National Baseball Card Day.

This past Saturday was not only National Baseball Card Day, but it was also the day of our monthly card show. I’ll get to Topps’ promotion in a second, but first let’s see what I picked up at the show!

Whenever I get a message like this, I know it’s going to be a great show.

I have some Twins you may need courtesy of Uncle Jim,

— Rich Klein (@sabrgeek) August 11, 2017

I’ve been through most of the dealers showcases in the room, so whenever Rich tells me he’s got new cards it’s usually to my benefit. Especially from that source. We ran into our usual show-goers Leon, Kin, as well as David and his son Justin(who promised to have new O-Pee-Chee at the next show!). Ang kinda mingled around the room with everyone while I went through Rich’s boxes.

When purchasing cards, mostly everyone focuses on the player on card/s and condition of said card/s. While Rich I’m sure does, he’s got a great selection of horribad cards too. Check these out:

A few that were mis-cut and aligned. I love that you can see the cut lines on the top two cards – obviously someone took half the day off. Or the whole decade off…

When I saw all of these together, I knew that I had to take a few pictures for Night Owl. Top to bottom, left to right, these really make the psychedelic 1975 Topps even worse.

Speaking of psychedelic…. Make sure to align the different print plates, otherwise you’ll end up with the above Jim Pappin.

If you’re in the printing business, you should probably cut along the lines – something I thought was taught in kindergarten. Check out this oversized Craig Swan. Von Joshua is the ‘standard’ sized for effect.

…and then there’s this Bill Mazeroski. It’s not even a straight slanted line! It’s curved off near the middle!

As for the cards that I actually bought… at the National Rich bought 1200 buybacks, several of which fit my collecting needs. Featuring buybacks of Twins and a Logan Morrison RC!

This poor conditioned Ron Perranoksi card won’t fit in with my 1970 team set, but will Shirley fit into my Topps misfits and oddballs binder! Once a 16 game winner(1963) as a relief pitcher, Perranoski spent parts of four seasons with the Twins winning 25 against 29 losses in 244 appearances. While with the team he received a few MVP votes(12th, 13th), and finishing in 7th place for the 1970 Cy Young Award(34 saves, 111 IP in 67 games probably had something to do with this…).

I swear I’ll never get around to categorizing all of these – I’m not sure if I need these or not until I open my binders/boxes.

I could say that for the majority of the above, but I know for a fact the Topps Traded  len Whitehouse and the two ’88 Leaf are brand new – and finishes off the ’88 Leaf team set.

These Topps Ticket To Stardom fall into the same category where I don’t know if I needed them beforehand, but this was a completely new Topps Heritage High team set. I love it any time I can pick them all up at once instead of ‘shotgun spread’-ing them a few at a time.

I saw this bright and sharp Jerry Zimmerman, and while it’s only a slight improvement, into the 1960s Topps binder it goes!

After leaving the show we went to the nearby shop for National Baseball Card Day. While the owner is normally an elderly curmudgeon, today he was particularly fiesty. Topps’ promotion was a free pack *PER* person, but with a 10$ purchase you’d get a special Mike Trout card.

Simple enough, but reading through it seems that not all shops got that message. Ours in particular decided that after a certain point, he informed us that he was restricting it to one pack per group. Okay, not cool – but that’s his decision. I understand these shops had to pay a certain amount per box of free packs.

WHICH would have been fine, had he enforced it to everyone who entered after us as well. Sexist stereotypes aside, the issue was that Angela didn’t get a pack, while every group afterwards of men and fathers and sons got multiple packs was enough to cause a melt down. Ang don’t play that shit.

Our free pack, for what it’s worth.

1989, 1994, 2006 Upper Deck.

For our 10$ we bought a few packs of S2, and one pack of Topps Heritage Minors, the only highlight of any of them was this Miguel Sano.

All for naught, we left after our purchase and she ranted on Twitter while we drove to our favorite LCS.

Not only did he make up for the other owner’s crud attitude, Ang got the Miguel Sano promo card in her free pack! Interestingly, outside of the LCS vendors, women outnumbered men the entire time we were in there(4-2!) – including a daughter/sister of the Ben/Tom Grieve clan!

Happy wife, happy life.

So that was our NBCD. A great show, a bad LCS experience, and our great shop sweeping in to save the day. I think we’ll stick to our favorite shop from now on….

#1975-topps, #bill-mazeroski, #craig-swan, #fleer, #jerry-zimmerman, #jim-pappin, #joe-mauer, #justin-morneau, #kin, #leaf, #logan-morrison, #miguel-sano, #national-baseball-card-day, #rich, #rite-aid, #ron-perranoski, #score, #topps, #topps-heritage, #topps-traded, #upper-deck

The National: Day one.

In the run up to The National we had to update all of our checklists, and the blog feels a little rejected. Sorry blog, but we’re back and in full swing! Speaking of The National…

If you’ve never been you’ve gotta at least check out one show. It’s everything a local show could be with hundreds more card, memorabilia, and oddball vendors – more than you could want. Next year’s show is in Cleveland, followed by Atlantic City. While these cities are great hosts, there’s nothing like a Chicago show. GoGTS shared that they heard this year’s show was the most attended since 1991! With the crowds as they were, we were kind of suspecting a huge show as early as the first day.

After landing in Chicago, we took a shuttle to our hotel to check in early. As we were checking in with the attendant we bumped into our local show promoter Rich Klein. He’s a long time hobby member and we shared stories on the way to the show floor to get our passes. We had early access passes and there’s something unique about being on the show floor before they open the gates to everyone. Tables aren’t setup yet, there’s a hustle and bustle in the aisles, and busy employees shuffling around. After a quick look around, we decided to grab lunch and wait for general admission to open up.

A few hours later, and the show is in full swing. The first thing we hit was the Topps Party where several athletes were signing free autographs and there was food provided for all. Inside we bumped into Sooz and gave away our first trade package of the show. Anyway I can get rid of Derek Jeter and Yankees cards, I will. Angela checked us into the Topps Q&A set for that Friday’s show. We then decided to hit the show floor and meet up with a few friends.

After signing at the Topps event, Jose Canseco had a free autograph session on the show floor. It was here we bumped into Rich and Mel who had a package for us. Namely off-centered and miscut cards. While the Johnny Briggs is a buyback, it’s even off-centered being tilted left a few degrees.

Our friend Ben asked us to have him sign something unique. It didn’t matter to him what, just something different. Ask and you’ll receive:

There were several vendors at the show with .10 cent bins, and this is where we picked up this shiny Jose Canseco. The same vendor had a few cards for other people…

1975 Topps MVP subset, and 1975 Topps Bill ‘spaceman’ Lee buyback for NightOwl, Ron Gant for Dub, and Jason Heyward for CardJunk. I think I spent 10$ on dime box cards. Harmless. Wandering around the show floor I then saw what I would’ve bought if we were rolling in dough. A dual signed Goose Goslin, Walter Johnson baseball. Gorgeous. From the bottom left go right one, up one and try not to be sticker shocked.

As for actual pickups on the first day the best may have been a dupe for the Ryan Eades collection. A Bowman Sterling base auto for I believe 2$. Yes please.

While walking back to the hotels with Rich and Mel, we decided to grab a meal at their hotel’s restaurant. Between swapping stories, and enjoying the excellent meal we had the best waitress we’ve had in awhile so if you go to the Hyatt Regency across from the Robert E. Stephens convention center, Rosanna was top notch. After dinner, we retired to our hotel and we’d soon crash in bed dreaming of Thursday’s happenings. :).

#ben, #bill-lee, #david-ortiz, #jason-heyward, #jose-canseco, #mel, #rich, #ron-gant, #sooz, #the-national, #topps

It came!

After some snafu with processing my card got fixed, my new favorite item in my Ryan Eases collection showed up today! Every now and then the minor league teams will auction off their theme night jerseys for charity, and the Chattanooga Lookouts recently paired with the Hydrocephalus Association for their rescheduled Star Wars night(originally scheduled May 4th, held June 24th). So when their jerseys for that night hit MiLB Auctions, I knew I had to have his jersey from this event. Someone had a bid in, but never re-bid and for the low price of 120$, this was shipped to my house! Check it out! :). Now just to get it framed!

#chattanooga-lookouts, #hydrocephalus-associations, #ryan-eades, #star-wars

2017 Topps Stadium Club Twins Checklist

10 Danny Santana
11 Harmon Killebrew
28 Joe Mauer
61 Rod Carew
100 Brian Dozier
146 Byron Buxton
220 Jose Berrios
222 Miguel Sano
237 Ervin Santana
282 Max Kepler
300 Eddie Rosario

Base Chrome Variation
SCC-55 Miguel Sano

Base Chrome Variation Auto
Miguel Sano

 

For the full checklist with other teams, check here.

#2017-topps-stadium-club, #checklist, #twins

Reduce, Re-use, recycle.

When we were growing up in the early 90s, there was a huge push in our generation to clean up litter, trash, pollution, and to reduce, re-use, and recycle what we could when we could. While we don’t help those efforts as much as we should, this is one such instance that both helps keep the landfills empty, and keeps our card collection in order.

Around this time a year or two ago, we found an excellent re-purposed wine box that perfectly fit magnetic touched/snap down cards. Unfortunately it was just a bit too small to fit top-loaded cards, and it quickly filled up with Twins relics(we keep the autos/IP autos in separate binders). Well, we just struck gold again, this time with a tequila brand decorated box! The best part is that this didn’t break the bank either three whole George Washingtons! 

It did need some work however, as a few of the back screws weren’t attached anymore – something I fixed with a few extra computer screws I had laying around. Once those were installed, the box shut and opened properly. :).

Once a home to a tequila bottle, now it holds all of my Twins relics, a few printing plates, and all of ticket stubs. I think Captain Planet would be proud. Anyone else use re-purposed items with their collection?

#storage, #twins

Top Ten Cards I Just Re-found…

Lemme explain.

Our Twins binders and card boxes are usually out so we can sort, add new pickups, etc. Meanwhile, the majority of our sets we’ve worked on in the past are usually in single row boxes and stored in the closet. That may have to change however, as I found several cards that shouldn’t be hidden or relegated to the minor leagues of storage anymore. :).

Honorable Mentions:
Eric Thames – 2011 Topps Update US288, 2011 Bowman Chrome 87, 2011 Bowman Chrome 87 Refractor.
Trevor Story – 2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects BDPP84.
Joc Pederson – 2012 Bowman Prospects BP104
Jackie Bradley Jr. – 2012 Bowman Prospects BP66/2012 Bowman Chrome Prospects BCP66.

Onto the fun stuff.

#10 – Xander Bogaerts – 2012 Bowman Prospects BP105, 2012 Bowman Chrome Prospects BCP105.
#9 – George Springer – 2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects BDPP81, 2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome BDPP81.
#8 – Jacob deGrom – 2014 Bowman Prospects BP73(2).
#7 – Yu Darvish – 2012 Bowman 209(2), 2012 Topps Archives 119, 2012 Panini Prizm 151.
#6 – Yoenis Cespedes – 2012 Panini Prizm 159(2), 2012 Panini Prizm Rookie Relevance RR3.

#5 – Anthony Rizzo.

2011 Topps Update #US55.

Not quite with the Padres anymore. Wonder if Ivan would want this? :D.

#4 – Bryce Harper.

2012 Bowman Prospects BP10, 2012 Panini Prizm USA7.

The Bowman card is nice, but that Panini background is perfect. We love it when they mix Team USA and the other World Baseball Classic/international tournaments with their country flags. We even liked the Bowman state flag parallels they did based on the player’s state birthplace. Anything that’s different than just a colored border parallel is a plus.

#3 – Jose Altuve.

2011 Topps Update #US132.

How Many Altuves is this worth?

#2 – Paul Goldschmidt.

2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome #108, 2011 Topps Update #US47.

We knew that we had one of his rookie printing plates, but forgot that we had these rookies. Win.

#1 – Mike Trout.

Who else? You probably were expecting this to appear after the previous 2011 Topps Update appearances, and you’d be right. We broke nearly two cases of 2011 Topps Update, because at the time we were both working and money wasn’t as big of an issue. WITHOUT even knowing that the seven Trout rookies we would pull would be worth so much, so quick. A shame we didn’t pull any of the parallels. :(. But then again, we got a Harmon Killebrew rookie out of one of them, so we shouldn’t complain. :D.

#anthony-rizzo, #bryce-harper, #eric-thames, #george-springer, #jackie-bradley, #jacob-degrom, #jose-altuve, #mike-trout, #paul-goldschmidt, #trevor-story, #xander-bogaerts, #yoenis-cespedes, #yu-darvish

The attention span of a …

Maybe it’s social media’s availability, maybe it’s lack of self-control, but my attention spans seem to get shorter every year. While creating a catalog of all my Twins relic/autographs for insurance purposes – and to double-check against while at the National – I got distracted by the draft again.

Baseball-Reference is both a blessing and a curse. Everything you could ever want to know is available with a quick search – in this case whether anybody had been drafted out of my home town in Minnesota, or my high schools in Louisiana/Ohio. (For the curious – no.) However, in doing so I checked in on one of my main player super collections – Ryan Eades.

While I knew he was being tested as a reliever for the first time with the Twins this year, I didn’t know they’d briefly moved him up to AAA Rochester. He seemed to succeed with them, so I’m not sure why prior to his 7 day DL stint(6/10) he was sent back down to AA Chattanooga. I’m not the biggest follower of our minor league system though, despite following all of their accounts on twitter. Maybe Rochester needed a spot starter – someone injured?

With Minnesota’s lack of pitching depth, I’d love to see #37 in Mini-sodas. Sporting a much improved WHIP, and ERA in two games(#SmallSampleSizes) with Rochester. I’m lovin’ that K/9, SO/W, and ERA – albeit over 8 IP. If he’ll step it up with Rochester, he could be an option to be a fill-in 4-5th starter with Minnesota come the end of the year. Here’s to hoping – I need new cards to #Collect of his, and a MLB debut would fulfill that!

#baseball-reference, #ryan-eades