The Trading Post #171: Card Hemorrhage

Every once in a while, for no particular reason, one of my longtime readers will send me an envelope full of cards. There is always a nice mix of Rockies when that happens, but sometimes it includes vintage goodies that are great additions to my collection but that I would be unlikely to buy for myself.

That exact thing happened last December (sorry) with Jay from Card Hemorrhage, who sent cards ranging from active Rockies to vintage all the way back to 1967.

1972 Topps #330 Jim Hunter

Vintage cards of Hall of Famers don't just grow on trees, especially when they predate the overproduction era by well over a decade. This 1972 card of Jim Hunter is certainly not what I expected to find in my mailbox that day. Jim Hunter, better known as "Catfish", was a Cy Young Award winner, five-time World Series champion, 1987 inductee into Cooperstown, and made an appearance on my second-ever blog post.

The card back from this '72 does refer to him by his commonly known nickname (in fact his Baseball-Reference page doesn't even list his birth name), and mentions that he never played in the minors. He joined up with the Kansas City Athletics as a fresh-faced 19-year old, and stayed in the Majors up to his retirement in 1979. Sadly, he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS) and died at the young age of 53 in 1999.

The cartoon and trivia question on the card back digs deep into the baseball vault, "before baseball was even baseball" as one of my favorite sportswriters puts it when referring to the game in the 19th century. We're asked, "How many runs did Guy Hecker score, 8-15-86?"

Now, when I see a date like that, I of course jump to 1986, but since this card is from 1972, clearly they mean 1886. Card companies do like to make predictions about who will end up in the Hall of Fame, but even they wouldn't look at a specific date that far in the future.

In any case, seven. The answer is seven.

Even in 1972, I can't imagine there were many who had a vivid enough memory to recall 1886.

1972 O-Pee-Chee #229 Steve Blass WS

On the other hand, the 1971 World Series was fresh in everyone's mind when Topps printed the psychedelic tombstone set. And it still was when O-Pee-Chee printed their Canadian equivalents that same year, and this is indeed an OPC card.

Card #229 in both sets featured a photo of Steve Blass, who went the distance in Game 7 to secure the championship for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Notching the W in complete fashion during Game 7 of the World Series is something that hasn't been done since Jack Morris in 1990, and Blass is in some very elite company for turning in that kind of performance. Names like Bob Gibson (twice), Sandy Koufax, Johnny Podres who finally sealed the deal for Brooklyn in 1955, Dizzy Dean, and others. 

Remembering that the flamethrowing closer Aroldis Chapman appeared in 2016's Game 7 with two outs in the 8th inning (only to immediately lose a three run lead), I think it's safe to say we have seen the last of complete games in Game 7.

The card back simply contains the box score (as well as a couple section headings in both English and French). On it, you'll find names like Clemente, Stargell, and two Robinsons on the Baltimore side.

Simple and timeless.

2021 Topps Heritage #151 Josh Naylor

Topps reused the 1972 design in the 2021 Heritage set, and to my eye, they did a pretty nice job. Jay threw in a copy of Josh Naylor's card, Cleveland's Canadian-born first baseman/right fielder. Naylor suffered a bad leg injury last season, but has recovered well and has proven to be an entertaining, high-energy player for the Guardians.

The trivia question on the back is a bit closer to the realm of recent history than we saw on Catfish Hunter's card. "How many intentional walks did Roger Maris get when he hit 61 homers in 1961?"

Famously, it was zero, because he had Mickey Mantle protecting him in the lineup. And Mantle hit 54 of his own that year, a career high. There was no easy way through that lineup.

1980 Topps #104 Manny Mota

Moving forward a few years in the Topps timeline, we come to 1980. This was near the end of Manny Mota's career, leaving his mark with a 20-year career. He spent most of that with the Dodgers and Pirates, along with brief stints as a Giant and Expo. His final season was 1982, if you can call it a season. Really it was just one at-bat in a September game against the Cardinals.

Manny went on to coach the Dodgers until 2013. His sons Andy and José both played in the Major Leagues in the early 1990s. You'll find each of them in a few of the many overproduction-era sets you have stashed away. Try 1992 Fleer.

1980 O-Pee-Chee #38 John Milner DP

Crossing the border again brings us to another Canadian-printed O-Pee-Chee card, this one of Pirates outfielder John Milner. He was fresh off winning his first and only World Series ring as a member of the 1979 "We Are Family" team that sported these bright yellow uniforms.

His cousin Eddie played for the Reds and Giants throughout the 1980s, and his 1987 card looks so familiar that I'm almost certain it was in the first pack of cards I ever got.

1967 Topps #56 José Tartabull

The oldest card in this envelope was of Cuban-born outfielder José Tartabull. He's pictured here on the 1967 set as a member of the Boston Red Sox, when he was teammates with Carl Yastrzemski. He was also teammates with Catfish Hunter for a few seasons during his time with the Kansas City Athletics. After his time in Boston, he wrapped up his career by joining the Athletics again, this time after they moved to Oakland. 

He, too, is a baseball dad, as his son Danny played with the Mariners, Royals, Yankees, and others during the '80s and '90s, who is also in that 1992 Fleer set if you still have it out. Danny Tartabull was Derek Jeter's teammate during th 1995 rookie season, and I can definitely recommend the Jeter documentary "The Captain" on ESPN. I'm not entirely caught up, but I'd imagine you can see the younger Tartabull in some of that footage.

1993 Rockies Team Stadium Club #8 Roberto Mejía

My baseball fandom began in earnest in 1993. Based on that, anyone in this community can probably guess I like the early 1990s influx of gold foil that overtook the hobby. That includes this Team Stadium Club card, a set that was a very early acquisition in my collection. It's from the same team set I completed a while ago with help from the blog community.

As stated on the card back, Roberto Mejía hadn't yet made his Major League debut. That would come a little later in 1993, specifically on July 15th while visiting the Cubbies. That is foreshadowed by what I think is a "WGN Sports" banner in the background, the longtime TV home of the Cubs.

1981 Fleer #498 Broderick Perkins (AU)

Our final two cards are graced by on-card autographs. They're not certified or anything, but will still be good additions to a special page I have in one of my first binders.

I must admit that I've never heard of Broderick Perkins. He played in the late '70s and early '80s for the Padres and Indians, but I can't recall crossing paths with one of his cards in my collecting career. Nevertheless, both Fleer and Donruss included him in their 1981 sets following the dissolution of the Topps monopoly. Which, of course, we now have again.

1994 Leaf #172 Gerónimo Peña (AU)

Gerónimo Peña, on the other hand, I do remember. As pictured, he was a member of the Cardinals for nearly his entire career, and he was on the roster during my first visit to Coors Field on August 25th, 1995. I just ran across some family photos from that trip during this tremendous photo organization project I spent most of July on, and while Peña didn't appear in any of those pictures, I did find some distant snaps my dad took of Galarraga, Bichette, and lots of other Blake Street Bomber-era Rockies, along with Ozzie Smith's scoreboard graphic.

I remember Peña's 1994 Topps card, where on the back they mentioned a series of freak injuries he suffered. He once tripped over his glove in spring training and broke his collarbone. Things like that.

He's healthy enough to be dancing down the third base line on his 1994 Leaf card, another strong candidate in the 1990s gold foil festival. The busy card back contains another action photo, a couple lines of statistics, a tiny rainbow foil Cardinals logo, a ticket stub design element that puts us in the Field Box at Busch Stadium, and a wide shot of said stadium with the Gateway Arch in the background. And the card number.

More is more with 1990s card backs.

Thanks very much to Jay for thinking of me!

Antique Mall Mystery Pack: Yankees

If you've hung around for all the Mystery Packs from the Brass Armadillo antique mall these past few months, then this one will look a little bit different. That's because these next few came from an entirely different vendor clear across the store. In fact, they weren't mystery packs at all. Rather, these were in a full 9-pocket page, front and back.

But I want to keep the theme going. "Antique Mall Fully Visible Page" doesn't have the same ring. And anyway, they're definitely older than most of what you've been seeing lately.

1976 Topps Traded #528T Dock Ellis

Clear back to the 1970s, in fact. Thanks to the awesome No-No: a Dockumentary movie that came out recently, Dock Ellis, the Pirates pitcher who famously pitched a no-hitter while on LSD, has become much more well-known in recent years. Though he spent most of his career as a Pirate, he wasn't happy with getting sent to the bullpen in 1975, and following a team-imposed suspension, was dealt to the Yankees in the 1975-1976 offseason, earning a spot in the second-ever Topps Traded set.

Ellis is definitely not in a real Yankees uniform here. I'm sure that's a National League stadium in the background, and his hat has that fuzzy watercolor look common to airbrushed photos. But more tellingly, Ellis still has his mustache and sideburns, which is just barely within the limits of the Yankees' facial hair policy. It's a nice bridge between the 1972 In Action card I found in the Pirates pack and the next card.

1977 Topps #71 Dock Ellis

Following his departure from Pittsburgh, Ellis probably decided not to deal with testing Steinbrenner's limits and just went clean shaven. He passed away several years ago, after dealing with drugs, alcohol, and a domestic violence incident, both during his career and afterwards. As depicted in the movie, he spent a lot of time in his later years working as an advocate and coordinator in drug rehab programs.

Sure, the guy who dropped acid on game day had a lot of things to say about drugs, but he certainly wasn't the only one. The movie focuses quite a bit on Dexamyl, the drug of choice for many MLB players of the time, both on and off the Pirates. Drug use in the Majors goes way back, long before the recent round of steroid use, and Ellis himself contends that even guys like Ruth and Gehrig had to have been using something to play a day game after spending the night drinking.

I'm not saying that pro athletes should be involved with illegal drugs, but I am saying that it's bogus to single out steroid users while ignoring the 1970s, or even the 1920s, as Ellis alleges.

1976 Topps Traded #27T Ed Figueroa

Ellis didn't have the only 1976 Traded card in this page. The Yankees sure were busy shoring up the rotation on December 11th, 1975, acquiring Ed Figueroa the same day as Ellis. Figueroa got the airbrushed treatment too, though Topps did a much better job on Ellis' pinstripes.

Topps Traded was still finding an identity in the mid-'70s. The torn newspaper headline is a nice touch, but the card numbers are what I found most interesting. In 1974 and 1976, they used the same card number for a player's Traded card as in the base set, simply adding a "T" on the end. It's an interesting idea, if a bit confusing. Dock Ellis' card is 528T, but the Traded set wasn't anywhere near that large.

1981 was a bit different, as the Traded set just picked up at card 727, right where the base set left off. It wasn't until 1982 until we saw the numbering system we know today, staring at 1 and having a "T" as a suffix, or maybe as a prefix, or with a UH or US in the card number in the most recent sets.

Frankly, it's always been a bit of an odd set. They were printed on white paper stock instead of cardboard, they used to come in those tiny 132-card boxes, and though now it's grown to the size of a full series, it's pretty much the set commemorating the All-Star Game.

I like the 1981 numbering scheme the best. It makes it feel like it's a continuation of the base set, not some after-hours secret project.

1977 Topps #656 Ron Guidry

Ron Guidry was just getting his Major League career going when this card was printed, though he'd go an amazing 25-3 in 1978 on his way to the Cy Young award. A bunch of guys have won 24 games in a season since then, and Bob Welch managed 27 in 1990, but Guidry's still pretty far up the list of single-season wins going back to the mid-1970s.  Even better, his career lasted into the early days of the overproduction era, so I definitely pulled a few of his cards as a kid buying packs of 1987 Topps.

1977 Topps #162 Mike Cuellar

The seller that put this page together must have run out of Yankees, as a rogue Oriole stole a spot. Mike Cuellar had a pretty solid career himself, winning the Cy Young award in 1969 and a World Series ring in 1970. But by 1977, his career had come to an end, pitching a few innings for the Angels before calling it quits. To use Dime Box Nick's term, this is Cuellar's "Sunset Card", as he never got a card for his brief appearance in Anaheim.

Speaking of Nick, the birthday boy bid us "somewhat of a farewell" today, but still plans to engage with the Cardsphere. Though we may not see (m)any more posts from him, his impact on this community, including the very existence of Infield Fly Rule has been tremendous. And for that, Mike Cuellar's Sunset Card and I thank him.

1971 Topps #358 Danny Cater

But this blog goes on, continuing to the black-bordered greatness of 1971 Topps. I've never heard of Danny Cater before, but it's from the set that reached #3 on Night Owl's countdown, and it's definitely worthy of that lofty position. In fact, it was one of the sets on my second-ever post, part of the contest winnings from Nick that kicked this blog off.

Wow, I mentioned Night Owl and Nick in the same paragraph. Are those guys influential or what?

1972 Topps #22 Rob Gardner

Why is it that these miscut cards always have such nice edges? The card itself is in better condition than almost every other card from the page, but there's a tiny bit of the "tombstone" cut off the top, and a bit of the next guy's card below. If anyone has memorized the sheet layout of 1972 Topps, and can tell me who had a green-colored tombstone on a card beginning with the number 3, I'm rather interested to know whose card I have 1% of. Or who has 1% of my Rob Gardner card, for that matter.

1978 Topps #335 Bucky Dent

Jumping from one of the oldest cards on the page to the newest, here's the hero (or spoiler) of the 1978 AL East tiebreaker game, Bucky Dent. The Aaron Boone of 1978, if you will. And Dent is looking mighty dangerous at the plate with that bunt.

As is true for about 25% of baseball seasons, the Yankees won the World Series that year, thanks in large part to Bucky Dent, who went on to be named the MVP of the '78 Series. Aaron Boone's heroics didn't lead to a championship in 2003, but that was one of many home runs I have in my memory banks. Others are McGwire's 62nd (I was on the phone with my Grandfather), Brosius, Jeter, and Soriano from the 2001 World Series (best Series I've ever seen, though my team didn't win that one), and Matt Holliday's home run in Game 3 of the 2007 World Series (I was there!)

Sorry for all the Joe Buck.

Looking at that list, it comes to mind that you could get a pretty darn good baseball education just by watching World Series home runs. Joe Carter, Carlton Fisk, Bill Mazeroski, David Freese, Derek Jeter, Kirk Gibson, Reggie Jackson, Kirby Puckett. And an even better one if you extend it to pennant-winning home runs like Boone, Dent, and Bobby Thomson.

It only got them to the ALCS, but I'll put Jose Bautista in there too. Something about that bat flip seems important for the future of the game.

And of course, there's the most famous home-run hitter of them all, Babe Ruth.

I didn't run across any cards of him at the antique mall, but a page of guys that all played in "The House That Ruth Built" works for me.

Antique Mall Mystery Pack: Blue Jays

I'm sure most collectors my age subscribed to Beckett as kids. Maybe some of us still do.

For a while, they had a feature where readers would add humorous captions to various baseball cards. Something along the lines of "He's at lunch. Can I take a message?" on one of those call to the bullpen cards.

1994 Score #43 Roberto Alomar

And I always wanted to caption a card like this as "Hurry up and take the picture! I can't hold this pose much longer!"

Comedy gold when you're ten.

Anyway, another one of my Antique Mall Mystery Packs from the Brass Armadillo jogged that particular memory, even though this pack was a bit less interesting than the Mets or Pirates.

1994 Score #427 Paul Molitor

In fact, there was quite a bit of Score product in this pack. I recognize these guys from the 1993 World Series, the last time the Blue Jays were in the postseason. Especially after that Tulowitzki trade, I'm pulling for them this year, but their prospects for advancing are not looking great, as they're down three games to two to the Royals and headed back to Kansas City.

Night Owl wrote a post last week about the prevalence of "hatless" players in some early Topps sets, but a good mix of that and action shots like Alomar's make for a pretty good set. Of course, these dark blue borders are seriously fragile (note the damage on the left edge), but that doesn't stop 1994 Score from being my favorite of their whole run.

1993 Score #602 Tom Henke

1993 wasn't bad either, and I remember getting a pack or two of this product from my dad for a Hanukkah present. The font's a little hard to read, but it is a surprisingly bold design for being so minimal.

I've worn glasses since before I was 5, so seeing a pro ballplayer wearing them was always cool. And I'm not talking about crazy goggles like Alex Cole or Chris Sabo, just plain old nerdy glasses. Greg Maddux wore them from time to time, too.

1994 Topps Gold #511 Devon White

This is totally a trip down memory lane, which is exactly what antique stores are selling, I guess. One-per-pack 1993 and 1994 Topps Gold cards were prized treasures of my early collection, and 1994 Topps was the first factory set I saved up enough to purchase. I've seen this card plenty, though this Gold parallel is a new addition.

Devon White was an important part of the Blue Jays' back-to-back World Series wins, and judging from all that mail, he was quite the fan favorite.

1993 Upper Deck #425 Carlos Delgado

Carlos Delgado had yet to make his mark on the majors the last time the Jays were a contender, and he looks so young in this photo! The back of this card details how he was tearing up the minor leagues in 1992, well on his way to wielding the wooden tools in that bat rack to hit darn near 500 home runs before he retired.

1993 Upper Deck #339 Duane Ward

I don't remember Duane Ward as well as some of these other guys, but it's a perfect example of the legendary awesomeness that is 1993 Upper Deck. Pre-game stretching while on the road? Might as well blow a bubble.

I didn't really have a good appreciation of the closer role (when are we just going to break down and call it a "position"?) until I started playing Fantasy baseball in 2005, let alone an understanding of a "save situation". Still, Ward was good for 45 saves in 1993, and even got the W in the final Game 6, thanks to this next guy.

1994 Score Gold Rush #73 Joe Carter

One can hardly say a word about the Blue Jays, especially this time of year, without mentioning Joe Carter. His home run in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series was only the second time anyone won the whole darn championship in walkoff home run fashion, other than the (in)famous Bill Mazeroski. There have been plenty of walkoff home runs in World Series history, names you're sure to recognize, like Kirk Gibson, Carlton Fisk, and Derek Jeter. But only Carter and Mazeroski got to raise the trophy immediately after rounding the bases.

It's a tall order for the Blue Jays at this point, but if there was ever a team to add to that list, its the 2015 Jays and their stacked lineup.

Up next, the Houston Astros, which will be the last Mystery Pack of a 2015 Postseason team.

The Trading Post #5: All the Way to the Backstop

When it nears the end of a month, things tend to get a little crazy at work. Though I am awash in cards right now (I've picked up a 5000-count box at each of the last two monthly card shows), it's unlikely that I'll be able to make another post in October, which means that I've done a whole month of nothing but trade posts!

Wrapping up my first round of trades, I received a shipment of assorted cardboard from Marcus, the writer of the Padres-focused All the Way to the Backstop. I found plenty of Gwynns and Finleys for him, as you can see here.

Before this shipment, I was not familiar with this insert set from 2013 Topps. This example of Making Their Mark shows Wilin Rosario taking a mighty cut in Coors Field.

2013 Topps Making Their Mark #MM-10 Wilin Rosario

There's just enough purple in this design without it being distracting. It's more of an accent, even showing up in "Baby Bull's" batting gloves and in the dugout roof (perhaps the best clue for spotting a Coors Field Card).

I haven't been this much into collecting in many, many years, so I've gotten to know the 2014 Topps set pretty well. That's why this Dylan Bundy card jumped out at me, since I didn't recognize it at all. I did a little digging and it turns out this is a rare variation short-print card, few of which I've seen in person.

2014 Topps #531B Dylan Bundy SP (USA Jersey)

This inspired me to re-examine several stacks from my extras box, and I was able to locate a couple others, like this "Rally Squirrel" variant of David Freese's 2012 issue.

2012 Topps #273B David Freese SP (Holding Squirrel)

These short prints are a bit of a pain to identify in a giant stack of duplicates, but...Squirrel!

For all the overproduction cardboard out there, I seem to have relatively few insert cards from that era. They're much appreciated, especially when they're of Griffey, Jr. or his superstar twin, Frank Thomas, the two who tended to command the highest Beckett values in those heady days.

1992 Fleer All-Stars #23 Ken Griffey, Jr.

It's a bit off-centered and has an unsightly print spot, but 1992 was before card companies got crazy with gold foil and LSD designs. Just a nice, simple, black-bordered card with a bit of gold accent to catch the eye.

Marcus also threw in some extra-premium cards, one from a millennium-era SP Authentic set, and another from the ultra-expensive Topps Museum Collection.

2000 SP Authentic #52 Fernando Tatis

2012 Topps Museum Collection #23 Tony Gwynn

These two have surprisingly similar designs, considering they're from different companies and separated by a dozen years. I believe this is now my fifth card from Museum Collection (equivalent to a pack), and I doubt I've paid more than a buck or two for them all. Which is odd, because a box of merely twenty usually retails in the $200 range.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Green #95 Harmon Killebrew /199

And two of those five are serial numbered, like the one above, which I believe came from a dealer's dollar box. How this sort of stuff ends up in discount boxes is beyond me.

The baseball playoffs, and especially the World Series, tend to remind me of the history of this great sport. The copper-colored Sweet Spot Classic set is one of my favorites that features stars from long ago.

2005 Sweet Spot Classic #60 Mickey Cochrane

The back of this card gives a short history of Mickey Cochrane's World Series successes, noting that he won three rings with two different clubs, including two under legendary manager Connie Mack. Depending on what happens in Game 7 tonight, we'll either have a slew of first-time winners, or some October veterans adding to their collection of championships, just like Cochrane.

It's been a great series, as we've witnessed some very impressive defense and pitching performances. Regardless of the outcome, the conclusion of Game 7 is sure to be a bittersweet moment. Spring is a long time away.