Another Twitter mail day.

The other day I found a surprise mail day from Nick. A few of these were expected, but surprise mail days usually have surprises, and this one did!

These metal-looking 3D Upper Deck produced cards are impossible to take a photo of properly – at least without powering up my scanner. However these weren’t sent because they’re Twins cards – that’s the Tigers’ Cecil Fielder – but because they’re mis-cut or mis-printed.

Not sure the year, but this looks like a mid-80s sticker from Panini/Topps? The place was a dump for baseball and football, but it was OUR dump! I kinda miss the baggie-dome. :(.

Is that Early Wynn in an Indians uniform? Senators? White Sox? Kinda impossible to know with this poor, blurry photo(#ThanksTCMA). Early did call Washington home for 8 of his 23 seasons however, making his MLB debut in 1939, returning in 1941 and aside from a year of military service in 1945, didn’t retire until 1963! The 1972 Hall of Fame inductee went in as a Cleveland Indians pitcher, probably due to his 12 seasons in “The Land”.  I love this excerpt from his Hall of Fame biography:

After nine seasons with mediocre Washington teams, in which he had a 72-87 mark, Wynn was traded with first baseman Mickey Vernon to the Indians prior to 1949.

“We were roommates and good friends,” Vernon would recall years later. “After I was traded back to Washington, I got four hits off him the first time I faced him, the last one knocking the glove off his hand. When I got to first base, he was steaming. He looked over and said, ‘Roommate or not, you’ve got to go in the dirt seat next time I see you.’ Sure enough, the next time I faced him, the first pitch was up over my head – to let me know he hadn’t forgotten.”

The next two cards are a real gift.

1987 Topps Mike Birkbeck, and John Henry Johnson.

They look like nothing special, centering aside, however when compared to the previous “standard” sized Early Wynn from earlier(hah.) you’ll see why these birth year cards are special:

Just a tad short there in the cutting process Topps. As an aside, based on his photos on cards, I always associate John Henry with Little House On The Prairie rather than on a major league team. It’s just that 80s appearance, ya know? Finally, a few Vikings oddball cards to show off.

An all-time favorite Vikings, super aggressive, extreme personality, with one of my all-time favorite songs. The design reminds me of Goosebumps, mid-90s Scholastic book fairs, with a side order of corporate love affair.

Now that’s a gorgeous looking card! If I didn’t already have a vintage Vikings card in the spine of my team binder, this would definitely be there! The colors are vibrant, the details on the back are depressing, all that’s missing is “Purple People Eaters” – this could not be MORE of a Vikings card.

So that wraps up Nick’s surprise PWE. As he was in the last few posts contest, he’ll have something headed his way soon. If you’ve got mis-printed or oddball Vikings/Twins, feel free to send them my way! :D.

Advertisements

#Contest

So I tried to sneak that contest in there at the end, and even still ten of you responded. :D.

Finally tally +/- a few:

Autographed cards: 297 + 157 TTM cards = 454 total autographed cards.
Relic cards: 145.
Combo(relic & auto): 18.

For a grand total of….

617 total Twins collection ‘hits’ – 454 autos and 145 relics with 18 dualies.. Here’s what everyone guessed:

@RyFedor: 669
@SportCardCollec: 734
@beansbcardblog: …7
@90sNicheFBCards: 437
@jklongwith: 823
@VossBrink: 330/330 for 660 total.
@NightOwlCards: 276/303 for 579 total.
@RideOutCards: 576/360 for 935 total.
@DonBickle707: 382/237 for 619 total.

Kin’s disqualified because he’s local and that was a troll answer anyway. :D.

Strictly going by The Price is Right rules, Greg was closest with 38 under, however I can’t not reward Don for ONLY being 2(!!!) over. That said however, I’ve decided to mail out something to each contestant. DM on twitter your addresses fellas. PWEs out soon!

2,000 followers!

Ignore the bad crop from my phone.

So I hit a major milestone on twatter recently as you can see above. When I first started collecting in earnest around the start of the decade I sought a source to connect with fellow collectors. I tried blogging originally, and had made several trades with a few bloggers it never stuck with my personality. Back then, I mostly used the different blogging platforms to share my checklists with very little else posted.

I had a similar experience when I joined twitter originally – in February of 2009. But I quickly found that with twitter, it’s not just how you post but who you follow and interact with that makes the place special. So I quickly sought out to connect with a few of my favorite bloggers such as Night Owl, JB, and Card Junk. I liked how quickly you could shoot off a message to the aether, and how quickly you can reply to others.

Seeking to further share my collecting, I started an off and on again affair with blogging that started again here, and ultimately ended up here on WordPress. But the place I really love sharing our hobby with others is on twitter. Whether it’s shit-posting about Minnesota sports, or sharing the latest article from Ryan, commenting on print errors with Nick, to connecting with new friends – Twitter as a social media platform just gels with my style.

It’s fault may be in the short format messaging, but for longer messages that’s kinda where this blog serves a purpose. For a platform built on short 140 characters though, there’s a lot of great content to be found – again depending on who you follow. I’m always surprised when someone semi-famous adds me to their follower list. I don’t provide much thought provoking arguments, but it’s a nice go boost. Especially the likes of Fran Tarkenton, key members of the Topps and Panini crews that we connect with every National, to one of the sons of an early hero I admired(like most Minnesota boys around my age) – Kirby Puckett. Not to toot my own horn, of course. #HumbleBrag. But that’s the success of the site I think – being able to shoot off a message and have it seen by who knows who, or being able to ask a nationally syndicated writer what their thoughts are on x, y, z.

So with that 2,000 follower milestone down, I’d like to have a contest. Followers who comment below, or in the blog’s twitter link here – with a number between one and a thousand – and are the closest to the total number of Twins relics and autos* I have in my collection will get a nice mail day. So, guess a number for relics and a number for autos, and thus a total. Note, it’s probably not just one each, and I’m counting the Ryan Eades collection. :D. In addition a select few will have surprise mail days headed their way. Keep your eyes peeled. Just a way to spread the hobby love. #TWSS.

But, enough rambling for me though, I’ve got followers to entertain. :D.

Twin of the day.

2016 Panini Donruss PPM-MS Miguel Sano

This sweet relic came in a trade with Tracy. A “rookie” year huge relic from the crew at Panini. This is far from my first Miguel Sano relic/auto, but the first relic without an auto included. Woot. I believe these ‘Promising Pros’ relics were more common in retail than hobby.

Despite being injured at the moment, the 2017 All-Star has 54 doubles, 71 home runs, and 195 RBIs in 307 career games. That works out to a 162 game average of 28 doubles, 37 home runs, and 103 RBI. The star shines bright on the future. :).

#donruss, #miguel-sano, #panini

Twin of the day.

A new feature I figured I’d work into posts and tweets – a daily sharing of some of my favorite Twins. They might be relics, they might be rookies, they might be PC autos. Imagine what Shane does, except daily and with individual cards not box breaks. Enough rambling, here’s today’s card:

2007 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts LM-HK2 #81/99.

I picked this up at a card show a few years back for under 10$ if my memory serves correctly. I couldn’t pass up a triple relic patch even if they are plain whites. Come on, it’s Harmon Killebrew! This set has “parallel” levels of relics wherein the lower numbered cards added extra patches – an idea I love! More to come tomorrow!

#daily-twins, #harmon-killebrew, #sp-legendary-cuts, #upper-deck

Byron Buxton.

Ever since the 2012 draft, Twins fans have been waiting for the highly touted high school prospect(#2 overall) we were promised to show up. He’s finally showing promises of that with the bat(.338/.378/.608 in the second half!), while his defense and speed have never been questioned. However I’d like to take you back to the beginning of his MLB career. You see, I was there in Texas for his debut.

Hey, I think I just spotted @JunkWaxTwins! https://t.co/Xb2tk6KK13

— Crackin' Wax (@CrackinWax) June 13, 2015

We live outside of the Twin Cities area, so circle all the dates whenever the Twins are scheduled to play in Texas. After a dud 6-2 loss on June 12th, 2015 the Twins were denied batting practice the next day because of field conditions. It happens occasionally, however I wasn’t expected to be captured by the Twins social media crew! Cue the above tweet by ‘Topher. During a slight rain delay later in the game, we found out Buxton had been called up for the final game of the series(June 14th). Again they’d lose with Mike Pelfrey getting slammed for ELEVEN hits, and EIGHT runs. Ugh. So happy when the Pelf experiment ended. After two days of autograph hunting I ended up with Phil Hughes, Casey Fien, Kyle Gibson, Trevor May(twice..oops), Brian Duensing, Tom Milone, Michael Tonkin, Eduardo Escobar, and Everyday Eddie Guardado! The last of which spent a good bit of time talking with the group around us – really nice of him!

Me, dead center holding the red bat.

As it so happens, on Sunday we had the best seats in the house – maybe 15 feet to third base by the Twins dugout. So we got to see Byron step onto a MLB field for the first time as a player. Unfortunately he wasn’t in a signing mood, but I’ve still got my ticket somewhere for a future signing event. We did get some great photography though!

L-R: Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Shane Robinson, Eduardo Escobar

After a strikeout in his first MLB at-bat, Buxton grounded out to third(NEARLY outrunning the throw), before proceeding to strike out again in the 6th. Tied 3-3 going into the 9th, Escobar doubled to start the inning. With 0 outs, Buxton grounded into a fielder’s choice to the pitcher. Brian Dozier didn’t have his “Second Half Dozier” cheat codes turned on and popped out, but Eddie Rosario doubled scoring Byron. With a 4-3 lead, Glen Perkins slammed the door for a win!

He’s seemed to turned it around this year, and I’m looking forward to a bright future. So while he could’ve done better at the plate that day, Byron Buxton was instrumental in a Twins win in his MLB debut! I’m just happy I was there to see it live!

#2015-twins, #brian-dozier, #brian-duensing, #byron-buxton, #casey-fien, #crackinwax, #eddie-guardado, #eddie-rosario, #eduardo-escobar, #glen-perkins, #kyle-gibson, #michael-tonkin, #phil-hughes, #shane-robinson, #tom-milone, #trevor-may

The National: Day two.

During day two of The National, we spent the majority of our time visiting with old friends Robbie, Eric, Tracy, Sparty, Nick, Kevin and met up with the #FatPacks Beckett Radio crew. That’s not to say that I didn’t pick up a few cards along the way. :D.

Speaking of Boobie, he directed us to a particular table with cheap complete sets. At the table, I picked up a ’86 Sportflix set(needed one Twin), 2006 Fleer Ultra(needed a few…), a ’91 Topps(variation hunting), and this signed photo:

Before leaving his booth, I saw one card that was on my top-25 list to find for cheap.

1959 Topps #515 Harmon Killebrew

I’m not a stickler for condition, I’d much rather first finish off a team set then improve conditions. Sure, if I were a millionaire, I’d probably collect only PSA 10s. Thousandaire I’m not. :). Needless to say, for the price of four months of Netflix, I added this to the collection. Disregarding the fact that I need an ungraded Killebrew rookie, my Senators Topps team checklist is quickly diminishing. I’ve only got 1951, 1952, 1953 left.

Around this time Rich pulled us to a friend of his that had ‘vintage’ O-Pee-Chee. We’d previously discussed my 2017 want list – where I wanted to focus on OPC this year. Naturally this piqued my interest. Between these and the few that I’ve picked up earlier this year, I’ve probably met my goal. The vendor gifted us a poorer condition Tony Oliva, but otherwise here’s what I picked up from Rich’s friend:

A good variety here including a few non-OPC. Several of these being the first cards I’ve picked up for that year’s team set. To which I’ll pose a question for the comments/twitter: When do you add pages to a binder? Do you plan ahead and count out x per pages needed per year, or do you add as necessary(whether to add a year, or add more pages for that year)?

Between his booth and another, we stopped off at a ten cent booth and picked through a few boxes. Mostly 2016 Topps Heritage, Gypsy Queen and Allen & Ginter. A shame, I used to really love Ginter, but it’s fallen out of favor. :(.

As for the final booth of the day, on our way out near closing time we saw a vendor with vintage Bowman/Topps for under 10$ each. Here’s the spoils from the Bowman section:

1950 Bowman #144, #160, #162 – 1951 Bowman #95, #96

We discussed the ugly duckling 1943 MP & Co. set – which while ugly, I kinda like the cartoonish WWII-era set. Later this week I’d return to this same vendor and be shocked at the price of a damaged card. #NoSpoilers.

So that was day two at The National. Later that night we’d have a party with a few friends, get kicked out of a hotel room for being too loud(*COUGH MEL COUGH*), and otherwise have a great time chatting the night away. :). Day three soon!

#1943-mp-co, #1950-bowman, #1951-bowman, #1986-sportflix, #1991-topps, #2006-fleer-ultra, #beckett-radio, #fleerlaughlin, #harmon-killebrew, #jose-berrios, #kelloggs, #o-pee-chee, #the-national