Secret Santa: 2018 Haul

Several of the Trading Card Blogging Brethern participated in a Secret Santa Gift Exchange this holiday season. A big thank you to Jon of A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts for managing the misfit gang o' traders this year. To see my pirate booty from last year you can follow this link. Any how for this year I had shipped out my Secret Santa package of Bo Soax to Shane of Off The Wall early in the month on Saturday 08 December. Then the next Monday 10 December I received my S. Santa package.

Secret Santa package showing inside note and team bags.

I opened the package carefully, trying not to see the cardboard goodies inside, in search of a note or card that ID'd my S. Santa.

Secret Santa Note

I caught a glimpse of some of the front and back cards of the two team bags that were waiting inside. I waited until Christmas Eve before I opened the team bags to see Exactly what was inside. What was inside? A Rock! NO NO NO WRONG HOLIDAY CHARLIE BROWN! Right there were two team bags one Filled with Some B'More O's and the other filled with a Mix of Washington Teams with a Sweet Walter Johnson card showing on the top.

My Secret Santa was Adam of Cardboard Clubhouse and he sent a nice batch of Washington and B'More cards. In total there were 44 cards and one card sized book. The team breakdown is 22 Orioles (1 was a logo), 23 Washington cards of Baseball, Football and Hockey: 4 Senators, 2 Redskins, 2 Capitals and 15 Nationals (1 in team USA uniform, 1 Notre Dame Uniform?).

Lets see the cards shall we? Starting with the Orioles stuff.

Top Row: 1982 Topps 232 Terry Crowley
1986 Topps 365 Mike Flanagan
1987 Topps 120 Eddie Murray
Middle Row: 1989 Topps 757 Brady Anderson
2016 Topps Heritage (1967 Topps Design) 669 Mychal Givens
2016 Topps Heritage (1967 Topps Design) 125 Zach Britton
Bottom Row: 2017 Topps Heritage (1968 Topps Design) 159 J.J. Hardy
2015 Panini Donruss: The Rookies: 13 Christian Walker
2012 Topps Archives: (1954 Topps Design) 32 Adam Jones

Top Row: 1989 Sportflics 134 Craig Worthington
2012 Topps 125 Adam Jones
Bottom Row: 1990 Fleer: Sticker: Baltimore Orioles Team Logo
2015 Topps Update: All Star Game: US159 Darren O'Day

2018 Topps Big League: 44 Trey Mancini - This is my first Big League card a big thanks to Adam for it.
2018 Topps 587 Chris Davis
2016 Topps Update US182 Hyun-Soo Kim

Front and back of Collect-A-Book

1991 Impell JBC Collect-A-Books 9 Ben Mcdonald

A Winning Hand of Cal Ripken Jr.s

1994 Topps Team Stadium Club Finest: 8 of 12
1991 Topps: 150
2016 Panini Donruss: 181
2015 Topps: Highlight of the Year: H-27 Final Season Appearance 2001
1989 Topps: Big: 286

Now we get into the Washington Stuff:

REDSKINS

1988 Topps 8 Doug Williams
2018 Panini Classics: 190 Clinton Portis

CAPITALS

1991 Pro Set: 511 Peter Bondra
1993 Stadium Club 234 Keith Jones

SENATORS
A few reprints and retro cards.

2010 Topps Update (Thank God for TCDB never would have known it was from the update set): Vintage Legends Collection: VLC-50 Walter Johnson - Front 1951 Topps Design.
2011 Topps 1916 Sporting News CMGR Reprint CMGR-19 Walter Johnson
1911 Turkey Red T3 Reprints (reprint date unknown argh 1982 Renata Galasso?):
99? Walter Johnson with Turkey Red Add on back
No 15 Norman Arthur "Kid" Elberfield

NATIONALS

Top Row: 2015 Topps: 207 Bryce Harper
2018 Donruss: 192 Bryce Harper "Mondo" variant
2018 Topps Heritage: 1969 Design: 230 Ryan Zimmerman
Middle Row: 2016 Topps Heritage: 1967 Design: 73 Jonathan Papelbon
2016 Topps Heritage: 1967 Design: 518 Jayson Werth
2016 Topps Bowman: BP140 Chris Bostick
Bottom Row: 2015 Donruss: 178 Jordan Zimmermann
2016 Topps: Washington Nationals Team Set: WN-15 Matt Den Dekker
2009 Upper Deck Baseball Series 2: 947 Shairon Martis RC

Top Row: 2017 Topps: 327 Danny Espinosa
2018 Topps: 355 Joe Ross
Middle Row: 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter: 106 Yunel Escobar
2015 Topps Allen & Ginter: 266 Drew Storen
Bottm Row: 2011 Contenders: Draft Ticket: DT88 Brian Dupra in Notre dame Uniform?
2015 Panini Donruss: USA Collegiate National Team: 13 Nicholas Banks USA team Uniform

Fearsome Foursome Fan Faves

For collectors of vintage cards this design is an homage to the 1966 Topps Football design, which in turn is sort of an homage to the 1955 Bowman Baseball design. The most prominent feature is the wood grain look with the television screen image. In 2005 Topps produced an All-Time Fans Favorites Football set (although the TradingCardDataBase lists these as being 2004) The All-Time Fans Favorites set is similar to the Topps Archives type sets where they use older and vintage card designs for newer cards. Most of the designs from this set appear to be from the 1980s and late 1970s.

Here is a 4 card subset from that set the features the best players from my fave (and by fave I mean tied for number one) NFL team the Los Angeles Rams recently returned from being in St. Louis for 20 years (1995-2015). These four players individually had impressive careers primarily played for the Rams together they were known as the FEARSOME FOURSOME. OK one of a few defensive lines that went by that name, but the Rams were perhaps the most widely known. The Giants, Lions and Chargers have also had that nickname applied to their defensive line around the 1950s to 1970s era.

The Rams Fearsome Foursome were: Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen and Rosey Grier. In my book they are the FEARSOME FOURSOME of note.

2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Football - 19 Deacon Jones

2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Football - 58 Lamar Lundy

Dag-nab-it I thought I had straightened/rotated this back image

2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Football - 68 Merlin Olsen

2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Football - 78 Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier

For Reference:

 1955 Bowman Baseball

 1955 Bowman Baseball: 104 Bob Porterfield Washington Senators

1966 Topps Football

1966 Topps Football - 32 Cookie Gilchrist Denver Broncos

Strive For '65 Saturday: Trying To March Along

STRIVE FOR '65 STATUS:

18 Mar 2017
Strive for '65 | 1965 Set Build | Master Want List

 Current card count: 259/598 (261/600) 43.6%

Well this set build is crawling, inching or rather micro-millimetering along. Here is the link to my last update which wasn't as long a gap as the previous time between updates. Looks like this update only increases the count by one card, even though I had gotten two 1965s recently. Explanation with card descriptions.

Saturday 25 Feb 2017:
1 card Sportlots auction 75¢ + $1.85 Shipping
568 Ron Taylor Cardinals. No special story with this card. I did bid on another Sportlots auction for a small handful lot of 1965 cards, I forget how many were in the lot maybe no more than a dozen, but I low-balled a little and got outbid.

 1965 Topps Baseball: 568 Ron Taylor St. Louis Cardinals

Wednesday 01 Mar 2017:

1 card purchased from Ebay as BIN. $7.16 Free Shipping.
574 Roy Sievers Senators - on card autograph in blue sharpie ink. OK so this card I already had a copy (which I show first below). So it doesn't get included for the "Strive For '65" card count. There was no "certificate of authenticity" (COA) for this card/purchase. I don't know for sure if it is a legitimate signed in person or through the mail autograph, but I will think that it is. I have no plans to sell it at anytime so that point is sort of moot as it is for most of my other signed cards. I like it that is what matters to me. I should blog about this card on my Curly W Cards blog.

1965 Topps Baseball: 574 Roy Sievers Washington Senators

my previous non-signed copy with light written in "6" in blue ball point ink for some weird reason

 1965 Topps Baseball: 574 Roy Sievers Washington Senators

On card autograph in blue sharpie

For some reason whenever I look at Roy's '65 card I keep thinking he is the manager.

The Latest Additions:
Saturday 25 Feb 2017:
568 Ron Taylor Cardinals

Wednesday 01 Mar 2017:
574 Roy Sievers Senators: Autographed

3 Cards Including A Dupe In A Bat Envelope

I'm not sure what is more exciting about this particular PWE I received the cards or the stamp that was used. OK the cards are what really excited me and the stamp was just an added bonus.

On a typical day last month (January 2016) I got two PWEs in the mail. One PWE had a card I bought from Ebay that I will talk about some other post and the other had 3 cards I got from Sportlots. All 3 cards were from an auction with a .25¢ opening bid plus .99¢ shipping (combined somewhat).

1968 Topps Football: 2 cards both cards a bit offcenter borderline miscut.
106 Ed Meador Rams coin rub cartoon on back totally blank must have been a dud.

(Front and Back)

107 Fred Cox Vikings back cartoon is regular printed one.

(Front and Back)

1963 Topps Baseball:
69 Bud Zipfel Senators. When I bid on this one unfortunately I didn't realize I already had it. Fortunately this one is in better condition than the one I had. So it is an upgrade.

( Front and Back)

Oh a cool thing about the PWE is the stamp was a Batman Forever stamp.

In the long run I'm not sure if I will actually keep the stamp.

Continuing Set Build 1974: Expos O's and Team Cards Sub-Sets

UPdated: 24 April 2015: Finished Expos and Orioles teams.

It's been over 40 years in the making and it is still "in progress", like 99% of all my set "builds" from my childhood. One of my all-time fave Baseball sets is 1974 Topps. I have made one step more toward finishing that 660 card set. Well actually there are something like 678 including some error correction variations. Maybe I'd have better luck building the O-Pee-Chee set?

The little steps that will help fill in the complete set. I have slowly been working toward and with some orders from sportlots in an effort to complete some of those little steps in the form of team sets.

So now I have an almost complete Expos team set: 29/29 (30/30 w/Team Checklist) Dang 4 player rookie cards.

No Number (15) Team Checklist
25 Ken Singleton
49 Steve Renko
73 Mike Marshall
97 Bob Bailey
121 Larry Lintz RC
146 Ron Fairly
169 Steve Rogers RC
193 Tom Walker
208 League Leaders: Leading Fireman: John Hiller Tigers and Mike Marshall Expos
217 Tim Foli
253 John Boccabella
275 Ron Hunt
297 Hal Breeden
322 Ernie McAnally
352 Bill Stoneman
377 Ron Woods
412  Chuck Taylor
437 Jim Lyttle
453 Balor Moore
468 Pepe Frias
485 Felipe Alou
508 Montreal Expos Team Card
531 Gene Mauch MGR
549 Mike Jorgensen
568 Mike Torrez
589 Boots Day
600 Rookie Infielders: Ron Cash Tigers, Jim Cox Expos, Bill Madlock Cubs, Reggie Sanders Tigers RC
603 Rookie Catchers: Barry Foote Expos, Tom Lunstedt Cubs, Charlie Moore Brewers, and Sergio Robles Oroles RC
653 Bob Stinson

Orioles team set: Almost complete 30/30 (31/31 w/team checklist)

No Number (2) Team Checklist
16 Baltimore Orioles Team Card
40 Jim Palmer
68 Grant Jackson
92 Paul Blair
109 Bobby Grich
137 Al Bumbry
160 Brooks Robinson
187 Don Baylor
206 ERA Leaders: Jim Palmer, Tom Seaver (Mets)
235 Dave McNally
259 Bob Reynolds
282 Doyle Alexander
306 Earl Weaver MGR
329 Marc Belanger
334 All-Star Third Basemen: Brooks Robinson, Ron Santo (Cubs)
353 Rich Coggins
375 Earl Williams
396 Tommie Davis
411 Frank Baker
436 Don Hood RC
460 Boog Powell
488 Andy Etchebarren
509 Jesse Jefferson
534 Eddie Watt
560 Mike Cuellar
585 Merv Rettenmond
596 Rookie Pitchers: Wayne Garland, Fred Holdsworth (Tigers), Mark Littell (Royals), Dick Pole (Red Sox) RC
603 Rookie Catchers: Barry Foote (Expos), Tom Lunstedt (Cubs), Charlie Moore (Brewers), Sergio Robles RC
606 Rookie Outfielders:  Jim Fuller, Wilbur Howard (Brewers), Tommy Smith (Indians), Otto Velez (Yankees)
348 Terry Crowley

Padres team set: (Plus 15 "Washington Padres" the Washington National League set) 25/26 (w/out Wash and w/out Team Checklist) 26/27 (w/Team Checklist but still without Wash) 40/41 (w/Wash w/out Team Checklist) (41/42 w/Wash and Team Checklist)

No Number (21) Team Checklist
32a Johnny Grubb RC (SD)
32b Johnny Grubb RC (Wash)
53a Fred Kendall (SD)
53b Fred Kendall (Wash)
77a Rich Troedson (SD)
77b Roch Troedson (Wash)
102a Bill Greif (SD)
102b Bill Greif (Wash)
125a Nate Colbert (SD)
125b Nate Colbert (Wash)
148a Dave Hilton (SD)
148b Dave Hilton (Wash)
173a Randy Jones RC (SD)
173b Randy Jones RC (Wash)
197a Vicente Romo (SD)
197b Vicente Romo (Wash)
226a San Diego Padres Team Card (SD)
226b Washington National League Team Card (Wash)
241a Glenn Beckert (SD) - Pictured in Cubs Uni
241b Glenn Beckert (Wash) - Pictured in Cubs Uni
250a Willie McCovey (SD)
250b Willie McCovey (Wash)
309a Dave Roberts (SD)
309b Dave Roberts (Wash)
364a Cito Gaston (SD)
364b Cito Gaston (Wash)
387a Rich Morales (SD)
387b Rich Morales (Wash)
406 Steve Arlin
430 Matty Alou
456 Dave Winfield RC
498 Pat Corrales
518 Darrel Thomas
535 Bob Tolan
546 Mike Corkins
572 Enzo Hernandez
599a Rookie Pitchers: Ron Doirio Phillies, Dave Freisleben Washington, Frank Riccelli Giants, Greg Shanahan Dodgers
599b Rookie Pitchers: Ron Doirio Phillies, Dave Freisleben Padres (Large Print), Frank Riccelli Giants, Greg Shanahan Dodgers
599c Rookie Pitchers: Ron Doirio Phillies, Dave Freisleben Padres (Small Print), Frank Riccelli Giants, Greg Shanahan Dodgers
628 Ivan Murrell
651 Leron Lee

With Card #599 I think I have the small print version of the Padres variation, I'm not 100% sure as it is hard to tell sometimes the difference between large and small fonts on these weird variations.

*Bonus Card (sort of) 258 Jerry Morales Cubs (Pictured in Padres Uniform) 27/28 (42/43)

Team Cards set: 24/24 (25/25 w/Wash)

16 Baltimore Orioles
36 St. Louis Cardinals
56  New York Mets
74 Minnesota Twins
94  Detroit Tigers
114 California Angels
154 Houston Astros
184 Texas Rangers
211 Chicago Cubs
226a San Diego Padres
226b Washington National League
246 Oakland Athletics
281 San Francisco Giants
314 Milwaukee Brewers
343 Kansas City Royals
363 New York Yankees
383 Philadelphia Phillies
416 Chicago White Sox
459 Cincinnati Reds
483 Atlanta Braves
508 Montreal Expos
541 Cleveland Indians
567 Boston Red Sox
626 Pittsburgh Pirates
643 Los Angeles Dodgers

Team Checklist Cards set: 24/24
These checklists like the previous year's 1973 Team Checklists are not numbered. The Fronts are similar except they have Red Borders the '73s had Blue Borders. Some I have unmarked and some marked (need to double check if I have all of them unmarked) some I have duplicates of. I'd like to have all of them unmarked someday.

(1) Atlanta Braves
(2) Baltimore Orioles
(3) Boston Red Sox
(4) California Angels
(5) Chicago Cubs
(6) Chicago White Sox
(7) Cincinnati Reds
(8) Cleveland Indians
(9) Detroit Tigers
(10) Houston Astros
(11) Kansas City Royals
(12) Los Angeles Dodgers
(13) Milwaukee Brewers
(14) Minnesota Twins
(15) Montreal Expos
(16) New York Mets
(17) New York Yankees
(18) Oakland Athletics
(19) Philadelphia Phillies
(20) Pittsburgh Pirates
(21) San Diego Padres
(22) San Francisco Giants
(23) St. Louis Cardinals
(24) Texas Rangers

Next baby steps complete the "Ex-Senators", Twins and Rangers Team sets:

Twins Team Set: 20/32 (21/33 w/Team Checklist)

No Number (14) Team Checklist
26 Bill Campbell RC
50 Rod Carew
74 Minnesota Twins Team Card
98 Bert Blyleven
122 Jim Holt
143 Dick Woodson
168 Danny Thompson
190 Tony Oliva
201 Batting Leaders: Rod Care Twins, Pete Rose Reds
232 Steve Brye
249 George Mitterwald
271 Bill Hands
296 Ray Corbin
321 Steve Braun
333 All Star Second Basemen: Rod Carew Twins, Joe Morgan Reds
366 Larry Hisle
388 Phil Roof
400 Harmon Killebrew
421 Dan Fife RC
447 Frank Quillici MGR
469 Joe Decker
481 Jerry Terrell RC
503 Eric Soderholm
527 Bobby Darwin
547 Glenn Borgmann
573 Mike Adams RC
592 Ed Bane RC
602 Rookie Pitchers: Glenn Abbott Athletics, Rick Henninger Rangers, Craig Swan Mets, Dan Yossler Twins
605 Rookie Pitchers: Vic Albury Twins, Ken Frailing White Sox, Kevin Kobel Brewers, Frank Tanana Angels
613 Dan Mozon
636 Dave Goltz
659 Joe Liz

Rangers Team Set:20/29 (21/30 w/Team Checklist)

No Number (24) Team Checklist
11 Jim Bibby
39 Ken Suarez
63 Bill Sudakis
87 Fergie Jenkins
89 Jackie Brown
107 Alex Johnson
133 David Clyde RC
184 Texas Rangers Team Card
196 Jim Fergosi
223 Jeff Burroughs
242 Bill Gogolewski
268 Tom Grieve
294 Steve Faucault RC
318 Jim Merritt
355 Dave Nelson
379 Billy Martin MGR
401 Elliott Maddox
425 Pete Broberg
446 Len Randle
466 Dick Billings
511 Toby Harrah
539 Lloyd Allen
558 Bill Fahey
580 Jim Spencer
597 Rookie Shortstops: Dave Chalk Angels, John Gamble Tigers, Pete Mackanin Rangers, Manny Trillo Athletics
602 Rookie Pitchers: Glenn Abbott Athletics, Rick Henninger Rangers, Craig Swan Mets, Dan Yossler Twins
618 Jim Mason
639 Joe Lovitto
657 Jim Shellenback

Checklists: 2/5

126 Cards 1-132
263 Cards 133-264
273 Cards 265-396
414 Cards 397-528
637 Cards 529-660

When I finally COMPLETE these teams I think I will show them off. Til then I am just showing the samples from above. While scanning the cards for this post I noticed some previously unseen or forgotten paper loss damage to my Brooksie card back:

 

EEK!

 Not only is there enough loss that you can't read his first few HR and RBI stats but the top of AVG column top is hanging on to dear life.

Over all for the complete set I am at 61% almost 62% complete.

Strive For '65: Goal not looking so good

Less than a month away til my big birthday (3 weeks from TODAY EEK!), the deadline for my Strive For '65 set build goal. I'm not going to make it. I'm only a little more than 1/3 of the way complete. Not too bad for a little over a year's worth of pursuit effort (starting with only 90some cards of an almost 600 card set), well really only a few months I did slack some during the "year" especially during the winter months. Hopefully between now and the End of the Year I can complete it. It wouldn't be the original goal which sucks, but it is better than waiting til the next big anniversary (75 years) to finally complete the dang set. I might not be around for that anniversary, who knows? So I prefer to get this set complete NOW.

It seems most of the cards I've had to get by buying them from somewhere. Not many traders or bloggers have spares of this set to go around. I got some more cards from this set from a purchase from a forum member over at Sports Card Forum (SCF). I'm sort of scratching my head over a couple of decisions I made about those. I opted to get a duplicate of one of the Senators, which I already have the complete team set for this set, and a graded copy YES GRADED copy of the Boog Powell card. I will have to free it of it's plastic prison to put it into the set binder, or snag a cheaper raw copy on Ebay for the binder.

Current Progress is 207/598 (209/600) 34.9%

For this post I was going to scan the more recently acquired cards from this set like the Powell, but I haven't scanned them yet. They are lounging around in the "to blog about sometime" queue which has been backed up for a couple of years now. I'll mention them when I complete the pages they are from if I haven't made an extra post for them before that.

Strive For '65: Joy of the First Complete Page 5

The Joy Of A Complete Page: 1965 Topps First Edition

(Page 5: Cards 37 - 45)

Thanks to a "Secret Santa in July" Package I received on Friday 01 August 2014 my Strive for '65 project gained 17 cards and I completed my first full page for the set. There are still four pages that don't have any cards at all, but page number 5 (Cards 37-45) is now complete. It also provided the final World Series card for that subset (I have a post for that subset scheduled for tomorrow) and OH the creative wrapping was a photocopy of a 1965 Topps Baseball wrapper. One of these days I'd love to get a real wrapper but this copy from a website acts as the cover for my 1965 Topps Baseball Binder.

CARD 37: Fred Gladding Tigers.

CARD 38: Jim King Senators. 

Jim was with Washington from 1961-1967

CARD 39: Gerry Arrigo Twins. 

 

Gerry was with the Twins from 1961-1964 he was then traded to the Reds. 

CARD 40: Frank Howard Dodgers.

 

Frank was traded to Washington in 1965 and was part of the 1972 Inaugural Texas Rangers team. 

CARD 41: White Sox 1965 Rookie Stars:
Bruce Howard (No Relation to Frank) and Marv Staehle.

 

 Bruce went on to join the Senators in 1968. Marv would join the Montreal Expos in 1969 - 1970

CARD 42: Earl Wilson Red Sox.

 

CARD 43: Mike Shannon Cardinals. 

 

CARD 44: Wade Blasingame Braves.

 

CARD 45: Roy McMillan Mets.

 

Current set total: 194/598 (196/600) 32.8%

Since I am a Washington Baseball fan I note any connections to Washington Baseball (Senators, Nationals, Expos, Twins, Rangers etc...)