YDF, 2.15.15

1967 Topps #25

My first card of the great Elston Howard.  I fell in love with it at first sight when I was at a card show a couple months ago.  And, for just a couple bucks, I couldn't possibly leave it behind.  It's Howard's last card in which he's depicted as a Yankee.  His final Topps card would come the following year as a member of the Red Sox.

MK

YDF, 2.13.15: Variation Nation

2015 Topps #136 (Photo Variation)

Yer Daily Fix today comes courtesy of the 72-card hanger box that I recently cracked open.  I really do love the whole photo variation thing by Topps.  These cards are hard to come by, but they ain't impossible, as evidenced here.  I haven't seen any lists or pictures of all the Series 1 photo variations, but I knew this was one of 'em right away since it was mixed into the middle of the card brick with the rest of the inserts.

Anyhow, what do you think is going on in this photo?  Manny looks like he might be agitated, thus being restrained by Trout.  Then again, he also could be doing a Joe Pesci impersonation. Who knows!

MK

My First 2015 Card...

At last, Topps 2015 and I are intimately acquainted.

My wonderful wife, Mrs. K, surprised me by tracking down two rack packs and a hanger box from the WalMart just across the state line in Maryland.  The packs were waiting for me on my card table when I came home from working an evening event at the school.  A very nice surprise, indeed.

Anyhow, no need to bore you, my handsome/lovely reader, with an agonizing amount of scans, since everyone and their mother has posted oodles of pics of the '15 Topps cards for the past couple weeks.

But, it's become tradition in the short few years I've kept up this blog to share the first card of the new collecting season.  After all, I really enjoy seeing what all of my fellow collectors draw as their first card.

As you can see above, I didn't get the most palatable name.  I've really soured on Braun over the past couple years for obvious reasons.  But, you just can't choose these kind of things.

Just a few more scans; I promise I won't overdo it.

My first Mets card of the new year...

First Met of 2015

I was not a fan of these uniform tops, which were part of Military Mondays at Citi Field in 2014.  Don't get me wrong, I'm as patriotic as can be, and I admire the hell out of our servicemen and women.  But, camo baseball tops just don't do it for me.  I'd rather them just wear an American flag patch on their sleeve or on the side of the cap instead.  But, that's just me.

And, I can't end this entry before I share a couple of quick opinions about this year's product.  Most of these things have been mentioned or expounded upon throughout the blogging universe, but, well, I can't sit by idly without throwing my two cents into the bucket.

Good as gold

Five Things I Like:

-- Colorful borders, which are reflective of each team's color scheme
-- Bigger base set, with 350 cards for Series 1
-- Non-foil player name on the card front... Woo!!!
-- I LOVE the card backs. Maybe the most attractive in a decade or more.
-- The gold parallels are great looking this year!

Rookie Cup + FS = Double fault

Five Things I Don't Really Like:

-- The Rookie Cup logo and "Future Stars" tag should NEVER, EVER be piggybacked.
-- Way too many super-duper close-up photos for my taste. Tight cropping has become too much of a fad these past couple years.  It makes for a bland offering.
-- Even though I love the look of this set and appreciate the colorful border design, I kinda miss the red and blue parallels from the respective retail giants.  It dawned on me as I was opening the packs and I became sad.
-- The inserts. They're pretty uninspired.  Again.  Not even any minis to speak of.
-- Boring tri-panel League Leader cards.  Along with team cards, these just don't excite me.

What does excite me are fantastic base cards like this...

That's what I'm talkin' about!

Hey, bottom line, I'm thrilled that 2015 baseball card season is underway. The base cards are colorful and mostly fun and I'm looking forward to tracking down all the Mets cards.

Even the crummy inserts.

MK

Product Placement: Pepsi Cola Edition

1999 Fleer Tradition, #264

I mentioned this a couple of posts ago, and I felt inspired to actually have a go with it today.  

One of the best scenes from Wayne's World is Wayne's corporate sell-out debate with producer Benjamin Kane (played by none other than "Hi, I'm Rob Lowe").  Naturally, while Wayne rails against the idea of sponsors influencing the content of his show, he's shamelessly posing with a Pizza Hut box, a bag of Doritos and Nuprin tablets among other things.  It's prop comedy at its best and it still makes me chuckle to this day.

So, bringing it back to the hobby at hand, any time I see a baseball card with an overt advertisement in the background, it takes me back to this scene.  And there are tons of cards featuring some variety of big, gaudy in-stadium ad signage.  Thus, I thought it would be fun to grab one of these cards every so often, scan it, and present it here for a giggle or two.

Above, you see former Met Preston Wilson chillin' pregame at Shea Stadium.  Looks like a hot summer day in the Big Apple.  Perhaps the perfect opportunity to enjoy an ice cold Pepsi Cola?

Just sayin'...

MK

Zistle Trade No. 1

After many months of enjoying Zistle from the standpoint of tracking my collection and adding card images, I finally got my first taste of the site's trading capabilities.

Not sure what took me so long.  After all, the site make it super easy to craft and propose trades with fellow Zistlers.  So, when member John H. (aka "MiJohn") contacted me regarding a potential exchange, I was pretty excited to pull the trigger.

I wound up netting nine new cards towards my Mets collection, including the ready-for-framing David Wright Turkey Red card above.

And another card of the Mets captain in the form of this 2007 Topps Update All-Star issue.

Then there's the 'bullpen' portion of the trade package...

Not sure how I didn't already have a copy of this, but...well, I didn't

Topps Traded cards from the early '00s are pretty rare to come by, at least I've found.  So I'm happy to cross this one from 2003 off my want list.  Even if it is just the non-exciting Mike Stanton.

Side-arm hurler Joe Smith continues to be a productive right-handed arm out of the 'pen, pitching nowadays for the Angels.

And then there's ol' Perpetual Pedro, who pretty much pitched every other day when he was a member of the Mets bullpen.

Breaking the string of relief pitchers now...

Diaz acquired the nickname "Mini Manny" in sport talk radio circles for a hot second because his body type was somewhat similar to the immortal slugger Ramirez, plus he absolutely raked in the minors.  He had brief -- and I mean brief -- flashes of Manny-ness in the big leagues, but never panned out.

And, back to the "How the Heck Didn't I Already Have These?!?" department...

I swear I had both of these cards at one time.  In fact, I'm quite sure I had an old shoe box filled with nothing but copies of Magadan's '90 Donruss card.  Yet, both of these were missing from my collection.  Now that I think about it, I seem to recall selling off a big box of junk wax cards (mostly '88 and '90 Donruss, '91 Fleer and '88 Topps) for a quarter or two at a garage sale a dozen or so years ago.

So there you have it.  Nothing that would make front page, above-the-fold news, but a helpful trade nonetheless. More so functional than flashy, but there's nothing wrong with that.  Anytime you can turn duplicates into new-to-you cards, it's a satisfying experience.

My first of many Zistle trades, I hope!

MK

2011 Limited Edition Mets

So, still no lousy, stinking, rotten 2015 Topps Series 1 to be found anywhere in the vicinity of northern Delaware. At least in the various Wal-Marts and Targets I've visited.  Trips on three consecutive days have netted a big fat goose egg.  On the bright side, I can have my pick of any number of ugly football card packs or unicorn and goblin cards.  Phooey!

Whatever, it's not like I"m going to try and build the set via packs.  Instead, I'll go the route of the factory set like I did in 2014 and still be quite happy.  Regardless, I always look forward to opening that first pack of the season's new cards.  Oh well, I guess I'll have to be patient.

In the meantime, I received a pretty neat package in the mail last weekend.  Colbey from Cardboard Collections recently sent out a post regarding a 2011 Topps Limited ediiton set that he was looking to break into individual team sets for sale or trade.  Apparently this was a set he won directly from Topps for cracking a code or collecting lucky charms or whathaveyou.

For a very reasonable price of four-dollars shipped, I snagged all the Mets cards from this factory-limited set.  As you can see, the cards are exactly the same as the regular '11 Topps cards with the exception of the foil-stamped "Factory Set Limited Edition" tag above the player's name plus the special Diamond Anniversary logo in the top corner.

I won't bore you with all of them, but these are among my favorites from the set...

Remember when Dickey pitched for the Mets and won the Cy Young Award for the Mets and then didn't pitch for the Mets the next season?

Can the Dude reach the 30-home-run plateau again this season?  That sure would be nice!

Still the only southpaw in the Mets rotation.  He's a nice compliment to all the hard-throwing young righties the Mets have amassed.

Gee is still a Met...for now.  Probably the one guy they've most actively tried to trade this offseason.  It's a shame because when he's on his game, he eats up innings and gets lots of outs.

Ike's a goner, but this is still one of his best cards as a Met.  I'm thinking the backdrop is the outfield scoreboard in Pittsburgh, right?

Perhaps...ah, what the hell...definitely Jose's best Topps base card.  It reminds me also that I'd like to launch a new feature in the near future highlighting cards that have the best or most obvious advertising placements.

Another awesome photo from this set.  The 2011 sets is ripe with tremendous photography, especially the Update Series.

New York's lone N.L. All-Star from last season, Murphy will have to produce another big season for the Mets to keep a flicker of hope for a playoff spot in 2015.

I appreciate the fact that Topps didn't try to photoshop Young, who was a Padre in 2010, into a Mets uniform for this card.  Instead, they opted for a Spring Training photo.  See, that wasn't so hard was it?

All in all, an attractive offering even if there isn't anything necessarily revolutionary about these cards.  However, I really wanted to grab these since they are from the season that celebrated Topps' 60th year of making baseball cards.  Pretty meaningful, I think.

Now, if we could just get the 64th edition of Topps baseball in the First State, things would be even grander!

MK

Four Topps, #131

Good Lord, it's been forever and a day since I've done one of these.  If I was in the business of making a New Year's resolution or two, one certainly would be to be more diligent in my efforts with this feature.  It's a fun feature for sure, but I guess I'm just too lazy.

Anyhow, let's get down to business.  Random.org plucked the following card number for today's post: 131. Sounds harmless enough, right?  So let's take a look at what this seemingly innocuous number yields from the Topps years of 1987 through 1990 (aka my childhood card-collecting sweet spot).

Away we go...

1987

Geez, Sid Bream, have a sense of humor, would ya?  I was always amused/confused by this card as a lad, since it appears Bream and Tony Pena have an Oscar and Felix kind of thing going on here.  Like, you know, Sid is sooo done with Tony's sophomoric hijinx or perhaps his unwillingness to shoulder the burdens of life's serious responsibilities.  Or something.  Topps sure did have a way of choosing odd photos for their team leaders cards, didn't they?  Hey, Stat Man:  Bream led the '86 Bucs with 73 runs and 37 doubles.

1988

I love the Mets and I love '88 Topps Mets.  Don Schulze isn't excactly a name you associate readily with this era of Mets baseball.  I mean, isn't this the guy who drew the Peanuts cartoons?  This is Schulze's first and last Topps card as a Met.  It also happens to be his last Topps card, period.  Pretty decent photo, bitter beer face and all.  Hey, Stat Man:  Allowed one run on three hits over 6 1/3 IP for lone victory of '87 season (Jul. 20 vs. ATL).

A goofy smile, a mesh jersey and a single phallic palm tree in the background.  This is the stuff of late '80s Topps commons.  Gotta love it!  This happens to be Otto's rookie card, if such minutia amuses you.  His next Topps card didn't appear until the '92 set when he was a member of the Tribe.  That would also be his last Topps card.  Hey, Stat Man:  Fanned seven batters over 10 IP for the A's in 1988.

In order to understand and/or appreicate it, you pretty much had to be 12 years or younger when '90 Topps came out.  I was 9, so I was completely down with it.  Otherwise, there is no possible way I could look at a Detroit Tigers card festooned with notes of lime green and shades purple and think, This is a pretty great card.  If you can block out the borders and fonts, the photo is pretty terrific.  Hey, Stat Man:  Clubbed nine homers with 39 RBIs for the '89 Tigers.

And the Winner Is:  I put my Mets bias aside and go with the '90 Nokes because it's a tremendous photo. Love the angle and the use of shadow.  It's all very artsy in an NYU film school dropout kinda way.

MK