Trade Pile 5: It's a Bunt

Three out of the first four trade piles were claimed on the same day they were posted. I suppose I'm starting these piles with cards that are too good to turn down. Let's see if that's the case today as we begin trade pile number five. 

Remember, if you want to claim the Trade Pile, comment on this post (and email me your address) and let me know what you plan to send my way from my want lists. I'm also always on the lookout for cards I don't own of my player collections. All you need to send is a single card I need and the entire stack is yours. 

2014 Topps Series Two Dee Gordon #587 Target Red Parallel

Aficionado I Am Not

Last week's trip to Target netted me a handful of great boxes, including a hanger box of 2020 Panini Diamond Kings which I'll cover today. I typically shy away from Panini's baseball offerings but I was itching to open some packs and figured I'd give it a go.

A hanger box only promises 20 cards (half of the contents of the box are in this post), including one red frame parallel card per box. That's actually one of the cards I didn't scan, though I did send it to Tom at The Angels, In Order so you can check it out over there. 

I knew next to nothing about this set when I purchased it, and planned to consider it a win if I could just add some new Dodgers to the collection. That Mookie Betts cards above (the second card of his I pulled from this Target purchase) sealed the win for me, but I'm pretty happy with the rest of the contents as well.

The cards themselves are fairly high quality with a heavy card stock (more similar to Heritage than Flagship) and canvas-like feel. Of course, the cards lack licensing, but the artsy water-color type design and strong use of color makes up for that in my opinion. The Verlander Aficionado insert at the top of this post is a beauty (but the Astros are still yuck).

I also found a handful of All-Time Diamond Kings inserts which I believe are based on the 1992 design. These are up for grabs if any one is interested. Consider this my entry into Free Card Friday.

Artist's Proof cards are also part of the checklist, and I happened to unearth this blue parallel of Eddie Mathews. I have no idea what makes this an Artist's Proof, but it seems like they just stamped those words on with a small foil stamp. Meh. 

Perhaps the coolest card to fall out of the box--and the most unexpected considering my luck with the Big League blaster--was this Holo Silver DK Materials dual relic #'d /99 of Padres outfielder Trent Grisham. I've also placed this on eBay, but I'm happy to trade it away if anyone's interested.

Will I purchase any more Diamond Kings? Probably not. But at just ten bucks for a hanger box, you could do a lot worse with your money.

Best Set Yet

I made my weekly trip to Target for groceries last week, though I did so at a different time and day than typical. While my Target trips typically take place on Friday afternoons, I took a few days off last week and decided to head to the store on Wednesday morning. 

The card aisle vindicated this decision, as the shelves were filled with hanger packs and blaster boxes and a new display for Series 2. There was probably close to fifty blaster boxes/hanger packs and another several hundred single packs of various products. I should have taken a photo considering how unusual the sight was in the current card climate, but I was too stunned at the sight before me to do so. 

I didn't want to be that bro who clears the shelves and resells everything online, but there was some good variety and plenty of stock, so I grabbed more than a few things. I ended up going home with three Series 2 hanger packs, a hanger box of Diamond Kings, and blaster box of Big League. 

There's a lot of fun stuff here, but I'll be splitting what I got into three posts, starting with Big League today. 

Big League has already been talked about extensively on the blogs, so I won't get too into the details about the set here; I'd highly reccommend checking out Nick's post on Big League though. 

The base design is simple and clean, and as many have pointed out, looks similar to the 2009 Upper Deck OPC set. It's a much nicer and cleaner looking set then, say, 2020 Flagship and just looks more like a traditional baseball card to me. I don't mean to compare it to Flagship to illustrate its merits (it's a different set after all), but this iteration of Big League is a reminder of what Flagship should be. 

The backs of the cards are stellar as well. Clear card numbers, interesting descriptions, and a fun "Did You Know?" feature. Who would've thought going up and down stairs would calm an infant?

One of the reasons I enjoy this set so much is the beacuse of the borders. I don't typically go gaga for Dodger cards featuring this much orange, but I love how it pops. 

Maybe the real reason I enjoy Big League is because it contains what I think is Mookie Betts' first card in a Dodger uniform--not one that is photoshopped on. I didn't find his base card in the blaster box, but I this orange parallel does just fine. 

I told myself I wouldn't, but I bringing up Flagship again. Do any of the origianl insert designs from recent years stand out to you? Can you picture one? I sure as hell can't and I just opened up several packs last night. 

Big League packs a punch with their insert sets, bring some memorable designs, fun imagery, and great color. That Muncy at the top of the post is great fun and reminds me of a license plate. This Cody Bellinger sketch card also stands out (though it is a bit creepy), and I'm totally into mispropportioned sketch cards. 

I'm not as enthusiastic about the design on these Flipping Out inserts, but I applaud the color and theme of the set. I'm fully onboard with bat flipping/pimping/etc. 

The blaster box promised several blue-bordered cards, and here they are. The scans came out a bit dark but you get the idea. Dodger cards would look great with these borders, and I dig that Alonso card on the top left. 

I was so amped about the design of this set that I almost forgot to mention the blaster box held two autographs! 

Both of these have decent resale value, so I promptly posted them on eBay and they both sold as I typed this sentence. 

As if picking up great new cards wasn't enough, I recouped most of the money I spent at Target from this one blaster box of Big League alone. 

You can't beat that. 

First You Get The Sugar, Then You Get The Power, Then You Get The Cards

I celebrated my 27th birthday over the weekend in quarantine. I don't typically do a ton to celebrate my birthday, but it's usually a day filled with delicious foods and desserts. In a normal year my girlfriend and I might've gone out to one (or two) of our favorite NYC spots, but this year we did the cooking ourselves.

We started the day with crepes, my first time making those. We loaded them up with tons of sugary toppings, inlcuding nutella and raspberries. They were tasty but a little too rich, so we skipped lunch.

My girlfriend designated herself in charge of dinner, and she made an absolutely delicious lasagna and followed that up with a stellar key lime pie (pics at the bottom of the post for you foodies).

The food alone made it a great birthday.

But this was a really great birthday. There were cards involved.

While the lasagna was in the oven, I opened up one of the gifts from my girlfriend. A bright purple gift bag filled with polka-dotted tissue paper contained something I thought was a bit unusual: a bubble mailer.

And what was in the bubble mailer?

Four (!) autographs from the 2001 Inkworks The Simpsons Mania! Autographs set.

I'm a huge fan of The Simpsons (it's my all-time favorite show), and I've spent much of the last several months binging the show while locked indoors.

The Simpsons had several card sets back in the '90s and early 2000s, including two autograph sets in 2000 and 2001. The cards above hail from the absolutely gorgeous 2001 set. Just look at all of that color!

Each card contains four squares, each containing one of the many characters the respective voice actor voices. The cream of the crop here is certainly the Dan Castellaneta card which can command some serious coin on eBay. Dan voices dozens of characters on the show, most notably Homer Simpson. The title of this post is a haphazard reference to one of my favorite scenes.

The backs of the cards list other characters voiced by the actor but don't necesesarily offer up much else. The pièce de résistance of these cards is definitely the color--these things pop!

The 2001 set contains seven different autograph signers, and I was able to check off four of those in one fell swoop. I'm now on the hunt for Nancy Cartright (Bart Simpson), Hank Azaria (Chief Wiggum), and Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson).

I'm absolutely ecstatic to add these to my collection--thanks, Mia!

I'll end this post with a few of my favorite clips from some of the characters above (plus food pictures!).

• Homer Simpson
• Krusty the Clown
• Martin Prince
• Uter
• Todd Flanders
• Milhouse van Houten
• Agnes Skinner
• Pepi

Trade Pile 4: Let's Get It Started

It's been an busy few days here, as I've been packing up contest winnings, sending those out along with some PWEs, and scanning cards for future posts. I've recieved several care packages over the last couple of weeks which will get their own posts soon (thanks to those who've kept my mail person busy), though I'll likely be posting about some fantastic new cards I got for my birthday over the weekend first--I'm thrilled to share those. 

In the meantime, let's get a new trade pile started! The last two piles were claimed on the first post, so let's see if I can get a larger trade pile going this time around. 

Remember, if you want to claim the Trade Pile, comment on this post (and email me your address) and let me know what you plan to send my way from my want lists. I'm also always on the lookout for cards I don't own of my player collections. All you need to send is a single card I need and the entire stack is yours. 

2019 Bowman "Camo" Parallels (not numbered) 

There's a Haircut You Can Set Your Watch To

As my vintage collection has grown, so has my knowledge of the Dodgers from years past--or at least I thought. Sometimes I encounter a card that has me thinking, "Who the hell is this guy?"

Case in point. Who the hell is Stan Williams? This doesn't even look like a Dodgers baseball card. In fact, when I first saw this card fall out of an envelope from Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown, my first thought was of Johnny Unitas thanks to a clip from the Simpsons I've seen at least eleventy hundred times.

Turns out Mr. Williams here had a decent fourteen-year career as a pitcher for six different ball clubs, including the Dodgers. Good for him.

My recognition skills aren't any better if you put a team card in front of me, especially if it's vintage.  I recognize maybe two or three dudes from this photo: Don Sutton, Don Drysdale, and maybe Walt Alston? Manny Mota is probably somewhere in this mix, too?

Who knows.

And it doesn't matter if it's vintage! I have a terrible time identifying just about anyone from most team cards. 

Tommy Lasorda is named at the top right, taking away an easy target for me, but any one else I name from this card is strictly from my own knowledge of the early-80s Dodgers--the photo provides almost nothing other than a few jersey numbers. I can make out Baker, Garvey, Cey, and Lopes. I assume Russell has got to be in this mix, too, but I couldn't pick him out of a lineup no matter how clear the photo is. (I Googled him as I wrote this, and he's a handsome fellow, though Grampa Simpson might have something to say about those sideburns.) 

Gavin also sent me a great mix of cards from the 1972 set, pushing me to just about the halfway point of completion. And hey, I recognize some of these dudes! Willie Davis. Maury Wills. Claude Osteen. These are the names and faces I recognize. Heck, Maury Wills is one of the first Dodgers I put to memory, though I don't know why. I knew he stole a lot of bases, and I always wondered who would win in a foot race: Maury Wills or Dave Roberts.

Gavin sent these cards my way after he claimed the very first Trade Pile back in June--thanks for that! I'm always thrilled to add more Dodgers to my binders, especially so if it's vintage. 

Just don't expect me to know who the hell anyone is. 

Contest Winners!

After nearly a month of comments, follows, and pimps, it's time to announce the contest winners. After tallying everything up, there were a total of seventy-one entries from thirty-two different folks, and the blog gained ten new followers. Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter and read.

Now let me recap a few details before we get to the winners. Per Sports Cards Collectors' comment on yesterday's post, I will be randomizing the list of names seven times. Your place on the list will coincide with the prize number (i.e. the fifth name on the list will get Prize #5). The goal is to spread the prizes out as much as possible, so each winner will be eligible for only one prize--if a name pops up more than once in the top 15, that person will get the prize associated with the first number and and everyone else will move up one number. Finally, there will be fifteen prizes total, including five prizes I added today. 

One last important note: if you are one of the listed winners, please email me with your name and address (alexmarkle05@gmail.com). Feel free to also include the team/players you collect or a want list, and I'll do my best to toss in some extras. 

Now on to the winners! 

After randomizing the list seven times, we get the following fifteen names. Matt over at Diamond Jesters landed in the Top 15 twice, so we're extending the list of winners down to Swing and a Pop-Up at 16. 

Prize #1 - 2020 Topps t206 Series 1 Box/Pack (Peter @ Baseball Every Night)

Prize #2 - Allen & Ginter Relic Lot (Fuji @ The Chronicles of Fuji)

Prize #3 - Bowman's Best Mookie Betts Blue Parallel #'d/150 (Gavin @ Baseball Card Breakdown)

Prize #4 - First Edition HOF Baseball Hall of Fame Heroes 12 Card Set (Matt @ Diamond Jesters)

Prize #5 - 2019 Topps Hi Tek Lance McCullers Jr. Autograph (Bo @ Baseball Cards Come to Life!)

Prize #6 - Assorted Pink Refractors from 2018 Topps Chrome (Comatoad @ Comatoad on Cards)

Prize #7 - 1988 Donruss Baseball Hanger Pack (Rod @ Padrographs)

Prize #8 - 2019 Topps Hi Tek George Springer Green and Purple Parallels (GCRL @ Cards as I See Them)

Prize #9 - Topps Gold Label Blue Parallels (Nate @ Bucs Stops Here) (Matt from Diamond Jesters already won prize #4)

Prize #10 - 10 Cards from 2016 Leaf Babe Ruth Set (Jafronius @ A Pack to be Named Later)

Prize #11 - Assorted #'d cards, including the three seen below (Bret Alan) 

Prize #12 - Moncada and Votto Relics (The Angels in Order)

Prize #13 - Mother's Day and Father's Day #'d Parallels - (Adam @ Infield Fly Rule)

Prize #14 - Thames and Abreu Manufactured Relics (Madding @ Cards on Cards)

Prize #15 - Bryce Harper lot, including those in the scan below (Swing and a Pop-Up)

Congrats to the winners! Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to enter!