Relics, Relics, Relics - Part 2

Here's the rest of the $2-$3 relic cards I got last weekend.

2009 Topps Career Best Relics

I remembered having a jersey version of this card. If the set has both jersey and bat cards, I like to get one of each.

2009 Upper Deck Icons Letterman

Just look at this ridiculous thing! It's so thick that the patch is out of focus from the scan. And the best thing? On the back it says "Collect all Movie Icons Letterman Cards to spell VINCE LOMBARDI". Why Vince Lombardi? Well, why not Vince Lombardi?

2011 Bowman Platinum Relic Autograph Refractors

"witnessed by a Topps representative to guarantee authenticity". Imagine, someone had to stand over this guy while he signed his name 1,166 times.

2011 Bowman Sterling Dual Relics

Bowman Sterling never shows up at the local Target. Consequently, I have no Bowman Sterling cards in my collection except for the few I chased down on eBay. I have none at all from the 2011 set.

2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Relics

I already had 3 cards from this set but all were of baseball players. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Allen & Ginter mini relics.

Relics, Relics, Relics - Part 1

There is a small (10-12 dealers) in my area every quarter. I was there last weekend. Right inside the door was a guy selling relic cards from 2-5 dollars. I generally a sucker for these cards. I'm trying to collect as many different kinds of cards as possible and relic cards are a challenge since you don't usually see them in blaster boxes or packs from the big box stores (my only reliable source for cards).  I almost shot my entire budget for the show at this guy's table. I got 11 cards. Here's the first 6, I'll post the other 5 tomorrow.

2001 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres Heroes of Baseball Game Jersey Trios

I don't keep a readily transportable list of all the cards I own, but I have a pretty good memory. It failed me in this case since I already had one of these. But a triple-relic card for 3 bucks...

2002 Upper Deck People's Choice Game Jersey

I used to have the Andy Pettitte card from this set but traded it for something. Of course, bits of cloth with a stripe on them are more interesting than plain white ones. As I looked at this I was wondering which part of Martinez' Cardinals uniform was white with a black stripe. The answer was on the back, it was from a Yankees uni. I guess the card companies have a problem with uniforms they've collected when a player changes teams. I don't really like this solution. Also note this is from his pants. Upper Deck wants to "keep you as close as you can get!" Not sure I want to be that close to a guy's pants.

2003 Fleer Showcase Thunder Sticks Game Bat

I already had the non-relic version of this set (featuring Jim Thome). I always like to get both versions. I don't have any idea what the "TF0130" on the card is supposed to me. The same thing is on the Thome card.

2003 Playoff Piece of the Game Autographs

Another memory failure but it was only $2. And the one I have is a bat relic, so not exactly the same. I don't much care for sticker autos but I like the idea that the back of the card features a photo of the item where they got the piece.

2003 SPx Winning Materials 50

This is a complicated card and it was a little hard to place. In 2003, SPx had 4 versions of this card with a different number. In addition to this one they had SPx Winning Materials 175, 250 and 375. I would have thought that the cards would be serial numbered to the number in the name, but not so. There are two versions of each player card for each number. One card has the team logo, like this one, the other has the player number. The team logo is a little rubber piece glued to the card. Using the 175 as an example, the logo version is numbered to 155 while the number card is numbered to 20. The sharp eyed among you will note that the count of the two versions adds up to 175. Who thinks up this kind of stuff? Anyway, I'm not actually sure what I've got since my card is numbered to 50 and, according to Beckett.com, none of the cards are numbered to 50.

2005 Topps Pristine Personal Pieces Common Relics

Another card with a stripe! And another complicated set. In addition to the Common, they had Uncommon, Uncommon Un-circulated and Scarce. Each numbered to a different count. The other versions at least have different background colors.

2013 Panini Golden Age - First Peak

I bought one pack of this product at a card show last Sunday, not having any idea what it was. It's Panini's attempt to cash in on the popularity of Topps Allen and Ginter and Upper Deck's Goodwin Champions. My opinion - I love these cards! Enough that I bought a box on eBay. So this is just a first peek, a more detailed post to follow when I get my box.

I also bought a box of 2013 Goodwin Champions, so I'm kind of ODing on vintage style cards. I hope you like these as much as I do.

It didn't hurt my enjoyment of this set by having this being the first card I saw.

You can reel me in with a Richie Ashburn card every time.  Of the 4 base cards in the pack, 3 were baseball players and one was an actor in his role as a baseball player.

No logos of course. At least they give the city so with a player like Fisk you can tell what team he's depicted with. Although I guess with Fisk it wouldn't have been that difficult to figure out.

Freehan was a big time player from 1961 to 1975. Somehow this is the first card of his I've ever gotten.

OK, it's a Little League player but his character played baseball.

Of course, there is a selection of mini parallel cards. I got one, the Carolina Brights Green Back version.

And there was one other insert, Panini Golden Age Playing Cards.  There are 53 of these (one joker).

2013 Panini Cooperstown - First Look

I picked up 5, 6-card packs of 2013 Panini Cooperstown the other day, since I had liked last year's set. Here's what I said last year. The cards were a bit more expensive this year ($0.72/card vs $0.62/card) and I don't like them as much. They are a bit dark for my taste. I do like the new feature in the back. Last's years cards featured a short player bio, this year's have a line score from a game in which the player made a significant contribution. Pretty much all the inserts are different and there are a lot more parallel cards this year. Not necessarily a good thing. There are relic and auto cards as well which I didn't expect to find in loose packs, and I didn't.

Here's card #2

The fronts are glossy but the backs are not. There are 110 cards in the base set, with cards 101-110 being short prints. Good luck with trying to complete this set by buying packs. In the 30 cards I got, only 19 were base cards. At least there were no duplicates. Here are a few more.

"Big Dan" played from 1879 to 1904. He was 6"2' and weighed 207 pounds. He was a feared slugger. This photo is from an early baseball card which you can see on his Wikipedia page.

I always like getting old Phillies in these kinds of sets.

One more , this terrifying photo of Bob Gibson.

There are several different colored "crystal" parallels. I got this red one (numbered to 399) and a green one which is unnumbered.

The finish reminds me a little of the "cognac' cards from 2011 Topps.

Here's an Orange parallel which looks a little like Topps Chrome. These are numbered to 325.  All of the parallel sets have only 100 cards.

Every pack has one of these in it. Colgin's Chips.

 And good luck getting all of these. There are 165 disks in the set at one per pack.

A new insert this year is "Historic Tickets".

 

I pulled one of this 25-card set.

Panini Cooperstown Induction is the one insert returning from last year.

And finally the last insert I pulled, Panini Cooperstown International Play

Lots of sets over the years have had similar ideas for subsets but does it make sense to call a player from Puerto Rico an 'international player'?

Song of the Week - Body in a Box by City and Color

My daughter recently brought home the new City and Color CD called "The Hurry and the Harm". I noticed that the songwriter's name was Dallas Green. Any good Phillies phan, such as myself, knows that the Phillies 1980 manager, when they won the World Series, was named Dallas Green.

This Dallas Green performs as City and Color and has 4 albums out. This song is actually from his 2nd album, released in 2008 called "Bring Me Your Love".

So what's with his name?  From his Wikipedia page:

"During an interview at the 2008 NXNE festival with DJ Dave Bookman of Toronto's CFNY-FM, Green confirmed that he was indeed named after the famous major league pitcher/manager of the same name. He stated that, although he was born on September 29, 1980, he had gone without a name at first; his mother was considering naming him Graham-Todd Green, but his father had bet on the Phillies during the 1980 World Series that October and, after the team won, his parents decided on the name Dallas after the Phillies' manager."

Random Cards From My Collection #51

Card #8054
2007 Bowman Orange # 66 Jose Contreras

Comments on the card: The orange parallel to 2007 Bowman. Ugly.
When acquired: September 2007
How acquired: Paid $0.35/card for a blaster box.
Player's season: Jose was 10-17 with an ERA of 5.57 for a White Sox team that was 72-90 in 2007.

Card # 1281
1998 Aurora Pennant Fever #30 Hideo Nomo

Comments on the card: This is from a 50-card insert in 1998 Aurora, one of many sets produced by Pacific in the mid to late 1990s. It has all the 1990s excess you could want.
When acquired: November 2003
How acquired: Paid $0.25
Player's season: 1998 was almost the end for Nomo. He went 2-7 with the Dodgers and was traded to the Mets. He then went 4-5 with the Mets who released him before the 1999 season.

Card #2857
1993 Fleer Final Edition #109 Jim Eisenreich

Comments on the card: 1993 Fleer Final Edition was only available as a boxed set and I wish I had bought it when I had the chance. I always liked the back of these cards.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: The Phillies signed Eisenreich as a free agent in January of 1993. He was an integral part of the the team that went on to the World Series, batting .318.

Card 37147
2013 Topps #149 Yovani Gallardo

Comments on the card: One of my favorite baseball card cliches, the pitcher throwing the ball right at ya.
When acquired: January 2013
How acquired: Paid $0.15/card for a rack pack at WalMart
Player's season: Gallardo was 11-10 in 30 starts for the Brewers this year.

Card #3182
1989 Upper Deck #720 Tommy Herr

Comments on the card: Upper Deck's premier year. The first really premium baseball card at a time when the very concept of a 'premium baseball card' was unknown.
When acquired: July 2006
How acquired: Paid $0.07 card in a repack box. These are pretty common these days in repacks.
Player's season: After a long career with the Cardinals, the Phillies signed Herr as a free agent after the 1988 season. He hit .287 with 35 doubles. The Phillies traded him away during the 1990 season.

Card #9224
1991 Topps #141 Nick Leyva

Comments on the card: Nice set with the 40th anniversary logo.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: After 2 previous terrible years under Leyva, the Phillies fired him just 13 games into the 1991 season with a 4-9 record.

Card #38875
2009 O-Pee-Chee #460 Roy Halladay

Comments on the card: The pitcher equivalent of the batter card where the batter holds the bat straight out towards the camera. Halladay can pull it off.
When acquired: June 2009
How acquired: Paid $0.22/card for a blaster box.
Player's season: Roy was 17-10, with a 2.44 ERA. He led the league with 9 complete games and 4 shutouts.

Card #751
1989 Donruss #159 Dave Winfield

Comments on the card: Nice photo of Winfield just starting into his swing. 1989 Donruss is another set I've completed by getting cards I needed from repacks. These cards have yellowed badly from age. Luckily Photoshop can fix that with one click.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know.
Player's season: After a 1988 season where he hit .322 with 25 HR and an All-Star berth, Dave spent the entire 1989 season on the DL with a back injury.

Card #42352
1990 Topps Big #205 Julio Franco

Comments on the card: This was the second and last year for Topps Big. The slightly over-sized cards were not popular with collectors.  These have also badly yellowed.
When acquired: July 2003
How acquired: Paid $0.03/card for 57 unopened packs on eBay
Player's season: Franco's batting average dipped a bit in 1990 (to .296 from .311 the year before) but he stole 31 bases and scored 96 runs.

Card #33479
1969 Topps #206 Larry Hisle/Barry Lersch

Comments on the card: This card back scanned badly. They are more orange than pink. I also removed the yellow. Notice that Lersch's pitching stats are labeled "Minor League Lifetime Batting Record".
When acquired: June 2012
How acquired: Paid $0.50 at a card show.
Player's season: Hisle, the Phillies 2nd round pick in 1965, hit .266 with 20 HR, good enough for 4th place in the ROY voting for 1969. Lersch was 0-3 in 10 games in relief with 2 saves in his rookie season.