Nolan Ryan Binder Tour - 1990 Beckett

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

An ad page from the December 1990 issue of Beckett Monthly.

Nolan gets a two square appearance in his Rangers uniform. I can also pick out Patrick Ewing, Barry Sanders, Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Gretzky, and Canseco. Not sure who the goalie might be. Any guesses?

Blogger Trade With Crocodile and Fuji

I wouldn't say my focus has been on TCDB trades, but they have been taking up more of my time lately. That doesn't mean I'm neglecting blog trades, those are still going on as well. Trying to keep the balance. Great thing about blog trades is often you don't know what you're gonna get, so it's exciting to rip open an envelope to see what's inside, like these two trades with Crocodile Sports Cards and The Chronicles of Fuji.

Crocodile Sports Cards

I remember being stoked when finding a Members Choice in 1992 Stadium Club. For a long time I thought they were a special insert. I was a little disappointed when I found out they were part of the set. I've always thought they were cool though.

For how overdone relic cards are, it's still great to get one you don't have.

I first did a double-take on these, then realized they are lightly signed. Pretty sure the Mauch is legit, but the Bryan Harvey is so small and in an odd spot, I'm not so sure. I've gotten his autograph in the past, and usually it's pretty bold.

A ton more Angels.

And a bunch of Patriots!

The Chronicles of Fuji

Signature Rookies were always great for obscure minor league autographs, but they've always struck me as odd, kinda like the unlicensed "promo" cards we used to pick up at card shows in the 80's.

Morris had a great college career but never made it past AA in the Angels farm system.

Always nice to complete a baseball checklist set.

And the best of the rest. I think that micro is even smaller that the Cracker Jack minis. Super tiny.

TCDB Completed Transaction #12 cory79

Made a bit of a bigger trade with cory79, knocking off some low-hanging fruit in a bunch of different collections.

Getting close on this little 1993 Cracker Jack 1915 Reprints set, just three more to go.

1986 Fleer Team Stickers

This one is a variation back (Ed Reulbach).

1988 Topps - Topps Company Store

Yes, I collect these, and this is the missing "Cards Not Included" variation.

1986 Topps Stickers #6

For the team set.

And lots of Patriots.

Junk Mall Junk Wax Wednesday

 Ripping a random pack of junk wax from the local junk mall.

Pack of 12 with a chance to pull Joe Namath Football Heroes card, an SP2 Don Shula, or a Game Breaker hologram.

Favorite card:

Howie with George Brett.

So many questions:

Is Brett a Raiders fan?

Are the Raiders at the Chiefs (although I think it's the Coliseum shown) and Brett was in attendance?

If the Raiders are at home, why was Brett there?

Eight cards in the pack are the 1992 hologram variation.

These make good traders on TCDB.

Resale Shop Treasure Find

My daughter works at a resale shop and occasionally she finds me some cool stuff like scale model kits and such. This time she found me some baseball cards. She sent me a couple photos of two boxes of cards, I chose this one:

Sealed in plastic and labelled "1975-1976 Topps" for $49.00. She gets a pretty good discount, so these were about $15.00 less. The other box was labelled "1986-1987 Topps" which I already have a ton of so I passed on that one.

After sorting I found there were actually 708 cards from 1973-1988, which makes that about 5-cents a card if I did my math right. Here's the breakdown:

1973 - 2

1974 - 14

1975 - 235

1976 - 152

1977 - 297

1987 - 7 (all Darryl Strawberry)

1988 - 1

There weren't really any big hits or big stars in the box, and there aren't enough of each year to justify trying to complete these sets (even when added to those I already have), so they'll probably end up in my traders on TCDB. 

Here's some of the cards I liked:

There were a decent number of Angels in the box, but I already had them all. I'll have to see if I can swap any out based on condition.

The Monteagudo card (looks like he's pictured at Angels Spring Training in Tempe) talks about him being traded from the Angels to the Phillies (also mentioning Billy Grabarkewitz, Denny Doyle and Chris Coletta).

Do I include this with the Angels team set then?

Interesting fact:

"Aurelio Monteagudo was killed in a car accident in Saltillo, Mexico nine days before his 47th birthday. He, Aurelio Rodríguez and Aurelio López are the only three players in MLB history named Aurelio, and all three were killed in car accidents between the ages of 44 and 52."

I wish there had been more checklists in the box, this was the only one.

I had forgotten that Piniella had played for the Royals for several years and won ROY with them.

Also didn't realize that Rick Dempsey was ever a Yankee.

Both these cards are awesome.

Some of my favorites from the 75's.

I prefer a nice Spring Training crooked background/posed shot over a blurry in-game action shot.

From the 1976 cards I love the Wilbur Wood, and more great Spring Training poses.

There was a nice assortment of airbrushed traded cards in there as well.

The biggest name in the box was this card of Hank Aaron.

In the 1977 set, a classic pose of Jim Umbarger at, I think, the old Arlington Stadium.

All-in-all I'm pleased to get this box, and at the price I paid for it...pretty awesome.

Winnings From Johnny's

 I won some cards from Johnny's Trading Spot, some really nice Angels cards.

2018 Donruss Optic #121 Post Swing Variation

And that's how I knew it was a variation. John graciously labeled it, and some others he sent.

I would have eventually figured it out, but nice that I didn't have to go do all the research myself!

There are a couple World Baseball Classic games on TV today I'm hoping to catch. I don't think Japan will be on, but I know that the U.S. Team will be. Ohtani has been tearing it up for Japan. Looking forward to watching.

I've been receiving a lot of Brandon Marsh cards lately, and every time I do I wish that Angels hadn't let him go. It was nice to see him in the World Series last year, I was hoping the Phillies would have won.

Another one of the cards that was marked by John was the 2022 Topps Holiday Metallic.

I went to TCDB to try to get my head around these and had to walk away for a few minutes being overwhelmed by the number of parallels. I know these Holiday cards are considered a separate set from the regular issue, but the design is so close, in my mind it's another of an abundance of parallel cards. Topps has destroyed the hobby for team collectors.

2022 Panini Chronicle Titan - Pink Pulsar

These look great here, but nothing compared to the nine-pocket pages of sparkly cards John's been showing on his blog.

TCDB Completed Transactions #10 abide and #11 SeventhSon

 First up is TCDB Transaction #10 with abide which brought in some needed parallels and inserts.

1999 Pacific Paramount Gold #8

2006 Upper Deck Ovation Gold #1, 418/499

2005 Leaf Press Proofs Red #271

2004 Leaf Press Proofs Blue #6, 098/100

2012 Panini Prizm Dominance #D9

2012 Topps Chrome X-Fractors #201 

Transaction #11 was with SeventhSon for some Vladdy PC needs:

1999 Pacific Aurora #112

1999 Pacific #263

1999 Bowman's Best #48

It's been pretty fun proposing trades so far because I haven't really been going in with specific cards in mind. It's cool to just find some stuff you didn't think about. I wasn't planning on adding to the Vladdy PC but I'm glad it turned out that way.

Junk Mall Junk Wax Wednesday

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

1992 Star Pics

Ten cards with a chance to pull an autograph or a Starstats insert.

Interesting in that the autographs are found on the backs of the cards.

Didn't pull a hit.

Not a bad set, the photos are mostly sharp, just a couple on the blurry side. 

Someone on TCDB put a $2.00 value on that Jimmy Smith card.

These Flashback cards have some nice artwork.

TCDB Completed Transaction #9 Mjprigge

 Recent trade with Mjprigge, or Matt, formerly of the blog Summer of 74.

Except I didn't realize it was that Matt until just now.

Sorry about that Matt.

I turned 59 yesterday, my brain isn't what it used to be.

1990 Swell Baseball Greats #16

Another card I swore I had but that TCDB made me realize that I didn't.

1996 Donruss

I hate that foil or chrome just does not scan well. Big black blocks.

The Lee Smith makes me think it's a Panini, with all the logos airbrushed out. Because of that, my first thought is that I hate this card. But I really don't, it's just an automatic Panini reaction.

It's just a bad angle.