You're killin' me, Topps!

I went in search of 2015 series 1 again today and again I was shut out. I even went to the Mall of America, which I have often sworn to myself I would do only in moments of great need. It turns out that things are even worse than I thought! Field of Dreams, the sports card and memorabilia store in the Mall, has closed up shop and disappeared.

With seemingly no other alternative, I drifted aimlessly through the mall. I ended up in Best Buy and remembered this post from The Chronicles of Fuji about the 20th anniversary edition of The Sandlot.

So, I didn't come up completely empty, it's a fun little oddball set (even if only one of the players featured made it to the majors) but I am still chasing those rainbow parallels...

Don't make me go to Walmart, Topps. I don't wanna do that.

Highly Subjective - Topps in the 1980's

I was so ready to write a post about the awesome cards I ripped from the 2015 Topps series 1 . . . but the local Target hasn't gotten them yet. So, instead, here's something that will more than likely not become a weekly feature:

This week's edition of Highly Subjective is a look at my favorite cards from the 1980 through 1989 Topps base sets. As usual, these selections are Highly Subjective and in some rare cases they are also completely arbitrary.

1980 Gary Carter:

The Hall of Famer with a sweet play at the plate. He thinks the runner is out and his game face is in full force.

1981 Bruce Sutter:

Another Hall of Famer, rocking the big gnarly hair that comes the territory for closing the big game. I enjoy cards that capture the ball in flight like this, too. You can see the back of the Carter card here - maybe if his brother didn't play in bell-bottoms, he'd have advanced further in the Giants system...

1982 Carlton Fisk in Action:

Three for three for Cooperstown. The early version of "Doing the Carlton" was less graceful, but no less athletic than Alfonso Ribeiro's dance moves. The front of this card is technically upside down, though I think the makes more sense for "in action" to be right side up.

1983 Bert Blyleven:

Another Hall of Famer, but I swear it's just a coincidence. Blyleven is a two-time former twin and a current t.v. broadcaster for the team, so he's around the Twin Cities often - he was just at TwinsFest a couple weeks ago and I said hello in the hallway. The best part about this card is that it looks like they made him shave his beard for the portrait on the bottom.

1984 Neil Allen:

The first non-hall member, but he is sporting a first rate jacket. Allen is now the Twins' Pitching Coach, but that did not affect the highly subjective voting at all (probably).

1985 Gary Pettis:

I mean, come on. Where is Pettis posing for this photo? Lifetouch? Or perhaps he is in The Void - a massless, featureless vacuum of gray slate. He's pondering existence here. Also, my vote for best card backs of the 80s Topps run goes to 1984. Really like the team logo there and the color scheme.
Edited to Add: Nick posted this awesome story in the comments about the Pettis card. The photo is actually Gary's younger brother Lynn! I feel this cements the choice even further.


1986 Tony Perez:

This one is a sentimental vote - all my cousins live in Ohio, and my very first baseball cards came from their castoffs and included this Tony Perez card (though in a much more mangled form). I might vote for it anyway given the Eric Davis cameo and the double high five, but since this was the first "cool card!" I ever owned, I had to vote for it.

1987 Keith Mitchell:

The sandstorm of the century! Just one of the best cards of the 80's, period. Great shot and Mitchell was on his way at the time to be a very special player.

1988 Ed Hearn:

It starts to get tough here as I feel like there was a lot of "blah" photography in 88 and 89 in the Topps set. But here Hearn is showing how tough a guy with glasses can be. You wouldn't dare hit a guy with glasses, if that guy was Ed Hearn, would you? The Manager cards from this set are actually some of the more interesting ones - Lasorda is riding a golf cart, and Pinella is showing off his W.S. ring...

1989 Kelly Downs:

Just a pleasing geometric pattern - lines. This one was pretty arbitrary.  

There you have it, now I'll be looking to score some 2015 Topps again for tomorrow!

A Little Light Reading

This beast of a book arrived last week from Amazon.

I would have scanned the cover but I feared it would pulverize my poor scanner.

A dealer at one of the card shows tipped me off the existence of the book, and I was able to use some gift card $$ from the holidays to essentially get the book for free!

This might be the closest I'll get to owning a complete set of 1952 Topps in mint condition - I could easily spend hours just poring through the various year's pages.

Leafing through the years helps my efforts to complete a vintage wantlist of Topps cards. It's kind of a bummer that the book doesn't have the card backs too, but the full color reproductions of the front of each card is a real treat.

There's even an index in the back so I can make sure I have all the Elmer Valos and Coot Veals I could ever want:

There a bunch of books out there about baseball cards, do you have a favorite?

Thank You!

Just wanted to extend a big thank you to everyone that has stopped by, read the blog, commented, followed, sent me messages and made me feel so welcome in my first week of blogging.

Special Shout outs to Play at the Plate for posting about my blog on his blog (he's even running a contest that you can win by following me!), to Superduperman99 (Fantastic Catch) for being the first to follow my blog and hiflew (Cards from the Quarry) for being the first to leave a comment. They like Rangers, Cardinals, and Rockies respectively, I know I'm looking for ways to pay that goodwill back and pay it forward.

I've been reading many of your blogs for a few months now, and I could tell that the community was full of generous and kind people that are passionate about collecting. What came as a surprise to me was how quickly and completely I would be welcomed into the fold.

It's been a great first week, and I'm looking forward to sharing more posts and reading all of yours!

Edited to add:
Here's the little double box mentioned in the comments if anyone was unsure what was being discussed

Needed Batteries, Came Home with Cards

Well, as is often the case on Sunday mornings, I realize I need some throwaway item like batteries or some clear tape or whatever, and the options in walking distance from my house are the dollar store and the gas station. The gas station has better stories from the guy who has family in Montreal and Algeria and works behind the counter. but the dollar store has baseball cards!

The choice was as clear as tape. The card display at this store is a wreck, it's a series of gravity feed boxes that are hanging from a rack, laying on their sides, or upside down. nothing is in the same box it arrived in. Even the dollar store has gotten overpriced, with several 6-card repacks being sold for a dollar each (and the two cards you can see are '89 Topps. Instead, I go for the two remaining 20 card repacks, both of which feature cards from the years I was not collecting. This is a lot more promising, even though I am fully aware of what is coming.

First, the good news: The Magglio card on the front was serial numbered! (to 2005) . . . There's a nice Lance Johnson in a throwback uni...

other than that gem and a Ivan Rodriguez chrome card, it was '91 Upper Deck City. The repacks fell flat on their faces.

Is there a secret to a successful repack? Can you tell without being a pack searcher which repacks have potential and which are destined to disappoint? I suppose that is the gamble and the art of it all.