Good Reputation

Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown is known for his great custom cards. He sent over a mailer and this awesome  '77 Topps Joan Jett dropped out in the Light of Day like a Cherry Bomb. I don't Hate Myself For Loving You, Joan!

Fun Fact - the Runaways' drummer Sandy West styled herself after Roger Taylor of Queen, and here are two Taylor Rogers. 

I had the good fortune of getting a "Christmas" (12/25) serial numbered card from an online Arizon Fall League set I ordered from Topps. Since those teams are a combo of MLB teams, I was hoping to pull a Twins prospect but ended up with an Arizona DBack named Seth Beer. Since I knew Gavin collected those 12/25 cards, I was happy to send it his way. I was not expecting to get this in return!

Good Kitty! Nice Kitty! Thanks a bunch, Gavin, this was an awesome card to add to my collection!

Thursday Tradin' Post

Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown sent me a festive PWE just ahead of Christmas. Included was this custom "SANT A" ornament for the tree!  

I am a proud member of Generation X-Treme! Just Kidding, I'm an OLD Millenial/Generation Y. 

The envelope concluded with a Quintet of Twins, all parallels!

Johan was numbered to just 45 copies! Thanks Gavin, that ornament will be a family heirloom!

Shifting gears, here's something that should appeal to Gavin, as it is tangentially related to his "Baseball cards on film" project.

I recently added a 25th Anniversary Special Edition DVD/Blu-Ray of the fantastic movie "A League Of Their Own," which included, you guessed it, commemorative baseball cards!

Geena Davis as the power hitting and defensive stalwart Catcher, Dottie Hinson. The cards remind me a little of the Topps All-Star Rookie Team test issue from 1971.

Next up was Tom Hanks, as boozing slugger and reluctant Rockford Peaches manager, Jimmy Dugan. There was a custom made card of Hanks / Dugan in the film, eagle eyed viewers will see that the card he rips in half is based loosely on the 1934 Goudey Jimmy Foxx.

The last card in the box was of Music and Film icon Madonna as speedy center fielder Mae Mordabito. The 3 cards had no wrapping around them and were just floating loosely in the box, so all three have dented corners. A bit of a bummer, but these were throw-ins so I can't complain too much.

The backs all have a quote from the movie and some very basic league-wide stats from the AAGPBL. I wish Lori Petty had a card, too. Kit was favorite character in the movie.

The box also had this booklet "The History of Women's Baseball," which contains a short essay on the development of the AAGPBL and some background on what came after. 

The Breakdown Abides

As a follow up to an earlier trade, I sent Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown some of my duplicate Kirby Pucketts for his player collection, and he fired back with a great lineup of Twins, and of course tossed in this custom Great Dude of History. The Dude of course was featured in Minnesota filmmakers' Joel and Ethan Coen's "The Big Lebowski."

I've seen stranger things than this custom yearbook photo, but not many with as well-groomed a pushbroom as Mr. Clarke

On to the cards! Mauer dutifully covers up the uninspired Minnesota State Flag, which is just the state seal on a field of blue.  The "Hometown" parallel is a great addition to Mauer Mountain.

Two new 2017 Doziers, including a shiny sepia Chrome refractor!

Gavin is a fine connoisseur of shiny cardboard and his mailer was jam packed with refractors and parallels.

These last four were also serial numbered, to boot! Thanks Gavin! Let's trade again soon.

Sometimes, Crime Does Pay

Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown fame had a big fun game, and the best lot in the whole game (in this humble Twins Fan's opinion) was the one that I won stole from Nick from the Dime Boxes blog. Stealing is bad! Stealing is wrong! But thems the rules of the big fun game, and I just couldn't say no to the card above. My scanner makes it look a little blurry and dusty, but in person it is anything but. Just a gorgeous card!

Also included in the lot were these three Baseball Card Breakdown originals. Really outstanding work on these customs, not just the look, but also the feel of the cards in hand is impressive.

Gavin being the generous fella that he is, also included a stack of Twins, like hometown hero Joe Mauer.

Some great older Bowman (always a fan of Metrodome shots like A.J.'s card)

The base card Tony O to match the autograph, and some sweet Kennys!

A Bonus Joe Relic!

And Frankie from the Futures game waaaaay back in 2005. He's still kicking in 2017.

Thanks very much Gavin, for the big fun game, and for all the extras!!

Customizing The Season of Giving

Welp - Gavin has really outdone himself this holiday season. He's been issuing custom gifts all around the blogosphere and I was very lucky to have an envelope arrive last week with my name on it. Lots of really cool an ingenious work coming from the author of Baseball Card Breakdown

 Some great Manny Ramirez cards for the PC

B-Rad is back- in Pog form! I can't believe they only made 50 of this particular platinum parallel.

 Add in an Albert Belle and we've got a very nice holiday PWE.

 Of course, Gavin did not stop there and included a custom built "rip card" numbered to 25

Inside was this fantastic little magnet featuring Kirby Puckett! Eat your heart out, Cracker Jack.The scan doesn't really do this item justice


Thanks Gavin!

Breaking Down Some Awesome Cardboard: Part Two

Here's part two of the trade with Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown - in addition to hitting up some serious Player Collection needs, he also sent a ton of cards from my favorite team, the Minnesota Twins.

 A fake rookie of Joe Mauer and a real rookie of Doug Mientkiewicz!

 BOOF

 Some recent draft picks - just have to say it is a huge mistake not having Berrios called up to pitch for the Twins this year.

 Marty Cordova! Takes me back. I think the Twins could have been better in the late 90s if he had been healthy.

 Chrome Stadium Club? News to me, these are pretty slick!

New to me Bowm(e)n

 New to me Prizmz!

 I really like the Australian Flag version of this Lewis Thorpe card. Thorpe should be back in the states to come back from his arm troubles this year.

 These are super Cool. Mauer's career has fit almost perfectly into the "Heritage" Era, so he's probably got cards from almost every design out there.

A little something new and a little something old!

And to close a little tribute to the Baseball Card Breakdown style (admittedly, this is a bit rough)!

Thanks one more time Gavin, for a great first trade!

Breaking Down Some Awesome Cardboard: Part One

Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown and I just made our first trade- He sent over a small priority box, which had a small army of cardboard greatness. Part one will focus on the PC Guys, all non-Twins. Part Two will be all Twins, as they were numerous and plentiful!

Here's everything in big stacks, as I am wont to display:

OK, so mostly Twins on the tops of those stacks, but here's the rest:

 ALOUS! (And their nephew/cousin Mel Rojas)

 Tony Perez!

 Kenny Loftons!

 Boomers

 Mannys being Mannys

Joey Belle! 

 You can tell Gavin reads the blog, which I appreciate very much! I had a post on Charlie Hough a little while ago, but none in his Dodger blues. Gavin came through big time with a Rookie!

It's really sharp, too - Great condition!

Thanks very much, Gavin!

Twins coming up tomorrow!