He Who Comes Out At Night

Just before Halloween rolled around, which by the way was a pretty rainy day in these parts, I received a surprise Halloween goodie bag from Night Owl. A guy going by the moniker of "Night Owl" sending out cards for the spookiest holiday of the year, that makes all the sense in the world. Well to me it does at least. Let's see what he included in this scary good package.

(Side note: Excuse some the glare in some of the pictures please. I was testing a new photo set up since my usual set up was unavailable.)

I've started collecting cards of hall-of-famers, "fan favorite" type players, and other such things recently. It's nice to have a little diversity here and there. Getting these to add in these Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson cards to the newest part of the collection was very nice.

Here's a nice combo of Hall of Famers (Hank, Ozzie, and Warren Spahn) and a a dude who seemingly pitched forever in Charlie Hough. I remember being fascinated with Hough's stats as a kid and wondered how someone could hang around the big leagues that long and wasn't a big name pitcher. Also, on the Warren Spahn card, the picture looks like a reversed negative. Not sure if that's some sort of unintentional error on the part of Topps or if it's some sort of parallel version.

Here's a nice slew of buybacks. My buyback collection is slowly growing. I really dig the Bob Stinson card.

As was the case with an N.O. package, it also hit my various team collections, especially with these two really cool Expos cards.

Conlon cards are fantastic. Here's some old-timey Indians and a St. Louis Browns card.

80s Indians cards including some of Len Barker, who's one of the "fan favorite" type players I like to seek out cards of here and there.

Of course, the highlight of any package from Night Owl is the vintage he includes. No package would be complete without a Hostess card. George Foster looks so annoyed in that shot it's not even funny. Of the two 1973 cards, I think I like the John Lowenstein card the best simply because of the background.

There were also a number of Reds cards included, including my first card of Reds prospect Shed Long, who the Reds need to add to the 40-man roster this year to avoid losing him in the Rule 5 draft.   There was also a Homer Bailey rookie card and the sooner the Reds get out from his albatross of a contract the better. He won a total of exactly 1 game last year. Yes, one 1 game for a guy due over $20 million this upcoming season.

To cap off the Reds portion, there were these Joey Votto cards as well. All three are new additions. One of these days I need to figure out how many Votto cards I actually have. There's got to be a decent number.

As I mentioned earlier, that was a scary good package from Night Owl. Also, as I mentioned, I tried a new set-up with the photos this time. It didn't come out as well as I'd hoped but I'm working on some adjustments to it.

Buybacks and Randoms via Twitter

I've never done a trade via Twitter before but that's just what happened a couple weeks ago when Jon from the Penny Sleeves blog reached out to me via Twitter DM about sending some buybacks over. Never being one to decline an offer of someone sending me cards, I obliged and replied back with my address. Not long after, I received a bubble mailer full of buybacks and a handful of other goodies.

My first pair of Reds buybacks. Rolando Roomes is a name I know but Bob Owchinko? At least it's a 1985 buyback.

Indians buybacks ranging from 1976 with the awesome red uniform on Ed Crosby to 1993 featuring Jose Mesa in the uniform Major League made famous.

Some 1989 buybacks. Vince Coleman was an All-Star in 1989 and stole 65 bases. Tom Trebelhorn managed the Brewers to an 81-81 record and 4th in the AL East.

Going backwards, it's 1988. 1988 Topps is ok, it's never been my favorite set and it's probably the most bland Topps set of the 80s. But still, I'll take buybacks in any form. Manny Lee and Greg Cadaret are names I know from seeing them on cards but I have no idea who Charles Hudson is.

And going backwards yet again, here's a batch from 1987. There's some good players in this batch with Bob Boone, Lou Whitaker, and Mike Maddux.

And a few more random ones. The 2002 Jeff Kent marks the "newest" buyback in my collection. I still think it's weird to see buyback stamps on cards from 2000-current.

Along with the buybacks, Jon sent along a number of other fun cards. Here's a Marquis Grissom 1997 Topps Finest card. I'm not sure if this is a refractor or not but still I love shiny cards and this fits the bill.

It's a pretty generic card and at first I thought it was some sort of oddball but it's not, it's a 1960 Leaf card. I know Don Newcombe as a pitcher for the Dodgers but I didn't know he was a member of the Reds. Apparently the Reds acquired him in June of 1958 from the Dodgers and he was with them for the equivalent of two full seasons before being purchased by Cleveland in July 1960.

At first I though this was from a random oddball wrestling set and my research came up with nothing when I searched my usual sites for wrestling card info. In search of info, I turned to one of the classic wrestling groups I'm part of on Facebook and asked about it. It turns out this is from an unlicensed set released in 1990 called "Living Legends". There were three different versions of these cards (orange, blue, and gray) and the blue and orange cards have nearly the same design. The backs are very nondescript with generic silhouettes around a big black star, and the persons name. I'm not sure who put these cards out or where they came from but hopefully I can find some more info on them down the road.

This was my first trade via Twitter and I appreciate Jon reaching out to me and asking if I was interested. I've got your address noted and will start trying to find some cards I can set aside for you.

You've Got Mail #78: Bump and Run Cards

It's always nice to come home to cards in the mail and that's exactly what happened while back when there was a surprise PWE on the kitchen counter from Trevor over at Bump and Run Cards. It was nice to see something from Trevor as it's been a while since he and I have exchanged cards.

A few Gypsy Queen cards from last year, including one of those green retail parallels of Carlos Santana, who sadly departed Cleveland for Philadelphia this off season. The Dan Straily card is one of the few cards I have of him with the Reds. They definitely bought low and sold high on him when they traded him to Miami before the 2017 season and got back three good prospects in return. Suarez has some competition coming to him for third as Nick Senzel is quickly climbing the ranks.

And here's a random batch that just happens to include my first Nick Senzel card. Anthony DeSclafani (or, as I call him "Tony Disco") missed all of last year. Starting pitching has really been a sore spot for the Reds the past few years. Here's hoping that most of the starters can stay healthy for a while.

A few cards of Hal Morris manning first base. One of my goals in 2018 is to find non-Reds cards of him to add some variety to my PC of his.

But here's the real star of the envelope .... buybacks!! The note that was included stated that he'd been sitting on these since last March! Buybacks have become my new favorite thing to collect and give otherwise forgotten commons from the 80s and 90s a new lease on life. Apparently at some point I staked a claim on the Charlie Hayes card but I'd long since forgotten about it. Kudos to you, Trevor, for remembering it. Also, thanks for the surprise envelope! There will be some Packers cards headed your way soon.

Three Packs of 2017 Topps Update

By the time you read this 2018 Topps will probably already be on the shelves everywhere. I'll give it a chance much like I give most everything else but I just haven't had time yet to get to the card shop and get some packs. I had these Update packs around from my annual Target baseball card birthday binge to myself in December so I figured I might as well go through these pack by pack before I move on to getting some 2018 cards. After reading other blogs back in the fall about how Update didn't really update anything, I'm not really expecting much. There's 12 cards per pack, let's see what lies within.

Pack #1

One pack in and I already pulled one of the most wanted cards from the set, the vaunted Cody Bellinger rookie card. I might as well just call it here and not even bother with the other two packs! I also got a really neat Bill Mazeroski "Postseason Celebrations" insert card celebrating his series winning homer in 1960. Some other cards I dig in this pack are the Travis Wood card (who I had no clue was with the Royals) and the Seth Smith card. I always like the way the Oriole orange just pops on cards like this. Not bad for the first pack. 

Pack #2

There's honestly not much here to really talk about. The Jeff Bagwell card is one of those goofy reprints that Topps likes to do, this time it's of the Rookie Cup variety. Seeing that reminds me I've got a 1992 Topps factory set in the garage I need to do something with. The highlights for me here are the Yonder Alonso All-Star card and the Sal Romano card (although I've already got thanks to some recent trades).

Pack #3

Well, that's interesting. I wound up with 13 cards in the pack instead of the advertised 12. Either the buyback of Seth Greisenger doesn't count as a card or I wound up with a bonus card for no reason. I'm not complaining though. This was probably the second best pack of the three as there was the Ian Happ card, the aforementioned buyback, a 1987 style Dallas Keuchel insert, and the "History Makers" card of Bryant and Rizzo. Upon doing some research, apparently the blue stamp is the second most rare stamp of the buybacks, I just wish it wasn't stamped over top of the players' name.

Overall, this wasn't too terrible. I enjoyed opening the packs and got some fun cards to show for it. I didn't get any of the Heroes of Autumn inserts that were advertised on the packs but I did get one really cool insert, that being the "Postseason Celebrations" card. Onwards to the 2018 cards!

You've Got Mail #73: Baseball Every Night

Just a quick post today as it's July 4th weekend.

Recently, I participated in my first group break. The ever cordial Peter of Baseball Every Night offered up a team break for $3 per slot. He needed to fill a few slots right at the end so I jumped in and claimed the Indians since the Reds were already claimed. Once the break filled up, the box was broken, and a few short days later a baggie full of Indians showed up in my mailbox.

A rainbow of uniform colors here, gray, blue, and white. I think my favorite of the batch it the all white home threads. Base cards are pretty much the story here, nothing much new or exciting from series 1. 

Some nice horizontal cards. The Roberto Perez card looks like it might be a photo from the World Series. The photo on the Corey Kluber card reminds me of how it was playing the old World Series Baseball game on Sega Genesis, with the view from the catcher and the batter barely in frame.

My lone insert card from the break, a 1987 Topps buyback of Brett Butler. Definitely a cool card and I think it might be my only card of him as an Indian.

Thanks for hosting the break Peter! If you ever do another one, I'll gladly jump in. 

Gypsy Queen and Heritage

As mentioned a few posts ago, I was out with the family on the day before Easter and we wound up the neighborhood of Maverick's Cards and Comics. I was a bit rushed for time as we were trying to get back to the house for lunch and wasn't able to rummage through some of their bargain boxes as I would have liked. Instead, I took a gander and what packs they had available and lo and behold they had Heritage and Gypsy Queen! Score! I grabbed three packs of GQ and two packs of Heritage. First, the Gypsy Queen ...

My initial thoughts on the design is that it's really cool. I like it a lot better than last year which seemed sort of bland. I also like the fact that it's been streamlined and overhauled somewhat. Gone are the minis in every pack and the relic cards (for the most part). Now it's two autographs per box and the price tag is much less. Last year, I remember the card shops had packs for around $6-$6.50 each, now packs are about $5 each. I can stomach that.

I didn't get any short prints in the packs nor did I get any Reds. I did wind up with these two Indians cards though. I won't complain too much about that.

As for the variations and what have you, I didn't get any of the capless variations, nor did I get the "gum back" variations. I did get this ... whatever "this" is. It's some sort of faded, washed out deal but I couldn't find much info on it. As a matter of fact, Edwin Encarnacion isn't listed anywhere on the list of variations on both Beckett and Cardboard Connection. Both articles mentioned there were "unannounced variations" floating about so perhaps this is one of those.

Remember how I said the relic card were pretty much stripped from the product and autographs were the only hit now? Well this came right out of the first pack I opened. I really like the design and layout on this. Eovaldi has been a pretty decent pitcher the last few years so I'm OK with this hit.

As I mentioned, I also nabbed two packs of Heritage. Showing off the fronts of the Heritage base cards at this point pretty much amounts to beating a dead horse. So I'll spare you that and show you some of the other highlights.

The back of this J.J. Hardy card is notable for two things. The first being that I had forgotten that J.J. Hardy had been around since 2005. The second is the cartoon. One of the best things about Heritage is that it brings back the cartoons on the back and this is the best one of the cards in the packs I opened.

I got an insert in each Heritage pack, at least I consider the All-Star cards an insert. They may as well be with the puzzle on the back. I've always liked the Then and Now inserts.

I'm digging the use of buybacks in different products this year. This is the first one I have from 1985, or the 80s in general, and it's a pretty notable player so it's a welcome addition to the collection.

Speaking of notable players, this Heritage Chrome Clayton Kershaw is pretty nifty. I don't think it's a refractor of any sort, just a standard card and it's going to be set aside to be put in the shiny card collection when I eventually start that up.

I'm pretty happy with these, especially the Gypsy Queen. I'm definitely going to pick some more of that up, be it at the card shop or at one of the big box stores.