VIntage Cards from Jim from Downingtown: A Long Overdue Trade Post

You know, sometimes you get cards and you can't recall how exactly how you stumbled upon them or bought them for? And then there are others that you can picture with such clarity that you recall the color of your socks, where you were, and how much you paid for the cards?

In this new-fangled world of trade by mail,  an assortment of vintage cards must assuredly come from Jim from Downingtown.  (Notice the link goes to his profile; there are so many blogs).

Getting cards from the 60s in the mail is probably the 3rd best card collecting feeling in the world after getting an autograph of your favorite player and ripping open 20 cases of cards in less than 3 nights (not that I've ever done that.)

1964 Topps Dick Williams:  You might better remember Dick Williams as the HOF manager with the killer sunglasses, but here he is finishing out his playing career in Boston.

1966 Topps Lew Krausse: The first card from a team name that doesn't exist, the Kansas City Athletics.  The young prospect was gearing up for his career year in 1966.

1965 Topps Turk Farrell: It's a Colt 45s card!  Now that's a team nickname that didn't last very long or easy to announce.  Farrell started and ended his career with the Phillies, but was a 3 time all star in Houston.

1964 Philadelphia Norm Snead: This is weird, this is a football card posted on this site. It's from a company called Philadelphia, which made football cards in the '60s.  Here he is, at the beginning of his Eagles career. He had over 30000 yards passing and is still 6th all time in interceptions.

1966 Topps Dave Mcnally: He was one of the famed quartet of the 1971 Orioles, which each won 20 games during the season.  That might never happen again until the bullpen becomes someplace where less pitchers hang out.

1963 Topps Dal Maxvill: We're both alumni of the same college, but he got to play with Stan Musial and I did not.

And then to top it off, there were a few 1968 game cards, which gave me the first Mantle card from his playing days I had ever owned (another followed, which will be the subject of another post at some point).  Check out the glory of the Mick, Yaz, and Hammerin' Hank.  (plus I would have a 1.000 OBP in this game and always win because I would never get an out).

Thanks to Jim!

Cards from the Team Set Completion Maestro (Cards on Cards) Part 2

In the second part of the trade package, Kerry from Cards on Cards brought in the more modern card sensibilities as well as the cards from the bygone era when cards were valuable pieces to be stored and treasured until they overran the earth in revenge against their toploader oppressors.

2012 Topps Golden Futures Domonic Brown: I've written about this many times, but the fact that he will probably again be benched by inferior ballplayers is a travesty in player development.  There's a reason he was the #4 prospect in all of baseball in 2010....because he was killing it in the minors.  With the injuries and the league yo-yoing, he's bordering on losing the luster of that prospect status.  He;s still only 25, but seriously, Delmon Young?  Someone who can't field or get on base getting a possible guaranteed spot in the outfield?    Color me gag purple.....not golden.

2009 Upper Deck X5 Chase Utley:  This is a curious set because it has the worst name ever.  It's like it took the special of SPx and became the forgotten stepchild of the Upper Deck canon.  These exponential (xcuse me, xponential.....how xistentially xciting) inserts seem like they belong on another plane of xistence.  Utley is jumping out of the card at me by traveling through the 5th dimension.....and that would be the tesseract, which was discovered much later than Einstein.

2012 Topps Update Blockbusters Steve Carlton: Blockbuster, challenge trade, whatever you want to call it:  the Phillies won this trade.  It must be a nice feeling to win a trade.  I am a terrible trader in fantasy sports because I try to give people what I think they want.  Was this the most lopsided trade in their favor in Phillies history?  The Schilling-Grimsley or Abreu-Stocker trades may rival it.

2010 Topps CYMTO Mike Schmidt:  You can see what the acronym stands for on the card back.  The front would be a normal 1976 Topps Mike Schmidt.  I always thought those reprint sets should have some type of indication on the front so that it would be less confusing.

2010 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Cole Hamels:  Behold the standard bearer!  Behold the baseball hero!  All of the Phillies' hopes rest on his left arm for this season until he leaves in 2017 or 2018.

1994 Stadium Club Dugout Dirt Darren Daulton:  This is the back of the card.  Just read what's written on the bicep; it so of the era.

2006 Upper Deck First Pitch Diamond Stars Bobby Abreu: Somehow Abreu was still kicking around the majors last year. His power has diminished, but one thing he always had was his batting eye.  He had 8 straight seasons of 100 walks and 100 strikeouts; that seems pretty unique.

2007 Topps World Domination Ryan Howard:  Howard took his mighty bat and laid claim to the trappings of modern civilization.  With a jovial iron hand, he shall reign, where all lefty pitchers shall be relegated to the shadows of society and be forced to use only right handed scissors until they lose their ability.  Afterwards, he will go up into the troposphere and destroy all carbon atoms in his path and make it rain where it must be rained.  Yes, the rain will be made.  Then, there can be peace in this world according to the manifesto.

Thanks for the cards!

Cards From The Team Set Completion Maestro (Cards on Cards): Part 1

Sometimes there's a package that comes along that jumps out of the mailbox, laughs maniacally, and starts tap dancing on your wantlist. Its movements are graceful and frenetic at the same time as it uses precision to cull those numbers and images from the desired corner of your mind and yet is a chaotic whirlwind of tumult.

Seriously, though, there are still Phillies cards on my wantlist from the golden overproduction era of my childhood.  I probably had all these cards at these some point, but I think they were lost in an unmarked van that was driving along the PA Turnpike on a late afternoon 10 years ago.....I really dislike stealth vans ever since that day.

The maestro of this wantlist destroyer was Kerry from the estimable Cards on Cards.  We somehow made a trade and so came this dervish of delirious delight to reduce me to my knees pining for Jim Eisenreich to come back to the Phillies, but only the version from 1993.

Oh, to be young and full of soda and T-shirts.....

By my imprecise count, he finished off 17 different team/insert team sets from this package.  Amazing.  Highlights to follow.....

1989 Shining Stars Ricky Jordan: I'm sure I've said this before, but I modeled my baseball stance after Ricky Jordan when I started playing kid pitch Little League.....I was not a good hitter.

1989 Score Darren Daulton:  This was pre-car accident, pre-RBI accumulating Daulton....I always thought Steve Lake was better.  I really knew nothing at this time.  What is Daulton doing now that his prediction didn't come true?

1992 Action Packed Dick Groat:  I will now reference myself....so you can read the previous post.

1986 Fleer Future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton: This may have possibly been the last mainstream issue card I needed from 1986 that I know of.  These may also have doubled as the first insert set.  There were only 6 cards in the checklist.....and one did not make the Hall of Fame: Pete Rose, of course.

1990 Topps Traded Dave Hollins:  This was the first I remember hearing of the Rule 5 draft.  I really liked Hollins because he was so intense; you could hear his bat handle grinding down to nubbins while he was batting.

1990 Donruss Jeff Parrett:  I thought that Parrett was the best pitcher ever because he tied for the team lead in 1989 with 12 wins.....as a reliever!  Well, it definitely wasn't Don Carman.....who remembers these players truly....

Tangent: Speaking of Don Carman, here's another anecdote.  I was obsessed with baseball (some would say I still am).  And so like all good little baseball-obsessed fans I also listened to every spring training game I could on the radio.  Don Carman was pitching on that day (it must have been 1989 or 1990).  The bases were loaded with 2 outs in a 1 run game (this may be exaggerated) and he had the hitter at 3-0, and I was feeling so deflated because he seemed to walk so many people.  He then came back and struck the hitter out, and I was so excited.....for a spring training game.  I thought maybe the Phillies would finish above 6th place.....and in 1990, they finished 4th....hope wins again.

1993 Topps Wes Chamberlain: One thing's for sure; he'll never get confused for Louie Meadows.  What, now?

1993 Upper Deck Tyler Green:  You know those days when you take a tennis ball (or any ball really) and a glove and you simulate pitching an entire game in the street alternating innings?  Once I heard of Tyler Green, I developed my own version of the knuckle curve that was basically called the "squiggly".  I swear to this day that it made an "S" shape curve in the air when it was thrown correctly.  I don't think I can replicate it now though.

This was part 1 of 2 because there are more cards to show than I know to fit on a scanner bed.....

Cards from Fantastic Catch or Envelopes Welcome Me Home

After being away from home for a little bit, there is one constant that keeps me going....the unspoken threat of a manila envelope in the mailbox. They lurk for you when at work and try to give ideas to the bills and magazines always present in the mailbox to get noticed more. Here's the top 5 pieces of advice from the manila envelope to these other scraps of mail that get thrown on the table unopened and unloved.
1. "Try and hold your breath.  You seem frail and bendy"
2. "You're looking a little pale. You need more sunlight to turn yellow."
3."I can give you the number of a good toploader implant doctor."
4. "Allow yourself to be covered in stickers."
5."See that. That's a delivery confirmation stamp. Use it. Live it. Love it."

In any case, one of the envelopes I received some time ago was from the gentleman at Fantastic Catch.  He exhibited a lot of patience with me and came through with ....well, a fantastic package.  Everyone can tell I'm a Phillies fan, but I don't mind some cards from the original AL Philadelphia team, especially with the year they had this year. Here are some highlights.

2008 or 2009 Upper Deck Common or Uncommon or Rare or Ultra Rare Starquest Jimmy Rollins: Honestly, if it's not chrome or refractory and it's a retail one per pack insert, colored parallels barely matter.  The only starquest that matters is Collector's Choice style circa 1997.

2012 Topps Daric Barton:  He was benched for the Chris Carter/Brandon Moss platoon this year and was not part of the excitement.

2006 Ovation Eric Chavez: He was a Yankee last year, and he destroyed righties, and he played more than 70 games. Remember when he was a 2nd/3rd round fantasy pick?

2012 Topps Opening Day Roy Halladay: The stripped down version of Topps with the stripped down 2012 version of Halladay.  I hope the 2013 version is close to the 2011 version.

2012 Topps Update Blue Border Laynce Nix: An injured bench player is the most forgotten of players as a retail parallel issued only in blaster packs is the most cast aside of parallel.

2012 Topps Kyle Kendrick: He was officially labeled a pleasant surprise in 2012, upping his K rate to a career best 6.6 K/9.

2006 Ovation Ryan Howard:  Who misses themed cards? Spotlighted baseballs anyone?

2006 Artifacts Pat Burrell: Burrell had the best chewing mouth ever....possibly.

2012 Topps  A Cut Above Roy Halladay: Die cuts are back in 2012....It's almost like they forgot what the purpose was. This looks like a 'Z', which would be in the omega position of the alphabet.

Always fun to receive a manila envelope....maybe next time, the rest of my mail will be inspired and every piece will transform into one.

All the Way From the Backstop (a swapping cards edition)

In a quest to reconcile where I get cards from and for what purpose, I found these cards curiously labeled "backstop01....09".  This means that was from the writer of the Pads-centric blog  All the Way to the Backstop.  He must have sent me a wide variety of Phillies, I remember a stack a mile-high, but more realistically, it was 100 cards or so.  So let me give a retroactive shout out and display of Phillies cards from modern and bygone eras.

1992 Ultra Charlie Hayes: memorable Phillies moment: catching the last out of the first Phillies no-hitter in Veterans Stadium.

1996 Select Darren Daulton:  Just Read This....trust me.

1993 Upper Deck Team Card Hammer & Nails: This was a portrait of the hitting soul of that crazy '93 team.  I can't imagine where they got the name of the card though, must be some nickname angle.

1998 Donruss "Bob" Abreu:  I never heard him referred to Bobby ever in all his years as a Phillie.  He did have 6 straight seasons of greater than 136 OPS+ and 20 HRs.  My guess is that only Mike Schmidt and Chuck Klein matched him, but I didn't do the research.

2012 Topps Opening Day Cole Hamels:  The elder statesman of the Phillies pitching staff somehow set a career high in wins this year with 17.

2012 Bowman Gold Shane Victorino: "Not at my head, bro", and then he'll run you down.

1991 Leaf Dickie Thon: When he hit 15 HRs in 1989, I thought he was the greatest shortstop ever.  How come he's never mentioned as a lost career a la Herb Score or Tony Conigliaro?

1989 Donruss MVP Kevin Gross: Interesting fact: led the NL in batters hit for 3 straight years as a Phillie.

1995 Topps Ricky Bottalico: Have you noticed that first year closers have a lot of success and 2nd year closers don't have so much success?  Has there ever been a case study done for this?

This was a great mix of cards to get.  Thanks again.

A Fantastic Catch of Cards

Notice I joined the world of pun titles, and started with a bad one.
Sometime in the hazy sunlit past, I made a deal with Fantastic Catch (who's holding a cool group break by the way with sign-ups open right now and deserves the patronage of your support).  He was able to touch on quite a few parts of my wantlist with precision and credulity and gets a Jim Edmonds level catch rating in my book.

2010 Topps Update Ivan Rodriguez: Pudge V2.0 has crossed off into the sunset at the conclusion of last year, and here marks one of his first versions of cards with his last team. Surprisingly, not all cards I need are Phillies as you can see.  For some reason, I;m still building the 2010 Update set.  It might be because I love to see players in their new uniforms for the first time.  I always expect these to be glossier like the Topps Traded sets pre-1993.

2011 Topps Purple Diamond Ryan Howard: These were only inserted in Toys R Us packs, and I've ran out of reasons to go there at my age.  This card I never would've received in a pack, so that was righteous.

2011 Topps Opening Day Carlos Ruiz: Chooch knows no other holiday except opening day.  I'm still voting for him for the all-star game.

2010 Topps Update More Tales of the Game Roy Halladay:  When the Phillies played a home game in Toronto because of one those world leader summits that are held ever so often. If Halladay was moderator of the G20 summitt, maybe they would finally comprehend the correlation between hard work and success and stop false negotiating.  "I threw a perfect game...what did you do?" would be the perfect retort to those leaders.

2010 Upper Deck Supreme Chase Utley and 2010 Upper Deck Kyle Kendrick: Remember when Upper Deck tried to produce a set without logos?  I think they forgot to airbrush something on the Utley insert.  Kendrick demonstrates the perfect pose for such a set: profilin' with style.  Supposedly, these Supreme cards were rare, but they're not serial numbered.  There could be 100 or a bajillion.  Any card with Utley with sunglasses is a good card for me.

And with that, I thank you for perusing some of the haul from Fantastic Catch (and thanking him too).

Cards from JABO's Garage

Sometimes you get cards in the mail from unexpected sources, for me it was from Kyle of JABO
He was holding a clearance sale of sorts and I claimed the Phillies for a very reduced price to augment the paucity of cards that are presently lacking from the junk wax era and beyond (since most of them are in PA, while I'm in CA, and I have no idea which ones I had in the first place, except for 1990 Topps, I had all those little buggers).

Here are some of the favorites for various reasons. 

1991 Stadium Club Pat Combs: I love 1991 Stadium Club, I'm not going to lie.  He sent over almost the whole team set of this wondrous set, which outshines all others from the topsy-turvy year of yore.  Pat Combs was the first prospect of significance I remember. He went 4-0 in September....as a rookie....with 30 K and 6 BB in 38 innings.  Somehow, 1990 was his only full season.

1982 Topps Traded Mike Krukow: 1982 Topps Traded will be one of the last sets I acquire for my small box sets collection of the 80s and 90s.  That is all because of one card, the Ripken.  This is Krukow's debut as a Phillie, which was a quick passthrough on the way to San Fran, where he resides to this day (at least announces the games).

1980 Topps Pete Rose: Here is Rose's first mainstream card as a Phillie (with the 1979 Burger King preceding it). 1979 was notable because it was his 10th season with 200 or more hits, which has only been matched since by Ichiro.

2007 Upper Deck Jayson Werth: Continuing the theme of 1st year Phillies cards, here's Jayson Werth, pre-beard. These look like spring training uniforms, but are actually batting practice uniforms only wore from 2007-2009.  I think Werth and the Phillies miss each other as they were, going to Washington hasn't worked for either of them.

2010 Topps Peak Performance Raul Ibanez: Ibanez made the all-star team in 2009 replacing Pat Burrell in left field with career highs in HR, SLG, and OPS+.  Check out his stats through May 31: .332/.394/.684 with 17 HR and 46 RBIs.

1993 Upper Deck Diamond Gallery Dave Hollins: I liked Dave Hollins a lot when he was on his first stint as a Phillie.  He was super intense on the field and got hit by a lot of pitches, just like me.  I had not actually heard of this set before receiving this card, so that was a nice surprise.

1991 Topps Archives Richie Ashburn: This is what happens when reproductions are done by ghost printers.

2000 Topps Chrome Chad Ogea: Chad Ogea is what happened to teams struggling fill to fill a rotation in 1999.  That was not a good pitching team with a team ERA of 4.92.

I do love to fill up my Phillies boxes, so thanks for the cards, Kyle.