Friday, January 30, 2015

Completely Red: 2013 Topps 1972 Minis

Hey, remember these things? They were all the rage wayyyyyy back in 2013. I miss em. I think there should be an 800 card set of these. Check that. I think there should be a 1972 mini of every player that has ever played baseball. I want 1500 different minis of every Red since 1869, or whenever. Get it done, Topps. We'd buy the hell out of a 20,000 card all-time 1972 minis set. Just don't throw in any parallels. 

STATS:

Cards - 6

RC's - 0

All Stars - 6 (Votto, Cueto, Phillips, Bench, Davis, Morgan)

Hall of Famers - 2 (Bench, Morgan)

Reds Hall of Famers - 3 (Bench, Davis, Morgan)

Future Reds Hall of Famers - 3 (Votto, Cueto, Phillips)

Actually on the 1972 Reds Roster - 2 (Bench, Morgan)


Checklist:

16 Joey Votto
17 Johnny Cueto
72 Brandon Phillips
80 Johnny Bench
81 Eric Davis
90 Joe Morgan

Go Reds.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Maury Fisher Signed Photo


I picked this up on the 'bay for a buck ninety-nine recently. It's a baseball card-sized photo of Maury Fisher, signed, and dated on the back as 1955. I had never heard of Maury Fisher, and for good reason. After signing with the Reds in 1949, he got into one game, in 1955, and pitched 2.2 innings, giving up two runs and striking out one batter. This would be his only big league appearance. 

There has only been one card produced of Fisher, a 1971 sixteen-card set called Aldana Yesterday Heroes, crudely made by some dude and meant to showcase players who never had a card before.

So this is about as good as a collector can hope for in terms of some Maury Fisher swag. I'm glad I found this, else I never would have known about the guy.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Completely Red: 1993 Select/Select Traded

So we had 1993 Score, which was just a basic set. Nothing special. Then we had 1993 Score SELECT, which was, well, just a basic set. Nothing special. It had better photography, for sure, but the card stock was typical and the design was just okay. Yet, I look back on it quite fondly for some reason. That's marketing for ya, I guess. Tell me it's special and I'll believe it.

Then, for the 1993 Score Select Rookie/Traded set, they went with better card stock and gold foil. I'm sure they had good reason, but it's kinda odd to change things up mid-year. Ah well. Everyone had a behemoth printing press back then I imagine, so they couldn't wait to spit out a million more cards with whatever design the CEO's grade school children came up with in KidPix that day.

Sweet horizontal cards, though. That Sabo is boss.

STATS:

Cards - 22

RC's - 0

All Stars - 15 (Barry Larkin, Rob Dibble, Paul O'Neill, Bip Roberts, Chris Sabo, Greg Swindell, Norm Charlton, Tom Browning, Reggie Sanders, Dan Wilson, Roberto Kelly, Kevin Mitchell, John Smiley, Juan Samuel, Jeff Reardon)

Hall of Famers - 1 (Barry Larkin)

Reds Hall of Famers - 4 (Jose Rijo, Tom Browning, Barry Larkin, Chris Sabo)

Sweet Shades - 4 Pair

Bipped? - Bipped

Checklist:

23 Barry Larkin
45 Hal Morris
65 Rob Dibble
86 Paul O'Neill
111 Bip Roberts
135 Chris Sabo
163 Jose Rijo
179 Greg Swindell
191 Tim Belcher
207 Norm Charlton
235 Joe Oliver
249 Tom Browning
265 Scott Bankhead
274 Reggie Sanders
345 Dan Wilson
348 Willie Greene
20T Roberto Kelly
29T Kevin Mitchell
34T John Roper
100T John Smiley
129T Juan Samuel
135T Jeff Reardon


Go Reds.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

TTM Goodness: Phil Ervin, Ronald Torreyes

Phil Ervin was a 1st round draft pick for the Reds in 2013. He split 46 games that year between the Rookie League Billings Mustangs and Single-A Dayton Dragons, hitting .331. In 2014 he played a full year for the Dragons, with less success. Baseball Prospectus has him listed among their top 100 prospects. Signed is a 2013 bowman Draft Picks and Prospects #BDPP66.

Ronald Torreyes was signed by the Reds in 2010 out of Venezuela. Torreyes played 158 games for the Reds minor league system, hitting .370 in Rookie Leagues and .356 in Single-A Dayton. He then signed with the Cubs, spending a year and half in their farm system, then signed with the Astros mid-2013. He spent 2014 with the Astros' AAA-affiliate. Signed is a 2011 Topps Pro Debut #255.

Go Reds.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Great Day for a Blog Post... Let's Post Two!


1963 Topps #3 HR Leaders ft. Ernie Banks
2001 Topps Archives #211 1963 HR Leaders ft. Ernie Banks

RIP Ernie. These are the only cards I have of Mr. Cub, as he hasn't been paired up with a Red very often. And it appears some designer at Topps got a little too cavalier with his Exacto knife. No matter. This card is stacked.

Go Reds.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Completely Red: 1991 Topps/Topps Traded/Topps Micro

Ah, the set that got me into collecting. I was gifted complete team sets of the Reds, Cubs, and A's from 1991 Topps when I was 9 years old. These were the seeds of chaos. Cards consumed my life for the next 4 years. Then, like the lot of you, I just stopped cold. This was around 1995. I don't even remember why. Probably because everyone else my age stopped once they hit junior high school and I had no one to trade with anymore. Well, 20 years later, here I am, still blathering on about a 1991 Topps Reds team set. The circle of life is a ridiculous farce, ain't it?

For a bonus, the 1991 Topps Micro team set is stored alongside their big brothers in the pages, which always makes me happy when I flip through the flagship binder. There is only one Red in the Traded set, and Micros weren't produced for it, which is a shame.

STATS:

Cards - 31 (30 Micro)

RC's - 2 (Rosario Rodriguez, Dan Wilson)

All Stars - 13 (Mariano Duncan, Chris Sabo, Danny Jackson, Paul O'Neill, Tom Browning, Jack Armstrong, Norm Charlton, Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, Rob Dibble, Lou Piniella, Dan Wilson, Randy Myers)

Hall of Famers - 1 (Barry Larkin)

Reds Hall of Famers - 5 (Eric Davis, Jose Rijo, Tom Browning, Barry Larkin, Chris Sabo)

Hall of Fame Cameos - 1 (Ozzie Smith)

Checklist:

13 Mariano Duncan
45 Chris Sabo
92 Danny Jackson
122 Paul O'Neill
151 Tom Browning
175 Jack Armstrong
204 Herm Winningham
258 Chris Hammond
289 Tim Birtsas
309 Norm Charlton
334 Todd Benzinger
363 Rick Mahler
400 Barry Larkin AS
419 Jeff Reed
444 Glenn Braggs
493 Jose Rijo
517 Joe Oliver
550 Eric Davis
577 Bill Doran
581 Luis Quinones
604 Billy Hatcher
627 Tim Layana
642 Hal Morris
662 Ron Dibble
669 Lou Piniella MG
688 Rosario Rodriguez
713 Scott Scudder
730 Barry Larkin
767 Dan Wilson RC
780 Randy Myers

65T Chris Jones 

Go Reds.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Oh, Right. Blogging.

Been traveling, been working, been partying, been a lot of things except a blogger lately. Such is life. Running around the lecture circuit, visiting family, shoving beer and chicken wings into my face, unlocking mysteries of the universe, talking to chalkboards, and varieties of other things have made January a very light blogging month in the annals of Red Cardboard, particularly the last 6 days or so.

But I'm back, much less busy, and ready to knock out some posts. Aw yiss. Today, let's check out a nice package from reader Joe, a fellow Reds fan and Larkin collector.

2012 Topps World Series Championship Pin. This was the star of the package by far, and it's a really great looking card. If you haven't held one, it's about 15 pounds worth of metal and as thick as a steak. Give or take. And of course I'm a huge fan of anything 1990 World Series.

Three more Larkins found a home. We've got a 1996 Upper Deck Diamond Destiny insert with some blue acetate, a 2000 Pacific that closes out the team set, and a 1998 Kahn's. Sweet. Speaking of Kahn's...

1997 Kahn's team set. I will always love these wiener sets since they feature some short-timer Reds that didn't make it onto very many cards donning the Cincy uniform. Felix Rodriguez, Mike Morgan, and Stan Belinda, for instance. Plus, that damn dog.

Thanks for the package, buddy. I've more cards shipping your way soon.

Go Reds.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Jose Rijo

Signed by the New York Yankees at age 15.
Debuted in the majors at age 18.
Traded to the A's for Rickey Henderson.
Traded to the Reds for Dave Parker.
Gave up one run in two starts in the 1990 World Series.
Won the World Series MVP.
NL Strikeout Leader.
All Star.
Received Hall of Fame votes in 2000.
Came back to play in the majors AFTER receiving HoF votes.
Won Tony Conigliaro Award.
Elected to the Reds Hall of Fame.

And, most importantly, has some terrific cardboard.


Go Reds.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Completely Red: 1986 Fleer Inserts

A little bit different Completely Red today. In 1986 Fleer included 5 insert sets with their release, up from one the year before, and zero the years prior. Well not so much insert sets, as auxiliary sets, as some of these sets were sold as stand-alones. But I don't know what else to call them. Among the 150 insert cards, 9 were Reds. This does not include stickers or box cards.

This was the beginning of hideously tacky Fleer-ness that would dominate the mid-to-late 80's. It's fantastic. So many primary colors and child-like designs. It looks like these were all initially sketched with crayon, and were barely changed by the time they made it to the printer. I'm sure these are completely disregarded by most collectors, but not this one. I've been searching for everything Fleer had to offer in the 80's, and I'm at about 90%. It will be a happy day if I can finish everything.

Also, re: Pete Rose in the 'Future Hall of Famers' set... I still believe.

1986 Fleer All Star Team
#6 Dave Parker

1986 Fleer Future Hall of Famers
#1 Pete Rose

1986 Fleer League Leaders
#30 Dave Parker
#36 Pete Rose

1986 Fleer Limited Edition
#33 Dave Parker
#37 Pete Rose

1986 Fleer Baseball's Best Sluggers vs. Pitchers
#4 Tom Browning
#29 Pete Rose
#36 Mario Soto

Go Reds.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

TTM Goodness: Mariano Duncan, Dann Bilardello

Mariano Duncan was drafted by the Dodgers in 1982 and debuted for them in 1985. He was then traded to the Reds in 1989 and began a three-year stint in Cincy that included a starting job at second base for our 1990 World Series team. He would then play for the Phillies (where he was an All Star), the Reds again in 1995 for 29 games, the Yankees, and the Blue Jays. He would briefly return in the Marlins minor league system before retiring in 1999. Signed is a 1990 Score #506.

Dann Bilardello was drafted by the Dodgers in 1978, then stolen from them by the Reds in 1982 thanks to the Rule 5 draft. He would debut for us in 1983 and gather 219 of his 382 career plate appearances for Cincy during his three years here. He would later play for the Expos, Pirates and Padres before retiring in 1994. He then began a coaching career, eventually becoming a manager in the Dodgers farm system. He is currently the manager of the Cardinals' A+ affiliate Palm Beach Cardinals. Signed is a 1986 Topps #253.

Go Reds.