Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Repack Haiku #242 (Deion Sanders)


"Prime Time" played in both
Superbowl and World Series
Lone guy to do it
 
1990 Donruss #427 Deion Sanders

 

Monday, February 14, 2022

A Love Poem To Major League Baseball

Roses are red

Violets are short

Get off your billion dollar asses and work out a freaking deal 

so that pitchers and catchers can report!

 
 Happy Feast Day Of St. Valentine to everyone! (Or, if today is not your thing, Happy Monday!)



Friday, February 11, 2022

In Appreciation Of Jon Lester

As far as this blog goes, it feels like I've been slacking. I've only made a dozen posts since the beginning of the year, and half of them have been haiku. What can I say, time has been a valuable commodity lately. At home, it's been a whirlwind of activity. Between Thanksgiving and the end of January, 3 out of my 4 kids had birthdays. Throw in Christmas and the toys have been everywhere. On top of that, my wife and I are refinancing our home, which means a nice long list of home improvement projects! At work, my company switched over to a new ticketing/accounting system and to say that it has been a learning experience is an understatement! All this led me with little time prepare some blog posts, and the ones I started have taken forever to complete! Fortunately, things are starting to settle down a little in all areas (Well, not the home improvement, that's going to be occupying most of my weekends in the near future!). Hopefully that will lead to more blog posts.

Like this one!

Last month, former Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester announced his retirement. Lester was someone I instantly liked. A rare Red Sox prospect who actually excelled at the Major League level, he overcame cancer to have an amazing career. He was easy to root for, and always seemed to step up when the spotlight was on him. He's had numerous highlights.

Throwing a no-hitter, for instance!
 
2008 Topps Update & Highlights
#UH150 Jon Lester

Or becoming a 5-time All-Star!
 
2014 Topps Update
#US-55 Jon Lester (AS)

In the postseason is where he really shined, winning 3 World Series rings (with an NLCS MVP award to boot!)

2014 Topps #206 Jon Lester
(2013 World Series Game 5)

 

Is he a Hall of Famer? He was a very good pitcher who had some big-time games. Stat wise, he doesn't seem to measure up to other Hall of Famers. If he has any chance, it's going to be on the back of his exceptional postseason resume and the fact he was the ace of the historic curse-breaking Cubs team. I think he'll get strong consideration from the Veteran's Committee. 

Congrats on an amazing career, Jon Lester. Thanks for the memories!



Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Repack Haiku #241 (Mark Lewis)

 
First player to hit
Postseason pinch hit grand slam
In Reds' Series sweep
 
1992 Topps #446 Mark Lewis

 
It happened in Game 3 of the 1995 National League Division Series between the Reds and Dodgers. Lewis's blast was the last of three home runs hit in a crushing 10-1 win.

Friday, February 4, 2022

86'ing Some 86's From The Needs List

A TCDB member named Derek needed to clear some space and decided to offer up some free cards. I was more than happy to look though what he had and rescue some Red Sox. I ended up focusing on a set that, despite being in my prime era of collecting, I never had more than a handful of.
 
 
The 1986 Donruss set never drew my attention, mainly because I never really saw much of it in my local card shops and shows. I'd see the Jose Canseco rookie plenty enough, but the rest of the set never got much love. It's not a horrible design, especially by Donruss's standards, and the more I look at these Red Sox cards, no more it's growing on me.

Favorite Card: Oil Can Boyd is looking smooth, and I believe there's a blurry Roger Clemens cameo behind him.

Thanks again, Derek!

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Repack Haiku #240 (Rickey Henderson)

'98 Ultra
One of my fave Rickey cards
Can you spot his hat? 
 
1998 Ultra #431 Rickey Henderson

 
A big thank you to Jim from Cards As I See Them for this week's guest haiku!

Friday, January 28, 2022

TCDB Trade Recap: Cards From Wellington, FL

This is a small trade, but it has a good story. I made a trade with a relatively new member to the TCDB named Mark. I sent out a few extra 2019 Topps I had in exchange for these two cards:
 
 
It's the Dwight Evans card I want to talk about. This card from the 1991 Topps set came in both an ERR and COR version. (The error, if you're curious: not getting that little diamond on the stats to notate he tied for the league lead in games played. I know, not earth shattering.) Now, I'm not one to go hunt down every variation of a card, but in this case I wanted both copies. It's one of my favorites from the underappreciated 1991 set. If the picture was clearer it would be Stadium Club worthy. I had the error card (a few copies of it actually) but the corrected version alluded me until Mark offered it up in a trade. 

Sadly, when the cards arrived, I checked the card and realized that I had yet another error version of the card instead. I wasn't upset. It's hard to keep track of these minor variations, and I'm almost positive I've got a few mislabeled in my TCDB collection. (God help those poor souls that are trying to collect variations of those late 80's Donruss sets!) Still, I messaged Mark about it to see if this card was sent to me in "error" (See what I did there?) or if it was just a case of the card not being entered correctly.
 
It's great when trades go smoothly, but the real measure of how good a trade partner is happens when something goes wrong. In a 15 minute span, Mark sent me three messages: an offer to adjust what I sent to him, another offer of a replacement card, and finally a I just bought the card off eBay and will send it to you as soon as I get it. Wow! I would have been content with either of the first two options, but Mark went above and beyond to get me the card he initially offered me. That's an A+ trader in my book.
 
Thanks Mark! I hope we can match up on another trade soon!

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Hall Of Fame Haiku (David Ortiz)

 
Congrats "Big Papi"
New Hall Of Fame inductee
First ballot legend
 
2009 Upper Deck X- Memorabilia
#UDXJ-DO David Ortiz (MEM)

Congrats to Red Sox legend David Ortiz on his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame!

Monday, January 24, 2022

Time Travel Trading Update #61


 
To quote the Roman philosopher Biggus Smallus (not to be confused with Biggus Dickus): "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems". With success comes a different set of challenges, and I've come to realize that applies to the Time Travel Trading Project as well. That's right friends: Mo' cards, mo' problems!
 
Ok, so I'm being a little dramatic. It' not really a problem, but holy cow have you seen how long the trade stack has gotten? It's over 400 cards now! It's a good problem to have, and I'm extremely grateful for the generosity of my trade partners. Without them, this project would have lost steam years ago.

The fact remains, however, that the storage box holding my Time Travel cards is getting low on space, and I feel that the time has come to start culling some of the more tenured cards from the stack. I still have a bunch of cards that have been here since 2018 when I first started this. I'm not quite sure how exactly I'm going to do this, but I think I may go through and give the oldest cards one last pimp on the blog before retiring them. We'll see, I've got ideas, and no shortage of options.

Anyway, on to the trades!
 
We'll start things off with my latest trade with Greg (Night Owl Cards). He took a couple of burlap ballplayers, and sent back an assortment of goodies. I'm always happy to see Red Sox cards, especially now that I know there was a Negro League team in Memphis  with that moniker!


Brendan (The View From The 3rd Floor) is next with one of his always amazing bribes trades! Yep, that's another autographed card that Brendan has included!
 


Jeff (Wax Pack Wonders) clocks in again with an assortment of vintage, headlined by a Hall of Fame manager!
 
 
New to the ever growing list of trade partners is TCDB member Chris. Who knew the Red Sox were so colorful in 1960!


Bo (Baseball Cards Come To Life!) took advantage of an influx of football cards to pad his collection. It's always fun when I have to take multiple pictures of a single trade! Starting out with some eye-catching 1972's...
 
Along with an assortment of other baseball cards, including a gas station card I've never seen before (the Tommy John).

The most noteworthy card however is this cool serial-numbered acetate card!

 
Five trades not enough for you? Good! Because Jim (Cards As I See Them) snagged a trio of 1985 O-Pee-Chee and sent back some nice 70's cards!


Thanks again Greg, Brendan, Jeff, Chris, Bo, and Jim!
 
As always, these cards are all available in exchange for an older card! You can claim your cards below, or through the TCDB (Kep75). Let's make some trades!

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

 
2020 Sage Hit - Rookie Autographs Black (football)
#A17 Harrison Bryant (AU)
 
2019 Topps
#313 Robinson Cano

2019 Topps Opening Day

#93 J.D. Martinez
#197 Felipe Vazquez  
 
2018 Donruss - Snow Days Red (football)
#SD-20 Chuck Foreman
 
2017-1018 Pocket Schedule
Carolina Hurricanes

2017 Bowman
#12 Trea Turner
 
2015-16 Upper Deck (hockey)
#185 Alex Ovechkin
 
2014 Topps Valor - Strength (football)
#52 Richard Sherman (SN499)   
 
2013 Panini USA Champions
#56 Randal Grichuck
 
2012 Topps Allen & Ginter
#50 Clay Buchholz
#136 Jacoby Ellsbury 
 
2011 Topps (football)
#85 Troy Polamalu (AP)
  
2010 Bowman - Prospects Black
#BP51 Chase D'Arnaud
#BP56 Rolando Gomez

2010 Bowman Chrome
#13 Brian Roberts
#122 Hanley Ramirez

2010 Bowman Chrome - Prospects
#BCP178 Nathan Adcock
#BCP186 Jhan Marinez
 
2010 Bowman Platinum - Prospects
#PP38 Brian Johnson 
 
2010 Topps (football)
#180 Reggie Wayne
 
2009-10 Panini Season Update - Christmas Cards Materials (basketball)
#22 Jeff Pendergraph (MEM, SN499) 
 
2009 Bowman - Chrome WBC Prospects
#BCW18 Tao Bu   
 
2008 SPx - Rookie Signatures Gold
#141 Bill White (AU)
 
 
2004 Topps
#203 Bo Hart (ASR)

2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites
#52 Clete Boyer

2002 Fleer Greats Of The Game
#64 Frank Howard

2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes
#76 Don Larsen
 
2001 Fleer Greats Of The Game
#77 Lester Lockett 
 
2001-02 Upper Deck Ice (hockey)
#127 Pasi Nurminen (RC, SN1000) 
 
1998 Score
#68 Scott Rolen
 
1996 Fleer Update
#U238 Tim Salmon (ENC) 
 
1995 Topps
#215 Mike Greenwell 
 
1994 Stadium Club
#448 Erik Pappas 

1993 Leaf
#271 Jay Buhner
 
1993 Ted Williams
#101 Marlin Carter (NLB) 

1993 Classic Draft Picks (basketball)
#33 Will Flemons
#67 Bennie Seltzer
 
1992 Score - 90's Impact Players
#65 Ron Gant
 
1991 Stadium Club
  

1990 Fleer
#125 Jim Abbott
 
1990 Upper Deck
#626 Frank Viola

1990 Pro Set - Theme Art (football)
#10 Super Bowl X Pittsburgh Steelers / Dallas Cowboys
 
1989 Score
#495 Larry Parrish
 
 
#620 Jose Canseco (ASR) 
 
1986 Topps
 
1986 Topps - Glossy All-Stars
#9 Carlton Fisk
1986 Topps Major League Leaders Minis
#65 Tony Gwynn
 
 
 
1984 Donruss

1984 Fleer
 
1983 Topps (football)

1982 Donruss
#239 Dwayne Murphy
 
1982 O-Pee-Chee
#254 Jorge Bell (RC)
#275 Bob Watson 

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

1982 Topps
 
1982 Topps (football) 
 
1981 Topps (football)
#18 Frank Lewis 
 
 
1980 Topps (football)
#132 Eagles Team Leaders (CL, TL)
#493 1979 NFC Championship (CCG)
#118 Kevin Porter 
#129 Ray Williams (RC)

1978 Topps
#70 Rich Gossage
 
1977-78 Topps - White Backs (basketball)
#78 Richard Washington (RC)
 
1977 Topps
#648 Jim Spencer 
 
1977 Topps (football)
#350 Bill Bergey (AP)
 
1976 Funky Sales Corp Funky Facts Baseball
#2 In A Trance
#3 Fans Vs Players
#5 Baseballeese
 
1976 SSPC
#7 Elias Sosa 

1976 Topps
 
 
1974 Topps - Team Checklists (2 Stars)
#NNO Los Angeles Dodgers
#NNO Pittsburg Pirates 

1974 Topps - Traded
#43T Jim Wynn
#485T Felipe Alou 
#496T Tom Murphy
 
 
1973 Topps
#4 John Milner
#102 Rudy May  
 
1972 Topps  
#12 Jose Cardinal
#24 Ted Ford
#31 Cleon Jones
#40 Bob Barton (IA)
#44 Rick Wise (IA)
#48 John Ellis (IA)  
#54 Bud Harrelson (IA)
#55 Clyde Wright  
#56 Rich Chiles (RC)
#57 Bob Oliver
#64 Pete Broberg (RC) 
#94 1971 AL Pitching Leaders
#96 1971 AL Strikeout Leaders
#276 Gene Mauch (MGR)
#289 Syd O'Brien 
#491 Jim Hardin 

1970 Brooke Bond North American Wildlife In Danger (non-sport)
#32 Polar Bear

1970 Topps
#3 Darrell Chaney
#255 Jim Spencer (RC) 
 #287 Fred Talbot   #390 Willie Davis  
 
1969 Globe Imports Playing Cards Gas Station Issue
#6Spades Tommy John 

1969 Topps
#66 Orioles Rookies
#317 Bruce Look (RC) 
#484 Joe Gordon (MGR)
 
1968 Topps
#119 Wade Blasingame
#214 Tom Kelley 

1966 Topps
#46 Howie Koplitz
#76 Red Schoendienst (MGR)
#104 Alex Johnson
#154 Chuck Hiller
 

1962 Topps

1961 Topps
 
1960 Topps
#203 Sammy White
#317 Pumpsie Green (ASR, RC, UER)
 
1960 Topps (football)
#28 Jim Ray Smith 
 
1956 Topps (football)
#42 Tom Fears
#51 Ted Marchibroda
 
1956 Topps Flags of the World (non-sport)
#70 Jordan
 
1955 Topps
#45 Hank Sauer
 
1955 Bowman (football)
#9 Don Stonesifer
#29 Bucko Kilroy

1955 Topps All-American (football)
#46 Arnie Lassman
 
1954 Topps
#238 Al Aber

1954 Bowman
#73 Don Mueller

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

1953 Topps

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

1937-38  Diamond Matchbooks Tan 6 (hockey)
#NNO Glenn Brydson
 
1935 Church & Dwight Useful Birds of America Eighth Series (J9-4) (non-sport)
#10 California Jay

1933 Church & Dwight Useful Birds of America Fifth Series (J9-1) (non-sport)
#5 Indigo Bunting 

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
 
1890 N245 Sweet Caporal Actors & Actresses (non-sport)
#NNO Frankie Raymond

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: 139 (1 pending!)
Unique trading partners: 55

Number of cards mailed out: 540
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1910-11

Number of cards received: 855
Year of oldest card received: 1890