Rest in Peace, Kid.

Just heard that Gary Carter has passed away after a courageous battle with cancer.

Very sad.

Rest in peace, Gary. You did it right and you are missed.

STTM1 Update...

I was up way too late last night and grew very, very weary of writing my own address.   That can mean only one thing!   Okay, probably two things.   First off, I didn't make it to the gym before work today.  

Drats.  

More importantly, the first salvo of the 1st Annual Spring Through the Mail umm, adventure (or something?), has been fired!



Hope Springs Eternal - Pun Totally Intended

Godspeed, my little friends.

Do You Smell That?

It's almost here.

That time of the year when we all receive some fresh hope, some warmer temps and maybe get the hankerin' for some sunflower seeds as we maneuver our way through the peculiarities of Flagship Series 1.

Spring Training!

I know that the Marlins kicked off early - but if my memory serves me right, I believe pitchers and catchers for most clubs are set to report in about 6 days or so......

So what does that mean?

Time for Ryan's 1st Annual Spring Through The Mail (STTM1).

Better make 'em "forever" stamps - just in case!

I've always been a huge fan of TTM autograph seeking.   I discovered this joy in 2007 and have been going at it from time to time ever since.   I've had some amazing returns and crushing non-responses.   $450, Willie?   Really?   I can't wait to share some of those stories here.

But it's always a good time for a new crop.   As my beautiful wife always says, "MORE baseballs and autographs?"

Yes, babe.   MORE.

What exactly is STTM1?   I'm not quite sure yet.   But it's going to be epic, of course.   Success or failure?   THAT is the question.  

More details to follow but I'm starting to get ready around here.   It's time to get writing and time to get stamping.

And the occasional, early offering to Jobu for a little luck never hurts.

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Here goes nothing.   Thanks for reading!

Ask and You Shall Receive - 1991 Fleer

Wow.   Just WOW.

I'm not sure how long it will take for me to get used to the generosity of my fellow collectors.   Hopefully I never will, as it is a terrific reminder of what this hobby is all about.   In my last post, I shot a signal flare into the night as a call for my quest to complete the '91 Fleer set.


No......not FLAIR.   But pizza shooters DO sound good!



And that call was answered.

To all who have offered their help - The Lost Collector, Foul Bunt, Captain Canuck, Condition Sensitive - a heartfelt THANK YOU.   You know I'm serious with the use of all CAPS, too.

Here's an updated list of my '91 Fleer NEEDS after compiling some "these are on the way" responses:

    #0-100:  14, 30, 86, 88
  101-200:  117, 122, 161, 165, 186, 192 
  201-300:  207, 210
  301-400:  343. 381
  401-500:  402, 440, 450, 481,
  501-600:  502,  529, 561, 592, 593,
  601-700:  644, 649, 681, 683, 687, 689, 690, 691, 693, 694, 696,
  701-720:  704, 705, 707, 711, 712

 See what I mean?!   You rascals........

If only the cable company were this responsive.

Would you accept this challenge?

AH..........set building.

If you subjected yourself to the previous post, you know that I recently dug through a brick of '91 Fleer cards - contents unknown.   I recalled that I may have picked up a wax box of these cards.   This would have been when I was 12, so I am not 100% certain.   I was hoping that I might be decently close to completing the set.   Sorted and recorded, here was the breakdown:

• NEED 280/720 cards (therefore, 62% COMPLETE)
• 110 duplicates

Hmmm.......what to do?   The good news is that I still need to retrieve one "Stars" binder from my folks' home.   It will certainly contain a few more cards that are currently missing (specifically, players with last names starting with "A" up through Gregg Olson) because I would have pulled the cards for the PC's in my binders.

So, it will get better, but it's still not as far along as I would have preferred.   You know what, though?   This is where my introduction to the blogosphere has been so wonderful.   Networking, support and generous, genuine interest from other collectors in my pursuits since returning to the hobby last year give me some hope.   I've already had several offers to help (Thanks to Foul Bunt, Lost Collector and Condition Sensitive!) and wouldn't this be the ultimate victory over some unfinished 'junk wax' business?   Yeah......you know what?

I also feel this way before I eat chicken wings.

 And off we go!   I've added this set to my lists, so feel free to look and see if you can unload some yellow kindling.   I promise it is going to a good home.   If anybody stumbles across another collector out there who managed to keep a bunch of '91 Fleers around, please let me know.

Thanks for reading and I will leave you with some of my favorite peculiar finds from this intoxicating (or toxic?) stack of wax goodness from 1991:

Please get well, Kid!

Great swing by the HOFer

Just doesn't look right

Should be in '12 Topps "Walk-Offs" Subset!

Where do the years go, Joe?   It's like looking at my old passport photo....

Sammy left in the dryer too long...

Greatness

It's l ate and I'm too tired to rotate - please forgive me!

The Excavation Begins!

Irony.   The circle of life.   I love it.

Tonight I've gone in search throughout the collection for some long lost Rangers for Play at the Plate.   I think it was the fact that Raiders of the Lost Ark was on TV.   The perfect motivation for my own junk wax archaeological dig!

I popped open one of my boxes and decided to pull out a block of cards....

Cardboard inside Cardboard.

They had been resting in that spot for more than twenty years.   Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you - the set we all love to hate, 1991 Fleer!

The Solyndra of baseball cards?

Man, these things are a beautiful disaster (as my girl Kelly Clarkson would say).   Here's the great part - they were all out of order.   I simply don't know what I have here (other than a boat load of '91 Fleer's, of course).   I am sure I picked up a cheap wax box of these cards at Sam's Club one day, ripped them with glee and fastidiously set aside the Griffey's.   The rest?   Relegated to the archives.   Silly young me!

But now I shall set them free.   The set-builder gene has kicked in and I must answer the call!   As you can see in the pic, the sorting and collation has already begun.   I hope I am close to a complete set.   If there's too much left to do......well, we'll see.   But for now - we must sort.

Thankfully, I have a cold one nearby and an encore of Indiana Jones has just started.   It's like a time machine to my youth.   Indy, hand me that torch!

Piling On!

This is at LEAST the 2012th post about 2012 Topps Series 1.......so, at the risk of making my one reader (thanks, Dad!) look like this:

Is this dude: (a) reading this post, (b) watching American Idol or (c) a Tebow fan?

Of course I'll double down!   Here we go, my take on 2012 Topps.  

I seriously debated picking up any of this release.   I am a set builder by nature and last year was my first year back in the hobby after about 20 years.   Part of my annual goals will be to collect at least one set for my son.   This sounded easy enough, but I floundered for a few months with all of the various releases.   I eventually began to tread water when I decided what I liked.   The winners for me?   I was really impressed by and am still having a lot of fun putting together the Gypsy Queen and Heritage sets.   You can check out my progress on those sets on my NEEDS page.   I am definitely looking forward to those same releases this year....

So what about the flagship?   It would be very easy (and WAY more financially efficient) to just pick up a factory set of Series 1 & 2 at the end of the year for the price of a couple of blasters.   Who needs inserts anyways?

Meh.   What fun is that?

A blaster and a hanger box literally tackled me at Wally Mart.   It was my first exciting "Release Day" experience that also coincided with the writing of this blog's first (and now, no longer ONLY!) post.   I couldn't NOT pick up some, right?   Would I taste defeat and suffer with regret?   For a good day of wax, I always hope for some of my Yanks, some of my Braves and a minimal stack of duplicates.    Here goes nothing!

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4 base Yankees.   Not too bad!   I am hoping that Nova can carry over his success from last year and that Big Mo can put together another season of magic while mentoring Mr. Robertson.   Teixeira had some pop but needs more consistent production and Burnett......well, we'll see which A.J. reports in FL.

Some Yankee inserts.   AH, the Captain!   Not only that but a card of Jeter commemorating the first shared baseball memory for my son and me.   He'll have to hear about that moment for the rest of my life.   I think we both teared up a little but I swear the weird smell was coming from him!

I've never been so excited to pull a Mariner since the Kid!

The NEW guy!   Sure wish Cashman had been a bit quicker so these cards had a shot at some good 'ol fashioned Topps Airbrushing.....but that's okay.   You were traded for Jesus, Michael.   No pressure!   Good luck, kid.

A nice haul of some Bombers.   I shall spare you the various League Leader cards I pulled.   Blah - not a fan.   On to the Bravos....

I look just like Craig after I hoist the family Christmas tree into position!

Oh how sweet!   I was rooting for Kimbrel every time he took the mound last year.   I went back and forth between him and David Robertson for the title of Ryan's favorite hurler.   Rookie of the Year and the rookie season saves record - top notch.   Plus, you can't look any cooler as you stare down the hitter looking like THAT.   Good job, Topps.   I hear that Atlanta hitting coaches have worked with Jason for a couple of months.   His injuries caused him to change his swing and this required a total deconstruction so that they could build him back up.   Did it work?   And finally - Smoltzy and Kimbrel together.   This design has run its course but these are two great players (and commentator and golfer).

Here's some gold goodness:

Better GOLD than last year's?

I'm pretty happy at this point.   A good spread amongst my favorites.   I am also impressed by the photography this year.   Here are some of my favorite shots:

R.A. Baracus says: "I PITY THE FOOL!"

  Yeah, R.A. is probably going to catch some ribbing for this one.   But check out the fancy yard art left behind the mound by the grounds keeping crew at Shea Stadium  Citi Field!   The Blanks card is hauntingly biblical - clear proof that baseball is a favorite up in the clouds, yeah?   I am sure Dan Brown is on the case.   A couple more:

Beautiful follow-through

I tried to recreate this pose myself.   I failed.

I neared the end of my packs and saw this emerge:

Is dinner served for Uncle Eddie?

No, of course it's not THE card.  No short-print squirrel (a good name for a band?).   Just 'ol Skip!

Rodent-Free

But, wait...one more card...could it be?   YES!

Goofy, awkward, short print-y awesomness

Great way to end it - Fabulous High Fivin' Freddie Freeman!   Freddie had a rough beginning in 2011 but eventually found his groove and produced a quality rookie campaign that had him close behind his teammate, Mr. Kimbrel, on the NL ROY ballot.   I am hopeful that Freeman picks up where he left off and can contribute to the Braves' avenging of last year's SEPTEMBER implosion.   

If you're still reading - here's my overall take:

I like the set but the design is average and blends in quickly with those of the previous couple of years.   The photography saves the day - well done, Topps.   The inserts are hit or miss.   As many have already pointed out, several of them are too reverse-engineered for the potential relic/auto varieties (none of which I managed to pull).   

I will be chasing the base card set and collecting the Gold Standard, '87 Mini's (homage to the year I started collecting!) and Golden Moments insert subsets.   Feel free to check my 2012 Topps NEEDS/FOR TRADE lists to see if there's anything you'd like to swap! 

Thanks for reading!