Freaky Friday

One basketball great playing baseball, and one baseball great playing basketball. Like the post from yesterday, each of the cards shown in this post were added to eBay orders after finding the card I was actually looking for. 

 

Moving on to a real 2-Sport star, Bo Jackson! His 1990 Score card is getting a lot of hobby buzz lately, which shows Bo wearing shoulder pads and holding a bat. This "AAMER Sports" oddball is even better if you ask me. It even comes with a bootleg Rookie Cup!

The card back features his career stats in both sports so far. you could see he was just getting started in both with a great deal of potential still to come if not for his hip injury.

A few bootleg Kirbys and a Pizza Rolls Vikings card - This image looks like a Renaissance painting!

Here's the back of the Puckett cards, in all their non-descript glory. 

Here's a Barry Larkin rookie card from the folks at The Press Box.

Do you like to collect oddball cards, or do you prefer to stick to major brands?

Thanks for reading!

Hypothetically Speaking

So, I'm not actually doing this, but if I did pick an individual player for a Frankenset, it would almost certainly be Kirby Puckett. Not only because he was one of my favorite players, but also because his heyday was in the late 80s, early 90s, which is a hotbed for inserts sets and subsets and special editions, so there are a ton of cards from which to choose. 

Here are the backs! Again, not going to do this frankenset, but if I were... hypothetically speaking . . . This would have been page one.

Thanks for reading!

Free Trade Agreements

The free stuff Friday train has yielded an unexpected but welcome bump in my trading life. Alex Andy (Sorry!)from Stadium Fantasium claimed a free card and offered me another in trade, this sweet 1969 Topps Rico Carty.

Yikes - I had forgotten about Rico's lost season due to illness, you can see he lost significant time in 1965 as well. Another one of those guys that you wonder what may have been if he was healthy for a full career. Thanks Andy!

Chris aka The Collector claimed some free cards and I received some sweet junk wax needs and Minnesota connected players as well. Brad Hand is from Chaska, MN!

Thanks again Chris!

Of course, as long as we're talking free cards, Let's talk about Jon and A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts. This trio of food issues were too good to pass up, so I claimed them from one of his recent Free Stuff posts.

Last but not least, I bought a pair of Puckett customs on eBay last week - the custom card maker focuses on Don Mattingly, Jose Canseco, and Kirby Puckett customs. These called out to me while I was browsing some "real" Pucketts. I don't mind paying a little bit more for these, they are well executed and will be a fun addition to my collection. I received a few more great packages recently, I'll be sharing those in the next couple days as well. Thanks to everyone who has taken advantage of the Free Stuff Fridays so far, I've had a lot of fun putting them together, and I am happy to find new homes for cards that otherwise would just languish in a box somewhere. And thanks for reading the blog!

Monster (Trade) Of the Midway

Jeff of 2X3 Heroes is alive! Lately he's been sending out awesome trade packages all over, and I was the lucky recipient of a MONSTER flat rate box. I ended up with stacks of stacks of Twins to sort through!

Stack one featured the Soul Patrol, some of the best pitchers in team history, and the underrated Justin Morneau. What would his career have been had he avoided that concussion? It was really good even with it.

My scanner was a little harsh on it, but my favorite card from stack # 1 was this cloth sticker reproduction of Rod Carew.

The second stack had a ton of young talent - Jose Berrios, maximum Max Kepler, Brusdar Graterol and Alex Kiriloff!

It was a more traditional Hall of Fame face that was my favorite of that stack. That's a new to me Puckett!

Stack # 3 was a Heritage bonanza!

Stack # 4 was packed with rookies!

Just so you don't get burnt out on Twins, here's C.C. Sabathia, still in his minor league days with Cleveland.

There were lots and lots of Kirbys, I think these were all versions that were new to me as well!

And goodness gracious, so many parallels!

And this is only half way through the stacks that were in the box. Thanks very much Jeff, these Twins are much appreciated!

Black History Month COMC Pickups

During the month of Februrary, I've been honoring Black History Month by posting about some of the prominent African Americans that have made contributions in the game of baseball (and beyond the field as well).

While making these posts, I would sometimes have to omit some cards because, well, I didn't have them (yet). I have been checking in to COMC throughout the month and picking up cards along the way. This Jackie Robinson card was featured in one of Fuji's posts, I have to say it's now one of my favorite Robinson cards too.

Frank Robinson was still managing in the 2000's, in a period of time when I wasn't buying cards. I was browsing through his cards and found these, I really love the Expos Manager card. I realized during my post on Dontrelle Willis that A) I didn't have his rookie card, and B) I didn't have a good card showing his big leg kick. Check and check.

Here's the back of that first Frank Robinson card - it has one of the factoids I heard most often the day Frank passed. He went to same high school as Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell, and that they actually were teammates on the basketball team.

Had to check for more Denard Span needs, as I do most of the time when I log in to COMC.

For most of the posts this month, I've been checking my 56 set and my in progress 1959 Topps set for cards to post. I was surprised to find that I still needed a card for my '59 set of Sam Jones, the first African-American to toss a no-hitter in MLB history, and a member of the 20 game win club, the "Black Aces."

The back mentions his 1955 no-no, and also references his nickname, "Toothpick."

Last but not least, I am always looking for Kirby Puckett cards that will be new to me.

Following in his Footsteps

This is obviously not a real 1984 Kirby Puckett card - I finally caved and bought one of the ACEO customs off eBay. It's not bad, actually, card stock is thin compared to 1984 Topps, but it's on par with recent card issues.

The post today is all about the guys that followed in Kirby's footsteps. Puckett was a franchise player, a Hall of Fame talent with World Series heroics in two different Fall Classics.

Puckett was a 6 time Gold Glove winner - and was the Twins' primary Center Fielder from his rookie season of 1984 up through the 1993 season. Reaching his mid thirties but still providing average and power at the plate, the Twins made the difficult but wise decision to move him to Right Field where he could still make impact plays covering a smaller piece of Astroturf.

Replacing a 6X Gold Glove winner would not be easy, and the transition was not particularly smooth. In 1994, they tried Alex Cole. He certainly was fast, stealing 29 bases, but he wasn't nearly the hitter Puckett was.
Matt Lawton was not a Center Fielder by trade, but the Twins did try him there over 100 times during his 7 seasons in Minnesota. Ultimately, he would replace Puckett in Right Field instead of in Center.
Rich Becker was the primary Center Fielder in 1995 through 1997 for the Twins. He had a decent glove and a roughly league average bat. He had a really promising 1996 season, but ultimately he couldn't hit lefties and wasn't able to stay healthy.
In 1998, the Twins went old school, adding veteran Otis Nixon, who was 39, but looked about 65 (as he did for most of his career). As much as he looked like a senior citizen, he ran like the wind. He swiped 37 bases for the Twins, in what would be his second to last season in the big leagues.

More than anyone else on this list, Torii Hunter went the longest way towards "replacing" Kirby Puckett. He was drafted by the Twins in 1993, the same year that Puckett was transitioning from Center to Right. Hunter made his debut in September of 1997, pinch running for Paul Molitor. It would be 1999 before he was up to the big leagues as the Twins' everyday Center Fielder.

Hunter's defense was outstanding, probably a step above Puckett in center. He was a nine time Gold Glove winner, including every season for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007. His bat was a work in progress early in his career, but he developed bat on ball skills and power mid way through his career. He never really cut down on strikeouts, but the league would catch up to him in that regard and strikeouts would be less of an issue for everyone. Hunter actually has an intriguing if tough case for the Hall of Fame. 350+ homers, nearly 1,400 RBI, 2450+ hits, 9 Gold Gloves, 5 All Star appearances. He never finished higher than 6th in MVP voting, and he never played in a World Series, so that will probably keep him out of serious consideration. 

When Hunter left via free agency in 2008, the Twins were better prepared with a few first round draft picks.

Carlos Gomez was a Mets draft pick, but the headliner for the Johan Santana trade to come to the Twins. He would be the Twins' main CFer for 2008 and 2009. He hit for the cycle in a game in 2007, cementing his place as a dynamic talent. He was blazing fast then, and already had that swagger and style that rubbed some old fogeys the wrong way. He would be traded after the 2009 off season for JJ Hardy of the Brewers.

Denard Span was ready to fill in, and would be the #1 option in CF for 2010 and 2012. The lefty hitting leadoff man had a little bit of pop in his bat and played solid defense, if not as flashy as Gomez (or Hunter).

Sandwiched in between the two Span seasons was Ben Revere in 2011. Revere was, like his CF prospects before him, a terror on the basepaths and an excellent defender. In 2012, he would play most games in RF with Span in Center, though Revere seemed to be the faster of the two. Both Span and Revere would be traded for some much needed pitching depth the following year.

The Twins had year another first rounder waiting in the wings, the switch hitting phenom Aaron Hicks. He was the primary CF in 2013 and 2015, with a trip back to the minors to re-tool his swing mixed in. Hicks had a breakout season in 2017-- for the Yankees. Hicks may have been rushed to the majors, and his swing dissected and scrutinized in the media. At one point he ditched switch hitting altogether, only to go back to it later in the 2015 season. He's held his own in a loaded Yankees' lineup, and for a Twins team that was starved for power in recent years from the outfield, losing Hicks for catcher John Ryan Murphy does sting a little.

It stung a lot less starting in 2016 when Byron Buxton came up. More on him later.

We interrupt this top prospect career to bring you a bunch of guys just filling in as needed. In 2014, when Hicks was demoted to AAA, Utility man Danny Santana ended up with the most games in CF for the Twins. It was a strange and frustrating season in the Twins' outfield, with infielders making the best of bad situation trying to cover more ground than they ever had to before. The Twins would draft Buxton right after that. After winning a Gold Glove (and the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year award) in 2017, Buxton played in just 28 games for the Twins in 2018. With Buxton battling injury and hitting slumps, he was marooned in Rochester with the Twins AAA affiliate when he was healthy enough to play. It meant that RFer Max Kepler would slide over to Center for much of the year. Ryan LaMarre a journeyman minor leaguer, Zack Granite a rookie with injury woes of his own, and Jake Cave (who doesn't have a Twins Card yet) had to pick the remaining innings in center in 2018.

But THIS is what the people are hoping for in 2019! Buxton was at one point the #1 Overall prospect in baseball, drawing comparisons in AA to Mike Trout at the same point in his career. Buxton has had a similar career arc so far to Hunter and Hicks, though Buxton already has shown better numbers at the plate (at times), and is clearly a defensive wizard. His defense alone makes every pitcher better, helping the team even when he's not hitting. The motto for the Twins' outfield with Buxton, Kepler, and Eddie Rosario is "Nothing falls but raindrops." Twins fans are looking forward to the next footsteps from the most promising talent the Twins have seen in Centerfield since Kirby.

Signature Required - And Another Contest!

I made a big order from COMC just after the New Year, and for the first time ever a signature was required to get my mitts on it. I was a little sheepish about signing for it, as the post office marked it as "signature required - adult material" and I can't decide if it's more or less embarrassing that the package didn't contain any booze or sex toys.

The only Puckett card out of the 100+ cards in the order emphatically states that it is the opposite of adult material- it's Sports Illustrated for Kids! I have more cards of Kirby Puckett than any other individual player, and yet, I don't even have 20% of the cards made with him on it.


CONTEST!

I currently have somewhere between 400 and 500 unique Kirby Puckett cards. Guess the exact number (or the closest wrong guess) of unique Kirbys in my collection and win a custom made mix of 100 Cards + One Pack repack. So basically, pick a number between 401 and 500 to enter!

CONTEST!

Winner will be announced in Saturday's post. Entries still accepted in yesterday's post, too. Someone may or may not have already guessed correctly!

The COMC order will help me with some return packages on trades, and for several upcoming blog posts, so the rest of the haul will have to wait.

Alas, All-Star!

The scan is a little off, but I think it will underscore the point I want to make about the All-Star game. Let me clarify, not the game itself, but the way it is represented on cardboard. Topps used to make a point of having a different design for the All-Stars, and we can look back 30 and 60 years to prove the point.

Red White and Blue dominate the design, with AL All-Stars getting a red background and Blue lettering. The NL All-Stars do the opposite, with a blue background and red letters. The photos are more conservative head shots rather than in-game action.

The backs have a relevant leaderboard with the All-Star somewhere in the top ten. Add in a little season highlight blurb, and you've got yourself a clean and classy tribute to the game's best.

Guess what? The '88 Topps set was no stranger to good ideas from past Topps sets. The base cards owed a bit of their look to 1967, with big bold colors for the team names. The All-Star Sub-set in '88 went back even further, with a nod to the 1950's.

The backs have a longer run on sentence / paragraph about the player, and then a breakdown of each player's performance by opponent, a grid that would resurface in 1989 with Topps' resurrection of Bowman.

The Topps Update All-Star cards of the last decade or so aren't terrible - I just think they could learn a bit from their past successes. It would be great for the cards to have a unique design (they could even be an insert, you know how Topps loves insert sets) compared to the base cards, and celebrate the event a little more than a logo. I do like the event specific photography, and I do like that the backs usually talk about what made the player an All-Star.

What do you think? Should the All-Stars get their own design?

Hammering Out A COMC Order

Dave Parker is the coolest guy. COMC had their Spring Cleaning sale, and I decided to hop on over to the site and look for some hidden gems.

I had some Action Packed Football cards when I was a kid, but I was totally unaware at the time that there were baseball cards out there too. Clemente is in his Santurce Cangrejeros (Crabs) uniform. He played for the Crabs in 1954, sharing the outfield with Willie Mays for the Puerto Rican Winter League team and Caribbean Series Champions. Joe Morgan and Hank Greenberg fill in the bat rack mini collection contingent.

Like Joe Morgan and/or minor league cards? The card above is from a Durham Bulls Hall of Fame set. Sophie Kurys was the Rickey Henderson of the AAGPBL. Can't have a card of Buck without his best friend Satch.

See what I mean - 1,114 career stolen bases? 201 steals in 113 games?!?!?! Only 98 of her hits that year were singles. That's some serious speed! 

Sometimes I just go for aesthetics - no real rhyme or reason to add these.

Church's Chicken had to compete with Denny's somehow - they decided on Gold Parallels to combat those highfalutin' holograms. Jersey swatches are probably cheaper than they've ever been, even with a low serial number, Joe Mauer's card was super cheap in the sale.

             
Can't resist vintage for pennies on the dollar!

The big prize? Baby Bart! I noticed that Colon hasn't signed many cards in his career, so I jumped at this one, even though I'm generally not much of an autograph hound.

This autograph is older than Washington Nationals phenom Juan Soto!