2011 Card Countdown - Number 11

As I mentioned yesterday, this is the only 2011 card in my year-end countdown. It is also the only autographed card I pulled from a retail pack this year.


2011 Topps Lineage 1952 Reprint Chuck Diering Auto

I bought a lot of retail this year. Indeed, with the exception of Heritage Minor League, I bought all of my 2011 cards retail. As such, I didn't get many hits. Not that I live for the hits, but they are nice to get every once in a while. Oh, I did manage to pull some relic cards this year, most of which I traded or sold on Ebay. As I have stated elsewhere, relics don't much interest me. But, I do like the autographs.

Indeed, as I evaluate my goals for next year, my intent is to limit the number of sets I do collect to Heritage only and stick with buying hobby instead of retail so I have a better chance of pulling some cool autographs.

Coming Tomorrow: A card from 1973 that should have ranked higher.

2011 Card Countdown - Number 12

Since I am done with work for the year, I have some time to kill. But with my pending layoff at the end of January, I have suspended much of my acquisition activities. So, in order to get back acquainted with what I have accomplished this year, I decided to do a countdown of my 12 favorite cards of 2011, my first year back into collecting. Here is number 12.




1999 Fleer/Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Paul Blair Auto.

Strictly speaking, this card shouldn't be on the list, as it is a card I got back in 2010. But, this is where it all started. This is the first card I bought after I made the decision to try my hand at collecting. I started out with a modest goal of collecting Paul Blair cards since my ball glove growing up was a Paul Blair model Wilson.

At the time, I figured there wouldn't be that many cards. Since he had a 17 year career, so there was at least 17. But, surely not much more than that. Boy, was I ever wrong. My Paul Blair PC is up to 73 unique cards and there is at least 40 other cards that I know about, but don't have. I only have 6 OPC cards, so there are others there that I need to get. Those aren't that rare, I just haven't made a priority of them yet. The real challenge will be the ultra-short print serial numbered cards from 2004 UD Timeless Team set, cards from several early 1990 minor league sets, and the Topps Venezuelan cards.

Up Next: The only 2011 card to make my top 12 of the year.

Twin Brothers from Different Mothers, the Presidential Edition

Mail Call - Diamond Edition

I started today a little hungover from the joy of getting a trade package from Night Owl. This may or may not have been the scene in my front yard this morning:


But, luckily my connection (known by his nom de guerre "The Postman") delivered me some sweet, sweet cardboard. I got my final delivery of Diamond Giveaway cards. I basically got everything from 1980 or earlier. I won't show them all, but here are my favorites:




1980 and 1976 Bill Campbell. It is hard to believe, but in 1976 Campbell won 17 games.....as a reliever. And saved another 20. That was back when relief pitchers were badass. Guys like Soup here averaged around 2 innings per appearance. Indeed, over the course of 78 appearances in 1976, Bill threw 2 innings or more 42 times, 3 innings or more 23 times, 4 innings or more 9 times, and 5 innings or more 6 times. Now that is a relief pitcher. Nothing like these primadonnas today that call themselves closers. Buncha weenies compared to the fireman back in the day.


Anyways, back to the cards.


After six years of sucking at youth soccer, I tried playing little league baseball.
The first year, I played first base and pitched a little. I was tall and skinny, wore wire-rimmed glasses that darkened outside, and threw side-armed. In short, I looked exactly like a 13 year old Kent Tekulve. Except, of course, that I sucked.




Not much to say except this card is pristine. Looks like it just came out of the pack. Unlike the other two 73s in my shipment that look a little more bedraggled.






This is the very first 1952 Topps in my collection.


There is a little story here. I had originally drew a die cut Jackie Robinson a couple months back. I am not overly fond of these type of cards, so I figured I might use it to get something I wanted. But, almost immediately, I got offered two die cut cards (Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson) for the Jackie. I accepted that trade, then set about using those two die cuts as trade bait. I tried for weeks to trade them first for a 2001 Topps Archive Johnny Antonelli auto, and then for a 1952 Antonelli. My efforts failed completely. Then I realized one of my trading partners still needed a diamond die cut of a Adrian Beltre. So, I offered up the Seaver for the Beltre. Within 5 minutes the trade was accepted.

So, I am still left with the Gibson. The card is nice enough, but still really doesn't fit with my collecting priorities. If anyone is interested in it, take a look at my want lists and make me an offer.

Mail Call - Night Owl Edition

So, I am a about a week and a half into not buying cards because of my uncertain unemployment situation. I am still having withdrawal symptoms. Luckily, I found a fix in my mailbox today. I had helped Night Owl out with some Lineage 75 minis, so when he had some interesting cards available, he gave me first crack at them. Here they are:



One of my favorite of the 2011 Yankees. Still hoping they sign him for 2012. Since rumor has it that Toronto is the odds-on favorite to win the rights to negotiate with Yu Darvish, maybe they will.



I really, really hate all the damn parallels and inserts that Topps puts into their flagship product. I'd calculate out how many cards are needed to build a 2011 master set, but I am too lazy. Just on the base set you have 990 times 6 (base, Walmart blue border, Target red border, gold border, diamond parallel, cognac parallel). When you are up to 5940 cards before you even get to the inserts...well...suffice it to say it is too damn many. But, I do like the fact that they put these legacy players in the set. I've gotten several over the course of the year and I like them real well. One day, maybe I'll do a post on them, but for now let me say that this Maris is definitely the cream of the crop. Even if it does look like his one leg was amputated at the knee.

Being the guy he is, though, Night Owl didn't leave it at that. He included three cards I needed to complete 2011 Update. I am down to only needing 7 cards now.




He also included 3 of the Lineage base cards from my want list. I only need one card (I'm looking at you Adam Wainwright!) to complete that set.




So, big thanks to Night Owl.

For those that may wonder, my employment situation is uncertain, but not dire. I have already gotten one call regarding a job inside my current employer. I also have solid leads on two external jobs that are right in my wheelhouse. So, I am actually pretty excited about a change in environment. Of course, who could feel bad when iTunes random play brings this up while you are composing a post:

BOBOC - Pack 6

Instead of overdosing on 1988 Donruss, I decided on breaking up the pain a bit. So, the next pack from the Big Ole Box of Crap will be................1989 Donruss.


I don't have the same visceral dislike for 1989 Donruss that I do for 1988. It isn't a real pleaser, but it does get closer to what I like. The horizontal black stripes on the dark gray side border seems a bit superfluous and the shifting color bars on the top and bottom are similarly distracting. Either eliminate those stripes or go with a sold color at the top and bottom and this would be a card design I could grow to like.



The back is fairly well designed, I think. I prefer to see all career statistics, while this set shows only the details of the last 5 years, it does have some positive aspects. I like the inclusion of Contract Status and How Acquired information. And while the color is more reminiscent of a Dreamsicle rather than a baseball card, I do appreciate that it significantly improves the readability for this forty-mumble-mumble year old. I love my 1974 Topps but, dang, the backs are hard for me to read.

I still won't collect it since it came from the overproduction era. That isn't because the set won't ever be worth anything. I don't do any collecting with an eye on future value. However, the set's general worthlessness means that I can go and get a complete set on EBay for less than the price of a fast food value meal. There is no challenge to collecting it. The chase is where the fun is.

44 - Peter Harnisch - Baltimore
529 - Jerry Browne - Texas


I saw that Jerry's nickname was The Governor. Looking at the back of the cards for clues, I saw that he was born and lived in the US Virgin Islands. I immediately wondered if he came from a political family. Alas, the etymology of the nickname is more mundane. He was given the nick because he shared a name (if not a spelling) with a former governor of California. I should have known that.

534 - Luis Aquino - Kansas City
540 - Gene Nelson - Oakland
551 - Luis Aguayo - NY Yankees
557 - Alejandro Pena - LA Dodgers
562 - Luis De los Santos - Kansas City
563 - Fred Lynn - Detroit



Lynn was the best player in this pack of cards.

568 - Glenn Hubbard - Oakland
569 - Craig Worthington - Baltimore
574 - Tracy Jones - Montreal
575 - Juan Nieves - Milwaukee


579 - Chad Kreuter - Texas


580-Tony Armas - California


Diamond Kings 4 - Chris Sabo - Cincinnati


The back of this card describes Sabo as "a throwback to the gritty old-time ballplayer of two and three generations ago." That may very well be true, but I have to suspect those glasses would have set him up for some serious razzing from his fellow players. Although, given that he was nicknamed "Spuds" because of a resemblance to the commercial icon, Spuds Mackenzie, I don't suppose playing in the modern era prevented him from receiving a fair piece of abuse.

Saved by the Mail, Part 2

The second trade pack that came in the mail yesterday was from Paul over at Carl Crawford Cards. I sent him some Rays cards, and one measly card of his 1973 want list (hopefully anyways, since I don't recall now seeing it when I packed up his cards for shipment) and I got a metric ton of 2002 Heritage in return. This really cut my want list down to size for 2002 Heritage.

I struggled to decide what cards to show and finally settled on those cards from players who, at a minimum, took a turn with the Yankees in 2011.


Okay, Millwood is a bit of a stretch,. He was signed by the Yankees during spring training, turned in 9 uninspiring innings at AAA, and was released. Not long after that he caught on with the BoSox, was similarly uninspiring at Pawtucket, and released again. He then signed with the Rockies and turned in 9 workmanlike starts with the big club at the close of the season.


Freddy was picked off the scrap heap and turned out to be a key part of the Yankees starting rotation with a 12-8 record and 3.62 ERA performance. I was pleased to see that the Yankees have signed him again for the 2012 campaign.


Though his 2011 line doesn't reflect it, Bartolo really stepped up when Phil Hughes hit the disabled list. He faded near the end of the year, but there was a stretch mid-season when he was a legitimate No. 3 starter for the Bombers. I really enjoyed watching him play. He has the endearing habit of playing catch with himself when sitting on the bench or when there was a delay in the game while he was in the mound. Just tosses the ball up over his head and lets it fall into his glove. Kinda like a Little Leaguer. I am hoping that the Yankees bring him back for 2012 as a long man, but there isn't much buzz, so I get the feeling they won't.


The Big Man. What is there to say about CC? I really think the ALDS with the Tigers might have turned out differently if the first game wasn't postponed after one and a half innings. Other than the first inning home run by Delmon Young, CC looked great. He had dealt four strikeouts and two weak ground outs in his two innings. When he took the mound again a few days later in Game 3, he just looked flat and was generally ineffective. But, that is the way it goes I guess.



Eric was solid as a backup infielder. He hasn't decided whether to retire yet and there was some interest on the Yankees part to bring him back. I can't blame them. Their other backup infielder, Eduardo Nunez, is a questionable defensive player. I wonder, though, how the Yankees winning the right to negotiate with Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima affects the 2012 roster. Who does it make more superfluous? Chavez or Nunez? Rumor has it that Nuney has been on the trade block, but nothing has happened yet. I guess time will tell.


Jones was a solid backup outfielder / platoon DH in 2011. The Yankees have shown interest in bringing him back. I would support it. He still has a little spark left in the bat and has a excellent glove.


The Captain!

In addition to the base cards, Paul sent over a near complete Classic Renditions insert set. I've included two of this set because the subjects both signed contracts with new teams this week after having played over a decade for one team: Buehrle with the White Sox and Pujols with the Cards.





Thanks, Paul. I hope your cards got to you by now and I remembered to include that 1973 card.