Dale Murphy - Long Time Coming

Wow.

The Great Dale Murphy, a favorite of my youth, signed his 1980 Topps and 2004 Fleer Greats cards in, get this 2,568 days.

I mailed these to his home in Alpine, Utah on October 20, 2006.

Good things come to those who wait.

Completed Angels Team Set - 1977-1979 Sportscasters

Recently acquired the final card to this Angels team set.

21-05 Joe Rudi - Underrated Star

As Joe pops up a sky rocket, he ponders his future as an underrated star.

The ball never came down.

23-04 Nolan Ryan "Ryans Express"

Loosely based on the movie Von Ryans Express starring Frank Sinatra.

VERY loosely.

25-18 Frank Tanana - Irreverent Angel

Looks like Frank is having a casual game of catch, until you feel the heat of his fastball blow past your face.

35-02 Infield Fly Rule - Unique and Necessary

(Jerry Remy)

Fine example for the kiddies on the use of the two-handed catch.

What's the ump looking at?

55-03 Lyman Bostock - A Tragic End

Look at his stats, he was ready to take off and be one of the best.

81-19 Bobby Bonds - Travelin' Man

Barrys dad hit 47 HRs during his 2 years with the Angels.

If you haven't read "Love Me, Hate Me" by Jeff Pearlman I highly recommend it.

Give good insight to the Bonds family.

James Louis Fregosi And Kevin Scot Flora

Angels Great Jim Fregosi has signed a lot of stuff for me over the years, he's great TTM, and didn't disappoint by signing his 1978 TCMA, 1968 Topps Deckle, and 1968 Topps Game cards in 17 days from his home in Florida.

Kevin Scot Flora (yes only one "t" in Scot) signed his 1992 Skybox, 1992 ProCards, and 1988 Grand Slam in 19 days from Mission Viejo, CA.

Flora played in the Angels system from 1987 to 1995 making it up to the big club in 1991 and 1995, and also with the Phillies in 1995 after he was traded with Russ Springer for Dave Gallagher.

He then was in the Mets system in 1996 and the Astros in 1997.

Cards That The Cat Dragged In

The Prowling Cat sent a package recently with a note inside that said he was at a card show, thought about me and picked up a few cards he thought I could use.  Is that cool or what?

2001 Topps Stars.

Man this is a beautiful card.

The team set is pretty small, so getting the variations as well for the complete team set shouldn't be too hard.

Trio of 1982 Donruss.

One of my favorite Donruss designs.

2013 Pinnacle.

Outside of a few packs of Topps, I haven't purchased any other card packs this year so these are a welcomed addition.

And an autographed Harold Reynolds 1994 Leaf!

Sweet!

Reynolds is a tough autograph, and one I needed for my All-Time Angels set.

Thanks again for thinking of me Cat.

Completed Angels Team Set - 1991 Bowman

Thanks to Swing and a Pop Up for providing the last cards I needed to complete this set.

TTMs and Jim Saul Gives It 3 Shots

Caleb Cowart took 252 days to sign these two cards sent to Spring Training this year.

Not sure if he's cleaning out his athletic bag from the season, or back in Tempe for the Fall League.

Glad to get these either way.

Dave Patterson added his name to this 1980 Topps already signed by Joe Beckwith.

Dave answered a few questions:

Q. What obstacles did you need to overcome in your baseball career?

A. "Not being a super-hard thrower or a bonus baby so I had to go the extra mile.

I did not drink, smoke, or cheat on my wife but it was rampant around me, so I had to cling to God."

Q. Were you known for anything in particular?

A. "Not really - I did look alot like Ron Howard in our earlier days."

I love it!

8 days from his home in Raytown, MO.

Chad McConnell signed this 1993 Upper Deck, 1992 Upper Deck Minors, and 1993 Topps Traded in 122 days from Harrisburg, PA.

Ex Pats QB Matt Cavanaugh is now the Quarterbacks Coach with the Bears and signed this 1980 Topps through them in 40 days.

Jim Saul, Jim Saul, Jim Saul signed this card 3 times. 

I'm figuring he signed the back first, then had second thoughts.

He then signed in the upper left front but messed up the J in Jim.

He then settled down and took his time neatly signing his name across his chest.

1980 TCMA in 8 days from Bristol, VA.

That's whats so great about TTMs, you never know what you'll get back!

These Are From Listia, Not From My Sistia

My sister don't collect no Angels cards.

But I do.

Been getting some from Listia.

Lot of 19 2013 Topps Minis (18 out of 27 base cards) for the Angels team set.

 Then I added this one from another auction:

That leaves with finding the missing 8 to complete the set:

200 Downs

266 Pujols

338 Trout

350 Pujols

489 Aybar

494 Callaspo

536 Trout

639 Hamilton

That dang Trout and Pujols!

1994 Collectors Choice #251 Silver Signature

Ah, finally a decent reason for a silver signature parallel card.

1993 Duracell Series II #16

Another oddball set I've never seen before.

2001 Topps Chrome T120 1986 Traded Reprint

2010 Topps Chrome #155 Orange Refractor

1992 Donruss Diamond Kings 

DK-26 Luis Polonia for the Angels set and

DK-8 Wally Joyner for the Joyner collection.

1966 Topps Boston Patriots

Won these in three separate auction with some serious bidding going on.

Cashed in a ton of credits on these three cards but they sure are nice.

Won a 9-card Angels lot but only needed these 3 cards.

To be honest with you, I didn't know who Wade Hinkle was until this years card sets came out.

He's all over them.

Hinkle was a late round 2012 draftee, and is a highly touted Angels 1B prospect.

My First Japanese Angels

A reader named Kenny reached out and asked if I'd be interested in some Sega Japanese cards he had of some Angels.  We corresponded a bit since I didn't know what these cards were, and struck up a trade. Kenny collects Yankees so I sent him a stack and he sent the Japanese cards along with some other Angels cards.

Here's the first Japanese one:

2006 Konami Digital Entertainment

No idea what this is or how it was released.

Looks like a typical game-type card, Pokeman-ish.

Cute Japanese animation on the back.

I'm assuming that's Jarrod Washburn on the mound for the Mariners.

Then there were these cool Sega-Gens,

I don't know anything about these.

2012 Topps Sega Card-Gen

Different.

Nice looking cards.

Kenny was kind enough to write out the translations on the 4 cards above.

If anyone is curious I'll send you a scan.

Anyhow, pretty cool to get some Japanese cards, my first.

Done With That One, Now On To This One - Jackie Robinson

Finished book 2 of a 3 part series on American history.

From Sea to Shining Sea is an overview on American history from 1787 to 1837, with an emphasis on our nations Christian heritage and how our future was threatened by greed, pride, and self-righteousness.

Book 1, The Light and the Glory went from 1492 to 1793.

Excellent reading for any history buff.

But now it's time to change the pace and read something baseball again.

We finally saw "42" the movie about Jackie Robinson.  

Great movie.

I had started reading Robinson's autobiography a few years ago but put it down shortly after I started.

I can't remember why.

Seeing the moving renewed my interest in it, and so far I'm engrossed.

I think seeing the moving gave me a better perspective on what he had to endure.

Robinson wrote this book in 1972.

Some SASE's For Me

1967 Topps in 24 days Key Biscayne, FL.

Note the bottom of the card.

Is that a trace of 1968 Topps baseball I see?

1968 Topps football didn't have that brown pattern.

Interesting.

1992 Topps traded, 1994 Topps, and a 1994 Upper Deck Minor League

107 days Tampa, FL

2012 Topps 238 days Nationals ST.

Completed Angels Team Set - 1991 Ultra

Base set complete.  

Only 12 cards for the Angels in this 400 card inaugural set for Ultra.

The last two rows are the update set and apparently I'm one card short, that being U9 Dave Gallagher.

Dunno how that happened.

Thanks to Laurens at Card Buzz for his help in completing this team (base) set.

I Swore That I Never Would

Never would I buy a Fairfield, or any other brand of, repack.

Because I know whats in them...NBJ Nothing But Junk.

A new Five Below opened up in the area so I swung by to see what it was all about.

A little bit of everything, like a tad nicer 99 Cent Store in California, where I'm originally from.

I went in looking to see if they had 2 things: Hot Wheels and baseball cards.  They had both.

And when I got to the baseball cards the clouds parted and there he was...do you see him?

NO, not the pot smoker.

Tim Salmon, Top Card!

And a Tim Salmon I needed.

So I thought, "How can I NOT get this?

So I did.

And the rest of the package below Mr Salmon and The Freak?

NBJ Man, NBJ!

The ONLY cards worth even remotely mentioning are these

1991 Upper Deck Chipper Jones Rookie 

(got a handful already)

1989 Topps All-Star Willie Stargell

5th tier subset I pick up here and there.

Never again!