Stand Up for Your Rights

I've made my admiration for athletes who have chosen to remain loyal to a single franchise their entire career very clear on this blog.  A big part of that has to do with free agency and how it has diminished the number of athletes that fall into that category.

With that being said... I think free agency is a beautiful thing.  I never really understood the finer details until I read this article on Curt Flood a few years ago.  It opened my eyes to how how baseball players used to be the property of the franchise who drafted him.  At that time, their only options were to play their entire career with the franchise, be traded, or retire.

Then back in 1969, Flood refused to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies and started a chain of events that would eventually lead to free agency.  That's why I decided it would be cool to add his rookie card to my collection.

1958 Topps #464

It took me awhile to find the right card for the right price, but I eventually landed this graded copy on COMC back in February of 2020 for $33.

It took a few years, but by the mid 60's... Flood was a perennial all-star and Gold Glove Award winner.  After 15 seasons, he produced numbers many would consider to be worthy of the Hall of Very Good.  But that's just the icing on the cake.  His place in history will always be remembered for standing up to Major League Baseball even though (according to the article) he essentially killed his career.

Yesterday, Mr. Flood would have celebrated his 83rd birthday... and tomorrow is the 24th anniversary of his death.  Happy belated birthday Mr. Flood!

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

The Second Most Interesting Pack

Last Monday I asked you if you'd be interested in seeing the contents of the remaining four mystery packs I purchased from the Online Dime Box.  Nobody responded "no" and a few of you were interested... so I grabbed the second most interesting pack.  The one featuring Peter Cushing:

1977 O-Pee-Chee Star Wars #168

Sorry dayf, I snagged the Tarkin.  As most of you know... the 1977 Topps Star Wars set will always have a special place in my collection, but there's room for his sister set too.  Like the Billy Pierce I pulled last week, this card alone paid for the $1 mystery pack.

Let's see if there were any other cards I plan to keep:

Well... it definitely gets an A+ for variety.  There's a little bit of everything packed into this pack and I was able to find a few more cards for my collection:

2016 Pokemon XY Evolutions Reverse Foil #43

Never played Pokemon.  Never will.  But I have a small collection of leftover cards from when I used to sell them to my students.  This card was thrown into that box.

1989 Topps TMNT Stickers #10

Had I been born five years later, I'm pretty sure I would have been a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan.  But it just wasn't meant to be.  Anyways... I'm going to keep this cool looking sticker and maybe one day I'll stumble across an unopened box of this stuff at the flea market and complete the rest of the set.

1991 Pro Set Super Star MusiCards #101

I really like U2.  The Joshua Tree is one of my favorite albums from the 80's.  Excited to one day read Gavin's writeup on this card.  Until then... this card will be thrown into a box with my other Pro Set MusiCards.

Well that wraps up another Online Dime Box mystery pack.  I'll finish off this post with a two more non-sports cards that I had sitting in my collection along with a famous quote:

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. ” -Martin Luther King Jr.

2009 Topps American Heritage #51

2009 Topps American Heritage #123

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day and sayonara!

TWiB: An Interesting Interview, Soaring Prices, and a Nice Display Piece

This is the calm before the storm.  A three day weekend before the last week of the first semester.  Next week will be a little crazy for me as I'll be working on grades and preparing for my next group of students.  The goal is to recharge the batteries today and tomorrow... lesson plan on Monday.  We'll see how well I'm able to stick to those plans.

As for cards... I just made a really cool purchase yesterday.  Hopefully it'll arrive next week and share it on the blog.  It pretty much sucked up my entire hobby budget for the month of January... but the purchase completed a set I'm excited to cross off the list.  Stay tuned.

Okay, let's focus on other collectors around the blogosphere in This Week in Blogging...

#1:  Two First Names

Tony Burbs added a new autograph to his Cubs All-Time Roster Collection and shared an awesome Mystery Science Theater 3000 quote on his Wrigley Field Roster Jenga this week:  "Never trust a man with two first names."

1981 Topps Coca-Cola Phillies #3

2006 Bowman Chrome Refractor #112

Jason Adam was the name of the Cub.  I had never heard of the guy, but the card was truly gorgeous.  Anyway... the post inspired me to dig through my collection and find some players I collect with two first names.

1973 Kellogg's #36

1981 Kellogg's #13

Steve Carlton and Frank Thomas are obvious picks.  Joe Rudi was a key member of The Swingin' A's.  As for Parker... Collecting Cutch blogged about him earlier in the week, so I added him to this post in his honor.

#2:  Behind the Scenes

When it comes to history... Bo knows.  He apparently knows card photographers too, because he recently wrote about an interview he had with Lou Sauritch who was one of Fleer's original photographers and shared it on his blog:  Baseball Cards Come to Life!.

In the interview, Mr. Sauritch tells the story behind this famous Tim Flannery card:

1988 Fleer #582

I won't spoil the surprise... click on the link above and read about it for yourself.  He also shares some inside info on the process of how a photograph turns into a baseball card... as well as a few interesting stories about some popular athletes among collectors.  My favorite involved Juan Benenguer:

1987 Topps #303

According to Mr. Sauritch, he noticed the word "a$$ho1e" written under the brim of Juan's cap in one of his photographs.  He asked Juan about it the next time they met and he said "Yeah, when Roger Craig comes to take me out, I flip the hat up at him”.

I'm not sure if this was the photograph he was referring to, but there is something written under the brim of his cap.

#3:  History Buff

I'm a huge fan of history.  That's why I was excited to see Paul write a post about the completion of the first transcontinental railroad over on his blog: Card Boarded.  In the post he shares a card from the 2009 Topps American Heritage set:

2009 Topps American Heritage

If you're not familiar with this set, it's loaded with historical figures ranging from politicians to civil rights leaders to entertainers.

That same year, Topps released another set that was very, very similar called Topps Heritage American Heroes Edition:

2009 Topps Heritage American Heroes Edition

Both sets utilize past Topps baseball card designs.

I'm just not sure why Topps didn't combine these two products and turn it into one large set... or spread this out over two years.  Regardless... both are really cool sets for anyone who has an interest in Americana or U.S. history.

#4:  He's Back

Beckett's Ryan Cracknell created a list of twelve legendary Tiger Woods cards.  I only own two of them.

2001 Upper Deck Golf #1

One of them is his 2001 Upper Deck rookie card... which according to Cracknell... is probably his most iconic card.

It's also readily available.  Upper Deck produced a ton of this stuff.  That's why I was blown away when I saw that raw copies of this card are currently selling in the $45 to $80 range.  There have been several copies that have sold for more than that.

I picked up a 12 box (retail) case of 2001 Upper Deck Golf back in 2010 for $119.95.  Right now these boxes are selling for over $200 each.  This is insane!  And I love it.

As for my other Tiger, it was part of one of my greatest flea market finds (remember those?).  If you're interested... click here.

#5:  This Makes More Sense than Tiger

On Tuesday, Sean over at Getting Back into Baseball Cards....in Japan blogged about the sale of a 1975-76 Calbee set which went for about $8,500.  If that sounds like a lot of money for a 70's set... you should know that it contains 1,472 cards and there are only two known completed sets out there.

1975 Calbee #1315

Two years ago, Sean sent me a pair of cards from this set... and one of them was the legendary Sadaharu Oh.  It's one of my favorite Japanese baseball cards in the collection.

#6:  Card Shows & Hip Hop

If you like card shows and The Notorious B.I.G.... then I encourage you to check out Cardboard Hogs post from earlier in the week.  He creatively used one of Biggie's songs to help him summarize his recent trip to a card show.

I won't provide any spoilers.  Instead I'll use this space to show off one of my all-time favorite hip hop albums:

The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die (1994)

As well as show off one of my last card show purchases:

2013 UD Ultimate Collection Ultimate Patch #UJ-JR

I purchased this card off of my buddy the weekend before California went into a lockdown back in March of last year.

This card is a perfect example of why it's important to read the fine print on "patch" cards.  Was this patch part of a jersey worn by Jerry Rice?  Yup.  Was the jersey used in a game?  Nope.  Jerry wore it specifically so Upper Deck could chop it up and use it in this card.  No wonder my buddy sold this (and another card) for $10.

#7:  The House that Jack Built

2007 UD Sweet Spot Classic Signatures #SPV-TG

Rebel Coyote wrote a post on Wednesday that reminded me that the demolition of Jack Murphy Stadium has begun.

1984 Mother's Cookies Padres #28

1985 Mother's Cookies Padres #28

I'm pretty sure I've attended a few Padres games at The Murph... but the only one I remember specifically took place on a road trips down to Tijuana with my buddy back in the 90's.

#8:  Go Pack Go!

2015 Panini Stickers #316

John Sharp asked his readers who they were rooting for in the playoffs.  He also wanted to know what's the last football card we purchased.

I'm obviously rooting for the Green Bay Packers.  And this Aaron Rodgers is one of the football cards I picked up in my latest online dime box purchase.  Okay... technically it's a sticker and not a card.  But if it's good enough for Trading CARD Database... it's good enough for me.

#9:  A Great Display Piece

1985 Donruss Puzzle

I'll wrap up another This Week in Blogging post with a project that Daniel over at It's like having my very own Card Shop is currently working on.  He's in the process of reorganizing his card room and found a frame that will display the old school Donruss puzzles.

1987 Donruss Puzzle

This is something I considered doing myself... but we both ran into the same issue: lack of wall space.  However after seeing how his Yogi Berra turned out... I might have to pick up one of these frames and make some room.  If I did... I'd either go with Lou Gehrig or Roberto Clemente.

What about you...

Do you have a favorite Donruss puzzle?

Do you have any favorite athletes with two first names?

Did you ever buy into the Tiger Woods hype?

When was the last card show you attended?

That's it for now.  I hope all of you enjoy your holiday weekend.  Stay safe.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Preparation for Retirement

Retirement is still at least eleven years away.  But that hasn't prevented me from starting to plan where I want to land.  Five years ago... I thought about settling down in Las Vegas.  Sacramento has also crossed my mind.  Then I started thinking about the Pacific Northwest.  But I always seem to come back to the Bay Area.  I love the weather, the diversity, and it's been the place I call home my entire life.

A lot will depend on finances... but even if I'm forced to move out of the area it'll always hold a special place in my heart.

That's why I recently started a small collection of defunct Bay Area sports teams.  It started a few years ago with the California Golden Seals.  Then back in June, I read a post over on Card Hemorrhage where Jay showed off some Pacific Coast League cards... which inspired me to head over to COMC and pick up this card the very next day:

1950 Remar #NNO

Remar was a baking company based out of Oakland that started their business a little over a century ago.   Information on the company is limited.  In fact when you look them up on Google most of the hits involve these trading cards.

According to my research on Beckett, the company produced Oakland Oaks trading cards in 1946, 1947, 1949, and 1950.  If I remember correctly, this Billy Herman popped up quickly in my search.  I shot the seller a $13.75 offer and he/she accepted.  Six months later it finally returned to the Bay Area.

Why Billy Herman?  I'm not gonna lie.  Outside of the name, I didn't really know anything about him.  But according to his National Baseball Hall of Fame page, he's a 10-time All-Star who collected 2,345 hits and finished his career with a .304 career batting average.  He also served two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

The same day I purchased the Herman, I also grabbed this hall of famer for my California Golden Seals collection over on eBay:

1970-71 Topps #72

Harry Howell played before my time... but it seemed like he primarily made a name for himself with the New York Rangers.  That's probably why I was able to land this card for $16 (shipping and taxes included).

Most people aren't going to remember either of these athletes for the tenure in Oakland... but that's the only reason I went out of my way to add these cards to my collection.

What's next?  When I have some free time... I'll look into possibly adding a San Francisco Seals minor league card from the 50's and maybe an Oakland Invaders card from the 80's.  But I'm not in any rush.  The goal is to have this collection displayed in my office by the time I retire.  But as I stated at the start of this post... that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!