Another Trip Down Memory Lane

What a difference a year makes.  On this day... exactly one year ago... Papa Fuji and I took a short road trip to Capitola for breakfast and then up the Pacific Coast Highway to Half Moon Bay for some clam chowder in a bread bowl.

Along the way, we noticed a gorgeous lighthouse in the distance... so we pulled over and took this photo:

We also walked across the field, checked out the water and view, then headed back to the car where I took this photo of him:

If the photo looks cropped... that's because it is.  Right as we were getting ready to take his picture someone pulled in.

Afterwards, we stopped at the lighthouse... but it was pretty packed.  So I dropped my dad off and let him walk around, while I drove around looking for a parking spot.  I ended up finding one a little north where I snapped this photo:

San Jose and the surrounding cities are indeed congested... but it's nice to know that about an hour away is a view like this.

We eventually made our way up to Half Moon Bay... and it's a trip I'll treasure.

Let's fast forward six months to this past January... and while reading a post on Nick Vossbrink's blog (n j w v), I saw this beautiful piece of cardboard:

1911 Hassan Light House Series T77

I immediately added it to my eBay watchlist.  Several months went by and one popped up with a reasonable price tag.  As luck would have it... it was a COMC listing, so I headed over to their site, made the seller an offer of $5.65 which he/she accepted.  The rest is history.

Hopefully you enjoyed this quick trip down memory lane.  In addition to writing about sports cards, I also like to document important events in my life and this trip was one of them.

However... for those of you who came to see baseball cards... I don't want to disappoint.  Here are a pair of Pie Traynor cards:

1980-87 SSPC Baseball Immortals #55

1972 Kellogg's All-Time Baseball Greats #8

Pigeon Point Lighthouse is located in Pescadero... which is a small farming and ranching town with a population of less than 1,000.  Unfortunately there aren't any MLB players who were born and raised there.  But there is a popular restaurant called Duarte's Tavern that serves one of my favorite desserts:  olallieberry pie.

What about you? 

What's your favorite dessert?

Yeah... yeah.  I know the Traynor thing is a stretch, but that's all I've got.  Unless you want to see a Felix Pie.  I think I might have a card of his laying around somewhere.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Gwynn Giveaway

Over the years… I’ve been sent hundreds of Tony Gwynn cards and a percentage of them are duplicates.  It’s not very surprising.  I don’t have a want list published nor do I have my collection on TCDB, which means people have no idea what I can use or what I already have.

Maybe one day I’ll get around to uploading my Gwynn PC.  We will see.  It’s not very high on my priority list right now.

My #1 hobby goal is to clear up care packages that I've accumulated over the months.  But before I continue with them, I’d like to thank my readers by giving away some of these extra Mr. Padre cards.

It’s a way of paying it forward after inheriting a huge Gwynn collection from Rod over at Padrographs.  He has sent me hundreds of Gwynns over the years.  I’ve added the ones I needed into my binders and now that his extras have been merged and organized with my duplicates, it’s time for me to pay it forward and share them with any of you who enjoy or collect Tony Gwynn.

I wasn’t sure what the level of interest would be, so I started off with 19 stacks of 19 cards:

I actually have hundreds of duplicates still sitting in my box, so if more than 19 people are interested I can make more lots.  But for now... I'll go ahead and reserve a stack for the first 19 people who comment.

If more people are interested... I'll figure out what to do then.

Unfortunately... there aren't any autographs or rookie cards included in these lots.  The oldest cards are 1985 Topps and Donruss cards... and the newest are from around 2013.  But if you are a collector who appreciates one of the purest hitters of all-time... each bundle will find a good variety of his cards.

I even have a stack of duplicate inserts... so I'll try to make sure everyone gets a bonus tossed into their bundle.

What's the catch?

All you need to do is comment down below that you're interested in one of these PWE's.  If you know or think I don't have an updated shipping address, shoot me an email too.

Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to support the blog... and a special thanks to anyone who has contributed to my Gwynn collection over the years.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

By the way... I recently picked up the current issue of Beckett Vintage Collector, because Mr. Padre himself is featured on the cover:

I've gotta say I was super impressed with the entire issue.  In regards to the articles, I actually read it cover to cover... which is something I rarely do.  Part of it has to do with the content, because I'm a huge fan of the 1983 Topps baseball and the 1909-11 T51 Murad sets.  Plus there was a very interesting article about the Seattle Pilots and their collectibles.

But the coolest thing of all is that this issue has an article on Topps All-Star cards that was written by The Blogfather... Night Owl Cards.  Great job Greg!  Loved your article... and the entire issue was well worth the cover price.

A Pair of Shiny Flags

Hope all of you are enjoying America's 247th birthday with loved ones... and eating some delicious barbecue or whatever else you like to eat.

In the spirit of the holiday... here is a Mark Ellis shiny refractor featuring the United States flag in the background:

2005 Topps Chrome Refractor #451

This card is absolutely gorgeous.  Unfortunately I can't remember who sent it my way.  It was definitely part of a care package sent to me about a year ago.  Normally I label scans with the name of the sender, but this time I didn't.

There's at least an outside chance, that Reader X sent it to me.  He's the one who sent me this card:

2003 Topps Chrome Refractor #237

I hope whoever sent it to me let's me know in the comment section below, so I can thank them properly and update this post.

Regardless... I'm very excited to have both of these two beautiful cards in my collection.

Have a safe extended holiday weekend.  Happy 4th of July and sayonara!

Just Pay Shipping

Most of my posts these days feature cards donated to me by fellow collectors... but believe it or not I buy cards too.

One of my go-to online stores is Baseballcardstore.ca, which some of us used to refer to as the Online Dime Box.  Sadly that name no longer applies, because most of the cards on their site are free.  All you have to do is pay for shipping.

The concept is simple... if you live in the United States or Canada, you can fill up your cart with 1 to 40 free cards and pay the $5.99 shipping charge, then sit back and wait for the cards to arrive.  Obviously the best deal is to choose 40 cards instead of less... which essentially means you're paying 15¢ per card... which is still better than a standard Sportlots order or the COMC minimum.

I'll routinely look for cards that I'll send in care packages, but sometimes I find something for me.

This morning, I got around to opening up two 40ct. packages from them and figured in the spirit of Canada Day, I'd showcase cards from my favorite online shop north of the border.  I've narrowed down my stack in an effort to keep your attention...

#1:  A Pair of Parallels

1992 Topps Gold Winner #531

I figured it was only right to kick things off with one of the greatest Canadian baseball players of all-time.  Plus... you know I love my well-cropped action shots.

1992 Topps Gold Winner #535

Dave Stieb might not be Canadian... but he was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays for almost his entire career.

#2:  A Rare Pirates Pose

1987 Classic #34

Tony Pena was one of my favorite catchers from my childhood... and it all had to do with his trademark squat... which I'm sure many of us impersonated.

Unfortunately... there aren't many cards of him in this stance.  And this is the only card I know of where he's with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

#3:  Sexy Stevie

1991-92 ProSet Super Stars MusiCards #176

Fleetwood Mac is one of my favorite groups... and Stevie Nicks plays a big role in that.  Pretty sure it was her Stand Back video that sealed the deal on my childhood crush.

#4:  The Set That Never Was

1997 Sports Time Melrose Place Promo #P

Not gonna lie... I only watched this show for one or two seasons.  I was more of a 90210 guy.  So the fact that this set was never produced didn't bother me.

But whenever I can add a new promo card to my collection... especially for 15¢... I will.

#5:  The Final Five

Here are the final five cards I needed for my 1992 Leaf set:

I actually bought this set complete a couple of years ago, but a handful of singles were damaged by the rings in the binder.  I also purchased the Black Gold parallel set too... and had the same problem.  I still need these eight to complete that set:

Well that wraps up today's post.  Thank you Steven and Nancy for providing a very affordable online option for card collectors.

Happy Canada Day and sayonara!

The Sorting Process

Not sure if I've done this before, but today I wanted to give anyone who cares a quick peek into my sorting process.

Figured I'd use the care package that Rod (over at Padrographs) sent me two months ago as the example.  Here's what the box looked like after removing the goodies seen in this post:

He included two 300ct. boxes filled with cards for my collection...

Step one, sort the two boxes into different collections and sub-collections:

With the exception of the Heath Bell relic... the top row are stacks of A's cards with one being dedicated to the 2023 Topps base card set.  The second row has a stack of SI for Kids cards and several Padres stacks.  Two of the tallest stacks are purely Tony Gwynn cards.  And the bottom row has some Japanese baseball players and more Padres cards sorted by team sets.

Next...  I slowly put away all of the A's cards into binders and boxes.  If you're wondering if I sort them as well... I sorta do.  I have a dedicated 5,000ct. box that is organized by players that have made a name for themselves.  I'm still in the process of getting specific players (outside of Rickey Henderson, Kurt Suzuki, and the Bash Brothers) into binders.  Hopefully I'll get around to that in the next year or so.

There were a handful of Japanese players that were sorted by player (not pictured), then either put into my binders or into my duplicates box.  The SI for Kids cards were scanned for a future post and put into a special box where I keep singles (organized by sport).  And there was a starter set of 2006 Opening Day Sports Illustrated for Kids.  Rod sent me 17 of the 25 cards.  Now I'm debating on whether or not I track down the final 8 and complete the set... or break it up and add them to player collections.

The remaining stacks were partial Padres team sets, Fernando Tatis Jr. cards, and of course several hundred Tony Gwynns.  I slid the team set builds and all of the other base cards , parallels, and inserts into a box dedicated to Padres.  When I go through Reader X and John's care packages... I'll see if they sent me any singles for these team sets... then the rest I'll track down on Sportlots.

As for the Gwynns... 

They're sorted by year.  Unfortunately my eye sight isn't what it used to be, so I end up using the magnifying glass (pictured on the left) to help me read dates (mostly on mid 90's through current sets I'm not super familiar with).

The final step is to go year by year through the stacks and my binders to see which cards I need.  This round, there were fourteen Gwynns added to the collection:

I'm not really surprised by these.  Nine of them are fairly new cards from the past few years.  Four more were inserts or parallels from the 90's or early 2000's.  The only card I was a little surprised by is the 2001 Fleer Genuine base card.  Then again... I took a break from the hobby right around that time.

These fourteen cards weren't the only new additions to the Gwynn PC that Rod sent me.  Way back in October of 2022, he sent me a bunch of other Gwynns.  Eventually I sorted and scanned them in December, but never got around to sharing them on the blog.

Until now.  It took me seven months... but here they are...

That's forty-seven Gwynns I added to the binders.  When you add them to the other fourteen... that's sixty-one new Gwynn cards and that's not including the coin, pin, VHS tape, and bobble head he also included in the care package.  Click here if you missed the post where I showed them off.

Thank you Rod for helping me build up my Gwynn PC!  Plus there were hundreds of duplicates that weren't even mentioned in this post... including an insane 50 copies of his 1990 Leaf card.

Figured this was the perfect time to pay it forward and help some of you build your Gwynn collections.  I'll post details in a future post (in the next week or so), so stay tuned.  Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!