This Way to my Mailbox

It was a good week at the mailbox here in the land of junk wax.  I got a few bubble mailers, including two on Monday.  What a great way to start the week.  Baseball Cards!

The first mailer came from Mark over at This Way to the Clubhouse.  (I can almost guarantee I'm not the first blogger to use this post title).    I saw a couple cards on his blog and asked about them. 

He sent me the Slayer parallel (yup, that's what I'm calling them, it makes sense to me, click the link.  I'll wait) of Garret Richards' 2014 card.  These things look better in person.  I'll trade the slime parallels and mustard parallels for these any day. 

Mark also sent along the Super Veteran insert of Albert Pujols.  This is still the only insert I have any interest in this year.  And this one happens to be an Angel (1/2 Angel?), so that's a win.

That's all I was really expecting.  But Mark didn't stop there.  He sent along a big stack of my 2014 base set needs.  I won't bother scanning them because a) everybody has seen them recently and b) I'm still mad at Topps for their collation this year (real or perceived.  Doesn't matter).

But Mark didn't stop there.

I made a comment to him about Topps base cards from the time I was away from the hobby.  I've decided to put together an album with just Topps base set Angels from 1961 to the present.  These will go right in there.

As will these.  My cousin (not technically my cousin, but my aunt is his godmother, and I've literally known him since I was born.  So, close enough) went to high school with Matt Walbeck.  Sat behind him on the bench of the baseball team too.

And parallels, sort of.  The emerald green from last year.  And I almost think of Opening Day as a parallel of the base set.  I mean they're kinda redundant.  But its an Angel, so I'm all for it.

Thanks again Mark.

Infield, Outfield. Same thing

Dustin Ackley is a second baseman.

See?  Says so right there on the front.

Says so on the back too:

Right there at the top.  I'll blow it up for you.

Then again.....

Forgive me if someone has pointed this out already.  I just noticed it.
 

More Progress and a bonus

I mentioned it recently, but I still find it odd that a self professed set builder like me had sets from the junk wax era that weren't complete.  Then again, most of my sets from the 80's are 60-80% complete so maybe its not ironic. 

At any rate, Bert from Swing and A Pop-Up decided to further along some set building for me.

That Tanana is another card that I actually had in a PC, so its nice to get one into my set.  I remember how big a deal the Leiter error was at the time.

Add the Lind card to the list "I didn't have that?".  Bert also sent along a Sammy Sosa card from 1990 Topps.  I'm now only one card from completing each set (along with a variation).  Nice airbrushing on the Landrum card.  Its funny how that was kinda the norm in the 80's (mostly Traded sets, but base at times too), compared to the photoshopping we get nowadays. 

As I said, I've always considered myself a set builder.  But I can see my focus shifting (hmmmm, future post?).  I just don't see the point in building any sets after say...1992 or so.  Just way too much out there to choose from.  As a result, I've become much more of an Angel collector.  And to that end, Nick dropped a PWE on me the other day (this is the "bonus" part)

The Upper Deck icons card is a pretty sharp looking card.  I remember my cousin having Kellog's cards when I was young.  And I've seen and envied plenty of them in the blogosphere.  But I've never had one.  Until now. 

Thanks to both of you generous bloggers.

Random Carboard Fascination

I've seen many blog posts about upcoming card shows, or card show recaps.  I've only been to one card show in my life.  It must have been in 1987, because we moved out of the area in early 1988.

I remember going with my step-brothers, but I don't remember what I bought.  Except that I bought the 1987 Fleer Update set.  I've always kinda like the boxed Traded sets from Topps, although I've only got 1985-1990.  But the 1987 set is the only Fleer I ever acquired.

The most memorable card in the set for me was this:

I was immediately drawn to this card.  I had never seen two pictures of the same player on the same card in two different uniforms.  I later learned about the 1983 Fleer Joel Youngblood, but this card was unique to me at the time.  I still don't know of any others off hand.  (I wonder if Nick has this in his short term stops mini collection?)

Kevin Mitchell had come up with the New York Mets briefly in 1984, then spent 1986 as their fourth outfielder.  He was traded in the offseason in an eight player trade to the San Diego Padres in a deal that sent Kevin McReynolds to the Big Apple.   But it only took until July for the Padres to flip him to the San Francisco Giants in a seven player deal. 

Mitchell was from San Diego, and if I'm not mistaken the reason the Padres traded him away was that he had gotten involved with the wrong types of people back in his hometown.

But the two trades induced Fleer to commemorate them with the double card.  Topps included Mitchell in its Traded set, but only as a Giant.  In fact, the only other Padre cards of Mitchell are in the 1987 Donruss Opening Day set and in a set I've never heard of - 1987 Sportflics Team Preview.

Ironic Progress

1986 was my first year of mass purchasing baseball cards.  I hand collated a Topps set, and later acquired my step-brother's collection which included darn near another set.  (I have more doubles of these than I want to admit)

1987 was a repeat of 1986.  Buying boxes of Topps at Price Club can really boost a set.

I almost hand collated a 1989 Topps set, then somewhere along the way acquired a factory set.  I actually don't remember where I got it.  Maybe my mass Craig's list deal?  (Seriously, anybody who needs some of these, they're yours.  Just take them)

I'm only 2 cards away from completing the 1990 Topps set, although to be honest I've gotten help with that set in recent years.  I was buying more Fleer that year for some reason.

But for whatever reason, I never really finished off my 1988 set.   I remember trying to trade with a neighbor kid, but until recently I was only at about 2/3 of the set.  Fellow Angel collector Tom decided to help me out.  Tom has sent me many Angels in the past, but he went all set builder on me this time:

I actually have that Ryan there, but he's one of my main PCs, so the card is in that binder.

Tony Gwynn there is in my Gwynn PC too.  Funny thing about some of these cards.  I'd swear I had that Nixon and Niedenfuer.  The Wine up there too.  But I didn't.

Add Nokes to the list of "I didn't have that card?  Really?"  I know I've seen it many times.  (Who am I kidding?  We have all seen these many times.  That's why it's junk wax)

There was two more cards for a total of 29, which was about 2/3 of my list.  I only need 14 more.  Problem is, what the heck do I send Tom?  He has every Angel card I do I'm sure.  Hopefully I can figure something out.

Thanks again Tom.

Jim Fregosi 1942-2014

I typically don't do in memorium type stuff, but Jim Fregosi meant alot to the Angels' franchise history.

Fregosi was drafted by the Angels from the Red Sox in the expansion draft.

He got his first taste of the majors in 1961 as a 19 year old.

He established himself as a regular in 1963.

From 1963 to 1970, he was an All-Star 6 times,

received MVP votes every year,

and won a Gold Glove in 1967.

Before Brian Downing came along, Fregosi was the Angels' career leader in just about everything.

If I'm not mistaken, he is still the Angels' career leader in triples.

 

In December of 1971, the Mets decided he could solve their third base problem.

Even on his way out, Fregosi helped the franchise, delivering the immortal Frank Estrada Nolan Ryan.

Fregosi retired as an active player in mid-1978, to return to Anaheim as the Angels' manager.  In 1979 he led the club to the first post-season in franchise history.

Mailbox time

Is there anything cooler than opening the mailbox and seeing a handwritten envelope in there?  Seems like everything that shows up in there is just bills right?  So the handwritten stands out.

When I see a handwritten envelope, I walk back to the door a little faster.  I know what's in there!  Can't wait to open up the envelope.  Baseball Cards!.   But I won't do it until I get in the house.  Gotta keep them safe. 

My most recent PWE comes courtesy of everyone's favorite dime boxer, Nick.

An insert of former Angel Mark Trumbo.  Not too big on inserts, but if its an Angel, I'm all in.  He goes nicely with the Josh Hamilton and C.J. Wilson cards I've gotten from the same set.  Trumbo was made expendable because as a 1B/DH type, he had to vie for playing time with the other 14 1B/DH types on the roster.

Gold parallel of Garrett Richards.  This guy and a couple of the young pitchers that the Angels got back for the aforementioned Trumbo are the key to the Angels' season this year.   The pitching was awful last year.

And finally....ummm......wait a minute.  Let me try something.

Eh.  That's a tad better.  Brian Downing was the Angels' career leader in almost every category before the arrival of Tim Salmon.  So he's definitely one of my main PCs.  This card will actually go right into my Angels Frankenset, the first Sportflics to be enshrined.  

Thanks again Nick.

Wear your helmets kids

It's been an eventful week in the land of Junk Wax.  On Monday, my older daughter fell off her bike, and was knocked unconscious for 10-15 seconds.  I rushed from work to the hospital.  At the hospital we heard numerous people tell her "..and don't forget to wear your helmet".  Which made me think of the card above.  (Hopefully that isn't too morbid a tie-in.  She suffered a concussion and a black eye.  But she's doing just fine)

I have already professed my love for 1982 Fleer.  And so have writers with far more talent than me.  But specifically I was always fascinated with that Landestoy card.

And the Mejias card.

And Concepcion too.  There was always something vivid about the Reds' helmets in the set. 

I'm not really sure if it's the Reds' helmets themselves, or if it's just that the rest of the set is out of focus, and these cards are in pretty sharp register.  But whatever it was, I could just look at them forever.  (What do you want?  I was 9).

Speaking of Reds....

I'm working on the 1979 Topps set, and something really stuck out at me.

Where's the distinctive Reds' "C"?  The first thing that hit me was Topps football cards prior to 1982:

Topps didn't have the NFL license, so all the helmets were airbrushed up through the 1981 set.  In 1982 they got the license and put out my favorite football set, which is a coincidence.... but I digress.

Those Reds' helmets without the logo were almost jarring to me when I first saw them.  I'm assuming those are spring training photos, and for whatever reason they just hadn't added the logo in?

Topps is trying to Bip me!

Just a quick post/rant today.

I've already touched on this, but I seem to be having the worst luck with 2014 Topps this year.  I'm also not the first blogger to document this, but I'm getting dupes left and right.

Today I went to blue parallel world to grab some things, and of course I went to the card aisle.  I bought one rack pack.  Out of 36 cards, 21 base and 1 insert were dupes.

Maybe I've bought too much?  I've bought a total of 6 rack packs at 4 different stores.  Welp, I only have 133 different cards from the 330 card set and 40 dupes.  23.1% duplication rate, seriously Topps??  Plus 3 insert dupes.  There's like 5 million inserts possible.  Nick warned me, but I didn't listen.



Moving the dupes to here.

Update 2/13/14.  Having only half the set (163 out of 330 49.4% to be exact), I bought a box of 72 cards (what do you call those?).  I got 9 new cards out of 63 base cards in the box.  Topps hates me!!  Seriously.  What the hell??


Edit: I need a picture.  I've seen other blogs use the obligatory swimsuit model picture.  So I will too, but mine will harken back to the Junk Wax era..or a little before:

The Angels used to play in Chavez Ravine....

(Side note: I lost my "Members" gadget over on the right side, and I can't get it back.  Ugh  Edit:  Got it back!)


I recently got a trade package from Alex over at Chavez Ravining.   I sent off some Dodgers, as I was after this guy:

 But I also got a whole bunch more.

Set needs.  I really like the minis from 2012.

These 3 had 16 more buddies.

More set needs.  He put a dent in my 2013 Update needs.

And of course there were Angels.  Way more Angels than I can show.  I'll show some highlights.  Like Gypsy Queen.  I'm not buying Gypsy Queen.  There are just too many sets available every year.  I gotta focus.  So base it is.  But now I have Gypsy Queen.

And Bowman.  These are actually pretty sharp looking cards.  And not blue either.

And parallelness.  Some Target Izturis acrobatics.  And a Chrome overpaid Wells.

There's another Cron.  And a couple of guys I've never heard of.  Cruz was a 13th round pick in 2009.  He reached AA in 2012...at age 25.  And was done. Abel Baker was a 7th rounder in 2011 who spent 2013 in the Cal League.  Wait a minute...where have I heard that name?  Oh yeah, just the other day.. right here.  Tom beats me to every other Angel card, so that was appropriate.

Thanks Alex.