February 2022 - New Arrivals

[Philip J. Fry]

Incoming. It’s a gift for a childhood friend, and I couldn’t pass up on the price for an Atlanta legend.

 

[michaelstepper]

Had a couple things come in. This was the main highlight

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Today's mail will take up three posts and I'm not ashamed of it. This has been one of my more enjoyable mail days in a while. My friend Kevin who makes most of the custom cards I've posted the last few months has decided to thin out his N*gro League auto collection and I've been more than happy to add them to mine. Most of them are in what he refers to as his N*gro League theme of burnt orange and black in homage to the NLBM's logo but a couple were customs specifically for me.

This piece is only two thirds done. It's headed to the NLBM in Kansas City in the morning to get Bob Kendrick's signature on it next to Buck's. Bob has done a fantastic job of carrying on the torch that burned so brightly under Buck's leadership of the museum.



Kevin also created this relic piece using dirt from Stars Field in St. Louis where Cool Papa Bell roamed the outfield, Willie "El Diablo" Wells played shortstop, and "Mule" Suttles hit home runs to the moon. This will end up displayed alongside my Cool Papa Bell letter that's currently at PSA being slabbed.


N*gro League Customs


Part 2 on its way.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Part 2:

This may actually be my favorite piece from today. I absolutely love the quote.



These three men were more famous for their play in Puerto Rico than the ***** Leagues or the Majors. Julio Gotay is Puerto Rican Baseball Royalty. His nephew Ruben Gotay played several years in the majors and his brother (also Ruben) is a famous coach in Fajardo, PR. Pizarro easily had the best major league career of the three, pitching in 18 seasons for 9 teams.


There were also a couple of non-custom autos from the Front Row set and a Campy relic card from 2007 Sweet Spot Classic.


Part 3 coming up

 

[WizardofOz1982]

There were also a few Cardinals pieces he managed to slip into the box without telling me.

Like this 8x10 of some guy named Red. I guess he was pretty good.


And a nickname issue of The Mad Hungarian


The other two...well...they were Cardinals and I guess that's enough. I'll be honest. I had to look up Steve Swisher. I had no idea who he was. I was also surprised there's a picture of Mike Maroth in a Cardinals uni. He didn't stick around long (14 games, 7 starts, 38.0 innings, and a 10.66 ERA).


Not everything today came from Kevin though and it wasn't all good news:

I added this for my Bagwell collection and it arrived with a big crack right in the middle of it that wasn't there when I bought it. The seller and I worked it out and it'll get moved to an SGC slab at some point probably.

 

[Dilferules]

Steve Swisher is Nick Swisher's dad, and that's the extent of my Steve Swisher knowledge. Great stuff!

Today's mail:


This 2021 Mosaic Dilfer is the "No Huddle Blue" version, 34/75. That makes it 11 of 35 for the set with nothing incoming at the moment. I already had the Magenta 2010 Bowman Chrome Brett Anderson Plate but I couldn't resist picking up this one because black plates are the best. And the 2001 Fleer Showcase Legacy Bert Snow 03/50 gets me down to 1 remaining for that team set.

 

[gracecollector]

Help Wanted: Graphic Designer for "The Bar" company.

 

[BarryBonds762]

Back in December I sold a raw version of this card for $280.00 at a card show and was able to snag this one up for $311.00 on eBay. It pained me to sell the raw card and I have always asked my self did I make the right decision selling it? Now I know that answer and will be stashing this one away. Albert Pujols 2002 Bowman Chrome 2nd year Xfractor Serial # /250. Back in the 90's this would be considered an atomic refractor as its the same pattern as all of the Bowmans Best Atomic refractors from that era.

 

[BarryBonds762]

Been wanting this one for a decade, but never pulled the trigger until this week.

Not the strongest 9, but am thrilled to round out my mini Kersh PC.

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That Triple Auto is Sick! Wow!

 

[WizardofOz1982]

First full blown Bagwell mail day since I started collecting him again

 

[Dilferules]

Those Bagwells are great. The 1996 Topps Power Boosters cards are criminally underrated.

Just one today:


1999 Baseball America Gold Mark Mulder 04/50. This one was pretty tough to track down. There's only a few more 1999 Mulder cards remaining on my wantlist, one of which is incoming.

 

[Dilferules]

Got a big pile in today, I won't have time until tomorrow to scan them but I wanted to show this one off now:


2002 Upper Deck Game Jersey Logo Patch Jason Giambi. There were 21 cards in the 2002 UD Game Jersey Patch set, divided between Logos, Numbers, and Stripes. This one completes the Giambi set of all three. The Patch set was 1 in 2500 series 1 packs, so not an easy pull! Here's the other two:

 

[Dilferules]

Here's the rest of yesterday's mail highlights:


Team set completers! 1998 Pinnacle Inside Diamond Edition (way easier than the 1997s), 2002 Diamond Kings Silver/400 and Bronze, 1994 Pinnacle Artist's Proofs (FINALLY), 1998 Donruss Preferred Seating, 2002 Fleer Tiffany/200, 2002 Fleer Box Score First Edition/100, and 2013 Topps Silk/50.


Getting very close on these team sets: 1 left for 1998 Pacific Platinum Blue (Canseco, argh), 2 left for 2000 Paramount Holo-Silver/99, 1 left for 2003 Stadium Club Photographer's Proof/299 (way harder than you would think), 1 more for 2002 Gold Label Platinum/250, and 1 more for 2003 Diamond Kings Gold/100.


Entering the year I only needed 3 more cards from the first five years of Topps Black 2003-2007 - the 2006 Brad Halsey and two Frank Thomas cards. I'm so excited to find the Halsey. The 2015 Topps Update Mark Canha RC was one of the bigger pre-2017 Topps Black cards I needed, so that's also a nice pickup. The 2005 Fleer Platinum Diamond Dominators Hudson is a weird one - there's also a GU version of this that is very easy, and a metal version that is also easy, but the regular cardboard version is impossible to find for some reason, finally was able to locate one. 2001 Topps Chrome is my nemesis in the quest to complete all Finest/Bowman's Best/Topps Chrome/Bowman Chrome base Refractor team sets. I have almost everything up to 2019 but was still missing 6 cards from this one set. This Art Howe is the first one I can recall ever seeing so now I'm down to 5. The 1999 Team Best Rookies Silver 082/125 Mark Mulder gets my 1999 Mulder needs down to 2. And a neat 1998 Paramount Holo-Silver Grieve 17/99.


The 2006 Turkey Red Gold Zito gets me...still far away from completing that one. But the three Blacks put me 1 card away from completing that set - Frank Thomas. I missed the Topps Living Set Stewart when it came out but ended up getting it cheaper on eBay.


Finally this one...I'm pretty sure I was the only one bidding on it for Barry Zito.

 

[bongo870]

bought 4 packs (2 jumbo and 2 reg) at my local card store and pulled these:

 

[mrmopar]

This was a surprise find. I was headed to a job site meeting in downtown Seattle this past week, and had some time to burn before it started. I wandered into an antique store adjacent to the site. Not a lot sports related, but happened upon a lot (set?) of wood coaster items with NFL players on them. it was apparently part of some wood burning kit that you could buy. I already had a Dick Butkus, thinking it was a cool oddball item. I think I probably paid around $8 for it if I recall. Well, this lot was $20, so less than $3 a piece. I actually passed because I didn't want it in my pocket during the meeting/walk, but after we wrapped up and I grabbed lunch nearby with a coworker, I mentioned my find. He suggested I should get it and since I had to walk right by the store on my way back to my car, I did just that and bought the lot.

I didn't take a photo, but rather grabbed an image from online, as well as a burned one (mine were all unburned). I remember Daryl Lamonica, Butkus and Alworth, but the other names are escaping me right now and I am too lazy to go check!

I never expect to find deals in an antique store, but there is always a chance.

 

[Dilferules]

Yesterday's mail:


The Giambi 1999 Paramount Holo-Gold puts me one away from the team set. Grieve completes the 2000 Prism Holographic Mirror/160 team set. The 2004 Leaf Limited Silver Spotlight Tim Hudson 10/50 and 2003 Leaf Limited Gold Spotlight Tejada 03/50 put me 2 away from those team sets. Sal Bando is a 2004 Timeless Teams auto I didn't have (I don't have all of the year variations for everybody) and I still needed a couple of cards to complete 2011 Topps Diamond Die Cuts - Reggie gets me within one.


McGwire is actually my first 2021 Finest Flashbacks Refractor pickup, after going for the 2020 set hard. I like the set but they don't have quite as much appeal as the '20s. The Frank Thomas was the second-to-last card I needed for 2007 Fleer Minis. It says Blue Jays but I always go more by the uniform in the pic. The Chapman/Olson is a nice score from 2020 Topps Update Black. The Manea gets my 2017 Ginter Mini Black needs down to 3, and the 2018 Chapman gets me to one for 2018...which is incoming. Finally, I couldn't resist grabbing the Sweet Spot Kurt Suzuki 01/25.

 

[madbull34]

Gallery of Heroes insert


Mother's Day pink



Orange /25



Base Ref /499



Fuchsia /299



Purple /250



Yellow /75



Gold /50

 

[WizardofOz1982]

YUUUUGE PC PICKUP Today...y'all know I'm lying. Here comes more 90s inserts, Cardinals stuff, and N*gro League related cards

1995 Donruss Dominators complete set - I actually already had this one done but these were in a big 90s lot I got so now I'm going to peel one and leave one unpeeled. I actually ended up with enough doubles from the lot and the doubles I already had to put a set together for a friend too.


Random 90s Set fillers - I love the Slugfest set and the Crown Contenders especially. There's always a place in my collection for shiny 90s Topps stuff too.


Ozzies that I didn't have for some reason - Probably because they're buried in a box somewhere honestly


Bagwells because why not?


Cardinals stuff that isn't Ozzie - 2019 Topps Series 1 Shortprint Yadier Molina.


I was probably happiest with this one though. It'll go on display with my letter and Stars Field relic custom as well.

 

[Dilferules]

Today's mail:


This Mosaic Dilfer is the "Honeycomb" variation. A couple of great Cansecos - the 1997 International Refractor gets my team set needs down to 1 (McGwire); and I'm a sucker for retro designs from my childhood so I had to get the '91 Bazooka auto out of 2021 Archives. Catfish was just a cool Gold Refractor, 07/50. Laureano is my second 2021 Finest Flashbacks Refractor...it sucks that they made these with silver/gray borders instead of the original green. And the Pinder is a nice pickup to start chipping away at 2017 Topps Chrome Gold Refractors, but I need both the non-auto and auto Matt Olson RCs so that set won't be completed any time soon.


1997 Pinnacle Inside 40 Something was on my short list of '90s McGwire inserts to go after this year. 2004 Elite Extra Edition Aspirations Kurt Suzuki 94/95 puts me 1 away from finishing that team set. The 2014 Topps Cespedes is the tough "Sparkle" SP. I think I only have 2 or 3 Sparkles to go from the whole run, which was something like 2011-2015? The three 2005 Turkey Red Gold/50 cards put me 4 away from the team set. And the 2012 Topps Target Inge completes the series 1/2/update team set.

 

[mrmopar]

Those 94 On Base Leaders were one of the nicest cards I had ever seen at the time. Classic set that was tough from the get go.