3 Newest Hall of Famers with a 71 Topps link

Most people have heard about the three newest Baseball Hall of Famers, the much deserving Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre so I won't really go into that. The thing that I found interesting as a fan of the 1971 Topps set, a set that partially let me to start blogging in the first place, is that with Joe Torre's addition in 2014, there are now 46 Hall of Famers with cards in the black-bordered masterpiece that is 1971 Topps. I have no idea if that is close to a record for base cards of then current players, but something I thought was worth noting.

To save typing them all out I found a Sporcle quiz, a pretty fun way to test your knowledge.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/jaysee/1971thof

edit: After seeing CaptKirk42's comment I looked and Night Owl did start on a "Most Hall of Famers" project, his links are below. It looks like 1971 might have the lead with 1969 second at 44.

http://nightowlcards.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-most-hall-of-famers.html
http://nightowlcards.blogspot.ca/2013/05/the-most-hall-of-famers-update-1.html
http://nightowlcards.blogspot.ca/2013/07/the-most-hall-of-famers-update-2.html

Check out my Rockies (Dec 2013)

Another COMC order, another edition of Check out my Rockies. These packages are always fun for me as I usually forget what I all bought so there are usually a few surprises. The highlight is the card to the right,the only card of Jim Leyland with the Rockies, from the 1999 Police issue set that was probably released as a stadium giveaway, coming from ebay via the COMC mail box service. I have never even seen a scan of the card before so it nice to have one find it's way to my collection.

Acetate Appreciation: 1999 Finest - Peel and Reveal

An insert set from when peel off protective film coatings were a common thing to see on cards. These cards came in packs of Topps Finest with a black film on both sides that had to be peeled of to see which card you got. The three parallels were Sparkle, the most common (roughly 1 per box), Stadium Stars, the least common (roughly 1 in every 5 boxes) and Hyperplaid being somewhere in the middle (about 1 per 2.5 boxes). These cards are very hard to identify by scans so I used a black background below to help out. The Sparkle are just what you would expect, with shiny specks in the clear space, Hyperplaid are probably the best looking in person looking similar to X-Fractors from recent Topps Chrome releases. The Stadium Stars are the hardest to see with Stars and Circles that create a slight 3D effect.

Why did I even buy this?

I usually have a small niche that I collect, and try not to stray to far from that for budgetary reasons. I mostly collect base cards, and an un-numbered autograph means just as much to me as a low numbered color-fractor parallel. Sometimes my itchy bidding finger gets the best of me and I end up with something outside my comfort zone. This is one of those things. A Topps Vault Blank Back 1/1 card, from Topps Mini no less, and with all apologies to mini fans, a set that I have absolutely zero use for.

First off, I find it disgusting that Topps produces these things as a straight to ebay item. They are nothing more than a quick cash grab that really adds nothing to the hobby. If they were released into packs as redemptions (I know, that last thing we need is more redemptions) or something like that I would have no problem, but as a straight to ebay only item, that's what I have a problem with. I realize that most cards end up on secondary market sites like ebay anyway, and it is an easy way to get things like this into collectors hands, it still seems a little shady. As someone who hates redundancy (hence my Topps Mini dislike), these things don't really need to exist.

Obviously, I am not as outraged at these as I thought I was, because I bought one. It was relatively cheap and is pretty nice in it's Beckett graded case, and it fits into my 2013 Topps Ramon Hernandez rainbow that any regular readers (If I have any) have seen me working on for a few months.

Remembering #21

It's now six years since Sean Taylor passed, you may see a few tributes to him posted around and I urge people to go out and check some of his highlights on youtube. He was an incredible football player who had Hall of Fame talent and would have only been 30 years old this year. Still the only time that I have shed a tear over pro sports. I will never forgot that week leading up to the Bills game in which Gregg Williams and the Redskins defense started the game with 10 players, leaving Taylor's safety spot empty.

Green is the Colour...

2013 Grey Cup Champions!

Johnny Bucyk: Bruins Stanley Cup Auto

A retro Bruins Stanley Cup autograph, of Bruins great and Hall of Famer Johnny Bucyk. The holder of most Bruins career records until Ray Bourque, Bucyk is still the franchise leader in goals with 545, and second in games (1,436) and points (1,339). A member of the 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup teams, he also had his name engraved on the Cup in 2011 as a member of the Bruins front office staff.

These 2012-13 Panini Classics cards are among the best looking retro style sets I have seen, especially the card backs. Along with a legible and stylish on card auto, this ranks pretty high up in my auto collection.

Acetate Appreciation: 2007 UD Elements

A very weird and confusing set released by Upper Deck in 2007, the cards were released with 3 mini-boxes per box, 5 packs per mini box, 3 cards per pack, with what was advertised as "3 unique Technology Cards" with Relic and Auto cards mixed in as well.

Box 1 contained cards 1-42 and 127-168 on "Foil Board" (Think Chrome Refractors)
Box 2 contained cards 43-84 and 169-210 on "Lt Fx" (Think Fleer Metal)
Box 3 contained cards 85-126 and 211-252) on "PETG" (Think thicker than average acetate)

The first 126 cards were of veteran players, with one card per "Technology" and cards 127-252 being all rookies limited to 550, meaning each player has 3 different cards in the set. The PETG (or Polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified) are clear plastic cards that fit into the "acetate" part of my collection. The "Technology" is pretty much wasted on these as only the top portion of the card is clear, and the back containing a bio and stats shows though to the card front. The photos used on the PETG cards look to all be posed studio shots, making my dislike for these cards even greater.

Massive Mailday, 2011 GQ Style

One of my top collecting goals was to finish the 2011 Gypsy Queen set, after sitting at around half done for a long time, a lot came up on the bay and I ended up getting it. Most of the base set with a pile of inserts, combining this lot with what I already had finished the regular set and left me 3 cards shy of the short prints. If anyone is still working on this set I now have a pile of doubles for trade and if anyone has Danny Valencia, Kila Ka-Aihue or Konrad Schmidt to help finish the set I would love to set up a trade.

Updated 2011 Trade/ Want List

Trip to the LCS (Bowman Chrome, Topps Chrome, Topps Prime)

A trip to the local card shop for some supplies led to a few packs, as I don't want to be a guy that goes in, buys some supplies and leaves without really supporting the shop. Starting with the best pack of the bunch, the options are mostly limited to Hockey so after picking out a few baseball packs, I grabbed a pack of Topps Prime Football. For $10.00 a pack I was taking a gamble, and while not getting a huge hit, it was the best purchase of the day. A Quad Relic, numbered to 99, of Stepfan Taylor, a rookie for the Cardinals who has a total of 53 yards in 9 games played. At 4 hits per 10 packs I did ok on this, even though I have never heard of this kid.