More Goodness from the Topps Vault

Last night I shared a cool proof card of former Cardinals outfielder Ray Lankford which had been picked up originally from the Topps Vault.  If you are not familiar with the Topps Vault, it's basically an Ebay store that Topps uses to sell off its old pictures, proofs, and player contracts.  Some of the items are really fun to look at and every once in while I will pick up a card or something else from the store.

Most of my purchases from the Topps Vault would be best described as unique baseball cards I do shop the store for unique items too.  Mainly I am looking for cool items, which fit into my collection, and would look cool displayed in my man cave.

A few years back I picked up a set of photo proofs from the 2003 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame set from the Topps Vault:

2003 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame George Sisler Photo Proof 

2003 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame Jim Bottomley Photo Proof 

2003 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame Frankie Frisch Photo Proof 

 


There a pretty cool item that I decided to buy, for less than $10 each, after reading the descriptions of the photo proofs.  Each photo proof is roughly 4 x 5 and is a piece of transparency with a color picture printed on top of the clear material with a heavy piece of white cardboard dropped in behind.  I am not sure what the transparency paper is exactly, but as a teacher, it is stiffer than the transparencies you might have seen around a school back in the day.  The top of each plastic piece has a label which reads Kodak EPY which is a Tungsten based film used for slides.

Again, I am not sure what steps Topps takes in making their cards, so I am not sure where these cards fit into the process, but the cards do have labels underneath the pictures that are curious.  The labels identify the card year, player, team, and card number.  The last line is the curious part of these proofs which is the artist line.  Each artist line is dated, but the last two cards have a date listed in 2006, which is after production.  The Sisler card has a 2002 date.  I am not sure what to make of the dates on the last two cards, but it is certainly been a detail I have always found curious about those two proofs.

I have really enjoyed having these three items in my collection and have each of the proofs framed and hanging up in my man cave.  I put each in a nice black frame and have them hanging on a small wall right inside the door to the room.

Even More Goodness from the Topps Vault

I go shopping at the Topps Vault every once in awhile. It's got some odds and ends and sometimes you cannot find anything to your liking. Other times something catches your eye and you have to pounce. Some of the items end up being a little too cool and the bidding goes far beyond what the budget allows. Other times the gate swings the other way and I am amazed at a cool item I can find for little money and little competition. Last week I saw a listing for a Willie McGee color negative from his 1990 Topps card.  It looked something like this...

I was intrigued by the item and won the auction for a little more than $10. While the card is advertised as a proof for his 1990 Topps card, it does not actually match up to McGee's card in the set. The only common thing going on with these two cards is that both pictures are taken in Shea Stadium.  

The 1990 Topps cards have no player pictures on the back, so the photo proof I picked up from the Topps Vault was just apart of the set of photos Topps likely took of McGee in putting together their 1990 Topps set.  The item was still used by Topps in their 2003 Fan Favorites set which features the picture from the slide on a 1990 Topps inspired card. 

The actual photo proof looked a little bit different than what I anticipated it looking like when I bid on the item.  I was thinking it would likely be similar to a photo slide, but it was surpringly pretty close to a regular baseball card in size. 

You can from the slight white border around the card that the photo proof is just a tad bit short of being a standard baseball card. The photo proof was also really dark.  When my new computer is in two next week I will repost this card as a scan, but I think this picture paints a pretty fair picture. 

The McGee photo proof also included the usual Topps Vault certificate and matching silver identification sticker on the item.  Really excited to add this cool piece from the Vault to my collection and will keep my eyes out for a few more in the near future. 

One Last Item From the Vault...

I really enjoy collecting certified autographs and like to steer clear of in-person autographs unless I have extreme faith in the person or I am getting the autograph myself.  Those always make for good stories.  One of the biggest problems is that we are now down to a sparse few card companies who do not vary their autograph field greatly from product to product.

For example, I try to collect as many Cardinals and Rays autographs as possible.  The Cardinals are my favorite team to follow, but also enjoy watching the Rays since many of their players spent time playing for my hometown Durham Bulls.  I dabble in the Tigers and have a few other players I check in on, but the list of items going into my collection is not really all that wide.  You would think that would still leave me plenty of cards to chase down, but it seems like Topps excels at having the same few players for each team sign for each product.

So, I ask myself somedays: How the hell am I going to get a certified, or highly reliable Tony Cruz autograph?  I do not live in St. Louis anymore, he's not making an appearances in the Raleigh-Durham, or central North Carolina area, and I know Topps will not put him as a signer in a baseball product.  It's not that I am singling in specifically on Tony Cruz, I am not.  However, he's a useful role player on the Cardinals and has now been on the team for several seasons.  It would be a nice addition.

This is an area where the Topps Vault can come in handy.  Sure, Topps is not rushing out to make the first certified Tony Cruz autographed baseball card for a 2014 Topps product, I am sure the Cardinals will have Holliday, Lynn, Jay, and Craig, but since he has a card in their base set he has signed a card contract.  Topps actually puts their invalid, out of date baseball contracts, up for sale in their Topps Vault Ebay Store.

Just this past week I was making my weekly stop in to check out their new items and ran across a sweet  autograph of former Cardinals player, and current Cardinals employee, Kerry Robinson.  This was probably my one chance to snag a certified autograph of the Cardinals, and fellow SEMO (Southeast Missouri State) alumni, unless Topps is coming out with a front office employees of Major League Baseball set.  For $9.99 I picked it up.

I own a couple of these Topps contracts now, all really inexpensive.  Robinson is just the latest addition to my collection, of a Cardinals player, I have found in the Topps Vault.  For those not fimiliar with Kerry Robinson, he was originally drafted by the Cardinals and ended up on the expansion Rays (the 1998 Durham Bulls) and the Reds before returning to the Cardinals.  Robinson played three seasons for the Cardinals from 2001 through 2003.  He pinch hit for Mark McGwire in the last game of Big Mac's career and had this hit against the Cubs: 

The Topps Vault is a great way to pick up a certified autograph of some really cool players.  Now, I am filling in my Cardinals autograph collection and usually end up finding my autographs for less than $15.  Better players can fetch high dollars, but sometimes you'd be surprised and can walk away with a solid Major Leaguer for between $20-$30.  At the end of the day you will have a very unique collectable and a great item for your collection.  I have actually thought about having one or two of mine framed for my Cardinals room.  

Around The Card Room, Take 6

 I think I posted this item on here seven or eight years ago as an item I picked up from Topps Vault.  

I am not sure if the Topps Vault is still a store on Ebay, but it was more or less where Topps dumped out all of their odds and ends. I am certain that 90% of the listings on the Topps Vault were blank back versions of sports cards that were released between 1995 and 2015 along with tons of photo proofs.  

I loved the Topps Vault and bought all kinds of stuff off of there. Most of it was 1990s Cardinals and current Durham Bulls players.  

It always surprised me how cheap some of the items on the Topps Vault would end up selling for considering they were very unique. 

My favorite item by far is my Topps baseball card contract with Ray Lankford.

I framed the contract and have it hanging my card room next to my card closet.

Here is a better scan of the contract without the glare off the glass.  

Note the date of the contract ends on January 31st, 2003. Lankford played the 2004 season with the Cardinals as a left-handed bat off the bench, but never had a baseball card produced during that season. It was always kind of surprising that a veteran player like Lankford was excluded from the Topps set in 2004 and 2005, especially given how good the Cardinals were during that time. 

Guessing this was Ray Lankford's last baseball card contract with Topps.  

Ray Lankford From The Vault Part 1

I have done several posts about the Topps Vault before in the past, but this week I have two really awesome items to post.  I am not sure whether these are my favorite two items I have ever picked up from the Ebay Store run by Topps, but if they are not they are really high on the list.  Obviously I have never really posted about items that I have lost on the Topps Vault, but I have missed out before on a few cool Cardinals items here and there over the years.  However, I have never seen an item posted of my favorite 1990s Cardinals player Ray Lankford.

This past week so that change when the Vault listed two Lankford items.  I was worried that I would miss out on the items.  One of the last rare Lankford items I needed for my collection, a 1998 Donruss Red Crusade card sold for almost $200 last night, so I was anticipating something crazy with the items last week.  As much as I love collecting Ray Lankford cards I have a price point at which I will walk away.   In this case my fears about the items becoming overly expensive never really became a reality and I paid less than $25 for both items including shipping.  Tonight is the lesser of the cool items.  Here is my new Ray Lankford card......

This card is in a sealed snap down case and is a 1/1 card.  If I am understand the card manufacturing process correctly this card serves as sort of a proof in the pre-production process.  The back is on another card which has not been offered for auction yet, I think, but Topps does have card backs floating around on the Ebay store from time to time.  I like Lankford's 1994 card.  It's not the best card design, it's not the worst either, but I like that the card features an action photo of Ray running the bases in Wrigley Field.

Let's take a look at the back of the item......

Again, the back is blank, but you can see the hologram on the bottom right corner of the card.  The hologram matches a corresponding certificate that Topps mails out with all of the items they sell on the Topps Vault.  The certificate is shown below.  Kind of reminds me of a Merit Award they'd pass out in a Middle School......

Since most of the Lankford cards were issued before the proliferation of printing plates, this is as good as a 1/1 card for my player collection of the former Cardinals outfielder.  If you have not spent a little bit of time exploring the Topps Vault take a few minutes and flip through the items listed on the page.  Sure, some of the items are rare and expensive, but you never know when you will stumble across something unique and inexpensive for your collection.

Rays from the Vault

This is one of those posts where I feel like the scan I spent ten minutes trying to make does not really do the card justice.  I am not really all that into encased cards.  Never really like the whole graded card thing.  All of the Topps sets with slabbed cards, not my cup of tea.  However, every once in awhile I see an encased card or two worthy of my time.  Tonight's card is one of those cards......

This is another card from the Topps Vault.  I have about four other cards I have picked up from their Ebay store over the past two or three years.  If you have never checked out the Topps Vault page on Ebay, it's basically a whole bunch of odds and ends the card giant has hanging out around their offices.  Old pictures, slides, photo proofs, sample cards, and about anything else you could think they'd have sitting around.

This Archer gem is actually a blank back card from the Topps Mini set.  I am not sure what the purpose of the blank back cards are in production, but Topps has a ton of them.  For all I know they just make blank back cards so that collectors like me will buy them off of Ebay.  Either way, I am happy with my latest Archer 1/1.  Third one I have added during this past month.

The card also comes with the really cool and very official looking Topps Vault certificate.........

Of all my Topps Vault pick ups almost all of them have been Rays items recently.  I am going to make it a goal to add something really cool from the Cardinals, or maybe another team, in the near future.  I am going to go do my other job and watch Fantastic Mr. Fox....Have a good evening!

Darryl Porter. I Mean Darrell Porter.

I like to glance through the Topps Vault page over on Ebay every once in awhile to see if I can find a cool Cardinals or Durham Bulls card.  I have kind of moved on from some of the blank back cards that come out of current releases that I used to pick up the last few years.  No regrets in many cases about owning some cool one of a kind cards of players I really like, especially some of the ones that do not get a ton of cards made.  My blank back Taylor Motter might be one of my favorites....

Pretty sure I never even made a post about this card.  Motter is one of the universally beloved players amongst Durham Bulls fans.  I was so happy to pick up this card.  More recently I have really turned my focus on finding 1980s and 1990s Cardinals stuff on the Topps Vault.  Recently I came across one of the great Postseason actors in Cardinals history.  

1982 World Series MVP Darrell Porter.  

I have bought a few of the photo proof card in the past and really enjoyed go through the different Topps products from that year to match them up to a specific card in a specific set.  For example, I ended up with a Willie McGee photo proof card a few years back.....

which was listed on the Topps Vault Ebay Store as being from 1990.  The photo does not match his 1990 Topps base card....

but it might have been used for his Topps Big card.  Maybe.  

In any case, it was definitely used for his Topps Fan Favorites card in 2003.  

I was looking forward to taking in the same sort of trek with the Darrell Porter card.  Based on the photo posted on the Ebay Store I already had a good idea of where the search was going to take me.  It's not like there were a ton of 1984 Darrell Porter cards.  Here was the listing picture....

It looks a lot like the small corner picture on Porter's 1984 Topps card....

I started collecting in 1983, but 1984 was the first year that I collected the entire year with a realistic chance at assembling an entire set of cards.  I love the design of these cards and they still rank as one of my favorite sets of all-time.  

Well, the package arrived and the photo proof was actually a little disappointing.   It's a teeny tiny little photo of the former catcher.  Maybe because it's a small picture on the card?  I've never tried to mass produce my own baseball card set, so I am not entirely sure why the picture is so small.....

Your guess is as good as mine.  The best part of the card actually ended up being a Topps Company envelope that was stuffed into the package.  

I am not sure what the 1 23/32 number in the corner is exactly, but the 285 is Darrell/Darryl/Daryl's card number in the 1984 Topps set.  I guess this could also be the O-Pee-Chee proof since the top of the envelope has the OPC letter at the top, but the O Pee Chee card is just the same as the Topps card with the exception of the logo?

Anyway, I guess I have a tiny picture of Darrell Porter and a cool Topps envelope where someone could not spell his first name the correct way.  Glad there was someone editing something at Topps back then.  

More Goodness From the Vault

One of my favorite Durham Bulls players, Leslie Anderson, has almost zero cards out on the market.  It's actually not quite zero.  More like one.  The Rays signed Leslie Anderson after he defected while playing for the Cuban National Team.  At the time of his defection, Anderson was 28, and was starting off at the bottom of the Rays organization playing for the Charlotte Stone Crabs.  Topps captured him in his Stone Crabs uni and included him in their 2010 Pro Debut set.  His only card.

So, as a fan of Leslie Anderson I guess you could say that my collection of his card revolves around the team sets sold at the Ballpark Cornerstore and finding the parallels of the Pro Debut card on Ebay.  Well, this week I was fortunate enough to land a really cool Leslie Anderson card.  I can honestly say, my collection may very well be complete.  Really.

I found the front proof, blank back, of the Topps Pro Debut card.  Topps often sells them on their Topps Vault account on Ebay.  This card was actually bought by someone and then resold.  For $9.  I was happy to have a one of a kind card of a one of a kind card.  Here's a look at the front proof which Topps sealed in a plastic case.

2010 Topps Pro Debut Blank Back Proof Leslie Anderson

Topps also sells the back proofs of cards on the Topps Vault, so maybe one day I can put the two proofs together and have the complete set of 1/1.  The blank back of the card features a Topps hologram with a serial number, certificate came with the card, and a 1/1 stamp.  

Leslie Anderson has been on the Durham Bulls the past four seasons and there is little hope that the Rays will actually call him up for a cup of coffee.  While I would love to see him stick around and play another season with the Bulls I think he might go somewhere seeking a chance at some playing time in the Majors.  In a lot of ways Anderson reminds me a lot of Justin Ruggiano.  He's not going to be an everyday player if he ever sticks in the Majors (Ruggiano should not get 400 ABs in a season), but could be a nice player to stick into certain situations.  Spring will tell.  In the meantime, I am off to find the back proof of this card.

One Year. 30 Really Good Cards.

I have had some down time away from my blog over the past week and am ready to get back into my baseball cards.  It's been a busy weekend with family in town, school work, voting, and all sorts of other happenings going on.  However, I wanted to take a little bit of extra time and write a cool post for my local card shop, Big D's Sports Cards, and it's owner Jimmy.  This weekend he is celebrating his store's first year in business.

I did not actually make it into Big D's the first month the store was open, but I have made it in a few times since.  I saw a post Jimmy made on Facebook Friday about the anniversary.  I took a few minutes to flip back through the pages of my blog and checking out some of the cards I had landed on my trips into the store.  I have to say that I am truly amazed at some of the cards I have picked up over the past year and must say that I could not have found half the cards on this list without the help of Jimmy.  

Here's a look back at my best thirty pulls, purchases, and trades from Big D's:

#30- 2011 Topps Pro Debut Leslie Anderson

I picked this card up this summer.  Jimmy has another customer who is great at getting in person autographs.  As a Durham Bulls fan, I love the certified autographs, but that's not always an option.  Anderson was a good player on the Bulls for several years and I was happy to add an autograph of him from a trusted and reliable source. 

#29- 2014 Topps Heritage Derek Jeter Action Variation 

I love Topps Heritage.  It's a staple set of any good card collection these days.  You don't collect sets? You should just buy a complete set of the Heritage cards.  Opening the boxes and putting the set together is a blast.  This was my cool pull from my box this year.  A cool card given it was Jeter's final year in the bigs.  

#28- 2013 Bowman Inception Hak Ju Lee Blue Autograph 1/25 

A current favorite Durham Bull.  I still have great hopes that Hak Ju Lee will play regularly in the Majors.  He's a great defensive shortstop.  If only he could figure out the offense.  This card also comes from one of my favorite sets of the past few years.  Great looking card, low print run, with a cool serial number.  

#27- 2013 Topps Museum Collection Matt Moore Quad Relic with multi-colored patch 

A card from my first trip into Big D's.  It was a Durham Bulls heavy trip.  This was a really cool card.  I look at it often.  

#26- 2014 Topps Stadium Club Koji Uehara 

I really enjoyed the rehash of Stadium Club that Topps put out last month.  Picked up a box and really enjoyed this Koji autograph.  I have a student in my class this year who is a big Koji fan.  He's chipping away I guess.  Cool autograph and a really cool looking photograph.  

#25- 2014 Topps Archives Jose Abreu Printing Plate 

A really cool hit out of an Archives box, which was the most ridiculous box ever.  Not always the biggest printing plate person and I am not overly attached to the White Sox.  Jose Abreu is a nice player.    I actually sold this card, but it is still a cool story.  Right?  More from this box later....

#24- 2013 Topps Finest Matt Adams Autograph/Bat 

Jumbo Pepsi with a bat and an autograph.  Cool looking card.  

#23- 2014 Topps Archives Ron Gant Printing Plate Autograph 

Cool 90s player, former Cardinal, autographed printing plate.  The second card from my Topps Archives box on my list.  It was a really good box.  

#22- 2013 Topps Tribute Terry Pendleton Autograph 

A favorite from the 80s Cardinals.  He's a Brave on the card, but still a really nice looking card.  TP has a great signature.  I picked this card up at a trade night at Big D's.  

#21- 2002 Topps Tribute Ken Boyer Bat Card

A really cool set.  A really cool card.  Boyer is not a guy you see a lot of cards of, but he's a really important player on some good Cardinals teams.  See the 1964 World Series.  

#20 - 2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Giancarlo Stanton Jumbo Jersey 

I really enjoyed the Gypsy Queen product this year.  There are several cards from that set on this list. I picked up two boxes of the product this year and opened them with Jimmy at the shop.  Fun times.  I did not pull this Stanton card, but took it off of Jimmy's hands a few weeks later.  Beautiful card of a great player.  

#19.  2010 Topps Opening Day Topps Vault Blank Back Evan Longoria 1/1

I could make a top 10 list of all the Longoria's I have picked up at Big D's.  This is a cool one.  I have done a little bit with Topps Vault cards in the past, but never a Longoria.  While I am not always a huge fan of 1/1 cards, I like this one.  Company seal, cool case, and a letter from Topps.  

#18- 2014 Topps Stadium Club Shelby Miller Autograph 

While the Uehara might be a better card in terms of rarity and value, I was really happy to pull this Shelby Miller card out of my box of Stadium Club.  First, Shelby has a great autograph.  He signs lots of stuff and his autograph always looks the same.  I love the Sunday hat with the Stan Musial patch on the card too.  

#17- 2012 Bowman Draft Michael Wacha Autograph

It was a lost season for Wacha, but this is an awesome card.  Wacha's early Topps cards offer a few on card signatures, but almost everything within the past two years has been a sticker autograph.  This is my favorite Wacha on card autograph.  Really nice signature.  

#16- 2014 Topps Archives Tom Berenger Major League Autograph 

I like Major League the movie.  Tom Berenger seems alright.  This also came out of my Topps Archives box.  I was try to decide whether the Gant and Abreu plates and this card were better than my Gypsy Queen pulls?  You will have to keep reading to find out.  Snorting Bull secret fact: As a Cardinals fan the Cubs are my least favorite team.  The Indians are right down there with them.  

#15- 2009 Topps Finest David Price Autograph Letter 

Top half of my list.  I re-did about six times.  I am not sure there is a right or wrong answer with the rest of the cards on this list.  I love David Price and this is a really cool card.  One of my favorite Durham Bulls of all-time.  Hope he does well with the Tigers next year.  

#14- 2009 Topps Tribute Evan Longoria Triple Bat Relic Autograph

I could really make a list of just cool Longoria cards I picked up at Big D's during their first year in business.  Longoria cards take up more than 10% of the list and I stopped trying to decided which were the best and just narrowed it down to my favorite three.  I had a hard deciding so I made it four. Can't over look that 1/1 back up at 19.  I love the design of this card and the pieces of bat relic look cool with the bluish/green background and black bottom.  Great contrast and again a cool card.  

#13- 2013 Topps Supreme Chris Archer Autograph 

I had been searching for one of these for awhile.  The 2013 Topps Supreme product was only released in Asian markets, while the cards are available on Ebay, they are a pain to buy.  

#12- 2014 Bowman Platinum Stephen Piscotty Patch/Autograph 

I saw Piscotty this summer at the Triple A All-Star game in Durham.  One of the better Cardinals hitting prospects.  Should show up in St. Louis some time next summer.  Jimmy picked this card up from another customer in his shop and sent it my way.  It's a red colored card with a Cardinals player, an autograph, and a red and blue patch.  It's an awesome card.  

#11- 2013 Topps Tribute World Baseball Classic Ben Zobrist Autograph 1/1 

Another Durham Bulls favorite.  This card would be way higher if it were a Rays card.  World Baseball Classic takes a little luster off, but still love the design and background.  Plus it lists Zobrist as a 2B and an OF, but he's wearing a 1B glove.  Nothing could be more Zorilla than that.  

#10- 2014 Topps Gypy Queen Torii Hunter Jumbo Patch 1/1

Top 10.  Now they are getting really tough.  One of my favorite products this year.  Had to pick up a jumbo patch right?  Here it is.  This is cool.  Jimmy had this in the shop, not pulled out of my boxes.  

#9- 2014 Topps Acetate Parallel Shelby Miller 5/10

Not a huge huge fan of parallels, but I loved the Acetate cards this year.  Picked up a ton of the Cardinals.  Landed the Miller at Big D's. 

#8- 2009 Topps Unique Evan Longoria Autograph 

I've even seen this card in a few years.  Jimmy landed one and sent it my way.  There is one on Ebay right now, but it's $99.99.  Yikes!  

7.  2014 Topps Gyspy Queen Zack Greinke Button Card 3/3

This was a pretty cool pull.  Still not my favorite Gypsy Queen pull.    

6.  2009 SP Authentic Evan Longoria Autograph RC 

I also picked up his Bowman's Best RC Autograph from Jimmy this year too.  It was came in fifth on my informal straw poll of myself mainly because he was wearing an old Devil Rays uniform on the card.  New Rays uniform, it could have been top 5.  

5.  2007 UD Premier Ivan Rodriguez Patch 

One of the first cards I picked up from Big D's.  Jimmy emailed me a picture of this card.  My jaw dropped.  Insane patch.  

4.  2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Shelby Miller Flag Card 

Second favorite Cardinals pull this year.  Gypsy Queen was very kind to me, I did not even put the two printing plates (Kershaw and Utley) that I landed on this list.  A memorable day at the card shop indeed and this card was the icing on the cake.  It is limited to just 5 copies.  Miller and Musial are the only Cardinals in the set of flag cards this year.  I take this card out and look at it all the time.  

3.  2013 Topps Tier One Evan Longoria Autograph/Patch 

Not the hardest Longoria card to find by any means, but it's just a really beautiful card.  Great design and cool patch piece.  I'm looking right past the sticker autograph.  

#2.  2014 Bowman Inception Oscar Taveras Autograph 

This card might have jumped a few during the past week.  Was still in the Top 5.  Jimmy found this card for me, not packed pulled.  Favorite Taveras autograph in my collection.  

#1- 2014 Topps Mark McGwire Autograph 

Just picked up a box of Topps Series 2.  Last box of a product at the store and this is in it?  I did okay.  

It's been a fun first year of having a local card shop in Raleigh and I could not have done anywhere close to this well with adding cool cards to my collection without the help of Big D's Sports Cards and it's owner Jimmy.  A huge thank you for everything you do to help me out with my collection and a congratulations on a great year in business.