Saturday, August 29, 2015

Completely Red: 2000 Fleer Ultra

All the 'futuristic' stuff in the 20th century seemed to have a '2000' tag on it. Things like the Hoover Vacuum 2000, or the Ronco Turnip Twaddler 2000 conveyed that the product was advanced beyond the current era. Then once the actual year 2000 came, well, hey, it's just another year. So I suppose Fleer decided to shoot back a couple decades with a design that screams, to me, 'it's 1981 and here's what the future of fonts looks like'. By the way, despite my mocking, I really like it.

Bonus: Short Print Gookie!

STATS:

Cards - 9

RC's - 0

All Stars - 6 (Dmitri Young, Scott Williamson, Sean Casey, Pete Harnisch, Greg Vaughn, Barry Larkin)

Hall of Famers - 1 (Barry Larkin)

Reds Hall of Famers - 2 (Barry Larkin, Sean Casey)

Big Boys Showing Some Hustle - 1 (Dmitri Young)


Checklist:

21 Pokey Reese
31 Dmitri Young
39 Scott Williamson
64 Sean Casey
74 Eddie Taubensee
128 Pete Harnisch
148 Greg Vaughn
157 Barry Larkin
285 Travis Dawkins PROS SP

Go Reds.

Friday, August 28, 2015

1962 Topps #478 Don Zimmer

Two days left to vote in the first-round-closing in the NTNBRVT.
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Big get for Red Cardboard here. The Zim is quite popular, and it's reflected in his card prices. I had to wait for a grossly off-centered version to pop up, which is perfectly fine by me.

Oh, but why am I snagging a 50 year old Mets card? Check again. "CIN. REDS" is clear as day on the bottom line. That makes this a Reds card, kiddies. Popeye played 63 games for the Reds in 1962, after playing 14 for the Mets that same year. Both of those would constitute his entire tenures for those teams in his 15 year playing career.

From what I can tell, there are only 2 cards of Zimmer as a Red: This one (and it's stamped buyback) and a 1962 Reds-issued postcard. So I'm halfway to 'Zimmer as a Red' supercollector status. Aw yeah.

Go Reds.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

1952 Topps #151 Wally Post RC

First up, go vote in The Non-Topps Non-Bowman Reds Vintage Tournament, if you haven't already.
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Picked this up for a song recently. Any '52 Topps is tough. Any '52 Topps RC is tougher. Any '52 Topps in decent shape is tougher still. This is all three. Nice.

Wally Post is a Reds Hall of Famer, spending 12 of his 15 seasons in Cincinnati. His lone All Star nod was in 1957, but was taken away by Commissioner Ford F#%$k. Yeah, so the city of Cincinnati had a systematic ballot stuffing campaign resulting in 7 All Star starters. So what? Blame the game, not the gamer. Post and teammate Gus Bell were forced out and replaced with a couple scrubs; Henry Aaron and William Mays. Pshaw.


This brings me two cards away from completing the non-high number team set. I will certainly overpay for them in due time.

Go Reds.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Vote on the Last Bits of the Tourney

Allllllrighty. These are the last seven match-ups of the first round of the aptly named Non-Topps Non-Bowman Reds Vintage Tournament. Check the brackets here. The cream is slowly rising.

Vote on your favorite. Voting closes Monday at noon. Go Reds.

Match-up P: #23 1925 W590 Jim Caveney vs. #42 1976 Discs Ken Griffey

Match-up Q: #30 1961 Post Billy Martin vs. #35 1976 Pepsi Glove Discs Pete Rose

Match-up R: #14 1962 Post Frank Robinson vs. #51 1976 Greyhound Joe Morgan

Match-up S: #19 1952 Red Man Ewel Blackwell vs. #46 1976 Kellogg's Clay Carroll

Match-up T: #27 1973 Kellogg's Joe Morgan vs. #38 1919 W514 Ira Wingo

Match-up U: #11 1977 Kellogg's Joe Morgan vs. #54 1969 Globe Imports Jim Maloney

Match-up V: #22 1978 Kellogg's George Foster vs. #43 1960 Leaf Brooks Lawrence

Monday, August 24, 2015

My Massive Ryan LaMarre Collection

Last day to vote in the current cluster of the NTNBRVT, kids.
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Ok, so I lied in the title. My 'massive' collection of LaMarre consists of three cards, all from the 2010 Bowman Prospects set. Not impressive.

Not that there are too many cards to choose from. This 2010 Bowman Prospect and its 20 variations, 2010 Donruss Elite put out a few base/inserts of him with auto variations aplenty, he was in 2011 Topps Pro Debut with all those parallels, and he was in 2012 Onyx Platinum Prospects.


I even mention him, because my Reds are so terribly un-competitive right now, that our only bright spots are watching young guys get some major league innings. LaMarre debuted Saturday and went 0-5, but got his first hit yesterday, going 1-3. Time to produce some more cards, Topps. We're looking at the next Willie Mays here.

Go Reds.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Random Newness

Go vote in the stupid tournament in the sidebar, kids!!!!
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Hey, how about some random cards recently piled into the collection?

1997 Bowman's Best Refractor Aaron Boone. Yes. An 18 year old refractor. Goodness.

2014 Topps Chrome Refractor Homer Bailey. A little more recent on this one.

2003 Fleer Tradition B&W Goudey serial numbered out of a whopping 1,936.

1991 Fleer Team Logo Stickers. Two variants, I suppose. Both count toward the collection.

Marty Brown autograph. I need to check if Lenny Harris is a good TTM guy. Then I could have probably the only copy of this card signed by both of these guys.

2015 Ginter goodies. Haven't acquired an Edwin Encarnacion card in a long while.

Disco Desclafani!

2002 Leaf Rookis and Stars Longevity Chris Reitsma serial numbered out of 100. I've never seen this parallel before and I may never again.

Go Reds.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Yet More Reds-not-Reds

Reminder to vote in the Non-Topps Non-Bowman Reds Vintage Tournament smackdown. In the meantime, here are some more Reds-not-Reds I've got piled up.

DONKEY!

I'm glad I have a reason to possess Expos cards.

'The Tabasco Kid' is Norman Elberfield, so nicknamed because he was a tremendous prick, got thrown out of tons of games, and assaulted an umpire to the point where the police intervened. He got and 8 game suspension, which is about the same as if you have a little bit of goop on your cap now. And he played 41 games for the Reds in 1899.

You may know Harry Lowrey better as 'Peanuts'.

Royals Bippage is sneaky Bippage. And why pick up a Tom Seaver Mets card when I can pick up a Tom Seaver Red Sox card?

Do people remember that Dontrelle Willis finished his career with the Reds? Well he did.

Go Reds.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Vote In More NTNBRVT Goodness! DO IT!!

The first chunk of the tourney is in the books, kiddies. You can check the results here. One shutout. Two upsets. Eight sweet, sweet vintagey winners.

Here be the second of three Round 1 groupings. Vote in the sidebar for you favorite. Voting closes Tuesday at noon. Go Reds.

Match-up I: #28 1933 Goudey (Low) George Grantham vs. #37 1975 Kellogg's Cesar Geronimo

Match-up J: #12 1978 Hostess George Foster vs. #53 1977 Hostess Joe Morgan

Match-up K: #21 1963 Kahn's Don Blasingame vs. #44 1960 Fleer Paul Derringer

Match-up L: #31 1940 Play Ball Frank McCormick vs. #34 1974 Kellogg's Johnny Bench

Match-up M: #15 1936 National Chicle Myers/Dressen vs. #50 1934 Diamond Matchbooks Earl Adams

Match-up N: #18 1978 SSPC George Foster vs. #47 1976 SSPC Dave Concepcion

Match-up O: #26 1954 Exhibits Ted Kluszewski vs. #39 1968 Atlantic Oil Milt Pappas