30 Day Baseball Card Challenge
Does anyone have any of these laying around? I'm looking to build the 2002 Fleer Fall Classic "HOF Plaque" insert set. It's made up of 30 HOFers and are serial numbered between 1936 and 2002, depending on their induction year.
The first time I saw this set was around a month ago, while searching for deals on checkoutmycards.com. I thought they were cool looking and picked up 1/3 of the set for about $14. I just grabbed another 2 off of there, so that leaves me with 18 to go. I still need the following cards:
#1 Babe Ruth
#2 Christy Mathewson
#6 Cy Young
#7 Tris Speaker
#8 Eddie Collins
#16 Luis Aparicio
#17 Pee Wee Reese
#18 Willie McCovey
#19 Willie Stargell
#21 Joe Morgan
#22 Jim Palmer
#23 Tom Seaver
#25 Steve Carlton
#26 George Brett
#27 Nolan Ryan
#28 Robin Yount
#29 Kirby Puckett
#30 Ozzie Smith
If you have any of these, send me an email or leave a comment with what you're looking for (or how much you want to sell them for).
Last night, I saw the news about Roy Halladay's perfect game and didn't flinch. I was too into the Laker's playoff game to appreciate his work of art. Then this morning, I watched this YouTube video:
After seeing this, I was amazed. I remember Dallas Braden's perfect game a few weeks ago and I was excited. I've always known that a perfect game was rare and something special, but after watching him set down those 27 batters in a row... I was speechless. In fact, I had to watch it twice. After the second time, I searched the internet to see how much his autograph was going for. I figured that people were probably raising their prices, but if the price was right, I'd buy one. Then I came across his 1995 Signature Rookies Tetrad autograph and thought to myself, I've seen this card before. I ran over to my autograph binder, which contains about 35 common autographs from the 90's. It's full of older BAP autos, Classic autos, and of course a few Signature Rookies cards that I've never added to my trade bait bin. Thank goodness for that, because low and behold tucked away in a 9 pocket page was this beauty:I quickly slid it out... placed it in a penny sleeve, then slid the penny sleeve into a top loader... then put the top loader into a team bag... and last but not least... put the entire package into my personal collection. This was truly a hidden treasure and the PERFECT addition to my PC. Now, if I could only get my hands on one of Dallas Braden's autographs... maybe I'll start a Perfect Game PC.I hope everyone is having a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend.
I learned a lot from the boob tube as I was growing up during the 70's and 80's. Alex P. Keaton taught me the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Kevin and Winnie proved to me that fairy tale endings don't always happen. Macgyver showed the world how to save yourself with a gum wrapper, but more importantly he showed me that mullets are cool. And last, but not least... Blair, Jo, Natalie, Tootie, and Mrs. Garrett told me "you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have... the facts of life".So today, I'm going to demonstrate how The Facts of Life affected the way I collect cards.First, let's start with the good: A few years ago, I bought a pack of 1998 Donruss Signature and was fortunate enough to pull an autograph of one of the greatest pure hitters of all time. Mr. Stan Musial. I was so excited... for about two, maybe three seconds.Next, let's take the bad: As I was telling my buddy (who worked at the card shop & picked the pack for me) what I pulled, I noticed that the bottom edge of the card had been embossed by Donruss. Now, I'm not talking about the special stamp that Proline put on their autos in the early 90's. Not the ones that Pacific used to use for their limited cards handed out at shows. Nope, this is quite possibly a rare, 1 of 1 job done by Donruss in their factory. Go ahead... see for yourself:
If you look very closely at the bottom of the card, you can see that the whole bottom edge is crimped. When Donruss sealed the pack, this card slid down and was caught between the wrapper and the machine that is used to seal these wrappers. Ironically, it was the only card that was damaged in the pack. All of the other cards alluded the dreadful sealing machine.The scans don't do the card justice. It's kind of hard to see in the pictures, but it actually goes to the bottom edge of his name. The damage is obvious when you hold the card.Well, finally... you take them both and there you have the facts of life. The facts are:a. I pulled an autographed card of one of the greatest hitters of all-time.b. The autographed card was damaged when I pulled it.c. It's now the centerpiece of my Damaged Card PC.I've written about it before on Sportscardforum in one of the threads, but just in case you missed it. I have a small, yet unique PC that I've been building. All of these cards are in one way or another damaged. There are creased cards, dinged cards, crimped cards, scratched cards, chipped cards, and even a few that were just mishandled by owners. I've obtained these from a variety of sources. Some were acquired from packs, others in trades, some in purchases (Beckett Marketplace, eBay, YouTube mystery packs, etc.), and a few were actually given to me. Unfortunately, I'm not looking to trade for anymore DAMAGED cards at the present time. If you're interested in seeing some of the major cards in this PC, click here.
Two for the price of one. Last month, I picked up a Rick Mirer card for my Seahawks PC and quickly posted it HERE. Then yesterday morning a member on SCF posted a few suggestions to my sports bust thread and low and behold, Mr. Mirer's name popped up. I'm not sure why his name never occurred to me. It's probably because he played on one of my favorite teams and I was in denial. Well there's no hiding from the facts. Rick Mirer is definitely a sports card bust.
He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round with the number two pick in the draft. Drew Bledsoe was the first overall pick and he went on to play in four Pro Bowls. In fact there were three other Pro Bowl quarterbacks chosen after Mr. Mirer: Mark Brunell (5th round), Elvis Grbac (8th round), and Trent Green (8th round). Other notable players chosen after Rick Mirer were Michael Strahan, John Lynch, and Jerome Bettis.
But let's get on with the show. Mr. Mirer played for five different teams during his 8 year tenure in the NFL. During those 8 years, he racked up the following stats:
Career QB Rating: 63.5
Career Passing TD's: 50
Career Interceptions: 76
Career Record (Starter): 24 wins - 44 losses
These stats will never earn him a spot in Canton, however Mr. Mirer has earned himself two different spots in my collection. The first spot is in my Seahawks PC and now thanks to jnuh (of SCF), he's part of my sports bust PC.
My newest Sports Card Bust PC addition has actually been sitting in my "trade bait" box for over 10 years. Luckily, nobody ever snatched this beauty from me. It's a 1998 Skybox Thunder "Chicago Convention Autograph" #NNO Curtis Enis.
If you're a Penn State fan, then you know who Curtis Enis is. If you're a Bears fan, then unfortunately you also probably know who Curtis Enis is.
Joe Paterno rewarded Curtis Enis with his first start against USC during his sophomore year. Curtis Enis rewarded Joe Paterno with 27 carries for 241 yards and three touchdowns in a 24-7 victory over the Trojans. Mr. Enis went on to rush for over 3,000 yards and 36 touchdowns in three seasons as a Nittany Lion. According to SI's War Room report, he had a body of a linebacker and the moves of a much smaller back. He was considered the most complete "big back" in the draft and was a lock as a top 10 pick.
So it wasn't too big of a surprise when the Chicago Bears drafted him with the #5 pick in the 1998 NFL draft. What is a surprise is that Mr. Enis only lasted three seasons in the NFL. Here are the stats I found for Curtis Enis on pro-football-reference.com:
Rushing Yards: 1,497 (his best year was in 1999, when he rushed for 916 yards)
YPC: 3.3 yards per carry
Touchdowns: 6 (4 rushing/2 receiving)
This wouldn't be too bad if they were from one season. Unfortunately, these are his NFL career totals. He played in a total of 36 games, 18 of which he was the starter.
According to a blog I read (written in 2009), he is currently a deputy with the Miami County Sheriff's Office in Ohio.
FYI - Here's a list of notable NFL players that Curtis Enis was drafted ahead of:
Alan Faneca (9 Pro Bowls)
Randy Moss (7 Pro Bowls)
Fred Taylor (11,540 career rushing yards & 66 rushing touchdowns)
Hines Ward (895 career receptions & 78 receiving touchdowns)
By the way, if you're looking to trade away some of your autographs of sports card busts, please email me at: sanjosefuji@yahoo.com
You can find my current wantlist here: Sports Card Bust Wantlist
