Monday, February 26, 2018

Completely Red: 1975 Topps Mini

Oh man. I've been sitting one card short of this team set for a long time. Tons of high-demand cards in this set, as 1975 was peak Big Red Machine time (World Series wins in '75 and '76). Plus it's the frickin sweet '75 Topps set in frickin sweet miniature form. Universally loved.

Among the 33 cards with a Red, there's four(!) Johnny Bench cards, two Pete Roses, Tony Perez, Dave Concepcion, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, George Foster, Sparky Anderson, Frank Robinson, and a sneaky Ed Armbrister tagging along with Fred Lynn's RC. The final addition was the Pete Rose base. I found a beat-up-but-not-too-much copy on COMC for $2.75. No-brainer.

1975 Topps Mini door officially closed. Go Reds.


17 Dave Concepcion
41 Cesar Geronimo
65 Don Gullett
87 George Foster
108 Tom Hall
133 Dan Driessen
157 Pedro Borbon
180 Joe Morgan
199 Roger Maris / Frank Robinson MVPs 1961
208 Johnny Bench / Boog Powell MVPs 1970
210 Rich Allen / Johnny Bench MVPs 1972
211 Reggie Jackson / Pete Rose  MVPs 1973
235 Jack Billingham
260 Johnny Bench
284 Ken Griffey
308 RBI Leaders Johnny Bench / Jeff Burroughs
320 Pete Rose
345 Clay Carroll
369 Merv Rettenmund
396 Fred Norman
423 Clay Kirby
447 Terry Crowley
481 Will McEnaney
507 Tom Carroll
531 Sparky Anderson
560 Tony Perez
562 Gary Nolan
581 Darrel Chaney
602 John Vukovich
615 Rookie Pitchers Pat Darcy / Dennis Leonard / Tom Underwood / Hank Webb
621 Rookie Pitchers John Denny / Rawley Eastwick / Jim Kern / Juan Veintidos
622 Rookie Outfielders Fred Lynn / Ed Armbrister / Tom Poquette / Terry Whitefield
656 Bill Plummer

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Sunday Dunn-Day

Newest member of the Reds Hall of Fame. Big Dongers galore. This brings me to 757 Dunns. Decent.

The only thing I love more than Adam Dunn is The Dayton Dragons.

Pre-Rookie swatch. Authentic? I dunno, probably. It's Red, so that's a good sign.

Pristine is a bit large a word for this one. Also, I think the shift key at the Topps home office must've been broken.

This card is a mess. You can barely see the serial at the bottom left out of 250.

My first Mark Mulder card. Woo?

Bat.

Manu-patch. Kinda tacky. But, you know, 'twas the style at the time.

Best for last. 2006 SI For Kids. Fourteen cents on eBay. Super-cheap PC oddball. THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT.

Go Reds.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Poor Decisions (AKA Repacks)

I had a $30 gift card to Target. Should I buy necessary household items? Maybe a grocery or two? Donate it to charity?

POSH.

I picked up some stupid packs instead. It wasn't atrocious. Let's see.

On the left: 4 packs, 50 loosies, and a BONUS
Middle: 4 packs, one auto, plus BONUS
Right: Flagship hanger.

SPRAWL EM


Auto is not hidden, so we start there.
Einar Diaz Skybox. Indians. I have no feelings about this.

The Babe Ruth pack? No one cares. Three total packs of mini figures comprised the bonuses. Here's those.


Angels, Dodgers, Rangers, Rockies, Indians, Camo. And some puzzle pieces. These will be thrown away probably, unless anyone out there sends a reprieve.

How about the loosies?


4 cards of note. A Toys R Us Pedro Florimon. Two 2016 Team-Set Trouts, and a leaders card.

Four cards I'll keep. Two Reds and two Reds wearing strange clothes.

Bustin' some packs:

Ok, got a sweet auto. I chuckled, and here's why. When I was cleaning house last November, someone claimed all my Angels. I though Verdugo was an Angel, due to the red and white uni. So I sent it out. Then a Dodger fan asked me for it. Oh, he's a Dodger. Whoops. Too bad, I sent it to someone who doesn't want it. Now it's back, and Dodger fan has been notified. On Verdugo, he made his debut last year, and is a pretty highly-rated prospect.

More Prizm luck. This is out of 199. Too bad the Rockies aren't terribly popular.


Inserts and a Judge.

Reds and Reds in costume. These I keep.

Onward, toward the hanger.


Pair of Bellies and a shiny Gyorko.

Insert bloat.

Redsy goodness. I don't have the Mahle insert, making this the only card I get to add to my true collection today.

Ooooh, good closer. A Mookie Betts relic out of 100. Seven of these have sold on eBay, all for at least 12 bucks with shipping. The cheapest one up now is priced at over 18 bucks. I guess I'll be popping this up on eBay then, unless a Sox fan stops me.

I think that's about as well as that could've been. I'm officially upgrading my decision from 'poor' to 'poor to fair'.

Go Reds.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Trade Bait

Trade bait page is up. I ain't got much, and it's mostly Reds of course. But if you see anything you want, and have some goofy Reds garbage to spare, lemme know.

http://redcardboard.blogspot.com/p/trade-bait.html

Oh and here's an old, shiny Brett Tomko for no reason.


Go Reds.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Clothes

Cut up. Placed into layers of cardboard, the topmost with a picture of the former wearer. Also known as SUPER SICK MOJOOOOOOO. Well, not really. Mojo is expensive. But these are still pretty good.

Nice job, Panini. The swatch is so big, there's no room for licensed team logos.

I miss you, Aroldis. All 150 miles an hour of you.

Volquez is on a mission to play for every team in the majors. I approve. So far, Texas, Cincy, San Diego, LA, Pitt, KC, and Miami.

There are 577 relic cards of Brandon Phillips out there. Best of luck.

Super-sick mojo /25. Super-sick if you're a Heisey PCer, that is. If such a man exists. I have 3 variations of this auto-relic combo. I don't know why. It's nice though.

Go Reds.

Friday, February 16, 2018

Completely Red: 2013 Topps Emerald/Topps Update Emerald

Oh man. Finally completed this set after more than 4 years. I don't know how rare these are, but they are rare enough to have given me a proper chase. With a Votto and a Chapman from my recent COMC order, all 32 Reds cards from 2013 Topps/Topps Update Emerald are mine. The shiny goodness. The Red/Green color clash. The RCs. I am pleased.


Checklist:

 19 Joey Votto
 51 Jonathan Broxton
 70 Todd Frazier
 81 NL ERA Leaders Kershaw/Dickey/Cueto
 86 Henry Rodriguez RC
 106 Drew Stubbs
 142 Tony Cingrani RC
 155 Mat Latos
 161 Bronson Arroyo
 166 Logan Ondrusek
 195 Chris Heisey
 202 Zack Cozart
 246 NL Home Run Leaders Braun/Stanton/Bruce
 251 Sean Marshall
 275 Johnny Cueto
 287 NL Wins Leaders Gonzalez/Dickey/Cueto
 296 Didi Gregorius RC
 386 Brandon Phillips
 396 Aroldis Chapman
 442 Mike Leake
 450 Jay Bruce
 569 Ryan Ludwick
 570 Devin Mesoraco
 585 Homer Bailey
 649 Ryan Hanigan
 US12 Brandon Phillips
 US39 Shin-Soo Choo
 US99 Derrick Robinson RC
 US159 Donald Lutz RC
 US194 Xavier Paul
 US268 Joey Votto
 US286 Aroldis Chapman

Monday, February 12, 2018

The Frankenpages - Page 6

More Frankenberry deliciousness.


1989 Topps Woolworth #6 Chris Sabo
1990 Fleer Baseball All Stars #6 Eric Davis
1988 Fleer Team Leaders #6 Eric Davis
2013 Panini Museum Collection #MC6 Johnny Bench
2006 Bowman Draft Picks White #BDP6 Bill Bray 180/225
1984 Topps #6 Johnny Bench/Gaylord Perry/Carl Yastrzemski
2009 Topps Triple Threads Gold #6 Edinson Volquez 76/99
1992 Jimmy Dean #6 Chris Sabo
2016 Donruss Diamond Kings Heritage Collection #HC6 Johnny Bench

Lots to love here. Bullets:

  • Yeah that's right, I have two copies of some random Bowman White out of only 225, because I'm not smart.
  • Not to be outdone, how about two copies of a Triple Threads out of 99? I'm not terribly sure this is the 'Gold', but whatever. It looks sepia, but I think the sepia was out of 199 or something.
  • Two cards of my man Spuds. Woolworth department store and Jimmy Dean Sausage. I don't know what more else one could want from the junk era. These two sum the era up perfectly.
  • I have no idea what set that Bench Museum is from. I'm leaning toward a Father's Day special pack issue of some sort. Squarely in the wheelhouse of 'who cares'.
  • I'm on a mini-quest to collect all the Reds from those 80's-90's Fleer special box sets. It's more difficult than you'd think.

Go Reds.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Two of the Best Words in Collecting: Vintage Autos

I will note that my name is not Butch. I've never had a nickname of Butch. So despite three of these being personalized to Butch, I can't pretend they were to me.

Jim Brosnan. Nine years in the Bigs, 5 with Cincy where he went 29-14 with 43 saves and a 3.04 ERA and 6.5 WAR. Even got some MVP votes in 1961.

Steve Boros. Seven years in the Bigs, the final two with Cincy. Would later go on to manage the A's and Padres for a hot minute.

Alex Johnson. 13 year carrer, but only 2 with Cincy, where he hit .313. All Star and league leader in batting average in 1970 with the Angels. This is the rare 8-corner version of his 1970 Topps issue.

Ray Rippelmeyer. Took a break in the middle of a 6-year minor league stint with the Reds to pitch his only major league innings with the Senators in 1962. It was rare to get a card before you actually played in the majors, so I don't know why this happened. But what a great card.

Jack Fisher. Closes out an 11 year career with 113 innings for the Reds in 1969. Had a 5.2 lifetime WAR despite going 86-139, thus reaffirming the uselessness of wins-losses as a pitching stat.

Charlie James. Spent 5 years with the Cardinals then 1 year with the Reds, getting 8 hits in 41 plate appearances. Led the league in double plays turned as a right fielder in 1962. Now that's a stat.

Go Reds.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

My First, Second, and Third Topps Venezuelan

I've always wanted a Topps Venezuelan Red. I'd never come across one outside of COMC, where they are expensive. I came across one in the wild at a card show, so I was so excited, I overpaid anyway.


If you aren't aware, Topps made a parallel set of the first couple hundred cards in their flagships for Venezuela, an up-and-coming baseball country with a newly popular league, from '59-'68. Well most of those years. 1961, 1963, and 1965 got poo-pooed. 1967 was special because it featured players actually in that Venezuelan league, plus current major leaguers, plus retired legends. This one, of major leaguer Tommy Harper, is the same photo as the flagship set, but a different number and much different back. Es magnifico.

I took 3 total years of Spanish in high school and college. I haven't spoken any in earnest since a Mexican vacation in 2008. Let's see how much I can translate:

A king on the bases, the outfield player from Cincinnati has become an aficionado of leadership(?) since he became(?) a professional in 1960 with Topeka. Thus, he was the leader in triples with 11 and in stolen bases with 31, while being named(?) Most Valuable Player of the League. With the Reds in 1966, Harper was the best stealer(?) of the club with 29 stolen bases.

Perfecto.

The card stock for these is flimsy. They are cut poorly. And what little gloss was used way back then was certainly not used for the Venezuelans. So it's tough to find good conditioned cards. No matter for me, though. Damaged is better.

After years of not having one of these, I went less than a month before snagging two more. This time, for a song on eBay.


These are your standard parallels. Again, thinner stock, no gloss, cut poorly. But with a sweet black back instead of the standard Creamsicle orange. Bonus, a clear-as-day cartoon on the back, instead of the fading/damaged scratch-off cartoons from the '64 flagship. These are fantastic.

My lazy research has concluded there are 111 total Reds Venezuelans. 108 to go, baby!

Go Reds.

Friday, February 2, 2018

The Frankenpages - Page 5

Added a tab for The Frankenpages. Here be page 5:



2016 Pinnacle Aficionado Joey Votto #A5
1963 Topps ERA Leaders Bob Purkey w/ a bunch of shlubs #5
2016 Topps Back to Back Votto/Phillips #B2B-5
2016 Topps Pressed Into Service Paul O'Neil #PIS5
2002 Ultra Rising Stars Adam Dunn #5
2013 Panini Prizm Elite Extra Edition Jesse Winker #EEE5
2010 Topps Chrome Refractors Johnny Cueto #5
1991 Donrus Barry Larkin DK #5
1986 Topps Pete Rose Special #5

Bullets:
  • That '63 is way too nice for The Frankenpages. Reds are on cards 1, 3, and 5 in the set. I had 1 and 5 but I thought I had 1 and 3. So yet another COMC/Poor Record Keeping addition.
  • I swear they triple printed those '85 Pete Roses, because I have a million of them.
  • I have so many Cueto refractor doubles that I'm questioning my own sanity.
  • Is anything better than old Donruss Diamond Kings? I say no.
Go Reds.