Stained & Sensational

Quick post with some stained, yet sensational sports cards.

Card #1:  Marked Martin

1971 O-Pee-Chee #208

Picked up a lot of ten 70's O-Pee-Chee baseball cards last summer and two arrived stained.  Billy was one of them.  I have a couple of his autographs and neither resemble the red ballpoint scribbled across his face.  That's okay... because this card back is sensational:

Card #2:  Painted Pinch Runner

1975 O-Pee-Chee #407

Not sure how I didn't spot this stain in the original eBay listing, but it's all good.  It's an iconic card from the 70's and sensational:

Card #3:  Tainted Tony

1985 Topps #660

The final card for today is this Gwynn from Johnny's Trading Spot.  Nothing out of the normal on the front, but flip it over and you'll see that it's stained and sensational:

I love wax and gum stained cardboard featuring stars... but this one is extra special, because it's a Tony Gwynn card.

Thank you John!  Absolutely love this card and promise to provide it with a loving and nurturing home.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Twenty Year Drought

Bay Area sports radio primarily focuses on the San Francisco 49ers and the Golden State Warriors.  However there's a brief period... right around the MLB All-Star Game... where the San Francisco Giants receive a little love.  Unfortunately... the Oakland A's don't receive the same respect... but as a baseball fan, I'll take what I can get.

1986 Topps Trade #11T

While driving home from summer school a couple of weeks ago, Barry Bonds came up.  The broadcasters mentioned that he was the last San Francisco Giant to hit 30 home runs in a season.  The year?  2004.  

Yup.  That was twenty years ago.  Since then... only two guys came close.  Bonds hit 28 in 2007... and Brandon Belt hit 29 in 2021.

To put things into perspective, eighteen teams had at least one player accomplish that feat last season.  And every other franchise except for the Giants have had at least one 30 home run hitter since 2019.

In other words... they are quite the outlier and the response to a cool trivia question.

According to ESPN, Oracle is the toughest ballpark for home run hitters... especially lefties.  That's not exactly shocking news... but the twenty year drought is.

2018 Bowman's Best Best of 2018 Autographs #B18-HR

The discussion ultimately led to the question... how long before the drought ends and who will end it?  Heliot Ramos was mentioned by one of the broadcasters as their best chance and I'll be rooting for him.

Reader X sent me this card... along with the Bonds rookie card a while back.  He always includes a lot of Giants cards in his care packages.  Most are passed along to my students, but there are always a few that find a home in my collection.

I held onto the Barry, because he is arguably the most exciting hitter in my lifetime.  As for Ramos... I remember him coming up with the San Jose Giants.  I don't really do the whole prospect thing, but his ability at the plate left quite the impression.

The final Giant I kept was this vintage hall of famer:

1978 Topps #34

This is such an attractive card.  McCovey is wearing the jersey I remember from my childhood trips to Candlestick Park.  I'm a fan of the script lettering on the jersey... and the card.  But my favorite thing about this card is featured on the back:

Check out that wax stain!  It's gorgeous.  And I knew I would appreciate it way more than any of my students.

Rounding out the rest of Xavier's past care packages are these three slabs:

1993 Stadium Club Murphy #200

Jason Giambi didn't have any problems hitting home runs.  He had eight 30+ home run seasons over the course of his career.  But did you know that he was a .300 hitter during his tenure with the A's?

2012 Topps #396

Yoenis Cespedes never hit 30 home runs for the A's, but he did accomplish the feat twice later on in his career.  This card reminds me of his amazing rookie season with the A's.  It also reminds me of that epic collapse the A's suffered in 2014 after they shipped him off to Boston for Jon Lester.

2000 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks & Prospects #4

Barry Zito never hit a home run at the MLB level... but he gave up 282 during his fifteen season career.  That being said... he never allowed more than 28 in a season and the most he allowed as a San Francisco Giant was 24 back in 2007.

And since we started off this post with the home run trivia... I decided to dig deeper to see the last Giants pitcher to allow 30 home runs in a season.  Madison Bumgarner gets the credit.  He allowed 30 home runs back in 2019.  Fifteen were hit off of him at home... and fifteen on the road.

That wraps up another round of Reader X packages from the past.  There's actually one more card he sent that I'll show off in my COMC haul post.  Plus he sent me a package a couple of months ago that I will be tearing into this week, so stay tuned.

Thank you Xavier for these generous additions to my collection.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

On Saturday... Stuart over at S.R.'75 Cards wrote a post mentioning that it was the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.  Figured it was the perfect time to show off this unique item that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent me:

Pana-Vue Slides

I couldn't really find any information on the history of these slides, but they look like something you'd be able to purchase at a gift shop back in the late 60's.

Here's a closer look at each slide:

Armstrong Inside Lunar Module

Command Module in Orbit Around Moon

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin & U.S. Flag

Astronaut & Lunar Module Footpad

Apollo 11 Commemorative Plaque

Thank you John!  This is a very cool addition to my NASA PC.

Stained, Sealed, Battered, & Blue

As a collector from the 80's and 90's... I was groomed to believe all modern cards need to be gem mint otherwise it wasn't worthy of being in the collection.

What a difference four decades make.  These days... I have an entire collection centered around damaged cards.  Within my Damaged Card PC, there are cards with creases, chips, crimps, dings, rips, drawings, scribbles, scratches, and glued stuff on them.  The collection originally focused on cards within my collection.  They were cards damaged in the mail from purchases or trades or stuff I found in collection purchases or quarter bins.  There's even one card that I pulled out of a pack myself which was the inspiration for this collection.

The past few years... the collection has really blossomed thanks to a few blogger donations.  One of the biggest contributors has been Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life!.  Back in December he sent me two team bags filled with a bunch of wax stained cards from the Junk Wax Era... as well as some vintage hall of famers that have been well-loved by previous owners.

Let's start off with those wax/gum stained cards.  The first one features one of the hottest rookies of 1988:

1988 Topps #645

Nokes had a stellar rookie season in 1987 batting .287 with 32 home runs and winning the Silver Slugger Award for catchers.  

1989 Topps #490

The following year Chris Sabo took home the NL Rookie of the Year Award and went on to be a three-time NL All-Star in his first four seasons.

Had I pulled these stained rookie cards from a pack back in the late 80's.  Probably would have been bummed to see these stained stars too:

Here are their stains...

These days... these cards aren't worth much without the stains... so they actually add character to these Junk Wax Era cards.

But Bo didn't send me late 80's and early 90's wax stained cards.  Most of you know that Bo knows vintage.  He included these three wax/gum stained cards from the 70's:

1972 Topps #114

The oldest stain in the team bag was this 51 year old, Topps All-Star Rookie Team card of Billy Buck... who went on to have a MLB career that lasted over two decades.

The next guy is a hall of famer who played nineteen seasons and won three Cy Young Awards:

1975 Topps #335

And rounding out the wax/gum stained vintage are two more hall of famers:

1976 Topps #204

Speaking of wax stains... here are a pair of 1991 Pacific I Love Lucy wax packs he sent for my non-sport pack collection:

It looks like someone already wrote a review over on A Pack To Be Named Later, so one will go into the collection... the other will go into my rainy day pack stash.

He also sent me a pack of 1993 Comic Images Moebius:

I'm familiar with Marvel's Morbius... not not sure who Moebius is.  This too will go into the pack collection.

Next on the menu are some battered vintage.  I'll start with a Curt Flood second year card:

1959 Topps #353

This card suffers from paper loss, but it's not nearly as battered as this 1970 New York Mets celebration card:

1970 Topps #310

I'm hoping that's water damage and not a body fluid.

The next two cards feature my favorite pitcher from my childhood:

1967 #146

1968 Topps #408

Both of these cards have a weird texture to them.  It's like they were aged and coated in wax.

It's kind of weird seeing Lefty look so young.  I'm used to seeing the forty-something year old pitcher from the 80's.  I guess I need to pull out my Steve Carlton PC more often and show him some love.

This next hall of famer looks like it once lined the wallet of a collector back in the 70's:

1973 Topps #165

This card has the trademark rounded corners and multiple creases.  Aparicio played his final MLB game a little after my first birthday, so I never watched him play.  But I feel like I remember him getting the call to the hall back in the 80's.

Next up is a biggie:

1973 Topps #100

Yup.  A fifty year old card of the guy who broke Babe's all-time home run record.  Look at those sharp corners!  If the card looks a little narrow, that's because it's been slightly altered.  Here it is laying on top of the Aparicio:

No complaints here.  Anytime I get to add a vintage Hank Aaron to my collection, it's a day worth celebrating.

Getting back to Aaron breaking Babe's record... here's the guy who had the honor of throwing the pitch:

1964 Topps #86

Not sure the story behind this card, but once upon a time it was glued to something.  Maybe it was in a New York Yankees fan's scrapbook, because Bo also sent me Downing's 1964 teammate:

1964 Topps #69

Boyer's back is way more revealing... but still plastered with paper.  I could probably try and clean it up, but like the previously mentioned stains... the paper adds character.

Rounding out the Damaged Card PC additions are two 70's rookie cards that were defaced by someone...

1974 Topps #598

First up a quad rookie card highlighted by Ken Griffey Jr.'s father.  I'm guessing the previous owner was a big Reds' fan, because Griffey is the only one who escaped getting scribbled out.  At least the person who tagged this rookie card only used a ballpoint pen.  This next card wasn't so lucky:

1977 Topps #476

Dale Murphy, Rick Cerone, and Kevin Pasley... welcome to Mr. Sharpie.  Gary Alexander was the lucky player to be spared.  By the way... if this card looks familiar, it's because Bo sent me another XXX card last year.

By the way, Bo didn't just send me stained and battered cards for my Damaged Card PC, he also sent me two cards for two set builds:

1982 Kellogg's #55

First up is this smiling Mad Dog for my 1982 Kellogg's set build.

Next up is another blue bordered set from the 80's...

Bo hooked me up with the Bud...

1986 Donruss #374

I'm down to the final four percent of this set.  Twenty-seven cards and only one of them is a hall of famer: 258 Nolan Ryan.  Collation seems to be the issue with this set build.

Okay... it's time to wrap up this post and finally publish it.  Started writing this back in early February, but life happens.  I apologize for the delay... but am super grateful for Bo's set help and Damaged Card PC contributions.

I have a stack of 1975 Topps Minis for your set build that I'll be shipping out sooner than later... along with a few other vintage set needs.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

A quick life update.  The past week has been a little crazy with some family stuff.  I haven't had a lot of time to read and comment on blogs.  I've built several care packages that are ready to ship... and created stacks of cards for others that need to be packaged.  I'm hoping to get everything wrapped up over the weekend, but I can't make any promises.

I also wanted to thank Rod (Padrographs) and Junichi for giving me some background history on the flag that John (Johnny's Trading Spot) sent me.  It's a "Good Luck Flag" which were given to Japanese soldiers during military campaigns.  The flags were signed by friends and family and contained messages wishing the soldier good luck.  If you are interested in learning more about it, click here.

In short, there's an organization called the Obon Society which tries to reunite these Good Luck Flags with their families in Japan.  This flag is one of the coolest and unique gifts I've ever received from a blogger, but I believe it belongs back in the hands of this soldier's family.  I've reached out to John and he supported this decision.  I'll be getting it packaged and shipped in the very near future as well.