The Custom-er is Always Right!

"Hello? Is this Jeremy from Topps Cards That Never Were? Yeah he got your mailer, it was awesome. Thanks for making a sunset card for me, bro!" 

I made a trade with Jeremy based on a claim of a sweet Enny Romero patch card that I put in a Free Stuff Friday post. I knew I could catch the attention Rays fan eventually! He sent over a big stack of Twins, and also included some Edgar Martinez cards and a few 80s needs as well.

The Twins portion of the package really sparkled - a big parallel bonanza! The Rod Carew on the bottom left is numbered to just 1,000 copies.

A boatload of refractor / foil parallels as well. But this was just a sneak peek, an apéritif before the main course:

As his blog name suggests, he made some awesome custom cards that never were! Tom Kelly's "rookie" Manager Card, and a great All-Star entry as well, to go along with a pair of Minnesota legends in their final seasons. Molitor of course finished his illustrious career as a Twin but was a high school star in Saint Paul, MN as well. Kent Hrbek was and remains a legend in MN, thanks to his prodigious home runs and jolly disposition.

This one made me smile right away, with Tom Kelly hoisting the Commissioner's Trophy for the 2nd time in 5 years. Jeremy, thanks so much for these - I really appreciate the extra mile you went to to make them!

Put Me in, Coach- I'm Ready to Trade

A Coach named Tom sent me this autograph by a Coach named Tom, who signed it for another Tom (from Angels in Order) through the mail. The first Coach Tom is the blogger of Waiting 'Til Next Year who sent along a big stack of cards of all sizes this weekend.

This is a 1971 Topps Super of the Super-talented Tony Oliva, I had the 1970 version, but this 1971 model is new to me!

I bombarded Tom with a stack of Rey Sanchezes (Gesundheit), and he retorted with a Trio of Smalleys.

There was a big stack from my various vintage and junk wax wantlists, covering cards throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Scioscia is my favorite from this grouping.

Even a card from the 1960s sneaks in there! Great stuff hitting all the arbitrary mile markers.

Modern Twins as well including a pair of Pucketts from 89 Donruss mini sets.

And hey, look at this! Big time vintage with 1954 Topps.

I didn't know Harvey Haddix's nickname was "kitten"! That's awesome.

This is probably my favorite Bowman's Best design - the team color scheme turned out very well.

I checked, Tom, I didn't have this Vargas card! I'm was really pumped, because I've probably passed up buying this parallel more than once for fear I already had it. But I only found dual patches, quad patches, dual bat pieces, and auto versions of this card in my collection. Is Vogelbach in this set as well? My condolences either way!

Last but definitely not least, Tom gifted me this Sandberg rookie, a key need on my junk wax wantlist. This is a really nice gesture considering Tom has one of the more extensive Sandberg PCs.

                                                         RYNO CANNOT BE CAGED!

Thanks so much Tom, awesome cards.

Hmm, That's Odd . . .

Believe it or not, there are a handful of cards from former Twins Manager Tom Kelly's playing career - this is one of them!

Each card in the KMO radio set features the 1975 team schedule. They probably will never play an in-season exhibition game between a major league and minor league team again.

CACTUS SUPERCOLLECTOR

The Philadelphia Baseball Card Show has a bunch of oddballs out there, I found this one and the next one on COMC.

Sweet, another Elmer Valo to add to my collection. That's fun.

I'll have my eyes peeled for the other years to see if there are more Elmers and more Cacti.