30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Epic Winning and Lounging

This morning I woke up... and casually made the decision to stop and recharge the batteries.  I was going to play nine holes and grab lunch with a friend, but tweaking my neck on Thursday night put a damper on my golf plans.  So I rescheduled my lunch and for the first time in a long time I literally have no plans outside of writing this post.

1962 Topps #53

The only downside is this decision will likely end the step streak at sixty-one days.  I'll still go out this evening for my daily walk, but it'll be a casual stroll without the pressure to reach ten thousand steps. My new goal is to get 10k steps each day during the workweek and at least 10k steps over the weekend.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about cards.  Brian over at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary (which happens to be one of the coolest blog names around) sent me a package of cards.

Today's post will feature ten of those cards that weren't chosen arbitrarily.  I hand picked them and plan on writing highly subjective thoughts on each of them.  Are you ready?

Okay... let's do this...

1968 Topps #169

I'm always excited to add a new vintage card of this legendary Oakland Athletic.  The fact that it's a 2014 Topps buyback makes this card even cooler.


2008 Stadium Club First Day Issue #102

I have fond memories of opening packs of 1993 Stadium Club in search for the shiny 1st Day Production holofoil stamp.  This card stirred up those great memories.  Barton gave A's fans a few great memories too, but for the most part... he never lived up to the hype.


1992 Upper Deck Denny's Grand Slam #22

I may or may not already own this card.  If I do, I never took the time to notice the Bay Bridge in the background.  That's pretty awesome.  I'm a big fan of famous landmarks, so I might need to track down the rest of this set.


1964 Topps Venezuelan #75

Before receiving this card, I had never heard of Wayne Causey nor had I owned a Topps Venezuelan.  Never say never.


2016 Topps MLB Debut Medallions #MDM-YC

Cespedes was a fan favorite during his three year stint in Oakland.  Now whenever I hear his name, I think about the trade that sent him to the Red Sox in 2014.  Four seasons later, the A's are only now showing any signs of life.


2017 Stadium Club Chrome Refractor #SCC-83

What happens when you combine Stadium Club photography with refractor technology?  You get this beautiful card.  It's just a shame that Cotton is out for the 2018 season.


1959 Topps #281

Mr. Craddock threw his final MLB pitch almost fourteen years before I was born and his Wikipedia write up is less than 150 words long.  I'm gonna give myself a pass for not knowing who this guy is.  

Beautiful card though.  Love that old school Athletics logo.


1979 Topps #201

Another very cool buyback!  I love seeing 70's baseball cards featuring the Oakland Coliseum I grew up with in the background.

Can't say much about Mr. Edwards.  Don't remember him, but according to Baseball Almanac, he still shares the MLB record for most unassisted double plays in a game (2) with three other players.


2018 Gypsy Queen Autographs #GQA-DF

I love the Oakland A's and Gypsy Queen on-card autographs... but what the heck is this chicken scratch?  D Pe?  Bob Melvin needs to pull this rookie aside and talk to him.


2002 Leaf Shirt off my Back #SB-THU

I'm a big fan of memorabilia cards and Tim Hudson.  Now that's what Charlie Sheen would call "bi-winning!":


Technically... this entire care package was filled with "epic winning".  I just didn't have the time to scan sixty cards.  Wait.  Actually, I do.  But that's not how I  want to spend my "responsibility free" Saturday.

Instead I'll be binge watching Sneaky Pete, taking a nap, and eating whatever I want without worrying about calories.

Thank you Brian for this generous package of cards!  I'm glad that I had the honor of writing your blog's 1000th comment.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

8 comments:

Matt said...

Nice prize pack. I really like the medallion cards and am impressed how heavy those are

Jon said...

That was a pretty solid mailing, I especially like the Wayne Causey.

Brian said...

Glad they all made it in one piece - Thanks again for being so active in the blogging community, reading and commenting on all of our stuff and of course for posting your blog too!

SumoMenkoMan said...

Nice mail day. I wonder what athletes get paid to scratch their name on a sticker or card?

The Lost Collector said...

Hope you still made it to 10K yesterday! The GQ autos are nice, I agree...but Fowler's signature is definitely rough.

The Snorting Bull said...

I always thought Daric Barton was going to be really good. That Mulder for Barton and Haren trade was terrible for the Cardinals, I really thought that Barton was going to be the better of those two players.

Nick Vossbrink said...

1. That's a great-looking Venezuelan.
2. Love love love the Denny's holo.
3. If you see any photos from San Jose Obon on Saturday featuring a family all wearing Giants happi, that would be me.

Fuji said...

Sports Card Collectors - Me too. Btw... if you like heavy cards then stay tuned. Tomorrow's post features some of the heaviest cards in my collection.

Jon - At first I thought it was a normal 64... but it seemed off. After a quick search, I realized the black back is a dead giveaway to that year's Venezuelan versions.

Brian - Thanks again for the wonderful care package! Reading and commenting on blogs keeps me sane :)

SumoMenkoMan - Not sure But hopefully Topps didn't give Fowler too much. If they did, they deserve a partial refund.

The Lost Collector - I didn't :( Streak is over. But I have reached 10k the past 3 days.

Snorting Bull - We both got one solid season out of each of them. Difference is... Barton's salary was much, much lower.

Nick Vossbrink - Hope you had fun. I almost went on Sunday, but it was too hot and didn't want to deal with the crowds.