Trade with Lifetime Topps

I recently completed a trade with Charlie over at Lifetime Topps.  I setn him some 2012 Heritage and Archives and I got some 2011 Heritage Minors and 2012 Heritage back.  Best of all, the 2011 Heritage Minors were all short prints.

Delino is the son of the former major leaguer of the same name.  From looking at his minor league stats, it looks like he is following in his Pops footprints to be a fair hitting infielder with some speed on the basepaths.  He is only 19 and is currently at A-Ball Lexington in the Astros chain.  With any luck, I'll be seeing him in OKC in a few years.

Sanchez is a catcher in the Pirates system.  So far he appears to be an okay hitter with good on-base skills, but little power.  He just got promoted to AAA Indianapolis.

Yelich is a power hitting outfielder in the Marlins system. He absolutely raked last year at Greensboro with a .312/.388/.484 slash line and 15 taters.  He is at high A Jupiter this year.

These are most welcome, bringing me down to only needing 26 more cards to finish the Minor League set (all SP.)   With 19 cards to go on the MLB Heritage set for 2011 (16 SP and 3 inserts), I am getting nearer to the finish line of completing this set.  I think I'd like to knock it off before the end of the year.

The four 2012 Heritage cards I received are all for good players and took a good chunk out of the non-SP base cards I still need.  Hopefully, I'll continue to make progress on this set during the year, although I don't expect to complete it.  My focus in on vintage and, while I really like Heritage, it does get treated like a red headed stepchild in my collecting.

Anyways, thank you Charlie!

Big COMC Mail Call - and a Finished Set

Last week, I spent a little time (and money) at COMC.  My goal was two fold: finish my 1976 set and cheaply make progress on a couple others. 

I got two 2010 Obak Short Prints , including the one above, which is sort of a reprint of a real 1911 Obak Buck Weaver.  This card is standard size for a modern card, while the original is a mini.  But, I suspect this is as close as I will get to owning one, since a 1911 original in rough shape sold for $650 on EBay recently.  This gets me down to needing only six more to complete the set. Sure, I still need 28 out of 30 of the T4 cabinet cards, but they don't seem to come available all that often and usually are being offered for $4 or more each.  So, when I finish the base set, I am going to call it done.

 I picked up 24 cards towards my 2011 Topps Heritage (both MLB and MiLB) set.  All of the other cards I needed to complete the MLB set were available, but the asking price was too high.  But, I was quite happy knocking off a huge chunk of my needs with this order. I am now down to needing 19 cards to complete the MLB set (all SP or inserts) and 29 cards (all SPs) to complete the Minor League run.

I didn't realize it at the time, but one of the cards I ordered was the Tyler Matzek above. I actually got an auto card of his in one of the Obak boxes I have busted. I am hoping he pans out. He had a rough year last year, but seems to be doing real well in high A this year with Modesto.

And finally, the last 11 cards I needed to complete my 1976 Topps set. I probably overpaid on a few of the 76s, but I just wanted to finish the set so I can focus my vintage efforts on 1971 for the next few months.  And, yes, as a set collector, I do want the checklists.  I think my favorite of the lot is the Guidry rookie card, although there is some weird satisfaction with getting clean checklists. I can't explain it, I just like them.

So, that is about it. Not sure I will have much to say over the next week.  I'll be staying on top of any trades that are in the works, but will mainly be biding my time until next weekend, which is the bi-monthly card show up in OKC. 

Can't Afford Food? Buy Cards

Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration. I am generally swore off buying cards until I am employed again. I have bought a rack pack of Heritage, but felt guilty, so I am giving them away as the opportunity presents itself. So, what is the post about?

Well, when I knew that I was leaving my last job, I needed to get a cell phone as I have only ever had one through work. The phone I ended up getting came with a $50 dollar refund in the form of a VISA debit card. That debit card arrived last week and I had to figure out how best to use it. I started off buying Super-Mega prescription strength flea and tick collars for my dogs which came to $38.97. I spent another $4.97 on postage sending out some trade packages.

That left me $6.06 to go wild with. I didn't want to be one of those guys in line at Target saying "Put X dollars on this card and Y dollars on this other card, so I decided that 6 bucks wasn't going to be missed one way or the other. So, I splurged on one of those U-Pick-10 auctions on EBay and ended up winning. I focused on the 2011 Heritage inserts and my winning bid was $5.99 with free shipping. So, here they are:


Yeah, that is nine. That is all I can fit on the scanner and was feeling too lazy to scan the tenth card. If you really care to know, and I don't blame you if you don't, it was a News Flashback unrelated to baseball. As you have probably surmised I was also too lazy to shoop the scan down into individual cards.

Yeah, I phoned this one in.

See what I did there? Phoned it in. Get it? Phoned it in. Because I bought these cards with my phone rebate. Funny, huh?

No? I'll get my hat.

Trade with Baseball Dad

Today was another good day. Two packages arrived in the mail. One was a trade package from Baseball Dad and the other was from an EBay purchase. Now, the EBay purchase may be raising a few eyebrows since I said I wasn't spending any money on cards until I was back working. But, technically, I didn't spend any money, so it is all good. But, I'll explain that in another post.

Baseball Dad and I completed another trade recently. Since we are probably two of the few bloggers who are working on 2010 Tristar OBAK, so we swapped a few cards.


Self-explanatory. Frederick Thayer invented the catchers mask in 1877 and, at least according to the card back, James Tyng was the first to wear it. However, when you look up James Tyng on Baseball-Reference he is shown as a pitcher.


Caleb Bradham, founder of Pepsi-Cola.



T212 mini of Connie Mack, Tactician. Whenever I see this card, I always think of the following scene from one of the more underrated Coen Brothers movies, Intolerable Cruelty.

Jack also set three 2011 Heritage cards off my want list.





What is significant here is that all three are short prints. So, once again, I am overwhelmed by card blogger's generosity. When I get back going to card shows, I am going to need to keep an eye out for something nice for everyone's favorite Baseball Dad.

Thanks, Jack.

Ponies!

A while back, dayf over at Cardboard Junkie asked his readers for pony artwork. So, as I described in this post, I made him a custom card front based on the 1976 Topps Big League Brothers card, using a picture of two of my horses. He asked what I wanted in return, and I suggested a few Heritage cards.

Well, his package came in today. And there was more than a few Heritage cards, as well as a selection of 1976 Topps (the set I was working on when I got laid off). All I can say is, again, I am overwhelmed by card bloggers generosity.

I don't have time to do a more comprehensive post on what he sent because I am trying to get myself prepared for a job interview on Friday. I will hopefully get something up over the weekend. I will, however, show the star card in the package.



I am guessing Applejack and Applebloom are two characters in My Little Pony. I like how this card riffs off my custom creation. Well, "riff" probably isn't the right term. This card has too much awesomeness to be considered derivative. Let's say, dayf took my germ of an idea and made it his own. This card is going to go into my super vintage/relic/general awesomeness card binder because this card belongs there. I am putting it next to my Hector Noesi auto card:



If I read the expression on Hector's face correctly, he seems to be saying "Sweeeeet!!!! I like ponies!" So, everybody is happy.

Multiple Trade Post

Has it really been over two weeks since my last post?

*checks front page*

*whistles*

Yep, it has. Luckily I do have something to post. I am still swore off buying any cards until I find another job, but it is getting harder now that Heritage is on the shelf. When last we talked, I had been expecting an offer on a job. However, I know now that it fell through. The company had a down fourth quarter and since the position hadn't been budgeted for, it was put on hold until later in the year. Luckily, there is a different position in the same organization that has been budgeted for and they are moving forward with the staffing process. Since the hiring manager for that position was part of the team I interviewed with previously, I got a free pass on the initial, by-phone screening interview and am moving right on to the face to face interview on March 30. So, I have a bit over two weeks to get myself prepared.

But, let's not waste time on such trivialities. There are more important things to deal with. Like a trade post!

As you may have surmised, I am a huge Heritage fan. I've decided to put all the Heritage sets together. You can look at my want lists over there.

*jerks head towards right sidebar*

If it wasn't enough to work on the regular 2011 Heritage set, I have also taken on the 2011 Heritage Minor League set. I've complete the 200 card, non-short printed part of the MILB set and now have to complete the 50 card, short print subset. Luckily, Ted over at Crinkly Wrappers had a duplicate of one of the short prints I needed:


Montgomery is a KC Royals pitching prospect. He has had nice statistics all the way up through AA ball, but seems to have gotten roughed up a bit while pitching for AAA Omaha last year. I would guess he'll be back at Omaha this year to polish his game.

My next trade was with Anthony at Get The Bat Off Your Shoulder. Anthony had shared that he keeps track of his cards with an MS Access database. Since I have used Access extensively at work, I asked if he would share it with me, since I am in desperate need of a way to get organized. He was generous enough to send it to me, but wouldn't take any cards in exchange for it. So, I proposed a trade. I helped him with 2011 Update and Lineage, and I got more help with 2011 Heritage.







Four inserts and a short print. Shhhhhhweeeeet! I am really psyched about these. I am getting a lot closer on 2011 Heritage. I might just have to make it a priority once I get back in the game. So, until next time, whenever that is, take 'er easy.

Touched by an Angel

Okay, that sounds a little suspect. I will grant that. But, I am not feeling particularly creative today and that was the best I could come up with for a post title where I talk about a trade with Tom over at The Angels, In Order.

As trades go, it wasn't huge. But, it was certainly appreciated. The last few weeks have been somewhat frustrating. When I last reported in on my job search, I had completed a good interview and had been invited to an informal lunch meeting with the manager of a client organization. That seemed to go well and the hiring manager, an old co-worker of mine in a previous time, indicated to me that he was going to work with HR to prepare an job offer for me. Once they had approval on the offer from their executive leadership, they would be back in touch. That was three weeks ago. I touched base, via email, last week and was told, for a number of perfectly understandable reasons, they had not yet had the opportunity to get the offer approval and they would let me know when they did. But, I have heard nothing since. I am not sure why this is taking so long, but I have gone ahead and restarted my job search.

Worst of all, it has really cramped my hobby activities. I have basically very little hobby related in 2 1/2 months. This weekend is the big semi-monthly show in Oklahoma City. I had intended to go and work on my 1971 and 1976 sets, but without an written job offer in hand, I'll have to skip it and hope to be employed by the next one in April.

Actually, today is a good day because I got a trade pack today from the aforementioned Tom. I sent him a smattering of cards off his want list and I got 4 cards back towards my Heritage sets.


This is a high number short print from 2001.



Two inserts from 2011.


Yeah, I include checklists as part of the sets I build.

I feel a little guilty getting a short print and two inserts (which are short prints themselves) in exchange for a handful of commons. But, I am happy to be able to actually put some cards in a binder again. Thank you, Tom.

Trade with Baseball Dad

This really didn't start out as a trade. In my infrequent, but much loathed, BOBOC feature there was an 1997 Score Albert Belle that Baseball Dad wanted. Since I really had no use for it, I sent it, along with a few Topps Indians stickers off. No strings attached. But, if any of you know Jack, he is always generous in return. I got a couple of Topps Update I needed. I am not going to show them because I am soooo over Topps Flagship. Suffice it to say those cards got me within striking distance of finishing 2011 Update. He also sent along almost a dozen 2011 Heritage to help me work the old want list down further. Here are a couple:




Dad also sent along a pack of 2003 Estrella's. I guess that is a common thing for him to do as I recall other bloggers posting about the Estrellas. But, having got them in hand, I have to say I really like these cards. If I wasn't working on too many sets I would likely consider building this one. I like it that much. It is a nice, clean design with good photographs.





I think that this Clemente is my favorite card from the trade. A sharp design and one of the greatest ballplayers ever. It may not technically belong in my vintage/relic/auto binder, but that is where I put it.

Thanks Dad!

Trade with PATP

I recently completed my first trade with Brian over at Play at the Plate. I sent him a couple vintage Senators and a handful of other cards from his Rangers want list and I got some nice cards in return. The centerpiece of the trade, for me anyways was this:


Alas, within days of closing our deal, the Yankees traded Hector, along with Jesus Montero, to the Mariners for Michael Pineda and a pitching prospect. I still like this kid, though, so I am going to hang on to this card and give it an honored place in my vintage/relic/auto binder.

But, wait! That's not all!


A 2011 Heritage short print. This is way cool, since I am only needing short prints (and some inserts) to complete this set. Any day I can knock one off is a good day, ahtellyawha!

I would have been happy with just that, but Brian sent along a couple of packs of Allen and Ginter. A&G is a quirky set. I am on the fence whether I like it or not. I like that it is different than anything else, and well designed, but the inclusion of non-baseball subjects is off putting. Although, as an aside, I like the Ascent of Man inserts. But there were some great cards in those packs.




A couple Yankees and a great looking landscape Brandon Phillips.


Clunk! Diana Taurasi! *shakes fist*

My big memory of Diana Taurasi was her leading the Connecticut Huskies to a decisive victory in the 2002 NCAAs over the Oklahoma Sooners. Man, that bummed me out. Still does, even 10 years later. *grumble*

I Got An Idea

I've been foreseeing a bad winter. Not weather wise as it were, although it may be. Mainly, I see it being a bad winter for collecting. The drought this year has driven up the cost of feeding our horses precipitously. Plus, we are going to have an electrician in next month to do some improvements to help us manage the farm better during bad weather. In short, my budget is going to be tight heading into the holiday season. Complicating matters, there is going to be another card show in October where I wanted to start working on my 1971 set. I was unsure how I was going to manage my adult obligations while still indulging my inner 9 year old. Then I had a brilliant idea.



I have a 3 foot tall change bank that looks like a coke bottle. I have had it for a while and about every 3 or 4 years I cash the change in. So, yesterday, I dumped all the coins into a smaller, easier-to-handle box, threw in some foreign currency I had lying around unused after past business trips, and headed off to the bank. I figured I would clear around 2 c-notes. Boy, was I in for a surprise. What you are looking at above is a bit over $450 in coins. The bank wanted to charge me a $35 fee to exchange the currency. Given that you are looking at about the equivalent of $34.20 US in foreign currency, I just stuffed the bills back into my pocket.

Now, I have no intent of spending all that at the October show, but it should get me through the lean winter months. So, I am mapping out a few goals:

1. Add a few more cards to my Paul Blair player collection.


2. Complete my 1977 set. With pending trades and a few pick-ups at a new card shop I discovered, I am down to needing 7 cards to finish.


3. Finish that 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game set for once and for all. I have also been mulling over starting the equivalent set from 2006.


4. Start working in earnest on my 1971 set. Since I mainly need the higher number cards, this will probably be a fairly long process where I only add a few cards every month.


5. Knock off some more short prints for 2011 Topps Heritage. I haven't looked at COMC to see if the prices are coming down yet. Last time I looked, the SP were in the $3 to $6 range. They'll need to be alot lower than that before I pull the trigger.


6. Start 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League. As I approach the conclusion of my first year of being back in the hobby, I am reflecting on how to focus my second year. I have come to the conclusion that the only modern set that really interests me is Heritage and, in 2012, it may be the only modern set I collect. The minor league set seems interesting


7. 2011 Topps Update. Given my above comment, it would seem odd to even bother with Update. But, as a set collector, I do have a touch of OCD, so I may just go ahead and put it together, so I have the entire 990 card run. Besides, I want to see if Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, and David Robertson made the set.

So, that is about it for the moment. I don't think I can do all of what I have listed above, so I may just drop the last two.

August 6 Mini-Show

So, yeah, still no review on the 2004 UD Yankees Classics set. I had planned on finishing it this weekend. But, I decided to run up to a little mini-show that is held at a LCS the first Saturday of every month. When I say mini, I mean mini. It is a small shop to begin with and they have tables set up for about 6 to 7 vendors. See what I mean? Mini. But, I was getting antsy for the bigger show next weekend, and with the heat (daily highs so far in August have been around 110F) I wasn't going to be getting any chores done anyways. So, after asking permission from She Who Must Be Obeyed, off I went.

I probably only spent about $30, but managed to win a raffle for $10 of free spend. All in all, I consider it a successful trip. Here is what I got:

62 more cards towards completing my 1977 set:


"Did the photograph capture the magnificence of my hair?"


Say "what" again. Say "what" again. I dare you. I double-dare you, motherf***er. Say "what" one more goddamn time.


Paul: Reckon it is time to harvest the crops?

Rick: I reckon


Welcome to the first of hopefully many Woolly Caterpillar Conventions!


The Mad Hungarian. 'Nuff said.


Pull my finger.


Tire el dedo.

I also hit some of the vintage boxes, including picking up a 1959 Enos Slaughter:



Sure, he is a Hall of Famer. But, what I really like about this card is the back. His Major League stats start in 1938. Slaughter was playing major league ball when my father was only 2 years old. How wild is that?

Added later: When this picture was taken, Slaughter was 42 or 43 years old. That is 2-3 years younger than I am right now. But, good googly moogly, he looks at least 60 years old. Is it just me, or did the guys from that era age quicker than we do?

I picked up 5 cards from 1960, just because they struck my fancy. No significant rhyme or reason.


But bad trades are part of baseball. Who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for god's sake!


The youngest person ever to play in a major league game at the tender age of 15. Apparently, he started off reasonably well, but became completely unglued when he saw Stan Musial in the on-deck circle.


I grew up in Rochester, NY and, at the time, Johnny Antonelli owned a chain of tire stores there.


Another Hall of Famer.


Vic Power, a/k/a Victor Felipe Pellot Pove.

1972 Thurman Munson In Action....


......for sufficiently inactive values of action.

I also got a Topps Triple Threads Bob Gibson (0387/1350) and one 2011 Topps Heritage short print, but didn't scan them.