Throwback Thursday - 02.28.2013

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Cliff Pennington - 2012 Topps - Oakland Athletics

Bring out your wants!!

So who has 2013 want lists? And before I get too far - don't even start with me, Posh. I am NOT in the mood! Me saying "want" does not give you the right to invade my blogging, ok? At least be a real musician that shows up when I go on about me and wants.

'Scuse me - You want me what?

Really Rob? Really?

But anyway - back to 2013 needs. Do you have any? I am done buying series one. I have ten cards I need to finish the base set and a bunch of doubles I would like to get to you that need them. Contact me (2x3heroesATgmailDOTcom) with any cards from Topps 2013 you need and I'll let you know if I can fill the request. Heck - you don't even have to send me anything back if you don't want. I just don't want to be overloaded like I was with 2012.

Walmart comes through again

I have posted in the past about retail packs containing some darn good pulls. And between the two big stores, I am hitting more in Walmart than Target. Case in point: had to get a couple things at Walmart and even though I am just a few cards short of series 1, I picked up a single pack to rip. Not only was the pack kind enough to give me two cards I needed on my want list, I also found this baby:

Not a White Sox, but a camo numbered 98/99. The scan makes the name FAR easier to read than in person. Camo + foil = bad. Check off another insert from the list. Just need to pull a pink border, cuz I highly doubt I'll snag a platinum.

Sunday SIL: Tracking the trade

One of the things I have loved by joining the blogging community is the trading aspect. Being able to flip the cards that don't thrill me into cards that do drives me to continually read all the blogs I see and email many of you writers to propose a trade.

And as great relationships are built, you suddenly get cards out of the blue. Someone just decides they have cards you will enjoy and they arrive in your mailbox. This is something I am really enjoying in this community.

One such package arrived from Brian at the awesome Play at the Plate. I don't know if we have every really traded. I knew something was on the way when Brian emailed me asking for an address. I have been putting some POTP cards aside to inquire about a trade with Brian - now I can just mail them to him in response to the envelope I received. Brian sent a nice group of 2013 White Sox.

INSERTS! Look at all the pretty colors. Brian dropped a load of '13 insert cards -  a couple of Konerko minis and a dang near complete Walmart blue set. Thanks, Brian. It fills me with such love.

 Ain't all you're filled with.

Three of the cards, though, jumped at me. It's these three I want to devote part two of this post, and part two of stuff I like: tracking the card. First, here are the three in question:

What I want to focus on the right sleeve of each player. Notice nothing on Thornton's, one diamond on Danks' and two diamonds on Beckham's. For those that were not aware, the diamonds were honoring Moose Skowron and Kevin Hickey's passing during the 2012 season. We lost Moose April 26th and Hickey on May 16th. 

So - can we tell when these three photos were taken based on the patches? One thing: we are going to have to assume that Thorton's picture is from 2012. The White Sox started the season without a patch on the sleeve. Technically, it could be a photo from an earlier season; let's hope it isn't. 

Ok, let's start with the easiest one. In Beckham's card, we can see the other team the Sox are facing. It's the Yankees. We know the Sox are on the road. The only time the Sox were in the Bronx was 6/28 to 7/1. We also can see on the card that Gordon is turning a double play. Just one problem - the Sox turned only 3 DPs that series, and the only one Gordon was involved in was on June 30th. The runner forced at 2nd was Curtis Granderson. That is not Granderson's arm on the card. So this photo is an attempt to turn a double play, but the runner beat the throw at first. In the four games, the only force out at 2nd with Beckham receiving the ball, and failing to complete the double play, happened on June 28th. The runner coming from first was Chris Stewart, uniform number 19. That first number on the back of the uniform is a 1. One card down.

Moving left, we have John Danks with just the single diamond patch for Moose. We know that by the time the Sox came back from a road trip on the 22nd of May, both patches were on the uniform. The Moose patch first appeared on a home uniform May 11th. The Sox played a short 5 game home stand prior to May 22nd, with Danks having just one start - May 14th. In that game, Danks was pulled in the top of the 4th, so this photo was taken during one of the 22 batters he faced. Card two down.

Lastly, we have Matt Thornton. Matt is a reliever, so this is NOT going to be easy. Prior to the May 11th game, Thornton appeared in 5 home games. Can we get enough information from the card and other locations to identify the exact game?

April 29th was a Sunday game. The Sox wore red throwbacks for 2012 Sunday games. Eliminated.

April 13th and 14th were day games. The shadows are not from the sun but light banks. Eliminated.

That leaves either April 16th or May 2nd. The Sox wore their white pinstripes during both night games. Do we take a guess? Or do we keep digging?

Let's look at the box scores. On the 16th, Matt pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning against the Orioles. On the 2nd, Thornton comes in and gives up a 2 run shot to Travis Hafner. At mlb.com, they are kind enough to give us a video of Hafner's blast. And from that video, we grab this screen shot:

Thornton's beard is far heavier and longer than his beard on the card, so we know that we can eliminate May 2nd and be certain the photo on Thornton's card is from April 16th.

I knew reading all those Encyclopedia Brown books when I was younger would come in handy.

Haven't I seen this before?

Someone is always turning two. Guess if it works, don't change it. I wonder how Ian feels about this?

Repack Wars: Dual of the Score

Back again for another repack war. This time, we have not one but two 10 pack boxes from Target. So another 20 packs to rip and rate. These Target repacks have not as kind compared to the ones from Walmart. But enough moaning - let's post some scans. You know the rules of the game....

Let's get the crap out of the way first. You know my hatred of '09 OPC. A stadium card redeems itself slightly. However, does the outside of Oakland's field really look that....minor league-ish?

2011 Topps update. Has an Altuve rookie, but the framing on this gold of Vogelsong is top notch.

Two packs of '88 Score were in this box. I posted this first pack over at APTBNL, so you can see what cads I passed when I gave the nod to this Presley. Nice timing by the photographer.

I ripped on Ryno in the first pack over at APTBNL, but pack two goes to a Cub. How wonderfully dirty is that uniform? I bet Moreland made a dive over at third on a grounder. And considering his career stats, missed.

Lot of doubling in the box with two packs of 2012 Opening Day. Pack one has this well framed Chacin winning over a DP card and a Dickey insert. Stop the snickering, boys.....

The other pack of '12 Opening Day. Throwback trumps.

You are seeing that right - 1991 Fleer Ultra. Decent names with Raines, Vince Coleman, Kevin Brown and Frank Tanana, but I like this action shot of Olin coming sidearm to the plate.

Sticking with great delivery shots, this comes from a rack pack of '09 UD series 2. If you look close, behind the logo, you can see just how near Bradford's hand is to the mound. That's a submarine.

Another series 2 pack, from 2006 Topps. And this was a rack pack that contained 3 vintage cards. Don't get all excited - 92 Gerald Perry, 90 traded Candy Maldonado and 89 Von Hayes. Maldonado would have won purely on name, but I can't pass a Kinsler rookie card.

 

Final pack of box one is 2009 Goodwin. This was a hard pack to pick, with a Toews, a Gretzky, a Fisk and a card of President Lyndon Johnson. But how many cards have marathoners on them? Mr. Rodgers, welcome to my blog.

 

Box #2 had a rack pack of Lineage, so let's start there with this nice action shot of Joe Morgan. From his positioning, I am guessing he is receiving a throw from the plate.

This box doubled up as well, first with two packs of 2011 Chrome. First pack was a meh, so we'll give the win to future triple crown winner Miggy.

Pack two had equal excitement, so refractor Shields is the winner.

Now we get two packs of Opening Day, but from different years at least. The 2011 pack had this beaut of a double play card. Easy to pick this over a Spot the Error card, eh GCRL?

In the 2012 pack we get this great insert card. The foil makes it tough to read, so let me tell you so you can guess why this card wins out over the others: Barehand the Squibber.

Oh the jokes....

2008 UD First Edition update. A lot to say about a card that scanned like crap for some reason. It's not even glossy. Anyway, nice high cuffs and a vest uniform. Sweet.

2011 Topps series 2. It's Chris Sale - don't question my decisions!

Another pack of Fleer Ultra - just 16 years newer than the pack in box #1. There was a Pujols Feel the Game insert, but the Big Hurt about to live up to his name on a poor defenseless baseball is better.

The final dual part of this post is two packs of 1989 Donruss. I struggled to not chose the checklist or the Warren Spahn puzzle piece as the best of this pack. Ultimately, I went with reliever and possible soul stealer Larry McWilliams, if not for the fact that his stare scared me into picking it, but also because of the sweater poking out from the top of his uniform.

And we end with a ChiSox Dan Pasqua, I didn't select him over a Carlos Quintana rookie card because he is a White Sox. Dan won cuz damn.....those are nice socks.

Three times a mailday.

If you are wise (or stupid) enough to follow me on Twitter, you would have seen me tweet today:

How to make a bad day better? Watching my postal worker double back because she forgot to put 3 manila trade envelopes into my mailbox. WOO!
— Jeff Wilk (@jedijeff13) February 21, 2013

So what did all that mean? It meant that three great envelopes showed up today for me to enjoy, and in the long run, share with you all.

First comes Adam from Arpsmith's Obsession. Adam needed Cooperstown. In return, Adam sent me a Topps Pennant cards, some A&G for my "Collect all the Ginter" task, and a card I won from his Super Bowl contest. I picked an Adam Lind auto.

That Lind is a little corny, but like the manu-bat I received a couple weeks back, I have wanted one of these. Thanks Adam!

The second envelope really isn't a trade, and I am not sure if you call it winnings either. Dave at the awesome Tribe Cards ran a pack ripping all during the 2012 season. You simply picked three teams, players or whatever, Dave ripped a pack a day and then sorted and shipped you what matched your selections. If I recall, I picked Mark Buerhle, White Sox and throwbacks for my choices. Or maybe double plays, cuz I got a few of those too. Heck - I can't remember. I do know I received a good 25 free cards from the ripping, including gems like these.

Nice!!! Also scored a couple monster cards....in size, that is.

Who wouldn't like oversized Fisk cards! Dave is running the pack a day ripping for 2013. Not sure if you can still signup, but you can get more over at his blog. Thanks Dave.

Last comes from the awesome Jim at GCRL (Garvey, Cey, Russell and Lopes). Jim and I share a love of DP cards. Looks like he had some extra that he decided to drop on me out of the blue, along with some Sox and a nice group of throwbacks. Here's a little peek.

Oh baby - I had NO IDEA Topps thought about throwbacks on cards prior to 2007 or so. Now the hunt is on for earlier cards. But the highlight of the package was this baby.

But that is no normal Howard A&G base. It is the LAST A&G base card I needed for 2012. Set - complete! Thank you so much Jim for knocking out my first Allen and Ginter base set.

If you have any A&G to get rid of, I have moved my needs to their own wants link above. I have yet to post a 2006 or 2010 needs list because both are so ridiculously huge. Hoping to find another path to narrow down my needs on those years before I put out an ask. But you know hpw to get a hold of me.

So to Adam, Dave and Jim - multiple high fives for a great trip to the end of the driveway.

HIGH-FIVE HOLLYWOOD! from Almost Twins

Throwback Thursday - 02.21.2013

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Chris Snopek - 1998 Score - Chicago White Sox

Trade post: oh Captain, my Captain

A short time back I mentioned that in my rips of 2013 Topps, I have pulled 4 die cuts of two players. Offered my extra Darvish and Adam Jones for trade, and the waxcaptain emailed me about the Darvish. A quick PWE later and the captain has his Darvish and I get these to enjoy in return.

Oh minis, how I love thee! Two years worth of Konerko minis crossed of my list. Gotta like that.

And the captain loves to deal in color. I have neither insert - now I do!! Victoriano also included a couple Sox '13 base as well as two Linage cards that I needed - well selected from the blind, Captain!!

Thanks a bunch for the quick trade and for padding out my binders with more needed White Sox. Go hit up Victoriano for a great and quick trade. BTW - still have the Jones if someone wants it.

When's a trade not a trade?

Over the past week, I have received 4 mailings. One is an eBay purchase, which I'll get to later. The other three are from bloggers. Wouldn't really call them trades though. Here's what I mean:

Good ol' Jaybarkerfan hit me up with yet another power of the stamp mailing. Nine glorious White Sox in the envelope. Here's three that span 10 years and 3 uniform changes for the south siders.

We have here an 1982 Fleer Trout, a 1986 Topps All Star Guillen and a 1992 Topps Hough. Winners!

Next up we have Underdog Card Collector, doing a little unbeaten in regulation Blackhawks dump on me. It's nice that I have an envelope ready for him to go out with me basically doing the same thing to him - he just beat me to the mailbox. Must have been the pill in his ring. The goodies?

STICKER!!!! I had forgotten about those 1989 Topps stickers so it was nice to see one again. Pair that with UD Vintage Amonte (and more), Crown die cut Daze and a funky feeling (think UD Canvas) Topps Premier Thibault and you have a nice package. Watch your mailbox, UD.

Last up is a trade I am calling a dump (on my part). Fantastic Catch Weston and Andrew's Baseball Card Andrew inquired about any 2012 series 2 and Update doubles. Holy moley - do I have doubles!!! I was more than happy to dig through and fill their lists as best I could. I cleaned out about one row in a 2000 count box. Weston made me an offer I couldn't refuse in exchange for all my doubles...

 

MMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSS! These are the first 2012 minis I have received. Weston sent me darn near a complete White Sox set, along with that Aparicio Golden Moment and a beaut of a gold Beckham, numbered 29/61. Weston also sent a few regulation sized cards as well.

Thanks a bunch, you four.

Throwback Thursday - 02.14.2013

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Bud Black - 1993 Upper Deck - New York Giants

High five!

Usually when you think of "5", at least in the musical sense, it kinda sucks. Oh sure, the Dave Clark Five is great. So is the Jackson 5. I'll even fight for the Osmonds. But, for all the good groups of 5, you are stuck with crappy fivers, like here, here, here, here and here. Who wants those?

So tell me what you wa.....

Don't frigging start with me again, Posh!

Anyway, I want to focus on the super cool side of 5, that being 5 great trade packages I have received over the past....let's just call it 5 days. Makes the whole five thing wrap around like a warm burrito. 

With only half the diarrhea.

Let's start off with the large stack I received from TJ at Junior Junkie. TJ has posted a couple times about some Griffeys I have pulled and posted over at APTBNL. Heck yeah you can have them, TJ. I did a dig through and pulled all the Juniors I have that I am willing to part with (only kept a couple I just love too much to part with), but dropped all the rest in TJs lap. In return, he sent me a STACK of White Sox. A good hundred plus. If I was short on team sets, TJ filled the holes. I am still sorting them, but I pulled six to scan and share. 

Shiny! 

There's one for the throwback binder. And I have never seen that "Little Dawgs" insert set before. Like I said - a stack from AJ, and I appreciate them all. Thanks man.

Next up, we are heading over to the site Underdog Card Collector, run by Zach. Zach set his eyes on a couple cards from the PWE trade page, and in return sent me a few Blackhawk reprints.

Ten in total. I never knew these existed. These are quite sweet and great additions to my collection. Cuz really, can one have too many Blackhawks cards? You know what I mean. Zach and I are gearing up for trade two, and if you check out his site, he is very game to trade with anyone, so give him a look and send him an email. 

Trader three is the partner team of Chris and Kyle from Old Foul Cardboard. Chris is the older dude always cracking the reigns on the cooler Kyle. It's a father and son thing. Chris started with the Christmas giveaway, and it then blossomed into some cards for both Chris and Kyle. Chris was interested in some relics, and I was quite happy to flip a few into this.

Manufactured or not, I think it's mighty cool, and glad to get one into my collection. Chris added in a nice stack of hockey and a dang near complete 74 White Sox team. Again - I gotta get sorting. Kyle then stepped up with some 2012 White Sox cards I needed. I didn't want to pull the ones I had in my set for the Sox group (soon to be binder), but Kyle nailed it with the cards he sent. A blind picking from him gave me most of what I needed. And to sweeten the deal, these two were added.

 

How I don't have that pre-roid Sosa is beyond me, but now I do. And I am firmly thinking of starting a PC of Addison Reed, so this nice Bowman Platinum makes for one less I will need. You all really need to get trading with Chris, and especially Kyle, a 10 year old collector of Bruins and Yankees.

Two more quick ones I received today. First is AJ at The Lost Collector. I have no idea why I never reached out to AJ before, but he also found a card on the PWE trade and was able to send me a gold in return. And for added measure, put in a few extra cards. Three cards towards my '08 Ginter and then these babies.

There's the gold PWE swap. Then we have a shiny Danks from Lineage. And BAM!!! Magglio relic! That bat was the surprise of the package for sure. I own zero Ordonez relics while he was a south sider. Now, I have one. Thanks a bunch, AJ. Again - check him out. Great blogger and an easy trade.

If you read this far - thanks. We finish off with the Night Owl. Greg is a wonderful nightly read, and always a trade package you will like to receive. I think this envelope was just a return for a couple PWEs I have sent over the past month, as well as a bribe for a certain green sparkle I pulled from a 2013 pack. Yes, you can have it!!!! Cuz really, who would want a Kershaw greenie when you can put cards like this in a binder.

Another great Reed RC card - X refractor to boot, a white parallel Turkey Red of Javier Vasquez and then a killer '52 White Sox. That is a pen mark on his shoulder - who frigging cares!!! That card is all levels of awesome. Thanks as always, Greg. 

So there are five great trades from five great bloggers:

Junior Junkie

Underdog Card Collector

Old Foul Cardboard

The Lost Collector

Night Owl Cards

Super duper!