Checkin' It Off - 1974 Topps

Completed the 5-card checklist set for 1974 Topps, and the 1-card checklist for 1974 Topps Traded.

 1974 was the first year Topps cards weren't issued in series, but instead all at once at the beginning of the season. The 1974 set contained 660 cards.

The dark green backs and small font make the names a bit hard to see.

Card #414 Checklist 397-528 is valued a bit higher than the other checklists. The only real big name is Harmon Killebrew, maybe that's why?

Also interesting that the trademark is in two different locations on the bottom.

Single, unnumbered checklist card for the Traded set.

Odd in that the cards in the traded set correspond to the players card in the regular set, therefore they are not numbered sequentially: there's no 1, 2, 3.... in the 43-card set. It all depended on the card number from the regular set.

No big names being traded in 1974, however we can see that Aurelio Monteagudo went from the Angels to the Phillies.

Found At My Local HPB

I love having a Half Price Books nearby, I usually stop in about once a week. Scored a couple old Sports Illustrated on a recent trip. And all magazines are just a buck.

Sports Illustrated March 15, 1982

Stoked to get this one as I'm working on getting all the Angels covers, and this was one I needed.

It's in really nice shape too, "gently read" if you will.

Here's all the Angels covers, I still need to find the following in red:

May 1971 Jim Fregosi "Oakland Takes Over The West"

July 1971 Alex Johnson "Fallen Angel"

June 1975 Nolan Ryan "The Great Nolan Ryan"

April 1977 Jor Rudi "The Free Agents"

July 1979 Nolan Ryan "How Close It Was"

March 1982 Reggie Jackson "Hark the Heralded Angel Swings"

June 1983 Rod Carew ".400!"

October 1986 Grich/DeCinces "The Comeback Playoffs"

November 2002 John Lackey/Team "Answered Prayers"

December 2002 Angels Insert Photo "Stories of the Year"

February 2003 Mike Scioscia/Team "Baseball Sweet Baseball"

March 2012 Albert Pujols "Power Shift"

February 2012 Mike Trout "Supernatural"

March 2014 Mike Trout "Powered Up"

May 2014 Mike Trout "The Best Beyond the Shadow of a Trout"

March 2017 Mike Trout "MLB Preview"

March 2018 Mike Trout/Shohei Ohtani "MVP"

Sports Illustrated August 9, 1982

Also picked up this sweet Dale Murphy cover.

I've always been a Murphy fan, and even toyed with the idea of adding him to my Player Collections.

Not ready to make that commitment yet though.

I picked it up with the intent of getting it signed TTM, but according to SCN it appears he doesn't sign as reliably as he used to, so I probably wont send it through the mail.

Found Another Trout Wrapper

A keen eye (mine) spotted a new Trout wrapper that I haven't seen before. Since I have to have it for the Trout Wrapper Collection, we might as well see whats inside too. But lets look closer at the wrapper first:

12-card Hanger (Target)

The other hanger packs I picked up previously were 36-card packs.

The cards inside were very unimpressive.

I'm wondering if Walmart has this 12-count hanger pack with some sort of special markings.

Now I'll have to see if I can scrounge up the different Hobby packs.

It's What's Inside That Counts

My sister visits a few times a year and she always brings us stuff when she does. She knows I like baseball and aviation so she usually brings me related stuff that she's found at thrift stores and such. Recently she brought me this vintage kids baseball chapter book.

1956 First Edition

Cool vintage book, but the real goodies were inside, and I didn't discover them until after she left.

An opened pack of 2017 National Baseball Card Day, Angels cards.

I'm assuming these cards were distributed regionally, and since she lives in Southern Cal...the Angels!

I'm also assuming that she's the one that put these in the book and not that they were overlooked by the person that donated the book in the first place.

The card numbers are ANG-3, ANG-5, ANG-7, and ANG-8 which indicates they were the stadium give-away (4-card pack + info card) and not the card shop give-away. The Angels team set is a set of 10 cards, the packs being given out on Aug 16, 2017. 

Back to the book:

Basically, Little Billy is running around town finding or borrowing baseball memorabilia for the annual Hobbies Display at school. Didn't read to find out if he ever returned the items or if he hawked them on ebay.

June Affordable Group Break Results

Cardboard Collections held the monthly group break recently (recently when I wrote this post, but not by the time I finally post this), and after originally passing on the June break, I decided better. By then the second team had already been randomized, but no packs had been busted yet, so Colbey let me jump in and buy the Angels slot at the last minute (otherwise it would have been his, along with like 8 other teams no one claimed). I also ended up with the Mariners, nothing fancy to show there, so those will go into the trade box.

Happy though with the Angels I received.

2003 Upper Deck Forty Man

Pretty sure I needed just about every one of these cards. Interesting that there were no dupes pulled.

 2002 Upper Deck Diamond Collection

Didn't fare as well as I had hoped, but still two cards I needed.

Can't recall which box these came out of but happy to get an example of each of the info or "dummy" cards. You know by now that I collect these stupid cards.

BONUS PACKS

Just a few Angels pulled out of the bonus packs.

Good stuff, looking forward to another Affordable Group Break in the future.

Time Traveling For A Checklist

I recently participated in Diamond Jesters Time Travel Trading and came away with a sweet 1966 Topps checklist card. The idea is to trade something older in return as he's trying to see how old of a card he can eventually end up with. I sent him a 1956 Topps, you can see it in the link.

A beautiful thing is an unmarked vintage checklist.

I found it even more beautiful when I turned the card over:

Fits nicely in my Baseball Cards #444 Collection!

This is actually card #444b "456 Red Sox Rookies"

as opposed to #444a "456 R. Sox Rookies"

So amble over to Diamond Jesters and trade up for some cool cards.

A One-Carder From All Cardinals

Trade Post From All Cardinals All The Time

Has the Ohtani hype slowed down now that he’s been on the DL? You heard about that right? Ohtani suffered a UCL sprain in his pitching elbow at the start of June.  Potentially he could still hit, so Scioscia considered still using him in the DH spot. Well, he's back now, and his hitting is right where he left off; however, he might not pitch again this year.

Still, most folks are hanging onto their Ohtani cards, maybe thinking they have a goldmine, hoping Ohtani fully comes back and still has massive success and his cards skyrocket like Trout’s rookie card. 

Not Ray though. He offered his Ohtani up because Ohtani doesn’t play for the Cardinals; therefore, Ohtani doesn’t fit his collection. Simple.

My reason for desiring the card is equally as simple: Ohtani is an Angel, and I’m an Angels team collector. Value doesn’t matter in this case, actually it counts against me, making it harder to complete team sets that have an Ohtani (or Trout) in them. And there’s another reason: I’ve been striking out big-time on pulling any Ohtani cards, and the gross lack of product in my area makes it even tougher. So, fortunately, when Ray put his card up for dibs, I was able to be the first to respond.

Not a fancy chrome refractor, or purple parallel or anything like that, but still a sweet Ohtani that I didn’t have, and truthfully, didn’t think I’d ever have. So thanks for offering it up Ray. Very much appreciated.

June Listia Winnings

Had a good month on Listia, a nice variety of goodies won in June.

1982 Topps Stickers #41

1986 Fleer #310

1983 Donruss Checklist #339-442

1991 Topps Match The Stats Game Card

Odd combination. They probably thought the Joe Carter card was the draw, but for me it was the game card.

1964 Topps High Number #554

1960 Topps #212

1960 Topps #166

One of only two non-Angels teams sets I'm working; 1954 Bowman Brooklyn Dodgers is the other

2004 Leaf Certified Materials #65

2002 Topps Opening Day #70

2002 Topps #100

1991 Studio #136

A little rough, but it will serve as a filler until I find a better copy.

1998 Topps #5

1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack Hot Shots #18

The Ralph Santana autograph was a GIN bonus.

1972 Topps Checklist #251a "Small Print"

That's it for June.