1/5/19 show report: lots of hits for two bits

If last Saturday's show is any indication, I'm gonna have another great year of pickups from my usual guy at Taylor Town Trade Center!  It was a nice day all around with the sun shining as I headed east and then spent a couple hours digging through quarter boxes.  Also, props to Tigers legend Willie Horton who was there signing autographs when apparently a gas leak caused an evacuation (after I left, I guess?).  Horton ended up continuing to sign for folks in the parking lot.  What a guy!  (HT to Paul for letting me know about this)

Anyway, my efforts once again paid off handsomely as I headed home with 175 total cards for $47.  170 of those were $0.25 per and the other five were a buck apiece.  Not much of a discount this time, but it all evens out.

I'd say the personal keepers vs. trade bait percentage was around 40%/60%, but regardless I ended up with a ton of new stuff to enjoy.  That includes a pair over on TMM this evening, plus this bevy of stars:

My take-home largely comprised the big guys, starting here with Junior Griffey.  This first bunch includes his '94 Finest base, a quartet of '97 inserts, and a shiny offering from 2000 UD.  I still remember pulling some of those Pitcher Perfect cards from packs of '97 Score!

Griffey part 2/3 here.  I guessed a bit when sorting these and got the years wrong because like Donruss/Leaf, UD didn't always use the actual year as the copyright date.  So you get to see, out of order, Ovation Curtain Calls inserts from 1999 and 2001, then a 2000 PowerDeck Magical Moments CD (no, I'm not gonna try to play it), and a cool Superior Sluggers insert from the 2003 flagship set.  Now that I'm looking at all of these and the next scan, I realize I grabbed a lot of UD stuff, but that makes sense since they made a ton of great inserts during their run while Topps mostly opted for boring stuff.

And the horizontals.  The SI Covers insert is my favorite here because I've always loved those, but four UD inserts spanning 1994-2000 and a 2000 Fleer Gamers subset aren't bad either.  Black Diamond was a favorite of mine one year, and we get another appearance by PowerDeck.

This little haul of Gwynns has me pretty close to a total of 600, which (spoiler) I'll be achieving soon thanks to Sportlots cards.  You'll also see a few more starring Gwynn in a later scan in this post.

A Diamond King and Sportflix insert from '95 have me pining for the good old days of the 90s, while there's plenty more cool chase cards like 2000 Fleer Gamers' Change the Game and '99 Pacific's Team Checklists.  Pacific sure knew how to make checklists anything but boring.

By the way, that '96 Circa Access insert was new to me, and I had fun scanning all facets of the booklet-like card:

He's right, too--I bet Tony would have hit .400 given the chance in '94.

I went three-for-four on the Larkins I pulled out of these boxes so a certain Jeff will be getting the dupe of the group in a future trade package.  As for me, I scored a pretty interesting mix, including a 1994 Score Dream Team Sample (samples are fun!), a Century Stars insert from 2004 Throwback Threads (#d /1500...for a quarter!), and an example of one of my favorite chase cards, Select's 1996 Team Nucleus.  These acetate cards look badass and the trios are pretty interesting.  Here the '95 NL MVP is matched up with Reggie Sanders and Bret Boone.  The former would play eight seasons in Cincy, putting up an All-Star '95 in which he recorded a career-high bWAR of 6.6, while the latter spent most of his solid career with the Reds and Mariners.

It was another good day for my Maddux collection thanks to this lucky seven (plus one!).  Most of what you see here is from my favorite cardboard era--the mid-90s through the mid-aughts.  Respect was a cool insert from '96 Ultra, and next to that is a successfully exchanged UD Predictor from '95 (again, guessing on the years when scanning).  Those are followed up by a '99 Skybox Molten Metal "Don't Call Me Leaf Preferred Steel" Xplosion card and a much more recent Topps Gallery Insert from 2017.

The horizontals feature my second copy (one that hasn't been peeled) of Donruss's '95 Dominators insert, another from Leaf All-Star Game MVP Contenders Gold, a 2000 Pacific team insert, and one of a couple Donruss Estrellas Spanish cards you'll see today.

Ripken's group ended up being a pretty interesting one as it paired him up with a couple other PC guys.  The solo offerings include a Score Dugout parallel and Ultra Checklist from the mid-90s, another Ultra insert, a second Estrellas card from the early 2000s, and the "Auxiliary" (read:  non-CD) version of a 1999 PowerDeck insert.  He then gets matched up with a couple other good shortstops on a '94 Triple Play Medalists insert, one being Tony Fernandez and the other, Hall of Famer Alan Trammell.  The final three cards are from a Ripken/Gwynn insert from 2007 Upper Deck that celebrates both entering the Hall that year (I attended that induction ceremony!).  There's apparently 50 of these and I may eventually try to chase them down.

How about starting the year off 100% on-brand with too many Verlanders?  I didn't mind paying a quarter apiece for 18 new cards of his from 2007 Topps Moments and Milestones, which also let me earn a few points but uploading their scans to TCDB.

Here's the other nine, giving me one from his "wins" version and 17 of the "strikeouts" cards.  Taking a quick look in his folder it would appear that I now have two of the former and 22 of the latter "base" versions (plus two Black parallels of just the strikeouts).

I also came away with these two Topps Chrome Generation Now cards from the same year, then found that I actually completed his run of that version because the only offering #s 1, 10, 15, and 16 in Chrome for some reason.  I'd previously knocked out all of the base versions from Flagship, so that's pretty cool!

Last up is mostly a mix of buybacks plus another PC checklist card.  Elliott Maddox ('74 and '79) and a badly miscut Lary Sorensen ('79) are 2015 Topps Originals Buybacks.  Sabo's is the Gold version of his 2017 Bowman Buyback of his '90 Bowman base.  Finally, I found a pair featuring Geoff Zahn from Topps' 2014 75th Anniversary Buybacks:  his '75 Topps RC(!) and his base from the following year's set.  Not bad!

To those I can add retired 2B Chris Getz's Yellow parallel from his final flagship appearance, 2014 Topps.  That leaves me needing six more versions from the flagship/Mini rainbow.

It was indeed another great show for me, and I may just be looking to replicate that success in the western part of my state as weather (and getting my ass up in time) permitting I might be meeting up with John for a show in his neck of the woods, the Kalamazoo area.  Here's to another blogger meet-up!

2018 Sportlots purchases: Motown and Cin-City

I managed to hit a large number of players among my copious PCs on this latest Sportlots jaunt, and in many cases that resulted in a stray card or three.  Since I don't consider those enough to warrant their own post I decided to lump some together in a pair of them.  For this one I even came up with a theme:  former Tigers and Reds.  The 47 cards of 13 players (see what I mean?) below cover guys who had some affiliation with either team or even both in a couple cases.  A mix of oddball and mainstream and variety of number of new cards (from one to 15) should make this a pretty interesting compilation:

Steve Boros was a Tiger for four seasons and Red for two so he's a double-dipper for this theme.  He's pictured here with the latter team on a 1978 TCMA 60's I issue, and you'll see that brand a bit more throughout this post.  I completed his regular checklist a while ago so this was a fun optional addition.

Bill Freehan, of course, was a Tiger for all 15 seasons of his excellent career.  This 100% oddball pair includes a repeat of the TCMA 60's set above along with a 1989 Swell Baseball Greats issue that's a bit of a rarity as a Freehan card released during that decade.

Next up is Kirk Gibson, this post's only non-Wolverine, whose two stints in Detroit added up to 12 seasons.  You may recall that in this series' second post I showed off a 1981 Kellogg's hologram of Gibby's teammate Alan Trammell.  I'm happy to be back today with a 1982 version of another of my favorite Tigers in Gibson.  To that I added a couple more oddly sized cards: 1990 Dodgers Target (the first of four you'll see in this series), which is a set you've surely seen on more than one Dodgers-centric blog, plus the oxymoronic 2013 Topps Archives Mini Tall Boys.  These are definitely appropriate for a guy that was anything but standard in his heyday.

Former two-sport star Drew Henson is a bit of a technicality as he never suited up for the Reds after joining them in a trade with the Yankees, and then he returned to the Bronx for all eight games and nine ABs in his bust of an MLB career.  But as they say, my blog, my rules, so here's an early 90s trio I added to his PC.  A 2001 Fleer Tradition base is my third RC of the ex-Yankee, and that's joined by one of Drew's two appearances in UD's fun 40-Man product from 2002, plus a Mini from Topps' 2003 Bazooka.

Barry Larkin is definitely the outlier in today's post as he clocks in with 15 new items, three of which were throw-ins from an apologetic seller.  One of those appears after I got Larkin to join in on the Sportflics action (1990) in the form of a '91 Topps Cracker Jack four-player card that appears to be an uncut version, something I hadn't seen.  Some higher end Topps--'95 Finest, '99 Chrome, and '01 Gold Label Class 1, add to the fun along with a couple parallels--'92 Topps Gold Winners and '97 Score Showcase Series--plus an '02 Heritage base.

Donruss' Leather and Lumber product was fairly forgettable, just the opposite of last year's Contenders Draft Picks which again brings the fun of college action to baseball collectors.  Then we have a pair of horizontal '96s with a Stadium Club subset and Upper Deck checklist that co-stars fellow HOFer Chipper Jones.  Those are joined by another throw-in, a '91 Panini Sticker, and slightly larger '03 Fleer Double Header base.

All in all it was a nice purchase for Larkin whose total vaults up to 717 items, second only to fellow SS Cal Ripken Jr.

Former Michigan QB Rick Leach was a Tiger for the first three seasons of his career but today you'll see him with the Jays and Giants.  The first three are fun oddballs from Blue Jays Fire Safety sets made in 1984, '86, and '87.  Meanwhile, card #4's product should look fairly familiar to a number of you:  Mother's Cookies from 1990.  Those rounded cards are pretty solid food issues and are always fun to collect.  Last up is an item for which I finally caved and added to my cart:  a 1991 Leaf error that was supposed to depict San Fran P Jeff Brantley but actually stars Leach.  Once again I can call his collection complete!

1990 Dodgers Target card #2 is of Don Lund, a Brooklyn Dodger for parts of three seasons who was also a Tigers OF for four.  His BB-R entry notes that the Michigan alum is buried in Ann Arbor's Forest Hill Cemetery where several former University presidents as well as legendary coach Bo Schembechler are interred.

Outfielder Elliott Maddox was a Tiger for just one season a couple years after Detroit drafted him in the first round in '68, but that's good enough to include him today!  Here he is on the first card I've acquired since completing his checklist, another SSPC piece, in this case from 1975.  By the way, Maddox never did appear on a card with the Tigers; his '71 Topps RC shows him as a member of the Senators, another of his one-and-done clubs.

As with Leach I scored both oddballs and needed checklist cards of Hal Morris, a guy who played for both of the teams featured in this post but of course known mostly as a Red.  The top three cards you see are Columbus Clippers issues from 1988 (CMC and Police) and '89 (ProCards) from his time in the Yankees system.  It warms my heart every time I think about the 80s/90s Yanks suffering a World Series drought thanks to getting rid of guys like Hal.  The other two are 90s parallels from '96 Metal Universe (Platinum) and '98 Topps--the Minted in Cooperstown stamped cards that were, well, what it says right there.  I appreciated the small dent in Morris' checklist as I get closer to 75% of his run.

Pitcher Heath Murray was part of both systems I'm covering today but never played for the Reds.  He did appear in 14 games for the abysmal '01 Tigers (who'd get even worse in '03) which is why he's here today.  While I didn't land any of the five cards I need to complete his collection I did come up with a couple "others" to add from '94 Signature Rookies and Best's '96 Double-A All-Stars, with the latter being light years better in terms of design.

As I did with Maddox I was able to find a couple more cards to add to a completed PC, which in this case is late pitcher Ross Powell, a one-time Red.  He's shown with a couple of Cincy's Minor League clubs here:  the AA Chattanooga Lookouts (1990 Grand Slam) and AAA Nashville Sounds (1991 Line Drive AAA).  Minor League cards don't always have the greatest designs but they're fun to collect thanks to the many fun team names and the fact that they're sometimes the only way to get a player on cardboard.

OF Leon Roberts, who I just learned hit a grand slam off of fellow Michigan alum Geoff Zahn in 1978, is another guy whose collection I've long since completed--noticing a trend here?  But I always like to add more cards to a PC when I can, so I came up with this interesting quartet.  #1 is a return to the '75 SSPC set made during Roberts' second and final season with Detroit, the team that drafted him.  I also found him on a 1987 ProCards minor league issue as the manager of the Tigers' AAA affiliate in Toledo--another new fact I learned!  And you know what else I was previously ignorant of?  How about the Senior Professional Baseball Association, a 35+ league that featured a number of former stars that ran from 1989-90.  Leon appears here on 1989 cards representing this association from T/M and Topps.

Last up today is very well known Reds 3B Chris "Spuds" Sabo, and all three of these were checklist needs, so that was pretty exciting.  #1 is an '89 OPC base that leaves me five short of his run from the 80s, and I was glad to grab that because the brand sometimes carries a price premium on this side of the Canadian border.  Second is another junk wax era offering, 1990 Donruss Best NL, made a couple years after his NL ROY campaign.  And last up is a Gold Rush parallel of his 1994 Score Rookie/Traded base that shows him as an Oriole after he signed with Baltimore that year (before eventually returning to the Reds).  This trio gives me exactly 150 cards on his checklist out of the 210 I'm chasing, so it really feels like I'm making progress there.

Stay tuned for one more post like this one packed with a bunch of players, then three more solo posts featuring some very popular PCs!

Trade me cards for my three new baseball player collections!

(Note:  this is being posted on both blogs to reach the widest audience possible)

On one or both of my blogs I recently alluded to the fact that I was soon to add three new players to the list of guys I'm PCing.  (I'm also planning an overhaul of my single/player wants to better reflect what I collect.)  Although they're all Michigan alumni (as are most of the guys I PC), they're still baseball players, and it seems reasonable for me to at least try to trade for them through TMV.

Today seemed like a good day to try something different; in the past I began player collections either thanks to existing inventory, a few pickups through trades, or online purchases.  This time I'd like to begin by announcing these collections, then seeing what I can trade for before proceeding to the usual "buy 'em all on eBay/COMC/Sportlots/Justcommons" method.  As it turns out this time, all three are pretty much of the "vintage" variety, spanning 1969-1985, which is the biggest reason I thought I'd reach out to the blogging world first; after all, for many of you this is your bread and butter!

So what I'm going to do today is list all three new players and the cards of them I need, which is about 99% of them right now.  If you have any you're willing to trade, please just let me know which in the comments and I'll work out a deal with you.  Trade loot will range from "cards of your favorite team I can dig up" all the way to "pick out some stuff on COMC on me!"  I see the latter happening mostly if this pursuit leads to a bigger trade, but you never know.  Think of this as helping a player collector and further greasing the wheels for some trading fun!

Once I have some stuff to show off I'll do some formal write-ups of each player as I've done for my other newer PCs on TMM recently.

Ok, on to the new players and my needs for each (images courtesy of COMC):

1.  Elliott Maddox, 1971-1981 (Tigers, Senators, Rangers, Yankees, Orioles, Mets)
1971 O-Pee-Chee #11
1971 Topps #11 RC
1972 O-Pee-Chee #277
1972 Topps #277
1973 O-Pee-Chee #658
1973 Topps #658
1974 O-Pee-Chee #401
1974 Topps #401
1975 O-Pee-Chee #113
1975 Topps #113
1975 Topps Mini #113
1976 O-Pee-Chee #503
1976 Topps #503
1977 Topps #332
1978 Topps #442
1979 O-Pee-Chee #28
1979 Topps #69
1980 O-Pee-Chee #357
1980 Topps #707
1981 Donruss #397
1981 Fleer #326
1981 O-Pee-Chee #299
1981 Topps #299
Have/pending:  0/23


2.  Leon Roberts, 1975-1985 (Tigers, Astros, Mariners, Rangers, Blue Jays, Royals)
Please note that this is NOT Leon "Bip" Roberts; if you're gonna Bip me, do it with the Roberts I actually want to collect!  As a matter of fact, thanks to this concern, I've created a "NOT Bip Roberts" tag for the blogs!
1975 O-Pee-Chee #620 Carter/Hill/Meyer/Roberts RC
1975 Topps #620 Carter/Hill/Meyer/Roberts RC
1975 Topps Mini #620 Carter/Hill/Meyer/Roberts RC
1976 O-Pee-Chee #292
1976 Topps #292
1976 Topps Traded #292T
1977 Topps #456
1979 O-Pee-Chee #81
1979 Topps #166
1980 O-Pee-Chee #266
1980 Topps #507
1981 Donruss #48
1981 Fleer #608
1981 Topps #368
1981 Topps Traded #825
1982 Donruss #415
1982 Fleer #329
1982 O-Pee-Chee #186
1982 Topps #688
1983 O-Pee-Chee #89
1983 Topps #89
1983 Topps Traded #96T
1984 Donruss #399
1984 Fleer #356
1984 Topps #784
1984 Topps Tiffany #784
1985 Topps #217
1985 Topps Tiffany #217
Have/pending:  1/28


3.  Ted Sizemore, 1969-1980 (Dodgers, Cardinals, Phillies, Cubs, Red Sox)
1969 Topps #552 Sizemore/Sudakis RC
1970 O-Pee-Chee #174
1970 Topps #174
1971 O-Pee-Chee #571
1971 Topps #571
1972 O-Pee-Chee #514
1972 Topps #514
1973 O-Pee-Chee #128
1973 Topps #128
1974 O-Pee-Chee #209
1974 Topps #209
1975 O-Pee-Chee #404
1975 Topps #404
1975 Topps Mini #404
1976 O-Pee-Chee #522
1976 Topps #522
1977 Topps #366
1978 O-Pee-Chee #118
1978 Topps #136
1979 O-Pee-Chee #148
1979 Topps #297
1980 O-Pee-Chee #46
1980 Topps #81
Have/pending:  1/23 (and 0/1 one-of-ones)

Again, if you have anything on these lists for trade, please drop me a comment and we'll work something out.  Help me pile up some vintage PC guys and line your...well, not your pockets, that wouldn't work, but your shelves with sweet trade cards!