What's better than adding a gem mint, pack pulled Dave Stieb rookie card to my hometown collection? How about a Dave Stieb rookie card pulled back in 1980 by the legendary Night Owl:
1980 Topps #77
A few weeks ago, Greg opened up a pack of 1980 Topps and pulled a really clean copy of this card... which ended up being an upgrade for his set.
He generously sent me the one he pulled back in 1980... which in my opinion is way cooler. It's like owning a piece of card collecting history.
Kind of like owning one of those PSA cards from Dmitri Young's collection:
I've always been jealous of Greg's memory. His ability to remember cards he pulled forty-plus years ago is very, very impressive. I'm even more jealous that Greg kept so many cards from his childhood. Most of the cards from my youth were sold in 2001 when I sold off my collection to buy my place. I kept a handful of cards, but there's only one that I distinctively remember pulling myself and it's buried in a box somewhere.
Anyways... getting back to Stieb... he went to the same high school as me. And according to The Baseball Cube, he's one of only two players from OGHS who went on to play in The Show. Mike Brown is the other guy...
Anyone have an extra 1981 TCMA Holyoke Millers card of Mike Brown laying around?
Greg also sent me another San Jose related card:
1993-94 Parkhurst #183
Pat Falloon wasn't born in San Jose, but he was the first player drafted in San Jose Sharks franchise history. Although he didn't become the superstar many Sharks fans had hoped for, he did have a solid NHL career.
Before we get to the rest of the cards Greg sent, I wanted to show off one more San Jose related item:
A few weeks ago, one of my friends mentioned that Johnson was born and raised in San Jose. So I hit the internet, found her website, and purchased a signed 8x10 for $10 (+ shipping).
Okay... back to the rest of the cards in Night Owl's care package...
2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Zip Code #16
2013 Panini Heroes State #16
Out of all of the Panini baseball card sets produced over the past decade, Hometown Heroes is my favorite. When I saw this Zip Code parallel, I got a little excited. I figured it featured the player's hometown zip code... which meant that if I picked up the Dave Stieb from this set, it would feature a San Jose zip code...
One of these days I'm going to add my Kurt Suzuki collection to TCDB. The current leaderboard looks like this:
2021 Topps Factory Set Foilboard #571 (#'d 036/790)
According to Baseballcardpedia, Topps inserted a five card pack of foilboard parallels into each of the Walmart factory set. When you take into consideration that there are 660 cards in the 2021 Topps factory set, collectors have a 1:132 chance of pulling any particular card from these special packs. The fact that there are 790 copies of each card means that Topps produced a ton of factory sets last year.
The final two cards in Night Owl's care package were a Christmas Kershaw and Wacky Jackson:
2020 Topps Holiday #82
Clayton Kershaw is one of my favorite pitchers... and I was very happy to see him resign with the Dodgers. Hopefully he'll end up being one of those rare "one franchise" hall of famers.
2007 Wacky Packages Series 6 #64
As for the Michael Jackson zombie card, I'm guessing Greg knows I appreciate the wax pack parodies from Wacky Packages. On the other hand, maybe he know's I'm a fan of The King of Pop.
Thank you Greg for the generous PWE. The Stieb has been added to the card blogger section in my Sports Card Smorgasbord binder right next to this card:
1989 Bill Pucko Niagara Falls Rapids #29
Do you still have a bunch of the cards from your childhood?
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
31 comments:
I have a good amount of cards from my childhood, mainly ‘89 Donruss, Score, and Topps cards. Some of the Score ones I remember pulling them from a pack I opened at my grandparents house. Really the only cards I don’t have were either traded away, or ones I got autographed and sold when I decided to sell my autographed ones, so I would say 90% of my childhood cards are still present in my collection.
Unfortunately I don't have a lot of cards from my childhood anymore, I wish I did though! I remember some of my favorite sets though like 1994 Topps. I always liked the mid-90s Pinnacle sets too, they were just generally fun cards. I'm just getting back into collecting and my goal is to rediscover a lot of cards and sets from my childhood while discovering new ones!
Have every Detroit Tigers cards that I collected from packs starting in 1968.
I got rid of about 90% of my childhood collection before I moved out of Cali, but hung on to my best/favorite stuff.
I've got new admiration for Dave Stieb after starting the recent YouTube doc.. which I need to catch up on. Looks like the final part just came out today.
nope, I had to start all over in 1992. BTW, how close were you to that Fire? I hope far enough away to breathe okay.
Sure do, the 72 Topps BB set it came out in 6 series and it took me all summer to finish it ,great sentimental value.
I do, though a lot of them are still at my parents' house. Junk era, unfortunately.
I may be really busy with work this month - but I'll stop anytime I see a Stieb rookie card! Nice history to it too.
The only MLB player I went to the same high school as was also pitcher (and graduated 2 years before me). But he was no Stieb. He appeared in just eight games.
I'm sure I have cards from my childhood [junk wax era] still in my collection, but it's jumbled up where I've bought and re-bought, pulled or found cards from just the past 25 years, where I'm not sure if I can really date specific cards all the way back.
Pretty much have all of my cards from my childhood. Can't bear to part with them. Yet. Heck it took a while for me to sort them into my current collection and break up my childhood sorting.
I still have most of the cards from my youth--and I'm so close to completing those sets.
I have most of my card from my childhood, and have been trying to upgrade them ever since. Rubber bands, wheel spoke and just plain handling them took a toll.
I've got most of my childhood cards, but it's not a huge collection compared to most bloggers. But the 1980 set is close to the size of my original 1975 (not complete, but close). I like the 1980 cards - simple similar to the SSPC pure set. I'll make note of your affinity for the cards actually pulled way back when... I also think there's a special nostalgia to that.
Went to same High School as Lauren Hill (Fugees) Jonathan Landis (Sea Quest) & Mark Bryant (NBA)
Precisely Zero Cards from my Childhood remain in my collection. Sold them when I moved out on my own for the first time nearly 20 years ago for next to nothing.
My collection is 90% stuff from my childhood! (Ok, maybe 80%). Steib is such an underrated pitcher and was one of the best of the 80's.
I would never let my 90's inserts go
Most of the Topps cards I bought as a child in 1987 are likely in my completed 1987 set. The one I know for definite is a checklist where I ticked off a few of the players. I have a clean version as well.
Pretty sure my '74 Yaz card is the one I had as a kid. (Dang I'm old compared to all you with early 90s as your childhood cards.)
I'm also liking the YouTube doc. So happy he got his no-no. (This is how much I know about stats and records ~ no clue).
I still have the cards from my childhood, though some may have gone out in trades over the years. Most of them are in well-loved shape though. Makes it easy to tell which ones they were.
Sometimes I can even tell where a card came from by the way it is damaged. For example in the early '00s I bought a cheap lot of cards at the flea market, most of them had a mysterious black residue across one border. Mostly '92 Topps and Classic Best.
The only time my cards didn't survive is when I left them on the floor. My sisters tossed some of those in the garbage. For some unknown reason I kept may Wacky Packages elsewhere in the garage. They didn't survive.
I started collecting in 1992.. Some of them survived.. I had a large section of 92 Donruss turn into a brick..
Speaking of Stieb, there's a four part documentary on YouTube about his career.. Done by Dorktown. Captain Ahab.
I have almost all my childhood cards, and if I didn't I don't think I'd ever have resumed collecting. I even have a lot of non-baseball cards which I really should try to trade or something. Unlike Greg, though, I can't remember what cards came from packs and what were acquired through trades or at shows, unless there's a particularly interesting story.
I still have the vast majority of my childhood cards, but I don't have nearly the memory Greg has when it comes to where/when I got them. I wish I did, because I'm probably forgetting some interesting stories that went along with them.
Yep, all the cards I ever bought or traded for is still in my possession. I would only trade doubles but I would also upgrade cards if necessary so I can't say the singles are the original cards I acquired. I wish I had better memory or kept track of what I pulled too!
jeremya1um - that's really cool. i opened a lot of packs in 1989, but ithink the only 1989 baseball card i kept when i sold off the collection was my upper deck griffey rookie.
mollie dalton - that's awesome mollie! my return to the hobby in 2007/08 was all about rediscovering cards from my childhood. heck... it still is.
john sharp - that's fantastic. super jealous. i held onto the rickey from my old collection. but i think i picked it up in the early 90's when i was no longer a kid
defgav - saw your stieb post. and that documentary is awesome! really opened my eyes up to stieb and his very interesting career
johnnys trading spot - the home depot is about five miles away from my house... and i got an alert on my phone to close the windows. it's so sad. i actually have avoided driving in that area, because i don't want to see the destruction.
sg488 - that is so cool. what an iconic set series to start off your collection.
elliptical man - at least you'll have stuff to flip through one day. i actually keep some stuff at my dad's place, so that i can look forward to sorting through it eventually
craziejoe - topps took care of stieb with the photo they selected. it's really a fantastic looking rookie card.
night owl - watching that youtube documentary made me appreciate stieb so much more... and as a result appreciate this rookie card you sent me more as well.
laurens - i understand. that's how i feel about most of the cards i kept as well. they're mixed up with all of the card purchases over the years, i have no idea which is which
nick vossbrink - glad you sorted them separate. all of the cards i kept in 2002 are now mixed in with everything i've purchased since
bbcardz - good luck completing those sets! that'll be pretty cool. love decade long set builds
crocodile - i only used rubber bands for a few years. plus i tinkered with the wheel spokes, but pretty sure i only used dupes. regardless... 99% of that collection was sold off
steve at 1975baseballcards.com - that's really cool that you opened packs of 1975 topps. my first baseball card packs were of the 1981 variety
xavier higgins - big fan of lauren hill. was stoked to hear her on the album nas released last year. not sure if this will make you feel better, but i didn't get much for my childhood collection either
matt - i totally agree with you on stieb. that recent documentary really opened my eyes to just how good of a pitcher he was
matt - i kept some of the high end 90's inserts i owned, but the rest was sold off. #bighobbyregret
jongudmund - that checklist deserves a post. that's cool that you kept it
gca - i'm old too. early 80's were my childhood.
bo - card damage is like human dna. we're able to use it to identify them
runforekelloggs - that's awesome you have all of those kelloggs cards from your childhood.
mike matson - that stieb documentary is one of my favorites of all-time. it really opened up my eyes to his awesome career.
bret alan - i'm in the same boat as you in regards to remember where cards were acquired. that's why the blog has been such a great tool. i'm constantly searching my flea market finds to see where cards came from and what i paid
nick - i'm happy for all of those collectors with strong memories. glad at least some people do. also happy that so many bloggers have cards from their childhood collections.
jafronius - that's awesome that you kept all of them. as for the memory thing, i'm totally with you.
I still have my very first card ever. It is a 1986 Topps Walter Payton Record Breaker card. I got it at birthday party in a little baggie with some candy. It is pretty bent and beat up but I have saved it all these years.
I went to the same high school as Bill Virdon, though he graduated about 50 years before I did. He is now the main thing I collect. I have the largest Virdon collection on TCD by a huge margin and I probably have 40 or 50 cards of his that are not even listed on TCB. I also have 9 Game Used Jeresys. I have an Expos complete outfit, Jacket, Jersey, Pants and Stirrups. All Im missing is the hat.
One of the first cards I ever got was one of those early 80s Cramer legends card with the sepia toned photos. It was 1989, and I got a few stars that I kept in a red vinyl box for years.
Recently I was doing some cleaning at my parents and found my Ted Lyons card and took it home where it sits in a case in my studio.
adame - wow... that virdon collection is impressive. that uniform is very unique for any collection. even more impressive are the 40 to 50 cards not listed on tcdb. are these custom cards or sketches?
james cashman - hope you still have that red vinyl box. i wish i would have kept my storage boxes from my childhood. if not, glad you still have the lyons card.
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