More Fairfield Repack finds

I bought yet 2 more Fairfield 100-card repacks in early June. I just got around to forcing them open to see what was inside. I bought two of them because each was showing a card I didn't have.

2012 Topps Heritage Black #37 Nyjet Morgan

I had bought a fair amount of 2012 Topps Heritage and I was pretty sure I hadn't gotten a black-bordered card. I was right.  I knew I had the regular version. How could one forget this photo?

2010 Topps Factory Set Retail Bonus #1 Ryan Howard

I couldn't remember if I had the Howard card from 2010 Topps or not but when I looked close I saw the "Factor Set Limited Edition" in silver foil in the upper left. That I was sure I didn't have since I didn't even know these existed. And it is a bonus since it has a different photo than his regular card.

With two cards I didn't have already known I was pretty sure I'd be happy with both packs so I bought them both. I wasn't disappointed.

2008 Upper Deck National Convention VIP #22 Alfonso Soriano

I don't get to go to the National Convention so I always like to find something like this in a repack.

1984 Topps Glossy Send-Ins #34 Cecil Cooper

Topps made three glossy sets each year from the mid-1980s to 1991. There was the All-Star Team and the Topps Rookie sets which were only available in rack packs. There were was this, the Glossy Send-Ins set which was available by mail order wrapper redemption. The designs on these sets were the same each year. The Send-Ins are nice, since the front of the card is almost all photograph with no distractions. The glossy finish is nice too. I've found that the finish has tended to yellow over the year but border of this card from 1984 has stayed pretty white. I did not color correct this scan.  I had an example from every year except 1984.

One of the packs had a bunch of different minor league cards produced by Just Memorabilia. Trying to identify which sets these cards come from was a challenge.

2002 Just Prospects Gold #28 Nick Neugebauer

The 2002 set was interesting in that it featured paintings of the players. Neugebauer was apparently a promising prospect who made it to the majors for the Brewers but a rotator cuff injury ended his career in his second season.

2003 Just Stars Silver Derick Grigsby

This guy was the Astros #1 draft pick in 2002 but didn't make it to the majors, in fact, he only lasted 2 years in the minors.

2005 Justifiable Wil Pujols

Albert's less-talented little brother.

2002 Just Rookies Jason Stokes

The Cardinals #2 pick in 2000. He had a 9-year career in the minors but was plagued by hand and groin injuries that kept him out of the majors.

Song of the Week - Speedbreaker by Claire Hamill

Claire Hamill is an obscure British singer-songwriter whose career flourished briefly in the early 1970s. I am not at all sure how I heard of her but I own two of her albums, 1973's October and 1974's Stage Door Johnnies which was produced by The Kink's Ray Davies. Both are wonderful albums in my opinion. I literally wore out my copy of October. In this day and age of CDs and MP3s I'd quite forgotten about her until something reminded me of her early last year. I found October on the iTunes store and bought it. "Speedbreaker" was my favorite song on the album.

Here's how apparently obscure this record is, I couldn't find an image of the original cover art through Google.  This is the only image I could find and it is actually the back of the album.  The iTunes store doesn't have the original cover art either. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. You may compare her to Kate Bush. Very similar vocal styles.

Song of the Week - In The Hour Of Not Quite Rain by Buffallo Springfield

From their final album Last Time Around, Richie Furay's reflective song, "In The Hour Of Not Quite Rain".

Buffalo Springfield was an amazingly talented group of people and was always one of my favorite bands. They produced three enormously influential albums in 3 years (1966-1968) but the individual members are responsible for hundreds of albums either individually or in various combinations with each other.

1961 Topps Ruben Gomez

I don't usually make one-card posts but I'm making an exception.

I got this card at the card show last weekend. It's in pretty good shape except for being badly off center. You can see the edge of the next card on the sheet along the bottom front and left back. But it's an early Phillies card I didn't have and it only cost 80 cents.

One of the things I like to do when I get old cards like this, especially when it's a player I don't know, is to look up their story on Wikipedia. Ruben Gomez looks like a player I should have known about.

He only played 2 years with the Phillies and he wasn't that great for them but he started his career with the Giants. He grew up in Puerto Rico, and pitched there with the nickname El Divino Loco (The Divine Madman). Would you want to face a pitcher with a nickname like that?

In 1954, he was 17-9 with the Giants helping them get to the World Series. He won Game 3 of the World Series as the Giants went on to sweep the Indians in 4 games. He is thus the first Puerto Rican player to win a World Series game.

In 1958 the Giants and the Dodgers relocated to the West Coast. What I didn't know was that the two teams opened the season with a home and away series. Gomez won the first game of the season in San Francisco, beating future Hall of Famer Don Drysdale. Thus he became the first pitcher to win a game played west of Kansas City.

After his two years with the Phillies, Gomez pitched for Veracruz in the Mexican League. One day he bought a lottery ticket from a young boy to help him out and won a $35,000 prize. He ended up using the money to set up a trust fund for the boy. Years later, in 2001, Gomez was facing surgery for cancer. A Mexican doctor asked to attend the surgery. It was that boy who sold him the lottery ticket. Is this a true story? I couldn't find another reference for it (I spent all of a minute on Google) but I hope it is.

Gomez was also known for throwing at people. In his rookie season he hit Carl Furillo (apparently at the order of his manager Leo Durocher). Furillo broke his hand in the resulting melee, ending his season.

2012 Panini Prizm

You don't see this kind of higher-end product on the shelves of the big-box stores so I look out for this sort of thing when I'm at a card show. One of the dealers had loose packs of 2012 Panini Prizm. Pricey at $6 for a 6-card pack so I only bought one.  The pack had 4 base cards and an auto.  The 20-pack hobby boxes promises 2 autos per box so the insertion rate isn't too bad.

Here's what I got.

2013 Panini Prizm #69 Jose Reyes

The shiny mirror finish doesn't scan real well but these are attractive cards in a Topps Finest sort of way.  The backs feature current year stats. The card backs say "2012 Prizm Baseball" on the lower left although they are copyrighted 2013. The product was released in April 2013.

2013 Panini Prizm #85 Kyle Lohse

I'll spare you the backs on the rest since they are all the same. Notice the Player's Association logo in the upper left. Panini still doesn't have a contract with the MLB so on logos or team names.

2013 Panini Prizm #102 Alex Rios

Panini is taking the old-fashioned approach to not showing logos by removing them from the photographs. None of the crap that Upper Deck and Donruss pulled by having photographs with partially obscured logos. MBL won lawsuits against both companies for that.

2013 Panini Prizm #121 Frank Thomas

I'm always happy to pull a Big Hurt card from a pack. According to Wikipedia, Frank is a record producer these days.

2013 Panini Prizm #153 Wei-Yin Chen

The rookie card backs are a bit different. I wonder if Panini is following the rules that MLB laid down a few years ago about what players could have "Rookie" on their cards. They sure aren't using the rookie logo. Although I wouldn't consider collecting a set like this I like to buy a pack or two for my reference books. Getting a rookie card is a bonus.

2012 Panini Prizm Autographs Josh Willingham

It's a sticker auto and it's only Josh Willingham but I'm happy to have pulled an auto. There are 108 of these. The auto card has a little Topps Chrome vibe going on. Note the color along his back and how the creases in his uniform are picked out in white. Auto cards for comparable players are going for about a buck on eBay.

1950 Bowman Phillies

I posted some earlier Bowman Phillies cards that I acquired at a local baseball card show back in March. I had planned to post the 1950 cards but didn't get around to it. I was back at this show yesterday and picked up some more.

1950 Bowman #30 Eddie Waitkus

I paid $6.00 for this in March. Cards in similar condition are going for over $10 (with postage) on eBay. This isn't in real good shape. It's not centered well and has a crease. On the other hand it doesn't have any paper loss and the color is good. You all know that Waitkus was the inspiration for the novel "The Natural" later made into a movie with Robert Redford.  He came to the Phillies in a trade with the Cubs in 1948.

1950 Bowman #67 Willie Jones

Also $6 in March. The worst looking card of the lot with creases and stains on the back. When I scan cards from the 1990s, I often correct the color as the whites have generally yellowed some. On a card this old, I don't do any Photoshopping. Willie was called "Puddin' Head" and was a fan favorite. He was an original Whiz Kid and played with the Phillies until 1959.


1950 Bowman #68 Curt Simmons

Also $6.00 in March. Another original Whiz Kid, Simmons pitched 13 years with the Phillies (and 20 years overall). The card back mentions that the Phillies signed him with a big bonus in 1947. I wonder what was considered a big bonus then? According to baseball-reference.com, his salary in 1948 was $7, 500.

1950 Bowman #120 John Thompson

The next three cards were bought this past weekend. I got them from the same guy. His prices were lower Sunday. I paid $4.50 for this. From and edges and color standpoint, one of the better ones I bought. But it's got some paper loss on the front.  Notice he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They were an AAA club affiliated with the Phillies in the early 1950s.

1950 Bowman #177 Hank Borowy

Also $4.50. The Phillies got him from the Cubs in 1947 with Waitkus. I like the backgrounds on some of these cards. That fence in the background makes it look like he's pitching in my backyard, about to unleash a fast ball at my back door from about 10 feet.  This is the best looking of the 6.

1950 Bowman #205 Mike Goliat

Only $3 for this one. Mike is apparently enjoying a party on someone's back porch. He was the Whiz Kids second baseman.

2013 Topps Series 2 - First Look

I picked up some Series 2 a few days ago. I bought 1 blaster, 2 rack-packs and 1 rack-box.
I didn't think I'd have much to write about but there were some new inserts and I got a few surprises. So here goes. First a few favorite base cards.

Usually flying player cards feature fielding plays. Here's Cabrera, I guess, attempting a steal. Looks like a hard landing and a cloud of dust coming up.

Series 1 had short-print alternate version cards of players crashing into the outfield fence. I think I got 2 of those. Series 2 features short-print alternate version cards of players wearing sunglasses. I got several cards with players wearing sunglasses, but according to baseballcardpedia.com, I didn't get any of the short prints. That being said, catchers wear sunglasses?

Man, that looks like a horrible thing. And what a lurid color for a drink!

2013 Topps Cut to the Chase Sandy Koufax

This insert was in Series 1 as well but this is the first one I've seen. Die-cut with a Topps Chrome Refractor look. Very nice.

2013 Topps Chase It Down Alex Gordon

A Series 2 only insert featuring outfielders chasing down the ball.

2013 Topps World Baseball Classic Stars Robinson Cano

Another Series 2 only insert.

2013 Topps Making Their Mark Yoenis Cespedes

This insert commemorates a players first ML game. It comes in versions with relics and/or autos as well.

2013 Topps Manufactured Patch Card Roberto Clemente

Here's what I pulled out of the blaster. I'm not a big fan of these manufactured patch cards but this one is really nice. I noticed that the cards in the blaster were considerably more expensive then in the rack-packs and the rack-box, 26 cents/card vs. 16 cents/card. I guess you have to pay for what you get. The Koufax card was also in one of the blaster packs.