Patriot Len St. Jean TTM

Patriot Great Len "Boston Strong Boy" St. Jean signed these 1970 and 1972 Topps cards in just 8 days from his home in Stoughton, MA.

St. Jean played for the Boston/New England Patriots from 1964-1973.

I asked Mr. St. Jean what he enjoyed most about playing for the Patriots.

"The fans and my teammates, plus I love the City of Boston."

His whole career was with the Pats and I think he was a fan favorite.

He was named to the Boston Patriots 1960s All-Decade Team.

I asked what impact his football career had on his health.

"It took a serious toll."

He was once considered one of the strongest offensive linemen in pro football.

I imagine these guys wake up sore everyday, always in pain.

I wondered how he spent his time now.

"Volunteer work for the Patriots, etc."

But after all that he still gives back.

What a great guy.

Junior Angels

I may have used that post title in the past, but I'm gonna run with it anyway.

I was a Junior Angel in the 70's.  You know how it works: pay 5 bucks and get a bunch of free tickets and cool stuff.

Still have a Junior Angel Membership Card somewhere.

Most teams still have similar offers for kids and families.

I think it's great.

Anyhow, a handful of Angels came from Junior Junkie (see the pun?), he's been enveloping the blog world lately, seen lots of posts of his mailings.  All good stuff, these Angels included.

1995 Dennys Hologram

Tried 3 times to get the hologram to pop out in the scan, it wouldn't.

That's a shame too because it's a really sweet card in real life.

1998 Topps Gold Label

This bad boy scanned just fine.

The Gold Label cards are very appealing cards, I just don't get the Class setup, which I noted in a previous post about a team set recently finished.

1996 Upper Deck Future Stock Prospects

I didn't scan it but the statistics on the back of card show George NOT playing more than playing.

Something like this:

Minor League Experience

91 - DID NOT PLAY IN MINOR LEAGUES

92 - DID NOT PLAY IN MINOR LEAGUES

93 - (statistics line)

94 - (statistics line)

95 - (statistics line)

Major League Experience

94 - DID NOT PLAY IN MAJOR LEAGUES

95 - DID NOT PLAY IN MAJOR LEAGUES

0-YEAR TOTALS - NO MAJOR LEAGUE EXPERIENCE

So I have to assume that in 94-95 he was on the Major League team but he didn't get to play.

Just makes for a not pretty statistic table.

1992 Studio

Four down two to go for the team set.

Is it necessary to label the checklist card "Checklist" when it obviously is a checklist?

2014 Stadium Club

Ah CJ Cron.

CJ Cron is going to do big things in 2015, I can feel it.

But he kinda looks like John Lackey and that bother me.

Thanks Junior.

Completed Angels Team Set - 1993 Flair

Another of those mid-90's "super premium" card sets that I never bought at the time and took a long time to finally appreciate.

300-card set contains 10 Angels.

JT snow is the sole rookie card.

Pretty sure that's a Spring Training shot on Scott Sandersons card.

Looks like Tempe Diablo Stadium in the background.

Two more Angels rookies were found in the only insert set for 1993 Flair, the Southern California appropriate Wave of the Future 20-card set.

These two had pretty nice careers.

So Long, Ray

Ray Sadecki passed away on November 17th from complications of blood cancer.

He was a young 73.

He was a very good pitcher over 18 seasons for the Cardinals, Giants, Mets, Braves, Royals and Brewers.

Sadecki helped the Cardinals beat the Yankees in the 1964 World Series, after winning 20 games for them during the season.

He was also a great signer of autographs through the mail.

Ray signed 3 cards for me back in 2010, returning them in 8 days, which was about his standard.

He was also very kind to answer a few personal questions for me.

A genuinely nice guy, Ray Sadecki.

Patriots 1991 Action Packed Team Set

It's always nice to knock out a team set in one sitting.  Take this 1991 Action Packed Patriots team set.  Knocked it out on Listia in one bid.  I was the only bid.  I like that a lot.

I have the cards in my hand, and after putting them into numerical order, I turned them over face up to put them in the 9-pocket page but noticed that some of the cards were upside down.

Whu?

I proceeded to put them in the 9-pocket page but obviously put them in heads-up.

Then turning over the page I saw, you guessed it, this:

Again, Whu?

That's just dumb if you ask me.

 I applied a little logic and saw that looking at the front of the cards all the cards with the "backwards" gold foil "L" are the same cards that you would have to rotate counter-clockwise to read the backs.

Go figure.

So I ask again of a card's design, "What the hell is the point of that?"

You Gotta Play Closer Attention

Plowing through Listia, hitting up my key searches fast and furious, because time on the PC is limited with 5 others in the family wanting to use the computer.  It's my computer, I bought it, but I'm always having to ask to use it.  Crazy.  So I make quick hits, add them to my watchlist, and more often than not make a last minute bid to win something.  Can't tell you how many cards I've missed out on because I didn't get computer time.

Recently I won this 3-card lot of 1980 Fleer Team Action Patriots cards:

...only if you look closely like I did after I opened the envelope, you'll see that only one card is a Patriots card.  I thought I got jipped, so I went back to check the auction.

It was then that I said to myself, "You gotta pay closer attention Man."

I'm happy with the single Pats card, although there is a second one from the set I'll now need, and a sticker as well.

Here are some more Listia wins, but I paid closer attention to these.

1994 Mothers 4 of 4

Down to 2 needed for the 1994 Mothers Tim Salmon ROY set.

I wonder if one of those pictures Tim holding a salmon?

Not!

2014 Topps Chrome XFractor

Something good has happened to my scanner, I don't know how it happened, but it sure scans xfractors so much better now.

2013 Topps Chrome Connections

Chrome still doesn't scan so great, but xfractors....dang!

This has got to be one of the craziest die-cuts in my collection.

Not as whacked out as 1996 Topps Lasers, but pretty close with all those sharp edges that need some serious deburring.

Kevin Morton Silver Penned TTM

What possesses a player to use a silver paint pen to sign cards?

27 days from his home in Norwalk, CT

Completed Angels Team Set - 2000 Topps Gold Label

Beautiful cards, Super Premium cards they used to call these. Probably 5 bucks for a pack of 5 cards. But this is one of those sets whose numbering and parallels get too confusing for me.
I'm a simpleton.

Two players represent the Angels in this 100 card set.

Both players have 3 different cards, each in a different "Class".

You can tell the Class by the action picture in the background photo: Hitters hitting, hitting fielding, hitters running or pitchers in start of windup, pitchers in throwing motion, pitchers in follow through.

The player photo in the lower right remains the same.

I'm so glad the Angels didn't have any pitchers in this set.

I would have gone bonkers.

If that caused you to blow a gasket, Topps made it easy by printing the Class on the back underneath the team logo.

See it there in 4 font?

But the three backs are all the same.

So the ONLY difference is the background photo on the front.

And get this, No Class is more scarce than the other.

So a Class 3 isn't any harder to find than a Class 1.

So let me ask you this?

What the hell is the point of the 3 different Classes per player?

Another Topps conspiracy against team and set collectors that's what ;-)

New Set Collection - 2009 Upper Deck

Scott Crawford and I were working out a trade a month or so back, and he mentioned a couple of sets he was targeting to start working, and a couple sets he was targeting but might avoid since they are massive sets, the 2009 Upper Deck set being one of them.

I knew that I had a ton of 2009 Upper Deck already, so being the fool that I am I went to see just how many.  I found I had a lot, enough to convince myself to start the set, all 1,006 base cards worth.  I think Scott finally decided to start it as well.  Maybe I convinced him as a trade partner, maybe not.  I hope he won't blame me for it when he's elbow deep and can't handle it anymore!

I think I was initially drawn to the 2009 set because of it somewhat resembles my favorite Upper Deck set, the 1991 issue.  I completed that set last year (but have yet to post about the completion).

So after making a couple of contacts, I got two big chunks of what I needed in trades with ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession and with  "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog.  Much thanks. Then I hit my LCS and got a third chunk of cards cheap.  That puts me within striking distance and leaves me with the following need lists:

Base (Series 1 and 2) 8,27,28,45,84,90,93,99,135,153,198,213,227,237,255,256,260,272,277,284,290,
304,323,325,333,343,363,372,377,378,379,402,404,405,406,412,415,417,418,
421,422,424,428,436,439,446,451,453,462,463,469,479,485,488,507,514,
519,524,526,537,543,544,546,551,572,575,576,579,594,598,606,609,621,623,
631,633,638,639,665,673,680,693, 696,726,738,739,740,745,757,760,762,766,
776,780,785,789,791,793,795,807,835,844,846,847,853,855,866,868,869,872,
878,885,898,907,917,918,919,923,925,934,936,942,949,950,965,969,972,
990,1001,1003,1004,1005,1006.

I'll be working on the 50-card Update set as well.

Update
U1,2,6,7,9,10,13,14,15,16,18,20,21,23,24,27,28,29,30,32,34,35,36,37,38,
41,42,43,48,49,50.

And I chose a few of the insert sets also.  There are a guzillion of them, most notable Yankee Stadium Legacy, which I won't even consider touching.  

I have a fondness for Team USA cards and was thrilled to see that 2009 Upper Deck included 3 different subsets:

18U National Team (From Series 1)
18U-AA, CG, CT, DN, HM, JM, JT, ME, MP, MS, RW, WH.

Retrospective (From Series 1)
USA-1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.

USA National Team (From Series 2)
USAB-AG, AO, BS, CC, DD, JF, KD, KG, KV, MD, MG, RJ, RL, SS, SW, TL, TM, JC.

Since 1,006 Base + 50 Update + 18 18U + 14 Retrospective + 22 National Team cards aren't enough, I also would like to try to get the 50-card Generation Now inserts.

Generation Now (From Update)
GN1, GN5, GN6, GN9, GN12, GN13, GN15, GN16, GN18, GN19, GN20,
GN21, GN22, GN26, GN27, GN29, GN30, GN33, GN35, GN36, GN40, GN41,
GN42, GN43, GN44, GN47, GN48, GN49, GN50

Crazy I know.  But I like having goals, and I think I can complete this one.

Needs are also listed under the tab "Other Baseball Set Wantlists" above.

Any help appreciated.

Wally Joyner For The Asking

Recently the Prowling Cat put out a call for same card sets he was offering up to anyone who wanted them.  I bit on the 1993 Hostess set because it had a Wally Joyner card in it.  Zenus mentioned he had an extra single of the card, so instead of breaking up the set, I went with the single.  Nice offer.

1993 Hostess 

Funny thing about this Joyner card is that at first I thought I already had it.

I do that often.

It's a good thing though that I am relatively organized with my Angels collection.

In this case I can just go to my Players binder, find the Wally Joyner section and thumb through it to see if I have the card in there.

I didn't, and that's when I ran back to my computer to add the comment that I'd like the card.

2011 Bowman International

As an added bonus, Zenus threw this card in as well.

This one took me a while to figure out.

Is the background map where he was born?

Yes, back of the card says Winter Haven.

Okay, I see Winter Haven, but whats the white dot up by Winter Garden?

Is that where he lives or something?

Hmmm.

Hmmmm.

Oh, that's the baseball he's throwing dummy.

Good cards.

Lou Pote And That's All She Wrote

I needed Lou Pote.

I needed him for the All-Time Angels Collection.

I made a trade on SCN for a Lou Pote card.

Long story short, I didn't belive that what I received in trade was an actual Lou Pote autographed card.

So I did my research and I contacted Lou myself.

He said sure thing, send him some cards. 

So I did.

Got these back in about 18 days from his workplace in Canada.

Lou was awesome enough to thoughtfully answer some questions too.

Is that great or what?

Great guy that Lou Pote.

Was Ionix Worth It?

I won this pack of 1999 Upper Deck Ionics on Listia for a measly 672 credits with free shipping.

It wasn't until I opened the envelope it came in that I noticed how much a pack of these cost retail.

Wow, $4.99 for a pack of 4 cards.

I can say with certainty that I never bought a pack of these in 1999.

What was the draw?

Ionix Technology?

Whatever that is.

HoloGrFX inserts were hard to come by (1:1500) but would you really pay 5 bucks for a chance to pull a HoloGrFX out of a pack of only 4 cards?

I don't think so.

So here is your Ionix Technology that's so expensive.

Sorry, I just dont see it.

Hadn't we seen foil-type cards already?

I'm sure we had already seen glossy cards as well.

Topps Tiffany had been around since the 80's.

Nitro Insert (1:18) N9

Beefed up Mark McGwire

So honestly I want to know. 

Anyone out there really go gangbusters on these back in that day?