30 Day Baseball Card Challenge Day 12

Day 12: One of your favorite cards from the 1980s

1985 Topps #703

I have at least 6,000 cards from the 1980s so this was a daunting task. I decided to narrow it down to 1985, since that's the first year I started collecting. I further narrowed it down to 1985 Topps cards (in those days I only bought Topps) that I didn't have any acquisition data on. Which narrowed it down quite a bit. I'm going to arbitrary declare that this is the first baseball card I ever acquired.  And therefore, one of my favorites. Plus it's George Brett.

Players I Collect - 2016 Part 1

As well as collecting any Phillies and post-1994 Astros cards I can find, there are also a handful (OK, a bushel full) of players who's individual cards I collect. I've been doing this since I started collecting in 1985. It's a mishmash of players, including players who are now in the Hall of Fame, and players whom I wonder now why a started collecting. And a few players from before I started collecting. I'm going to run through them in alphabetical order over a few posts until I've either covered them all or have lost interest in making the posts. As I got into this I realized that there are a bunch of players I've collected over the years that haven't had cards in years. That's boring, so I'm only going to include players I actually have 2016 cards for.

Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron's career ended long before I started collecting (10 years) but how could I not put aside any Hank Aaron post-career card I happened across. I have 37 Aaron cards, including 3 from 2016.

Topps MLB Debut Medallion

With that heavy and thick metal coin embedded, these cards a kind of a monstrosity. But it's Hank! Not sure yet what I'm going to do with it since it won't fit in a regular 9-slot album page.

Topps Berger's Best

Topps Amazing Milestones

Jim Abbott
My collecting career spans all of Abbott's career so I've got a bunch of cards from his playing days. There haven't been a lot of post-career cards but I did get this 2016 card. Altogether I have 83 Jim Abbott cards.

Stadium Club

Roberto Alomar

Having been a popular and exceptional player leads to more published cards. I have 198 of his cards from his career and post-career. I only got one for 2016.

Topps Allen & Ginter Mini

 Wade Boggs

I have 186 Boggs cards, covering most of his career up to the present.

Topps Archives

 Topps Bunt

George Brett

I have 117 Brett cards, some from his career. He remains a popular subject for current sets.

Panini Diamond Kings DK Originals

Stadium Club

Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Legends

Topps Bunt

Next up: Jose Canseco.
To be continued...

Random Cards From My Collection #42.

Card # 35199
2006 Hero Decks Phillies Dave Bancroft

 

Comments on the card: This is a deck of playing cards, each card features a different Phillie from the entire history of the team.
When acquired: 2010
How acquired: At a sporting goods store in Philadelphia. I don't remember what I paid for it.
Player's season: Bancroft had a 16-year career and played for the Phillies from 1915 to 1920. He was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1971. He is 3rd all-time in putouts by a shortstop.

Card #36819
1983 O-Pee-Chee #66 Lou Whitaker

Comments on the card: I love finding cards like this. O-Pee-Chee produced these cards for the Canadian market (complete with French translations) under license from Topps.
When acquired: 2012
How acquired: Paid $0.09/card for a Fairfield 100-card repack.
Player's season: Sweet Lou had a career year in 1983. He hit for a .320 average with 40 doubles (both career highs). He was an All-Star and won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards for the season.

Card #15104
2010 Topps #74 Casey Blake

Comments on the card: A pretty decent Topps design. I like the larger photo on the back.
When acquired: 2010
How acquired: Paid $0.24/card for various kinds of Topps packages in early 2010.
Player's season: I don't know too much about Blake. He looks like he was the Dodgers regular 3rd baseman in 2010 but his batting statistics indicate a decline.

Card #19568
1986 O-Pee-Chee #316 Alan Knicely

Comments on the card: Crazy, another O-Pee Chee card. Giant glasses!
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: Alan Lee was never much more than a pinch-hitter and part time infielder. The Phillies had released him in March 1986 and he got picked up by the Cardinals. He hit .195 in 100 at bats for the Cards and that was the end.

Card #23344
1996 Ultra #206 Derek Bell

Comments on the card: Not sure what's going on here. Did he just miss making a spectacular through the legs catch or is just about to make one?
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: In his 2nd year with the Astros, Derek hit .268 in 158 games. He also hit 17 home runs.

Card #13105
 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini A and G Back #162 Shane Victorino

Comments on the card: Mini cards? Do you love 'em or hate 'em? I love 'em. This is, of, course, the A&G back parallel.
When acquired: 2009
How acquired: Paid $0.42/card for hobby box of Allen & Ginter in July 2009.
Player's season: The Flyin' Hawaiian hit .292 with a league leading 13 triples during the regular season. He was also an All-Star and won a Gold Glove. He hit .353 in the NLDS, .368 in the NLCS (Dodger killer!) but like the rest of the Phillies fell apart in the World Series, hitting only .182.

Card #6794
1987 Reading Phillies ProCards #790 Joe Lefebvre

Comments on the card: This is from the enormous minor league sets that ProCards released in the 1980s and early 1990s. Pretty minimal design.
When acquired: 2006
How acquired: Paid $4.50 for the 24-card Phillies set on eBay.
Player's season: Joe had a 7-year career, mostly with the Phillies. although one of those years, 1985, he missed the whole season due to injuries. He rehabbed in Reading and then returned there in 1987 as a coach. Joe is still in baseball, currently on the coaching staff of the Giants, whom he's been with since 1996.

Card #18354
2010 Topps Allen & Ginter #244 Aaron Cook

Comments on the card: 2010 was the first Allen & Ginter set to have a colored background, in addition to the usual color wash around the player's head.
When acquired: 2010
How acquired: Paid $0.46/card for blasters and loose packs. I also bought a hobby box that year but this didn't come from that.
Player's season: Aaron had been 16-9 for the Rockies in 2008 but seems to have deteriorated. He was 6-8 with a 5.08 ERA in 2010. He's currently a free agent after a 4-11 record with the Red Sox last year.

Card #17306
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4575 Manny Ramirez

 
Comments on the card: On paper it must have sounded like a good idea. Produce a set that would document every game played in the 2008 season. On cardboard, the execution made this the worst baseball card set every produced.
When acquired: 2009
How acquired: Paid $20 each for two blasters. The cards were cheap at 10 cents each. They'd have to be since there were so many of them.
Player's season: Manny started 2008 with the Red Sox and ended with the Dodgers after a trade in July. In 53 games for the Dodgers, he hit .396 with 17 home runs, helping the Dodgers into the playoffs.

Card #31276
1986 Topps #300 George Brett

Comments on the card: In the 1980's Topps reserved the even 100 numbered cards for the biggest players and few came bigger in those days than George Brett.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: 1986 wasn't George's biggest year, he only hit .290, but he did make his 10th straight All-Star Game.

1991 Baseball Cards A-Z (Part 6)

After some distractions, I'm getting back to my 1991 card collection. This will be the last part.

I've started working in earnest on my 1992 collection. I only need about 10 cards to finish that so maybe later in the year I'll do this again. That collection will have 76 cards.

1991 Ultra

1991 was the first year for Ultra, Fleer's entry into the premium card niche. The card featured several innovations such as upgraded card stock and full bleed printing, but in keeping with 1991 being a transitional year, did not have features which will become common, such as gold foil and a glossy finish.

1991 Ultra Gold

In future years, Ultra Gold will become a parallel set, in 1991 it was a 10-card insert set. It will be a couple of years before the card companies will convince collectors that they should chase parallel cards.

1991 Ultra Update

The 120-card update set was only available as a factory set. I only have a handful which I suspect I've acquired over the years in repacks. This Rodriguez card is one of the key cards from the set.

1991 Upper Deck

This was the third year form Upper Deck and they are starting to fall behind. With a design which has remained virtually unchanged since 1989, no foil, no full-bleed printing, and no gloss, their premium card is not as nice as Donruss, Fleer and Topps issues in 1991. They remain the leader in holographic logos, a feature that no one else will duplicate, ever.

1991 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes

In 1990, Upper Deck introduced the Baseball Heroes inserts with Reggie Jackson. This year, they continued the set, picking up the numbering where the Jackson set left off, with two players, Aaron and Nolan Ryan. These were available as random inserts (Ryan in Series 1 and Aaron in Series 2). Each series also had one of 2000 cards autographed by either Ryan or Aaron. Although Upper Deck was falling behind in some ways, they remained the only set with inserted autographs for the 2nd year.

1991 Upper Deck Heroes of Baseball

This was another insert set. Only three players were featured, Harmon Killebrew, Gaylord Perry and Ferguson Jenkins, plus a header card. I bought the 4-card set for about $15 in 2003.


1991 Upper Deck Silver Sluggers

This 18-card set was available in jumbo packs at 1 per pack. It featured the 18 players who had won the Silver Slugger award in 1990.  This is not an award you see celebrated too often. I got this card (the only one from the set I have) in a repack back in 2003.


1991 Upper Deck Comic Ball 2

This was a 198-card set, available in foil packs featuring Nolan Ryan and Reggie Jackson playing baseball with various Loony Toon characters. There was a 1990 set and also sets in 1992 and 1993. I know virtually nothing about them as this is the only card from the series I've ever seen. They seem to be pretty available on eBay. I found this in a repack in 2006.

1991 Upper Deck Final Edition

This was a 100-card update set only available as a factory set. Martinez is the key card. In 1991, I had small children. On the day after Christmas, my wife and I were in Toys R Us exchanging some duplicate toys the kids had gotten from relatives for Christmas. As we were waiting in line, a box of this was sitting on the shelf at my eye level. At $10 is seemed a bargain so I bought it. How good of an investment was that? You can go on eBay right now and buy a sealed set for $2.99 plus shipping.