Friday, June 28, 2024

A Trade Between Bloggers: The Hopeful Chase

It always makes me happy when a blogger comes back after a long hiatus. Justin from The Hopeful Chase posted recently, detailing his quest to trade for the remaining cards he needs for the 2024 Topps set. As a fellow TCDB member, I was able to see what cards he needed, and as it turned out I had a few extras I could send his way. He was able to send a few Red Sox needs back to me
 

 As well as a few 2024 Topps needs of my own! (I'm low-key trying to finish this set too!) 


Favorite Card: There's something amusing about Kevin Millar and the fact he's holding up his hands. It wouldn't surprise me if he was attempting to mime being trapped in a box or something...
 
Thanks for the trade Jeff! Good luck on the set build!

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Repack Haiku #364 (Hector Villanueva)

Cubs' backup catcher
Is Caribbean Baseball
Hall of Fame member
 
1991 Fleer #436 Hector Villanueva
 
Villanueva was a star of the Peurto Rico Baseball League, winning the Triple Crown in 1991. In 2015, he joined fellow countrymen Juan Gonzalez, Bernie William, and Roberto Clemente(!) as members of the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame.
 
Source: Wikipedia

Monday, June 24, 2024

Top 5 Tribute: Willie Mays

In all of the years I've been doing these small tributes to Hall of Fame players that have passed, I haven't had as hard of a time creating one as I have for the late great Willie Mays, who passed away on June 18th. Part of it is due to the fact I technically only have one playing era cards of his, but it's much more than that. How can you summarize this man's life on and off the field in a short little blog post? You can't. I even reread what I wrote for Hank Aaron, hoping for inspiration. Instead I found that a lot of what I wanted to say for Mr. Mays I had already said for Mr. Aaron. Here's my opening paragraph: 

This one hurts. Not that any of the others didn't, each spectacular life was one worth celebrating. But none of the recent string of deaths among the legends of baseball had the sheer impact as the immortal Henry Aaron. He was one of the true giants of the game, an automatic inclusion on the Mount Rushmore of the greatest of the great. His story transcended the game itself, captivating even non-baseball fans. There will never be another Hank Aaron.
 
I could have easily swapped out the names, removed the line about the recent string of deaths (Man, September 2020 to January 2021 was rough stretch for us baseball fans...) and chances are no one but me would have noticed. Even 2 of the 5 cards I showed of Aaron featured Mays and were on the short list for this post! It would still have been true though: There will never be another Willie Mays. 

As my small thanks to life of a Giant, both on and off the field, I humbly present the Top 5 Willie Mays cards in my collection:

1973 Topps

#1 All-Time Home Run Leaders

(Ruth/Aaron/Mays)


There was a time when Mays was #2 on the all-time list, and people wondered if it would be him to surpass the immortal Babe Ruth. It was not to be, and for the longest time these three would be the only ones to surpass the 600 home run mark. (Six more have joined that club since - 3 of which under questionable circumstances). 
 

1985 Topps Woolworth

All Time Record Holders

#26 Willie Mays 


The first two bullet points on the back of this card mention his All-Star Game career records of 20 runs and 23 hits. Those are still the records, along with most All-Star Games played (24 - tied with Musial), at bats (75), stolen bases (6), extra-base hits (8 - tied with Musial), total bases (40 - tied with Musial), and triples (3 - tied with Brooks Robinson). To quote Ted Williams: "They invented the  All-Star Game  for Willie Mays." Speaking of Williams...

1993 Ted Williams

#126 Willie Mays (GH)


It was poetic that Mays passed just days before the Giants and Cardinals played games at Rickwood Field, the same field Mays patrolled as a member of the Birmingham Black Barons as a teenager. Mays was the most prominent member left of the old Negro Leagues, and it's a sad reminder that there are not many former players left. According to MLB, all 157 surviving members (including Mays at the time) were invited to the game at Rickwood. MLB has taken big strides to preserve the memory of the Negro League and it's players, and hopefully more will be done in the future.

2015 Topps Heritage - Baseball Flashbacks

#BF-9 Willie Mays


In 1966, Mays became the all-time National League home run hitter, and has since been eclipsed only by his own godson Barry Bonds. He came in 3rd in MVP voting that year, behind Roberto Clemente and Sandy Koufax. It was the last of 13 straight years that Mays placed in the MVP vote. He only won twice, but arguments have been made that he should have won up to 8 MVP awards!

2016 Topps Archives

#286 Willie Mays


Mays was the last superstar from that Golden Age of baseball. The last of the inner-circle Hall of Famers. He may have been the greatest player of all time. His passing closes the book on a life that continued to impact the history of baseball over 50 years after he last played a game.

R.I.P. Willie Mays, and thank you.

Friday, June 21, 2024

Trapped In Time: Remnants Of The 88th And 89th Trades

 
I touched on this a little on Monday, but there have been a few times when I do these posts that I show off cards that don't fit my collection. Case in point, the John Shumate card I put on the chopping block in April. I don't watch basketball, let alone collect cards of the sport. So if no one shows interest via the blog post of trading for it, I try to find someone on the TCDB to unload it upon. 

TCDB is great for finding trade partners, but if you are trying to trade away a particular card, it's a bit of a pain. I look up the card on the database, and on it's page there is a section called mentions, where you see how many people have that particular card in their collection, how many have it in their For Sale/Trade list, and how many members have it in their want list. For the Shumate card, there were 21 potential trade partners looking for this card. Going through each one, I first had to see who was still an active member. If they hadn't logged into the TCDB in the past week, there's no point in trying. Then I culled the list further by eliminating anyone that had never made a trade. Out of the 15 that remained, I had to see if any of them had cards older than 1978 on their for trade list. That knocked off 5 more potential traders. From the remaining 10, I picked one, put together a trade proposal, and sent it. Despite logging in numerous times, the member never responded to my proposal, and I withdrew it after a generous two weeks. So I picked a second potential trade partner and did the same. That one was the one that got completed. 

So why am I explaining all this?
 
 
Traded 03/10/21: 1981 Topps #226 Manny Sanguillen, 1981 Topps #450 Dave Kingman (AS), 1981 Topps #530 Steve Garvey, 1981 Topps #560 Joe Morgan, 1982 Topps #3 Tim Raines (HL), 1982 Topps #401 Johnny Bench (IA), 1982 Topps #651 Carl Yastrzemski (IA), 1986 Topps #510 Wade Boggs, 1987 Donruss #34 Terry Steinbach, 2018 Topps #502 Xander Bogaerts

Received 03/04/21:
  • 1978-79 Topps (basketball) #21 Steve Hawes
  • 1978-79 Topps (basketball) #53 John Mengelt (See Trade #158)
  • 1978-79 Topps (basketball) #64 Leon Douglas (RC)
  • 1978-79 Topps (basketball) #118 Kevin Porter
  • 1981 Donruss #386 Doc Medich
  • 1981 Topps #65 Scott McGregor (See Trade #129)
  • 1981 Topps #354 Mario Soto
  • 1982 Topps (football) #82 Craig Morton (IA)
  • 1983 Topps (football) #109 George Rogers (TL) (See Trade #209)
  • 1983 Topps (football) #186 John Riggins (TL) (See Trade #150)
  • 1983 Topps (football) #337 Mark Van Eeghen (See Trade #209)
  • 1983 Topps - Sticker Inserts (football) #3 Ottis Anderson (See Trade #94)
  • 1983 Topps - Sticker Inserts (football) #7 Dwight Clark (See Trade #94)
  • 1985 Topps (football) #34 Mike Singletary (See Trade #94)
  • 1985 Topps (football) #283 Lyle Alzado (See Trade #91)
  • 1986 Topps - Glossy All-Stars #9 Carlton Fisk (See Trade #148)
  • 1986 Topps - Glossy All-Stars #13 Steve Garvey (See Trade #160)
  • 1986 Topps - Glossy All-Stars #21 LaMarr Hoyt (See Trade #140)
 
 
Trading one basketball card was hard enough. Now I got 3 more to deal with! (Just my luck too, if the first guy had responded and accepted, two of these three basketball cards would have been part of the trade!) Someone make my life easy and take these off my hands please!
 
Traded 03/18/21: 2021 Topps - 1952 Topps Redux #T52-43 Shohei Ohtani, 2021 Topps - 70 Years Of Topps Baseball #70YT-51 Bob Gibson, 1971 Topps #208 Billy Martin (MGR), 1968 Topps #260 Jim Wynn, 1964 Philadelphia (football) #172 Ken Gray (RC), 1963 Topps #155 Bill Stafford, 1961 Topps #32 Ray Sadecki, 1961 Topps #114 Hobie Landrith, 1961 Topps #267 Norm Siebern, 1960 Topps #289 Willie Jones 

Received 03/19/21:
  • 2020 Topps Heritage #36 Kenley Jansen (See Trade #96)
  • 2020 Topps Heritage #176 Dinelson Lamet (See Trade #96)
  • 1970 Topps #39 Mike Nagy (ASR, RC)
  • 1967 Topps #192 Fred Gladding
  • 1962 Topps #19 Ray Washburn (RC, RS)
  • 1962 Topps #79 Ed Hobaugh
  • 1958 Topps #73 Pete Daley
  • 1958 Topps #147 Don McMahon (RC) (See Trade #287)
  • 1958 Topps #290 Dick Donovan (See Trade #216)
  • 1957 Topps #68 Ray Crone (See Trade #216)
 

Do you know I have 3 of those Mike Nagy cards in the trade stack? 3 of them! It's weird how some cards keep showing up in the Time Travel Trading stack. 

These cards have been languishing in the trade tack for over 3 years! It's time to trade them or add them to my personal collection. Last call!
 

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Repack Haiku #363 (Shawn Green)

First Blue Jays player
To join 30/30 club
Holds team's runs record
 
2002 Fleer Tradition
#481 Shawn Green (BS)
 
Green became Toronto's inaugural member of the 30/30 club when he went 35/35 in 1998. The following year he set the franchise record for runs in a season with 134.

Monday, June 17, 2024

Time Travel Trading Update #90

 
First of all, to all you fathers out there, I hope you had a great Father's Day yesterday! 

We've got 6 trades to show off this week! That means plenty of new cards for you readers to claim.
 
We kick things off with one of the most prominent time travelers from the TCDB, Mark Z! We completed out 10th Time Travel Trade, and he sent a fantastic variety of cards, staring off with a couple of race car drivers:

 
As well as some vintage football:

Of course there's baseball too!

Jim (Cards As I See Them) is up next. He claimed a 1955 Bowman, and sent back a couple of cards that had over 70 years in age between them!

It wouldn't be a proper Time Travel Trading Update without cards from Bo (Baseball Cards Come To Life!) Thanks to my latest trade with him, I have a trio of 1978 Topps to add to the stack:
 

The winner of the 300th Time Travel Trade, Brendan Hart (The View From The Third Floor), picked a fantastic card for his prize, and the follow up trade doesn't disappoint either!
 
New Time Traveler Alert! Dominic, who started up a great new blog this year (Don Cardwell Loves This Blog), joins the club with our first of hopefully many trades!

(Seriously, give his blog a follow if you haven't already!)

When I do one of my Time Travel Remnant posts, I will occasionally feature cards that quite honestly don't fit my collection. When that happens, I'll hop on the TCDB and look to see who has that particular card on their want lists. A while back I had put a basketball card on the chopping block, and fortunately found a trade partner (another member also named Mark)! There were a few other cards in the stack I was able to send his way, and in return I picked up some great 70's baseball.

 
My thanks to all my trade partners, long-time and new! Here's hoping these cards generate some more great trades!
 
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:

2024 Topps Heritage
#110 Brandon Nimmo 
 
 
2022 Topps
#440 Trent Grisham 
 
2021-22 Donruss - Magicians (basketball)
 
2021-22 Donruss (soccer)
#183 Jose Macias (RR)
 
2020 Topps
#315 Adam Frazier
 
2020 Leaf Draft - Gold (football)
#77 Collin Johnson (TD)    

2017-18 Donruss (basketball)
#75 Chandler Parsons
 
2017 Topps - MLB Award Winners
 
2015-16 Donruss (basketball)
#49 John Wall
 
2013 Pinnacle
#117 Mariano Rivera
 
2013 Topps Update
#US143 Tim Lincecum (CL)
 
2012 Topps Stickers
#237 Bernie Brewer (MAS)  

2011 Topps - Before There Was Topps
#BTT1 American Tobacco 1909 T206 (Honus Wagner)
  
2010 Bowman - Prospects Black
#BP51 Chase D'Arnaud
#BP56 Rolando Gomez

2010 Bowman Platinum - Prospects
#PP38 Brian Johnson      
 
2010 Topps (football)
#249 David Garrard
 
2010 Topps Chrome (football)
#C141 T.J. Houshmandzadeh
 
2009 Bowman - Chrome WBC Prospects
#BCW18 Tao Bu  
 
2009 Donruss Americana (non-sport)
#50 Francesco Quinn
 
2008 Topps New York Yankees
#NYY8 Jason Giambi
 
2008 Topps (football)
#301 Larry Fitzgerald (PB) 
 
2007 Upper Deck MLB Rookie Card of the Month
#ROM-4 Ryan Braun 
 
2007 Playoff Prestige (football) 
 
2006 Topps Updates & Highlights
#UH172 Mike Piazza (SH)
 
2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia
#44 Shawn Green
 
2004 Bowman Chrome
#263 Jeff Allison (FY, RC)  
 
2004 Donruss Team Heroes
#212 Kazuhisa Ishii
 
2004 Just Rookies - 05 Preview Autographs
 
2003 Bazooka
#100 Barry Bonds
 
2002 Fleer Maximum
 
2002 Upper Deck Piece of History
#39 Joe DiMaggio 
 
2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes
#88 Andy Petitte
 
2001 Topps Archives
#20 Gaylord Perry
 
 
1999-00 Topps (basketball)
#16 Eric William 
 
1999 SkyBox Metal Universe (football)
#116 Tiki Barber
 
1999 Stadium Club
#214 Tony Saunders 
 
1998 Pinnacle Performers
#14 Hideo Nomo
 
1998 Racing Champions NASCAR (racing)
#01153-04134 Mark Martin

1998 Upper Deck Pop Weaver (racing)
#PW3 Rusty Wallace 
 
1997 Collector's Choice
#215 Glenallen Hill  
 
1997 Pinnacle Inside
#111 Matt Williams

1997 Pinnacle X-Press
#64 Craig Biggio   
 
1997 Upper Deck
#13 Mark Lemke

1996 Leaf
 
1996 SP
 
1996 Upper Deck
#358 Todd Worrell
 
1995 Finest (football)
#124 Trent Dilfer     
 
1995 SkyBox Lois & Clark (non-sport)
#73 Be Mine!
#75 Do You Love Me?
 
1994-95 Finest (basketball)
#43 Rex Chapman  

1994 Collector's Choice
#636 David Justice (UC&P)
 
1994 Finest
#413 Mark Portugal
 
1994 Panini Stickers
#207 Sean Berry
#208 Wil Cordero  
 
1994 Classic Four Sport (multi-sport)
#145 Chad Penney  
 
 
1993 Stadium Club
 
1993 Action Packed Hall of Fame (basketball)
#37 Connie Hawkins
 
1993 Classic '93 Hockey Draft (hockey)
#40 Saku Koivu 
 
1993 Classic Four Sport (multi-sport)
#246 Mike Rathje
 
 
1992 Front Row Draft Picks
#46 Ed Christian   
 
 
 
 
1992 Upper Deck
#459 Mark Gubicza
#460 Darryl Hamilton
 
 
1991-92 Pro Set - Collectibles (hockey)
#CC5 Wayne Gretzky (LL) 
 
1991-92 Upper Deck (basketbal)
 
1991 Classic Best
#346 Steve Vondran 
 
 
1991 Score
 
1991 Topps
#575 Robin Yount
 
1991 Topps Toys "R" Us Rookies
#24 John Olerud 

1991 Ultra
#130 Lou Whitaker  
 
1991 Upper Deck
 
1991 Fleer (football)
 
1991 Pro Set (football)
 
1991 Pro Set Platinum (football)
#81 Lawrence Taylor
 
 
1991 Impel WCW (wrestling)
#157 Missy Hyatt

 
1991 Topps Desert Storm (non-sport)
#147 Working Together   
 
 
1990-91 Pro Set Super Bowl XXV Silver Anniversary (football)
#88 Nick Buoniconti
 
1990-91 Fleer (basketball)
#21 Kelly Tripucka
#21 Kelly Tripucka
 

1990 Fleer
 
1990 Pacific Legends
#34 Don Kessinger
 
1990 Swell Baseball Greats
#77 Marv Throneberry
 
#698 Omar Vizquel 
 
1990 Score (football)
#436 Chet Brooks (RC)
 
1990 Topps Traded (football)
#102T Howard Cross (RC)
 
1989-90 Fleer (basketball)

1989-90 Hoops (basketball)
#64 Armon Gilliam

   
 
1989 Topps
#628 Matt Williams
 
1988 Card Collectors T-206 Reprint
#NNO Matty McIntyre
 
1988 Donruss 
 
 
1988 Pacific Legends I
#11 Harvey Haddix
 
 
1988 Topps
#70 Roger Clemens
 
1988 Topps Toys "R" Us Rookies
#13 Mike Henneman
 
1988 Topps Traded
 
1987 Fleer Limited Edition
#16 Steve Garvey 
 
1987 Fleer Update
#U-108 Kevin Seitzer

1987 O-Pee-Chee

1987 Topps 
 
1986 Donruss
 
 
 
1986 Fleer - Fleer All-Star Team
#7 Rickey Henderson
 
1986 Fleer Baseball's Best Sluggers vs. Pitchers
 
 
 
1985 Fleer Update
#U-10 Hubie Brooks
#U-13 Al Bumbry
 
1985 Topps #403
Cory Snyder (OLY, RC)   
 
1985 Topps Woolworth All Time Record Holders
#5 Lou Brock
 
1985 Topps (football)
#53 Lions Team Leaders (TL)
 
1984-85 Topps (hockey)
#3 Tom Fergus 
 
1984 Donruss

1984 Fleer
 
 
 
 
1982-85 Galasso Baseball Hobby Card Report T-206 Reprints
 
1982 Dover Publications Reprints National League
#15 Robin Roberts
 
1982 Topps
#586 Rollie Fingers (IA)
#636 Phillies Leaders (Pete Rose/Steve Carlton) (TL, CL)
 
1982 Topps (football) 
 
1981-82 Topps (hockey)
#51 Dale McCourt (TL)
 
1981 Donruss  
 
1981 Fleer
#595 Maury Wills (MGR)

1981 Topps
 
 
1980 Topps 
#65 Al Bumbry
 
 
1979 Kellogg's 3-D Super Stars
#25 Darrell Porter (COR, SP)

1979 Topps 
 
1979 Topps (football)

1978-79 Topps (basketball)
#118 Kevin Porter 

1978 Topps  
#30 George Hendrick
#45 Mark Fidrych 
#190 John Candelaria 
 
1978 Topps (football)
#461 Sam Hunt
#467 Ray Jarvis
 
1977-78 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#216 Guy Lafleur (RB)
 
1977 Dover Publications Classic Baseball Cards Reprints
#10 Lefty O'Doul
#18 Jimmie Dykes
#99 Hal Chase
#NNO Melvin Harder
#NNO Fred Merkle
 
1977 Topps
 
1977 Topps (football)

1976 Topps
#274 Tommy Harper
#287 Pete Mackanin
#303 Steve Foucault
#442 Hank Webb
#659 Ben Oglivie

1975 Topps
 
 
 
1974 Topps - Traded
#43T Jim Wynn
 

#14 Sonny Siebert 
#232 Ken Singleton 
 
1973 Topps (football)
#117 Errol Mann
#145 Dave Hampton (RC)
#192 John Didion (RC)
#237 Malcolm Snider (RC)
#257 Ben Hawkins 
 
1972 Topps  
 
1972 Topps (football)
#11 Bobby Joe Green
#89 Bob Babich (RC)
 
1971 Topps
 
1971 Topps (football)
#8 Walt Garrison (RC)
 
1970 Topps
#2 Diego Segui
#287 Fred Talbot   #390 Willie Davis    
 
1970 Topps (football)
 
1969 Topps
#19 Ken Suarez
 
1969 Topps - Four-in-One Singles (football)
#NNO Ralph Baker
#NNO John Bramlett
#NNO Billy Martin
#NNO Bob Talamini 
 
1968 Topps

1967 Topps

1966 Topps
#10 Tony Cloninger
 
1965 Topps
#17 Johnny Romano
 
1964 Ed-U-Cards Washington Senators Baseball Card Game
#NNO Ball

1964 Topps 
#107 White Sox 1964 Rookie Stars (Bruce Howard/Frank Kreutzer) (RS, RC)
 
1963 Topps
#26 Ray Moore
 
1962 Topps
1961 Topps
#212 Haywood Sullivan
#358 Earl Averill
 
1960 Topps

1959 Topps

1957 Topps
 
1955 Bowman
 
1955 Topps
 
1955 Bowman (football)
#9 Don Stonesifer
 
 
1954 Topps
#215 Ed McGhee

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

1953 Topps
#99 Dave Madison (VAR: white text)
 
1952 Topps Look 'n See (R714-16) (non-sport)
#75 Elias Howe
 
1952 Topps Wings Friend or Foe (R707-4) (non-sport)
#129 PO-1W Lockheed
 
1951 Bowman (football)
#118 Frank Reagan
 
 
1939 Wills's Garden Flowers by Richard Sudell (non-sport)
#38 Petunia

1938 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Tenth Series (J9-6) (non-sport)
#2 Black-throated Green Warbler
 
1938 Churchman's Boxing Personalities (boxing)
#45 Ted Broadribb
#48 Arthur J. Elvin 

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
 
1935 Stephen Mitchell & Son "A Gallery of 1934" (non-sport)
#47 Lord Trenchard 

1933 Church & Dwight Useful Birds of America Fifth Series (J9-1) (non-sport)
#5 Indigo Bunting  
 
1930 All-Fair Authors Card Game (non-sport)
#13 Louisa May Alcott 

1928 Player's Flags of the League of Nations (non-sport)
#42 Roumania
 
1925 Sports Records (multi-sport)
 
1924 Imperial Tobacco Co. of Canada (ITC) Dogs Series (non-sport)
#4 Otter-Hound
 
1924 Lambert & Butler Wonders of Nature (non-sport)
#25 Army-Worms and Fly 

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
 
1910 Champions (T218) (multi-sport)
 
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: 306
Unique trading partners: 77

Number of cards mailed out: 1,654
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1910-11

Number of cards received: 2,412
Year of oldest card received: 1890