So I got me some of them ’89 Upper Deck cards

One of the tougher aspects of blogging without time is that you sometimes plan out a post, upload images, and get ready to talk about the cards and then find yourself forced to be doing something else instead. Then a week later you stumble back on the images and wonder what you were going to talk about in the first place.

For example, I’ve got some 1989 Upper Deck cards that I’ve scanned and added to a post, but have no idea why I chose some of the ones I did. I know the overall idea was to celebrate the fact that my 89 Upper Deck wantlists have gone from “inquire” (meaning I needed a heckuva lot) to an actual list. That’s gotta make things easier on you generous folks, right? And if you are working on your set, then maybe we could, you know, trade or something.

Here’s a few of my more recent acquisitions in the quest for 89 Upper Deck:

So young.  So small.  He really seemed to bulk up in the later years, didn’t he?

I like the look on Darrell’s face here.  One of quiet emotion.  One of a man who went from leading the league in home runs in 1985 to struggling to top .200 and prove he still deserves a chance to play in 1988.  One who’s just been told his only option for baseball in 1989 was the then lowly Atlanta Braves.

Why did I scan “the Kip?”  I have no earthly idea.  Seems like a waste not to include it now.

This obviously would give me reason to mention Rickey’s HOF speech.  Instead I’ll mention how jealous of my brother I was back in the 80’s when he had a Rickey rookie and I didn’t.  And when I think 1981 Topps, his card is the first image that springs to mind.  That was a great looking card.

If you don’t have a Dale Murphy reverse negative card, you can write a letter to Richard McWilliam and he may print one up for you.  And if you haven’t read the book Card Sharks, you probably should.  The chapter on Bob Eubanks is classic.

Two cards that show players at the height of exertion.  I had no idea Yount was so ripped.  Yount is also the answer to the trivia question “Who is the first player elected to the hall in a Brewer’s uniform?”  If you win a free drink with that, poor a little out for me.

And finally, one of my favorites of the whole set, Orlando Mercado.  A man so busy playing 18 games in 1988 that Upper Deck only had one shot to capture his image on film, so they had two photographers snap two different angle shots of him at the same time.  Or perhaps they got a wax statue of the guy instead.  Wikipedia says Mercado, “became a local star for his play in the Portland Beavers Triple-A franchise in the late 1980s,”  but doesn’t back that claim up.  Anyone know why?

So there you have a few too many ’89 Upper Deck cards.  If you need a few more, send me your wantlists and I’ll be happy to look.

Which Juan would you choose?

Based on memory alone, the currently fantasy relevant Juan Rivera is the only player I pulled from my first two packs of both Upper Deck and Topps.  I’m not blown away by either of them, but I think I’m giving the edge to Topps on the picture alone.  Upper Deck gets partial credit for not damaging this one in the factory before putting it in the pack, though.

So, which Juan would you choose?

Nicest card nominee, 1979 division

At some point, I’ll stop posting on 1979 Topps, but that’s all I seem to win these days.  But really, would you want to miss out on this card?

The ’79 Topps set isn’t known for it’s grand photography or great design.  It’s mostly known as the home of the Ozzie Smith rookie card and I associate it with the blue garbage bag like backgrounds on a lot of the Pittsburgh Pirates cards.   But this Blanks card hits on all levels. The blue sky.  The awkward pose.  The banner that matches his uniform color.  The fact that his facial expression casts a stare that matches his last name.  Pure cardboard poetry.

And to think it could have never been.  By the time this card came out, Larvell had already been traded to the Texas Rangers along with Jim Kern for Bobby Bonds and Len Barker.  I’m going to give the edge to Cleveland on that one.

Had Topps gone airbrush happy, or had Larvell been a better player, this card may have never been.  Who knows if Topps could have matched it’s beauty with Larvell in Rangers blue.  I for one am glad I don’t live in that world.

Long Hit?

In a recent fit of spare time, I managed another eBay win of 1979 Topps cards.  I believe this lot pushed me over the halfway mark to completion, and I should have a nice lot or two to sell on eBay when all is said and done.

I’ll have to figure out why my scanner skews pictures so much.

Anyway, Fred is one of the first Reds I’ve gotten in a 1979 Topps lot that doesn’t have bent up corners.  I’m pretty sure it’s just because I want the Reds cards to all be nice, being a Reds fan, but I also know I have about 4 Tom Hume cards with bad corners and I don’t think I have a nice one for my set.

Fred was a pretty good pitcher for the Reds in the seventies, and I hate to shaft him, but I’m more curious about the back of Fred’s card.

Over there, under the “Baseball Dates” heading (which could have been a gossip column about who baseball players date, right?).  It says that on September 5th, 1921, Cleveland’s Earl Smith got his 7th consecutive Long Hit of the season.

Long Hit?  Am I the only one who’s never heard of this?  And is it really a proper noun in need of capitalization?

I’m assuming a “Long Hit” is an extra base hit, but I can’t seem to find reference to Earl Smith and 7 consecutive anythings online. I did find reference to Elmer Smith having seven consecutive extra-base hits in 1922, matched later by Earl Sheely of the White Sox in 1926, which could mean an error or typo on Topps’ part.  But I’m convinced that my Google’s on the fritz and that there’s a better explanation for this.

Anyone?

*UPDATE*  It’s gotta be Elmer Smith.  I’ve found two Earl Smiths that played in 1921, and neither played for Cleveland.

Name that leader!

I’m taking a quick break from cleaning house for a post…

Name!  That!  Leader!

Without looking, who appears next to Ron Guidry on this 1979 Topps ERA Leaders card?

This was part of a larger lot “near mint ++” lot that I won on eBay that was more like EX++. The seller and I did work something out, so I get to keep them at a pretty reasonable price.  I’ll post more of them, time permitting, later.

Until then, good luck Naming that Leader!  Remember, no cheating!

*UPDATE*  Here’s a hint:

*UPDATE*  Good work night owl and gcrl.  Dodger’s fans must have a special place in their heart for Craig Swan.

Red Turkey Red

So as I email back and forth with the seller to resolve the damaged card issue (it sounds like it’s going nowhere, btw), I thought I’d show off a few of them.  I only had time to scan one on the way out the door to work, but that’s okay.  Joey Votto deserves a post of his own.  Some would even argue he deserves his own blog.

I’ll admit I post about this guy often, but he’s my favorite current Red especially now that Corey Patterson is gone.  And look how majestic he is, hitting rocks out in shallow left field at cars in the parking lot.  It’s a yearly initiation to all new Reds.  Ramon Hernandez is going to be pissed.

Of course I’m kidding.  Votto, from what I understand, is a pretty laid back fella who’s more likely to be the victim of a prank than the perpetrator.  He’s just a good Canadian boy who likes to play baseball.  Hit 20 HRs.  Maybe steal a few bases while he’s at it.  And hit for average, too. 

If Yonder Alonso is the hitter everyone says he is, though, Votto’s going to have to start practicing his LF, because everything I’ve read says Alonso’s all or nothing at 1B.  Maybe that’s why Topps has him standing there on the card.  He just brought his bat instead of his glove.

Set Completion – 2009 Toppstown

 

Nachos Grande sent a secondary package to our original trade that I received today.  Inside was this Hamilton card which not only the last Toppstown card I need for my set, but also one of my favorites.  I wasn’t going to spend a lot of time on this set, and thanks to Nachos, I don’t have to.

There were a few more Topps Dark cards for my set and this Turkey Red:

Wikipedia tells me that Kinsler once autographed a diaper, a neck brace, a yarmulke, and a kid’s arm (which I assume was still attached). I’m keeping my eyes peeled for the autographed diaper on eBay from here on out.

Thanks again, Nachos!  The rest of your cards should arrive soon.

Topps WBC redemption update

I owe Topps an apology. Earlier, when ranting against the announcement of the first two WBC redemption cards from 2009 Topps, I wondered how I was supposed to know what card I’d get if Topps put no number on the redemption card itself.

Turns out they tell you when you enter the code. Mea culpa, there, Topps. And by checking my pending redemptions, I see I’m getting card #8.  This guy:

Probably the best of the bunch, there. Usually I’m not that lucky. Of course, my Red Hot Rookie Redemption was supposed to arrive days ago and still hasn’t shown up. And I still think promising collectors “rookie rising stars” and giving them folks like Jeter and Ubaldo Jiminez is a bit misleading.

Here’s the checklist announced so far:

1 Lee Jin Young
2 Derek Jeter
3 Gift Ngoepe
4 Ubaldo Jimenez
5 Sidney De Jong
6 Yoennis Cespedes
7 Dae Ho Lee
8 Yu Darvish

Two more to come.

Derek Jeter ain’t no rookie…

JayBee has posted the first two 2009 Topps WBC redemption card winners. Card #1 is Lee Jin Young from Korea while card #2 is Derek Jeter.

Two things.

1) Topps, you didn’t put a card number on the redemption, so how the heck am I supposed to know who I got?

2) The print on the bottom of my WBC redemption card very clearly says “…stay tuned to Topps.com to find out who your World Baseball Classic rookie rising star is.”  Isn’t card #2 Derek Jeter? Since when does he qualify as a “rookie rising star?”

I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to care much for these cards.  Now I know.

*UPDATED*  Young’s played professional baseball in Japan since 2000.  I’m not sure he qualifies either.

2009 Topps HTA Jumbo box review

I’m realizing just now that I promised to post this about a week ago and never got to it.  This is quickly becoming the number one rule of blogging for me:  Don’t make specific time references for anything ever.  Every time I do, it seems I let both myself and you down, and I don’t want to do that.  It’s too hard on both of us.

Funny, though, that my reaction to the box is about the same as my promise to post about it.  I was excited to get it, eager to break it, but once it was done, I kinda forgot about it, even though I still had more to do with it.  Today, with the spare half hour of time, I got some sorting done and even put a package together for mailing.  It was super productive.

One thing I noticed while sorting the cards is there are more damaged cards then I thought.  They fell into four general categories:

1. Printer lines.  Both on the front and on the back
2. Scuff marks.  It’s as if the backs and fronts were treated with sandpaper prior to packing.
3. Lack of foil.
4. Um, well, it looks like a few of them were attacked by a dull hole punch.

Those “hole punch” cards are something else.  I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for it – some machine or drunken disgruntled factory worker, perhaps.  The others are clearly factory problems, and I’ve got some emailing going on with Topps about what they’ll do about them.  More on that later, once I get an answer from their support.

Visual proof Corey Patterson made it on base last year

I think it’s pretty clear from previous posts that I really like this year’s set.  In fact, I’m not sure what else I can say to regular readers to make you want to buy it more.  Cards like Hardy are just the tip of the iceberg, even though the bane of the Reds appears on it, too.  There’s no “iconic” card that we’ll look back on years from now and remember, but there’s plenty of great looking cards that you will enjoy looking at over and over again.

As far as the inserts go, they’re really hit or miss.  Most of the Legends of the Game inserts appear really dark to me.  Others like the Mize look awesome (and I realize now I didn’t pull it from this box, but already had it).  All the ones from my jumbo box had these odd printing lines on the back, so I’ll be sending them in for replacement.

The Turkey Red cards I really like, especially that Lincecum.  It’s my first exposure to the Turkey Reds, so that’s gotta help.  Otherwise, these may be old hat to the rest of you.  This is the one insert set that I know I’ll be trying to complete this year.

The Ring of Honor cards I just don’t get.  I’m not sure why I need an insert card of Tony LaRussa, especially one that looks like comes in Thanksgiving colors.  I was happy to ignore them last year, and I’ll be happy to ignore them again.  Hopefully they’re replaced by something better in Series 2.

ToppsTown?  Well, I only need one more of these.  I may as well try and find it and finish off the set.  From this jumbo box, I got 5 gold ToppsTown cards, which seemed unusually high.  I guess that make me lucky?

I was really hoping for one of the SP parallels for the main set, but came up short.  I believe they fall 1:2 Jumbo boxes, and I got the other one.  I’m still on the fence on these, but I’ll keep watching for them just all the same.

I do like the design for the autos and jersey cards this year.  From what I’ve read, I may be the only one.  I’ve now got jersey cards from both companies for Papelbon.  Yea.

Victorino was offered to me in fantasy baseball last year and is the only player ever to hit a HR, a double, and have two steals in a postseason game according to wikipedia.  I find it odd that someone would research such an obscure stat, but it must be cool for Shane to know he’s done something unique in the World Series.  Now you know, too, and can amaze your friends with your Victorino knowledge.

I’ve never hoped to not pull an insert before, but I got my promised manufactured patch card anyway.  It’s an A for A Waste of Time featuring Ty Cobb.

For some reason on eBay, the “A” seems to carry a premium over the other letters.  I actually emailed Topps about this, wondering if each “A” in GA Peach got it’s own numbered card, or if there were only 50 total “A’s,” which would explain the premium.  Topps says there’s one for each.  I’m not sure how to tell if I got the GA “A” or the “A” from Peach.  I do know I’ve spent too much time on this one.

Overall, it’s what you’d expect from a jumbo hobby box, I guess.  I paid extra for the knowledge that I’d get a full set, and I’ll have one once I send in some of the damaged cards for replacement.  Otherwise, the “hits” I pulled won’t make up for the difference between the Jumbo and the hobby box.  Looking on eBay, it seems you can buy two hobby boxes for the same prices as a Jumbo now.  I’d probably go that way and hope for good collation if I were you.

The box:

Base:  302 out of 330 (91.5%), including 84 duplicates and 53 damaged cards.  (Damaged cards aren’t considered part of the set (yet), but I did pull at least one of each card.)

Gold Parallels(all out of 2009): 10 – Lackey, Barton, Verlander, Ransom, Baker, Sabathia, NL ERA Leaders, Sowers, Sweeny, and Izturis

Black Parallel: 1 – NL Strikeout Leaders (18/58)

Legends of the Game(All had printer’s lines on the back):  10 – Young, Mathewson, Johnson, Sisler, Gehrig, Ott, Robinson, Yaz, Ryan, and Ripken

Ring of Honor: 10 – Rivera, Pinella, K. Mitchell, F-Rod, Larussa, Lidge, Snider, Luis Gonzalez, Carter, and Pettitte

ToppsTown: 5 – Cabrera, Quentin, Berkman, Chipper, and Lincecum

Toppstown Gold: 5 – Sabathia, Ichiro, F-Rod, Soriano, Cabrera

Turkey Reds:  10 – Lincecum, Mauer, Conor Jackson, McCann, Young, Ellsbury, Pence, Hart, Fukudome, McLouth

The following combine to fall 3 per Jumbo box:

• Career Best Auto:  Shane Victorino
• Career Best Jersey:  Jonathan Papelbon
• Manufactured Patch card:  Ty Cobb “A” (12/50)

WBC Redemption:  1

Base set Parallels:  0