update-ing my mini collections

when update is released each year, i know that i will find a number of cards for my various mini-collections. or, at least there will be some for my memorial patch mini-collection, as the all-star patches move those sorts of things to a different spot on the uniform, and we all know that update these days is chock full of all-star cards.  i won't be showing any of those cards in this post, however, but there were still a lot of cards to add to my other mini-collections.

case in point is this legends variation card of willie mays

this card goes in to my 'lurker' mini-collection, as roy campanella is bearing witness to mays crossing home plate.  and look, there's will clark! no, number 22 for the giants back then was don mueller. and check out monte irvin's arms - nothing but muscle!  i figure that this photo is likely from april 24, 1955 when mays took don newcombe deep at ebbetts field (he's wearing the giants' away uniform). irvin was batting behind mays, and mueller scored on the dinger.

update also came through with some cards featuring dodger stadium in the background. next year's version should have a lot more, as the midsummer classic will be back in chavez ravine for the first time since 1980. i am most definitely looking forward to 2020 update!  anyway, here's joe kelly pitching at night in dodger stadium:

and here's drew pomeranz doing the same:

peter lambert is there during the day:

as is christian yelich:

and it's looking like twilight on cole tucker's card:

topps also chose some double play turns for some update cardboard. perhaps the best card is this 'veteran combo' card featuring josh harrison and tim anderson:

i didn't bother to scan the back, but harrison's relay was too late to get the second out at first base. i find this card a tick better than the old 'classic combos' cards that were in topps releases circa 2008. still pretty random.

there are some other double plays in the set, like this one on tommy lastella's card:

as well as that of his teammate, luis rengifo

boston rookie michael chavis also gets a double play shot on his rookie card

in addition to update, i've also added some other cards to my mini-collections recently.

for example, i picked up this card from 2019 topps archives

because dennis martinez is standing in dodger stadium after his perfect game on july 28, 1991. the other thing i remember about that weekend is that martinez's teammate, mark gardner, had also no-hit the dodgers through 9 innings two days prior, but the expos failed to score. the dodgers got three straight hits in the bottom of the 10th to win the game, 1-0.  such is baseball.

also from archives is this brandon crawford double play turn.

another giants card i am glad to have in my collection.

a couple weeks ago brian from highly subjective completely arbitrary gave me some cards when we met up at a card show. he included a couple of double play turns that were new to me from 1994 topps stadium club - bret barberie

and luis polonia

looks like polonia was successful in breaking up the dp.

there was also a new tatooine card in the package brian gave me - this 2011 topps marquee david wright card

i found a few more cards at that show in the bargain boxes, including this 2011 topps udpate willie bloomquist gold parallel double play turn

plus a couple of juniors - 2010 bowman had ken griffey jr in dodger stadium

and 2006 upper deck had willie mccovey lurking

more of a cameo, actually, but it goes in my lurker collection.

one more for that collection from the show - this 2019 topps rainbow foil parallel of eduardo nunez featuring max muncy

i guess i won't have to worry about seeing this sort of card in 2020 topps.  still, as i said up above, i am looking forward to 2020 update and hoping there are some good shots of dodger stadium in the background.  speaking of which, i found a couple of junk wax astros to add to my dodger stadium collection, too. a 1990 donruss steve lombardozzi and a 1992 fleer rob mallicoat:

i am hoping 2020 update has more of the lombardozzi type photos and fewer of the mallicoat ones. we'll see in about 11 months.

dizzy dean is in my hall of famer collection

not every hall of famer is in my hall of famer collection. i explained early on that i basically selected players that i had felt a connection to - either from my fandom or collecting experience.  there are a couple that i may go back and add in the future (david ortiz comes to mind), but for now i've stuck with that original list of 98 players.

dizzy dean was not a dodger, did not play during my lifetime, and certainly wasn't in the 1978 topps set.  still, he's in my hall of fame collection with this card:

yes, it's another relic card form 2001 topps tribute.  here's the back:

dean was a member of the 'gas house gang' who won 30 games in the 1934 regular season, plus two more in the world series as his cardinals beat the tigers. he won the mvp award that year, and was the runner-up the next two seasons.  sure, he was a great pitcher, and i learned about dean (and his brother, daffy) through reading about the history of the game.  however, my connection to him comes more from my parents.  after he retired, dizzy went on to become a broadcaster.  working for kmox, the signal was strong enough to be heard in canada, where my parents grew up. so, the first baseball games that my folks heard on the radio were described to them in the poor grammar and southern drawl of jay hanna dean.  after i learned that, i dug deeper into dean's career, and collected what few cards of his i could find.  perhaps my favorite dean story - and i think i read it or perhaps it was relayed to me by vin scully during a broadcast rather than hearing it from one of my parents - was that dean was not allowed to talk about the weather on air. so one night he made a comment along the lines of being hopeful that the ladies in the area were taking their clothes off the clotheslines. 

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relics

dizzy dean - 2001 topps tribute relics

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autographs

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autographs

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autographs

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame

card show flip or flop?

as luck would have it, i was out of town for a work meeting one friday morning earlier in the fall, and that meeting locale was just down the road from the location of a mall card show that was running from friday through sunday. i headed out after my meeting ended, even though my experience has shown that friday mall shows are not the best. unfortunately, this one didn't do anything to change that opinion. 

between dealers setting up and the relatively large number of tables only carrying jerseys or photos, there weren't too many card boxes to look through.  i did find one dealer who had a 4/$1 box, and i started digging without much hope. i had thrown 10 or so cards aside before the dealer approached me with an empty 550-count box and told me that i could fill the box for $40. now that the bargain box was a 7-cent/card box, i started pulling cards with a bit more fervor.

i knew that i would not be able to fill the box with just cards for my collection, so i kept an eye out for cards that i could add to the few trade packages i was (and still am) putting together. i also tried to identify cards that i thought i could flip. i mentioned in a recent post that i have a bad habit of doing this when going through bargain boxes. sometimes it works out and i make some of my money back, and sometimes i misjudge the marketplace and wind up with cards in my collection that don't really fit.

anyway, i wound up filling the box and gave the guy $40.  when i got home, i went through the cards that i had selected and found that i needed 43 of them.  here are the keepers:  

a 1971 topps don sutton coin was probably the highlight here, and i am always amazed at how many mike piazza cards i don't already have.

in addition to the 22 dodgers, i can put the 1997 upper deck collector's choice all-star connection mike piazza card in my dodger stadium mini-collection thanks to the camera day photo on the back.  i found five new double play cards, and two new tatooine cards, including another piazza dupe. i also found one card for a set i am working on (that would be the 2000 pacific kings of the diamond set), plus 12 cards to add to my vladimir guerrero collection.

i also found about four dozen cards that were for trade packages.  that would mean that i had over 400 cards to try to sell. long story short, i've already made back that $40 payment after selling only 14 cards (with more in the pipeline), thanks mainly to a couple of pacific gold crown and leaf clean up crew cards.  sure, it's taken a fair amount of time to scan and list and mail the cards, but i've been selling cards for a long time now, and it's time i would have spent doing that anyway.

of course, i've already reinvested the proceeds in other cardboard, so i'm not really coming out ahead. still, for me, looking for cards for others and/or bargains to flip is part of the fun of the card show experience.