The World According to Hoyle

If you had told me, before I discovered the wonderful world of card blogs, that someone would contact me out of the blue and offer to send me vintage baseball cards, I would say you were crazy.  Six years later, it has happened so many times I wonder how I lived without it.

The most recent package to arrive came courtesy of reader Mark Hoyle.  I've seen his name popping up all over the 'sphere so I know Mark has been a frequent visitor to the post office.

Mark mixed in just a few "modern cards".  I decided to show the Nathan card so you could see how it looked compared to the original '72s.

The 1972 Rangers team set looks like an ode to airbrushing.

Which one of these pitchers doesn't belong?  AL West, AL West, AL West...NL East?  Hmm...

I've seen this card on other blogs before and I'm glad to finally have a copy for my collection.  So much great stuff on one small piece of cardboard.  The '54 Smalley, the great Rangers cap and color.   So much color.

Mark said he might have some Senators I needed.  He sure did.

This '69 Frank Bertaina is a little rough around the edges.  I can just picture some little Senators fan carrying this around in his pocket.

How about some Men with Bats.  Fred, Bog, Mike and Brant were happy with one bat.  Ed has a coupld and then there's good old Del.  He just had to hog them all.  I just realized that the bats are in a grocery cart. Do teams use grocery carts to carry bats at Spring Training now?

I didn't scan everything Mark sent, but I had to show these beautiful '75s.  Three minis and one big Jeff Burroughs.

Mark, thanks for making a nice dent in my vintage want lists.  I'm working on a package for you and should have something out next week.

Winners don't have to walk the plank

Thanks to everyone who participated in my little contest to get new blogger Bob Walk the Plank a few more followers.

I entered the those of you who commented on my post a chance to win some cards from my friends house.

Here is what the randomizer spit out.

CommishBob is the winner.  CB, I'll try to round up some Orioles for you today while I'm at my buddy's house.  Thanks!

Now we're Cookin'

Sometimes the words for a post just coming pouring out.  Sometimes they don't.  I don't know if that happens to you, but at 2:48 AM, and it's happening to me.  I'm just going to tell you that Tom from The Angels, In Order sent me a package of cards.  It had Rangers, vintage and a bipping of sorts.  

You can't get much better than that.

I don't know what year this Home Run Challenge Pudge came out.  I don't recall seeing it before.  

This Home Run Challenge Tony Gwynn is not a different card than the Pudge.  It's actually the other side of the Pudge card.  Very nice.

Everyone likes a good Cookie.  Benji Gil wasn't great, but Mother's Cookies cards are always nice to get.

Well, almost always.

Tom "Cooked" me.  It's an all new, heretofore unseen form of Bipping.  Very nice Tom.

Tom sent over some really nice vintage cards as well.  I like vintage and I like military so when you combine the two, well, I want some.

These are 1954 Topp Power For Peace cards.  This is the Jet Jockies Scramble card.

It's nice to know that these guys were protecting us from planes coming to bomb our cities.

This is one of the best ones in my opinion.

On the back it talks about the new pressure suit that helps prevent a man's blood from boiling at altitudes above 63,000 feet.  That's a pleasant thought.

The last '54 was this Weather Station card.  Per my normal course of messing things up lately, I somehow failed to get a scan of the front.  It's a pretty epic picture of a guy releasing a weather balloon.

Tom, thanks so much for the cards. They'll be well taken care of at my house.  

Cervin' Up Some Incy Ink

Edit:  This is part two of my screw up.  I mixed up the packages from Matt at Bob Walk the Plank and Zippy Zappy of Cervin' Up Cards. These are actually the cards from Matt and you still have a little more time to go follow him and enter in the little contest I mentioned yesterday.


If you even bothered to open this post, you probably think I've gone loopy with the spelling in the title.  Don't worry, I'm still here mentally.  I received a nice package from Zippy Zappy of Cervin' Up Cards.

I've received a lot of cards from a lot of people over the last 4+ years.  One thing I've never received was a certified Pete Incaviglia auto on a non-licensed card.

Ok, that was kind of a joke as there probably is only one certified Pete Incaviglia auto on a non-licensed card and it's this 2011 Limited Greats auto from Panini.  It's #207/399, but that's not important.  The important thing to note is that it looks nothing like this Incaviglia auto I received from The Diamond King back in 2012.

Interesting to say the least.  Or most.  I don't know which.

Zippy also sent me a Hamburger.  Damn these scans.

Forget the Hamburger.  How about a Charlie Hough Sp from Topps Archives.  I just hit the auto version of this in View From the Skybox's charity break.  Pretty cool.

Zippy sent a number of other cards and I thank him for every single one.  Go check him out at Cervin' Up Cards.

I'm on the Brink Man

I know some people aren't fans of over-sized cards.  Personally, I haven't figured out the best way to store them, but I like them.  Especially when they are of the vintage persuasion.

Some of you youngsters may need further explanation.

I could give you that explanation, but why re-invent the wheel when Ryan over at The Cardboard Connection already explains it.  Check it out here.

My friend, and annual Commish of Gint-A-Cuffs, Mark from Mark's Ephemera sent me one of the 1964 Topps Giants (not the team) cards.  Lucky for me it was Ed Brinkman of the Washington Senators.

Just look at that beauty.  It measures 3 1/8" by 5 1/4" inches.  Night Owl will be ashamed because I didn't scan the back and it's awesome. It looks like a newspaper headline and says "Brinkman Leads In Double Plays".

Mark didn't stop with Mr. Brinkman.

He also sent over two cards from a set that I've never seen before.  The 1970 Topps Supers set was a 42 card set featuring some of the players from the 1970 set.  The oversized cards measured 3 1/8" by 5 1/4" inches, just like the 1964 Topps Giants set.  The major difference is these Supers are as thick as 5 or 6 regular cards.

Mark sent me Tommy Harper of the Seattle Pilots.  It looks like he's playing in the desert.

Mark also sent over this nice Jim Fregosi card.  I thought it was interesting timing considering Fregosi's recent passing.  I like to remember him this way as opposed to his managerial days.  He looks pretty happy, as any ballplayer should.

Mark, thanks for the great cards.  It's not often I get two types of cards I didn't have in my collection.

Back to the LCS house

I don't know what to call my former LCS owner's house.  Wonderland.  Candy store.

Whatever you call it, it's one of my favorite places to spend a couple of hours.  I usually go on Thursdays, about noon.  It gives me two hours to spend looking through cards, talking baseball, reliving the glory days of collecting through my friend.  The only sacrifice is two hours of sleep and around $20.

A fair trade off if you ask me.  Not that you asked.

Last Thursday I went without a game plan.  That's the norm for me so I just figure I'll come away with something worthwhile.  Of course, there's always the Nolan Ryan Binder to fall back on if I don't find anything else.

This time I ended up with about 55 singles.  Only half were Rangers.  The other half will end up in trade packages along the way.  Total cost for those 55 singles was $1.

Chan Ho Park is and will always be "THE WORST FREE AGENT SIGNING IN THE HISTORY OF THE TEXAS RANGERS". Period.  Still, like Arod and Mark Teixeira, I need his cards to fill my lists.

I was going through a 5000 count box of cards and ran across a ton of these 1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated cards.  I have to say, great photography.  I think I may try to pick out the whole set from him.  It'll be cheap.

You can't tell, but this is a 1997 Donruss Studio 8X10 of Greg Maddux.  It's going to Jon at Community Cards if he needs it.  I owe him.  He didn't even charge me for this.  He just gave it to me.

I picked up a couple of random vintage cards including this well loved Ferris Fain.   You have to love vintage cards.  No...you're not listening...you HAVE TO love vintage.  I said so.

My teaser post from last week showed that I bought three binders.  After a little poking around Ebay, I discovered that I got a good deal on two of them.  The other was a wash.

One of the binders had a complete set of 1998 Mark McGwire Chase for 62 cards.  That's only 30 cards, but it also had this oversized 62 HR card.   Hey, I'm king of the world...for now.

I wasn't going to get this, but he said $2 so I thought Cards on Cards might want it.  I could always use the little binder and the 4 sheets that came with it.

He started pulling out little binders and offering them up really cheap.  He had this complete 2001 Upper Deck Legends set and offered it to me for $3.  I couldn't pass it up.  90 cards, 10 pages and binder for $3 was too good to pass up.  I do question some of the cards in this set.  Kevin Brown and Jeff Kent.  Legends they are not.  I saw completed listings for this set on Ebay ranging from $3.59-$7.99.

My 2nd favorite pickup of the day was a complete set of 1998 Skybox Metal cards.  It's 220 cards and is mind-blowingly fantastic.  The backgrounds on these cards, which my STUPID scanner will not pick up, are the best ever. I'm going to post the whole set if I can figure out how to do it.  The complete set, 25 pages and the binder set me back $6.  I couldn't find any listings for this set so I don't know if that was a good deal, but for these cards, I'm happy with the price.  

Here we go.   Up to this point, I'd spent a total of $12.  I asked him to get the Nolan binder and he pulled this 1971 Topps Nolan Ryan out.  He asked for $13 just to get it to $25 and even though I could have negotiated, I was happy to pay it.  That gives me the 1968, 1969, 1970 and now 1971 Topps Nolan Ryan cards.

I didn't crop it too close so you could see the borders.  Not too shabby for a 1971 card.

Don't forget to read my morning post and follow directions and you might just get some cards from his house yourself.

Shiver Me Timbers a mini contest

EDIT:  Well, for the second time, I've attributed cards to the wrong guy.  These cards came from Kenny aka Zippy Zappy of Cervin' Up Cards.  I scanned both sets of cards at the same time.  I already have a post scheduled for tomorrow thanking Kenny, but it apparently features the cards Matt sent.  I'm sorry for the mixup Kenny!  The contest still holds so go follow Bob Walk the Plank.  


I've always wanted to say that.

Ok, not really, but how else do you start a trade post about Matt from Bob Walk the Plank?

Before we get started with the cards Matt sent, I want to let you know that Matt just started blogging in January.

GO FOLLOW Bob Walk the Plank and leave a comment on this post that you did and I'll randomize a winner for a nice stack of cards from your favorite team.  I'll get them the next time I go to my friend's house. You know the one, the former LCS owner.  Maybe even some vintage if I can get my hands on some.

Alright, on to the goods.

I've been a pretty big fan of the Winter Olympics this year and here is a blast from the not so distant Gold Medal winning past.  Picabo Street won gold in the Super G at the Nagano Winter Games.  

I'm a big fan of combining military and cards.  This is the HMS Dreadnought and she was in service in World War I.  She actually sank a German submarine by ramming it.  That's somewhat unsettling for this submarine sailor, but pretty badass nonetheless.

I've never seen this set or heard of this guy, but the "Texas Baseball Club" apparently DID not draft him even though he's in the Draft Picks set.  I guess he signed as an undrafted free agent.

I haven't opened a pack of Finest since 1993 so I always appreciate getting Finest Rangers in packages.  I love the retro uniform Beltre is sporting in this shot.

Sweet Ed Stroud.  He's just happy to be bunting in a simulated at bat on a beautiful green field on a bright sunny day.  The fastest way to my heart is Senators goodness.

Ok, that was a little creepy.  Lee Maye is not messing around.  Better be on my best behavior down at BP.

The penultimate card in the post is this one.  Topher over at Crackin' Wax likes to use the word penultimate. I don't think I knew what it meant until I started watching his group break videos.  Oh, I'm sorry, my undiagnosed ADD kicked in.  Am I crazy?  That is an autographed card, #59/125, of a kid who was born on March 5, 1997!  1997??!!  Are you kidding me??   Ok, my son liked it.  He collects the USA stuff and this kid is only 3 years older than he is so he thinks it's great.

Ok, let's award the Gold for this post.  As in a 2012 Topps Finest gold refractor of Nelson Cruz.  It's #32/50.  32 is 4 times the $8 million Nelson is getting from Baltimore in 2014 so that makes this an Ebay 1/1!  I'm being silly, but don't you feel like Ebay sellers try to make that kind of stretch sometimes.

Matt, I hope you get a few more followers from this mini contest.  Thanks for the great cards!

Send me some shiny!

If you read my morning post, you saw a partial 2013 Topps Chrome rainbow that I've been working on for a few months.

I don't expect to complete it with a printing plate anytime soon, but I do need some 2013 Topps Chrome Rangers to help with other players.  If you have any of these and you want to trade them, let me know.

Mike Olt-base refractor, atomic refractor /10

Jurickson Profar-Xfractor, purple refractor, sepia refractor /75, gold refractor /50, red refractor /25, camo refractor /15, atomic refractor /10, pink refractor /5

Adrian Beltre-pink refractor /5

Neftali Feliz-base, sepia refractor /75

Ian Kinsler base, red refractor /25, pink refractor /5

Yu Darvish-black refractor /100, sepia refractor /75, gold refractor /50, red refractor /25, camo refractor /15, atomic refractor /10, pink refractor /5

I know I'm not likely to get much on Jurickson or Darvish or the pink refractors,  but you never know unless ask.

So long Nelson

Nelson Cruz has finally signed with another team.  It took long enough.  Now maybe he and Chris Davis can be the Baltimore Bash Brothers, Formerly Known as Texas Rangers.

During my Ebay spree I picked up a decent (or should I say indecent) number of Nelson Cruz cards.

Forgive me if I've shown some of these before.  I can't recall which ones I might have posted already.

This is a 2009 Topps Unique Gold Parallel #18/25.  I picked it up cheap in a lot with 3 other Cruz cards.

Here we have a 2012 Topps Chrome Red Refractor and it's #1/25.

This is one of the many colored parallels from 2012 Topps Tribute.  It is #2/5.

I'm not a huge fan of Bowman anything, but I couldn't pass up this 2012 Bowman Platinum Red Refractor auto patch #2/25.  I couldn't pass it up because I have a problem.

Real men wear pink.  I've seen that on T-Shirts at some of the Cancer Awareness 5Ks we've run.  Nelson is wearing a pink refractor from 2013 Bowman Chrome and it's #22/35.

I know I posted this because I bought it after I held a contest to see who could guess the Canary Refractor I pulled.  Night Owl guessed Nelson Cruz and since I DID NOT pull Cruz, I wanted one.  This is #2/10.

I also posted this 2013 Museum Jumbo relic before.  It's #21/50 and I AM a little annoyed by the crease in the card.

I am the person who hates sticker autos.  I'm also the guy who bought a 2013 Topps Tribute Nelson Cruz sticker auto #44/50.  I don't know why, I just did.  I'm sick.

Next up is my version of the Nelson Cruz 2013 Topps Chrome Rainbow.  I won't give much description, but I do have something to say at the end.

I have the base and the purple refractor, but I don't have scans for them.  Go figure.

Refractor

Orange Refractor

XFractor

Blue Refractor #130/199

Black Refractor #80/100

2nd Black Refractor #17/100.  

It's his uniform # and was cheap.  Sucker!

Sepia Refractor #67/75

Gold Refractor #50/50

Red Refractor #14/25

Camo Refractor #12/15

Atomic Refractor #3/10

Pink Refractor #4/5

I haven't seen any of the Cruz printing plates show up yet, but the Superfractor made not one, but two appearances on Ebay.  The first time it sold for $57 I think.  I've never pulled a Superfractor and I've never owned a Superfractor, but I would have bought the Cruz at that price.  Of course, I don't know how high the other guy was willing to go, but I would have done it for $60.  That buyer re-listed the card a week or so later and I was in on the bidding, but it went north of $100 and I was out well before it got that high.  

I've seen two other Rangers Superfractors from 2013 Chrome and the Derek Holland, the one I would most want, sold for a best offer of less than $99 before I saw it and the Mike Olt had been listed at $999.99, but I just checked and someone won it for a best offer price.

I'm sure I'll be picking up more Cruz cards along the way, but it looks like 2013 will be the end of the line (well, there is 2014 Topps possibly) for Cruz and me.