CaptKirk42s Trading Cards Blog

2007 Donruss Classics Redskins fun

2012-01-31T16:40:00.000-05:00

On Friday 27 January 2012 I got a card in the mail that I had paid for two days earlier on Ebay for just 99~ + $2.25 shipping. The card is a 2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-21 John Riggins (front shown above) serial numbered to 1000. As much as I like Riggo, and these Donruss Classic Singles sub-set cards I can't stand that picture of Riggo. The expression on his face is strange.

This one is a jersey number card as it is #0544/1000.

2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-21 John Riggins Back

(Serial Number 0544/1000)

I have another of this card that I've had for sometime it is #0056/1000.

2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-21 John Riggins

2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-21 John Riggins Back

(Serial Number 0056/1000)

I have other Classic Singles including this of John's fellow Redskin Joe Theismann serial numbered 0441/1000 which if you add all the numbers up is Sonny Jurgensen's number 9, or you can just take the 44 for Riggo.

2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-6 Joe Theismann

(Serial Number 0441/1000)

Bonus Non-Sport Promo Cards

2012-01-30T17:00:00.000-05:00

I forget when I got these promo cards but they came as a FREEBIE bonus from some seller I think from sportlots.com but it could have been from Ebay. I'm fairly certain though that my purchase had been some sports cards so why they included some Non-Sport cards I don't know. That is another of my little pet peeves of card sellers the inclusion of a "Bonus" card(s) that are not related to the card you purchased. If I buy some football cards then give me some football cards as a bonus preferably the same team, not baseball or basketball or non-sport. If I order non-sport cards either send cards from these same series, a similar series or something that is non-sport don't send me no baseball or football cards with my TV or general entertainment cards. I think it is better to not include a bonus than to include something totally unrelated.

Now onto the cards I received all of them are TV or Movie related and are made by Inkworks.

The first two are for sets from the TV show Charmed which starred Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs, and Rose McGowan (who replaced Shannon Doherty). I haven't gotten the Charmed sets yet, but I would like to and maybe try to find some of the other promo cards, but not any of the costume cards those are the non-sport version of a jersey card. I have never liked the idea of cutting up memorabilia into little 1" squares to glue onto 2.5" x 3.5" pieces of cardboard.

2006 Inkworks - P1 Charmed Destiny Promo Card

2004 Inkworks - CC1 Charmed Connections Promo Card

2004 Inkworks - CC1 Charmed Connections Promo Card Back

This final card is from a family movie The Golden Compass by New Line Cinema. It is for trade or I might sell it for like 2 bucks.

2007 Inkworks - GC-P1 The Golden Compass Promo Card

The Death Card

2012-01-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

I know this was a long while ago, I am trying to tidy up my collection and finally get to scanning some cards that first piled up by my computer then I had to move to a box or a shelf to clear my computer area. Anyway way back on 05 July 2011 of last year, I purchased a Non-Sport signature card from a fellow member at the TCC forums (I forget who now or how much I think it was either $10 or $12 and I'm too lazy to check old correspondence if it still exists).

2011 Family Guy Season 2 - A8 Adam Carolla Auto card

From Inkworks Family Guy Authentic Signatures Adam Carolla (Voice of Death) signed with a black sharpie (Of course in black he's Death.) I think the back of the card is cooler looking.

Family Guy Adam Carolla "Voice of Death" Auto Card (back)

Sexy Comic Villain Sketch Cards

2012-01-28T16:55:00.000-05:00

Back on December 26th last year (2011) from Ebay I got two pencil sketched cards from the artist, Mark Spears. I got them for $6 (with $2 shipping) One is of Catwoman the other is Black Cat from SpiderMan. They are true original sketch cards and nothing is on the back. These were from the artist cards that are not associated with any series. These two are truly 1/1s since they are directly from the artist. Sketch cards from the big companies might not necessarily be truly 1/1s those could be photocopies of a sketch.

On the subject of sketch cards I am so annoyed at both the sellers for setting ridiculous prices and for the collectors for paying those prices. A nicely drawn picture on a card (pencil sketch or B&W inked, or Full Color) on Ebay usually start at a ridiculous price of anywhere from about $40 to $60 starting bid (or sometimes Buy it Now) price sometimes they even start at $100 or more. None of them are worth that much to me, and many of them are poorly drawn but still start at some stupid outrageous price.

Personally I try not to spend more than $20 on ANY trading card with $30 being my ceiling. I think the most I have ever spent on an individual card is $30 probably a vintage card or an autograph card.

When I saw these two cards my first thought was how well drawn they were then when I saw they had really cheap (compared to the average sketch card price on FEEBAY) I had to grab them up. One was only 99¢ (Catwoman) the other (Black Cat) was $4.99.

Catwoman Sketch Card by Mark Spears 2011

Black Cat Sketch Card by Mark Spears 2011

On the Black Cat card I get a kick out of Spidey peaking his head in the doorway. I like Mark's work and will look for stuff from him in the future.

I must have slept late.

2012-01-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

Don't worry folks I haven't slipped into the Twilight Zone... or maybe I have. I realize it's been ages upon ages since I've done an update to this card blog. My main focus and concentration has been on things other than those small 2.5" x 3.5" pieces of cardboard with pretty pictures on them. For 2012 I will try to improve my updates here. I can't guarantee a specific number of posts per month this year but I will try to be more regular than I have been.

Anyway Super Bowl Sunday is fast approaching us (February 05) and Super Bowl XLVI (46) is a rematch of four years ago with the New York Giants and New England Patriots. Yes I know in my logo filled heading I used the old "retro" helmets of the Patriots. I prefer that helmet over their gaudy Silver ones they have now. It took me two or three years to realize that the streaks on the top were the tricorn hat the Patriot was wearing and not a patriotic streamer.

OK to keep this on the topic of cards let me see what random card I can pull from my hard drive archives...

2003 Bowman #222 Roderick Babers RC - Giants

I think this card is still in my possession. I'm not a big fan of The Giants or the modern Bowman Rookie heavy cards so this 2003 card I think I will have to schlep onto Ebay or send to checkoutmycards.com sometime (if I still have it, I might have slipped it into a trade with a Giants or Rookie Card collector).

Actually here is a better card from my PC to show:

1974 Fleer Hall of Fame - Y.A. Tittle

From the 1974 Fleer Hall of Fame (AKA: The Immortal Roll) set. Y.A. Tittle best known for playing with the Giants but he also played on the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Colts. These HOF cards were unnumbered. The following year Fleer came out with a similar set of cards that look very much alike except they had numbers on the back and the card fronts have a brown border instead of a plain white border. EEK I need to check to see if that card is really that far off center or if it was just my hack-crop job when I scanned it. It could be a combination of both.

2004 MLB Showdown Card Game 11 pack

2011-06-25T18:00:00.000-04:00

A while Back (WOW back on 20 May) I had gotten some packs of cards from Target that I mentioned in this post Target Fairfield Value Pack Box This package consisted of 4 packs of baseball cards, 100 random baseball cards and a bonus of an additional pack of cards. I already mentioned the cards I got, but I decided I would show some of them. The few from the packs anyway, the 100 card deck I might only show a few choice ones. I haven't decided on that yet. I like getting these boxes/packages from time to time but I had forgotten that they "super" glue (it's not really the super-glue brand but the glue is really tough) the packs on the box supporting cardboard, making it nearly impossible to pull the packs off totally intact for those collectors who like to keep the pack wrappers.

BONUS PACK!

2004 MLB Showdown Card Game -
Trading Deadline Edition

(11 card pack)

I first became aware of this series/game when I got a Nick Johnson card (I've got to check that one out to see what his card says you are to do in the game, and to scan it someday). Anyway this is a CCG (Collectible Card Game) or TCG (Trading Card Game). I"m not sure how you play this game, or how long it takes, but I sure like these cards for some reason. I think I'll try to get the base set (how many hundreds of cards that is. I just researched and found they started making cards for this game in 2000 and ran the production each year until 2005 so six years worth. OK so make that 1,000s of cards). Anyway the set mixes in some game Legends and Vintage Hall of Fame players as well. It wasn't until I had scanned the pack wrapper and tried finding some of these cards on sportlots that I noticed I had the "Trading Deadline" Edition. Uh-oh that means it's more and more like Magic The Gathering as I feared. Maybe I won't go for a complete set, maybe just my fave teams, super stars and hall of famers.

There are two card backs since these cards are intended to be used for a game. The base players backs are plain silver/gray while the "strategy" cards (The ones with the plays on them) are still silver/gray but with a red border.

2004 MLB Showdown Card Game - Player Card Back

2004 MLB Showdown Card Game - Play Strategy Card Back

010 Khalil Greene Padres

014 Brian Schneider Expos (Kool)

065 Randy Johnson D'Backs

066 John Burkett Red Sox

097 Jay Payton Padres

115 Roger Clemens Blue Jays
Chromy thing +5 Control card '97 Super Season

117 Luis Aparicio White Sox

(Cooperstown Collection)

118 Lou Brock Cards

(Cooperstown Collection)

S1 Dialed-in Offense Padres

S15 Great Reactions Defense Mets

S21 Feast Or Famine Utility Giants

Player Checklist 5/8

2004 MLB Showdown Game Instructions
(Back of Checklist Card)

2004 Upper Deck Power UP Baseball 9 pack

2011-06-24T18:00:00.001-04:00

2004 Upper Deck Power Up Baseball

(9 card pack)

This interesting series I didn't see until a couple of years ago when I got some Orioles cards from a trade or a box break, or team traders group. I got the Jay Gibbons card, and it seems I keep getting this card. I have at least 4 maybe 5 of this card now. Anyway these Power Up cards are part of some kind of online contest or game each card has a code on it and each card has some points that you get while playing this game or entering the contest. The player's heads are big out-of-proportion like the old Goudey "Heads Up" cards At first I thought these cards were stupid, but the big head caricatures of the players are fun. I'm not sure about the lime green color theme though.

The backs have a disembodied headshot and a few personal stats, plus points for the game, contest whatever the thing is. The font used for the card number and the player's name is too unusual. The numbers are sometimes a little hard to figure out, it took me some studying to figure out the 3 (was it a "3" or an "8"?) The chrome Shinning Through insert card(s) give more points and the backs look more like a standard card with the player's stats.

2004 Upper Deck Power Up - Sample Back

2004 Upper Deck Power Up Shining Through -
Sample Insert Back

2 Rafael Furcal - Braves

3 Larry Walker - Rockies

15 Hank Blalock - Rangers

18 Garret Anderson - Angels

23 Orlando Cabrera - Expos

38 Jay Gibbons - Orioles

15 Phil Nevin - Padres

61 Sammy Sosa - Cubs

ST-66 Daren Erstad - Angels

2004 Upper Deck Power Up
Game Instructions - Front

2004 Upper Deck Power Up
Game Instructions - Back

2007 Goudey Baseball 8 pack

2011-06-23T18:00:00.001-04:00

2007 UD Goudey Baseball

(8 card pack)

2007 Goudey Baseball pack break contents

2007 Goudey: I really like these retro vintage cards. Mostly since I'm a huge fan of vintage stuff. I have always liked the Goudey cards, but I don't think I have any original Goudey vintage, partly because when I was a kid they were too expensive at the time. As an adult they are not too expensive for me, well some of the common ones maybe. When these retro cards first hit the market I saw them but didn't get any because the hobby boxes were too expensive and at the time (and I think even the packs seemed a bit expensive at the time) I didn't want to get into the pack busting of these since I knew I'd have to get a bunch everytime I wanted to bust packs. These cards follow the original design and format idea the cards are smaller than the standard modern size of 2.5" by 3.5".

The card backs have either red or green printing. I think they printed an equal amount of each back, not 100% sure on that though sometimes card manufacturers like to make a short print of one of the styles just to tick off collectors who want to go for a complete set.

2007 Goudey - Sample Green Back

2007 Goudey - Sample Red Back


2007 Goudey - Sample Heads Up Green Back

61 Jimmy Rollins Phillies redback

75 Mark Mulder Cards redback

77 Mark Teixeira Rangers greenback

84 Prince Fielder Brewers greenback

121 Brad Penny Dodgers redback

152 Adam LaRoche Pirates greenback

176 Magglio Ordeonez Tigers greenback

255 Mike Schmidt Phillies HeadsUp greenback

2007 Fleer Ultra Baseball 5 card pack

2011-06-22T18:00:00.001-04:00

2007 Fleer Ultra Baseball

(5 card pack)

2007 Fleer Ultra pack break contents

I like Fleer Ultra most of the time and this one I kind of like. This series I sort of like the no borders full picture, but the tiny silver font for the player name/team/position sucks. The fancy script for the players last name also rubs me a bit wrong. Some names it is OK to read, others it is a little hard (maybe those are not in English).

The backs are pretty standard and are similar to the 2007 Upper Deck cards with the standard stats and a head shot of the player. These headshots are in full color though. The "Ultra Rookies" cards don't have a headshot.

2007 Fleer Ultra - Sample Back of card

2007 Fleer Ultra - Back of Ultra Rookies card

38 Mark Buehrle - White Sox

"Tip the pitcher over."

83 Mark Grudzielanek - Royals

"Go ball go go "

131 Huston Street - A's

Why am I reminded of Monty Python's Twit Olympics?

150 Chris Carpenter - Cardinals

"Ah there it is"

234 Levale Speigner - Nats RC

Flashback to 1980s Music Videos

2007 Upper Deck Baseball Series Two pack

2011-06-21T18:00:00.001-04:00

A while Back (WOW back on 20 May) I had gotten some packs of cards from Target that I mentioned in this post Target Fairfield Value Pack Box This package consisted of 4 packs of baseball cards, 100 random baseball cards and a bonus of an additional pack of cards. I already mentioned the cards I got, but I decided I would show some of them. The few from the packs anyway, the 100 card deck I might only show a few choice ones. I haven't decided on that yet. I like getting these boxes/packages from time to time but I had forgotten that they "super" glue (it's not really the super-glue brand but the glue is really tough) the packs on the box supporting cardboard, making it nearly impossible to pull the packs off totally intact for those collectors who like to keep the pack wrappers.

2007 Upper Deck Baseball Series Two (8 count pack)

I am mixed about this series like I am about many of Upper Deck's standard issues. Part of it is the shiny silver almost invisible print/font they use for the players name on the front. Also the design with the thin piping on the sides with the barely legible writing of the team and the player's position I'm no fan of. The backs are fairly standard and I think are OK with the stats and the mono-colored head shot of the player. I'm still not sure if I'll try to chase the base set or not (I first noticed this design with the football cards of the same year, not impressed the first time I saw it). I will probably only pursue the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles that I need from this set.

2007 Upper Deck Series 2 Baseball - Sample Back

Here are the Eight cards I pulled from this pack (in number order not pulled order I forget what that was) with some silly little captions I made up for the images:

528 Stephen Drew D'Backs

"Ouch Charlie Horse, Charlie Horse"

586 J.D. Drew Red Sox

(a second player with surname Drew)

Looks like he's holding some sort of batting seminar.

779 Olmedo Saenz Dodgers

"See the ball, see the ball, no wait watch the ball watch it go."

822 Tom Glavine Mets

"Gotta run home, gotta run home. UhOH I'm tipping over."

845 Alex Rodriguez Yankees

"Huh? What's under there?"

895 Brad Eldred Pirates

"Welcome home Brad, On behalf of your teammates..."

904 Jake Peavy Padres

"1-800-Dial-A-Pitch"

948 Kelvin Jimenez Cards

"Now follow through..."

Plus this Expired contest/game code

Bullets Card Comparison Haskins and Robinson

2011-06-20T17:00:00.001-04:00

When I was making my posts about the 1975-75 Topps Basketball Washington Bullets cards I didn't notice this similarity. This maybe the reason I thought I had one of the cards I didn't, or maybe I did have both. Anyway cards 151 Leonard Robinson and 173 Clem Haskins show them both in the process of making a jump shot. At first glance they appear to be the same shot or same player. Clem has released the ball as it is out of the shot. His arms are extended, Leonard still has the ball in his hands his arms are still slightly bent.

Washington Bullets 1975-76 Topps Cards Blabbing

2011-06-19T12:10:00.002-04:00

I'm not much into basketball anymore actually I tend to avoid it whenever possible. The reasons are many. So why am I blogging about it? Well that is because I wanted to show off the Team set I had that I started back when the cards came out and didn't finish until getting the cards from Sportlots.com I don't recall exactly when I got the last card in. I'm not even sure who it was. I haven't been into basketball since sometime during the late 1970s or early '80s in the days before Michael Jordan made basketball stars mega stars. Back in the days when the uniform shorts weren't gangsta' baggy drawers. Back before the PC attitude that forced a certain Washington DC team to change it's name from what was perceived only as a piece of a lethal weapon (and not the object of super speed the name made fans think of) to a generic title for a fantasy man of magic.

For collecting purposes I am ONLY into The Bullets (and sort of the Wizards) with maybe a few stars/hall of famers from the time I was into basketball the 1970s. I'm not sure if I'm going to pursue any more Bullets/Wizards cards, maybe I will. I do like some of the now vintage 1960s and '70s era cards.

The 1972-'73 NBA season would be the last season for the Baltimore Bullets (1963-1973 previously the Chicago Zephyrs) In 1973 they moved to Landover, MD and became first the Capital Bullets for a season, and then the Washington Bullets. Then in the mid to late 1990s the Politically Correct crowd would force the team to change their name something non-violent The Wizards. So black magic and sorcery is OK but an object of speed and accuracy is not. Oh OK bullets are the part of a gun that is the instrument of injury and death, but I still think Bullets is a cool name for a sports team in a sport that requires skill and a bit of speed every now and then.

Anyway I have all the individual player cards of the Bullets, the Team Card, and Team Leaders cards from Topps 1975-76 series. If any of the players appeared on League Leaders cards I don't have those and might be interested in them to have the Master 75-76 Bullets set. As it is right now I just have the Base Set which is pretty complete enough for me.

Bullets 1975-76 Topps: Chenier to Kozelco

2011-06-19T12:05:00.003-04:00

1975-76 Topps Basketball Washington Bullets Cards Collage

Back in the day 1975 to be exact I had gotten a few basketball cards from Topps for the 1975-76 NBA season. Fortunately I had gotten a couple of my Homie Team the Washington Bullets. I first became aware of them a few years before when they were the Baltimore Bullets. I think I started getting into them around '71 when they made their move, anyway I digress. It was around this time 1975 or 1976 when I attended my first Bullets Game of maybe 2 or 3 total in my life. I do recall their opponent was The New Orleans Jazz (years before they would move to Utah - UTAH? JAZZ?) I think the Bullets won. I'm not sure if that was the game that was the free T-Shirt Jersey game, or the School Safety Patrol discount game (maybe it was both). Anyway for the t-shirt game they gave away t-shirts that looked like the players jersey's. I wanted either Wes Unseld, or was it Phil Chenier I wanted? I ended up with Leonard Robinson. I don't think I have that shirt anymore, and never took a photo of me in it.

Of the basketball cards I had collected as a kid the 1975-76 Topps was one of the few I had gotten. My brother might of had some of the 74-75 Topps and definitely some of the tall boy 1970-71 cards.Once again I digress (you will notice I do that on this blog a lot. Shall we get on with the 1975-76 Bullets cards then?

1975-75 Topps Basketball 220 Washington Bullets Team Card

220 Washington Bullets: Team Card and checklist. I think I had this card back when I was a kid, not sure I only had 4 or 5 of the 12 cards in this team set. This card is an uncorrected error card, check out the back.

220 back of Team Card/Checklist Uncorrected Error

The uncorrected error on this card is that both the cards for Leonard Robinson and Wes Unseld are listed as card number 151. The correct number for the Wes Unseld card should be 115. The team card they talk about is the Team Leaders card Which I will get to at the end of my list.

1975-76 Topps Basketball - 190 Phil Chenier AS

190 Phil Chenier: This is one of the 4 or 5 cards I had when I was a kid. I always thought it was cool that of the few Bullets cards I had from this set it has been one of my favorites. I thought it was cool that he was on the All-Star team (2nd team).

1975-76 Topps Basketball - 173 Clem Haskins

173 Clem Haskins: Yep had this card as well. I didn't follow the team well enough to know much about how good a player Haskins was. I just had his card from this season.

1975-76 Topps Basketball - 60 Elvin Hayes

60 Elvin Hayes: Don't think I had this one as a kid. I do however have a good maybe very good conditioned Elvin Hayes card from 1970-71 Topps #70 from when he was on the San Diego Rockets, it's warping dinged on the corners and some sides and a light crease at the bottom. I used to think it was in worse condition but I was confusing it with the 1976-77 #133card I have of his. That one has creases that look like lighting strikes and major corner bending falling apart. Someday I'll have to scan those. Both of them I've had since the day, the 1970-71 card was my brother's I'm fairly sure about that. This card is pretty well off center to the left and bottom, maybe I can do with an upgrade.

1975-76 Topps Basketball - 23 Jimmy Jones

23 Jimmy Jones: Didn't have this one. Don't have any stories about Jimmy I don't remember him from those days since I didn't wholeheartedly follow the Bullets even when I was following them. Sorry Mr.Jones. It's an OK action shot but for a card the image of him is pretty small.

1975-76 Topps Basketball - 202 Tom Kozelko

202 Tom Kozelko: Gesundheit, but seriously didn't have this card. He might have been the last card I got from sportlots for this set or was it Wes Unseld? My first thought was he looks awful scrawny and white to be a basketball player. He is another player I don't recall from those years. I should upgrade this card since it is soooooooooooo off center to the left and top (thus the back also has centering issues).

Bullets 1975-76 Topps: Porter to Weatherspoon

2011-06-19T12:00:00.001-04:00

1975-76 Topps Washington Bullets cards set. Kevin Porter to Nick Weatherspoon.

1975-76 Topps Basketball 220 Washington Bullets Team Card Back

At first this will be weird if you are reading these as they get published. To keep the proper reading order I have scheduled their posting times in reverse order so that later while reading them in the archives they will appear in the proper order since blogs post newest posts first.

1975 -76 Topps Basketball - 79 Kevin Porter

79 Kevin Porter: I didn't have this card as a kid, but I remember Kevin Porter being a good player. The only thing I have to say is I should upgrade this card because the coloring on it is extremely red. It looks worse here online than in person, I just checked while drafting this post.

1975 - 76 Topps Basketball - 95 Mike Riordan

95 Mike Riordan: Didn't have this card and double heavy SIGH! I don't recall the player and this card has major off centering issues. Yes the bottom does cut off there at the white border thus the second part of the heavy sigh. Other than that a fairly nice card other than I think the reds are a bit pink. Maybe that should have been a triple sigh.

1975 - 76 Topps Basketball - 151 Leonard Robinson

151 Leonard Robinson: I think I had this card as a kid. I definitely remember Robinson I had a shirt with his number 33 on it after all. I'm pretty sure it was a game where School Safety Patrol Kids either got in free or had half-priced tickets or some such event as that. I definitely went on a t-shirt give-a-way night. I mention this in one of the other posts for this. The t-shirt was a replica of the jerseys except they were regular sleeved t-shirts they had the stripes on the front with Bullets and the player's number and then the back had their name and I think number again. I recall being a little disappointed in getting Robinson instead of Unseld or Chenier. OH by the way this card is correctly identified on the back of the team card.

1975 - 76 Topps Basketball - 115 Wes Unseld

115 Wes Unseld: Oddly enough one of my all-time fave Bullets I didn't have this card back then. Some where I think I still have a mini-poster that was a giveaway from McDonald's that has Wes Unseld and someone else from the team a coach I think. Well it isn't them on the poster it's caricatures of them. There were four? six? posters in the set and it had the major players in pairs on the posters. It was either a give-a-way with a specific purchase or it was an extra buck or two with a purchase. I forget the details and it's been a few years since I've seen one of them on Ebay but I think one was on there once maybe even the whole set. This card is mistakenly listed as being number 151 on the checklist on the back of the team card.

1975 - 76 Topps Basketball - 48 Nick Weatherspoon

48 Nick Weatherspoon: Another card I didn't have. Not sure I think it might have been the last one I got or the Unseld or Kozelko? I don't remember. I do remember Weatherspoon back then. Again I'm not sure of his stats but I think he was one of their better players.

1975 - 76 Topps Basketball - 133 Washington Bullets Team Leaders

133 Washington Bullets Team Leaders: Nope didn't have this card. Now I have two I don't remember exactly why I ended up with two. Probably because when I was finishing up the set I didn't think I had it so I quickly ordered a second one. Anyway one of them I think is slightly off center, maybe that was why?

Mayor Dave Bing 1975-76 Topps Basketball

2011-06-19T08:30:00.003-04:00

1975-76 Topps Basketball

Dave Bing - Detroit Pistons

Here is a basketball card I've had since my childhood. As I said in my post about my Phil Chenier RC yesterday (well actually just a few minutes ago I'm scheduling these posts at a later time) I don't follow basketball anymore, but when I did the man on this card was one of my fave players. In 1975 he played for my fave homie team the Washington Bullets. I saw him play a few games during his career with the Bullets from 1975-'77. Not many but a few in fact at one game a friend and I attended we got to the "Cap Center" a little early and got to watch the warm-ups/shooting practice (or whatever basketball calls "batting practice") and got a close up look at some of the players including Dave. The Capital Centre was located in Landover, MD later renamed US Air Arena but I will always know it as the Cap Center. Sadly it no longer exists.

OH by the way Mr. Bing is now the Mayor of Detroit. When he was elected or started his campaign I blogged about it at my regular blog in the post titled "The Politics of Sports".

*A Homie team is the team located in your home city/town or area that you root for so calling them my "fave homie" team is a bit redundant. It gets the point across anyway.

Phil Chenier Rookie Card 1972-73 Topps Basketball

2011-06-18T07:30:00.005-04:00

1972-73 Topps Basketball

Phil Chenier RC - Baltimore Bullets

This is Phil Chenier's Rookie Card, he was drafted by Baltimore in 1971. Phil would be one of the Bullets' top shooting guards but after a back injury in the 1977-78 season his game would be very off. I never kept track of basketball statistics as a kid I would just occasionally watch and a few times attend Bullets' games, until sometime in the late 1970s maybe early '80s when I grew tired of basketball.

The 1972-'73 NBA season would be the last season for the Baltimore Bullets (1963-1973) previously the Chicago Zephyrs (1962-1963). In 1973 they would move to Landover, MD and become the Capital Bullets for a season and then the Washington Bullets. In 1997 the team bowed down to pressure from the Politically Correct crowd and changed their name to the non-violent Wizards (and actually move into the City of DC eventually).

1967 Stancraft Team Playing Cards

2011-06-11T15:51:00.001-04:00

Quick update. On Friday 10 June 2011 I got two more of the 1967 Stancraft Playing Cards NFL Team Decks. I got the Atlanta Falcons and St. Louis Cardinals. Both in box and both in super excellent near mint shape. When I opened the box on both (both were open not sealed, if they were sealed I'd probably would keep them sealed) they were so pristine when checking to see that both Jokers were there and all 52 of the regular cards were there they felt like "never played with/ dealt" stiff feel to them. Got both for only $9.99/deck So $20 total plus a few bucks for combined shipping.

Here is my page for my progress on this collection Stancraft Playing Cards1967 NFL Team Decks My collection right now is 5/16 complete (4/16 in box, 1/16 loose pack)

2009 Philadelphia Football

2011-05-26T06:00:00.005-04:00

2009 PHILADELPHIA FOOTBALL

I'm hooked on these retro cards based in the 1964 Philadelphia Gum company Football cards. I have a handful of the original 1960s Philadelphia cards of some of my fave players, and would always like more. But I digress. This post has been sitting in my draft section since November of '09 the year these cards came out. I've been putting off posting this because I was wanting to scan some of the cards and add them to the post. I haven't gotten around to scanning them. Just like a thousand other cards in my collection I've been meaning to scan to boast and brag about. :) But I digress.

The Base set breakdown:
Regular cards the Players (1-300)
The Story of Barack Obama (301-325)
Woodstock 40th Anniversary (326-330)
The Vietnam War (331-340)
The Election Years (341-351)
NFL Stars in Action (352-400)

My Base Set NEEDS:
PLAYERS
5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 17, 19, 32, 33, 34, 37, 46, 47, 52, 54, 56, 57, 62, 64, 66, 70, 74, 76, 77, 84, 86, 87, 88, 90, 92, 96, 98, 101, 105, 109, 110, 112, 113, 116, 117, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 143, 146, 149, 150, 152, 155, 157, 164, 165, 167, 172, 174, 176, 182, 185, 189, 193, 195, 196, 197, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300
OBAMA
301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325
WOODSTOCK
327, 328, 329, 330
VIETNAM
331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 338, 339, 340
ELECTION
341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351
STARS IN ACTION
352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400

1935 NATIONAL CHICLE
(style inserts sub-set)

National Chicle inserts Breakdown
NC1-NC19: Political figures
NC20-NC29: Muscle cars
NC30-NC39: Fighter Planes
NC40-NC49: Trains
NC50-NC75: NFL Vets
NC76-NC100: NFL Rookies

NEEDS: (#d in the format of NC#)
POLITICAL FIGURES
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
MUSCLE CARS
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
FIGHTER PLANES
30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39
TRAINS
40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49
NFL VETS
50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75
NFL ROOKIES
76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100

Target Fairfield value pack box

2011-05-24T10:00:00.011-04:00

Went to Target of Friday 20 May and got some packs of A&G 2010 (thought they were 2011 until I got home and saw they were 2010)

I also got one of those "Extreme Value" boxes with 4 packs (2007 Goudey, 2007 Upper Deck Series 2, 2004 Upper Deck Power Up!, 2007 Fleer Ultra) showing. & 100 cards + Bonus (whatever that is)

2007 Upper Deck Series 2 - 8 cards
528 Stephen Drew D'Backs
586 J.D. Drew Red Sox
779 Olmedo Saenz Dodgers
822 Tom Glavine Mets
845 Alex Rodriguez Yankees
895 Brad Eldred Pirates
904 Jake Peavy Padres
948 Kelvin Jimenez Cards

2007 Fleer Ultra - 5 cards
38 Mark Buehrle White Sox
83 Mark Grudzielanek Royals
131 Huston Street A's
150 Chris Carpenter Cards
234 Levale Speigner Nats RC

2007 Goudey - 8 cards
61 Jimmy Rollins Phillies redback
75 Mark Mulder Cards redback
77 Mark Teixeira Rangers greenback
84 Prince Fielder Brewers greenback
121 Brad Penny Dodgers redback
152 Adam LaRoche Pirates greenback
176 Magglio Ordeonez Tigers greenback
255 Mike Schmidt Phillies HeadsUp greenback

2004 UD Power UP! - 9 cards

(kids game thing where the players heads are big out-of-proportion like the old Goudey "Heads Up" cards)
2 Rafael Furcal Braves
3 Larry Walker Rockies
15 Hank Blalock Rangers
18 Garret Anderson Angels
23 Orlando Cabrera Expos
38 Jay Gibbons Orioles (I've got a ton of this one)
59 Phil Nevin Padres
61 Sammy Sosa Cubs
ST-66 Shining Through Darin Erstad Angels

Power UP how to play the game thing card

Main Box of 100 cards:
1978 Topps: 512 Larry Herndon Giants
1986 Topps Traded: 57T Mike LaCoss Giants
1987 O-Pee-Chee 345 Andere Dawson Expos
1987 Topps: 1986 All-Star Glossy: Ryne Sandberg Cubs
1987 Topps:
58 Thad Bosley Cubs
91 Harold Reynolds
126 Mike Loynd Rangers
206 Minnesota Twins Team Leaders
281 Cincinnati Reds Team Leaders
286 Mike Woodard Giants
380 Rich Gossage Padres
411 Darnell Coles Tigers
442 Mitch Webster Expos
541 Rafael Belliard Pirates
559 Lance McCullers Padres
586 Ben Oglivie Brewers
643 Ron Shepherd Blue Jays
759 Joel Youngblood Giants
771 Shane Rawley Phillies
1988 Donruss:
227 Greg Swindell Indians
282 Andres Galarraga Expos
1988 Topps:
113 Kelly Gruber Blue Jays
232 Bob James White Sox
293 Doug Jones Indians
405 Dwight Gooden AS Mets
421 Ed VandeBerg Indians
424 Dwayne Murphey Athletics
501 Tim Birtsas Athletics
587 Terry Puhl Astros
644 Terry McGriff Reds
667 Luis Quinones Cubs
1989 Donruss:
95 Mark McGwire Athletics
581 Jay Buhner Mariners
1989 Fleer: Andres Galarraga Expos
1989 Topps:
16 Ron Robinson Reds
80 Cory Snyder Indians
188 Dennis Lamp Red Sox
201 Toronto Blue Jays Team Leaders
217 Joe Price Giants
289 Ernie Whitt Blue Jays
447 Donell Nixon Giants
550 Orel Hershiser Dodgers
709 Tom Herr Twins
748 Jimmy Jones Padres
778 Bruce Benedict Braves
779 Craig McMrtry Rangers
1990 Bowman: 238 Matt Williams Giants
1990 K-Mart Super Stars:
2 Ryne Sandberg Cubs
8 Craig Biggio Astros
11 Sid Fernandez Mets
17 Don Mattingly Yankees
19 Wade Boggs Red Sox
20 Cal Ripken Orioles
21 Jose Canseco Athletics (3)
23 Rickey Henderson Athletics
1990 Score: 95 Jeff Treadway Braves
1990 Topps:
624 Darrin Jackson Padres
779 Lloyd Moseby Blue Jays
1990 Upper Deck: 277 Eddie Murray Dodgers
1991 Bowman: 529 Andy Van Slyke Pirates
1991 Donruss: 759 Chris Hammond Reds
1991 Topps: 632 Lloyd Moseby Tigers
1991 Topps Traded: 42T Steve Finley Astros
1992 Fleer: 327 Joe Carter Blue Jays
1992 Fleer Ultra:
288 Royce Clayton Giants RC
490 Juan Guerrero Astros RC
1992 Score:
525 Robin Yount Brewers
887 Dream Team Tony Gwynn (no copyright date on this card)
1992 Topps:
61 Paul O'Neill Reds
643 Rick Cerone Mets
1992 Topps Stadium Club: 104 Tim Hulett Orioles
1992 Upper Deck:
234 Gary Sheffield Brewers
385 Kevin Elster Mets
1993 Classic Four Sports: 296 Carl Schutz SLU drafted by Braves
1993 UD Collector's Choice: 316 Barry Bonds Giants - Checklist cards 1-64
1993 Donruss: 704 Steve Hosey Giants Rated Rookie
1993 Score: 254 Steve Sax White Sox
1994 Bowman's Best (Chrome foil type thing) 63 Edgar Renteria Marlins
1994 Donruss: 336 Dave Winfield Twins
1994 Topps Stadium Club: 255 Tim Belcher White Sox
1995 Donruss Leaf: 391 Jose Canseco Red Sox
1995 UP SP: 165 Greg Vaughn Brewers
1995 Topps MB: 29 Cal Eldred ?Mets?
1996 Topps: 311 David Wells Reds
1997 Upper Deck: 449 Scott Spiezio Athletics
1998 Fleer Tradition: 257 Mike Cameron White Sox
1998 Fleer Metal Universe: 189 Mark Kotsay Marlins
1998 Score: RT151 Todd Walker Twins
1999 Bowman 365 Marcus Giles Braves
1999 Fleer Tradition: 379 Vic Darensbourg Marlins
1999 Topps (Gold or a gold variation) Traded: T29 Giuseppe Chiaramonte Gaints RC
1999 Topps Stadium Club: 49 Gary Disarcina Angels
2000 Fleer Ultra: 67 Shawn Green Dodgers
2000 Pacific Omega: 8 Luis Gonalez Diamondbacks
2002 UP Vintage (1971 Style): 1 Darin Erstad Angels
2003 Donruss: 266 Orel Hershiser Dodgers
2005 Fleer America's National Pastime: 50 Adrian Beltre Mariners
2005 Fleer Ultra Gold Medalian (diecut top corner): 24 Jim Edmonds Cardinals
2006 SP Authentic: 1 Eric Bedard Orioles
2006 Topps: 390 Jake Peavy Padres

Bonus Pack:
2004 MLB Showdown (Trading Deadline Edition) CCG - 11 cards
010 Khalil Greene Padres
014 Brian Schneider Expos (Kool)
065 Randy Johnson D'Backs
066 John Burkett Red Sox
097 Jay Payton Padres
115 Roger Clemens Blue Jays chromy thing +5 Control card '97 Super Season
117 Luis Aparicio White Sox (Cooperstown Collection)
118 Lou Brock Cards (Cooperstown Collection)
S1 Dialed-in Offense
S15 Great Reactions Defense
S21 Feast Or Famine Utility
Player Checklist 5/8

Allen & Ginter 2010 Some packs from Target

2011-05-24T09:00:00.008-04:00

I went to my Target and got 5 packs of Allen & Ginter 2010 and one Rack Pack of 2010 A&G. I also got one of those Extreme Value box packages from The Fairfield Company This one was the $9.99 version that had 4 packs (2007 Goudey, 2007 Upper Deck Series Two, 2007 Fleer Ultra, and 2004 UD Power UP) & 100 cards + Bonus. Well the Bonus turned out to be another pack (2004 MLB Showdown Card Game). I like the thrill of the hunt from these card boxes but I hate that they super glue the packs to the cardboard supports in the box. It makes it difficult to take the packs off the cardboard frame without bending or tearing the cards within to Hades, or you have to cut the packs which I haven't done but am thinking about doing next time. But this is not about that box this is about the 2010 ALLEN & GINTER packs I got. Since these are the retail packs of A&G there are 6 cards per pack (4 base, 1 mini and 1 "This Day In History" card), the Rack Pack is a 12 card pack.

First the five packs of 6 cards in the order the cards were pulled (front of pack to back)

Pack 1:
159 Denard Span Twins
175 Tim Lincecum Giants
133 Nelson Cruz Rangers
85 Andrew Bailey Athletics
Mini WB7 Worlds Biggest... Hot Desert...Sahara

This Day In History Card: TDH35 Josh Johnson Marlins - Explorer 1 first American Satellite launched.

Pack 2:
264 Captain Nemo Submariner (Fictional character)
106 Dustin Pedroia Red Sox
58 Colby Rasmus Cardinals
322 Gary Matthews Mets

Mini 275 Clayton Kershaw Dodgers black border

ToDay in History card: TDH42 Jorge Posada Yankees - Robert Fultons Steamboat begins first voyage.

Pack 3:
80 Will Venable Padres
41 Daniel Hudson White Sox
218 Todd Helton Rockies
334 Brett Myers

Mini: NA48 National Animals Dalmatain Croatia

Today In History: TDH22 Grady Sizemore Indians - Formal Signing of US Declaration of Independence

Thin Plain white Retail security anti-theft card.

Pack 4:
105 Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomer
160 Derrek Lee Cubs
186 Jose Reyes Mets (thorn in NATS Side)
304 Carlos Pena Rays

Mini 288 Bobby Jenks White Sox black border

Checklist four of four

TDH13 Adam Dunn Nationals (formerly there of now a White Sox) - Pilgrims on Mayflower spot land.

Pack 5 last pack:

192 Tom Knapp Target Shooting World Record Holder
213 Mark Reynolds D'Backs
278 Jeff Francoeur Mets
318 Carlos Gonzalez Rockies

Mini 317 Alex Rios White Sox A&G Back

TDH26 Francisco Rodriguez Mets - Galileo observes 3 of Jupiter's Moons for the first time.

Another rare anti-theft blank.

BONUS: 12 card Rack Pack:

Bottom half first:

3 Ryan Braun Brewers
220 Manny Ramirez Dodgers
307 Akinori Iwamura Pirates

Mini 145 Jim Thome Twins A&G Back

TDH67 Josh Beckett Red Sox - Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form The National Woman's Suffrage Association

not one but two security blanks

TOP HALF:

272 David Blaine - Holder of various world records
131 Tyler Flowers White Sox RC
299 Robinson Cano Yankees
166 Chris Tillman Orioles
101 Mark Buehrle White Sox
2 Everth Cabrera Padres
7 Ryan Howard Phillies

I was going to wait until I could post pics from A&G but I have been lazy with scanning.

I really need to blog here more.

2011-05-19T00:25:00.002-04:00

Back in March. I had received a package from TCC member Josh who goes by the handle jwman92 he is a super collector of NFL player Brian Leonard. There is a "giveaway" thread called The Chain there which in a nut shell there is a package of cards going around the people who signed up to be in "the chain". The package has a grouping of cards with each one representing some kind of card (GU, Auto, Insert, serial numbered parallel etc...). When someone receives the package they choose one card from the batch and replace it with a card that is similar and then send the package to the next person "link" in the chain. When it came to my turn I had a time deciding what to take so here is my decision process for The Chain. It also shows what I put into the chain. Anyway this is the card I chose from that package:

2005 Playoff Contenders

RN-2 Jason Campbell and Carlos Rogers Dual Auto.

As a bonus Josh included this card since he knows I like the Rams and collect Kurt Warner.


2000 Fleer E-X #54 Kurt Warner Rams

I'm not big on graded cards for their being so pricey, especially if you pay to get them graded. After they have been graded they are still pretty expensive. My biggest beef with them I guess is you have to store them separate from the rest of your collection. If you want to store them in boxes you need to get the slightly larger/taller ones that are designed to also handle graded cards. I also don't like the "entombed" feeling they give off. When I first saw them I thought from a preservation perspective they are cool, but then that "How do you store them?" question comes up. OK you either display them in some way or you put them in a box that is designed to hold them. I've got way too many cards to have all of them graded, plus for newer cards it is pretty ridiculous to have them graded for preservation since the cost of grading them is more than what they are worth. At one time I said to myself I would never own one, I also said that about game used cards, but I have a few of those. When you are involved with other collectors you tend to be given some stuff you don't really want. So I have learned to accept a few things I can't change.

Mystery of a Cut Signature Solved.

2011-01-05T16:50:00.006-05:00

2007 Leaf Limited Cuts Signatures LC-12 #d 40/50

Well. When I first got this card from a group box break I didn't think to hard about where the signature had come from. It looked like it was from an autograph book, or a post card of some kind. I was glad it was NOT "from an older card". I really hate when they cut up some of those Hall Of Fame cards, even if they are only worth about .50¢ It is the thought that they cut up a perfectly good piece of memorabilia like they do with the jerseys and the pants etc to get the Game Used cards.

Well it did come from a Post Card. Like I said I never really thought too hard about the origins of the signature on this card, but the sad thing about it is now I know it came from a post card so it is sort of coming from an older card.

Back to solving the "Mystery of the Cut Signature Origin". I was searching around Ebay when I found a copy of this old post card of LA Rams HOFer Tom Fears.

Tom Fears Autographed Post Card
Date Unknown (circa 1960s?)

I noticed that the Tom Fears post card was a pen and ink lined drawing image. It got me to thinking. Even though I didn't think too much about the Elroy Hirsch cut signature card much, that lone line to the left of his signature I was curious about and the other little lines I couldn't quite tell what they were yet, but I had some suspicions about them. I eventually found a website that had the Tom Fears post card and I did a search for a version with Mr. Hirsch, actually I think I did a Google search. I found a similar looking post card for Elroy Hirsch. I eventually found a website or the remains of a website that sold both post cards for way way too much money. (www.footballcollectible.com I can't seem to get to that site just cached google searches from from it something about the animation timing) Something like $80 or $90. Too rich for me, but I would eventually like to have those post cards, even just unsigned ones.

Notice the defensive man on the right. Check out his left hand and left leg/knee. Notice the angle in relation to the ground line. Now rotate slightly and...

Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch Autographed Post Card - Sample 1

...you will notice that it matches with my cut signature. On this next sample the autograph is in about the same place where the autograph from the cut signature would be from the post card that was sacrificed for just the autograph.

Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch Autographed Post Card - Sample 2

When I made this discovery I was thrilled and a little disappointed. I was thrilled that I had discovered where the signature had come from since it was obviously not from a check and wasn't from a more obvious overproduced no-value Hall of Fame series card. I was disappointed and a little annoyed that it came from a rare post card probably from the 1960s or '70's or earlier.

Well Now the Mystery is SOLVED! Sort of I just would like to know the actual age of the post cards and what series they are from. Probably from some set of post cards that was available for sale at the gift shop at The Hall Of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Random Cardness 001

2010-12-25T12:00:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to do an experiment. I'm going to randomly pick 5 cards that I've scanned at one point and post them here. Lets see I'll do a Football, Baseball, Basketball, Non-Sport and Hockey I guess.

OK Here goes:

FOOTBALL:

1973 Topps Mercury Morris Dolphins

Dang it I recently blogged about getting this one. The card itself is not bad. It is a card that is in demand pretty much since Mercury was on the "Perfect Season" Dolphins in '72. I got this card from Ebay for pretty cheap if I recall correctly.

BASEBALL:

2003 Bowman's Best Josh Willingham Marlins Auto

ACK! Again with a fairly recently blogged card. This Josh Willingham card I bought from a fellow card collector from TCC for $10 bucks I think.

That makes one wonder if the "randomness" is truly random. Well let me tell you it was. In the "compose" mode here at blogger.com I clicked on the add an image icon and opened up each of my picture folders one at a time and scrolled down a bit and than clicked one at random. I wasn't happy with some of the choices but with being random you gotta go with what you get.

I was wanting to try to highlight some cards I haven't shown before that is one of the reasons I decided to add Basketball into the mix and speaking of which that is next:

BASKETBALL:

2008-09 Upper Deck Antawn Jamison Wizards

As I said I wanted to highlight some cards I haven't yet, and probably wouldn't thus adding Basketball into the mix. I don't really pursue basketball, and haven't liked it since the early 1980s. It may have been because of the general attitudes of some of the basketball jocks I knew in High School and College. The only Basketball cards I actively pursue are From the Bullets/Wizards Franchise, even then it is very infrequently.

NON-SPORT:

1993 Cardz Tales From the Crypt

64 October 1950 Comic no.20 Cover

In the early 1990s (starting in '89 really) HBO had a television Horror series "Tales From the Crypt" based on the old 1950 pulp comics. In 1993 the card company CARDZ which specialized in Non-Sport Cards, released this 110 base card set. The special "chase" cards from the set were a subset of Hologram cards. That was before the big costume piece (same idea as jersey cards for the sports) and auto cards.

HOCKEY:

1993 Classic Prospects

3 Manon Rheaume "The First Lady of Hockey"

Back in the early 1980s the Classic Game company produced a ton of cards. I recall first seeing them at the toy store I worked at, I thought of them more as part of a game than serious trading cards. Most of the cards I recalled from back then were "4 Sport" cards a series of cards that had players from the 4 major US sports Football, Baseball, Basketball and Hockey. Around this time a young lady named Manon Rheaume was making strides in the boys club of professional hockey. She signed as a free agent for the Tampa Bay Lightning as goalie, and played in a couple of preseason games in 1992 and '93 making her the first woman to play in the NHL. Just about all of the Manon Rheaume cards I have I've gotten from Ebay. Most of them I have gotten in lots of several cards. This is one of those cards.

OK so that does it for this Random Cardness experiment.

One Year Ago Today!

2010-12-24T00:34:00.004-05:00

http://ultimatewax.com/forums/

Amazing little internet tidbit. One year ago today I made a post on a card collecting website called Ultimate Wax that alas has been dead for a little over a year now. My last post there mentioned how it had been more than 2 months since there was regular posting at that site. Since then there were 1 maybe two unfortunate people who "joined" the site after it had pretty much up and died. The thread subject title is "if you log in every day but dont post cuz there is nothing to reply to post here". Sad the site was in use for just a little more than a year.

Note: Unless there has been recent activity on the Ultimate Wax website this post entry will be automatically posted at the same time of day I originally posted my message over there.

NFL HOF Museum Playing Cards.

2010-12-05T15:00:00.001-05:00

Here are some neat decks of playing cards that depict the Pro Football Hall of Fame (NFL) Museum Building in Canton, Ohio. I got both of them from fishing on the Bay. In the Summer (or maybe spring, or fall I'm not sure of the time of year) of 1980 my brother and I drove to Canton, Ohio home of the NFL Hall of Fame. I have some vague memories of it, one of the most vivid memories was walking around the outside of the Hall buildings I think there were only 3 at the time, and the 4th was being built or there were 2 and the 3rd was being built. I'm not sure of the time-line history of the buildings. The biggest memory that sticks out was actually the stadium and the field where they play the games. At the time we were there (we spent only a few hours) it was either way before the Hall of Fame Game or way after for that year. The stadium was empty and we could see the rather plain field. That part was a little disappointing. Anyway on with the playing cards.

Both sets I've got are similar in the back designs they show the Main Museum building the first one is in sepia tone the other one in full color.

The Sepia Tone Deck appears to be from the 1960s based on the cars that are shown in the picture. The deck seems to be a promo device for a company called "Superior Dairy Products Build Champions". The box (and the jokers) have some manufacturer information, but not the actual copyright date. It is made by Brown & Bigelow (division of Standard Packaging Corp. St. Paul 4, Minnesota).

Here is the back of the deck box, the Ace of Spades, one of the two identical Jokers and the face cards of the Hearts.

The full color one I used to have a similar one from back when my brother and I visited the Hall around 1980. It is probably made in the late1970s, it could be a more modern issue based on the late 70s version I originally had. Of course that deck is long gone this is a new one. I thought the deck I used to have years ago had the gold flecked edges but I'm not sure if that was true. I might be confusing it with a deck of Disney World cards we had that showed Cinderella's Castle. This one doesn't have the gold on the edge. Anyway this new deck is still sealed I got for $20 delivered. The original "Buy It Now or Best Offer" price was $20.00 with $6.00 shipping. I made an offer of $14 ($20 delivered) and they accepted that. I wasn't going to pay much more than $20 for this set, even with a ton of sentimental value of it. This deck just says "Made in China" not sure of manufacturer. Maybe the Ace of Spades has that info. I won't know unless I find an exact copy that is opened.

2010-12-04T17:00:00.004-05:00

Back in the day early 1970s around '71/'72 Mattel released a wonderful electronic audio toy. The Portable Instant Replay Record Player. The hand held audio device used batteries (1 D cell) and played these little 2.5" records. The player came with 4 discs to start your collection off, then they sold sets of 4 discs of football, baseball, basketball, racing and mixed sports. I forget if Hockey was included or not. The little button on the side basically was just a play/eject button, it might of had a fast forward but I think it was just play/stop/eject. Every once in a while Ebay will have some of the discs available and sometimes the players.

Instant Replay Black Disc back.

I had the blue version of the player which I think was the first generation one, my brother had the Red version which I think came about a year later (1972) with "double sided" discs. Those discs had two pictures on the disc but I think just played on one side. The quality of the recordings was not that great, and as your battery ran down so did the playing of whatever was on the disc.

Back in the day my brother and I had about two dozen of the discs or so. There were many players I recall knowing about because I had this "toy". Over the years the discs were lost to time, or rather the "utility room" in our basement. Many of the discs sell for between $10-$30 or more sometimes you can find lots of several of the discs for a better price.

Anyway my rebuilt collection of the discs (useless as audio records unless I can find a working player for a decent price) are shown below. The Frank Robinson disc I got for $15.00 at my local card shop and the Sonny Jurgensen I got for $6.99 (+$2.00 postage) from Ebay.

Sonny Jurgensen

The Ebay seller sent as a bonus an unopened pack of 1991 Upper Deck The Quarterback's Challenge cards distributed by Domino's Pizza. I'm debating if I should open the pack or not.

Cubs Icon Ron Santo Dead at age 70

2010-12-03T19:41:00.000-05:00

Ron Santo Banner from chicago.cubs.mlb.com

Sad News today. One of the Chicago Cubs Legendary and most loved by fans players passed way last night (Thursday 02 Dec). Ron Santo died of bladder cancer he was 70.

AP news story from msn.foxsports.com.

Some '60s & '70s Vintage Football

2010-12-03T12:30:00.001-05:00

Here are some recent catches from the Bay:

1961 Topps 130 John Paluck Redskins

He reminds me of someone.....

Actor David Leisure as Joe Isuzu Compulsive Lying spokesperson.

1969 Topps 125 Roman Gabriel Rams

1972 Topps 3 - 1971 AFC Passing Leaders

Bob Griese Dolphins/Len Dawson Chiefs/Virgil Carter Bengals

1972 Topps 120 Terry Bradshaw Steelers Pro Action

1972 Topps 128 Roman Gabriel Rams Pro Action

1973 Topps 48 Mercury Morris Dolphins

1973 Topps 214 Nick Buoniconti Dolphins

Of course one of the questions that Dolphins collectors have to consider is Do you collect the 1972 Topps Dolphins cards or the 1973 Topps Dolphins cards to have the "Perfect Season Team Set"? As a Redskins fan I'll just leave that question up to the Phins phans and keep out of it.

Bonus Packs!

2010-12-02T12:00:00.006-05:00

When I bought some cards recently (See post "Some Vintage Baseball") I received some bonus cards and some BONUS WAX PACKS. Now these packs are from the early 1990s the JUNK WAX years so they might not have much of anything of any real value. Two of them I'll probably sell, trade, or maybe open to see what is in them, the other I'll probably keep as is. Anyway here they are:

1990 Upper Deck Foil Pack

The 1990 Upper Deck Set contains 800 cards and the only key cards are the Sammy Sosa RC and a Nolan Ryan Card #734 6th No-Hitter. There are two variations of this card one with a banner that says 300th Win on bottom right corner and one without the banner. The variation 734A without the banner is rarer and apparently worth more than the 724B banner version. Fun fun fun.

1990 Donruss Wax Pack

The 1990 Donruss Set contains 716 cards. As with the tradition started in 1982 cards 1-26 are the Diamond Kings subset, with card 27 being the DK checklist. Then cards 28-47 are Rated Rookies cards. Again the Sammy Sosa Rookie card in this set is a Key card as well as an error RC card of Juan Gonzalez. Oh an the Puzzle is of.. Carl Yastrzemski.

Next up is the 1989 Topps Set it contains 792 cards. Key cards are RCs of Craig Biggio, John Smoltz and Randy Johnson (I think I've got that one somewhere, or did). The kicker on this pack, and the reason I just might keep this pack and keep it sealed is it is majorly miscut.

1989 Topps Wax Pack - Miscut

So campers and Knooknicks what should I do with these packs? If the process wasn't soo expensive I'd consider sending the Topps pack to get graded as some sort of packaging error. There are at least 2 reasons I won't the first as I said it is expensive (and you should send several items to be graded not just a single solitary pack). The second I don't like having things entombed in plastic. They grade and entomb comics as well as cards, I can understand the cards but comics? Comics are supposed to be read also, not just looked at. I like the "feel" of things in a collection, even if you put them in plastic sleeves or binder pages you still have a sense of their feel. Slab them up inside the plastic and they lose some of their character.

1968 Topps Baseball

2010-12-01T18:00:00.001-05:00

Card 278 Checklist 4th Series (for cards 284-370)

I was going to make this a post about just one card I had gotten recently (Jim Brewer), but I figured I'd talk about the whole set for this particular year. 1968 Topps Baseball. I think I had a ton more of these things when I was a kid than I do even now with buying what seems like a ton of them one or two cards at a time every few months. I'm not sure exactly which year was the first year I personally ripped open a trading card wax pack, but I do recall 1968 as being one of the first years I remember having cards from. I think 1970 or 1971 was the first year I personally opened a pack, or "bought" one. When you are a kid your "purchases" are usually really your parents or an older sibling "buying" the item for you while you wait impatiently to rip open whatever package it is you are about to get. I also recall that for the '68 cards the background pattern for some of the cards was really funky. the detail in the pattern of the dots or splotches seemed to vary. I couldn't decide if they were going for the look of a cork bulletin board or burlap sacks.

298 Jim Brewer Dodgers

The most recent '68 card I've acquired.

114 Ron Swoboda Mets

Yes my card is cut off like that on the bottom (miscut)

159 Don Kessinger Cubs

235 Ron Santo Cubs

Ron also appeared on card #19 in the

Insert Game cards Topps Released in 1968

(That is for another post)

While I'm mentioning Ron Santo Cards

1971 Topps 220

1973 Topps 115

Some vintage Baseball

2010-11-30T17:00:00.003-05:00

I bought 3 cards from another member at TCC and he added 2 bonus cards plus some wax packs (I'll make another post for the wax packs, I've gone over my limit on labeling to include all the years of everything and the other 2 brands.)

OK so I bought:

1964 Topps 260 Frank Robinson Reds

1964 Topps 306 "Giant Gunners"

Willie Mays & Orlando Cepeda

1973 Topps 90 Brook Robinson Orioles

And Got BONUS CARDS:

1979 Topps 417 All-Time Record Holders

STRIKEOUTS Nolan Ryan (Season) & Walter Johnson (Career)

1982 Topps 636 Philadelphia Phillies Team Leaders

'81 Batting & Pitching Leaders

Pete Rose & Steve Carlton

In the same package I also got some BONUS unopened wax packs 1990 Donruss & 1990 Upper Deck, Plus a 1989 Topps Wax Pack with a wrapper that is majorly miscut (and a piece of stale gum which is in at least two pieces now). I will post pics of those packs in another post sometime.

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Nick Johnson Framed

2010-11-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

In a recent purchase from the Bay I got a Red Framed 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings 139 Nick Johnson Expos/Nationals. 2005 was the first year the relocated Montreal Expos played as The Washington Nationals in DC. Many cards from this time like this one will picture the player in their Expos uniform, but the card will say they play for the Nationals. This is the Red Framed version. The card has a glued-on maroon colored frame border and the Diamond Kings logo at the bottom is in a shiny metallic Red lettering. I think these framed versions are less common than the standard version. I have one of those I just haven't scanned it yet, when I do I'll probably do a side-by-side comparison, or just repost this scan with the standard one. They missed out by not serial numbering these, I would have liked if they had done that with this set.

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings

139 Nick Johnson Expos Red Framed

Now the Ebay seller that I got this card from also included some "Bonus" cards (six total). Here are the six cards that were sent as a Bonus all six are for trade:

1990 Upper Deck 684 Jack Armstrong Reds
1990 Fleer 151 Andy Benes Padres
1990 Fleer 429 Jeff Reed Reds
1992 Topps Stadium Club 684 Phil Stephenson Padres
1998 Topps Chrome (Yuck) 77 Greg Vaughn Padres
1998 Topps Chrome 212 Gerald Williams Brewers

The 1992 Topps Stadium Club Phil Stephenson card has no stats charts because and I quote "Insufficient Major League data available for an accurate analysis of batting strengths and weaknesses". Wait two years playing and NO STATS? This card is his 1992 card, they are just showing his rookie card on the back. And the Stadium Club series was Topps High-End Products in the 1990s.

At one point I liked the 1990 Fleer Baseball set, but got sick of it back in the day because I had so much of it and didn't have a complete set. Now it just reminds me of many of the reasons that era of card collecting is tarnished.

I really don't mind bonus cards, but these made no sense except for the fact that they were at least Baseball cards. None of them were even from Donruss, 2005 edition or Diamond Kings. None of them were Nationals (or Expos), Nick Johnson, or even one of the teams he played on. They are 1990s junk.I would think if you are going to send bonus cards try to match them up to what the person bought. I mentioned earlier a vintage '50s card of a Chicago Bears player I bought and the seller sent a couple of bonus more modern Bears. Although they were prime 1990s junk cards one of which I already had. The point is they were at least of the same dang team of the original card I bought. End of RANT.

OK getting back to the Diamond Kings sets. I recall when Donruss began the Diamond Kings as a subset of the main 1982 set. That year they were the first 26 cards in the set. The following year 1983 they they had more DKs cards. They were a similar design and it is a little confusing because the 1983 cards are copyrighted 1982. I don't any of those scanned right now, but I do have some other 2005 and even a couple of 2004 DKs scanned to show right now:

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings

139 Nick Johnson Expos Silver #d-14/50

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings

250 Ryan Church Expos Red Framed

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings

250 Ryan Church Expos

2004 Donruss Diamond Kings

85 Ryan Church Indians

2004 Donruss Diamond Kings

85 Ryan Church Indians Bronze Framed

Stephen Strasburg 2010 Topps Number 661

2010-11-29T12:00:00.008-05:00

The Number One Draft Pick Rookie Phenom who made his MLB debut on 08 June, 2010 throwing 14 strikeouts for the Washington Nationals, Stephen Strasburg gets his rookie card in the 2010 Topps Update set with several variations. The card was first available only as a giveaway for Topps "Million Card Giveway". Card Number 661 in the set has at least three different versions. The first being the MCG card I just mentioned, then version A which I think I have. This card has the same photo as the MCG card with the exception of the RC logo being on the left instead of on the right. The second version the "B" version has a different picture. A 4th variation is the "Pie In The Face" with Stephen wearing a shaving cream face pie and the infamous Silver Elvis Wig that the Nationals use for this occasion. I think a 5th variation is in the Factory set, but that I think is stamped "factory set" on the card and has yet another different picture. Then things get more confusing because the Topps Chrome set has more variations. I think those cards have different numbers though and I am not concerning myself with the Chrome junk.

661A Stephen Strasburg Nationals

US-274 Merry Stras-Mas

Stephen Strasburg & Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez

MTOG-14 Stephen Strasburg

I will refer to this post in the future if I have to update any of my info on the Infamous card number 661 and it's Million Variations.

1974 Topps Redskins Team Set

2010-11-28T13:00:00.003-05:00

With the help of Ebay I finally got the rest of the 1974 Topps Redskins that I needed for my collection. Some of the cards I had from way back when (Kilmer, Bass?, Jefferson, Hauss, Houston?, Brundige, Wilber, Pottios, Taylor?) A couple of the players I have duplicates and/or triplicates of. I have always liked the '74 Topps football, and Baseball cards. That year all around in just about every sport I really enjoy the sets. For the football set the goal post design is what grabbed me back in the day. The Team name is in a colored "field" block at the bottom. The color pattern is different for each team. For the redskins it looks even better since the block color is green giving the goal post design even more of a shine.

I don't have a Team Checklist card yet, but I'm working on getting that. Anyway the card roster is as follows (In order by card number):

6 Jerry Smith
33 Curt Knight
58 Bill Kilmer
84 Mike Bass
119 Roy Jefferson
156 Brig Owens
182 Len Hauss
208 Verlon Biggs
235 Ken Houston
260 Larry Brown
287 Bill Brundige
313 Dave Robinson
345 Chris Hanburger
371 Mike Bragg
398 John Wilber
422 Charlie Harraway
445 Pat Fischer
484 Myron Pottios
510 Charlie Taylor

Here are a few of my faves from this set, either because of the player, the picture, or both.

119 Roy Jefferson - Checkout those sideburns.

235 Ken Houston - Ditto with the burns

182 Len Hauss - Classic pose it may have been used for most of his cards.

345 Chris Hanburger

"Park the car over there... OVER THERE!"

58 Bill "Billy" Kilmer - Airbrushed Helmets.

As a kid I thought they were scrimmage/preseason helmets.

I didn't know about the lack of licensing Topps had (or didn't have).

BTW I think Billy boy is tripping here.

260 Larry Brown

I've always digged sidelines photos, and those with the helmet half-on-half-off.

33 Curt Knight - Can you tell he's a kicker?

I like these "posed" action shots.

371 Mike Bragg - Let me guess... Punter?

287 Bill Brundige - He has that "Whatt Tha?" Look that the other guys should have for the cards I didn't choose to highlight here.

398 John Wilber - Here we have the classic posed "three point stand" for football cards.

The second version shown of this card is a very miscut one (the back is miscut as well). It was part of one of the Ebay lots I got to get some of the other cards since I already had this one (Now I have at least 3).

Good Old Sonny J.

2010-11-27T14:00:00.001-05:00

One of my fave QBs of all time especially growing up was Sonny Jurgensen of the Washington Redskins. My Homie Team. here is a card I recently got for a decent price at Ebay. It is serial numbered and that was one of the selling points to it because of the connection I could make with the number.

2007 Donruss Gridiron Gear

Performers Gold P-30 Sonny Jurgensen

244/500

The serial number is 244 of 500. Of course the number 44 is Riggo's jersey number (John Riggins).

Sometime earlier I had gotten this other 2007 Jurgensen card from a group break. It is also serial numbered Bronze Spotlight card it is 32/32 an Ebay 1/1. Then it's companion common version.

2007 Donruss Leaf Limited Bronze Spotlight
189 Sonny Jurgensen

32/32

2007 Donruss Leaf Limited

189 Sonny Jurgensen

100/249

2008 Donruss Leaf Limited

181 Sonny Jurgensen

064/499

Another grab from the Bay was a special version of the 1994 Ted Williams 61 Sonny Jurgensen Card. Notice that the picture of Sonny on this card is the same exact photo as the previous 2008 Leaf Limited card. Also the faded background picture is a 1970s picture where the main picture is from the '60s.

1994 Ted Williams 61 Sonny Jurgensen

AUTOGRAPHED

As I said I got that one from the Bay and at a good price only $5.74 +$3.00 shipping. It's not authenticated but it does seem to be consistent with Sonny's signature. The exception though is it doesn't have "HOF 83" this worried me a little, but there have been some authenticated autographs of his by PSA without the extra Hall of Fame line. I know that for every legit autograph out there there are about 1,000 forgeries. This card might not be an authentic autograph, but I don't mind. There have been cases of people getting legit autographs from celebs and then an "expert" tells them that their signature is a "fake". I have no intentions of selling or trading this card. If I ever do I guess I'll say out front that I don't for sure if the signature is authentic or not. I've gotten autographs of celebs before; Weird Al Yankovic, James Belushi, Peter Noone & Harry Chapin to name a few and those signatures are not "authenticated' maybe someday I'll get then looked at. The Belushi & Noone autos are on a program from 1982 when they performed in The Pirates of Penzance, and the Chapin auto is in a concert program, so those should be easier for an authenticator to give the thumbs up on.

'76 Trombones er 1976 Topps Baseball

2010-11-26T17:30:00.017-05:00

From a sportlots.com 1-2-3 Auction. 1976 Topps Baseball. What I like about this 1970s set is the color combination and the general design is the little baseball character by the players name. Each position has a different little character, but since these four cards are 3 pitchers and an All-Star (One of my fave 1970s players Steve Garvey) this teeny lot only has the one little guy. It also looks like I don't have any other cards from this year scanned yet so it maybe a while til I get some of the other characters up here.

55 Gaylord Perry - Rangers

150 Steve Garvey - Dodgers

235 Bert Blyleven - Twins

Another Fave 1970s Player (Blame Match-Game)
530 Don Sutton - Dodgers

1960 Topps Les Richter Rams among others.

2010-11-26T12:00:00.002-05:00

I recall the first time I saw a 1960 Topps Football card was an old Redskins card I've got. It was not the first card I recall ever owning, that might have been my 1965 Topps Baseball Ernie Banks (not sure though). I don't recall where it was dug up from, probably my oldest brother had it and I found it in our basement laundry room that doubled as a storage room for almost half (or more) of the 44 years my family owned the house I grew up in.

That first 1960 Football card was number 123 Ralph Guglielmi in horrible shape with loads of creasing and rounded corners, it has some tape holding it together at one of the creases. The very epitome of a poor grade card it barely serves as a filler card in my collection. It apparently is also an uncorrected error card as the front has his last name misspelled as Gugliemi. I will probably never get rid of it though. I always remember it as being in horrible shape. I think at one time it was taped to a notebook or inside a binder. As a kid I did that frequently to some cards. I even marked my cards with a huge "K" sometimes on the front sometimes on the back. So this one might have had the "tape to the notebook cover" treatment.

The blogger at pooroldbaseballcards would be proud of this specimen. I wonder if someone is doing a Poor Old Football Cards blog? If so let me know so I can follow, I'd follow a Hockey one too I guess. For many years it served as the oldest card in my entire trading card collection (sports and non-sports). I am not sure what is the oldest card in my collection now.

123 Ralph Guglielmi Redskins
My Original card (front then back)

This copy of the card I do not own.

(Image from Checkoutmycards.com)

I like the 1960 Topps football for the simple colored football nameplate, and the "Football Funnies" cartoons on the back that Topps used to do back then. The downside to the cartoons though is they were coin scratch-off things that were only revealed when you rubbed the area with a coin. This made the picture appear but did damage to the back of the card.

68 les Richter Rams

30 Bob Gain Browns

1954 Bowman Redskin

2010-11-26T02:02:00.001-05:00

From the bay $6.75 delivered:

1954 BOWMAN 110 Steve Meilinger Redskins

Where some of my Rams cards from this set look like colorized photos this card looks like a watercolor painting of sorts.

Dang It! Opportunity missed.

2010-11-24T14:23:00.001-05:00

I just now noticed I missed celebrating my One Year Anniversary of this Blog back in October. OH Well. Yay Me!

Edit: Addendum - I did have a six month hiatus from blogging here from April to September so it doesn't seem as long.

1959 Team Card Washington Senators

2010-11-23T01:38:00.003-05:00

One of the fun types of cards to collect are the ordinary team cards. Here is one of my older ones from the 1950s barely.

1959 Topps 397 Washington Senators Team Card

I didn't scan the back but this card has the Sixth Series Checklist for cards #230-495. Sometimes the team cards have the recent team stats on the back, other times a team specific checklist. The team checklist cards come in handy when trying to finish off a team set.

1954 Bowman Football (Mostly Rams)

2010-11-22T13:30:00.001-05:00

I got a few 1954 Bowman Football Cards from the Bay (Ebay) for $5.00/each on average. The lowest was $3.00 and $5.00 was the high. The Los Angeles Rams cards I got from the same dealer so I saved on shipping.

I think part of the appeal to me on these cards is the early color photos. They seem to be hand colored from black & white photos, maybe early machine colored. I'm not a photo expert so I don't know exactly and don't really care other than I enjoy them. I also like them for the team logos.

8 Norm Van Brocklin Rams

20 Tom Fears Rams

32 Elroy Hirsch Rams

127 Joe Koch Bears

The dealer that I got the Joe Koch from also sent me a couple of "bonus" cards. He at least was keeping with a theme as the cards he sent were Chicago Bears, although more modern ones. Some dealers send bonus cards that make no sense other than the fact that they are sometimes the same sport (I'll get into that with another post soon hopefully). The "Bonus Bears" I got were a 1990 Fleer Neal Anderson #288 (a player I collect since he has a similar name to my brother but spelled different) and a 1991 Pro Set Brad Muster #105. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to collect the rest of the 1991 Pro Set. Back in the day I had collected quite a few, but over the last few years of being a member of various trading card forums I have traded a few away. As for the 1990 Fleer. A few months back I bought a full set of them along with the All-Pros Sub-Set. So I have at least one dupe of this Neal Anderson card.

1990 Fleer 288 Neal Anderson Bears

Stancraft Playing Cards Vikings Edition

2010-11-22T12:00:00.006-05:00

For about $10 (w/ $2.75 shipping) from Ebay I got my third deck of playing cards from the Late 1960s Stancraft NFL Team series. This one is the Minnesota Vikings boxed. The box is in nice condition, so nice I couldn't tell which card was glued to the box as the sample.

Joker Style 1 from Box

This makes the collection 3/16 complete (of course I'll need to also get the Rams in a Box since I just have that one as a sealed deck.)

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Colts

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers (Box)
Los Angeles Rams (Sealed "loose" pack)

Minnesota Vikings (Box)

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

St. Louis Cardinals

Washington Redskins

Teams in RED I need. Have teams in BOLD w/Box or Sealed "loose" Pack.

Deck Collection 3/16 Complete.

Ovechkin and Team Logo

2010-11-21T02:14:00.001-05:00

A recent Alexander Ovechkin add and a Capitals Team Logo I got a while back but didn't post here yet.

2008-09 Fleer Ultra Difference Makers DM2

1978-79 Topps Capitals Team Logo Sticker

Ice Fun - 2010-11 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey Twofer.

2010-11-16T00:20:00.000-05:00

Once again from a sale from a member of TCC I got a nice deal on some terrific cards. This time some 2010-11 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey cards. The first one from my fave team The Washington Capitals - Star Alexander Ovechkin card #178 serial numbered 686/999. Sort of a jersey number card since it has an 8 in it.

2010-11 Artifacts Star - 178 Alex Ovechkin #/999

Next we have a card from Nick Johnson.

D'OH! Not That NICK JOHNSON!

This Nick Johnson Rookie for the Pittsburgh Penguins. This card is Pittsburgh Penguins - Rookie Nick Johnson card #104 serial numbered 456/999. Nice how it is a sequential number counting up to something.

2010-11 Artifacts Rookie - 104 Nick Johnson #/999

I like the design of these cards. I might have to bit the bullet and start getting the base set of this.

Vintage 60s Merlin Olsen Card

2010-11-16T00:05:00.001-05:00

A fairly recently acquired card I got from one of my favorite players of one of my favorite teams when I was a kid. Merlin Olsen who played on the Los Angeles Rams from 1962 - 1976. His Rookie card is a 1964 Philadelphia card I don't have that one yet, but I did get this 1966 Philadelphia card recently. It has a little corner creasing action down in the lower left corner (the scan shows it a little). Just a few days before this one arrived I was waltzing through my cards and noticed I already had one. I thought it looked familiar.

1966 Philadelphia Football Merlin Olsen #102

Besides the fact that he was one of my favorite players on one of my fave teams growing up I like this card for a few other reasons; His fierce look posed as it may very well be, and the way the design of the card looks like a Sports Illustrated cover.

Million Card Givaway Bust

2010-11-15T22:30:00.002-05:00

Well back earlier in the year around March or so when the 2010 Topps Baseball cards were selling hot and everyone was busting open plastic and foil trying for those precious Million Card Giveaway Code Cards. I went nuts like everyone else and when I pulled a Code Card went to the Topps Giveaway site and entered my code to see what cards I won. I have an earlier entry or two on that. I pulled a total of 7 code cards and unlocked seven cards. An earlier post of mine mentions the cards I unlocked (from 1962, 1967, 1968, 1973(2), 1975(2)). Well to my disappointment when I went to try to claim them for delivery and pay the postage I couldn't figure out how to do it without using a damn credit card. Turns out YOU CAN'T you MUST HAVE A CREDIT CARD TO PAY FOR THE POSTAGE of your cards. This was not made clear anywhere I could find.

I tried a few times to contact Topps about my problem but the link to contact them never seemed to work so I ended up emailing their support email. On 30 October, 2010 I decided to try contacting them again this time via the support email.

My message said:

"A few months back I unlocked some baseball cards in your Million Card Giveaway. Several times I have tried to request to have my cards delivered, but I have a very BIG PROBLEM. It seems the only way to pay for the shipping costs is BY CREDIT CARD. I do not have any credit cards due to being in a credit repair/debt elimination program.

Is there another form of payment I can send? Like via Paypal or by personal check or Money Order through the mail?
Please let me know how to solve this pro-Credit Card problem."

Two days later their reply:

"unfortunately since this is an online promotion the only way you can pay is by credit card online. we apologize for the inconvenience.

topps cs team"

That really sucks. OK I can understand the age restriction of 18 or older that they have to do business yadda yadda, but I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem of not having a damn credit card available to use for $6.00 bucks postage.

So there you have it I am screwed on that score and will not be receiving my unlocked cards, they will waste away in their vault, or a few years from now pulled for some other giveaway or something. Thanks for nothing TOPPS.

Good thing I never attempted to do anything about the Football Giveaway or get any 2010 Football cards this year yet.

Earlier Topps Million Card Giveaway posts:
Topps 2010 Million Card Giveaway Code Cards
2010 Topps Baseball Million Card Givaway

A Fishstripe Auto From A Current Nat

2010-11-15T12:30:00.009-05:00

From a fellow member of TCC (tradingcardcentral.com) I bought a 2003 Bowman's Best Certified Issue Auto BB-JW Josh Willingham Marlins.

Josh played for the Florida Marlins from 2004 - 2008 he was drafted in the 17th round of the 2000 amateur draft. He made his MLB debut in July 2004 for the Marlins vs. The Pittsburgh Pirates.

Josh was traded to the Washington Nationals (with pitcher Scott Olsen for Emilio Bonifacio) in November 2008 and is now one of the Nats big powerhouse hitters.

White Whale of Iron Man

2010-11-14T16:30:00.009-05:00

From Ebay I got a great deal on a White Whale card I have been looking to get.

1982 Topps Baseball #21 - Baltimore Orioles Future Stars Bob Bonner - Cal Ripken - Jeff Schneider for $12.24 delivered ($10.25 + $1.99 standard shipping)

This card is often considered to be Cal's Official RC, as well as the usually more expensive 1982 Topps Traded #98T (which I don't have yet) both cards usually go for at least $20 on Ebay.

Graded 1982 Topps Traded #98T Courtesy of Checkoutmycards.com

With this card the Good/Great News is the condition is just a tad less than Excellent condition (a little flaking can be seen in the lower left corner on the front).

The Bad News is it was delivered in PWE with a forever stamp (shipping only cost them $0.44 and they charged me $1.99). OK they said "Standard Shipping" but you can send a bubble envelope and it costs about $2.00 more or less. For most sellers a bubble mailer is "Standard" especially for cards of $10 value or more (sometimes $5.00). Plus there was no Penny Sleeve or toploader UGH it was in an UltraPro "Cardsaver" (Like the pic below).

I transferred it to a penny sleeve and toploader. I dinged the seller a little on the shipping star and in the Feedback section I said "expected a little better than a PWE for the shipping", but I gave them positive feedback. If the card had been damaged from the poor shipping then I would have contacted them to try to work something out and maybe give a neutral if I was satisfied with the outcome, negative if they were uncooperative. I wonder what feedback they will give me if any?

On a side note I live in an apartment and my tiny mailbox is the one that has the lock for the postal carrier to load the boxes in my building so sometimes my mail gets extra folded because of the little extra metal bars at the top of my box. I had some packages the other day that had been bent a little good thing the contents had been protected well by their senders in those otherwise I'd have been quite annoyed at the postal service.

Some Favorite Hi-End Cut Sigs

2010-11-03T14:00:00.002-04:00

One of the relatively recent trends in the trading card world has been "cut signatures". I'm not sure which company started this madness or how long it has really been going on but basically what the card companies do is take an autograph of a sports (or entertainment) personality, cut it from it's original source be it a check, letter, autograph book or in some stupid cases an older trading card; and they encase it into, or paste it on a card. Many of these cards are also of very limited numbers. Some are 1/1 while others are serial numbered to something else sometimes the uniform number if a sports player.

When I first saw these types of things I hated them, and I still hate the idea of taking an older card cutting it and putting the signature on another card seems sort of stupid and redundant. Plus those signatures on a previous photo look really bad. I don't have any examples of cut sigs from a card in my collection to show so I'll have to borrow some examples from the internet.

Wow here is actually an example of a good cut sig from a card. If all of them were were like this Red Grange (probably from some sort of retro Hall of Fame card, or possibly a promo photo) I would have no problems.

Photo from http://www.canadacardworldblog.com/2010/09/product-preview-2010-leaf-limited-football/

But alas most of the cut sigs from cards are terrible like this example from a Tucker Frederickson card from a 1969 Topps card #15.

Photo from http://sportscardinfo.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/cut-signatures-and-cardboard-irony/

I will do my best to avoid getting any of these terrible poorly cut ones like the Frederickson. I have been fortunate that so far I haven't gotten any bad ones but I have gotten some really good cut signature cards and all of them were from group box breaks.

The following cards are part of my PC (Private Collection) and will most likely never be sold during my lifetime. The first two are 2007 Leaf Limited - Limited Cuts, The third one is a 2009 Limited - Limited Cuts. The Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch signature is from some sort of index card or autograph book, it might be from a black and white card or picture eek I don't know for sure. The Clark Shaughnessy autograph appears to be from a check as is obviously the Sammy Baugh auto. These are my three fave cut autos I've got. I think they are the only ones I've got right now, wait I might have a baseball signature lost in my collection that I haven't yet scanned.

2007 Leaf Limited - Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch

2007 Leaf Limited - Clark Shaughnessy

2009 Limited - Sammy Baugh

Fun distraction Politicards

2010-10-31T21:33:00.000-04:00

First produced in 1971 for the Upcoming 1972 Election year. This card 54 playing card deck was made by a card publishing company known only as "Politicards" (on the side of the box). Each card including the two jokers has a cartoon caricature of a political personality from that period of time. Plus a few from a few years before. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time this was done specifically for an election year. It seems to have been done every four years since.

In 1972 my family had a deck of these cards that we played with and like all the other decks of cards we had eventually the cards got lost in our basement. I seem to recall a few years later seeing some similar cards with Jimmy Carter so I'm fairly sure the tradition has been kept up every four years using the current political figures of the time. It is a fun way to see who was in on the political scene in America at the time the cards were produced.

The first deck made in '71 had a simple design for the card backs. A gray background with the four card suits in a red, white and blue stars and stripes flag design. The box was simply a plain box with an outer sleeve that slides open to get access to the cards. The front of the box shows Richard "Tricky Dickey" Nixon as the King of Spades, the back of the box is the design for the back of the cards.

1972 Politicards box back (open)

Richard Nixon is the King of Spades

Eventually I will scan the individual cards and show them, but for now all I have scanned are the boxes from each of the years I have. 1972, 1996 (Red and Blue versions), 2000 Red Deck, 2004 Blue Deck, 2008 Red and Blue Decks. These cards show up on Ebay from time to time. Most of them are fairly reasonable price-wise. I've only seen one of the decks with Jimmy Carter from 1980? once and it was too expensive to even consider trying to get. In the meantime I'm going to try to fill in the gaps I need, even getting the red or blue versions I still need.

1996 Blue Deck Box Front and Back (open)

1996 Red Deck Box Front and Back (sealed)

2000 Red Deck Box Front and Back (open)

2004 Blue Deck Box Front and Back (open)

2008 Blue Deck Box Front and Back (Sealed)

2008 Red Deck Box Front and Back (Open)

1974 Fleer NFL Hall Of Fame

2010-10-31T19:00:00.003-04:00

1974 Fleer Hall of Fame

"The Immortal Roll" cards

In 1974 Fleer produced a Hall of Fame "The Immortal Roll" set of 50 NFL cards similar to the Baseball "Pioneers of Baseball" 28 card set. These cards were packaged I think 4 to a pack with a team logo sticker or cloth sticker. This set and the baseball one were my first "retro" cards of hard to find old-timers or Hall of Famers from any sport. At the time I was not really into reprints, still not, or retro cards, but these sets just reached out to me. I've liked them ever since. This set was so successful that in 1975 Fleer produced an 84 card set that is very similar and sometimes gets confused with this one. The main difference is the '75 set has brown borders instead of the white, and they are numbered. This '74 set is not numbered and often any numbers assigned are from their alphabetical ordered position. I think for the '75 set they just used the same photos, which adds to the confusion. The backs have a drawing of the Hall of Fame building in Canton, OH an a descriptive paragraph of the player featured.

Legendary Redskin Quarterback "Slingin' Sammy Baugh

No NFL Hall of Fame set could be complete without Legend Jim Thorpe

Some Classic players from one of my fave teams The Los Angeles Rams

I really dig the old leather helmets and the early metal ones.

Check out the poses. 3 Point stand w/out helmet?

Don't forget the "tough guy" and the "pretty boy". (OK I got a little carried away there.)

I only have the 17 different cards featured in this post a few of them I have duplicates. I plan on getting the rest of this set and the 1975 set.

Topps 2010 Million Card Giveaway Code Cards

2010-10-31T11:30:00.003-04:00

I guess I'll use this as my check list for my "Million Card Giveaway Code Cards". For those who have bought any 2010 Topps Baseball products they will have noticed that randomly inserted into the packs are these special Code cards. You visit Topps Million Card Giveaway website, enter your special code from the back of the card. You have to type it in exactly, once I typed in an "S" instead of the "$" sign and I got an error telling me either I had typed an invalid code or the code had already been used. So I guess there is no random entering of codes to see if they work. Each card on the front has a picture of a vintage player's card and on the back is the special code you use to "unlock" your giveaway card. After the codes are entered in I suppose most people will toss the cards, sell or give them away. Personally I am collecting them as a nice oddball subset. The backs of the cards are numbered with "TMC" 1 through 10. So here is what they look like.

TMC - 1
1952 Roy Campanella
Don't have yet.

TMC - 2
1978 Gary Carter
Dont' have yet.

TMC - 3
1963 Bob Gibson
Don't have yet.

TMC - 4
2001 Ichiro
Don't have yet.

TMC - 5
1969 Mickey Mantle
Don't have yet.

TMC - 6
1957 Mickey Mantle
TMC - 7
1963 Roger Maris

TMC - 8
1974 Thurman Munson

Back of TMC - 8
(code blurred on purpose)

TMC - 9
1985 Mike Schmidt

TMC - 10
1970 Carl Yastrzemski

UPDATE: It is now fall (October almost November). I haven't gotten my cards because I don't have a credit card. I tried sending a message via the website, but it never goes through I always get an error while trying to send message asking about other forms of payments. This really sucks if I can't get the cards that I have unlocked because I don't have a valid credit card to pay for the frickin' postage.

1971 Topps Inserts: Pin-Ups

2010-10-30T17:00:00.001-04:00

1971 TOPPS Insert Game Mini Poster Pin-Ups

In 1971 Topps produced a Football Card Game similar to their Baseball Card Game from 1968. In addition to the cards (set of 52 cards) they produced a set of 32 Mini Poster Pin-Ups that had the game board on the back for the card game. The Pin-Ups were folded up in the packages with the cards, they are the size of 4 cards put together.

A special "field Postion" marker card was an extra card for the set. Apparently you were supposed to cut it in half using one half to mark the ball on the field and the other half for the first down marker.

I'm pretty sure I had a few of the pinups back in the day, and a few of the cards, but I don't know where my original ones went. The ones I have now have come mostly from Ebay purchases, some of the cards have come from trades.

Pin-UP # 1 Gene Washington - 49ers

#8 Roman Gabriel - Rams

#10 Bart Starr - Packers

#17 Sonny Jurgensen - Redskins

#32 Larry Brown - Redskins

Stancraft Playing Cards NFL Teams (Circa 1967)

2010-10-30T13:00:00.004-04:00

One of my pet projects is to get the full set of these sweet 1960s/70s cards. At the time the NFL just had 16 teams. The AFL was a different entity so those teams are not part of this set.

A little back history on them. In 1965 Photographer and Artist David Boss made a series of paintings that would become the first set of NFL team posters. These paintings were then put on the game programs the following season, and either then or in the next year (1967) put on playing cards.

The blog The Fleer Sticker Project has most if not all of the pictures of these paintings. He has a link to a Dallas Cowboys collector who pointed him out to these card decks. I've known about these decks since around the time they came out as my brother had (and probably still does have) a deck of the Washington Redskins. We played with that deck about as much as we did with all the other playing card decks we had in our house which meant we wore them out.

In recent years I have gotten the Los Angeles Rams deck. Still sealed but without a box. I am on the hunt for a deck with the box.

More recently I got the Green Bay Packers deck from Ebay complete with box.

There are two types of Jokers that were produced. Now according to Mr. Cowboy they are different because one is the Poker Sized Version and the other Bridge sized He calls "Nu-Vue Style" (I think "Nu-Vue" actually referrers to the plastic coating or possibly the manufacturer). However his explanation doesn't quite work because His "Poker" style image clearly says "Bridge" on the Ace of Spades card he shows. The joker from that style is what my Rams deck is, I don't know about the Ace of Spades because my deck is sealed and only the Joker is showing in the back. My Packers deck which I got open with the box and both jokers has the style of Ace of Spade and Joker he calls "Nu-Vue Style". Now both of my decks are the same size card. The box for the Packers deck says "Bridge Size" on the bottom side. So both of my decks are Bridge sized. Until I get a Poker sized deck I won't be sure they had that size. If they do then my quest is doubled.

I think it is more likely that this Joker:

Is the original version and decks that come in boxes should have that style joker and the similar Ace of Spades. The other Aces are regular styled playing cards.

While this Joker:

Is either a later version, or the version for decks sold just in the plastic shrink wrap. These decks would have been displayed in a special display box or bin about 50 or so decks in the display depending on the size of the display box.

It is interesting to note that for the box, at least in the case of my Packers Deck, the card design on the box is an actual card glued to the box (The 9 of Diamonds for my box). I'm trying to remember if my brother's deck was the same way. I think his had been bought with the box, and it might have been the same kind of deal (pardon the pun).

So I am on the hunt for the other 14 teams boxed (and a Rams deck in box). My requirements are they must be a full deck complete with both jokers and the box. I prefer the cool Joker version like I have with the Packers deck. I might consider some decks without a box (which will probably have the boring joker) but they must be complete and with both jokers. To fill in the gaps I might get some of those "single" cards that pop up every once in a while on Ebay just to have one of each kind of back. That will not complete the quest for 16 full decks though.

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Colts

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers (Box)
Los Angeles Rams (Sealed "loose" pack)

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

St. Louis Cardinals

Washington Redskins

Teams in RED I need. Have teams in BOLD w/Box or Sealed "loose" Pack.

Deck Collection 2/16 Complete.

1970 Topps Super Trio

2010-10-29T22:54:00.000-04:00

It's been quite a while since I've added a post here, as a result I may have lost some followers. Not to worry those who are truly interested will follow and eventually find me I guess. Anyway back in January of this year (2010) I had gotten some cards from Ebay for nice prices. I don't recall exactly but I know they were no more than $10 a piece, I think they were $5 each give or take a few dollars. One of them I think was a few dollars more than the other two because of a second bidder, or higher starting price. To be specific I got Three Topps 1970 Super Football Cards:

06 Sonny Jurgensen Redskins
07 Deacon Jones Rams
16 Roy Jefferson Steelers

All three cards are in very nice shape. I recall back in the day I had the Jurgensen and maybe the Jones, but due to poor storage by a younger kid me they were in terrible shape. I don't recall what happened to them. I thought I had a few cards from this set still left, but didn't find them. Oh well.

The backs of these over sized cards are the same style as the regular issued cards. These cards are on a very sturdy cardboard stock so they are more than just regular "Tall Boys" which have been made in other years.

06 Sonny Jurgensen Redskins

07 Deacon Jones Rams

16 Roy Jefferson Steelers

There are 35 cards in this subset and I just have these three as of now. I would like to get the others, and as usual for a cheap price, free or by trade.

Merlin Olsen (1940 - 2010)

2010-03-11T23:30:00.003-05:00

Merlin Jay Olsen (14 September 1940 - 11 March 2010)

Today is a sad day for Rams fans. HOFer Merlin Olsen (Age 69) passed away due to mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer often related to exposure to asbestos. He played with the Los Angeles Rams from 1962 - 1976 he was enshrined into the National Football League's Hall of Fame in 1982.

Olsen played left tackle in the Rams' legendary front four nicknamed "The Fearsome Foursome", with David "Deacon" Jones at left end, Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier at right tackle and Lamar Lundy at right end. Jones, who lined up to Mr. Olsen's left, coined the term "sack" to describe tackling the opposing quarterback behind the line of scrimmage. Olsen is the second member of the Fearsome Foursome to pass away, Lundy passed away on February 24 2007 at the age of 71.

Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundry, Deacon Jones, (Glenn Ressler B'more Colts), Roger Brown (Misidentified as Rosey Grier from the source I got the pic from)

Merlin was also known for his acting in television roles for "Little House on The Prairie" and "Father Murphy" . Teammate Lundy also did some acting he portrayed the boulder-hurling cyclops in the (previously) unaired pilot of Lost in Space (this pilot was later made into episode 4 of the series, entitled "There Were Giants in the Earth").

Lamar Lundy as Cyclops in "Lost in Space".

*I posted this on my regular blog Merlin Olsen (1940-2010) with different pictures.

Roman Gabriel APWire Photos

2010-03-08T00:30:00.000-05:00

One of my all-time favorite NFL Quarterbacks is Roman Gabriel who played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1962 - 1972 he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1973 and retired as a player in 1977.

From Ebay I recently got a couple of Photos that are originally from AP (Associated Press) Wire Services for $10 (plus postage = $13 almost $14 delivered). These photos were sent by AP Wire to broadcast stations, newspapers and other news services for publication. The backs of these photos are stamped "TV MAG" I'm guessing they had been used by a magazine. Both have some editing marks for cropping the picture or making a zoomed in enlargement.

The caption on this first photo reads:

(NY22 - Dec.4) No.2 CHOICE IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE DRAFT - Quarterback Roman Gabriel of North Carolina State was the No. 2 choice in the National Football League draft in Chicago today and was chosen by Los Angeles Rams. He was N0. 1 choice in the American Football League draft last week and was chosen by Oakland. (AP Wirephoto) (see AP wire story) (pr21419fls) 1961

There is also a caption on the left side that gives some correction information for the last sentence of a news story for a soccer game between Czechoslovakia and Scotland.

The back has some copy notes on it and also two date stamps DEC 6 1961 and DEC 12 1965.

This second photo has a tear at the top where the down arrow is. It goes from the top edge of the photo to the top of Romans head, it makes it look like he has a bald spot. The vertical editing marks for cropping the photo to a head shot are slightly deeper than those in the other photo.

The caption on this second photo reads:

(NY6-May 27) GABRIEL STATES HE'S A RAM -- Quarterback Roman Gabriel states he belongs to the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League "for many years to come," But the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League contend he belongs to them starting in 1967. (APWirephoto) (see AP sports wire story)js60600fls)66 (THIS IS A 1963 PHOTO)

The back has a date stamp of JUN 2 1966. It is interesting that there is a note on the upper left corner that reads "Rams-Colts"

The American Football League (AFL) would merge into the National Football League (NFL) in 1970. This would create the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

Letterman Why?

2010-03-06T00:03:00.009-05:00

In my mailday for today Friday 05 March, 2010. I got the Australian Gladiators cards for my PC I mentioned in a previous post from Ebay.

Then from a trader at SCF (sportscardforum.com) I bought some cards of my fave teams he wanted to get rid of. I didn't really want most of them but I thought what the heck he wanted them gone and he was only asking $13 for 6 cards. I can think of some people who might appreciate them. He was nice and added 3 more cards.

The lot included that 2007 SP Authentic "By The Letter Rookie Signatures" Matt Chico (Nationals) "O" card. His signature is on the left side of the "O". I am still not sure why I got these I hate these letterman things and this is the first and hopefully the very last one I will ever ever get. I does look nice, but I don't like these things, and I got the dang thing on purpose. Curses.

The other cards in the lot include: This Koji Uehara 2009 Topps Chrome card below (again I don't like chrome):

Also:
2009 Topps Bowman BDPP54 Tyler Townsend Orioles (base card not chrome)
2009 UD Icons 82 Nick Markakis Orioles (red retail parallel variation the seller thought it was a "red refractor")

FOOTBALL: (All Redskins - The Malcolm Kelly's were the reason I bought them in the first place. I'm not sure if they will stay PC)

2008 SP Rookie Edition 141 Malcolm Kelly
2008 SP Rookie Edition Premier Prospects 289 Malcolm Kelly
2009 Topps Platinum 22 Clinton Portis
2009 Topps Platinum 60 Santana Moss
2009 Topps Platinum 81 Chris Cooley

All these baseball and football cards are For Trade.

American Gladiators Umm Australian

2010-03-05T22:06:00.008-05:00

From Ebay for just about $6 I got a nice little 4 card set of Promo cards for the Australian "Gladiators" TV show (Opening Credits via Youtube). They were made by an Australian company Tempo Trading Cards in 1996. It's the Australian Version of "American Gladiators" and "Gladiators UK" the TV Guide usually describes them as "Reality TV" shows but they are actually amateur sports athletic competitions. Think 1970s ABC Battle of the Network Stars or the college competition show that came before that called "Almost Anything Goes". All these shows are a mix of various athletic competitions where speed and or agility earn contestants points and at the end it is an all out obstacle course where the fastest person through wins.

I don't know how many cards are in the set, but apparently they have 4 categories of cards. Gladiators, Animation, The Games and Backgrounds. The Gladiator cards I gather are brief bio cards of the Professional "Gladiators" that stand in the way of the contestants sometimes in head-to-head competitions sometimes in contestant vs. a group of Gladiators. The Animation cards appear to be caricatures of the gladiators. The Games cards show the various events that the contestants have to go through and the Background cards give details of the Gladiators and some of the show I guess.

These cards are difficult to find outside of Australia. Especially for a nice price and not directly from an Australian dealer, international shipping and all that. Fortunately some dealers on Ebay in the US either buy stuff from overseas or they find the stuff from supply companies that have already done that. Like other late 1990s cards I'm pretty sure there are some parallel chase cards. It also appears there maybe some serial numbered auto cards and gold coloured cards and maybe a few other of the usual parallels and inserts.

During the original 1990s Run of American Gladiators Topps produced a set of cards and stickers for that. I have that entire set of cards and stickers with some dupes. Plus maybe an unopened pack or two. I even have an empty display box and maybe a full box. Back in those days Topps didn't shrink wrap the card boxes. One of these days I'll scan some of that stuff and mention it again here. I've got lots of things like that I need to do eventually.

here are the fronts of all 4 promo cards:

GP-1 Gladiator Delta

GP-2 Animation Condor

GP-3 The Games - The Wall

GP-4 Backgrounds Vulcan*

Anyway I'd like to get more of these, a complete base set. Maybe some of the autos of select gladiators after I see what they look like and get some bios, descriptions.

*Gladiator Vulcan also appeared on the UK version of Gladiators.

Non-Sport Autos

2010-03-04T19:00:00.000-05:00

From a fellow member on one of the card forum sites I discovered a short while ago (Card Collectors World), I bought a couple of Non-Sport Auto cards made by Inkworks. The Rolls Royce of Auto Cards. I've wanted to get some Inkworks autos for some time from various sets. They were either too darn expensive, or they were GU/Auto cards, or the signature looked awful. I finally decided to bite the bullet on a couple. Actually the prices weren't too bad, averages $10 a piece.

So here are the two beauties, with a couple of beauties on them.

Alex Borstein as Sally from the movie Catwoman Card A-2 (2004)

Mimi Rogers as Diana Fowley from X-Files (2005).

The X-Files one is an "uncirculated" card with a huge gold seal keeping the toploader sealed. Now that is fine and dandy and 10-out-of-10 for style for being super duper Mint condition, but minus several million for covering up part of the signature. Fortunately this card only the end "s" in Rogers is partly covered. I've seen other signatures where most of the signature is covered over. It also covers over most of the info on the back that describes the character or some of the actresses previous work. I may have to break the seal on it and live with an uncirculated card being tainted by having it's gold seal broken.

Death of a Card Website

2010-03-03T21:50:00.000-05:00

ULTIMATE WAX.COM

Back a little over a year ago. I was told about a card website that sound interesting from another member on TCC (www.tradingcardcentral.com) the new site new to me anyway was "Ultimate Wax" I signed up it looks like on 10 Feb 2009. At the time I was looking for another card site to see if I could broaden my horizons and find alternative card forums to get more trading done. It doesn't hurt to belong to more than one site forum and outside of the dead Ulitmate Wax I belong to 4 I think. I had noticed many of the card bloggers I followed had several sites they frequented. I am mostly loyal to TCC but in the last year I have signed up for other sites and have a few small trades elsewhere, but TCC is my "home". Anyway with Ultimate Wax I started becoming a semi-regular, and after a few months got to 100 posts on the site.

The biggest problem from the beginning was the lack of presence from the owners/operators. They would pop in every now and then but not very frequently. Some of the members there were honestly pretty obnoxious and one or two were crude.

There was a brief moderator sighting around mid December I think it was. Then as I said the regulars didn't post as often. I still went there every day looking for updates and would try to get some of the threads rolling again, but hardly anyone would come. I cut down on my visiting to about once a week, and often there were still little or no updates. I would even mention in my posts there that the place looked kind of dead and there were no updates to any threads for a week. Lets see the last time I attempted to post there was on 24 Dec 2009, so correction the moderator sighting was probably in November. Well in January I still would visit about once a week, sometimes I visit once a day just to see if there are any updates.

So my last update on 24 Dec 2009 was THE LAST Update by anyone. So the site is basically dead, but not officially. I think the guy marked as being the last new member signed up around 15-20 Dec 2009.

One of the things that cracks me up about the site is the note that tells you when you were last active reads "Last active: 12-31-1969 at 07:00 PM". Hmmm 1969 really? When I was like 4 about 20some years before the internet would be mainstream for the average Joe.

Oh well. It was a fun little site for a while. Not great, but I did manage to make one or two trades there and maybe bought something from someone there. The moderators didn't respond very well to any attempts people made to contact them. Either they grew tired of the site, or they moved on to some other site to work on.

If the site ever gets anymore updates or shows signs of activity I guess I'll have to revisit and mention it again here.

2010 Topps Baseball Million Card Giveaway

2010-03-03T11:30:00.002-05:00

TOPPS GIVEAWAY CARDS

As part of the promo for the 2010 Baseball cards Topps is giving away One Million Vintage to last year cards. As they say "The cards your mom threw out". Topps randomly inserted some "Million Card Giveaway Code Cards" into packs. There are ten different styles of these they are numbered TMC 1 - 10. Each front shows a highly sought after vintage card or a Hall of Fame player card and on the back they have a code.

Back of Giveaway Code Card

(Code rubbed out in scan on purpose. Code redeemed)

These codes are used on Topps website http://www.toppsmillion.com After you register you type in the code from your giveaway card to "unlock" a random card you have won. The codes are good from now (they started on Feb 15th? I think) until 1 Feb, 2011. Once unlocked you can "flip" the card by virtually turning it in and pulling another card, you can trade the card with another member, or you can redeem the card and have it sent to you. I think eventually all the cards will be redeemed (Starting March 15 I think).

For my first box breaking session I had bought a blaster and 3 Jumbo Rack Packs. I pulled 4 of the Million Card Giveaway cards (TMC 6, 7, 8, & 9 - I plan on getting the others and keep the 10 as a subset used codes or not). So for my first 4 cards, hopefully of many more to come, I pulled two cards from 1975 and two cards from 1973.

These are the cards I unlocked/pulled in this order (I entered my codes in ascending order 9 - 6)

1975 Jon Matlack - Mets #290

1975 Burt Hooton - Cubs #176
1973 Reggie Smith - Red Sox #40
1973 Stan Bahnsen - White Sox #20

I was pleased as I like the earlier 1970s cards and I am currently building the 1970 - 1976 sets. I am mostly concentrating on 74 and 72 with 73 and 75 close behind. I have a long way to go in all of them, even though I used to have many of the 74 and 75s back in the day. Most of my original 75s were foolishly traded away in a card flipping/tossing game with a friend who was a shark at the particular style we played.

My second foray into entering some Million Card Giveaway codes, I hung back a day or two and watched the averages of what were pulled. I looked and saw lots of 1978s and 79s the later 70s are my least favorites of that decade. Then later in the night I saw some earlier 70s and some 60s. So then I went for it. With My TMC cards 7, 8 & 10 yes now I have number 10 so I have the last 5 cards, I need to get TMC 1 - 5 now for the subset. I unlocked some 1960s cards.

1962 Chris Cannizzaro - Mets #26

1967 Ron Swoboda - Mets #264*

1968 George Brunet - Angels #347

* While editing some of my scanned images of cards acquired in the last say 6 months or so; I noticed I had a 1968 card of Ron Swoboda. I had gotten it from a sportlots.com auction of some 60s cards (or maybe a Mets lot). It is off-centered running down to the bottom, his name is partially cut off at the bottom. Other than that it is a a pretty good conditioned card.

1968 Topps Ron Swoboda Mets #114