Who Wants It? Pete Rose Edition.

       I recently busted a blaster of 2012 Leaf The Living Legend Pete Rose that I bought at Target for $13 strictly for the autograph...but there were 10 packs of 6 cards in there too.  If the collation had been perfect, I would have gotten the entire 50 card set with 10 cards leftover to make a nine pocket page and one to put in the spokes of my bike.  Alas, that didn't happen, there were doubles and triples galore because there is no such thing as perfect collation.   Anyway, I made my page for his player collection and I don't own a bike and I put the many triples on listia.  But that leaves me with 42 of the 50 cards and I have decided I don't really want or need to make this set...
But maybe you do? I figured this is as good a time as any for another one of my anti-contest giveaways.  If you would like these 42 of the 50 cards from this set, just be the first one to comment on this post and then email me your address.  No muss, no fuss.  So, who wants it?

Mail Call: Oddest of the Odd.

       I have not chronicled my new found love of Listia as much as I think I should here on this blog.  I certainly have shown my love for oddball cards and dime boxes at card shows.  Listia allows me to indulge these two loves at the same time without even having to leave my house.  I mean, sure, I try and secure quality cards from Listia, but my real favorite thing is to find weird lots of cards and buy them.  Last week, I bid on what I thought was three pretty crazy cards.  Instead, the seller put some unexpected bonuses into the envelope and may very well have created the freakiest lot I have ever seen:

The original lot was the Strawberry, the Whitney Houston(!) and the Superman hologram.  I am not entirely certain how I even ran across this lot; I must have searched "strawberry" I suppose.  As I have shown in the past I love those 1990 Starline cards (and I don't have the individual Stawberry), I adore shiny (and Superman), and say what you will about Ms Houston, but that rendition of the Star Spangled Banner is top drawer.  So I figured, what the hell, the expense was minimal.  In and of itself, though, that odd threesome probably would not have warranted its own post.  It seems the Listia gods were looking down upon me and struck hard.  The seller threw in the other six cards you see there with no warning or provocation.  And what a wonderful six cards they are.  First of all, how did they have the prescience to know I collected Frank Thomas, much less include a card I did not own.  Then there is the marvelous Brooks Robinson K-Mart oddball card, also a card I did not own.  I covered goofy fun NFL names yesterday and Dana Stubblefield definitely fits that mold.  And while basketball cards are not my favorite, an über 90's looking Phil Jackson, a so-lame-it-is-wonderful Amar'e Stoudemire rookie, and a Tim Hardaway NBA Hoops rookie is a triumvirate I can get behind. 

Thank you rosemaryforsythe, I will never forget you.  This group is so ugly, so disparate, so random it's wonderful.  I almost want to leave them as a single page but alas, this is the one time they will all be together for posterity.  Drink it in. 

Queening.

      I am not a big fan of the Gypsy Queen set.  My biggest gripe is that it is redundant.  Topps already made a perfect faux-vintage tobacco set in Allen and Ginter, why do another?  Topps often falls into the "more is more" trap and this one has it by the short hairs...just another Topps example of going to the well way too many times.  My other issue is the one most other people have with it, that the base design is just way too busy, and frankly, down right ugly.  Gypsy Queen looks like a set that stoned Upper Deck executives would have rejected and the computer generated old-timey look just doesn't work.  I am proud that I have bought exactly zero packs of this product.  That said, I have seen many write ups on the Gypsy Queen and I did find a couple of insert sets that I did like.  Thanks to eBay, I didn't have to slog through pack after pack to get the cards I wanted, I just found a lot of the cards I liked and skipped the ugly base card middle man.

This year features a subset called Moonshots:

I like the term Moonshot.  I like the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" which features the term.  I like Wally Moon, who is the impetus of the term.  I like the Apollo space program.  I like the color purple (I am indifferent to the film, though).  So, even if I am not big on Gypsy Queen, I like this particular insert set fine.

Last year's set had a few cool inserts, but the one I adore most by far is the Wall Climbers:

Look at that, outfielders making catches at the wall, which is one of my favorite photos for a baseball card.  There are 10 total in this set, so I broke down and bought the whole thing on eBay.  Poor Rajai Davis lost out on this 9-card page, his green on green picture just didn't do it for me.  But in the end, this page is ten kinds of awesome and this insert set might be one of my favorites of all time.  So what is the moral of this story?  Even if you hate a particular release, there might be something redeeming about it hiding in the inserts.

***

Post script.  One other thing the mention of this set does is get this song stuck in my head, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the last thing I need is more going on in my subconscious.  Plus, if you know the movie, then you have Tina Turner dancing about going on as well.  My head is a strange place.

Jaybarkerfan's Junk Part 2 - The Lots

       Yesterday, we covered a card draft held by the esteemed Jaybarkerfan's Junk on his blog.  But Wes wasn't done getting rid of his cards, oh no.  He was also offering team lots.  Lots!  My favorite.  And Mets! also my favorite.  So you can tell what a fool I am for lots of Mets.  Basically, all he wanted was the cost of shipping for them, so how could I resist (spoiler! I couldn't).  So along with my draft pickings came four jam-packed team bags full of Mets:

Also, altruistically or practically, I cannot tell which nor will I speculate, Wes was giving some lots away.  Yup, just giving them away...so because I also have an odd enjoyment of defunct teams, I grabbed his lot of free Expos, because, hey, free stuff! (what's with all the exclamation points? and parentheticals? I guess I shouldn't have had that third cup of coffee).  Before we break down the Mets, lets  take a quick look at some of those Expos...

...and we are already in a cardboard happy place.  Overly colorful Larry Walker rookies, dust-flying plays at the plate, those sharp mid 90's Expos unis, fabulous early 80's record breakers, and Mike Fitzgerald, one of the four quarters the Mets gave the Expos for their Gary Carter dollar.
I love players on odd teams; everyone remembers the Mark Langston trade because it had Randy Johnson in it, but few recall that a) it even involved the Expos or b) Langston was only in Montreal for half a season.
One can criticize Milton Bradly for his shitty attitude all they want, but no one can deny his awesome name.  He'd just be an ordinary malcontent if he was Robert Jones, but instead, he was a colorfully named malcontent.
Last, but not least, is Woody Fryman.  I always enjoyed Woody's cards as a kid because he looked 150 years old on them, even when he was 35.  Now, Woody is 42-43 in that picture there, and sadly, looks younger than I do now at 37.  Oh the ravages of time.  Of course, Woody is now dead and so are the Expos, but they will both live forever on cardboard.  

OK, lets break down that Mets lot.  Yes, there was a bunch of junk wax in there, I didn't expect anything less.  When one is dealing with lots, especially team lots, you know that 12th 1987 Topps Keith Hernandez All Star card is waiting for you.  But there were plenty of gems as well. 

I can never pass up Mike Piazza cards.  Ever.  I always loved that 1998 Finest card, his white uniform just pops out from the dull silver background.  I didn't have that 2002 Ultra short print, I only have the gold medallion version, so now we've got new cards...yay!
As you may have read earlier, my brother and I went to Jackie Robinson Day in Philly last weekend.  Since all the players were wearing #42, the Mo Vaughn jokes came fast and furious.  My favorite: "Are those Mo's old jerseys?"  "No, they saved three or four of them and sewed all of today's jerseys out of them..."
My other favorite card on that page is Don Schulze.  Why?  Well, in 1987 the Mets pitching staff was the walking wounded.  Everybody got hurt one way or another. My brother and I went to a game in early August expecting to see Sid Fernandez pitch but instead, we got Don Schulze (they never said what El Sid's injury was, but we are pretty sure it had to do with the buffet).  And he got brutalized.  And for the last 25 years, Don Schulze has been a punchline in our family.  Sadly, that was Don's last appearance in a Met uniform, yet he got himself a 1988 Topps card, so he's got that going for him.

Look! Nolan Ryan cards!  In a Mets uniform! (more exclamation points? really?)

I have often said that I have more cards of Nolan Ryan in a cowboy hat than a Mets uniform.  While that joke is not quite as accurate the last few years with all the faux-vintage cards around, the 1991 Pacific Nolan Ryan set seemed to be nothing but Ryan in a cowboy hat.  I see now that the problem I had with that set is, I bought nothing but the second series.  Obviously, Wes bought a lot of the first series, because I got a boatload of Nolan Ryan from him...in a Mets uniform!  I got several of each card, so if any other Mets fans have the same issue I (used to) have, I would be glad to part with some of the doubles.  Plus look at the baby picture, jeez he was born with that giant head....I feel bad for his mother.

Oh yes, there is plenty more...

This mishmash of stuff does have a theme.  Gregg Jefferies, one of the great disappointments of my life, did get some wonderful cards in his day.  I love that shot from the '91 Upper Deck set.  As I have gushed before, I love double play cards, and Rey Ordonez got himself a few nice ones, that Stadium Club shot included.
I have a bunch of those Tom Seaver Baseball Heroes cards, but I have never looked to see if I have them all.  That is one I didn't have, so the answer to that question was "no" and now is back to "I don't know."
Tim Teufel was always one of my forgotten favorite Mets.  He didn't look like a ballplayer, he didn't move like a ballplayer, heck, if you saw his batting stance, you might swear he wasn't a ball player at all.  Yet, he was a pretty solid contributor.  He was greater than the sum of his parts and scrappy, to use two horrible cliches.  Plus, his last name means "devil" in German - he is literally the devil...how cool is that?
Ryan Thompson is another in a long line of Mets disappointments (Jeff Kent was shown earlier but not mentioned - they came together from the Blue Jays in the David Cone trade - double disappointment!).  But I have a large Ryan Thompson collection.  Why?  Well, besides the fact that you always seem to accumulate cards of your teams failed prospects in gross, I have not one but two friends with the moniker "Ryan Thompson."  If I had the same name as a major leaguer, I would have my business cards printed on my same-name player's baseball card. 
I am currently infatuated with the 1994 Fleer set, a set I never really collected or even really looked at much before.  I am looking to pick up nine cards for a page (I have 2 so far) and I am looking to put together the Mets team, this is two more cards towards that goal.

There were some minor league cards too...

As I get closer to acquiring all the Mets cards from major manufacturers from the last 50 years, I find myself contemplating whether or not I should start picking up minor league Mets affiliates team sets.  You know, so I can have something new to drive myself nuts about. 

One great thing about baseball cards is, even when you think you have All The Cards, you don't...

...there is always an oddball you have never seen, an insert from a set that you didn't collect, a shiny variation of a vague set.  And, of course, stickers.  That Strawberry is an OPC sticker, to boot.  Oh yeah, and that cool graded Johan belonged in the Draft portion from yesterday but somehow wound up here.  Ahhh, my wonderful organizational skills.

There was a large vein of recent Mets cards, which is good, because I am still filling in the gaps from the last couple years:

There was an abundance of 2011 Topps, which I think finishes off my team set (I'll have to check).  I didn't have a Lucas Duda from the 2011 Bowman set, nor the Ike Davis from Heritage, and now I do.  I think James Fuller invented the steam engine or the hair brush or something, I'll have to check that as well.

Last but not least are some more contemporary Mets:

I think I now have 2 of those Gold R.A. Dickey cards.  I also think I am now one away from completing the Golden Tom Seavers, I have four and I believe there are five of each player.  I read a lot of trashing of the 2012 Topps design, but it has grown on me.  It is simple and modern with a little elegance and a little pizazz.  It fits in nicely with the last few years of designs with its white borders and curves.  I think I prefer the 2010 Topps design, but certainly not those two...is there a more apropos indicator of how lousy the Mets have been recently than Oliver Perez and Francisco Rodriguez?  I think I better wrap this up.

One man's Junk is another man's treasure.  Thanks Wes!

Lots of Mets.

       I love lots.  No, that is not an incomplete sentence, I love buying and selling lots of cards on eBay.  All sorts of people will tell you all kinds of strategies for getting a good price on the venerable auction site; ideas ranging from searching misspellings to sniping to days of the week, etc. etc.   I have bought and sold on there for over a decade and I find the best way to get bang for your buck is lots.  When I sell in lots, I always list everything that's involved, including names, card numbers, and serial numbers - not just one of these but all of them.  Sure, it can be time consuming, but such completist actions gets results.  And conversely, when I am looking for a card, I will always use the "search description" option to see if I can find it in a lot to get some other cards with it, either to add to my collection or turn around and resell.  I find this adds to the fun and since this is a hobby, that is the name of the game.

       I don't always have a specific target when I search, sometimes I just plug in a few words and "lot" and see what comes up.  "Mets lot" is one of my five most common searches on eBay and last week I found a rather vaguely worded listing, offering 50 cards including "serial numbers" and "refractors" with nothing listed and only one card pictured.  Normally, I would not take a chance on such a lot, but I was feeling frisky and the price was right.  Lucky for me, the lot was all refractors and serial numbered cards.  It is one of my favorite buys of recent memory.  Lets take a look:

Right away, there are some Topps gold parallels, I happen to love these cards.  Johan is always appreciated, I am still a little weary of Pelfrey.  Pagan is now gone, but he did have one good season on a bad team and, last but not least, Brandon Looper.  I like Brandon Looper strictly because in MVP 2005, he was listed as B. Looper - so that means the Mets closer was literally a Blooper!  How appropriate. *sigh* Moving on, there is some Heritage Chrome and those wacky Topps Co-Signers cards, with their labyrinthine system of colors and numbers.  Luckily, Jose Reyes is in the dark shadows of two of them and not featured.  My love affair with Jose Reyes is over and I am very broken-hearted about the whole thing.  It is always nice to see David Wright's smiling face, with any luck, we will see more of it on the field this year. 

Let's move on to the shiny, OOOOOOooooooooooo..... shiny...

Night Owl was right when he said the 2010 Chrome cards were the worst offenders of the curling, that Jason Bay bows something awful and it was packed tight with these other cards.  Oh, but those Blue and Orange refractors are purdy.  I can't tell which color works better.  That David Wright looks 100x better in person, with its orange popping right out at ya.  More stately and beautiful is the 2011 Johan Santana; that might be my favorite new Johan.  Heck, the blue even makes Armando Benitez look good.  There, once again, is a mega-shiny X-Fractor Jose Reyes...there was a time when I would have been thrilled to own that card.  Then there are some Bowman refractors, which are always hit or miss.  The shine on the black borders is hard to see in person, much less in the scans here.  And while I love the color purple normally, it does nothing for Mets cards.  I do like that those cards are numbered out of /777 - I like it when they mix it up from the usual /999 or /500 or what have you.

Here are some more Mets shiny.  Told you there were a lot of refractors...

Lots of painful memories in this scan, but being a Mets fan is knowing the meaning of the words "what might have been."  That Daniel Murphy X-Fractor is quite something in person; he is the only potential positive here.  The less said about the others, the better.

Even more shiny and some die-cut rookies:

Kurt Presley's claim to fame is being a cousin of The King; too bad Lisa Marie has a stronger arm.  That gold refractor David Wright is the rare card that looks better in the scan than it does in person.  The colors don't quite work in real life, but the scanner seemed to get the right angle on it.  Odd.  Oh, and Darryl Strawberry.  I have been in an abusive relationship with Straw since 1983.  I wish I could quit you, but a low numbered blue shiny Topps Tribute card is not going to help at all.  Deolis Guerra was one of the pieces of the Johan Santana trade, I think he parked my car last week in the city, I can't be 100% sure.  Then there are two more Orange vs. Blue examples.  These are both off colors to the Mets colors, but both work; yes, even with Victor Zambrano prominently involved.  Matt Den Dekker opened some eyes in Spring Training this year, and this is the first card of his I have.  The only thing I have to look forward to this year is some young bucks going out there and showing something, so I hope they keep some of these kids up.  If you're gonna fail, you might as well do it with rookies.  I remember we picked Steve Matz in 2009 and this is the first I have heard of him since.

Getting a little older with these, and a little more random:

Mike Piazza and Tom Glavine.  You cannot get further on my love list than those two.  I have never said a kind word about Tom Glavine and I never will.  OK, Carlos Beltran.  I avoided commenting on his cards now long enough.  I want to like Carlos Beltran.  Heck, I want to love him.  I have a boatload of his cards.  And yes, I know he had some good years for the team, but I am afraid in the long run, the best thing about Carlos Beltran for the Mets is he got us Zack Wheeler.  Sad.  The bottom row has a neat old Topps Gallery Players Private Issue card of Rey Ordonez.  I now look back on Rey Ordonez fondly, so I guess there is hope for Carlos Beltran.  I have that Dynasty card in a gold ultra-low numbered version, so having it in orange is nice too (the back has Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry).  That last card proves the old Meatloaf lyric correct: two outta three aint bad.

This was a 50 card lot, so the last scan only had five cards:

The top row are three rookies that didn't pan out, two of them from Japan.  I love all of the Mets failed experiments in free agents from the far east, so these cards will find themselves in good company with Kazuo Matsui and Tsuyoshi Shinjo, et al.  The last two cards kind of belong together...Darryl Strawberry and Jose Reyes.  Probably the two best position players the Mets have ever developed.  Both of them left for greener pastures and fatter wallets.  One of them regrets it, I hope the other one lives to. *double sigh* To end this post on a more positive note, those Upper Deck Baseball Heroes cards sure look wonderful in blue.