One Page of Jay Johnstone

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

   Jay Johnstone OF California Angels 1966-1970.

Signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent, June 1963.

California Angels (1966–1970)

Chicago White Sox (1971–1972)

Oakland Athletics (1973)

Philadelphia Phillies (1974–1978)

New York Yankees (1978–1979)

San Diego Padres (1979)

Los Angeles Dodgers (1980–1982)

Chicago Cubs (1982–1984)

Los Angeles Dodgers (1985)

Correspondence received December 2006 via Sporthings & More.

Johnstone passed away September 26, 2020 at the age of 74.

Coming From Behind

When I was in high school, I ran the high and low hurdles. In the low's there was always a guy that was faster than me, Joel, I could never catch him. In the last meet of the season, I had the best race of my life. Coming out of the turn with about 50 yards to go, I found myself catching up to, and nosing out, that thorn in my side Joel. I came from behind to finally beat him. Sweet victory.

I haven't collected much in the last few years, fallen behind a bit, and this trade from Red Sox Fan in Nebraska certainly helps me towards getting caught up.

2022 Topps Jersey Number Medallion JNM-MT

Stoked to get this, very generous, but kinda perplexed by what it is. I hate to use the word "just" since it is a tough pull, Mike Trout insert, but is it just a rubbery jersey number card?

Oh Topps.

Here are the rest of the fat package of Angels cards Brad sent;

Wow. I feel like I'm catching up to Joel all over again.

TCDB Completed Transactions #5 and #6

The fifth TCDB transaction comes from kcjays who reached out to me offering this card:

What he asked for in return was for world peace, or for me to continue blogging. I couldn't deliver on the world peace, but I can definitely keep blogging. After seeking some confirmation, he assured me no strings attached. I was kind of taken aback, but not surprised, because that's the kind of community this is. Generous.

And I really appreciate it.

Transaction six comes from stevienicks77, also known as LV's TTM Autographs and Baseball Cards.

You'd think I already had a bunch of the 88T Buice cards, and I do, but I'm wanting a full 9-pocket page of them since it's one of my favorite Angels cards. I only need one other now.

The checklist card I pulled from my Checklist binder to include with the Angels team set a while back, so I needed to replace it.

Junk Mall Junk Wax Wednesday

Ripping a random pack of junk wax from the Local Junk Mall (LJM).

Thirteen cards with a chance to pull a The Cycle insert, and a Gold Rush parallel.

Challenge: Has anyone ever tried to figure out who the four players are on the pack?

What I like about this pack:

The blue border has grown on me over the years.

I pulled an Angels card.

What I don't like about this pack:

The older the packs get, the more the cards stick together.

 

Favorite From The Pack:

Once you've seen how Franco threatens the pitcher with the barrel of his bat, you'll never forget it.

Gold Rush Insert:

These are pretty cool in real life, and I'm glad they put the Gold Rush logo on the back as well.

Nolan Ryan Binder Tour - Advil Ad

Various clippings and odd keepsakes found in my Nolan Ryan Binder.

1997 Advil Advertisement

Basically, the same ad as the 1996 shown previously (like a couple years ago, it's been a while since I've visited this topic), except this time Ryan is smiling.

Saving fifty cents in 1997 was a big deal.

I remember eagerly awaiting the Sunday advertisements back then, hoping to find a Ryan ad.

TCDB Completed Transaction #4

 A quick and simple 3-for-3 trade with MViP.

Picking off cards here and there.

TCDB Completed Transaction #3

Chad (ccook) was my first contact for a trade on TCDB and was nice enough to walk me through the process since it was new to me. He even proposed a counter-offer so I could experience that for the first time.

His counter-offer included an additional 11 stamps to the four I had proposed. In the initial 4 for 4 trade, I was sending him a couple of Pete Rose stamps and he felt they were worth some additional stamps. He also offered to send a stamp book (I already have one) and a couple of all-star ballots (again, already had), but man, how generous.

Thanks to that generosity I'm just a handful away to completing this set.

Chad suggested that I quit my day job as trading on TCDB will keep me busy enough. And how!

Much appreciated.

Junk Mall Junk Wax Wednesday

 Ripping a random pack of junk wax from the Local Junk Mall (LJM).

Hard to believe this was once considered "Premium Quality".

Twelve cards per pack, with the chance of pulling a foil-stamped Heritage Series card.

What I like about this pack:

Black and white player action photos are good.

What I don't like about this pack:

Portraits are a little too dark, and I'm not a big fan of players in their street clothes.

Favorite(s) From The Pack:

          

 "Tanana and Ryan and two days of cryin."
Rare occurrence when you (or this Angels fan) pull a Ryan and Tanana from the same pack!

TCDB Completed Transaction #2

I can get used to this.

Received a TCDB trade envelope today from jbozovsky.

Witt is the last card needed to complete my 1983 Topps base set. Still working on the Traded set.

Jeff included a bunch of extras that weren't a part of the trade. That's always a nice surprise.

Love it when I get mail with old stamps. A long time ago, when I first started into TTM autographs, and then when I started trading cards, I used my old stamp collection for postage. Saved me a ton of money. So now I really appreciate it when someone uses old postage to send me something.

TCDB Completed Transaction #1

Yep, I did it.

I started trading on TCDB. Been a member for a while, but finally started loading my collection. I completed my first TCDB transaction today, and these cards came from non-other than Bo!

Bo was actually third in the queue of trades I've initiated, but the first to complete his end as I received these this morning.

That '73 Topps is the pale orange variation, and the last card needed to complete the team set.

I'm finding that TCDB is a great way to get smaller hits here and there to fill in team needs.

And it's so easy to find those hits.

I'm still cataloging my collection (I'm up to 1993 for my Angels cards), and only sporadically adding trade items. I figure it'll take the year to get that all done. But in the meantime, this is working out great!

Thanks Bo!

Weather Report and Mail

So we made it through the ice storm, temperatures finally rose, and it all melted away. Weather was nice for a day or two, then we had a couple days of severe thunderstorms. Then a day of nice weather, and today we're back down in the mid 40s with a cold wind. This is Texas remember. Anyhow, always nice to get mail.

Night Owl send some cards in exchange for some Trade Bait he claimed. I had mentioned somewhere that I really liked the Ted Williams card: aviation/military related, which is my background, so he sent one. Nice gesture. I also love the pose of that Jim Abbott Black Foil. Several wantlist cards were included as well. The Jeff Schmidt was totally unfamiliar to me for some reason.

I claimed the '75 Rudi off of a Time Travel Trading because I recently added Rudi to my PCs. Matt included a couple extra Angels SPs for some Red Sox autographs I had sent him.

Cards on Cards returned fire for some Trade Bait claims and man he didn't hold back on the sparkle (the scan didn't pick it up much). That Dominators card is fantastic, and the Jo Adell is a Negative Refractor.

Johnny's Trading Spot saw that I was in need of some 1983 Topps to complete my set and sent 5/6 that I needed (the last one is in works via a TCDB trade). He included some other wants as well. I've never made it a point to go after the smaller discs or coins for my Angels collection, I've tried to focus on cards, but I may have to make more of an effort towards that. That little Slurpee coin is pretty cool.

One Page of Dave Machemer

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

   Dave Machemer 2B, 3B, SS California Angels 1978

June 6, 1972: Drafted by the California Angels in the 4th round of the 1972 amateur draft.

March 3, 1976: Traded by the California Angels with John Balaz and Dick Sharon to the Boston Red Sox for Dick Drago.

January 4, 1977: Traded by the Boston Red Sox to the California Angels for John Doherty.

December 4, 1978: Drafted by the Detroit Tigers from the California Angels in the 1978 rule 5 draft.

California Angels (1978)

Detroit Tigers (1979)

Correspondence received April 2006 via his home in Stevensville, MI.

Fun Fact: "Leading off the first inning in his first big-league plate appearance, Angels second baseman Dave Machemer homers off Geoff Zahn to spark a 5-2 victory over the Twins in Minnesota."

Machemer never hit another homer during his major league career, which lasted 29 games and 48 at-bats with the Angels and Tigers in 1978 and 1979.

- John Snyder, Angels Journal

A First For Me On TCDB

I originally signed up on TCDB in 2014, but never did anything with it. Recently though I've begun logging my collection, figuring it will take this year to do it. As I'm entering cards, I'm seeing some don't have any image associated with it. Recently I added my first image to the database:

No big deal I know, I just thought it was kinda cool. You can see my username calangels as the user that submitted the images. Kinda nice to get the credit. And I should also give credit again to POISON75 for giving me the card. I hope to be able to add a lot of missing images as I go.
 

I also moved from Rookie to Benchwarmer. I guess that's an indication of progress.

POISON Package Pt 3

Like I said, it thawed some yesterday, then froze again overnight leaving icicles everywhere. Thats the pretty part of an ice storm. Another day for everyone to be home. Today is chores day though so we have vacuuming and dusting and cleaning going on. And baking! One daughter made cookie bars, another blueberry muffins, and my wife made cheesy biscuits. Yum. 

Patriots Cards

And lots of them!

Ranging from 1990-1998. Love those older uniforms.

A handful of these were the last cards I needed for several team sets.

Here's a few highlights:

1993 Pro Line Live #171

I just think this is a great design. 

Simple, lots of photo, the vertical stripe is done well, the font is good.

And this photo is a great action shot of Russell looking for a hole, and emphasizing the huge shoulder pads they wore back then.

1993 Action Packed #145

Some people hate the embossed detail, I love it.

And look at his hand, all mashed up and bandaged.

1994 Fleer Ultra #197

You don't see too many card designs with 3 player photos on the back.

Be on the lookout for the posts on the team sets that POISON completed for me.

POISON Package Pt 2

This is the third day of the ice storm and there are signs it's starting to thaw but will probably re-freeze overnight. We'll all be home again tomorrow. It's not that thick, less than an inch, but still not drivable, especially since we drive compact cars and not 4WD. I'm good with that. We didn't see the mail truck yesterday, or again today, whatever happened to "Neither snow, nor rain.... "?

Angels Cards

Forty-Two Angels cards, from a wide range of years.

I picked out a few highlights:

2004 Donruss Elite Turn of the Century #2, 197/750.

Shiney, with a nice number.

2003 Donruss Diamond Kings #4.

Because I love these cards.

1992 Classic II #T4.

What I love is the image of the team uniform on the card backs.

Might make an interesting side collection to get one card from each team.

Get ready for Pt 3....