Card Show Finds Part 6 - Roy Oswalt cards

I think I've gotten about all the posts from the Tristar card show that I'm going to get after this. I got a plastic box containing 35 Roy Oswalt cards from one of the dealers for $7.00. That works out to 20 cents/card. Since most of these cards are higher end cards, I think I did pretty good. I took a quick look at them and figured there were enough there that I needed. In fact, I needed 18 of them, just over half. If anyone want's to trade for Oswalts, let me know. I'm not going to do much more than just present these cards. They are all from 2002-2007. If you were away from card collecting during that time, you missed what was probably the most prolific period of card production ever. I don't think we'll see anything like it anytime soon.

2002 Bowman's Best #83My first card from this set.

2003 Absolute Memorabilia #23
Another first.

2003 Fleer Authentix #72

2003 Hot Prospects #42
Oswalt wasn't a prospect anymore in 2003, but neither were most of the players featured in this set from Fleer.

2003 Splendid Splinters #46

2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition #108
I also picked up the non-extra edition card. It looks exactly like this except it doesn't say Extra Edition on it. Just one of the ways the card companies (especially Donruss) got you to spend more money.

2004 Donruss World Series #84

2004 Leather & Lumber #64

2004 SP Authentic #29

2004 Studio #93
I was always partial to the Studio set. This year the cards featured the player posed against a backdrop of their team's city skyline.

2004 Throwback Threads #89

2004 Upper Deck Etchings #33
This is only the second of these I have. The other is fellow Astro Roger Clemens.

2005 Donruss #211

2005 Leaf Certified Materials #60

2005 Studio #138
Also set against Houston's skyline, just like last year.

2005 Zenith #47

2006 Topps #575
You'd think I'd have all the Astros Topps cards, wouldn't you? But apparently, I didn't.

2007 Fleer #44
A once proud brand reduced by Upper Deck to this bland design.

1950 Exhibit Postcard - Gil Hodges

Yesterday, I posted some cards from the 2004 Leaf Exhibits insert set. Well, here's the real thing.I acquired this on eBay for only $4.49 (including $2.50 postage). It's a bit beat up, it looks like it had been stapled and pinned to the wall many times, and there is a stain on the upper right corner. Examples of these in better shape were going for a lot more money. The back is completely blank. It is the size of a normal postcard. Click on the image to get a better look.

Yesterday, I directed your attention to this web site which gives some history on these cards. Based on the information there, I'm pretty sure this is the 1950 version of this card. Exhibit tended to use the same photograph year after year with only minor changes in the printing on the front. Before I wrote yesterday's post I didn't know anything about these cards and now I own one.

2004 Leaf Exhibits

Here is a card I got at the Tristar Card Show a few weeks ago. I recognized what set it was from as I had a few at home already. But it is different from the ones I have in that it has stats on the back and is not serial numbered. This post was going to be a rant against Donruss and their excesses of the 2000s but in the process of researching this set, I actually learned something about some baseball card history I didn't know. This card is from the Leaf Exhibits insert set from 2004. And it's not serial numbered because it is from the 2nd Edition Leaf set. In 2004, there were two releases of Leaf. The second release was called "2nd Edition". It contained exactly the same cards as the first set, the only difference being is that the second release had a "2nd Edition" logo on them. I'd bought a lot of 1st release Leaf and consequently didn't buy much of the 2nd Edition. And I felt ripped off buying any of it. Anyway back to this Leaf Exhibits insert.
The set featured 50 players. There are some 44 different variations of each card. Each variation has the same player photo but each has some minor difference. The Brett card above is the "1962-63 Stat Back Black Name Left" variation. As near as I can tell from Beckett.com, the inserts in the 2nd edition set were not serial numbered. The Brett card below is the "1939-46 Very Best Wishes Left" variation.
Note that the "Very best wishes" salutation is on the left. Yes, there is a variation with the salutation on the right.
Most of these have blank backs. Very few have stats on the back. Note on the back is says 1939-46 VBWL. That's how you were supposed to tell what variation you had.
This Roberto Alomar is the "1939*46 Sincerely Right" variation.
I'm not exactly sure which variation this is but I think it's the "1947-66 Printed in the USA".

What was Donruss trying to do with this set besides driving collectors crazy? I know that when I pulled the last 3 of these above from packs I had no idea what they were supposed to be.

I found a clue on Beckett.com and then was able to find more information on the web, most notably here. The Exhibit Company produced postcards featuring baseball players between 1921 and 1966. Apparently they just used the same photos year after year, which, I guess, explains why each Leaf variation has the same photo. There were variations from year to year in what was on the front of the postcards, leading to the Leaf variations. It's still an annoying insert set but at least I understand what they were trying to do. But really, is there anyone out there who seriously collected this insert? I'd like to hear from you. According to Beckett.com, between the 1st and 2nd Editions, there are 88 cards for each player. All the 1st Edition cards are serial numbered from between 21 and 66 cards. As I was writing this there were over 200 auctions on eBay for these cards ranging from 99 cents to $8 depending on the player. I guess you could collect all the players if you weren't choosy about which variation you got.

By the way, there are originals from Exhibit available on eBay. You can get a beat-up card for a few bucks.

Card Show Finds Part 5 - More from The Dime Box

More cards from the dime box.

2001 Greats of the Game #87 George BrettI also picked up Robin Yount and Richie Allen. This was a nice looking set.

2001 SP Game Bat Edition Big League Hit Parade
This is from a 15-card insert set from 2001 Game Bat Edition. I have only a couple of base cards from this set and some other inserts. I have no idea why this is called the "Game Bat Edition". This insert, at least, has a nice wood grain border but the base cards don't.

2001 Topps Gold Label Class 1 #80 Pat Burrell

2001 Topps Gold Label Class 2 #80 Pat Burrell
The 2001 Topps Gold Label set had three classes for each card in the set. I picked up the Class 1 and Class 2 cards for Burrell. You can see that each card has a different photo on the front, although the backs are the same. Also, note that the Class 2 card has a little more refractive mojo going on. And Burrell has facial hair on the Class 2 card.

2002 Topps Reserve #72 Ichiro
Topps only produced the Topps Reserve set in 2001 and 2002. They were pretty nice looking cards. This Ichiro books at $5.00.

2005 Upper Deck Classic Counterparts #CC-SD Strawberry/Davis
Two troubled players on one serial numbered card. This was a 20-card insert to Upper Deck Classics.

2005 Zenith #231 George Brett
The third Brett card I picked up. He happens to be one of my favorite players.

2007 SP Authentic #36 Ryan Howard
Another one of my favorite players, and perhaps my favorite current player. I bought none of this 2007 SP Authentic when it was out. The only other one I have is a Chipper Jones I picked up somewhere.

2009 SP Legendary Cuts #58 Johathan Papelbon
I never saw this set for sale anywhere last year so this is the only one I have.

2009 Upper Deck Rivals #24 Daisuke Matsuka/Nick Markakis
This card features a Dufex front which, for a change, scanned pretty well. This was a 25-card random insert in 2009 Series 1 Upper Deck. The only cards I bought from Series 1 were blaster boxes. I'd never had pulled one of these. According to Beckett they were inserted 1 in 240 packs in blasters.

Card Show Finds Part 4 - The Dime Box

One of the dealers at the show had a couple of large boxes with cards for a dime. He had an amazing collection of cards and I ended up buying 50 cards from him. I should have bought more. Here are some of them. I'll have another post with some more later. All of these cards book at well over 10 cents, some of them significantly.

1986 Donruss #53 George BrettMost cards I have of George Brett feature him with a big smile. He's looking rather glum on this card. I wonder why?

1989 Scoremasters #19 Kirby Pucket
1989 Scoremasters #28 Andre Dawson
Scoremasters was a 42-card set published by Score as a boxed set. I had a couple of these and in addition to these two I also picked up Carlton Fisk, Wade Boggs, Tony Gywnn and Roger Clemens from the dime box. I think these are really nice looking cards. They feature paintings of the players. Although in later years paintings of players instead of photos will be common on cards, this was unusual in 1989. Donruss had their Diamond Kings subset and Upper Deck had checklist cards but this is the only set I know of from around that time to feature only paintings.

1995 Leaf Cornerstones #4 Jeff Bagwell/Ken Caminiti
This was s 6-card insert set to 1995 Leaf. The cards featured 1st and 3rd basemen from the same team. Nice refractive foil border.

1997 Donruss Preferred #196 Greg Maddux
National Treasures was a subset of Donruss Preferred. These cards came in a little hinged tin and were pretty expensive, $4.99 for five cards. The tins were collectible featuring a different player on each. I bought one pack of this in 1997, featuring Frank Thomas on the tin.

1997 SPx #17 Frank Thomas
For 1997, this card had everything. A large hologram, foil background, and it was die cut. The back was Dufex printing and had the Upper Deck Hologram.

1999 E-X Century #7 Chipper Jones
One of a few card sets from the late 1990s to be printed on clear plastic. This card is actually a double-ply card. The player photograph is a separate die cut layer on top of the background. These were also pretty expensive. A 3-card pack would set you back $5.99.

1999 Topps Tek #37A Tony Gwynn
Another plastic set. In 1999, Tops Tek featured 32 different designs for each card. Not as bad as the 1998 set which featured 90 designs for each card. In this 1990 set, each player had two cards, A and B, one at home, one away.

1999 Upper Deck #266 Pat Burrell
These Star Rookie subset cards from 1999 Upper Deck are pretty nice.

2000 Upper Deck Pennant Driven #4 Jeff Bagwell
This was a 10-card insert to 2000 Upper Deck. Not a bad looking card, and it's Jeff Bagwell.

2001 Finest All-Stars #9 Vladimir Guerrero
A 10-card insert set, this was a pretty hard pull, being inserted 1 in 40 packs. This card books at $4.00.

Card Show Finds Part 3 - Random Phillies

More finds from the big Tristar card show in Houston a week or so ago. One dealer had boxes of cards arranged by team. He had a bunch of Phillies cards. I picked up 40 Phillies cards I didn't have. Some of them were even types of cards I didn't have. All the cards were from mid-level to high end sets or inserts. I paid $15 for 40 cards including these.

2005 Bowman Heritage #27 Jon LieberI've liked most years of Bowman Heritage but somehow I completely missed out on the 2005 set. The 2005 set was based on the 1951 Bowman set. I had lots of cards from every other year of Bowman Heritage but none of 2005. In addition to this Lieber card I also get the Jimmy Rollins card. Lieber was 17-13 for the Phillies in 2005. He had signed a $21MM free agent contract in December 2004. After the 2005 season he began to deteriorate, going only 9-11 in 2006 and 3-6 in 2007.

2005 Bowman Heritage Mini Jon Lieber #27
I also got the mini card of Rollins as well. The minis are the size of the original 1951 set.

2001 Pacific Private Stock PS-206 Action #44 Pat Burrell
This was a 60-card insert to the 2001 Pacific Private Stock set. Pacific had a similar mini card insert in 2000. That would be 2 years before Topps produced mini cards in the 2002 Topps 206 set.

2005 Zenith Mozaics #9 Thome/Abreu/Burrell
2005 was the last year that Donruss had a contract with MLB to produce cards. Zenith was their last chance at official excess. The 250-card base set had 61 inserts and parallels. There were 16 cards in this insert set, each one featuring a different team. Why there wasn't a card for every team stumps me. The card is heavy with foil printing.

2005 Topps Gallery #11 Pat Burrell
Another set I didn't have any off. In addition to Burrell I also picked up Abreu and Rollins. I've always liked the Topps Gallery cards of the years I had but I'm not too fond of these.

2008 Topps Triple Threads Emerald #133 Tom Gordon
This is only the third Topps Triple Thread card of any year or type that I've owned. The other two are 2 Steve Carlton cards (the base card and a parallel) from 2006. It's not a set I know much about. This is a parallel (numbered to 240) of the base set.

2006 Topps Finest #124 Brett Myers
Topps Finest is another set that I don't buy much of. I never see it at the local big box stores. Most of the cards from recent years that I are Phillies I've bought on eBay or got in trades. Myers was a free agent after last summer and the Astros have signed him.

2007 Bowman's Best #24 Ryan Howard
Another set I never see for sale anywhere and I think this was the last year for Bowman's Best. This is the only card from this set I have. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with a Ryan Howard card.