Darren Daulton 2004 Topps Retired Auto Yellow Printing Plate 1/1 Autograph

2008 Topps Nick Markakis Framed Silk Mini 44/50 Orioles

I’m sure I’ll see a Markakis again at some point. As for the Daulton, well, that’s the only 1/1 I’ve ever had the opportunity to bid on. It really hurts to miss out on that one.

It was hard to be patient and wait to come across a centered, but not too centered for my wallet, Ozzie Smith rookie. I think I did pretty well. Corners are perfect, and card looks to be 65/35 and 55/45 or so. When I showed the card off on twitter a few days ago, I was asked when I was going to send it into PSA. I might change my mind once I start dealing with higher priced cards in the future, but for now card #116 belongs between #115 and #117 in a binder.

Second was knocking off the last few cards for my 1980 set. These were the highlights.

When I first glanced at the Stargell card I thought to myself “self, I bet that’s one of Stargell’s last cards; he looks awfully old.” Turns out I was right, he was 39, but he also won the MVP in 1979. Pops would go on to play only 179 more games after that World Series winning season. He hung up his spikes in 1982.

I’m still a long way from finishing the 2008 Topps Silk set, but here’s what cards number 127 and 128 (out of 200) look like.

It’s getting awfully difficult to find cards that I don’t already have. Knowing Yankees collectors, I’ll probably spend the next 20 years trying to obtain the ARod and the Jeter.

I guess that’s about it for now. I hope to have a 1978 wishlist up soon. I was sad to see Grand Cards retire his blog, but I can certainly understand how it can be hard to find time and motivation to keep a blog going, especially with his muse joining the evil empire. Best of luck to you, Dan.

Next, I want to show off a neat magazine I found in an antique shop in Lawrence for $2 over the weekend.

I’ve tried to read it twice now, but both times I’ve been distracted by the advertisement on page four.

I wonder how many famous baseball analysts and journalists that we read now like Joe Posnanski, Rany Jazayerli, or Joe Sheehan saw this ad in a magazine in the summer of ’72 and talked their parents into sending off $.10 to learn more about this new “advanced” version of Strat-O-Matic that would yield realistic homerun rates. It’s like a little slice of baseball statistical history.

Moving on, I figured out early on that a simple Picasa web album wasn’t a good way to keep track of which Darren Daultons I have in my player collection. Enter a website created by Mark McGwire collectors where you create a database of the player’s cards you’re collecting. You can then filter the cards by a number of fields to figure out what exactly you’re still missing. I guess it’s easier to show than to explain. This link shows a list of all 570 Darren Daulton cards, including scans of every card I own. This link shows the statistical progress of my collection, broken down by year, set, and a couple of other variables. And, most importantly, this link shows a list of all the cards I’m still looking for.

Obviously it takes a significant chunk of time to enter the checklist information for the player, but if you’re committed (crazy) enough to have a legitimate player collection, you’ll probably have fun entering in the cards and scanning fresh scans to enter into the database.

Here’s what an example of what a scan looks like, taken from my Carlos Delgado checklist that’s still under construction.

Looks pretty slick, right? I’ve never felt more organized.

One final thing… I happened to check twitter while writing this post and was horrified to come across this:

Here’s the link to the article. Shit like this makes me feel ashamed to be a Kansan, a Midwesterner, and an American.

On that solemn note, thanks for reading. I hope to post more and update the blog soon.

This 1980 gem might be the most Staggering card of the two packages sent to me this summer.

As one of the remaining cards on my 1980 wantlist, I’d never seen a card of Bombo before. Turns out he was a respectable 4th outfielder for the late 70s Twins.

Too bad he couldn’t have caught on with the Yankees… they could have been called the Bronx Bombos. Or, at the very least, he could have worn a different number on his uniform. Now batting: Bombo, Number Five.

I’d have been happy with simply receiving my very first Bombo Rivera, but Matt threw in some other cards to sweeten the trade package.

Here a couple of 1979s that get me closer to finishing up that set.

Also finding its way to my door was one of the cards from my most wanted list, a 2001 Topps Gold Kerry Wood Golden Moments commemorating one of my favorite Cubs memories. “Here Comes the Hook!“

Thanks for all the cards, Matt.

Hosmer and Moose - together again

As you’re reading, this, I’m likely watching the Major League Debut of Mike Moustakas on MLB.tv while packing yet another box. Our move to Kansas takes place on Tuesday and I’m extremely ready to get there and get my new life started.

With that said, you can probably understand why recent posts have been few and far between. The only purchase of note lately was a lot of 700+ 1979 Topps cards that turned out to be an incredible buy. It’s not often that I’m impressed by someone on ebay, but hmpb50 communicated very well and actually double boxed the cards with a layer of bubble wrap in between. I was blown away.

As you can see from my wantlist, I’m only ten cards away from finishing the 1979 set. And, yes, I’m still looking for an elusive well-centered Ozzie Smith rookie to match the condition of the rest of the set. Maybe I’ll find one in the Kansas City area as I begin looking for a card store to replace the amazing All-Star Sports Cards in Grand Rapids. If any readers of the blog can recommend their favorite KC store I’d certainly appreciate it.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. The next time you hear from me I’ll be a Kansan once again.

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Well, I received a package from Topps earlier this week. I opened the package and found a letter and a card inside. Here’s what the letter said:

Dear Valued Collector,

Thank you for participating in the Topps Million Card Giveaway. We are in the process of fulfilling all cards and unfortunately we are unable to secure the card you unlocked. In effort to over-deliver and be fair we have included a substitute that will be more vintage than the original card you unlocked.

Here’s what else was inside the package:

1952 Topps #155 Frank “Stubby” Overmire (in what I’d consider excellent condition)

At first I was a bit angry about being downgraded from a Hall of Famer to a player I’d never heard of. But then I took a look at the back of the card and saw his home listed as Grand Rapids, MI. Intrigued, I went to his wikipedia page and checked it out. Turns out that Stubby is a bit of a local legend. He attended Lee High School in Wyoming, MI (the school’s baseball field is named after him), and then attended what would become Western Michigan University. He’d go on to be a member of two World Series winners (1945 Tigers and 1951 Yankees) and then coach in the Tigers organization for nearly 25 years. Not only that, but he still has family living north of Grand Rapids and one of my co-workers knows what I believe to be his great-granddaughter.

I’m not sure I’ll ever have the opportunity to put together the 1952 Topps set, but if I do, the first card acquired will have a fascinating story behind it. Topps’ continues to be inept, but in this case I’m grateful for it. I can’t help but wonder what replacement card they’d have sent me if I lived in Commerce, Oklahoma.

Thank you for your order

1961-BB-TS1-471-NA Phil Rizzuto MVP 1 05/20/11 SHIPPED

Order # 223198-2 Order Date: 11/15/10 0282EDI
Shipping Method – USPS

Apparently Topps is just now getting around to shipping one of my cards from the MCG… six months after I ordered it.  Hey, better late than never, right?  Especially when it comes to Hall of Famers.  I’m sure the delay was due to Topps looking for a mint condition card and submitting it to PSA on my behalf.  Any of you still waiting on cards to show up from last year?

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that I have a constant trade going with Greg over at Night Owl Cards. He needs Dodgers, and west Michigan has a ton of them. Greg is more than generous with the cornucopia of cards he sends in return. Here are a few choice cards from his latest package.

That Delgado is psychedelic. If game used cards would have been an insert in 1972 Topps, I think that card would have fit right in.

Two 1998 Donruss Production Line cards off of my wantlist. Just 11 more to go, but there are a lot of superstars still to be tracked down.

Dwarfing all other cards in this package, and all other Topps cards from the 1980s for that matter, is the Rickey Henderson rookie. It’s one of those cards that I grew up dreaming of owning, and to have it arrive in a trade package is unbelievable. He took his spot in my 1980 Topps binder between Tom Paciorek and Bo Diaz in the center of the page tonight and he’ll never have to leave that spot again. Thanks Greg.

They are 2003 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame Artist Proof Refractors. Blogger Extraordinaire Thorzul talks about them here, and here. They are part of the latest batch of Dodgers from my favorite card store that are getting mailed off to a new home in New York.

Speaking of Dodgers, a former Dodger manager spent yesterday at Kauffman Stadium.

Tommy Lasorda was in town for a reunion of the 1956 Kansas City Athletics. You might not remember, but he pitched a rather pedestrian half season with Kansas City before hanging up his spikes.

Year   Age  Tm  Lg W L   ERA  G GS GF   IP  H ER HR BB SO  WHIP

1954    26 BRO  NL 0 0  5.00  4  0  1  9.0  8  5  2  5  5 1.444

1955    27 BRO  NL 0 0 13.50  4  1  1  4.0  5  6  1  6  4 2.750

1956    28 KCA  AL 0 4  6.15 18  5  7 45.1 40 31  6 45 28 1.875

3 Seasons          0 4  6.48 26  6  9 58.1 53 42  9 56 37 1.869

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/8/2011.

He spent two innings talking to Ryan Lefebvre and Frank White in the Kansas City television booth. He bragged about his success with rookies (Managed nine players who won Rookie of the Year awards), and also mentioned that 200 managers were fired during his 20 years of coaching. Pretty impressive stuff. Oh, and he was also absolutely hilarious. If you have access, I’d recommend accessing your MLB.TV or Extra Innings account and watching the first three or four innings of yesterday’s game. You’ll be glad you did.

Of course, no matter how awesome Mr. Lasorda is, his NSFW rant will always be the first thing that springs to mind when I think of him. Here it is, in its unedited glory, for those of you who have been living underneath a baseball rock for the past 25 years.

…

If you stuck around this long, you deserve to see one more sweet card.

Hope you enjoy these, Greg. I certainly enjoyed finding them.

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Andrew Cashner Autograph

Picked this up in person from Larry the SMG. He owns a sewing machine shop near where my wife works, so I stopped by and said hello in order to pick up a duplicate auto from him. Coincidentally, I received a nice package in the mail from him on the same day that helped me take care of a few of my 1980 Topps needs. It was great meeting you, Larry.

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1972 Topps awesomeness

After meeting Larry, Megan and I drove about 20 minutes northeast of Grand Rapids to the small town of Lowell to check out a new (to us) card shop. Rookies Sportscards seems to be about 80% comics and gaming, but we still managed to find a few 1972 singles for Night Owl. At the register, Megan picked a single pack of Gypsy Queen (for $6.50 a pack… ouch) and she picked correctly …

2011 Gypsy Queen Mini Relic Cal Ripken Jr.

… as we pulled a “Group B mini relic”, a 1:362 pack pull. It should pay for the pack two or three times over, once I get around to putting it up on Ebay.

—

Speaking of Hall of Fame relics, I had quite a few amazing relics arrive in the mail last week. Here they are, in ascending order of awesomeness.

Yes, that’s right, the Gypsy Queen relic from earlier was actually the second Iron Man card to fall into my possession. Multi-color relics are almost better than autographs in my book… almost.

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2010 Allen & Ginter Autograph Clayton Kershaw

Speaking of autographs… I’m toying with the idea of putting together the 2010 Allen & Ginter autograph set. If I eventually decide against it, I’m sure this card will wind up in a certain Dodger fan’s mailbox.

—

And finally, a card that I picked up two or three weeks ago, but hadn’t got around to mentioning yet. Possibly because I didn’t know what to say about it… it’s simply the most significant card in my collection to date.

2004 Fleer Inscribed Induction Ceremony Purple Phil Rizzuto 1/1

I’m not necessarily looking to collect all the 1/1s from this insert set, but gosh, if you have the opportunity to pick up a 1/1 of a Hall of Famer, that just happens to fit into a set you’re collecting, you have to give it serious thought. I actually didn’t know a lot about Phil before acquiring this card. I found it interesting that, even after winning the 1950 MVP, Phil worked in the off season selling suits. Can you imagine Derek Jeter working at your local mall in the offseason to supplement his income? It’s amazing how times have changed.

The other neat thing I learned about Phil was that he was the very first celebrity guest on my favorite game show of all time, What’s My Line?. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can see Phil’s appearance from 1950 below.