Birthday Card Project

Topps Now isn't for everyone.  I get it.  People should collect stuff they enjoy and enjoy the stuff they collect.

Today I'm celebrating my fifty-third year on the third planet from the sun and I wanted to share a new card project that centers around my birthday and the Topps Now product line.

A few years ago, I started collecting stuff related to my birthday.  It started with magazines and comic books.  Then I started collecting autographs of athletes who share my birthday.  After that I started collecting autographs of guys who hit a home run on the day I was born.

2021 Topps Heritage News Flashbacks #NF-BF

About a year ago, I discovered a card honoring Bobby Fischer's win over Boris Spassky in the "Match of the Century" which took place on my birthday.

This card got me wondering if there were any other cards featuring key events on my birthday... which eventually got me thinking about Topps Now cards over the years.  I started looking at checklists and was surprised at how many Topps has created over the years. As of right now... I'm only targeting one from each year to kick off the project.

Unfortunately they didn't produce a birthday card in 2016 and the representatives for 2017, 2019, and 2022 are waiting to be shipped from COMC.   In the meantime, here are the other years I have already acquired: 

2018 Topps Now #669

This card celebrates Betances who became the first reliever to record 100 or more strikeouts in five consecutive seasons.

Sadly he would only record twenty-nine more strikeouts the rest of his career and that includes the fifteen he had the rest of the way in 2018.

2020 Topps Now #191

Five years ago, Alex Dickerson, Donovan Solano, and Brandon Crawford each drove in six runs for the San Francisco Giants.

This was the first time in MLB history that three teammates collected 6 RBI's each in the same game.

2021 Topps Now #743

Four years ago, Max Scherzer tied Clayton Kershaw for the second most games with 9+ K's and 0 walks in MLB history.

At the time, Randy Johnson held the record with 41 games.  Since then... both pitchers have surpassed him.  Scherzer currently holds the record with 44 games.

2023 Topps Now #800

Two years ago, Aaron Judge hit his 30th home run of the season to become the fastest player in MLB history to reach the 250 home run milestone.

He became the fastest to reach 300 home runs less than a year later on August 14th, 2024.  And back in July, he became the fastest to reach 350 home runs.  This guy is truly amazing.

2024 Topps Now #634

Last year on September 1st, Bobby Witt Jr. became the first Kansas City Royals player to hit 30 home runs in consecutive seasons.

That's pretty surprising considering the franchise has had guys like Bo Jackson, George Brett, and Salvadore Perez playing for them.  By the way, it'll be hard for Witt to extend the streak this season.  That being said the Royals still have twenty-five games left to play.

Well that's my latest card collecting project.  Hopefully something eventful happens today, so Topps will add a card or two for me to chase down over the next 364 days.  If not, there are thirty-three more September 1st Topps Now cards for me to chase.

Happy Labor Day and sayonara!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

I am.  But honestly... four days ago I would have said "not really".  What changed?

1995 Pacific Crown Royale #12

Jerry Jones traded one of the best pass rushers in the league to the Green Bay Packers.  Who dat?

2022 Sports Illustrated for Kids #1039

As noted by several sports commentators, Micah Parsons is only the second person in NFL history with 12+ sacks in each of his first four seasons.  The other guy?

1994 Topps Finest Refractor #92

Reggie White helped lead the Packers to a Super Bowl title.  Hopefully Parsons will too.

Since football posts aren't exactly common on this blog, I figured I'd kill a bunch of birds with one stone.

1993 Pacific Picks The Pros #2

Congratulations to Sterling Sharpe who is a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2025!

2022 Panini Mosaic Reactive Orange Prizm #97

Congratulations to Travis and Taylor!

Side note:  I spent over an hour digging through boxes searching for the 2011 Topps American Pie card of Kanye West and Taylor Swift, but couldn't find it.  Not sure if I even own the card, but I thought I did.

In addition to the start of the NFL season, college football is kicking off as well.

2015 Leaf Draft #25

2015 Upper Deck #15

I'm not an Oregon Ducks fan, but I did follow Ekpre-Olomu about a decade ago.  At the time he was dating my best friend's cousin's daughter and was rated one of the best cornerbacks in college.  Ten years later, he's part of the family.  Earlier in the summer, my friend had him sign a few cards for me.  Thank you Ifo!

By the way... Kerry I have a signed card set aside for you.  He's the biggest Ducks fan I know.

As for me, I'll be rooting for the San Jose State Spartans this season.

1985 7-11 Dr. Pepper San Francisco 49ers Police #NNO

Did you know that hall of fame coach Bill Walsh graduated from SJSU in 1995?  Forty-plus years later... I did too.

Alright... I'll wrap up this post with a Seattle Seahawks card:

1988 Kenner Starting Lineup #NNO

They are my other favorite football team.  I've been a Seattle Seahawks fan since 1981.  They might not be ranked as high as the Packers on experts' power rankings, but I'll be rooting for them just as much.

It's time to answer the question...

Are you ready for some football?

If so...

Who are you rooting for?

As I stated at the start of the post... "I am".  But baseball comes first.  So depending on how the San Diego Padres play, the Seahawks and Packers might be on hold until November.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #179: Cards, a Pennant, and a Glove

This post recaps the final flea market haul of my summer break which took place two Saturdays ago at the Branham Flea Market.  Although the deals weren't as stellar as some of my other finds in recent months, I did have to make a trip to the car to drop stuff off... so the bulk was there.

Let's get into it...

Purchase #1:  A Pair of Moss Rookies  $15

My first purchase of the day was from a vendor I've purchased from in the past.  The one that stands out the most is a basketball haul back in 2019.  He didn't have his usual display case this time, but he had a binder filled with basketball and football cards.

1998 Topps Chrome #35

Unfortunately there weren't any Kobe or Jordans, but there were some pretty cool cards inside.  The highlights were mid to low-end rookie cards of Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, and Peyton Manning.  I asked about a few of them and $10 each seemed to be the magic number.  At that price, I figured the best bargain of the binder would be these two Randy Moss Chrome rookie cards.

Unfortunately both are a little off-centered... so he told me I could have the pair for $15.  One of my nieces is a huge Vikings fan... so she'll get one and I'll keep the other.

Purchase #2:  Another New VHS Tape  $1

Dances With Wolves (1990)

Not much to say.  It's a sealed VHS tape of a movie I enjoy.  Costner has a new home next to Travolta and Jackie.

The next four purchases were all made from another vendor from the past.  Remember the lady that sold me those Topps Magazines and cheap sets back in June?  Well she was still trying to dump her husband and son's card collection.  She's pretty much down to the bottom of the barrel, but I still found some stuff to buy.

Purchase #3a:  SJSU Pennants  $1

She had a stack of these San Jose State pennants for 50¢ each.  All of them were slightly stained, but I figured I'd grab one for my office and another for my classroom.

Purchase #3b:  Half of an Iconic Set  $2

1990 Leaf Series 1 Baseball Set

Remember when this set sold for over $100?  Heck the Sosa alone was worth that much back in 1998.

1990 Leaf #220

These days... Sosa is only worth a few bucks.  But there was no way I could leave this set behind.

Sadly... when I walked up... another guy had just purchased a set from her and I'm guessing it was the Series 2 set with the Frank Thomas rookie.

Purchase #3c:  Pair of Test Issue Sets  $2

1989 Action Packed Football Test Set

I have a hard time passing up dollar sets.  Grabbed one for my collection and figured I'd break the other one up if Greg (The Collective Mind) needs any of the Washington cards... and if Matt (Cards Over Coffee) needs any of the Giants.

Purchase #3d:  San Francisco 49ers Police Lot  $10

This is probably my favorite find of the day.  I'm sure most of you have little interest in 80's football oddball issues, but I'm all about them.  The lady had a stack of 1984 and 1985 7-11 San Francisco 49ers Police cards:

Here's a closer look at each set:

1984 San Francisco 49er Police Set

1985 San Francisco 49er Police Set

Ignore the $20 price tag.  Everything this lady had was 50% off.  I haven't finished sorting these strips, but there are multiple sets of each.

After picking up these strips of cards, I stopped off at my car and dropped everything off.  Here's the second half of my finds...

Purchase #4:  Star Wars Paperback  $2

1977 Star Wars Paperback (6th Printing)

Back in 1977, I was still reading picture books... so this wasn't an item I would have been interested in.  Forty-eight years later... I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add this to my bookshelf.

Purchase #5:  Magazine w/Cards & Postcards  $1

1992 Jan/Feb Legends Vol. 5 No. 1

A guy had a bunch of sports magazines from the 90's.  He was only asking a buck each, so grabbed this one because it comes with a sheet of cards.  I attempted to get a scan of it, but I started damaging the magazine, so I stopped.

If you're curious... the uncut sheet contains cards of Pete Rose, Frank Thomas, Cecil Cooper, Dan Marino, Jennifer Capriati, Emmitt Smith, Jimmy Connors, Jim Kelly, and Terry Norris.  

Purchase 6a:  More Laughlins  $10

One of the regular card dealers had this box of 1971 and 1972 Fleer Laughlin World Series cards.  Here are a few of my favorites:

The blue backs are cards from the 1970 set... and the black backs are the 71's.

The guy also had a stack of singles for a buck each, so I grabbed two...

Purchase #6b:  Dollar Stack  $2

2014 Bowman Chrome Refractor #CTP-37

You know things gotta be rough for Devers when his 1st Bowman refractor is in a dollar stack.  I figured for the price, the least I could do was provide him a new home. 

1989 Score Rookie & Traded #100T

As for Griffey rookies... unless they're damaged... there's no way I can pass these up for a dollar.

Purchase #7:  Dollar Comics  $4

After walking down every aisle... I started heading back and seeing if I missed anything.  The guy I purchased the Legends magazine from had a buddy with comic books.  I didn't notice he had Star Wars stuff the first time around, but then I saw this:

2000 Dark Horse Star Wars #23

The cover features a jedi named Quinlan Vos, who has a very complicated story arc that involved a relationship with Asajj Ventress.  Ventress happens to be one of my all-time favorite characters.

2000 Dark Horse Star Wars #24

2000 Dark Horse Star Wars #25

2001 Dark Horse Star Wars #26

I grabbed this set of comics in hopes of reading about their relationship, but when I got home and flipped through them... I didn't see her.  Oh well... it still gives me something to read when I'm bored.

Purchase #8:  Baseball Glove  $10

Rawlings Player's Series 10 Inch Glove

The first time I walked around, I saw this Oakland A's glove and asked the guy how much he wanted.  He was asking $15, which is a fair price.  When I got back to him, he asked me if I still was interested in the glove... only this time he dropped it down to $10.

I'm a sucker for Oakland A's memorabilia, so I couldn't pull out my money fast enough.

Like I stated at the start of the post... there weren't a lot of crazy deals this time around.  But for the price of a pair of blasters, I feel like I came home with some cool stuff.

This Saturday is the De Anza Flea Market.  It's going to be warm... but I'm planning to kick off my three day weekend out there.  Hopefully I have some interesting collectibles to share with you guys next week.

Until then... I apologize for the lack of posts.  The start of the school year is always a little hectic.  Give me a few weeks and I should be back into the one to two posts per week swing.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!