Do "White Whales" travel in pods? (12-11-18 update)

[gracecollector]

Ladies and gentlemen, I have arrived.

Totally. When your post inspires a cardcop rambling reply with 1) crazy tangents 2) falsehoods (there were no gold cans - maybe thinking of gold tins from Donruss Preferred?) and 3) conspiracy theories (cardcop main reason for DLP bankruptcy???), you have definitely arrived!

[Kid4hof03]

Congratulations. Those are tough. I only have 2.



and anytime I see 1997 Pinnacle Inside, I have to show my can opener.

That is so cool!

[TNP777]

Totally. When your post inspires a cardcop rambling reply with 1) crazy tangents 2) falsehoods (there were no gold cans - maybe thinking of gold tins from Donruss Preferred?) and 3) conspiracy theories (cardcop main reason for DLP bankruptcy???), you have definitely arrived!

Pretty sure 1998 Inside had gold cans, but not 1997.

Since I've got your attention, have you had experience with Beckett's player checklist having cards/sets on it that simply don't exist? There are two Butler cards they have listed that I simply cannot find any evidence of.

eta: that can opener, though!

I had no idea those were a thing!

[Verdammt]

Pretty sure 1998 Inside had gold cans, but not 1997.

A quick scan of eBay shows two 1998 gold cans up for auction, Juan Gonzalez and Chipper Jones.

[gracecollector]

Since I've got your attention, have you had experience with Beckett's player checklist having cards/sets on it that simply don't exist? There are two Butler cards they have listed that I simply cannot find any evidence of.

A few items. Sometimes manufacturers submitted checklists to Beckett and later the cards weren't produced. Beckett never bothered to update. I contacted them about one such item but they stood by their manufacturer's checklist and wouldn't change. Hard to prove it "doesn't exist."

What are the ones you're questioning?

[finestkind]

I wonder if most people these days even know how to use a manual can opener.

[Letch77]

Hmmm...I've got an unopened Inside can featuring Frank Thomas...not sure of the year but I think it was 1997 (I bought a couple because they were different). It's still sealed...doubt I'll open it.

[TNP777]

A few items. Sometimes manufacturers submitted checklists to Beckett and later the cards weren't produced. Beckett never bothered to update. I contacted them about one such item but they stood by their manufacturer's checklist and wouldn't change. Hard to prove it "doesn't exist."

What are the ones you're questioning?

These three have driven me crazy for a long, long time. Yesterday I had finally decided to cross all three of them from my list and forget I was ever looking for them. This is how Beckett has them listed:

1995 Mets Colla 9
1992 Dodgers Smokey 4292
2005 Arizona Diamondbacks team issue 2

I was in the middle of comparing my haves & wants to TradingCardDB's list and was trolling around on Google and stumbled across this listing on Worthpoint:

LOT OF 30 1992 LOS ANGELES DODGERS SMOKEY THE BEAR FIRE SAFETY POST CARDS. Postcards? Thanks, Beckett - what a helpful listing. (eye roll)

So I jumped on eBay and trolled some more. Jackpot! https://www.ebay.com/itm/202504909921. The seller had a 6-card lot, all autographed no less, so I made a deal to pick up two of them. For the numbering system, it turns out that every postcard in the set ends in 92, making Butler's card number 42.



I did a little more research and have tentative positive ID on the 1995 Mets Colla - looks like they are also postcards and likely exist.

So now I'm down to the 2005 Diamondbacks team issue, which I'm now suspecting is some sort of postcard as well. That fits with every other team-issued Butler oddity in my collection. Any ideas on that one?

[death2redemptions]

I found out in 2001 when I was a Senior Manager of Playoff Customer Service- that less than half of the 2,000 Sandy Koufax cards were even signed! Playoff made a deal with Koufax to sign (800) cards and then he'd sign lots of (100) as needed for a fixed price. They still had the 1,200 2001 Donruss Significant Signatures of Koufax unsigned cards at Playoff when I worked there and I handled them (to see if any were signed and none were). Someone at Playoff stole them around 2009 when Playoff went bankrupt (mostly thanks to the evidence of fraud I sent to the MLB & NFL Players Associations) then Beckett added them to their Price Guide at a VERY LOW price- $1.00 each last time I looked. Wouldn't ANY Sandy Koufax insert serial numbered to 1,200 book for more than $1.00??? PLUS IT'S AN ODDITY THAT SHOULD GO WITH ANY 1998 SIGNIFICANT SIGNATURES MASTER AUTOGRAPH SET!

Thank you for your bravery and courage in bringing down a giant by exposing the corruption of this evil empire. Disguised as a lowly customer service employee you infiltrated the ranks by spying on these big-time turds and bringing it all to light. They were told to destroy those Koufax cards to hide the evidence but you, the superhero of trading cards serving justice to those who seek to destroy our hobby, got your hands on those cards by using your guile and wit and brought it to the attention of the Players Association. When you wouldn't accept their multi-million dollar bribe to keep quiet, the corrupt corporations sent you death threats and even went so far to send a hitman to your place. Most would have accepted their dirty money or cower away but no, not you....you kept vigilant and made sure to hold them to accountability, as any true selfless superhero would.

All hail CardCop, the hero of FCB and the world! Let his vigilance reign true to all...

[banjar]

2005 Diamondbacks - I am not positive about 2005, but I do know there were Pepsi-sponsored Diamondback team issues for the previous few years, back to 2001 I think. I found these listings in the Standard Catalog, but now google books doesn't have a readable version online so I can't verify that 2005 exists. In any case the 2004 issue was a standard size card. Hard as hell to find though, I only found my copy for my PC by accident, spotting it mixed in with a large lot on ebay.

Also, congrats on the 1997 Pinnacle Inside pickup. I guess I never realized how lucky I was to find my copy, for a reasonable price to boot.

Also also, congrats on inspiring that cardcop post! You have indeed arrived. I grew up in Denver and there's a longtime sports radio host named Sandy Clough. He is extremely knowledgeable but known to be surly on occasion with callers. So one day I was listening to his show and this guy called in and started joking that "you haven't arrived as a Denver sports talk radio caller until Sandy Clough has told you to "Give it a rest, caller!""

[TNP777]

Also also, congrats on inspiring that cardcop post! You have indeed arrived. I grew up in Denver and there's a longtime sports radio host named Sandy Clough. He is extremely knowledgeable but known to be surly on occasion with callers. So one day I was listening to his show and this guy called in and started joking that "you haven't arrived as a Denver sports talk radio caller until Sandy Clough has told you to "Give it a rest, caller!""

Your description of Clough reminds me of Pete "The King" Franklin, who was one of the pioneers of sports talk radio. I used to listen to him on San Francisco's KNBR. Similar to Clough, you knew you had arrived when you were such an idiot that he had to "flush" you (cue flushing toilet sound effect).

[gracecollector]

2005 Diamondbacks - I am not positive about 2005, but I do know there were Pepsi-sponsored Diamondback team issues for the previous few years, back to 2001 I think. I found these listings in the Standard Catalog, but now google books doesn't have a readable version online so I can't verify that 2005 exists. In any case the 2004 issue was a standard size card. Hard as hell to find though, I only found my copy for my PC by accident, spotting it mixed in with a large lot on ebay.

Also, congrats on the 1997 Pinnacle Inside pickup. I guess I never realized how lucky I was to find my copy, for a reasonable price to boot.

Also also, congrats on inspiring that cardcop post! You have indeed arrived. I grew up in Denver and there's a longtime sports radio host named Sandy Clough. He is extremely knowledgeable but known to be surly on occasion with callers. So one day I was listening to his show and this guy called in and started joking that "you haven't arrived as a Denver sports talk radio caller until Sandy Clough has told you to "Give it a rest, caller!""

I was wondering if it was an Upper Deck / Pepsi Diamondbacks issue as well. Grace had UD/Pepsi cards from 2001-2003. I didn't know off-hand if they continued this partnership but they did at least through 2006. This was the 2005 set design - just don't have a checklist or know if Butler was in the set.

[TNP777]

Crap. I was hoping you guys were on to something, but it looks like it's not a Pepsi promo set. 8 of the 15 players in the pic that Brad posted aren't in the checklist that Beckett has linked to the card I'm looking for. According to Beckett, it's a 25-card set, but no description of any kind is provided, not even a card size.

eta: I can't find any kind of Pepsi-related cards listed on either Beckett or TradingCardDB. I even searched for "Pepsi Luis Gonzalez" to see what cards came up. Beckett only lists cards from 2000, 2001 and 2007. Doesn't make sense, though - wouldn't he have been in some of those same sets that Grace was?

I'm wondering if that uncut sheet was snuck out the back door and the set was never issued?

eta #2: according to TCDB, Gonzalez was definitely in the 2002 and 2003 sets. Beckett sucks.

[gracecollector]

Crap. I was hoping you guys were on to something, but it looks like it's not a Pepsi promo set. 8 of the 15 players in the pic that Brad posted aren't in the checklist that Beckett has linked to the card I'm looking for. According to Beckett, it's a 25-card set, but no description of any kind is provided, not even a card size.

Okay, if it wasn't that, then maybe it's from one of these two sets. These are the only card set giveaways from the 2005 Diamondbacks promotional schedule, with the date the set was given out.

May 29 Diamondbacks Veteran Recognition Day DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Baseball Cards 30,000 sets
June 11 Arizona Republic Trading Cards 30,000 sets

[MetalAndy]

Congrats on the find!! That's such an awesome feeling.

Still searching for the Ellis Burks. I'll just be over here patiently waiting......