1961 Fleer Baseball Greats

The 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats is an unappreciated set of cards. I love them for their simple design and their underdog status. I would like to think that I will be at a stage in my collecting habits, when I have completed some of my other baseball pursuits, attempt to collect a unique set such as '61 Fleer. Considering the set includes such names as Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Cy Young and Honus Wagner, presumably because Topps had the current players under contract, it is possible.
The complete set is 154 cards and are numbered in 'alphabetical ' order. The set was issued in 2 series; cards #1 to #88 in the first series and #89 to #154 in the second. The first series packs contained team and pennant stickers showing past World Series winners. The Fleer Sticker Project shows both these superb stickers in their glory.
I already have 9 of the '61 Fleer set and this card #52 John Kling is a great addition.

1955 Red Man Tobacco Card

Chewing Tobacco conjures images of the Wild West, spittoons and Back to the Future. I believed that 'smokeless tobacco' was a thing of the past. How wrong I was. In seeking some information on the Red Man brand I discovered that chewing (and spitting!) is still widely practiced.
Baseball cards had not been included in Tobacco products since 1920, until 1952 when Red Man issued a set of cards, attractive big cards measuring 9cm (3.5 in) by 9cm with a 1cm (0.5in) stub at the bottom. The stub could be removed from the card and 50 stubs exchanged for a Big League Baseball cap in the team of your choosing.
Red Man chose to keep all the baseball information on the front of the card and use the back to advertise their product. For four years, 1952 to 1955, Red Man included baseball cards in their chewing tobacco. If you want to drool a little bit at a amazing collection of the entire 4 year run take a look at this blog.
The 1955 set included 25 players from the American League and 25 from the National League.
I was able to purchase this card #20 Pete Runnels Washington Senators with the stub. Unfortunately the cap offer expired on June 15th 1956.
Red Man tobacco products are still available( in only the top quality stores naturally ) but baseball cards have been replaced by fishing lures.

2009 Tristar Obak

I was fortunate recently to get hold of a 'blaster' of 2010 Obak. Blaster may be stretching it a little, as most of the box contained a large L-shaped block of foam. There are 4 packs within the blaster, each pack containing 6 cards.
The base set consists of 119 cards, 5 of which can only be collected through Tristar Prospect Plus packs. I don't really know enough about Minor League ball to speak confidently about the cards but I like the modern/vintage sets.

Pack 1:

#15 Neftali Feliz Oklahoma City Redhawks

#29 Angel Villalona San Jose Giants

#48 Robert Forrest Jacobs Asheville Tourists

#53 Ike Boone Mission Reds

#60 Joe Wilhoit Salt Lake City Bees

#38 Ron Necciai Bristol Twins T-212 Pack 2:

#64 Gregg Jefferies Jackson Mets

#73 Bud Hillerich and Pete Browning Louisville Slugger

#76 Mike Coolbaugh Columbus Clippers

#89 George H. Rawlings

O-EX3 Barack Obama

#29 Steve Dalkowski Rochester Red Wings T-212

Pack 3:

#36 Al Rosen Oklahoma City Indians

#44 Steve Dalkowski Rochester Red Wings

#59 Gary Redus Waterbury Reds

#74 Alexander Cartwright 'alleged' inventor of baseball

#84 Francis Scott Key

#37 Grover Lowdermilk Mattoon Giants T-212

Pack 4:

#2 Robbie Grossman West Virginia Power

#3 BJ Hermsen GCL Twins

#8 Junichi Tazawa Portland Seadogs

#13 Tim Beckham Bowling Green Hot Rods

#43 Oscar Eckhardt Mission Reds

#5 Michael Ynoa AZL Athletics T-212

Hooked ! Mainly by the names of the players and teams. I have to get some more 'Loudermilk' cards as well as Bristol Twins. Pity the team isn't called Bristol City Twins.
As usual all the cards are up for trade.

What will 99p buy you in baseball cards?

A load of crap possibly.
Readers from the UK might have seen this lot on e-bay recently. A 1000 cards with a starting price of 99p. Who wouldn't bid? Well everyone obviously because I won with a bid of 99p.

So what exactly did I get for my 99p?

A complete set of 1995 Topps,

A box of 1993 Donruss Series 1,

A box of 1993 Donruss Series 2,

5 Topps 1974 ,

8 Topps 1975,

19 Topps 1978,

1 Topps 1979,

1 Donruss 1983,

1 Sportsflick 1986,

1 Upper Deck 1989,

97 Donruss 1990,

1 Topps 1990,

30 Donruss 1991,

36 Fleer 1991,

1 Fleer Sticker 1991,

15 Score 1991,

4 Topps 1991,

74 Donruss 1992,

2 Fleer 1992,

27 Leaf 1992,

19 Score 1992,

104 Topps 1992,

7 Upper Deck 1992,

108 Donruss 1993,

89 Hostess baseball 1993,

13 Topps 1993,

4 Upper Deck 1993,

2 Fleer 1994,

1 Topps 1994,

12 Stadium Club 1994,

20 UD Collectors Choice 1995,

10 Fleer 1996,

12 Fleer Ultra 1996

28 Score 1996,

11 UD Collector Choice 1996,

200+ Topps Total 2004,

8 National Card Day 2006,

That is the bulk of the cards. An unusual mix considering there is two complete sets, possibly three, and the ever popular early 1990's cards, that appear to be common all over the world! There was also about 20 top loaders, a packet of card protectors and roughly 20 hard cases too.

There was a number of unusual items enclosed, hidden deep within the box.
A set of Civil War Leaders complete set of 32 cards in a plastic case,
A limited edition #to 240,000 1991 Front Row Draft Picks complete set in a plastic case,
A Mickey Lolich Detroit Tigers Gold embossed card?
A 1996 Fleer promotional card,
A 1996 Upper Deck Promotional card,
A slabbed 1994 Upper Deck Fold outs Cal Ripken ,
a Number of Frank Thomas cards from various years -all encased in hard covers.

Is there method to the madness of this collector? There are very few Red Sox, Pirates or Dodgers cards but plenty of White Sox pretty much together in a pile and Yankees cards again together. There are a number of cards badly beaten but in top loaders, a few more cards covered in sticky back plastic (for protection?) and a number of others that look as though they have been used to soak up low grade oil.

So a load of crap then?

Trade with Chris from the Call of Cardboard

Trading has been the backbone of my blog ever since I trying to secure the last few cards of the 1980's Topps set. Things have changed, there are well over three to four times as many blogs and I have been losing out on trades to some bigger (and closer) Red Sox collectors. So it was a welcome relief to be contacted by a few collectors recently interested in a Red Sox trade. This trade with Chris from The Call of Cardboard was completed a few weeks ago.

We originally made contact in regard to 2009 Goodwin Champions, as we are both attempting to collect the base set and it grew from there. Chris received my selection of cards and sent back a big selection of Red Sox from the 1970's and a large pile of Goodwins to check off the wants list.
To my surprise tucked away amongst the cards were the three 1951 Bowman cards shown above. Unexpected and greatly appreciated.
The '51 and '52 Bowman sets are rapidly pushing out the 1980 Topps as my favourite set of baseball cards. As I have said before I prefer the 50's Bowmans to 50's Topps.
Thanks to Chris for the 'awesome' trade.

2010 Allen and Ginter baseball

I seriously contemplated using these gifted packs as my first 'video break'. Made an introduction with background music, etc and waited until my friend Dion returned from the US with packs he e-mailed to say he had obtained. He searched the San Francisco area and eventually found some in a comic shop, overpriced and undoubtedly searched- but Packs of A+G none the less.
I sat down to record the pack opening, in what started as a very quiet house. As soon as I began to talk, the interruptions followed.
'Dad who are you talking to?',
'What are you doing?'
'Can I help read the names...?'
'Would you like a cup of tea?'
I could edit the interruptions but the chuckles of my wife in the background became too unbearable. I tried to involve her in the process, I had seen this done to great success with another pack break, but she was having none of it.
What began as a carefully thought video break descended into farce, so I thought Sod it!
So the nine packs obtained from Cards and Comics Central 5425 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco will be opened the old fashioned way...
My friend Tony, who writes the blog 'Collector from Across the Pond' and I endeavouring to collect the whole 2010 Allen and Ginter base set of 350 cards. He is also going for the mini parallel version as well, while I have opted for the 'Monster of the Mesozoic' mini parallel. Just love the dinosaurs.

Pack 1:

#119 Dan Uggla Marlins

#167 Dan Harden D-backs

#244 Aaron Cook Rockies

#272 David Blaine Magician

#295 Josh Thole Mets

#337 Joe Nathan Twins

#TDH28 Jose Reyes Mets

#121 Francisco Rodriguez Mets black border mini Pack 2:
#22 Lucy skeleton
#65 Andre Ethier Dodgers
#138 Javier Vazquez Yankees
#182 Chris carpenter Cardinals
#198 A.J.Pierzynski White Sox
#312 Carlos Ruiz Phillies
#TDH52 Justin Upton D-backs
#337 Joe Nathan Twins miniPack 3:
#179 Jorge Posada Yankees
#179 Ben Zorbist Bay Rays
#223 Jason Kubel Twins
#240 Aaron Hill Blue Jays
#242 Jules Verne Author
#292 Chris Pettit Angels
#TDH65 Zack Greinke Royals
#SSS4 Vasco Nunez De Balboa mini
Pack 4:
#90 Kevin Kouzmanoff Athletics
#186 Jose Reyes Mets
#196 Scott Baker Twins
#231 Travis Snider Blue Jays
#262 Zack Greinke Royals
#322 Gary Matthews Mets
#TDH4 Lance Berkman Astros
#274 Nick Markakis Orioles mini A+G back
Pack 5:
#3 Ryan Braun Brewers
#184 Jake Peavy White Sox
#185 X-Rays more bones
#234 Nick Johnson Yankees
#249 Alfonso Soriano Cubs
#261 Adam Jones Orioles
#TDH38 Jim Thome Twins
#298 Jorge Cantu Marlins mini
Pack 6:
#63 Matt Carson Athletics
#73 Avery Jenkins Disk Golf
#157 Kevin Youkilis Red Sox (finally)
#175 Tim Lincecum Giants
#178 Josh Hamilton Rangers
#326 Aaron Rowand Giants
#TDH18 Felix Hernandez Mariners
#NA1 Cougar Argentina mini
Pack 7:
#30 Rafael Furcal Dodgers
#100 Matt LaPorta Indians
#107 Adam Dunn Nationals
#144 Stuart Scott Sportscaster
#149 Ichiro Mariners
#301 Gaby Sanchez Marlins
#TDH14 Justin Verlander Tigers
#NA26 Gray Wolf Turkey mini
Pack 8:
#8 Miguel Tejada Orioles
#14 Shane Victorino Phillies
#85 Yunel Escobar Braves
#131 Tyler Flowers White Sox
#226 Brian McCann Braves
#AGHS5 Ichiro Mariners
#TDH22 Grady Sizemore Indians
#LO16 Persephone mini
Pack 9:
#87 Alexei Ramirez White Sox
#132 David Price Bay Rays
#176 Preston Pittman Turkey Caller
#210 Chris Johnson Astros
#217 James Shields Bay Rays
#350 Alcides Escobar Brewers
#TDH68 Brian McCann Braves
#38 Tiago Della Vega Guitar Player mini black border

A nice start to a very interesting set. Who cannot like a card set that includes a Turkey Caller!

I know I called the Monsters mini set but I really liked the 'Sailors of the Seven Seas' parallel set too. Plenty of mini's Tony, they will be on their way shortly.

Topps Baseball Talk Collection

Its funny what you find searching ebayUK when there is very little of note, that is unless you need to complete the 1991 Fleer set or 1987 Topps . If you willing to take your time and wade your way through the sea of yellow and brown, a couple of oddball gems appear.

I bid on three packs of 'Topps baseball Talk collection cards', the details in the auction were very thin except to say they were rare. Unfortunately the actual sports talk player wasn't included and a further search put it way out of my league.
You can be forgiven for thinking that the cards are regular 1989 Topps however there are some significant differences. Look at the comparison between a regular Topps and the Talk collection card.
Size obviously and smaller tweaks such as the Topps logo and each of the player cards in the set have a facsimile autograph. Turn the card over and you'll notice something completely different.

On the back of each of the Talk cards is glued a small transparent disk. This disk or mini record, when inserted into the LIN SportsTalk player, would play 2-3 minutes of audio. The player cards included interviews by Don Drysdale and Joe Torre. There were also specially narrated historic games and cards of former players. The Talk cards were sold in packs of 4 and according to the checklist included, there were 41 different sets of 4 cards to collect.

Unfortunately the cards were not as successful as hoped. The Talk players broke easily and the cards had poor audio, so NFL and NBA versions were shelved indefinitely.

The three sets I purchased included:

Set 4:
1956 World Series Game 5 Yankees vs Dodgers
Ozzie Smith Cardinals
Ron Darling Mets
Pete Incaviglia Rangers

Set 5:
1986 National League Championship Series game 6 Astros vs Mets
Kirby Puckett Twins
Dennis Eckersley Athletics
Gregg Jefferies Mets

Set 7:
1984 World Series Game 5 Tigers vs Padres
Keith Hernandez Mets
John Franco Reds
Eddie Murray Orioles

If you after more information look up these:
Sports Talk Wikipedia
Internet Museum of Oddity Records