Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

I thought I had my 1975 Topps set completed but no, it can't be that damn easy. I  bought the final card for it from a seller on eBay who I've bought from before. One of those folks with tons of sales and positive feedback.

The card I needed was the Yount rookie. Not hard to find but I was doing my usual thing with it...waiting to find one that was in acceptable shape at a decent price. We all do that, right?

Anyway, I found it and as expected it arrived within two days since the dealer is located just northwest of Houston. Here are the pics from the eBay listing.:

As soon as I pulled it from the packaging I knew I had a problem. I've handled enough cards in my time to be able to tell that this one wasn't right. Now, I've accidentally bought 1975 minis on COMC because I sometimes shop too late at night and really should be sleeping, but that wasn't the case here.

Just to be sure I placed my Yount on top of a standard card and sure enough, it was trimmed. Now my standards are not perticularlyhigh, especially in light of how tough it can be to find really great cards for this build (and the 62 and 71, sigh), but I'm not going to put a trimmed '75 in my binder when I can find a 'whole' card at a similar price with a bit more work. If this was the last card star I needed for a tobacco set that would be a whole different story.

So I sent the pic to the dealer and within a few hours, I had a return invoice sent my way with ample apologies. The dealer received the card yesterday and my refund should be here at any time.

I wasn't angry about it. As I mentioned, I have bought from this particular dealer in the past and wouldn't hesitate to do so again. I was just disappointed that the baby I thought I had put to bed was suddenly sitting straight up in the crib and screaming for attention.

Such is the life of a collector.

Productive Weekend

I really had a great weekend. And, of course, you want to know what I did! So I'll tell ya.

Friday night was a Dwight Yoakam concert. The tickets were a Valentines Day gift to my wife who, a vaquera at heart, is a huge fan of the "Bakersfield Sound" icon. And, truth be told, I'm a big fan as well. He never disappoints in person. Terrific band, great stage presence, plenty of great tunes which he plays back-to-back with barely a breath in between. He did a couple of Merle Haggard standards which made me very happy. And the Arena Theater is a nice venue for him. It's one of those music-in-the-round places with a revolving stage. Everyone in the place is close to the front. Great show!

Saturday was the hotel card show day. Coming a week after the TriStar show I didn't feel like spending a lot of time there but it was productive. I went through my friend Darryl's 1971 box and pulled about forty needs.

The '71 set will change your mind about being condition-conscious. Luckily I already had my senses dulled by chasing the '62 set.

I did something I rarely do at Daryll's shows, I looked seriously at other dealers' table. One guy had tubs of minor/obscure/pointless autograph and relic cards. At a couple of bucks each, I figured I could spare ten minutes playing through some of them. I found a couple of Topps Archives baseball sigs that are already in a PWE headed east. I got this Calvin Borel signed Panini for myself. 

I'm not a huge collector of racing stuff but I do follow the thoroughbreds in the spring leading up to the Triple Crown races and I used to hit Sam Houston Race Park with some friends pretty regularly. This card of the Hall of Famer and three-time Kentucky Derby winner is just the second racing autograph I own. I have a Ron Turcotte photo of him riding Secretariat that I got when he appeared at a  charity event about a decade ago. 

I also found this Chief Bender oddball card from the 1975 Sheraton Great Plains Greats set. You can't tell by the scan but it's a bit bigger than standard card size.

Back at Daryll's tables, I found a pair of 1975s that I needed. I'm down to three cards to finish off that one. If you have a spare Yount rookie hanging around, hook me up, would you?

Keith Hernandez looks odd without any facial hair. Here's an odd fact: Hernandez is the only player to lead his position in Gold Gloves and not be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Jim Rice IS a Hall of Famer, though. And here's a Jim Rice fact: He is the only player in major league history to record over 200 hits while hitting 39 or more HRs for three consecutive years.

Sunday was a stay-at-home day and I spent it clearing card office clutter, consolidating my fantasy baseball spreadsheets and card collection into one file and one binder respectively. I figured it was silly to maintain more than one of each. I now have a pretty big stack of current and recent player cards since they previously had slots in multiple binders. Trade bait!

I hope you had a fun weekend, too.

10 Posts, 10 Cards, 10 Books, 10 Songs (#8)

These are five of the 1975 Topps cards that Steve from the 1975 Baseball Cards blog sent me recently.  Steve also tinkers with a blog that features athletes on phones and I flipped out when I found it. One of my first collections, when I re-entered the hobby in the late 80s, was of guys in all sports on the phone and with other electronic devices. I actually did a 'Guys On The Phone' post way back in 2012. When I saw Steve's blog I dug out the old pages I'd filled and sent him some of the cards (I've since found more and should send them his way, too).

Anyway, these colorful 1975 gems are most welcome. I'm down to less than two dozen needed for the set. I should do some damage to my want list at the TriStar show in February. My 1976 chase is winding down, too. Just about 40 needed there. I'm not sure how I got the bug that has sent me after the 70s sets. I followed baseball thru that decade (as best I could) but didn't collect much. I remember that I would buy a pack of cards just to see what Topps was doing.

I'm probably going to try to finish all the 70s sets at some point. My scorecard looks like this at the moment:

• 1970-done and in a binder
• 1971-I have a large box of 71s, well over 400, that I haven't even dug into. I need to sort 'em to see what I need.
• 1972, 1973, 1974- I have all the Orioles and various small amounts of others.
• 1975 & 1976-See above, bindered and almost completed
• 1977-Just the Orioles and a few stars
• 1978 & 1979- completed and in binders

Truth be told the 70s was sort of a 'lost' decade for me. I was in and out of college, held down numerous jobs to feed my habits, and wrecked some relationships and friendships. Not all of them, I did meet my wife during this time, but enough.

Phillip Roth's 1973 novel is just outstanding. I wasn't much of a fiction reader when I was in college but I read this on a recommendation and I've always been glad I did. I posted this on my1959 Topps blog in 2011.

I had tried to read one or two of Philip Roth's books prior to The Great American Novel. The key word being 'tried'. I never got very far. So I was pretty skeptical when a friend gave me his copy of this book and insisted I read it. Turns out to be the funniest, cleverest and most entertaining baseball novel I've ever read.

In it Roth chronicles the odyssey of the Ruppert Mundys, the only homeless franchise in the Patriot League. If you are not familiar with the Patriot League take heart, Word Smith, the book's narrator will explain the Communist plot and Capitalist scandals have conspired to wipe out it's rich history. It's enough to know that the Mundys have lost their stadium in Port Ruppert to the war effort (WWII) and have taken to the road more or less permanently.

The book is difficult to describe with murderous plots against umpires, wooden-legged catchers, games scheduled against teams from asylums and players named for mythological figures (Luke Gofannon, Gil Gamesh, etc).

The book slows in spots but will keep you laughing and wondering at the depth of Roth's imagination. Highly recommended.

One additional note...this is the only book I've ever bought after having read it.


Music in the 70s was something I clung to in stressful times and I will always consider it the best decade for music. I had access to lots of concerts through my jobs on the campus and through my job at the Houston Post.

The ticket is one I posted previously when I blogged about some of the shows I saw back then. I had pretty good seats for Traffic at the rickety old Sam Houston Coliseum back in '73. I loved this group and it's one of the concerts I remember attending (not always the case).

Want to hear my kind of rock? The music I still fall back to? Give Traffic's greatest song a listen,

New Year, New Stuff (From Joe Shlabotnik)

OK, so technically this padded envelope from Joe S came near the end of 2018 but I really didn't get to process it until January 1. So I'm calling this my first 2019 trade package. Joe had peeked over at my 1976 and 1975 Topps wantlists and the cards he sent put a healthy dent in said lists.

First of all, let's talk about the '76 Traded cards. When I bought the starter lot that launched me into the chase for the '76 set I didn't give those extra 44 cards much thought. I've seen them through the years but in 1976 I wasn't actively collecting anything (except maybe hangovers, overdraft notices, and failed relationships). It wasn't until Joe asked me which ones I had that I looked closer and figured "44 cards, why not?"

Back to the envelope...Joe filled part of the Traded set void and along with those he included base set needs for 1976 and 1975 which is another current project. I only scanned some representative examples. I was anxious to get them all into the binders. Damn, mid-70s Topps cards sure were colorful!

And sometimes fantastic. Like this one:

Between the wonderful 'fro, the terrible airbrush job and the punny 'headline' this baby is one remarkable piece of cardboard!

Red, pink, orange, green, blue. Rick Waits' card touches all the color bases.

This Jim Sundberg card was a dupe but it was also an upgrade! When I made my frequent trips to Arlington to see the Rangers (and usually the Orioles) two things were sure to happen... Jim Sundberg would be the catcher and huge dark storm clouds would pass over or near Arlington Stadium. Never failed.

I put this Luis Tiant card in the post because I like it.

It wouldn't be a Shlabotnik gift pack if it didn't contain off-the-beaten-track Orioles cards, both old and new. Like this Leaf Eddie Murray.

Or this Chrome Brian Roberts which my scanner choked on. Funny thing about Roberts. His career fits very neatly into my time away from baseball. I'm still amazed that the Orioles had a guy that once led the league in stolen bases.

Here's an Eric Davis card with one of those peel-y plastic sheets on it. I look at pulling them off as being akin to removing the label from mattresses. You know it's OK but something lurks in the back of your mind whispering 'Nooooo!'

Joe dropped a few Texans on me as well. One reason I'm hurrying through these is that I'm busy doing stuff I'd normally be taking care of tomorrow when I'll be at the Texans-Colts playoff game.

Keshawn Martin will go into my fantasy player binder since my old one of him uses a training camp pic with him wearing "00". I hate those.

Modern Brooks Robinson cards. I wonder what Hall of Famer has the most cards in modern sets. Ruth? Jackie Robinson? Mantle? I'm sure Brooksie is fairly high on the list.

I scanned this Rodrigo Lopez because I like the Fleer logo. I'm normally in favor of simple card designs but the auto under the name doesn't work.

Insert Ripken above. Jaunty cap angle Ripken below.

This Fleer set might be the only 1990s set I'd ever consider putting in a binder. It's very Stadium Club-ish. Joe included most of the Orioles team set in the envelope. If nothing else I might just finish that. Here's Moose.

Tony Tarasco looking badass.

When I did my Spring Training tour a few years ago Tarasco was coaching with the Nationals. My goal was to get him to sign a ball with an inscription reading "I had it all the way!". (Bonus points for getting the reference) When I was able to meet him after one of the games in Viera he had a lot of family and friends around so I settled for just a quick hello and a signed ball.

Raffy Palmeiro. I always think of my first visit to Camden Yards when I see him on an Orioles card. His suspension was big news since it occurred the day prior to my arrival. Sweet card though.

Finally, Joe included this Manny Machado Commemorative Players Weekend patch. It's thick and weighty. I dig the caps the Orioles wore for that season's Players' Weekend. Do these come inserted in regular packs? I've never gotten a 'thick' card like this from a pack that I recall. I suppose that's not surprising given how few packs I buy.

I know what the logo represents but whenever I see it I think of this:

Did I read this morning that Machado has a big offer from the White Sox? He's turned into a villain now but I'm still hoping he signs with an AL team so I can get to the ballpark and see him once or twice a year. Villian status be damned.

Anyway, that's just a portion of the cards I got from Joe. It's like the second or third one he's sent without a return from me. I need to do something about that. Oh, and I failed to mention earlier... his blog is among the best of the best. I mean that. I doubt anyone reading this is unaware but here is the link to The Shlabotnik Report. Did I spell that right? ;-)

A Post About Nothing

I have no theme for these random scans that were sitting in my picture folder. But there is a short story for each:

The '71 Hoyt came from Night Owl. I picked it as my prize in his recent 10th anniversary giveaway contest. It was timely as I am in the process of (gulp) getting my 71s organized and putting together a want list. If and when I complete this thing it'll be my poorest complete set in terms of condition. It's a tough one to put together in nice shape due to the black borders but what I've seen in my box is a lot of pretty weak examples. Doesn't matter really. It's not like I'm going to try and turn the set for profit or anything.

I'm getting closer to knocking out the 1975 set. If you have dupes please check my linked list over on the right. I somehow have acquired four Dick Allen cards. One is for the binder, one for my unofficial and very casual Allen PC and one I keep on my desk because it makes me happy.

The 'Blue Bat' 1966 Batman set I bought needed two cards upgraded. This one came the other day. And this is a significant upgrade so you can imagine what my first one looked like.

The seller used this Close Encounters of the Third Kind set card as a filler to protect the Batman card. I loved that movie (along with everyone else in the world) but had no idea there was a 1978 Topps Close Encounters set made.

And this has to be the best card in the set!

That's all I have. Have a great week and remember to keep your kids away from Smocking Guns!! ::eyeroll emoji here::

A Not-So-Great Show

I spent last Saturday at the summer edition of Houston's twice-yearly TriStar shows. I've been to countless shows of theirs so I thought I knew what to expect. But I was wrong. The show, at least for the five hours or so I was there, was underwhelming. The crowd was thinner than usual, few dealers with vintage bargains were on hand and the fun, oddball type stuff I usually come across was nowhere to be found.  Even the usual madcap autograph lines which normally hinder getting around that area of the show were missing.

After dropping $27 for parking plus admission I was pretty disappointed. I ended up making just a handful of purchases. I hit one dealer who had '62 Topps at decent prices and found a couple of dozen for my set build. He cut me a deal so the cards came in under what I would have paid on eBay. I also bought a sorting tray and several boxes of 9 pockets. You know the show isn't good when I browse the supply vendors for an hour.

I spent quite a bit of time at my friend Darryl's table. He had a newly arrived '62 Gibson which happened to be one of the last remaining 'big ticket' cards I was in need of. It's a beauty as you can see. For once my scanner does a card justice. It's got nice coloring, no scuffs, and sharp corners.

He had marked his dollar bin cards at 10 for $6 and I picked up my usual assortment of  '60s and 70s cards. I grabbed players I collect and stuff that catches my eye. I should know better than to add to the cards I have stacked on my desk waiting to be sorted but I can't help myself.

It was a nice surprise to find this Walt Frazier for my 1970 Hoops set. The stain puts it on my 'upgrade someday' list for about sixty cents it'll do for now.

This Billy Pierce is a dupe but will fill a need when I get around to chasing the '57 set. And that day is coming.

Even if I abandon my 1975 Topps plans I'm going to have a spot for these next two cards. Three player collection guys here among the four pictured. Plus a third baseman I think I've heard of.

Howard Cassady is in rough shape but what the heck, it's a card of 'Hopalong'.

Getting bargains from Darryl is always fun but I came away thinking that I could have picked them up at his hotel show and not paid any admission or to park.

I also found a few vintage cards on other tables. Maybe the lack of customers worked in my favor. I was able to pick up a few and not get elbowed out from in front of the boxes. The cards were either lesser names or in lesser condition.

This next card was my favorite buy of the day (other than the '62 Gibson). The great Bill Russell looking about as 'Seventies' as you can possibly look.

Finally a non-show card. France (and Manchester United) star Paul Pogba. I'm hoping he leads France to a World Cup title tomorrow over Croatia. In WC when I'm out of countries root for (Portugal, Italy, England, USA, Mexico) I root for players.

Baseball cards from Fuji

   

I received this terrific group of Orioles in the mail from Fuji over the weekend. He sent even more vintage Colts football cards and I'll get to those soon in another post. But I want to show off these today.

First up is a group of 10 1975 Topps minnniiiiiiiis(©Night Owl, all rights reserved). There are some happy O's in that group! Well, maybe not Bob Oliver but he was an Angel in that shot, airbrushed into Orioles gear. He only spent three weeks with the Birds in September of '74 so his glumness can be excused.

My favorite of the bunch is the Elrod Hendricks. Love the old school 'catcher with no gear except a glove' pose. I don't have many of the '75 minis, even among my Orioles collection. I have the regular '75 team set but other than Brooks Robinson's card and one or two others I've needed to fill out the team. I think I have the Northrup so the rest of these are going to come in real handy. Fuji sent the team card as well.

The rest are new-to-me 90s Orioles. Here is a shiny Mike Mussina. I know I'm supposed to hate the guy but I can't. I'm too old to worry about hating baseball players. I liked watching him pitch as an Oriole and I wasn't following the game by the time he jumped ship to New York so I collect his cards when the come my way.

Sam Horn. I looked and he didn't play for a long as I had thought. Maybe Classic could have made the border on these cards a bit thicker if they tried. Maybe not.

I had memory of Jayson Werth as an Orioles' prospect. Or of him with Toronto or the Dodgers. I was first aware of him on the strong Phils clubs of a few years back.

And then there is Rick Sutcliffe. He won the '84 Cy Young. He was traded to the Cubs in June of '84 from Cleveland. I'm guessing not many of the major award winners through the years have been dealt during that season.

Thanks for the cards, Fuji! I'll have the football cards up later in the week.