Angels We Lost in 2020

My annual tribute, from my collection, to those former Angels that passed away this year.

Julio Becquer 

Los Angeles Angels 1961

Paul Doyle

California Angels 1970, 1972

Jim Hicks

California Angels 1969-1970

Lou Johnson

Los Angeles/California Angels 1961, 1969

Jay Johnstone

California Angels 1966-1970

Bob Lee

Los Angeles/California Angels 1964-1966

Bobby Locke

California Angels 1967-1968

John McNamara Coach/Manager

California Angels 1978, 1983-1984, 1996

Bob Oliver

California Angels 1972-1974

Ron Perranoski

California Angels 1973

Jorge Rubio

California Angels 1966-1967

Claudell Washington

California Angels 1989-1990

Bobby Winkles, Coach/Manager

California Angels 1972-1974

Wally Wolf

California Angels 1969-1970

Checkin It Off - 1992 Classic Best

Complete checklist set from the great 1992 Classic Best baseball set. 

I bought an opened, but complete, factory set of these and pulled the checklists out in total.

There's a reason that card in the upper left is upside-down.

Its so the checklists flow out in order on the back. You see, that last checklist card was for the 50-card set (401-450) that didn't come in the wax packs and was only found in the factory set. Someone dropped the ball when it came to paying attention to the format of the other checklists.

Lately on Listia

Still picking off cards from Listia here and there. Here are those that I've picked up the last couple months.

1976 Dairy Isle

Always great to find a Nolan Ryan oddball.

And the seller included these 1965 Topps Angels as well!

1974 Topps #408

Signed by Ralph "Sticks" Anderson, Patriots safety 1973.

1995 Classic NFL Experience #62 Gold Parallel

There's also a Marion Butts and Ben Coates in this 110-card set that I'll need to hunt down.

1995 Summitt Football

Just one card short of the team set (Drew Bledsoe Checklist #194), not a bad start.

Swap Meet Cards

The Collector recently decided to expand on his football card collection and was asking for any takers in swapping their football cards for some wants in return. I took him up and sent him nine cards which included close to the last non-Patriots football cards I own. In return I had requested any random Patriots cards, or anything off my wantlists.

1987 Fleer Baseball's Hottest Stars #25

For some reason this card was not on my wantlist, but was a card I needed!

1993 Leaf #365

Another for the Frank Tanana player collection.

This card represents Frank's 20th, and final season in MLB. After apprearing in 29 games with the Mets, Tanana appeared in 3 games for the Yankees before calling it a career in 1993.

And rounding out the swap meet PWE with some random Patriots.

This proved to be a great way to rid myself of some of my last non-essential football cards.

Thanks for the offer.

The Best Bubble Mailer

I received a nice bubbler from The Best Bubble recently including all sorts of stuff that I like. I was trying to wrap this year up by cleaning off my desk and came across several envelopes, one of which was addressed to Bob. If I recall, I think it had maybe one card in it. I went ahead and sent it anyhow, I figured maybe Bob still needed the card. In return I got the big bubbler. Here's just a sampling of what was inside.

1978 Fleer Grand Slam

These Grand Slam stickers came in several color variations. This one is only the second of the 1978 set that I have.

Nice vintage.

The '72 rookie combo cards are right up there with some of my favorite all-time designs.

A good selection of Tim Salmon amoung a ton of other Angels cards.

Heres a couple of the better-designed info cards that were in the mailer.

And Bob sent 32 of these 2004 Diamond Collection game cards, about half of the cards I need for this set. Way to knock a good chunk of these out in one blow.

Todays TTM Return From Paul Bilak

I was sorting through some old Angels minor league cards recently and came across a card of the trainer for the Palm Springs Angels from 85-86, Paul Bilak. On a whim I did a search to see if it was possible to contact him for an autograph of the card. I eventually found him, he responded to my inquiries, and gladly accepted my request for an autograph.

1986 ProCards

When he agreed, it was then that he let me know that he now lived in Austria!

I was not deterred however, because I always love getting autographs of anyone associated with the Angels in any capacity, and a one-time trainer for one of thier minor league teams is right up my alley.

Paul was super nice and thoughtfully answered my questions as well. Paul has done a lot of good in his life, and I'm proud to add his autograph to my collection of Angels.

Can Sum-Body TESTIFY?!

I finalized an autograph trade recently with Bill, the prolific TTM blogger at Bravestarr Cards. Bill had some signed versions of a specific-style testimony card (or Bible card) that I collect. This is the style:

Solid color border, simple block name in the lower right corner.

In addition to the card above, Bill sent four more:

With Bill's five, I now have 17 different cards:

A few players have multiple versions of the card, like Bill Wegman above with red and blue versions. I have seen at least several of these from players like Mitch Webster, Rex Hudler, and Andy Van Slyke.

If anyone has any for trade, please let me know.

Completed Angels Set - 1990 Topps Big

I recently completed this set, or should I say "purchased" this set, since I plunked down a buck on ebay to get it. I already had two of the cards but figured this was the easiest way to check this team set off. For years I was no fan of the three "Big" sets, except for the Team USA cards in the '89 set which I consider fantastic. Over the years though these sets have grown on me and now I am actually kinda fond of them. 

This 1990 design leans toward being my favorite of the three, although they are all really catchy designs.

The cards were issued in three separate series, with series three cards being more scarce, making team set building that much more difficult and more expensive. The three different series are denoted by the different color backgrounds of the cards.

There were thirteen Angels spread across the three series. The only change I would have made was to have included a Bryan Harvey card.

Backs are fun and colorful. The Angels had some very interesting middle names.

One Page of Roland Hemond

 This series will highlight "one page" at a time from my binder of correspondence and autographs from former Angels and Patriots players and personnel.

   Roland Hemond, Scouting and Farm Director, Los Angeles/California Angels 1961-1970.

Correspondence received September, 2005.

As executive

Milwaukee Braves (1952–1960)

California Angels (1961–1970)

Chicago White Sox (2001–2007)

Arizona Diamondbacks (1996–2000, 2007–2017)

As general manager

Chicago White Sox (1970–1985)

Baltimore Orioles (1988–1995)

No Issues With THESE Paper Ballots

I'm not gonna talk about the recent election, if you want to call it that. Instead I'm gonna talk about a different kind of ballot.

The Collector recently sent me a couple All-Star ballots in the mail. Remember paper All-Star ballots? I do, and I loved them, and I still collect them when I can. Remember how exciting it was to be sitting at a ballgame and see the usher making his way up the steps to hand your row a stack of ballots for you to then take one and pass down? Then you'd do your best to poke out the holes for only the guys that were on YOUR team. Well MLB squashed those good times by discontinuing paper ballots in 2015. A sorry move, still to this day. Anyhow, Chris had a few that he sent my way, and I was stoked to get them.

1997 Cleveland #101M

2007 San Francisco #134

The artwork on these really became stunning the last decade or so. You might remember how they started out basically as bland punch cards.

You might be wondering what the ballot number means. Different regions had different advertisers/sponsors on the ballot (Pepsi/Frito-Lay/Quaker on this one), so each version had a different number to differentiate that. For example, this if my fourth different version for the 2007 ballot.

Its just not the same having to log in and check a bunch of boxes on line these days.

Sad.

Let's Taco 'Bout This Trade

 Remember The Astrodome sent me a package of cards recently. In a previous post I highlighted the Allen & Ginters code card he included. Now, here's some of the rest.

Thats the card the Marc included in the package. How did he know that I love tacos? Probably didn't. But I do. Funny thing though; I do crosswords and whenever "taco" is the answer, the clue mentions it as a "snack". I've always seen tacos as a meal, and eat them like a meal.

The cards came in this Mike Trout adorned 2018 Gypsy Queen box, which I have already broken down to stored away. Yes, its a keeper.

Here's just a few from the big stack of cards Marc sent over.

2018 Topps Fire Orange #131, 047/299

2017 Gypsy Queen Purple #285, 186/250

2004 Fleer Ultra Season Crowns Platinum #99

TCDB says that this should be numbered to /25, but I see no numbering on the back. Hmmm. Maybe a printing error?

When I saw this I thought ooh, what special card did Marc put in here? And I wondered what card came out of it that he kept.

Yesssss! He probably didn't keep the card after all, he pulled this one and sent it to me!

All good stuff Marc, and thanks for all the other great Angels stuff you sent.