McCovey Monday #86 - Two 2013 Panini America's Pastime Front-Row Fabrics Dual Relic Booklets

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of over 1200 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.

My last McCovey Monday post showed off a booklet that I have had in my collection for a few years.  Today I am showing off my 2 newest McCovey booklets, 2 versions of the same dual relic.

The first is what I would consider the base version of the booklet as it is numbered the highest, 57/59.  Not only does it feature Willie Mac but it has a nice big jersey swatch of Juan Marichal.  This is a pretty solid design with some seats and a brick wall in the background and nice large pictures in the foreground.   What I really like is the home plate shaped relic piece.  Also the jerseys appear to be of the old fashion material type.

Here is the inside and outside of the first:

Here is the second booklet, this one is numbered 11/25:

There isn't much difference in the cards that I can detect.  The home plate and player names of the front of the booklet are a different color.  The numbering is of course different and in the case of these two relics you can see some different wrinkling in Marichal's jersey and some different stitching in McCovey's.

I was able to score the booklet /59 for $5 plus shipping which I thought was a great deal. The one /25 put be back less than the price of a blaster.  There is a version /15 out there that I will keep my eyes open but don't plan on breaking the bank for it as I am quite happy having these two in my Stretch collection.

The Dominican Dandy- Juan Marichal

I finished watching the HOF induction speeches tonight, I thought it was a great group of inductees and a great group of speeches. I hope to add autographed cards of Maddux, Glavine, Thomas and LaRussa to my collection soon (I already have Torre and Cox covered).  During the player intros I say former Giants great Juan Marichal and recognized I haven't shared many of his cards lately on the blog.  I dug into my scan folder and found a nice 6-pack of things to share, both old and newer.  I hope you enjoy.

First up is this very nice 1964 Wheaties stamp.  I assume based on the name that these were inserted in cereal boxes but it was before my time.  What I do know is that this is a great colorful photo and a wonderful addition to my Giants collection.

This is a jersey relic from 2011 Prime Cuts.  On the plus side, I now have a relic numbered 18/25 but on the down side this is an obviously unlicensed card with the black cap without a logo.  I personally like some of the newer releases where they attempt to hide that, even if it results in some chopped off heads.

While the Wheaties stamp above is fairly large - wider than a typical card - this 1962 Topps stamp is small, similar to a normal first class postage stamp.  I have always been a fan of these stamps since I picked up a McCovey years ago, to me the yellow background of this really makes it stand out.

 This coin from 1971 Topps is also fairly small.  I like that it shares its origination year with me and I like the green around the coin, even though it isn't a Giants color, I think it looks pretty nice.  I have a stack of these coins and another stack of the recently produced Topps Chipz sitting on a shelf trying to figure out what to do with them. Binder pages don't seem to be the way to go so they might just end up in a storage box which kind of sucks.

 I haven't looked to see how many Marichals there are in this 2006 Upper Deck Epic sets but I know there are tons of McCoveys.  For a while I was trying to pick up as many of the McCoveys as possible but haven't added one in years.  I have a couple binder pages of them but it kind of annoys me to look at them.

This final card is definitely my favorite.  The American Flag is great as is the in action  picture of Juan's throwing motion.  We have a nice vintage swatch with stitches and a solid autograph across the bottom.  Sure I would love to have this as an on card auto but the 2/5 serial number more than makes up for it.

Many of the HOFers were looking pretty old this year. With the passing of Tony Gwynn and seeing all those players it makes me realize that I need to appreciate the baseball greats while they are still here.  It was great seeing so many of the best in one location over the weekend.

2013 Topps Update MLB All-Star Game MVP Commemorative Patch Giants Team Set

I am somewhat indifferent to the Commemorative Patches that Topps has been producing over the past few years.  They are extras in the retail blasters which I guess is kind of a cool incentive to buy a blaster.  My favorites over the past few years were the silk reprints of rookie cards. 

The team and player collector in me typically doesn't give much thought to design, I chase every card I can of my players or the Giants.  In this year's Update had commemorative patches celebrating patch All-Star game MVPs and the Giants were lucky enough to be featured on 3 of the 15 cards, all players from the 1960s.

I thought I would show off the team set together.

First up is a Juan Marichal celebrating his MVP performance in the 1965 All-Star Game in Minnesota.  The Dominican Dandy started the game for the NL squad and pitched 3 scoreless innings giving up only 1 hit, a leadoff single to Vic Davallilo who was promptly removed from the bases when Marichal got Earl Battey to ground into a double play. He didn't record a strikeout or issue a walk, facing the minimum 9 batters and leaving with a 5-0 lead.  When Jim Maloney gave up 5 runs to tie up the game, he lost his chance at the win but was still awarded the MVP.

Next up is Willie Mays for his MVP in 1963 in Cleveland.  The Say Hey Kid started in CF and batted 4th for the NL team.  He got 1 hit in 3 at bats, drew a walk and struck out once.  His MVP most certainly was won with his 3 RBI, 2 runs scored and 2 stolen bases.  He was the only player in the game with more than 1 RBI and that coupled with the NL 5-3 victory propelled Willie to the MVP.

 I saved my favorite for last, Willie McCovey, MVP of the 1969 All-Star Game in Washington DC ar RFK Stadium.  The patch is very hard to read on this one.  The game in 1969 was the last All-Star game played during the day, it was actually postponed from the night before due to rain.  Stretch had a huge game going 2-4 with 2 Home Runs and 3 RBI in the NL's 9-3 blowout victory.  McCovey continued his hot streak and ended up winning the NL MVP award at the end of the year.

Here are the 3 cards together for the entire Giants team set, a great looking trio of 1960s ASGMVPs!