The Angels, In Order: July 2011

Friday, July 22, 2011

Completed Team Set 1971 Topps

Received this card in the mail today. It's not in the best shape but it'll do.

This Sandy Alomar card completes my 1971 Topps Angels team set. This is now my oldest team set completed. Those high numbers from the older years don't come cheap.

Autographed: Steve Kealy, Dave LaRoche, Gerry Moses, Tom Murphy, John Stephenson, Ken Berry, Ken McMullen, Ray Jarvis, and Tommie Reynolds.

Airbrushed Hats: 10

Clearly Taken at Yankee Stadium: 7

Most Interesting: Gene Brabender is the only card with green lettering, and get this, it's numbered 666. Spooky.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Goodies from Justin

Justin from Justins World reached out for a trade of some Angels cards he wanted to part with. He was looking for Pirates cards. He is beginning to collect Pirates cards since nobody else does. So send Justin your Pirates cards.

Of the two team bags he filled with Angels, I chose a few to highlight here.

2008 Upper Deck Heroes Howie Kendrick 154/399

2008 Topps Chrome Dick Perez WalMart Torii Hunter WMDPC16

2009 Topps 206 Mini Erik Aybar Cycle Ad Back 35/99 and Piedmont Ad Back. OK so I probably should have scanned the backs instead.

2009 Bowman Sterling Prospects Randal Grichuk BSP-RGR Certified Autograph

Thanks Justin.

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Angels go Off The Wall

Shane threw me an awesome package of Angels cards in exchange for (if I remember correctly) some older Topps Angels and some cards for his Topps Project. Shane runs the sweet blog OFF THE WALL.

Shane sent me the following cards as well as a bunch more that filled lots of needs in my Angels team sets.

This sweet 2011 Topps Jered Weaver Patch card. Easily the thickest card in my collection.

An Angels relic card, this a 2008 Topps Vladdy Jersey.

Two Ben Molina signed cards, signed by Benji Molina. Hmmm suspicious.

I'm collecting an autographed set of 1983 Topps. Shane sent this Jim Rice to add to the collection.

Well, it wouldn't grade very high due to the uneven cut (always an issue with this type of card), but I'm very glad to have this 1986 Topps box-bottom card, numbered I. This came off the bottom panel that also included J Don Mattingly, K Oddibe McDowell, and L Willie McGee.

Score! Another new addition to my Wally Joyner collection, this 1988 Jiffy Pop disc is a perfect fit to those oddball cards that are hard to find.

A nice selection of Angels box-set cards: Topps, Woolworth, Drakes. And a bunch of 80's Angels stickers.

Another nice selection of Topps Fan Favorites and Topps Archives. I'll have to find a Fan Favorites checklist because I've been getting a bunch of them through trades.

Rounding out the post are a pair of cards each from 1988 and 1989 Sportflics which I never really appreciated until I started my team collection. Now I dig them.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Joy of Vacation, Part 5

Mail.

It's always nice to return from a trip to find mail. Not bills and junk, but personal correspondance and self-addressed stamped envelopes.

I had 2 returns waiting for me.

Tom Brunansky signed and returned 4 cards. He didn't want to answer my letter and thats OK. Tom's a coach for the New Britain Rock Cats and that's where I sent to request to. He returned them in 14 days.

Stu Cliburn is also a coach for the Rock Cats. I mailed his cards at the same time as Brunansky's. Stu returned his at the same time as well.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Joy of Vacation, Part 4

Baseball cards.

I always like to look for discounted cards when I go on vacation, or on a business trip. Helps me to pass the time and it's still fun ripping packs. Sometimes I find steals, sometimes not.

This trip I was only looking for 2008 UD Timeline for the set I'm building. I was pretty much only looking at Dollar Tree for single dollar packs, or at Walmart for $11.98 blasters. My area in Texas has been depleted.

I checked the stores where we were in Northern Cal to no avail. And when we got down to Southern Cal I looked there too. It wasn't until the next to the last day we were there that I hit up the local Walmart.

There I found several blasters so I quickly grabbed two. A bit much more than I like to spend at one time for cards, but I tried to justify by the fact that it's been hard finding these. I almost put one back when I was in line at the checkout. Glad I didn't as you'll see below.

I opened one box in my old room upstairs at my parents house. I was just too excited. And I resolved that I'd save the second box for when I got back to Texas.

The guaranteed memorabilia card was this Troy Glaus bat card TM-GT. Nice card, I like Troy Glaus, wish he were in an Angels uniform but the red is close enough to make me happy.

Tearing through all ten packs resulted in nothing really out of the ordinary. Got these 2 gold cards, one of which I already have. I hate that. Golds are hard enough to come by, so when you get a dupe when you only have 3 other gold cards, that really bites.

Heres the rundown on the rest of the box:
10 packs yielded 58 cards.
I needed only 16 of those for my set - not good.
36 base
5 1992 Minor League
5 1994 All-Time Heroes
3 1995 SP Top Prospects
5 2004 Timeless Teams
2 gold base
1 Yankee Stadium Legacy
1 memorabilia

Now on to Box 2. Get ready. Are you sitting down?

I'll just cut to the chase. Out of 10 packs here's how many relics I got including the guaranteed one:

I kid you not.

8 packs had a relic. Is this some kind of production mistake? Do blasters like this really exist?

As I pulled a pack out I'd notice it was rigid and I'd think surely this can't be. It kept on going and going. Just incredible. And on top of that the breakout was really good too:
10 packs yielded 44 cards.
I needed 24 of those for my set - that's better
15 base
9 1992 Minor League
1 1994 All-Time Heroes
1 1995 SP Top Prospects
9 2004 Timeless Teams
1 1993 SP Rookie
8 memorabilia

So I'm left thinking. What if I had not bought one of those boxes? Which would I have gotten? The world may never know.

Oh, my want and trade list for Timeline is updated.

Friday, July 15, 2011

The Joy of Vacation, Part 3

Books.

The Northern California part of the vacation allowed me ample time to sit around and read. It was especially nice to sit around the pool and periodically look up from reading to make sure the kids were all fine.

I was able to finish The Light and The Glory, Book 1 of God's Plan for America by Peter Marshall and David Manuel

I needed a new book. This gave me a chance to hit up a local used book store.

Jerry Cloutier's is one of those off Main Street, hole-in-the-wall, dark and musty, books stacked to the ceiling, rows so narrow you have to physically touch someone to get by them, book stores. Perfect.

I selected 2 books.

The Dodgers Move West takes up the stance that Walter O'Malley was only one piece in the decision to move the Dodgers West, and that with the decision O'Malley had grave reservations. It focuses on the power of New York and Los Angeles and their struggle to flex their political muscle.

I had read about a third of the book before my plane landed at DFW and so far, it's a really good read. You Dodger history buffs would enjoy it.

Day of Infamy is another classic to add to my Pacific War collection. I already read At Dawn We Slept by Gordon H. Prange; In Harms Way by Doug Stanton; and Blind Mans Bluff by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew. I also have but haven't read Infamy by John Toland, and Midway by Prange.

Treasures are always to be found at old used bookstores.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Joy of Vacation, Part 2

Small Ballfields.

Part of the joy of going on vacation, taking day trips, or going on a business trip is planning out or stumbling upon small ballfields. I am particularly drawn to 50's era little league fields.

We were driving around Woodland, California where my mother-in-law and sister-in-law live, looking at older Craftsman Cottages when we stumbled upon a little old stadium.

Clark Field, established in 1930, or so the scoreboard said, plays host to Babe Ruth League, American Legion, and Woodland High School baseball. The vintage field is undergoing a long restoration and is really shaping up to the fine field it once was.

It actually was home to a Sacramento Valley League team the Woodland Oaks, in the 30's. Several Major League teams played exhibition games there in the 30's and 40's.

Adjacent to Clark Field is Hans Christiansen Park which has a couple Woodland Little League fields in it.

Field Number 1 is known as Camarena Field, and is a perfect example of a 1950's little league ballfield.

Next to Field Number 1 is Field Number 2 which was recently renamed Dustin Pedroia Field. Pedroia played organized ball there as a kid. I didn't photograph that one.

See a more detailed description of these little ballfields at my other blog Small Ballfields.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Joy of Vacation, Part 1

Going to an Angels game.

The 5 parts to The Joy of Vacation are all those benefits of vacation in addition to the joy of visiting and spending time with family and friends. That, of course, is the best part.

Hitting an Angels game on this trip was not part of the plan, in fact I wasn't even sure that I would be in Southern California. But I was able to extend my vac and we made the 8 hour drive down to my side of the family.

Whenever I go back to visit family my brother will invite me to an Angels game. He didn't let me down, so I prepped by getting caught up on the last several Orange County Register sports pages.

After that I headed over to a nearby Ralphs and picked up a bag of Angels peanuts. The game just wouldn't be the same without a bag of Angels peanuts.

This game was a day game starting at 12:30.

I don't know why, but everytime I get back to California and go to an Angels game, I'm compelled to take pictures of the stadium. I've been there a million times, and I've taken a million pictures. But click away I always do.

We walked around the inside of the stadium and ran across the broadcast booth in center field where Tim Salmon (and who is that Terry Smith?) were goofing of due to the heat.

Went by an Angels Team Store, put my 51 cents in the slots, cranked the handle, and my penny is now a sweet little Angels goodie.

The view from our seats. Shade. Nice.

It was a small crowd, probably due to the heat and it being a 12:30 game. The announced crowd was 30K plus, but that was paid admission. No way that many were there. I'd say less than 10k were actually there.

Like I mentioned, I wasn't planning on a game this trip so I didn't bring my score book. I like to score every game I go to. So I bought a program and scored the insert. I like the new program format. More like an ESPN the Magazine size. Had to have an official Angels pen from an official Angels souveneir stand.