Page 13 At the Bat Rack Frankenset

  Rules -

9 different players

9 different card sets

9 different teams

player is at the bat rack (or bat pile) in or near the dugout

Have fun (most important)

PAGE THIRTEEN

. . . and the backs

109 - Tom Underwood 1982 Fleer

110 - Wade Boggs 1999 Fleer Tradition - Warning Track

111 - "MEAT" of the Mets 2017 Topps Update

112 - Greg Luzinski 1972 Topps

113 - Steve Garvey 1983 Fleer Album Stickers

114 - Justin Turner 2019 Stadium Club 

115 - Juan Gonzalez 2004 Topps Bazooka

116 - Walt Dropo 1979 TCMA Baseball History Series (the 50s)

117 - Rich Becker 1997 Leaf

Yet another page complete, thanks go out to gcrl for sending me that Garvey at some point. Juan Gone and the Mets cards are a bit of a stretch, but they are both right in front of or right next to the bat rack, it's just hard to see the bats themselves. I think the Luzinski is my favorite, bonus points for creativity in making the bat rack mobile in a rolling cart. How much farther can this Frankenset go? Who knows?

Page 12 At the Bat Rack Frankenset

 Rules -

9 different players

9 different card sets

9 different teams

player is at the bat rack (or bat pile) in or near the dugout

Have fun (most important)

PAGE TWELVE!

and the backs . . .

100 - Pete Rose 1985 Renata Galasso Pete Rose

101 - Kiki Hernandez 1993 Classic Best Gold

102 - Rhys Hoskins 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen

103 - Larry Walker 1999 Upper Deck

104 - Garry Moses 1970 Topps

105 - Kevin Kiermaier 2016 Topps Chrome

106 - Joe Niekro 1987 Fleer

107 - Ozzie Guillen 1995 Pinnacle

108 - Ron Gant 1997 Pinnacle Inside

The Kevin Kiermaier card is a pretty big stretch - once again the big bat racks at Comiskey come to the rescue. I'll keep my eyes peeled for #105 in the future to try to find a more legit back rack card. The set is now into triple digits! Happy also to have a 1970 Topps card on this page, as that set is the unofficial granddaddy of them all when it comes to bat rack cards. There are earlier examples to be sure, but the 1970 set has several to choose from, which makes it a personal favorite. Larry Walker makes his 2nd page in a row.

Thanks for reading!

Page 11 At the Bat Rack Frankenset

 PAGE TEN (with links to pages 1-9)

Rules -

9 different players

9 different card sets

9 different teams

player is at the bat rack (or bat pile) in or near the dugout

Have fun (most important)

PAGE ELEVEN!

and the backs . . .

91 - Joe Carter 1994 Upper Deck

92 - Justin Upton 2015 Topps Update (image variation)

93 - John Blanchard 1962 Topps

94 - Jim Longborg 1975 Topps

95 - Larry Walker 1993 Topps

96 - Orel Hershiser 1985 Fleer Star Stickers

97 - Carlos Lee 2004 Donruss Team Heroes

98 - Jerald Clark 1994 Stadium Club

99 - Wade Boggs 2019 Stadium Club 

Had to use another Comiskey cop-out with #97. Pretty much any regular card with a shot of a batter in Chicago will show a bat rack in the background. Hopefully I will replace that one at some point. Upton and Blanchard are not exactly at the bat rack, but I'll allow it!

I think the Hershiser sticker is my favorite of this bunch, just for the novelty of it. It was fun to have not one, but two pitchers at the bat rack for this page. Fun fact about Johnny Blanchard - he was born in Minneapolis! This card shows him following his best season in the big leagues. He had career highs in almost every offensive category, playing in 93 games for the Yankees. He had an OPS+ of 168 for the season!

Thanks for reading.

Page 10 At the Bat Rack Frankenset

Page One

Page Two

Page Three 

Page Four

Page Five

Page Six

Page Seven

Page Eight

Page Nine

Rules -

9 different players

9 different card sets

9 different teams

player is at the bat rack (or bat pile) in or near the dugout

Have fun (most important)

PAGE TEN!

And the backs . . . 

82 - Travis Fryman 2001 Fleer Ultra

83 - Lou Gehrig 2003 Fleer Greats

84 - Nicky Delmonico 2018 Topps Stadium Club

85 - Honus Wagner 2002 Fleer Fall Classic

86 - Mark Grace 1998 Fleer Legends of Today

87 - Frank Thomas 2018 Donruss

88 - Eddie Mathews 2010 Topps Turkey Red

89 - Juan Rios 1970 Topps

90 - Robin Yount 1992 Topps

Ok - so the big thing here is that the bat racks at Comiskey / Guaranteed Rate Field can be seen from the batter's box. I'm surprised I made it this far before having to "cheat" with one of these White Sox cards like #87 with Frank Thomas. Technically there is a bat rack on the card, it's just not the focus of the card. I'd love for them all to look like #84 and Nicky Delmonico when they are in Comiskey, but for the moment it was as close as I could get. 

Mark Grace has a pretty good card here, but I have to give the crown of my favorite card to the vintage cardboard and Juan Rios. Rios only played in one MLB season, with the expansion Royals. He had a longer minor league career, signed originally by the Mets in 1965. 

Page 9 - At The Bat Rack Frankenset

Page One

Page Two

Page Three 

Page Four

Page Five

Page Six

Page Seven

Page Eight

Rules -

9 different players
9 different card sets
9 different teams
player is at the bat rack (or bat pile) in or near the dugout
Have fun (most important)

PAGE NINE!

And the Backs . . . 

73 - Greg Walker 1984 Fleer

74 - Ruben Rivera 1998 Pinnacle Inside

75 - Yangervis Solarte 2016 Topps Heritage

76 - Travis Hafner 2007 Upper Deck First Edition

77 - Babe Ruth 2016 Leaf Babe Ruth

78 - Denard Span 2017 Stadium Club

79 - Matt Olsen 2017 Stadium Club

80 - Gregg Jefferies 1995 Collector's Choice SE

81 - Hank Greenberg 1976 Shakey's Pizza Baseball's Greatest Players

Well, this page needs a little work - Greg Walker is in the dugout with a bat leaning on the bench, so it's a bit of a stretch to call it a bat rack card. Yangervis Solarte is blocking the bats with his body, and Denard Span is on the opposite side of the dugout from the bat rack (though you can at least see it in the distance). Would like to find an alternate for the Span card mostly because there are two cards from 2017 Stadium Club on the same page.

The Hank Greenberg is my favorite on this page, just because it's fun to root for the oddball card sets.

Ponce, Puerto Rico is Bat Rack City!

Ponce, Puerto Rico was founded in 1692 and is named after the great-grandson of Spanish Conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon. The Leones, you would think, would be a nod to that lineage - but the team's name actually was coined after the team owner was photographed cracking a whip like a lion tamer. The Leones were formed in 1938, and were champions 11 times. The team folded following the 2016 season. Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, and the league had to combine some teams and contract others completely. Eduardo Perez (son of Hall of Famer Tony Perez) managed the team to its final championship season in the 2008/2009 season.

The team's Dirigente, (aka Manager) was future / former Cubs skipper Jim Essian in 1988/1989 when this set was produced. Essian had played in the league himself years earlier for Caguas, teaming up with Gary Carter, Willie Montanez, and Mike Schmidt to name a few. Essian was the Cubs' AA manager the same season he took the helm for the Leones.

"VIVE Y RESPETA AL COLECCIONISMO"

Live and Respect Collecting! I love that. The backs of these cards feature various things to live and respect, such as "sports," "Country," "Religion," and "Culture." 

The league was known for providing a place for players to hone their skills in the "off season" - many future MLB players find their way onto the Leones roster - how many of them are memorable to you?

The main reason I picked up this set was for the awesome bat rack cards. As I try to keep the bat rack frankenset going, it's heartening to see all the guys to help me out in a few pages down the line. Ponce is Bat Rack City, baby! Plus, I love adding some less common cards of future former Twins players like Junior Ortiz and Pedro Munoz. 

Last but not least is the big name in the set, Juan Gonzalez. Pictured here he is still a few months away from his MLB debut, but he had already picked up his nickname IGOR, which was based on his favorite wrestler, the Mighty Igor. He called himself "Igor the Great," his friends were willing to compromise and just called him Igor. 

Live and Respect the Culture everyone!

baseball's back (on the other side of the world) - pack a lunch!

Baseball is back in South Korea, as the KBO is playing games in empty stadiums. I recently received an awesome mailer from Jim of cards as i see them and gcrl fame. It arrived right as I would have been going to a monthly card show, so it was a very welcome sight indeed. Park Byung-ho has been one of the biggest stars of the KBO, and he briefly played for the Twins, but adjusting MLB pitching combined with a nagging wrist issue resulted in a short tenure for the prodigious slugger.

Jim also tossed in a Tiny Joe Mauer!

This Upper Deck Flyball set was a new one to me, it combines some of the game elements of the sets like Victory on the back and a more traditional card design on the front.

A Rat!

It's a Smalley World after all.

I didn't have this Shane Rawley O-Pee-Chee, but do I call it a Twins card, or a Red Sox card?

Fan Favorite Mickey Hatcher was well represented as well.

As I continue to work on the Topps Heritage set, these two were needs - and these two bat rack (or bat rack adjacent) cards will find a nice home in my collection.

Vintage Harmon Killebrew is always a welcome addition!

In Rod We Trust - This 1978 Gino's Disc was a new one to me!

All of these cards came packaged in a unique way - this lunchbox is branded with Target's name, but it predates Target Field. The players are all Metrodome-Era Twins stars.

Thanks very much Jim, hopefully we'll get to run into each other at a card show again sometime soon. 

Thanks for reading!

Free Stuff Friday #13 Batter Up!

Free Stuff Friday rolls on for its 3rd month! 2008 Topps makes an appearance, but the real Jose Bautista does not! Jose Castillo is pictured on the Joey Bats card back when he was still anonymous.

Some inserts!

parallels! Roark is a Series 1 Walgreen's Yellow parallel.

Hockey! Does anyone want to try a different "other" sport for a couple weeks? I might add something else next week, though hockey gets claimed, especially the newer stuff.

The mini collection this week is Bat Rack cards! Don't worry, I have at least one more copy of all of these.

Claim one or claim them all!

If we haven't traded in a while, please also reach out to me with your address.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

Page Seven - At the Bat Rack Frankenset

Can anyone stop this train? No! Page Seven of the "At The Bat Rack" Frankenset is here. 

Page One

Page Two

Page Three 

Page Four

Page Five

Page Six

Rules -

9 different players
9 different card sets
9 different teams
player is at the bat rack (or bat pile) in or near the dugout
Have fun (most important)

PAGE SEVEN!

and the backs . . .

55 - Larry Doby 2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic
56 - Ryan Adams 2011 Topps Update
57 - Marquis Grissom 1997 Bowman Chrome
58 - Tony Clark 1997 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion Edition
59 - Jon Shave 1993 Bowman (Blank back)
60 - Jerry Hairston 1984 Fleer
61 - Mike Schmidt 1985 Donruss
62 - Vladimir Guerrero 1998 Pinnacle
63 - Alan Ashby 1990 Elite Senior League

Oh yeah, it's getting weird now. 3 hall of famers, a Senior League card, and a blank back. by the way, I would very much prefer the regular 1993 Bowman issue of card #59, so if there are any Rangers or Bowman or Jon Shave superfans out there that want to swap, I will send you the "harder to find" blank back version for the regular one. 

I really like the Mike Schmidt card, it might be a stretch for this frankenset, but I am making up the rules as I go along, so sometimes the player brings their own "bat rack" by carrying around a pile of lumber. I'm nearly done with page eight as well, but it's also fairly lopsided with a particular team, so I might try to find some alternates before posting that one.

Thanks for reading!

Johnny On the Spot

Yet another awesome mailer came to me recently from Johnny's Trading Spot.  Where do we even begin?

Well, how about a bat rack card? The rest of this post is all Twins, so brace yourselves:

There are always a big stack of parallels, these have been dressed up inside and out with the parallel and the airbrushed uniforms.

Variety is always in full effect, with prospects old and young.

I have more Kirby Puckett cards than any other player, but I think the Silver Signature was new to me, and possibly all three in the middle row - too many subsets and special editions in the 80s and 90s!

These two were both new to me, as there weren't any to be found in my cereal box these days.

One of my favorite eras of Twins baseball was 2000 to 2005, always a treat to add cards from that half decade.

Did I mention parallels?

This is a great card, probably my favorite of the stack. Love the soft focus background. Terry Felton started his MLB career with 16 straight losses, leading to his exit from baseball prematurely. At the time of his retirement, he was also the Toledo Mud Hens all time leader in wins, which unfortunately did not translate to success in the majors. Both his 16 game losing streak to start his career, and 0-13 record in 1982 are major league records.  He did record 3 saves in 1982, but by the time this card was released, so was he. Felton went on to become a detective with the Baton Rogue, LA police.

To give a sense of the varied nature of this mailer, here is a sampling of the brands and years included. Thanks again John!

Check Out My (Final ?) COMC Order

Dude, Where's My Cards?

Still waiting for an update on the shipment I requested on 12/2/2019. I emailed on 12/23, they replied the same day and said they'd look into it and get back to me. 

No response/update for over a week, so I sent a follow up on Jan 3rd. No Reply.

I emailed again on January 8th - no reply.

Hmm, maybe they aren't getting my emails? I started a new email thread on January 22nd - no reply.

I emailed again this Monday, after hearing nothing for another week, with no communication from COMC since that first response way back on December 23rd.

So, I have pulled all of my cards from sale on the website. I tried to have them shipped back to me, but they wanted to charge me $81 to ship my own cards back to me. Fine, you can keep them, I marked everything I sent to them as "For Charity."

I still had a sizeable number of cards that I already paid for, on the site, ready to ship. I had been using a strategy of placing a shipment order at the beginning of each month (after the $5 bonus), then adding store credit a week or two later and starting the process again. I would eat up all the store credit, save $4 of the bonus $5 to cover shipping, then repeat.

My first shipment request from COMC was way back on 9/17/2014. I had been ordering one shipment a month, EVERY MONTH, since March of 2015. This was before I even had a COMC account.

After not seeing my shipment change over to "packaging" status for 6 weeks, I decided to divest in the website altogether. I didn't have enough "store credit" to cover shipping, so I added $10 in store credit (the minimum allowed), and added my last cards to my last shipment to bring the amount left to $0.01

While I will really miss the site for its ease of navigation and all the great inventory, I decided that I didn't want to reward this poor customer service any longer. It's one thing if they lost the cards, or damaged them, or sent them to the wrong address... Any reason would have been better than not replying at all after 2 months. These were the last cards I ordered from COMC, they still owe me 61 cards from the December shipment that never materialized, and probably an apology too.

This is the only time I've had an issue in over 5 years using the site, but it's ridiculous to be ghosted on a simple shipping inquiry. What do you think, am I overreacting?