Ron Hassey's Long And Winding Road

Long gone, but not forgotten.

I mailed these two cards to Ron Hassey's home address in Tucson, Arizona on June 5, 2008.

Today I got them back, a mere 2,430 days later.

Forever Stamps saved me yet again.

Completed Angels Team Set - 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Limited Edition Factory Set

 

The only difference from the regular set (other than being a Limited Edition which is a BIG difference) is the silver Diamond Anniversary logo in the upper left, and the "Factory Set Limited Edition" above the players name on each card.

Thanks to Cardboard Collections for busting up his master set and offering teams shipped for only $4.

There are some good teams left so go see if your's is still available.

Always Check Behind The Staple

Had an opportunity to run in to a Half Price Books today.  When I do I always head to the Clearance section first, then to the magazine section.  In the magazine section I look for the "Kids" cubbie first because it's there that I can usually find one or two Sports Illustrated for Kids.  And there it was that I found one and knew right away by the stiffness of it that it still contained the goodies.  And what are the goodies that make SI for Kids so awesome?

A sheet of cards of course!

This is the sheet out of the 2008 edition I found.

I didn't need or even want this sheet since there was nothing relevant on it for my collection so I was a bit disappointed, until I flipped to the other end of the perforated card sheet...you know, the end that usually has a subscription form, the end that's on the other side of the staple, in the back of the magazine.

That's when I saw it: 

Another sheet of cards!

Bam!

But alas, stupid cards at that.

And not even real sports cards.

My hopes dashed again.

Till I pulled the sheet closer to my face and saw it:

Holy crap, that's an Angels card!

I don't know what these things are supposed to be, but I know an Angels card when I see it.

And one worth the whole buck on the price sticker.

Here's the back for kicks.

Before you ask, I don't cut these sheets up, I store them as a whole item even if there's only one single little card I want.

Thumbing Through The Stacks

The guy at the card shop knows that I like the random boxes of junk that come in, he keeps them underneath his display tables.  He also likes to point out the boxes of new cards that he's put up on the shelves so that I can pull Angels and other stuff that I like.  As soon as I entered the shop he quickly pointed out a couple boxes of 2014 Panini Classics.  He wanted me to see these because he knows I get autographs and wanted me to know that these would be great for getting autographs on.

Oh my.  A really nice Panini design for a change.

And yes this design is perfect for autographs.

These designs however are typical of Panini and the main reason I hate Panini so much.

Stupidly cropped, players facing away from the camera, wild confusing backgrounds, too much happening at once on a little card.

Blech.

Gotta have the Angels though.

Ok that's a nice design too.

Sigh of relief.

I was able to pick up the whole 1987 Topps Patriots team set, and the 1000 Yard Club insert.

Pretty awesome when you can go through a box in one sitting and pull a whole team set.

Came across a random John Olerud, 

Can't believe I didn't have such a common Olerud card already.

There were two boxes of Drew Bledose cards, all in penny sleeves and top-loaders.

Yes, here in Dallas Fort Worth there are two boxes dedicated to Drew Bledsoe.

I know he played for the Cowboys for two seasons, maybe that's why.

Although I've never heard any of the locals speak too fondly about his Cowboys days.

Anyhow, I was able to pick out a bunch of nice rookies.

Grabbed a couple Action Packed as well.

I love Action Packed cards.

I think Drew got frozen in a carbonite freezing chamber.

WooHoo!!

About a month after getting my 1983 Fleer cards organized, and putting a call out for help finishing it, I nabbed the last card I needed to complete the set.

Found it in the Rod Carew box.

Dion saw my initial post about the set last month and quickly jumped on it sending me 74 of the last 75 cards I needed.

He couldn't find his Carew however, but I know if he had it he would have sent it too.

And of course as I'm going through boxes I'm pulling checklist cards.

At the bottom there you can see the checklist set for 1987 Topps Football.

Grabbed them as I as pulling the Patriots out.

I'm rethinking my initial post about collecting checklist cards however.

Collecting all sports checklists my be too overwhelming, I may have to cut that back to just baseball.

Something's Wrong With This Picture (#3)

2011 Topps Gold Mike Napoli #201

Got this card in a trade package from $30 Week Habit a long time ago.

Immediately I spotted a flaw.

Can you see it?

Here's the flawed card on the left next to a good Mike Napoli card on the right.

Upon closer inspection you can see that the silver foil is off.

Didn't take much of a keen eye to spot that printing error.

My First Sticker Of My Boy Pat

Another cool item I picked up at the junk mall recently is my very first Fleer Logo Sticker from my favorite football team the Patriots.

I found this 1984 Fleer Football Sticker in a top loader.

Came as part of a two-pack with a Broncos sticker.

There's by bud Pat ready to play some football.

The back of the sticker, although badly off-center, has the team schedule with a place to fill in the score.  Hmm I see that on November 18th the Patriots played the Colts...kinda like today.

At that game the Patriots won 50-17.

I wonder who'll win today...

Back And Forth With Scott Crawford On Cards!

Scott and I have been hammering out some trades recently, filling needs in each others collections. That's always a good thing.  I love checking off a card towards the completion of a goal or set.  And with the start of 2015 I added a few more sets to try to check off.

2014 Topps 1989 Topps Mini #TM-28

Ever happy,ever awesome, Mike Trout.

I can't tell you how happy I am that he's an Angel.

1981 Fleer Star Sticker #108

Cheesy at it's best.

Looks like sweet nectar flowing around Nolan and pooling around his waist to be lapped up by adoring fans.

Ewwww.  Gross.

My first and only sticker so far from the 1982 issue.

As with most Fleer stickers, the "PEEL" or "PEEL OFF HERE" in this case, is upside down.

Many of the stickers have two versions of the "PEEL", an upside-down and a right-side up.

This one is not a variation though.

Scott also sent the first 3 towards the 1984 set.

Notice the difference between the "PEEL" arrows in the Reds and Red Sox stickers.

Right-side up, up-side own.

Ooh, and a bunch from the 1986 set which featured logo and pennant stickers.

Inching closer to finishing this 1986 set.

Interesting that the Padres pennant used the script instead of the Friar logo.

There's not much better looking than a full page of Fleer Stickers.

Good trading Scott, thanks.

Catching Up With Listia

2009 Topps Chrome Refractor #45 013/250

718 credits.

2008 Topps Chrome Refractor #168

399 Credits.

1993 Bowman #131

This card came in a 5-card lot of Yankees, with rookies.

The title actually said "Tankees".

Disgruntled fan cleaning house?

499 credits.

2014 Donruss #301

400 credits.

1989 Panini Baseball Stickers #83 and #172

There were 2 of the Bond stickers in the lot.

And Bonds collectors need one?

499 credits.

2014 Topps Power Players #PPA-AP

499 credits.

2001 Upper Deck Arms Race #AR1

1,244 credits.

The 1982 Topps was a bonus included in the package.

That's a good Listian.

1989 Pro Set #249, 1989 Topps #198

Ah, good ol' Doug Flutie.

Did you know he was Tom Bradys backup in 2005?

499 credits.

2005 Topps Jim Abbott All-Time Fan Favorites #13 Refractor 048/299, Bo Jackson #3

These came in a 5-card lot, but I have no use for the other 3 cards.

They go in the trade stacks.

858 credits.

1992 Score 100 Superstars #29

Ooh, now that's a good looking card.

339 credits, came with a spare Dave Winfield 1991 Fleer.

That's my Listia stack for now.

Nearing The End For 1991 Upper Deck Football

The base set for the inaugural Upper Deck Football set has been done for what, 23 years now, and it's been stashed away in a binder high up on the closet shelf.  Hasn't seen daylight in years.  It's the only football set I've ever done, and probably ever will do.  And that's only the low series.  But when I got it down recently I decided to finally put the last nail in the coffin.

All that I lack for this awesome set are 3 cards from the 9-card Game Breaker Hologram insert set: GB4 Ernest Byner, GB6 Neal Anderson, and GB9 Marcus Allen.

Also need a Joe Montana Football Heroes #4.

I've designated 2015 as a "Will you finally get those sets done and out of the way!" year.

Verlanders

Too Many Verlanders Trade Post

In a package from Too Many Verlanders which contained  a bag of Angels and another bag of Patriots, this card slipped out:

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Material Bronze 116/200

It's been one of my quests to get all the different versions of this Tim Salmon card.

And there are a ton of versions.

One closer now though.

And a sampling of the Patriots cards too.

Cool because I had been wanting to pick up a Tebow in a Pats uniform.

I Scored At The Junk Mall

Stopped at the local junk mall on the way home from work today.

Just felt like it, not expecting to find anything really.  

I hit them up maybe once every two months or so.

I almost always seem to find something cool though.

Here's my receipt for the hour I spent there.

Five bucks.

That first line on the invoice is for a 1/72 model kit of a Cessna 02A.  

My old Guard Unit (California Air National Guard) used to fly those so I'm kinda sentimental towards them.

The kit is unbuilt but most of the pieces have been removed from the trees and the decals are missing.

I can deal with that for 2 bucks.

The second item is for a bag of cards I found.

I first noticed the pack due to the brightly colored yellow and orange card on top.

Cool!

I like odd cards like that.

I thought maybe it was a sweepstakes card, which I collect.

I pulled the bag out of the heap of junk it was in at the bottom of a shelving unit and looked at the price tag expecting, as is the case more often than not, some outrageous asking amount.

Three bucks, cool.

Then I saw the writing...

"Checklist Cards"

Checklist Cards!!!!

And I just posted earlier this week how I'm now going to organize and "officially" collect checklist cards in 2015!

What a way to start.

With a score!

Here's the contents of the baggie:

The 1985 Wendy's Tigers checklist card is really sweet.

The 1992 French's is very 90's but unusual enough to make it a pretty cool find.

The Classic Best cards are undated so I'm not sure what set that is.

And the 1991 Fleer Logo Stickers card is not a checklist at all.

Wha??

Here's the back of the Tigers card for kicks:

Some pretty good names there.

Were the cards in the standard 1985 Topps format?

1988, 1991, then BAM!

Three checklists from 1979 Topps.

I have these already in the 1979 Master set, but I don't want to double-dip so this will be the start of a second set of 1979 Topps Checklist cards.

Another set I have already, but within the Master set I recently completed, are these 1991 Upper Deck.  Of those shown I already have all except for the #500, 600, and 700 cards which will complete the separate set.

Sweet.

The 1990 Upper Deck Checklist set is complete already.

These 4 from 1990 Fleer are a nice start to that set.

There's a 1991 Fleer Ultra checklist with the Angels Team on it.

Uh-oh, I might need this for the Angels team set.

Okay, look at these light blue 1990 Donruss cards.

The first 2 are both numbered 96 but they have different player names on them.  Same with the next 2 cards: numbered 144 but different names.

Any ideas on why there are differences?

Those magenta Studio cards are neat, especially the one with the Stdio logo.  It's unnumbered.

I like that they feature managers too.

That's different.

And more 1990's Topps.

Well, with this hit I'm well on my way in my checklist collection.