What A Difference A Week Makes

Photo from Rochester Red Wings' Facebook Page

Soooo.... As I was saying, Bartolo Colon drew interest from several teams, and the Minnesota Twins were able to swoop in and sign him to a minor league deal. Speculation is that he could be in a Twins uniform as early as Tuesday against the New York Yankees.

I took a trip over to my local card shop today. Since Three Star Sportscards expanded to a second location, the amount of items out of storage and on the shelves has gone up. There was a nearly full box of these 1990 Topps DoubleHeaders, a strange creation that combined an image of the player's rookie card on one side, and their 1990 Topps issue on the other.

There were 30 packs left, each with one DoubleHeader inside. oddly, there were only "Checklist A" and "Checklist C" packs in the box. 

The pictures are thin and glossy like magazine pages, and snapped into place in a plastic stand.

There was a little inconsistency about which card Topps considered to be a player's rookie. Sometimes, they used a Topps Traded version (like Barry Bonds above) or they would use their first flagship card instead. 

I splurged on this sealed box of 1993 Topps Series Two. It's probably all Derek Jeter rookies.

There was a nice collection of oddball sets on a table - Found a fun group of Tombstone Pizza cards for 2 bucks.

I also picked up a Joe Mauer pre-rookie card from his days with the Elizabethton Twins in the Single A Appalachian League.

The Saint Paul Saints release a team set every year- in 2008 the set commemorated 150 years of baseball in the state of Minnesota.

The Saints carried on a tradition from the Veeck family. The son of former White Sox owner Bill Veeck was the principal owner of the team and had no shortage of events and unique promotions to bring in the fans.

There's a familiar face! Strawberry threw out the first pitch in the 2008 All-Star Game. He played for the Saints briefly before making a Major League comeback with the New York Yankees.

My favorite card in the set - my first Bill Murray card! Murray is a minority investor / co-owner of the Saints, along with a couple other minor league teams in the independent leagues.

oh and I also bought a couple hobby boxes of Stadium Club, which I will talk about later....

You're Older Than You've Ever Been - And Now You're Even Older.

Big Bart was officially released by the Atlanta Braves today. While he apparently is drawing interest from the Mets for a reunion (among other teams showing interest as well), many see this as the end of the road for Colon, who at 44 is the oldest player in the major leagues this season.

Assuming that he's really done, that leaves Ichiro as the oldest man standing. Just today he surpassed Rod Carew on the MLB hits leaderboard, making him the most prolific hitter born outside the United States.

Last week on twitter, various bloggers and baseball fans were sharing the names of the last player to play in the majors that were older than they were (most people were saying Jamie Moyer); as well as the first player in MLB history that was younger than they were.

For me, that guy is David Wright. *Whoops, this turns out to be wrong, not Wright. I will correct this with my next post* This Whippersnapper is just barely younger than me, and he made his debut way back in July of 2004, back when we were both 21 year olds.

Wright might not be done, though he is currently on the 60 Day DL for the Mets. His contract extends through 2020, so there may be some career yet to go for the dean of the Mets.

There is another active player who is younger than me, and older than David Wright. Ervin Santana made his MLB debut in May of 2005.

I didn't feel so old once I did a little research - I found that there were close to 50 players in the big leagues still older than me. Which one will be the last?

I felt a whole lot younger when I realized that 2016 Topps Rookie All-Star Seung-Hwan Oh was older than me. Can't be that old if a rookie last year was around before me, right?  . . . right?

Aw, get off my lawn!

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Happy Independence Day - if this were a politically oriented blog, there would be a lot to say about the holiday and current events, but this is a baseball card blog, so I will leave the punditry to the pundits. Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable 4th!

Marvin Gaye's version of our national anthem  brought tears to Eric Clapton's eyes, and Clapton is British fer cryin out loud!

Burying the lede here, I made a very "American" acquisition this weekend, spending maybe a little more money than I have right now (thanks to my federal tax return and a little help from Visa!) but what could be more American than Mickey Mantle?

I opted to go with a graded copy just for a little added protection that the card would not be a reprint.
I didn't care what the grade was, and I will be freeing the card from jail soon.

I had been following searches on eBay for about a year and a half to get a sense of what the market is for this card now, and what I would be willing to pay to complete my 1956 Topps set. I had tried to win a few auctions earlier this year, but I was getting outbid routinely. I finally opted for this one at a fair buy it now price.

So there you go! Follow your dreams and if England calls, we're out there blowing stuff up and grilling hot dogs!

Sometimes, Crime Does Pay

Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown fame had a big fun game, and the best lot in the whole game (in this humble Twins Fan's opinion) was the one that I won stole from Nick from the Dime Boxes blog. Stealing is bad! Stealing is wrong! But thems the rules of the big fun game, and I just couldn't say no to the card above. My scanner makes it look a little blurry and dusty, but in person it is anything but. Just a gorgeous card!

Also included in the lot were these three Baseball Card Breakdown originals. Really outstanding work on these customs, not just the look, but also the feel of the cards in hand is impressive.

Gavin being the generous fella that he is, also included a stack of Twins, like hometown hero Joe Mauer.

Some great older Bowman (always a fan of Metrodome shots like A.J.'s card)

The base card Tony O to match the autograph, and some sweet Kennys!

A Bonus Joe Relic!

And Frankie from the Futures game waaaaay back in 2005. He's still kicking in 2017.

Thanks very much Gavin, for the big fun game, and for all the extras!!

Score-ing Some Fine Herb. (1956 Topps Set Build) (Get Yer Minds Outta The Gutter!)

I think of myself as a reasonably functional adult. I pay my bills on time, last week I took a day off work to get some topsoil delivered and did some DIY landscaping at my house, I don't have trouble remembering birthdays or other important dates.

But maybe I'm getting old? Today I set out for the local Monthly Card Show, which I had been looking forward to all week. I get out to the strip mall, which takes me about 45 minutes to get to, and it's a ghost town. The only people there are shopping for things that aren't even made out of cardboard!

That's because the show is NEXT week. I had some choice words for myself on the trip home, missing my chance to pick up cards towards my vintage sets, or any dime box hunting....

When I made it home, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I am smarter than I thought. I won this Herb Score 1956 Topps card on eBay late last week, and it was waiting for me in the mailbox. I had plenty of time to mow the lawn as well, content that I had beaten myself at my own game today.

If that wasn't enough, I've also been adding Topps NOW Twins all year, the bottom two arriving today. I show the back of card 150 because it is the Mother's Day special, and features an athletic grab by Byron Buxton on the back, but no Twins on the front.