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2014: How'd I Do?

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Someone find me this sweater!

Hi, there!  I hope everyone had a happy and productive holiday season.  Back to reality...

I set eight goals for myself in 2014. Of those eight, I hate to admit that I really only accomplished one. Let’s revisit:

1. Complete online catalog with links to posts that feature each card.

Did I do the thing? Hell yeah! Checkit: “This list will be called The Beast.”

2. Cut down on LCS visits and avoid repack boxes altogether.

Did I do the thing? More or less. I definitely bought fewer blind longboxes this year, but that’s not to say I didn’t buy any. Sometimes you get the itch. You’re driving home, knowing you’re going to have the house to yourself for the evening. You’ve already got a movie in mind, a bag full of Taco Bell, and the possibility of cards in the mail when you get there. On evenings like that it can be nice to grab a blind box or two to sort through on the couch post-burrito. So sue me…

3. Expand trading.

Did I do the thing? I don’t think I did. I’ve sent out a bunch of cards this year, but I can’t help feeling like I sent more last year. I don’t really keep close track of precisely what goes out – I mostly just make notes in a little book to the effect of “Send cards to The Prowling Cat” or the like. Then when I find I have a few hours to assemble said packages I do them all at once.

The problem is time. I haven’t had as much time to sit and blog let alone keep close tabs on sorting or trading. I don’t even have the down time at work I used to have to just bang out post after post leaving only the scanning to do when I get home. I’m making more money, but it really is at the cost of my free time.

Also I haven't kept up with trade posts as well as I used to, but I have a new system I'm working on that should help me keep up and not miss any. In the meantime it's possible a few fell through the cracks.  I have several trade posts currently in the works, but if anybody sent me cards and I never show them here on the blog, I'm sorry. Your pal The Junior Junkie is an unorganized mess.

One good thing: I’ve sent a ton of PWE’s. So many, in fact, that I’ve spent more on books of stamps this year than I ever have in my whole life. They’re just a lot easier.

4. Be more diligent about features.

Did I do the thing? No. I did manage to put together a few decent Design Timelines, though. I even introduced a new feature, Cavalcade of Keepers, which I love doing because they tend to be quick and easy. The problem there is that they are meant to be hold-overs between Griffey posts and I haven’t had time to do even those.

5. Support competition and diversity by using COMC and buying Panini.

Did I do the thing? Not really. I didn’t buy very much Panini. There just wasn’t much that really excited me. On the contrary, I bought more Topps this year than I ever have, including two boxes of Stadium Club, a box of Finest, flagship series one, and goodness knows how many packs.

I did, however, ramp up my COMC usage as the average scarcity of my Griffey needs has gone up.

6. Get a 1/1.

Did I do the thing? Ehhhhh….

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This is a 1/1. It’s not a major brand – in fact it seems to have been printed specifically to sell on eBay as a 1/1. I guess it’s kind of a cop out. So can I say I got a 1/1? Yes. Do I believe I did? No.

I am happy to report that I got several autographs this year and also a bunch of key cards from this year and the 90’s. That's something.

7. Get rid of all these cards.

Did I do the thing? Psh. NO.

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8. Make the time.

Yeah, right.

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So what did I do right this year?

I added PC's and started cataloging them.  



I got a more secure storage solution for my Griffey collection.


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I landed some really sweet new Juniors.

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Tiffany!
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I sorted, added, purged, and sold several thousand Griffey cards:

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The Adelanto Lot


I also kept organized, dabbled in set building for the first time, and managed to get (nearly) all my Griffey stuff into one photo:

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Finally, I managed to keep the Griffey collection on track.  At the close of 2013 I had 6,841 total Griffeys, 2,596 of which were unique, and a duplicate ratio of 2.635.  Today, I am at 6,811 total, 3,569 unique, and a dupe ratio of 1.908. 

I gained and lost 4000 Griffeys to end up with exactly 30 fewer than I had 12 months ago, but I also added a whopping 973 new unique Griffeys.  That was a big swing.  This means the number of Griffeys I have only one of is now greater than the number for which I have duplicates.  Quality over quantity.

Without further ado, the obligatory end-of-post hot girl.  Here's to a great 2015!

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Design Timeline: Leaf Limited

This Post is Part of an Ongoing Feature The Great Griffey Base Card Project.

When you think of Leaf Limited, what comes to mind? For me it’s foil. Shiny, unscannable, easily-damaged foil. The base cards of Leaf Limited, while beautiful, share a quality with sets like ’71 Topps in that it’s tough to find a mint specimen undinged by life as a cardboard rectangle. They’re just fragile.

You may or may not also think of lines which seem to be a major element in every one of their designs. That may sound a little vague since everything is made of lines, but Leaf Limited designs tend to gravitate towards clusters of horizontal lines that move together. The layouts were also very symmetrical in the first part of the timeline.

The last thing you may think of is an aesthetic that, while modern and sharp, still exudes beauty like a flat little four-cornered Faberge egg. The designs tend to be a little more forward-thinking than other brands that focus on a classic look for their high-end offerings, but Leaf Limited stays pretty.  That's not easy.

Here's every Leaf Limited design in order:

1994:

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1994 Leaf Limited #66

Lots of precedents are being set this year, some of which stuck around towards the end of the timeline. One of my favorite things about Leaf Limited is that great cursive “L” in the logo which appeared in either metallic foil or holofoil on the first few sets. If you ask me, it never looked better than in these first three designs.

Another feature more striking in the beginning of the timeline is the prominently-featured parallel lines used to create a symmetrical focal point on the card. The lines would stay a major design theme for most of the timeline – the symmetry would not.

Lots of holofoil and that great big centered team logo are great accouterments to a strong debut base design. I’m also a fan of the thick border and nameplate font which we would see again in the ’96 set and also in ’95 Leaf flagship, a personal favorite.

1995:

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1995 Leaf Limited #118

The most different of all the Leaf Limited designs, this base set is bathed in team color, shiny bits, and general character. The stately parallel lines and complete inundation in holofoil are the dominant characteristics this year. The gold foil logo is my favorite one in the timeline as is the great vertical team name in a kind of script I’ve never seen on another card before or since. I’m also a big proponent of the modern, tastefully-spaced nameplate. It doesn’t hurt that Griffey got an especially great photo for his base card this year. For all those reasons, when I hear someone say “Leaf Limited,” this is the card that springs to mind.

1996:

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1996 Leaf Limited #11

More modern and less pretty than its predecessor, this one sports three entirely different kinds of foil. We’ve got holofoil up top and gold metallic foil below with the whole enchilada wrapped in silver foil card stock. While I prefer the brand logo from last year’s design, this one is presented nicely. There are much better uses for parallel lines than the vertical “prison” look, but those babies framed within the thick left and right side borders give an air of stateliness to the card. Plus they make it look taller. Kinda.

For most Donruss sets the break in the timeline happens after 1998, but this one is different. In 1997 someone made the call to nix Leaf Limited and rebrand it as a new-from-the-ground-up brand called Donruss Limited. The new set was so convoluted and weirdly-engineered that it failed after only two years. Why they made this move is a mystery to me, but I have to assume based on what they did release in lieu of another Leaf Limited that they were trying to create a whole new kind of set. They sure did, too, and less than two years later they filed for bankruptcy.

By the time 2001 rolled around a lot of Donruss brands were being resurrected by their new owners, Playoff, and for some reason Leaf Limited was one of them. They hadn’t existed for five years at this point. Why now? Why this one? It’s almost like Playoff was trying to undo the damage done with the introduction of Donruss Limited and get the brand back to where it was just before the downward spiral. Enough conjecture – here’s what Playoff did with Leaf Limited:

2001:

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2001 Leaf Limited #11

My favorite design under the Playoff banner and the first asymmetrical design in the timeline, these puppies are bold. Check out the striking font and extensive team dual-coloration (it looks particularly cool on cards for the Astros and Diamondbacks). They also kept the parallel lines – seemingly the very same ones used in the ’95 design – and worked them into a fun new spiral shape around the logo. There seems to have been a lot of thought put into this year’s design, and it turned out solid. Well done, Playoff.

Despite a great effort in 2001, there was no Leaf Limited in 2002. I have no idea why. My guess is that they spent months creating the greatest card set of all time, and someone spilled coffee on the final proofs and the designers said, “Screw it. We’re not doing that all over again.” On we go to 2003:

2003:

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2003 Leaf Limited #61 #/999

Ladies and gents, the first genuinely limited Leaf Limited set. All the base cards are serial numbered from here on out, so it's no longer just a fancy brand name. The lines are once again oriented around the logo here, but they are of a shorter, thicker variety like those found on traffic signs. The massive vertical nameplate feels like it was tacked on as an afterthought; and while this very blog uses a lot of Times New Roman in its title, I just don’t buy it on most baseball cards (I said most - '92 Studio rocks Times New Roman like a beast). It’s not a particularly ugly design, but it’s also not particularly memorable.

2004:

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2004 Leaf Limited #81 #/749

This year we got a return to the symmetry of the 90’s designs. I really like the low-profile nameplate and team logo over a field of extreme-zoom team logo, but there’s one thing missing from the design this year: parallel lines. We get a few perpendicular lines splitting corners around the diamond-shaped logo, but that’s it. A staple of Leaf Limited design elements is gone forever.

Leaf doubled-up a lot of the checklist this year, so there are actually two Griffeys in the base set. The other is card #173. It is identical apart from the photo, blurb, and card number.  For the purposes of the Timeline I am only showing the first base card.

2005:

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2005 Leaf Limited #102 #/699

They brought back the lines but the uniformity is lost. Now it leans more towards that lines-for-the-sake-of-lines thing that Upper Deck did so much. It’s a good-looking card, though, and not altogether out of place in the timeline; but the randomness of the lines is just not very Leaf Limited to me.  This has always been a set based on orderliness and symmetry.  Even when the symmetry was removed in the '01 design there was still a balance to the layout.  That's pretty much gone.  Still, this is cool card, and I love the simple, mid-mounted nameplate.

That is where the Leaf Limited timeline ends. Since then Panini has acquired Playoff and, therefore, Donruss and Leaf. We’ve seen them taking these defunct brands and running with them back into the collector card market in recent years, but among the first of their unlicensed offerings was a very bizarrely-dated (for baseball, anyway) 2011-12 Panini Limited set. They even kept the logo more or less the same though they used a more stylized “L.” There was no Griffey in that base set, but he did make it into a few inserts.

Hence the Limited name lives on under a different banner. Could this be the end of the Limited Timeline as well? Kinda. Three resurrections later I have little doubt we’ll see that cursive “L” grace some more logo-less cardboard in the near future, but it won’t be Leaf Limited.  Apart from that we have no word on the return of a brand featuring the words "Leaf" and "Limited" in any proximity to one another.

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Whether you like the designs or not, you have to respect that this brand did have a unique identity as the "modern beauty" of cardboard.  The design progression makes perfect sense, and the cards have just enough in common with one another from year to year to unify the timeline. The first few sets are great, too, particularly that beautifully-assembled ’95 design. I didn’t even show you the card backs. Those are a real treat, all gussied-up with holofoil and great layouts.

I should also mention that the quality of the printing stock only got better set-to-set.  Towards the end it's almost like plastic which I mean in a good way.  The quality was high.  Despite that, I still feel like I could damage the mirrored surface with a light thumb graze. 

All that being said, I don’t really have an emotional connection with any of these sets. Frankly, back in my collecting heyday I resented them for their exclusivity, price, and inclusion of innumerable impossible-to-find Griffeys. I’m still a little raw about it. Really, they could have retired the brand after the ’96 set and I wouldn’t feel any different.

Here again are all the Leaf Limited designs at once and in order:

Nerd Week Contest Results


Man, oh, man are you guys nerdy! And am I ever proud of ya.

Here's a link to the original contest, and a reminder that up for grabs today is a brand new and sealed Family Guy Star Wars Crossover Blu-ray as well as some other nerdy stuff and baseball cards and such.

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Who wanted it most?

I am happy to report that the Nerd Council has convened in this, the year of our Lord 2015, and chosen one of the following six people as worthy of the mighty blu-ray disc of nerd-dom. Here, in no particular order, are the entries from those brave few:

JediJeff: Star Wars Supernerd

Jeff's entry is one of those things that people think of pretty quickly when they think of the modern nerd: the Star Wars guy. I can normally relate, too; but Jeff takes it to a whole other level with his massive collection of stuff and membership in a Chicago-area Star Wars fan collective. Groups like this exist in the fan communities of both Star Wars and Star Trek (where they refer to themselves as "ships"), and they typically do charity work, have parties, and apparently get a fair amount of drinking done.

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Qui-Gon Gin and Tonic?

Embedded in one of Jeff's collective's blog posts is the picture that he has decided to submit for the contest, and here it is:


It's an extremely impressive collection of Star Wars stuff and things that would make George Lucas blush.  There are toys, games, figures, and do I see some retail standees?  This is the kind of photo that makes me wish we could have basements in New Orleans.  

Well done, Jeff.  Your blog handle carries a whole new weight with me.

CynicalBuddha: Supercollecting Baseball Card Nerd

Mr. CB decided to make us all drool over the former glory of his man-cave (now his baby son's bedroom).  Take a look:


The man is not only a card collecting beast, he's a master of organization.  Each set is boxed and filed appropriately with original box cutouts attached for easy reference. More boxes are labeled by team and player, and these puppies are stacked to the ceiling. Like, there's literally no more room for even one more long box on those shelves. And speaking of the shelves, is that a custom job?

My only question is: How did you use your scanner with all those balls on top of it? Or is that what the one on the desk is for?

There are more pictures of this room, the most card-related one being of the closet that holds many more reams of neatly filed cardboard.  It's a room I could easily spend hours in.

I hope you get your man cave back someday, CB.  Very impressive.

Defgav: Lego/Card Fusion Nerd

You may have seen Gavin's post that gave us a rare bit of Lego/Baseball Card fusion.  It's a match made in Heaven if you ask me, but he actually made it practical.  Here's an example of his handiwork:


I'm not gonna lie - I had a serious "Why didn't I think of that?" moment when I looked at his post. It's so simple, and yet so confoundedly nerderiffic. This seems like it should be a contest all its own: best Lego card display. I'm going to let you take the reins on that one, Gav.

Gavin's entry made it incredibly far among the brethren (and one lady) of the Nerd Council due to the ingenuity and fusion of two very nerdy concepts. Great stuff.

The Card Papoy: Books/Comics Salesnerd

Kevin's entry is simple and completely baddass. It's a single sheet of paper with an inscribed autograph from a very unlikely source.  Check it out:


"To Kevin - Stay off of drugs... Prince Paul 2003." For those of you who don't know, Prince Paul is an MC/producer who has worked with many famous hip-hop groups including De La Soul, Cypress Hill, and my absoulte favorite, MC Paul Barman (a college-educated white guy who fancies himself a rapper). This autograph of Kevin's was just so random and cool that I burst out laughing when I saw it. I never would have guessed...

I wonder how much he kept "off of drugs" when he was working with Cypress Hill?

Kevin also works in a bookstore in France where he sells American comic books. And it seems he's also a massive David Lynch fan which puts him in the category of film nerd as well. There are a lot of pistons firing in Kevin's nerd engine, that's for sure. 

For the record, my wife hates Mulholland Drive, as do most women I've met who have seen it. I'm not sure you want to date the kind of girl who likes that movie...

Lonestarr: Comic Illustrator/Creator/Nerd

Lonestarr, who has one of my favorite blogger handles of all time, submitted his work as an aspiring illustrator and creator of original comic characters.  Here's some of his work:


Nerd level: AWESOME. This is original work, created from scratch out of the very nerdy mind of lonestarr himself. He also used his talents for some excellent baseball-related sketches (that I totally want to buy from him):


Is it just me or do these not look completely amazing on the backs of old cardboard? Very impressive and super nerdy, bro. You've got talent.

The Prowling Cat: Business Card Nerd

We all collect different things, but there tends to be a market for everything we collect. That's not quite the case for Zenus of The Prowling Cat who collects something that cannot typically be bought - it must be given:


Business cards. I have never met another person who does this. I mean, they have to be out there, right? There's probably an online community of collectors with binders full of these things, but I've never seen them. Zenus is passionate about them, too.  Check out his Red Robin mural:


I never would have guessed, let alone come across enough Red Robin business cards to assemble it.

The great thing about collecting these is that they don't typically cost the owner anything at all, so people can be generous with them. It's a very unique collection and deserves recognition. Zenus, you also got extremely far in being considered the nerdiest entry. Excellent collection.

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Well, that's everyone.  I'm happy to say that the Nerd Council has gone over each and every entry very carefully; and after much deliberation, one of you proved to us that you are the most deserving of the mighty Family Guy Blu-ray of Antioch.

The nerdiest of all of you is.....















wait for it.....


















Lonestarr!

Again, this was a tough choice. I had to enlist a number of my nerdiest friends to pour over all the entries and finally reach a decision, but it was lonestarr's originality, passion, and willingness to hang it all out there that won him this one. Well done, my friend. You are a seriously baddass nerd.

Please send your address to thejuniorjunkie at gmail dot com.

Thanks to everyone who played or even read these posts. It's been fun. And don't forget...

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Stay nerdy, my friends.

Wallet Card Dilemma

I went on a trip to New York recently to visit friends, and I brought with me a 1995 Pinnacle Griffey (the gum bubble one) in a screw case specifically to take pictures of it in cool places. And wouldn’t you know it? The one day we took a train into the city, I left it back at the house where I was staying. Sad panda.

I’m mentioning this here because of Wallet Card, the new craze that’s spreading around the blogsphere like wildfire. It’s a concoction of defgav from BaseballCard Breakdown, and its crazy fun-sounding.

Always having a card one’s person makes for a great opportunity to never miss a great cardboard photo op. But what card should I butt-rock? It should be a Griffey, obviously, but which one?


If I had my druthers, I would go with the 1989 Upper Deck #1 rookie, a universally-appreciated and recognized card with a street value somewhere between ten and fifteen bucks. That’s a lot for overproduction-era cardboard. Do I really have the nerve to damage an ’89 UD #1 by molding it to the curvature of my buttocks via wallet storage? Maybe that’s not such a good idea.

My next pick is the Donruss rookie, ol’ #33. It’s the one that got me into collecting Griffeys, and I have several dozen of them including a few that already have condition issues. There would be little sacrifice there.

The ’95 Pinnacle is a good option, too, given that it’s my Blogger avatar and a great photo of the Kid keepin’ it light. People love that card, and it’s available on COMC for a mere 45 cents. Such a deal.

You know what? I’m overthinking this.

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Never compromise. 

One of Those $5 Card Cubes From CVS. You Know the Ones.

Oftentimes when I buy one of these repack cubes I bust it and forget it, but this one actually gave some pretty decent cardboard. I figured I should write about it.


This was the salesman card, that being what I call the card on the front that entices you into buying the whole cube. There was another with a Mickey Mantle reprint, but I liked this Upper Deck offering made specifically for The National just a little more.  Luckily for me this cube seemed to sense my desire for a Mantle:


I've never seen this silvery Topps guy, but it's pretty cool with its showcasing of his jersey number and that ball field background. Great name banner, too.


It's almost like the cube knew who was going to buy it. TWO perfectly solid Buhners in one repack? I already have 'em both, but I can't deny I got all excited.


Cool Smoltz. Never seen these before.


This looks like a regular Miggy, but the back tells another story...


#AL-15?  Where did this come from? There's also no foil on the front. Not sure what's going on here, but I'm sure it's nothing especially rare, am I right?  Anyway, love that picture.

The cube advertises that 1 in 4 contains a hit, and wouldn't you know it?


Yay! It's the now-retired Halladay in his Phillies uniform. I'd prefer a Blue Jays relic for Roy, but it's not a bad hit for one of these cubes. I'm not a huge A&G fan, but I do love their relic presentation.


Some nice vintage. I'm sure some snicker at my calling such recent cardboard "vintage," but...yeah.

The Parker is cool, and the Tiant autograph shot is better, but the Tekulve action shot takes the prize here. Dig the runner on second. You don't see shots like that anymore what with Panini not allowed to show logos and Topps cropping all the life out of their base cards.


I gotta tell ya, I am enamored with that scoreboard, especially after this past season. You guys have something special in KC.


A few stars were mixed in among the riff-raff. I really like that shot of McGwire combined with the red foil nameplate. Nice card, Pacific.


Here's a nice stack of Hall of Famers plus one broken bat.


Despite a few reasonably big names, Mr. Detwiler gets the award for best rookie card in this stack due to that excellent photo. Speaking of 2008 Upper Deck...


I want them to make cards again! Upper Deck gave us some of the best cards in this stupid cube. Give them a license, MLB! LET THEM PLAY!


Let's wrap this baby up with the best name in the bunch: Skeeter Barnes. It positively trips off the tongue.

I'm pretty happy with how this box went, though most of this is up for trade. Still, I might end up going back and grabbing that other cube with the Mantle reprint.

My First Wallet Card Submission

Remember that drinking game I told you guys about wherein you burn cards featuring players with unfunny names? Well, we had a rousing round of it last night around the fire pit.  The winner was none other than Goose Gozzo who just barely squeaked by my vote, Paul Assenmacher.  I thought the combination of "Ass" and "macher" would win the night handily, but everyone else seemed to prefer Goose's alliterative handle, silly first name, and double-z spelling.  Majority ruled.  I'm not bitter.

Anyhoo, I figured it was a great opportunity to take my first photo for Wallet Card, and here it is:

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Ahhhhh - toasy warm.

A lot of crappy cards lost their lives while Griffey sat on the sidelines and watched, smiling all the while.  It was rather disturbing now that I think about it.

The card remains in what I would call good to very good condition.  It won't win any gold-numbered BGS slabs, but it's having the ride of its life.


Trade Post Roundup: Jaybarkerfan's 2 x 3 Garvey Cey Nachos Chop Grande

I try to keep up with trade packages, but it's tough when you're a bit of a flibbertigibbet which I most certainly am. Some of these cards I received in just the last few days and some (it appears) were scanned back in August. August. What I'm saying is that that kind of irresponsibility should bar me from being allowed to trade, and yet my fellow bloggers still send me great cards all the time. I am appreciative of every one.

Steve from The Card Chop e-mailed me to inquire about this bizarre-but-amazing Nabisco card:


It's a Jr/Sr combo, a sub-collection of mine within the Griffey collection, and it's a food issue I've never come across. And check out that weird red crowd background. I knew I had to have it. Steve made it happen super quick, too - just days later this was in my mailbox. I am currently rounding up a bunch of food-issue cards for him as well as one really nice Braves card I found at the card show yesterday. I think you'll be pleased, Steve. Thanks again!

If you've been seeing a card on the blogs a lot lately featuring a guy dressed as the Hamburgler, that would be Wes of Jaybarkerfan's Junk. While he's currently taking a sabbatical from blogging, he's the trade partner of your dreams, and a few months ago he dropped some cardboard on me.


Wes was offering up a bunch of autos and relics as trade fodder, and among those was this Kenny Stills, a rookie wide receiver now with the Saints. We're glad to have him, too. We need all the help we can get.

His blog is still up, and it's great. Full of premiums, relics, autos - all super nice cards. The guy's got taste. Thanks, Wes! I don't remember what I sent in return, but if you're still accepting trades, let me know. I do have some stuff to send your way...


I got this PWE from A.J. at The Lost Collector, one of my regular reads on the blogsphere. The card on the right has the feel of an oddball, but it's actually a lenticular Stadium Club insert that depicts the entirety of Junior's sweet swing. The card on the right was a collection need as I, embarrassingly enough, only had a parallel version. So yes, these were much appreciated, A.J. Thanks, bro!

jim from garvey cey russell lopes was my one of the first people i traded with, and we're still finding cards for each other. for example, jim launched this attack on a few of my pc checklists:


i love that a&g clark with the thumbs up. great picture, topps. we also have a genuinely vintage vida from his heyday and one for my most recently-added pc, larry doby. fantastic.


this is the card that had me all aflutter - a beautiful topps glossy rookie issue of a very pre-goatee bone and his toothy grin. this was the first time i'd ever even seen this card, so it was a great surprise. well done, jim!

Oh, just found the shift key.  Sorry...

Jeff at 2x3 Heroes is also a longtime trade partner, and he went above and beyond with this stack of Griffeys:


I cannot possibly own enough copies of that Interleague Preview card with Mike Piazza.

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A lovely Griffey, Sr. relic featuring Thurman Munson and one of the greatest checklists ever designed.


Wha!?! I get a lot of cards via surprise trade packages, but very few Griffey relics. This is one I've never come across, so yeah. I woo-hooed a lot when I saw it. A few hundred more and I think I'll be able to stitch together my own authentic game-used Griffey jersey.

Thanks a ton, Jeff! The ball's in my court now. Oh, and this is for you:


Finally we come to Chris from Nachos Grande who I believe has written my address on more packages and envelopes than anyone else simply for the fact that I participate so much in his group breaks as well as the occasional trade package.


His 2014 Stadium Club group break was my first experience with the product, and I was lucky enough to end up with a sweet die-cut insert of the Kid (and very little else for the Mariners). But Chris makes it right by busting bonus packs and even send out cards from his own collection.

For example, looks like somebody broke some Collector's Choice packs:

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The Junior/Buhner best pals Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Hot List insert is one of my favorite things ever, and it looks even better next to the regular Griffey from that set. By the way, how do you add yourself to your own hot list?


I love that Randy's expression on that '91 Fleer card. Congratulations, Big Unit!


Joey Cora is one of those guys who lives in that weird space between official player collection and just guy whose cards I keep. I know there's at least one other Cora collector out there, and I don't want to step on his toes, so I'll keep him off the official PC list...for now.


Finally, Chris is the #1 source of these completely original A&G knock-offs that include such names as Spiderman and Chris himself. I'm holding out hope that there will be a Griffey someday soon, but in the meantime these are pretty great.

Thanks a bunch, Chris! I have a stack of Reds coming your way that grows by the week...

There are a few more trade packages I need to catch up on, so look out for those in the coming...er...months. Thanks for reading.

Oh, there's time for one more, I suppose:


Top 30 Best Griffey Acquisitions of 2014 Part 1: The Worst of the Best


I added 973 new unique Griffeys to the collection in 2014. That's a little over 2 1/2 a day. As it is the tendency of people to only focus on the best of things, it's now time to look at my best new Griffey adds from last year.

I started a Top 10 list similar to the one I made last year, and just a few minutes into trying to reign in said list I realized it was hopeless to limit myself to only ten.  So, I decided to up my limit to 20, an idea that lasted, oh, three and a half minutes.  Now here we stand at 30.  We're going to break it up into three posts, too, so take your time and enjoy.

Let's roll:

#30

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1990 Fleer #513 Canadian Version

I've been after this poor excuse for a variant since I first heard of its existence.  I was warned that it wasn't worth chasing due to the fact that the only difference is that it says "Printed in Canada" instead of "Printed in USA," but I just had to have it.  It earns a spot on this list simply for the fact that it's been on my want list for so long.  Dreams really do come true...

#29

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2014 Rookies ('88 Donruss)

You all know how much I love oddballs.  Well this is a wildly unlicensed but very well-done custom oddball featuring rookie Griffey on a pre-rookie design.  Great picture, great use of the Rated Rookie logo, and great printing quality.  I want a dozen more of these.

#28

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2014 Rookies (Future Uniform)

Another custom job from the same company, this oddball seems to be based loosely on the 1971 Topps black border design.  It's noting to write home about apart from the photo which makes this the only card I own featuring Junior in one of those funky future concept uniforms.  That one aspect was enough to earn it a spot on this list.

#27

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Future Stock 1/1

Are you spotting a trend yet?  Yeah, I love oddballs.  This number from a company called Future Stock is a 1/1.  It seems, however, that Future Stock makes cards with pre-planned scarcity specifically to sell on eBay.  I fell for it once and landed this otherwise cool card which show Junior in his Team USA WBC uni in a fun paper effect.

#26

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1997 Pinnacle Passport to the Majors #2

Look!  A real card.  This one's an insert from 1997 Pinnacle, and one of the coolest concepts for a folding card I've ever come across.  It's on this list because I've wanted this specific card since I was a kid, and now I have one of my own.  A very cool, excellently-designed insert.

#25

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1993 Cardtoons #67 Ken Spiffy, Jr.

You will learn quickly that I am bananas about these cartoon cards that came out in the early 90's because there are TWO of them in this countdown. They're the oddballiest. The back of this card is just as much fun as the front:


Mari-nerds! Why don't I see dozens of these on the blogsphere?

#24

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2009 Disabled Veterans Limited Edition #22

There’s a lot to like about this oddball, including a great modern design, lots of team color, and an MLB license to boot. Not to mention that it’s one of the most recently-produced licensed oddballs I’ve ever seen let alone that was also a Griffey card. And let’s not forget patriotism.

#23

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2014 Upper Deck 25th Anniversary Promo #UD25-KG

Guess what? Upper Deck is still making baseball cards, baby. And some of them are Griffeys. And some of those Griffeys are homages to their first card ever which is also – you guessed it – a Griffey. In fact, Upper Deck made no fewer than six distinctly different Griffeys in 2014, and this one is my favorite.  I just love that it exists. I love the photo, the hat logo, the metal bat. I love the trees and the grass and the Rockwellian farm fence. It's beautiful, and it’s also brand spankin’ new; but it does beckon the question: at what point should we start considering Upper Deck baseball cards oddballs?

#22

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1995 Stadium Club Ring Leaders #14

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


#21

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1992 Flopps Ken Groovy, Jr.

This ludicrous cartoon card with super high production value made quite a splash when I first posted an image of it a few weeks back. And why shouldn’t it? It’s freakin’ crazy. It’s like the Garbage Pail Kids version of a baseball card. I didn’t even know cards like this even existed until I spotted this one on COMC while perusing the recently-added Griffeys. It was very close to landing in my Top 20, but it got edged out by a few highly-prized relics and 90’s inserts.

Up next, cards 11-20 in the countdown.

Top 30 Best Griffey Acquisitions of 2014 Part 2: the Also-Ran


Welcome back. I'm ranking the Top 30 of the 973 Griffeys I added in 2014, and this is the middle ten. These are the ones that, while excellent cards all, just missed out on being in Top 10. It was tough ruling some of these out of the top of the list, but it was such an amazing year for new Griffeys that I feel like I can stand by my picks.

Here we go: 

#20

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2000 Just 2K Mystery Gamers Game-Used
Bat Relic #MG.01

One of the most bizarre relic cards I’ve ever come across for any player, this set of cards from Just Minors gives you a relic without telling you whose relic you’ve got. That’s the craziest damn thing I’ve ever heard of from the realm of relics, but it’s also kind of fun. Without photos or nameplates of any kind the card itself is a little boring, but the trivia printed on the card back make it incredibly easy to guess the player. This card will be getting its own post sometime very soon. It’s too weird not to.

#19

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1997 Pinnacle New Pinnacle Spellbound #1KG-J

Sure it’s just a silly insert, but I was ecstatic to finally land this puppy. It was the last card I needed to complete Griffey’s part of the insert checklist, and it took forever to track down for some reason. All six cards spelling out JUNIOR look excellent in the binder together, and I even ended up with an extra R. This one in particular is especially great because of the excellent photo and for the fact that it could very well stand alone without the other letters, a quality you just won’t get from the N or the U or, you know, the other three letters in Junior.

#18

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1993 Fax Pax #2 (UK)

An oddball of international proportions, this is from Fax Pax, a set of cards made in the United Kingdom that feature players from just about every sport imaginable including football, basketball, golf, tennis, boxing, rugby, and cricket. I’m willing to bet these were fetching high prices stateside before the card bubble popped. I'm suddenly craving a crumpet. I don't even know what that is...

#17

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1997 Topps Gallery Peter Max #PM5

I pulled the Frank Thomas from this insert out of a pack when the set first came out, and right away I loved it so much that I’ve been chasing the Griffey ever since. It happens occasionally that I get a wild hair to just pull the trigger already on a long-sought 90’s insert, and this year that happened with this Peter Max. Thick and beautifully-printed with lots of color and character, this card really is a thing of beauty and a major reason why I miss Topps Gallery so much.

#16

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2008 Upper Deck Premier Four Jersey Relics #PR4-KG #/50

This is one of the first of these I’ve ever owned for any player, and by “these” I mean multi-relic cards that spell out stuff. Unfortunately there’s only one color cloth here (I’m thinking this is a lot of pants), but the card itself is attractive enough and numbered out of only 50. Plus it heralds Junior’s #3 which he only wore for a short period towards the end of his career in Cincinnati as a tribute to his three kids. There’s a lot to like about this one. Plus it has a hashtag which I believe were called "pound signs" when this was printed. #aheadofitstime #whenwillthisfadend?

#15

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1994 Flair Hot Glove #3

This ‘90’s insert used to go for 80 bucks, and despite card values dropping like dead flies this one seems to have held its value better than most comparable inserts due to its extreme die-cutting and popularity when it first debuted 20 years ago. Nowadays they tend to sell in the 15-20 dollar range, but when this one popped up on COMC for a drastically discounted price, I had to bite. Another I’ve been after since adolescence.

#14

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2003 Topps Farewell Riverfront Stadium Seat Relic #FR-KG

This seat relic insert from Upper Deck came out following the 2002 demolition of Riverfront Stadium, also known as Cinergy Park. Formerly the home of both the NFL Cincinnati Bengals and the MLB Cincinnati Reds, Junior did not have quite as many memories of this building as did his Dad who helped rock Riverfront as part of the Big Red Machine. A Griffey, Sr. card would be more appropriate holding this relic, but it’s still a very cool and unique card.

#13

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2010 Sega Card-Gen

What the hell is this thing? Sega? Like, the video game company? Why are there seven stars plus one empty one? Maybe there’s an explanation on the back….GOOD LORD. It’s all in Japanese. What am I holding? Why does it have rounded corners? Is it a game? Did Griffey play in Japan at some point and I never heard about it? Someone explain it to me!

As many of you know, this card came to me from Zippy Zappy, the blogsphere’s #1 source of Card-Gen. He saw it fit to equip me with my first and only Card-Gen card. Having never seen a checklist for these or even any for sale anywhere ever, I have no idea whether there are more Griffeys available or if this is the only one. It’s a looker, too, as far as baseball gaming cards go. A very exciting piece of trade fodder.

#12

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1988 San Bernardino Spirit #34 Blue Jersey Photo Variant

Here is the photo variant for one of Junior’s most popular pre-rookies. It's significantly rarer, but I'm glad it exists because the other version has a super-blurry photo. This one is crisp and exudes the kind of charm that only an amateur photographer can bring to the table. The heavy-handed cropping is about the only thing that kept it out of the top 10. I wanna see what's beneath those palm trees!

#11

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1989 Donruss #33 Rated Rookie (sealed in pack)

It is providence that this pack is still sealed with the Griffey in it. Really, it should be loose with the rest of my #33’s, but a moment of inspiration spared it at the last moment. Wanna hear about it?

A few months ago I had grabbed a couple dozen 25-cent packs from a bin at the monthly card show, most of it ’89 Donruss. I began busting them in search of a fresh Griffey, and having already busted two it suddenly hit me that I should start checking them before opening to see if the Griffey was visible through the paper on the back of the pack. Literally the very next pack I grabbed was the one you’re looking at. Had I decided to start checking them three seconds later, this card would be sitting in a 9-pocket page with dozens of other identical #33’s. Instead it resides in a super-thick top loader in the Griffey box. It was meant to be.

Up next: my Top Ten Griffey Acquisitions of 2014. Prepare ye.

Top 30 Best Griffey Acquisitions of 2014 Part 3: The 1%


This is it, guys. This is where it gets real - real expensive. Of the 973 new Griffeys added last year, these are quite literally the 1%. The absolute best ones. They're the bee's knees, the cat's pajamas, and the dog's bollocks all rolled into one. Feel free to compare these to my Top 10 from 2013. I'll admit before we start that it's tough to top a '93 Finest refractor, but I think we did pretty darn well.

Let's boogie:

#10

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1999 SP Top Prospects Game Used Minor League Bat Relic #G-JR

I have numerous bat relics for Junior, but this one is unique. The card claims it to be from one of his Minor League bats, and if that’s true a little piece of history it is, indeed. The design is excellent as is the fantastic Griffey-in-the-minors awesome swing shot. And check out the bright red #24 emblazoned on his jersey below blue lettering – if you squint he almost looks like a Dodger.

#9

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2001 Stadium Club Play at the Plate Game Used Dirt Relic #PP4

Another relic with few or no peers, this one holds dirt from the batter’s box tread upon in a real game by probably dozens of big-leaguers. Hopefully one of them was the guy on the card. This insert is such a strange premise, and I honestly don’t know how this has never been done again or since, to my knowledge, anyway. The design could use some tweaking, but I think that even non-collectors can appreciate the idea.

#8

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2014 Topps All-Rookie Cup Team Rookie Cup
Commemorative Relic #TARC-8

A lot of people don’t like manufactured relics and I get that, but this is a Topps Rookie Cup on a Topps card made by Topps that was pulled from a pack of Topps. Topps made the rookie cup famous in the first place, so their manufactured version is as original an artifact as you can get apart from those impossibly rare little metal cups from the 80’s and 90's. Apparently only eight of the latter were made via Junior’s 1990 Topps card. Lucky for me there were 99 of this one, and I landed #30, his Cincy uniform number. This Ebay 1/1 is better than that other not-all-that-authentic 1/1 from earlier in the countdown, no doubt.

#7

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2009 Upper Deck #93 SP

There’s something off about this card. I don’t know if everyone notices it right away, but it sticks out like a sore thumb when I look at it. It’s that facial expression, guys. It’s the posture, the folded hands, the general malaise of this otherwise joyous and awesome moment. The microphone is a million miles away, the chair beside him is empty, and the guy to his left sporting khakis and short sleeves is doing something that involves looking in the other direction. There’s just a lot of upsetting stuff all going on at once, and yet Upper Deck saw fit to slap it on a tough-to-find short print that sells for way more than it should. 

Despite all that, I still love the card. It’s positively dripping with truth and realism. It’s telling a small piece of a larger story from the annals of baseball history that everyone may have expected but couldn’t necessarily show evidence for. It says to the world, “Junior came to Seattle to retire here. He’s not producing like he used to, and everyone knows the end is near with little or no possibility of a World Series ring before it’s done. This truly is the beginning of the end.” And every bit of body language the Kid is giving us here screams that he knows all that. I could see this card upsetting some people, but it's also so personal and humanizing that it's stunningly beautiful. While it may be #7 in this countdown, this really is one of the greatest Griffeys of all time for reasons that reach far beyond the hobby and into the human soul.

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THERE's your mother-flippin' card description.

#6

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1987 Bellingham Mariners Team Issue #15

This card is great in the way that so many cards from the 60’s through the 80’s are great: it’s simple, it’s colorful, and it’s beautifully imperfect. Check out the authentic baseball background - it’s like a little league photo. It pre-dates Junior's San Bernardino Spirit pre-rookie from the last countdown post, and yet this card appears far superior. You might think the production value of his cards would get better as he got closer to the majors. Definitely not so in this case. Yellow border for life!

#5

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2014 Topps All-Rookie Cup Team Rookie Cup Commemorative Relic
#TARC-8 Vintage #/25 (Trophy)

This is the Daddy of manu-relics, my friends. The original Topps All-Star Rookie Trophy (which predates me and both my siblings, by the way) cast in metal, mounted into the thickest card in Christendom, and numbered to only 25 of which I got the very last one. The Rookie Cup is a lot more recognizable to me than the trophy being that I'm a child of the 80’s, but this trophy has history. It’s on my Rusty Staub and Ron Swoboda rookies as well as countless other vintage gems. And again, that trophy is a proprietary Topps thing which makes this just as authentic as any jersey/bat/patch/jock strap relic you may come across. I stand by that.

When I first got this card early in 2014, I considered it the front-runner for the #1 spot on this list. The fact that it got bumped to #5 says a lot about the next few acquisitions.

#4

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1989 Topps Traded Tiffany #41T

This guy here was the last major-brand rookie I needed, and I finally landed it when I bit the bullet and picked up a whole sealed set of 1989 Topps Traded Tiffany. While it isn't anything you haven't seen before, it was in the top spot on my want list for so bloody long. It also doesn't hurt that the card itself is glossy and gorgeous. The colors just explode off the surface.

#3

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2012 Topps Golden Giveaway Gold Team Coin
Autograph #GTC-KGJ #/30

The only way we were gonna top those last few cards was with some autographs. Here to not surprise anyone at all is that amazing Topps Gold Team Coin I got from card and Army veteran Jason, formerly of Joe Average Card Collector. The money I sent him for this lil' nugget got him tickets to a real MLB game where he got to sit with the Rockies team owner. In exchange I got this low-numbered autographed beauty with a big metal coin in it.  Who got the better end of the deal here depends on where your priorities lie. My priorities have me way ahead.

Thanks again, Jason!

#2

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2005 Upper Deck Reflections Dual Signature Autograph #KGKG
(w/ Ken, Sr.) (Slabbed BGS 9/Auto 10)

Were you aware that Griffey's dad also played professional baseball?!? How cool is that? It's a no-brainer for card companies to take advantage of that fact with one of these great dual-signature numbers, and it's even more of a no-brainer that I should have one in the collection. I am, after all, a "Junior" myself.

There are a few different Jr/Sr dual sigs available, but I decided to go with one that shows them both as Reds. Eventually I would like to get my hands on a dual-Mariner version (which I have not yet been able to find and, therefore, may not even exist), or at the very least one showing each Griffey on his respective heritage team. In the meantime this refract-tastic beauty will sit, slab un-cracked, in a place of honor in my safe deposit box with all my other indispensables of Griffeydom.

This is the end, folks: my best Griffey acquisition of 2014. If you keep up with the blog, you can probably guess what it is. If not, feast your eyes:

#1

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1994 Upper Deck Griffey/Mantle #KG1 Griffey Autograph /1000

It's indescribably beautiful. They should have sent...a poet.

The print quality of this baby is astounding - you can see every brush-stroke that went into that painting. And the painting itself is just perfect. My favorite part is the left-to-right background fade from Yankee blue to Mariner green. The Kid's signature is right on-point, too. While there are 1000 of these babies floating around, it's so legendary a card that it continues to this day to carry a monster price tag.

No, it's not the dual-signature version, but 2015 is another year. As long as my wife never reads these posts (which is a safe bet), I don't see why I couldn't set enough aside to land the big boy before the year is out. Don't bet on it, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. I mean, I've gotten this far, right?

_________________________________________________________________


Thanks for hanging in there with me. It was a great year on the baseball card front with a ton of amazing bloggers new and old, and trades, and through-the-mail friendships. I really am grateful. Let's keep doing it, m'kay?

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In case I haven't made my intentions clear enough...

Sing the Praises of the Nachos Grande Group Break!


If you haven't yet gotten around to joining a Nachos Grande group break (and if you're a Mariners fan, sorry I always take 'em), you are missing out. I've done well over a dozen now and love every one.

Even when I don't end up with new Griffeys or monster hits, I still walk away happy because Chris throws in extras from his own collection that make the whole thing worthwhile every time (though I'm certain he must be running out of Mariners extras by now).

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Taken Friday in a restaurant in Vancouver

This most recent break was one of the priciest I've joined (ever, not just from NG with boxes from Topps HIGH TEK and 2014 Stadium Club to name a few. The Mariners ended up with very few cards from the main boxes, and yet I came home from a trip to find a flat rate box loaded with sweet Griffey and Mariners goodies! That's about the closest thing to good group break "customer service" as I can imagine.


Griffeys! All dupes, sure, but I'm more than happy to give them a home.


My King Felix hit collection has been growing in thanks to some generous traders. Check out the sweet relic on the top right. Those eye blacks are also a hit of sorts in that they're about as rare a card as I could have expected to pull from Triple Play. I really like these and lament their Griffeylessness.


Claiming the Mariners in a group break always leads to plenty of Ichiros. Check out that lovely Upper Deck Vintage relic. That is one great-looking card. And those Topps painting cards always remind me of "The Kramer."


Is it just me?


I still get excited about A-Rod cards despite the recent unpleasantness. Looks like an autograph shot at the bottom there.


My rarely-mentioned PC of Mr. Dan Wilson got a few new additions, too.


Buhners and Oleruds! John joined the team just after Junior had already left. This saddens me because I'd like to see a card or two featuring the eventual pair of Hall of Famers. Blue Fleer Buhner is one of my favorites from the entire box, but that '97 Collector's Choice base card has a secret, too:


It's a reverse cameo! Or should we call that a card back cameo? I like "reverse" from my coin-collecting days. Anyway, it counts!


While he's not a PC of mine, I have a LOT of Edgar Martinez cards. Anybody know anybody who collects him? I think I might make someone's day in a trade...


Just a bunch of great Mariners cardboard. That John McLaren Ichiro fist-bump is probably my favorite card in the whole box despite the great relics and Griffey cameo. One excellent manager card!



These I posted because a) I love that 2014 SC Cano and b) I wish I wish there was a Griffey with that Safeco Field backdrop. Ah, what could have been...


You've already seen that TP sticker which I absolutely LOVE. I don't know where or when I could rock the M's temp tattoo. Perhaps when they get to the World Series I'll give it a go. In the meantime it's going in the General Mariners cards section of my Griffey binder (yes, there is such a thing).


Finally came these Mariners mini-figs and a King Felix chip. The Chipz have really grown on me. I hope they come back with a few retired players this year.

Great break, Chris, and all the loot is much appreciated. Can't wait for the next one!

Cavalcade of Keepers 6


It's been a while, but here once again is a closer look at five cards from the mighty Keeper Box.


This Ripken from Upper Deck kind of makes it look like he was retiring from baseball altogether when in fact he was really just breaking the unbreakable record. I'll never forget watching that game on TV with my Dad. It was strange at the time because we never really watched baseball together all that much. I remember we laughed when they gave him a massive 2,131 lb boulder for his lawn. We thought that was hilarious.


There are a LOT of cards out there heralding Ripken's record, and I thought I was familiar with just about every one until this one popped out of a blind LCS long box. It's from that super fancy Select Certified that was around for a while, and it showcases Cal's photogenicity nicely. The guy's eyes walk the line between "Oh, you have some nice blue eyes," and "Holy Lord how long has that zombie cadaver been smiling at me?"

Anyway, the theme of this Cavalcade is Ripkens in case you were late for the trolley.


Of all those great Ripken tributes that came out in the mid-90's, this is the weirdest. It's a picture of he and Ben McDonald roughhousing while playing what looks to be three flies in. Then it's got the 2000 straight games banner (he wouldn't break the record until the following year) mounted along the side having little or no reference point in the photo. Just a weird selection. Then again, had I worked at the card company that day, I'd have chosen a boring old hero shot like everybody else did. Perhaps this is just another reason Collector's Choice was way, way ahead.


I picked this card up for two dollars (really it was eleven relics cards for $22, some of which were Griffeys). A fellow collector was liquidating, and I got the benefit. Two legend bat relics on one card. Check out how Upper Deck oriented the wood grain identically. Lotta love here.

In case you were wondering why I decided to do a Ripken-themed COK, here's why:


I finally got one! I've been putting it off forever because I keep coming across poor condition versions, and I just wasn't prepared to compromise on my first copy of this card. The one you're looking at I found for around twelve bucks, and the condition is insanely good apart from a little off-centering. Cal looks to have the quiet confidence he's always had even this early in his MLB career. Poor Bonner and Schneider look just happy to be there,

Thanks for reading!

Fanfare For the Common Card Man: A Trade Post

I recognize that there are other Griffey collectors out there, and I’m all about helping them out. Even after the great purging of 2014 I still have piles of duplicate Griffey cards. I try to keep at least a couple of copies of everything, but everything beyond that is fair game following the recent shift in focus from quantity to quality.

Enter Tony, Griffey guy from Milwaukee ("which is Algonquin for 'The Good Land.'" - Alice Cooper) and purveyor of The Common Card Man. Tony is well on his way to being a Griffey supercollector, and I’m proud to have a few cards from my own collection in that mix. Here’s a look at the plethora of great stuff he sent in return:


The highlight is without a doubt these two Griffeys, neither of which I had in the collection. It’s rare to receive entirely new Griffeys in trade – Tony must be a reader of have lists. Those Pinnacle Epix cards still go for a few bucks each, even the relatively common orange ones. And I’m very excited finally to add the refractor of Griffey’s Topps Chrome sunset card.


But there’s a lot more. These are not your everyday Javys. They’re nice Javys with sparkly bits and shiny foil akimbo. That’s also true of the Buhners he included:


I cannot get enough of that Tale of the Tape subset.


And a few nice Grissoms from his days in Milwaukee ("the only city in America to have elected two socialist mayors" - Alice Cooper). Check out the dance moves on that Upper Deck Highlights checklist.


One aspect blind trade packages share with boxes of chocolate is that you never know what you’re going to get. I love the Saints and consider myself a fan, but I don’t actively pursue their cards. That’s where trade packages such as this one really shine.

Just look at these great cards of local heroes Drew and Jimmy. Sure, they had a rough year, but who cares? We love these guys. You know how long I’ve admired Topps Magic from afar? When are they going to make a baseball version? When?? That patriotic number on the top right is numbered out of 250, btw.


Here’s a pair of excellent pulls including a relic of Mark Ingram who is coming off a monster year that earned him a spot in this year’s Pro Bowl. And that Brees depicting him in his Purdue Boilermakers getup is a big hit with every Louisianian. I haven’t shown it to anybody yet, but I assure you they’re all smitten with it, sight-unseen.

Be warned, Tony from Milwaukee - even now I am slowly amassing more and more Griffey dupes to unload on you at a random time. You will not know when or how I’m going to do it, but someday there will be more Griffeys at your door than you’ll ever know what to do with. Heed my words!

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Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Thanks for the trade! This one's for you:


2015 Topps and I Have BEEF…


…and it’s bigger than any recycling-of-photos or too-many-parallels gripe you may have heard in the past. Way bigger.

Even while poking fun I generally try to stay positive on the blog and give the benefit of the doubt to the brands. There is already enough criticism of Topps on the blogsphere that I rarely feel the need to add to it (though I, too, am guilty of occasional bitch and/or moan), but my beef goes beyond all that.

In my time working with and occasionally managing others, I’ve learned you should always communicate a negative sandwiched in between two positives. So before we get down to it, here is a gift for those overwhelmed by all the posts about the release of the new Topps flagship checklist: the only checklist you really need:

2015 Topps S1 Griffeys:

Archetypes #A-25
Baseball History #15B (15A = Clinton Earns Democratic Nomination)
Baseball History Stamps #BH-KG #/10
Baseball History Cut Signatures #BHCS-KG 1/1
Gallery of Greats #GG-4
Gallery of Greats #GG-4 Gold #/99
Gallery of Greats Relics #GGR-4 #/25
Gallery of Greats Autographs #GGA-4 #/10
Gallery of Greats Autograph Relics #GGAR-4 #/5
Inspirations Duals #I-2 (w/ Robinson Cano)
Inspirations Duals Relics #IR-CG #/50 (w/ Robinson Cano)
Inspirations Duals Autographs #IA-CG #/25 (w/ Robinson Cano)
Inspirations Duals Autograph Relics #IAR-CG #/10 (w/ Robinson Cano)
Spring Fever #SFA-KG

Hee hee. You all know how I roll – it’s go Griffey or go home. And for the record I’m certain there are going to be plenty of excellent cards in the set as well as some pretty neat inserts, Griffey or no.

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WANT

Now just for a laugh, let’s take a look at the inserts that while otherwise appropriate do not include a Griffey in their respective checklists:

Birth Year Coin/Stamp
Career High
First Home Run
Highlight of the Year
Strata

Junior doesn’t need to be in every checklist for me to enjoy the product. There are also a few inserts not listed here that only contain active players and/or rookies, and I get their not getting a Griffey as well. But First Home Run? Come on! Birth Year? Who wouldn’t love yet another card that heralds Junior being born in the same town as Stan Musial? I know I would.

But that’s not the problem I have with the 2015 set. The problem I have starts with card #1.

You see, Jeter retired in 2014, and he is getting a card (the first card, no less) in this year’s flagship set. In fact it looks like he’s getting lots of cards in this and probably every other Topps set. That’s fantastic and well-deserved. Really, no complaints there.

Junior retired in 2010, and guess what? NOT A PEEP from Topps in 2011. No Griffeys in 2011 Series 1 or Series 2. No Griffeys in 2011 Allen & Ginter, Gypsy Queen, Tribute, or Heritage. NO GRIFFEYS in 2011 Tier One, Finest, Lineage, Marquee, Update, Triple Threads, Stickers, Chrome, or Opening Day. No base cards, no inserts, no cards of any kind. NOT. A. SINGLE. ONE.

Like he never existed.


As a Griffey fan and a card collector, I can’t help feeling slighted. Had he gotten just a card or two that mention his retirement and final career stats or even just a single final tribute or something that would have been one thing, but absolutely nothing? NOTHING!?! There is no way this was not done purposefully. They had to have gone out of their way to keep Junior off their checklists. But why?

Then, starting the very next year and continuing through this very day, TONS of Griffeys. A few in just about every set along with relics, 1/1’s, parallels and signatures – the whole nine yards. And what do I do? I buy them. I spend hundreds of dollars a year on packs and boxes in hopes of pulling cards of a legendary player whose retirement was utterly and (it appears) intentionally ignored by this brand.

The sudden resurgence in 2012 of one of the most beloved players of the modern age on Topps-branded cardboard begs the question: are they just including him now to move units, or do they really care about the players and their fans?

I hope I’m wrong about this. I’ve been known to trust my own (questionable) powers of deduction too much and jump to (stupid) conclusions. I’m hoping (really, really hoping) that there was some licensing issue with the Player’s Union or MLB in general barring Topps from making Griffey cards that year. I can’t imagine what that would be (and why it’s not the case with Jeter), but if someone knows please enlighten me. It would make me feel better about all the money I fork over to Topps every year.

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I ain't mad atcha.

All that being said, I like Jeter a lot. I honestly can’t wait to see his base card from this set, especially if Sooz picked the photo. But it’s going to be bittersweet, my friends.

Though I am positively chomping at the bit for a Biz Markie First Pitch card. Holy schmeckel, what an idea that was.

Criticism sandwich complete.

My Wallet Card's 8000-Mile Canadian Yukon Aurora-Hunting Adventure


I took my Griffey card to see the Aurora Borealis (aka the Northern Lights) from a little town in Canada called Whitehorse, the biggest population center in the Yukon. It was an awe-inspiring trip to say the least, and every opportunity I got to include my trusty wallet card, I took.


Leaving New Orleans for significantly colder climates. It was a smoldering 75 degrees when we left. In Whitehorse it barely broke freezing. Despite Griffey's four sharp corners and lethality with a bat, I did not have to check him.


I got a whole lot of reading done. Griffey just sat there smiling, creepin' everybody out.


Canadian currency is awesome. It's plastic, colorful, has holograms and translucent elements, and every bill contains raised braille indicators for the visually-impaired. Check out the kids playing hockey on their fiver. I had to adapt quickly to their total lack of any bills smaller than a five. They use one- and two-dollar coins instead which they call loonies and toonies, respectively. I saved a few, but most of this cash went towards tipping, alcohol, beef jerky, exotic Canadian candy, a Roots backpack, and a sweet Vancouver Canucks shirt.


There was a lot of First Nations art in the Vancouver airport, but surprisingly few baseball cards. Lots of hockey stuff, though.


When we took off from Vancouver this is what the mountains looked like.


It didn't take long before everything was snow-covered. EVERYTHING. Griffey is thinking "So this must be where all those home run balls ended up."


I have lived on this planet for 33 years, and this right here is the first real snow I've ever seen. I've seen ice, a little sleet, and even an occasional flurry, but nothing like this. Beds of snow a foot thick or thicker, hills and mounds of powdery accumulation around every tree, rock, and post. It was hard to hide my excitement.


More firsts, here is my first encounter with yellow snow. Around this spot were massive paw prints that made me just a little uneasy until I finally met the creature who made them:


Loki, future champion sled dog. The paws on this guy...


This was taken on Marsh Lake, a massive frozen flat with nothing to hinder your view of the horizon. It's a solid two miles wide and nineteen miles long, the vast majority of which was frozen over several feet thick. We spent a lot of time just seeing how far out onto the ice we dared walk. I don't believe we got even halfway across. That horizon is tricky.


As you can see here, Griffey's penny sleeve started getting mighty crinkly. He got something much more substantial when we got home.


We took advantage of the conditions and made out first ever snow angels. This is mine.


This is Griffey's. Sadly his is more of a snow rectangle. Relax - penny sleeve, guys. Penny sleeve.


On the first of two snowmobile treks through the forest. This particular shot was taken on Caribou Lake after a meal of elk sausage and hot chocolate. I just couldn't pass up a shot in front of those mountains.


Living in south Louisiana I grew up fishing, but this was something else entirely. It was an absolute blast, though, digging our own hole with a giant ice auger and jigging this tiny pole in search of lake trout. We didn't catch anything, though, except a runny nose.


Whoops! Some of the folks we came out on snowmobiles with had a little accident as a result of some visor fogging. It looks a lot worse than it really was - nobody was hurt, but we did have to cut down a tree to get it out. I ended up getting this very snowmobile up to 50 mph out on the ice not 24 hours later.


After two days of fun in the snow but no Aurora we started to worry that we may not see it (which we knew was a possibility from the start). Lucky for us this was the forecast on the morning of what was to be our last night in the Yukon. We decided to tailgate out on the frozen lake that night until we saw it. It was all or nothing.


We got out there around 12:30 am, reinforcements in hand. Don't worry - I was a boy scout. We left nothing but footprints.

Out there the stars are the first thing you notice. I've been on numerous camping trips and several cruise ships, but nothing could prepare me for how bright those things were out here. For example, I (like many of you) have been living under this constellation my whole life:


With the naked eye you almost completely lose it against the background star field. Jupiter was also out that night and looked like an actual planet as opposed to just a really bright star which is what I'm used to.

The stars were almost my favorite part. Almost...







After a good 90 minutes on the ice and the beer starting to run out, a spike of green finally sprouted in the distance and slowly exploded into a solar storm that filled the North sky. In my excitement I almost forgot the Griffey.

Now, I came here, card in wallet, to take a photo of the Griffey in front of the Aurora. Before we get to that, allow me say a thing or two about how photography works when trying to capture the Aurora.

You have to use a really good camera and a very long exposure to give the lens enough time to gather up all that light. The exposure times ran between 6 and 45 seconds which means tripods and absolute stillness as well as a lot of patience. I, armed with only an iPhone, took none of the Aurora pics you see above. Luckily we were out on the ice that night with two other couples, one from the UK and another from Australia, both with cameras far better than mine,

We tried a few different techniques of capturing an image of the Griffey (a few feet away) against the Aurora (miles up in the night sky). We did our best with flashlights and chairs and Jaegermeister (okay, I was the one with the Jaegermeister), and this is as close as we were able to get:




There ya go. The 1989 Upper Deck #1 Griffey Rookie and the Aurora Borealis, together at last. Yes, that's me holding the card. Don't let the giant winter clothing fool you - like many card collectors I am a husky man.

I need to tell you that if you've ever considered going to see the Northern Lights, you should. We had a fantastic time on the ice before it started creeping over the horizon then gently flowing across the sky like a curtain in the breeze. When we finally saw it, all we could do was yell and giggle. Chopin was playing in my head, and my eyes were a hard blink away from full-on tears. It was magical.


The morning sky applauded our effort with an amazing sunrise (at 11 am) and a visible crescent moon (the sun and moon chase each other only in this one small segment of the sky). The lake never looked finer than on our last morning.

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No Griffey needed


In our final hours we decided we should take advantage of all this snow we may never get to see again. This is my snow Jabba the Hutt.


My wife managed to morph Snowjabba into a reasonably identifiable snowman which I decorated.


With a few hours left before our flight we took some time to visit town with two goals in mind: first, find the LCS. There is one comic and card shop in Whitehorse. No baseball cards, but plenty of hockey cards and a reasonable selection of comics and gaming items.


Our other goal was to find some poutine and eat it, and we accomplished this in fine style. I was expecting something comparable to chili cheese fries, but these were nothing like that. I am now in love with the stuff. Yes, that's a penny sleeve - no gravy on this Griffey.


I took this picture because if you've ever flown on a plane you need to read this part.

After about ten minutes in the air, the flight attendant comes down the aisle and asks, "Hey, would you like a beverage?" Um, okay. Drinks on a plane. No stranger to that.

A few minutes after that, same flight attendant, "Chicken cordon bleu or roast beef?" Say what? Real food? Yeah, chicken sounds great, thanks!

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YUM.

A few minutes later, "Refresh your beverage?" A second beverage, you say? Why, this is unprecedented.

A few minutes later "Say, would you like a slice of cheesecake?" Say WHAT? Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes! I am a mighty SULTAN!

The kicker? The flight was an hour and a half.

One of the first things I did when I got home was take to Twitter and put Air North on blast about how amazing they are. Can you even imagine service like that on an American airline? What's more, they actually answered back to my tweet, and now they're sending me an Air North hat. Just keeps getting better.

Funny end to that story - the very next plane we were on was a 5-hour American Airlines flight to Dallas where they tried to sell us $6 Pringles. Psh. No thanks, I'm full. Full of Air North hospitality, that is.

Vancouver was reasonably fun. I won't get into our shenanigans there, but we did run across an interesting menu item:


This one's just for you, Chris.


This seems like a good place to end it: one of the world's largest collections of Donald Duck figurines. This display was two-sided, so take all those Donalds and double 'em. That's a lot of speech impediment.

I hope you enjoyed this post! My next wallet card entry, barring something spectacular and/or tragic happening between now and then, will be from on a Mardi Gras float. Thanks for reading.

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Yes, that's me. Male pattern baldness is a bitch.

Trade Post: Tom is a Set-Building Angel

It can be time consuming, depending on how you organize, to read another blogger’s set-building want lists and then thumb through your own cards in search of the ones they need. It is also incredibly boring when that set is overproduction-era Donruss (my bad). That’s why I like Tom from The Angels in Order.

Tom took the time to check my lists and compare them to his own common cards. In doing so he produced a whopping eleven set-building needs, mostly from ’92 Donruss.


Personally, if I had stacks of ’92 Donruss, I can’t promise I would have the patience to pour through them looking for a handful of base cards. Frankly my response to seeing anyone else building a 1992 Donruss base set would be, “Really? You’re actually doing this?”

Not Tom! Tom humored me big time and knocked out a bunch of Series 2 needs as well as a few Diamond Kings. All I can say here is I appreciate the time I’m certain it took to find these cards.


As for my ’89 Donruss set-building, it may seem convenient that many of the cards on my want list are of half-of-famers, but sadly that’s the case. The only reason for this that I can think of is that people tend to remove star cards from stacks of commons, and they remain separated forever. When some poor sap decides to start continuously building sets (which I do only with ’89 Donruss) and ends up with everybody else’s unwanted commons, he catches the brunt of that separation. That sap is me.


What’s more than this, Tom consistently hooks me up with reams of Chuck Finleys. Now that I think about it he’s pretty much my #1 source of Finley cards.


Tom likes Finleys because he’s an Angels fan – I like Finleys because he’s a local boy and he went to high school with my aunt. Plus he was married to Tawny Kitaen, a fact that served me well in a marathon game of Trivial Pursuit a few weeks ago (wedge question!). My favorites in this group are the ’88 Donruss “Halloween” set and, of course, the very polarizing Topps Laser.

Thanks for the cards, Tom!

Adam (Infield Fly) Rules: a Trade Post

Sometimes I mail out huge boxes of cardboard. It may seem like generosity, but in reality it’s a ploy to declutter my cardspace. My wife doesn’t fuss quite as much about the occasional PWE or yellow padded envelope arriving in our mailbox as long as I lug a box or two of cards to the P.O. every now and again. It’s the illusion of balance.

While I’ve been on the receiving end of some pretty substantial trade packages in my time, none have approached the scale of the box I recently received from Adam of Infield Fly Rule. It was one of those Priority Mail “if it fits it ships” deals (which the USPS has probably rethought since card collectors began shipping heavy boxes filled with cardboard), and believe me when I say that this thing was packed to the brim.


You know you’re going to need to invest some time in a box when it contains additional boxes. There were thousands of cards in there! Stacks of fun and interesting photography, needs from my set-building want list, PC guys, largely-completed 80’s and 90’s base sets, and lots of other rectangular goodies. One of my favorite items was that old Topps long box that tries to convey the educational value of card collecting.

I should mention that I could not possibly show you everything Adam included, but I have a few nice highlights:


Adam has an eye for keepers. From great photos to funny names to great, funny photos, this box contained cards from across the spectrum. There were so many I had to upsize my “Photo” box, reserved only for common cards sporting uncommon photography. Lots of Stadium Club in there.
I’m strongly considering adding Tim Spooneybarger to my PC list. Or possibly Sherard Clinkscales.


You better drop that ball, or Big Frank is gonna karate chop ya!


I cannot thank you guys enough who read my set-building needs. These helped me finish off my third base set of ’89 Donruss, and I’m only a handful of cards away from a fourth. ’92 Donruss Series 2 is still a ways off, but I’m willing to bet without checking a Beckett that that Ripken DK is the most valuable non-autographed card to be had from the whole set.


PC guys galore, including a fresh-faced rookie Will Clark. HOF or no, the guy’s got an excellent rookie card; and like Griffey’s, his is in the Traded set.

Thanks for the monster box, Adam! I owe you, like, a million cards.

Wallet Card Wars: '89 UD Griffey vs. Jose Abreu 1/1 Auto

Give Grandpa Joe back his tobacco money, Charlie Bucket - the Golden Ticket has been found under the fluorescent lights of a small LCS outside of New Orleans, La. Someone pulled the 2014 Stadium Club Jose Abreu Electric Foil Autograph 1/1, and I was lucky enough to be there with my #WalletCard.


Now I didn't pull it, but I did snap a photo of my trusty '89 UD Griffey rookie alongside this soon-to-be monster eBay sale (just imagine the seller fees!). It's certainly among the best possible pulls from a highly lauded brand, maybe even one of the best pulls from any 2014 product.

The card is great and everything, but how does it stack up against the mass-produced-but-legendary crown jewel of the overproduction era? As an extremely biased Griffey collector, I feel qualified to make that call.

I've decided to pit these cards against each other in a one-on-one, cardo-y-cardo battle to decide which is really the better card. It's a battle 25 years in the making. The competition is based on ten categories and an eleventh in case a tiebreaker is needed (gosh, do you think it'll go that far?). Here we go:


Category 1: Rookie Logo

The little home plate RC has been making the rounds on Topps and Bowman product for a few years now. Is it really better than the only-used-for-one-set star and banner from '89 Upper Deck? No. Just no.

Griffey 1, Abreu 0

Category 2: Photo

Please.

Griffey 2, Abreu 0

Category 3: Rarity

While there are plenty Abreu cards around that look exactly like this (but with different effects and most with no autograph), there is really only one of this particular card in the whole world. There are thousands of the Griffey. Abreu makes it onto the board.

Griffey 2, Abreu 1

Category 4: Value

Please.

Griffey 2, Abreu 2

Category 5: Uniqueness

Back in '89 the Griffey would have done a lot better in this category - it was strikingly unique back then. The 1/1 auto of baseball's biggest prospect from a twice-retired but universally revered brand - that's a spicy meatball of unique, IMHO.

Griffey 2, Abreu 3

Category 6: Print Quality

Again, back in '89 the Griffey would be a king in this category. But it's not 1989. Printing technology has come along way, giving the Abreu a very unfair advantage here.

Griffey 2, Abreu 4

Category 7: Importance

This is a measure of the card's importance in the area of the sport and the hobby as a whole. The Abreu doesn't really stand a chance here what with the Griffey being such a boon to the industry when it came out and even in subsequent years. Then again that print quality category was kind of a gimme, too. I feel no guilt whatsoever.

Griffey 3, Abreu 4

Category 8: Pedigree

This is a measure of the perceived authenticity of the card. '89 Upper Deck's pedigree back in '89 was excellent what with their tamper-evident foil packs and holograms on every card. On the other hand, that Abreu came out of the pack with a small amount of damage, and the LCS owner upon reporting the pull and the damage to Topps was told they would be sending out a replacement card. A perfect copy of a card sent directly by the manufacturer to the lucky recipient? It doesn't get much more authentic than that.

Griffey 3, Abreu 5

Category 9: Character

Please.

Griffey 4, Abreu 5

Category 10: Cool Factor

This one is heavily debatable. On one hand we have a card that's cool because of it's high print quality, neat foil effects, and the inclusion of an autograph, not to mention that it's a 1/1 of one of the biggest prospects of the last few years. That's pretty darn cool.

On the other hand, we have a card recognizable to millions featuring one of the biggest prospects of all time that has already panned out into a first-ballot hall-of-famer. Abreu's future is uncertain at this point, but Griffey's legacy is secured. And check out those gold chains in the photo. Gangsta.

Tough call, but here's my line of thinking:


Now, which is cooler, really?

Still not sure? Let's try a few more:


I think I've made my point. I'm giving this one to the Griffey.

Griffey 5, Abreu 5

So here we go to the tie-breaker! Who saw this coming???

Tie-Breaker Category: Desirability

The Abreu is an amazing card. So, do you want it? I must admit that I do...so I can sell it. I see dollar signs, and if it were mine it would already be on the 'Bay. I might even pay for enhanced visibility and promote the sale on the blog and everything to squeeze ever possible dime out of that card. Then, I would use that money to buy Griffeys.

How about the Griffey? You want it? I want it. So do lots of people, many of whom don't even collect cards. It's an icon.

Another toughie. Tell you what: what if we took monetary value out of the equation. You're walking down the street and someone comes up to you and says, "Hey, you want one of these?" Which would you choose then?

I think the answer depends on you. Are you a Chisox fan? A rookie prospector? A card flipper? Well, you probably want that Abreu.

Are you anybody else? You probably want the Griffey.

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No contest.

Griffey wins.

Wallet Card: Griffey Goes to Mardi Gras Day 1 - Pontchartrain, Choctaw, and Freret


For two weeks out of every year New Orleans hosts millions of people from all around the world to the country's biggest party; and being that I live and work right in the middle of it, I saw this as a great opportunity for some #WalletCard fun. By the end of it I had thousands of crazy photos, some blog-appropriate and some not, which I spent the better part of this past weekend whittling down to just under 700 photos, all with the Griffey in them.

This week I'm going to show you most of them.

If you've never been to Mardi Gras you're in for a treat. If you have been, this may encourage you to book your hotel for next year. Either way, enjoy!


This was the first year in many that we were riding on a float. The first step in preparation for that is gathering up all the beads and throws from the attic, pouring them into one big pile in the living room, and sorting them (not unlike a big box of cardboard). We separated out the keepers and organized the rest so they would be easier to throw while on the float in a beer-fueled haze. This step is crucial.


Sadly this is a thing. Around 4pm on a parade day, many streets get blocked off and the streetcar shuts down on St. Charles Ave. Mail becomes spotty in some areas. The evening rush hour happens a lot earlier, too, as most people leave work early to either make it out to the parade route or get home before the pandemonium begins. I usually do the former as I work right right in middle of Uptown where every major parade rolls by. I'm lucky because I don't have to drive anywhere to see parades - we have a private work lot a stone's throw from the main route.

That's the first of the three P's of Mardi Gras: Parking, Peeing, and Pacing. We've got that first P on lockdown.


Believe it or not those still weren't enough throws, so we had to head down to the Mardi Gras store and buy more as well as some other throws for some friends who were riding with us. Here I bought plastic swords, rubber dog poo, little harmonicas, gator grabbers, footballs, big fake cigars, rubber axes, and an insane quantity of additional beads. Oh, and no boxes are allowed on the floats, so everything has to be transported in bags.


This is what your commute looks like on the morning of a parade.

Please ignore my expired brake tag (which you probably know as an "inspection sticker").


This is the famous Mardi Gras Bead Tree (which has its own Facebook page). Every year it collects beads throughout the Carnival season, getting heavier and lower to the ground with each passing parade. Those beads remain on the tree for weeks and sometimes months after. We've made our regular spot right next to this beauty for the last decade, and we defend it from bead-takers tooth-and-nail. "You don't take from the Bead Tree; you only give to the Bead Tree."

It's early yet, but we'll be monitoring the tree's progress over the next few posts.


This is the Pardi Bar, a portable bar with a car stereo built in where we base our operations. It runs on a car battery which we keep on a constant charge cycle with a second battery. Dave got Bluetooth for the stereo this year.

We like this spot because it's in front the apartment of one of our friends in the group (we call ourselves the Krewe of Kondo). This is crucial because of the second P of Mardi Gras: Peeing. You have to have a place to pee always.

There is a song about not being able to pee at Mardi Gras. That's how important it is.


There are Shriners in just about every parade riding everything from horses to motorcycles to dune buggies.


This parade is Krewe of Pontchartrain which rolled on Saturday, February 7th followed by Choctaw and Freret. These early parades are a lot tamer than what is coming. This parade, for example, has a lot of children, elementary school bands, and dance teams comprised of kids. There are a lot of adult marching clubs and float riders here and there as well, don't get me wrong; but eventually there will be very few young'uns in the parades, if any.


People come to town for the floats and beads, but the locals know the bands are the best part.


Parades each have their own royalty: kings, queens, captains, dukes, marshals, pages, maids, evil dictators, and plenty more wacky titles I can't think of.


Lots of fake beards on parade royalty to lend to the tradition of anonymity.


The krewe riders wear masks as well for both anonymity and protection. Sometimes people throw stuff back. It's illegal, but it happens.



The Navy has a Jazz Band that rolls in several parades. There is lots of Military tradition at Mardi Gras as you will see.


The Super Star Steppers.



The Big Easy Rollergirls parade every year, usually during day parades so they can avoid rolling over beads on the ground. They're a blast.



There's been an influx of adult marching clubs with suggestive names. These are the Muff-a-lottas, a play on the popular local sandwich, the Muffaletta. We also now have the Organ Grinders and the Pussyfooters. I will never complain about these groups.


I am in this picture if you look.


I met this girl three minutes before this picture was taken and never saw her again since, but we shared a laugh and a moment. This happens a lot at Mardi Gras.



This guy gets it.


I took a lot of pictures of this group. Can you blame me?






I actually got another photo several days later during a night parade with this same girl in the same outfit. A lot of people looked at me funny until I showed them what I was photographing next to them. Everybody was cool with it.







Right after this was taken I flipped the card over so she could see it was just a baseball card. Somehow she seemed even more confused after she saw it. Can't blame her.







No Griffey here, but have you ever had King Cake? Like, real King Cake? We only get it two months a year, so we eat a lot of it during Carnival.


As you can see the tree is growing more and more opaque each time we see it. Don't worry - this isn't this tree's first rodeo, and it won't be its last.


This officer was friendly and even claimed to have had the Griffey in his own collection at some point. I've got to get me one of those vests.


A gentleman and a scholar; and check out that sweet Griffey-stache. Perfect photo.

There were still two more parades to see later this same night; but I had gotten up way too early, so I headed home with a big bowl of pho, some Man Seeking Woman on the DVR, and nice late afternoon nap. Pacing. That's the last P of Mardi Gras.

Baseball cards, guys.

Wallet Card: Griffey Goes to Mardi Gras Day 2 - Barkus and the French Quarter


Welcome back! This is day 2 of our week of Mardi Gras #WalletCard photos. Today's pictures are all from Sunday, February 8th when we went to the French Quarter to see the Krewe of Barkus.


One unchanging part of my Bourbon Street to-do list is to get a Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's. They also have the greatest piano bar on Earth.


St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square is the oldest continuously-operating cathedral in America. Photos do not do this place justice. It is massive.


Here it is nice and blurry from the middle of Jackson Square. See the horse's hooves? When two are in the air, the rider died in battle. When one is raised, the rider died due to injuries received in battle. All four on the ground mean the rider died of natural causes. We have a lot of horse statues in New Orleans.


Everybody brought their pets out.


Jackson Square shot from the Moonwalk.


This is where people go to look at the river.


From left to right that's the Westbank, the Crescent City Connection, the World Trade Center, the Aquarium of the Americas, and the Steamboat Natchez. If you look closely on the Eastbank you can see a couple cruise ships docked.


Jax Brewery which is more of a shopping mall now with multi-million dollar condos on the roof.



Confederacy of Dunces, anyone? These are delicious. Can you spot the Griffey?


Yes, we're on that end of Bourbon.









Yeah - don't eat these.



I know Bourbon Street doesn't look very busy right now (it was noon on a Sunday), but I assure you it gets a lot busier:


I did not take this. Just showing you how crazy it gets.


They misspelled "accordance."


Pacing. Not all of us have it.





That's the Cabildo on the right which is a fantastic museum of New Orleans and Louisiana history.


Hey, girl. Oh, wait. I mean....yeah. 'Sup, man?




The theme of Barkus this year was Star Wars, so you're going to see a bunch of guys like this.




Check out that costume! Jeff Wilk should appreciate this...


Oh, Barkus is a dog parade. Did I not mention that? It's a play on the famous Bacchus parade that rolls the following Sunday. Anyway, dogs. Expect them.









These prop planes were circling in formation all day long.





Class.


There were a few muggings in the Quarter the week before Mardi Gras (which is very much out-of-the-ordinary, believe it or not), so these signs started popping up.

That was it. Three Hurricanes later it was time to ride home (don't worry - I didn't drive).


Fun fact: while we were at Barkus in the French Quarter, the band Guster (who did a show the night before) showed up at our uptown parade spot and hung out with our group. They even peed at my friends' apartment. I consider it a missed #WalletCard opportunity.

Plenty more to come...!
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