Trade Ketchup! With Cliff, Nachos Grande, and the Million Cubs Project

I will be posting in more detail soon about the monster box I picked up at Goodwill a week or so ago. But in the meantime, I’ve got a few trades to catch up on…

First, we have a swap with Beau from the Million Cubs Project. Beau is a fellow Wisconsinite who is trying to build a collection of ONE MILLION Cubs cards. Per his twitter, he already had about 75,000. So, he has a long road ahead of him, but I certainly admire his gumption. Whomever donated that monster box to Goodwill must have been a Cubs fan as well, because I found an inordinate amount of North-Siders in the box… about 800 in total. I got put in touch with Beau on twitter and we quickly arranged for a swap.

He sent me this very neatly organized box of Topps base needs and Brewers, a great return (to me, anyway) for a load of stinking Cubs that I wanted nothing to do with.

I also recently got a nice package from Nachos Grande, part of his Season of Giving. He threw in some Topps base along with a nice smattering of Brewers.

My favorite part of the package was this pack of 2006 Topps… which yielded 15 (!!!) cards I needed for that set.

He also sent some Bowman Brewers I didn’t have… always nice to add a Nyjer Morgan Brewers card to the collection.

JUNK WAX! I maintain that there are numerous sets uglier than 1991 Fleer. I am in the minority in this opinion, I think. Anyway, here is a nice-looking Greg Vaughn, with the gold borders matching his uni trim.

A nice league-leaders card from the greatest season of Ben Sheets’ career. Ugh… leader cards with a unique design… I do hope to see these again some day.

Also, some Heritage Brewers I did not have.

And some 90s weird-o stuff. Here’s one of those cards where they pair a new logo with the old uniforms and caps. You can also see Miller Park in the background, and the chest patches commemorating the three ironworkers who died in the crane collapse that delayed the opening of the stadium by a year.

I also got a box recently from @oriolesrise, aka Cliff, on twitter. He is one of my favorite hobby follows for his near-constant stream of posts detailing his latest awesome finds. He started a pile for me a while back and it contained some pretty cool stuff.

Let’s start with this! A Rockin’ Robin RC Cola can. This is one of a few cans in my collection (I have a Graf’s Cola can commemorating the 1975 All Star Game in Milwaukee as well) but the first player-specific can I’ve ever owned. It’s a nice piece. I wish they’d still do cans like this.

And soon-to-be on my bookbag when I head back to school later this month… The Ignitor himself, Paul Molitor.

And the last of the non-card items are this pair of Brewers schedule matchbooks, billing the Brewers as “the team of the ’80s.” That… did not work out.

For the all-time Brewers collection, a dandy Andy Kosco autograph. Kosco appeared in 98 games with the Brewers in 1971, batting .227 with 10 homers.

Oh yeah! METAL cards (are they still cards if they’re metal?) of Gary Sheffield and Kenny Lofton. Cliff broke an entire box of this stuff over the summer. I remember it coming out when I was a kid, but I couldn’t afford it. It’s a decent product, certainly very unique.

BO! I never turn one of these down.

And a nice stack of these oddball “Superstar” cards. These are part of a 45-card set issued in 1980. I really dig the Mantle-Aaron card.

Coming up next: A several-part series detailing my recent Goodwill finds!

Secret Santa Time! Trevor of Bump n Run Delivers!

Happy Holidays!!!

To start things off, I’m happy for these holidays. Yes, this will make three posts in a row that will open with news about one of my pet rats. And if that’s too much for you, well, tough beans.

But this is good news. Idgie, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week and not given much of a chance to survive through Christmas, has made a pretty remarkable recovery. It seems the worst of her symptoms was being caused by an ear infection that, with a simple dose of antibiotics, has cleared up. She can eat and drink on her own again and is moving around much, much better than she was a few days ago. And that is the best present I will get this year.

But my secret santa gift was pretty nice, too. Trevor P from Bump n Run cards drew my name. he did the whole bit, wrapped up my gift and even sending along a family Christmas card… even with a damn poem on the back!

How nice!

 

Trevor did some fine common-scouring and came up with a few nice stacks of Topps base needs.

That 93/95 lot came in particular use these past few days as I put together those two sets from some vending boxes I recently picked up.

He also included cards that will make fine additions to my Brewers collection.

Rickie Weeks spent three years as one the best second basemen in baseball. And he had the best hair on the Brewers for even longer.

Braden Webb was a third-round pick in the 2016 draft. He had a decent debut with the Wisconsin T-Rattlers last year. This is my first card of his and, in honesty, I hadn’t even heard of him before I saw this.

Another shiny Bowman card, this one is pretty slick. I’m building up a pretty dcent Arcia collection.

More Rickie, this one serial-numbered.

Big Ben Sheets is probably the greatest right-hander in team history. This is my first Triple Threads card, I think. It’s rigid as hell, the type of card that wouldn’t crease, but just snap in two.

A Leather and Lumber Robin Yount, numbered out of 1,000. I think my next writing project will be a lumberjack-themed erotic novel titled, “Leather and Lumber.”

This is my first Gallery card of 2017 and I’m pretty glad I didn’t buy any of this. Don’t get me wrong, this Thames is awesome – highlighting his 10^th inning walk-off against the Padres last June. It was an awesome moment in a season that was full of them and I LOVE cards that capture games like that. But the set itself seems a bit boring. I think they did not do the artwork justice with the presentation.

Go-Go in blue. Always nice to add a new Gomez card.

More Sheets! This one in their Negro League Milwaukee Bears alternates. It’s always a good look for them.

Here is Jeromy Burnitz relic card, back from they actually claimed that these swatches were game-used by the player pictured. I’m pretty sure this is my first Burnie relic.

Hey! Now this one goes right in the Brewers All-Time binder. I already had a Clark auto, but it was on a Panini card and licensed always bests unlicensed.

Thrillo Cirillo! One of my favorites from the dead zone of the mid-1990s. I have a few other Brewers from this Signature Rookies “Old Judge” set. It’s a weird-looking set, as was everything SR produced, and I wish they would have used a picture of him in a white or grey uni so that the autograph wasn’t quite so lost. But still, this is one of my favorite cards of the lot.

For a moment, I thought this was the shortstop Alex Gonzalez (who the Brewers INEXPLICABLY played at first base during his one season in Milwaukee) and I was pumped, since I lack his autograph. But, this is not that Alex Gonzalez. This would be Chi-Chi Gonzalez, the Rangers prospect who might now be a former prospect. It’s kind of tricky, as there is no team indicated and no bio on this card. Anyway, it’ll go with my Rangers cards.

And, in addition to these, there were some other Brewers cards that will find a place in one of binders just as soon as I have the time. Thanks much to Trevor for the package and Matt of Bob Walk the Plank for putting this all together.

Happy Holidays, all!

Fun Loot from Scott and Nick and Sick Pet Distractions

Happy holidays, all!

Allow me to welcome myself back to land of blogosphere living. I’ve been doing some “therapeutic” card-browsing this evening. One of our dear little rats, Idgie, has not been well. We think that she had a minor stroke yesterday (something not uncommon in rats of her age), and she’s been pretty weak and wobbly since. We have a vet appointment for tomorrow and there are steroids that might help her recover, so here is to hoping that they’ve got the thing to fix her up. I’m trying to stay positive by paging though some steroid-era sets… vision of Bonds and Manny and Sosa make me hopeful that our little fuzz ball can get all ‘roided up and beat this thing.

Here she is with her Brewers helmet this summer. She shall see a Brewers pennant in her lifetime!!!!

Aside from my steroid-era blues, I had completed a couple of trades recently that I wanted to share. First up is Dime Box Nick, who mailed out a stack he’d been saving for a while.

There was a number of Brewers, of course. And I’ve got to start with this one…

 

I remember this “flip-up” cards from Oscar Mayer products from when I was a kid. But I was unaware of these disc flip-ups. I flipped a disc in my back this summer and it hurt like hell. Anyway, this is mid-90s Brewers bopper Greg Vaughn.

On the topic of Brewers outfielders who could absolutely crush the hell out of the baseball, here is the sadly-departed Khris Davis, now with the A’s. It’s a purple parallel of some kind, and it actually looks pretty sharp.

Richie Sexson could rake as well. He is of the George Scott type for the Brewers. In both how he was a slugging first-sacker, but also in how he was involved in two great trades for the Brewers. They got him from Cleveland for a pile of near-dead arms, Slugged 133 homers for the Brewers with a .902 OPS, then was sent to Arizona for a bevy of useful pieces, including 18-game winner Chris Capuano and doubles champion Lyle Overbay.  

Orlando Arcia is a hell of an exciting young player. Here is one of the 30,000 different rookie cards Topps issued for him this year. It’s a new one to me.

Here is 4-time All Star Dan Plesac in the 1988 Score Young Superstars set. Did you know that Plesac made more All Star teams than Robin Yount? It’s true.

Mark Rogers was the 5^th overall pick in 2004, but never did much with the Brewers. He had two stints in the big, and actually pitched pretty decently for 49 innings. I already had a Rogers auto in my all-time Brewers set, but this one is defiantly an upgrade and has won a place in the big binder.

 

I’ve made some modifications to my PC list lately, adding Joey Votto among others. Votto is a sickening kind of talent. For my money, he might be the best pure hitter since Wade Boggs, and he wears a dorky-tight uniform and seems generally like a grumpy kind of genius on the field. Nick tossed a handful of Vottos my way.

Here is a manu-stamp/patch/whatever. Not usually my thing, but with the connection to Jackie Robinson and all, this is actually a pretty cool card.

Here were have a 1979 look-alike. An underrated design, I think.

Here is a 1992 mimic from the latest Archives set. I really dig these ’92 design cards, although Topps didn’t QUITE get it right.

Note the tiny differences in the typeset.

I also put out the call for oddballs, and Nick sent me some very odd balls.

Here is my very first Mother’s Cookies card, a set I’d long been aware of, but had never come across. They’re weird cards, very thin and with a flat, glossy finish.

Willie Smith pitched seven innings for the Cardinals in 1994 in the midst of a 9-year pro career. He gave up four homers and seven hits in those innings.Yeesh.

Not really an oddball, but it doesn’t get much odder than a pitcher sliding on a baseball card. This would have to be in the running for the best card in that 1991 Fleer set.

I also completed a swap with Scott from I Need New Hobbies.

Base set needs mania!! He sent this lovely trio of 1976 needs. Even though it’s mis-matched, I really love that green on the Orioles cards in this set. I can’t explain why.

1990 Topps! The big ugly! This Glarin’ Sparky is one of the better cards in the set.

1990 was the last year for Turn Back the Clock cards, which is one of my favorite Topps subs of all-time-forever. I like these especially when I was a kid, because with the very-wide bordered design, it’s like getting a peek behind the photos on the base cards.

And the hell with everything, the 1990 All Stars are some of the best-looking cards of the decade.

2009 Topps is a set that I’ve really turned around on. I HATED these when first came out, I thought the design was one of the laziest Topps had ever done. I’m still not wild on the design, but I have come to appreciate its simplicity… particularly with the awful over-done cards of the years before. And the photos on these is a mile better than 2008… which was one of the most uninspired lots of pictures since, well, 1990.

I’ll close with Geoff Jenkins, a long-time Brewer seen here in his only season with the Phillies. That was, of course, the year the Phillies won the World Series. And the year the Brewers broke a 500-year playoff drought. Looking it up, Jenkins actually got an at bat against the Brewers in the NLDS, the first playoff game in Milwaukee (and Brewers playoff win) since game 5 of the 1982 World Series. I was at that 2008 games and I’m surprised I forgot that Jenkins played. His last at bat game in Game 5 of the ’08 series, when he hit a double and scored the go-ahead run.

So that’s what I’ve gotten in to lately. Now, back to my the sofa with my binders. Wish us good luck for tomorrow!