Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Card of the Day: 2007-08 Upper Deck Chronology #63 Lionel Hollins

While searching on eBay for Trail Blazer cards that I must have, this one really hit hard. This has to be one of the best looking autograph cards I have ever seen! A framed black and white vintage photo of Lionel Hollins signed, on card, with a blue fine-tip sharpie! It cost me $1.30 + $2 s&h.

Lionel was a member of the 1976-77 NBA Champion Blazers team, a 1977 All-Star and has recently had his #14 retired by the Trail Blazers. He is currently the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies.


Tuesday, August 25, 2009

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.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Hugely Significant Trivia I Never Knew


Did you know that around 1960, Sy Berger, the "Father of the Modern Baseball Card", was in the middle of a spring cleaning effort at the Topps Brooklyn headquarters and hired a boat onto which he loaded 300 to 500 cases of 1952 high-series cards which then left the New Jersey shore and dumped them all into the Atlantic Ocean?

Why couldn't it have been 1987 Topps?! Then we could have Mantle's rookie for pennies and Bonds' for thousands of dollars right?

2009 Baseball Card of the Year: 3rd Nomination


Seeing Mickey during his playing days in something other than a posed head shot is a major plus for me. And this photo is in color! Great picture. Think how much better it could have been if it was taken at Yankee Stadium though?

Noms thus far:
  1. Topps #559 Esteban German
  2. Topps # 124 Reed Johnson
  3. Topps # 7 Mickey Mantle
My Rules:
  1. Base cards only.
  2. Can only pick from cards I own. Any cards I've not seen or do not have 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?)

Friday, August 21, 2009

Bounty: Care of Sports Locker and Trader Crack's Card Blog

JRJ over at the Sports Locker blog help a little contest a few weeks ago giving away some things he picked up while at The National. I happened to win the nice promo card featuring an all new vintage themed minor league set from TriStar!


He also sent this Score football card which he also got at The National. This is sweet because I'm actually putting together this set. This one surprised me though because I can't find anything anywhere about an "Atomic" parallel. I'm guessing Atomic = Promo?


This one I won from a contest at Trader Crack's Card Blog. This card brings many firsts to my collection. My first cut sig. My first Razor card. This card came from a pack that probably costs more than I make in a day, which will probably be a first and last! Who knew that cards can come out of a pack already slabbed!

Oh, and I almost forgot! Ryan was extremely generous and sent over a couple of team bags full of cards off of my want list! Thanks Ryan! I'd be happy to return the favor and have already gathered a few from your lists.

2009 Baseball Card of the Year: 2nd Nomination

Reed Johnson appears to be risking it all making this catch at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
As a fan of any and all things baseball, I can't imagine the game without Wrigley Field. And with the sale of the Cubs finalized just hours ago to a die-hard Cubs fan who even first met his wife at "the friendly confines", hopefully this will bring another 96 years of professional baseball to Wrigley and maybe even a championship for once. The last championship the Cubs won was when their home was at West Side Park.


Hall of Fame Giveaway!

Yet another contest! Try your luck over at The Collective Troll and vote for ME!

Allen & Ginter Giveaway!

Go here to enter for your free A&G cards!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

2009-10 Topps Basketball..."!"? or "?"?

It's about time for me to start thinking about which basketball set I want to collect this year. I just came across a preview of the upcoming set, which is due on August 27. All in all, it looks great. Good base card design. All the numbered parallels including gold, black, printing plates, chrome, chrome refractor, chrome gold, chrome super-fractor, plus relic cards and autographs.. and then.. legendary laundry tags. Yes, laundry tags! [snicker] This could be your next big hit!

[ha!!!]

Monday, August 17, 2009

2009 Baseball Card of the Year: 1st Nomination

This idea is being done on other blogs, but I can't resist doing it myself. I'll be posting my favorites throughout the rest of the year as I acquire more cards. Only cards that I own and only base cards will be chosen. I don't know yet how I'll pick the winner. Either a poll or I'll just pick it myself.

When I first saw this card, it instantly became one of my favorites. This is Topps #559 featuring Esteban German. The cool green grass, the baby blue uniform, the shimmering LED outfield wall in the background.There's a reason the photo guy at Topps didn't crop into this photo too much because he must have felt the same way. I know you've heard it before elsewhere, and I'll say it too. I can't express enough how nice it is to have some really great baseball photography on this years Topps set. Well done!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Barter: Care of No One's Going to Read This Blog


A couple of weeks ago, Jeremy from No One's Going to Read This Blog contacted me to see if I wanted to swap some '09 Topps. I'd been wanting to start trading online but I never initiated any for lots of dumb reasons, but now I had no excuses! This trade was exactly what I needed to get my trading feet wet. Jeremy send over a nice stack of Series 1 and 2 for my set in progress. These are some of my faves.

This home run might be the most thrilling moment I got to see of the post season last year. Great pinch hit home run! I didn't know this card existed so this was a surprise!


This is the view you get from the ground if you actually lose a brawl after charging the pitcher who beaned your helmet off.

Loot: Care of Stats on the Back

Last month, Mark over at Stats on the Back generously gave away thousands and thousands of cards to dozens of collectors. Everyone had their own wants and needs, and Mark even found some cards that I wanted. He sent me a stack of Strawberry, most of which I didn't have yet since my collection is still young. He also sent over several Trail Blazers cards, which is the only team collection I have, from any sport. And to top it off, he included a 1969 Topps card to go towards my set I'm putting together. Sweet 40 year old card. Check it out here on my other blog. Even though Mark really doesn't expect anything in return, I'm sure most of us had no problem expressing our gratitude by returning the favor by sending something back. I never seem to have more than a few cards off of people's want list, but I managed to find some needs for his Allen & Ginter collection and Hall of Famer collection. Thanks Mark!




Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Project '62's Junk Wax Group Break

This group break is the bees knees.. it has me pumped! The thought of 20 wax boxes ranging from '81 to present along with some possible sponsored wax and maybe a few more packs piled on top of that has me salivating. If you a team collector, player collector or even a just a boring ol' regular collector, check this out! This needs more participants for this to happen!

Announcement

Wax List

Saturday, August 8, 2009

1992 TNTL 1919 Black Sox Team Set Reprint

Wow. I scanned these in over a month ago and forgot all about 'em. This is a cool little set. I picked it up off of ebay when searching for the cheapest "buy it now" boxes, and someone had a bunch of these for like a buck-fifty! The 2" by 3" deck of cards features the historic "Black Socks" team that threw the World Series! Beckett lists these as "1992 Manning 1919 Black Sox Reprints". On the bottom of the box it says, "TNTL Studios, Toms River, NJ". Did this company produce any other sets? Nothing more on Beckett...

Most of the cards in the set feature a plain black and white cutout picture with a white, borderless background and a blank back.
The cards with the black border feature the players which were banned from baseball. The backs tell their individual stories.

Buck Weaver tallied a .324 AVG with 11 hits in the series, which supported his claims that he had nothing to do with the fix. He was still banned in the end for knowing about the fix, but failing to tell officials.

Williams went 0-3 with a 6.63 ERA in the series.

This is the only color card in the set which is just like the other Shoeless Joe, but with grass and corn. After he started playing with two shoes again, Joe had a cane fashioned to look just like a bat that he took everywhere with him.

Blue Jays GM Confirms There Never Really Was A 'Roy Halladay'

Here's some fake quotes from the fake press conference the Blue Jays had concerning the fake Roy Halladay. Funny stuff courtesy of The Onion. Click here for the full story. Warning for Blue Jay fans.. some harsh humor ahead.

"Roy's my uncle's name. And whenever we needed a face, like for his baseball card, we just used a picture of our UPS guy."
"Roy Halladay is just the latest in a long string of completely fictitious Blue Jay greats, a list that includes Dave Stieb, Jesse Barfield, and Joe Carter, whose home run to win the 1993 World Series was actually just a two-run single in the seventh inning by Paul Molitor."
"Those first couple of years you can't really control [playing in Toronto], but then you demand a trade and get out of there," ex–Blue Jay Orlando Hudson said.

When asked if he remembered playing with a Roy Halladay, Hudson said, "I don't remember any of my Blue Jay teammates."
"Baseball is built on little deceptions: the curveball, the hidden-ball trick, the existence of Stan Musial. And we're not the only team who bends the truth. The Padres played 212 games last year just to make a little extra money. Just slid by and no one noticed. Milwaukee doesn't even have a third base."

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Contest over at Voice of the Collector

The last time I posted a link to a contest on another blog, I ended up winning! Twice in one day! My luck is good right about now so go on over to the Voice of the Collector blog and enter! Enter all you like, I don't care!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Australian Baseball League cards

I love oddball cards. So, I couldn't resist picking up a pack of Australian Baseball League cards off of eBay. This 110 card set highlights players in the ABL for the 1993-94 season. The packs also had randomly inserted redemption cards for a "high quality picture card" of either David Nilsson or Mark Ettles, some of which were autographed. The ABL started in 1989 and disbanded in 1999. In 1999 David Nilsson took the helm of Australian baseball and created the International Baseball League of Australia which lasted for 3 seasons. Australia has yet to see a national league since then. Just last month though, MLB, the Australian Baseball Federation and the Australian government announced intentions to create a new national league which could be running as soon as October 2010.

Mississippi born Jay Powell had a good MLB career starting in 1995 with the Florida Marlins. You might remember him as the winning pitcher for the Marlins in game 7 of the World Series. He played for 5 other teams and suffered a career ending injury while on the Braves in 2005.

Kevin was an infielder for the Phillies from 1995 to 2001.

Scott Tunkin competed in the 1996 Olympics for Australia in which they placed 7th. Adrian Meagher played in 2000 in which they placed 7th again! Australia went on the win silver in 2004.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Trader Crack's Card Blog

Head over to Trader Crack's Card Blog and enter the contest for a pretty insane prize!

http://tradercracks.blogspot.com/

Other Hobby Blogs