Zistle Trade - halos17

Recently I participated in my first Zistle exchange with user halos17.  It was a quick and easy swap, as most Zistle trades are...a few cards from my doubles box out the door and a few cards knocked off my want list in return.  If you still don't have your collection (or at the very least your want and trade lists) on Zistle, what are you waiting for?  Seems like people are flocking there by the hundreds lately and there is a ton of good trade bait to be had out there.  In this case the cards were all Red Sox that filled long-overdue team set needs.

This '89 Donruss Mike Greenwell was probably my favorite card in the package.  It screams '80s and is from the "junk wax" overproduction era, but this is anything but junk as far as I'm concerned.  It's actually the very first card on the 1989 Donruss checklist. 

There were a trio of '89 Donruss accompanying the Greenwell DK in the envelope, all three decent or better players.  Wade Boggs...

...Marty Barrett...

...and Ellis Burks.  If I'm not mistaken these bring me within two measly cards of finally knocking off my team set.

Another team set I'm getting closer with is '90 Bowman, and this package got me two cards closer in the form of Mike Rochford...

and Dewey Evans!

It wasn't all '80s and '90s, however, as two cards dropped off my 2007 Upper Deck want list.  This is an early card of Pedroia, with his rookie coming the year prior in '06 UD flagship.

Fan favorite Trot Nixon didn't actually play with the Red Sox in 2007, having signed with the Indians in the off-season, but Upper Deck couldn't adjust quickly enough given that this card was in Series 1.

Closing things out is a nice 2009 Goudey card of Big Papi.  Some of the '09 Goudey cards looked very strange to say the least, but this is actually a decent enough representation of Ortiz.

I'm not sure if you follow blogs or will read this, but if so thanks for a fantastic trade Rob!!!

An Amazing PWE from Douglas

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I received a really great PWE last week from Douglas of Sportscards from the Dollar Store.  There were five cards in the envelope accompanying the awesome Score Shawn Thornton that I showed yesterday, here are the rest...

Kicking things off is this shiny Ron Francis from the 2012-13 Certified set, specifically the Immortals subset.  This card is numbered to 999, and unlike a lot of shiny cards actually scanned fairly well.  I swear Douglas has contributed more modern Whalers cards to my collection than I have myself.

Here's a unique Bobby Orr from the 2010-11 National Hockey Card Day giveaway by Upper Deck.  This is my first card from this small set, although just before Bobby on the checklist is a Gordie Howe where he's pictured with the Whalers that I'd love to track down sometime.

There was one baseball card in the package, this 2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects insert.  Both of these guys were recently drafted at just 18 years old, and were signed by the Sox only this past summer.  This represents my 2,659th unique Red Sox card.

I got my very first look at this year's O-Pee-Chee set courtesy of this PWE.  I like the design enough I guess.  Cool to get a new Chara card in the mail just days before he participated in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

There was one card in the package that blew me away.  It's a card I've literally, no exaggeration, been searching out for years now!

This beauty is one of the last two cards I needed to complete the 600-card retro parallel set from 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee.  This project has been close to six years in the making and I'm so close to the finish line now I can taste it.  Over time these cards have really dried up and become difficult for me to find.  I've literally had a saved eBay search for this exact card for probably 2+ years now with nothing, and Douglas managed to track down a copy.  Unbelievable, I probably appreciate this common card of Milan Jurcina more than anyone else on planet Earth.  If anyone out there finds a copy of card #368 (Gilbert Brule) please shout!  I would love to knock this set out finally in 2014.

Douglas, thank you once again for an awesome batch of cardboard.  I've got a stack built for you that includes a couple of 2014 Topps Blue Jays along with some other random cards, hope to have it in the mail early this coming week!

Cardboard Classics - 2013-14 Score Shawn Thornton

Last week I received an awesome 6-card PWE from Douglas of Sportscards from the Dollar Store.  I haven't been able to find the time to scan the cards yet (hopefully will have a proper thank you post coming this weekend), but in the meantime I thought this particular card deserved to be highlighted on its own:

This awesome card is from Panini's 2013-14 Score set.  Shawn doesn't get a whole lot of cardboard love (this is only my second card of his), so I think it's great that he was included on the checklist for this set.  Aside from that, what a great photo!  Thornton emerging from the tunnel with Johnny Boychuk and Patrice Bergeron in tow, fans reaching out to make contact with the players.  The icing on the cake is the young fan to the right, in Thornton sweater with a Bruins logo painted on the back of his head!  I'm sure this must have been one of the best moments in this kid's life, and now it's immortalized on cardboard.  I wonder if he's aware of this and has a copy of the card?

The back is dull, and that's putting it nicely, but even this black and white mess isn't enough to detract from the awesomeness of this card.  Thank you Douglas!

Super Bowl XLVIII - Pro Set Called It!

I have very few football cards, I'd say less than 150 total (and 100 came from a single repack!). While thumbing through them this morning in the process of cleaning up my card room, I came across a very interesting card that came from said repack:

What are the odds of that?  I'm too lazy to actually calculate them but stumbling across this card, which features the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, on Superbowl Sunday was just such a coincidence that I had to post it.  This is a perfectly strange photo, two very odd looking mascots (the Seahawk is a little creepy looking I'd even say) flanked by scantily clad cheerleaders, with an awkward looking Japanese boy front and center.

The back references NFL Properties opening an office in London, guess we should have seen the overseas games coming even all the way back then!  A great card that I did not appreciate the first time around...this one has been salvaged from my trade box and is now a keeper.

Enjoy the game tonight!

Signature Sundays - Jonathan Papelbon

Since it's been hockey for at least the past couple months straight, we're switching back to baseball for this week's Signature Sundays post.

This week's card is a bright and colorful 2009 Allen & Ginter auto of former Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon.  Jonathan certainly enjoyed some ups and downs while in Boston.  He came out blazing as a rookie (we're talking Mariano Rivera type numbers) in 2006, and in 2007 was again lights out.  In fact, he was the guy on the mound when the team won their second championship of this era in '07.

By the end of his time in Boston just a few years later he'd lost his dependability, blown some crucial late-season and post-season games, and irritated the hell out of a good majority of the team's fan base.  He signed with Philadelphia in the 2011 off-season, and has continued racking up saves with them over the past two years.  Given what the Phillies are paying him ($13M/yr), and what Boston got out of Koji Uehara last season for one third that price, I'd say this worked out for the team in the end.

Even though his autograph is not much more than a scribble, I like the overall look of this card.  You can't go wrong with an A & G framed auto for the most part.  This card is a great addition to my Red Sox collection in particular, just because he was an integral part of the '07 team, and because he's still the leader in career saves for the franchise.  The best part is this one set me back just $8 and change.

Cardboard Classics - 2014 Topps Kendrys Morales

I often find that so much of my hobby time is spent shopping, or looking forward to acquiring more, and not enough is spent reflecting on and enjoying the awesome cardboard that I do own.  I also find that my own OCD often prevents me from posting a card without a good bit of research and a corresponding lengthy write-up.  This can make for very few posts in the months when life outside my hobby has me busy.

In an effort to kill both these birds with one stone, I'm going to be posting individual cards from time to time under the heading "Cardboard Classics".   These will be cards that maybe didn't catch my eye enough to warrant a post the first time around, but that I got a greater appreciation for in digging back through my boxes...cards that I think are worthy of a brief post in their own rite.  I know this isn't exactly original (thinking Night Owl's Cardboard Appreciation series, in fact thinking this is why most of us have blogs to begin with!) but as they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Kicking things off is a brand new card from 2014 Topps.  Yes, despite all my railing against buying wax I did pick up a solitary blaster this past week.  I can honestly say that I bought it with the intention of trading away nearly all of it, as I owe a few bloggers cards and have precious little trade bait laying around.  Anyway, the blaster wasn't anything special, I got two lousy Red Sox base cards and the rest goes into the trade box.  The cards aren't as bad as I've heard many people say, but I don't like them as much as some do either.  I can confidently say that will be my one and only blaster.  There was one card I pulled that I didn't think much of at first, other than "hey, cool photo", but after reading an article yesterday I have now moved it over to my small keeper pile:

Back in 2010 while playing for the Angels, Kendrys Morales suffered one of the dumbest injuries in the history of sports when he broke his lower leg and ankle jumping on home plate to celebrate a game-winning home run.  He missed a year and a half of playing time before he was able to return to the game.

The photo above comes from a game on June 23rd last season.  Morales hit another walk-off home run, this time with the Seattle Mariners, and as he approached the plate got a good ribbing from his teammates.  What a great shot, a blurry Morales with arms raised in the foreground while the rest of the Mariners, most notably Felix Hernandez, encourage him to slow down and take it easy to avoid a repeat injury.

Here's the back of the card, which ties nicely to the photo on the front given that you can see just 51 games played in 2010 and the entire 2011 season missed due to injury.

A very comical photo resulted in this card being salvaged from the trade box and appreciated as it should be.  Great job with this one Topps!

Vean Gregg and the Case of the PSA Mis-Grade

Late last year I sold off a whole bunch of cards I didn't want any longer on eBay, and used the funds I raised in that endeavor to purchase my very first vintage Cracker Jack card.  It was easily one of the top 3 coolest cards I landed all last year, and really made me want to pursue one or two more Red Sox cards from the set.

One card that I had my eye on for some time was this Vean Gregg, graded a VG-3 by PSA.  I don't care about the low grade, in fact I'd prefer it since I'm only buying authenticated to ensure I'm not ripped off on the 'Bay.  As far as condition goes, the worse the better (as long as it's halfway presentable) as it brings the cost right down and makes attainable a card that would otherwise be unreachable.  I thought a grade of 3 was fair for this card, since it's got well rounded corners and some staining, but very good overall visual appeal.

Unfortunately the seller wasn't willing to stray very far from his $195 asking price, which is unreasonably high in my opinion.  So, I added it to my watch list figuring maybe someday in the future he'd come to his senses.  I stayed on the lookout and as luck would have it I was able to land myself a copy for way less just a few weeks later.  As in just over half that price.  Take a look:

What a beauty!  Here's the thing though, this card got a lower grade than the one I'd been watching, despite seeming to be superior in every way.  A 2.5 Good+, really?!?!  I mean this card looks amazing, in way better shape than I could have ever hoped for in a nearly 100-year-old card.  Good, clean color, amazingly sharp corners, crease free and no paper loss.  If you had asked me blindly, I would have guessed this card would have scored a 6 (EX-MT) or 7 (NM) easily.  I don't profess to be a professional grader or anything, but just look at these two side by side:

My card is on the left, the one where the seller is asking nearly twice what I paid is on the right.  If you can make any sense out of this then you're smarter than I am!  I even contacted the seller to see if he had any idea why the card graded so low.  He said he was mystified by it, and that if I ever figured it out he'd love to know.  I'm sure I'll never have an answer, but I'm satisfied just adding this fantastic card to my collection at a relative bargain price.

Here's a better look at the front, featuring a great wind-up from the southpaw.  Vean was an interesting player, as he came out blazing to start his career with the Cleveland Naps.  He won 20+ games in each of his first three MLB seasons, the only player of the 20th century to accomplish that feat.  See, if you've read this far you've learned something new today! 

Not surprisingly Vean developed a sore arm the very next year (that's what 244, 271, and 285 innings pitched in your first three seasons will do to you!).  I guess you could call him the dead-ball era's Stephen Strasburg, and he never recovered to the same level again.  Gregg was a contributing member of both the 1915 and 1916 World Series Champion Red Sox teams though (albeit far from a significant contributor), so it's great to have his 1915 card in my Sox collection.

Vean staged an impressive late-career comeback where, after having been out of the Majors for years, he pitched a single season for the Washington Senators at age 40 in 1925!  If you'd like to learn more about him, SABR has a really good write-up here.  It's only a 5-10 minute read and they do a great job, much more fascinating than just reading his brief Wikipedia page...

At the end of the day, Vean was an interesting fellow from an era in baseball that I'm fascinated with, and I'm honored to have this extremely old card call my collection home.

1953 Topps Project - Fred Hutchinson

Fred Hutchinson was "really happy inside, only his face didn't know it" - Joe Garagiola

I think the quote above fits perfectly with the expression on this 1953 Topps card.  Fred was a starting pitcher who got off to a blazing start in minor league ball in the late 1930s.  He was first promoted to the big league Detroit Tigers in 1939 at age 19, but was less than successful in his first two seasons (combined 6-13 with an ERA well above 5.00) and was sent back to the minors both years.  At that point, like so many players of his generation, he spent some time away from the game serving his country in World War II.  Hutchinson missed four seasons ('42 through '45) while serving in the Navy, and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander during that time.

Fred returned to the game at age 27 with renewed vigor, and went on to enjoy some successful years.  He won at least 10 games for 6 years straight between 1946 and 1951, and only once in that stretch did his ERA creep above 4.00.  Hutchinson even garnered some MVP votes in 1947, and was named an All-Star in 1951.

As Fred's playing career began to wind down the Tigers, realizing his great leadership potential, decided to transition him to manager.  In the middle of the 1952 season Detroit fired their manager and supplanted him with Hutchinson, though he was still an active player on the roster.  He returned as player/manager for the '53 season, which is why you see the 'manager' designation on this card.

Hutch, as he was affectionately called, would go on to manage a few years with Detroit, and also spend some time behind the bench at St. Louis.  He really found his managerial success though when he landed with the lowly Cincinnati Reds in 1959.  By '61 he had won the NL pennant and turned them into World Series contenders, but unfortunately they ran into the buzz saw that was the '61 Yankees in the Fall Classic that year.  Fred was in as manager of the Reds after that season though and would stay with the team for a couple more years.

Tragically, in the off-season before 1964 it was revealed in a medical examination that Hutch had some tumors in multiple places, including his lungs.  The prognosis was grim, but Fred made an awe-inspiring effort to manage the club despite his illness.  He made it all the way to the end of July before he had to be hospitalized.  He made another brief return in August but had to turn over the team after just a few days.  Sadly, Fred would pass away in November of that year from the disease.  He was just 45 years old.

There is some silver lining to Hutchinson's story though, as his brother founded the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle the year after his death.  They're generally regarded as one of the top cancer research facilities in the world, and have helped an untold number of people deal with this terrible illness in the decades since Fred's death.  In addition, MLB presents the Hutch Award anually in Fred's name.

Set Progress:  64 of 274 (23%)

Vintage Mickey! (Mouse, not Mantle)

It seems I'm growing more and more fond of older and older cards lately.  I'm a sucker for vintage and an increasing number of the big "white whales" on the want list in my head are from the '40s and earlier.  While looking around at some eBay listings for this time period a while back, I became aware of a set of Mickey Mouse cards produced in 1935.  I thought they were interesting to see, but there was only one card on the checklist that I really wanted to own.  After some back and forth haggling I was able to land a copy at a price I was happy with:

I know this isn't technically a hockey card, but it certainly fits the loose definition I use in my own collection.  Yes, the dialogue is nothing but a cheesy play on words, but it's got Minnie and Mickey, and Mickey's firing a mean slapshot to boot.  The colors are really vibrant, even on this pretty rough copy after nearly 8 decades.  The Mickey Mouse character was created by Walt Disney just a few years earlier in 1928, and only started being featured in color the same year this card came out.

The back is nothing special (the glare is from my scanner on the PSA slab, not the card itself).  Anyway, this is one card that's all about the front:

The best part is that this unique addition to my hockey card collection set me back roughly the cost of a blaster, with free shipping.  Yes, while collectors are clamoring for 2014 Topps baseball, I spent the money that could have gone towards a blaster on an old, worn cartoon hockey card.  I stand by my decision though, I don't think anything from a retail blaster would be this memorable...

Dinosaur Cards from a Nocturnal Owl

Late last week I received a PWE in the mail from everyone's favorite card blogger, Night Owl.  The impetus behind this envelope was a couple of Allen & Ginter Monsters of the Mesozoic mini inserts that I claimed a while back when he offered them up:

Like probably 90% of young boys, I was fascinated by dinosaurs as a child.  Compounding that was the fact that Jurassic Park came out when I was an impressionable 11 years of age.  Because of that, I thought these inserts were interesting, and while I don't have many of them yet I couldn't pass up a chance to bring a couple into the collection.  I think everyone's familiar with the Stegosaurus, but I was definitely less aware of the dinosaur on the card that accompanied this one, the Supersaurus:

These guys, first discovered by man in 1972, were as enormous as their name would suggest.  Apparently they grew to over 100' in length and could weigh as much as 40 tons.  It still blows my mind to picture a land animal that size roaming the Earth.

Greg managed to fit a few more cards within the confines of the PWE, including two 1990 Bowmans that believe it or not were actually on my Red Sox want list!  Probably the two biggest stars on the team too, The Rocket...

...and Mr. Boggs.  I like this photo, as Wade appears to be practicing his knuckler.  Also, that right there is not the torso of a player on PEDs.

This 1972 Topps Phil Gagliano is great, especially because of the few '72s I have.  I've worked a ton on my '70s sets over the past year or two but only really on 1974 and up.  This is actually my highest numbered '72 other than Nolan Ryan, and it's only card #472.

Finally, a cool (Target?) red parallel from 2012 Topps Heritage featuring the chain link fence that's prevalent on so many Sox cards from this set.

Thanks for the great PWE Night Owl!  I'll get your Oil Can Boyd auto and a couple other cards out in the mail this week...