Also: I love Skip Caray like a grandfather, and I know I'm about to bust on someone who is a thousand times more successful in his chosen field then I'll ever be in mine, but Chip Caray is a terrible, terrible announcer.
Game winning base hit!!! Caught... out at the plate...
I mean, come on... It's about telling the story of the game, not waiting for the opportunity to yell really loudly about something allegedly exciting. Quit watching ESPN, Chip, and listen to Vin Scully for a while.
I didn't care until I realized that both these teams had the same record as my 3rd place Braves so it gave me a fleeting fuzzy feeling that the Braves were good enough this year to make the playoffs.
Then I realized that the game counts as a regular season game so the winner will have one more victory than the Braves and I got apathetic again.
Red is a Hall of Fame pitcher who played his entire career with the Sox. Red won the World Series in Chicago in 1917 and played on the 1919 Black Sox team. A case of the flu changed history as Red was a victim of the Spanish flu epidemic causing him to miss the 1919 World Series. As a result, his starts went to Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams. Stupid flu. GET YER FLU SHOTS, KIDS! Don't think Red wasn't up for a good cheatin' though, he was the second to last pitcher to legally use the spitball.
The card is actually in pretty decent shape other than the utterly mauled left edge. Here's another W515 card from one of the coolest blogs ever.
Hrm. I thought I'd have more to say about this strip card. But I don't.
Yeah, It's time to bring back Card of the Week. I've been sort of informally doing them for a while now, but it's time to just do it officially. With links and everything. I'll do links later because Big Bang Theory is coming on and I ain't missing one second of Leonard having awkward sex with Penny. NOT ONE SECOND YOU HEAR ME. It's sad, this show is literally the highlight of my week, at least until Venture Brothers season four kicks off. Oh, yeah cards. Almost forgot.
HEEEEEEEYYYYY ABBOTT
Got this in my Atlanta Sports Card binge. I had a game plan going in and I followed it pretty closely. Get some stuff out of the 50 cent bin, find a couple of good dollar cards (found more than that - my only diversion from the plan), get an oldie out of the case, find a good dollar brick and get something cool out of the relic/auto binder. I actually found a Knucksie UD manupatch card in the case that caught my eye. It was pretty cool looking for a manufactured patch thing and I may go back for it one day. I was starting to wrap things up when I started looking through the binder as an afterthought. There was a whole lot of football and basketball relics (including a really nice looking hoops auto of no one in particular, but the card looked fantastic) but not much baseball. Nothing I wanted to spend money on anyway. Literally the very last baseball relic page I looked at in the binder had this card and I pyewped myself when I saw it. If you don't know what pyewp means, ask Thorzul, he'll be happy to demonstrate.
O bugger TBBT is on... be right back
Bazinga.
Ok where was I... Oh yeah, Donruss Threads. When I first saw the sell sheet for that stuff the thing that caught my eye was the Abbott & Costello relics. I went a little loopy. I wanted those cards soooooooo bad. Heck, I've even made my own Bud Abbott card way back in 2007. I didn't think I'd find any though and even the normal cards were serial numbered to 500 so it's not like they would be easy to find. But, find one I did. In the cheapo binder book at ATLSC for three bucks.
Three bucks for Bud!
MADNESS!
Hell I woulda paid five for the plain o' insert to be honest. I would have hesitated... but I woulda done it. But hell, I ended up with the relic (numbered 182/200 if anyone's keeping track of such things) for the price of a retail pack. Funny how things work out. The actual relic bit I guess is part of a tie. The star window is small, the cloth is in there pretty deep and I can't quite get my fat finger down there for a good feel of the material. It's red and sort of shiny so a tie is a good a guess as any. If you look closely on the points on the side, there are a couple of light spots on the cloth. These might be part of a design but they look like bleach damage to me. If you look at the card on the angle you can see more of the cloth underneath the cardboard and they look more blotchy than designy. Still, TWOCOLORELICMOJO. The back give this wonderfully detailed disclaimer, reprinted here especially for a reader in New Mexico who is fond of such things:
The enclosed piece of material was cut from an Item personally worn/used by Bud Abbott. The authentic personality worn /used item was obtained and is personally guaranteed by Donruss Playoff L.P.
The capital I In Item Is just as It Is on the card. This means something... Of course the worn/used bit is what really intrigues me. Maybe this is a hatnky and Donruss had to bleach out the snots? That would be a real shame, I'd love to have a Bud Abbott booger. That would have turned it into a DNA relic though and you can't get those in discount binders. Now I just need to turn my focus on finding that Lou Costello pants relic card. That will likely be much harder, everyone loves Lou. No one appreciates a really good straight man anymore.
Since it's October and I'm in a monsterous mood, I'll spare you all the Who's on First routine and instead link the trailer for Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.
I have this DVD somewhere... I need to watch it again...
Damn, I love this set. Got Nessie here at Atlanta Sports Cards in the dollar bin. Can't beat that with a dead cat. I think part of the reason why I like the Myths and Legends inserts so much is due to this show right here:
Leonard Nimoy is just flat out cool as hell. Here's part 2 and part 3 for all you out there who fondly remember certain parts of the '70s. You young whippersnappers don't know what you missed, this was like Mythbusters back in the day. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch this episode whilst sipping on a Tab and flipping through an OMNI magazine during the commercials.
Playoffs schmayoffs, I don't like any of the teams that made it. I'm basically rooting against the Yankees at this point which means they'll sweep every series.
And the damn Braves gave me hope, the dirty bums.
Way back here, I had given up on them after getting spanked in some series they should have won. After I posted that they go on a tear.
HOWEVER. It ain't so bad. The have a good core of players going into next season. The starting rotation is solid and they can survive a couple of arms blowing out. McCann, Prado, Escobar and McLouth is pretty decent group up the middle. Heyward is a beast and might be a starter by the 2010 All-Star game. So, it ain't so bad. I just need to somehow make it through the next five months.
In the spirit of thinking positive, here are five things I found online today that made me happy.
This blog might be the best thing I've seen all year. I could spend days going through the archives. There is the occasional picture of a girl in a bikini, a pulp cover or Clint Eastwood beefcake, so be mindful of that if you look at it at work and your boss is a fink.
Anyone know what this is? At first glance I thought it was a blogspammer leeching our posts to make ad revenue, but I don't see a single ad on the site. I saw a link to my site on there and became filled with sinful pride. It felt good.
At least I have something to keep my mind off my troubles through the end of the month. It's October! That means scary movie time! You know, I've never seen Lost Highway. Or Mulholland Drive for that matter. Maybe it's time to have me a Lynch-O-Thon. What skeery movie will you be watching this All-Hallow's Eve?
I didn't know about the short prints in Goodwin Champions until I saw Stale Gum's DC box break and review. Well, I sort of knew about them on a base instinctual level since Upper Deck can't figure out how to properly do a retro set to save their license, But I didn't know the details.
42 Mini exclusive short prints #211-252 (Douglas Adams is apparently a subject)
EQUALS
252 card total master set.
At 5 cards a pack, 4 if you're poor and have to shoplift buy retail.
Oh, and Topps206, the retro set that originally defined retro sets returns soon.
Go at it, set collectors! I can't wait for the half-off Goodwin blasters next year.
Oh well, at least now that I know which ones they are, I can show off the short prints I have.
Kelly Shoppach SP
I haven't seen the actual checklist, but it looks like a lot of semistars made the short print and exclusive list. I can't wait to see a Jair Jurrjens Goodwin card in a case with a $4 price tag on it.
Wells & Santana Mini exclusive SP
See? More guys that only a team collector could love. Or someone with a mini card fetish. Like me.
Jacoby Ellsbury mini exclusive Gypsy Queen
Why the hell did Upper Deck screw up their Ad Back parallels with a black border? They need to hire a collector as a consultant to tell them not to do these things. Unless I decide in a fit of madness to collect the entire mini set (it could happen) this one might be going across the pond eventually.
I finally found a post office on the way home from work that stays open late. So along with the packages I sent to Wax Heaven and Stats on the Back earlier this week using the automatic postage machine thingy I finally got out the ones for Dinged Corners (forgot the zip code) and Captain Canuck (no Canadian post at the machine) this evening. I don't think I made that postal worker happy when I had to fill out a customs form at 6:05. Now I can finally get out those packages for Todd and Matt and start getting things sent again. Sorry I've been slack the last few weeks but when you get a half hour for lunch and the closes posts offices are 15 minutes away it causes problems.
Tonight my goal is to get through all the e-mails that have come my way this week. I'll try to get the rest of 'em this weekend. Thanks for putting up with my crap for the past couple of months, maybe I'll be able to get back in the saddle in October.
I passed out asleep almost as soon as I got home last night (at least I didn't pass out before I got home) so no nice post with images and such this morning.
Instead so check out Thorzul's Nightmare on Cardboard contest II and start thinking up some horrorcards. My link to his Blog Bat Around got him three whole entries (and none from me because I flaked and couldn't force myself to write one on the topic I chose) So Mr. Bam will likely get negative entries with this link.
While you're creating horrorcards, make a piratecard or two, you still have time and you can make as many as you want. I'll post the final set on my birthday and then poll for the best cards. If you don't know when that is, then get moving or you'll miss it.
I was going to post the entire 2002 Post Cereal set until I realized I was missing Edmonds and Radke. Here's three of the better ones instead, sill minty fresh in package.
Ichiro
Piazza
A-Rod
And why not...
I'm not sure what the 2010 backs look like so don't get your hopes up for this stellar design. If you haven't seen the actual 2010 Topps design, root around the 0ther blogs a bit, you'll stumble on it. I got my idea for this post from Night Owl so check it out there.
I've gotten this question a couple of times since I posted my Chipper Press Plate, so I'm going to go ahead and answer it.
I haven't actually seen any of them in person, but wouldn't it make sense that the plate would be reversed?
How do these things work?
- Mark's Ephemera
It seems intuitive that image on the plates should be backwards, right? We've all seen filmstrips in school about the wonders of Gutenberg and his movable type, and made potato art and used rubber stamps before. The writing and pictures on those things are all reversed, so wouldn't the press plates be reversed too? Only if the plate ever actually touched the card like those other devices do when they print. In most modern printing operations that's not the case. So, Mark (and Tunguska), here's how they work.
Most commercial printers nowadays use a technique called offset printing. Instead of the printing plate directly applying the ink to the paper, the plate transfers the ink to a rubber cylinder which in turn applies the ink to the paper. So instead of pressing the plate down on the paper to print the card, three cylinders roll along to do the printing. One cylinder has the print plates, one transfers the ink to the paper and a third pushes along the paper through the press. This method is the cheapest way to produce a large number of high quality images. The plate doesn't wear out as fast because it's not coming in contact with the paper and the rubber cylinder makes better contact with the paper than a metal cylinder ever would.
So why is the press plate not reversed? Well, it's true that when transferring the ink to the paper the image has to be reversed so it prints properly, but the image is reversed when the plate transfers the ink to the offset cylinder. If the image was reversed on the press plate it would he correct on the offset cylinder (I've misspelled cylinder 48 times while writing this post) and when the ink transferred to the paper it would be reversed again. This page has a semi-decent picture (well, for a Bigfoot sighting) of a plate in action. So know you know why those press plates don't have reversed images. Now, you would be perfectly reasonable in asking why the press plate you pulled out of that pack is flat instead of round, but I don't know so ask someone else. Not Thorzul either, because he's got his own Press Plate Puzzler he's chewing on.
Ok, since you slogged your way through my 3rd grade science report of the offset printing press the readers who made it this far get a treat:
MY FIRST (and only) PRESS PLATE I PULLED FROM A PACK EVER IN THE HISTORY OF MY LIFE
Calm down folks, you ain't seen nothin' yet! Just be careful and don't look at the image straight on or its glory will melt your face like the Nazis who looked at the Ark in Indiana Jones - don't say I didn't warn ya...
Awww yeah. Yellow press plate of the back of a Minnesota Twins relievers Topps Total card. Now you know why I keep screaming for Total to come back. However, if there is a JC Romero super collector out there who is desperate for this thing I will trade it... but only for any other press plate card in existence. Seriously, any of them. You don't even have to tell me what it is, just send something and it's yours. You might even get away with passing off a Leaf Steel card with the sides filed down. Please?
Here's the oldest thing I picked up from the shop last Friday. At least I think it's the oldest. Pretty sure it is. 1940 Play Ball Eddie Joost:
Joost had a pretty nice career with the Reds, Braves, Red Sox and A's. He was a two time All-Star and won a World Series with the Reds in 1940 where he played in all seven games. This card has a "1939 Pennant" logo to honor the National League Champion Reds. I had wanted a card with that logo on it for a while and this one was sitting in the case for me. The price? three bucks because there's a crease in the middle of the card. Who cares about a crease in a 69 year old card? People born in 1940 got creases all over them and they're ok.
The back states that Joost was a brilliant fielder but not a great hitter. Back in the day you could play shortstop even if you couldn't hit a lick as long as you had a good glove. Once Eddie moved on to the A's, Connie Mack convinced him to start wearing eyeglasses. It worked, Eddie finally started hitting! His newly found good eye also allowed him to draw over 1000 walks for his career. Joost was the last manager of the Philadelphia A's as he was player/manager in 1954. I'm not sure if Eddie has a card of his time with the Braves in 1943 and 1945 as there were very few sets produced during war time. This isn't a bad card as a substitute if I ever get around to doing a "One card of every Brave player ever" collection.
I can't even watch the game, it's killing me... I turned on the radio for a minute and Brian McCann popped up with the bases loaded, two outs and a 3-1 count. AND IT WAS ALL MY FAULT 'CAUSE I TURNED ON THE RADIO. Yes, this week shall be the death of me.
It's pretty damn hard to go through an entire 792 card set in 30 seconds. Dinged Corners granted me 30 extra seconds to go through my 1983 Topps set and I still didn't get through the whole thing. Good thing I had four of the cards in mind before I even opened the binder. Here are six cards from the 1983 Topps set that make me happy and as a bonus I spared you the Braves. Of course I might just post the team set one of these days, that was the 1982 National Leage West Champion roster you know...
Rollie Fingers
The first time I completed this set, this was the last card I needed. I couldn't find it anywhere and then my mom bought a rack pack for me to give to a friend for his birthday. Rollie right on the top. There was some, uh , substitution performed on the packs in that gift if I remember correctly. That kid ended up stealing me blind when I brought my cards to school that year though so don't feel sorry for him.
Billy Martin
This was a tough choice between Billy and Earl Weaver. Earl had the crazy hair and big grin, Billy had the shades/stache combo that made him look like a refugee from a '70s cop movie. The little tiny cross under the A bushed Billy over the top.
1982 Brewers
The Brewers went to the Series in '82, Robin Yount is a bad, bad man and holy schneikes look at Vokovich. Just look at him. Soak it all in.
BONUS: Personally checked checklist!
Jim Kaat Super Vet
This is a fantastic subset, it's too bad Topps only did it once. Wait, they did a Then & Now thing in 2001 or 2002 Topps Traded I think. What I'm sayin, is they need to do it again. I want a card with 1993 Chippah and 2010 Chippah in next year's base set. I picked eventual Hall-of-Famer Kitty Kaat for two reasons: Washington Senators and he was the only guy in the subset with a picture from the '50s if I'm not mistaken.
Best rookie in the set, hands down. Also: one of the goofiest action shots evar on a rookie card. Ya got a nice view of Tony's bootie at least. Awwwwww yeaaaaah.
Now go vote in the poll over there and tell me what to do.
Many thinks to Upper Deck for sending these press plates on to Wax Heaven and to Mario for blessing me with this one in exchange for some poetry judging duties.
This is my third press plate (I've gotten two from Mario so far) and I think it's fair to say I like this one best. It's really hard to beat a plate from the back of a Topps Total dual player card featuring JC Romero too. Set aside the fact that it's Chipper, and this card pretty much fills the only hole in my Chipper collection (well, I still need a certified auto, but I got an auto and that's enough) the most fantastic part about the card/plate is the fact that there are still splotches of magenta ink down on the bottom above the logo. Cool. Mario isn't even close to done, check out this bit of jaw dropping rainbow action that he's giving away next. The contest is supposed to have a Halloween theme if I'm reading correctly. Maybe the plates can go to the person who has the best video pack rip in the style of Michael Jackson's Thriller?
Part one of several. I hit Atlanta Sports Cards on the way home from work last week and walked away with a lot of neet stuff for not a whole lot of dough. I completed my '83 Topps set for a start, as I'm sure you've heard by now. In the same dollar boxes where I found Cal, I also picked up a couple of Braves. At the time, I wasn't entirely certain that I didn't already have these cards but I got them anyway. they were just too cool to stay in the dollar box.
2008 Topps Heritage Brian McCann All Star SP
The original 1959 set had four Braves in the All-Star Subset, the Heritage version had but one. Even if I have it in my binder already, I can't pass up on a McCann short print.
2009 Allen & Ginter Chipper Jones Sketch Card
I'm almost positive someone sent me this card already, but a sketch of a slack-jawed Chipper watching a ball go Very Far had to come home with me. I enjoy Chipper cards where the text on the back mention Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray. Very nice company to keep right there. Oddly these were the only Braves to go home with me that day, other than one exception I'll discuss later. I think I'll show off the oldies next, what do you think? I can do oldies or some brand new stuff that's getting rave reviews around the blogoplex. Got 'em both cheap and am itching to show 'em off.
Mini cards are by design a little smaller than regular cards so I bunched 'em up. The minis are just about the only reason I keep getting packs of this stuff anyway.
Bad Ass Men
So who is more macho? A Wild West showman or the greatest third baseman in the history of forever? My vote is with the guy in the powder blue polyester.
Kick Ass Women
Kristi Yamaguchi won the Gold Medal at Albertville while her teammates (a couple of folks named Kerrigan and Harding) were skating about causing serious drama. Now that's clutch. I'm not all that into poker so I'm not sure who Ms. Ng is, but you gotta like the royal flush.
A Band of Gypsies
Two mini cards in a pack = cool. Every pack like that also having a 20th Anniversary insert = not cool. Buying a pack and getting exactly one base card is a bit disheartening as well. Oh well, I can always cheer myself up with some Hendrix.
I have bought my last pack of this stuff. Probably. Please help me finish it before I buy more. Once I complete the set I have an interesting theory I want to test out. The only insert set I'm chasing at this time is the Space one, so all the other inserts are up for grabs. If you need an insert and have no Space cards I'll swap insert for insert as well.
If you are interested in a trade, please post a comment here and send me an e-mail with HERITAGE TRADE in the header. I will get back to you as soon as I have time, most likely on the weekend.
9 Bud Day
11 Thomas Jefferson 14 Claiborne Pell 18 Abraham Lincoln
21 Elizabeth Cady Stanton 24 Frank Robinson 26 Jackie Robinson 28 Emma Willard 29 Mother Jones 30 Samuel Gompers
36 Alexander Shaler 37 John Finn 38 Fire Fighter (?)
42 Wyatt Earp 49 David Lim 50 Justin Garner
57 American Red Cross 58 VFW 59 ASPCA 60 ACLU
61 Jonas Salk 62 Charles Drew 66 Robert Jarvik 67 Charles Mayo 68 Elizabeth Blackwell
73 Clara Barton
83 James Monroe 87 Silas Deane 88 Woodrow Wilson 90 Dean Acheson
92 Upton Sinclair
103 Lexington and Concord 105 Nathan Hale 108 Underground railroad 111 Seneca Falls 116 Dolittle Raid 118 Guadalcanal 120 Battle of the Bulge 124 March to Montgomery 125 Flight 93
Short prints and Inserts:
These are all ones I have. Other than the Space Program set, I'm only interested in having a type card from each at this time and I'll gladly swap these to someone who is actually trying to complete the set. So trade me your Spaceys!
Short Prints: (looking to keep one Lincoln and one Obama) 132 Abraham Lincoln 144 Barack Obama
Chrome: (looking to keep one of each subset)
C51 Civil Rights Movement #1710/1776 C79 Erin Brockovich #1537/1776 C98 Rachel Carson #1393/1776
Medal of Honor: MOH1 Eugene Carr MOH4 Orion Howe MOH16 Mary Walker MOH21 Isaiah Hayes MOH23 Bernard Irwin MOH30 Hiram Bearss MOH34 Smedley Butler MOH41 James Madison
MOH42 Floyd Bennett
Medal of Freedom:
MOF14 Charlton Heston MOF24 Fred Rogers
Heroes of Sport:
HS1 Jackie Robinson HS2 Babe Ruth HS12 Roy Campanella HS13 Dan Marino
HS22 Reggie Jackson
Heroes of Spaceflight:
HSF-5
HSF-7 HSF15 Gemini XI HSF20 Apollo 9 HSF22 Apollo 11 HSF-25 Apollo 14
My 1983 Topps set is finally complete after 26 years. I found the last card for the set when I took a detour on the way home to Atlanta Sports Cards after a dreadful week. I was scrounging through the dollar box for old cards when I looked through the Orioles pile on a lark. There was Cal, swinging away. I really need to print out a cheat sheet of cards I need for the times I randomly show up at card shops. I found a ton of neat stuff there cheap. I'll show some of it off over the next week.
I want do do something cool to celebrate the completion of this set, but I'm not sure what to do. A 6 in 30 for the binder? Post the best card from every team? Scan and post a 9 card sheet every day for 88 days? Leave me some suggestions in the comments and I'll put a poll up on Monday.
