Rickey Loves Relics & Retirement

Back in early April, I received a text message from Greg over at The Collective Mind.  His LCS had recently acquired a huge Rickey Henderson collection and he shared a pair of photos with cards that were available for purchase.

The collection was very impressive and I could have used almost everything in the pictures.  However at the time, I hadn't done my taxes... so I decided to shop conservatively.  I ended up picking two $25 cards:

2010 Topps Sterling Legendary Leather Relic #5LLR-5 (#'d 09/25)

2010 Topps Sterling Stats Relic #SSR-5 (#'d 08/25)

I don't usually spend $25 on relic cards, but these two took me on a trip down memory lane. 

Watching high-end breaks on YouTube in the late-aughts lured me back into the hobby and Topps Sterling was one of my favorite products to watch.  Boxes were usually player or statistically themed and 2010 was the final year of the initial product run.

That year each box cost collectors around $250 and contained only two packs: a mystery pack (with one framed parallel or a cut signature card) and a themed pack (with three base cards and two hits).  In other words it was a high dollar gamble and not a product I would ever consider opening.

On the other hand, I was very excited to add these two game-used jersey cards to my Rickey Henderson PC for about the same price as two 2026 Topps Series 2 value boxes at Target.  I also offered to send him $25 to cover shipping and reward him with a finder's fee, but he insisted on only accepting $10.

As a bonus, he tossed in this Rickey relic card:

2021 Topps Tier One Legends Relic #TTLR-RH (#'d 019/149)

2021 Topps Tier One is another high-end product.  These one pack boxes were also originally $250.  However instead of six cards, you only received three: 2 relic cards and 1 autograph/autographed relic.

In May, Greg sent me a few more Rickey Hendersons.  Two were for my Topps Base Card Run:

1995 Topps #559

2001 Topps Traded #T77

I'm down to these six:

Technically I already own copies of his 1980 and 1981 cards.  However the second year card is part of my 1981 Topps set and the rookies fall into one of three categories:

#1:  Part of my 1980 Topps baseball set

#2:  Graded Rookie Card

#3:  Signed Rookie Card

He also tossed in a pair of 2013 The National promo cards:

2013 Leaf National #N-RH1

It looks like this year's National Sports Collectors Convention will be held in Chicago again.  I'm not going.  In fact, I've never gone.  Not sure I ever will, but never say never.

The final cards in Greg's care package were customs created by his friend Eric (EricD3043 on TCDB):

I'm super jealous of collectors with the ability to create custom cards like these.  

My personal favorites are the 1965, 1978, 1979, 1980, and both of the 1960 customs.  Great job Eric!

Thank you Greg for going out of your way to grab those two high-end Rickey relics... and for giving me a bonus one to boot.  And congratulations on your retirement!  After dedicating the past 22+ years to that school district, you've earned some rest and relaxation.  Hope you get to spend some quality time with your girlfriend, cars, collection, and card room!

  

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

The Run is Complete!

The ball is finally starting to roll again... as I try to start hammering out semi-regular posts on this blog.  I've been busying scanning and stock piling photos for future posts and it's starting to pay off.

Today I'm showing off the final four cards I needed to complete my Dave Stieb O-Pee-Chee base card run that was inspired by Angus over at Dawg Day Cards.  He got the project started by sending me his 1980 O-Pee-Chee rookie card along with Stieb's 1981, 1986, and 1988 cards.  Sportlots dealers handled the rest.

I ordered the final four on the same day from two different dealers.  One of the PWE's arrived within a few days with these three cards:

1989 O-Pee-Chee #535

1990 O-Pee-Chee #4

1992 O-Pee-Chee #320

The last card finally arrived this week:

1991 O-Pee-Chee #460

And here's a look at its entirety:

This was such a fun project to honor one of the best pitchers from the 80's and the greatest baseball player to attend the same high school as me.

Thanks again Angus for inspiring this project.  I wouldn't have even considered attempting it, so I am forever grateful.

Unfortunately... that 1991 O-Pee-Chee didn't only delay the completion of my Stieb base card run.  It also pushed back this Thoughts & Sox thank you post.  Adam sent me more Canadian cardboard way back in March:

Why did I want to include his cards with the cards from my Sportlots order?  Because the coolest card he included was this:

1987 Leaf #72

Now I have to decide whether or not to complete his Leaf base card run.  After checking COMC, it appears as if he only had a handful of Leaf cards (1985 to 1988) that mirror the Donruss design, so there's a good chance that I will accept this challenge.  But for now it's not high on my priority list.

Thank you Adam for the generous care package... and once again... sorry about the delay.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

North of the Border

Toronto swept the A's to open up the 2026 season.  It stung, but they're the defending American League champions.  Can't say I'm surprised.  In fact, if the A's aren't in the running in October... I'd be okay with the Blue Jays getting another shot at the Dodgers or whoever ends up representing the National League.

Today I'll be celebrating our neighbors to the north again as I update a recent project and show off some Canadian collectibles.

Let's start with my Dave Stieb O-Pee-Chee base card run that was kicked off a few weeks ago when Angus sent me four of Stieb's thirteen cards.

I found a seller on Sportlots who had five more for 20¢ each:

1987 O-Pee-Chee #90

1985 O-Pee-Chee #240

1984 O-Pee-Chee #134

1983 O-Pee-Chee #130

1982 O-Pee-Chee #380

With these in hand, I'm down to needing only his 1989 to 1992 O-Pee-Chee singles (which I purchased on Sportlots earlier today).

I'm debating on whether or not to complete Stieb's entire Topps base card run, which is identical to his O-Pee-Chee except for the addition of a 1993 Topps single.

Speaking of Angus, I wanted to highlight the final pieces of his December care package.  Let's start off with another Stieb:

1985 O-Pee-Chee Poster #22

These posters were inserted into packs of 1985 O-Pee-Chee baseball and are slightly smaller than a 5x7 print.

Next up is an 80's postcard featuring Youppi:

1988 Montreal Expos Photocards #NNO

There's no date printed on this postcard, but I found this image on TCDB.  Youppi was the official mascot of the Montreal Expos from 1979 to 2004.  When the Expos packed up and moved to DC, Youppi switched sports and became the Montreal Canadians mascot.

The final item he gave me is this really cool stamp booklet:

2019 Canadian Stamp Book

This is the view of the back and cover.  Here's a look at the stamps:

These are flippin' awesome.  Back in the Summer of 2013, my parents and I took a two week trip up to Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.  Vancouver left a great impression on me and my father.  We had talked a few times about going back up, but it never happened.  This stamp booklet is a nice reminder of one of my favorite travel destinations.  I'll be adding it to my small, yet sentimental stamp collection.

Last, but not least is a single O-Pee-Chee Empire Strikes Back card from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot:

1981 O-Pee-Chee Star Wars ESB #74

The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite movie from the original trilogy and this card captures one of the best scenes.  

I'm a big fan of Vader's bounty hunters... especially Boba Fett.

Like Angus... John has inspired me to track down more of my favorite singles from this set.  I haven't actually pulled the trigger and won any cards, but when I do... I'm sure it'll end up in a post.

Thank you Angus and John!

Here is today's question of the day:

Have you ever vacationed in Canada?  If so, do you have a favorite vacation spot north of the border?

If you live in Canada, have you ever vacationed in the United States?  Do you have a favorite vacation spot south of the border?

I look forward to reading and responding to your comments.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Not Finished Yet

On Tuesday, Dennis @ Too Many Verlanders and Tom @ The Angels in Order left comments about the Los Angeles Angels hiring Kurt Suzuki as their manager.  Reader X followed up their comments saying he was "looking forward to the forthcoming Kurt Suzuki post in honor of his managerial status".

Well I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and do this by showing off Zuk's complete Topps base card run:

2004 Topps Traded & Rookies #T87

The Oakland A's drafted Kurt Suzuki in the 2nd Round of the 2004 MLB Amateur Draft after he helped Cal State Fullerton win their fourth College World Series championship (more on that later).

2007 Topps Update & Highlights #UH176

The A's called him up in 2007 and he became their starting catcher in 2008.

2008 Topps #226

2009 Topps #622

2010 Topps #285

2011 Topps #79

2012 Topps #309

After the A's signed Suzuki to a four year extension in the summer of 2010, I was stoked.  I hoped that this was the start of a beautiful career where he might become the next Athletic to spend his entire career in Oakland.

Unfortunately, he struggled to put up the same kind of numbers at the plate as he had in 2008 and 2009, so in the summer of 2012, they shipped him off to Washington...

2013 Topps #208

The Nationals would send him back the following summer and once again I hoped he'd stick around and end his career in Oakland.  Nope.

2014 Topps #104

2014 Topps Update #US-230

That off-season he signed with the Minnesota Twins and ended up making his lone MLB All-Star Game appearance that summer.

2015 Topps #373

2016 Topps #208

In January of 2017, he signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves...

2017 Topps #27

2017 Topps Update #US207

Two of his finest seasons at the plate were with the Braves.  In fact, he hit a career high, nineteen home runs in 2017 while splitting time with Tyler Flowers.

2018 Topps #608

This card plays an important role in this post for a couple of reasons, but before we discuss them... let's check out the rest of Kurt Suzuki's Topps base card run:

2019 Topps #654

2020 Topps #89

He would return to the Washington Nationals after the 2018 season and win a World Series ring with them in 2019.

He'd sign a contract with the Los Angeles Angels in 2021 and wrap up his sixteen MLB season career there.

2021 Topps #571

2022 Topps #171

On October 4th, 2022... Phil Nevin honored Zuk by allowing him to catch the first pitch in his final MLB game in front of a (far from) sold out crowd at the Oakland Coliseum where he kicked off his career.  I wasn't in attendance, but just watching this video of him hugging his teammates and waving to the fans gives me goosebumps.

Now he starts the next chapter of his MLB career.  Although he's managing a division rival, I wish him nothing but success.  While we wait to see how his one year managerial contract with the Angels pans out, let's get back to his cardboard.

First, let's take another look at his 2018 card:

Until this morning, I had assumed that this was his regular base card.  However while scanning all of these images, I noticed that it's actually one of those factory team set cards.  It's a little hard to tell by looking from the front, but it's pretty obvious if you turn the card over:

2018 Topps Atlanta Braves #AB-15

Although I can't say for sure, I'm pretty confident that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent this to me in one of his care packages.

Surprisingly, I don't have a copy of Suzuki's 2018 Topps base card, yet I have his factory team set card and this one-of-one superfractor:

2018 Topps Chrome Sapphire Edition Superfractor #608

This awesome card was sent to me back in 2020 by Brian over at Collecting Cutch.  

It's the first and only pack pulled superfractor I have ever owned and it's one of my favorite cards in the Kurt Suzuki collection.

I figured I'd wrap up this tribute to him with a few more of my favorite cards since he's one of my all-time favorite players.

2007 Sweet Spot Signatures Bat Barrel Black Silver Ink #SS-KS

Kurt Suzuki reached the MLB right about the same time I returned to the hobby.  I was drawn back by super cool autographs like this bat barrel signature.  The bat might not be game used, but I loved that Upper Deck switched things up and had players sign slabs of wood like this.

That year, Upper Deck also released their first UD Masterpieces baseball card set.  This is one of my favorite product lines of the 2000's.

In 2012, AJ over at The Lost Collector sent me this original sketch card:

This card sat in a screwdown holder for years in my office.

But in an effort to keep it from fading or getting discolored, I have since moved it into a top loader where it sits with the rest of my Suzuki PC.

Remember I mentioned the 2004 College World Series earlier in the post?  Well check these out...

2004 College World Series Tickets

A fellow A's fan and card collector sent me these two tickets back in 2015.  I don't think these were for either of the championship games, but they're still a cool piece of history and part of the collection.

I have tons of cool cards from Kurt's career... many of which were sent by fellow bloggers.  But a few were purchased.  One of my biggest purchases involving Zuk was for these six cards:

2007 SP Authentic By The Letter Rookie Signatures #125

Upper Deck sure produced some sweet stuff back in the 2000's.  They had players sign manufactured (not game-used) jersey letters which they embedded into cards to create beautiful collectibles.  Here's a closer look at one of them:

Just like the sketch card and World Series tickets, these were once on display in my office.  However to protect the ink from fading, I have since moved them into a box with the other items.

But this morning, I took them out and admired them in an effort to honor the new Los Angeles Angels manager.

His playing career might be over, but just like my Topps base card run... he's not finished yet.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!