Flea Market Joe and Friendship

When it comes to friends, I pretty much use the philosophy of "less is more".  As soon as I walked out of high school, I switched from "quantity" to "quality" and have never looked back.  Just like I often break my baseball cards into tiers... I do the same thing with friendship.

In my personal life, I essentially have three best friends and a handful of close friends who consist of colleagues, childhood friends, and former co-workers.  I'm not opposed to making new friends, but I'm not exactly going out and looking for them either.

The one exception to this rule would be "hobby friends".  This is such a gray area, because even though I write about "cardboard camaraderie" and I periodically send care packages with no strings attached in hopes of putting a smile on a fellow collector's face... the fact remains... I probably wouldn't recognize 98% of you if we crossed paths at the flea market.

I've also met a few dealers and collectors at card shows and flea markets over the years.  One of these guys was Flea Market Joe.  If you're a regular to Bay Area card shows or flea markets, then there's a good chance you've seen him.

At first... he was just the guy with the card supplies, but eventually my buddy Mike introduced me to him.  It took a couple of years, but eventually we were on a first name basis.  Over the years, I've made a fair share of purchases from him.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Stacks of '75 Topps Baseball Minis $17

I'm sure I purchased other stuff from Joe way before these two lots of minis... but after scrolling through my flea market finds, these were the first that I remember.  What's weird is that I picked up the box on the left back in May of 2014.  That's less than two years ago.  It feels like I knew Joe for much, much longer than that.

2010 Bowman #47 $.33

1974 Topps #250 $8

1962 Post Cereal Lot $15

If I were ever to compile a list of greatest flea market bargains... this lot of Post Cereal cards would have to be included.  The two Bakers in the middle are pretty rare and command a decent dime on eBay.

1970 Topps Scratch Offs Lot $10

Pair of '56 Topps $5

Back in November, I purchased these two cards from him.  I definitely overpaid, but he's always given me fair prices and this was my way of returning the favor.  Unfortunately... this was the last time I purchased something from Joe.

He's been in and out of the hospital the past two months and this past weekend he passed away.  Outside of seeing him once or twice a month at the flea market, I didn't really know a lot about him.  Heck... I'm not really sure how I'd actually classify us.  Were we acquaintances?  Friends?  Two guys who knew each others names and shared an interest in sports cards?  Friendship is such a subjective concept.

All I know is that my heart goes out to his friends and family.  It's never easy dealing with the loss of a loved one.  For me... it's sad to think that in two weeks, I'm going to walk around the Branham Flea Market and he's not going to be there.

However... I dedicate this post to him... as it will serve as a memoir of our "cardboard camaraderie".

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Well Worth the Wait

I receive my fair share of "care packages" from fellow bloggers and supporters of my blog... and I'd say that 75% of them contain at least one Kurt Suzuki card.  In fact... if I had to guess, I'd say that over the years... I have received at least two to three hundred Suzuki cards.  It's actually inspired me to give him his very own binder and join the likes of Gwynn, Maddux, Thomas, Ichiro, and Nomo on my bookshelf.

But there has been one card that has eluded my collection the past two years.  It's only a common base card... one that I could have purchased off of COMC or Sportlots for some spare change.  However... I chose to wait it out in hopes that one day I'd find a copy in a dime box or somebody's care package.

Well the wait is over, because Woody over at Card Collector's World recently sent me a huge padded envelope filled with goodies and it included this:

2014 Topps Update #153

I love this card.  According to CBS Minnesota, this photo was taken at the 2014 Gillette Home Run Derby at Target Field on July 14th, 2014.  It's always cool when you're able to pinpoint the date the photo on a trading card is taken.  But that's not why I love it.

I love this card, because the photograph of Kurt and his daughter enjoying the festivities brings a smile to my face.  It's a special moment on their personal timeline that was captured on cardboard... and that's what makes this card extra cool.

Now I just need to decide whether to add it to my Very Special Portfolio or my Kurt Suzuki binder.  Decisions.  Decisions.  Well... my Player's PC binder has always taken precedence, so I guess it'll be going in the latter.

Speaking of Player's PC binders... Woody also sent me nine new additions to my Tony Gwynn binders:

After collecting Gwynn for nearly three decades, it's always a special moment when you're able to add a new card to the collection.  Adding nine makes it a super duper moment.

And who doesn't love their "hits"...

Mr. Peacock never actually pitched for the Oakland Athletics (unless you count the three games he pitched during Spring Training)... but he was in their minor league system back in 2012.  He was also involved in the deals that brought Derek Norris and Jed Lowrie to Oakland.

Hooray for on-card autographs!  I've always been a fan of Gypsy Queen autographs... and I'm hoping to watch Spangenberg break out into an all-star this season.  Then again... that would probably mean he'll be shipped off to a contender.

I've always wanted a "camo" swatch for my Padres PC and now I have one.  Ross is a solid third starter, who hasn't given up more than four earned runs in 49 consecutive starts.  Hopefully... the Padres keep him around during their rebuild.

Moving on...

The Golden State Warriors are the hottest thing in the Bay Area... since sliced bread.  That's saying a lot since the Super Bowl is going to take place in a few minutes right in our own backyard.  I've avoided jumping on the bandwagon... but will happily add this card to my Warriors PC.

And last but not least...

Woody hooked me up with a card for my Prime Numbers PC.  At first glance, it's a standard Cedric Benson Ultimate Collection base card... but if you look at the serial numbering, you'll notice it's the last number in the run.  This is my fourth "final card in the run".

Thank you Woody for the amazing care package.  I'm slowly rebuilding my Boston stockpile for you.  As soon as I get enough to justify a package... I'll ship them out.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday and sayonara!

Six Degrees of Separation

Jackie Robinson retired sixteen years before I was born and I was less than two months old when he passed away.  But his legacy is one that I have embraced ever since one of my middle school teachers preached about him during a civil rights unit.

Anyways... I figured it would be fun to read up on #42 and see if I could connect him with my favorite player of all-time... Mr. Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr.

So let's get it started...

1956 Topps #30

On Sunday, September 30th, 1956... Jackie Robinson hit a home run in his final regular season MLB game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1956 Topps #33

Standing out in right field for the Pirates was a twenty-two year old Puerto Rican by the name of Roberto Clemente.  Two weeks before Robinson passed away, Roberto Clemente played in his final MLB game against the Cincinnati Reds and The Big Red Machine in Game 5 of the 1972 NLCS.

1972 Topps #434

The Reds were down by a run heading into the bottom of the 9th, but Johnny Bench led off the inning with a home run to tie the game.  Later in the inning... they scored another run to end the Pirates' season.

Johnny Bench hit 389 home runs during his seventeen year career.  Twelve of those home runs were hit off of Don Sutton.  And twelve more were hit off of my favorite pitcher growing up... Steve Carlton.  That's the most home runs Lefty gave up to any single batter during his career.

1982 Topps #481

But don't let those twelve home runs give you the wrong idea.  Carlton was one of the best pitchers of his era.  In fact in 1982, he became the first pitcher in MLB history to win four Cy Young Awards.

1995 Topps Cyberstats #158

Thirteen years later... another favorite pitcher of mine... Mr. Greg Maddux became the 2nd guy to win four Cy Young Awards.  Only Maddux accomplished the feat in four consecutive years.

2002 Topps #99

And connecting the last link in this game of Six Degrees of Separation... is my favorite player of all-time.  How are Greg and Tony connected?  Well... they both played for the San Diego Padres... but not at the same time.  They started three MLB All-Star Games together, but that's kind of a stretch.  I'm a huge fan of both of these guys and collect both of these guys' cards... but that's not necessarily a baseball link.

So let's go with this very cool statistic.  The Professor struck out 3,371 batters over his twenty-three season career and faced Mr. Padre one hundred seven times.  Guess how many times Gwynn struck out.  Go ahead.  Guess.  If you said "zero"... pat yourself on the back.

Gwynn collected thirty-nine hits, drew eleven walks, and had a career batting average of .415 against Maddux.  Impressive, no?

Well there you have it.  Jackie Robinson to Tony Gwynn.  It's amazing how much information has been documented on baseball-reference.org.  I had a lot of fun researching this post.  There's just so much interesting baseball trivia out there.  My goal is to turn this into a series, which will give me a chance to show off some cards, while learning a little bit about the sport we all love.

Anyone else up to the challenge?

If so... leave a link to your post down below.  I'd love to read some of the connections you produce and I'm sure others would too.  C'mon... who doesn't love a little Blog-Bat-Around?

Let me guess... you need an incentive.  Okay.  Let's turn this into a contest.

Everyone who participates gets one entry.  If you mention this contest in your post, I'll give you an extra entry.  The prize?  How about a small flat rate shipping box filled with baseball cards and wax packs?  And if we can get 20 participants... I'll award two prizes.

Since a lot of us are on tight schedules... I'll run the contest throughout the month of February.  That gives you guys a little over three weeks to produce a post.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Exquisite Error

I miss Upper Deck's presence in the MLB licensed baseball card market.  Topps will always be my goto company, but UD definitely gave them a run for their money during the 90's and 2000's.  Products like UD Decade, Sweet Spot, Ultimate, and Masterpieces are all personal favorites and Exquisite was literally in a league of its own.

Living on a teacher's salary limits my box breaks to low end to middle of the road products at best, so just the idea of purchasing a high-end product like Exquisite is nothing more than a dream.  However hat doesn't keep me from buying singles every now and then.

I recently picked up this 2006 Exquisite Collection card of Jeremy Hermida and the son of my favorite baseball player of all-time:

Normally I wouldn't target Tony Gwynn Jr. unless he was pictured with his father, but take a closer look at his signature:

See anything wrong?  Here.  Take an even closer look:

Can you spot the exquisite error?  This is how Junior normally signs his cards/stickers:

COMC Images*

The Exquisite signature kind of resembles the two examples of Junior, but it's different.  It's actually his father's autograph.  You can compare their signatures here:

COMC Image*

I originally saw the aforementioned card on eBay and was intrigued by its uniqueness, so I headed over to COMC and picked it up for $17.  It's a nice conversation piece and connects father and son.  On the flip side, it definitely highlights another issue with "sticker autographs".  It also brings up the question... why the heck was Upper Deck using sticker autographs in their Exquisite product?  If I was paying several hundred dollars for a pack of cards, I'd be pretty disappointed to find player signed stickers.  I guess I should be grateful that I only paid a fraction of the price.

Today's question of the day...

Anyone else own cards that feature an "error" autograph in their collection?

Back in the late 2000's, some of Jordan Swagerty's Donruss Elite autographs actually featured basketball legend, Magic Johnson:

COMC Image*

I actually don't own this card, nor do I own the other two cards with images I borrowed from COMC. But I might need to go out and track down an affordable copy for my Los Angeles Lakers PC.

Well that's it for today.  Have a great week.  Happy Monday and sayonara!