Time Travel Trading Update #33

Sometimes you just never can tell.

There have been times when I have shown off cards for an update and I was certain someone would want them. Then I would get no offers at all. There are cards here that have been here for over a year, and I often think they'll never get traded. Then out of the blue, they get claimed.

Today's update features two big surprises. The biggest surprise is the number of trades - in the week following the last Time Travel Update, I received 5 trade proposals! I don't think I ever had that many in such a short span. The second big surprise...you'll have to continue scrolling to find out, but let's just say that 1938 card is no longer the oldest one available!

We have a lot to go through today, so let's get started!

Trade #1

A TCDB member from Espanola, NM picked up a couple of newer cards from this list, and sent me some slightly older cards in return. You've got to love that Mark Langston rookie card!

Trade #2

Next up comes a trade from another well-respected TCDB member from Arlington, TN.  This one focused on some vintage cards, and I'm very happy with the return package here! A couple of canvas Red Sox and a great team card of the Kansas City Athletics are the highlights here!

Trade #3

Eric from Old Red Sox Cards also reached out to me for a trade. In exchange for a few cards, I got a quintuple of Twins!

Trade #4

The next trade came from Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown. He really loaded me up with some great vintage cards! Ironically, one of the cards I sent to him was a 1970 Topps Bob Miller, which was almost immediately replaced in the package Eric sent above! Bob Miller almost became the third card that would have appeared twice in the stack!

Trade #5

Technically, this trade was the first to get completed of the lot. I decided to save the best for last! Yet another member of the TCDB, this one from Portage, WI, took a 1957 Topps card off my hands. As a thank you, he gave me the bird. No not that kind of bird, but another Church and Dwight issue.


That, my friends, is a 97 year old card! The 1922 issue far surpasses the 1938 bird in this collection. I'm now officially curious to see if I can break the century mark! (And no, I don't see myself continuing this project for 3 more years!)

Over twenty new cards added to the stack! Which ones do you want? Make me an offer and help me keep this project going!

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

2018 Topps
#502 Xander Bogaerts

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 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)

1985 Donruss #557
Mark Langston (RC)

1985 Topps
#694 Joe Carter

1982 Donruss
#NNO Checklist 545-653

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

1981 Topps 
#100 Rod Carew (AS) 
#210 Jim Palmer

1980 Topps
#2 Willie McCovey (HL)
#143 Bruce Bochte
#157 Willie Wilson
#290 Steve Garvey (AS)
#605 Terry Forster
#671 A's Future Stars

1979 Topps
#25 Steve Carlton
#130 Bob Watson
#214 Boston Red Sox (TC) 
#465 Reggie Smith
#680 Carlton Fisk (AS)
 
1978 Donruss KISS (2nd Series) (non-sport)
#99 Paul Stanley

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

1976 Topps
#50 Fred Lynn (ASR)
#70 Roy Smalley/Roy Smalley Jr. (FS)
#78 Cecil Cooper
#118 Boston Red Sox (TC)
#193 '75 NL Home Run Leaders
#597 Rookie Pitchers (Aase/Kucek/LaCorte/Pazik)

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 
#372 Ken Reitz
#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

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

1973 Topps
#18 Leroy Stanton
#29 Tony Taylor 
#30 Tug McGraw
#36 Steve Barber
#68 1972 Leading Firemen (Carroll/Lyle)
#75 Vada Pinson
#79 Jim Willoughby (RC)
#80 Tony Oliva
#85 Ted Simmons
#98 Dick Woodson
#99 Carl Taylor
#116 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#145 Bobby Bonds
#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
#43 Rick Wise
#438 Maury Wills (IA)

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)
#183 Gil Hodges (MGR)
#195 AL Playoffs Game 1 - Powell Muscles Twins!
#208 Billy Martin (MGR)
#270 Rico Carty
#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)

1970 Fleer World Series
#1 1903 World Series Pirates vs Red Sox  

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

1970 Topps
#47 Bob Miller
#390 Willie Davis

1969 Topps
#66 Orioles Rookies
#139 Andy Kosco
#182 Bill Rigney (MGR)

1969 Topps - Deckle Edge
#13 Mel Stottlemyre

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
#233 George Scott
#309 Ken Henderson
#348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen
#449 Gene Oliver
#519 Jerry Stephenson 

1968 Topps - Game
#15 Steve Hargan

1968 Topps (football)
#7 Earl Gros

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

1967 Topps
#15 Earl Battey
#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
#239 Doc Edwards
#307 Barry Latman

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

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

1964 Topps
#18 Billy O'Dell
#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
#165 Gino Cimoli
#258 Jack Sanford
#267 Norm Siebern
#273b 4th Series Checklist
#399 Cliff Cook (RC) 

1960 Topps
#186 Dave Sisler 
#289 Willie Jones
#413 Kansas City Athletics
#548 Don Mincher (RC) 

1959 Topps
#298 Tex Clevenger
#424 Ken Aspromonte

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

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

1957 Topps
#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 Topps
#126 Dick Hall (RC)

1954 Bowman
#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

1922 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Third Series (J7) (non-sport)
#7 Prothonotary 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: 40
Unique trading partners: 27

Number of cards mailed out: 124
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1956

Number of cards received: 288
Year of oldest card received: 1922

Favorites Through The Decades

Back in June, Chris from The Collector had a very well written and enjoyable blog post where he listed his favorite movie, song, and card design from every decade from the fifties to present. It'evolved to a bat-a-round and many other bloggers have offered up their take.

I was all on board too! Let me tell you, this was no easy task! Picking my favorite card design was pretty easy, but the movies and songs....yikes! So many choices, and every time I thought I had settled on a choice, a forgotten title popped in my head and made me question everything!

The obvious disclaimer is that all of these choices are subject to change. I wouldn't bet against me coming up with replacement choices even after this post has published!

The 1950's

Favorite Card Design: 1955 Bowman

Favorite Movie: Alice In Wonderland (1951)

Favorite Song: "Johnny B Goode" by Chuck Berry (1958)

The first 1950's card I ever owned was a 1955 Bowman Gil McDougald - that retro TV border has a special place in my memories. "Alice In Wonderland" continues to be a vibrant and visually stunning movie. Rock 'N Roll in the fifties doesn't get any better than Chuck Berry.

The 1960's

Favorite Card Design: 1965 Topps

Favorite Movie: The Birds (1963)

Favorite Song: "Ticket To Ride" by The Beatles (1965)

Those big waving pendants make the 1965 design an easy choice for me. Even today, if I see an unusually large gathering of birds, I get uneasy. Picking music gets terribly hard starting in this decade - Led Zeppelin, Cream, and Deep Purple all had contenders here. Even when I decided on the Beatles, picking which song of theirs was a task unto itself.

The 1970's

Favorite Card Design: 1976 Topps

Favorite Movie: Young Frankenstein (1974)

Favorite Song: "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas (1976)

In the end, those little cartoon guys in the corner gave 1976 the edge. "Young Frankenstein" is one of those movies that, no matter how many times I've seen it, I will stop and watch again and again. I know all the lines, and still I find it funny. From it's lyrical poetry ("If I claimed to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know...") to it's amazing guitar solo, Carry On is a stadium rock classic!

The 1980's

Favorite Card Design: 1987 Topps

Favorite Movie: Time Bandits (1981)

Favorite Song: "Birdhouse In Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants (1989)

I know everyone is sick of now, but 1987 Topps was the first set I completed by hand. The eighties had a ton of great blockbusters, but I decided on one that probably not a lot of people have seen. It's my favorite time travel movie! I've seen They Might Be Giants in concert 4 times, so I had to pick a favorite song from them!

The 1990's

Favorite Card Design: 1990 Topps

Favorite Movie: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Favorite Song: "If I Had $1,000,000" by Barenaked Ladies (1992)

You either love the pop-art comic style of the 1990 Topps borders, or you hate them. I'm in the former category. The Shawshank Redemption is one of those movies that I'll admit was better than the story it came from ("Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King). The Barenaked Ladies are another favored band, and this classic tune is something everyone can relate to.

The 2000's

Favorite Card Design: 2008 Topps

Favorite Movie: The Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)

Favorite Song: "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters (2007)

I wasn't actively collecting during this decade, but the bubbles come to mind. The LOTR books are some of my all-time favorites, and the entire movie trilogy is an amazing piece of cinematic art. The Foo Fighters kick ass, that's all that needs to be said.

The 2010's

Favorite Card Design: 2015 Topps

Favorite Movie: Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

Favorite Song: "Live To Rise" by Soundgarden (2012)

2015 Topps will go down as one of those iconic set designs, if it isn't already. I'm a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first Avengers movie stands as the movie that first tied everything together. Even after 22 movies, this one is still fun to watch. The Avengers weren't the only super-group to return with this movie -  the first Soundgarden song in over a decade was part of the soundtrack, and it's hard to not love it. These lyrics still get to me:

"Like the sun, we will live to rise

Like the sun, we will live and die
And then ignite again"

So there you go, my favorites through the decade. Chances are by the time you read this, I may have other suitable choices in mind, but I'm content to roll with these.

Repack Haiku #115 (Jeff Innis)

First pitcher ever

To appear in sixty games

Without win or save

  1992 Topps #139 Jeff Innis

The Golden Sox Project (Christian Vazquez)

Earlier this year, I announced a side project I was planning to casually pursue: In honor of the Red Sox World Series title last year, I wanted to collect all of the gold Red Sox parallels from the 2018 Topps base and update sets.

The key word is casually. It's not a high priority project, and I haven't been putting much effort into it. I acquired one card earlier this year, but that's been it so far.

To keep a project alive, I feel I really need to make some progress every now and then. I decided to do a little hunting on the Trading Card Database and see if anyone had any golden Red Sox on their trade list. I found one trader that not only had a gold Christian Vazquez available, but also had a gold parallel I owned on their want list!

Next thing you know, I'm sending out a 2019 gold parallel of fellow catcher Yadier Molina to Olney IL. One-for-one swaps don't get much easier than that!

Christian Vazquez becomes the second card in my Golden Sox project, and the first player to actually play in that memorable postseason. His solo home run in game 4 of the ALDS turned out to be the difference maker as the Red Sox held on to beat the Yankees 4-3 in that game. Vazquez played in 4 of the 5 World Series games, going 3-15 with 1 run scored. In that epic 18 inning Game 3, Vazquez caught 11 innings, then moved to first base (for the first time in his Major League career) for the final 7innings!

2 down, 29 to go! If anyone has any they are willing to trade, let me know! You can check out this list on my Golden Sox Project page!

Payday Pack - A Trio Of Legends

This year's Panini Diamond Kings has a lot going for it - it's a good looking set that is cheap and affordable, plus the base is only 150 cards. Why wouldn't I want to try and complete it? Oh yeah, the fact that 1/3 of the cards are short prints! How annoying. Still, the idea of adding some legends from yesteryear on the cheap lured me to another pack, and I can't say I was disappointed.

3rd Place

2019 Panini Diamond Kings
#10 Joe Wood

This is officially my first card of Hall of Fame legend "Smokey" Joe Wood! I've said it already, but it bears repeating - the lack of a MLB license doesn't hurt with card featuring players from the early 1900's.

2nd Place

2019 Panini Diamond Kings
#29 Jackie Robinson

Granted, a white "B" or the now retired 42 would have been nice here, but it's still nice to add another Jackie Robinson to the collection!

1st Place

2019 Panini Diamond Kings - DK205 Series
#205-25 Mickey Mantle

It pains me to give 1st place to a Yankee, but this insert just looks amazing!

Other Contestants Not appearing On Stage:
#79 Jason Nix (RC)
#36 Chipper Jones
#93 Freddie Freeman
#68 Chris Shaw (RC)
#26 Ty Cobb
#83 Sam Crawford
#TH-17 Shohei Ohtani (Team Heroes insert)
#JJ1 Joe Jackson (Joe Jackson Collection insert)
#MG14 Freddie Freeman (Masters Of The Game insert)
#TH-2 Alex Bregman (Team Heroes insert)
#106 Ryan Borucki (RC, SP) (Framed Red Parallel)
#DK04-CK Clayton Kershaw (2004 DK Retro Set insert)
#72 Sean Reid-Foley (RC)
#86 Corey Kluber
#44 Roger Clemens
#2 Hank Greenberg
#60 Alex Bregman

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It's Blue Tape and Pull Tab Awareness Week! Defgav at Baseball Card Breakdown is promoting a more positive trading experience for all! Join the revolution!

Repack Haiku #114 (Jose Oquendo)

"The Secret Weapon"

Ozzie's double-play partner

Played all positions

1988 Donruss #234 Jose Oquendo

Greatness Witnessed, Greatness Remembered

A recent post over at The 5 Tool Collector has evolved into a blog bat-a-round. The post prompts us to recall the best player from the first game we ever witnessed live, and the best player we ever seen. To be honest, I was going to skip this one. My memory on these things are horrible, and I didn't think I could recollect enough to make this post worthwhile. In the end, I decided to give it a shot for no other reason than an exercise in creative writing.

Let's get this out of the way: I have never seen an NBA or NFL game in person. I'm not much of a basketball fan, so I never really had interest in watching a game. My daughter has shown a slight  interest however, and I have taken her to a few University of Virginia Women's Basketball games. I couldn't tell you anything about the players though, or if any of them have gone on to the WNBA.

I surprised myself with the NFL though. I'm not a huge football fan either, but I grew up right in Buffalo Bills territory. When I was growing up, the Bills held their summer training camps at the State University of Fredonia, just a town over from me. I watched numerous squad practices, saw legends like Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith, but never went to an actual game. Go figure.

Baseball

Greatest Player (First Game/All-Time): Roger Clemens

 

1990 Fleer #627 Roger Clemens (POD)

Now baseball...baseball is my jam, baby! I've been to numerous games at the Major league level. I've been to 4 different stadiums, not including all the Spring Training games I've attended. I've seen a lot a great players, including a few Hall of Famers! Funny thing is, the first game I ever went to featured the greatest player I ever seen all-time, so the Rocket gets both awards here.

Clemens was my favorite player growing up. I have often been asked how a kid from Western New York ended up a Red Sox fan. I started really getting into baseball in the mid-80's, and Clemens was arguably the best player in baseball. He became the guy I looked for in the box scores of my local paper, and as he played for the Red Sox, they became my team.

My first game was at the old Cleveland Stadium. The Indians were one of the closest teams to my hometown and my dad took me to see the Red Sox play at the "Mistake By The Lake". I don't remember much about the game - I know the Red Sox won, someone hit a home run, and it marked the 20th win of the season for Clemens.

The last fact alone allowed me to go onto Baseball-Reference and figure out the game was on August 30th, 1990. He pitched a complete game, striking out 9 in a 9-2 win. Luis Rivera hit the home run.

Hockey

Greatest Player (First Game) - Dave Andreychuk

 

1991-92 Pro Set Platinum #8 Dave Andreychuk

Hockey is my second favorite sport. I know my first game was in Buffalo to watch the Sabres play, but I remember nothing! I couldn't tell you the year, who they played, who won - I'm drawing a complete blank. I'm taking an educated guess that Hall of Famer Andreychuk, who played in Buffalo from 1982-1993, was likely the best player from Buffalo at that time.

Greatest Player (All-Time) - Alex Ovechkin

 

2006-07 McDonalds Upper Deck
#50 Alexander Ovechkin

This one was easy, because it is such an obvious choice. I had the special privilege to be in Washington DC on New Years Day in 2015. There, I went to Nationals Park to watch the Washington Capitals take on the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 NHL Winter Classic. It was an amazing game, with Washington's Trevor Brouwer scoring the winning goal with less than 20 seconds left in regulation. Ovechkin earned 1st star with a goal and assist.

Slapshot and me enjoying the game

Lacrosse

Greatest Player (First Game/All-Time) - John Tavares

 

1993 Nastasi MILL Lacrosse #26 John Tavares

 
I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know there was a professional lacrosse league here in America. The Buffalo Bandits joined the Major Indoor Lacrosse League (now the National Lacrosse League) in 1992. I went to one of those games that year and although I don't remember much from that game either, I do recall enjoying it and appreciating the fast-paced action. I had to do a bit of internet research, but finding the best player was easy. John Tavares (not to be confused with his hockey playing nephew with the same name) was a 3-time MVP and currently holds the all-time records for games, goals, assists, and points! I pretty much got to watch the Babe Ruth of indoor lacrosse.

Wrestling

Greatest Athlete (First Show/All-Time) - Hulk Hogan

 

1985 Topps WWF #29 Stretched To The Limit!

I'll let you decide if this counts as a "sport" or not, but I just had to include this one! I was really into WWF wrestling in my youth, and got to see some of the stars live once. The main event was Hulk Hogan vs Kamala, The Ugandan Giant. The one image forever burned in my mind is the sight of the 6'7" 380-pound Kamala leaping over Hogan during the match. Hulk Hogan is of course a legend in the sport and a pop culture icon.

So, yeah, I some some pretty impressive athletes in my time!