My Twins Frankenset: Page 9

I've seen a few FrankenSets out there - for example John has a Braves set and a Uniform Number Set, Tom has a Cubs set, Nick has the Dime Box FrankenSet, Robert has a serial numbered card set, Night Owl has a night card set. Jeff's got a White Sox FrankenSet. I'm sure there are many others. Tell me about yours in the comments!

I decided this would be a good way to at least start organizing my Twins cards.

My own "rules" for the set are pretty simple -
1. Each card should be a Twins player in a Twins uniform (and exclude multi-team cards)
2. If at all possible, each page should have 9 unique players and 9 unique sets
3. Have Fun (Mandatory)

Here's Page 9:

and the backs:

73 -  Justin Morneau 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces
74 -  Kent Hrbek 1993 Upper Deck
75 -  Bob Allison 1963 Topps
76 -  Brian Harper 1992 Donruss Triple Play
77 -  Kirby Puckett 1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice
78 -  Joe Mauer 2012 Allen & Ginter's
79 -  Brad Radke 1995 Topps Traded
80 -  Tony Oliva 1973 Topps
81 -  Glen Perkins 2007 Upper Deck MLB Artifacts

Two Rookies, Two Vintage, but I think Kent Hrbek's card is my favorite of this group.

More online pickups - Vintage guys

There was a big stack of modern cards in the last post, but I also found some pretty cool Vintage in the last few months.

Remember Eddie Waitkus? Check out the back and see if that jogs your memory . .  .

 Eddie was the inspiration to certain elements of Bernard Malamud's classic baseball novel, The Natural. With the exception of the small stain on the back, this one was pretty sharp!

 This one looks like it was possibly trimmed on the bottom, or maybe it was just miscut.. Either way, it's an awesome card.

 And Finally, this one is a modern card, but it's a Vintage player - and a PC guy! The late, great Minnie Minoso.

 Ah, looks like a perfect spot for a signature in that whitespace...

I wonder what game counts as a "professional game" ? It would actually be pretty cool if it was a bat he used when he was with the Saint Paul Saints for a plate appearance. I suppose it could be from a major league game, that would be pretty cool too.

Recent online pickups

I'm in the middle of prolonged card buying drought, so I'm grasping at straws a bit for things to post. I'm saving up for a big addition at the next card show, so I've been resisting logging on to eBay or loading up my cart on Sportlots or COMC. I have held off on posting a few things, just in case I had to pull back the throttle a bit...

 These two were actually from the National - Sy Berger was in a dime box, and just a buck for the 68 Topps Tony Perez with giant Foil Stamp. That's the first buyback I've bought back for myself..

 Zorro (in a Dodgers uni) and The Count! I was browsing COMC and these two both popped out with their color. Most of Zoilo's Topps cards are unflattering head shots, especially later in his career when he was bouncing around a bit. I really like the Orange/Gold of the Giants' 70's uni. It might just be the product of the photo, age of the card, but I'm a fan regardless...

 Max Kepler is in AA this year - The Twins signed him as a 16 year old out of Germany, hoping to tap an untapped well of talent. He's struggled for several years, but his raw tools have kept hopes up. This year, he's putting it all together, and if it weren't for Buxton and Sano, a lot more people would be talking about Max Kepler.

The Brothers Alou

I've been working on my Alou Brothers collection this summer, and now I can showcase two completed pages of Alou awesomeness.

Big brother Felipe's first Topps card was in 1959, Matty joined the trading card fraternity in 1961, and Jesus rose to the ranks of the big leagues in time for the 1964 release.

 I inserted the Post Felipe Alou so I could line up the brothers starting with Jesus' Rookie Year:

 Honorary Alou Brother Ron Herbel* makes an appearance. These two pages are the first two completed, hoping to add a few more of the short prints (it's like Topps picked a different Alou Brother to be Short Printed every year....)


Enjoy these Matty Alou oddballs:

*Ron Herbel is NOT an honorary Alou brother, as far as I know...

If I Had A Blog Then: Visiting Wrigley Field

It was July 28th, 2000 when I was visiting my brother for the first time in Chicago. I had just tried Horchata for the first time, and the world was our oyster. My brother said, "Hey, finish that drink, we're going to Wrigley."

It was a gray day, and the overcast skies were threatening rain but none fell during the game.

We were more interested in seeing some thunder - see that little blurry blob in the bottom left stepping up to the plate in the photo?

That would be this guy:

At the plate, the Cubs featured their own big slugger:

The 4th of July was long gone, but we were hoping to see some fireworks. Instead, the Cubs and Giants treated the North Side with a good ol' fashioned Pitchers' Duel.

 Courtesy of Livan Hernandez and .... Ruben Quevedo?!? Well, good for him. Livan outlasted Ruben, with the game's only 2 runs coming off the bat of Rich Aurilia, who crushed a 2 run dinger off of Cubs reliever Tim Worrell in the top of the ninth. Robb Nen faced the last two batters in the bottom of the ninth to pick up his 25th save of the season. Box Score

The weather didn't really co-operate, and the Cubbies did not score a run, but I got a chance to see Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa at Wrigley Field. The "Make 7 Up Yours" t-shirt should properly contextualize the late 90's early 2000's time this photo was taken. (I still have that hat by the way.)

Showing Some Skills - Charlie Hough's Knuckler

I like cards that showcase what a player does best. Here's an ongoing feature showing just that.

For Kids of a certain age, Charlie Hough was always older than the dirt he meticulously removed from under his fingernails.

 Old. That's the sweet spot of my youth collection - 86 through 91. I've always thought of Hough as a Ranger first, even though he started his career as a Dodger.

 Hough floated on over to the South Side.

 Then things got a little goofy in South Florida.

 Dat grip tho.

 Hough was still slinging it into the early 90s.

 This might be my favorite Hough card, but it's not for the front...

Hough was a career .146 batter, with 33 hits in 25 years. To be fair, he was in the American League from 1980 until 1993, so no Plate Appearances for him for a little over half his career. 20 of his 53 career strikeouts came hitting with the Marlins in 1993... I guess he was a bit rusty?

Jordan vs. Bird

Ah, who can forget the bit-ter rivalry of Jordan vs. Bird?

They wouldn't be competing for an OSCAR, but things could have gone quite differently. . .

Most people think of Jordan like this, but as a baseball fan first, I wasn't all that interested in Michael Jordan until he tried playing for Chicago's AA team in Birmingham:

30 steals is pretty impressive for someone's first pro season- it takes more than pure speed to steal a base...

And of course people think of Larry Bird like this:

But did you know about this?

Pretty Cool Story!

Just imagine if The Hick From French Lick stuck with Hardball, and ended up playing against Jordan in the majors...  we never would have had the ridiculous Nintendo game then, I'm sure.

Thanks to Jeff from Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum to send this card along to me! If you've got an awesome baseball card of a non-Baseball player and want to trade it to me, I'm all ears. Maybe a Tracy McGrady card with the Sugarland Skeeters? Or a Russell Wilson prospect card? Let me know! I love that stuff.

My Twins Frankenset Page 8

I've seen a few FrankenSets out there - for example John has a Braves set and a Uniform Number Set, Tom has a Cubs set, Nick has the Dime Box FrankenSet, Robert has a serial numbered card set, Night Owl has a night card set. Jeff's got a White Sox FrankenSet. I'm sure there are many others. Tell me about yours in the comments!

I decided this would be a good way to at least start organizing my Twins cards.

My own "rules" for the set are pretty simple -
1. Each card should be a Twins player in a Twins uniform (and exclude multi-team cards)
2. If at all possible, each page should have 9 unique players and 9 unique sets
3. Have Fun (Mandatory)

Here's Page 8:

And the Backs:

64 - Gary Gaetti 1989 Donruss
65 - Rick Aguilera 1992 Donruss Triple Play
66 - Gene Larkin 1992 Topps Stadium Club
67 - Joe Mauer 2008 Topps Stadium Club 1st Day Issue
68 - Kirby Puckett 2004 Fleer Greats
69 - Byron Buxton 2014 Bowman Chrome
70 - Harmon Killebrew 2012 Topps Archives (1962 Reprint)
71 - David Ortiz 1998 Bowman
72 - Rod Carew 2003 Topps Gallery

Digging deep with the Gene Larkin card - he's fresh off his 1991 World Series game 7 winning base hit on that card. I thought about getting the original Killebrew for the #70 spot (I have a copy of the card, but it's with all the other Killebrew cards in a PC binder), but this one was a quarter and looks great in the binder.

The great news is that Buxton is probably back for good in the majors!

From A Shoebox To My Mailbox

Shane From Shoebox Legends sent over a PWE this week:

Let's take a look inside!

 I'm a big fan of those O-Pee-Chee modern/retro/ripoffs. These look like a riff on 1976 Topps (though this Jesse Crain card is a black border parallel). The Sportflics card is Bert Blyleven and friends.

 A couple guys that came to the Twins with a lot of promise, but it didn't quite work out. I had real high hopes for Matt Walbeck taking the reins from . . .

 Brian Harper! A big part of the 1991 World Series team!

The Bowman Yellow Retail Parallels are a bit odd, but still pretty cool! Nick Gordon is Dee Gordon's younger brother, the Twins have big plans for him in the next couple years.

Thanks Shane, these are great!

Feeling Uninspired?

 I know how you feel, Charlie.

I'm pretty far behind on my posting (usually I have a week posted in advance), but I have not been feeling too inspired to write anything today. I decided to do a little sorting instead, and came away with a short stack of "At the Bat Rack" cards that will eventually make it into the Frankenset I started awhile back.

These guys are all dozens of pages away, but there's nothing like sorting through some long boxes to beat the rainy day blues!

Score One For the Little Guy

There's already a whole blog dedicated to the 1988 Score Rookies and Traded Set if this post whets your appetite, I recommend checking out that blog and taking a look at all the treasures there!

I picked this set up at a card show in the Twin Cities that I normally don't go to - harder for me to get there and the main focus is the autographs, which is not really my thing.


Here are some of my favorites from the set:

 Quisenberry as a Cardinal? Ok Then...

 The two biggest Rookies in the set - now Hall of Famers:

 A couple more notable rookies:

Graig as an Expo --- neat. Herm is great at WINNING.