eBay Loot!

I got the top 3 Goudey 4-in-1's for my Ichiro collection, but I guess if I ever wanted to build a Sizemore collection they could go in that too. Weird.

The Eddie George comes from the Photo Engravings insert set in Pacific's 1997 Philadelphia effort. I got it simply because I liked the idea behind the design. I'm a fan of old-time photographs. Now that I've actually got one in my hands, it could have been done a lot better if the cards were super thick instead of almost paper thin, and an all sepia front instead of all the color.

The Colts card is my first white refractor. It was super cheap and will go into my serial numbered collection. These are #'d to 869. Any significance behind that number?

The Honus Wagner comes from an insert set in 2007 Upper Deck. I was completely unaware of these inserts back on '07. I found out about them recently and I want to eventually collect them all. This is my first.

As for the Zach Randolph, I've never been a big fan of the Turkey Red sets for some reason, but the parallels have become some of my favorites!

The Clyde Parris mini is a very welcome addiction to my collection. Back in January I decided that the Parris Allen & Ginter was my favorite base card of 2009, so over time I'll be picking up as many parallels as I can.

And another shiny Elite card that caught my eye, this one with 3 legendary Dodgers on it. These are #'d to 1500 and will go into my serial numbered collection.

These Pinini Threads jersey cards are so freakin' cool!

The Brooks Robinson is from the 2001 Topps Archives Reserve set. I'm slowly putting together the set. I just ripped a pack of these and will post the results pretty soon.

I liked the design of the Yaz with the sepia photo and I'm glad they kept the Red Sox logo full color. It looks great. These are #'d to 1989 and will also go into my serial #'d collection.

Another Ichiro, this one from the Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Hobby Preview set.

The card design on this Brandon Roy jersey card triggered something in me that made me have to own it! I love how it looks like a playing card. The jersey was used in a T-Mobile Rookie Challenge.

I used the Roy card to show just how big these 1976-77 Topps cards really are! I always thought they were a little tall but these are huge! Very cool.

And finally we have the Japanese variation of Ichiro's '07 Topps Chrome. This might be my favorite Ichiro.

2009 Baseball Card of the Year: The Winner!!

Happy New Year!

We'll, when I started this thing, I had bigger and better things imagined for my Baseball Card of the Year feature. But with 2 hiatuses since September and internet access cut from our budget (crazy huh?) and now blogging from my phone with it's tedious limitations, well.. my head hurts.

So I'm just going to wrap this up. Since I started in September, I only nominated 5 cards. Here they are:

1. Topps #559 Esteban German
2. Topps # 124 Reed Johnson
3. Topps # 7 Mickey Mantle
4. Topps Allen & Ginter # 18 Clyde Parris
5. Topps #614 David Murphy
   

I had never decided on how the winning card would be decided, whether by vote or contest, but I don't think I have enough readers yet to pull something like that. It would be just embarrassing if no one voted or entered. Almost like that contest I had during the summer where I only had two entrants (hi Mom!) and flipped a virtual coin to decide the winner.

So I've decided on taking away all the rest of the fun from you and just plain picking a winner myself. I'll count this as a victory. 1 point me, 0 points readers. He-he. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to even the score.



Anyways, I decided that Topps Allen & Ginter #18 Clyde Parris is my favorite baseball base card of the year that I personally own. While the other nominations were all selected on their photography, this one won because of originality. I hope to see a lot more historical baseball cards based on lesser known histories. More mainstream cards featuring the Negro Leagues and maybe some other countries' leagues. The Japanese leagues have a long and rich history which most of us know next to nothing about. I think Tristar did a great job covering minor league history with their Obak set, but they just lost their license so who knows if we'll see anything like that again.

2009 Baseball Card of the Year: 4th Nomination

When I first saw that there were Negro League Star cards in this year's Allen & Ginter set, I was thrilled! How often does this happen? I love any look into the Negro Leagues since historical information seems scarce, and collectibles even scarcer. This one features Clyde Parris. It states on the back that he played for the New York Black Yankees and the Louisville Buckeyes. He's shown here playing for a Panamanian team in his native country which he went to the Caribbean Series in '57 with. I don't know about you, but I would love to go to any local league's game in the Caribbean or Central America.. or Japan.. Korea.. Australia.. anywhere!

I've come across a few other Negro League cards in this set and I have a feeling there might be some more nominations for my pick of the year from these cards.

Noms thus far:

1. Topps #559 Esteban German
2. Topps # 124 Reed Johnson
3. Topps # 7 Mickey Mantle
4. Topps Allen & Ginter # 18 Clyde Parris
   

My Rules:

1. Base cards only.
2. Can only pick from cards I own. Any cards I do not own are automatically DISqualified!
3. Focus will mostly be on photography. Design only plays a small part since this is base cards only.
4. I'll pick as many noms as I want.
5. You can suggest noms, but, see rule 2.
6. I don't know yet how the best card will be selected. (contest?)
7. The card subject must be about baseball and not the Milky Way or something like that.