Showing posts with label dream team. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dream team. Show all posts

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Good News, Bad News

Bay Area sports radio tends to focus on the San Francisco 49ers and the Golden State Warriors most of the year... but this past week... baseball got a chance to shine.

2020 Topps Opening Day Ballpark Profile Autographs #BPA-RBM

The week started off with news that Renel Brooks-Moon and the San Francisco Giants were parting ways after failing to agree on a contract.  I grew up listening to Renel on KMEL back in the 80's.  In 2000, she became the Giants public address announcer.  Although the split appears to be amicable, there are many Giants fans (and non-Giants fans... like me) who were very disappointed to hear this news.

2022 Topps Tier One Prime Performers Autograph #PPA-BS

At least Giants fans received some good news that same morning when it was announced that last year's NL Cy Young Award winner signed with them.  Personally... I was hoping the Padres would bring him back... so this along with the Brooks-Moon announcement was a double dose of bad news.

Then on Wednesday... fans of Sports Illustrated received some good news as the company will continue operations after finding a new publisher.  Back in January, Night Owl shared a link in one of his blog posts about massive layoffs over at Sports Illustrated.

After reading his post, I pulled out some of my favorite issues... scanned them... and then never got around to showing them off in a post.

Well here they are...

October 21st 1974

This issue was published right after the Oakland A's took down the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their third straight World Series title.  This was sent to me in one of Too Many Verlander's care packages last year.

One of these days, I'll get around to tracking down the other two celebration issues.

Next up is Michael Jordan's first cover appearance:

November 28th 1983

I had this issue when I was a kid, but recycled it at some point.  Picked up this copy in 2022 for $2 at the De Anza Flea Market.

December 1st 1986

Not sure how I acquired this issue, but it's Iron Mike's second appearance on a SI cover after becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history.

February 18th 1991

I remember when this issue hit the stands.  At the time I was still working at my LCS and the owner picked up a bunch of copies for the shop.  Pretty sure that's where I got this one.

December 23rd 1991

That's probably where I acquired this issue too.  This was the era where everything was collectible... especially when it involved Michael Jordan and holograms.

Even though neither of these Sports Illustrated issues from 1991 are considered rare... I loved them enough to hold onto them the past thirty-three years.  And they'll continue to be valued keepsakes until the day I stop collecting sports memorabilia.

The same thing can be said about these SI for Kids cards that Rod over at Padrographs sent my way:

1990 SI for Kids #168

Although I have a small collection of Sports Illustrated magazines, I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of the magazine itself.  I had subscriptions to it off and on throughout the 80's, but I was much more into periodicals with graphs, charts, and statistics like The Sporting News and Baseball Digest.

1991 SI for Kids #271

Sports Illustrated for Kids is a little closer to my speed... plus they offer cards with every issue.

1991 SI for kids #278

I've probably had six or seven subscriptions since the late 90's, but I missed out on almost all of the earlier cards like the stuff Rod sent me.


He has actually helped fill in plenty of gaps in my SI for Kids card collection over the years.  His donations involve individual cards like the ones he sent last week... to complete magazines with cards.

In addition to the SI for Kids cards, he also sent me some stuff for my Japanese baseball players, San Diego Padres, and Steve Largent collections.  But I'm going to hold off on sharing that stuff for a future post.

I'll wrap up today's post with some Oakland A's cards he included in his care package:


If you follow his blog, then you know that Rod received a bunch of baseball boxes for Christmas.  He generously passed along the A's he pulled which includes some really nice inserts and parallels.

He also opened up a blaster of 2024 Topps and sent me these:


Although I've seen plenty of blog posts featuring this year's flagship product, today was the first time I held the product in my hands.  They look awesome!

Thank you Rod for another generous care packageThank you Dennis for that World Series Sports Illustrated issue.  And thank you Minute Media and Authentic Brands Group for coming to an agreement which allows Sports Illustrated to stick around a little longer.  Let's just hope they will be able to hold onto as many SI employees as possible.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

The Bronze Age of Baseball Cards (The Remix)


You know a set is pretty cool when it comes in a wooden box.  What you're looking at is a complete set of the 1995 Topps Legends of the 60's Medallions that I picked up back in September on eBay for $76.24 ($56 + $14.99 shipping + $5.25 tax).  It represents my most expensive eBay sports card purchase of 2021.


According to Beckett, Topps offered these bronze medallions to their Stadium Club members on a one card per month basis.  Each card sold for the ridiculous price of $39.95.  That means the entire 12 card set would set a collector back $479.40.


I'm guessing there weren't a lot of collectors who dished out that kind of money for these which explains why these aren't as common as most 90's trading cards.


This checklist and writeup comes from SCD's 2008 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.  After fourteen years, it features pretty accurate values for this set.

Now if you're wondering if you've seen these cards before on my blog, you have.  I built a hand collated set two years ago which I showed off here.  Normally I wouldn't go out of my way to purchase a set I already own, but when I read about the custom wooden box that accompanied it... I knew I wanted one of those as well.

By the way... if you'd like to see each bronze medallion up close and personal, then click the link above.  I scanned the front and back of each card along with one of the booklets the cards were originally shipped in.

While were on the subject of bronze cards from the 90's, here are a few more:


The year after Topps produced those heavy bronze medallions, they created a bronze subset in their Finest product1996 Finest was split into two series... and each series consisted of three colored subsets: bronze (common), silver (uncommon), and gold (rare).  What you're looking at above is a complete set of Series 2 bronze cards that Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders sent me a few weeks ago.

Here's a closer look at some of my favorites in the set:


He also sent me these bronze bordered parallels:

1996 Score Dugout Collection #10
1996 Score Dugout Collection #45
1996 Score Dugout Collection #103

The mid 90's definitely seems like The Bronze Age of Baseball CardsWhat do you think?

Then again card companies also used a lot of silver and gold in their productsDennis also sent me these...

1996 Score Gold Stars #24
1996 Donruss Press Proof #61

These two cards feature gold foil and are brand new additions to my Hideo Nomo and Rickey Henderson PC's.

The next four cards also feature gold (or silver), but more importantly... they also opened my eyes to something new about this twenty-five year old set:

1996 Flair Silver #374
1996 Flair Gold #374

1996 Flair Silver #376
1996 Flair Gold #376

I have always thought the silver versions were the base cards and the gold were a rarer parallel.  Then I read this post and my mind was blown.  Fleer actually produced each color in equal quantities.

By the way if you have extras of these laying around and you're looking to trade... Dennis is building each of these 400 card sets.  Click here for his wantlist.

Getting back to the bronze trading cards, Dennis also sent me this memorabilia card of Kurt Suzuki:

2007 USA Baseball Bound for Beijing Materials #GU-9

It's not a bronze parallel, but Team USA did win the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics.  Unfortunately, Kurt Suzuki wasn't on that team.  However according to the back of this trading card he was a part of the Team USA qualifying team in 2006.

Another Team USA item that Dennis included in his care package are these two McDonalds cups:

 

These are a blast from the past.  I totally remember collecting these back in 1992Good times.

Thank you Dennis for this very generous care package!  And thank you to everyone who took the time to read this post and relive the Bronze Age of Baseball Cards.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Monday, August 15, 2011

MLB Dream Team: Outfielders & Designated Hitters

While studying Child Development in college, I discovered that I have "anal retentive" tendencies... which means that sometimes I pay too much attention to certain detail. More specifically... I'm a neat freak... and love to organize & sort things, which is why sports cards is the perfect hobby for me.

So, when I decided to start this blog, I knew I wanted it to be structured and organized. As a result, you'll often notice many of my posts are part of a series. Here are few of my personal favorites:







And of course there's my MLB Dream Team series, which gave me the opportunity to blog about my favorite baseball players. But unlike the other series... this one is coming to an end, because after today, I will have covered all of the key positions in baseball. If you're interested in reading my first two posts from the series, click the appropriate links:

Part C - Outfielders & Designated Hitter

Okay... I've stalled long enough. Here's the final part of my MLB Dream Team series... in which I share my favorite outfielders and designated hitters of all-time.

Left Fielder - Rickey Henderson


One of the most exciting players in the game during the 80's and early 90's... and he played in Oakland for most of those years. He's one of the greatest leadoff hitters in MLB history and arguably the greatest Oakland Athletic to take the field. I can still picture Rickey leading off of first base... feet spread apart... hunched over... fingers dangling... waiting for the right moment to take off and steal second base.

Honorable Mention - Bo Jackson



Center Fielder - Kirby Puckett


Puckett was my American League version of Tony Gwynn. He was a chubby ball player, with a great personality, who was loyal to his team, and could hit for average. My only regret is that he wasn't drafted by the A's or the Padres.

Honorable Mention - Ken Griffey Jr.



Right Fielder - Tony Gwynn


Tony Gwynn isn't just one of my favorite baseball players... he is and always will be... my all-time favorite baseball player. If you're interested in a more detailed explanation... click here.

Honorable Mention - Ichiro Suzuki



Designated Hitter - Frank Thomas


The Big Hurt was one of the best hitters during the 90's and I was excited that he played on the A's twice in his career. It was tough not putting him at first base on my team, since that's the position I associated with him for the majority of his career. But it just wasn't possible to put Will Clark at DH, so thankfully... Frank's flexibility solved my dilemma.

Honorable Mention - Edgar Martinez



I really enjoyed building this team and writing these posts, but as Porky Pig likes to say... "That's all folks!". One of these days, I'll go back and see if I need to make any revisions to the roster. Until then... maybe I'll build my NBA Dream Team or NHL Dream Team next.

Okay... you know the routine. It's your turn.

Which players would make up your dream outfield and who would be your designated hitter?

Happy Monday everyone... have a great week... and until next time... sayonara!