Putting you in the game!

Alright, so let's put a capper on this little contest and take a look at the entries.

First up, we have Corky from Pack War:

From Corky's post, he used the 1988 Topps football design as his basis, being this is him from a yearbook photo pulling in the grab. And Corky colorized the shot too. Not bad work, Corky. Did Greg Brady take this photo, and did it help you win the game? Cuz your feet are in bounds.

Next, Gavin took time away from his customs at Baseball Card Breakdown:

Good old '56 Topps. Gavin was right that 1956 TOpps can be a hard design to copy, and he turned in quite the cards. Dig the Tatooine shot in the background. Best part is now I can forge Gavin's signature.

Jim from GCRL FrankenDodger wherever now:

Jim emailed me two entries. The year is 1986 on a traveling team, so he used the '86 Topps All Star set, but Jim likes the '85 All Star cards better, so made one of those too. So he held the opposing team scoreless in the top of the 9th and then hits a walk off double in the bottom. And then right into the waiting arms of his gaggle of baseball girls. Ahhh....the life of an All Star.

Next is Jeremy from Topps Cards that Never Were:

Forgive the tiny view - Jeremy said he only had access to a small version of the card. But since his blog is Cards that Never Were, I am calling these cards from the never produced 1994 Topps mini set! Jeremy was the only player that submitted a card back. Because of the size, let me help you out:

"On December 8, 1993, Jeremy lined a soft grounder down the Third-Base line and beat the throw to First to collect his first Little-League Hit. On January 9, 1994, he logged a Walk, and later came Home to score his first Run of the season. His 2nd Run of the season came on Jaunary 17 against Jim Lee Paint Company in 7-4 Tony's Pictures win. He also threw out a baserunner at 2nd from Rightfield, but the umpire blew the call."

Now THAT is a bio! If you look at the front of the card, you can see the ball just above the head of the left fielder. That's primo action capture.

AJ is up next from The Lost Collector:

Good old junk wax. 1988 Score is the star here, but only for the moment until you realize Lil' AJ is having an issue with even little-er AJ. And AJ is rocking for Chuck's. Or are they PF Flyers?

Last, but by no means least, Tony from Wrigley Roster Jenga:

Our other non-baseball edition, the one thing I can say right off the bat is I know this school and have driven by it a few times. But a fine job taking the 1960 Topps baseball design and flipping it to a card for a member of the cross country team. With the right photos, that design works in a lot of places.

Let's take a quick look at the winner's haul, though I think I will have to send a little something to everyone cuz of their fine work.

Vote early, but with the right setting you cannot vote often. At least I hope I ticked the right box.

Pick the best custom

Corky

DefGav

GCRL

Jeremy

Lost Collector

Tony Burbs

Survey Maker

The names are in the order if the images above to help you out. I think I'll leave it open a week or so. Have at it!

Crossing off numbers (and a contest update)

A couple quick comments on my "put yourself on a card" contest. I am looking to close this up and get the post up this Wednesday. That being said, if you still want in, and need more than 48 hours, please leave me a comment here or on the contest post and I'll give you what you need. I'm flexible.

There was that one summer at gymnastics camp....

Also, a shout out to Jeremya1um. Shoot me an email. I'm hoping you have larger copies of your cards. When I try to snag them off your post, they're pretty small and will get all pixel-y on me when I post them.

Now, I am a numbers guy. Not like a certain P-town Tom is a numbers guy. He's like crazy numbers. Being a math teacher will do that to a man's brain. But I try to build my want lists with numbers. For some people, that's not the best. Number and name they like. And I got no problem with making your list that thorough and specific. I not that kind of guy. Cards have numbers. I write numbers. I check off numbers. Easy peasy.

You called?

Adam over at Addiction is Therapy loves to read my numbers and help me cross them off.

Two high numbers for GQ. And yes, I am still working on last year's Allen and Ginter......

......while working on this year's. Fortunately, Adam ripped a few boxes, so he was sitting on a large chunk of duplicates. Eaton was my favorite player in this year's Gint-A-Cuffs and I pulled no cards with his face.

Minis and Ginter are always a ton of work. I could spend a year's worth of card money and still not finish the mini sets on my want lists. Adam came through big. How big? Four of the minis sent were the exclusive binder minis. Remember in 2014 when Topps put out an Allen and Ginter binder and there were exclusive mini cards with the binder (the jerks)? Adam dropped 4 of those babies on me. That Ned Kelly is one of them. I forgot to scan the other three (like a dope). Thanks Adam.

LAWIG: just one card

Quick update on the contest: Looks like two entries so far, and interest from a couple others. Com'on guys (and girls) - have some fun!!!! I may have made the rules a little strict, so let me loosen then a bit. Maybe I was the only one of this ragtag group of dorks that played a lot of baseball as a kid. And I mean a LOT. I played the hell out of the sport from age 6 until my final year or organized ball at 15. That was the first year I rode the bench for most of the season (age, I guess). And the game looked boring while soccer looked exciting.

Pictured: Exciting

So there are plenty of pictures with me in uniform. Maybe I am just lucky. Maybe you all played as much but don't have access to images. So here's an idea: how about a baseball card baby announcement of yourself like Sooz and Dan did? Try and use a design that's the year from your birth. Commishbob, I know that would probably be a T206, but go with it. If you are interested in taking part, leave a comment on that post and I'll wait until you post your design.

Ok - how about a single card?
 

 

Topps did an online exclusive all blue sapphire Chrome set. The full series 1 and 2 sets. That's how I have a Chrome Eaton from 2016, as he & most of the Sox got kicked from the hobby/retail Chrome set. For $5.75 total with shipping, I could have bought a pack of Chrome and not pulled ANY Eaton cards, so this is a win in my book. And the scan does these cards zero justice. These are gorgeous in hand. 

GO ENTER MY CONTEST! WIN CARDS! DO IT!

A contest, if you dare!

Last week, my company moved offices. And with that move, I lost my cubicle. If I ever have to go into the offices, I'll have some temp desk to work at. With the change, my work PC is now my home machine. I no longer remote into my machine at my desk. With the change, though, I've had to get this work machine setup with enough items so it can function as a personal machine as well. Which means I had to dig around and find the disk for my graphics program. Yes, it's old, but I tried GIMP, and it's too robust for me. And I'm not dropping cash on Photoshop. Fortunately, the disk was still in decent shape to install.

I can just ignore all those files, right?

I don't do a lot with my graphics program. Minor changes, resizing - nothing great. I've dabbled with customs, but dabble at best. Nothing along the lines of the work by Gavin, Matt or Jordan. In fact, you don't need graphic skills, you can go through Topps and get customs made, just like how Sooz and Dan announced their newborn.

It was a little of the first and some of the 2nd that made me decide on a little contest. Because if custom Topps were around when my kids were born, I would have been buying them. And if Topps customs were around when I was a kid, I would have made my own baseball card. So it's time to correct that, as embarrassing and pathetic at it might be.

Back in the 70's, MLB didn't license out their logos to Little League baseball, so technically, I was on the "Cards". Close enough, though. Dig that real wooden bat, too. Screw the ping!  So that is my first official custom. They only get better from this point, right?

So the contest? I challenge you to make your own custom. Replicate a Topps design like I did, or use COMC like Jordan does and do a little shopping to put yourself in the card. But it has to be you. But not current you. I'm going to make the age break at 16. You may only use an image of yourself below the age of 16. Com'on - if we collect cards, we had to play the sport at least one season, right. Or you have a photo of yourself is a ball cap, football uniform, basketball uniform, etc.... Dig enough and you have a photo of younger you that would work on a trading card. I'm 13 here.

Get to shopping yourself into a Topps design and show it off to the rest of us. You can either post it to your blog, or upload it to an online image storage/file storage. Just post a link in the comments. I'll let the masses decide the winner from a poll.

And yes, there is a prize for first place.

Six prizes to be exact. The Johnson is # to 50 and Springer is the camo variation. Let's have some fun. show off our computer skills and have a good laugh at our awkward younger selves. You have a week to submit your entry.

New Age

What the hell just happened here?

As you can see, I decided it was time for a small redesign. Nothing extreme, as the layout is the same. Just some new colors (based on the '59 White Sox uniform palette) and a new header. I didn't go nuts and dropped the animated TV gif. I was thinking of a scrolling marquee board, ala the 70's version of the Titanton, but I went simple. Nothing too drastic.

I don't need your help, Oliver!

Recently, a local big box (Meijer's) had 5 blasters of 2014 Panini Golden Age. I love the 3 year run of that set, as I have talked in the past. A couple weeks prior I found one at Target, so I did my best to grab as many of the ones from Meijer over the course of a week. I got 4. I want to hunt down the person that got the last one.

I am long done with the base. I was just looking for the inserts and hits in the blasters. Remember when blasters contained a guaranteed hit? Well, best I could tell the '14 Golden Age contains hits from the Legends of Music relic set, as all my hits were from that 8 card set. Yeah, I got some dupes, but read on and maybe there might be a giveaway at the end of the post (there is). But the guaranteed relic wasn't all I found in a couple.

This is one of the First Fifty serialed cards. You can see the words in the upper corners replacing the scroll work of the base cards. And yes - the numbering is to 50. This card is 30 of 50 showcasing the beautiful Gene Tierney. Not bad for a low numbered serial from a blaster. On to the hits.

Willie appears in the relic set twice. Two different images, and I assume the relics are different on both.

Because they are different on the two cards I pulled. The top black relic feels like, almost like a part of a number patch, so I'm not quite sure what it's from. If it's a shirt, it would be dang heavy and hot to wear. But this other relic is a bandana, plain and simple. And no - both cards do not smell like hemp. Much.

Father to the far less talented former singer of the Monday Night Football theme song, Here's a nice two color piece of what appears to be a jacket from Hank Williams. There are only two kinds of music I hate - Country and Western. But I give a tone of respect to Mr. Williams. Won't buy any of his stuff, but if I know he's singing, I won't turn the station. Nice faint pin stripe in the center.

No Nick - this one is mine. Find your own. I was most excited when this card came out of the first of the 4 I got from Meijers. What's to say about a punk legend that I hasn't already been said. The relic is a piece of a t-shirt (what else?) and humbling to own. More so than the Nelson and the Williams. I have 4 of the 8 from the set. There is a 3rd Willie card, another of Hank and two from Liberace. I don't expect any more blasters, so I will have to complete this set from ebay.

However, that wasn't the end of the hits. When I found the relic pack from one blaster (that contained Joey Ramone), I set it aside to save it for last. The pack just before I revealed my relic, this came out.

Expired redemption? Yes. But just barely, and Panini has a great history of honoring old, expired redemptions. I quickll made the request, and so far, this is still showing as"active". I redeemed it in the middle of May, only 5 and a half months after the expiration. I'm sure this is laying around the office. I'll post it if/when it showing up in my mailbox.

So yeah, with this new blog look, how about a contest? Along with the blasters, I ripped a box of 14 Golden Age from a sale I saw at Dave and Adam's. So I have a LOT of base. So much that I have one complete base set (150 cards) along with a partial set maybe 30 cards short. Plus a few extra inserts and 2 extra Willie Nelson relics. The bandana one. So like I usually run my giveaways, comment below if you want in. I'll go a week or so. Promote if you like, but not needed. Follow me if you want, but again, not needed. Let's close comment entries on 6/12 at 11:59pm. All the names hit the randomizer. The person is position #1 gets the full set with a funky piece of bandana with a word on it. The person at the very bottom gets the partial set with a plain red relic swatch.

It's that simple. And if you have any Golden Age inserts laying around from the 2012-2014 release years, my Wants list at the top shows the full size inserts I need. And any minis are appreciated too.

Now comes the hard part - Ramones or Hank? Ramones or Hank? If only the Ramones covered a Hank Williams song.

Here's Some Cardboard that Arrived

When I started blogging a little over 3 years ago, I did it to become a part of this community. I had stumbled on a few videos from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius, and from the links on his blog, found there we so many more people out there that not only collected, but shared what they had. It was fun to peek into the collecting world, and other people's collections. Finding all the blog is what helped me become not just a better collector, but a smarter collector. Instead of picking away here and there, I could focus on what I wanted and felt more secure in giving up the things that I didn't feel attached to.

I remember those first cautious steps in the blog world, wanting to be accepted, not understanding the whole "trade" thing. It wasn't until I blogged that I completed my first baseball card trade. I mean that. I didn't collect with my brothers. I just had a couple friends that were into cards, and that was only during the junk wax era. There was never any trading, so I just stored everything I had. When I first traded, I was so worried I would upset someone, or do something wrong.

Now, screw it. I just send cards willy nilly. I know the moment I rip a pack if I even want to keep a rectangle. I don't worry about the cards I send, that is until I get a package in return. Then I feel like I need to step up my game.

That statement is very true based on two recent mailings from Brian at HSCA (get this post name?). Brian doesn't seem to have any of the fears I had when I started my blog. He jumped in with incredible mailings and a calm demeanor. Maybe it's an age thing. Or a Minnesota thing. Let's look at the 2nd package first, that arrived a couple days ago.

We've all seen enough 2015 Topps. What these show is the last card I needed for series one, in the McCann, and one of many cards that knocked me to needing 14 for series two.

Dig the silver borders! Brian included a nice amount of cards for the Sox box.

And a few for the binders as well. Will the Thrill cameo on the Cora DP cards. Those great 1911/12 throwbacks the Cubs wore in the early 90's (and again about 10 or so years ago for a Crosstown Classic). I have no idea what Jaha is smiling about, unless he is goofing with a REALLY bad bunting position.

The highlight of this mailing were these two great cards, each for different reasons. For the Mudcat, it's obvious - B-E-A-Utiful '59 miscut. For the Thomas, just wow. The shop job on that card is painful. So painful I think Topps hired the guy. But dig those crappy Twizzlers logos. UD had a license at this time, but maybe since Y&S Candies doesn't have the license, they could not use MLB logos. Yet, this is a card that is so bad, it's amazing.

Ok - package 2. Errr.....1. Brian did a road trip about a month ago and ran a contest one day. Identify the location of a picture posted and he would get you something. Luckily, with the scant bit of info he gave, and a little Google Mapping, I choose wisely with Cooperstown. Brian emailed me and asked who my favorite HOFer was. My reply: any White Sox, and even the ones that didn't make it in.

Brian then choose wisely in my prize pack.

A sweet '58 for the Aparicio project. Billy is a nice upgrade, and that meant the card that moved from the Pierce collection could go to the Sox team set. Win-win!

Recently deceased Minnie filled out the rest of the mailing, with a nice '58 and a hand signed TCMA. Minnie was always going to be a player project in the future, but his will be tough, with the extra years he played. Still should be fun.

Now just four cards. So why would Brian mail winnings in an envelope this large?

Luckily, that fiber board meant my postman had to walk up to the door because he couldn't jam the mail into the mailbox. And that was so thankful because this remained mint.

It's a matted 8x10 of Minnie. A could days after Minnie passed, I snagged a 3x5 index card autograph from him off ebay. I placed in it a card sleeve and into a box. Now, I just need to grab a 11x14 frame for this, and I'll work the auto in somehow. It will make for a great addition to my autograph wall.

Brian, you have more than outdone yourself. Not sure how to make this up, but I will try. And for those without a blog, get in the game, would ya? Trust me - we want to read what you have to say. When you put us all together, we make some mighty fine music.

Pulling a rabbit from a hat, and a contest.

Before I get to the post, if you want some free hockey cards, just visit this post and tell me who you want. I got cards I want to put in the hands of people that will love them. Plus, if you like the Oilers, Avs, Flames, Islanders, Stars, Wild, Canes, or Kings, one of the cards will be an auto or a relic. Hits have already gone out to some people - join in the fun!

I'm not sure how many of you will recognize the name Marshall Brodien. If you grew up in the Chicago area, he should be familiar to anyone over the age of 40. And it's possible, with the super station that WGN was, that others will know the name. For those of you unfamiliar, Marshall Brodien is a magician. He did plenty of shows in the Chicago area in the early 60's, and as he worked through the years, he started getting guest spots on Bozo's Circus in the late 60's. In a few years, his spot appearances as an Arabian wizard turned into the regular character Wizzo the Clown. And Marshall fit right in with Bob Bell (Bozo) and Roy Brown (Cooky), cracking jokes that went far over the heads of the children watching. Marshall parlayed his Bozo Show star into magic cards and kits in the retail market. I know I had a deck of his cards, and I think he had this magic hat too that I owned. For the record, Marshall is still working in the magic industry and makes appearances here and there. Not sure if he dresses as Wizzo.

Not nightmare fuel at all.

So this post is how I did a little magic. How I took two cards that did not fit into my collection and turned them into cards that better match what I like. Here are the two cards that I did not want.

Both are cards I pulled from packs. I just pulled that black McGwire printing plate a few days after GQ was released. The Harper SP variation was a card sitting in a binder and I just didn't care about it. So after all was said and done. the plate went for $56 and the Harper for eight bucks. So what did I do with the cash I received? I added 9 items to my collection. I have actually showed off some of these cards, but there is nothing wrong with posting about them a 2nd time. And when I talk about prices, I am excluding shipping. I understand that I didn't turn these two cards into 9 other items at even money. But when you factor shipping, I basically paid $2.00 per item.

I saw this Andrus relic on Jereon's blog. While not the exact same relic he pulled from a box of GQ, I recognized immediately that swatch was from a Negro League throwback uniform the Rangers wore. It a faux wool fabric, but I had to have one for the throwback binder. Cost - $1.99

This 1947 TipTop Bread card of Ted Wilks is perfect for my player project of him. Of all his cards, I figured this would be the white whale and cost me the most. I was the only bidder for this gem. It is creased? Yup. Do I care? Hell no. Cost - $9.99

Continuing with the Wilks project, this stamp popped up on an ebay search. It's from the 1949 Eureka set. Never knew it existed. Now I don't have to worry about finding it. Cost - $0.99

Last for the Wilks project is this 1953 Topps. It's the most expensive of his cards it seems. Or at least the one they seem to price the highest. This card is in great shape and a snipe pulled it in. Cost - $3.05

Moving to the Fox Project, Nellie has 4 Redman cards out there, and the prices are tough. This one is missing the bottom tab, and it appears a 90 year old blind Parkinson's patient with dull scissors riding out a storm in the Bering Sea cut the bottom, but I was happy to take it in. Cost - $3.25

The same seller as the Fox had combined shipping. All cards for one price. This was the only other card he had for sale that I wanted, but I was going to pay a dollar for it anywhere I went. Might as well get a nice copy. Cost - $0.99

I found the '62 Ed Keegan card in a quarter box at a card show. I couldn't pass it up as I collect cards not only with my last name, but names that are close to my kids. Granted, I have yet to see a ball player with the name of Cera, but Keegan is close enough to my son Keagan, so I scooped it up. Ed only has one other card, and this 1961 release it it. Ed Keegan Project complete. Cost - $1.75

This 1961 Topps stamp of Sherm Lollar was a nice pickup. See, every auction I have ever seen of the Lollar stamp has his partner attached to Sherm's left (our right). And who is that partner? Just the Say Hey kid himself. So you can imagine the price to buy Lollar when you are really paying for Mays. Fortunately, this one was all by itself, and I got it dirt cheap. Cost - $0.99

This was the splurge. The tickets to Paulie's retirement game sold out fast, and this was the giveaway that day. I am sure if I waited a year of so, I could snap this up for less, but who knows if they would all dry up online. BTW - that Xfinity badge looks stupid. I am going to remove it. But I got this to add to my statue giveaway collection. Need Fisk and Thomas to complete it. Cost - $40

So there you have it. I sold two cards for $64 and flipped them into 9 awesome collection additions for $63. I got a dollar left to hit McDonald's!

Ok, I said in the title there would be a contest. Here is is. First off, if you win, you get these two cards.

That's a Jordan Schwartz 749/799 and an Andrew Triggs gold 33/50. Both cards I pulled. The contest shouldn't be too hard. No randomizer or anything. First person to get the answer right wins. Here goes:

As you know, I like to post a YouTube video at the end of each post. Now, with the subject of this post, I have a lot of choices. From a kick ass Heart song, to one from Steve Miller, yodeling from Focus, even this AMAZING version of Bippity Boppity Boo from Louis Armstrong I have posted before (please click that link if you have never heard it). But why did I choose this song?

Community shared Bowman break

As everyone knows, and took part in, Brian from Play At The Plate gave away a box of 2014 Bowman for his blog's anniversary. Somehow, I ended up in the top spot when the randomizer finished. I had a really rough Saturday working on the car when the package came. It's only fair I record the rip so you all can see. If you look thru the chair slates behind the packs, you can see my dog with a face that would probably match my wife's.

I didn't get my Abreu auto. It was a fun rip, and with the few pack I have bought, I am close to the whole set, so that's good. Here's a few scans on what I did hit.

I pulled 5 of the flag backgrounds (none Illinois) and there is that diecut of d'Arnaud.

Some of the colored borders. Yeah, I didn't scan the blue Chrome of Thorpe or any of the minis. If you are going to ask for those to trade, I can get you a scan if you want to see them closer.

Here's my guaranteed hit. No clue who Trinkwon is. Baseball Reference has him as a recent drafted into the Dodger organization, so who knows if he will ht the bigs.

I have dupes, and almost anything if available for trade. You know the drill.