NY State Of Mind

I'd gone through a long stretch without picking up any cards until last week. Then my long-delayed COMC and none-too-exciting SportsLots packages arrived. Honestly, I'd been concentrating on some holes in my publication collection and hadn't done much with cards other than the couple of football sets that I posted here.

But I got those boxes and I had a good time filling empty binder slots for a day or so. On Monday (Tuesday?...pandemics tend to scramble calendars) an envelope arrived from Western New York. Yup, Night Owl had thought of me and sent along some really choice material.

The envelope was bigger than the usual PWE that folks use. Here's why:

It's a Tommy Davis Johnny Pro Standup! This was a terrific promotional set from 1973 that was sold through the mail as complete sets (I think). They are die-cut and were intended to be 'punched out' and stood up. They measure just a touch over 5x7 which leads me to tell you why I was happy to get Tommy D. I bought a set many years ago, it included a couple of the variations and was really nice. But I was dumb, and not sophisticated as a collector. I trimmed my cards to fit into those two pocket pages. Wasn't a big trim, but it was a trim. So I've been picking up singles when I find them inexpensively to replace the ones I mangled. LOL

BTW...Johnny Pro also issued sets for the Baltimore Bullets and Philadelphia Phillies. 

And, as I told Night Owl, Tommy Davis is one of my favorite 'oh, hey...he was an Oriole?' guys. That group is comprised of short-term Birds better known with other teams, Eric Davis is another fave. Reggie is one of the group (eye-roll emoji here). Fred Lynn, Jim Northrup, Doug Drabeck are a few more. Let's not bring up Sammy Sosa, OK? Thanks!

Greg included some 1967 Topps in pretty nice condition. I think there were six or seven of them but I was anxious to put them in the right slots and realized later that I hadn't scanned 'em. You can't deny you've done the same. I was able to quickly pull these and I present them for your entertainment now. Nice cards from a very nice set.

Oh, did I mention that every '67 that Greg sent blindly ended up being useful? I think five of them filled open slots. One was a definite upgrade. Then there was Phil Roof.

I had three or four copies of this card. None of them were as good as the one NO sent. LOL.

Mike Ryan and Jimmy Davenport were the two I liked most. I'm pretty sure that's a subway train headed past the Yankee Stadium scoreboard over Ryan's shoulder.

Davenport was one of those guys I saw a lot of when I was living in Jersey. My best friend and his Dad were Giants guys and I went along on their many trips to Shea. Jim Ray Hart and Davenport both played third and became my favorite Giants for some reason. Maybe it was my affinity for third basemen.

Greg also included some shiny Birds of recent vintage. The Hayes card bumped a minor league card of his out of my fantasy baseball binder.

I saw Andrews Cashner pitch last year on Opening Day in Yankee Stadium. Seems like a loooong time ago. Hard to believe that the Orioles win two days later (which I didn't attend) was the last time they've beaten the f'ing Yankees. LOL

Finally here is Hanser Alberto. Yes, he's a big-league player. Heck, he homered last night in an Orioles win. The bad news is that the Orioles likely couldn't win a pennant in a 60-game 'season' even if you spotted them p-e-n-n-a and another 'n'. That's how it goes I guess.

 

Thanks again, Night Owl. Your generosity is much appreciated. Hoping you and everyone out there stays safe!

Mystery cards!

A few days ago a PWE arrived, and I put the emphasis on 'plain'. 😊 There was no return label or written addy. The postmark was running off the top of the envelope but I could make out a bit of it, and it read OSE, CA. But I knew cards were inside it, you can always tell.

Popping it open revealed shiny things, mostly Orioles from various and sundry sets from earlier in the last decade. Back before Topps had the only license. There was also no clue as to the sender but I suspected that the OSE, CA meant the cards were from San Jose, California, and that meant Fuji. Either that or they came from my wife's 92ish-year-old uncle and that seemed pretty unlikely.

So, wanting to confirm the sender (a thank you note to someone who hasn't sent anything would be dumb), I consulted the oracle of hobby mysteries, my Magic 8-Ball.

I asked the ball who sent the PWE. Got the answer:

Yup, I figured as much. And here they are (the ones that scanned decently, anyway):

Nick Markakis which signifies 10 games with 3+ hits by featuring the number '5'. I don't understand but I like the card anyway. The irony of it referring to Atlanta isn't lost on me.

Upper Deck 'X' card of Nick.

Upper Deck sure was fixated on 'X', yes?

Next up is a Fleer card from 2007 that has embossed gold and is sparkly...it's channeling the 90s.

I'll never understand how Machado wasn't an Orioles lifer. OK, I actually do know why but I don't have to like it, do I?

Cal, shiny.

Cal, textured (and tinted).

I saw someone online wearing a shirt that read "Davis Got A Hit!". I was going to seek one out but wearing it here in Houston would just draw quizzical looks.

That was referring to this, of course.

A couple of Miggy cards. In a fun coincidence, he was the subject of a story on The Athletic's site yesterday. Apparently, he wants to get back into baseball as the Athletics' hitting coach. If you have access to the article it's an entertaining read.

Melvin Mora was an Oriole whose career I completely missed. And I missed the Topps Total sets as well. It was a nice idea and something I wish they still did. But I do realize why it won't happen.

When you look at the 'Similar Batters' listing for Javy Lopez on Baseball-Reference the top name is Roy Campenella. Just sayin'.

I have no idea why Jake Arrieta is wearing a blue uni top on this card. But it's from 2008 which is two years before he made the majors so I'm guessing the photo is from the Futures Game or something like that.

And finally, this is a clear plastic Magglio Ordonez. He wasn't an Oriole at any point so I figure Fuji was using this to fill space in the folded 9-pocket or he wants to see me try to use it as a credit card somewhere. It's unique, that's for sure.

So, thanks Fuji! I hope the fall brings you a more normal teaching experience. All my friends in the business told me that the past spring semester was no fun at all.

In the near term, I hope we all get to enjoy some baseball. I'm not holding my breath though.

That ain't me!!

I recently received an interesting group of cards from one of my favorite bloggers, "Joe Shlabotnik" who writes the always entertaining The Shlabotnik Report. (Props to me for spelling it right twice before I checked it!!)

I got a big kick out of the 1978 buyback Rob Andrews. I've always felt a 'kinship' with the guy. Not only do we share a name but we were born just six days apart in 1952. As a bonus he was originally drafted by the Orioles.

Andrews had some very good minor league numbers in the O's chain but with a 25-year-old Bobby Grich (already a three time All Star and MVP candidate) holding down 2nd base the Orioles they didn't see a reason to hold on to him. So Andrews was dealt to Houston where I got to see him play before moving on to the Giants.

He's got about five Topps cards plus a few odds and ends. I have one besides this '78. And it looks like I used nearly the same post title for that one. Might be fun to try and track down a buyback of each Topps card he has.

Next up is a really, really nice 2002 Topps Gallery Frank Robinson card. I know nothing about this set but that sure is a nice piece of artwork.

Checking the back Topps gives a shout out to the artist which is nice.

The blurb is hard to read so I blew it up. Ron Stark does some very impressive work. You can check out his website for more.

This next card is of Orioles shortstop prospect Mychal Givens. It's interesting for a couple of reasons:

First of all Mychal Givens, a second round 2009 pick, is an Orioles late inning reliever now. He transitioned from infielder to the mound between the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

More interesting is what Bowman/Topps put in this signature space. I'm not sure what to make of it:

It isn't Givens signature which you can see numerous times (as well as read more of Givens' backstory) over on the Great Orioles' Autograph Project blog. It's like someone wrote out his name as a placeholder and they just went with it. <shrug>

Joe also filled a few holes on my 1970 want list. Capless guys, airbrushed guys, nicely posed guys...and Ray Oyler.

Only the Ron Clark (top middle) was a dupe but even at that it was a plus...I was checking the two copies and examined the back:

It revealed the fact that the utility infielder was formerly both a Golden Gloves champ and a rodeo rider. Pretty cool.

And finally a couple of Orioles, one new, one old...and a famous Oriole in a weird uni. I'll never acknowledge Eddie Murray as a Met. But I will stick this card in my Murray pages.

So there you have one of the more notable and offbeat PWEs I've received. Many thanks to 'Joe' for the 'fun-to-investigate' cards!

The Good Fight

I spend the last week or so in a race against a failing CPU as I scrambled to salvage everything from my desktop before it headed to the Computer Graveyard.

It was slow going and I'm lucky that I've been pretty good about backing up my stuff. There was only a couple weeks worth of scans, pictures and documents that needed to be saved. But when you have to reboot every twenty minutes it seems like a lot more than that.

Then it was a trip to Micro Center for a new machine and the real work began....getting this thing set up like I want it and wrestling my printer/scanner into submission. This will be my first post typed up on my new computer.

During the height of the shit storm that was changing machines I received a couple of packages in the mail. Both were similar in that they contained cards for my 1970 set build plus shiny Orioles. First we'll take a look at the one from Brian at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary.

That 1970 Willie Stargell at the top had the (dubious) honor of being the first card scanned with my new set up. No card in history has probably endured more verbal abuse that that one. But it's a great card, right? I saw Stargell hit a simply ridiculous homer in the Astrodome in this 1972 game. It banged off the scoreboard in centerfield and sent the game into extras. The Pirates won in 17 innings.

I had a well worn Joe Morgan so this one from Brian is a welcome upgrade. I wish the 'Stros would go back to those 'shooting star' unis. They wore them as throwbacks a time or two a few seasons back. They are sharp.

A couple more '70s from Brian:

Bernie Allen and Cookie Rojas. Rojas' card isn't miscut like my scan makes it appear.

Rick Reichardt is #720 in the set, the end of the checklist. I only wish it was the end of my needs list! The smaller, cramped font Topps used for his position makes this card look odd.

Cisco Carlos always reminds me of my Strat-O-Matic playing days. He pitched for the White Sox and Senators which were always in my 6 team solo leagues.

Shiny Birds! Cal and Manny whose card is retina scorching for sure.

I wonder how many Bowman cards Topps produces every year. I have received a ton of these and no two are of the same player. The Donruss Cal Jr throws back to his rookie card design.

Thanks so much Brian!

The second package came from Fuji who is a fellow teacher and like me is enjoying a bit of a break from the grind.

Fuji's cards dovetail quite nicely with Brian's....70s Topps and some recent Birds. First up is a nice high number Jim Lonborg.

I had to look twice at the front of Lonborg's uniform shirt. I had forgotten about the red trimmed lettering the Bosox wore back then. Dressed To The Nines tells us that they wore these roadies from 1969 until 1972. 1973 marked the beginning of the doubleknit era and a new look for the Sox' jerseys.

Another 1970 is Padres manager Preston Gomez. He is most remembered for twice sending up a pinch hitter for pitchers who were hurling no-hitters. I hadn't remembered his partial season as Cubs manager in 1980.

The more I see of Dylan Bundy the more I think he looks like a young Tony Dow.

'Chromafied' Hyun-Soo Kim grabs a slot in the fantasy baseball binder.

Man this Adam Jones card is ..... bright! And that's clearly Camden Yards reflected on his batting helmet. You think Topps could call 'exclusive' on showing stadiums, too? I mean if you have to Photoshop out a team's colors is showing their stadium crossing the legal line as well?

Here's a Fleer Mickey Tettleton from 1990. That was about the last year I collected cards until a few years ago. It wasn't too long after this card was issued that baseball and I agreed to a trial separation.

I looked Tettleton up on Baseball Reference. I was shocked to find he was only an Oriole for three seasons. I'd have sworn it was double that.

Thanks so much Fuji. You and Brian are both among the truly good guys in this hobby. I appreciate your taking the time to send these my way and especially for chipping away at my 1970 set needs.

Final disclaimer: In the mess of the last week it's entirely possible that some of these cards got 'crossways' and I am crediting Brian for a card Fuji sent or vice versa. My usually foolproof system was pushed to the limit and beyond.

Gavin's Gifts

Hey look kids...Reggie Jackson's 1976 Hostess card. Well, OK..no it's not. It's a custom version designed by Gavin of the Baseball Card Breakdown blog. And it's pretty sweet. You custom card makers out there make me jealous of your skills.

The Jackson custom Gavin sent illustrates something I've come to think about more and more lately. As I've aged my feelings towards certain things have changed/mellowed. I used to 'hate' Ol Reggie. His A's clubs ripped thru the Orioles in a couple of playoff series in the early 70's during Oakland's dynasty run. And then after an up and down year with my Orioles he moved to the Yankees and became the 'straw that stirred the drink' or whatever that silliness was.

The end result was that I disliked the guy intensely. He joined Derek Sanderson, Joe Namath, the Dallas Cowboys and any and every New York Met on my 'enemies list.' Then I somehow grew up. Now I'm 64 and have sons who feel about all the Dallas teams as I once did about the Mets, Bruins and Jets. I just listen to them and shrug. They'll get over it.

Anyway, to get back to Gavin's envelope of goodness.... I believe this is the actual back of the '76 Hostess Jackson to which he has affixed his own 'sig'.

And for comparison this is the actual card as produced by Hostess:

Another of Gavin's creations was in the package. Check it out:

It's based obviously on the Topps Ripken rookie of 1982. But instead of Bob Bonner and Jeff Schneider Cal is flanked by his dad and brother. Gavin got ***ahem*** creative with Billy and the edit on both front and back is mine. Gavin had a lot more work to do to create the back of this one. You look at it and until you catch the text to the right of Billy Ripken's name you'd never guess it wasn't authentic. Nice work.

And a quick glance at each of the other cards Gavin supplied. Hometown Heroes Brooksie. 

A Topps Brooks card from 2003.

I actually stumbled across the picture Topps used for this one. Check it out:

Notice anything? Yup, Topps flipped the picture for the card. Look at Brooks' uni number on the card. And the 'Bird' on his cap. And his glove.

2016 Die Cut Brooks. At least I think it's a 2016. I didn't scan the back. Heck half the time I can't even read the backs of these things to figure out the year and set. I did mention that I'm 64, right?

Above is a Panini Cooperstown card of him. Below is the jim Palmer from the same set. I thought I had these. Nope. But I do now.

Jim Palmer's card from whatever the 2003 set or subset it is. Like the Brooks card above my scanner cut off some of the white border. Unlike the brooks card the photo isn't reversed.

And finally the only dupe in the package. This is from last year's Archives set. I really like this one. Brooks in the '53 style. One of Topps' better efforts I believe.

Thanks Gavin. I really appreciate the cards.