GCRL Not IRL part two : Twins



Jim from GCRL also sent a big batch of new to me Twins. Long-time readers of my blog with very good memories will remember that I talked about wanting a card that commemorated the walk-off win in game 163 of the 2009 Season - Jim had a copy of the card and sent it along.

These pacific Omega cards have a little bit of everything - texture on the seams, foil, two photos on the front, and of course, the original Series Star Trek font for the player's name.

Upper Deck was so clever - when they bought O-Pee-Chee they effectively bought the rights to use some vintage Topps designs as well. You'll recognize these Twins rocking the 1971 Topps (sort of, they flipped the picture above the text).

I've decided that the Blyleven card above is from the 1987 World Series (because of the bunting). Either way, it is super shiny. These three Mauers were new to me, too!

I really like the 1995 Upper Deck design.

Bring it on home with a trio of Denards - there was a lot more to show in the box, it was quite the haul! Thanks very much Jim, I'll keep my eye out for more Dodgers and double dips for the next trade!

GCRL Not IRL part one: player collections

Jim from GCRL and I live in the same metro area - our first trade was in person, and it's always nice to save on shipping (not to mention meeting a fellow blogger). We tried meeting up again but timing didn't quite work out so the Dodgers I pulled from the big group trade and Jim's return had to go through the mail.

What a return it was! I have split it into two parts. Part one is focusing on the player collections he sent over. I always think of Rickey as an Oakland A, so his mid to late 90s West Coast tour always has an odd look to it. He spent a few seasons in San Diego with Tony Gwynn.

Larry Walker! He's among my favorite players that had their prime after I stopped collecting the first time. Jim send a huge stack of Walkers, I think they were all new to me.

I somehow managed to not have that 86 Donruss Dave - I've got to start making lists for these guys so I can track what I already have.

New Carew!

Barry Bonds - what can be said about him that hasn't already been said?

Pedro!

And more Pedro - hey... wait a minute. How did Upper Deck get away with using the 1963 Topps design in that Vintage set? I'm glad they did, it's a cool card.

This is just part one! More to come from GCRL, next time it will be all about the Twins.

MLB Official Rules: 2.00 Definition of Terms

 Adam from Infield Fly Rule sent along a bubble mailer stuffed with great stuff! Let's jump right in:

 Felipe looks like he's saying "ALOOOOOOOOU!" Just me? I am just now noticing that the little outlines in the bottom left are the same poses as the photo - I obviously haven't collected enough of that set!

 "Lowell A Star Fish" - Good job, Fleer! Hal Morris is one of those guys that had a really solid career and will always be a fan favorite.

Speaking of Fish (and Fan Favorites) here's Jeff Conine. I miss the Teal unis. . . the 90s were a simpler, neon-ier time!

 I don't know about you all, but I have to say A-Rod is enjoyable as a villain. Not quite Bonds-level Super Villain, but I am starting to enjoy the season he's having this year.

 That's a pretty sweet Big Puma! Nails and Big Mac were on my junk wax want list, but not anymore!

Close it out with a Robi-duo

My wallet card is starting to really feel the burn!

Adam, thanks for the cards! These are great!

2x3x100% awesome

Jeff from 2 by 3 Heroes got in on the group trade game, and I sent him some White Sox as well as a White Whale Elephant gift of a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (reprint).

Jeff sent back quite the package of Twins in return, lots of great stuff!

 The Harmon Throwback Threads is new to me, even though I recently went through a big stack of the set.

 A pretty fantastic Stadium Club card, and Mauer's version of an iconic Killebrew card

 Stuart Turner is one of a trio of young catching prospects that are climbing the organizational ladder. Turner, Brian Navaretto, and Mitch Garver all were promoted a level this year, and really impressed last season.

 That's a new Kirby to me!

 A couple cool chips / pogs / discs from the recent past.

This was just a taste of all the great stuff that Jeff sent over. Thanks very much!

Un coup de pot (A Stroke of Luck)

Kevin from The Card Papoy has been a great trade partner from the very beginning of my blog. We hit a little snag with the old postal services (or perhaps with Customs) on the last delivery. Was it lost? Stuck in some kind of time warp? And then, a stroke of luck!

The latest package from Kevin took exactly one month to make its way to me from France, but it was worth the wait!

 Hoping for Molitor to turn out to be a fine addition to the Managerial ranks, too!

 I wonder if LaTroy Hawkins is the last active player from this Leaf Signature Series Set. This was when he was a promising starting pitching prospect.

 Shiny and Sign-y!

 The Twins' used to do this promotion called the "knothole club" and kids under 14 could get super cheap upper deck General Admission tickets - I saw a ton of games the two summers I was 13 and 14 - my parents let me go without an adult to day games starting that summer.

 The best Free Agent signing in Twins' History?

 Shiny and Sign-y 2!

And the mandatory Biebs.

Merci!

Cardboard Served on a Platter

The big Group Trade continues to pay dividends, and today's features a package from Mr. Speigel from Nomo's Sushi Platter.

 Vintage!

 The Future's Bright for these 4.

 That Radke card is a hot mess, but that's part of it's charm!

 The last 1990 Donruss on my want list!!!

And close it out with a hit! I think Larry Walker had an under-appreciated career, I hope he gets some traction in the Hall of Fame voting in future seasons.

Thanks very much for the trade Michael, these are great!

Johnny on the Spot

 That's all you really need to know - John from Johnny's Trading Spot provided this flat rate box chock full of cards. And . . . Discs? The position players have numbers on the outside of the discs, I'm guessing this was for a game of some kind? Pretty cool and it features The Rat, Sweet Music, Hometown Hero Kent Hrbek, and the original "Fear the Beard" - Jeff Reardon (original to me, please no angry telegrams from Alexander Cartwright fans). In the middle are three team bags to cover the Group Trade from awhile back, let's bust those open . . .

A tiny kent hrbek!

These are pretty cool - Kellogg's 3-D Super Stars, the 1985 Glossy Send-in National League All-Stars hanging out in the Metrodome.  The bottom row features some awesome 1990s and early 2000s cards.

 A couple of relatively underrated stars - I think if Chavez could have been a bit healthier, he'd have ended up with career numbers similar to Adrian Beltre or Chipper Jones. Bottom row starts a run of guys at the bat rack.

 Is it just me or does Raul Mondesi look like he went into witness protection? I didn't recognize him (bottom left)

 Neon Deion kicks up a small dust storm, and I really dig the raised surface of the Ovation set - I might have to go out and get some more of those...

 My first Donruss Preferred card!  My first Topps HD!

 Lots of sunglasses cards for that mini collection - which is totally blowing up. I might have to switch it up to sunglasses only on cards before 1980 and eye black for cards after that...

The photo really doesn't do justice to how shiny that Kevin Young card is - it's practically a mirror. I really like the design on the Donruss 2005 cards... it reminds me a little of 1961 Topps.

Once again Johnny hits one out of the park and delivers a huge mountain of cardboard - just a ton of great stuff and all these photos just barely scratch the surface. Thanks again!

The Sweet Smell of Success

WHOA! This was no joke, cats and kittens.

Tim from I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning joined the group trade and scored big with the Yankees including a Reggie Jackson bat relic. You can see the haul here

The return package came on Friday, and it was a doozy:

Packed in the the brown cardboard in the first picture were two Super Suprises:

 They are from the 1980 Topps Super set - each card is about the size of 4 standard cards. They fit nicely in two pocket pages!

The other boxes were filled with all kinds of awesomeness:

 Jims Thome!

 Harmons Killebrew!

 Kirbys Puckett!

 Joes Mauer

 My first from this set of Heritage - just like the original, I think I like the horizontal ones the best

These are my first from this set, too - Topps seemed to take a few liberties with this one rather than emulating the 1953 set exactly in style (not all portraits like the original)

 Is this a Team U.S.A. jersey?

 These were all new to me (no, really!) I like the Big Mac bat flip the most. Golden moments was a cool idea, no idea how people felt about it at the time...

 Some Fleer Tradition as well, some of these are pretty cool!

 Oops! Hey Fleer, Milton is signing a Topps card there...

 Some TCMA cards featuring The old Colt .45s and the Twins...

Shiny! If Adam Brett Walker can bring down the strikeouts and bring up his average, he might be taking Oswaldo Arcia's job in a couple years. There were a bunch of those silver/chrome Bowman Heritage cards as well, very slick!

Whew! That's just a small taste of the things in the package - Thanks very much Tim, these were a blast to go through!