Mascots, Mustaches, and a Mystery

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:

This card appears to be a custom created by or for Mr. Jones:

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

My facial hair game is weak.  Davey's was not.  Rest in peace Mr. Lopes.

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

I had seen a few singles from this set pop up on blogs, but I've never owned one until now.  According to The Fleer Sticker Project, there's another A's card with a different set of questions, so I'll be on the hunt for that one too.

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!

Plethora of Pads

It's hard to believe that I've been a San Diego Padres fan for over forty years.  The only professional teams I have rooted for longer are the Oakland/Sacramento A's and the Seattle Seahawks.

Sometimes the fact that I have two favorite teams within one sport confuses people, but it's pretty simple.  When the A's play any MLB team other than the Padres, I root for the A's.  And when the Padres play any MLB team other than the A's, I root for the Padres.

It's only tricky when they play against each other.  Then it depends on who needs the win more.  Since both teams are fighting for first place in their divisions, I just sit back and enjoy the game.  That's what happened this weekend.  The A's won today, but the Padres won the series.

2022 Topps Opening Day #OD7

Figured it's a good time to show off some Padres cards that John (@ Johnny's Trading Spot) and Reader X sent me earlier in the year.

John is an Atlanta Braves' fan, while Reader X roots for the New York Yankees.  Since the Braves currently hold the best record in baseball, let's start with the cards John sent me...

1990 Panini Sticker #356

Although I love collecting baseball cards featuring my favorite players, I also enjoy adding team related items like this Panini sticker and these team cards:

2024 Topps 582 Montgomery Club #2

2025 Topps 582 Montgomery Club #39

John sent two partial team sets from the 582 Montgomery Club set.  Here are some of the bigger names:

I tried to join the 582 Montgomery Club the first couple of years, but it always filled up too fast.  Glad to have some of these singles for my collection.

He also sent me a partial 1985 Mother's Cookies Padres team set.  Here are some of the notable names:

But my favorite card is the one featuring Jack Murphy Stadium:

1985 Mother's Cookies Padres #28

He sent me a big stack of Mr. Machado cards.  Here's a sampling:

Plus there were some other parallels and inserts featuring some familiar names:

Next up are a variety of inserts and parallels from Reader X.  He sent me over seventy different Padres for my collection.  

Here are some of the highlights:

Tony Gwynn is my all-time favorite player... so I'm always excited to add new cards to my binder.

Fernando is my favorite current Padre:

He's really struggling this season.  It's been two months and he still hasn't hit a home run.  Hopefully he figures things out at the plate soon.

Machado has been struggling too, but that's not stopping me from enjoying his cards:

Honestly... all of the Padres big name hitters are struggling this season.

But Luis Arraez is hitting .323 for the San Francisco Giants this season.  The Padres could really use him this season.

Even without their stellar bats, the Padres still have the 5th best record in baseball... and are only 4 games behind the Atlanta Braves.  There's still plenty of baseball left to be played.

Let's go Padres!  Let's go A's!

Thank you John and Reader X for your generous contributions to my San Diego Padres PC.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Let's Go Oakland!

Oops.  I mean Sacramento.  When I started writing this post three Saturdays ago... I was pleasantly surprised to see the A's and San Diego Padres sitting on top of their divisions.

Obviously it's been a few weeks and there's a reasonable chance neither still are, but regardless I wanted to show off some of their cards I have recently acquired, sorted, and added into my personal collections.

So grab your favorite beverage, sit back, and get ready for this scan heavy post that was brought to you by Reader X and John over @ Johnny's Trading Spot.  When it comes to care packages, these guys don't mess around.  They're heavy hitters.  Their care packages aren't measured by ounces.  They're measured in pounds.

I couldn't find any photo evidence of John's care packages, but they were similar in size to the one Xavier sent me in January:

John used a large flat rate box to ship his cards.  Xavier's preferred method is a shoebox stuffed with baseball card boxes:

Inside of each of these boxes weren't actual packs.  There were stuffed with team bags filled with cards.  Here's a peek at the contents of those team bags after I sorted them on my office floor:

Although the shipping packages were different... each of these guys sent me hundreds of new cards for my collections and students.

Today I'm only going to focus on my two favorite baseball teams.  Let's start off with the first place Athletics...

Reader X sent me a variety of stuff including this Gold Star parallel team set:

2023 Topps Gold Stars Oakland A's Team Set

He also included almost seventy rookie cards and parallels featuring hall of famers, fan favorites, and current stars:

A's Hall of Famers & Legends

Former & Current A's Parallels

More Current Stars

Reader X also tossed in a pair of buybacks:

And this Lazaro Armentaros super collector starter kit:

Not sure if Mr. Armenteros is currently playing baseball, but back in 2019 he peaked as the Oakland A's #5 prospect:

Last, but certainly not least... Xavier sent me this oversized Matt Chapman:

2017 Bowman Prospects 5x7 #BP110 (#'d 05/10)

Big and low numbered!

Next up are some of the A's John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent my way:

Let's start with the three of the A's brightest stars:

Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz & Jacob Wilson

All three of these guys have had some struggles at the plate this season, but they seem to be picking up steam.

Next up is a giant batch of Big Mac and The Pizza Man:

McGwire Oddballs & Piazza Inserts

1987 Barry Colla Mark McGwire Set

1987 Barry Colla Mark McGwire #10

Like Xavier, John also included a parallel team set in his care package:

2025 Topps 582 Mongomery Oakland A's Team Set

And what better way to wrap up a post, than with a six pack of Billy Martin cards:

Billy Martin Collection

Although I was watching and playing baseball by the late 70's, my earliest memories of attending games were from the Billy Ball Era.  His 1982 Donruss card captures a great shot of him having a calm discussion with Blue.  Some of my favorite baseball highlights from the 80's involved watching managers arguing with umpires... especially when fingers were pointing and dirt was flying.  Good times.

Thank you Reader X and John for these awesome additions to my A's collection.  I was originally going to show off some Padres cards too.  Unfortunately I've already been sitting on this stuff for over two weeks and this post is already running a little long, so stay tuned for the Brown & Gold cardboard.

Until then...

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

By the way... the A's are indeed still in 1st place.  Yee haw!  Billy would be proud.