The wise one whittled away at my want lists

I was fortunate enough to catch a tweet earlier in the week from Greg at the Night Owl Cards blog, offering up some of his massive stack of Dodgers doubles.  I inquired about the availability of the 78-80 Topps portion of the doubles box, and during our twitter dialogue he informed me that an envelope was headed my way.

That envelope arrived last Thursday, and all the cards hit the Blue Jays want list, except for one solitary Dodger which knocked another number off the SNI list.

Let's take a look, shall we?

One of the earliest sets that I completed while writing this blog is the 2006 Topps set.  This was in large part due to a large donation from Greg.  Now, he finishes off the Blue Jays 2006 team set with these two cards:

On the back of Burnett's card, Topps mentioned that A.J. had the highest average fastball in MLB during 2005.  The 95.6 average is quite impressive, although I'm not too sure that I can remember the 104mph pitch that the back of the card claims he threw during that season.   I'm sure we would have heard more about it over the years with all the flame throwers that dominate the closer position now...

Greg sent a small sample of Panini needs my way.  It's kind of disappointing that Panini isn't able to secure a MLB license, because cards like the Hometown Heroes Shawn Green on the right would have been so much better with the Jays logo. 

Staying with the modern issues, this quintet of recent releases were all knocked off the want list.   The A&G Melky Cabrera is one of the 2 Blue Jay SPs.  The 2 opening day cards cut that list in half.  Drew Hutchison has become a part of the Jays rotation this year, and has pitched OK so far with a 7-9 record and a 4.44 ERA.   The Jays need to let him hit more, he's 2 for 3 so far this season!

Knock one more card of the serial insanity set.   Jon Garland is serial #'d 715, and is the 33rd Dodger card out of 50 for the set.  Just 355 more serial #'s to go.

Greg's note inside the envelope said there was a reminder of the good ol' days.  Sure enough these three 1992 Donruss cards did just that.   Greg Myers was actually traded during the 1992 season, right before the July 31st trade deadline in a deal that saw Mark Eichhorn return to the Jays.  Both Duane Ward and Mike Timlin were integral parts of the teams that won the '92 and '93 World Series.

Speaking of the 1992 season, included in the package was something I hadn't seen in a very long time.

A pocket schedule from the '92 season, in perfect condition! 

The one thing I got a kick out of when I read it was the note on the middle panel.   All games on CJCL Radio 1430.  With the Blue Jays having success in the previous seasons leading up to 1992, CJCL in Toronto realized there was a big opportunity to increase its listener base, and thus became Canada's first all sports radio channel.   The station eventually migrated to AM 590, where it sits today as "The Fan 590", which I still listen to for Leafs broadcasts, and anytime I'm able to head home for visits with family and friends.

All in all, a great package, and very much appreciated.  Thank you Greg!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Another handful off the list

Still doing a reasonable job keeping up with the incoming Blue Jays cards.  The 2014 issues are arriving faster than I ever could have imagined, and with new releasing seemingly happening on a weekly basis, I have to be sure to keep the Jays want list up to date.

Thanks to these 3 cards, I already have 10 of the 2014 Heritage Blue Jays team set in hand.

Say cheese Munenori!

Gotta love the Munenori Kawasaki card.  I'll be hard pressed to find a card that I'll enjoy more than his in any of the 2014 releases.  His offensive stats weren't the greatest, but his hustle and personality won him a lot of fans in Toronto last year (myself included).  We'll see if he makes it back to the major league roster again in 2014.

This next card is my first 2014 Opening Day card, and it's a beauty.

get a grip

The blue parallels from Opening Day have always been a favorite of mine, and the red Canada Day uniform on R.A. Dickey just stands right out.   Great card!!  Speaking of 2014 Opening Day, my want list is now up, and I was a bit surprised that there were only 4 Jays cards in the set.  With only 220 cards in the set, I know Topps is kind of limited, but 220 cards divided by 30 teams would mean 7 cards per club, right? 

I guess logic doesn't always win out.   That's why I don't make the big bucks folks....

The last card that I'll show off tonight is a reverse of the R.A. card...but it's not him.

Thank you again Pat, great PWE!!

Red border along with the  blue uniform top of Kevin Pillar is featured on the Target red border card you see here.  This is the 1st Target red parallel I've received, and I don't know if it's just me, but there just doesn't seem to be as many flagship cards flying around.   I haven't seen a lot of the big box store parallels on the blogs at all, and I wonder if that's because people are tired of them already. 

Maybe Topps needs to reinvent the wheel, come up with something that isn't quite so square?

Pat and Jason, thank you for the cards, they are tremendous!!  Always appreciated...

thanks for reading, Robert

Yes, I'm 2 days late. Maybe I'm 3 days late. Or is it 11 days late?

Am I mistaken, or at one time did opening day start in Cincinnati?   So many things change that I can never keep up with it all.

Speaking of keeping up with everything, I am behind on some trades.  I've been fortunate lately to have received several emails from people who have been reading my dose of insanity here via a link on the trading card database.  One of those great readers is Jason W., who sent me a healthy dose of serial numbered cards, along with some other goodies.

Two of the cards that came by were from the 2014 Topps Opening Day release.  You know, the evil blue parallels that would be very tempting to chase if I didn't have 654 different collections already on my plate.

Not only are these the first two cards from this years OD to grace our presence, but each of the players featured on these cards make their first appearance in the SNI set.

First, let's meet Mr. Craig Kimbrel

Serial number 1340

I believe that this card needed to be horizontal in order to fit all of Kimbrel in.  Even Topps lists opening day as March 30th, so maybe the series in Australia didn't actually take place?   Kimbrel's card represents the 39th out of 50 for the Braves.

It's rookie cup time!!  How about Jedd Gyorko. 

Serial number 1024

See, cards like this would look great with the camo parallel that Topps had.  The camo uni and camo border would blend in together so well that the card may not even end up existing at all.

Gyorko's card is the 42nd out of 50 for the Friars.

There's plenty more from Jason to show, but I'll save those after I make sure that my insanity list is correct....ugh.

thanks for reading, Robert