TTM Success: Hal Stowe

I love TTM autos on vintage!

I haven't had a success in a while, so this was a welcome return. Former Yankee Hal Stowe signed my card in just one week's time. Stowe played for the Yankees in 1960 and pitched one inning. In fact, that was his whole Big League appearance. Ever. One inning. One ER. One walk. One balk. No hits. Lifetime 9.00 ERA.

He pitched the eighth inning of a Sept 30 win versus Boston. The Yankee lineup that day featured Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, and Moose Skowron. They ended up walking off in the bottom of the 9th, giving Duke Maas the win.

The fact that he pitched once makes this success even cooler, in my mind.

Secret Santa loot!

Last week, my wife said, “Here, you got a package from FedEx.” I wasn’t expecting anything, nor did I recognize the return address. That could only mean one thing, really: SECRET SANTA!

I quickly opened to find a blaster of Archives. Cool, I thought. I haven’t busted any of this. Except then I noticed the tape job. Oh yeah, this was just a package decoy.

Upon opening, I found a smaller wrapped box, filled with four team bags full of cards. There was a note that said “From BWTP Secret Santa.” Still, no identity! How secretive.

Whoever this fellow collector is did a great job of researching what I like. Perhaps it’s a frequent trade partner, but pretty much every card in this package was tailored to what I collect. Impressive!

While it was all great, this is the card that dropped my jaw:

Look at that! Rizzuto game worn pants, with a Jose Reyes relic to boot! I love the old, cream-colored Yankee swatches. They are so awesome looking, and this is a really sharp card. It’s crazy to me that on several occasions, a fellow collector has sent me a Rizzuto relic. There were plenty more Scooters too, as I needed each of these for my mini PC of him:

It wasn’t just all Scooter. My Secret Santa knows I love prospects! I was psyched to get another Gleyber Torres card, even if he’s still featured as a Cub. I’ll take any I can get these days! There was a ton of Bowman, overall, which I love.

Interestingly, none of these “Breakouts” are with the Yankees anymore.

Neither is this guy <sniffle>.

There were also plenty of cards of a former prospect turned mega star as well. Gary Sanchez cards are not easy to come by anymore after his torrid last two months of the season. They are nearly impossible to get for a reasonable price on eBay or COMC. There was no shortage of the man child here.

Secret Santa, hopefully you’ll reveal yourself in the comments. You did a good job of leaving no traces as to your identity. The package was above and beyond what I could have imagined for a Secret Santa gift. Thank you!

Merry Christmas to you as well, Topps

This afternoon, I received an unexpected envelope from Topps. I recently got a replacement redemption from them (write-up to come), and still have another outstanding. However, this wasn't a bubble mailer. My first thought was that this was probably a letter apologizing for the delay.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a holiday card from Topps NOW. What a nice gesture!

The best part is, a free card fell out! Check this out - a four-player Topps NOW card. Very cool! It looks and feels like the same product from this past season. I could have done without Ortiz on it, but at least he's on the back. Love that Gary Sanchez made the front. He had a Topps NOW card about every other day.

We give Topps a lot of shit, but this was something they didn't have to do, and I appreciate the surprise. I was pretty happy when the card fell out. Topps, nice job doing a little thing to bring a smile to the face of a collector.

SuperTraders #23: A kinky package from Cards on Cards

This is the latest package that Kerry from Card on Cards sent me. When it arrived, my wife thought I must’ve gotten her something kinky for Christmas. Sorry dear, it’s baseball cards from Oregon.

Kerry mentioned to me that this envelope has made the rounds from a few bloggers, so I’ll have to keep up the tradition and use it in an upcoming card package. Hmmm, who will it be?

There were two jam-packed bags of Yankees. I was excited that there were some ’16 Archives, as I didn’t get much of those and they really haven’t found their way into trade packages yet. I really enjoyed this year’s checklist and the chosen designs. The one thing I found weird was 1991 – with “New York” being added to “Yankees”, forcing the name awkwardly above the light blue ribbon. Kind of sloppy. However, the rest of the ’91 design looks cool. I like the gray a lot.

This Jeter is one that I’m not familiar with it. It’s from ’04 SPx. I need to count how many Jeter cards I have where he’s blowing a bubble.

I didn’t have this Jeter either, which is from ’06 Bazooka. The gold-bordered versions are much thicker than the base cards. This is a bit of an underrated design. It’s simple. No bells and whistles, plenty of space for a full photo, yet you still get the player name and team.

VIP! I love having cards from the National! I’ll probably never go, so I really appreciate getting exclusive cards from the show.

This Whitey Ford Fleer Hardball is numbered to 1000. Doesanyone remember when Whitey got mad at my TTM request and signed a card “W.Ford” to stick it to me?

Knobby! Flair cards were always nice, although they got a little consuming when they starting doing variations and different levels. But the card itself is really attractive and shiny. Bowman has used some similar technology in more recent releases.

A IIID O’Neill! Neat card. I don’t have much recollection of this set. It's kind of like those modern-day Opening Day inserts that were all trippy to look at.

I think Fleer InScribed is easily overlooked. The cards were nice though. They felt and looked classy. I’d love to get one autographed.

Lastly, there was a bunch of these Sporting News Conlon cards from ’88. There were some great photos! I don’t recall having any of these cards in my collection.

Kerry, you rock. Thanks!

Gypsy Oak > Gypsy Queen

A few weeks back, Mark Hoyle connected some bloggers with Jeff of Gypsy Oak. Jeff is a talented artist who creates some amazing custom cards, photos, and other pieces of artwork. Jeff was looking to scale back on a little inventory, and he sent me an awesome PWE.

I love his unique style, first and foremost. The colors, shapes, and patterns are really unlike any artwork I've seen, at least on the sports side. I think they'd look great in a larger format, such as 16x20.

Here's a great Mantle - a Hellmar Art Stamp. It has a very cool, authentic vintage feel to it, include perforations.

 

Perhaps the most unique item was this row of stamps. It's awesome looking! I didn't break them apart or anything, but it just feels like something you'd find in a time capsule that was buried in the '50s.

Jeff, thanks for your generosity and sharing your talent! I encourage everyone to follow Jeff on Twitter, and take a look at more of his work HERE.

Trip to a new LCS

Since moving to my new town over a year ago, I've been wanting to visit a local card shop that is just 15 minutes away. Not a bad distance at all, as many collectors don't have anything nearly that close.

I'm a little ashamed it took me over a year to get there. However, both kids went down for a nap yesterday, so I told my wife I was sneaking out for a few minutes.

I made the drive to the shop, which was about two towns over. The store is not visible from the outside, which confused me a little. However, around back there is a glass door that leads to the second floor of a small strip mall, and the card shop is on the second floor.

It was fairly small, with piles and boxes overflowing. It was sort of organized chaos, but I liked it. There was one other shopper in there, obviously a regular who spends a lot of time there, as I could gather that by their banter. The owner was very nice as well, saying he's been in business since 1988. No small feat!

He immediately asked what I was looking for and what I collect. Honestly, I didn't go in with a plan, so I just sort of blurted out "errr, Yankees." To which he replied, "Ok, but new, old, autographs, what?" I just said, "Yeah, a little of everything." The truth was, I'm also kind of guarded in these situations, as I was ready for him to sell me on the more expensive stuff. After a while, we started chatting a bit more and told him I collect Tino, and have about 800 different. The guy in the shop said he has a Frank Robinson collection like that.

I started to settle in and went though a box of Yankees, all priced between about $1 and $15. Most were a few bucks each. Pricing was pretty standard for a small shop, with cards selling for a bit more than you could find them online. I did find one Tino marked $1, so I snagged it:

Next, he showed me a box of very beat up vintage. They were all older than 1960, and all priced fairly well. I only bought one, but I think it was a decent find for $5. I've been wanting this card for a while.

Lastly, I decided I wanted a few packs. I asked if he had gotten any Bowman Draft in yet, and said he hadn't, which was disappointing. I settled on four packs of 2016 Update. I opened them on the spot, and in the last pack, I snagged a hit, which is unusual for me:

I definitely will be going back. The owner was nice and not pushy at all. It's not the most comfortable setting with the size and clutter, but still was fun to look around a bit, and if I had more time, I'm sure I could have done more damage. I'm looking forward to returning and going through a box of Yankees inserts he mentioned, but I had to go before I could check it out.

Purposely buying a dupe

Do you ever buy a card you already have, on purpose?

I do it from time-to-time. There are a lot of instancess when I blatantly screw up, thinking I don't have a card and buy it, only to discover it's a dupe. However, there are other times when I buy a card, already knowing that I have it.

It many cases, it might be because you upgrade a card for a vintage set. In most cases for me, it's actually because I know how hard certain Tino Martinez cards from the late 90s are to find. When one pops up for a great price, even if it is a dupe, sometimes I can't help myself from pouncing.

I just did it on this 1997 Circa Rave. These cards aren't easy to find, and one came up in my saved eBay search and it was essentially a steal. I had to get it, even though I already have one. It's not the worst thing to own a scarce card like this, and I did second-guess myself a bit, but ultimately, I felt like I couldn't let it pass me by.

I've recently done this with a Donruss Crusade Tino as well. I guess that's the life of a player collector. If new stuff doesn't pop up, but what you already have.