Balls rule!

One of the fun things I did a few months ago was pick up Derek Jeter diecut cards that I found to be visually appealing. While I have cooled on that, I still have an eBay saved search and enjoy taking a peek every now and then.

A few days ago, I won an auction for a very cool 1997 Fleer Ultra Baseball Rules card of Jeter. The card is diecut, cut along the lines of the baseballs. It makes for a very cool, yet oddly shaped card. That's just the type of '90s weirdness I love.

I actually wasn't that sure when I bought the card what the subject matter even was. Just that it looked cool. That's all I need, sometimes.

Once it arrived, I noticed the back actually does have a "baseball rules" tidbit. I'm usually not a huge fan things like rules or trivia on cards but I like how it's done here:

Simple, clear definition of the a somewhat confusing rule around rookie status, and then a topical note on Jeter's current status and that he's on his way to winning ROY (they were right).What's odd is that the card was made in 1996, but it was for the 1997 product. According to baseballcardpedia, 1997 Fleer Ultra Series One was actually released in November of 1996. That's crazy! So they clearly printed the cards well before the conclusion of the '96 season. They were in Topps Update territory.

It also makes sense as to why I got a 1998 Ultra box for Christmas...in 1997.

Collectors would go nuts now if Topps released flagship or some other brand November for the following year. I don't think it was that odd back then though.

Regardless, this card rules and is a great Jeter diecut addition to my collection.

Precious Metal Gems

It would be accurate to say that I was most into cards in the late '90s. My collection right now is certainly better than it was then due to having some disposable income and the wonders of blog-to-blog trading, but in terms of my love for the hobby, the late '90s take the cake.

The one thing I missed out where crazy insert, like the ones going for big money nowadays that aged extremely well. Probably the most high-end cards I bought were Fleer Ultra, and I did pull some nice cards out of those. I remember pulling a few 1:36 cards and being pretty excited. This one comes to mind:

Image from COMC

Definitely not a valuable card, but it was a decent insert at the time in a set that would be considered fairly tough.

What I did miss out on were the big time cards - notably inserts and parallels - that have absolutely skyrocketed in value since the late '90s. In fact, a Michael Jordan 1997-98 Precious Metal Gems card just sold for....$350,100! Read about it here if you missed it.

Image from Sports Collectors Daily

But I didn't completely miss the boat. In fact, around this time, I bought a Tino Martinez Precious Metal Gem of my own. I probably got it on the internet/message board for $20-25, but I don't remember the exact transaction. Still, it's not a card that pops up often, and it would cost me a lot more if I wanted it today.

Sure, I missed the boat on life-changing cards in the late '90s, but at least I was smart enough to grab one of my favorite player at the time. It's one of my most prized Tino cards, and is easily one of my rarest and most high-end cards.

Thanks for looking out for me

Every couple of weeks, a blogger reaches out with a photo of a Tino Martinez card, asking if I need it.

Most of the time I can tell right away if it's a yes or a no. In this instance, I actually had to look when Paul from Scribbled Ink reach out with this card:

What threw me was the "UD PROMO" stamped across the card in foil. Hmmm. Turns out, this is a promotional card versus the regular Game Face, which I have. Cool!

Paul threw in three more cards into the PWE. First off, another Tino, this one a 1998 Ultra Gold Medallion. I'd say that this is my second favorite Gold Medallion design behind 1996.

The third card is of AL Silver Slugger winner Gary Sanchez. I always appreciate cards of this guy.

Lastly, a cool Robinson Cano Bowman Gold. I had been on the hunt for a Cano autograph for awhile, but obviously his PED suspension came as an unfortunate surprise. Maybe I'll pick one up on the cheap now.

Paul, thanks for the cards!

Hall or Nothing

I'm really hoping Mike Mussina gets the Hall of Fame nod this year, although it's looking like it might have to wait until next year. At the time of writing this, he's at 71% of the vote on Ryan Thibodaux's HOF tracker (link here).

While I don't think I'll fill out a ballot like Gavin did, I do appreciate seeing various rationale for why decisions are made. I also appreciate when a writer publishes an article with his or her decisions and why. I may not always agree, but at least appreciate a glimpse into the thought process.

With Mussina trending at 71% and 134 ballots accounted for, I feel like he's going to fall a few votes short.

One guy who didn't fall short was Wade Boggs. One of the greatest hitters of our generation, he also played at a time when he was part of some fantastic insert sets in the late '90s. While I wouldn't call myself a Boggs collector, I do frequently pick up his cards because he was included in some of these aforementioned sets.

A COMC order I recently placed yielded two such Boggs cards. The first is a 1997 EX 2000 Hall or Nothing insert. It's actually both diecut and clearcut. Two of my favorite things! It's a classy-looking design that fell 1:20 packs, although I can't imagine many of us bought these packs. I assume they were pretty much exclusive to hobby shops.

Not quite as rare, but cool in its own right, is the 1996 Fleer Ultra Prime Leather set. I remember pulling a Mark Grace as a kid, and always really feeling like it was a special card. The leather stitches are embossed, as the card has a leather-like texture, althought a little rough.

We really don't get cool-looking cards like this anymore, and I'm thankful I have COMC to go pick up cards like this from my childhood.

Subway cameos

It's hard to believe that this is the 20th year of Interleague Play and The Subway Series. The Yankees and Mets first started the yearly tradition in 1997. Back then, it was only one series per season. Eventually a second was added, and now they do a 4-game series broken up into two games at Yankee Stadium and two at Citi Field.

I like the way it's done now. Get it all over with at once, although mid-August feels late. I'd like to see it played in May or June every year.

With the weird drama between the Yankees and Mets front office last week, I told my co-worker (a Mets fan) that this has the feeling of a four-game Mets sweep. Luckily the Yanks got on the board first last night.

On cardboard, I've noticed a lot of photos of the Yankees/Mets series finding their way into sets. I see it with a lot within my Tino Martinez card collection. Perhaps it was an easy assignment for a company photographer to get both NY teams at once.

I liked this Fleer Ultra a lot, as I remember watching a game where Fox cut to a helmet cam that Mike Piazza was wearing (remember those?). During the at-bat, Tino hit a homerun. I'm not sure if this is the exact photo, but it was at Shea Stadium, so this could be it.

This 1998 Upper Deck also celebrates Tino's walk-off single versus John Franco, giving the Yanks a 2-1 series win in the inaugural series. Very cool to have that moment captured. It was like a 1997 Topps Now...in 1998.

I'm sure I could easily find other card of Tino Martinez in the subway series, as these took me all of five minutes to find. That's how common of a cardboard occurrence it was.

RBI Kings

I know that the RBI doesn't have the same significance among baseball stats as it did years ago. A lot of it has to do with the lineup around a given player, a variable not really considered for a long time. Assuming they put up the same batting lines, a cleanup hitter with some .400 OBP guys in front of him is going to have more RBIs than a cleanup hitter with a bunch of .300 OBP guys a head of him. More men on base should mean more RBIs. Easy.

Also - it's dumb that an RBI is awarded on a fielder's choice, but not on a double play.

Regardless, one still has to be a good hitter to collect a chunk of these so-called runs batted in. And in 1997, Tino Martinez was just that. He hit 44 HRs and drove in 141 runs. That's pretty damn good, RBI stat flaws or not.

In most instances, Tino hit fourth that year with a combination of Derek Jeter (.370 OBP), Wade Boggs (.373), Paul O'Neill (.399), and Bernie Williams (.408) ahead of him. Four guys with OBP percentages over .370 = lots of RBI chances. Plus Tino drove himself in 44 times.

One constant with Fleer Ultra over the years was an insert set called RBI Kings. Despite consistently driving in over 100 runs, Tino only appeared in the 1998 set after his monster year.

Still, it's one of the better looking RBI Kings inserts that they made. The pinks and purples make for a card color combination not frequently seen in my Tino collection.

A tin of Jordans

How many people had this baseball card tin growing up? I seem to remember getting it in the early ‘90s, and that it came with a few random packs of cards in it. It’s remained in my collection for over 25 years, and I frequently changed the contents growing up.

In high school, I think I put all of my Michael Jordan cards in there, and that’s still what resides in the tin today. I have all of my Jordans stashed in there, as a few are in top loaders, and the more common are in a few teams bags, which is stupid because it’s been thrown around over the years, so the lesser Jordan cards basically all have dinged corners.

Here are a few of my favorite MJ’s from within the tin.

This is the greatest basketball card I own. I received a box of 1995-96 Fleer Ultra for Christmas in ’95. It was a great set, and these Gold Medallions fell one per pack. They were awesome, with the full gold background. The 1996 baseball set had these as well. This was right after Jordan came back to the NBA as well, and to me, is just an iconic card from and iconic time for basketball cards. I’m so glad this card fell out of that box.

There was also this cool Double Trouble insert from the same set. What I liked about the inserts is that they could also include the Gold Medallion emblem, which increased the rarity and “book value.” I think I remember Beckett using a 3-5x multiplier for the Gold Medallion versions.

The ‘90s had some wacky inserts, as we all know. Number Crunchers from Hoops were pretty cool!

Fleer Metal was – and is – badass. This was from the Nuts & Bolts subset.

I’ve professed my love for Upper Deck Collector’s Choice You Crash The Game many times, and luckily still have the ’95-’96 redemption sets in both silver and gold. I always loved the shot of Jordan shooting the jumper in the Bulls’ black uniforms.

Collector’s Choice silver and gold sigs were fun too!

This was the first Jordan I actually pulled straight from a pack! It was from my Christmas stocking.

And of course, I have some MJ baseball cards. The ’91 Upper Deck SP is a classic. I lusted after this card in my cousin’s binder for years, and finally when he moved houses, he gave me this card, along with a binder with the complete 1989 Topps set.

I also have this cool oversized card of MJ from when he returned. I think it came from one of those repacks – an assortment of packs and a commemorative card.

Lastly, in seventh grade, I smelled pretty damn good, let me tell you. Why? Because I rocked Michael Jordan cologne. This is the official pin that came with my purchase.

So while it may say “Baseball Card Tin”, this is really a tin full of the greatest basketball player ever.

Worth their weight in gold

I’m sure many of us have come across these Danbury Mint 22K gold cards at some point. For me, I was familiar with them at a young age, as there were frequently ads in the Sunday paper for them. You know the ones; they usually came as a standalone ad with all of the other week’s sales. Sometimes it was for a Babe Ruth plate or collectible figure, and others, for 22K gold baseball cards.

One of the coolest items in my collection is a set of these honoring the 1998 Yankees. My grandma got it for me for Christmas one year, although it only came half full, and then she would receive a couple in the mail each month until the binder was full.

Before my eBay spending hiatus (which is going well!), I won a lot of two Tino Martinez gold cards – one from 2003, and one from 2007 (above). I like the ’07 because it has all his career stats.

These cards are deceptive. They seem like they’d be pretty solid, but in fact are very flimsy. The gold must be a very, very small coating. I don’t even know how much gold is actually there. I will say, 1996 Collector’s Choice Gold Medallions play the role a bit better and feel a lot more substantial. Plus, they are one of my favorite parallel sets ever.

 

Still, fun additions to my Tino collection, and cards you don’t come across too often.

Hard to let go

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about why I collect. I've also been gravitating toward cards from the '90s, when I was growing up. I'm sure it's rooted somewhere in keeping a piece of my childhood alive. You know, all that deep stuff buried within yourself.

I'm no psychologist, but I have an oddly weird time getting rid of cards from when I was a kid, even of other teams that have no meaning to me. I spent so much time with my cards, I can remember where and when I got so many of them. It's pretty crazy.

I still have a stack of Griffeys and Frank Thomas and Mike Piazza...cards that were tough for a 12-year old kid to pull. They used to "book" in Beckett for like $3 each. For some reason, it's tough for me to clear them out, even though I don't collect those guys. Plus, I could re-buy most of them for pennies if I ever wanted.

It's definitely some sort of sentimental sickness. May sickness is too strong a word, but you get what I'm saying.

Back when I was 12 or 13, we had just gotten AOL, and I started buying cards through collecting news forums. Usually it was a small deal where I'd send a buck or two in cash. A lot of the time, I'd send a dollar and a SASE for my card. My how times have changed.

There was one deal I made with another collector for a 700-card box full of Tino Martinez cards. I thought I was getting a steal, but I got duped pretty good. Sure the cards arrived as advertised, but it was basically like 100 1992 Fleer, 100 1992 Upper Deck, 100 1991 Donruss, etc. I don't know why I did it. I probably still have that box somewhere in my parents' attic.

I remember the exact three cards I sent for this box of Tinos.

1998 Fleer Ultra Ken Griffey Jr Notables
1998 Fleer Ultra Ken Griffey Jr Fall Classics
And this:

Michael Jordan 1995-96 Fleer Ultra Double Trouble Gold Medallion, which was about 3x the book value of the regular Double Trouble insert. At the time, it booked for $24 ($8 x 3 for Gold Medallion).

I always regretted it. I know, dumb, right? But it stuck with me. So I bought the Jordan on eBay the other day for a couple bucks.

And I've asked Junior Junkie to see if he has dupes of the Griffeys. If not, I can probably get them for $4 total on COMC. They booked for a lot higher at the time.

I didn't need that Jordan. I don't collect him and rarely buy NBA cards. But I felt I needed to make it up to myself. It was 20 years ago, but obviously I haven't let it go. I'm not sure why, but I think I need to let go of a lot of my random cards of the past. So if you see a bunch of mid-90s cards popping up in my #SuperTraders packages, just know you're helping me get rid of cards I don't need anymore, and that it wasn't as easy to send them as it might appear.

Treat Yo-self - Tino edition

I recently went on a Tino Martinez splurge. I found a seller that had a bunch of inserts for a buck with free combined shipping, so I went on a mini tear. I even checked my "have" list for a change to make sure I wasn't duplicating efforts. Most of these are from 1996-97 on some very forgotten sets. 

Pinnacle Aficionado? Check.

Pacific Prisms? Check.

One of the 9,000 Pinnacle brands? Check.

Gold Medallions? Die-cuts? Refractors? Check, check, and check.

Did I say refractors? I meant ATOMIC refractors.

Upper Deck trying to be old school? Check.

Awkward Studio shots? Yup.

Not a bad haul whatsoever!

Cards on Cards on Taye Diggs on Michael Pineda on Knicks on Paul O’Neill

What an idiot title. But you clicked, so the joke is on you.

Kerry from Cards on Cards reached out and mentioned he had some stuff to send my way. Now, a year or two ago, Kerry was busting some basketball cards and I said I’d take any extra Knicks. I haven’t collected basketball cards since I was kid (but DID collect basketball more than baseball growing up), so I really just thought it would be cool to sample some current basketball products and grab cards of my favorite team, the dreadful Knicks.

Here are two favorites from Kerry. He sent way more than this though. The Robinson is pretty damn cool. It’s from the dunk contest, obviously. I like this card of Melo too. This wasn’t a common shot on a card back when I bought basketball cards, but I assume this is fairly common now with the cameras behind the backboards.

Kerry also threw in some Yanks and PC guys, including this Taye Diggs card. I hadn’t see this Upper Deck set, but it looks like a celebrity-focused set based on their team affiliations? Also, I went to the same college as Taye Diggs (but not at the same time). So, yay.

Here are two Pinedas I didn’t have. I’m surprised I didn’t have the Hertiage, but when I checked my ‘have’ list, it wasn’t there. So that’s cool. I’m up into the 50s now for different Pineda cards. 

I also really like this Paul O’Neill Fleer Ultra League Leaders insert card. It’s actually a Gold Medallion parallel as well, even though the medallion is silver. This was from the strike-shortened season in which Paul lead the AL in hitting. 

 

Kerry, thanks for thinking of me!