2008 Heritage custom

I'm starting a new mini-series that will compare the original 1959 Topps set to it's Heritage counterpart in 2008.  I was going to tackle the 1971/2020 pairings, and while I have the whole set of '71 Topps, I'm not quite done with Heritage.  So I figured I do have both of the '08 combination, so let's see how they match up.

Well, card number 1 was Strike 1 right away.  I guess Topps didn't want to shell out cash to use the images of MLB executives (or managers for that matter - there aren't any) in Heritage, so card #1 is Vlad Guerrero.  No offense to Vladdy, but here's what Heritage #1 should have looked like:

Remember, this is 12 years ago, so Manfred wasn't the Commish yet.  It was an easy transformation from the original Commish card.  Found a font that pretty much matched, and then just had to remove the photo, extend the background and paste in the new picture.

Stay tuned for the Heritage pairups/mismatches posts!

A Whole Lotta Nothin'

Not sure why I'm so uninspired lately.

The influx of cardboard continues at a decent pace.  There have been a steady stream of trades every few days or so.  I just sent out four more PWEs, on top of two or three bubble mailers.  And I've taken in several packages of varying sizes in the last couple weeks.

I also got two halves of another major SportLots order in. 

But none of it is really remarkable enough to post about.  No disrespect to the traders - I love what I got - it's just mostly set hits from things I or many others have posted about already.  My big order was a start to the serial numbered base set from 2007 Sweet Spot Classic, and the back end of two huge rookie saturated football sets from the early 2000s. 

I just get tired of doing nothing but loot posts and trades.  They're fine, but there's got to be better ideas to sprinkle in now and then.  Look at how Night Owl can make profound statements, even out of the contents of a PWE...

Another strike against me is that I write posts in the same place that I do phone support for work.  I have my work phone, laptop and all the connecting equipment set up in the computer room hooked to the monitor that also serves my home PC.  I could go over to the card room and use the other monitor and keyboard I have over there, but then I'm contending with the piles of cards on the desk.  There's not quite adequate room for the mouse over there.  But either way, it's more "screen time" on top of a full 8-hour day.  I'm already half bleary eyed at 5 o'clock, so I'm not eager to sit there for another couple hours.

There's another obvious lack of inspiration since there are no live games to watch.  We're still waiting for all the leagues to negotiate salaries, schedules, locations, and COVID precautions to start or continue their seasons.  They're still weeks away.

Expected this

Found this

Since I've still continued to buy and trade cards online, I wasn't really motivated to check the retail aisles since the stores have opened up.  (I'm not sure the Targets & Wal-Marts ever closed).  But I had the chance this past weekend.  Needed a couple things, so I ventured out to Target first, since they generally have a good selection.  What I found was that I hadn't missed a thing.  I don't think the distributor had been there since February.  There were about six or seven factory sets, mostly baseball, and two empty single pack dispenser boxes - and not a single sports card otherwise.  Not in their whole display - which it seemed had been encroached upon another three feet by the Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh section.  I didn't bother to look in Wally World.  I didn't want to spend any more time in there than I had to.  Maybe it's that cards are "non-essentials"?

I've still got nine monster boxes of football to sort through.  While I'm on phone duty, I'll turn around and sort out some of my dupes, so I've put most of my extra stuff in order.  That makes it nice to pull trade bait, but doesn't lend itself to good posts.  I've got one more post's worth on the baseball hoard, and then I might put up some giveaways, because it seems that's the trendy thing to do.  And I've got a lot of offbeat stuff to give away.

But in the meantime, I'll just have to muddle through my work duties, the negative energy from the pandemic and social protests, and the waiting game for sports, shops, and shows to open up again.

So don't worry, I'm not going away. I just might be going to bed early tonight.

Kerry Sends Redbirds, Rookies & Jeets!

Kerry of Cards On Cards was the recipient of a big team lot from the hoard.  His return fire came today.  I got some nice set hits, including a few I never expected.

Shockingly, this is one of only about three Cardinals cards in this lot.  Fredbird knocks my new Opening Day list down to one card - Orbit the other mascot.  Got everything else with the help of my friend Stuart. 

I'll put all the Cardinals first.  This '99 Ultra prospect brings up the rear in the chronological order.  Interesting visual effect with the endless "poster floor".  Hadn't noticed that in the other prospect cards from that set.  A quick check of the Database and it's true.  All the prospects have this background, including a fishfaced Adrian Beltre.

Another obscure St. Louis rookie from the set with ALL the rookies.  Total is good frankenset fodder since the numbers go above 800.

Typical Ginter content - Treaty of Versailles and the Emancipation Proclamation (I won't go into it's relevance to this week's news).  I started to put these on my latest SportLots order, but I figured Ginter is very tradeable, so I took them off.  Not so lucky elsewhere.  More on that in a moment...

More from the newly listed 2012 A&G.  These were the last two for all of these, so I left them on the SpL order.  And promptly got them in another trade last week too.  So now I'll have a total of three pairs.  Learned my lesson.  And for those not from the Chicago area, that is the former Sears Tower.  I know, you're thinking "WhatchootalkinboutWillis?"

Like Fredbird, these Big League sketch cards also knock this insert set down to one from Houston.  Still missing Altuve.  Davis' face looks familiar - that's how he looks back after a strikeout...

One more off the hardest part about Stadium Club, the inserts.  The foil name doesn't scan well.  Will appears to be looking for something to hit from the car wash attendant.

Not-necessarily-the-Nationals-theme card for Gerardo Parra last year.  I won't sing the song because the mere mention of it probably gets it stuck in your head if you are near children for more than a few minutes a week.

So much to see here.  Hiura short print reminds me of something I have to send Fuji. 

Evel Knievel is just amazing 70'sness.  And Jim Morrison was almost a religious figure.

Two more Willie Mays inserts from 2020 Heritage.  I'm down to three.  The rest of the Heritage inserts are going to be a lot longer to finish.  These are just great.

Having shown all that, the bulk of the package was 2008 Allen & Ginter.  The one insert was this "United States" of the ever elusive Derek Jeter.  I lucked out on this one.  It was the only one I DIDN'T find for my SportLots order.  Now I'll be killing them all.  I always thank my lucky stars to cross off any Jeter.

And I can cross TWO of them off!  Yessss!

And the Mick!  Nobody trades Mantles!  Amazing!

The rival from the other end of the base set - a YOUK short print...

...what I considered to be one of the top rookies in the set (behind Kershaw and maybe Longoria).  Kerry is knocking it out of the park!

And the star power continues.  (That Maggs card is just cool).

More big names!

And the rest.  Almost all notable names, which they usually are in Ginter.  Knocked my base list down far enough that it was only about one line and I could add the names.  (Cordero is #191 if anybody needs one 😀)

Thanks for the fantastic trade Kerry!

Dispersing the Hoard #6: 2005 & 2006

It's been a while since I posted the next year group of my extra stuff from the hoard.  Frankly, it's because they haven't really garnered a lot of responses.  I've had one customer who got a significant chunk of cardboard so far (and that was twice).  I did pull a decent stack from the whole thing for a team collector too.  But overall, it seems the reality that most collectors are after current shiny rookies and nobody wants star cards is turning out to be true.  Given the rather limited audience, I'm not entirely discouraged.   Yet.

2005

Bowman Gold - 15 cards

Donruss - 350 commons, 10 stars, 6 inserts, 2 SPs

Donruss Champions - 230 stars & semistars

Donruss Classics - 30 stars, 7 parallels, 10 inserts

Donruss Diamond Kings - 75 stars, 25 inserts/legends, 24 parallels
Donruss Elite - 100 rookies, 30 s/n inserts, 38 s/n parallels

Donruss Greats - 25 stars

Donruss Leather & Lumber - 70 stars, 12 inserts

Donruss Studio - 90 stars, 15 parallels, 21 inserts, 24 acetate inserts

Donruss Team Heroes - 60 stars

Donruss Throwback Threads - 7 stars, 5 inserts

Donruss Zenith - 8 stars, 14 inserts

Fleer Platinum - 260 stars, 5 inserts

Fleer Showcase - 30 stars

Fleer Tradition - 40 cards

Leaf - 50 cards

Leaf Certified - 40 stars, 6 parallels, 3 inserts

Playoff Absolute - 30 stars, 2 parallels, 5 inserts

Playoff Prestige - 90 stars, 130 rookies, 10 parallels, 100 inserts

Skybox Autographics - 70 stars

Topps Cracker Jack - 100 cards

Topps Gallery - 10 cards

Topps Heritage - 10 white back cards, 7 grey back cards

Upper Deck 250 commons and stars, 25 Bound For Glory inserts, 30 parallels

Upper Deck First Pitch - 25 cards

Upper Deck All-Star Classics - 40 stars and legends

Upper Deck Classics - 25 stars

Upper Deck ESPN - 30 cards

Upper Deck Origins - 30 cards including Old Judge

Upper Deck Reflections - 12 cards

2006

Bowman - 40 stars and rookies, 5 parallels

Bowman Chrome - 10 rookies

Fleer Greats Of The Game - 100 stars, 4 inserts, 20 parallels

Fleer Showcase - 12 cards, 4 inserts

SP Authentic - 375 stars, 20 Heroes inserts

SP Legendary Cuts - 35 cards

Topps - 24 cards, 18 Bonds HR inserts,

Topps 1952 Rookies - 19 cards

Topps Chrome - 60 cards, 12 Declaration Of Independence inserts

Topps Co-Signers - 25 stars, 3 parallels

Topps Turkey Red - 50 cards

Tristar Prospects Plus - 60 rookies

Ultra - 90 cards, 48 inserts, 12 parallels

Upper Deck Artifacts - 200 stars

Upper Deck Future Stars - 150 stars, 15 s/n parallels

Upper Deck Sweet Spot Update - 300 cards

 

Campy Was In Every Set Too!

Night Owl has put Bert Campaneris back in the collective mind in more ways than one.  (See what I did there?)  His post about Campy related how Bert showed up in several games he was watching, and is remembered for playing all nine positions and losing his composure one time in the playoffs.

Dagoberto happens to be one of my (many) player collection subjects.  Mine is not the best or most complete collection of his cardboard, but I haven't done bad.  It's not high end by any means, but is pretty diverse in relation to most of my other PCs.  Let's check it out.  (Sorry, I left them in the pages to scan, so there may be a few glare spots.)

Nice '65 rookie card with ASR Trophy and KC A's pinstripes, also mirrored in the '66 Rub-Off.  The red thing is an Atlantic Oil game card.  The '69 trio card is a rare combo for that year.  Bert has a lot of hatless shots in his catalog, though.

Since he has so many oddball cards, I sometimes leave spaces in certain pages to make room for future additions.  There are some gems here, including the black & white '69 Milton Bradley, a Topps Photostamp, and a rare (for my collection) '71 Bazooka.  You can't do much better than '70 Kellogg's though.

Occasionally, I'll forego the chronological order to make a more appealing page, as in this one with so many matching O-Pee-Chee and Topps cards.  (Topps always goes first in my binders until 1980, then the companies go in alphabetical order).  The glaring omission here is the '73 World Series card.  Gotta look for that at the next big show.  Whenever that comes...

As with any major OPC appearance, you have to see the backs to fully appreciate them.

More World Series action and more oddballs.  And again, another OPC WS card gets pushed up my priority list.  Maybe I'll add them to my top 10 wants the next time I have to fill in some spots.

Some heavy airbrushing on those '77s.  You know that's the same photo recropped from the '76 shot.  The '79 is a very clean card though, and the colors work really well.  Apparently Kellogg's cards are prepared early in the offseason.  They didn't get the Texas memo in time.

Bert looks much less out of place with the Angels than the Rangers, I think.  After the rough edged OPC, we get into the modern era and the other companies.

But it isn't long until his career winds down.  That minor league card is by TCMA in '83.  It's my most recent addition to this PC.  The second all-time leader is OPC too.

Now we get to some serious oddballs.  Ol' Bert just didn't want to quit playing the game he loved.  Went from the minors to the Senior League.  I did not get that IP auto myself.  Bought it at a show for probably less than $10.  The little playing card thingy is in the catalog, but is really only a xeroxed piece of paper.  You can really see the embossing on the Action Packed in the last slot. 

His ubiquity continues thru the '93 Ted Williams set, UD All-Time Greats with Anniversary editions, Sonic Greats, SI Greats Of The Game (a set I want to build really bad.  Found a dealer with a whole box of it one time and only picked out my PC guys at the time.  Should have got a starter of the whole thing too.  One of those regrettable moments I'll always remember), and the excellent UD Decade 70's.

More recent post-career goodness - Archives, Super Teams, Fan Favorites, Tribute, SP Legendary Cuts, and the prettiest set of all time Upper Deck Timeless Teams.

Rounding out the binder pages, Topps Pristine and a buyback.  I try to put buybacks in order by the year they came in packs (again) instead of the year of the original issue.

Now to the really oddball stuff.  Pulled these out of my non-nine pocket page binder.  Upper Deck BAT triple folder card, '71 Topps coin, '70 Super (which is super thick and somewhat curled), and '67 poster.  Gotta love those shoulder numbers.

This one is even a little too large for the scanner bed.  1970 poster, which I thought was older than that.

And finally, and item so oddball it can't be scanned.  This RC Cola can is from the second series, issued in 1978.  They also had football cans that year.  The previous year, the cans had square bio information areas.  Luckily, this one was on top of my stack of nine cans of my PC guys.  Still looking for a bunch more.

And that's my Bert Campaneris collection.  He's got a lot of diverse card related items to go after, and I'm sure there are many more for me to find.

Doesn't Break My Heart To See Them Go

Matt from Heartbreaking Cards Of Staggering Genius did a little shopping for me and killed over half my top wants.  It's always so great when traders will do this for you.  And it makes the posts easier to compose, since the pictures are already on my home wants page.

The first couple were easy-ish football singles to kill sets.  The first of two guys named Allen kills my 1996 Topps set (or the second copy that didn't go to my Redskins collection did).

The next guy was also from 1996, but ended the regular Ultra set.  Bee-Ak-A-Ba-Too-Ka was the last rookie.  Still working on the companion set of the foily Sensations.

The other Allen is this 1983 rookie that I figured I'd end up buying at the next show, but now I don't have to look for it any more.  Glad to finish another vintage football set.  Which means I can start some more. 😁

Keeping with the Hall Of Famer theme, this Fleer Greats Of The Game Retrospection Collection (<gasp> long name) finished that little insert set.  I bet these were expensive when they first came out.

Even more potential HOF'ers in this pair of 1965 tall boy minis from 2012.   Wish these fit into sheets better, but they're too cool.

Same theme, different sport.  This Mario finishes the base set to 1993-94 Upper Deck, although I still have those WJC stamp errors on the list.  Not sure if they're easy to find or not.  I thought there was only one, but there is evidence that there are actually a bunch of them.  Anyway, Mario is one of the few Penguins I respect.

This one didn't spend much time on the Top 12 list.  It's a second copy for my space binder.  There are still a couple similar things on the non-sport list to take its place, though.

Back around to baseball, this is also a set killer from 1994 Donruss.  A set I kinda started from scratch with a handful of extras from my dupes box and a few trips to dealers with cheap singles.  Nice to put this one to bed.

And finally, this SP from 2014 GQ.  I never saw this one in the wild myself, so I'm very glad to finally have it.  Not likely to try to tackle any more GQ sets unless they go back to the more conservative retro designs.

Thanks again Matt for flattening my Top 12 list.  I replaced enough of them to make it a Top 10 list again.  It's getting tougher to find individual singles to put up here.  The majority of my "5-0r-less" set lists are down to at least three or more cards.  Maybe that just means I'll have to go on another shopping trip to SportLots or COMC again myself.