johnny! I'll have to set an alarm so I don't miss out next time! (Speaking of which...sign ups for July are out now! As of this writing, Johnny needs 15 more players for the last 3 Fridays of July. Sign up now!)

Do You Taboo?

Have you ever played the game Taboo? If you haven't, the essential premise is to try to describe an object without using a list of words.

I thought it would be fun to try this using baseball cards. For example, if I said "Naughty word on bat knob" , chances are you would know I'm talking about the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken card. Easy, right?

Now, ideally I think this would make a fun Bat-A-Round, but I'll let my fellow bloggers decide if this is worthy. If anyone wishes to do this, let me establish a list of "Taboo" words and phrases:

• Player names or positions
• Team city/state/moniker
• Card manufacturers or product names
  
• The year the card came out
• The following words: "rookie" "All-Star" or "Hall of Fame/Famer"
  

Got it? Fantastic! Let's see if you can figure outs these cards:

1. Integration pioneer slides into base

2. He's wearing a snake!

3. Milhouse just wanted the one with the big sideburns

4. Home run king's wood-grained debut

5. Knuckleball legend's great yellow sunset card

Go ahead and take your guesses in the comments! If any of my fellow bloggers choose to do their own version of the game, let me know too!

*****New Blog Alert!*****

Adam from Cardboard Clubhouse is starting over with a new blog! Say "Hello" to The Epic Baseball Card Adventure!

Repack Haiku #158 (Jim Thome)

An odd inclusion

Not a rookie or traded

A bit late for Spring

1998 Score Rookies and Traded
#RT261 Jim Thome (ST)

Such a weird set for one supposedly dedicated to rookies and traded players. The first 50 cards are short printed veterans, and the back end contains more veteran players during Spring Training. There really aren't many rookies or traded players in the set at all.

This is Thome's second appearance on Repack Haiku. Here's the first.

TCDB Trade Recap: Cards From South Plainfield, NJ

Maybe Yordan Alvarez will become a superstar. Maybe he'll rack up awards and All-Star appearances. Perhaps he'll become an all-time great and earn induction to the hallowed Hall of Fame.

Maybe, just maybe, his rookie card reaches the financial stratosphere of a Mike Trout.

Maybe then I'll look back at this trade and wonder if it was the right call. For now, I had an extra of his 2020 Topps base card, and was glad to send it to a TCDB member named Billy. In return, he crossed off a lot of current Red Sox needs:

Just look at all that! Stat Leaders (including the famous Hanley Ramirez error), the amazing acrobatics of JBJ, a couple of Boston legends, and hedges as far as the eye can see. Billy hooked me up!

Favorite Card: You have to be Pedro-level cool to have your jacket collar turned up like that.

Thanks for the cards, Billy!

Wax Pack Wonders Pick 3

One of the great rookie blogs that has started up this year is Wax Pack Wonders. If you haven't popped over and added Jeff to your reading list yet, you really should! He's posted some fun and entertaining stuff!

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Did you become a follower? Good! Anyway, last month he had a little giveaway. The first 6 people to respond got to pick 3 players, one from each of a tiered list Jeff provided. I managed to be the 6th and final participant! Here's what I was gifted:

Group 1 (HOF) - Pedro Martinez

There was quite a lot of names in each group, and Group 1 was stacked, but my boy Pedro was an easy choice! 

Group 2 (Former All-Stars and Such) - Ellis Burks

I like Burks. He was exciting as a young Red Sox outfielder, and carved out a great MLB career. I completely forgot he played for the Giants though!

Group 3 (Current/Recent All-Stars and Such) - Mookie Betts

The more the MLB negotiations drag on, the more I want to convince myself that the season will not be played, and Mookie will resign with Boston.

Favorite Card: Tough choice here, but I'm giving the title to Pedro's Pacific Revolution card - the scan truly does not do it justice!

Now, Jeff explicitly said he doesn't want any cards in return as a thank you, but that doesn't mean I can't thank him by promoting his blog! Seriously, add him to your blog roll! Leave him comments! Nurture this young blog and help it thrive!

Thanks for the cards, Jeff!

Repack Haiku #157 (Reggie Sanders)

Only eight players

Have both three-hundred home runs

And stolen bases

1992 Score #829 Reggie Sanders (RP)

Sanders is joined in the 300-300 Club by Hall Of Famers Andre Dawson and Willie Mays, the father-son duo of Bobby and Barry Bonds, as well as Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, and Steve Finley.

Topps Of The Class, Ma!

Last month, Kerry (Cards On Cards) had a mini-group break for some loose packs of 2019 Topps Of The Class, a promotional set designed to be given out to students. The design is based off of last year's Big League set, with a graduation motorboard logo in the corner.

I was not aware of this set, and was fortunate enough to claim the Red Sox cards from the break:

The Mookie Betts card was a promotional for last year's National Baseball Card Day, and shares the same design as the Stickers from last year. Each pack contained one of these cards, and if I was a Betts hoarder I could have had about 20 of these. I only took a few, a some others were given to other pack break participants. It wouldn't surprise me if Kerry still had a few extra if anyone wanted to offer him a trade for one.

Kerry also included a couple bonus cards: some from this year's Donruss product as well as a few on demand minis from last year. My Raffy Devers collection gets a nice boost, and another Jim Rice card is always welcome!

Favorite Card: I really like the lightning effect on those Mookie Betts promo cards!

Thanks for the cards, Kerry!

Highly Free And Completely Arbitrary!

With all the free cards being given away in the blogging community, I don't think anyone has given away more cards than Brian at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary. He's been consistently hosting Free Card Fridays every week since February.

I took advantage of his generosity once before. When he offered up a lot of Red Sox cards, I once  again snatched up a few nice cards:

Favorite Card: Jon Lester in the style of 1980 Topps. Letting him go was one of the biggest mistakes the current Red Sox ownership has ever made.

Thanks for the cards, Brian! I hope the community of Minneapolis continues to heal and grow stronger from all that's happened.

*****Contest Plug!*****

Alex from Chavez Raving is taking a trip down memory lane, and if you join him you could win some pretty cool stuff! Head on over to his post, give him a follow if you haven't already, and comment with the card(s) that really gave that push towards collecting!

Repack Haiku #156 (Randy Kramer)

Shout-out to Fuji!

Went to San Jose High School

And City College

1989 Donruss #480 Randy Kramer (RC)

Isn't it funny when certain things make you think of other bloggers? When I saw San Jose, I immediately though of Fuji!

Time Travel Trading Update #42

It's been awhile, hasn't it? Just about two months in fact. This pandemic has slowed trading down a lot it seems. For my part, I've been trying to keep my trips to post office down to once or twice a month. So it took a little while for me and Bo (Baseball Cards Come To Life) to complete yet another Time Travel Trade. Like all good things, it was worth the wait, as Bo sent some nice vintage:


So, here's a funny story about that checklist - Bo actually sent a copy of that card once before. It was traded to Tom at The Angels In Order, who sent me a sweet Vida Pinson. That Pinson was the card Bo wanted. So essentially, that checklist was involved in both the incoming and outgoing trades involving the Vida Pinson card!

Of course, Bo didn't stop there! He also included these fantastic trivia cards from 1976!


This is my first time seeing this fun set from the Funk Sale Corp. I love the cartoons!

Thanks for the Trade Bo!

I've still got one more trade pending at the moment, so hopefully it won't be another 2 months before the next update. In the meantime, I sure could use some more trade partners! All of the cards are available for trade, and all it takes is just one card older than the card I'm sending you. Help me keep this project moving along and make me an offer!

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

2018 Topps
#502 Xander Bogaerts

2017-1018 Pocket Schedule
Carolina Hurricanes

2017 Bowman
#12 Trea Turner

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#128 Tim Thomas

1998 Score
#68 Scott Rolen
#74 Mark McLemore

1994 Sportflics
#113 Pete Harnisch

1993 Classic Draft Picks (basketball)
#33 Will Flemons
#67 Bennie Seltzer

1992 Fleer Ultra
#594 Dave Righetti

1991 Upper Deck
#778 Dave Righetti

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

1990 Fleer
#629 Jose Canseco (POD)

1990 Upper Deck
#626 Frank Viola

1990 Pro Set - Theme Art (football)
#10 Super Bowl X Pittsburgh Steelers / Dallas Cowboys 

1989 Fleer
#29 Bob Welch

1989 Score
#495 Larry Parrish

1986 Topps
#5 Rose Special '75-'78
#6 Rose Special '79-'82
#401 Fernando Valenzuela (Turn Back The Clock)
#510 Wade Boggs

1985 Donruss
#305 Steve Carlton
#421 Andre Dawson
#557 Mark Langston (RC)
#616 Joe Carter 

1985 Topps
#694 Joe Carter

1983 Topps
#70 Steve Carlton

1982 Donruss
#74 Carl Yastrzemski
#76 Alan Trammell
#214 Tim Raines
#252 Lee Smith (RC)
#NNO Checklist 545-653

1982 O-Pee-Chee E.T. The Extraterrestrial (non-sport)
#15 Among Elliott's Toys

1982 Topps
#3 Tim Raines (HL)
#34 Joe Sambito
#70 Tim Raines
#74 Bob Clark
#190 J.R. Richard
#303 Bill Caudill
#399 Pat Zachry
#401 Johnny Bench (IA)
#462 Dave Chalk
#480 Steve Carlton
#651 Carl Yastrzemski (IA)
#754 Joe Morgan 

1981 Fleer
#268 Rod Carew

1981 Topps
#82 Astros Future Stars (RC)
#98 Clint Hurdle
#121 Larry Harlow
#259 Mets Future Stars
#363 Geoff Zahn
#414 John Pacella
#530 Steve Garvey
#560 Joe Morgan
#600 Johnny Bench (AS)

1980 Topps
#29 Mark Wagner
#51 Joe Ferguson
#88 Ken Landreaux
#143 Bruce Bochte
#157 Willie Wilson
#290 Steve Garvey (AS)
#325 Dan Driessen
#362 Danny Goodwin
#406 Paul Molitor
#572 Jerry Morales
#642 Ken Forsch
#655 Tug McGraw 
#671 A's Future Stars

1979 Topps
#25 Steve Carlton
#130 Bob Watson
#214 Boston Red Sox (TC) 
#465 Reggie Smith

1978 Topps
#295 Bill Lee
#373 Jim Willoughby
#385 Tito Fuentes
#424 Boston Red Sox (TC)
#482 Rick Miller
#706 Rookie 1st Baseman (Cage/Cox/Putnam/Revering) 

1976 Funky Sales Corp Funky Facts Baseball
#2 In A Trance
#3 Fans Vs Players
#5 Baseballeese

1976 Topps
#70 Roy Smalley/Roy Smalley Jr. (FS)
#196 1975 AL RBI Leaders (Scott/Mayberry/Lynn)

1976 Wonder Bread (football)  
#17 Bill Bergey

1975 Topps
#310 '74 Victory Leaders
#378 Derrel Thomas
#402 Bob Tolan

1974 Topps
#38 Don Kessinger
#67 Tommy Helms
#107 Alex Johnson
#141 Pat Bourque
#158 Jack Billingham
#158 Jack Billingham
#227 Mike Lum 
#349 John Vukovich
#534 Eddie Watt
#572 Enzo Hernandez
#638 Ken Sanders
#660 Larry Dierker

1974 Topps - Team Checklists
#NNO Montreal Expos

1974 Topps Traded
#458T Jim Ray
#496T Tom Murphy

1974 Wonder Bread (football)
#8 Bob Griese 

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

1973 Topps
#29 Tony Taylor 
#30 Tug McGraw
#68 1972 Leading Firemen (Carroll/Lyle)
#75 Vada Pinson
#79 Jim Willoughby (RC)
#80 Tony Oliva
#102 Rudy May
#116 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#145 Bobby Bonds
#215 Dusty Baker
#225 Albert Oliver
#230 Joe Morgan
#232 Ken Singleton
#240 Bobby Murcer
#258 Tommy John
#325 Boog Powell
#329 Ed Kranepool
#365 Rico Petrocelli
#368 Bill Buckner

1972-73 Topps (hockey)
#8 Stanley Cup Trophy

1972 Topps
#33 Billy Martin (MGR)
#43 Rick Wise
#163 Tug McGraw
#197 Johnny Briggs
#225 World Series Game 3 - Manny Sanguillen
#231 Casey Cox
#239 Tom Timmermann
#266 Bobby Bolin
#363 Ron Klimkowski
#373 John Mayberry
#438 Maury Wills (IA)
#451 Tony LaRussa

1972 Topps (football)
#111 Jim Tyrer
#114 Bob James (RC)

1971 Topps
#16 Ken Singleton (RC)
#63 AL 1970 RBI Leaders (Howard/Conigliaro/Powell)
#71 AL 1970 Strikeout Leaders (McDowell/Lolich/Johnson)
#90 Joe Pepitone
#95 Luis Tiant
#105 Tony Conigliaro
#146 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#195 AL Playoffs Game 1 - Powell Muscles Twins!
#208 Billy Martin (MGR)
#270 Rico Carty
#290 Tony Oliva
#295 Bobby Bonds
#310 Tommie Agee 
#328 World Series Game 2 - Bufird Goes 2-4 (WS)
#374 Clete Boyer
#374 Clete Boyer
#388 Al Oliver

1971 Topps (football)
#22 Ken Avery (RC)
#110 Floyd Little (AS)
#176 Mac Percival

1971 Topps - Games Insert (football)
#38 Matt Snell
 
1970 Red Rose and Blue Ribbon North American Wildlife In Danger (non-sport)
#32 Polar Bear

1970 Topps
#47 Bob Miller
#390 Willie Davis
#457 Rico Petrocelli (AS) 

1969 Topps
#66 Orioles Rookies
#80 Norm Cash
#131 Chris Cannizarro 
#139 Andy Kosco
#182 Bill Rigney (MGR)
#484 Joe Gordon (MGR) 

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyer

1969 Topps (football)
#73 Bennie McRae
#115 Randy Johnson 
#154 Sam Baker
#175 Joe Morrison

1968 Topps
#4 1967 AL RBI Leaders (Yastrzemski/Killebrew/Robinson)
#7 1967 NL ERA Leaders (Niekro/Bunning/Short)
#44 Frank Kostro
#181 Jerry Zimmerman
#260 Jim Wynn 
#309 Ken Henderson
#348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen
#449 Gene Oliver
#519 Jerry Stephenson 

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

1967 Topps
#1 The Champs (F. Robinson/Bauer/B. Robinson)
#348 Tug McGraw
#366 Andy Kosco

1966 Topps
#154 Chuck Hiller

1966 Philadelphia (football)
#104 Rams vs. Browns

1965 Topps
#17 Johnny Romano
#27 Dick Bertell
#86 Les Narum
#87 Nelson Mathews
#108 Don Mincher
#111 Lee Thomas
#178 Dalton Jones
#307 Barry Latman
#352 Alex Johnson (RC)

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

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

1964 Topps
#18 Billy O'Dell
#45 Milt Pappas
#92 Steve Ridzik
#341 Jim Roland 

1964 Topps - Coins 
#7 Frank Malzone

1963 Topps
#155 Bill Stafford

1961 Topps
#32 Ray Sadecki
#38 Bob Lillis
#96 Billy O'Dell
#98 2nd Series Checklist 89-176 (CL, VAR)
#258 Jack Sanford
#267 Norm Siebern
#399 Cliff Cook (RC) 

1960 Topps
#138 Art Mahaffey (RC, RS)
#186 Dave Sisler 
#289 Willie Jones
#414 Don Williams (RC)

1959 Topps
#298 Tex Clevenger
#424 Ken Aspromonte
#424 Ken Aspromonte 

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

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

1957 Topps
#212 Rocky Colavito (RC)
#235 Tom Poholsky
#249 Dave Pope
#371 Bob Lennon
#406 Bob Hale

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

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

1955 Bowman
#25 Minnie Minoso
#208 Ed Fitzgerald

1955 Topps
#45 Hank Sauer

1954 Bowman
#16 Jim Wilson
#73 Don Mueller

1954 Bowman Power For Peace (non-sport)
#91 USS Coral Sea (CVB43)

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

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

1922 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Third Series (J7) (non-sport) 
#7 Prothonotary Warbler

1915 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America First Series (J5)  (non-sport)
#1 Quail

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: 55 (1 pending)
Unique trading partners: 32

Number of cards mailed out: 188
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1956

Number of cards received: 398
Year of oldest card received: 1915

Johnny's BFG Goes To The Movies!

I like horror, but not really.

That doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's true. I like Stephen King, and have read dozens of his books, but I really haven't had much interest in the recent string of film adaptations that have been based off those books.

I like Stranger Things, and was a regular viewer of The Walking Dead right up until my local cable provider ditched AMC (which was probably a good thing, as Glen's dumpster death was a "jump the shark" moment for me.) In both those instances, the story kept me watching more than the horror aspect of it.

When it comes to movies, it's basically the same thing. I need more than just gore. I'm not interested in being grossed out, and think jump scares are weak. I'm more likely to watch a horror movie for it's comedic elements (Army Of Darkness is a particular favorite.) or if it's more along the lines of a sci-fi movie (The Thing, Aliens, etc.)

Despite my feelings on the genre, I can still appreciate the satire that went into my latest winnings from Johnny's Trading Spot. No sports cards this time around, I picked a unclaimed number and came back with this 10-card run of horror cards from 2018 Wacky Packages Goes To The Movies:

I even got one of Johnny's coveted raffle tickets!

To be honest, these don't really fit into my collection, so I'm more than willing to trade these away if someone would like them. Feel free to make an offer!

Favorite Card: The board game fan in me was tempted to pick the Splattergories card, but the semi-cuteness of the Freddy Grahams wins the day!

Sign-ups for June are available now! Head over and let Johnny know if you're interested in playing!

As always, thanks for the cards Johnny!

Repack Haiku #155 (Paul Wilson)

One of six starters

To face eight and get no outs

Happened to him twice

1997 Upper Deck #117 Paul Wilson (MLD)

Ouch.

*****Contest Alert!*****

Head on over to Nachos Grande and fill out your bracket for the 2020 Ultimate Allen & Ginter  Mini Set Bracket Contest! Which Mini Set will ultimately be deemed the greatest! You can help decide and win some prizes along the way!

RogerRogerRogerRoger

I must start off this post with an apology.

In order to truly understand what I am doing here, I must get a song stuck in your head. This post simply will not work without the proper ear-worm soundtrack playing in the background.

One of the first ever viral videos came about in 2002. It featured animated badgers dancing, snakes slithering across the desert, and...mushrooms. And the longer you listened to it the worse it got. Again, I apologize, but have a listen:



So why am I subjecting you to this? What madness has come over me? Well, truth is, it's because I dared to claim more cards from Rod at Padrographs during his free card extravaganza. I selected two last cards - a nice Nomar Garciaparra and one more Roger Clemens . Coincedentally, just days after revealing my love/hate relationship with The Rocket, I received Rod's PWE packed with Nomars and Clemens. How packed was it? Well, Let's just say the above tune played in my head as I was leafing through the cards:

Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger

Nomar, Nomar!

Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger

Nomar, Nomar!

 

Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger

Jay! Blue Jay! He's a Blue Jay!

It's Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger...

See, wasn't that totally worth getting that song stuck in your head for the next few hours?

Favorite Card: Despite so many Rogers, the easy choice is Nomar sporting a early 1900's Red Sox jersey!

Thanks for all the cards, Rod! It was quite generous!

(Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger......)