Can you people out there see what I'm doing? No really, come on...can you??

Let's rewind a bit, back to the card show from last Saturday.  I decided to put another dent into the '73 Topps set I was working on, which means another visit to my favorite vintage dealer Ray.

As you will see by the scan, I am at the point in building the set where the star cards are in play...

Yea, they're crooked, I failed scanning 101....

Since I hadn't bought a lot of cards in the past month, I went a little higher than usual at Ray's table, spending $60 (after discount....it's great when a dealer takes care of you).  There were 18 cards in my '73 pile, but there were a few cards that I put back, largely because of the condition.

Here are two of them...

Now I know what you're probably thinking...if you put them back into the dealers box, how can you scan them and show them on the blog?

Well, it appears that Jeff from the Fan-Attic Sports Cards Blog has a camera trailing me, because the envelope I received from him today had these two cards in it!

It's spooky when you open an envelope and you see two cards that you have in your hands just a few days prior, put them back and all of a sudden they show up on your doorstep. 

Jeff also sent me something a little older.  One card from the '68 Topps set, which is another set that I plan on putting together in the future.  The "burlap" set represents the first Topps release after I was born, and should be an interesting build as it features a 598 card set with one of the most expensive RCs I'll ever chase, Nolan Ryan.

That card goes along with the two other commons I picked up for a quarter apiece....

The 4th card in the envelope was another addition to the SNI set, and it will be featured in the next post of serial numbered cards.

Jeff, thank you for the envelope, it is much appreciated!! 

Christmas does come early....

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 1041-1045

5 more cards on the way to 1500...thanks to Pat and Brian for their contributions featured here.

Card #1041:  Carl Crawford

Serial Number:  1268
40th card out of 50 for the Rays

A little bit more than $82 million over the next 4 years is owed to Carl by the Dodgers.   Any chance that they might try and unload some, if not all of that deal to another team?

Card #1042:  Pablo Sandoval

Serial Number:  704
30th card out of 50 for the Giants

It seems as if Sandoval has been around forever, and yet he's only 27.  $8.25 million might be pretty cheap for him this year, and free agency should look mighty good to him at the end of the 2014 campaign if he has another solid season.

Card # 1043:  Adam Warren

Serial Number:  548
46th card out of 50 for the Yankees.

Only 4 more cards left before the Yankees "fill up".  2 of his 34 appearances were starts in 2013, but his longest outing was a scoreless 6 inning relief appearance against the A's in June.  The Yanks lost that game 3-2 with Warren not figuring in on the decision.

Card #1044:  Buster Posey

Serial Number:  1247
31st card out of 50 for the Giants

Did you know that the NL MVP in 2012 earned just $615,000?  The guy who finished third in voting that year made just $500,000.  Who says that you need to pay a boat load of money to get MVP material??

Card #1045:  Jonathan Pettibone

Serial Number:  1030
33rd card out of 50 for the Phillies

In his 18 starts Jonathan kept the Phils in the ball game.  11 times he left the game with a difference of 2 runs or less, and 4 other times the Phils were ahead by 3 or more runs.  I'm curious to see if he'll get a longer look this year now that Philly is down one pitcher...maybe more if the trade rumors are true.


thanks for reading, Robert

Another learning experience: '64 Topps Minnie Minoso

I've said it a few times recently, card collecting has really helped me learn more about some of the greats, and no so greats of the sports I love.

At the monthly card show this past weekend, I picked up some more '64 Topps cards, including one of the high-number cards (of which I need many), Minnie Minoso.

I remember Minnie from the mid 70's when the White Sox brought him back to pinch hit at the age of 50, and then again 4 years later in 1980.  While I remembered those events fairly well, picking up this card made me realize I didn't know a lot about Minnie's career back in the 50's & 60's.

If Minnie hadn't come back to play in the 70's, this '64 Topps card would have been his farewell card The only other "mainstream" card after this was a '67 Topps Venezuelan release.   Minoso is still signing cards for Topps, and if you click on this eBay auction you'll see that he has a really great 'graph (imo). 

Being the stats geek that I am, I decided to look up his career stats, and found some interesting tidbits.

Minnie led the league in HBP an amazing 10 times, with two of those seasons seeing him get plunked more than 20 times.  Minoso led the league in steals 3x, while also leading in caught stealing 6 times.  The Cuban Comet (great nickname btw) also led the AL in games played in LF 7 times, led the AL in WAR in 1954 with a 8.3 rating, and was in the top 10 for OPS 8 times, despite only having as high as 24 HR in a season once. 

Minnie finished 2nd in the ROY voting in 1951, despite having what I believe to be much better statistics than the winner, Gil McDougald of the Yankees.   The funny thing is even though Minoso finished 2nd in ROY voting, he finished ahead of McDougald in the MVP race.  Figure that one out!!  The NL winner for ROY in '51 was some guy named Mays, you might have heard of him.  Minoso finished 4th in MVP voting 4 different times during his career as well.

Minnie also played quite a few positions early in his career.  When not patrolling left field, he played third, short, and the other two outfield spots also.  His career hit total fell just short of 2000, and his Hall of Fame aspirations never came to pass as he only hit 20% of the ballots twice during his 15 year eligibility period. 

And here I only knew him for his plate appearances after the age of 50....

Thanks for reading, Robert

So long Roy

I was and I wasn't surprised by the decision of Roy Halladay to retire today.  I thought he might give it another go, maybe later in 2014 after taking some time to heal. 

With his 37th birthday coming in May, I'm sure that Halladay was probably tired of the grind.  Ready to spend some time with his family.  Ready to get on with his life after the last 2 contracts that should have him set up comfortably for the remainder of his life.

I remember being upset when Roy wanted out of Toronto; in hindsight I can't say that I blame him.  The Jays really weren't going anywhere with the roster that they had, and Halladay was ready to be on a contender.  The trade in late 2009 was Halladay to the Phillies for 3 prospects.  Travis D'Arnaud is now part of the Mets organization.   Kyle Drabek had his 2nd Tommy John surgery in 2012 and is still yet to fulfill his promise.  The 3rd player was Michael Taylor, who was traded to the A's, and eventually through other trades turned into Anthony Gose, a speedster who at just 23 has time to develop hopefully into the leadoff hitter that the Jays need.

So 16 years, 3 20 win seasons and 2 Cy Young awards later, Halladay retires a Blue Jay, via a 1 day contract.  Classy move by the player and by the club, and Roy will likely be honored on the Level of Excellence sometime in the next couple of years (I hope).  When he does earn that honor, he will become the 7th Jays player to be so honored (Bell, Stieb, Carter, Alomar, Fernandez and Delgado). 

While having no World Series ring and "just" 203 career wins will probably not get him into the hall of fame, Roy is a member of two very limited clubs.  He is one of 21 pitchers to throw a perfect game, and only one of 2 pitchers to throw a no-hitter in the post season.  7 straight opening day starts for the Blue Jays is probably a record that will stand for quite a long time as well.

Roy, I hope you enjoy your retirement, and I look forward to watching the ceremony honoring your place in Jays history on the LoE.

Thanks for reading, Robert