Saturday Night Five: Past & Present, Brown & Gold

I'm more of an early bird than a night owl... but right now a busy schedule dictates when I can blog.  And sometimes you gotta push through if you want to get things done.

That's why for the first time in the history of this blog... you're getting back to back evening posts.

I was hoping to join in on the current Blog Bat-Around that has been circling the blogosphere... but I need more time to get my list together.  I also have Flea Market Finds post sitting in my draft folder that's waiting to be completed, but I only have about an hour to hammer out this post and publish it.   Plus there's a partially written post ranking my all-time favorite Oakland Athletics that I'd like to work on too.  The list is almost ready to go... but I still need to scan cards for the post.  You gotta trust me when I say... that's more of an morning activity... than a right before bedtime thing.

So tonight's post is going to revolve around five cards I scanned this afternoon while tidying up my office.  It features five different San Diego Padres with three of them currently with the team, one who was traded during the off-season, and the final one being the greatest player in franchise history.

Let's start with the current guys...

2023 Topps Major League Material #MLM-FT

Let's kick things off with Fernando Tatis Jr., who currently leads the team in home runs and total bases.  He looks like he starting to regain that pre-suspension form.  This jersey card was part of a care package I received from Woody over at Sports Card Forum back in December and it represents only the second Tatis Jr. memorabilia card in my Padres PC.

Next up are a pair of hits from Reader X...

2022 Topps Commemorative Batting Helmet #BH-MM

This manufactured relic might just be the thickest card in my collection... and it has some weight to it as well.  So far... Machado has only been used as a DH this season... so the batting helmet fits his current contribution to the team.

The other hit Xavier sent my way is the Padres starting catcher's signature:

2022 Topps Gypsy Queen Autograph #GQA-LC

This is my first autograph of Campusano... and I love the fact that it's on-card.

Next up is a former Padre and current Yankee:

2023 Stadium Club Box Topper #205

This card recently arrived in the mail from Rod (Padrographs).  You can't tell by this scan, but this is one of those oversized box toppers.  Outside of a handful of base cards and inserts, I don't have a ton of Soto's Padres cards... especially one as gorgeous and big as this one.

Speaking of big, he also sent this oddball issue:

1984 Lite Beer #NNO

Not sure how it was distributed back in 1984, but it's a great looking card.  This is actually my second copy.  The first one is sitting in one of my Gwynn binders.  I'll be adding this card to my San Diego Padres shelf in the office.

Thank you Woody, Xavier, and Rod for these additions to the San Diego Padres collection.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Time Playing Tricks On Me

Time has a way with messing with my head.  On this date back in 1994, baseball fans celebrated the 20th anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's MLB home run record.

At the time... two decades literally felt like a lifetime ago to this twenty-one year old collector.

My memory of this historic home run came from baseball highlight videos and baseball cards like his card #1 in the 1974 Topps baseball set or his home run records card in the 1979 Topps set.

Unfortunately... it's a school night and today was one of those long days where the hobby got pushed to the side.  So I don't have the time to dig out those cards and scan them.  What I do have is a card that I have had sitting in my scan folder since last summer:

1994 Topps Gold #715

I purchased this card on April 7th of last year for a dollar on COMC... and have been patiently waiting to use it in this anniversary post.  

Anyways... getting back to the "time" thing... it's been thirty years since this card was inserted into packs of 1994 Topps.  Obviously thirty years is much longer than twenty years... yet 1994 feels like yesterday to this fifty-one year old collector.

Like I said... time has a way with messing with my head.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Some of the Sweet Stuff

Happy Easter!  I know today is a very big religious holiday for many of my friends and family members.  When I was a kid... it was more about decorating eggs, baskets of candy, and spring break.

I know this year Topps released some Easter themed parallels in their flagship Series 1 boxes.  But since I haven't opened any... nor have I acquired any of those parallels... I decided to celebrate with some candy related collectibles in my collection.

As an added bonus, I will rate the candy and players featured on the cards/collectibles using a scale of 1 to 10... with 5 being average.

1987 M&M's #23

Candy Rating: 7/10

Player Rating:  10/10

Peanut Butter M&M's are my favorite, but I don't usually go out of my way to buy them.  On the other hand, I am always looking for new cards of my all-time favorite athlete.

1984 Nestle #300

Candy Rating:  6/10

Player Rating:  7.5/10

Not a fan of Nestle Crunch Bars... but I do enjoy 100 Grand... so I'll rank it slightly lower than M&M's.  As for Charlie Hustle... not a fan of the person, but a fan of the player.

1984 Nestle Dream Team #21

Candy Rating:  6/10

Player Rating:  9/10

Another Nestle card produced in 1984, but a different set.  I prefer the one that parallels the flagship design.  As for the player, Lefty was my favorite pitcher when I was a kid.

1993 Upper Deck Clark Bar Reggie #C2

Candy Rating:  ?/10

Player Rating:  7.5/10

Can't remember buying or trying a Clark Bar, but it sounds interesting.  Not sure I'll waste my money or the calories on trying it out though.  On the other hand, I will occasionally go out of my way to buy a new Reggie for the collection.

1992 Topps Triple Headers #NL9 Bonds/Van Slyke/Bonilla

Candy Rating:  ?/10

Player Ratings:  8/10 Bonds, 3/10 Van Slyke, & 4/10 Bonilla

You're probably wondering how is this candy related.  Well... according to the box it once contained candy:

I'm guessing it contained those Smarties-like tart candies... which I'm not really a fan of.  But since I don't know for sure, the jury is out.  The ball contains two players I don't really collect and one that I do.  Not sure if this ball was ever corrected, but Topps mixed up the facsimile signatures for the Killer B's.

1991 Topps Superstars Stand-Ups Candy #18

Candy Rating:  2/10

Player Rating:  10/10

This plastic box featuring Mr. Padre once contained candy too.  Unlike the ball... I've seen the candy that was originally inside of this container.  Yup.  It's those Smarties-like tart candies that I don't like.  It's not quite as bad as Circus Peanuts, but they're pretty bad.

1987 Leaf Candy City Team #H3

Candy Rating:  5/10

Player Rating:  6.5/10

This card was part of a collaboration between Leaf and the Special Olympics back in 1987.  Although these cards weren't packaged with candy, people could obtain a three card pack with the purchase of two Leaf candy or gum products.

I had to look up what types of candy Leaf produces.  The only one that I've tried before are the Astro Pops... which were rainbow colored, cone shaped suckers.  I remember buying these as a kid, but don't really have any interest in eating them as an adult.

Roy Campanella is a legend, so I'll add his cards to my collection from time to time.  But to say that I actively seek his cards would be a stretch.

1990 Pacific Chocolate Bar Promo #NNO

Candy Rating:  ?/10

Player Rating:  10/10

Can't have a candy related post without showing off this candy related card of Gwynn.  Unfortunately, I've never tried one of these.  But if it's equivalent to your standard Hersey's chocolate bar... than I'd rate it a 6/10.  

Well that's all the candy, cards, and collectibles I have for today.  I probably could have dug out a few more, but I'm heading over to my brother's house in less than an hour and don't have the time to dig anymore up.

Happy Easter and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #161: Small Haul

It's a truly glorious day.  The 2024 MLB season has started... and I'm officially on spring break.  The bulk of it will be spent cleaning, resting, running errands, scanning and sorting cards, and possibly building a few Lego sets while binge watching Shogun.  But I also have a pair of day trips planned.

I'll be driving down to San Luis Obispo one day... and headed over the hill to Capitola another day.  Both trips revolve around food.  I've got a couple of lunch dates and Easter dinner on the calendar.

But the thing I'm looking forward to the most are a pair of flea markets on the tail end of my break.  Mother Nature will ultimately decide whether or not this happens.

She's the reason I've only taken two trips to the flea market in 2024.  The first one was back in early February.  The other took place two Saturdays ago at the Branham Flea Market.

I invited my brother.  He's been thinking about clearing out some clutter and I thought the flea market might be a possible option.  This would give him a chance to see if setting up at one would be worth his time.  I don't think it was his style, but we did have fun hanging out and looking at other peoples' junk.

Although we spent over an hour walking around... I only spent eight dollars on three purchases.

Purchase #1:  1982 7-11 Cup  $1

Ironically... I didn't buy any cards from the lone regular "card" dealer.  He did have some new stuff... but I didn't want to make my brother wait around while I dug through it.

I did grab this Rod Carew cup for a buck though.  He had maybe 15 to 20 of these from various years sitting on his table.  I remember seeing these when I was a kid, so I grabbed it without really thinking if I actually needed it or not.

Purchase #2:  Dollar Box Duo  $2

There's a guy who sets up a the De Anza Flea Market every month who specializes in posters.  He kind of reminds me of that mall store from the 80's with Ansel Adams and Costacos Brothers prints.

He was out there that Saturday (first time seeing him at this flea market) with his poster inventory... but off to the side he had some boxes with a bunch of random stuff in it.  There were a few stacks of cards, so I quickly flipped through them.

After seeing this card, I asked him how much he was asking.  He replied one dollar per card.

1997 UD Legends Autograph #AL-57

I ended up pulling this card and one more:

2001 Star Wars CCG Reflections III Foil (UR)

I'm a sucker for foil CCG cards... especially when it comes to Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, or Star Wars.  I've never played any of them... but for some reason I enjoy collecting them.

When I got home... I was pleasantly surprised that this particular card of Qui-Gon Jinn sells for a decent dime.

On the other hand... I was bummed to discover that the Otto autograph was damaged:

It's a little hard to see, but there's a crease running down the side of the card.  Can't complain too much though.  It only cost me a dollar... and it's a nice addition to the Damage Card PC.

Purchase #3:  Baseball Guides from the 70's  $5

The final purchase of the day was from a book vendor.  He had a bunch of vintage baseball guides for $2 each.  This isn't usually something I'd stop and look at, but while walking by I noticed two with 1972 written on the spines:

1972 The Sporting News Dope Book

1972 The Sporting News Baseball Guide

I collect periodicals from my birth month... or annuals from my birth year, so I pulled these out.

My buddy SumoMenkoMan is a Nolan Ryan fan, so I grabbed this too:

1974 The Sporting News Baseball Record Book

Out of the three books, this one is the coolest.  A fifty year old book... with two baseball (and hobby) legends on the covers.  In fact... I liked it so much, I went out and bought another copy for John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  Figured he could use it for his Atlanta Braves collection.

By the way... I recently got around to opening up three flat rate boxes he sent me over the past ten months and inside there were a couple of baseball books:

The Samurai Way of Baseball by Robert Whiting

Slugging It Out In Japan by

Warren Cromartie & Robert Whiting

Figured this would be a good time to show them off.... along with this very cool Canadian baseball card that was included in one of John's boxes... which has direct ties to my Japan PC:

1984 O-Pee-Chee #287

Although I don't read a lot of books, I do want to read Slugging It Out in Japan to get an idea of what an American baseball player goes through playing in the NPB.

By the way... my goal is to write at least one more post highlighting some of the stuff from the boxes while I'm on spring break.  So stay tuned.

Until then... have a happy Good Friday and sayonara!