June 2022 - New Arrivals

[Dilferules]

I think his 1998 Donruss Signature Significant Signatures is probably his nicest looking certified card.

I think Catfish had four certified autos made before he passed away? I have three of them:


The other one was a Nabisco card airbrushed much like the Jimmy Dean one above, showing him with the Yankees. So it's a good thing he did have one nice auto in the 1998 Donruss Signature set. Though I guess it's bad for Yankees fans. For a HOFer with so few to choose from, his certified autographs are pretty affordable. Probably because overall his signature is not at all difficult to find.

Oh, I got a couple more cards in:


Kirk Saarloos pitched for the A's for a little bit and I liked him then, so the 2002 Bowman Chrome Draft Gold Refractor has been on my wantlist for a while. I'm still missing several A's Gold Refractors from the 2002 regular and Draft sets, they very rarely pop up at this point. There was one that finally showed up last month that I really really wanted so I threw down a ridiculous bid in order to win it for sure...and somebody outbid me! Also shown: 2003 Fleer Tradition Update Glossy Maddux/Zito 086/100. I've made great progress on this set, that was the last A's card I needed from the Update set and I only need one more from the regular set - David Justice of course.

 

[mrmopar]

I guess I have 3 of 4 Catfish sigs myself then, as I have the first 2 and his Yankee Nabisco card. I don't think I have another one, but i'll check next time i am in that area.

 

[mrmopar]

Have not added a Big Hurt in a while, in fact was surprised to win it. I do a search on Montgomery and Brooklyn Topps autos, because they had great colors and designs. most sell way out of my comfort range. Anyway, won this Frank /15 and tried for a couple other versions of the same card with different colors/print runs and was double skunked! Not the greatest image used, but I liked it enough to go for it.

 

[BarryBonds762]

Found another red xfractor. Had to get it. Got lucky on the Black refractor. Looking at the serial number 84 I just realized the 2003 set kinda looks like the 1984 Topps design.

 

[madbull34]

Some more Darvish chrome parallels!

Heritage Base Chrome /999



GQ Base Chrome



GQ Indigo Chrome /150



Base Sapphire



Green Sapphire /125



Purple Sapphire /25

 

[Dilferules]

2000 Paramount Holo-Gold Jason Giambi 187/199 completes the team set. Also, 2002 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Blue Mark Ellis 11/75 finally completes that team set! I also have the complete Mirror Red set and am just missing 2 cards for the Mirror Gold team set. Not anywhere near complete on 2013 Topps Sapphire, but I'm trying to get there. Tom Milone is 11/25. The Topps Chrome Weems auto was a cheap pickup.

 

[mrmopar]

Cepeda Purple

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Great show today and some really nice mail.

Mail Day:

2015 Bowman Draft Chrome Ryan Helsley Red Refractor 5/5 - This one takes this rainbow as far as I can go because the Super is locked up in another Cardinals collector's rainbow.



Show Pickups:

A couple of rookie cards of fantastic Cardinals


A 2011 Mike Trout for $20 was a no brainer (even if it is OBAK)


Picking up PSA 10 and SGC 9.5 Tatis Jr RCs for less than grading fees? Heck yeah. Buying the dip.


My favorite show pickup though today

Old School Game Used is the best.

 

[nevermore]

2009 Bowman AFLAC Autographs Jameson Taillon #/230 -- One of his earliest autograph, what really caught my eye was that it is jersey numbered! He has worn #50 in the majors with both the Pirates and Yankees.

 

[Dilferules]

A couple of cool ones. 2002 Fleer Box Score Bat Rack Quads Alex Rodriguez/Ivan Rodriguez/Eric Chavez/Miguel Tejada 007/150. There are a couple of other Quads featuring at least one A's player I need from that year. 2016 Archives Fan Favorites Blue Autograph Dennis Eckersley 103/199. I'm a sucker for the Fan Favorites autos and the price was right. I also have the Red/50 auto from that year, but for some reason he didn't have a "base" auto. That's a shame, I'd prefer the more accurate 1989 Topps look.

 

[Dilferules]

Got a nice shipment in, some highlights:



Some Rich Harden 1/1's. I already have quite a few of his 1/1 cards but I could not resist these. Big bonus: the uncirculated case on the red Refractor is in really nice condition - it's very difficult to find these types of cases from that time period that aren't scratched to death.


A lot of help with my 2005 Reflections A's master set. The Harden/Blanton dual auto is 01/35 so that's nice. The Bobby Crosby Super Swatch has some weird surface bubble-looking things that aren't actually bubbly. I know a lot of UD foil stuff from this timeframe had issues but I have one or two other Red Super Swatch cards that look fine. Crosby seems particularly hard to find from this set (all of the parallels) so I wonder if it's a situation where a lot of them have this issue so people tossed them or didn't bother putting them up for sale. Also shown are a couple of nice Artifacts cards from the same year. UD had several sets in 2005 that I really liked.


All of the Finest X-Fractors are /25. The Harden 2005 UD Emerald is 13/25. The 2004 Sweet Threads Triple puts me one away from having all of the multi-player jersey cards with an A's player out of 2004 Sweet Spot. And the Pinstripes variation of the Eric Chavez 2000 Aurora Premiere Date/52 also leaves me one away from finishing that team set.


Various other cards...the Harden Mirror White auto is 3/5 and the Bobby Crosby Bowman Sterling Black Refractor is 11/16...another nice case on this one. I still have 2 cards remaining to finish up Eric Chavez's 2005 Zenith Epix run after grabbing this Black Game one, 18/75.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Not much baseball related in the mail today.

2002 Topps Team Topps Legends Stan Musial Auto - Love the 1958 Topps All Star card so this one is awesome.




Random Throw ins from a Cardinals set I didn't even know about

 

[Dilferules]

Not a big haul today:


I just about had a heart attack when I saw that Dilfer was in 2021 Prizm, but luckily it's just an autographed insert with "only" 6 parallels. This one is the base card, 48/99. I've got a couple of the parallels incoming. The Jordan Weems completes the team set for 2021 Topps Gold - series 1, 2, and Update. These are a lot tougher to find the last few years due to increased productions runs, but still very doable.

 

[Dilferules]

Nice mail day:


Somebody was auctioning a ton of Pristine Gold Refractors on eBay last week and I was able to pick up the above cards to finish both the 2003 and 2004 team sets (with all RC variations)! The 2003's are /69 and the 2004's are /41. Oddly I still need two regular 2004 Refractors to complete that team set.


My second 2021 Prizm Dilfer auto variation, 34/49. I very rarely get Topps dual autos like the Eckersley/Puk card because they sell pretty well, but this one went in my price range. Also cheap was the 2021 Finest Flashbacks Gold Refractor Matt Chapman, 06/50. I won a Chapman plate real cheap recently also, but the 0 feedback seller immediately cancelled the order because the "item could not be found." Sure, buddy. Anyways...the Chavez 2021 Archives Purple Auto is 056/150.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Mail has been few and far between the last week and a half or so.

2012 Archives Jose Oquendo - Shortstop variation: 2 down, 7 to go.



A couple 90s Bagwells:


A few Certified Reds for my 1997 Certified Master run:

 

[mrmopar]

I'll start the mega-mail day here and then wrap up the Dodger related adds on that thread.

PART 1 - Made great headway on the Gold Standard set. I only need 1 more now...but no all have come in yet.

Hornung, Graham, White, Tittle.

A couple other Sig Rookies (Kromax). Hardaway and Wilkins. These are really cool if you have not seen one. They look silver on front and space-like on back, but held up to the light and the space images can be seen through the cards.

Jerry Lucas AP. Joe Dumars. . Archie Manning.

This cool OJ Simpson from the Ted Williams set.

 

[mrmopar]

PART 2

Brett UD. . Gossage. . Randle Archives Red 25. . Zambrano Purple Archives . LaRussa /10.

 

[cjedmonton]

I am working on a Topps era HOF pitcher project.

When complete, all 40 during this period will represent a different year. No repeats, no rookies, and no omissions from 1952-1981.

Latest arrivals:

Cards 27-29

1957 Bob Lemon
1964 Juan Marichal
1972 Rollie Fingers




En route:

1975 Nolan Ryan PSA 7 (his 8th of 27 base Topps cards)
1976 Bert Blyleven PSA 8 (his 6th of 23 base Topps cards)


Current Progress: 31/40 (78% complete)

 

[mrmopar]

Darryl Dawkins and Jerry West, as my basketball refocus continues...I wanted a better certified West, but they are usually a bit pricy. This one was one of the cheaper ones I have found in several weeks of looking.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Dry week or so followed by a decent mail day

2001 Gallery Ichiro Japanese (Kanji) variation RC - I got excited when this came out of the envelope. The front is gorgeous and the back is pristine except for a surface divot.



I may be moving on from my Significant Signatures master set tomorrow (dealer agreed to my stupid price pending condition checks) so I've been picking up the major pieces again in case I want to rebuild it later.


Polar Bear auto /50 - I don't collect the Mets but Alonso is just so much fun to watch. He made the Home Run Derby must see TV again.


Some fun '90s stuff as always