Even when he's gone, he's here

Two weeks ago, I received an email totally out of the blue.   Greetings! was the subject line, the sender was a familiar one.  Basically the subject matter consisted of "hey Robert, is this still your address?", and I have some cards to send you.

This seems to be the norm lately, as you saw the night before last in my post about the '75 Topps cards that Ryan sent me. 

Well, there were no Crinkly Wrappers in this box, but "retired" blogger Ted sent me an amazing box of Blue Jays.  This was no small box kids...it was a 500 count box.

I am never going to catch up with all these Jays cards....

I could easily have pulled 50 cards from this box and inundated you with Jays cards until your ears bled. 

I'm not that desperate....yet

I did find 10 for you to peruse, some different, some amusing, some partially French.

How about some old style Blue Jays uniforms from the 80's, as featured on a Mark Eichhorn '89 Score.

It's amazing that he never fell sideways off of the mound the way he threw.

This next card sent me scurrying to baseball reference .com

I did not remember that big Cecil Fielder had returned back to the Jays in 1999.  After some research, it turns out that this doesn't appear to be the case, as Cecil's last game was in September of 1998. 

Next up, a card of Roy Halladay that falls under the category of ugly but good.

Since it's a rookie card, we'll forgive the hideousness.  At least for a moment.

Big Bill Caudill was supposed to be the answer for the Jays bullpen in '85.  The Jays gave up Dave Collins and Alfredo Griffin to acquire Caudill after a 36 save season for Oakland in '84.  Bill wound up with a strained neck after allowing the most HRs of any Jays reliever (9), and within 2 years he was out of baseball altogether at the age of 30. 

Sticking with the '85 OPC them, here's Willie Upshaw...

Willie's cousins Gene & Marv Upshaw played in the NFL.  That's all his bio on the back says.   Less is more I guess.

This next guy reminded me of a book I had just finished reading about George Steinbrenner...

I remember vaguely about the Boss blowing up at his GM over acquiring Cerone from the Blue Jays, and it turned out in 1980 that Cerone had a career year, finishing 7th in MVP voting while catching 147 games in the pinstripes. 

The next card is a design that I had never seen before, a '94 OPC of Roberto Alomar

Not a bad card, but I think that it would have helped to have the "Blue Jays" lettering on the left hand side to be filled in.  Even still the photo is a good action shot of an impending play at the plate.

Next up, we have a sticker for idiots...

Peel Here.   Really?  Were kids in the mid 80's that ignorant?   Still pretty cool to get another sticker that I'd never seen before.

The next two cards are of Dave Stewart, or "Smoke" as he was nicknamed.  The first is a '94 Pinnacle Museum Collection parallel...

Wanna know the look that the photographer received when he started making fun of Dave's hat?

Nobody....makes fun of Dave's hat! 

These 10 cards just scratch the surface of what Ted sent me.  I may have to pull off a marathon soon to get caught up. 

Thank you for the Jays Ted!  This post is only the beginning.

thanks for reading, Robert

Sometimes when you don't know what to write, just say anything

On a cold evening here in western PA, I sit at the computer and realize that I can't put two coherent thoughts together in order to form a post.

So, here goes nothing...

It was good to see today that Upper Deck followed Panini's lead of a few weeks back and cancelled some of their "mid season" hockey products.  I was kind of surprised that they actually cancelled Series 2 of their base set, but it really does make sense since the NHLPA decided to not allow the use of any new rookies in this years products.  Upper Deck also stated that they had limited their early season products (O-Pee-Chee, Series 1, Artifacts, Black Diamond, Game Used) with the uncertain labor climate. 

For me, that spells good news, since I will not have to spend as much to chase down the Series 2 set.  For now, that leaves me to enjoy cards such as this one of Tyler Seguin...

I've always expressed my admiration for cards that feature a player signing autographs for the fans.  It's good to see that young and upcoming stars such as Seguin actually "get it".

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On a totally unrelated topic...what are your thoughts on graded cards?  To be honest, you will never see me ever send any card to a grading service ever again.   I did it once a few years ago, and the result was less than flattering.  The card I sent at the time was a Martin Havlat RC (don't ask me why...), and while the card was graded a Mint 9, the return package and the case were pretty much destroyed during return shipping.  Soured me on the experience forever.

I now own two graded cards.  One was one in a contest a while back (79 Topps Eddie Murray), and the other was sent to me recently by Pat at the Hot Corner Cards blog.  An interesting choice of cards for sure..

A graded Mats Sundin RC from 90-91 OPC Premier.  One of my favorite players on the Leafs over the past decade, and his best RC, encapsulated forever.  Another odd coincidence is that both graded cards are NM-MT 8's.   Thank you Pat!

Now that I think about it, I should have bragged about getting my cable internet & router hooked up this evening....OK, maybe not...

thanks for reading, Robert

Sometimes it's better when you don't know

Now that the wife and I have become in tune with 21st century technology, we've used it to our benefit.  The two of us went from "anti-texters" to a couple that will send 3-4 texts discussing what came in the mail that day.

Most days my wife gets home from work before I do, and if there are any goodies in the mail for me, she'll send me a text.  Yesterday was no different, except it was different.

"2 boxes today" was the text.   What???  I was lost for a while, trying to figure out what I could be receiving in boxes.

It took me a while to figure out one of the them, it was from a "retired" blogger who has been very good to me in the past.   I'm going to have a lot of fun posting the contents of that box in the coming days.  The 2nd one still baffled me.   There were no eBay auctions that I had won.  The trades that I had completed with fellow bloggers recently were small in nature, and should not have required boxes to ship to me.

When I looked at the box, I knew right away who it was....but still had no idea what it was...

One of the best traders out there, Ryan from "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog had sent me a package out of the blue.  What was inside was an absolute shock...I'll let you read the note to get an idea.

 

I have only two words for that note......holy shit.....

Blogger generosity at its finest.  Come in handy?!  Oh hell yes....

Remember I said "box".   88 cards came in that box.  All '75s.  Not one double, all of them I needed for my set.  They weren't all commons either. 

How about that for the first card you see out of the box! 

Chatham, Ontario's own Fergie Jenkins. 

Singleton appears to be watching a fly ball, maybe during BP.  I hope that George Foster didn't hit in that stance, because that just looks painful with those shoulders hunched over like that.  Two great sluggers of the '70s, now in my possession. 

Love how Topps did a retrospective of all the MVP's in each league from each of the first 25 seasons that they produced cards.  By the way, I still need the actual '64s featured on the left (Brooks Robinson and Ken Boyer).

OK Red Sox fans, altogether now.....it's Bucky @%$@ing Dent!!

Not only did Topps airbrush Elias Sosa's cap, but it almost looks like they airbrushed his face as well.  Doesn't show well on the scan, but if you have the card, take a look at it.  Elias has a very pale look about him...

What would a post about mid to late '70s Topps cards be without featuring the fellow above!  You know I just had to.....

I could go on and on scanning cards and showing the awesomeness of this gracious package sent by Ryan.  This generosity moved this set from a "may complete" in 2013 to a "should complete".  The want list has been updated; the set is now 2/3 finished.  Still have the Gary Carter and Jim Rice RCs to pickup, along with a handful of star cards that will set me back a few bucks (Aaron, Rose, Ryan to name 3.)

If it doesn't get completed, it's nobody's fault but my own.  Ryan, thank you very much for the generosity!!  

Yea....I owe him....big time..

thanks for reading, Robert

Blue Jay Monday: The Toddfather made me an offer..

I just couldn't refuse.  When I aborted the attempt of putting together the complete set of '12 Gypsy Queen, and offered up the variation SPs to the world, Tim over at the Home of the Toddfather asked me for a couple of the SPs, and offered up a Jays relic in return...yea I bit.

Rajai Davis is no superstar for sure, but for me the black borders are what make the A&G relics look good this year. 

The design is a little busy, but the black overrides the busy look.  Found out that this is also the first Blue Jays relic from 2012 A&G I own, and just the 4th piece of bat that I own of a Jays player over all.

Davis is in the last year of a 3 year deal with the Jays, and with the additions of Melky Cabrera and Emilio Bonifacio (that name is going to be hard to type for me...), and the return to health of Jose Bautista, it appears that Davis is probably 5th on the outfield depth chart right now, with Colby Rasmus in the mix as well.  If Anthony Gose improves with the bat during spring training, we may see Davis in a new uniform before the 2013 season starts.

Thanks for the trade Tim!! 

thanks for reading, Robert

Fixing a couple of mistakes

I've mentioned in the past my love for the 83/84 and 84/85 OPC hockey sets.  I also mentioned the stupidity (at least perceived stupidity in my eyes) of selling those classic sets away.

My last eBay purchase of 2012 was the start of correcting those past mistakes. I found a pair of 25 card lots from the same seller, 1 for each of the two sets listed above, and after a couple of weeks of waiting, the resurrection has begun.

I really do enjoy when card companies number their cards by team.  The 84/85 set is a good example of this, the Calgary Flames that you see above are all in numerical order.  One better, the cards are also numbered alphabetically by the players last name.  What's even more ironic is that OPC knew that (Ed) Beers comes before everything (and everyone) else....

Although the scan isn't the greatest on the 83/84 cards you see here (the Plett and Payne cards are not miscut for example), the cards are still in great shape, and the numbering pattern is similar to the 84/85.

The seller also sent me both lots in numbered groups...the 84/85 cards were in the mid 200s and featured the Flames and the Capitals primarily.  The 83/84s were the same numbering pattern, but featured the Canadiens, North Stars and Rangers.  Even though the auctions listed the cards as all commons, as you can see I received some minor star cards such as Larry Robinson, Bobby Smith, and a few goalie cards (which have their own pricing level that I have always found interesting, I'll feature a post later on this week to discuss). 

These aren't the only 80's sets that I plan on putting together in the near future.  Another gem, that I always believed was under appreciated was the 82-83 set.

As far as I can tell, these are the only 2 82/83 cards that I own.  Love how the bars at the top with the team name and player name feature the club's primary colors.

The last one that I will be taking a shot at is another design that I like, the 86/87 OPC set.

I only have 8 of these in my collection, but the 86/87 set is one of those that looks great and has always been in my radar.  I've just never gotten around to chasing it down.

With my renewed addiction to 70's baseball and 80's hockey, the foreseeable future should be quite entertaining to say the least.  Finding cards of names that I haven't heard in 20 or more years is sure to bring back a lot of memories. 

That's the reason that my focus has shifted more towards vintage.  Moving forwards by moving backwards. 

Yea, I know, it probably only makes sense to me....

thanks for reading, Robert