By the page: 2008 Heritage

Got to make some room in the Blue Jays box for the cards that came in from fellow bloggers over the past few weeks.  What better way to do it than to get some of the stragglers together in pages and into some binders.

I've had a few '59 Topps cards come my way this week, so when I started looking through the box and saw the group of 2008 Heritage cards, it only made sense to put them together for a post.

Top Row:  2nd, short and 3rd

I really don't miss this Jays logo, and none of these 3 really lasted that long in a Jays uniform to be missed as well.   Eckstein played 76 games and didn't last the entire 2008 season in Toronto.  Inglett just played 147 games in 3 seasons with the Jays, and Glaus played 2 seasons in Toronto before being traded for Scott Rolen before the 2008 season started.

Middle row:  A couple of 1st basemen and a checklist

Was 2007 the last time we'll see a team photo on the flagship Topps set?  That's the last time I remember one appearing anyhow.  Adam Lind looks quite a lot different now with the extended beard (which suits him), and we'll see how he and the beard does now that he has returned to the AL with the Mariners.  Almost half of Overbay's 1355 career hits came during his 5 year run in Toronto, and I can still remember that Lyle was a doubles machine, hitting over 50 of them during one season in Milwaukee.

Bottom row:  The pitchers

McGowan, Marcum and Banks.  Sounds like a law firm, doesn't it?  Picturing Josh Banks as a Jay was a bit of a stretch for Topps, as he only pitched in 3 games during 2007 and was claimed by San Diego on waivers in April of 2008.  Marcum was the player that the Jays traded in order to get Brett Lawrie.  I had no idea that McGowan was still kicking around the majors, but I see that he signed as a free agent with the Marlins over the winter. 

Not quite as good as a completed '59 Topps page, but it'll do since it gets 9 more cards out of the big box of Jays.  One of the color combinations I like in the '59 set is the green border with the white lettering, unfortunately none of these cards fits the bill.

thanks for reading, Robert

Pick, pick, pick

I kind of feel bad when I see a note inside an envelope sent to me that apologizes for the fact that there weren't more cards.

The way I look at it is, somebody sent me cards!  There were 7 in the envelope I received today, but they all picked off a piece of a want list.

Let's have a look at what Tony from the Off Hiatus Blog sent me.

Knock off 2 cards from the '14 A&G want list.  I had to look twice at the Halladay card to make sure it was from 2014.  Dig the fact that he was pictured in the old style Jays uniform and hat.  No airbrushing here...

I think Upper Deck printed about 980 million cards in 1991, so I'm wondering how before today I still needed 2 cards to finish the Blue Jays team set from that year.  Kenny Williams, #89, is the only card remaining to finally put this team set to bed.

Kevin Pillar is the final card of my 2014 Topps Blue Jays want list to be removed.  Only 28 walks in 628 plate appearances is the one thing I'd like to see Kevin improve upon this year.   With his speed, I can see him stealing 40+ base with an increase in his OBP.

Not a whole lot can be said about Triple Play, but at least there's one more of these off the want list.

Now after a weekend of picking up some nice '59 Topps cards, these two remind me of how older cards normally look after 55+ years.  The Harvey Kuenn was a need, so that was picked off of the list.   I have to check and see if the Hitters Foes is an upgrade from my current copy.

Only 7 cards total, but they sure packed a punch.  Thank you very much for the cards Tony, they are appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert

I now have more than I need

I hit the monthly card show on Saturday this time.  Backwards for me because I usually hit the show Friday night after work because the location is on my way home.  I decided to take my wife and our friends out Friday night for dinner instead. 

I also ran through the show on Saturday backwards as well.  I usually hit my vintage dealer first, grab the cards I want from him and take the rest of my money and look elsewhere.

This time, I hit the vintage dealer last.  I guess backwards worked for me, because for the first time since I started hitting this show a few months ago, he had '59 Topps commons, for a buck!

He always has stacks and stacks of cards for the '59 set, but they are usually $2 and up.   This time I figured would be no different than any other, so I started perusing the pile looking for maybe 10 cards for the '59 set.

So I start looking through the pile and find a couple of $1 commons and say to myself "score!".  Keep on looking, keep on finding dollar commons.   They're all in nice shape, no pen marks, nice condition all around for '59s.

In the end, I found 22 cards that were a buck apiece.   Best haul yet.  So much so, that I had no problem grabbing 6 of the rookie subset cards that I love so much.

Now I'm up to $35 worth of cards in my hands, so I figured I would grab one more semi star card, make the total around $40 or so, which I could certainly live with.

So I grab Mr. Kluszewski here for $6 and bring the pile over to him.   As always, he gives me a discount.   Instead of hearing $40 like I thought I would, he quoted $35!  Teddy K. wound up coming home basically for free, which you can't beat for anything.

The best part is, these 29 cards for the '59 Topps set means I'm a little more than halfway complete.  Yes, that's right, I now have 289 cards and only need 283 more.  I now have more than I need you could say.

I started the journey with this post back on September 26, 2014, and now just over 18 months later I'm halfway done.

With a boat load of star cards still to obtain, the other half of the set is going to probably take a little more than 18 months to complete.

Stay tuned....

thanks for reading, Robert

Jimmying up the Jays collection a bit

I received an email from Jimmy a few weeks back following up on the 2016 Topps post that stated my desire to get rid of as many inserts/parallels as I could. 

Jimmy had a nice chunk of Blue Jays cards to send my way, and how can I say no to that?

A nice group of 4 1995 Donruss cards, which may be the first 4 '95 Donruss cards to come my way.  Still need 8 more Jays to finish off that particular want list. 

A trio of '95 Leaf cards came my way from my Jimmy, which reminded me a lot of the Donruss cards above (I actually thought all 7 came from the same set at first).  I only need 3 of these cards to finish off that particular Jays list...

Honestly, when I saw these I wondered if I actually needed them.  The 2009 Topps Blue Jays base set is something I thought I had completed long ago.  Turns out I still need 4 more of them.  

How can this be?

I still need quite a few of the 2015 base set Jays cards.   Goins knocked one of those out.  The other 4 finished off the base needs for the '15 update set.   The only cards left there are the sparkle/sabermetric variations.   No hurry on those.

I'm looking forward to a full season of Tulo and Donaldson on the left hand side of the Jays infield, which might be the best left hand side in all of baseball.  Hopefully they can stay healthy...

Jimmy, thank you for the trade, the cards are really appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert