Sometimes collectors collect the craziest things. I know, because I'm one of those collectors.
Back in March, Topps released their Celebration mega boxes which contain cards of one of my favorite side collections: mascots.
When I found out they inserted mascot relic cards into packs, I knew I had to own a copy of this card for my A's PC:
2026 Topps Mascots Relic #MAS-ATH
A few weeks ago, this card popped up for auction on eBay. I entered my $5 bid with a few seconds remaining in the auction and discovered I was the only guy interested. After paying $3.50 more for shipping and taxes, it finally arrived in the mail last week.
Yup. You're staring at a mascot relic card. Is this thing silly or what? I mean... does anyone really believe that Topps cut up Stomper's jersey or pants and embedded a swatch into this card? It's highly unlikely. But as an A's and Stomper fan, I had to add a copy to my collection.
Right around the time I started searching for this relic card, Bob over at The Best Bubble sent me this:
2008 Topps Opening Day Tattoo #NNO
The 2008 Opening Day Tattoos were inserts featuring team logos and mascots. I might have to look into finding a nice starter set of these on eBay.
He also sent me some other cool items for my A's collection. Let's start by checking out some autographs:
Doug Jones Custom Card #NNO
It contains his full career stats, so this card was created sometime after 2000. I honestly don't remember Jones playing for Oakland. I mostly remember him for his mustache and his years in Cleveland.
Here's another memorable 'stache:
1984 Fleer #453
Bob also tossed in a few oddballs and inserts:
The shiniest was this Tim Hudson refractor:
2000 Topps Chrome Refractor #275
This card is gorgeous. These days Topps has drowned collectors by flooding the hobby with refractors. Things were different back in 2000. Back then, you'd find one refractor in every twelve packs. In other words, when you pulled one... it was worth celebrating.
The final card in his bubble mailer was this vintage oddball:
1971 Fleer Quiz #NNO
Okay, now it's time for the mystery portion of this post. I found these sitting in a stack of mail:
1984 Oakland A's Pocket Schedule
I'm pretty sure they were from a different care package from Bob. However if I'm mistaken and you sent me these cards, please let me know down below.
This vintage Kellogg's decal was also with the schedule:
1970 Kellogg's Litho Fusion Decal
Thank you Bob for all of these cool A's collectibles! Let me know if you also sent me the pocket schedule and Kellogg's decal.
Everyone else, here are today's questions of the day:
Who is your favorite sports mascot?
Who has the best mustache in sports history?
I look forward to reading and replying to your comments.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
17 comments:
Good stuff. Love those Fleer Quiz cards. I always wanted to chase them but figured it would be too difficult.
I was lucky and found a 1971 Fleer Quiz card for my Royals at a card show a few years back. Still looking and hoping to come across a 1970 one.
I bought a Royals mascot (Sluggerrr) relic card off eBay several years ago, also- I'm embarrassed to admit- an autographed Sluggerrr card. I paid a lot more for each of those that you paid for your Stomper relic.
Lots of neat cards in your "care package". Congrats!
PAWS, obviously, is my favorite mascot.
Had the pleasure of talking to Rollie Fingers on the phone back in the early 1990s when I was running a sports bar. He's the standard when it comes to mustaches in my era.
p.s. RIP Bob Horner.
Clark the Cub is a newer mascot, but he has grown on me. But Hawkeye, our local minor league baseball mascot is probably my #1. Me and the kids have a whole mascot binder of cards, but it's as much for me as it is for the kids!
Hard to beat the Tim Blackwell mustache. The Rollie Fingers, too, of course is a top candidate if one prefers handlebar.
Favorite mascot: got to go back a few decades: Chief Nocahoma (I hope I spelled that right).
Best mustache: Rollie's handle bars.
Favorite mascot was Chief Illiniwek of the Fighting Illini. The halftime show at basketball games was great.
Going to As games in the 80's don't remember a mascot but I do remember Crazy George.Favorite mascot was the San Diego Chicken.As for mustache gotta go with Rollie Fingers remember getting his autograph from him at an A"s game as an 11 year old kid in 1972.
Nice lopes auto! His 84 Fleer is a good example of a 3 logo card, too. I don’t have a favorite mascot, but my favorite sports mustache was Lanny MacDonald’s.
Jones would send those custom tract cards with through the mail autograph requests. I think I was able to get Jones to sign something in-person after a game when he was with the visiting A's but may have denied when I tried to get him a second time.
I have quite a collection of MLB mascot cards. I pick them up whenever I come across them at shows and other places. In fact I have a jersey card of Fredbird the St Louis Cardinals mascot. But my favorite mascot is Slider, the Guardians mascot, and Billy the Marlin, the one from Marlins.
Mr. Met is my favorite mascot by far, but I'll admit I have a soft spot for the Phillie Phanatic, who I've seen at a minor league game. I even got hit in the back of my head by his belly (he was working his way down the aisle behind me). His belly is not as soft as one might think. As for mustaches, I'm going with the formidable Fu Manchu of Dennis Maruk, who used to play for the Capitals and North Stars.
Forgot to comment that I love the Cramer PCL card of Bill Krueger. Cramer minor league cards are like Mother's Cookies cards for me - they're West Coast issues where I wish they overlapped with my own collections more than they do
Otto the Orange is my favorite mascot. The Yankees had a bizarre mascot years ago...Dandy. Worth a look if you haven't seen.
Best mustache goes to Rollie Fingers. The handlebar was classic. Mascot? That's a little harder to answer, but I have to go with the original...The Chicken.
Favorite mascots are Raymond and Paws. Kyler likes Raymond, Bernie Brewer, and Swinging Friar. We had a picture of Kyler when he met Raymond at a game, and when we went to another game we showed it to him to get him to sign it, and he acted surprised and excited to see a picture of himself.
Most famous mustache has to go to Fingers, but Tim Blackwell has a great one, and Clay Zavada should make the list as well.
The Oriole Bird is a classic, but the Chicken was the most entertaining.
I was going to say Luis Tiant for 'stache, but Fingers' is probably the GOAT.
PS-Sending you some more (regular) Rickeys.
Love those mascot cards and the best mustache would have to be Rollie Fingers. Tiant had a nice one too but the way Rollie's had that upward loop made his the best.
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