Wave 2.2 - Winter Sports

The Third Wave arrived today - my first order from Baseball Card Store in Canada. I'd been hoping for a CardBarrel type website that sells cards for all sports - and this could be it. 

But before I dive into that shipment there's plenty left from the Second Wave - my 400+ card trade with TCDB user Randylaw. This post will focus on winter sports because it frickin' snowed last weekend. (It's 83F in Jersey today.)

Ladies first:

I've really been slacking on adding to my Women on Cards binder. This is my first Lindsey Vonn card.

Erin Hamlin was selected as the flag bearer for the U.S. delegation at the 2018 Winter games - which prompted speed skater Shani Davis to have a Twitter temper tantrum. 

A pair of fantastic figure skaters. Gracie Gold has struggled with an eating disorder in recent years but she's making a comeback and doing well on and off the ice.

As for that other ice sport..

It's getting tough to find Devils cards I don't have from 1990 to about 2008. I actually had the Sean Burke already. Oh well.

I have no plans to build the 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee (or Topps) set but I don't mind picking up HOFers like Yzerman and near-HOFers like Nicholls and Barrasso. The airbrushed Randy Cunneyworth is pretty weak though. 

Oh Ca-na-da! Darin Madeley counts as a New Haven Senator. Guy Carbonneau is a Hall of Famer; Theo Fleury is not. (It pays to be Montreal's captain.)

More from the junk wax era - though Bowman doesn't count as "junk". My LCS overpriced these singles back in the day so I had very few at the time. Nothing but HOFers and borderline HOFers here. On that note:

SPx and SPa including a pair of P.K. I'm not much of a Jonathan Quick fan but he is a CT guy, born and raised in Milford (the town next to mine and home to the card shows I attend when I visit my mom.) Is Marc-Andre Fleury a Hall of Famer? I kind of think he is, but goalies are tough to judge. Curtis Joseph and Tom Barrasso are still waiting for the call..

..and so is Mike Richter, though his career was cut short by injury. I really miss Topps hockey cards; it's a little surprising to me that I didn't collect more Heritage hockey.

This trade reminded me of just how great those sets were. (I also miss the Thrashers.)

Basketball isn't considered a winter sport - but the NBA season is played in winter so I'll count it for this post.

I still have dozens of duplicates from my 1992-93 Fleer Ultra box, and I was able to swap a bunch of them to Randy for some 1993-94 needs. This stack of 40 singles brings my set build to about 85% completion. 

1991-92 Skybox was one of my favorites as a kid. The vibrant colors were a huge improvement over the initial Skybox set. I have no plans to build the set but it's easy to add these singles to any trade.

Some popular '90s Nets.. and Tate George, the first UConn star of the Jim Calhoun era. Aguirre and Potapenko were substitutes for the 16 cards Randy didn't have. 

Chrome cards are another thing I look for in dime boxes and trades. 

Season Ticket stars. I always overcompensate when I'm short on a star player such as Nikola Jokic. I'll have to re-calibrate and see what other stars I'm missing. (As soon as I'm done with scanning the new cards coming in I'll explore this further.)


I'm not sure how I'll scan and discuss the rest of the cards I received in this trade with Randylaw. Perhaps I'll complete the trilogy with a baseball and football post, or perhaps I'll mix them in with cards from the Third Wave. Either way, I'm getting closer to my goal of 100,000.


Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!



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The Second Wave

The second wave has arrived...

I made a large trade with TCDB user Randylaw. His wantlist contained over 400 cards on my tradelist and I was happy to offload a full box of my duplicates in one shot. I shipped his cards last week and received mine sometime overnight or very early this morning (the box was sitting on my porch when I left for work at 8:45 a.m.)

I picked up plenty of stars and Hall of Famers. 

 

Red Sox, Royals, and Redbirds. The Mike Greenwell glossy at the top left is creased :/

Relievers. I tried to balance out the list of cards I requested with some "junk wax" from sets such as 1989 Score.

The Tigers were well-represented.

About half the cards I received were baseball. I got a nice chunk of singles from the other major sports, too.

The 1978 Topps Greg Pruitt was part of a replacement lot as Randy no longer had 16 of the cards I requested.

 

Many of the cards Randy sent were pack-fresh, including these gems. One of my collecting goals as a kid was to own a Jim McMahon Starting Lineup figure with the Chargers. However Kenner faked me out; McMahon was listed on the 1989 checklist as a Charger but he was still a Bear when the figure was produced.

These basketball singles pair nicely with the Secret Santa gift I received from Mark Hoyle.

More Hall of Famers here, including a Charles Barkley Fleer sticker.

A new set build perhaps?

These are just some of the cards in The Second Wave. There's plenty more up ahead. Brace yourselves ;-)

Thanks for reading!



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Post 360

I spent the past week compiling a checklist for my All-Time teams Frankenset. It has been completed, updated, and posted to the pages tab. You can click here for the list. 

Here are some of the newest candidates for the Frankenset, courtesy of 7th Inning Stretch. I call this "Wave One." (Wave two is a trade with TCDB user Randylaw; wave three is my order from baseballcardstore.ca.)

New York aces Tom Seaver and Whitey Ford were among the few cards in this order that cost more than fifty cents. This 2003 Topps Retired Seaver single was $0.64 while the Whitey Ford from 2005 set me back just $0.97 - not bad for a Gold Parallel #d/500.

I had exactly one Don Drysdale card in my collection - and it's graded - so why not add one where he's sporting a Brooklyn cap? 1991 Topps Archives '53 won't help my cause as much as I had expected, though this single enables me to cross Clem Labine off my list. All-Time Fan Favorites singles will be scattered all over the Frankenset and Pristine is a personal favorite. This pair of Ron Cey cards gives me an idea... 

Would anyone be interested in a Frankenset Sunday feature where I post multiple cards of one player and you can vote for which one to include in the Frankenset binder? It would be almost exactly like Nick's Dime Box bracket.

Here are some sets you'll see in the binder pages - Pacific Legends, Conlon Collection (including a colorized Red Faber that I found for 50 cents) and SP Legendary Cuts. Hank Greenberg was completely absent from my collection before this order.
 

I've now got two Greenberg cards, and a third one on the way. The 1964 Topps Jim Landis is the oldest card in this order by far and one of the most expensive at $0.84.

As you can see, Quiz is a Tiffany parallel and Landis has had his back scratched.

I went a little crazy on 2004 UD Timeless Teams singles. Bill Russell and Ray Knight aren't even part of this project but I tossed them in the cart anyhow.

This trio of O's will help. I also picked up a 1963 Topps Oriole on COMC but who knows when I'll be able to have it shipped to me.

Some Red Sox for my Boston binder. The '84 Allenson is another Tiffany single. 

I really like these 1999 Fleer/SI Greats of the Game cards. 2000 Fleer Greats was more "high-end" because of the autographs (which I love) but the base cards are bland compared to these.

Here are the three Billy Williams cards I bought - which somehow earned me a free rookie card of the Cubs legend. Williams was another HOFer that wasn't in my collection. My next project will be to make a list of the top five baseball greats I'm still missing.

If I'm going to add cards of every all-time great I'll need to rely on reprints such as these. My aunt told me about Monty Stratton when I was a kid and I completely forgot about him until seeing this card. The Babe Ruth Dodgers card ($2.61) and the Addie Joss Turkey Red at the top left ($2) were the only cards in this order that cost more than a dollar.

The rest of the baseball legends including my first ungraded George Sisler single and the return of a Billy Herman card that was in my collection many years ago. 

Not all of the cards from 7th Inning Stretch were for my All-Time Teams project. This Pete Bauer was somehow missing from the 2003 Ravens team set I bought at the ballpark. Gary Sanchez brings my 2018 Stadium Club set build down to 21 needs. (A John Smoltz single is supposedly headed my way..)

When I got back into collecting basketball cards the late '80s Fleer sets appealed to me more than ever. I'm dreading any attempt at completing 1988-89 or 1989-90 (thanks, MJ) but I'm still picking up cheap singles when I can.

You'll see more of these when Wave Two hits. Also, how is Tom Chambers not a Hall of Famer? I nearly wrote a blog post about his Springfield-worthy career. Maybe someday.

We often discuss which players will or should be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. I'd like to hear from basketball (or football or hockey) fans who likely know more than I would about Hall-worthy players. Do you think Tom Chambers belongs in the Hall? How about Chris Webber? Tim Hardaway? Who else is missing?

For the football and hockey fans - are there players who you feel have waited far too long for the call to Canton or Toronto? Let me know in comments.

Thanks for reading!


 
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Free Cards from Brian and Jim (plus bonus content)

I keep trying to resist the siren song of the Free Stuff posts, and I keep giving in to temptation. Even after I declared that I would no longer claim cards.. I kept on claiming cards. Gah I really need to stop!

I've claimed freebies from Jon, Rod, Julie, and Brian - and sent something to each of them recently*. However I'm going to owe Julie again, and I didn't send nearly enough to Brian. 

*also I claimed cards from Kevin but I'll settle up with him after the Big Fun Game is complete.


This Highly Subjective batch of cards arrived today. I started to worry when I saw the polybag wrapper...

..but one small hole in the side of the envelope didn't affect any of the cards inside - including the Jackie Robinson at the top of this post. 

Some Red Sox needs and a Nieds for my Devils binder. Hockey Kazi hoards all the hockey Brian offers up, but I was able to snag a pair of Allure singles. They are exactly as nice as I was expecting - very similar to OPC Platinum or Chrome.

On that note, I claimed this Brian Anderson auto because I love 2018 Topps/OD/Chrome, and because our biggest client at the office is a guy named Brian Anderson. I didn't think anyone else would be clamoring for a Marlins card anyhow.

As if that's not enough Brian sent some bonus Devils since I was openly poking around for some current cards:

Woo-hoo Hughes! I've had his Allure RC on my COMC watch list for a while, and haven't pulled the trigger yet. But! This is the short-printed Jack Hughes RC, which is sold out on COMC! Brian, I cannot thank you enough for these great cards! My next ten Twins hits are going to you ;)

This next batch of freebies did not come from a blogger. If you shop on the Beckett Marketplace I highly recommend you order from Jim at 7th Inning Stretch. In addition to offering Free Shipping on any order over $25 Jim offers 15-20% discounts off any order over $20 -- and on top of that he tucks in some extra cards. The first time I bought from his store I thought I got the wrong order; there were so many extra hockey singles.

Perhaps that's his calling card as this order included a similar helping of early 90's stars and an IP auto (this one is Patrick Lalime, I got Petr Nedved last time.)

Much of my order was baseball (which you'll see in my next post) and so he tossed in a couple Carl Yastrzemski cards as well. Oh, and this:

That is a well-loved (but not creased) rookie card of Hall of Famer Billy Williams. For free.

I did not place a big, expensive order (it was under $40) though I did order three Williams cards because the only card I had of his was a 2017 Topps Heritage insert. Can't use that in my All-Time Teams binder.

I sent Jim an e-mail thanking him for this card and he explained that he had it sitting on his desk and threw it in based on my order (of three Billy Will cards.) Hopefully I can send some more business his way as a thank-you.


As for that All-Time Teams tournament.. the Yankees won. Shocker, I know. But kudos to Nachos Grande's Reds for pushing the series to seven games. 


Are any of you guys (or ladies) a fan of actress Saorise Ronan?

She's quite talented and lovely in an understated sort of way. And I adore her Irish accent.

If I ever met her I would ask her to say the name and position of one of my favorite baseball players. And I imagine it would sound like this:

Thot's Rah-fee Day-vurs, thard base-min o' the Bah-stin Rayd Sooks 

Honestly I would be happy to hear Sair-sha pronounce literally anything. 


Here's one more thing I haven't been able to work into any other post. I was going through some scan folders when I came across a card that I don't own, but saved it because it looked so... presidential:

He might be a Ranger, but he's a leader and a winner. #Leetch2020.


Thanks for reading!


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The All-Time Teams Tournament .. Presented by DraftKings?!?

I announced my All-Time Teams concept in August, began posting rosters in September, and finished it in March. I'm not sure when MLB.com threw together their "Dream Bracket" but I'd have to assume it was after the Coronavirus Pandemic* shut down Spring Training. I doubt that this would exist if there were real games to be played and discussed. 

Since it does exist, I figured it would be a close approximation of how my All-Time Teams tournament would play out if the rosters were run through a simulator.



Looks like MLB.com saved me the trouble. Let's see what they came up with....

Well, the rosters are pretty close - except they only have four true relievers per team (can't blame them there) and their qualifications are far more lax. In fact, the MLB.com rosters have players representing multiple teams.

*I capitalized Coronavirus Pandemic because, as deadly and awful as it has been, I still think it would be a great name for a rock band. Picture this on a flyer: My Chemical Romance with special guest Coronavirus Pandemic. I'd go see that show.

There are 32 teams, including the Negro League Stars. That's good. The 32nd team isn't a "best of the rest" collection like my Barnstormers, but a team of young stars. Hmm.

25 & UNDER STARS
Pitchers: Jack Flaherty, Mike Soroka, Walker Buehler, Shane Bieber, Lucas Giolito, German Márquez, Chris Paddack, Shohei Ohtani, Roberto Osuna, Julio Urías, Jordan Hicks
Starters:
C: Will Smith
1B: Pete Alonso
2B: Ozzie Albies
3B: Rafael Devers
SS: Carlos Correa
LF: Juan Soto
CF: Ronald Acuña Jr.
RF: Cody Bellinger
DH: Yordan Alvarez
Bench: Victor Robles, Gleyber Torres, Yoán Moncada, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Adley Rutschman

Whoa, whoa, whoa.. Adley Rutschman hasn't played a game above A-ball. Pump the brakes, please.

Also, some of these guys are on their team's 'dream' roster, too. I could quibble with who the experts picked that I didn't - and vice versa - but it's not a big deal to me. Perhaps I'll bookmark it and compare on my own some time.

The major issue I have with their tournament (besides repeating players) is the results.

When I saw that the Yankees and Reds were in the championship I laughed. The Reds?!?

No disrespect to the Big Red Machine - or any Reds fan that might be reading this but come on. Who's pitching for this 'dream' team? Oh right, they can share Tom Seaver with the Mets. Still.. how on Earth did they get past the Dodgers, Giants, and Cardinals? Let's take a look at the tournament results and find out:

The top left of the bracket looks okay. I would have liked to see that Indians-Negro League Stars series. 

At the center-left we have one completely bogus result: the Twins would not lose to Toronto. MLB.com gave Minny Joe Cronin and Frank Viola, moved Killebrew to third, and benched Gary Gaetti for Bob Allison. That's better than the roster I had. Toronto adds Josh Donaldson and Joe Carter, with Devon White starting in center, but the pitching is nearly unchanged from my Blue Jays roster.

I can accept the Red Sox losing to the Yankees in the ALCS. I cannot accept the White Sox beating the A's or the Astros (who probably should have lost to the Orioles) beating the Tigers.

The National League side is even worse. Again, the top is fine but right in the center there's a huge error: The Marlins over the Braves?!? In five games?!?!? You know the Braves have Hank Aaron, right?

If you ask me, OOTP stands for Out Of Toilet Paper, because that's a load of crap.

Moving on to the bottom of the bracket.. The Brewers beat the Giants?!?  Go home, simulator. You're drunk.

For the record, if you asked me who would face the Yankees in the championship I'd say probably the Giants. They have four 500-home run hitters, four Hall of Fame pitchers, and no real weakness anywhere except maybe shortstop. But MLB.com has Bill Terry sitting on the bench, Willie McCovey at first, and Will Clark at DH (at least switch the two.) They scrapped the old timey Giants I had in favor of Rich Aurillia and Pablo Sandoval. Even if they kicked Barry Bonds to the curb the 'dream' Giants should still have advanced past the Brewers.

And then there's the NLCS. The Reds' lineup is legit, but I think the Dodgers would win even if Cincy has Seaver. Koufax, Kershaw, Drysdale, Sutton... plus MLB.com gave L.A. Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela. They have Gary Sheffield instead of Zack Wheat, and Mike Piazza on the bench. Again, no disrespect to the Reds but I don't see how they could beat the 'dream' Dodgers. 

Anyway, the championship is supposed to be simulated today and tomorrow at 3pm if you're interested. 

I will not be watching. Mostly because I'll be at work, but also because.. tell 'em, Nancy:

Thanks for reading!



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