Capewood's Collections

Thursday, January 9, 2014

January 2014 card show - Part 2

Here's some more stuff.

2001 UD Reserve #88 Craig Biggio

Not a bad looking set. I never saw this when it was live. This is only the 3rd card from the set I have.

2002 Bowman Gold #203 Gavin Floyd

From back in the days when the card manufactures could put minor leaguers in their main sets. Floyd won't make his major league debut until 2004. If you can't tell, the facsimile signature is in gold foil. Also the card is thicker than the base set.

2002 Bowman Draft Signs of the Future Mitch Jones

OK, this guy didn't have much of a major league career. Between June 16 and June 29, 2009, Mitch had 18 at bats for the Dodgers and hit .308. But I didn't have any of these cards and it was only 2 bucks.

2002 Studio Private Signings #269 Wilson Valdez

Another kind of card I didn't have. A sticker auto, serial numbered to 200, I didn't mind paying $3 for it. Valdez has had a long, if not spectacular career including 2 seasons with the Phillies. Valdez became a Phillies fan favorite on 5/25/11 when, after playing the entire game at second, he pitched a scoreless 19th inning in a Phillies win over the Reds.

2002 Topps Gold Label Class 1 Gold #136 Marlon Byrd

Another set I never saw live, so if I buy one today, I can be pretty sure I don't have it. Topps Gold was a 200 card set with three parallels, Gold, Platinum and Titanium. This is the Gold parallel, numbered to 500. Byrd came up with the Phillies in 2002 and stayed into the 2005 season. He played for the Mets and Pirates last year but signed a 2-year $16MM contract with the Phillies last November.

2003 Bowman Signs of the Future Joel Hanrahan

$2 for an on-card auto. I'll pay that every day for a kind of card I don't have, no matter who the player is. Hanrahan had 76 saves for the Pirates in 2011-2012.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

January 2014 Card Show - Part 1

I already shared the Topps Giant cards I got at this show. Here's some more good stuff.

1999 Fleer Brilliants #140 Pat Burrell

In 1999, these cards cost a buck apiece in a 5-card pack. I paid a buck for this one at the show.

2000 Bowman's Best Franchise 2000 #19 Jeff Bagwell

This is from a 25-card insert set from 2000 Bowman's Best. The front is backed with refractive foil. I wasn't even sure what set it was from when I bought it since the Bowman's Best logo on the front is real hard to make out. The back is a dull matte black.

2000 SP Authentic Limited #106 Rick Ankiel

Remember when Rick Ankiel was the hottest pitcher around. That period didn't last long. This card is a parallel to 2000 SP Authentic, serial numbered to 100.

2000 Topps Tek #44-19 Brett Myers

This was a difficult set to collect. The cards were printed on clear acetate and each player was available with multiple patterns. There are 40 different versions of this card. Now I've got 2.

2001 Leaf Limited #257 Nick Punto

Another difficult set to collect. All cards in the set above number 150 are serial numbered to different amounts by sets of 50. Cards numbered 250-300 were numbered to 1000. Cards 301-325 are autographed and serial numbered. cards 326-350 have relics and serial numbers.

More to come...

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

1964 Topps Giants

Every quarter a small sports card show is held near where I live. It costs $2 and the parking is free. When I say small, I mean small, about 10 dealers. And it's pretty much the same dealers every time. But since card shows around here a few and far between, I usually go. I found a lot to buy at the show last weekend. I'll probably get at least two more posts out of it.

I always wear a Phillies cap to the show and a couple of the dealers recognize me. I had just paid one guy for a handful of 1960 and 1950's Phillies cards when he pulled out these 1964 Topps Giants cards and asked if I was interested. 1964 cards featuring Johnny Callison and Tony Gonzalez? Of course I was interested. He offered them at $2.50 each and I bought them. There is only one other Phillie in this set, Jim Bunning.

Topps Giant is a postcard sized card with a player photograph on the front and a newspaper like headline (with a b/w photo) on the back. According to Beckett.com, the cards came in 3-card wax packs with gum. The two I got are in pretty good shape, clean with sharp corners. They are a bit discolored as you might expect a 50-year-old piece of printed cardboard to be.

Pretty good photo of Tony on the back, making a basket catch.

Another nice action shot on the back. It's not clear what's happening here, but it sure doesn't look like his game winning home run from the All-Star Game.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Movie Review - Europa Report

This is another movie I added to my Netflix list over the Christmas holidays but I didn't get around to watching it until after New Years.

This could be classed as a 'found footage' movie, like "The Blair Witch Project". A spaceship, with a crew of 4 men and 2 women, is dispatched from earth to Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Recently gathered long range data has suggested something odd going on there. Something that may indicate the presence of life.

It's a damn long way to Europa, it's expected to take some 18 months to get there. At about 16 months out, the ship loses contact with earth. The team decides to proceed anyway.

The story is told as a series of clips. Some are of interviews with the earth bound team, especially the woman who was in charge of the mission. Most of the clips are from the spacecraft. Practically every inch of the ship was being videotaped. The movie takes us from the original launch and the excitement of passing the moon and becoming the first humans to travel so far from the earth to the ultimate loneliness of being cooped up in a metal box so far from home that a conversation with a loved one takes hours between sentences.

I thought the science in this was pretty good. Also the effects. We've all seen enough footage of space shuttle launches and the like to know what it looks like. They do a good job here with simulating the launch. We've also seen endless footage of astronauts on the space shuttle or the International Space Station. We know people are weightless in outer space. The ship here is equipped with a rotating ring, with long booms with living quarters on each end. The control areas are weightless, and they do a good job of showing the crew passing from one area to another, walking around in the habitat and floating in the other areas. The weightless scenes are short but believable. I don't know if they used the Vomit Comet or just wire work. The outward trip consists of scenes of ordinary life in space like communal meals (and complaining about the food), riding exercise machines, scientific observations and a space walk.

We get to know the crew, understand to some extant why they are doing what they are doing. The landing on Europa is handled very well. The compromise of the mission and how they go about trying to salvage something to justify the trip get to the 'Fear Sacrifice Contact" on the poster in a very effective way. The last act of the movie literally had me on the edge of my seat.

I don't want to give away too much because this is a movie I recommend you see.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Random Cards From My Collection #54

Card #29755 2011 Topps Team Sets #PHI5 Chase Utley

Comments on the card: I think Topps still makes these but this is the last year I've seen. Usually available at big box stores as team sets in a hanging blister pack. I usually only see Astros and Yankees (?) sets here in Texas. The photographs are generally the same as the base Topps set, although sometimes different. There is usually a player or two who didn't make it into the base set.
How/When acquired: Paid $10 for 17-card Phillies set in August 2011.
Card #9498 1985 Donruss #183 Juan Samuel

Comments on the card: Juan Samuel looking pretty cocky on the classic Donruss '85 set.
How/When acquired: Don't know.

Card #19124 1980 Topps Burger King #13 Del Unser

Comments on the card: Except for the Burger King logo on the back, these cards are identical to the 1980 Topps base set. They were available in Philadelphia area Burger Kings. I never eat in Burger King, and I wasn't collecting in 1980 so I never knew these existed until many years later.
How/When acquired: Don't know exactly but I'm pretty sure I bought the entire Phillies set at a flea market in the Philadelphia area in the early 1990s.

Card #527 1991 Upper Deck #733 Dave Parker

Comments on the card: Upper Deck's third set with a design little changed from 1989.
How/When acquired: Early Upper Deck cards are widely available in Fairfield repacks. I got this in one in September 2007 for about $0.04/card.

Card #33108 2012 Topps Archives #188 Vance Worley

Comments on the card: 2012 Topps Archives base cards featured one of four former Topps designs. This is based on 1984 Topps. With 60 years of history, Topps has a lot of old designs to work with.
How/When acquired: Bought 2 8-pack blasters of Topps Archives 5/25/12. $0.64/card for 64 cards.

Card #31524 1987 Topps Minis #TM-1 Ryan Braun

Comments on the card: Another 2012 Topps card featuring a past design, this one from 1987. These cards were inserted in packs of Series 1 and 2 Topps.
How/When acquired: Paid $0.25/card for a WalMart blaster box of Topps in February 2012.

Card #40349 1992 Pinnacle #450 David Cone

Comments on the card: The first Pinnacle issue. Pinnacle will keep the black borders until 1994 when they went fill bleed. Panini decided to revive Pinnacle in 2013 with black borders.
How/When acquired: Don't know, but probably acquired when new.

Card #11824 1990 Donruss Best NL #140 Von Hayes

Comments on the card: This 144-card set was distributed as a set. It featured the same basic front design as 1990 Donruss, except the regular Donruss set was red. There was a similar set for American League players.
How/When acquired: This card was a gift from a faithful reader of the blog in February 2009.

Card #16277 2007 Upper Deck #483 Mark Teixeira

Comments on the card: Michael Young congratulates Mari Teixeria as he crosses the plate for a score. An A's catcher spits through his mask in disgust in the background.
How/When acquired: Don't know.

Card #11592 1996 Bowman's Best Mirror Image Atomic Refractor Robert Alomar/Craig Biggio

Comments on the card: Atomic Refractor Cards! All the excesses of 1990s card design, on one card.
How/When acquired: Paid $6.95 on eBay in January 2009.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

My top posts from 2013

A little more self indulgence on my part. This February I will reach the 6th anniversary of this blog. I'm nothing if not persistent. Just prior to that, on January 31, I will be retiring. After 40+ years of work, I'm going to take it easy. One of things I'm going to spend more time on is the blog. I've never done anything to try and promote the blog but I may in 2014. I don't have thousands of readers, but I average 90 views per post and I made 127 posts last year. Since I didn't think anyone would be interested in my ravings, that's pretty good. Sometimes, I do a post that gets hundreds of views. So here are my top 10 viewed posts of 2013. If you missed them, here's your second chance.

1. With 383 views