Stained, Sealed, Battered, & Blue

As a collector from the 80's and 90's... I was groomed to believe all modern cards need to be gem mint otherwise it wasn't worthy of being in the collection.

What a difference four decades make.  These days... I have an entire collection centered around damaged cards.  Within my Damaged Card PC, there are cards with creases, chips, crimps, dings, rips, drawings, scribbles, scratches, and glued stuff on them.  The collection originally focused on cards within my collection.  They were cards damaged in the mail from purchases or trades or stuff I found in collection purchases or quarter bins.  There's even one card that I pulled out of a pack myself which was the inspiration for this collection.

The past few years... the collection has really blossomed thanks to a few blogger donations.  One of the biggest contributors has been Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life!.  Back in December he sent me two team bags filled with a bunch of wax stained cards from the Junk Wax Era... as well as some vintage hall of famers that have been well-loved by previous owners.

Let's start off with those wax/gum stained cards.  The first one features one of the hottest rookies of 1988:

1988 Topps #645

Nokes had a stellar rookie season in 1987 batting .287 with 32 home runs and winning the Silver Slugger Award for catchers.  

1989 Topps #490

The following year Chris Sabo took home the NL Rookie of the Year Award and went on to be a three-time NL All-Star in his first four seasons.

Had I pulled these stained rookie cards from a pack back in the late 80's.  Probably would have been bummed to see these stained stars too:

Here are their stains...

These days... these cards aren't worth much without the stains... so they actually add character to these Junk Wax Era cards.

But Bo didn't send me late 80's and early 90's wax stained cards.  Most of you know that Bo knows vintage.  He included these three wax/gum stained cards from the 70's:

1972 Topps #114

The oldest stain in the team bag was this 51 year old, Topps All-Star Rookie Team card of Billy Buck... who went on to have a MLB career that lasted over two decades.

The next guy is a hall of famer who played nineteen seasons and won three Cy Young Awards:

1975 Topps #335

And rounding out the wax/gum stained vintage are two more hall of famers:

1976 Topps #204

Speaking of wax stains... here are a pair of 1991 Pacific I Love Lucy wax packs he sent for my non-sport pack collection:

It looks like someone already wrote a review over on A Pack To Be Named Later, so one will go into the collection... the other will go into my rainy day pack stash.

He also sent me a pack of 1993 Comic Images Moebius:

I'm familiar with Marvel's Morbius... not not sure who Moebius is.  This too will go into the pack collection.

Next on the menu are some battered vintage.  I'll start with a Curt Flood second year card:

1959 Topps #353

This card suffers from paper loss, but it's not nearly as battered as this 1970 New York Mets celebration card:

1970 Topps #310

I'm hoping that's water damage and not a body fluid.

The next two cards feature my favorite pitcher from my childhood:

1967 #146

1968 Topps #408

Both of these cards have a weird texture to them.  It's like they were aged and coated in wax.

It's kind of weird seeing Lefty look so young.  I'm used to seeing the forty-something year old pitcher from the 80's.  I guess I need to pull out my Steve Carlton PC more often and show him some love.

This next hall of famer looks like it once lined the wallet of a collector back in the 70's:

1973 Topps #165

This card has the trademark rounded corners and multiple creases.  Aparicio played his final MLB game a little after my first birthday, so I never watched him play.  But I feel like I remember him getting the call to the hall back in the 80's.

Next up is a biggie:

1973 Topps #100

Yup.  A fifty year old card of the guy who broke Babe's all-time home run record.  Look at those sharp corners!  If the card looks a little narrow, that's because it's been slightly altered.  Here it is laying on top of the Aparicio:

No complaints here.  Anytime I get to add a vintage Hank Aaron to my collection, it's a day worth celebrating.

Getting back to Aaron breaking Babe's record... here's the guy who had the honor of throwing the pitch:

1964 Topps #86

Not sure the story behind this card, but once upon a time it was glued to something.  Maybe it was in a New York Yankees fan's scrapbook, because Bo also sent me Downing's 1964 teammate:

1964 Topps #69

Boyer's back is way more revealing... but still plastered with paper.  I could probably try and clean it up, but like the previously mentioned stains... the paper adds character.

Rounding out the Damaged Card PC additions are two 70's rookie cards that were defaced by someone...

1974 Topps #598

First up a quad rookie card highlighted by Ken Griffey Jr.'s father.  I'm guessing the previous owner was a big Reds' fan, because Griffey is the only one who escaped getting scribbled out.  At least the person who tagged this rookie card only used a ballpoint pen.  This next card wasn't so lucky:

1977 Topps #476

Dale Murphy, Rick Cerone, and Kevin Pasley... welcome to Mr. Sharpie.  Gary Alexander was the lucky player to be spared.  By the way... if this card looks familiar, it's because Bo sent me another XXX card last year.

By the way, Bo didn't just send me stained and battered cards for my Damaged Card PC, he also sent me two cards for two set builds:

1982 Kellogg's #55

First up is this smiling Mad Dog for my 1982 Kellogg's set build.

Next up is another blue bordered set from the 80's...

Bo hooked me up with the Bud...

1986 Donruss #374

I'm down to the final four percent of this set.  Twenty-seven cards and only one of them is a hall of famer: 258 Nolan Ryan.  Collation seems to be the issue with this set build.

Okay... it's time to wrap up this post and finally publish it.  Started writing this back in early February, but life happens.  I apologize for the delay... but am super grateful for Bo's set help and Damaged Card PC contributions.

I have a stack of 1975 Topps Minis for your set build that I'll be shipping out sooner than later... along with a few other vintage set needs.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

A quick life update.  The past week has been a little crazy with some family stuff.  I haven't had a lot of time to read and comment on blogs.  I've built several care packages that are ready to ship... and created stacks of cards for others that need to be packaged.  I'm hoping to get everything wrapped up over the weekend, but I can't make any promises.

I also wanted to thank Rod (Padrographs) and Junichi for giving me some background history on the flag that John (Johnny's Trading Spot) sent me.  It's a "Good Luck Flag" which were given to Japanese soldiers during military campaigns.  The flags were signed by friends and family and contained messages wishing the soldier good luck.  If you are interested in learning more about it, click here.

In short, there's an organization called the Obon Society which tries to reunite these Good Luck Flags with their families in Japan.  This flag is one of the coolest and unique gifts I've ever received from a blogger, but I believe it belongs back in the hands of this soldier's family.  I've reached out to John and he supported this decision.  I'll be getting it packaged and shipped in the very near future as well.

A Very Proud Banana

Growing up in a neighborhood where I was the only Japanese kid... and one of only a handful of Asian kids... I adjusted to my surroundings and turned into what my relatives in Hawaii referred to as a banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside).

That's pretty much how I lived my life the first thirty-something years.  Sure... I ate rice with most of my meals at home, ate a Japanese restaurants from time to time, went into San Jose's Japantown on a regular basis, played baseball in a Japanese youth league, and joined a Japanese Boy Scout troop.  But outside of that... I didn't do much to draw extra attention to my ethnicity.  I was very content with being a banana.

Then in my mid 30's, I met a girl who changed that.  She encouraged me to learn about my culture, talk to my parent's about our history, and be proud of my heritage.  This was the same person who encouraged me to collect cards again, so it only made sense that I'd start collecting cards related to Japan and Japanese athletes.

Over the years, I've built a collection that fills up eight binders and a two-row shoebox.  And if I had to guess... I'd say the blogger donations to personal purchase ratio is close to 1:1... which just shows how influential fellow collectors are to my collection.

Today I wanted to show off a few things I've recently added to the Japan PC.  Let's start off with a card produced over a century ago:

1910 Helmar Seals of the US and Coat of Arms

of All Countries of the World 2nd Edition #NNO

I stumbled across this card on eBay and was drawn to the vibrant colors and the mountain that I assume is Mount Fuji.

Unfortunately the card is stamped and stained, but that also helped keep the price down to a few bucks.

On the other hand, the other purchase I made was close to 10x the price and not nearly as cool:

2022 Topps Project 100 #51

I bought this card direct from Topps back in December.  I'm pretty picky about purchasing online exclusive cards, but once again Mount Fuji caught my eye.

Before I show some cards that were donated to my collection by fellow collectors and bloggers, I've been sitting on these two newspapers I picked up in Japantown back in January:

Nichi Bei News 1/1/23

Ready for some trivia?  The article mentioned that in 2022, there were more Japanese-American baseball players and managers in the MLB than in Japan... which was kind of surprising.  But even more surprising was discovering that Christian Yelich and Dave Roberts are part Japanese.  I guess I'll need to add them to the binders.

The other newspaper highlighted the only exciting thing about the 2023 Oakland Athletics:

bayspo 1/20/23

The entire newspaper is in Japanese, so I wasn't able to find out what was mentioned about Shintaro Fujinami, the A's biggest signing in the offseason.

Okay... let's get back to more cardboard.  First up is this graded Paul Kariya that I've been sitting on for over a year:

1995 Bashan #2

Reader X sent me this a long, long, long time ago.  In fact, it's been so long that I don't remember if I received it in 2021 or 2022.  But for those who don't know, Kariya is a fourth generation Japanese-Canadian whose father was born in a World War II internment camp in British Columbia.

Even before I discovered that he was Japanese, I liked Kariya. I had the opportunity to meet with him at one of the Duck's Casino Night in the late 90's and he was very friendly with all of the fans he interacted with.

Xavier has sent me a bunch of Japanese trading cards over the years.  Here are four that stood out from his latest care package:

2022 Topps Chrome 1987 Topps #87BC-2

2022 Topps Chrome Pink Refractor #191

2022 Topps Archives 1988 Topps Big Foil #88BF-2

2022 Topps Archives 1988 Topps Big Foil #88BF-39

When it comes to NPB players crossing the Pacific Ocean and finding success in the MLB, these are three of the greatest.   And these four cards were some of the shiniest in the bunch.

Next up are some cards Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders sent me back in December:

2008 UD USA Baseball Japanese College All-Stars Jersey #JN-12

I'll start off with this sweet looking relic.  I fell in love with this set over a decade ago... and actually built it.  If any other fans of Japanese baseball players can use this for their collection, email me your address and I'll pay it forward.

When this card was produced, Mr. Nemoto was only twenty-one years old with a bright future ahead of him.  According to Baseball Reference, he went on to play seven seasons in the NPB.

Dennis also sent me an eight-pack of Hideo Nomo's for the collection.  Let's start of with some Dufex:

1996 Pinnacle Starburst #54

I know 90's inserts and parallels aren't everyone's cup of tea... but I'm guessing most collectors can appreciate a gorgeous card like this.

Here is Topps' version of Dufex:

1996 Stadium Club Midsummer Matchup #M1

After scanning the card... I feel like it's giving off more Fleer Metal vibes than Pinnacle Dufex.  Regardless, it's a very cool card.

And rounding out the eight pack of Nomo cards from Dennis are these six:

He went 8 for 8 with these in the sense that they were all new to my collection.  Dennis also sent me cards for a few other collections that I'll eventually write about.  The reason I focused on Japan is because their citizens are celebrating a special holiday today: The Emperor's Birthday.

This annual holiday is celebrated on the birthday of the reigning Emperor where there is a public ceremony held at the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

Moving along, here's one more Nomo:

1998 Topps Super Chrome #15

This card is kind of a mystery.  It was in my box of cards needed to be blogged, but I forgot to label who gave it to me.  I have a strong suspicion that it was part the care package Jim @ cards as i see them gave me last month when he was in town, but I'm not 100% sure.  If you sent it to me, please let me know down in the comment section below.

I am 100% sure that he hooked me up with these three Kurt Suzuki cards:

2014 Topps Update All-Star Access #ASA-BM

2020 Heritage #328

2011 Heritage Chrome Refractor #C33

Kurt Suzuki batted .333 against Justin Verlander in the regular season during his career without a home run.  But he launched one in the 7th inning of Game 2 of the 2019 World Series off of him to break a 2-2 tie.  Topps did a great job of capturing history on that Heritage card.

The final card I received from Jim is this shiny Yu Darvish:

2022 Topps Pristine Borders #PB-2

This is one of those situations where the scan doesn't do this card any justice.  This refractory insert is really attractive with the Rising Sun popping off of Japan's flag.  It looks like Ohtani and Ichiro both have singles in this set, so I'll be on the lookout for those.

Speaking of flags the final item is an actual Japanese flag that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent me last year:

This flag once belonged to his uncle, but unfortunately John wasn't able to give me any specifics.  And sadly I have no idea how old or what the writing on the flag represents.  But it's a fantastic piece of history and looks like something that belongs in a museum.

Thanks again to Xavier, Dennis, Jim, John, and anyone else who has ever contributed to my beloved Japan PC.  Without your support, it would be only a fraction of the size.

Oh... and happy 63rd birthday Emperor Naruhito!

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Something You'd Find at a Souvenir Store

Last week was a little hectic.  A couple of long work days paired with a trip down to Las Vegas to hang out with my dad.  But it's Monday.  I'm back in the Bay Area.  I've got the whole week off and the goal is to finally ship out care packages.

I'll be spending today and tomorrow putting them together.  I also have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow.  My left wrist has been giving me problems for a few weeks and it's time to see what the deal is.

On Wednesday, I'm having two new electrical boxes installed in my ceiling along with four new smoke detectors.  Later in the day, I have a dentist appointment to get my dental implant post installed.  On Thursday I'm hoping to get my taxes done and possibly get an oil change in one of my cars.

But today it's all about cards.  In the spirit of President's Day... here are a pair of cards that were part of a shoebox purchase I made two summers ago.  It was right around the peak of the hobby boom and I set up as a dealer at my buddy's card show.  It was truly an experience of a lifetime.  I won't rehash the story, but if you're interested click here.  

I walked a way with a nice wad of cash in my pocket... and had no plans of forking it over to other dealers.  But I came across a guy with a box filled with 2018 The Bar base and relic cards at a very good price that barely scratched my pay day.

Nineteen months later, I'm finally writing about two Ronald Reagan PC additions from the box:

2018 The Bar Pieces of the Past Mementos Relics #NNO

2018 The Bar Pieces of the Past Antiquity Edition Relics #NNO

Yes.  These look cheesy and something someone made out of my garage (which is probably why I was able to buy stacks and stack of them for about 30¢ each.

The relics appear to be newspaper clippings.  One of them mentions his name, while the other mentions Patty Hearst.  Are these technically a piece of the past?  Yeah.  But I'm guessing most people find these things nothing more than novelties you'd find in a Las Vegas souvenir store.

If you look closely... on the back of the card, it states that you can visit www.thebartradingcards.com to view the artifact that was used to create this relic card.  It took a little digging, but if you're interested... I think these are the artifacts they are referring to.

There are a few other relics that I may show off in the future for specific holidays or historical events, but we'll see.

Happy President's Day!  I'm off to start building some care packages.  Happy Monday and sayonara!