30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Monday, April 20, 2020

Unsolved Mysteries

Two weeks ago, I stumbled across a pair of cards that I had never seen before over on Padrographs; Abner to Zimmer.  By now I'm sure most of you are familiar with his daily giveaways.  If not, forget about reading this post.  Click the link above and check it out.

If you're afraid to click the link, then I'll break it down for you.  The premise is simple.  He posts nine (sometimes more) cards every morning that are available for you to claim.  He offers up a variety of cards ranging from base to memorabilia cards to inserts to autographs.  Just remember... the early bird gets the worm.

There's always at least one or two cards that catch my attention, but I already owe Rod cards... so I try not to claim things unless it's something I really, really, really want.

In this case, I wanted a pair of Ichiro and Satchel Paige Baseball Hall of Fame trading cards:


As you can see... Rod threw in five extras.  The front of each card features the Baseball Hall of Fame logo, a topic, the player's name, their position, and a photograph, while the back offers a pair of interesting facts and a summary on the topic depicted on the front.


Here's a closer look at the Satchel Paige card:


Even though I do enjoy seeing statistics on the backs of my cards... I've got to admit... I love these, because there's so much interesting baseball trivia crammed onto each card.

The question is... 

What the heck are they?  Where can you buy them?  How were they distributed?  When were they distributed?

Please comment down below if you're able to help me solve this mystery.  I know that Rod manages a book store and five of these cards feature children's books on the back, so maybe they're part of an educational program.  

The other mystery involves a two card PWE sent by Jeremy over at Topps Cards That Never Were.


The first card is this "baby shark" 2020 Donruss parallel of Matt OlsonNothing mysterious about this card other than the fact that Panini decided to use emoji's as part of their borders this year.

However the next card and the note attached was sort of a head-scratcher:


Mad Bum is a guy I enjoy rooting for... since he's a fellow southpaw.  But I'm not sure about the Giants binder he's referring to in his note.

Hey Jeremy...

Is this in response to a comment I left on your blog or something I wrote about in a post?

Whatever it is... both cards are much appreciated.  And Rod... thank you so much for these awesome Baseball Hall of Fame trading cards.

I'm really hoping that either or both of these mysteries can be solved.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

10 comments:

The Lost Collector said...

Those HOF cards are neat!

Nick said...

I have absolutely no idea what those HOF cards are but I know there's a Pete Gray card in the set I've been chasing forever.

Jeremya1um said...

You had mentioned in a post where I showed the Bumgarner card that you had the same card and you are putting it in your D-Backs binder, so I assumed you had a Giants binder and figured you could use a second copy of the card to put in that one.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

no clue either.

Jeremya1um said...

I did a search for ‘Pete Gray HOF card’ and there was a Pete Gray card on COMC from the 2005 National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Education Program set that came up in the result. Here is the link to the Gray: https://www.comc.com/Cards/Baseball/2005/National_Baseball_Hall_of_Fame_and_Museum_Education_Program_-_Base/PEGR/Special_Abilities_-_Pete_Gray/10284508 That could be the same set the Ichiro is from. Looks like there is another Paige with a green border in the set as well. https://www.comc.com/Cards/Baseball/2005/National_Baseball_Hall_of_Fame_and_Museum_Education_Program_-_Base

The Snorting Bull said...

I like the Hall of Fame cards. Perhaps they go with the Baseball Card Adventure books? They are 3rd-4th Grade reading level, so they have probably not been in your classroom, but I wonder if they weren't a promotion to go along with the books. I believe all of those players had a book in the series.

Fuji said...

the lost collector - i know. i want to buy the whole set!

nick - hope you're able to find a gray in a dime box one day

jeremya1um - hey jeremy... i found the post you mentioned. it was actually nick who left a comment about having a diamondbacks binder. i'll set the card aside and send it to him eventually. and thanks for finding out the year these hof cards were produced. never would have guessed they're 15 years old.

johnnys trading spot - jeremy came to the rescue

the snorting bull - yeah, they're very cool. they might go with those books. jeremy found some on comc and it looks like these were produced in 2005.

Jongudmund said...

I like how the Ichiro card shows a bobblehead. That's a clever way around licensing issues.

I have a Satchel Paige card from an Upper Deck set. I've also seen a women'and soccer game with a player called Paige Satchel. She plays for the New Zealand team.

Jeremya1um said...

I guess I must be getting older than I thought. Could’ve swore it was you that made the comment. Thanks for being the in between guy with the Bumgarner card.

Fuji said...

jongudmund - use of a bobble would be an interesting way to get around licensing issues, but based on other cards it looks like they're able to use team logos. and i wonder if mr. and mrs. satchel named their daughter that in honor of mr. paige.

jeremya1um - no problem. i confuse things all the time. that's what makes us human.