Week in review: 2nd play in match winner

The battle of the early 70's titans has been decided.   I thought I might see a few more votes than I did (something I blame on the poll widget being NFG), but the winner by a 9-5 vote is:

The psychedelic set from '72 moves on to the round of 16, which I will start tomorrow. 

I received another solid bubble mailer from JT Steele the other day, with a bunch more Blue Jays goodness, including these two Robbie Alomar cards:

Now when I quickly breezed through the envelope the other day, I originally thought that the same card was in the package twice.  Now, I probably have a few copies of the base Fleer '92 you see on the right, but I'm 100% positive that I've never seen or heard about the card on the left.

When I looked at the card closer, I noticed on the bottom "The Performer Collection", and the back the card is #'d 24 of 24.  I don't think that this was an insert in that years set, so I'm wondering if anyone out there can provide a  bit of info on the card?   Comments are more than welcome....

thanks for reading, Robert

This card should have went to another blogger

Building on last night's post about a couple of PWE's from Pat at the Hot Corner Cards blog, I actually found a trio of '62 Topps cards in one of them.  While checking the 3 cards off of the want list, I immediately was struck with the cartoon on card #92 of Sam Jones:

Of course anyone who is in touch with the blogosphere sees the cartoon and thinks of Matt Scott's blog Bob Walk the Plank (OK maybe it's just me who thinks like that).  I've seen his name so often on trade posts lately I'm beginning to wonder if he owns his own card shop.

Matt, I think you need to steal this photo and put it as your backdrop for a few days....just a suggestion.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Black and blue and Thome too

First off, I just want to remind everyone that the 2nd play in match is still going on.  If you haven't voted yet, but would like to cast your vote, please comment on the 72 vs 71 post from last Saturday.

Now, I had a pretty good finish to my day today.   I had to work the close shift, so I didn't get home until 9 pm.  What awaited me when I arrived home was a great pile of envelopes, totally unexpected.  I'm sure that all of you out there read the Night Owl Cards blog on a regular basis, and if so you may remember that he mailed out a bunch of PWE's at the end of last week.

I did not expect to receive one of those today, because I only knew of one card that I had asked to be set aside...

Everyone out there maximizes their PWE's by sending multiple cards, and the black bordered Reyes was not the only card inside.  Greg hit the jackpot on the Topps Opening Day blasters a short time ago, and I was lucky enough to be the recipient of two blue parallels.

Jean Segura is serial #'d 1360, and is the 35th Brewers card out of 50.   Gerardo Parra on the right is serial #'d 1055, and represents the 32nd card for the Diamondbacks.   Better yet, these two cards bring the total of cards I have to 1125, which means that I am 3/4 of the way finished.

It seemed like quite a while since the last serial #'d cards came in, so these were definitely a welcome sight.

Last but not least, there was a great Jim Thome base card for the PC in there.

 

Great shot of Thome providing either a pre game or post game interview.  I guess he needed two bats to prop himself up.

What's shameful on my part is updating the Thome have list on the PC tab, and realizing that I've had a dozen cards that have been sitting on my desk for 3 weeks that haven't been added to the list.  I think that this weekend is going to be spent updating my pages, and cleaning off the piles of cards that have accumulated on my desk again.

Greg, I have that Joc Pederson card set aside for you, plus a few other Dodgers.   Should be in the mail this weekend.  Thank you for what you sent, very much appreciated!!!

thanks for reading, Robert

What is the proper response for a "Double Bipping"?

The other day I documented a 9 card lot of 1964 Topps I received from Marc at Remember the Astrodome.   The same day I received that bubble mailer, I received a 2nd, unexpected one from JT Steele.  It was full of 80's & 90's Blue Jay cards, including a card that I've always liked, and is a favorite in my collection.

1992 UD Blue Jays team checklist, featuring Dave Stieb.   I love Mr. Wells artwork here, the roof open at the dome with the CN Tower peeking through the opening.  While I tell everyone that I'm at home in the U.S. now, cards such as this that feature some part of the Toronto skyline always make me a little nostalgic (OK, maybe misty eyed is a better phrase). 

When I first opened this envelope, I went through it quickly because it was Friday, and I had other things on the agenda that evening.  Today, I took a closer look at the cards, and noticed that there were a bunch of the Topps Big cards from 1988 in there.   As a matter of fact, there were a lot more of them than I thought should have constituted a team set.

Then I started sorting through them.....

 

that's a whole lot of shakin' goin' on there.

even more featuring Kelly Gruber! 

Now I know that this isn't a true bipping, as I've seen guys get a mountain of a certain player in their envelopes.   But I feel like I've been kind of bipped.   Does that count?

I have always wondered what people said to the other when they were bipped.  I guess I'll say what I always do.

JT, thank you for the cards, much appreciated!!  No matter what is in an envelope that shows up at my door unannounced, I'm always grateful that someone out there is thinking of me.

Enjoy your Memorial Day everyone, and please be safe no matter what you're doing!!

thanks for reading, Robert

The itch

First off, I have to say congratulations to Josh Beckett for throwing the first no hitter of the 2014 campaign.   I was surprised to hear that this was the first no-no for the Dodgers since 1996 (Nomo). 

Now, the other day I celebrated my 7th wedding anniversary, and a very good friend of mine asked me if I was itchy.  Naturally, being the men that we are, the text messages started flying back and forth, including such wonderful phrases as quickie, slap and tickle, touch and go, etc etc.

I didn't tell him that the itch I had was to rip some packs of cards, something I hadn't done for a few weeks.  During a trip to Wal Mart on Saturday, I picked up a rack pack each of Bowman and Heritage from this year, along with a box of Prizm hockey which was 40% off!

Now, I've had zero luck with Heritage so far, and this continues with the 1 pack I picked up.  The only card of note in the pack was a Bill Cosby Flashback.

Even though Mr. Cosby has thoroughly entertained me for decades, this card doesn't have a place in my collection.

Now, I've seen a lot of Bowman hit the blogosphere over the past few weeks, but I still had no desire to go after the product.   The only reason I did buy the rack pack on Saturday was to see if I could get some trade bait.

Let's start with the purple people eaters...

0 for 3.  Meaning I have no idea who any of these fine gentlemen are.

Now I'm sure that there are people out there that just dig on this set, because they love the prospect part of it.

For me, it's tough when I don't have any idea who the players are.  I don't follow baseball that in depth in order to derive any enjoyment out of sets such as Bowman.

The only reason I know this guy is because I follow enough blogs to have seen his name once or twice.

Now at least I've heard of this guy.  The chrome scanned really well on this card.  It is also a mini if you are interested in this gentleman at all.

Finally, I did manage to snag one numbered card.   I know this guy...

The card is numbered 368/500.   Don't need it for the SNI set, unfortunately.  So it becomes just another part of this post.

See anything you need here?   Comment/email, and I'll get it to you as quick as I can. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

Bruuuuuuuuuu

It's been a while since I actually completed an actual trade with a fellow blogger.   My relationship with a lot of my trade partners has developed to the point where we just send each other cards without a formal "I'll send you this if you send me that" type of email.

Informal is probably the best way to describe it.

Not that formal trades aren't welcome, as was this one with Marc from the Remember the Astrodome blog.  Marc made my day by offering me a page worth of 1964 Topps towards the set I'm building.  He's got a few 67's and 68's on their way to him in return.

The Schwall and Hinsley/Wakefield cards are both from the high series, so they are most welcome here.  Not that the other 7 cards weren't, because they bring me a few cards closer to the 80% goal.  That goal is now only 18 cards away, and I'm hoping to have the goal met by the time the National ends in August. 

Speaking of older sets, the 2nd play in game for the What's Next? tournament went live as of noon today.  Since the voting poll widget is not working properly, please leave your vote by dropping a quick comment on this afternoon's post.

Marc, thank you for the cards, they are fantastic!! 

thanks for reading, Robert

What's Next? Play-in match #2 1972 Topps vs 1971 Topps

Wow, I didn't even realize that when I first ran the randomizer that this was an early round match up.  In any other world, this could have easily been the final to determine the winner, but instead, one of the big boys gets knocked out early.

Tale of the tape:

1.  Set Size:  1972 has 787 cards.  1971 has 752 cards
2.  Key RCs:  1972  Fisk/Cooper, Cey/Oglivie    1971  Steve Garvey, Baker/Baylor
3.  Cost of complete set in NM condition:  1972  $1500      1971  $2500
4.  Number of cards with high book at $100 or more:   1972: 1       1971: 4

Blogs

1972 Topps  vs.   1971 Topps

This was the first time that I spotted the '72 Topps blog hosted by Douglas.   He is counting the cards down starting from 787 and working his way towards #1.

The 1971 blog is written by the Night Owl, and as always is a quality read.  Greg is daring to be different and working his way from card #1 to the end (or is that the norm...).

Since last night, Jim from Downingtown has informed us that the polls are still not working.  So, if everyone would be so kind as to leave their vote in the comments on this post, that would be greatly appreciated!!

thanks for reading, and voting!   Robert