My Twins FrankenSet - Page 6

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 6:

 The backs:

46 - Kent Hrbek 1992 O-Pee-Chee Premiere
47 - Rod Carew 1994 Ted Williams Co.
48 - Torii Hunter 2002 Topps Stadium Club
49 - Joe Mauer 2008 Upper Deck Series 2 Starquest "UnCommon"
50 - Kirby Puckett 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants
51 - Harmon Killebrew 1972 Topps
52 - Paul Molitor 2013 Topps Museum Collection
53 - Johan Santana 2006 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Update
54 - Sam Mele 1964 Topps

There we go, another page, some variety of new and old... I think my favorite on this page is Torii's Bat Flip.

This PWE Smells Like Victory!

Tim from I love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning sent over this stuffed PWE last week and it was the first piece of mail I opened upon returning from Chicago.

what do we have here?

 Ooh, Shiny!

 The Killer is a bit of an oddball - the card is hand-cut and paper thin.

 Speaking of oddballs. . .

 Then the envelope went into a "parallel" universe - very shiny again!

More great parallels and a new to me Kirby Puckett! Can't beat that. Thanks Tim! This was a great envelope! 

My most triumphant acquisition at the National . . .

. . . was also the last.

Most Excellent! $4!

I haven't opened this yet, but I am really looking forward to it.

In Person Trade At The National with Nick

I met up with Nick from the Dime Boxes blog on Saturday at the National. We had a pretty great chat about the hobby, got to dig in some dime boxes, and of course traded some cards. Here's a small taste of what came my way...

 Minis! Great stuff in all sizes came in the box:

 A great mix of vintage and new - Nick's selection is like adding several fantastic Frankenset pages

 All new to me - always great to add a new (to me) Puckett to the collection.

Thanks again Nick! It was great to meet you and to check out a bit of the National with you!

At The National Day Three . . . blogger meet up

My third day at the National was Saturday, and it ended up being my last this year. I did my best to make the most of the budget I set for myself- being able to stay with my brother, borrowing a friend's car to drive to Chicago, and then taking the Blue Line train to the show helped me cut a lot of the costs down on travel, lodging and food. 

 This is a complete set, which was being sold for less than half of what the set was going for at most of the vendors' tables. This means I should have a few doubles to trade!

 I've been passively looking for this one for some time now - it's just odd to see Charlie Hustle in an Expos uni... This is his '84 Topps traded card. I got the Fleer Update version as well, at the request of my brother -so that one stayed in Chicago with him.

 Elmer! Another Bowman! This one was chillin' in a discount bin and happened to be one I still needed!

 This card is just gorgeous. Way to go Stadium Club!

 Pecking away at the '56 Topps Set . . .

 At this point I met up with Nick from Dime Boxes - we traded some cards (see my post tomorrow) and then we started a joint dig in a BIG stack of dime boxes. . .

 Nick found both of these and slid them over to my stack - yep, needed those!

 These were probably the most unique cards I purchased over the whole weekend. These are Japanese cards from the 40s, 50s, and 60s - they are a bit bigger than tobacco cards and they are AWESOME. The table where I found them was dedicated to all things Japanese baseball, with cards of course, but also jerseys, magazines, pennants, and other bits of memorabilia. Really beautiful items, was happy to find these!

 One more Alou and that crazy KC Killer card for the road.

I made it back to the vintage vendors table from the Twin Cities. He has a display case of 20/30/40 buck cards. in the top left corner there was a stack of very old cards, and I plucked this beauty from the pile. This is a 1909 Silk Tobacco "card" of Senators Catcher Gabby Street. He was Walter Johnson's favorite battery mate, and once caught a baseball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument! Just $30 for this card, which is the new title holder as the oldest card in my collection.

This was a great find to round out the show on Saturday. I didn't all my goals, but most importantly: I had a fantastic time, met some great people, found some really fantastic cardboard, and I don't have to declare bankruptcy!