Christmas Cards

When I'm on the receiving or giving end of a PWE it's usually one of two envelope sizes, the 6 3/4 and the 10, but the other day a greeting card sized envelope arrived in the mailbox and it was addressed to just me... no mention of my beautiful wife.

Behold!  A card filled with holiday cheer and baseball cards!

I seem to have made Julie's Christmas card list!  Woot!  Julie is the wonderful trader and blogger from A Cracked Bat and we pulled off a cardboard swap not too long ago.

My 729th unique card of Ryno!

Julie also collect Ryne Sandberg and I feel honored that she was willing to part with this one.

Apparently, she felt the need to even the score, which I'm not going to argue about!

2008 Co-Signers came out before I got back into the hobby, but at the the time I was still checking out cards on eBay and making a random purchase here and there.  I remember when this card hit the market and Soto won the Rookie of the Year.  Felix Pie was still up-and-coming as well. What a hot card at the time!  Still gorgeous, and further evidence that good things come to those who wait.

Lastly a 1961 Fleer card of Hall of Fame member Lou Boudreau.

 Boudreau was inducted into Cooperstown more for his playing days a shortstop for the Indians, but he did also manage for sixteen years and bring a championship to Cleveland in 1948.  Actually, he was a player-manager for ten of those years. Pretty cool.

Boudreau was the second of two managers for the Cubs in 1960, his only season with the northsiders, and he managed the club to a record 54 wins and 83 losses.  I'm hoping win-loss records of that ilk are long behind us now that we signed Jon Lester and made a few other transactions this winter.

Julie, thank you for the kind words and the beautiful cards!  Happy holidays to you and yours.

Being a Bonehead with Baseball Cards

Remember the Wampa?  Yeah, those were some good times.

Within the Wampa's box were eight or ten packs of 2008 Upper Deck Documentary, which is a set I'm still not the familiar with. I know enough about it to know that it's tortuously large. I think each team has 162 cards in its own subset highlighting each game of the season.  If that's true, then there's nearly 5,000 cards in the set.  Well, each of the unopened packs had a White Sox player on the front so I figured the packs contained cards exclusively from the Sox's season.  I boxed them up and sent them to JediJeff, who is the only White Sox guy I know.

He informed me shortly after their arrival that the packs contain players from all teams. 

They do?  Oh.  Crap.  I'm such a doofus sometimes.
 
Jeff was kind enough to send the Cubs that were pulled from the packs back down Interstate 55. 

That's my 102nd unique Fukudome card on the right!  Nice.

And he sent some 1984 Topps for the set I'm working on:

Also included in the PWE were a couple of random Cubs.  Ooooooh!  A gold Marmol!

Lastly, a new card to add to my Brooks Kieschnick collection.  Someday I'll have to enter my Kieschnick cards into a database.  Maybe during winter break?

 I really liked those Fleer Ultra backs from back-in-the-day.  Three different pictures: hitting, fielding, and a batting pose.  That's high quality in my estimation.

Jeff, thanks for sending those UD Documentary cards back my way and for adding in some nice Cubs as a bonus.

Trade Post: A Cracked Bat

Julie, from A Cracked Bat, introduced herself to me last month and we quickly agreed to terms for a trade.  But I've been a procrastinating blogger as of late and her package has been collecting dust on my desk for a about a week or so.  Life gets in the way... blah, blah, blah... you all know how it goes so I will spare you my list of excuses. 

Let's move on to the cards!

I think this is my second slabbed card in my collection and my first Ryno!  FYI, because I know everyone is keeping track at home: 1989 Topps was he first set I ever completed.  What a great way to start the package!

 Next up we have some Bowman Chrome inserts in which a Cub is paired with other prospects from the NL Central. Don't the Cubs have enough prospects that they could just make card pairings with Cubs?  Bryant with Baez?  Soler with Almora?  Russell with Edwards?  Sigh...

 Well, regardless of Stephenson and Piscotty lurking on the cards I think they die-cuts are pretty sharp looking, but I've always been in favor of shiny products!  Speaking of shiny... a Liquorfractor of Blake DeWitt and a nice Bowman Platinum card of Alfonso Soriano.  

I think my favorite two cards in the package were from the Panini Cooperstown set.

 I don't have many Harry Caray cards in my collection.  In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a picture of Harry so young looking.  I grew up knowing Harry with stark white hair and those crazy thick glasses.  I really like the write-up on the back of the card, although I'm not sure I agree with the "pungent voice" part.  Harry was no Vin Scully, but I would prefer the word "distinctive" as a substitute.

The second card is a picture of Ernie Banks 500th home run ball.  I have plenty of Banks' cards in my collection, but this is the first one that features his greatest accomplishment.  Pretty neat in my opinion.

Julie, thank you so much for the cards.  You definitely hit the spot with these great Cubs cards!  I look forward to trading with you in the future!

Pack Wars: Classics vs. UD First Edition

It's time to rip into the second pack for 2014 Panini Classics.  Is it possible that it could top the first pack?  We'll have to find out, but in the meantime let's see how it fares against a pack of 2008 Upper Deck First Edition.

First Edition has two more cards within its wrapper, so the first two cards of Panini Classics is going to get tag-teamed.

Here we go!

Round 1:

A nice baserunning shot of J.J. Hardy and card of Giant before they started winning all of the World Series.  Bryce Harper?  Yep, he's still one of my favorites and I'm still waiting for him to have that breakout season.  Panini Classics is on the board first even with the Washington 'W' missing atop Bryce's dome.

Updated Score:
'08 UD First Edition = 0
'14 Panini Classics = 1

Round 2:

What great use of the horizontal card!  And it looks like Kenji found the ears on that baseball just fine.  I really like the photography in this Upper Deck set.  Chris Sale is captured in a pretty boring pose and it looks like he's wearing a trucker hat.  It's all tied up.

Updated Score:
'08 UD First Edition = 1
'14 Panini Classics = 1

Round 3:

I'm not sure I understand how a rookie is a "Timeless Tribute."  The card is numbered and it's got a little bit of that refractory sheen to it, which is kind of nice.  Isn't Kevin Kiermaier one of the players who will have the rookie cup on their Topps card next year?  But again, how is a rookie timeless?  This really bothers me.
The Chase Utley card is horizontal beauty at its best.  I'm pretty certain that the baserunner runner will be tagged out, much like how I'm certain Classics is falling out of the lead.

Updated Score:
'08 UD First Edition = 2
'14 Panini Classics = 1

Round 4:

A battle of rookies!  I don't know who Bill White is and I'm too lazy to look him up.  I'm going to assume James Paxton has already had a better big league career and thus he will help Panini Classics tie this match up.

Updated Score:
'08 UD First Edition = 2
'14 Panini Classics = 2

Round 5:

Hey, another battle of rookies!  Bronson Sardinha? I'll give the kid credit for making The Show in 2007, even with the length of his middle name weighing him down.
Okay, the Paxton/White match-up was bothering me.  SoI had to open a baseballreference.com window to see if I was correct in my assumptions. (I was; White's ERA was north of 9.00.)  Since the window as already open I looked at good ole Bronson and my jaw dropped when I saw his middle name.  Kiheimahanaomauiakeo? Wow, can you imagine learning to write your full name in kindergarten with a name like Kiheimahanaomauiakeo?
Polanco is a great prospect, but that middle name fascinates me.  I'm calling it a draw.

Updated Score:
'08 UD First Edition = 2.5
'14 Panini Classics = 2.5

Round 6:

Ohhhhh...  A play at the plate versus a Puig!  Great match-up!  I guess timing is everything.  If the Cubs had signed Jon Lester by now, then they probably would have went out and snagged his catcher, David Ross.  If the Cubs had Ross, then I would have an inexplicably unwavering affection for the man and he would easily top Puig in this head-to-head...  
But... No Lester, means no Ross, which means no points for Upper Deck.  Puig it is.  (Oh, and has anyone else noticed how quiet Puig's off-season has been so far?  Is he growing up a little?)

And some people think I might be insane.  Those ramblings seem totally logical to me!

Updated Score:
'08 UD First Edition = 2.5
'14 Panini Classics = 3.5

Round 7:

I am NOT a Hanley Ramirez fan. Boston and their deep pockets can have Hanley and the Kung Fu Panda.   Robin Yount is the type of player I wish I could fill a roster with. End of discussion.

Updated Score:
'08 UD First Edition = 2.5
'14 Panini Classics = 4.5

Round 8:

A battle of inserts...  Bob Gibson was one bad dude and he definitely would have stuck one in A-Rod's ear if the two ever faced off.  Gibby all the way.  Besides, red clouds are cool, no?

Final Score:
'08 UD First Edition = 2.5
'14 Panini Classics = 5.5

It's always tough for dated product to beat out something that has just hit the shelves, so the fact that Panini Classics came out on top is no surprise. Heck, with a name like Classics, you should expect to get cards like Harper, Puig, Sale, and two hall of fame members!  How could it lose?

That's it for another edition of Pack Wars.  I have a couple more matches queued up in the photo folder and I'm sure they'll grace the pages of this blog before the new year.  Thanks for stopping by!

I Didn't Buy Any Update...

and that's why I love the blogosphere.  You guys and gals are so clutch!

Jim, from the Dodger-centric gravey cey russell lopes, and I swapped padded yellow mailers recently I was ecstatic to find my first Hector Rondon card and the Starlin All-Star card.  I knew someone would help me out on the Update front.  Nice!

Alfonso Soriano made an appearance as well.  I miss Sori and I think the Cubs front office misses his leadership as well. Hopefully they'll find a veteran on the free agent market to fit in left field with Chris Coglan or maybe someone to platoon with Beef Castillo.

Hey!  Somebody forgot to tell Dick Tidrow that it's now December and he can shave that crazy mustache off!  Thank goodness No Shave November is behind us.  If I had to look at another teenager walk into my classroom with a patchy attempt a beard I would have gone mad.

 And look, my first Jamie Moyer Donruss rookie card.  Both of these guys have that crazy blue waistband on their pants.  I really dislike the blue waistband.  Ugh.

 Blake Parker, Rizzo, and Beef are sportin' some throwbacks that I can definitely get behind.  I like the Kevin Orie card; cards with no borders are very stylish.

Cool! A Nasty Boy, a super utility man with a U. of Penn education, Mr. Mustachio, and One Dog!  Great Cubs!

The holograms from Upper Deck were all the rage back in the day.  Heck, I still love them.  If anybody has some of these or the Fleer stickers let me know... I like to start each of my Cubs binders off with a page full of Cubs logos before actually getting to the player cards. The more variety I can add the better.

And lastly, a mostly complete 1985 7Up Cubs team-issued team set.  I have the Sandberg already in my player collection, so the fact that he's missing is no big loss.   The cards don't have numbers on the back, so I guess when I try to fit these in my Cubs Frankenset I'll go by their jersey numbers seen on the front of the card. I'll have to do a post about the Frankenset before too long. It's been a time-consuming, but fun project!

A few things to note from the cards above:
1. Doesn't Lee Smith's stride to home seem a touch on the long side? 
2. It's really generous of the author of the blog "garvey cey russell lopes" to spare a Lopes and Cey. Thanks! 
3. I heard a rumor that Steve Lake started the bat flip craze back in 1984.  Um, or maybe I just made that up.  My bad.

Thanks for the great trade, Jim!  I'll start rebuilding my stash of Dodgers for you!