Card Show: 1949 Bowman

Last weekend there was a small card show (about 15 tables) just a few miles from my house. Since such things are rare around here I had to go. I was disappointed at the small size but I found a lot of stuff I wanted from just 2 of the dealers. I'll have a series of posts on this show.

The one guy had a few boxes of 1950s and 1960s cards. Tucked in there were some 1948-1950 Bowman cards. Here are the three Phillies I got from the 1949 set.

1949 Bowman #14 Curt Simmons

I paid $4.00 for this Curt Simmons. 1948 was his first full year of play, he'd been a late September call-up in 1947. Simmons played the first 13 of his 21-year career with the Phillies, with a 115-110 record. He did not play for the Phillies in the 1950 World Series because he got drafted into the Army in early September for the Korean War.  The card isn't in great shape with a crease across the middle and pretty soft corners. 

1949 Bowman #108 Ken Heintzelman

The Phillies purchased Heintzelman from the Pirates in 1947. He'd been with the Pirates for 7 years. He pitched for the Phillies until he retired in 1952. He did start a game in the 1950 World Series where he pitched well (7.2 IP, ERA 1.17). The Phillies lost but he didn't get the decision. This card was $3.00.

I like the promo on the back. An "official baseball ring" made of "durable metal". Only 15 cents and 3 wrappers.

1949 Bowman #123 Johnny Blatnik

Blatnik (his name is misspelled on the card front) was acquired from the Indians in the 1947 Rule 5 draft. He was a regular player in 1948, hitting .260 with 6 home runs, playing 121 games in left field. But he only appeared in 21 games in the next two seasons. He was traded to the Cardinals in April 1950 and was released at the end of the season.  This card was also $3.00.

I like how re-markedly different each of these cards are. The Simmons card is on white card stock, while the other two are on gray. The Heintzelman is in pretty good shape, the corners are good, no creases and pretty centered. The Blatnik card has his name on the front. Bowman only put names on the later cards in the set. His name is also in script on the back (spelled correctly). According to Beckett, some cards have two versions, the name in block letters or in script. There is no special notation for the Blatnik card so I supposed it was issued only as script. Beckett calls it "script" although I suppose it could be a facsimile signature.

Song of the Week - Minute By Minute by The James Hunter Six

Here's some good old-fashioned R&B from a bunch of white English guys. Pretty good. I got ths from a recent podcast from Minnesota Public Radio. James Hunter has been around since 1986 but I've never heard of him before.

2011 Topps Chrome with animated GIFs!

I got a pack of 2011 Topps Chrome in one of those 12-pack Fairfield repack boxes. First out of the pack was this.

2011 Topps Chrome Heritage Refractors #123 Brent Morel

So here is something that Topps did in 2011 that will be confusing to future collectors.  2011 Topps Heritage was based on 1962 Topps. Parallel cards included chrome and chrome refractor versions. But this isn't a Topps Heritage Chrome card. This came in Topps Chrome. Notice the Topps Chrome logo instead of the Topps Heritage. The Topps Chrome Heritage also have a slightly different finish than the Topps Heritage Chrome. Confused?  Aside from all that, I didn't have one of these and now I do. These cards were numbered to 562.

There was nothing special about the other three cards in the pack except that I had the regular Topps version of each card. I scan a lot of cards and put the scans in a Filemaker database. If i switch back and forth between the base version of a card and a parallel version I can get an idea of how well the cards are centered, at least in reference to each other. Centering is a big deal in card grading, especially in earlier cards as apparently cutting big sheets of cards was prone to errors. How many times have you seen a perfectly acceptable Topps card from, say 1975, that had most of the border on one side sliced away while the other side had a border than went on forever.

Apparently they have gotten much better at this from what I can see when comparing cards in my database. It occurred to me that I could show this with an animated gif, if only I knew how to make one. With the help of my talented daughter, we figured out this was absurdly easy in Photoshop Elements. The only thing that would work right was the timing of the loop. I tried to lengthen the loop but Elements wouldn't pay attention to me.

Anyway here's the three Topps Chrome cards along with their Topps base.

 Not too bad. The slight jiggling effect is because the two cards aren't exactly aligned. Here's another:

This one is darn near perfect.

This last one is interesting. I've noticed that Topps doesn't always use the exact same picture for these parallels. I've seen also when comparing Topps to Topps Opening Day. Sometimes they use an entirely different picture. But some times it's just cropped differently, like this one.

I've always wondered why this happens.

5th anniversary of the blog!

I missed the anniversary of the blog again, just like I did last year. I keep thinking that I started this some time in March when it was actually early February. The 5th anniversary of the start of the blog was February 3rd. This will be the 1,090th post.  I thought I'd be low-key this year since I missed the anniversary by a whole month and just rerun my original post.  Back then I stated the purpose of the bog and I think I've done pretty well keeping to that purpose (and I still don't collect safety pins).
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February 8, 2008

For many years this was the Holy Grail of card collecting for me. I finally got a beat-up version on eBay. I paid $40.02 for the card on April 14, 2005. The most I have ever paid for a single card.

I thought this would be a good place to start.

Although there will be a lot of baseball cards featured, I'll be throwing up non-baseball stuff as well, from my music collection, my Cliff Walk postcard collection, baseball figures collection, my book collection, and my safety pin collection (no I don't really collect safety pins).

I hope you enjoy your visits and comments are always welcome.

Song of the Week - Cherry by Chromatics

This is a recent podcast from KEXP Radio in Seattle. Very 1980s style electronic vibe. Think Band of Seagulls. I always liked this kind of spacey, ethereal stuff. Chromatics was formed in 2001, originally as a punk band but after numerous lineup changes, evolved into this electronic sound. If you're interested, you can read more about them here. This piece is from a compilation album by their label, Italians Do It Better, called After Dark 2.

Random Cards From My Collection #39

Card #20194
1990 Reading Phillies ProCards #1220 Mark Sims

Comments on the card: Enormous minor league set put out by ProCards. Nice design. Pretty much all of the cards featured the players posed rather than action shots.
When acquired: Don't know but I have the entire Phillies set.
How acquired: Don't know.
Player's season: The Phillies minor league system was abysmal then. This guy was their 32nd round pick in 1982. Never made it to the majors.

Card #26751
2011 Topps Gypsy Queen #118 Mike Pelfry

Comments on the card: The first year (of 2) for Gypsy Queen. I like this set better than 2012. The 2013 set is due out on April 1.
When acquired: 2011
How acquired: Paid $0.44/card for 4 rack packs. I eventually bought a hobby box.
Player's season: Mike was 15-9 for the Mets in 2010 but only 7-13 in 2011.

Card # 22464
2003 Topps 205 #9 Edgardo Alfonzo

Comments on the card: One of my favorite sets from the first decade of the 21st century.
When acquired: 2010
How acquired: Paid $0.33/card for a hobby box on eBay
Player's season: Edgardo signed an $18 million, 3-year contract with the Giants prior to the 2003 season. His first season with the Giants seems to have been a disappointment as he batted only .258, almost 50 points off his 2002 season.

Card #32954
1993 Topps #350 Joe Carter

Comments on the card: The second year that Topps went with white card stock like all the other companies were doing. A radical change in design of the back, with a color player photo and a vertical layout. I always liked this set.
When acquired: Don't know but probably in 1993.
How acquired: Don't know.
Player's season:1993 was another All-Star year for Joe as he led the Blue Jays to their second consecutive World Series. He hit a dramatic 3-run homer Game 6 off the Phillies Mitch Williams, clenching the Series for the Jays. I'll always remember where I was when that happened.

Card #20769
1993 Triple Play # 125 Mitch Williams

Comments on the card: One of many failed attempts by baseball card companies (this time Donruss) in the 1990s to get kid to buy cards.
When acquired: Don't know but probably in 1993.
How acquired: Don't know.
Player's season: Being the nerd I am, I actually use a random number generator in Excel to pick cards and I swear that this is the next card it picked. The Wild Thing had 43 saves for the Phillies in 1993, but just couldn't lock down Game 6. The Phillies traded him to the Astros in December and he was never really an effective reliever again.

Card #35973
1988 Fleer #642 Damon Berryhill/Jeff Montgomery

Comments on the card: I never much cared for this set and didn't buy much of it. It is well represented in repacks these days.
When acquired: 2012
How acquired: Speaking of repacks, that's where I got this. Paid $0.07/card for a Fairfield Extreme Value Pack which had 12 assorted packs, with 160 cards.
Player's season: Berryhill got in 95 games in his rookie year with the Cubs, batting .259, good enough to place 6th in ROY voting. Montgomery spent 1988 with the Royals where he was 7-2 with 1 save. He will go on to get another 303 saves in his career.

Card #20739
1993 Ultra #93 Ben Rivera

Comments on the card: One of the so-called 'super premium' sets of the early 1990s before pretty much all cards featured glossy finishes and gold foil. 
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: Randomness pulls up another 1993 Phillies card. Ben had the best season of his career (as did many Phillies that year), going 13-9.

Card #37152
2013 Topps #168 Kyle Farnsworth

Comments on the card: In my opinion, one of the best Topps designs in years.
When acquired: 2013
How acquired: Paid $0.15/card for a 72-card rack-box at Target.
Player's season: Farnsworth only pitched 27 innings for the Rays in 2012, which works out to about $120,000 per inning. He's signed again with the Rays but at less than half in 2012 salary.

Card #3517
1997 Ultra Fame Game #18 Eddie Murray

Comments on the card: This 18-card insert set was seed 1:8 in 1997 Series 2 Ultra. The holographic foil on FAME is pretty cool
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know, but it's the only one from the set I have
Player's season: Eddie appeared in 46 games for the Angels before being released in April 1997. He played 9 more games for the Dodgers and retired after the season. Not a great finish to a Hall Of Fame career.

Card #16275
2007 Upper Deck #696 Logan Kensing

Comments on the card: The side borders on this set really make the cards look awkward. The backs are dull. I think if you're going to put a photo on the back it should be different than the front.
When acquired: Don't know but probably in 2007.
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: Logan was 3-0 for the Marlins in 2007 in relief. Can't say I remember him.

Random Cards from my Collection #38

I'm going to try and be a little more systematic with these random collection posts. We'll see how long that lasts.

Card #23956
2002 Donruss Best of Fan Club #138 Billy Wagner

Comments on the card: I like Billy the Kid's mean guy expression but I really don't like the Dufux finish. Best of Fan Club was a complete parallel set to Donruss Fan Club, sold separately. The only difference was the Dufex finish.
When acquired: Don't know but probably in 2002
How acquired: I paid $0.65/per card for the 10-card set on eBay
Player's season: Billy was 4-2 with 35 saves. He appeared in 70 games, pitching 75 innings with a 2.52 ERA

Card #26477
1990 Bowman #77 Andujar Cedeno

Comments on the card: Rainbow uniform!  Was there anything to like about 1990 Bowman besides that the cards were normal sized?
When acquired: 2011
How acquired: Paid $0.04/card for a 278-card Fairfield cube
Player's season: Andujar had 8 plate appearances for the Astros, got no hits and struck out 5 times.

Card #7701
2000 Upper Deck Five-Tool Talents #1 Vladimir Guerrero

Comments on the card: Shiny! Random inserts (1:11) in Upper Deck.
When acquired: 2006
How acquired: Paid $0.15, probably in a repack.
Player's season: Vlad the Impaler hit .345 with 44 home runs and was an All-Star. A Player I Collect.

Card #28145
2002 Fleer Tradition #280 Daryle Ward

Comments on the card: Thick, plain cards, featuring a 1930's Goudey design that we'll see again on 2008 Upper Deck Goudey.
When acquired: 2011
How acquired: 2011 Summer Clearance Trade
Player's season: Daryle's 5th and last season for the Astros, and probably his best with them. He hit .276 with 72 RBIs. He was traded to the Dodgers for Ruddy Lugo (no idea who this is).

Card #8530
2005 Fleer Showcase #117 Willie McCovey

Comments on the card: Nice looking 135-card set produced by Fleer full of short-print cards like this one.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Paid $0.06 in a repack.
Player's season: Stretch played 19 years for the Giants, hitting 469 of his 521 home runs for them.

Card #29939
1998 Pinnacle Inside #16 Albert Belle

Comments on the card: One of the oddest ideas in a decade full of odd baseball card ideas, these cards came packed in a steel can that had to be opened with a can opener.
When acquired: Don't know, but most likely in 1998
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: Albert had a good season for the White Sox, hitting .329 with 49 home runs. A Player I Collect.

Card #22686
2007 Topps #547 Byung-Hyun Kim

Comments on the card: Perhaps the worst Topps design of the century so far.
When acquired: 2007
How acquired: Paid $.15 in a blaster box.
Player's season: Kim was 1-2 with the Rockies with a 10.50 ERA before he began an oddessy where he was traded to the Marlins, picked of waivers by the D-Backs, released by the D-Backs and resigned with the Marlins.

Card #13571
1991 Fleer #405 Roger McDowell

Comments on the card: Not the worst card design of 1991. Give that award to Topps
When acquired: Don't know but probably in 1991.
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: Roger was 3-6 with 3 saves for the dreadful 1991 Phillies before getting traded in July to the Dodgers for Braulio Castillo and Mike Hartley.

Card #12190
2004 Playoff Prestige #125 Andy Pettitte

Comments on the card: With so many different card brands out there, how do you distinguish yourself from the crowd? With abstract geometric shapes, I guess.
When acquired: 2009
How acquired: A gift from a Friend of the Blog
Player's season: In the first year of a $31.5 million 3-year contract, Andy missed most of the season with the Astros due to elbow surgery. A Player I Collect.

Card #4936
1981 Donruss #382 Keith Moreland

Comments on the card: Donruss inaugural attempt. Nice clean design.
When acquired: Don't know but I wasn't collecting in 1981 so it wasn't then.
How acquired: Don't  know.
Player's season: Keith's nickname was apparently Zonk, but I don't remember him being called that in Philadelphia. He was mainly a catcher and 3rd baseman but with Bob Boone and Mike Schmidt at those positions he didn't get much playing time. He was traded to the Cubs after the 1981 season where he became a regulare starter.