Monday, May 30, 2022

Antique Mall Pack War (Canadian Rules Edition) #2

I picked up 4 unopened packs of 1992 O-Pee-Chee recently. My first Pack War was a bit underwhelming. Will this one do better?

To recap the rules, it's all about star power. I'll award 1 point for every All-Star Game nod a player gets, plus additional points for the major awards (MVP, CY, ROY) and a point for a Hall of Fame player. Add a point for every Red Sox card, and subtract a point for every Yankee that makes an appearance!

Since these are OPC packs, I thought it'd be fun to also add some extra "Canadian" points! One point will be awarded to a card for every:
  • Blue Jay or Expos player
  • Card with transactional text on it ("Now with...")
  • Cards that appear in the O-Pee-Chee set but don't appear in the Topps base set
Easy enough, right? Let's get ready to rumble!

Pack #3


Lance Johnson - 1 point (All-Star)
Craig Worthington - 1 point (Not in Topps set)
Willie Wilson - 2 points (2x All-Star)
Benny Santiago - 6 points (5x All-Star, Rookie Of The Year Award winner)
1992 Top Prospects (Brumfield/Burnitz/Cockrell/Dozier) - 1 point (Burnitz: All-Star)
Dale Sveum - 1 point (Now With)
Matt Williams - 5 points (5x All-Star)
Gregg Olson - 2 points (All-Star, Rookie Of The Year Award winner)
Gary Carter (tribute) - 13 points (Hall of Fame, 11x All-Star, Not in Topps set)

Doug Henry - 0 points

Last time, the winning pack scored a total of 10 points. That is surpassed by just the Gary Carter card in this pack. O-Pee-Chee paid tribute to the Hall of Fame catcher in his last season with a 4 card tribute subset depicting him with each of the 4 teams he played for. Outside of the Carter, only one card failed to score any points, with All-Star regulars Benny Santiago and Matt Williams leading the way.
 
32 points for our first contender. That could be tough to beat!

Pack #4

 
Andy Benes - 1 point (All-Star)
Mike Hargrove (MGR) - 2 points (All-Star, Rookie Of The Year Award winner)
Darryl Strawberry - 9 points (8x All-Star, Rookie Of The Year Award winner)
Doug Drabek - 2 points (All-Star, Cy Young Award winner)
Jeff Fassero - 1 point (Expos)
Doc Gooden - 6 points (4x All-Star, Rookie Of The Year Award winner, Cy Young Award winner)
 
Chris Bosio, Jaime Navarro - 0 points
 
Our last pack has it's share of heavy hitters, with Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden scoring some big points (Good grief, those '86 Mets alumni are flexing some muscle today!) All told, your looking at 21 points here.
 
What's that you say?
 
I only showed 8 of the 10 cards in the pack?
 
Yeah, about that....
 

1992 Top Prospects (Alexander/Arias/Cordero/Jones) - 12 points (Cordero: All-Star, Expos; Jones: Hall of Fame, 8x All-Star, MVP award winner)
Barry Bonds  - 21 points (14x All-Star, 7x MVP Award winner)
 
If you're going to open packs from 1992, you really can't do any better than a Chipper Jones rookie! The 21 points those 8 cards totaled were equaled by Barry Bonds! How insane is that? These two cards were worth 33 points and would have bested any of the packs. Heck, they scored more points than the first two packs combined!

With an monstrous total of 54 points, Pack #4 cruises to ultimate victory!
 
I'd say I got my $6 worth out of those OPC packs, wouldn't you?

Friday, May 27, 2022

Trapped In Time: Remnants Of The 17th Trade


Well, I'm 0-3. These Trapped In Time posts aren't having the effect I was hoping for, and last month's card gets added to my collection. I'm going to try and add a little incentive this time around. Like last month, today's featured card comes from former Now And Zen blogger Dawn.
 
Trade #17 (Dawn: Now And Zen)
Traded 06/21/18: 1979 Topps #455 Bill Lee

Received 06/22/18:
  • 1970 Brooke Bond North American Wildlife in Danger #32 Polar Bear
In requesting the '79 Bill Lee, Dawn teased "a 1970 tea card card that will add a wild flavor the adventure!" She sent me this very cool polar bear card. When I got it, it was listed in the TCDB under the 1970 Brooke Bond North American Wildlife in Danger set, but the name of the set has been changed multiple times on the database since. According to the change log, it's been referred to as:
(I'm actually rather happy that the set is officially connected to Red Rose Tea. My grandmother drank that tea all the time, and collected the animal figurines that came with them. She would give me her "doubles" - which I'm pretty sure I still have in a box somewhere.)

 

Anyway, it's time for this card to be traded or retired. As additional incentive, if someone offers a trade for this card, I'll donate $10 to the ALS Association! Make me an offer!

Edit: Thanks to Night Owl, the ALS Association has a donation!
 

 
Thanks Greg!

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Repack Haiku #256 (Danny Salazar)

Injuries derailed
Career of this young All-Star
Done before thirty
 
2017 Bowman #93 Danny Salazar
 
After making the All-Star team in 2016 at age 26, Salazar suffered a major shoulder injury that wiped out his 2018 season, and returned for one game in 2019 before a groin injury finished off that season too. he hasn't pitched a major league inning since.
 
Edit: Thanks to Bo, I've learned he's not quite done yet!

Monday, May 23, 2022

Time Travel Trading Update #65


Another month full of trades means I have over 80 new cards to show you! I'm grateful to all my trade partners who help turn over so many cards and keep the stack fresh and worth checking out every month.
 
Our first trade comes from blog reader Alan, who keyed into my Red Sox fandom and sent along an octet of Boston ballplayers from the 1974 set.

Jeff (Wax Pack Wonders) is up next with some great cards. Heck, I even like the design the two Yankees are on...
 
Brendan (The View From The Third Floor) always sends a nice selection of cards, and I found it humorous he sent a double dose of Fred Lynn, Jose Cardinal and Ron Hunt cards:

The next two trades were both single cards, so I put them both on one photo. The Kellogg's card comes from Greg (Night Owl Cards), who snapped up a 1981 Topps Coke card. A TCDB trade with a newcomer named Alex landed me the Fred Kages card.

I sent regular blog reader Ken one envelope, and he sent me back three! That's a generous return of cards! Anyone working on the 2021 Topps Archives set?

 Ken also sent a nice selection of 1962 Topps:
 
Plus a bunch more awesome vintage! When I saw the markings on that '61 Ray Sadeck, it looked familiar. Sure enough, I sent Ken that exact same card in a previous Time Travel trade! This is the second straight month I've received a card that was originally sent out to someone in a previous Time Travel trade! It's my own personal Multiverse of Madness!

What's that you say? Six trades in already and we haven't seen the monthly trade from Bo (Baseball Cards Come To Life) yet? Never fear! Bo knows what the people want, and Bo delivers! He's noticed someone has been on a bit of a food issue kick, and that O-Pee-Chee has been popular lately:   

Bo also knows that 70's football has been doing well, and vintage baseball is always welcome!


I got two more trades still being completed, but those will have to wait until next time! There's plenty here anyways to keep you occupied until then!

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:

2021 Panini Prizm
#185 George Springer

2021 Topps Archives
#16 Andrew McCutchen
#18 Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
#46 Willy Adames
#47 Kyle Seager
#59 Yu Darvish
#92 Eddie Rosario
#122 Trent Grisham
#146 Nate Pearson (RC)
#147 Kenta Maeda
#203 Trevor Rogers (RC)
#215 Adolis Garcia
#224 Evan Longoria
#258 Christian Yelich
#260 Devin Williams
#282 Anthony Rendon
#299 Willson Contreras

2011 Topps Heritage Minor League
#191 Wilin Rosario
  
2010 Bowman - Prospects Black
#BP51 Chase D'Arnaud
#BP56 Rolando Gomez

2010 Bowman Platinum - Prospects
#PP38 Brian Johnson  
 
2009 Bowman - Chrome WBC Prospects
#BCW18 Tao Bu    

2009 Team Zone AFL Team (Austrlian football)
#50 Dale Morris
#148 Jason Akermanis
 
2008 Topps New York Yankees
#NYY8 Jason Giambi
 
2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes
#85 Tino Martinez
#88 Andy Petitte
 
2001 Fleer Greats Of The Game
#77 Lester Lockett 
 
1999 SkyBox Metal Universe (football)
#116 Tiki Barber

1998 Pinnacle Inside
#25 Andruw Jones
 
1997-98 Score New York Rangers (hockey)
#8 Alexander Karpovtsev

1997-98 Score Philadelphia Flyers (hockey)
#18 Vaclav Prospal

1997 Pinnacle X-Press
#64 Craig Biggio 

1996 Leaf

1995-96 Kraft Peanut Butter Discs (hockey)
 
1995 Finest (football)
#124 Trent Dilfer 

1993 Classic Draft Picks (basketball)
#33 Will Flemons
#67 Bennie Seltzer
 
1992-93 Humpty Dumpty I (hockey)
#NNO Troy Murray
 
1992 Front Row Draft Picks
#46 Ed Christian  
 
1992 Post Cereal
#4 Wally Joyner
 
1992 Score
#162 Omar Vizquel
 
1991-92 7th Inning Sketch OHL (hockey)
#258 Brandon Convery
 
1991 Post Cereal
#30 Kevin Maas (RS) 
 
1991 Pacific (football)
#451 Junior Seau

1991 Pro Set Platinum (football)
#81 Lawrence Taylor
 
1991 Topps Desert Storm (non-sport)
#147 Working Together  
 
1990-91 Pro Set Super Bowl XXV Silver Anniversary (football)
#88 Nick Buoniconti

1990-91 7th Inning Sketch OHL (hockey)
#236 Tony McCabe

1990-91 Bowman (hockey)
#19 Peter Zezel
#127 David Volek

1990-91 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#66 Pierre Turgeon

1990-91 Score Rookie and Traded (hockey)
#106T Bryan Trottier
 
1990-91 Hoops (basketball)
#18 Earvin Johnson (AS, SP)
  

1990 Fleer
 
1990 Leaf
#16 Hubie Brooks  

1990 Post Cereal
#22 Pedro Guerrero
 
1990 Score
#3 Dwight Evans
 
1990 Topps
#510 Doc Gooden 
 
1990 Upper Deck
#626 Frank Viola

1990 Pro Set - Theme Art (football)
#10 Super Bowl X Pittsburgh Steelers / Dallas Cowboys
 
1990 Score (football)
#436 Chet Brooks (RC)
 
#322 Patrick Roy (AW)

1989 ProCards Triple A
#544 Jay Buhner 
 
1989 Score
#495 Larry Parrish
 
1989 Topps Big
 
1988-89 Frito-Lay Stickers (hockey)
#NNO Cam Neely
 
1988 Fleer - All-Star Team
#2 Tom Henke
 
1988 Topps (football)
 
1987 Donruss
#3 Dale Murphy (DK) 
 
1987 Fleer Update
#U-82 Kevin Mitchell
 
 
1986 Topps Baseball Champion Superstars
#18 Fred Lynn 
 
 
1985 O-Pee-Chee
#21 Dave Concepcion
#55 Frank Tanana
#104 Mike Fitzgerald 
 
1985 Topps - Glossy All-Stars
#18 Chet Lemon
#22 Hank Greenberg (CAPT) 
 
1984 Donruss

1984 Fleer
 
1984 O-Pee-Chee 
#16 Omar Moreno
#97 LaMarr Hoyt
 
1984 Topps
#167 Marshall Edwards
#368 Hubie Brooks 

1983 Topps Drake's Big Hitters
#14 Dave Kingman
 
1983 Topps (football)

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

1982 Topps
 
1982 Topps (football) 

1981 Donruss  
 
1981 Fleer
#8 Larry Christenson 

1981 Topps
 
1981 Topps (football)
#18 Frank Lewis  
 
1980 Kellogg's
#1 Ross Grimsley
 
1980 Topps 
#90 Manny Trillo
#110 Fred Lynn (AS) 
#143 Bruce Bochte
#145 Darrell Evans
 
1980 Topps (football)
#132 Eagles Team Leaders (CL, TL)

1979 Topps 
 
1979 Topps (football)
#298 Ron Yary
 
1978-79 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)

1978-79 Topps (basketball)
#12 E.C. Coleman
#18 Steve Mix
#118 Kevin Porter 
#129 Ray Williams (RC)

1978 Topps  
#210 Jose Cardinal 
 
1978 Topps (football)
#41 John Ebersole

1977-78 Topps - Glossy Inserts (Rounded Corners) (hockey)
 
1977-78 Topps - White Backs (basketball)
#78 Richard Washington (RC)
 
1977 Topps
 
1977 Topps (football)
 
1976 Funky Sales Corp Funky Facts Baseball
#2 In A Trance
#3 Fans Vs Players
#5 Baseballeese
 
1976 SSPC
#7 Elias Sosa 

1976 Topps
 
1976 Topps - Traded
#28T Dusty Baker 

1976 Topps (football)
#74 Bryant Salter
#163 Norm Snead
#303 Dick Himes (RC)
#481 John Bunting (RC)

1975 Topps
#41 Cesar Geronimo
 
1975 Topps (football)
#60 Jack Youngblood
#498 John Rowser
 
1974 Topps  
#84 Rick Wise
#84 Rick Wise 
#185 Jose Cardinal 
#199 Mike Kekich
#247 Rick Miller
#305 Tito Fuentes
#349 John Vukovich
#427 Bobby Bolin 
#495 Dick McAuliffe 
#543 Danny Carter 
#590 Rogelio Moret
#656 Adrian Garrett
#660 Larry Dierker

1974 Topps - Team Checklists (1 Star)
#NNO Montreal Expos
 
1974 Topps - Team Checklists (2 Stars)
#NNO Los Angeles Dodgers
#NNO Pittsburg Pirates 

1974 Topps - Traded
#43T Jim Wynn
#151T Diego Segui
 
1974 Topps (football)
#39 Mike Siani
#523 Charlie Smith 
 
1973 Topps
#4 John Milner
 
1972 Topps  
#11 Bobby Valentine
#55 Clyde Wright
#70 Mike Cuellar 
#110 Ron Hunt 
 
1971 Topps (football)
#108 Dan Sullivan (RC)

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

1970 Topps
#3 Darrell Chaney
#276 Ron Hunt 
#287 Fred Talbot   #390 Willie Davis  
 
1969 Globe Imports Playing Cards Gas Station Issue
#2Spades(a) Denny McLain
#6Spades Tommy John 

1969 Topps
#32 Sammy Ellis
 
1968 Topps
#81 Larry Jackson 
#229 Fred Klages

1966 Topps
#46 Howie Koplitz
 

1962 Topps
#46 Jack Baldachun (RC)
#49 Hal Jones (RS, RC) 
#114 Howie Koplitz (RS, RC)
#124 Bill Pleis (RC)
#128 Art Fowler
#174 Carl Willey
#182 Bob Nieman
#183 Roger Craig
#221 Bill Short 
#426 Bob Farley (RS, RC)
 
1961 Post Cereal
#64 Tito Francona
#188 Ed Bailey
#189 Jim O'Toole 

1961 Topps
#32 Ray Sadecki
#166 Danny Kravitz 
 
1960 Topps
#121 Camilo Carreon (RS, RC)
#151 San Francisco Giants (CL, TC)
#154 Jim Davenport
#174 Cleveland Indians (CL, TC)
#244 Hal Griggs
#548 Don Mincher (RC) 
 
1960 Topps (football)
#28 Jim Ray Smith 

1959 Topps
#9 Paul Giel
#132 Don Lee (RS)
 
1958 JCM 30a Doyusha Team Name Back (solid front w/o borders)
 
1956 Topps (football)
#42 Tom Fears
#51 Ted Marchibroda
 
1955 Topps
#45 Hank Sauer
 
1955 Bowman (football)
#9 Don Stonesifer

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: 167 (2 pending!)
Unique trading partners: 61

Number of cards mailed out: 761
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1910-11

Number of cards received: 1,136
Year of oldest card received: 1890