Cool Cards

Eastern South Dakota is in a deep freeze.  This past Friday, early in the evening, the temperature dropped below zero.  And we aren't supposed to be back in positive numbers again until Tuesday.  Currently, it's -12, which is also today's high temp.  Last night was -23.  Tonight it's supposed to be -23 again.  Tomorrow's high is forecast at -4, and tomorrow night down to -22.

When I got the mail yesterday, there was a package from Amazon containing a card I'd recently purchased.  The seller had thrown in some extra cards as filler around the main card.  The package was in the mailbox for probably a couple of hours before I brought it inside, and who knows how long it had been in cold trucks before that.  I opened the package and after I'd sifted through the first two or three cards, I had to put them down.  They were cold as ice!  After a couple minutes I picked them up again, and this time they had a thin veil of moisture on them, which I had to wipe off.

The card I was after was this 2016-17 Panini Prizm Silver Prizms of Ivica Zubac.  It was my #10 most wanted basketball card.  The way I paid for it was by another $10 Amazon gift card I received for filling out another survey.

The following Donruss Optic cards from 2016-17 were the filler cards.  Let me know if you want any of them, as they are all trade bait.

I hope you all have a happy new year!

Buchholz Rookie Autographs for Trade

The first card shown here has been on my want list for a long time. In fact, it worked it's way all the way up the charts to #6 on my most wanted baseball cards list. I was finally able to nab it on eBay last week. It was in a Clay Buchholz rookie card lot. I paid a little more than I wanted to, but the other cards in the lot looked to have good trade value so I went for it.

2008 Finest Refractors Autographs Clay Buchholz RC. This is the one I wanted and is not for trade.

But the rest below are new trade bait!

2008 Upper Deck UD Premier Rookie Signatures Clay Buchholz RC

2008 Upper Deck Timeline SP Clay Buchholz RC

2008 Finest Autographs Clay Buchholz RC

Let me know if you're interested in any of the last three.

Jesse James

I hope you all had a great Christmas yesterday!  I mentioned last time that I had received a package from COMC.  It's time to see the rest of what was in it.

First is a card of the hero of the Steelers-Patriots game a couple of weekends ago.  This is the 2017 Panini Prizm Prizms of Jesse James, whose catch and reach of the ball over the goal line put the Steelers ahead with just seconds left in the game.

Oh wait, I just remembered something.  The officials said that catching the ball, turning his body, and extending the ball out over the goal line didn't constitute a catch.  And when the nose of the ball crossed the goal line, it wasn't actually a touchdown because he had to bring it down a foot into the end zone gingerly enough where the ball wouldn't move at all.  Hmmm....

Next are several Los Angeles Lakers cards from the new 2017-18 Panini Prizm Silver Prizms set.

Julius Randle.  He's been solid the past three years, averaging a dozen points and eight rebounds a game.  A seventh overall pick, he was one and done at the University of Kentucky.

Brandon Ingram.  Another high draft pick, number two overall, he was one and done at Duke University.  This is his second season, and he's picked up his game and averages 16 points per game.

Larry Nance.  He was a late first round pick a couple of years ago.  He still spells relief off the bench.

Brook Lopez.  He's not producing like the Lakers had hoped.  He's only 29 but it feels like he's been around the league a long time.  Interesting Lakers card with him wearing his Brooklyn uniform.

Luke Walton.  In his first season as the Lakers head coach, he's losing a lot more games than he's winning.  But he is a marked improvement over his predecessors.

I also chipped away some more at the 1973 Topps baseball set, picking up some star cards.

I like any Reggie card from back when he was on the A's.  And this Bench card is an all-time great photo.

That 6,172 total base number on Hank Aaron's all-time leader card is still best all-time.  It's been 43 years and the closest anyone has come since is Barry Bonds with 5,976.  Vida Blue had a career adjusted ERA of 108, twice as good as his teammate Catfish Hunter's, but Blue is not in the hall of fame.  Check out how far the batter is choking up in the picture.

And finally, I found a couple more Bowman Red Sox from the 1950's of players who weren't in the Topps sets those years.

 Hoot Evers, 1953 Bowman Color and George Kell, 1954 Bowman.

Quest for 1974 Topps Baseball Set Continues

In anticipation of getting some money for Christmas, I made a COMC order earlier in the week.  It arrived today.  It'll take a couple posts to share them all, but for starters, I took a serious swipe out of the remaining cards I need for the complete 1974 Topps baseball set.

 

This biggest catch for me was this Mike Schmidt.  As you can tell, the condition isn't great.  But this set is turning out to be a mid to lower grade set, so it will fit in well.

A couple of hall of famers here with Jim Hunter and Al Kaline.  Hunter's adjusted ERA for his career is 104, meaning he was 4% better than the average pitcher at allowing runs.  Kaline hung around just long enough to get 3,000 hits.

A couple landscape oriented cards in the World Series Game #6 and All-Star Left Fielders.  I think that's Reggie Jackson on the World Series card.  I sure hope Pete Rose lives long enough to see himself inducted into the hall of fame.

So that leaves just ONE card left to complete the 1974 Topps baseball set.  Who wants to be my hero and trade me card #421 of Dan Fife?  I can get it on ebay for $1.75 but it would be a lot more fun to trade!

A couple loose ends were tied up with the following cards.

2014 Elite Xtra Edition Signatures of Josh Ockimey.  This was the last Red Sox player with a card in 2014 that I didn't have yet.  Ockimey's been bouncing up and down between A and AA the past two seasons.  He plays that first base/designated hitter role that the Red Sox are looking to fill with J.D. Martinez perhaps.  His path to the majors is blocked if that signing happens.

2017 Donruss Rated Rookie of Andrew Benintendi.  He completes the Donruss team set for me and also wraps up what I want to collect from 2017.  This was my #9 most wanted baseball card.  Dan Fife from 1974 Topps now takes that spot!

Steelers Prizms

The Pittsburgh Steelers are having a great season. Their record is 11-3 and they have clinched the AFC North title. All I collect of current football cards right now are the Steelers team sets of a major base set brand (This year I picked Donruss) and Panini Silver Prizms. I found a seller on eBay last weekend who had eight of the Prizms for half off. They arrived yesterday. 

I still need a couple more to complete the team.

Does anyone who saw the ending of the Patriots game have thoughts they want to share on if it was a catch or not?

In the Mail - Nolan Ryan and Another Doerr

I've been really busy the past week or two; no time for posts.  I received two cards in the mail this past week. 

The first was this 1973 Topps Nolan Ryan.  I picked it up cheap on ebay.  I've still got a ways to go to complete this set.  Here's what I still need, if you can help, please let me know.
Reggie Jackson #255
Willie Mays #305
Ed Kranepool #329
Checklist #338
Gaylord Perry Boyhood Photo #346
Chuck Tanner #356
Rick Wise #364
Frank Duffy #376
Johnny Bench #380
Mickey Lolich #390
Grant Jackson #396
Jack Hiatt #402
Willie McCovey #410
Vida Blue #430
Bill Melton #455
Dick Green #456
Bill Freehan #460
Hank Aaron All-Time Leaders #473
Babe Ruth All-Time Leaders #474
Dave Campbell #488
Duffy Dyer #493
Pat Corrales #542
Orlando Cepeda #545
Whitey Herzog #549
Yankees Team Card #556
Frank Howard #560
Bill Singer #570
Phil Roof #598
Rookie Catchers #601
Rookie Pitchers #602
Rookie Third Basemen #603
Rookie Pitchers #604
Rookie First Basemen #605
Rookie Outfielders #606
Rookie Pitchers #608
Rookie Second Basemen #609
Rookie Pitchers #610
Rookie Outfielders #611
Rookie Pitchers #612
Rookie Catchers #613
Rookie Third Basemen #615
Joe Ferguson #621
Del Crandall #646

The second card in the mail this past week was this 1952 Berk Ross of Bobby Doerr.  I apologize for the shadow on the card.  It's in a graded holder in which I find it incredibly hard to take a good picture.  It won't fit in the scanner, too thick.  And because the case is so reflective, I either get glare from a light if the light is in front of me, or a shadow if the light is behind or next to me.  I didn't have a Doerr from 1952, so that is now checked off.

Another Bobby Doerr

Bobby Doerr's passing last month prompted me to look him up in the trading card database. My pursuit of Red Sox team sets over the years brought a number of his cards into my collection. The TCDB reminded me about a decision I once made regarding Doerr's 1936 Goudey Wide Pen Premiums card. I had decided not to pursue it as part of that year's team set because he was on the San Diego Padres in the card, or so I thought based on my research.

1936 Goudey Wide Pen Premiums Bobby Doerr

I changed my mind! Since he was in the minor leagues working his was up to the majors with Boston it's close enough for me. I got this one on eBay the other day. Notice the misspelling of his last name. 

Summer of 74 Trade

I recently made a trade with Matt from the blog Summer of '74.  He's trying to complete some Topps base baseball sets, so I sent him some from his want list.  In return, he sent a couple of his TTM successes and old football cards.

This 1972 Topps Terry Bradshaw is his second year card.  Matt isn't sure the signature is actually Bradshaw's, but maybe someone else who signs on his behalf.

2015 Bowman Rookies of Trae Waynes.  He's the starting cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings, so he's well known around here.

Also in the package were a number of cards from the 1974 Topps Parker Brothers.  I had heard of these before and am glad to finally have some!  They look just like the 1974 Topps base cards, except the stats on the back are for 1972 instead of 1973.  Here are pictures of just some of them.

These are very typical poses for linemen in the 70's.

 

Thanks a lot for the trade, Matt!  Good stuff!

Baseball Cards from COMC

First, an update on the bats.  Last week the guy I previously mentioned came out and installed some cones in the entrance points on the house's exterior.  The cone allows the bats to leave the attic but not get back in.  Since they are most likely hibernating now in this part of the country, it'll be spring before they leave.  Let's hope this does the trick.

Second, I have a few more cards from a recent COMC purchase which I haven't shared yet.

Manuel Margot from 2016 Elite Extra Edition Future Threads.  This is the only Red Sox card of Margot that I could find from 2016.  I wish there had been one where he wasn't sharing the card with a Padres version of himself.

 Willie McCovey, 1971 Topps

Brooks Robinson, 1971 Topps.  I didn't notice when I bought this one that there was writing on it.

Gaylord Perry, 1971 Topps

Jim Kaat, 1971 Topps

 

Kevin Youkilis, 2005 Upper Deck.  This one completes the team set.

Mid 1970's Success at Minneapolis LCS

I was in Minneapolis this weekend and was able to break away to a LCS on Friday. It's one I went to back in May, Twin Cities Sportscards.

This time I came armed with updated want lists of 1974 and 1975 Topps baseball. For 1974, I was able to knock 19 of the 25 I still needed off my want list. 

Goose Gossage, Bobby Bonds, and Thurman Munson were the highlights for me. Here's the ones I still need to complete the set. 

Hunter #7, Kaline #215, Schmidt #283, All-Star Left Fielders #336, Fife #421, World Series Game 6 #477

For 1975 I picked up Keith Hernandez and Bill Madlock. 

That just leaves Gary Carter and George Brett to complete the set. They had Brett, but wanted too much for it. 

Prior to leaving on the trip, I had just bought a big lot of 1973 Topps baseball on eBay. It hadn't arrived yet, but fortunately the seller included the missing cards from the complete set in the item description. So I was able to improvise at the card shop. I bought 77 of them, leaving 53 to go. 

Lou Brock and Harmon Killebrew are my favorites. Checklist #588 sparked an interesting conversation on how rare it was. I had no idea a checklist would be one of the more expensive cards in the set. He sold it to me for $5, which I looked up later and realize I got a really good deal. I have some 1973 buried away somewhere at home, so it's probably less than 53 that I need. And I probably picked up some doubles that day; I was trying to go by memory.  I have a rough list of what I still need on my baseball card want list page. 

In total it amounted to $20 for 98 cards. I'm a happy customer.