Random winner for 2010 Topps

Thanks to everyone who used their blog to publicize my Groundhog Day Contest. The bonus prize is 5 unopened packs of 2010 Topps from Target. I used random.org to get a winner from the 17 bloggers. The results are:

List Randomizer
There were 17 items in your list. Here they are in random order:
1. Night Owl
2. Balk Four
3. The Real DFG
4. Condition Poor
5. No One Is Going To Read This Blog
6. MMMrHubarb
7. The Paper Chase
8. All Your Basecards Belong to Us
9. A Rookie (baseball) Card Collector
10. Omega Cardboard
11. Waxaholic
12. In the Ballpark
13. Great Sports Name Hall of Fame
14. The Collective Troll
15. The Great Orioles Autograph Project
16. The Other World
17. Cardboard Junkie
Timestamp: 2010-02-08 07:25:53 UTC


Congrats to Night Owl who will be receiving the packs and some bonus cards. I will get those in the mail to you on Monday. Thanks again to everyone who participated.

Super Bowl Sunday Trollific NFL Package

I put up a trade post yesterday showing ONE card that Marck from The Collective Troll sent in a package. Today, quite appropriately enough, I'm going to show you the other really nice non-Ranger cards he sent over. Well, mostly non-Rangers.

In a break from typical Play at the Plate posting, I'm showing some fine Dallas Cowboys cards from the package.

We'll start with a little taste of cards from 1980 thru 1984. All HOF'er cards with Tony Dorsett and a Randy White. The 1983 Topps record breaker card highlights Dorsett's NFL record 99 yard run from scrimmage against the Minnesota Vikings on January 3, 1983.



Here is a nice 1978 Topps Harvey Martin card. Martin even looks a little fierce on this card.

Harvey worked for a "soft drink firm" during the off-season. Do you think DeMarcus Ware works for Pepsi or Coke. Maybe doing commercials...but not because he NEEDS a check.

That is a sweet 'fro Drew Pearson is sporting on this 1977 Topps card.

Drew made the NFC Pro-Bowl Squad for his "outstanding season in 1976." That shows you how much things have changed in the last 30 years. In today's pass happy NFL, 58 catches would be considered a fair season, but not really Pro-Bowl material.

From great 'fro to male pattern baldness, here we have a 1976 Cliff Harris card. I grew up watching all these guys play for the Cowboys, but Cliff Harris was one of my favorites.




I need the rest of the Cowboys from this set to I can answer the question. I need more clues!!


All of these cards are new to me. I once had some of the early '80s cards, but had long since "lost" them. This next card is really amazing and is without a doubt a first for my collection.

Once again the scanner has cut off part of the left and bottom of this card. It is a little off center to the left, but isn't bad at all. This is an awesome 1967 Philadelphia Mel Renfro card. I don't even know what to say about it except THANK YOU MARCK!!! Mel went into the Hall of Fame in 1996.

This is definitely the highlight of my limited football collection. It will be displayed in it's own place on the bookshelf in my office.

I love these cards, but this is a baseball card blog for the most part so I'll end with one more baseball card that Marck sent.

This is the perfect card for me. This 1975 Topps RBI Leaders card has one player for the team collection and one for the personal collection. I had no idea Jeff Burroughs and Johnny Bench were the rbi leaders in 1974. Of course I was only 4 when they achieved this feat so you'll have to forgive me.

Another card falls prey to the scanner. I think the cut-off only happens when I scan several cards at once. It's no surprise that three A's and three Dodgers made the list. Those two teams met in the 1974 World Series where the A's won their 3rd title in a row. Sorry Night Owl.

I have to say this package went above and beyond and I want to really thank Marck for every one of these cards.

Cards from the Old Man: Part 4

This is the third in a series of posts about cards I received from the old collector in our town who had library catalogs full of cards from the 1950's-1970's. You can see those original posts here and here if you missed them. The next card is one I picked out because he was a Texas Ranger when I started buying cards in 1981. I was happy and surprised to find this card of him from earlier in his career.

This 1973 Topps Fergie Jenkins is really nice. It's in great condition aside from being pretty off-center to the left.

The scanner cut off part of the bottom, but don't let that ruin the experience. The back of the card highlights the fact the Jenkins just finished his 6th consecutive 20-win season in a row. That is an amazing number. Another amazing stat is that he average almost 306 innings per year over the course of those 6 seasons. He would drop off just a bit in 1973, winning 14 games. He was traded to Texas before the 1974 season where he would hit a career high with 25 wins. Between 1967 and 1980, Fergie had 14 consecutive double digit win seasons. He ended his career after the 1983 season with 284 career wins. The BBWAA voted to enshrine Jenkins in the Hall of Fame in 1991 with 75.40% of the vote.

Next week, I'll post the last of the 1973 Topps from the old man. It just happens to be my favorite one.

Post #200--A Special Play at the Plate

200

That's a nice round number. I didn't see myself doing that many when I started, at least not this soon. I think about 193 of those are trade posts.

Like a lot of you, I'd like to put up something really great for a number like this one. Instead, I'm going to post this week's play at the plate card on Saturday instead of Sunday. I don't know the history behind this image although it may be the play described on the back. I pulled this in a pack of cards last week.

It's a gorgeous 2007 UD Masterpieces Deep Blue Linen Ty Cobb #71/75. The back of the card says, "...Cobb once reached first, stole second, stole third and then stole home on consecutive attempts in a 1907 contest." Sometimes you just have to enjoy the card.

If you're reading this, thanks for coming along for the ride.

Cards from My Own Card Shop Plus One Troll Contribution

Just a few days ago I got 4 packages in the mail on the same day. One of them was from Dan of It's Like Having My Own Card Shop fame. Dan included a few play at the plate cards which I'll add to the growing stack to be featured. I'll show just four of the many cards he sent, including the one that started this trade. Then, for good measure, I'll throw in one from the Troll. I don't normally combine trade posts, but I think you'll understand why I did after you see the card.

I know I traded away a Cal Ripken Powerdeck to someone not too long ago. It's nice to have at least one 1999 UD Powerdeck Ranger in the collection. This is the Juan Gonzalez version. I have a Frank Thomas, at least I think it's the Big Hurt, that I tried in my wife's laptop. It didn't work. AND she said I messed up her computer. The nerve of some people.

I love getting cards I've never seen before. An insert called "Frequent Flyer" is a nice idea for base stealing specialists. This 1998 Skybox Axcess Airlines Tom Goodwin is supposed to look like a frequent flyer card. It's very thin and I don't remember ever seeing these back in '98. Tom Goodwin played for Texas from 1997 to 1999. In 2 1/2 seasons in Texas he had 93 stolen bases. He had a career high 66 SB's with the Royals in 1996 and 369 total career SB's.





I like a good gold rush. I would never attempt to collect a Topps set in gold, but I like getting the Rangers and this 2008 Topps C.J. Wilson fills a spot. It's #1925/2008 if you care about such things. I do.

Last, but certainly not least, is this card I claimed off a trade post Dan made.

It's my very first Washington Senators cards. The fact that it is one of only two Ted Williams cards I have it just icing on the cake.

It's vintage so here's the back. I like seeing the backs of these older cards. Even if he is a manager.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that the Troll had included a card in his package that went well with Dan's package. Here it is...

How awesome is that?!?! In the span of a few moments, I went from having no vintage Ted Williams cards to having TWO! This is the 1972 Topps Ted Williams "very airbrushed cap" card. Some may scoff and say these are only manager cards and I say phooey! It's Ted Williams man.

These are two great cards and I'm very happy to have them in my collection. Many thanks to both Dan and Marck for adding these cards and many others my growing Rangers collection.

Gold Gloves on the Bench...and gone.

During the latter stages of the 2009 season, the Texas Rangers had a total of 34 Gold Gloves riding the pine in Arlington.

Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez was brought over late in the season from Houston and played in 28 games for Texas. In 98 at bats, he had 2 homers with 13 rbis and hit .245. He also committed 3 errors in 179 chances.

Pudge is the All-Time leader at the catcher position with 13 Gold Gloves. He won 10 with Texas and 3 with Detroit. He won't win any more Gold Gloves, but he is three ahead of Johnny Bench (10) on the list and there are no active catchers within sight. Pudge signed a two year deal with the Nationals in the off-season.

Omar Viquel played all of 2009 with Texas getting into 62 games. In 177 at bats he had 14 rbis and hit .266. Playing 2B, 3B and SS, Omar had 0 errors in 207 chances.

Omar is second on the All-Time shortstop list with 11 Gold Gloves. Only Ozzie Smith, aka The Wizard, won more with 13. Omar won 9 Gold Gloves with Cleveland and 2 with the Giants. The closest active shortstop is Derek Jeter with 4 Gold Gloves so Omar's position behind Ozzie is safe for now. Omar signed a one year deal with the White Sox in the off-season.

Andruw Jones played the entire 2009 season with Texas. I had hopes that he would regain the form he had in Atlanta. He's not even 33 yet so there is still time for him, but it won't be in Texas. Omar played in 82 games, getting 281 at bats and hitting 17 homeruns with 43 rbis. He only hit .214 though. He had 0 errors in 63 chances while playing 1B, LF and RF. He only played the field in 25 games, getting the call at DH the other 57 games.

Andruw is third on the All-Time list for National League Gold Gloves with 10. Only Roberto Clemente (12) and Willie Mays (12) are ahead of him. That is pretty nice company he's hanging out with at the top of the list. Andruw, like Omar, signed a one year deal with the White Sox.

While the Gold Glove ability these three diplayed earlier in their careers wasn't really a factor for the 2009 Rangers, that is still a pretty impressive group of veterans to have talking to your young players. I just hope they had some help moving all that hardware to their new teams.

Chasing Carboard with the Paper Chase

I believe for the low, low price of some 2007 Fleer Ultra and a Rockies/Blue Jays card or two, I received the following Rangers (plus a bunch more) from Roy over at The Paper Chase.

Nothing special here. Just my man Will Clark celebrating one of his homeruns on this 1998 Topps cards. I think will is just about half a second away from Mark McLemore touching his butt. In a good way. If that's even possible. Great card!

Here's an early card of one of my favorite current Rangers. This 2001 Topps Stars Josh Hamilton is new to the collection and much appreciated.

This is another new card. To me, that is. It's a 2000 Bowman Chrome Meteoric Rise Ivan Rodriguez. If that is the Earth below Pudge, you're about to see the full moon on the next card.

Bringing up the rear, pun completely intended, is this 1996 UD Collector's Choice Ivan Rodriguez. This looks like the aftermath of a play at the plate that Pudge won. I think that's a Red Sox player on the ground. For his sake, I hope I can't identify him.

Roy, thanks for the trade and I'm sure we'll do another one somewhere along the way. I'm trying to put that Turkey Red set together, but I'll be on the lookout for another Fowler for you. I do have an extra Halladay if you want it.