But Bad Trades Are Part of Baseball

"But bad trades are part of baseball - now who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake?" -Annie Savoy 

Has Doyle Alexander had any cards on the Tigers recently?  

Not since 1990.  

Does Topps make Cubs cards of Lou Brock?  

No.  

Any recent Reds cards of Milt Pappas?  

Not really, looks like 1968 was the last one.  

Jeff Bagwell on the Red Sox.  

Doubtful.  

So, I opened a few packs of Finest the other day.  I pulled a Cardinals autograph.  

Ouch.  

At least there is no mention of Rick Wise on the back of the card.

Quick Glance At 2015 Topps

It's like the start of a brand new school year, or being the first kid out in the snow.  The beginning of the "new" card year is always a really exciting day.  All week on Twitter I had heard about collectors finding retail packs at Target or Wal Mart, but I had not been successful myself.  Honestly, I was not really trying that hard.  However, while I was at Target picking something up for a meeting, I saw this glorious sight......

The card section at my local Target is a hot mess.   This was tucked into a corner along next to all of the odds and ends of the card aisle.  I picked up a few packs along with a bundle of bananas and bottled water to help pull me through an awesome staff development at work.  Here's a quick glance at the cards and a few thoughts on their design and the whatnot.

A lot of the initial talk with the 2015 Topps set has been focused on the design.  It's different from the white bordered designs that has ran with for the better part of the past decade plus.  2007's black border and the blue borders in 2003 are the last two non-white borders that I can think of off the top of my head.  This is a quick post, so perhaps I am wrong.  I spent a little bit of time talking about the design with Jimmy, the owner of a local card shop, and we both agreed that the bottom is a little bit different.  However, some of the parallels look really nice.

The gold parallels in particular are very nicely done.  Clearly the patterns within the design are the same on the base and the gold parallel, but there is something nice about the color scheme on the bottom card.  Topps also made a really nice home-like parallel for the 2015 set, but I am not sure how well this card shows up on the scan.....

The scan seriously does not do this card justice.  The Topps Chrome product might be really nice this year.  There are also some really nice insert cards in this the 2015 Topps set.  The Opening Pitch set has been a pretty popular topic on Twitter and in discussion rooms, so I am going to leave that set alone until I show off the hits from a jumbo I am opening at my local card store.  Here are a few other cool inserts.....

First, I have to say that any insert sets that highlight defense are always first rate.  I pulled two of these out of retail packs last night and they are both outfielders.  One centerfielder and Hamilton in left.  Not sure if these are just outfielders or if they have them for all of the positions.  Again, this is a quick right up and I am not going to go and look stuff up at the moment.  Just remember, defense always makes a great insert set.

This set about Free Agents reminds me a little bit of the 2011 Topps 60 set.  Really nice looking set and I like the cool picture on this card of Carlton Fisk in the 1980s White Sox uniform.  Maybe this will end up being the coolest set in the bunch, but I am going to say this is going to be a winner of an insert set.

I almost made it through a post with no Rays and no Cardinals, but I am not passing by a Stan Musial card.  Topps did a bunch of stuff last year with the World Series, but it appears that the theme might spill over into this year's set.  This insert set is Highlight of The Year, many of which probably happened in the World Series, so again this is a set I will give a little more feedback to when I open a box of the product.  

and my last one just because I like the look of these cards.   This Carlton card has a blurb on the back about him learning to throw his trademark slider after taking a trip to Japan.  I have high hopes.  More on 2015 Topps in a cool post this weekend.  

30 Year Top 50: 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game

#10- I already did a write up about this set during the past fall that involved old men in card shops around St. Louis telling the same story about buying boxes of the 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game.  Basically, the boxes were either hot, meaning you landed several really great autographs, or cold meaning you just wasted $200.  While there had been other baseball card products that featured a per pack autograph, the Greats of Game set focused exclusively on retired players, with many of the set's signers being notable names.

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Steve Carlton Autograph

While there was a base set of unsigned cards featuring Sports Illustrated covers and photographs, the main focus for most collectors were the autographs.  The autographs all generally follow the format of the Steve Carlton autograph above.  The main picture on the card were either a Sports Illustrated cover, or a picture from a Sports Illustrated magazine.  The bottom of the card featured a white box where the player was supposed to sign and the side of the card always had a blue strip with the words Autograph Collection running bottom to top.  

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Bob Gibson Autograph

As previously mentioned, the autographs in each box ran hot and cold.  Some boxes would yield a high number of high end hits featuring premier Hall of Famers such as Nolan Ryan, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays.  However, Fleer did a great job putting together a great list of signers for this set making sure that the checklist for each team was deep.  Most teams have multiple Hall of Fame signees and a wide range of other interesting names available.  For example, my Cardinals have the usual group of players that you would expect to appear in a set featuring the Greats of the Game.  

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Stan Musial

However, they made sure to also include players with significance that would be highly collectable among the teams fan base.  Some of the players who signed for this set have few autographs out on the market making their autograph in this set highly desirable.  For the Cardinals, this set is home to the only certified autograph of pitcher Bob Forsch.  Certainly not a Hall of Fame player, but he had a long career with the team and pitched two no-hitters.  For a Cardinals fan this is a great card to pick add to your collection, but that can be said of many of the cards in this set.  

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Bob Forsch Autograph

This set is a classic of the past 30 years and is a fun set to track down.  Especially the autographs.  While some of the higher end autographs have dried up on the secondary market there are still some really good autographs floating around at great prices.  One of the hidden gems of the set is the Chicago Cubs team set which features seven autographs, but five of them are Hall of Famers.  All five of the Hall of Famers: Fergie Jenkins, Ernie Banks, Andre Dawson, Ron Santo, and Buck O'Neil can all be found pretty easily and will most cost less than $25 on a good day.  Banks might be a little pricey.  Whatever your team, or player, these are fun to find.  

A little hint on my next set?  This isn't the best Greats of Game set. 

Dodger Bobble Trade

I haven't done a good thorough trade post in awhile, but had a one last week with Dodger Bobble.  I have made several other trades with Dodger Bobble in the past and can always find a good home for the Dodgers cards that wonder into my house.  We started off with a few small cards, but ended up with a bigger trade after I threw in a 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Trio Autograph of Matt Kemp, Chad Billingsley, and James McDonald.  I added a 2012 Triple Threads Matt Kemp card too.  You can read more about the Dodgers cards here.

I am trying to round out my 2012 sets by adding a few autographs and also picked up some pretty sweet Cardinals cards in the process along with a couple other odds and ends.  So, without further delay here are the autographs:

2012 Topps Tier One Mike Morse Autograph 

2012 Topps Tier One Danny Espinosa Autograph

2012 Topps Tier One Joel Hanrahan Autograph

2012 Topps Tier One Jason Motte Autograph

2012 Topps Tier One Jose Valverde Autograph

2012 Topps Museum Collection Elvis Andrus Autograph

2011 Topps Finest Aaron Crow Autograph

2010 Topps Chrome Jon Jay Autograph

2012 Topps Heritage Cardinals Team Card Signed by Marc Rzepcynski

The Rzepcynski autograph was a throw in from Dodger Bobble and I was really happy to get this card.   I try to get certified autographs of as many Cardinals players as I can possibly get, but there are a few that have none.  Rzepcynski is one of them.  

I also picked up a Triple Threads card of Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton with some sweet powder blue jersey swatches:

2008 Topps Triple Threads Steve Carlton Triple Jersey

I also picked up a few nice serial numbered Cardinals cards and a few base cards from the 2012 Topps Museum Collection set.  

2012 Topps Museum Collection Cardinals Cards

2011 Topps Triple Threads Bob Gibson

2012 Topps Tier One Black Matt Holliday

2012 Bowman Blue Adam Wainwright