Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Parking the Car at Harvard Yard

Adam from Thoughts and Sox saw a post of mine awhile ago that said I was starting to go for the 1969 Topps Deckle Edge insert set. He had a Carl Yastzremski for me :

 The rest of the envelope was filled with more Red Sox.
 Bernie Carbo is about to blame the dog, but we all know that he who smelt it. . .
 Spaceman and the Rooster!
Or should I say " le coq "? Probably I shouldn't say that but hey, O-Pee-Chee!
 Yaz comes around again on this awesome disc!
Tastee-Freez!

Thanks Adam, you were right, these were random! And awesome. Appreciate it!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Just One Pack Of . . . 2015 Topps Pro Debut

 Another day, another pack full of Minor Leaguers...
 Oh hey, Steven Matz isn't in the Minors anymore!
 Here's a "Distinguishing Debuts" insert, featuring Tigers' First rounder Derek Hill.

 Last three cards of the pack are pretty good too!
 Only one guy gets the "Pro Debut" official seal - the rest of the guys had at least one year of pro ball already in the books.
Here's a look at the backs - like Series One, there's a nice big "Pro Debut" in the top right identifying the set.

I dunno, these were pretty good! The other pack I bought of this set had a Byron Buxton in it, so I'm a happy camper.

Monday, September 28, 2015

My Twins Frankenset: Page 13

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 13:
 and the backs:

109 - Torii Hunter 2007 Fleer Ultra
110 - Paul Molitor 1996 Score Select
111 - Doug Mientkiewicz 2004 Donruss Throwback Threads
112 - Kirby Puckett 1993 Topps Finest
113 - Corey Koskie 1999 EX Skybox
114 - David Ortiz 2002 Upper Deck
115 - Johan Santana 2008 Topps
116 - Tony Oliva / Jay Ward 1964 Topps
117 - Shannon Stewart 2004 Donruss Playoff

Lucky number 13!
Oh, buddy. Some crazy stuff on this page. Did you know that Torii Hunter's MLB debut was a pinch running appearance? Did you know the player he pinch ran for was Paul Molitor? Now Paul Molitor is a "rookie" again, with Torii as the grizzled veteran.
A lot of choices for a favorite card, but I think I'll go with the last one - great shot of Shannon Stewart robbing a homer.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

A Parcel From P-Town

Some great stuff from Peoria! Tom from Waiting Til Next Year sent over a couple team bags full of Twins.
 Some mid 2000's Twins stars, including current RF/DH Torii Hunter...
This card is very thin and almost translucent - it's very cool!

 Some of the guys that brought the Twins back from the brink of contraction.
 2015 Allen & Ginter!
 Love the TC Bear mascot card - waving the Homer Hankie in the Dome.
 These facts are all lies.
 Awesome! Oddball Price Guide card in the style of 1959 Topps!
 Puckett attended college in Peoria, Illinois at Bradley University.
 Gagne signed this sweet Double Dip!
And the new wonderboy, Miguel Sano! I bet this is either from the New Britain Rock Cats or the Beloit Snappers. He played a bit for each of those teams in 2013.

Thanks very much Tom, these were fantastic!

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Just One Pack Of . . . 2015 Topps Chrome

 One Hobby Pack of Topps Chrome from the Card Shop.
 I have to laugh about pulling this Kennys Vargas card- I bought up all the chrome parallels of this card I could get a week ago, could've gotten the base card the old fashioned way! Kennys was also in the first pack of series one I purchased this year, which is part of what led to my decision to try to collect the rainbow.
 An insert!
 That's cool.
 Rookie!
Yelich is developing into a pretty good player, but he's a little overshadowed by that other guy in Miami, Ichiro. OH right, and Giancarlo Stanton. OH right, and because he plays in Miami.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Just One Pack Of . . . 2015 Topps Heritage Minors

 In the style of 1966 Topps, featuring some of the more promising prospects from around the minor leagues.
 Well, I know two of those guys...
 Aha - now these guys are familiar. People still talk about Joey Gallo's home run in the 2014 All-Star Futures Game in Minneapolis. It went just to the right of the grandstand and smashed the windshield of a pickup truck that was supposed to be the grand prize for a raffle.
You can read about it HERE
 I was hoping to find a Buxton card, but I will "settle" for Carlos Correa!
 Here's the back of the insert, nice and clean.
Here's the rest of the pack. I like the design, a little disappointed I didn't pull any crazy team names, but these are nice.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Periodical Oddballs

 What is going on here? Heritage? No, sir. These are SCD Price Guide cards from 1990.
 Who can forget Rookie Phenom Monty Fariss? He's going to solve the Rangers Middle Infield questions! (Personally, I think they should try to acquire Julio Franco and uh... Jeff Huson?
 The Wizard of Oz and HoJo at the bat rack - most of these were in the 1969 Topps deisgn. . .
 But the reason I bought this lot was for the Kirby Pucketts! I thought the last one was a bat flip, but it's actually a broken bat (you can still see that he has the knob)
 Oh, and this one!
1990 and MJ got an early taste of playing baseball for the Sox.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015


The future ain't what it used to be, Yogi.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

. . . and Then There Were Two!

Almost done with the 1965 O-Pee-Chee Set! I struck out completely at the National, but I was able to snag a couple the other day online. Two down, two to go!

 This is only the 3rd time I've ever seen a copy of this card.
 And now it's mine! The only other copy on eBay is listed for 10 times the cost and is in worse condition...
 Drysdale! This is only the third time I've seen this card anywhere, too. It's a little rough, but it is good enough for my set!
The Tape is on the topholder, not the card.

Just two more to go! Dave McNally and the Tigers Rookies Oyler / Northrup. I'm already bidding on a copy of the McNally on eBay, but the last card is probably going to take a while to find.

So exciting!