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

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Letch77

Well-known member
Jan 28, 2018
1,608
353
Midwest
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

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,528
1
the 209
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.

sqingg.png


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

New member
Feb 4, 2016
12,488
0
The Carolina on the Southern side
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

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
2,540
883
Lafayette, Colorado
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

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,528
1
the 209
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

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
6,559
215
Lake in the Hills, IL
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.

s-l900.jpg
 

TNP777

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,528
1
the 209
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.
 
Last edited:

gracecollector

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
6,559
215
Lake in the Hills, IL
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

Member
Aug 10, 2014
111
2
NH
Congrats on the find!! That's such an awesome feeling.

Still searching for the Ellis Burks. I'll just be over here patiently waiting......
 
Dec 4, 2008
607
3
Some of you guys might remember that I'm a player collector, too. Brett Butler is one of my favorite modern players, and somehow I got on this quest to collect every card any company has ever issued of him. Beckett has 534 unique Butler cards catalogued - I've got 521 of them, plus several hundred uncatalogued variations and oddball cards that 80s & 90s player collectors recognize but Beckett doesn't

For years I'd check eBay for new Butler cards several times a day, but for the past few years I've needed the same 13 cards (8 of which are numbered 1/1), so now I only check maybe once a week - if I even remember to. Hits to my wantlist have been so infrequent that I've been giving a ghost of a thought to actually getting rid of it.

So late last week I figured I'd see if anything new had popped up, which usually only happens if the Topps Vault released something. Scroll scroll scroll... wait a damn minute... WHAT'S THIS??? Well, how 'bout that - a card I've literally never seen before is sitting right there with a $25 BIN/BO + $3 shipping. So what does my dumb ass do? Offer the seller $15. And the whole damn time I'm waiting for a response I'm mentally kicking my own ass for not just grabbing it up. Patience won out, though - the seller accepted my offer around midnight and I paid immediately.

Some of you guys may have seen this incredibly weird and not-very-popular issue: Pinnacle Inside. There was a pack of cards inside a can that you literally had to open with a standard can opener.

2gvk577.jpg


It was a 150-card base set with two parallels: Club Edition and Diamond Edition. And because it was such an incredibly popular idea (eye roll), there are hundreds of the base cards floating around, maybe dozens of the Club Edition, and damn near none of the Diamond Editions. Guess which one I've been looking for?

So here it is, kids - the 1997 Pinnacle Inside Diamond Edition Brett Butler, a card that's been on my wantlist for 21 years. I'm decently stoked.

Sorry for the cruddy scan, btw - these foil fronts just don't scan very well.

2r2xc06.jpg
rm32tl.jpg


Here's the base and Club Edition:

20f6jo0.jpg
15xqrur.jpg


2zq9zfb.jpg
24xl8qe.jpg

Glad you won it! I pick up the 1997 Diamond Editions regularly whenever they are at a good price. I have probably a couple dozen in the collection. Saw this Butler hit but I took too long to think about it. Glad it went to its rightful home! Great buy!

I have a 1992 Donruss DK Super Butler BGS 9.5 in the Collection in case you need it...
 

TNP777

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,528
1
the 209
Appreciate the offer. If it was one of the few (if even that many) that made it into a PSA holder I’d probably be interested. I have a couple of raw ones for now.
 

TNP777

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,528
1
the 209
So check this out.

Last Tuesday brought that terrific White Whale mailday. I shared my exciting pickup on five different message board, including Blowout. A guy over there says that TradingCardDB shows a different number of available Butler cards than Beckett does, so I spent a chunk of Wednesday comparing my list to theirs, plus having a fresh look at Beckett's list.

So there are three other "cards" on my list - I've got them listed under "Oddball".
* 1992 Dodgers Smokey 4292 (is how Beckett had it listed - and isn't 4292 an odd card number???)
* 1995 Mets Colla (again, how Beckett had it listed)
* 2005 Diamondbacks Team Issue

For years I've never seen or heard a glimpse of any of those sets, so Wednesday I was finally going to delete them and assume they'd never been issued. I'd done probably dozens of Google searches, endless eBay searches, trolled message boards - nothing. I'm starting to think someone fed Beckett bogus info.

And then I came across this listing on Worthpoint: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/lot-30-1992-los-angeles-dodgers-1758275390

Well, how about that. I think I've got a lead. It turns out that weird "4292" card number means that it's actually postcard #42, and the set was produced in 1992 - hence the 4292 designation.

Okay, cool. The card (or postcard) actually exists. It still doesn't mean I've ever seen one. That is, until later that day when I hit up the bright idea of searching ebay for Butler (postcard,postcards,"post card","post cards") and effing found a seller who effing had six of the Butlers in one BIN/BO lot!

So what does my dumb ass do? You're damn right - I make an offer! lolololol!! I don't need six of them - two will do. So I fire off a message to the seller, and he agrees to part the lot for me. I buy two, today's mail arrives - and he sent three of them.

Oh, did I mention that they were all autographed? They weren't issued that way, so the autographs are a nice bonus.

v642si.jpg


r8e7ig.jpg
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,091
So, seeing those it kind of makes sense now. There is no Smokey card set from 1992, but postcard is a different story (curse of the oversized card again). I have a few other Dodger postcards of a similar era but a little newer (Nomo, Park, Karros, Piazza, etc) with some different sponsors (David's Sunflower seeds, for example). Given that you don't seem them all that often, like the 80s Coke Postcards, but much harder to find, I think they were made for the players and team to send for fan mail. It is possible that sets were never available unless someone actually wrote the team and beggars or purchased a set. Just a theory, but probably not that far off if not spot on.
 

Therion

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2008
5,779
387
Looooooosiana!
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.

sqingg.png


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?

I'm speculating, but from my collecting Astros autographs, this was probably a card issued by the Diamondbacks for events like FanFest. The Astros have made a set like this for every year since at least 2000 and Beckett, when they list them at all, always poorly describes them. You are probably looking for a team issued postcard that was given out at public signings. It likely only exists autographed, but an employee could have kept a few unsigned.

Again, totally speculating. I have found this to be the case with my Astros player collections.
 

Therion

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2008
5,779
387
Looooooosiana!
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.

sqingg.png


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?

I'm speculating, but from my collecting Astros autographs, this was probably a card issued by the Diamondbacks for events like FanFest. The Astros have made a set like this for every year since at least 2000 and Beckett, when they list them at all, always poorly describes them. You are probably looking for a team issued postcard that was given out at public signings. It likely only exists autographed, but an employee could have kept a few unsigned.

Again, totally speculating. I have found this to be the case with my Astros player collections.
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,091
That sounds very likely and for that matter, the Colla card could be a postcard too.

For years, Beckett listed a 1973 Team Issue card for Steve Garvey. I still don't know exactly what it is. I figure it is one of the B&W 5x7 photo pack photos, but since they can list **** willy nilly and never provide photo proof of a set, well, it could be just about anything...or not even exist in some cases.

I'm speculating, but from my collecting Astros autographs, this was probably a card issued by the Diamondbacks for events like FanFest. The Astros have made a set like this for every year since at least 2000 and Beckett, when they list them at all, always poorly describes them. You are probably looking for a team issued postcard that was given out at public signings. It likely only exists autographed, but an employee could have kept a few unsigned.

Again, totally speculating. I have found this to be the case with my Astros player collections.
 

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