One Met at a Time

[Ed. Note: Since my Mets collection recently eclipsed the 7k plateau, I figured it might be fun to drop in a few single-card posts here and there to celebrate the achievement.]

Player:  Zack Wheeler

Card Info:  2015 Topps Stadium Club, #18

This is a classic Stadium Club photo choice if there ever was one.  Obviously, you know by now that Topps did a bang-up job with the 2015 edition of TSC.  They may have formally brought the brand back from the dead in 2014, but the '15 offering featured a broader checklist and had more of the stuff we love in terms of fun and totally unpredictable photos.

At the time of this writing, this is one of 40 Zack Wheeler cards in my Mets collection.  (And it might be my favorite at this moment!)

MK

Golden Hammer

A HUGE tip of the cap to Bryan of the blog Golden Rainbow Cards for contacting me out of the blue last month in regards to the card you see above.  He saw a comment I made on Shane's blog in regards to the gold Rookie Debut parallel you saw in my previous post.  Bryan had Thor's base rookie in gold format and wanted to know if I'd be interested in receiving it.

Uhh... YEAH!!!

I've always been a sucker for Topps Gold, like so many of my fellow collectors out there.  That love affair gets magnified when you're talking about a player like Syndergaard who made such an enormous impact for the Amazins this past year.  He also happens to be one of my favorite current Mets, to boot.

Needless to say, this card is an incredible addition to my Mets collection!  I can't tell you how psyched I am to own it.  Luckily, I had a couple of random Braves autos to send Bryan's way as a means of showing my gratitude.

Aside from the golden Thor, Byran also included a few other Topps Update cards, including two that were missing from my Mets collection.

I was kinda giddy when I learned that Topps had brought back the multi-player rookie cards.  The more players you can sneak into a set, the better the set.  At least that's how I see it.  Next year, maybe Topps can put these split-player rookies into the regular flagship set.  If not, I sure hope they keep this format alive for '16 Update.

"Soup" found his way into Update, so good for him.  It's Campbell's first regular Topps card (rookie?) after appearing in the Heritage High Number offering the past two years.

Bryan, thanks a million for reaching out to me in regards to these cards.  I look forward to future exchanges with you!

MK

Around the Horn

I'm sure many of you who are reading this are also regular reader of the terrific Shoebox Legends blog run by the magnanimous Shane D.  If that's the case, you were following his pack-by-pack break of 2015 Topps Update which he recently concluded.

Well, one of the non-base cards he unearthed was the beauty you see above.  It's the Rookie Debut subset card of hard-throwing righty Noah Syndergaard, aka Thor.  This, obviously, is a stellar add to my Mets and Syndergaard counter.  I'm geeked to have it and, of course, very thankful for Shane's generosity!

As I'm sure you've surmised, this card was but one piece of a PWE that Shane jettisoned my way not too long ago.  Another envelope packed with perfection, to be precise.

Now let's see the rest...

Since we're on the topic of Update, here're some base cards from the set.  I've only done a blaster plus a couple loose packs of Update, thus I don't have all the Mets yet.  In regards to this "Young & Relentless" card depicting deGrom and Harvey, I was kinda surprised that it isn't a checklist.  Just a highlight card, if you will.  With an expanded checklist, I guess Topps was able to afford such luxurious additions.

My seminal card of fill-in starter/long-reliever Logan Verrett, who was a valuable arm for the Mets during the final two months of the regular season this past year.

Once the closer for the club, Bobby is nowhere close to the fireballer he was prior to TJ surgery.  That being the case, he was a total disaster out of the pen during the latter stages of the summer upon his return from rehab.  It was pretty sad to watch, actually.

A couple of nice inserts from Update highlighting two of the crown jewels from the Mets pitching-rich history.

Doc and Seaver; can you really go wrong?  Once again I'll state that I really like the Rookie Sensations design and concept.  Topps really raised the bar with some of their inserts this year.

It wouldn't be a PWE from Shane without a few great pulls from the early '90s.  First, a Jeff Kent from '94 Upper Deck SP.  This is a Holo View FX insert.  Hologram Jeff Kent is observing Actual Jeff Kent take a cut during spring training.

Early '90s Fleer and Fleer Ultra inserts are always satisfying.  It's nice to get a new David Cone card, too.  I feel like I overlook the guy sometimes when hunting for cards on eBay or COMC, etc.

At some point, Donruss Studio decided that they were more interested in making baseball cards that resemble credit cards or state-issued IDs.  And, you know, I'm O.K. with that.  One of these days, I'm going to bring this card with me to Red Robin or Applebees and, when I get the check, I'm going to tuck this into the leather check-holder-thingie to see what happens.

Hockey, anyone?

I really dig the infusion of hockey cards that I've been getting in recent PWEs from Shane.  While I'll never devote as much time to hockey cards as I do baseball, it's still fun to get cards of my favorite team.

It's likewise fun and exciting to discover all the brands and designs that hockey collectors get to enjoy.  It's like exploring the depths of the ocean.  For the most part, I like what I see from hockey companies more than I do baseball nowadays.  I'm not sure what that means.

How about that:  a three-sport PWE!  Including my favorite Buffalo Bill of all-time, Thurman Thomas.  And, wouldn't you know, the Bills actually won Sunday, so that makes sharing this duo of cards even more pleasurable.

Like its baseball cousin, you may look at '91 Fleer football and say Yuck!  But, for me, I love the stuff.  See, 1991 was my first year of football collecting, and I was reeeeeally into football and football cards at that time.  I'll never forget my mom coming home from Foodtown with four packs of '91 football cards: Topps, Bowman, Fleer and Score.  My very first formal football packs.  I will forever love those four sets.

Did I say "three-sport?"

I became a Boston Celtics fan when I first started following the sport because my dad was a Larry Bird guy.  It was towards the end of Larry's career, thus I never got to see the best of the man.  And, while my dad dumped the Celts once the team transitioned out of the Big Three era of Bird, McHale and Parish, I have kept them close ever since.  I'm glad I did because not only did they give me a championship season in 2008, but I'm a lover of their tradition and history.

Oh, this bite-sized card which essentially resembles a latter-day mini?  It was originally part of a three-panel card from 1980-81 Topps.  This was the center panel, as you can tell from the perforation ridges on either side. Fred Brown and Ron Brewer flanked Larry Legend on the original card, in case you were wondering.  But, who needs those guys, really?  This one is perfect!

I can't be sure, Shane, but I think this is the first PWE to hit on all four of my favorite pro teams.  Could that be? Maybe you did it before, and I apologize if I'm forgetting.

Nonetheless, this around-the-horn tour of my faves is one of your best PWEs to date!

MK

Vintage Values ('72 and '75 Edition)

I've been meaning to fill in some of the gaps in my 'vintage' Mets collection for some time now.  So, recently I swung by my local hobby shop and browsed through a couple of the '70s binders.  All the cards were either in "very good" or "excellent" condition, with most exhibiting perhaps minor corner/edge wear and occasional wrinkles (though not much of the latter, honestly).  Condition aside, for a quarter apiece, can you really go wrong?

I specifically focused on the 1972 and '75 sets.  Since I'm a chronological kinda guy, we'll start with the '72s I took home.  Included is the card in the lead-off spot of this post:  the 1972 Mets Rookie Stars tri-player card featuring the '72 NL Rookie of the Year, Jon Matlack.  Probably my favorite grab of the entire lot.

The rest of the '72s now...

Why didn't they center Duffy on this card?  Kinda drives my OCD wild.

This is my first card of Chuck Taylor, who played 20 games as a Met -- all during the '72 campaign.

And, now the '75s...

If the Matlack rookie is my favorite of this particular lot, Rusty is a solid second.

Jerry Grote and his mustache take the bronze.

Also, I did manage to get one non-Met...

Saw this one and instantly knew I had to have a copy.  I've been partial to Tanana cards ever since I was 10 and found out his birthday was also July 3.

All these for just four dollars total.  That's the type of value I can get behind!

MK

Cubbie Currency

Just a quickie today.  Several weeks ago I bought a blaster of Update to get a sampling of the stuff before I put a hobby box on my list to Santa.

Of course, you get one of these "coin" cards in each box.  I don't get super-excited about these normally, but I knew there were a couple Mets on the checklist.  Thus, I had the remote chance of getting a card that would be a valued addition to my collection.

As you can see, I didn't get a Met, but I was pretty happy to land the Kris Bryant card.  It's pretty funny, because as I was ripping open the wrapper, I was saying to myself, "I never get anyone decent with these things."  I guess I can't say that anymore.

I'm not necessarily enamored with Bryant, but it's always nice to get a rookie year card (even a faux-relic, yes) of a guy whose ceiling is unlimited.  I'll probably get  nice snap-tite or screw-down or magnetic case for this.  Sure, why not?

Have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving weekend, everyone!

MK

Zistle the 16th

As I alluded to in the prior post, I recently completed a pair of Zistle trades in close succession after going several months without a deal.  And here's the second of the trades.  It's not as 'sexy' as its sister trade, but every acquisition of Mets cards is an important one.  Even if we're mainly talkin' about overproduction era cardboard.

In the lead-off spot, Bobby Bo's 1993 Bowman base card.  It feels like I've been accumulating a lot of Bonilla cards of late.  He's not one of my favorite characters from the all-time Mets register, but just like you don't get to choose your family, you don't have any say who plays on your favorite club (unfortunately, sometimes).

Since we're on Bowman, might as well get these guys out of the way...

Yup, gobs of '91 Bowman.

Sorry.  I know this is one of the blandest sets of all-time.

Vince is right there next to Bobby Bo on the undesirables list in Metsdom.

Hang in there, we're nearly through.

Hey, at least it's not 1990 Bowman, right?

I needed all of these for my collection, believe it or not.

This is a strange one, for sure.  An artist's rendering (it seems) of someone named Tim Howard, who is not the present-day goalkeeper for the U.S. Men's National Team in soccer.  This Tim Howard ascended as high as Triple-A Norfolk by 1993 and then was out of pro ball.  He batted .323 with 89 RBIs at Single-A Columbia in 1990 which is why I suppose his card got the foil-stamped "MVP" emblem in the top left corner.

Okay, let's splash a little life back into this post...

A pair from 1993 Studio.  A pretty strong offering from Studio, I think.  I enjoy the super-sized sleeve patch as a backdrop for the cards.  That's short-term-Met Tony Fernandez followed by Howard Johnson, by the way.

Also represented in this trade was 1995 Topps.  This card is significant because it represents the first appearance of Jason Isringhausen on a Topps card.  Or, as the kids like to say, his Topps rookie.

I had a copy of this card already, but it had a pretty badly dinged corner.  And I can't stand that in a card that was produced within the current calendar year.  Plus, Big Bart deserves better!

And to wrap things up, my first card of prospect Amed Rosario.  The 20 year old from Santo Domingo is projected as New York's shortstop of the future.  In 2015, he was the youngest player in the Florida State League where he drew rave reviews for his plus-defense.  Rosario is still quite a few years from Flushing, but he's nonetheless one of the brightest assets in the organization.

With that, Trade No. 16 is in the books.  Thanks to Zistle member Gerry for the trade!

MK

Zistle the 15th

It's been quite some time since my last Zistle trade.  In fact, my post recapping Trade No. 14 was August 25!   But, these things usually come in bunches and, sure enough, I've completed a pair of trades recently on my favorite hobby website.  So, let's see what the 14th swap had in store for my collection.

In the lead-off spot, one of my favorite all-time Mets featured on a great-looking set from the late '90s: 1998 Fleer Tradition.  A great action shot of the multi-talented left-fielder, framed beautifully on this full-bleed, borderless card.

If you've read my ramblings in the past, you know I have a huge soft spot for Carlos Baerga.  Here, the former All-Star is shown on a 1997 Leaf base card.  Carlos was very much on the down-side of his career by the time the Mets acquired him at the '96 non-waiver deadline.  In spite of that, he never went through the motions and always busted his butt.  And that really appealed to a 17-year-old Me.

It's funny, I don't think I even realized Saberhagen was included in the '95 Fleer checklist.  I guess because I bought a retail box of the stuff back in the mid '90s from K-Mart when they still had a sizable trading card section.  Thus I figured I had all I needed.  I was wrong, as it turns out.

Another guy who I had a soft spot for, Aaron Heilman will likely be remembered by most Mets fans as the pitcher who coughed up Yadi Molina's extra-inning homer in Game 7 of the NLCS.  Anyhow, this is Heilman's base card from 2003 Bazooka.  I already had his 'mini' from this set, and now I've got the daddy.

Another from Bazooka, this time the 2004 set.  This same photo was used on one or more of Garcia's cards from around this time.  Bowman or maybe Bowman Heritage or both.  I can't keep track.  Danny, by the way, is a former star at Pepperdine who played in 77 games over his two-year Mets and MLB career.

A great name who never amounted to much in the big leagues, Bartolome Fortunato was one of the players (along with Victor Zambrano) who the Mets got from Tampa Bay in the Scott Kazmir trade.  Over the course of two years in New York, Bart crafted a 7.06 ERA in 17 games.

This is a neat card that was on my Zistle want list for a while.  Though, I admit that doesn't indicate a whole lot since pretty much every Mets card I don't have is on my want list.  Nonetheless, I like the looks of this one. Adam Walker was one of the young arms from the Phillies system the Mets received in exchange for bullpen tandem of Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook in 2001.  Walker never made it beyond Triple-A.

And, we'll wrap up this trade with a pair from Fleer Tradition's 2003 offering.  We began the post with Tradition, might as well end with it, right?

As bad a taste as we Mets fans may have about Armando's time in Flushing, he still stands as the single-season saves leader in team annals with 43.  Well, he shares the honor with Jeurys Familia who met the mark this past year.  Armando also is second on the club's career save list with 160.

Slugger Cliff Floyd was hampered by assorted injuries throughout his career, but he still logged a pretty impressive resume.  Of his 233 big league homers, 81 came during his four-year stint as a Met.

A pretty nifty nine-card assortment, if I do say so.  Thanks go to Zistle member paulb for working out the deal with me.

MK