By the way, who won this contest???

Back in the early 2000 I was busy at the university and completely lost track of baseball and therefore baseball cards. I don't recall how this sweepstakes piece found its place into my collection.

Who won that bat?????? 

I've been doing some research on the Internet but so far I've just been able to find that:

"Robert Shell (14 year old back then) from Baraboo Wis. won a 1928 Philadelphia athletics jersey signed by Cobb, valued at $332,500" as part of this contest.

But who won that bat????

My Ruth's cards

You gotta love reprints as long as they're not from Todd Van Poppel. So when you hit a Hall of Fame shot courtesy of Score 1992:

Or a 1976 Topps honoring the Bambino:

Just open the binder and add that up to your collection.

The truth and main reason for this post is that I've never seen an original Ruth card in person. It's not like the Babe is the only one missing on my list but it's a tight race between him and Cobb for first place; keep digging and I still need to see/own DiMaggio, CY, Gehrig,  and you name it.

Meanwhile I'll keep digging during my flea market adventures and sooner or later I'll be the luckiest man on the face of the earth... unquote.

 

Cool nicknames: "The human vacuum cleaner"

A sign that you've made it to the show is having your nickname. If you're lucky enough it will stick with you through good and bad; in sickness and health; Pujols and Andrew Jones type of season, for ever.

I have to admit that Brooks Robinson has one of the coolest nickname ever, forget about the Iron Horse, Will the Thrill, La Cobra, cause the Human Vacuum Cleaner rules.

Bring on the Hoover!!!

My Rickey Henderson RC tks to Cardboard Icons

Back on March 7th, Ben from CardBoard Icons hosted a contest celabrating his 25,000 visits in which the winner, a.k.a yours truly, won a 1980 Topps #482 Rickey Henderson RC. 

Being new in the blogosphere there's no need to say I was thrilled when I found out.

Tks Ben, this card is mint compare to some in my vintage PC.

Centered? the Wade Boggs saga. Card #630

Ever since I picked up this card I've been curious about the "centering". For a while I thought it was my copy who had the problem. Browsing Ebay today I found this one just like it. Looking further into the matter, I found the match #629 for the AL Batting title runner up Mr. Carew... including part of Boggs sleeve.

What I still don't get is why is Fleer had to split the card instead of using the single shot.

Riddle me this, riddle me that, uncentered on the front, centered on the back

K Tom is on my "list"

For any vintage collector fan there is always an unwritten list of cards that you would choose and set aside for later negotiation even when radomly browsing through a stack or a shoebox full of cardboard. No matter if you're a team or player collector or even if you hate the Yanks, Reds, & Tigers; you'll never turn your cheek when running into a Mantle, Rose, Cobb, et al. Even duplicates will always be welcome if you're like me.

Among those players, I have Mr. Seaver and being honest, I just know about him what I've read in the back of my cards, Wikipedia and Baseball Reference

I'm not a Mets fan and don't care if Omar Minaya is planning to put the whole Dominican Republic on their payroll. 

But, Tom Seaver is on my "list"

Graded goodie from cheapbay

A couple of blogs ago I wrote about vintage goodie on the way. Finally it has arrived:

It has been with me for just 5 days but man I love this card. 

How much did I pay? USD$5.76 delivered 

If there's something that I'm 100% sure off now it's that by going vintage on my collection, my passion for the hobby is getting stronger.

My first Koufax! My first Spahn! 

My first redemption... finally delivered!!!!!

My saga started early last year when I bought my one and only box of 2007 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects as the previous year. Back then I was still heavy hitting breaking boxes of new products, specially BDPP and SPLC. Overall it was a decent break until I hit my redemption so I immediately knew no autograph was on board cause I'm not that lucky and collation wouldn't smile at me, at least not that day. That was it, I would have to pay outrageous shipping from my country and then wait forever to get my deserved auto.

April 8th, 2008: I Found a cheaper way than FedEx (USD$35) and send it through IMPOSDOM (Dominican Postal Office) for USD$2. On a regular day I would have never sent that or any decent card/redemption by Imposdom but with that pricing I had no choice. 

February 20th, 2009: Went to my local courier company to pick up a vintage goodie I'll blog about later, and when Jessie (the clerk) said I had 2 pkg's instead of 1... 

Payback was around the corner:

Finally!!!

Dave "underrated" Parker

What ta hell is The Cobra doing out of Baseball HOF? 

Can someone please tell me how in the world did Jim Rice got in with 412 votes and Parker just got 81?????? 

Just FYI you voters, Dave has more runs, hits, doubles, RBI's, SB, BB, gold gloves, silver sluggers, and batting titles than Jim (please don't tell me Dave had more at bats cause I don't care).

Don't get me wrong Bsox fans cause I can yell the same rant about why Lee Smith, Jack Morris, Alan Trammel also got more votes than Dave.

Doesn't having a baseball card hugging Richard Gere a.k.a Gary Carter counts?

 What about wearing that "lovely" vintage Pirates cap:

Anyway, here's the rest of my PC:

George Howard Brett

These Brett's need no intro and were part of the biggest vintage lot I've ever purchased. There were Ryan's, Ripken's, Murray's, Parker's and many other great stars but only a 1971 Ryan felt better than these 4 Brett's. All of them stacked in a shoe box IN A LIBRARY VINTAGE STORE!! A LIBRARY!!

My second Marichal on the way, and he's not alone

Today I feel like talking about the best Dominican pitcher who has ever thrown from a MLB mound and our only HOF so far, none other that Juan Marichal. During my FMA I've been able to pick only 1 card from " el Monstruo de Laguna Verde" (The Green Lagoon Monster) town where he was born. 

Don Juan is not a difficult person to spot here in the DR and he happens to be a nice guy. A couple of years ago he served as Sports Minister for the country but that's another story. 

You wouldn't imagine Mr. Barry Bonds coming to the DR for Marichal's charity golf tournament every single year but even BB never skips this event. 

Yesterday I purchased on Fleabay my 2nd Marichal car and guess what, he's not coming home alone because his long time rival W. Spahn will be joining. I'll blog about it next week when the baby has been delivered.

Hank Aaron MVP 1957 & Homerun King card. Almost left without them

Back again. Today I want to talk about 2 cards that for some reason almost went unnoticed during my last 3 hour long flea market adventure. I'm talking about a Hank Aaron MVP and a Hank Aaron new home run king.

After been seated for 3 hours (at least now they let me use one of the chairs), I was ready to pay and leave when the dealer was interrupted by an old couple looking at some vintage coins and jewelry, so instead of taking MY seat, I reached over the table and found a little box with some baseball cards the dealer keeps in a separate box (Dominican players and others with sentimental value) where I discovered these Aaron's.  He used to take those special cards out and and hand them over to me 1 by 1 but never the whole pkg. 

Dennis Eckersley 1977 Topps kevlar game used shot card...

I have no idea what happened to this card. Seems like Dennis the menace got his ass kicked on a recent Wax Heaven "cardboard war". He was matched against Suge Knight.

2 holes?

Tape? 

Should I submitt it for grading?  naaaaa

The oldest one so far...

Hey guys,

Been a couple of weeks since my last post but here we are. Here's the oldest card I've found so far during my Flea Market Adventures:

It's a  Steve or Stephen (depending if you ask mom or dad) Souchock 1954 Bowman. Got it for .40 cents as part of other 41 cards from the same flea seller. Didn't know who Mr. Souchock was when I found it laying there and honestly I don't care that much. It's the oldest one I have in my collection. According to Beckett Baseball Almanac this card has a STAGGERING price tag of USD$12 in N/M condition JUST LIKE MINE :)  

1965 Houston's Rookies Stars AUTOGRAPH?

Have you ever found a great card and suddenly you realize that its previous owner was sign-o-freak? Well Beckett Almanac, say hello to 1965 topps #16 Joe Morgan / Sonny Jackson AUTOGRAPH VARIATION!!

I was so mad at this card the first time i found it laying with other hundred cards in a huge box, that didn'y buy it right there. I took another visit to make up my mind.

And in case YOU were the owner, next time please get someone else to sign it also so it won't look so obvious with the same handwriting.