Sort 'em If You Got 'em.

       Yesterday was National Baseball Card Day and no, I couldn't get to the National this year (or any year, yet) and no, I didn't get out to my local card shop.  But if you saw my last post, you know that I had plenty to do - I had 925 cards sent from COMC to sort through and revel in.  And that's exactly what I did:

These piles all make sense, to me anyway.  The majority are baseball cards but there are also football, hockey, basketball, bowling, tennis, golf, softball, gaming, movie (James Bond, Batman, and Star Wars among others), music (Beatles and Guided By Voices), and all sorts of Goodwin Champions which include all those things and more. There are three separate piles of Mets cards alone, and also one each for the Saints and the Devils and the Knicks, and a couple of players even got their own piles, Tom Seaver and Todd Hundley (no, really, I am a Hundley super-collector at this point). After that there are Hall of Famers and current stars and retired stars and birthday boys and all-star rookie trophy cards.  It was a fun few hours to go through all these.

I obviously can't highlight and scan 925 cards (103 scans! That would more than double my Seaver memorial post) so I will semi-randomly grab some cards that are either fun or fun to look at or just interesting, to me anyway.  Plus there were a few surprises even for me because after two-plus years, I had forgotten I'd bought them.

The top three here are some multi-player game used cards, one with Gary Carter and Mike Piazza - basically my two favorite players of all time - one with a "Bat Rack" of Mets with the aforementioned Carter and Piazza plus Jose Reyes and Kaz Matsui (remember when he was a thing?) and the third is a glorious mix of 1973 World Series adversaries from the UD Decades set, that one has Tom Seaver and Bud Harrelson along with Reggie Jackson and Bert Campaneris.  THAT is the best card I completely forgot I bought and I was giddy when I saw it.  But it also begs the question, how could I ever forget that card?

 

There is also a Ralph Kiner announcer card, a rarity of him with Mets colors, a great Lee Mazzilli from 1979 Hostess (I have the panel with Steve Garvey and Mike Schmidt but I needed it solo), a 1970 OPC Mets World Champions #1 card, a low numbered Frank Thomas jersey card (with pinstripes!) and a pair of one of my favorite unusual uniform subjects - Pete Rose on the Montreal Expos - I now have a complete page of him in French red, white, and blue.

Let's do a second nine, shall we, I can't just show you less than 1% of these, can I?

First off is the other side of that Carter/Piazza tandem jersey card.  Now I have to decide if it goes with the Carter collection or the Piazza.  Maybe Carter because he's technically the 'front' of the card?  Then you have two modern Topps Hall of Fame short prints.  I am not a big fan of these but sometimes Topps picks really cool photos for them and these two definitely fit that category.  The Koufax is a magnificent shot of him admiring the scoreboard from his perfect game and the Nolan Ryan is a brilliant candid shot that should/could have been one of his 70s cards.  Topps should only pick pictures of this quality when doing these short prints (alas, they often do not).

 

 

There's also a few fun vintage cards here, a 1974 Tony Oliva with its proud position designation of Des(ignated) Hitter, and a late 70s run of Tom Seaver O-Pee-Chee cards.  That last one in the left corner is a 1998 Fleer Tradition Todd Hundley '63 Classic card numbered to /63.  I told you I was becoming a Hundley super-collector.  I also had my eye on a Piazza version of this card but alas did not pull the trigger on it and now it is gone and I might never see another.  I have put that card in my Needed Nine, you can find that list on the right side margin of the blog.  

I teased it in the post from the other day so here is a much better view of the 1952 Andy Pafko #1 I acquired:

I am not certain why I ever bought into the hype of this card but somehow over the years I did and I just decided I must own this stupid thing.  I ended up getting it during the COMC Black Friday sales and the price was right for this condition.  I think what I really like most is the randomness of someone like Andy Pafko being the first card in their first big set.  He was a good ballplayer but nothing anyone would ever consider a superstar.  Donruss went with Ozzie Smith, Fleer went with Pete Rose, Score went with Don Mattingly, Upper Deck lucked out and chose Ken Griffey Jr. over Gregg Jefferies and Gary Sheffield for their lead off but somehow Topps went with Andy Pafko as card number one. If anyone knows the solid reason why they chose him (I don't recall ever seeing one) please enlighten me.  For now, Andy has a hot date with the other two 1952 star cards I keep protected: my Gus Zernial and my Bob Feller.  

I have gotten to the point in my Gary Carter collection where the only cards I don't have are either strange local oddball issues, low numbered monstrosities, or (somewhere in between) just plain old stuff I don't think is worth the money.  I did pull the trigger on a solid gold Gary that I just couldn't pass up during that black Friday sale.  I must say, it is shiny!

I doubt these Danbury Mint cards will ever be worth much (I also bought a Jerry Koosman one in this batch) but I suppose if times are tough I could melt them down and make fillings out of them or something.

Lastly is a card that probably only means something to me but I am so happy that I got it, the nerd in me is still glowing.  It is a 2019 Goodwin Champions Robert Pollard printing plate, a yellow 1/1. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pandemic left me a lot of time at home to sit and listen to music and Uncle Bob here cranked out something like seven albums (and counting) during 2020 and 2021.  Maybe it is the old man in me, but I don't listen to a lot of music the way I did when I was a younger man but the pandemic did a lot of strange things to all of us so it was nice to have new Guided By Voices albums flying out at the rate they used to in the 1990s.  This card will now be the centerpiece of my Bob Pollard collection from that Goodwin set and I have to trust in myself that I don't become that lunatic who needs to hoard the one-of-one cards.  It helps that I haven't seen any of the others for sale...you know, not that I've checked or anything.  Now excuse me, I have 905 other cards to put in their proper place in my collection. 

Mail Call: Wes is More.

Yesterday, I declared this month the one I settle all draft folder business.  This week, specifically, I am clearing out the forgotten trade post drafts that got lost along the way. 

The first one of these I did was over two years old (shame on me!), luckily, this one is only a year old.  Wes of Jaybarkerfan's Junk is one of the most generous and prolific traders I have come across during my blogging.  He straight trades, he holds contest after contest, he organizes card drafts that have quality stuff, and sometimes, he just plain gives shit away.  Back in the winter of 2014, he declared that if you sent him a SASE and a team, he would send you as many cards as he could stuff into it.  Pretty sweet deal and of course I couldn't resist because free stuff.

He included a very shiny and see-thru Todd Hundley - one I didn't have - and a recent Gary Carter insert that I had yet to procure (and one that I have received a couple times since, but Wes was first).  There is some junk wax (Mookie is never junk, though) and some Mets cards from one of my all time favorite sets, the 1981 Topps.  All this for nothing more than .69 worth of stamps. 

I really wish I could remember why I scanned the back of that Elliott Maddox card.  I haven't a clue, to be honest.  I do see he played for the Senators back in 1971, which to a six year old in 1981 would have seemed like some kind of dark age, but I digress.  I also see that Wes stuffed that envelope so full, the post office machines tried to eat it.  Damn you USPS but thank you, Wes.  It's nice that this post came up today since yesterday I mailed out the scratch off from 2015 Topps I pulled to Wes because he asked for it.  Enjoy!

***

Since this was designated a Mail Call, there is stuff from Listia as well.  I recall picking up these Mariano Rivera cards to finish off his page (or maybe to start a second?).  Mo is now long gone now;  these old posts are gonna make me sad.

The other cards in this scan were an odd Mets lot, one with a Ron Swoboda card I had never seen before:

Ron Swoboda would have been just another vague Mets outfielder, but he made the wise decision to make an amazing catch in the World Series.  Ask Sandy Amoros or Al Gionfriddo if this is a good idea or not.  Anyway, this oddball card commemorates the catch and I had to have it. 

Last but not least is a card that probably should have its own post, but it was included in this one and it is a shame but hey, I may as well cover it since it is here.  I do remember very vividly the odyssey of this card. 

Yes, that is a brutally miscut 1994 Upper Deck card.  The front is half Frank Thomas and half Cliff Floyd and the back is all Alex Fernandez.  When I saw it on Listia, I immediately became obsessed with it.  I had to add it to my collection, both for the big error and the Big Hurt.  I watched it, I bid on it, I nursed the bids, and in the end, I won it.  Then began a two pronged issue.  One, right after I won the card I got an email from some other dude saying he wanted the card.  He really really wanted the card.  Would I relist it for twice as many credits?  I turned him down.  He offered me $10, then $20 for it.  I still said no.  He must has emailed me 50 times with different scenarios and reasons begging me for the card.  It got so bad, I eventually had to block him.  Then after all that, the card took weeks to show up.  The seller had an impeccable feedback rating, so I found this odd.  Turns out, though, he tried mailing it in a PWE in the screwdown you see in the scan.  Seriously.  Somehow, it found it's way to me in a mangled envelope in the (in)famous USPS 'oops' plastic bag.  Now that I think of it, that might be why I included it with this post since Wes' SASE got eaten by the hungry machines as well.  Let this be a lesson to you kids, pack your cards securely and wisely because those evil sorting machines show no mercy. 

Cake.

       Today is my birthday.  As a grown man (37 years and counting), I eschew parties and presents as the domain of children.  The people who love me do not shower me with trinkets or cards and do not call to wish me well...they show up with a Carvel ice cream cake or a plate full of cupcakes or heck, even an Entenmann's right out of the box.  I am not picky.  Now, it is not news that as a large man who loves sweets, I will sit through an insurance seminar if there is cake involved.  But make no mistake, there is only one thing and one thing alone that matters today: cake.

       Thanks to the marvelous frivolities section of Baseball Reference, years ago I was able to pin down all of the major leaguers born on the same day I was.  Oh, I already knew a few.  I was at Shea Stadium on my 15th birthday when I learned that a rookie named Todd Hundley shared my birthday.  As a lover of all things Mets and Mets catchers especially, I became a Todd Hundley super-collector from that day forward.  I also learned that year that uber-rookie Frank Thomas and a prospect named Jeff Bagwell shared the same birthday in 1968 - May 27th.  I am not sure if it is narcissistic or pragmatic, but I also became a big fan and collectors of both those players as well.  I now collect any player that has my birthday and I have a binder that collects all my "Birthday Boys" together.  I keep a separate one for Hundley, Thomas, and Bagwell, so they are represented in these pages.

John Jaha, one of the all time best names to say aloud, was born today in 1966.  I never became a Jaha collector for some reason and these are the only six of his cards that I own.

These are some prospects that have my birthday.  Richards has made the show and shows some promise.

Brad Knox and Trey Shields, alas, never got to the Big Leagues.  But their DOB on their cards, though, got them in this book.

After the Big Three of Hundley, Thomas, and Bagwell, Mike Caruso was the next in line to break out and become a star with my birthday...

...unfortunately, he flamed out and never really amounted to much.  He was out of the majors by the time he was 25.

Jacob Brumfield sounds like a British gent.  Instead, he was a marvelously sub-par outfielder from the 90's.  He looks like a ball player, but he didn't play much like one (70 OPS+ in 1747 PA - yuck).

Also on this page is Chien Ming Chang, a Taiwanese player who has been in the WBC.  I caught that his birthday was mine on a broadcast and immediately went to eBay to pick up one of his cards.  Terry Collins, was for a while, the failed manager of the Astros and Angels.  Now his is the manager of my beloved Mets; I will have to find some more of his cards.  Those last three players are a trio of never-weres.  You will find that to be the case with a lot of these guys from here on in. 

Like these five guys (mmmm burgers).  All the very definition of commons. 

Ah, but here is a tragic story.  Gary Nolan was Mark Prior before Mark Prior.  He had an electric arm and came up to the bigs at the age of 18 throwing gas - he even finished second to Tom Seaver in rookie of the year voting in 1967.  Alas, his elbow went early and while he became a finesse pitcher for a time, he never panned out to be the world beater his first few years would have indicated he would.  People rarely use him as an example of a pitcher who blew out his arm early from overuse.  Everyone seems to think every pitcher from the 1960's was Bob Gibson and Don Sutton.

Ahhh, back to the scrubs...

Terry Moore and Pinky Higgins had decent big league careers, but if it weren't for that one day in 1968, May 27th wouldn't have much to show for it in the major league annals.

Not being content to stay with just baseball, I checked for the basketball birthday boys as well.  I did pick up cards of the players I could find.  These eight players are about as underwhelming as you would possibly imagine.

I read somewhere once that Sam Snead had my birthday, so I picked up one of his cards and his being here with these awful basketball players makes him the best athlete on this page by far. 

About a million people will celebrate birthdays with me today, so obviously, there are some football players too.

Antonio Freeman somehow got a whole page worth of cards in the binder.  Most of these are shiny...I imagine that is why.

Danny Weurffel played for the Saints, so he's got that going for him. 

I haven't checked the football site in a while, Nick Barnett was the last player with my birthday I consciously remember playing in the NFL.  With over 1500 players in the league, I am sure there are more.

Jackie Slater is by far the best NFL player with my birthday, he made Canton a few years ago.

The NHL is represented here with a few players, but once again, I have not checked that list in a long time.  I am sure there are more than four players.  Jeremy Mayfield is a Nascar driver (strike one) who is a crack head (strike two) who also is a big jerk about it (strike three).  Yet my completist nature won't let me not include him.  Paul Gascoigne is a really good soccer player.  Good for him.

Lance Schulters was a pretty mediocre to pretty terrible defensive back.  He was also born the exact same day as I was.  So was Andre Savage.  So was Jamie Oliver and Andre 3000 (not shown). Happy 37th boys!

There are a couple of WWE folks with my birthday.  That's kind of sports related, right?  Just to be well rounded, I have a boxer and a Tennis player as well.  Lee Meriwether is a former Miss America and I found that she has my birthday as well.  Or well, that I have hers.

OK, this is just straight vanity, but if your card also mentions May 27th, I include it in the book.  That ever so popular Yankee Stadium Legacy set is here, as are some major league debuts and some Joe DiMaggio streak cards. 

I will include the backs of these, as I did double up some that just had information on the back.

The Carlos Pena and Curt Schilling cards just mention feats done on May 27th and Jim Clancy's kid shares my birthday.  Finding those was pure serendipity and shows that I spend far far too much time reading the backs of baseball cards. 

While there is the immortal Lance Schulters in football and the incomparable Andre Savage in hockey, there has never been (and very likely never will be) a Major League baseball player born on May 27, 1975.  The closest I came was Travis Lee.

His mother was far too anxious to get him out of her and thus he was born on May 26, 1975.  He never quite panned out, given all his prospect hype, but still had quite a decent career.  I have about 6 pages worth of his cards, but I think one is enough here.

Two days off the pace is Randall Simon, born 5/25/75.  His claim to fame is hitting one of the sausage mascots in Milwaukee with a bat during their little race.  Quite the legacy.

Also two days off the pace was Sean Spencer, but in the other direction.  I am a whole two days older than Sean.  I have an Auto and a refractor of old Sean.  Obviously it is quality over quantity in my Sean Spencer collection.  Last but not least is Christian Parker.  Well, maybe least in term of career as he pitched a whole three innings in the majors and was once suspended for steroid use.  Plus, he was born July 3, 1975, so what the heck is he doing here?  Well, he was born in Albuquerque, NM as was I.  He is the closest in terms of age to someone from my birthplace to make the majors. Obscure?  Well, if you have read this far, you can tell I have an odd attention to detail when it comes to these kinds of things regarding my birthday.  I didn't grow up in Albuquerque, but if I had, I may have played with a major leaguer, all be it one with a 21.00 ERA, but hey, he made the majors didn't he?  I never came close.  (Oh, and now that you are armed with my birthday and place of birth, you can try to steal my identity.  Believe me, when you see my credit score, you'll wish you hadn't.) 

So, now that you know it is my birthday, I will be expecting cake (kidding).  But actually, this post sets up tomorrow's, where I show the oddest and most obsessive part of my collection.

Not Nine.

       I have been extolling the virtues of the nine-pocket page, but as we all know, they aren't the only pages that exist.  So, to show that I am an open-minded all-embracing card lover, not some kind of standard-sized bigot, I present all the wonderful shapes and sizes that make our hobby great:

(sing along, if you are in the mood)

TWO!


FOUR!


SIX!


EIGHT!

 Who do we appreciate?

Well, I really love these:

Fifteen!

And twelve!

Nonononono, no more of that faux vintage stuff, and that page isn't even complete (even if the set is) c'mon, let's see the real thing...

Damn baby, that page is so sexy, let's turn around and see that backside.

That's what I'm talkin' about...