Dime Boxes: A Trade

When I started thus blog way back in 2012, I figured it would be a cool place to show off some of my Matt Kemp cards. I was fully committed to #BeastMode back then, focusing almost exclusively on building up my Matt Kemp collection. Eventually I expanded my interests a bit, chasing as many Dodgers' autos and relics as I could get my hands on. 2012 wasn't the most fiscally responsible year of my life. 

Of course my interests eventually expanded, and I moved away from expensive autos to more affordable cards, and not just Dodgers. I had several mini-collections and player collections, yet I primarily dabbled in modern cards--packs I could rip from Target and my local LCS. 

Of course, nearly a decade after I first started collecting, my collection and my collecting habits has narrowed. I have a greater appreciation for vintage stuff, and, if money wasn't a barrier, I'd probably be chasing and showcasing that here more often. But I'm a broke twenty-something, so most of my vintage comes from trades these days. 

Enter Nick of Dime Boxes fame, another twenty-something, with a rich collection of a fantastic cards. I sent him a package way back in early spring, and he sent a return package not too long after featuring a whole bevy of awesome cardboard, including that sweet Lou Johnson from 1966 above. 

It's not too often I run into cards from the 1950s, so seeing this sweet Jim Gilliam card drop out of the bubble mailer Nick sent my way was a definite surprise. I've spent very little time talking about my love for various vintage sets on this blog (something I should do more), and the 1959 set has got to be one of my top 10 favorite sets of all time. 

Ed Roebuck is a new name name for me. While I know the names of most Dodgers legends, I'm still filling in the gaps. Apparently Ed Roebuck was a relief pitcher for the Dodgers (Brooklyn and Los Angeles) in the late 50s and 60s. Fun Fact: he once tied the major league record for striking out twice in the same inning. 

2019 Heritage picked up the 1970 design for its release earlier this year (a set I enjoyed), but Nick included some of the real stuff in this package. While these look like standard cards from the 1970 set, I was in for a surprise.

Yep, that's an OPC. Nick managed to add hundreds of these to his collection a few months ago, and he was nice enough to share the wealth across the blogosphere. I took a couple of years of French in college (Je me souviens de rien), but never did I think I'd have to put it to use.

Of course, Nick included more than just vintage in this swap. In fact, he sent over what is officially the first card in my Jeopardy mini-collection: a glossy parallel of Austin Rogers from 2018 A&G. I talked at large about the lack of Jeopardy cards in the cardboard world a few months back. After doing a bit of research, I managed to only track down just three non-auto cards in existence that highlight the question and answer game show: 2006 A&G Ken Jennings, 2013 Topp Heritage News Flashback, and 2018 Topps A&G Austin Rogers. Thanks to some comments from a few of you, I was also able to locate a few autographs: Alex Trebek has a cut auto in 2014 Topps Archives; Trebek and Jennings have a dual cut auto in 2011 Topps American Pie (both are 1/1s); Rogers has an auto in the 2018 A&G set; and, more recently, James Holzhauser has an auto in 2019 A&G. Unfortunately, my Jeopardy mini-collection doesn't appear as if it will be growing anytime soon. 

My vintage collection, on the other hand, looks better than ever. With gracious trading partners like Nick, maybe I can manage completing some sets before modern cards are considered vintage. Maybe. 

Topps Reveals 2020 Flagship Design...

... and it's not great. 

I'll have a more in-depth post about this sometime in the future when more details emerge, but I wanted to throw some of my initial thoughts out there.

1. Nameplates: The nameplate gets a vertical treatment on all cards and the names rotated 90 degrees. This looks to me like only the second time Topps has treated names in this fashion, maybe as a nod to the 1999 set? Not the set I'd steal design elements from, to be honest. 
2. Bowman?: At first glance, it looks a lot like recent Bowman releases. Don't ask me which ones; I think most Bowman from the last five years or so looks incredibly similar. This doesn't seem to have much personality.
3. Color: The design seems to lack color. The nameplates coordinate with the players' team, but we only get small bursts within the largely semi-transparent frame. Of course, this is a full-bleed design, so most of the color comes from the photo itself, but I would have liked to see a more colorful set. I suppose I'm a border purist when it comes to Flagship. Of course, the backs could contain a ton of color, but we'll have to wait and see.
4. Photos: More of the same with the four photos above. I didn't expect anything less in the sneak peek, and I'm sure there will be gems in the set, but I still would've loved to see more variety. 

From the very limited images we have, I can't say I'm a big fan. The set doesn't feel decidedly "flagship" to me, resembling Bowman or some of Topps' more recent digital releases. The design can still change, however, though based on the production process, it'll likely only be small tweaks here or there. 

What are your thoughts on the 2020 design? 

Opening Up Some 2019 Allen & Ginter

Allen and Ginter is one of my favorite releases of the year. It often takes a lot of slack for the inclusion of non-sports-related cards, but I find that quite fun. There aren't any other sets that combine baseball, canines, trains, flowers, horses, and lost languages. And that's just the 2019 release alone. I doubt those reading a baseball card blog (or running their own) are one-hobby types of folks--I'm certain our interests stretch far and wide beyond baseball--so seeing subsets of things like The History of Flight, subjects that likely don't get any representation anywhere else on cardboard, has the potential to be quite fun. 

Of course, baseball is still the primary draw for me. The design and photography in this year's set is the sharpest it's been in years. I feel Topps got out of its own way this year and opted for a minimul design, similar to the 2010 set. The "framed" sets of the last few years tended to feel closed off and the cards blended too closely together, creating a sort of indistinguisable set of cards. Each of these cards from 2019, however, seems to have its own personality, with the design tying the cards together. 

That said, I'm intrigued by the the background imagery used in the Piazza, Pollock, and Buehler cards above. It seems to be of an old-timey, fictional stadium (a pretty cool touch), though considering the backdrop in all three cards is nearly identical, I wonder if it was used too much throughout the set. Regardless, I'm happy to add a new Buehler to the PC. 

Along with those Dodgers base cards above, I also managed to land a pretty cool Kershaw insert. This cancer isn't into astrology, zodiacs, or star signs, but it's still a pretty cool lense from which to approach a card set. I mean, where else would you find a comparsion likening Kershaw to an "enchanting fish"?

I ended up purchasing three hanging value packs, another cheaper value pack, and a single pack, and I managed to pull the relic below, but it was the two cards from the 15-card Mares and Stallions subset that I was most excited about. As I described in this post several months ago, I decided to start a mini-collection of horse cards. That post featured two minis from the Horse in the Race miniset from 2017 A&G, and until I pulled the two cards above, they were the only cards in that mini-collection. Not a bad day when a couple of packs doubles your PC. 

I'm hunting the cards from this Mares and Stallions set, so please let me know if you have any dupes. You can find my want list here. I'd love to take them off your hands. 

Finally, here is that relic I alluded to above. I don't watch a ton of television, and I certainly never watch American Pickers, so this card didn't do much for me. Still, it's never a bad thing to pull a relic. It's another card to add to the trade bait, for those interested. 

Overall, A&G has definitely been one of my favorite products of the year (as it always is). I got a nice start on that Mares and Stallions set, though I'll still have to chase that elusive Jeopardy James autograph....

Cardboard from Stumptown

The last few months have been crazy, but I have some good news:

1. Moving is finally in the rearview. We're in the new apartment (I don't advise driving through Brooklyn in a Uhaul) and completely unpacked. Let's hope this is more permanent--it's my fifth move since August of 2017. 
2. With moving done, I can finally turn my attention back to cards. They were boxed up for the last several months, so it's good to get them out in the open again.
3. I finally have a scanner again. I've been so looking forward to scanning cards since I rejoined the hobby (taking pictures on my phone just isn't the same); this should help me stay on top of posting. 

With that news out of the way,  let's catch up on a trade I from way back in April. I'm severely behind on trade posts, so this will be the first of many of the next several weeks. First up, some cards from Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown.

Gavin runs one of my favorite card blogs out there, so when it was time to move on from some Archer cards earlier this year, I knew he might be interested.

In exchange for the Archer set, Gavin sent quite a bit of fun--and vintage--cardboard my way. The Furillo and Alston above (from 1960 and 1969, respectively), as well as the LA Dodgers team card (below) from 1962, inch me closer to building complete Dodgers team sets. I'm nowhere near close completing any vintage sets, so this will take some time. Fun fact: this is the first 1962 card in my collection. 

Would it really be a trade with Gavin without customs though? 

He sent along a pair of fantastic custom Dodgers, including a card from Big League Baseball that never was. I feel there is potential for an Orel Hershiser/Bulldog connection here. The Kersh is nice as well; it's refreshing to see cards featuring the Dodgers blue tops they wear in Spring Training. 

Gavin's package contained a number of other great cards (including an autograph of failed Dodger prospect, Tom Windle), but it's not so often I add new Shawn Green cards to the PC. I was devastated to learn Green was traded to the D-Backs in the winter of 2005 (for Dioner Navarro and a handful of other prospects who never panned out, if you were wondering). It's still tough to see him in that purple pinstriped jersey. 

Thanks for the wonderful deal, Gavin! 

An Interview with my Dad

I've been absolutely swamped the last two months, largely due to long work hours and apartment hunting, and I've had very little time to thinking about cards or the blog. It's unfortunate, but not permanent. My girlfriend and I are moving into a new apartment this weekend (hooray!), so after we're settled in, blogging and collecting should return to normal levels. 

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to share a brief interview with my dad. He's the main reason I got into collecting (back in the early 2000s), though he hasn't done much collecting himself since the 90s. Now that we're on opposite ends of the U.S., we FaceTime each other to open up packs and blaster boxes. 

Thanks for answering my questions, Dad!

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When did you start collecting cards? 

Around 1990, I received the complete set of 1990 Topps baseball in uncut sheets. To that point, I’d never thought about buying cards or even collecting, but this opened my eyes to the hobby.

What really got you into collecting? 

I remember being in a store called MacFrugals (now a Big-Lots) and seeing a box of 1992 Pro Line NFL football cards at the check stand. Packs were .25 cents and, on a whim, picked up two packs. I ended pulling an Autographed Joe Montana Portraits card. I remember checking a Beckett’s price guide and seeing it go for about $300-400. I decided to sit on it – it’s sitting in a safe somewhere now.

What cards did you collect? 

I was primarily into baseball, but I did buy NFL, NBA, NHL, and some World Cup Soccer.

Were you a set collector? 

I was never a set collector – I was more interested in getting the valuable cards – if there was such a thing in the junk card era – or at least, collect cards from my favorite teams – LA Dodgers, LA Lakers, Dallas Cowboys, and New York Rangers.

Where did you buy cards? 

There was a local card shop in the little community in Madera Ranchos, California. Odd little story – the owner once told me that he ran over the owner of the Oakland A’s back in the 70s. The shop is long gone, but I probably purchased 95% of my cards from the shop.

Favorite card(s)? 

The 92 Pro Line Joe Montana Auto. No other card specifically sticks out – though I know I have several decent rookie cards.

Biggest change you've seen in the hobby over the last 25 years?  

Topps – and how they seem to own everything and have the only rights to use baseball team names and logos. Gone, it seems, are Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss, and O-Pee-Chee companies, though some survive as units of Topps. Having not really followed in the past few years, it seems the sports cards industry has really fallen off. Card shops have seemed to all but disappear. You can still find stores that sell cards, but cards are no longer the focus – it’s more about jerseys, Magic, and other collectibles.

Weird Stats

One of my favorite aspects of the young baseball season is the cherry-picking of absurd baseballer stats that, in most cases, are highly unlikely to continue.

Oh, the Seattle Mariners started the season 6-1? Of course they'll carry a .857 winning percentage all year. (They won't--and they're 12-16 since that hot start.) Cody Bellinger carries a .415 batting average and 14 homers into the second week of May, but he's not going to knock out 76 dingers or end the year with the third-highest single-season batting average of the live ball era.

These stats need time to stablize, of course, but let's take a closer look at the two players below: Dee Gordon and Zack Greinke.

Known speedster Dee Gordon has never been a bat-first type of player, and he's certainly not known for his power. Indeed, his highest single-season homerun total was just last year when he managed to push four balls over the wall (a feat he also accomplished in 2015). He's otherwise scattered seasons of zero, one, or two homers since his debut in 2011. Yet, 32 games into the 2019 season, Gordon already has two homeruns. Is this the year he can break five?

Zack Greinke, on the otherhand, has not been his sharpest this season. He's rebounded a bit after a terrible Opening Day start against the Dodgers, but his best years are definitely behind him. While Greinke's pitching prowress is well-known, it's his bat that has me watching these days. Just read this short excerpt from Devan Fink at Fangraphs:

In 13 plate appearances, Greinke has slashed .500/.545/1.300 (361 wRC+). He has hit two home runs, two doubles, and a single, all while drawing a walk without registering a single strikeout. That’s better than Barry Bonds‘ slash line after 13 plate appearances (.400/.538/.900) in 2004, when he went on to post a ridiculous 1.422 full-season OPS.

While we all know Greinke won't go on to become the next Bonds, anecdotes like these are a blast to discover. Dodger cards I need from Topps Heritage are also a blast to discover, and the Gordon and Greinke cards above come from a recent trade with Chris over at Nachos Grande. 

For as long as I've been in the hobby, player collecting has perhaps been the area I've been most invested. I've had a number of player PCs over recent years, Matt Kemp, Chad Billingsley, and Adrian Beltre just to name a few. And while adding to these collections is certainly rewarding, it becomes more difficult to committ to once that player is traded, released, or if they've signed with another club. My collection of Matt Kemp cards was the reason I started blogging (I needed somewhere to show that collection off), but he's since been on four teams (Dodgers, Padres, Braves, Dodgers again, and Reds) and was released by his latest team just yesterday. A few years ago I would have been thrilled to add another Kemp card to the PC, but today I'm just happy to add cards that help me build up my Dodgers flagship sets. This pair from 2015 certainly helps. 

In fact, this paif of Dodgers ups the total 2015 cards I have to 6. With 45 Dodgers in the 2015 set, I'm sitting at a measely 13% of the set. With every other set from the decade at over 60% complete, 2015 is definitely an outlier. 

Even worse, this pair of cards from 1998 were my first two cards from that year. It's a much smaller set (17 cards), but I'm sitting at just 11.8% complete. I should focus on the 90s soon.

This package from Chris also included some wonderful 1953 reprints from a recent Topps Archives set. I've never been a big collector of Archives, but I certainly do like these reprints. If only they were the real deal. 

But what's more fun then reprints? Customs! This Clayton Kershaw custom was created by a friend of Chris's, and I'm happy to add it to my Kershaw PC--a PC I won't ever tire of. 

I've been working hard behind the scenes to better catalog my cards, though I've never really thought about counting up my customs. I probably only have a handful, and most of those have probably come from Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown (who also recently sent me a package of cards.) I'll post about that swap soon enough, and maybe I'll have some numbers on custom cards at that point. 

Thanks again for the trade, Chris!

Jackie Robinson Day

What can I really say about Jackie Robinson that hasn't already been said? We all know his story and how his actions changed the landscape of Major League Baseball forever and forced Americans to confront their own racial prejudices, baseball fan or not. Perhaps the most important individual in MLB history, Robinson made his debut for the Dodgers on April 15th, 1947, and MLB teams annually honor him leaguewide on this date by wearing his now universally retired number 42. Let's take a moment to remember his legacy all these years later. 

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Of course, one of my primary player collections is Jackie Robinson, despite what my newly updated Player Collections page says. While I've managed to get most of my collection back in my hands in NYC, my dad still has a few of my binders back in California, including my Jackie Robinson/Sandy Koufax binder. Until I can get a better sense of what I do and do not have, I've removed Jackie from that page. I hope to have this updated soon!

A Final Visit to my LCS

Several weeks ago, I dropped by the LCS near my work. Detailed here by Zippy Zappy at Torren' Up Cards, Chameleon Cards & Comics was a 10-minute walk from my office and around the corner from Topps' headquarters. Unfortunately, the landlord decided to hike up the rent, and they had no option but to close--their last day was March 30th. 

Of course, this was beyond disappointing, especially since I had only recently discovered this LCS and it was by far the best NYC has to offer. Their unfortunate demise, however, resulted in a ton of cheap cards, something my frugality certainly appreciated. 

There wasn't a whole lot left by the time I made it into the store, but they still had several boxes of Series 1 hanging around. I had most of the Dodgers out of the set by this point, but it's not often I get to rip hobby packs for a buck each. (I'm still chasing a pair of Dodgers to finish up the Series One set.)

I bought close to twenty packs of Flagship, though I didn't pull anything staggering. This Robin Yount '84 is one of those 150th Anniversary parallels, meaning it's numbered to 150 (I think). Not bad. 

I failed to pull any short prints or #'d parallels other than that Yount, but I did get a Yoan Moncada relic. Not very exciting. Maybe he'll finally break out this year and I can flip it to help pay off student loans. A man can dream, right?

While ripping those packs, I noticed a pack of the Topps Silver promo set hanging out behind the register. I asked the clerk about it, and he said it was mine for five bucks. Sign me up!

The silver packs feature shiny chromium "mojo" cards, and the 50-card set list features current and past stars. Each pack includes four cards, and there is a decent shot at pulling some autos and numbered cards. Of course, as a big fan of the '84 design and a bigger fan of chromium/shiny/refractory cards, I was thrilled to rip the pack. 

This pack netted me the Mike Trout at the top of this post, as well as the sweet green parallel of Kyle Schwarber you see above. It's #'d /99 and will surely make a Cubs fan happy. 

The shop happened to have three more packs, so I bought those, too. 

A great mix of all-time greats (Henderson, Ripken, Mattingly), productive veterans (Posey, Altuve, Yelich) and young studs (Soto, Baez). 

These are some of the coolest cards I've ever seen, and the chromium finish really makes the colors pop. I'm hoping to get these on a scanner soon because my phone's camera is certainly not doing these cards justice. 

Despite the brilliance of the card fronts, the backs are slightly disappointing. Every card comes with the same boilerplate description of the 1984 set (which, fine I guess) but I was hoping Topps would do more to individualize these cards.  

While I walked away from the shop with a ton of great new shiny cardboard, this Ohtani takes the cake. I've been following Ohtani's career for nearly six years now, hoping for the longest time that the two-way phenom would sign with the Dodgers last year. And though he signed with the wrong Southern California team, it's hard not to root for the guy. I've been considering starting an Ohtani PC, though his cards are quite pricy, so I've been hesitant to jump in. 

I was considering collecting the entire set but decided against it. I plan on holding on to the Ohtani, but the rest of these are fair game for anyone that wants to trade out there. 

I only dropped by Chameleon Cards & Comics a handful of times, but I'm sad to see them go. For the city that claims to have it all, it's quite the wasteland for solid card shops. I'm glad I was able to stop in one last time. 

Vintage from the Interwebs

It's not that often I find myself buying vintage cardboard. There aren't many good hobby shops nearby and I haven't had the chance to make it to a card show. This means that most of my vintage comes via online purchases, not the most cost-effective way to track down vintage needs. And since I'm pretty light on vintage in my binders now, I need it to be cost-effective. 

And what better way to be cost-effective than with an eBay coupon for a whole three dollars off any purchase. I was tipped off to this coupon through Twitter, and I very quickly decided to put it to use. This 1963 Walt Alston, which is in great condition I might add, was originally $3.15 with free shipping. With that coupon, I snagged it for a meager .15 cents. You can't beat that. 

Just a few days before that purchase, I was back on eBay searching for deals when I came across this Gilliam from 1960. I put in a bid, went to bed, and woke up to find out it was mine for just a buck. After I threw in another greenback for shipping, I was able to call it mine for a shade under subway fare. Not quite as good as that Alston but not a bad deal at all. 

There are 37 Dodgers in the 1960 set and with the addition of the Gilliam, I'm now up to 7 (18.9%). That's nowhere close to completing the set, but it's surprising that I've made this much progress to date considering the large setlist. That Alston card from above marks only the second Dodger I've tracked down from 1963, so there is certainly more work to be done there, too.  

Tracking down cheap vintage may not be an easy task, but I still find it quite enjoyable--coupon or not. 

Contest Winner Announced

We have a winner for the Cal Ripken Jr. Medallion card!

I randomized the list 8 times in honor or Mr. Ripken, and here are the results. 

Congrats to Adam! I've got your address already, so I'll be getting this card out to you soon. 

Thanks to all those who participated!