it's A Small World

 Anyone that has done much trading amongst other blogs knows about a small town in upstate New York called Watertown.  When I started the blog in 2008 one of the first places I sent cards was Watertown and I have been sending them there periodically ever since.  Fast forward a few years and someone I knew got married to a girl in North Carolina and a couple years later decided to move to his bride's hometown, Watertown.  The total number of people I knew in the state of New York was two and they both happen to live in the same town of 13,000.  This week I completed a transaction on Facebook with a guy named Matt and this showed up.

There is that city again, small world?   

First off some Pedro cards from 1998.  My late 90s and early 00s want list are filled with regular base Pedro cards I need.

90s and 00 Nomar cards are the same way.  I have a theory for this.  The hobby went into a lull in the late 90s.  At that time tons of people collected Nomar and Pedro; even if they didn't outright collect them they wouldn't have been thrown in with the commons they were sequestrated with "the good cards" even if they were base cards. My theory is a bunch of people stopped collecting cards in this time period and just put them away in a closet/basement.  All those Pedro and Nomar cards are just sitting around waiting to be let back out into the collecting world.

Mo Vaugh is a little like that also but not nearly to the same extent.  I see Mo cards a whole lot more often than I do Pedro or Nomar.  That Donruss Preferred Mo is one of those annoying SP cards tacked onto the tail end of a set.  

It wasn't just 90s cards I picked up from Matt I also got some 2020s stuff including this Donruss Unleashed Mayer card that looks WAY better in hand than it scanned.  

Most of what I got was Panini cards.  Panini seems to make more parallels than Topps and a lot of what I got was parallels. I got lot of base too though.  When I started just outright buying team sets a few years ago I quickly noticed that there are not a lot of people selling team sets for panini products.  I am not sure why that is.  Maybe it is the no logos or maybe Panini buyers are more about the inserts and parallels and the base cards are deemed useless.

This card sure is different today than it was a week ago.  The best batter on the team is now on the Giants.  Heart of the City to persona non grata just like that.  To me it feels like a huge mistake to trade of Devers but I've got my fingers crossed it can turn out like the Nomar trade of 2004.  This card is another card that looks totally different in hand.  I would go as far as to say this is one of the very best looking cards, if not the best looking card, I have seen put out in many years.  It is a refractor and the skyline and water just pop perfectly.  

Thanks for the cards Matt and if anyone else runs into him he gets a recommendation as a good seller from me. 

Beggars Can t Be Choosers

 I picked up a Dave Roberts autograph for my 2004 Red Sox Autograph project.  I am trying to do this project on a budget. There is a single Certified Dave Roberts autograph on a Red Sox card.  It is from 2018 Topps Archives Fan Favorites.  There is one on eBay but it is $200 and I'm not giving $200 for it.  So I settled for an uncertified 2004 Upper Deck Update autograph.  

Dave Roberts steal was one of the most memorable things from the 2004 ALCS.  But as trade deadline pickup and not signing on for 2005 there are very few Dave Roberts cards in a Red Sox uniform.  And oddly to me, no cards of his stolen base.  (the aforementioned 2018 autograph is him scoring the tying run after that stolen base.) 

Also, how weird is it that the only Upper Deck Red Sox card of him came out in 2005 Update.  Not 2005 regular Upper Deck, 2005 Upper Deck Update.  When the Red Sox didn't sign him he played the the 2005 season with the Padres so I would have thought for the Update set he would have been on a Padres card.

COMC Delivery Post 4 - Knocking Out The Rest

 The is the last of my COMC delivery.  It is something dear to me that not many else collect, boxing cards.  These are all 1951 Topps Ringside.  Once I finished 1948 Leaf boxing (minus the Graziano which I will never own because it is more rare than a T206 Wagner) I focused my vintage boxing on the Topps 1951 Ringside set.  

Tony Canzoneri is a former champion that I never heard of.  All of these guys fought way before I was born but I have normally at least heard of the champions before. No this guy though.

Every so often I do a COMC search for 1951 Ringside boxing cards and sort it by price.  Then I buy all the cheap ones I do not have yet.  It works our pretty good, I get a handful of them every shipment.  I know that one of these days though I am going to have to bite off going after some of the big names like Lamotta, Baer, Wolcott, etc.

At 2x3 these cards are smaller than the current cards.  I find it odd that they didn't make them the same size as 1951 Topps Baseball.

It is kind of hard to see but this card as a perforated edge at the bottom. Some of the cards were issued one for .01 or a two card panel for .05.  They don't seem to carry a premium for the perforation.  Oddly I have never seen a two card panel of them that hasn't already been separated.  

The backs of these 1951 Ringside are some of my favorite backs of all time.  It is the glove that does it for me.  

COMC Delivery Part 3 - A New Old Virdon

Topps Buybacks suck for Player Collectors.  The Heritage ones are not so bad because there is the potential of like one per year.  But in 2014 when Topps started adding buybacks to everything it got messy quick.  Topps didn't issue any print runs or anything they just stamped a bunch of cards 75th Anniversary and us collectors find what we can find.  For 2014 Buyback Virdons I have:

• 1958
• 1959
• 1961
• 1965
• 1973
• 1976
• 1978
• 1979
• 1980

The one that came in the COMC shipment is the #147 1976 Astros Team Bill Virdon

Do I have all the 2014 Buybacks now?  Who knows?  Potentially there are 60,62,63,64 (x2). 72, 73 Variant, 75, 77, 81, 83, and 84 cards that were stamped with the 75th logo on them but until they show up there is no telling if they were even made.  They did the same thing in 2015 and 2016 just using different logos.

COMC Delivery Part 2 - 2004 Red Sox Autos

A continuation of my latest COMC order.

When I started this project I was certain I already had a Damon autograph card.  I was sure I had a 2005 Cracker Jacks auto of him.  It turns I only had a Cracker Jack game used card not an autograph.  This Tier One auto was a better deal than anything I could find on eBay.  

This may just be a placeholder because he isn't in a Red Sox uniform.  But there has never been an autograph card of him with the Red Sox so unless I do a TTM auto I am stuck with this one.  With the grey uniform it probably wouldn't even stick out that he is in a Tigers Uniform instead of the Red Sox.

COMC Delivery Part 1 - Errors

I saw that people are having to wait a long time on their COMC orders.  Evidently I'm lucky though because I requested shipment on 6-3 and got my order on 6-9.  It was a very small order though.  I am going to break it up into a couple posts.

If you thought from the title COMC screwed up my order that is not the case,  Everything I ordered came in.  Part of what I ordered were Bill Virdon Printing Errors that I had never seen before.

Before I get to the errors this is what a 1979 TMCA The 50s #100 Bill Virdon should look like.  It is in color but just barely.  Now to the print errors.

As you can see this card lacks all color on the front but it does have a normal back to it. I actually like this better than the original.  The original looks like it was colorized after the fact.

This second error has the blue from Russ Meyer's card on top of a black and white version of Bill Virdon.  For whatever reason it has a blank back.  

This one is really screwy.  It has all the color but black from #161 Roger Maris superimposed on top if Virdon's back and white photo.  The back has an upside down #162 Bob Cerv superimposed on top of a regular Bill Virdon back.

When this shipment came in I logged into COMC to see when I requested the shipment because it came so fast.  I did a Virdon search and there are more Virdon printing errors from this set.  I skipped all the ones that were only back errors and bought the one that had a front error.  This is a yellowized version of the 79 TCMA card.  It has a normal back. Makes me wonder if a blue and a red one will pop up some day.

I Did It Too

Recently Night Owl posted about picking up some 52 Topps Dodgers.  I did kind of the same thing though mine was a Red Sox.

 He got a better deal than I did as mine cost $8.01 on eBay to his $5.  $8 was perfectly acceptable to me. This card has no creases but there are no corners on Walt either. That is perfectly acceptable for any 52 Topps in my collection. 

I have totally ignored the back variations of 52 Topps, so much so I almost forgot they existed.  When Night Owl mentioned the back variation I thought to myself, "Oh yeah, that was a thing" otherwise I don't think it would have register with me.  But 52 Topps has always been my least favorite vintage Topps set.  I just don't get the appeal.  It is the first Topps set, but not really the first Topps set, I just don't get it.  But I got this one.  There are still three more Red Sox in the low numbers that I need to grab but I'm not after them, I only pick them up when they fall in my lap for a low price.  

I Need An Otriz For My Autograph Project

I am planning on getting 20 autographs of 2004 Red Sox players and putting them in a wall frame from Michael's. I have decided on the following 20.

• Aaroyo 
• Bellhorn 
• Damon 
• Embree 
• Foulke 
• Lowe 
• Pedro 
• Mientkiewicz 
• Millar 
• Mirabelli 
• Mueller 
• Myers 
• Nixon 
• Ortiz 
• Manny 
• Roberts 
• Schilling 
• Timlin 
• Varitek 
• Wakefield 

I still need six cards to complete this.  

Mark Bellhorn

Pedro Martinez 

Doug Mirabelli 

Mike Myers

Dave Roberts 

Curt Schilling 

Besides those six I want and extra three cards to complete my frame because:

For Arroyo and Ortiz I only have horizontal cards. And for Doug Mientkiewicz I only have a twins autograph.  I posted about trading for the Arroyo today I'm posting about the Pappi. 

I have this 2009 Topps Finest Autograph but like Arroyo is horizontal instead of vertical.  Will anyone out there swap Ortiz autographs? 

Doug Mientkiewicz, Mike Myers, and Dave Roberts in a Red Sox uniform are all going to be a problem.  None of them ever had a certified autograph in a Red Sox uniform. It's hard to believe the guy that caught the last out and the guy that made the steal were never issued a Red Sox autograph.  There are actually very few cards of them in a Red Sox uniform at all.  I may have try the TTM route which I haven't done since I was about 12. (Edit... Roberts has a Red Sox autograph in 2018 Topps Fan Favorites but the only one I see for sale is 200) 

Does Anyone Have An Arroyo Autograph For Trade??

I started a new project.  I am going to fill one of those 20 card frames that go on a wall with autographs from the 2004 Red Sox.  I plan got them all to be in a Red Sox uniform and all of them to be vertical cards. I am like 70% of the way there already.  A few are going to be expensive like Pedro and Schilling but I will get there eventually.  That said, I need a Bronson Arroyo autograph.  Well, a different Bronson Arroyo autograph.

I have this licensed Upper Deck autographed card but the frame holds the cards vertically so I would prefer a non horizontal card. I would happily trade this for a vertical Arroyo if anyone has one. 

I have this licensed SP autograph and it is vertical like i need but it is so badly faded that you can hardy see the autograph. Take sucks because it's serial numbered even. It kind of defeats the purpose of 20 autographs of the 2004 World Series team of your can't see the auto so I'm looking for another one.   I would throw this in with the other auto for a vertical Arroyo autograph. 

Another blogger sent me this card more than 10 years ago.  It's been so long I don't even remember who sent it to me. I don't remember if they got it as a TTM or of they got it at a concert he was playing. Either way it's a book card just because it was produced by him, for him.  It's still horizontal though so I can't use it in the frame but I do plan to keep it. 

If anyone has a vertical Arroyo autograph to trade please let me know. 

King Features Oddball Virdons

One of my more recent purchases are two Bill Virdon caricatures from King Features Syndicate.  I don't know much about them, other than King owns Popeye, Beatle Bailey, and Betty Boop.  They also sell comics to newspapers.  Considering they deal with newspapers, Night owl probably knows more about them off the top of his head than I can find out in hours searching Google.  

I am guessing this is from 1977 as it mentions his first full season as Astros manager.  This isn't a clipping out of a newspaper it is more of a proof that would have been sent to a newspaper.  The ebay auction I bought it from said it is from the Estate of the cartoonist, Alan Maver who passed away in 1984.   It is on semi glossy paper and is 4.5x6.75.

I am guessing this one was from 1981.  The text mentions leading the race for manager of the year and 1981 was the year he won it for the Astros.  This one is a little bigger coming in a 5x7.75 and also comes from the Alan Maver Estate.

While those two were new to me, I already had two of them from previous purchases.  

The text blurb mentions the Astros being 89-73 the last season so that means this came out the following year 1980.  It is the smaller 4.5x6.75 size.

This is from early in the 1975 season, before the yankees released him for Billy Martin.  It is back to the larger 5x7.75 size like the 1981 Astros picture above.  It is just the wrong size for any type of page and creates a cluster for me. 

I have to store it in a way oversized 8x10 page so it looks ridiculous in my binder.  My non card binder is sorted by team and then by page size.  So it starts out:

• Cardinals four per page
• Cardinals three per page
• Cardinals two per page
• Pirates four per page
• Pirates three per page
• Pirates two per page
• Same with the yankees
• Same with the Astros
• Same with the Expos

Because the pages are a half an longer I have all the 8x10s pages together in the back, again sorted by team.  Right now since these items "feel" like a smaller item they are next to the two card pages and not with the 8x10s.  ( there are a few oddball Team Issues that fall in this same category)  I don't really like that but I also don't want them in with the 8x10s either.  I'm considering braking my 6" non card binder into five separate binders, one for each team he was with.  Then things in this oddball size could live between the two card pages and the 8x10s.  However that leaves me with what do I do with the three oddball 8x10s I have from when he was a Minor League Manager with the Mets.  Three 8x10s don't justify a sixth binder.

For now I am probably going leave them alone and let them be oddballs in the binder even though I don't like that the pages don't line up. If I get a few more things in this odd size I may make the multi-binder switch.  Another half inch or so of pages will force me to multiple binders anyway so I might just wait until then.

One Of A Kind Photos???

 Over the years I have purchased some photos that people took of Bill Virdon. I am guessing most of these are taken by fans and are one of a kind.

I like the old timey deckle edge photos.  That is probably what started me on the "photo rabbit-hole" to begin with.  I purchased this as a 1950s photo.  However in the 50s the Pirates didn't have numbers on the front of their jerseys.  Numbers on the front didn't start in 1962.  That places this photo between 1962 and 1965, as 1965 was the last year he wore #18.

This one was also labeled as 1950s photo.  While I don't have any way to disprove that, it came from the same seller as the other photo incorrectly labeled 50s and he looks a little older here so I am guessing it is 60s also.  Also, I think that car in the background is a 1951 or 1952 Chevy DeLuxe and it looks kind of old when this was taken.

I know what your thinking, a graded photo, why?  I don't know why I just bought it that way.  I would free him but it is an odd size and I don't really have a good way to protect it so he remains incased.  I like how this one has the date printed on it.  This could well be a fan photo as it looks like it was taken from the stands.

This photo is from 1968 Spring Training.  That was the only year he wore #4.  

This is the latest photo I purchased.  It is from the 1958 season and this one is also probably taken by a fan.  I bought it as a three piece lot including Frank Thomas and Roman Mejias.  I resold the extra two photos to try to recap some of the money I had to spend to get this.  It was my first eBay sale in over 20 years and it did spectacularly awful. I thought I could recoup at least half of what I spent but I only got like a third back and had to pay the shipping on top of that.  

Lastly, because it is a yankees photo is a 1974 Spring Training photo.  This one looks like it was taken outside of a residential home. Luckily this is labeled 74 on the edge or I would have had to guess 74 or 75 and never know for sure.

Tests From The Vault

Yesterday I posted copies of a bunch of 1984 Topps cards.  Today is the rest of my 1984 Topps Stuff.

These are the 1984 Topps test issues.  Blue, Red, Black, and Black removed.  I got these all from the Topps Vault years ago.  As far as I know there is not a yellow test card.  These were all sold as one single lot, are sequentially numbered, and no yellow was included.  Things like this from the Vault are fun.  I have some other oddball Topps Vault stuff like photo negatives that they never used that aren't so fun.

Does Anyone Have a Recommendation For Card Labels?

 Does anyone label their top loaders or even their card pages?  I have so many Virdon cards that look so similar that I would like to label them.  I have been going to tackle this for about ten years now and just never have went anywhere with it.  There are some places you can have labels printed for you but with over 500 Virdon items it would be way to much money to spend.  I would want to be able to print my own but I don't want the label to take up too much room either. 

This is a page out of my Virdon binder.  While that might look like two copies of his 1959 Topps card it is actually 1959 Topps and 1959 Topps Venezuelan. (the lighting in my office is way too bright so some of these pics suck).

If it was that one year, no problem I know that I have the Venezuelan and that should be enough but other years it gets more complicated. 

This is not three copies of the 1975 Topps Virdon this is 1975 Topps, 1975 O-Pee-Chee, and 1975 Topps Mail Order Team card.  Three cards that look exactly the same from the front but are totally different.  (Plus 2024 Heritage Buyback is the same also.)

Then there are the Monstrosities like 1984 Topps.

Pictured are Topps, Topps Tiffany, Nestle, O-Pee-Chee, Blank Back, UV Ink, Rediscover Blue, and  Rediscover Red.  You can see my crude labels for the Blank Back and the UV Ink cards.  

Outside of my Virdon collection I would probably use them on my Venezuelan and O-Pee-Chee Red Sox cards too.  And anything else that is a back only variation, like 07 Topps Red Backs.  

Right now I am leaning towards Avery 1.75x.5 labels but if anyone has a suggestion I am totally open to whatever.  The Avery labels I can print out of Word or Excel on my regular printer.  I will probably stick them to the penny sleeve inside the toploader.  I would also use them on my Team Issue pages because they are so had to keep track of what card/postcard is from what year.  I have to pull up my checklist and TCBD every time I do anything with team issues just to figure out what I have and what I do not.  

If anyone has suggestions please let me know.  

Pirates Stuff To Offer

I got a lot more Pirates stuff to offer up than I did Astros.  First up is the autographed stuff. 

Bob Friend

Vern Lax

El Roy Face

Now a bunch of team issued items.  Assorted years from 1958 to 1972.

 

These are 2015 Topps Cardboard Icons Gold.  The only way you could get these were as a team set from Topps.com. The golds are all numbered 18/49.  It is a complete team set minus the Bill Virdon.  

Nest up is 2015 Topps Cardboard Icons Silver numbered to 199.  Same deal as the golds just a larger print run. 

I don't know what these next items are.  They are on glossy paper and look like some type of Wire Photos. 

I whole bunch of random unsigned 8x10s.

These are some newer copies of a bunch of Brace/Rowe postcards.  These ae all reprints and have fake autographs.  The copy is so clear however the autos look legit in hand.  The ones that were done in ballpoint look like they are slightly dented in from the pen stroke the copy is so clear.  

This is what the backs look like. 

This is the 1994 Quintex Pirates Team Set including the Bill Virdon.  Somehow I ended up with two of them so I have a full team to get rid off.  There is another version of this set with Nationwide Insurance on the back instead of Quintex.

I am also going to include a bunch of Pirates Stratomatic cards in a bunch of different verities.  There are some originals and reprints also.  A bunch of leftovers from having to buy team sets to get the Virdon.