Trade Post - Tons of Trades

It has been over a week since I have posted, just been busy with work and the kids. Since that time the mail has been piling up.  I thought I would share the goods from a few of the trades I have completed recently.

First up is a trade with Napkin Doon, author of The Adventures of Napkin Doon.  We have made a few trades in the past and this time I scored some nice Giants cards.

 These represent 3 of the 4 parallel sets I suspect I will complete this year.  I always go for the gold set and really like this year's emerald parallels.  The Walmart and Target parallels seem much more plentiful this year which is great for a team collector like me.

 Napkin also tossed in some other sweet Giants cards.  The Exquisite card of Noah Lowry is super thick and numbered out of 99.  Although Tommy Joseph was dealt as part of the Hunter Pence trade, I still like any card from when he was a Giants prospect.  The Buster gold Gypsy Queen parallel is a great card although I just bought one as well, oops.  The Pablo is a parallel also numbered to 99, I am a huge Museum Collection base card fan and may need to track down some more of these.

I also realized that I never showed the Mark Sanchez jersey card from our last trade.  We did a quick one for one football hit trade last time and I added this to my USC collection.

Next up is a trade with another frequent trade partner, Sam over at The Daily Dimwit.  This trade was back in early to mid January and I picked up these nice cards:

 The main crux of the trade were these Panini Cooperstown inserts.  I have put up a want list of all the inserts I need for the set.  I really don't know if I will ever be able to pick them all up but I will go after all I can.  This was one of my favorite sets of 2012 and these insert sets are all pretty nice.  I am a huge fan of the High Praise and Ballparks cards.  Great stuff!

 I believe Sam mentioned that he ended up with the Giants in a Goudey group break I missed out on. I was happy to pick up these 3 cards.  I only need a Gaylord Perry SP to finish up the base set and scored 2 new minis.

Speaking of minis, the final 3 cards of this trade were some Gypsy Queen minis.  At one point I declared that I was going to collect all the different mini colors and parallels from this sets but I got off track.  I think that is something I need to revisit, I am a fan of this set.

I guess I am on a frequent trader streak, here are some cards I scored Weston over at Fantastic Catch.  Weston typically drops me a note with a few cards he has off my want list and we quickly strike up a trade. 

 These were some set needs.  I have finished off the Triple Play sticker set and need 5 more cards to finish off the base set. The Billy Butler helped finish off the 1987 Mini set from 2012 Topps.

 Here are some Upper Deck cards.  The OPC black borders look sweet and I am a fan of the Biography inserts from the last UD set in 2010.  Look how great of a job UD did in not showing the Giants logo in Jonathan Sanchez's hat!

Finally some Topps needs.  The top 2 were some 2010 inserts that I never finished off.  The Brandon Belt blue parallel from Pro Debut is a sweet looking card.  The Posey is a Walmart blue border parallel and it is actually a duplicate but I know a couple Giants fans now who may appreciate it.

And the last trade to showcase in this post is from Jon over at Community Gum.  Jon and I have completed a couple trades in the past. 

Jon and I completed a quick 6 for 6 trade with me scoring some Giants Target parallels.  I thought it was funny that all of them were horizontal which actually made the scans come out quite nice.

Thanks to Napkin, Sam, Weston and Jon for the great trades!!!  I really appreciate all the set help and Giants help.  And for you fans of trade posts, don't worry, I have a bunch more to share in the next couple weeks.

Vintage Pick Ups - 1950s Edition

Not feeling overly creative tonight and I am a little bit tired so I thought I would just share some recent card pickups. I thought some 1950s vintage Giants might hold a couple peoples attention.  So with little commentary and for your viewing pleasure I present some recent Giants pickups...

 Let's start backwards through the decade and showcase a couple 1959 Topps cards.  I am a fan of this design and actually have 2-3 very nice pickups in addition to these that will be more prominently featured.  While my 2013 collecting goals don't include any specific around the 1950s, I still seek out any Giants needs I have.  With these two pickups and the others I have yet to show I currently need only 3 cards to complete this team set.

 Next up is the sole 1958 pick up.  I need only 3 cards to complete this team set as well but 2 of them are Willie Mays cards. 

 These 2 1957 pickups get me to within 5 of the team set and I have one very big pickup on its way!

Finally 2 cards from the 1952 Topps set. This is actually by second Tookie card from this set and it is the Red Back variety so I now have both.  Counting both Tookies I only have 7 cards from this set and this is one that will most likely never be completed.  In addition to needing the $3000 Mays, the Giants have an even dozen high number cards which are hard to find and very expense.  One of those high numbers is the rookie card of none other than HOFer Hoyt Wilhelm.

There you have it, definitely making some progress on a few of these team sets and getting them closer to completion.

Conlon Collection Series 2 Box Break - Pack 5

It has been way too long since I have cracked a pack of this box and posted.  Now that I am close to being on top of my package sending, I won’t feel as guilty about continuing this box.  I doubled the number of Giants pulled in this pack so that is pretty sweet. I should get some duplicates when this box is all said and done and I am hoping to score quite a few of the Giants.

Series completion - 75/330
Duplicates - 1
Giants in this Pack - 3
Total Giants - 6
HOFers in this Pack - 3 (Griffith, Hubbell, Lindstrom)
Total HOFers - 22

Favorite Card Front:
I am not 100% certain what resulting in me liking this card front so much but I am thinking it has to be the uniform.  Check out the size of that upturned collar and the style of the hat.  You can see most of the huge letters spelling out CUBS across his chest.  This just screams early 1900s baseball.  The banner across the top reminds us that Heinie was a Triple Crown winner.  Did you know that the title was stripped away and then returned to him after some stat crunching?  Also Heinie was banned for baseball for allegedly enticing his teammates to fix games.

Favorite New Facts Learned:
Hooks Wiltse card back:

This card celebrates Wiltse’s no hitter for the Giants on 7/4/1908.  What I learned was how close he was to pitching a perfect game.  He hit the 27th batter after a controversial call by the umpire.  Last year we heard a lot about Matt Cain’s first perfect game in Giants history, to think a bad call by an umpire (who would later admit it was a bad call) erased a possible perfecto over 100 years ago.


Clark Griffith card back:

I have heard of Clark Griffith’s run as owner of the Washington Senators and I believe I recall that he played baseball prior to becoming an owner.  I had no idea he won 20 games 7 times and had 240 career wins.  Based on the card back, it appears he pitched in 2 games when he owned the club as well.

Charlie Berry card back:

Reading through Berry’s card back was all new to me as I didn’t recall ever hearing about him.  The most impressive thing to me was that he not only survived a collision at home plate with Babe Ruth but he ended up sending the Bambino off the field on a stretcher and to the airport.  He was obviously multitalented as well with a career in pro baseball, football and as an NFL head linesman. 

Package Frenzy & 72 Minis!

I doubt anyone but me really noticed but I haven't posted in a little while.  I have been far from absent for the hobby just busy on a couple other things.  My primary focus has been packaging up card to mail to others and this photo will help illustrate what I have been up to:

That is one big priority mail box (for the Bad Wax traveling box I participate in), one hundred count box, 3 PWE and 9 bubble mailers.  I actually have another small box to put together and 2-3 more bubble mailers but those will get packaged up in the next couple days.  Big trip to the Post Office tomorrow afternoon.

My card purchasing hasn't really slowed but my desk is piling up with cards that need to be scanned and my extra bedroom has stacks that need to be put into binders and boxes.  However I am feeling a big weight off my shoulders and finally feel close to caught up on shipping for the first time since our baby arrived.

I thought it would be wise to show a few cards in addition to the packages. I decided to bite the bullet and buy the entire set of 1972 Minis from this year's Topps release.  I wasn't sure how readily they would be parted with in trades and I found it at a fairly reasonable price. I know many of the cards have been shown on various blogs but I don't think the entire set has been shown together.

For your viewing pleasure....

I am a fan of the 1972 design and very happy this insert set was included and hope it extends beyond Series 1. I know minis from 72 makes no logical sense, I still like having real cardboard cards with new photos in an old design.

A couple observations:
1. It appears the plan was to group the active players together by team but Adrian Gonzalez's trade threw a wrench into that.
2. No idea why Matt Kemp was place at the end amongst the 8 retired players.  Was there supposed to be another retired player included that was swapped at the last minute?
3. I am still sick of the Yankee representation, 4 active players when playoff teams like the Giants, Cardinals, A's, Rays and Nationals only get 1.  The Dodgers also have 4 which irritates me but I believe the checklist was built thinking A-Gon was a Red Sox player and again not sure on the Kemp placement.

I am hoping that this insert set continues into Series 2 and Update.

If you are looking to trade check out my 2013 Topps tab. I don't believe my trade bait is fully up to date but my set wants and Giants wants should be.  I am really needing some of The Greats inserts and the Die Cuts for my set.

Oddballs

I have always been drawn to the unique cards or items from the players I collect.  It started with my Rickey Henderson collection in the late 80s and early 90s where there were tattoos, 3D cards, candy filled plastic standups, credit cards, pencils and just about anything you could think of to put a name and/or picture of a famous baseball player.  I also picked up every oddball of Willie McCovey including first day stamped envelops and mini pewter statues.  Fun stuff.

One thing I have been contemplating as I build my Giants collection is how many of these oddballs should I seek out. With so many cards absent from my collection, I have plenty of targets without broadening my search beyond normal cards (and minis!).  For the most part I haven't really sought anything out however occasionally I will run across something that is unique and priced right and I will take the plunge.

Recently I picked these up on Sportlots:

These are two matchbook covers featuring Willie Mays apparently produced in 1980.  To me this seems like a very odd oddball, why is the Say Hey Kid featured on matches?  But for $5.25 for the pair shipped, I had to pick them up and check them out.  These were produced by Liberty Collectors Club out of Massachusetts and feature a nice little write up about some career highlights.  It may be a little hard to tell but they are slightly different colors which makes you wonder how many different colors were produced.

So, am I considering this a good purchase?  I guess so, kinda fun and very unique.  I am glad I stumbled across them.  I still think that my only oddball purchases outside of my player collections will only come when I randomly find items like this.  I don't see myself going on a big search.

What is your approach to Oddballs in your collection?  Are they a key component of your collection?  Are there some Oddballs you prefer over others?

Vida Blue - More Additions to the Collection

I have picked up a few more Vida Blue cards over the past couple weeks, a little mix of the old, the new and the new that looks old.

First up are the new that look old:

My last Vida post shared the hits from the 2012 Panini Golden Age product.  I picked up Vida's base card and two of the mini varieties.  As best I can tell, these are the two most common.  Outside of the 1/1 black mini, there appear to be 3 more varieties to chase down.

Now let's take a look at the old:

 This is an O'Connell & Son Ink card from the mid 80s.  I think this is a nicely done oddball card and I appreciate the color motif matching that of the A's.  No logos on this card nor is there a logo on our next "card":

 This really isn't a card but a disc.  This Isaly's Sweet William variety is my 7th different variety from 1976 and I still need 3 - Carousel, Orbakers and Red Barn.  I should probably try to chase these down and complete the "rainbow".

This is the first card I have shown that actually shows the team logo, I guess Panini has a lot of old sets to draw from for design ideas.  This is a 1972 OPC, I have had the Topps version of this card for years but am happy to pick up the Candian version.  The cartoon is interesting asking if there were any forteit games in 1971.  Apprently there was but no explanation was given.  This card shows the stats for Vida's breakout 1971 season - the year I was born.  Gotta be impressed with a 24-8 record and a 1.82 ERA!

An now the last 2 cards are of the new variety:

 A very dark card but I think these 2011 Limited Greats look pretty slick.  This is serial numbered to 299 and completes my collection of the trio of cards produced of Vida in this set - along with an Auto and Relic card.  These are also the only cards of his from 2011 and the first cards he had produced since 2008.

Last but not least is a 2012 Archives Auto.  I am a huge fan of these cards and actually flirted with going after the entire autograph checklist. After seen a few that were fetching huge prices I changed my tune but I had to get this one of Mr. Vida Blue.  I am still looking for a Will the Thrill Clark for the Giants collection.

I am pretty happy to add these cards to my Vida Blue collection.  I am making good progress towards my 2013 goal but there aren't that many new cards out there for me to chase.

Here are my stats:

2013 Vida Blue Collecting Goal - 25 new cards
Cards added in this post - 8
Remaining cards to reach goal - 14 

2013 Collection Goal Update - 1969 Topps

One of my goals in 2013 is to complete 5 of the 10 Topps Giants team sets from the 1960s.  Well after a couple recent card purchases, I can knock one of the list - 1969 Topps.

First, I will share the two new cards that finished it off:

 I am not sure if all Frank Linzy cards look this way or I got an odd one but his face is all crackled.  There seem to be quite a few close up portrait shots in this set. 

This Ron Hunt card was my final pickup. We get to see a little more of Ron than we did of Frank.  I like how we can see the stitches on the ball as he readies himself to throw.  This is the highest numbered card in the set but the high numbers in 1969 don't go for much of a premium.

I thought it would be cool to show the entire team set as it appears in my binder pages:

The Giants were well represented in the League Leaders thanks to my man Willie McCovey, Bob Bolin and Juan Marichal.

 The big one here is obviously Willie Mays.  One of his more affordable vintage cards with a "book value" of $40.  I picked this one up in February of 2011 in Cooperstown during my visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame at Yastrzemski's Sports Cards. 

 This is a pretty sweet page with the base cards of Marichal and McCovey along with Willie Mac's All-Star card. I really like the design of the All-Star cards and have picked up a few of other players.

The final page is nice looking as well. I am a fan of the multi player cards that Topps used to feature and of course one titled Giants Heroes is high on my list.  I also really like the Bobby Bonds rookie card with the rookie cup featured.  I also have a nice deckle Willie Mays on this page as well.

One set down, 4 to go to meet my goal.  This won't be an easy or cheap goal as my want list shows all but one set (1963) still has a card with a BV of over $100.  Time to bargain hunt!

McCovey Monday #31 - 2012 Panini Golden Age

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of over 1100 different  McCovey cards since I started collecting him in the late 1980s.  I will show off one of my favorite cards every Monday.  Stretch was one of the most feared hitters of all time and I am excited to show off my collection.

I was trolling Sportlots the other day with a little extra money in my account and realized I didn't have any Giants or players I collect from that set outside of the Vida Blue hits I had bought on eBay.  I had picked up a couple packs but didn't pull anything of note.  I did a search and realized that in addition to Vida, there were 2 Giants, Bobby Thomson and my favorite player, Willie McCovey.  I found a seller who had reasonable prices and must have broken quite a bit and found 3 different Willie Macs for my collection:

The regular sized base is in the middle flanked by 2 different minis.  The one on the left is Broadleaf Brown Ink (there is also a blue ink variation) and the Crofts Candy Red Ink (there is also a blue ink variation).  In addition to the blues, the other one I need to track down is a Ty Cobb Tobacco variation.  I like the design of this set and if it had come out earlier in the year or had a little lower price point I may have gone after the base set.  I am too far into 2013 mode to go back.

The same seller also had a trio of Bobby Thomson cards I picked up:

Same Broadleaf mini but this time I was able to pick up the blue ink Crofts Candy mini.  I really like the picture choice for this card.  The lack of logos doesn't come into play and the look of joy with Thomson hugging his bat after the Shot Heard Round the World is great!

My next Vida Blue update will show the final 3 cards I was able to pick up from this seller.

Superbowl Contest Winner Announced

It is time to get over my moping about the 49ers loss and close out this contest.

I am not going to draw this out too much.

Everyone knows by now that the Ravens won the game.

Joe Flacco was the MVP.

The score of the game was 34-31 for 65 total points.  Kaepernick rushed for 62 yards for a total of 127.

A couple people nailed the first two and one person was within 9 of the points plus yards total.

The winner of the contest is:


Jeff W. of 2 by 3 Heroes!

Congratulations Jeff.  Take a look at the Contest Winners tab and let me know what you want as your prize.

Thanks to everyone who entered.  Look for some baseball related contests coming up very soon.  Congratulations to the Ravens as well, hopefully we will be back next year.