Part 2 of this week's purchases has arrived

For $10.50 shipped, the Tony Conigliaro RC from the '64 set is here.  In case you were wondering about Bill Spanswick on the bottom, he only pitched in the majors during the '64 season, going 2-3 with an ERA of 6.89.   Boston's record in the 29 games that Spanswick pitched?   3-26.  Ouch.

I had to look at Tony's stats to see where he hit the 42 doubles in 83 games that is mentioned on the back of the card.  He played for Wellsville in the single A New York Penn League in 1963.  That team also featured another notable Red Sox hitter, George Scott.

The card is in nice shape; off center but the edges and corners are nice and for $10.50 this was an easy addition to the set.

Just 38 cards to go...less than 1 a week to finish by the end of 2016!

thanks for reading, Robert

Now the Topps '64 want list is down to 39

Knowing my propensity to make mistakes when it comes to checklists, I spent some time over the past couple of days going over the '59T and '64T binders.   The '59T binder appears to be in order, so I updated the appropriate blog page up top, and ordered myself a card off of eBay to reduce the want list by 1.

A little rough around the edges, but for $3 and combined shipping, the '59 want list is now one card lighter.  255 cards are in the books, meaning the set is just over 44% complete.  Still a long way to go, and a lot of high $ cards to find on the cheap, but still progress is being made.

Now, the '64T want list was slightly off.  Once I went through the binder and cross-checked all the cards, I realized that I had marked off card #318 (Twins team card) when I didn't have it.  That card was purchased off of eBay on a separate transaction from this one.  The card that I received with the Hitters Foes above is a little more important to knock off of the list...

Easily the priciest of the World Series subset cards, this Koufax I was able to find relatively cheaply.  These 2 cards including shipping set me back almost $14, but it was worth it to knock card #136 off the list.   It had been staring me in the face for so long, I'm glad it's finally in hand.

Now, '64T is down to 39 cards left. 

thanks for reading, Robert

'59 Topps set build #20/572 Faye Throneberry

Older brother of Marv Throneberry who I featured in the last post in this series a couple of months ago.  I do believe that this picture was taken at Griffiths stadium in Washington (I'm sure that someone will correct me if I'm wrong here).  Let's see how Marvelous Marv's big brother fared, shall we?

Card #534:  Faye Throneberry

The front of the card is in fine shape, no pen marks at all.  A bit off center, but it's still good enough for my set. 

Faye spent two years in the Army (53 and 54) and served in Korea.

The back is something else.  The cartoon is great, depicting Faye and his brother Marv.  The centering is off, and it appears that the border is on an angle.  Interesting...

How'd he fare in 1959? The '59 season for Faye was solid, setting multiple career highs in games played (117), hits (82), HRs (10) and RBI's (42).  His .251 average in '59 was also a personal best.

• During one four game stretch from May 22-26, he went 10 for 18 (.556) with a double, triple, homer and 6 RBI's.  
• Hit a grand slam in a 7-6 loss to the KC Athletics on July 27th.  Ned Garver was the "victim". 

Faye's career ended after the '61 season as a member of the Los Angeles Angels.   He would go on to become a dog trainer, winning a national award for training the top bird dog in 1973.

Faye passed away in 1999 at the age of 67.

Thanks for reading, Robert

El Cheapo

I looked at a lot of cards on a couple of websites during the week, but in the end, I wound up only spending just under $12 to have 6 cards shipped to me.  But when those cards knock off 6 more numbers from my '64T want list, it's not so bad.

These 6 leave just 39 cards to finish the set.  The shipping cost for these was 3 bucks, so really I paid just under 9 dollars to get these here, which for the high numbered cards is great. 

With the unused funds from last week available to add to this week's budget, I might be able to grab one of the more expensive cards that I need, or I may just grab a few more of the cheap ones.  We'll just have to see what deals I can find on the web.

Either way, the numbers are getting smaller for this set, which is definitely a good thing.

Thanks for reading, Robert

By the page: Carlos Delgado

I have wondered a few times how Carlos Delgado's career would have turned out if he had stayed a catcher instead of the move to his permanent position at first base.  I'm sure that many Blue Jays fans are happy with the way things turned out for Delgado.  Not having the every day grind of being behind the dish allowed Delgado's bat to shine, and a great career ensued with the Jays, Marlins and Mets.

Delgado is one of the players who seems to have dozens of cards in my Jays monster box, so I decided to dig 9 of them out for your viewing pleasure.

Top row:  Bat over shoulder

Love the look of the early career Top Prospect card from Upper Deck in the center.  Can't say that I ever remember Carlos being that thin.  I also managed to find a couple of cards that feature the rare red hat.

Middle row:  Fielding 

I thought these were three great shots of Delgado showing off his glove at first base.  I put the horizontal card in the center not only because it's horizontal, but it's a great photo of him reaching for a grounder.  Ultra and Stadium club usually feature some great photos, and these 3 are no different.

Bottom row:  Hitting

Some more great photos here, especially the outer cards that both feature the baseball in the shot.  I almost put this row in the center, but I thought that the fielding cards looked much better. 

I think this might be one of the best pages that I've put together.  I really like the look of the photos, and the sets that are featured on the page are some of the best that have been produced over the years.

Thanks for reading, Robert

A gentle push

Last night I went through some of the cards that Kerry from the Cards on Cards blog sent me as part of our trade.  Since I did the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown, these 12 cards didn't make it to the post.  But they're certainly post worthy...

The Price and Revere cards up top will be the only flagship cards featuring them in Blue Jays uniforms.  I hoped that the Jays might pull off a minor miracle and sign Price, but reality struck because I knew that the lefty would command top dollar, which the Jays weren't willing to pay with an already bloated payroll.  The Ryan Tepera card just proved that I didn't watch enough Jays baseball during the season, as I don't remember him at all.

The hitters in this scan are big pieces of next year's Jays team, while the pitchers will not be part of the Jays squad in 2016.   LaTroy Hawkins has retired, while Lowe has signed a free agent deal with the Tigers. 

Love the horizontal cards that came in the envelope.   Great action shot of Ezequiel Cabrera making a diving catch.  The old time rookie cards featuring players from multiple teams was always cool, and the Garcia/Copeland card is no exception for me.  The Heart of the Order card reminds me of the combo cards from '59 Topps such as this one...

Yes, the 2015 card is a little more action oriented, but you get the idea.  Anyhow, what was great about getting the '15 Update cards is the simple fact that I didn't have Jays from the set.   I hadn't even bought a pack. 

But now with these cards in hand, I made the effort to update the 2015 Topps Blue Jays want list to include both series 2 and the remaining cards I need to finish off update.   The sparkle and sabermetric variations included (ugh).  Gentle push needed, and received.

Thanks for reading, Robert

It's not always about the latest and greatest

I get it.  Over the years you've looked at all kinds of cards on the blogs; just about seen everything there is to see.  So when somebody writes a post featuring cards from the newest or prettiest looking set to come out, people flock to it.

I'm a little different.   I like posting about older cards, especially when the Blue Jays are the focus.  This post will reflect that statement, as I received today a very thick bubble mailer form Kerry at the Cards on Cards blog.  I had offered up a stack of 2015 A&G to Kerry to help with his want list, and he quickly accepted, letting me know that he would gather together an envelope filled with Blue Jays goodness for me over time.

With about 70 cards hitting various want lists, I decided to do an old fashioned (well for me anyway) 5-4-3-2-1 post.

5 2004 SP Prospects

Raise your hand Jays fans if you heard of any of these guys.   OK put your hand down now, 'cause you're lying.   Great looking cards, but like many prospect sets, it featured a bunch of guys (at least these 5) that were longshots to make it at best.

4 O-Pee-Chee World Series Champions cards

Now I know you've heard of these 4 guys.  I almost made the mistake of identifying these as 4 1993 cards, until I looked again and saw that the Jimmy Key card features the 1992 WS logo.

3 Upper Deck Goudey cards

I know what you're saying, why are you showing Vernon Wells doubles?  One of them is the red back, one is the regular.  Needed them all...

2 from 2003 Upper Deck Game Face

Scanned side by side, the cards look pretty good together.  This may be the 2nd time I've featured cards from this set on the blog, but I do like this set.  It's a different idea featuring head shots, something that I don't think lasted as a concept.


1 Gypsy Queen Jose Bautista variation

I had to dig a little to make sure that this was actually the final card I needed for the 2012 Gypsy Queen Blue Jays team set.  Sure enough, this is the Jose Bautista hitting variation card that I've needed for quite a while.  Love this card, it's a great shot of Bautista with that leg kick, shades on, getting ready to mash another pitch into the stands.

To be honest, I really could have gone on and on about the great envelope that Kerry sent.  There are a few other cards in the envelope that are going to get their own post.  There were even some Thome and Lawrie cards that need to be reviewed to see if they can be removed from their respective checklists.

Kerry, thank you for the cards, they are greatly appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Filling these pages is especially gratifying

After writing last nights post, I promptly put the 3 cards from the '64 Topps set that I showed into the appropriate binder.  While doing that, it dawned on me:  "these pages look so much better filled with cards".

Yes, that statement seems kind of redundant because any 9 pocket page looks a helluva lot better with cards than empty.  Let me explain my thought process here.  I started this set quite a long time ago, and put the cards into binder pages at least a couple of years back.  I remember vividly that the lower # pages had quite a few cards, while the higher number pages had a lot empty spaces because there was only 1 or 2 cards in them.

One of the 3 cards that went into pages on Saturday night completed one of the aforementioned high # pages, with cards 460-468 being highlighted here...

The first thing that jumps out?  Why the two Hall of Fame pitchers in the corners.  Maybe one day I'll take a look and see if any of the other pages have a couple of legends such as Gibson and Perry on them.   There's a couple of cards that could use upgrades (Thomas, Leppert), but for a semi high number page I'm quite happy with how it looks. 

I'm really looking forward to showing off all the pages once the set is completed, but with as many pricey cards as I still have to purchase, that's still a little ways down the road.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Quanity plus a bit of quality with last week's budget

I spent just over $32 last week on my collection, which netted me a grand total of 53 cards. 

First, my quest to finish the '64 Topps set came a trio of cards closer to completion with these three high number cards...

The cards ate exactly half of the $32 I spent, but they are in pretty good shape.   They also bring the want list down to 45 cards, still a little bit better than 1 per week until the end of the year.  This week's purchase on eBay will knock that number down even further.

The other two purchases were 25 card lots of Jim Thome and Joe Sakic from the Sportlots site.  I haven't received the Thome cards as of yet, but the Sakic cards arrived on Thursday.  I was quite impressed with how the cards were packed by the seller (ID: criswest in case you were wondering).  You never know what you'll get from some sellers, but in this case, I was so impressed that I resolved to not only use him again, but to give him a mention on the blog.

I decided to show off just 3 of the cards that I picked up for Sakic because I've decided to start showing off the cards from my Sakic, Thome and Lawrie PCs one at a time on another blog (yeah I know).

The funniest thing in the envelope was something I hadn't seen in over 20 years.  Some sellers use old common cards as packing, but criswest used these as filler.

Fellow hockey card collectors who bought any of the initial 90-91 Pro Set packs will remember these.  10c discount cards for NHL licensed merchandise.  I threw a lot of these away over the years, but seeing them again actually gave me quite a chuckle.   Definitely a smart idea from an experienced seller.

Even after 4+ years of the blog, I'm still trying to be budget conscious.  Being 1 or 2 bucks over one week just means that I'll try to stay that much below the next week.  What I was most happy about for last week's purchases is that I didn't blow the whole budget on just one piece of the collection.   Gaining cards for both the 64 Topps set and my PCs keeps everything fresh.  This is something that I'd like to continue going forward.

We'll see how that goes...

Thanks for reading, Robert

By the page--1994 Pinnacle

While going through the large box of Blue Jays last Sunday, this group of cards kind of jumped out at me.  Looking at the three rows, it was pretty easy to divide up the cards to put into groups of three.

Top row:  the hitters

The Borders card is fantastic, the catchers mask flying one way and his helmet flying in the other direction.  The Sprague card is the only horizontal card on the page; it's tipped that way in order to have the backs line up.  The Alomar is a great shot of him catching a throw at Yankee Stadium.

Middle row:  the pitchers

The cowboy hat on Dave Stewart is a fantastic card in my opinion.  We'll see how his managerial skills are now that he's the full time GM in Arizona.

Bottom row:  the rookies

Rob Butler was really hyped as a prospect in Toronto because it is his hometown.  6 seasons and 218 ABs later, the dream was over.  Alex Gonzalez on the right was one of the few players that can say he played for both the Blue Jays and the Expos.  If you need me to describe how Carlos Delgado did as a Blue Jay, you'll have to wait for the next  by the page post...

To be honest, I prefer the black bordered Pinnacle from a couple years prior.  Never the less, this was an easy page to put together and features a good cross section of Jays players from the 90's.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Why can't more jersey cards be this cheap?

My player PCs for the most part contain base cards, parallels and some serial #'d cards.  I really haven't spent a lot of my collecting time or budget chasing jersey or autograph cards of the guys I collect.

I happened to be searching through COMC a few weeks back for some cards for my PCs, and while searching through the Joe Sakic cards, I happened upon a couple of jersey cards from the 2014-15 Upper Deck release really cheap.

For $2.50, I landed this jersey card from series 1...

Plain white swatch, yes, but for this cheap, it was an easy add to my collection.

Now this next jersey card came from series 2 from last year, and cost me just 8 cents more than the first one...

Upper Deck certifies this jersey swatch as being used in an official Team Canada game.   The picture of the jersey on the front is what makes the card for me.  I am a big fan of the design of these particular Team Canada jerseys; I'd actually love to have one for myself to wear someday.

These two cards cost me $5.08, which for me wasn't heartbreaking at all.  Yes, they both are plain white swatches, but I honestly didn't care, because I was able to add two nice pieces to my Joe Sakic PC on the cheap.  Which in the end for this semi-budget conscious collector is the most important thing.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Bleeding Blue & White

I received an unexpected Christmas card in the mail today.  It took the long way here because it was sent to my old address by the curator of the Bleedin' Brown & Gold blog, Duff.

Duff knows my love of anything Blue Jay related, and this is a welcome addition to the collection.

Serial #'d 369/499

I hadn't heard of Juan Meza before, so the first thing I did was take a look at the back of his card.

Born: 2/4/98 in Venezuela.   Born in 1998!  He's not even old enough to vote yet, and here he is on a certified autograph baseball card.

It had been quite a while since I had updated the Blue Jays hits page, since last June as a matter of fact, so this was a welcome sight.

Thank you very much Duff, my Christmas gift is very much appreciated!

thanks for reading, Robert

By the page--Jose Bautista

Finally dug out the monster box of Blue Jays cards, which means it's time to start getting the cards into pages and putting them away.   The only thing that's missing from this page is the bat flip....

Top row:  Parallels

Wish I had a '13 Heritage Bautista Chrome parallel to finish the row.  The Wal Mart parallel kind of pales in comparison to the Chrome cards, but the blue glove adds a bit more color to the top row.

Middle row:  A&G with a bit of Turkey (red)

3 cards, 3 photos featuring Joey Bats with his bat.  I guess hitting all those HRs will do that to your reputation.

Bottom row:  Some more chrome with a Panini

I thought about putting the Finest card in the top row with the Heritage cards, but in the end I thought the Bowman Chrome card should have a mate on the bottom.

Looking at the page, the one card that I notice right away is the Finest in the lower left corner.  Showing off Bautista's leg kick is something that isn't seen too often on cards, so I think this is cool. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

Card show spoils

Didn't spend a whole lot on cards at the monthly show this time around.   Just 55 dollars, 20 of which went on the 3 1964 Topps high number cards you see above.  These 3 cards bring the total remaining down to 48, which now that I think about it means that I could realistically buy 1 card a week and be finished by the end of November.

I was able to put a small dent into my '59 Topps set as well, finding 15 more cards at the show that were affordable.  10 of these 15 were only $1 apiece, a reasonable price for '59 commons.  This set is quickly approaching the halfway mark; with any luck I'll be at that point after a couple of more shows.

Keeping up with the finding hockey in the least likeliest place theme, I have a couple of more Leafs cards to show off.  Well, the first one is actually pictured as a  Leafs player...Tim Horton

This 69-70 OPC #182 card was found for a paltry $2.50.  I wondered why I got it so cheap until I realized that there was some pen markings on the back, but it doesn't matter to me because this card is a great addition to my Leafs collection. 

One of the greatest Leafs of the early 90's was Doug Gilmour, and finding his RC for just $2.50 was another great purchase.  Even if I don't put together the 84-85 OPC set one day, this will be a nice addition to my collection.

I also picked up a trio of cards to start some envelopes for some other bloggers.   Hopefully this will be the start of getting more envelopes to the blogosphere during 2016. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

It's 2016--a time to reflect and a time to look forward

It's been over 3 weeks since I've written anything card related.   Damn.

I've been so busy I've scarcely had time to acknowledge cards that have come into my possession, like these 2 from Jim, AKA Mr. Haverkamp.   Jim, thank you so much, and I hope that your cards were received and all is well.

I also got a early Christmas present from Jeff at 2x3 heroes; an envelope stuffed with a bunch of A&G needs from this years set.   It took a while to get to me because it was sent to the old address, but my wife made sure that they arrived here safe and sound.  Jeff, thank you very much for that surprise envelope, it was appreciated!!

A.J. from the Lost Collector blog sent me a PWE of 9 Blue Jays cards a few weeks back.  I did acknowledge him on Twitter, but I felt it was also appropriate to show off the main reason he sent the envelope...

Nice!!  This Roberto Osuna refractor, #'d 010/566 is a very nice addition to the Jays collection.  Thank you AJ!

Another surprise envelope that made its way down to south Florida was from one of my favorite trading partners, Max from the Starting Nine blog.   Max was kind enough to send me a nice block of Blue Jays cards, along with a Christmas card for the season.  Great stuff, thank you Max!!

Now, as far as 2016 goes.  Besides buying a house and getting settled into a new routine, there are a couple of card related "goals" that I'd like to achieve.

1.  I'd like to get more envelopes in the mail.  This might take a bit of work, but getting cards out to collectors is something that I enjoy.   I only sent out 26 envelopes in 2015, that number definitely needs to at least double this year.

2.  Finish off a couple of vintage sets.  1973 Topps is really close.  1964 Topps is attainable, with some work. If I get these 2 done early enough in the year, '59 Topps will get a really big push.  Card shows and eBay/COMC purchases early in 2016 will attempt to focus on this.

3.  Player PC 1 of 1's.  2016 will also see more attention paid to my Sakic, Thome and Lawrie PCs.  So much so that I'll be on the lookout for "white whale" cards of each of them.  If I can add one super premium card to each of these PC's, I'll be happy.

4.  Get back into a regular writing rhythm.  This will be the toughest of them all.  108 posts during 2015 isn't enough, in my opinion.  It's going to be tough.   Yes, life got in the way somewhat over the final 5 months of last year, but I have to sit down and figure out if I really want to keep this going (which I want), or if my full time blogging days are over.  My collecting habit is not going to end any time soon, so why should I stop writing?  (Guess I just answered my own question..lol)

5.  Try and get rid of some of the excess.  Moving this year showed me that I have too much excess that needs to be moved.  I have a lot of partial sets from over the years that need to be sold, traded or donated.  Maybe figuring out how to start moving cards on COMC will be the way to go.  Stay tuned for more on that.

6.  Read, read and re-read.  It's time to start reading more blogs.  There are a lot of great blog writers out there that I've fallen behind with.  Getting caught up with them is something that I really need to do.

7.  Clean up the blog a little.  It could definitely use some fine tuning, because to me it's starting to look like a train wreck.

To everyone out there, please have a happy, healthy and safe 2016.  Be sure to enjoy the next 366 days, and keep on collecting!!

Thanks for reading, Robert