My Pockets Are Full Of Schedules

I recently posted about a pocket schedule collector, such as myself, who reached out for a trade.  We made that trade.  Chris then turned me on to a Yahoo group called Skednet, guys who trade pocket and magnet schedules primarily.  Well, that got me going.

Up until now I only occasionally traded here and there when someone saw a post on this blog or I had read on someone else blog that they were a skedder.  On Skednet however the trades are a flyin!

I made a recent trade with a collector that allowed me to beef up my 1980 and 1990s Angels minor league teams.  Check these beauties out:

Theres Edmonton Trappers, Quad City Angels, Midland Angels, Palm Springs Angels, Quad City River Bandits, Cedar Rapids Kernels, Lake Elsinore Storm, Butte Copper Kings, Erie Sea Wolves, Bend Bucks, and Boise Hawks. 

Su-WEET!

Each one a little trifold canvas of Americana artwork and Angels history.

Some Autographs On Some Baseball Cards

Nice.  Mike signed one card from 4 different sets I'm working on.

The came back in 42 days from his work address.

Returned in 7 days from his home in Alpine, Utah.

Too bad the second one got rubbed, that's such a bitchen card too.

McKay came up in the Angels system but his major league time was spent with the White Sox, Dodgers, and Mets from 1999 to 2002.

John "The Preacher" Pricher (I just made that up, but it works doesn't it?)

ballpointed me in 7 days from his work address at the Gainesville/Alachua County VCB

(Visitors Center Bureau).

John spent 4 seasons in the Angels minor league system.

Pete Smith swiped my Toys R Us card but signed these other two.

Damn him.

But thanks too.

Chef Delivers The Goods

2011 Topps Hank Conger Blue Hope Diamond!

Number 54/60!

I don't think that I even knew there was a blue version, or if I did I didn't pay any attention, thinking that I'll never have one.

2011 Topps Lineage Jered Weaver 1975 Mini

Great choice in the colors for this one.

Weaver looks like he's just playing soft toss though.

2010 Allen & Ginter's Jered Weaver Mini

His glove here looks a lot bigger than the one pictured above.

Maybe artistic license was taken.

1990 Midwest Collectables Les Haffner minor league card

Les spent 3 good years in the minors never making it out of A ball.

Looks like he had pretty decent numbers too.

2007 Tristar  prospects Plus Jonathan Bachanov Pro Debut

I wonder if he got called "Baby Face Bachanov"?

Jon spent two years in the Angels minors before going to the White Sox for a couple more.

He's with the Red Sox now.

1986 and 1987 Sportflix.

That's Doug DeCinces, Brian Downing, and Devon White if you couldn't tell.

Never actively pursued Angels Sportflix cards but little by little traders have been sending them to me and I've been slowly filling in team sets.

I Got The Golden Envelope

This came in the mail the other day and I knew exactly what it was by the return address.

A very famous return address.

YES!  I actually got an NPN envelope from Topps!

All I did was send in an index card with my name and address, and since I'm not Canadian (actually I am part French-Canadian but never have lived there) I didn't even have to take a math test!

How easy can it be?!

Inside the stiff outer envelope was this smaller one.

This is the one that contains the relic card.  Or maybe a certified autograph card!

A parallel or numbered would be cool too.

Even a refractor would be awesome!

It's gotta be something of some value for Topps to go through all the effort to package it all up and spend money on postage, right?

Nope.

Bill Virdon Signed Some Stuff

On a recent trip to Half Priced Books I spotted a couple old Astros programs for a couple bucks each so I snagged them with the hopes of getting them signed by Bill Virdon who I knew was a good TTM signer.

7 days later my correspondence was answered and this came back.

The second program came out in 1980 and didn't have such a cool cover so I took out the scorecard and sent that along with the program above. 

I really like signed scorecards.

I'm thinking about sending this to a couple other players for autographs.

I also desired these because I'm fascinated with the Astrodome and wanted a piece of memorabilia associated with it. 

Thank you Bill Virdon!

Done With This One, Now On To That One

Just finished reading this book:

I really like Daniel Okrents writing.

Although at times his sentences are rather long and confusing, he packs a lot of information in.

He documents a single game between the Brewers and the Orioles in 1982 but then fills in the blanks with all kinds of historical background so that you really get a good visual of the characters and the surrounding circumstances.

I took this book to Spring Training with the vision of reading it while laying in the sun out on the grassy berm while taking in a ballgame or two.  Nope.

Instead I did the next best thing...scoring the games I went to.

That put me a week behind in my reading but eventually I got the book done.

Now it's on the this one:

Denny McLain, fascinating character.

He was talked about at length in a previous book I read Kiss It Goodbye, and that got me interested in finding out what Denny had to say about himself.

From the jacket, the book is "..typical in it's portrayal of a star destroyed by success, but atypical in that the star had a sense of humor and a lack of self-pity."

Hmmmm.  We shall see.

Dollar Pack From Dollar Tree With An Angels On Top

I went on a quick Dollar Tree run the other day on my way back home, looking to see if they had any good packs of cards like they did a few years ago when I stocked up on 2008 Timeline. But alas, it was not to be.

All they had were those dollar repacks of assorted sports cards and dollar repacks of 20 random baseball cards. You know, these:

Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

But you almost ALWAYS get junk wax.

Fortunately, this pack was clear on the reverse and I saw a Troy Glaus card peeking out at me.

Hey, a buck for AT LEAST a Troy Glaus card I don't have was worth it to me.

And again, you never know whats inside, maybe I'll get lucky.

No.

So I'll show you the top 5 cards in the pack (including the Glaus above).

1990 Fleer Tom Gordon Soaring Stars insert.

This subset is unfamiliar to me, but it's a nice 90's design.

And Tom Gordon was pretty cool.

1984 Fleer Ron Jackson

Got another Angels card in the pack!

Even though it's one I already have, it's another Angels card in the pack!

1981 Donruss Ross Baumgarten

How can you not completely dig that uniform?

1994 Fleer Ultra Jose Rijo Strikeout King insert

One of the very well done inserts from 1994 Fleer.

I didn't care so much for the base cards but the inserts were fantastic.

Worth a buck?

Yes.

Even though all the rest of the cards were 80's and 90's junk wax.

Angels Blind Trade With Card Buzz

Its a good thing to trade with a team collector that collects the same team as you do.  Card Buzz is that collector, although his interests aren't limited to just Angels.

Very surprised to get a graded card, a PSA graded Troy Glaus card.  Not sure why the 21st National - Anaheim is noted on the label.  Was this a giveaway at the National?  Was it graded AT the National?

Got any background on this one Buzz?

Nineteen new Tim Salmon cards, my favorite of the group being the one above.

The Salmon want list is still very extensive, but this lot at least puts me closer to getting all the base card out of the way.  ALthough, there are some pretty coll inserts and parallels in there as well, like the Glow Stars at the top.

Double check list check off for the 2008 Torii Hunter X-Cut card.

It counts both towards the team set and the whole 2008 Upper Deck X set as well.

Another three cards needed towards the 2012 Platinum set.

Awesome package, not a single duplicate and many cards to check off my wantlists.

Newest Editions To The Angels Pocket Schedule Family

Here's what I've picked up recently through trades mostly.  

I have other teams available if anyone wants to trade.

Trout is starting the season slowly, but I expect him to pick it up anytime now.

In 2010 the Angels hosted their third All-Star Game (1967, 1989).

On the season though they finished 3rd in the AL West.

The 2002 Traves went 51-89 in the Class AA Texas League, a year after they were the Texas League Champs.  Most notable player on this team was Francisco Rodriguez who went on to post season glory for the Angels winning the World Series.

The AAA Salt Lake Stingers won their division in the Pacific Coast League but lost in the finals.  John Lackey went from the Stingers to the Angels early in 2002 and became the first rookie to win a World Series game in nearly a century.

Couldn't find out how the Angels did in Spring training in 1991, but during the regular season they went 

81-81 finishing 7th in AL West led by Doug Rader and then Buck Rodgers.

Dave Winfield and Dave Parker were on this team.

Going 93-69 the Angels won the West in 1982 but lost in the ALCS to the Brewers.

This team was full of stars.  Reggie tied for league lead with 39 home runs.

The '79 Angels led by Jim Fregosi also won the West Division but lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS.

Don Baylor lead the league with 139 RBI.

Listia Cats And Dogs

2012 Topps Update Angels Lot Blue Parallels = 108 credits.

Mark Trumbo 2012 Topps Gold #'d 0990/2012 = 1,010 credits (I overpaid)

Jim Abbott Lot = 810 credits (only showing the cards I needed).

2012 Bowman Platinum Mark Trumbo Cutting Edge Stars Die Cut = 808 credits

1990 Gibson Team Logo Sticker = ebay for like 75 cents.

2009 Topps Nolan Ryan Commemorative Patch = 2,585 credits.

1994 Donruss Tim Salmon Spirit of the Game Jumbo #08928/10000 = 499 credits.

Polar Bear In A Snow Storm

Mark Trumbo is a big dude. 

 A big white dude.  

Like a big white polar bear.

So, when all of us went to Sears when we were kids for the annual family portrait, did they ever put you in front  of a white background?  No. Never.  It was always blue or some sort of forest scene right?  (Although common sense says that in front of a white backgound you would stand out much better...unless you were all dressed in white)  So why then would Panini put a big white polar bear guy, in a white uniform, in front of a white background?

Can you spot the Trumbo?

It doesn't help that Panini didn't have MLB licensing so they had to airbrush out the colorful team logos on the uniform.

Let's zoom in and see if we can find Mark.

I see him!

OK so I exaggerated a little but you get the idea.

I'm glad that Topps doesn't ever do lame senseless stuff like that.

DOH!