The Opposite of Heartbreaking

Matt of Heartbreaking Cards and the Trading Card Preservation Society podcast held a contest a few weeks ago, and I won the dern thing!

This does not happen often, so I was pretty excited. I didn't even mean to do it, really. I entered because the contest involved answering a question I was pretty confident I knew the answer to, but I thought someone else would jump in with a more appropriate answer and snag the prize. It was something along the lines of "What is the sum total of all career home runs listed on the backs of all these relic and autograph cards?" Relic and Auto cards usually don't show stats. They just say "Congratulations" with a paragraph about how authentic your relic and/or auto is, so my guess was that old standby of Price is Right fame, one. Somehow nobody else jumped on the lowball train, so I took the kitty.



Matt has nice cursive J's

The good news is that I'm all about getting cards to the right people, so those cards from this lot that I don't plan on keeping will be going directly to my fellow bloggers. Some of them have already made their way out and more will be going soon. That's about the best purpose I can think of for them. Here's just a few of the cards Matt sent:

There were a ton of Mariners and Royals in this post which is suddenly a pretty awesome thing.

 

That Clear Path to Greatness card is one of the cooler autos I've ever seen. Brian's got a nice signature, too.



I had never heard of Fatality before this card. Now I have a piece of his boxer briefs. Anyone collect fatality stuff?

Nomar was a huge star back in the late 90's. What happened? I assume he's somebody's PC, and this Donruss relic is a real beaut.

Some really cool relics here. A King Felix hit for my collection, a rare red Matt Cain relic from the 2004 Futures Game, a Vlad Box Score card, and a lovely Royals-blue jersey relic for Billy Butler.

That Etchings relic is fantastic. I'd love one of these for Griffey with the old Mariners compass logo etched on it. And how bout that HOFer in an unfamilar uniform in the middle there? Great card.

There were even more relics than I've shown here that have already been shipped out to my blogger buddies. I've still got a few stragglers, but I'm confident they too will find their forever homes soon enough. Man, I miss Masterpieces. What a set of cards.

To wrap things up, here are a few more interesting cards from Matt's prize package. We have a Royals auto from Steve Stemle who pitched just a little over 16 innings for KC in 2005-2006. And it's an autographed bat barrel for an AL pitcher. That's a keeper just for the weirdness.

Next is a Billy Buckner card, son of the memorable Bill Buckner. Billy pitched for six seasons, mostly with the D-backs, and has an hilarious Twitter handle: @NotthatBB. Cool signature, too.

Last but not least is a big ole patch card of Curt Schilling. Curt's got a big mouth, but he deserves to be in the HOF just for his totally awesome JAWS score. Goes to show the subjectivity that goes into HOF voting. I think it would have been cute to make this a sock patch of some kind, whether it be sock material or in the shape of a sock or have the image of a sock on it. I like the sock story.

OK, that's it for now. Thanks for the awesome giveaway, Matt! I'll keep listening to the podcast if you guys keep making it!



Griffeys, Saints, and Astronauts: a Trade Post

I got a package from Adam of My Cardboard Mistress a few months (years?) ago that incuded a few cards from one of the more controversial sets of cards ever made. More on that later - let's peep some Griffeys!

Oddballs are one thing, but modern oddballs? Those are the absolute best. A few different ones popped up in the market when Junior returned to Seattle. I had never seen any of these big, square jobs from Enterplay, and apparently there are a bunch because this appears to be #33. Anyone else ever come across these?

Adam also included a bunch of great late-2000's Griffeys. You have to admit UD cards were still pretty cool even right before the demise of their baseball product.

And here's one of my favorite card backs of the 90's beside a beautifully-designed Fleer insert. Some solid Griffeys here.

I am nuts about Topps Magic which is only made for football at this time. I've even been tempted to pick up a few packs of the stuff despite not actively collecting football. It's a great-looking set. The Jimmy Graham card is extremely cool but bittersweet considering he's now a Seahawk, and an underperforming Seahawk at that. Kenny Stills' medicine ball workout shot is the winner here. Good on you, Next Level (is this a popular brand? why does it say "hit" in the top corner? do they indicate which cards should be considered hits? do they have a license for logos? is this an oddball? so many questions...).

That Panini rookie for Stills is gorgeous. Reminds me of Studio. I also love those Score throwback design rookies. Man, football has some really cool cards.

Topps Laser?! I had no idea that was made for football, too! And despite recent unpleasantness, that shot of Graham "dunking" the ball through the goal post at Carolina is one of my favorite cards from this package.

I'm going to do an impression of every announcer for a Monday Night game that involves the Saints. Ready?

"After Hurricane Katrina blah blah blah Drew Brees blah blah savior of the city blah."

Intersplice shots of the dilapidated Superdome, helicopter footage of a flooded neighborhood, and Drew Brees hammering a nail into a 2x4, and that's pretty much it. Oh, and if they show the picture of Sean Payton asleep on a plane cradling the Lombardi Trophy, you have to finish your drink. Also, prepare to finish your drink, 'cause they're gonna show it.

Lots of Stills and Graham cards in this here package. I pretty much never get to see football designs - I usually walk right by them at shops and shows, so having some of my very own to flip through and study is always welcome. I keep any and all Saints cards.

 

A dark cloud hovers over the still-excellent Space Shots set from the early 90's. The wikipedia has an extremely watered-down version of what went down if you're interested, but there's more discussion about this available online if you're a digger, which I am. Damn shame. The cards are great, though. Backlit Buzz on the top row is a personal favorite.

 

 

Thanks for the excellent cards, Adam! I'm looking forward to our next trade!

The Great Griffey Frankenset: Page 5

Welcome to The Great Griffey Frankenset! 

If you're not familiar with the idea of a Frankenset, it is a customized set of cards properly sequenced by card number that all tie into a connecting theme. Some Frankenset themes include whole teams, mini-collections, and even just generally great cards or photos. This is the first Frankenset I'm aware of that is made up of just one player: Ken Griffey, Jr., the man of a million cards. I took the liberty of including things like inserts, parallels, cameos, and oddballs for the sake of variety and because it's just more fun that way. Enjoy!

Here is page 5 of the Great Griffey Frankenset:

Completeness of page: 9/9 

Completeness of the Frankenset so far: 100% (45/45)

Team distribution so far: Mariners: 36/45 (80%), Reds: 8/45 (18%), White Sox: 1/45 (2%)

Cards not listed in Beckett Magazine: 3/9 (20/45 total, 44%)

Approximate retail value of this page: $203 ($1433.50 running total)

Page 5 notes: For the first time in the set we have a page with more Reds cards than Mariners. We also have a pair of oddballs from early baseball card magazines that had no hope of taking on Beckett. In the early 90's there were a surprising number of high-quality cards made of star players on vintage Topps designs, and I have nearly all the Griffeys there are to be had. The star of this page, though, is definitely that 1989 Topps #41T Tiffany rookie which, I can assure you, does not continue to reside in this page.

Page 5:

37. 1990 Baseball Card Magazine #BC37
 

The first of two magazine-issued oddballs on this page, this homage to the 1969 design contains a photo I have yet to see on any other card. I've been slowly building a set of Griffey cards that are done in every vintage Topps design (you can see the ones I still need here), and these magazine issues have been invaluable in my quest.

 

38. 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter United States #US38
 

This extra-thick insert from early A&G reminds us all that Junior was born in the same town as and 49 years to the day after Hall of Famer Stan Musial. It's a pretty nice-looking set, too.

 

39. 1998 Upper Deck Nation Pride #NP39

'Merica.

40. 2001 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Home Opener Souvenirs Game-Used Base Relic #OD-40 #/400
 

There are 400 of this base relic floating around. The card back tells us they all did, indeed, come from one base with a large, red Opening Day graphic printed on it. This piece seems to be from the edge of the graphic. I love the purple/blue sky background and prominent opening day banners on display here. Too bad the Reds lost that day.

 

41. 1989 Topps Traded Tiffany #41T
 

Of all the Griffey rookies I own, this one took the longest to acquire for the price I wanted to pay. And why not? It's one of his most appealing rookies in a super high-quality glossy finish. Beckett lists this one at $50, but the market puts it closer to the $100-$120 range. The question is: did I take my copy out of the screw case and slide it into this page just for this scan? Or did I use one of the regulars for fear of damaging the real McCoy? And if I did, could you tell?

 

42. 2002 Donruss Originals #42 (1982 Design)

I've got to say that Donruss did an amazing job with the Donruss Originals set of 2002. It's just their version of Archives, but the cards themselves are clean, high-quality, and super faithful to the original designs. This homage to the 1982 design is my favorite of the four (yes, FOUR) different Griffeys in the base set. An unsung gem from the slow demise of the Donruss brand.

43. 2000 Upper Deck Ovation #43

This is kind of a first: the first repeat from the same base set. We saw the Mariners card from 2000 Ovation on page 3 - now here is a shot of Junior's first Cincy press conference. A few sets had multiple Griffey base cards as the card companies tried to catch up with Junior's unexpected move. 2000 Ovation just had the best.

44. 1990 Sports Card Digest #44 (1957 design)

Here's another oddball magazine throwback card. I love '57 Topps - design wise it's kind of like an early predecessor to Stadium Club. Super-scary photo, too, especially if you're a pitcher.

 

45. 1994 Donruss Elite Series #45 #/10000

 
While this particular year's design is not my favorite, Donruss Elite Series makes a few well-deserved appearances in this Frankenset. It was just so darn consistent for those first few years: always #/10,000, always bilaterally symmetrical, plenty of silver and/or gold, and never cheap or easy to pull. It's hard to believe an insert that got its start in a set like 1992 Donruss would last for as long as it did and carry the weight with collectors so many years after the demise of the brand. This card be Elite, son.

Here's the back of page 5:

Thanks for reading, and look for page 6 next Friday!

90's is the New Vintage

 

Back in 1997, if you were a pimply-faced teenage Griffey collector like me and you wanted a 1994 Flair Hot Glove, good freakin' luck. Beckett had these bad boys at 80 bucks, and the card shops of yesteryear treated those high columns like scripture.

Twenty years later, things are a little different. Not only are those same collectors all grown up with real jobs and incomes far more substantial than a $5 weekly allowance, but those Griffey cards we salivated over like so many issues of Penthouse in Dad's nightstand are now crazy affordable by 90's standards. That same 1994 Flair Hot Glove card that was so mysterious and unobtainable can be had for less than ten bucks. The same is true for a great many 90's inserts.

People my age are getting married later, we're having kids later, and the economy is the best it's been since many of us graduated college. We have time now. We have resources and the Internet and long memories of shiny cardboard we thought we'd never get our hands on. We have a star, a childhood hero to millions, staying 100% clean through every PED scandal the MLB has faced in the last 15 years. And he's about to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I go to card shows and I meet people more or less my age who are getting back into this hobby with gusto. The first time I ever saw the famous Griffey/Mantle Dual Auto from 1994 Upper Deck in person was when a guy a little younger than myself showed me his recently-acquired specimen at a card show early this year. A month later I had one of my very own.

You hear stories about people re-entering the hobby after many years, a condition I can relate to. I got out of the game for several reasons. I discovered girls, then a driver's license opened up the world to me, and from there it was college, career, marriage, home ownership, more career, etc. Eventually I wasn't "going out" quite as much - I was content to stay home more and watch movies or do things around the house. Somewhere in there cards seemed to fit just right.

I suspect there are a lot more guys like me following the same arc.

A similar formula happened with our fathers and grandfathers. They grew up and finally had some money to spend on the things they liked, and what they liked was Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax - the heroes of their day. And what happened? "Baseball cards as an investment," the rise of Beckett, and the concept of the baseball card shop. You had thousands of buyers driving up prices on a limited commodity with zero inherent value apart from what we as a culture ascribe to it. And it's all starting to happen again.

Sure, the bubble burst. Most of those kids were leaving the market for the same reasons I did, and the Internet revealed to us just how many of some of these cards are out there. Prices were too high and a correction was needed, but you can't argue with the fact that some of the coolest, most desireable cards ever made came out of the 90's. And not only are many of those cards extremely limited, they're numbered. They have autographs and relics, diamonds and precious metals. The Internet is now doing the opposite: revealing the rarest of the rare - cards we never even got a chance to see in the 90's. Collectors want these cards, and there are more collectors every day.

Over the next 10-20 years, you're going to see 90's cards appreciate like mad. I've watched it happen just over the last three years, and I can tell you it is significant. I'm not talking about autographs from 2004; those are far too common. I'm talking about 1:300 shiny, holofoil-covered 90's inserts that were such impossible pulls when we as kids were the target market. The kind of inserts we haven't seen since Upper Deck was on Sea Otter Place and you couldn't pull refractors from every single pack.

The time is right. Griffey saved baseball cards once, and he's going to do it again. Go get your 90's inserts while you still can.

Wallet Card Wednesday: No. Just No. Edition

No.

As in "no" amount of Ketchup or Sweet Bay Ray's made this seem OK.

May the Blues Be With You: a Trade Post

Hockey is not popular in New Orleans, and it never will be. I say this with confidence because I live here, and I am a huge exception. Having been to one hockey game (Blues vs. Blue Jackets) in my life, I now consider myself a casual fan. My team is the Blues for a lot of reasons: the great note logo, their use of old Mariners colors, their All-Star who happens to be named T.J., and the slight similarities in culture between New Orleans and St. Louis (we are both on the same river, after all).



So one of the only ways I get to celebrate my casual fandom is through a small stack of Blues cards I keep in my non-baseball box. It also doesn't hurt that I collect T.J.'s. Cue Jedi Master Jeff of 2 by 3 Heroes. Everybody knows Jeff, and Jeff knows I like the Blues, so here we are.

That top card is my favorite in this stack because we also get to see T.J.'s autograph. I always like to check out how other T.J.'s sign my name.

Jeff's Blues stack included a hit, a Gold Medallion parallel from Ultra, and a very cool SPx base card that gives us an idea of what SPx baseball might look like had Upper Deck continued making it beyond 2009. Seeing older Topps designs for hockey is fun, too, as we've all got certain designs burned into our memories; yet here's one from the same year that is completely different.

The famous bat rack shot.

Finally, Jeff was able to provide a bunch of help in finishing my 2015 flagship set. I still have a few series 2 needs, but series 1 is all locked up.

This was a really fun package, Jeff. Thumbing through hockey cards is a bit like taking a stroll on an alien planet; and despite the fact that I know very little about hockey in general, I got the same excitement out of it that I'd have flipping through a stack of 90's Mariners. Thanks again!

Adam's All-Star Oddballs: a Trade Post

I can't say I always know what I'm looking at when it comes to oddballs. I have hundreds of them, some very similar to one another with minor differences, some completely off-the-wall with nothing in common with any others and no distinguishing marks. They're even harder to catalogue when there is no name brand or year - I just have to wing it. But one thing remains the same for all of them: they have a home in my binders.

 



Adam, reader and Griffey collecting brother, was nice enough to send me a selection of Griffey oddballs that were all new to me. It's rare that I come across oddballs I've never seen, but I'm glad it still happens. Check out that silver-bordered job with the same background as Junior's legendary '91 Stadium Club base card. That's new.

I needed every one of these, even that Playball card (of which there are MANY, it turns out).

Adam also added to some of my more popular PC's with two great Will Clark oddballs and these late-issue Upper Deck MVP cards. They look like they're imitating one another.

He also included this stack of Chuck Finley cards that included a rookie and a couple I didn't yet have in the PC binder. I think I'm getting pretty close having all the Chuck Finleys.

Thanks for the great cards, Adam!