Heeeeere's Johnny! (#supertrade)

I can always expect the unexpected when something arrives from John of Johnny's Trading Spot.

 

It started with a pile of Twins Yearbooks and scorecards from the 70s and 80s - big full color photos and lots of crazy advertisements for local Minnesota businesses. 

This Topps Super Jerry Koosman card is heat sealed into this sleeve - which is exactly where it should stay!

Donruss was no stranger to the over-sized card game, and John included these three awesome examples.

Lots of Chuck Knoblauch

Some key pieces from the most recent Division-winning teams in the 2000s - The Bazooka card is really thick!

And of course a wide variety of 80s greats. As usual, what you see is just a small sample of the big stack of cards from "Generous Johnny."

Thanks again!

On this Day . . . Ten-Ten

1945: The last time the Cubs played in the World Series, they ran into a Tiger. 'Prince Hal' Newhouser shut down the Cubs in the series, winning twice including 10 strikeouts in a Game 7 gem on this date in 1945. The Cubs are still working on returning to the top of the mountain.

1957: Another great pitching performance came in 1957, and it culminated in the Milwaukee Braves bringing a title to the Midwest. Burdette did one better than Newhouser, winning 3 games in the Fall Classic. The Braves shut out the Yankees 5-0 in the decisive final game.

1968: Mickey Lolich outduels Bob Gibson in game 7 of the 1968 World Series, for his 3rd win of the Series, clinching the title for the Tigers.

1978: Davey Lopes crushed a pair of dingers and the Dodgers cruise to an 11-5 victory in Game One of the 1978 World Series. Reggie Jackson homered for the Yankees, and would ultimately be the thorn in side of the Dodgers' sides in the series, which the Yankees won in 6 games.

1980: George Brett gets a little revenge on behalf of all those Yankee haters out there, demolishing a pitch from Goose Gossage into the upper deck to put the finishing touches on a Royals' three game sweep in the ALCS. The Phillies would eventually take care of the Royals in the World Series, but for the moment it was exaltation in the Paris of the Plains

1990: Dave Stewart continues his dominance when matching up against Roger Clemens, taking the Red Sox to task in the finale of the 1990 ALCS. It would be the 8th straight victory of Stewart over Clemens. The Rocket failed to launch, arguing with plate umpire Terry Cooney and getting tossed from the game after facing just 8 batters. 3 runs would be charged to his ledger. Stewart gave up just a single run in eight innings, and garnered MVP honors for the 4 game ALCS.
 

BIRTHDAYS!!!

Tenace the Menace, a pair of Phils; Tulo, Cutch, and Cespedes; young fireballer Jeurys Familia, old submariner Ziegler, and Kolten Wong, who is now neither young nor old, which may be confusing or comforting to him, depends on how he feels about that ....

Saturday is the Day We Go to Card Shows

Oh boy.

 It has been since the Spring that I made it to the big monthly show in the Twin Cities. I made some vintage finds the main mission for the day, and I think I did pretty well!

I also re-connected with Jim from GCRL (now of Franken Dodger), and we made an in-person trade I'll feature later this week.

I am plugging along on my 1956 Topps set - and I found a nice batch of commons:

1955 World Series hero Johnny Podres might be the sharpest of the bunch. Then I decided to reach for the stars:

 Hall of Famer? Sure, why not? This guy had some worn corner issues and was a little uneven top to bottom. Advantage: Collector. Then I nearly lost my mind when I found this:

 Paper Loss, off center, rounded corners, but oh so gorgeous! I spent more $$ on 2016 Series one packs than it took to bring home this card, I'd call this a serious win.

 Bask.The vintage fun did not stop there, though. one of the vendors had a big box of damaged or otherwise misfit vintage cards and I picked up several.

The Nolan Ryan was an impulse buy - here's a closer look at the back to see how I was able to bring it home:

 A savvy youth investor pushed a pair of pins into each end of this card, and in doing so, passed the savings on to me! I think the card might also be trimmed a bit, it just a hair samller than the others in the stack. fine by me, though!

Of course I couldn't leave without picking up some Twins - these will fit nicely! All in all, a solid day at the card show!

Good to see you again Jim, hope to run into again at another show!

SuperTrade From "Up North"

Just kidding! This particular part of Ontario is south of the Twin Cities, but it is in Canada! Most of Canada is considered "up North" to Minnesotans. Douglas from Sportscards From the Dollar Store dropped a surprise mailer on me this week.

I don't seek out a lot of Hockey, but this one is a cool card. With the season coming up soon, I might have to get my North Stars and Wild organized.

These guys will hopefully all be contributing next season for the Twins

Nice! Durbin was a top prospect for the Twins for several years - he broke into the big leagues in 2004. I remember hearing his name since he was drafted in 2000, and I think the hype was a little too much.

Trevor is going to be gunning for a starting role in 2017 - he was moved to the bullpen out of necessity in 2015. He pitched very well in late inning relief, then started to have back issues in 2016. Several folks in the org have attributed the back problems to the short rest between appearances out of the bullpen. As a starter, May rarely missed a start.

Thanks Douglas, these are great!

Goin' Prospectin'

Got a message from John Hazen a little while back, seeing if I was interested in some Bowman from the late 2000s, including a rookie card of a certain 40+ HR hitting middle infielder . . .

Why yes, yes I am.

These guys all made it to at least a cup of coffee in the bigs, Mulvey being one part of the Johan Santana trade with the Mets.

Some from 2008 - Steve Tolleson's dad Wayne was a major leaguer for several years.

Tobias Streich is a West Virginia University grad, and of course Hicks was the Twins' first rounder in 2008, and was traded for John Ryan Murphy before the 2016 season. The jury is still out on who "won" that trade...
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thanks John, the return package should be coming soon!