Kirk's Knook: The REAL Reason to get the SI Swimsuit Issue

From my regular Non-Cards Blog a Little more eye candy (some of it literally).

Kirk's Knook: The REAL Reason to get the SI Swimsuit Issue

A Little Eye Candy

Not sure of the history of this particular card, so I can't give many details about it. I'm not even sure when it was made or the series it may have come from. Kathy Ireland got her claim to fame by being a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model and was the even more prestigious cover model on the 25th Anniversary Issue. She still has that cute "innocent/not-so-innocent girl next door" look about her. About all I can say about this card is I got it from Ebay (of course) in June of 2008 and paid $10 delivered Max. I think I got if for $5 - $7 can't remember the exact price. Even though it looks black in the scan her facsimile signature and the partial borders are gold.

That same day (02 June 2008) I got a  sexy Manon Rheaume card a 1993 Ballstreet card. OK so it's not as sexy and she's not in a swimsuit (neither is Kathy on that card), she's wearing a long sleeved sweatshirt and khaki shorts. Apparently that was an insert/freebie or attached to an issue of Ballstreet Magazine. So maybe the Kathy Ireland card is a similar deal (a card that was an insert to a magazine)

I didn't scan the back of the Manon card. I had scanned the front a few years back and it is in my photobucket but forgot I had it there., but not the back. I don't like to use my photobucket for the images in my blogs because PB gets blocked at work and I sometimes like to do edits and check how things look at work from a different machine than the one I post stuff from.

[Update: work no longer blocks photobucket but I still tend to forget what I have there and neglect it. I would delete most of the stuff there but I don't know what (if any) images I have linked from there to this or other blogs I have]

EDITED: To add scan of Manon Rheaume card back.

1975 Topps Mini Baseball

In 1975 Topps hit gold with a parallel mini set of the baseball series. The cards are about a 1/4 of an inch smaller than the standard 2.5" x 3.5" cards. Not as small as tobacco cards but still smaller than the standard size. I think they were sold in separate packs, I'm not sure since I never had any back in the day, I only had the standard cards back in '75 and I got a whole bunch of them then. Sadly most of my '75s were traded away in 77 - 79 or so in a card "flipping/tossing trading" game. Anyway right now I only have 4 of these cards. I have not paid more than $10 per for them. I'm not sure if its the ones I have or if its a standard thing but I've noticed the colors on the minis seem to be a bit darker, maybe it is because they didn't get distributed as widely as the regular ones did so they haven't been exposed to the elements as much. The first one I got I already had the regular one of (or made sure I had the regular one as well since it is a fave player). Tug McGraw - Mets.
 

 1975 Topps Baseball Mini - 67 Tug McGraw Mets

(Front and Back)

Now here is the regular sized Tug card, even though the scans are approx. the same size:

 1975 Topps Baseball - 67 Tub McGraw Mets

(Front and Back)

With my other three minis I will show them in the order I think I got them in starting with the man who was the last skipper of the Montreal Expos and thus became the first skipper of the Washington Nationals Frank Robinson. This was from his playing years.

 1975 Topps Baseball Mini - 580 Frank Robinson Indians

(Front and Back)

I think I have his regular card, not sure I also thought I had the regular card of this next player but again I'm not sure. Don Sutton who also has a Washington Nationals connection he was the color commentator for MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) the cable station that broadcasts the Nationals games for television.

 1975 Topps Baseball Mini - 220 Don Sutton Dodgers

(Front and Back)

This final card is the final mini I have I also have it's regular mate. Both I got through sportlots.com I had ordered the mini version and the seller sent the regular version, I wasn't sure if I still had the regular version, but I requested s/he send the mini since that was the one I ordered (I think I ended up getting one of them for free) eventually I got the mini version. It is the Team Card of the Baltimore Orioles w/ the team checklist on back, unfortunately both checklists have been marked.

 1975 Topps Baseball Mini - 117 Baltimore Orioles TC

(Front and Back)

 1975 Topps Baseball - 117 Baltimore Orioles TC

(Front and Back)

Now just for fun the size comparison of the Baltimore Orioles cards:

Redman Senators 1953 With Tab

When I was a kid I had heard about Red Man Tobacco cards from the price guides I had picked up at my local card shop (or though the mail) and they even had some on display for $20 and up and that was for the ones without the tab, the ones with the tab were much more. At the time I could only dream of one day picking one maybe two up and spending a fortune. I never thought I would ever be able to afford one with a tab. Well time and the internet has changed all that. Of course I prefer to get the ones that are complete with tab. I will only get these things from places where I can see what I am getting, or that have it in writing that you are getting one with a tab. For some of the bigger named stars I might have to settle for a very poor conditioned without tab.

I currently just have Two* 1953 Red Man cards both Washington Senators, both I purchased from Ebay. The first one I received on 18 December 2009 and purchased for only $10. I didn't note what the shipping was, I don't think it was free but it wasn't more than $2 or $3. It was the first Red Man card I ever owned, and to get one in such decent shape WITH The Tab was a super bonus.

1953 Red Man Baseball w/Tab - AL19 Bob Porterfield - Senators

The corners of course are dinged and there are a few very light creases on the front , but over all a very nice specimen. 

1953 Red Man Baseball w/Tab- AL19 Bob Porterfield - Senators (back)

This second one I received on 16 February 2010 for only $6 Delivered! FREE SHIPPING!

1953 Red Man Baseball w/Tab - AL6 Jackie Jensen - Senators
 (Front and Back)

Now I am spoiled with being able to get two nice looking complete cards for such a nice price.It wasn't until I got around to scanning the backs of the cards that I realized the backs all say the exact same thing and have no indication of the card number. I do understand that there are some other offers on the backs of some other cards. I guess I'll have to see when I get other cards from this set then.

NO I don't actually have the vintage unopened pack of Red Man Tobacco. I got the image from robertedwardsauctions website, the card side showed Mickey Vernon also of the Senators. Man I'd love to have that one with the Mikey Vernon card it started at opening bid of $200 and sold for $1,058.

* I have since gotten (25 Feb 2012) a third 1953 Red Man card this one is not a Senator and it does not have the tab and is in pretty awful shape. I got it as part of an 18 card lot of Baseball, Football and 2 Hockey cards ranging from the 1950s to 1970s there were two 1970 Kellogg's Football cards in the mix which was one of the big reasons to get it.. I got the lot from sportlots for a total of 75¢ plus $4.49 postage I got two other lots/auctions from the same seller of about nine 1970 Kellogg's Baseball cards. Four or five of which were in terrible shape.

Here is my third 1953 Red Man Tobacco Baseball card:

1953 Red Man Baseball w/out Tab - NL2 Bobby Adams - Reds

(Front and Back)

Tobacco and The Military

In February of 2010 (13 FEB) I got some stuff from sportlots including some vintage Non-Sport Tobacco 1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army" cards. They are about the size of modern minis and there were 50 cards in the set. Originally produced by John Player & Sons in 1939. Player's & Sons was/is a tobacco manufacturer in Nottingham, England. They don't say so but at first I thought the cards I have are the 1990 reprints. I've done a little poking around the internet and it seems the reprints do have markings on the back at the bottom saying they are reproductions and have either a 1990 copyright or 1997. It looks like the reprints have red writing on white backing mine have black ink on white. So I have some of the Originals? They have a little bit of a gloss to them and smell musty (well they did smell musty when I first got them, I think hanging out with some other cards wore their stink off.) If I was sure of them being reprints I might not have gotten them. I usually try to avoid reprints but sometimes for extremely rare or vintage stuff I will get a reprint. Still pretty neat though. If I'm going to get reprints like these I'll try for a full set in NMT condition. Also the originals were supposed to have an adhesive on the upper part of the back for putting into some related album? Anyway here are the cards I got (which might be the originals):

1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army"

 2 A Sussex Gunner 1588 (Front and Back)

1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army"
 3 Trained Bands Of London 1643 (Front and Back)

 1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army" 

12 General Post Office Rifles 1882 (Front and Back)

 1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army"
 24 1st Wessex Field Almbulance R.A.M.C. 1908 (Front and Back)

In December of 2009 from Ebay I got a Non-Sport vintage tobacco card ain't that sort of repetitive? (vintage tobacco) for $10 It is a 1908 Recruit Little Cigars Military Series T81-Infantry, U.S. Army die-cut "pop-up" . So this is a good contender for the oldest card in my entire collection. It is in pretty good shape still full card appears to have not been fully "cut out" to stand-up. When I was scanning it I almost punched it out while flipping it over to scan the back side. It is standard tobacco mini card size (the size of A&G Minis).On the back there is a dashed line for standing up the card. I suppose you were meant to fold back the outer "background" of the card and that would act as the back support for the "figure". I'll keep an eye out for more of these as long as they are relatively affordable.

1908 Recruit Little Cigars Military Series T81-Infantry, U.S. Army

(Front and Back)

Introducing Curly W Cards my other Card Blog

My Curly W Cards Blog

Just a little self promotion here. Over the past week plus a few days over, I have been working on and kicked off another card blog. I had posted up a page here (static page linked on the right sidebar not a regular main page post) Originally called "Thinking about a new Card Blog" but when I launched the blog I changed it to "Curly W Cards Blog News" (Now Curly W Cards Blog Update) in an effort to start getting visitors. The page here gives a brief tale of how I decided to start it up.The blog is Washington Baseball Specific. I plan on covering the whole spectrum of cards from the various Washington DC baseball teams focusing on the Senators and the Current Nationals. Even though technically the "Curly W" the Nationals have been using was developed in 1963. Previous Washington teams used a straight laced W that was usually narrow since the "Curly" version wasn't around yet. I'll talk about those older cards dispite the fact they pre-date the more modern logo. The nature of the beast will also have me mentioning the Montreal Expos often and probably the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins. So occasionally I'll show cards that on the surface don't have anything to do with baseball in DC. [Think "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" only with Washington Baseball cards]

Off on a semi-related tangent thought. I don't have any cards from the Negro Leagues neither vintage nor modern commemorative so I probably won't mention the Homestead Grays too often. (Unless I get blessed with packages of them from interested readers - If and when I get readers. There is a nice 1994 Ted Williams baseball card set that includes a few.) Time to get back on track.

 So far I have only posted an introduction post at CWC. I am in the process of developing 2 or 3 posts that concentrate on just one player per post. I figure that will be part of my SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the blog. Each player post will feature a few cards from that player, unless I only have one card of them. The first post I'm working on probably won't be a homer but could possibly be a ground rule double or a triple maybe. I almost had it ready to post but then I decided I should scan the backs of the cards I showed so I can mention the backs as well, unless they are blank. I still need to do that scanning.

I have a couple of static pages on a top tab list one is a repeat of the "Introduction/Welcome" post that will serve as an introduction to the blog. The other is an attempt to list all the Washington Baseball cards I currently own. (Oy what a task). That one is called "My Curly W Checklist". On it I will list each card from each Washington player I have, even their cards from when they were on other teams (finding some of those in my collection is challenging since my collection is not well organized and quite big). The list is in chronological order by card set/series. UGH I just thought maybe I should have made the list alphabetical, but then I get the problem of what to do with multiple player cards and the team cards would have to be either at the beginning of the list or the end they would get lost in a list if they were in the "Ws" (or "Ns" or "Ss") The team cards and other miscellaneous cards would have to be chrological anyway so why not?

I am also working on a player list of the guys I "Super Collect" (Some I "super" collect more than others). Maybe I should incorporate some sort of checklist there or link them to a list. The Herculean task I am attempting is to make a full All-Time Roster. I had noticed that any ATRs on the web are "franchise specific" so they include all the current players on a team like the Rangers or Twins and those players during the "Non-Existent" years who never put on a Washington Uniform or played in DC so why list those guys. Even though I do collect guys like Gary Carter (Expos) and Vladimir Guerrero (Expos, currently on Orioles)

At times I think I bit off more than I can chew or even close my mouth, but it has been fun developing it, I only wish my collection was better organized.Wow I was originally just going to mention the blog and link to it, or make a "link this" link to the welcome entry. So enjoy.