Sayonara Salute: The Cobra

There are moments in your life when you stop what you're doing and reminisce.  That's what happened a few hours ago when Ryan (@ SumoMenkoMan) texted me about Dave Parker passing away.

The Cobra was one of those players from my childhood that stood out to me, because he was such a dominating player.  He had won two batting titles, a World Series ring, a NL MVP Award, and an All-Star Game MVP Award before I opened my first pack of cards.  Luckily I was a baseball fan long before I became a baseball card collector.

However being a baseball card blogger, it's probably a good idea to show off some cards.  So here are some of my favorite Dave Parker cards...

1976 Topps #185

This card captures Parker's swing (and gold chain) on one of my favorite Topps flagship designs.

Let's check out some oddball issues:

1981 Topps Squirt #10

Did you know that he once hit a home run out of Wrigley?

1981 Kellogg's #13

I have a few Kellogg's cards of Parker, but the bright yellow border of the 1981 set compliments Parker's black uniform.

In an effort to squeeze a card of Parker from his days with the Oakland Athletics, here's a box bottom card of his:

1990 Topps Box Bottom #J

Topps honored him with this box bottom, because he hit his 300th career home run on August 5th, 1989 at the Kingdome off of Seattle's Mike Jackson.

1989 was a big year for Parker, because he also won his 2nd World Series ring with the Oakland A's:

1989 Topps #475

That postseason, he only had five hits in seven games... but three of them were home runs.

But even this A's fan knows he's best remembered for being a Pittsburgh Pirate.  So I'll wrap things up with a pair of memorabilia cards, two pack pulled on-card autographs, and a signed rookie card (featuring him in black and yellow):

2001 Topps American Pie Timeless Classic #BBTC-42

2001 UD Decade 1970's Game-Used Bat #B-DP

Writing this post made me realize that I didn't own a jersey card of his, so I went out and purchased this card.

2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph #FFA-DP

2014 Topps Five Star Autographs #FSA-DPA

The past few years, I've slowed down in purchasing on-card autographs.  Luckily I grabbed these two a decade ago.

Last, but not least...

1974 Topps #252

Rest in peace Mr. Parker.  Your legacy will be remembered by the millions of baseball fans and card collectors who got a chance to watch you play.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Is Bigger Better?

I guess it depends on what we're talking about... and our personal preferences.  In regards to trading cards... I appreciate them in all shapes and sizes.

Let's start off with this small tobacco card I recently purchased for my Japan PC:

1887 N9 Allen & Ginter Flags of All Nations #NNO

This one hundred thirty-eight year old trading card has been on my radar for a few years, but I didn't start targeting it on eBay until a year or two ago.  I have seen a few with pretty high BIN prices, but recently one popped up in an auction.

I set an alarm on my phone (the auction was ending towards the end of my 6th period) and quickly entered a bid with about 10 seconds remaining.  A couple of hours later, I checked and discovered I won.

This card might be small in size... but it's a pretty huge addition to my collection.

Next up are a few oversized cards that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent me back in early May...

1995 Bowman's Best Jumbo Refractor #89

This shiny Nomo measures 4" x 6" and is part of a ten card set that were individually inserted into specially marked Treat packages.  John sent me the Gwynn earlier in the year... and I'm currently sitting on half of the set.

Next up is this 5" x 7" Jose Canseco:

1993 Stadium Club Master Photo #NNO

There are three different versions of this card.  One is a standard sized redemption card that was inserted into packs.  Topps also produced a 5" x 7" version for their Member's Only sets.  This one is the third version which were distributed two different ways: part of the redemption program or as a box topper.

Topps also produced oversized Master Photo cards for their Dome and Toys R Us factory sets that featured slightly different designs and photos..

The bulk of John's care package were hundreds of Tony Gwynn cards that are in the process of being sorted and integrated into my binders.  I'll show a few of these off in a future post.

In the meantime... there were two 3.5" x 5" cards that stood out from the rest:

1985 Donruss Action All-Stars #19

From 1983 to 1987 Donruss produced these oversized All-Star cards as a separate (oddball) issue.  1985 was Gwynn's first appearance.

The other Gwynn he sent me is the same size (3.5" x 5"), but was distributed as a box topper in hobby boxes of 1994 Donruss baseball:

1994 Donruss Dominators #1

This card celebrates Gwynn for having the highest batting average in the 90's (from 1990 to 1993) and was serial numbered to 10,000:

According to Statmuse, Gwynn held onto that title:

Can you guess who was #2 on the list?  Click the link to find out.  I never would have guessed that player.

Well there you have it.  Five trading cards.  One small.  Four big.  All of them are pretty darn cool as long as you don't get flustered by storing non-standard sized cards.

Feel free to leave your thoughts on small and big cards down below.  I look forward to reading and responding to them.

Until then... thank you John for another generous care package filled with cool stuff for my collection.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

I wish I would have opened John's care package a little sooner, because he sent me a bunch of Star Wars figures that would have been perfect for my May the 4th post:

It's kind of hard to see from this angle, but you're looking at an army of 2005 Star Wars Attacktix figures.  If you're not familiar with these, they were part of an action figure game with the goal of knocking over your opponent's figures.

Here's a closer look at some of my favorite figures:

These figures were sold in booster and starter packs.  I bought a bunch, but don't think I ever actually played the game.  I'll probably add most of these to my Star Wars shelf in my classroom.  However the next figures will be kept in my personal collection at home:

1977 Kenner Princess Leia

1980 Kenner Lando Calrissian

1980 Kenner Lobot

1980 Kenner IG-88

1983 Kenner Klaatu

The goal is to one day have a vintage Star Wars display like John's.  I do have three shelves in my office dedicated to my Star Wars collection, but one is for my 90's and 2000's action figures.  Another has my collection of 1990's Action Fleet ships.  And the final one has a few of my Star Wars Lego sets.  But one day... I'll have enough vintage figures to fill a shelf in my office.  The bigger... the better.

Flea Market Finds #174b: Best Haul of the Year?

Tuesday's post was the appetizer.  Today's is the main course.

It covers the purchase of a pretty cool set, a super cool and hard to find set, and some items that take me back to my Little League days.

Considering that the next Branham Flea Market is only two days away... and these purchases were made almost five weeks ago... this post is long overdue.  Let's get into it...

Purchase #1: The Pretty Cool Set  $15 

Remember the guy who sold me the Sears football posters and the 1976 Laughlin Diamond Jubilee set?  He was back and I was very happy to see him.

The first set to catch my eye on his table was this 1978 Olde Cards Halsey Hall Recalls baseball set:

1978 Olde Cards Halsey Hall Recalls #20 Set

I had seen singles from this set before, but had no idea what they were.

1978 Olde Cards Halsey Hall Recalls #20

But with guys like Roy Campanella, Willie Mays and Ted Williams on the checklist... I was interested in it.

1978 Olde Cards Halsey Hall Recalls #21

A quick glance at the back dated it back to the 70's which intrigued me more.  When you factor in the $15 price tag, there was no way I could pass up this set.

But this purchase could have been part of the "appetizer" post, because it's the next two items that I'm mostly excited about.

Purchase #2:  The Super Cool Set  $10

1974 Laughlin Old Time Black Stars Set

The first time I met this vendor, I saw this set on his table.  However the price he quoted me (maybe $50) was a little high for a set I wasn't familiar with.

1974 Laughlin Old Time Black Stars #8

But I couldn't get the image of the Josh Gibson out of my head.  I was thinking how cool it would be to own this card.  Unfortunately the vendor didn't have the set with him the following month.

1974 Laughlin Old Time Black Stars #15

This time around he did and it was much more affordable.  He told me since I was a frequent buyer, I could have it for $10.  At the time I though it was a pretty cool deal.  It wasn't until I got home and started researching this set that I discovered its true value.  Let's just say this might just be my best flea market find of all-time in terms of monetary value.

But this isn't even the coolest purchase of the day...

Purchase #3:  7-11 Slurpee Cups  $8

If you grew up in the 80's and enjoyed 7-11 Slurpees... you know exactly what these cups are.

The best part wasn't even the Slurpee.  When you were finished drinking it, you would turn the cup over and see a false bottom.

 

The false bottom could be removed to reveal one 7-11 Slurpee Disc.  I ended up purchasing over seventy cups (about 30 football and 40 baseball) that contained these discs:

Now unlike the Laughlin set, these don't hold much monetary value.  However they hold a ton of nostalgic value to me.

Back in the 80's, I would ride my bike to 7-ll after baseball practice to grab a Slurpee.  They didn't always have these special cups, but every now and then they would.

Back then Rickey Henderson was my favorite player... and I would have been stoked to pull him from the bottom of a cup:

1984 7-11 Super Star Sports Coins (West Region) #XXI

Forty-one years later, I got the opportunity to experienced that... and it was awesome.

One of my favorite flea market hauls in a long time.  Hope you enjoyed it as much as I have.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!