Sunday, November 29, 2015

Yet Another Impossible Project

Since, as posted a few days ago, I've amassed 15,000 Reds cards, it's near impossible to grab dozens upon dozens of cheap commons, seeing as I already have most of them. It's parallel city for me from now on. This has caused me to start non-Reds projects, which I thought I'd never do. First, the Hall of Fame binder: One card of every Hall of Famer, which has not been easy. Lots of negro league and international players that aren't prevalent in the card world (hey, how about another set with Aaron, Mays, and Musial???). Second, was my Reds Not Reds binder: one card of every Red in another team's uniform. This one is silly, but I love it. Third was the Opening Day binder: A page of the Opening Day starting nines for every year I can manage. This is still a Reds project, but it made use of my piles of doubles. Fourth, the Bengals binder: one card of every player who's donned the Orange and Black.

What idiocy am I up to now? This past season, me and some chick went to about a dozen and a half Columbus Clippers games. For the unaware, the Clippers are the AAA affiliate of the Indians (and former affiliate of the Pirates, Yankees, and Nationals). They are also a 12 minute drive from my home. They're usually pretty darn good. They won the International League title this year, their third since 2010. We even nabbed second-row-behind home plate tickets for a couple playoff games. Great stadium, cheap seats, and lots of beer. Such good times were had, that I'm starting a Clippers binder to commemorate. You know, like normal people do. Every player that has both made an appearance in a major league game and made an appearance for the Clippers is eligible. Thanks to some Baseball Reference snooping, this is a whopping 865 players since the Clippers inaugural year in 1977.

I assumed less than four decades would've produced a more manageable number, but damn the torpedoes! I'm going for it. Already dug through my junk piles and placed a JustCommons order (oh, and a second one soon after that is on its way). Puts me at about 350 already. Noice. Here's a sampling of order number one and my junk pulls:



Go Reds (and Clippers).

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Vote in The Oddball World Cup: Groups G/H, Third Pairings

And thus begins the leftover turkey sandwich lunch bonanza. Let's celebrate with some more oddball voting fantabulation, eh?

Voting closes Monday. Go Reds. Oh, and F**K MICHIGAN. Woo.

Group G/Match 7: 1988 Starting Lineup Eric Davis vs. 1994 Tombstone Barry Larkin

Group G/Match 8: 1981 TCMA 60's Billy Martin vs. 1992 UD Looney Tunes Dave Martinez

Group G/Match 9: 2003 Bazooka Comics Griffeys vs. 1989 Swell Johnny Vander Meer

Group H/Match 7: 1981 Squirt George Foster vs. 1995 Kraft Barry Larkin

Group H/Match 8: 1996 Denny's Barry Larkin vs. 1993 Ted Williams POGs Reds/Royals

Group H/Match 9: 2003 Cracker Jack Sean Casey vs. 1991 Pepsi Paul O'Neill

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Vote in The Oddball World Cup: Groups E/F, Third Pairings

Voting closes Friday. Go Reds.

Group E/Match 7: 1984 Milton Bradley Dave Concepcion vs. 1991 Jimmy Dean Barry Larkin

Group E/Match 8: 1991 Woolworth Barry Larkin vs. 1989 JJ Nissen Eric Davis

Group E/Match 9: 1994 Church's Heroes Barry Larkin vs. 1988 Nestle Buddy Bell

Group F/Match 7: 1986 Big League Chew Frank Robinson vs. 1990 Ames All Stars Eric Davis

Group F/Match 8: 1990 Post Eric Davis vs. 1989 Topps Senior League George Foster

Group F/Match 9: 1995 Comic Images League Park vs. 1988 K-Mart Pete Rose

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

15,000

According to Zistle, a site that I love (except for some programming bugs affecting the count), I've surpassed 15,000 unique Reds. This is a lot. The speed at which I acquire has slowed down, as I've pretty much locked up all the cheap base cards from the history of the universe. This has caused me to start other projects, which is a horrible idea. Anyhoozle, here is lucky number 15k...


2015 Topps Heritage High Number Combo Cards #CC-3 Reds Partners. Picked this up at a card show for a quarter. Nice. Now, how did I determine this is number 15,000? It was likely not the 15,000th card owned, but it was the 15,000th entered into my database. But as mentioned above, it might not even be that, since the programming bugs mess with the count.

However, now that I've posted it, it is official. Number 15,000. Yea to me.

Go Reds.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Best Binder Page

The Junior Junkie told us all to produce our best binder page. Thus it is commanded. Thus it shall be done.

I should mention that I didn't want to take these cards out of their screw-downs again, so I used old scans and my most-excellent MS Paint skillz to create a faux page. Deal with it.


Boom. My all-nicotine page. Left to right, top to bottom: Ed Karger, Tom Downey, Tom Downey again, Art Fromme, Dick Egan, Dick Hoblitzell, Mike Mowrey, Hans Lobert, Jean Dubuc. Do I really need to explain each choice? No sir, I do not.

Go Reds.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Vote in The Oddball World Cup: Groups C/D, Third Pairings

My poor, poor Buckeyes. Such is life. Luckily, we have some sweet oddball goodness to ease my woes. Voting closes Tuesday. Go Reds.

Group C/Match 7: 1985 Circle K Tony Perez vs. 1989 Cap'n Crunch Eric Davis

Group C/Match 8: 1990 Broder Griffeys vs. 1987 Toys 'R Us Kurt Stillwell

Group C/Match 9: 2001 Oreo/Ritz Ken Griffey Jr. vs. 1987 Kraft Eric Davis

Group D/Match 7: 1981 Drake's George Foster vs. 1993 Hostess Barry Larkin

Group D/Match 8: 2000 Royal Rookies Ken Griffey Jr. vs. 1992 McDonald's Barry Larkin

Group D/Match 9: 2003 Bazooka Silver Bazooka Joe vs. 1989 Hills Danny Jackson

Friday, November 20, 2015

Autograph Goodness - Sparky Anderson

Not the most attractive card of all time, but dangit, it's a Sparky auto, so it's beautiful. The '70 season was his first as a major league manager and started a 9 year stint with the Reds which included 4 World Series appearances and 2 World Series wins. Then, after the horrible crime of finishing in second place twice in a row, our dingbat GM wanted to fire Sparky's staff. Sparky refused to comply and got the boot as well. He then went on to win 40 billion games and a World Series with the Tigers.

Signed is a 1970 Topps #181, airbrushed from his Padres minor league coaching days. I imagine. Go Reds.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Oh-Pee-Chee

Good ol' COMC has rekindled my joy of vintage Topps hunting via their Canadian doppelganger O-Pee-Chee. I've locked down all the non-SP Topps Reds cards (save for a few choice rookies) and I'm rarely willing to spend money on the remainder. It's made me miss digging through old vintage piles at card shows from when I got back into this silly collecting game and finding a random '72 Topps Red for a quarter.

But The 'Chee has come to the rescue. Every time there is an absurdly low price on one, I strike. I'm at a solid 84 Pre-1980 O-Pee-Chee Reds. This number will continue to grow.




Go Reds.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Vote in The Oddball World Cup: Groups A/B, Third Pairings

Keepin' on keepin' on. Voting closes Friday. Go Reds.

Group A/Match 7: 1989 Bazooka Chris Sabo vs. 1993 King B Discs Jose Rijo

Group A/Match 8: 2000 Starting Lineup Scott Williamson vs. 1993 Commanders of the Hill Jose Rijo

Group A/Match 9: 2001 Sunoco Perez/Morgan vs. 1992 Post Barry Larkin

Group B/Match 7: 1987 Ralston Purina Dave Parker vs. 1991 Post Chris Sabo

Group B/Match 8: 1995 Tombstone Barry Larkin vs. 1991 Collect-A-Books Jose Rijo

Group B/Match 9: 2000 Klosterman Joe Morgan vs. 1989 Pacific Legends Tony Cuccinello