Two Gold Labels and Two Autographs

This past Friday I made a small trade that netted me four really nice cards for my collection.  The first pair come from the 1998 Topps Gold Label set.  If you've read my previous blog entries you've probably noticed I really like the 90's card sets.  Most of them.  The Gold Label set ran from 1998 through 2002 and featured a tier set similar to some of the late 90's Fleer sets.  In fact, the card design and the tiering remind many people of the Fleer Showcase sets.  The first tier, or Class 1, of the Gold Label set are the easiest to find and the Class 3 are the toughest at four per case.  The two cards I picked up come from the first and third tier of the set.

1998 Topps Gold Label Class 1 Jeromy Burnitz Red Label 26/100

1998 Topps Gold Label Class 3 Ray Lankford 

The Jeromy Burnitz card is labeled to 100 and is part of the Red Label parallel.  Burnitz was a great masher in the late 90s and a fun player to watch.  Here's a video of him, Mike Piazza, and Joe McEwing trying to beat up Guerillmo Mota.  Ray Lankford is self explanatory.  

I also picked up two autographs in the trade too both from the 2011 Bowman Sterling set. 

2011 Bowman Sterling Nathan Eovaldi Autograph

 2011 Bowman Sterling Maikel Cleto Autograph

Insert Catchy Non-Quitting Phrase.

Sometimes while trying to make trades, post cards, and chat with collectors you run into people from what I like to call "The Fringe".  Meaning people who say stuff like, "I used to collect cards fifteen years ago, but I quit.  Will you buy my 1988 Topps Set for $50?"  or "I have a Kevin Maas rookie card.  Are you interested?"  Almost one hundred percent of the time you should run in the opposite direction because the person is going to have absolutely no interest in selling you any cards once you break the news to them you could find a 1988 Topps Set, factory sealed on Ebay for a $1.00 plus shipping.

Last week I was taking my son out for a walk on Saturday morning.  We have a 3 mile path that we follow through a few nearby neighborhoods.  The one street we walk down was packed and apparently having a block yard sale.  I pushed my son down the street in his stroller and passed by many of the houses.  Most had the usual assortment of bad vinyl records, dated furniture, and other odds and ends I don't need.  Finally, I saw a house with a giant sign that read: "Kick My Kids Out, Buy Their Stuff".  I had to know.  I walked up the driveway and talked to the homeowners.  There kids were apparently done with college and had left an odd assortment of "stuff" behind.  The parents did not feel like being used as a storage locker and had decided to sell their kids stuff.  So, I asked my usual garage sale question, "Do you have any baseball cards?"

"The fringe" speech started.  "Well, my son really liked baseball cards, but he picked through a bunch of boxes and left one.  He collected for about 10 years and stopped last year."  I was offered an 800 count box for $5.  I took him up on and found plenty of bad stuff from the past ten years.  The first card in the box was a Pablo Ozuna autograph and I also found a Ramon Ortiz jersey card.  I was a little down about the box until I got towards the middle and found this:

2009 Bowman Xfractor Matt Moore RC

The card generally sells for about $25 on Ebay and sells grade for north of $40 graded.  Not a bad find for walking around the neighborhood.  By the way, if you are looking for any 2005 Topps base cards...I am loaded.  

Two New Nolan Ryan Cards

I've been helping a set collector I know back in St. Louis put together a couple of late 90's and early 2000's sets the past week or two and have picked up a couple new cards and a little more space in my baseball card closet.  The two of the highlights of my trading during the past week have been two sweet Nolan Ryan cards.


The first card is from the 2005 Prime Patches set and features a dual color piece of Ryan's jersey from the Astros.  I've put a few other cards from this set on my blog before and love some of the cool jumbo jersey and patch cards.  This card is half an orange and half a darker orange stripe.  The material is not right to be a patch card, but still a really nice card.

2005 Prime Patches Nolan Ryan Jersey

The second Nolan Ryan card is from the 2001 Fleer Platinum set.  Fleer probably put out fifteen to twenty products in 2001, but the Platinum set was one of the better releases.  The base set was solid and the inserts were above par.  This card is from the National Patch Time insert set and features a two color patch of Nolan Ryan from the Texas Rangers.  

2001 Fleer Platinum National Patch Time Nolan Ryan Patch

2003 Upper Deck Vintage Fernando Tatis Bat Card

I wouldn't say that I collect Fernando Tatis cards, but he provided one of the great baseball highlights of my life.  Some people, mainly Dodgers fans, may want to cringe and find something else to read at this moment.  On April 23, 1999 I was in Cape Girardeau, Missouri visiting some friends at college.  I was in the middle of my student teaching and was spending part of my time that spring living in my parents house in suburban St. Louis driving around teaching at a few different places.  I needed a weekend off, so I backed up my car and headed two hours south for some relaxation.

I was having a couple of products from south St. Louis, hanging out, and keeping an eye on the game.  When I witnessed a truly historic event which will likely never happen again.



Needless to say no other player has accomplished the feat of hitting two grand slams in an inning.  Fernando continued his highlight season for the Cardinals, fizzled, and was traded to the Expos.  He was out of the game a few years later and made a nice comeback for a season or two with the Mets.

Tatis has really inexpensive cards and a truly unique signature if you are in the market for an good autograph.  So, recently I spotted this card for under a dollar and had to have it for my collection.

2003 Upper Deck Vintage Fernando Tatis Bat Card 

Two New Cardinals Relics

I picked up a pretty cool pair of Cardinals relics cards earlier in the week in a trade with a collector in Georgia.  Both of the cards I received were of Cardinals players who also spent a little bit of time with the Braves.  First up is a 2007 SP Legendary Cuts Bruce Sutter card.  This card is the dual jersey version and has a cool piece of baby blue jersey.

2007 SP Legendary Cuts Bruce Sutter Dual Jersey 

Living in Raleigh and have attended NC State, 90% of the powder blue in my world represents football players who cannot beat State and basketball players with low IQs and lower reading fluency.  However, there were a couple of sweet powder blue jerseys around in the early eighties including the Cardinals.  Throw in a sweet shaggy beard and you've got a cool card.  

My second card is a Futures Game jersey card from the 2003 Bowman set.  I believe that this was the first set and year that the Futures Game Jersey insert set appeared in Bowman.  It's made a regular appearance most years since.  This particular card features Adam Wainwright in a Braves uniform.  He was later traded for the great potential of J.D. Drew.

2003 Bowman Adam Wainwright Futures Game Jersey 

1999 Pacific Revolution Jeff Bagwell Foul Pole

I really love some of the inserts from the late 90's Pacific sets.  Pacific was definitely part of the over abundance of cards at that time, but they were at least creative with their card set designs.  Especially some of the inserts.  There are plenty of cool die-cuts and designs within the old Pacific sets which are sadly lacking from the hobby today.  Case in point is this gem which I picked up for $2 recently.

1999 Pacific Revolution Jeff Bagwell Foul Pole 

The net card was used an insert in several different Pacific sets over the years, but the 1999 Revolution set was the first.  Pacific used the same insert in the 2000 Revolution set and also added a Dugout Net card to the 2000 Aurora release, as seen below.  

2000 Pacific Aurora Shawn Green Dugout Views Net Fusions

Note to Topps employees: Notice the player on the card has been traded, but there is not a bad airbrush of a Dodgers jersey.  

1983 Fleer Jim Smith

1983 Fleer Jim Smith 

This is quite possibly the worst baseball card in my entire collection.  The condition of the card is horrendous and is compounded by the fact that it is a Jim (or Jimmy) Smith card.  I really don't know much about Jim Smith, but I do know that this was the first card that I ever pulled from a pack of cards during the summer of 1983.  

I lived in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania at the time and was in first grade.  My brother, three and a half years older, already had a card collection started.  My father had collected baseball cards as a kid (they got thrown away) and passed his love of baseball and baseball cards on to my brother and I.  Every week we would get a pack or two from the convenience store or grocery store.

 I didn't know too much about the game or about the players at the time.  Every week while we were driving home I would open up my packs of cards and read of the players names.  My father and brother would tell me the good cards and I would put my own two cents in over time.  I kept my eyes open for Cardinals cards and would get excited about pulling one from the pack.  Especially an Ozzie Smith or Tito Landrum.  

Over time, my collection grew and it is probably a little too big at current.  However, I would really like to thank my father for introducing me to the world of baseball cards that summer and starting my collection.  Even if it started with Jim Smith.  

I am hoping that one day my son will love baseball cards as much as I do and can enjoy building up his very own collection.  For the moment, I am putting off his collection in hopes that his early cards look a little nicer than mine.  Maybe not.  Happy Father's Day to all the dads.