Mascots, Mustaches, and a Mystery

Sometimes collectors collect the craziest things.  I know, because I'm one of those collectors.

Back in March, Topps released their Celebration mega boxes which contain cards of one of my favorite side collections: mascots.

When I found out they inserted mascot relic cards into packs, I knew I had to own a copy of this card for my A's PC:

2026 Topps Mascots Relic #MAS-ATH

A few weeks ago, this card popped up for auction on eBay.  I entered my $5 bid with a few seconds remaining in the auction and discovered I was the only guy interested.  After paying $3.50 more for shipping and taxes, it finally arrived in the mail last week.

Yup.  You're staring at a mascot relic card.  Is this thing silly or what?  I mean... does anyone really believe that Topps cut up Stomper's jersey or pants and embedded a swatch into this card?  It's highly unlikely.  But as an A's and Stomper fan, I had to add a copy to my collection.

Right around the time I started searching for this relic card, Bob over at The Best Bubble sent me this:

2008 Topps Opening Day Tattoo #NNO

The 2008 Opening Day Tattoos were inserts featuring team logos and mascots.  I might have to look into finding a nice starter set of these on eBay.

He also sent me some other cool items for my A's collection.  Let's start by checking out some autographs:

This card appears to be a custom created by or for Mr. Jones:

Doug Jones Custom Card #NNO

It contains his full career stats, so this card was created sometime after 2000.  I honestly don't remember Jones playing for Oakland.  I mostly remember him for his mustache and his years in Cleveland.

Here's another memorable 'stache:

1984 Fleer #453

My facial hair game is weak.  Davey's was not.  Rest in peace Mr. Lopes.

Bob also tossed in a few oddballs and inserts:

The shiniest was this Tim Hudson refractor:

2000 Topps Chrome Refractor #275

This card is gorgeous.  These days Topps has drowned collectors by flooding the hobby with refractors.  Things were different back in 2000.  Back then, you'd find one refractor in every twelve packs.  In other words, when you pulled one... it was worth celebrating.

The final card in his bubble mailer was this vintage oddball:

1971 Fleer Quiz #NNO

I had seen a few singles from this set pop up on blogs, but I've never owned one until now.  According to The Fleer Sticker Project, there's another A's card with a different set of questions, so I'll be on the hunt for that one too.

Okay, now it's time for the mystery portion of this post.  I found these sitting in a stack of mail: 

1984 Oakland A's Pocket Schedule

I'm pretty sure they were from a different care package from Bob.  However if I'm mistaken and you sent me these cards, please let me know down below.

This vintage Kellogg's decal was also with the schedule:

1970 Kellogg's Litho Fusion Decal

Thank you Bob for all of these cool A's collectibles!  Let me know if you also sent me the pocket schedule and Kellogg's decal.

Everyone else, here are today's questions of the day:

Who is your favorite sports mascot?

Who has the best mustache in sports history?

I look forward to reading and replying to your comments.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Plethora of Pads

It's hard to believe that I've been a San Diego Padres fan for over forty years.  The only professional teams I have rooted for longer are the Oakland/Sacramento A's and the Seattle Seahawks.

Sometimes the fact that I have two favorite teams within one sport confuses people, but it's pretty simple.  When the A's play any MLB team other than the Padres, I root for the A's.  And when the Padres play any MLB team other than the A's, I root for the Padres.

It's only tricky when they play against each other.  Then it depends on who needs the win more.  Since both teams are fighting for first place in their divisions, I just sit back and enjoy the game.  That's what happened this weekend.  The A's won today, but the Padres won the series.

2022 Topps Opening Day #OD7

Figured it's a good time to show off some Padres cards that John (@ Johnny's Trading Spot) and Reader X sent me earlier in the year.

John is an Atlanta Braves' fan, while Reader X roots for the New York Yankees.  Since the Braves currently hold the best record in baseball, let's start with the cards John sent me...

1990 Panini Sticker #356

Although I love collecting baseball cards featuring my favorite players, I also enjoy adding team related items like this Panini sticker and these team cards:

2024 Topps 582 Montgomery Club #2

2025 Topps 582 Montgomery Club #39

John sent two partial team sets from the 582 Montgomery Club set.  Here are some of the bigger names:

I tried to join the 582 Montgomery Club the first couple of years, but it always filled up too fast.  Glad to have some of these singles for my collection.

He also sent me a partial 1985 Mother's Cookies Padres team set.  Here are some of the notable names:

But my favorite card is the one featuring Jack Murphy Stadium:

1985 Mother's Cookies Padres #28

He sent me a big stack of Mr. Machado cards.  Here's a sampling:

Plus there were some other parallels and inserts featuring some familiar names:

Next up are a variety of inserts and parallels from Reader X.  He sent me over seventy different Padres for my collection.  

Here are some of the highlights:

Tony Gwynn is my all-time favorite player... so I'm always excited to add new cards to my binder.

Fernando is my favorite current Padre:

He's really struggling this season.  It's been two months and he still hasn't hit a home run.  Hopefully he figures things out at the plate soon.

Machado has been struggling too, but that's not stopping me from enjoying his cards:

Honestly... all of the Padres big name hitters are struggling this season.

But Luis Arraez is hitting .323 for the San Francisco Giants this season.  The Padres could really use him this season.

Even without their stellar bats, the Padres still have the 5th best record in baseball... and are only 4 games behind the Atlanta Braves.  There's still plenty of baseball left to be played.

Let's go Padres!  Let's go A's!

Thank you John and Reader X for your generous contributions to my San Diego Padres PC.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Plugging Some Holes

When it comes to shopping for cards online... COMC's fall has led to the ascension of Sportlots (at least for me).  They've always served different purposes.  Sportlots helped me complete sets with their affordable commons, while COMC filled gaps in my player and team collections.

Since I've always tried to get the most bang for my buck, I avoided paying 20¢ for commons and preferred to find pricier cards over on COMC.  However their decision to restructure their shipping rates forced me to drain my balance, start using Sportlots more, and focus on card projects that have been collecting dust for quite some time.

1984 Topps Glossy All-Stars #10

1986 Topps Glossy All-Stars #7

1990 Topps Glossy All-Stars #8

Last week, I started shopping for some 80's Leaf Dave Stieb cards... which led me to plugging some holes in my 1984 to 1991 Topps Glossy All-Star project which was missing the entire 1986 set.  Well, I found one vendor with almost the entire set:

This lot puts me past the 50% mark on this project...

I'll be busy the next four weeks, but as soon as my summer break starts... I'm hoping to cross off the bulk of these needs with the help of eBay and Sportlots:

While shopping for those Stieb cards, I completed another set sitting in my office:

1990-91 Pro Set Hockey Set

Back in early April, Stuart over at S.R. '75 Cards sent me this set.  I'm a huge fan of early Pro Set sets and was happy to add their inaugural hockey set to my collection.  While flipping through the set, I noticed it was missing one card:

1990-91 Pro Set #298

No biggie.  That's what Sportlots is for.  If you're not familiar with this set, here's a quick peek:

Pro Set included everyone from draft picks to coaches to officials.  They even included a card for the puck.

They also honored the all-stars, award winners, and stat leaders.  Plus a ton of guys who would eventually make the Hockey Hall of Fame:

Speaking of future hall of famers, the 1990-91 rookie card class was full of them:

Jaromir Jagr is the lone player to not receive the honor.  But that's because he hasn't officially announced his retirement.  He last skated in the NHL in 2017, but was playing professionally in the Czech Republic up to last season.

Thank you Stuart for generously gifting me with this awesome set.

Let's wrap this post up with the two cards that inspired this Sportlots order:

1985 Leaf #54

1986 Leaf #68

Last week, I showed of this 1987 Leaf card of Dave Stieb that Adam over at Thoughts & Sox sent me:

1987 Leaf #72

I mentioned that I might chase down his other three Leaf cards from that era.  Two down, 1988 to go.

Like the Topps Glossy All-Stars... I'll target this card in a few weeks when I have more free time on my hands.

Until then, here is today's question of the day:

Where do you shop for cards online?  COMC?  Sportlots?  eBay?  Other?

If I were to break down the numbers, eBay and their vendors get most of my money.  However my purchases usually involve single cards or smaller sets/lots.  Sportlots is a distant second, but that might change this summer.

I look forward to reading and responding to your comments.  I apologize that I haven't replied to comments on my recent posts.  It's on my list of things to do this weekend.  Stay tuned.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!