Complete sets: 2001 Topps Golden Anniversary

I bought quite a bit of 2001 Topps back when it came out.  It was a big deal--Topps was turning 50 and they had some cool stuff going on for that "gold" anniversary, including the precursor to the recent Giveaways where they included actual original Topps cards in packs.  Of course, they were all from about 1985-1989, so pretty much not any different from today's version!

Still, it was an exciting product to break with lots of fun stuff, including Ichiro's RC and some pretty nice inserts.  Of the 1% of inserts Topps produced in the last 10-15 years that WASN'T a tired old reprint set (#occupytopps), one that I chose to collect was 2001's Golden Anniversary.

This was a 50 card set broken up into five groups of 10 players, each with a common theme related to gold.  The first 10 are "Golden Greats" and are all obvious baseball legends.  The next group is "Gold Nuggets," the big, valuable pieces teams have unearthed.  Next comes "Glistening Gold," 10 current stars whose careers appeared to be on the upswing.  Following that we have "Hidden Gold," the inevitable group of prospect throw-ins.  Finally, the last 10 cards are actually a pretty cool theme:  "Going for Gold," a group of MLBers who starred for Team USA.

These cards weren't all that hard to pull, plus I bought a ton of boxes/packs, as I mentioned, and I'm sure I bought/traded for the rest I needed, so this one's been complete for a while.  Since I was looking for something to post and remembered I hadn't scanned a complete set in a while, here for your enjoyment are all 50 cards from 2001 Topps Golden Anniversary:

A couple observations, should you care to continue reading:

• My favorite grouping is Ripken/Gwynn/Griffey/Maddux (I'll just pretend McGwire isn't there), which is just an outstanding combo of four of my all-time favorites.
• You definitely can't go wrong with the 10 "Golden Greats," though, not by a long shot.  It's not easy to narrow HOFers down to a group of 10, and really Topps shouldn't have included the crappy prospects at their expense, but such is life.
• Jeter/Garciaparra/A-Rod was another nice nod to an important trio at the time, three big, offensive SSs who changed the game (you know, after Ripken, Trammel and Larkin).
• Again, did Topps need to cut out good players for stupid reasons?  Even if it's 2001 I don't need two cards of McGwire and Garciaparra; if they fit into the "Going for Gold" subset, which I already said was a cool idea, then put someone else in their place elsewhere!
• My other big gripe is the rookies, because you always try to project who'll be good, and the risk outweighs the reward.  Burrell and Zito have had solid careers while Sabathia, Hamilton and Gonzalez have turned into great players, but when the rest inevitably failed to pan out, their presence cheapened the set.
• Ok, those complaints aside, I do like the player selection in general, even in hindsight.  A set with all those HOFers, the quartet of my favorites, Barry Larkin PLUS quite a few other stars (Bagwell, Frank Thomas, Chipper, et al) on this design is a fun one.  The Chrome versions actually looked quite nice too, but would have been too difficult/costly for me at the time.  So I'm happy I put this one together, and I hope you all enjoyed it too!  Let me know what you think in the comments, if you collected this set yourself, or whatever.

Fantasy baseball poll

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The 2012 season is drawing near and since a decent number of people check this blog sometimes, I thought I'd take a poll to see how interested people would be in a fantasy baseball league.  I'm sure some of you are already running one yourself, or participating in at least one other one, but if you have any interest in one run be me, please drop me a comment below. 

I'm thinking of a standard ESPN league with a good mix of useful stats and some reasonable rules, especially pertaining to total moves allowed.  I'm hoping to fill out something like a 10-12 team league, hold a live draft, the whole shebang.  While prizes are a possibility, I'm leaning more towards a bragging rights-only setup, but that can be determined later.  So if you think you'd like to do a blogger/reader fantasy league, please drop me a comment below, and if enough people express interest, I'll get something going!

Stockton, Thy Sweater is Argyle (Tigers edition)

NOTE:  As this post applies to both my blogs, you'll find it on the other one as well.  Just pointing that out to avoid any potential confusion.

Pictured:  Greg

Score another one for the awesomeness of the blogging community.  On Monday, Greg shot me a quick email pointing out that an auction that might interest me was ending soon.  His eBay diligence paid off today as this arrived in my mailbox:

This right here is Bill Freehan's 2005 Topps Fan Favorites Cyan Printing Plate.  Uh, yeah, Greg, I was kinda sorta interested in that.  If Beckett is accurate at all (stop laughing--I'm not referring to pricing here) in terms of his complete catalog, Freehan has exactly 20 total printing plates--four each of five cards.  That means I have 5% of Freehan's plates.  I just thought that was notable since I've put more effort into collecting him.  Hell, it doesn't surprise me he doesn't have many since he's not an extremely popular player, didn't play during the heyday of baseball card production and wasn't featured in many sets that resulted in plates.  So to say this was a rarity is an understatement, and I definitely owe Greg a huge thanks for pointing out an auction that I'd have otherwise been oblivious to.
Since this is already a relatively short post, I thought it would be fitting to repost a card already in my PC that ties in well with the above, Freehan's autograph from the same set:

The plate is my first of Freehan, of course, and my first of any Tiger, though I do at least have one other 1/1 (Verlander) in my Tigers PC.  He also fits my Wolverines baseball PC (which is why you're seeing this card on both blogs if you happen to read each of them) but thanks to Rich Hill, he's far from my only Michigan baseball plate.  Will I collect more of them?  If I find them, it would be fun to add more, especially considering the awesomeness of some of the sets:  this one, Topps Retired Signature, and more!

While I'm discussing the outstanding 2005 Topps Fan Favorites set, this seems like a great time to mention that I'm still working on that very set, and maybe some of you can help me chip away at it before I throw virtual wads of Paypal at Sportlots to finish it?

Anyway, thanks for the assist, Greg, and in my occasional eBay wanderings I'll make sure to return the favor so you can spend your hard-earned money on YOUR favorite guys!

A spring training Tigers trade package from Jeff

Hi everybody--sorry for taking almost two weeks to post something new over here.  Between being busy, sick and having a lack of interesting content, it wasn't exactly an ideal fortnight, but the good news is that I'm back with a new trade post thanks to Jeff.  

Besides sending me some excellent Michigan-related loot to complete our most recent deal, I also received some excellent Tigers stuff just in time for spring training!

The bulk of the package was what appears to be a team set of the Tigers in 2012 Topps I, not to mention some inserts.  Since I'm avoiding Topps boxes like the plague they are, I'm happy to have picked these up in a trade.  Jeff also went a smart route and participated in a group break instead of wasting money on a box.

The base cards are as good as Topps' designs usually are, and I especially like the Avila play at the plate action shot.  I've been wanting more of his cards and I have a feeling they'll be much more available now that he's been in the league long enough.

The inserts, on the other hand, are about as goofy as Topps' usually are, but Jeff sent me a great group of players--two new Ty Cobbs, a couple Cabreras, another Verlander (still not enough--I'm not changing the title!) and a Magglio that commemorates a classic moment in Tigers history--an insert featuring a great theme for a set and a head-scratcher of a design.

But that's not all Jeff threw in Tigers-wise, because I also got these beauties:

Refractors are always tough to scan just right, so take my word for it, this is one of the Tigers ace from 2011.  I love Refractors, I love Justin Verlander, therefore this card is a winner!

And finally, this Jeremy Bonderman 2006 Upper Deck Ovation Ovation Apparel jersey.  This is my first hit of any kind of the the erstwhile Tiger, and it happens to be a solid (a.k.a. non-white) jersey swatch.  It's definitely a welcome addition, plus a new player, for my Tigers PC.

Thanks again to Jeff for another great trade!

I don't always do things by the book...

...but sometimes I do them by the letter.

The other day on TMM I talked about a rare trade I made with a Blowout member.  Generally that's been my fault because sometimes it's just easier to try to buy something from a guy than to see if I have an extremely specific Bryce Harper autograph.  But occasionally things DO work out because lightning struck a second time, as you'll see shortly.  

A particular member listed some nice stuff for sale or for trade.  I really took a liking to one of his cards and sent him a link to my trade bait.  Though it hasn't garnered me a ton of trades yet (despite including a lot of useful stuff!) it proved effective here--he decided he wanted a dual autograph (which I picked up on the cheap in a Blowout lot, incidentally) and one of my Bryce Harper base RCs, which I certainly won't miss (overrated until proven not a punk-ass).  

You would have thought this guy was a blogger/trader just like you guys because just for fun, I figured out the Beckett "value" and noted that I came out ahead.  You know what that means?  We both got exactly what we wanted, and to hell with "book value."  In short, it was an outstanding trade.

Ok, enough excitement over making a trade on a board that primarily involves selling--what did I get that I'm so excited about?  Have a look at THIS:

Rick Porcello 2009 SP Authentic By the Letter auto (#69/85)

It certainly seems like I've been amassing a lot of letter manupatch autos lately, and I hope that trend continues.  This is a very cool card of a guy I hope follows Justin Verlander's career path, because if he can even be 75% of what Verlander offers, Detroit would have a nightmare of a rotation, especially with the potential emergence of Jacob Turner.

Anyway, that explains the reason I went hard after a Porcello card, but there's a lot to like about more than just the player.  Although it's not a team color, the "E" boldly stands out with a nice signature down the largest portion of it, a natural spot for the autograph of just about anyone short of Bo Hart and Mike Olt.  My only real knock on the card is that the nameplate doesn't spell the player's last name or even the team name, but instead "Rookie," which is pretty lame.  That's fine with me, though, because I really don't need ANOTHER nameplate project right now.

For those of you who are interested, this is my fifth Porcello in the Tigers PC, and third autograph overall.  To see all of them, please head right on over here.

So once again, here's to trading!

A new Lions card just in time for football season...to end

Over at TMM you'll notice that I just completed a rare trade with another Blowout member.  While five of the six cards I received were Wolverines and therefore not relevant to this blog, I did manage to snag one other card that may actually be of interest to some of you, though it happened to arrive during its sport's offseason:

This here is a Jahvid Best 2010 Absolute Memorabilia RPM jersey-ball-jersey RC (#d 22/99).  I know I've mentioned before that I really like the look of these cards (plus their relatively low prices, which makes them reasonably easy to get) and this one is no exception.  I didn't exactly NEED another card in the deal, but I wanted this one enough to work a bit harder to find stuff for the trade to get it.  It's not like I have much of a Lions PC, and I haven't decided if I'd like to pursue one, but as far as what I got back in the trade went, it seemed like a good idea and I'm happy with the result.

Best has an unfortunately uncertain future due to a history of concussions, which is a very, very serious situation for any athlete, much less the rest of us.  While I hope he's eventually able to get back on the field, my primary concern is to see him be able to live a normal, healthy life, so if retirement becomes his only option, I'll understand.  But in his limited playing time so far, he's shown some flashes of exciting playmaking ability out of the backfield, and I can speak for all Lions fans when I say that having all our RBs healthy to start next season is at the top of our wishlist.

I hope some of you pigskin fanatics found this card interesting.  If I don't decide to pursue some sort of Lions PC, I'm sure I'll eventually put it up for trade, so if you just have to have it, shoot me a comment/email and we'll work something out!

These Juniors aren't mint, but they were free

I realize this isn't a trade post, so it won't garner that many hits, but I thought some of you might still be interested in this.  I hit up the Ann Arbor District Library today as I sometimes do, and on my way out I scoped out the cart of free books, as I'm also wont to do.  I noticed a nice stack of baseball-related books and upon closer inspection, found three which piqued my interest enough to bring them home:

In order, we have Baseball America Almanacs from 1996 and 1998 plus a 1993 Baltimore Orioles media guide.

The almanacs were part of a larger stack that included a couple other years, plus some of their minor league handbooks, none of which interested me enough, plus I thought taking three books was more than enough.  Although the cover shots of Juniors Ripken and Griffey were my prime motivation for grabbing them, from my experience with other versions they're actually quite interesting to have beyond the collecting aspect as they include such info as a recap of the previous season, stats, draft info and more.  But really, getting a shot of Cal during 2131 night and Griffey probably bashing a homer would have been sufficient alone.

The media guide was more of a lark.  It's not as wide as the other two and it's your standard media guide, really, with a look at that year's team, a recap of the previous season, stats, schedules, player profiles and more.  I'd be just as happy to hold onto it, but I'm making it available to any Orioles fan or anybody else that would like to claim it.  Just shoot me an email or leave a comment, first come, first served.  You can either have it for the exact cost of shipping (I'm thinking Media Mail, if possible, though it may fit a flat rate box) or trade me something for it, your choice.

Not bad for some freebies, eh?

A superb Super Bowl trade post featuring My Cardboard Mistress

I have to quickly get through writing up two posts today because it won't be long until kickoff for the Giants-Pats Super Bowl!

Today's post features the baseball half of a ridiculous trade package Adam of My Cardboard Mistress sent me last week, and which I'm finally getting around to showing off.  We made a friendly bet on the result of the Sugar Bowl, then before he was able to send me my winnings, I threw a bunch of stuff his way preemptively.  His response was my winnings from the bet plus some great stuff in trade.  Let's just get down to it, then:

TWO envelopes, and one of them is HUGE.  What the?...

Adam splurged and threw down a dollar for me on the book.  For more on that, plus the other Michigan-related items, make sure to check out my post on TMM.  I'll also spoil the fun and tell you I pulled nothing of remote interest from the Canadian Football pack, but it was very cool of Adam to toss that in.

So here's what came in from the baseball portion:

Some excellent Tigers, including one of Adam's favorites in Verlander, which was very cool.  Then a couple other guys from my star PCs in Griffey and three awesome Ripkens.  I love the mini, plus its own mini top loader, but my favorite of everything out of the baseball stuff was definitely the Masterpieces black border card, because those just look amazing.  Speaking of star baseball players for my PC, he also included

this very nice Tony Gwynn 2005 Upper Deck Classics Classic Materials jersey.  Somehow it's only my third relic of Gwynn, one of which is a dual with Ripken, so this is my first solo jersey of Gwynn, which goes along nicely with my bat relic of him.

Overall this was a great trade package in its own right, but it pales in comparison to the riches he threw my way for my Michigan PCs.  Please make sure to check that out over on TMM if only to see how generous Adam is.  I tip my hat to one outstanding Hokie fan.  Thanks, Adam!