Zappin' and stampin'

A couple recent envelopes here in 2x3 HQ. First off, good ol' Zippy Zappy from Cervin' up Cards dropped a minor bomb on me.

Pew! Pew!

Zippy dropped a nice assortment spanning years and teams. How about this quad?

I hope for a three game win streak after tomorrow, but I know the Rangers should be scared sh*tless with whomever gets the Campbell Bowl. It's been an amazing conference final up until now.

Some sweet vintage from Zippy, including the 1980, 1978 and 1965 team cards. Man, that '65 is gorgeous. The zapping could have ended there, but then the big weapon was brought out.

Oh. Baby. Thanks a bunch for the zapping, Zippy. 

My in-state buddy Weston (in-state being a meager 4 hours) asked about a card I pulled in my Panini PastTime box a while back. I mailed it and said "just send back whatever - I know you are good for it". I received 3 cards from him today, with a note hoping these were the equivalent. Let's jundge.

Hell of a start there. Like the greens from last year's Topps. Love the bronze framed GQs, and I needed this Thomas. And the last card?

Ummmm...... I guess you did an okay job.

Who am I kidding - you nailed it! Dang, these manu-stamps are really gorgeous. I know about the original '62 stamps. I never knew about these. I'm calling this much more than equivalent. I owe you, Weston. Seriously.

Throwback Thursday - 05.29.2014

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Sammy Sosa - 1998 Upper Deck - Chicago Cubs

Brought to you by...

Who was the kind hearted blogger that sent me everything you are about to see? I could name names, and link links, but instead I will start with the scans and let you play along in trying to figure out who sent the stack of about 60 cards I received a week back.

It hurt carrying it in.

(side note: don't search "sore back" on Google images. Just trust me and keep reading.)

Let's start with the White Sox.

About a dozen ChiSox in the envelope. Borchard was a bust, but that Rowand more than makes up for it. That is a hell of a use of the horizontal format. Next, some throwbacks.

Fourteen total. Grienke was a recent virtual dime box loss, so a nice freebie. Look at the beauty of high cuffs. Those are ballplayers. Moving to the squeeze play.

A lucky 13 of these favorites, including my first NOT two and a half by three and a half entry into the bunting binder by the Vince Coleman sticker. The Garcia is the rare double card, being a bunt and a throwback. I'll work on a dupe for the throwback binder. I would love to find a video of the Gagne bunt. I can guarantee by his hand position, he either popped it up or bunted it so hard he didn't advance the runner or get on base. In a ton of Baseball Reference research, Gagne has no sacrifice bunts in any of the games the Twinkies played in Baltimore during the 1991 season. In fact, he does have an at bat in a game on June 18th were he hits it back to the pitcher for a force out at 2nd. However, this was a Tuesday game, so I am thinking it was not a day game as the photo suggests. However, it was from the top of the 2nd, and those could be long shadows on the card. But enough digressing. Bring on the double plays!

Eighteen cards worth of the turn at second. This post will probably be the one with the most 1999 UD shown. Geeez those are ugly cards. Cameos of Robin Yount and Ricky Henderson, with a pre Jeter number wearing Wayne Tolleson on the Shumpert. And dig the facial hair on Schmidt.

Ok - did you guess? Do you know who sent me all this sweet cardboard? You probably have your thoughts, but let's tip it in with these last two cards as the final hint.

If the Hoyt doesn't give it away, you know that Drabek HAS to be a duplicate, cuz ain't no way Dime Box Nick would send me that card without having a copy of his own first. Thanks for all the wonderful binder additions.

Throwback Thursday - 05.22.2014

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Adam Jones - 2012 Topps - Baltimore Orioles

The forgotten

I'm a forgetful man. Not the typical stuff, though. I am good in remembering all the stereotypical things television and movies claim all men forget. I know the date of my anniversary (July 12th), my wife's birthday (Oct 21st), my kid's birthdays (Nov 4th and Aug 18th). I know the day we bought our house (Feb 14th, 1997). I know this, because when we walked out of the closing, I turned to my wife and said "Happy Valentine's Day, hun. We're broke."

And yet, you still didn't get me flowers.

Hell - I still remember all the useless crap. Who knows that Farrah Fawcett and Lee Majors used to be married? Why the hell do I still have this useless bit of information? Do you know I rat can tread water for three days and a full grown adult rat can fit through a hole the diameter of a quarter? Yeah - I know this. Not sure why, but this crap is in there, stored to be retrieved for I have no clue why.

It's the other stuff I forget. Really important stuff. Like mailing the mortgage check, calling the DMV, putting the clothes in the dryer, putting the meat in the freezer - simple, yet important stuff. My therapist said it's not that I don't care about all these things and purposely forget. It's that I am so conditioned in how I organize things, I fail to put these actions that I care about in a organized area to recall them later.

Still no flowers...

I have a few piles of cards to scan. I was about to scan some I received from a blogger a few days ago to post, and it's then I realized I have some scans I have yet to post on cards I received about a month ago. Shame on me. So before I scan, let's clear this folder out, all courtesy of Matt with the great blog Once A Cub.  Matt and I really don't trade anymore. We just build up stacks of cards and mail them whenever the pile is high enough. Matt's latest in my mailbox covered all my binders.

Leading off, how about some vintage? Better yet, how about some dime box vintage? Per Matt, he pulled a ton of White Sox vintage from a dime box in Virginia. Everything you see, I needed, plus a bunch more I did not scan. Man - that Dick Allen is a gorgeous piece of cardboard.

There was a large group of cards with players bunting. The joy of these specific three? I recently lost virtual dime box auctions on them all within the past 6 weeks on ebay. And now, I don't care that I did. 

Biggio hot pack envelope! Matt hit the jackpot with the dime boxes, pulling a large amount of double play cards I needed. Love the cameos on the cards with Joyner and Brogna.

A few posts back, I commented that Night Owl was my supplier of 75 ChiSox minis. Well, no more, as Matt scored a couple of those as well. And yes, that Campbell mini is just what you see - a glorious miscut. That wasn't the only miscut in the package.

WOW!!!! That is one bad box of 1975 Topps right there. A nice 74 miscut. And yup - upper left is actually a football miscut. Now, I don't collect any football, but I am going to give a pass on this beaut, mainly cuz that is a killer afro and mutton chops on Mr. Hill. Into the binder it goes!

So sorry it took so long, Matt. I do appreciate what you, and everyone for that matter, sends. My brain doesn't function well all the time.

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.

Throwback Thursday - 05.15.2014

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Matt Kemp - 2011 Topps Marquee - Brooklyn Dodgers