Working on a New Set

 Hello Friends!

Well, today I have a set I'm working on that I ended up getting quite the chunk out of in 1993 Triple Play. 

I loved 93 and 94, though I never saw them much in the wild.. 92 is ok. The Panini TP is garbage that is bad and should feel bad.. But I digress...

Unlike the 92 Triple Play, the 93 set is a nice black bordered set with red lettering for the name on the bottom. The player's last name is kind of like the 1992 Donruss font for player names. 

A nice mix of vertical and horizontal cards. Here we have Eck throwing to the plate. 

One thing that was in Triple Play, since it was geared more to children, is Awesome Action cards. Some of these are really cool shots. 

The backs have the player name and their uniform number along with a photo and a year of stats. Fairly bare bones, but again, it's not a set for stat nerds. Sometimes you just want a set to look cool. 

Nice little trivia here. 

Wakefield as a Pirate. I wonder how many people remember that... 

Caminiti with the Dive!!!!

So the two above are interesting. 1993 the Marlins and the Rockies were added to the league. Companies dealt with the changes in different ways. Upper Deck had the players in their new uniforms in series 2.. Others just wrote the transaction on the card.. Much like these two with Chiamparino and Conine. 

The Express. 

And here are two Rockies. Nied, who was drafted by Colorado, and Bichette, who was traded to the Rock.. 

This is a rather unique idea. Cards showing the new additions in studio settings. 

Here are the new (for 93) Dodgers. 

Joe Robbie!! Interestingly enough, there are two copies of this card in the set. One was misnumbered. 

I still marvel at the fact this was the Marlins' home. .

Fun at the ballpark.. Milking competitions seem very... Double A, don't they? Do they even have milking competitions anymore? 

As for the second one here... I don't know.. Electro?? 

27 Wil Cordero

42 Larry Walker

68 Mark McGwire / Brian Harper AA

95 Fred McGriff

101b Andy Stankiewicz VAR

115 Ozzie Guillen

117 Tom Glavine

129b Joe Robbie Stadium STAD, ERR

139 John Kruk

160 Jack Morris

174 Ken Hill

190 Luis Polonia

213 Jeff Brantley

225 Bryan Harvey

234 Kevin Appier

249 David Justice

255 Derek Bell

259 Joe Robbie Stadium STAD, COR

Anyway, this is a list of what I still need for the base.. I have to look to see what of the inserts, if I want them.. 

Now.. On a personal note. Things have been going really well for me lately.. I don't get it.. I had my consult for bariatric surgery... I got rid of the queen sized bed I can't use.. I have a new hospital style bed coming to me that's fully paid.. I'm volunteering at Peterborough Musicfest this summer.. And I have a recliner coming.. 

On one hand I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.. On the other, I wish this ride of luck would help me with the groceries.. I'm stuck now till next Friday.. 

Anyway.. Have a wonderful day!

1987 OPC

 Hello Friends!

Today I finally entered the 87 OPC I received from one of the vendors that missed the card show at the end of last month. 

With the cards added, I'm 97% complete the set. 

I know I collected the 87 Topps set already, but I almost prefer the OPC from that time. Probably because it's Canadian.. Also probably because either way there's so much of it you can probably wallpaper the outside of the CN Tower and still not put a dent in the number available. 

But anyway, I'm showing a few of the cards I got.. I'll also list the cards I still need, just in case someone has a stash of 87 OPCs they're sitting on... (psst, if anyone has extra OPC baseball from 78-94 I'll take it gladly) 

Some of the big names are still missing like Henderson, Brett, Sandberg, Boggs, Clemens, and Will Clark. I'm also missing some Jays and extra Jays.. 

Speaking of extra Jays, I got this second Barfield for the team set. 

Well, his pitching may have gotten him to the Hall of Fame, but he still liked to stink up the league (IYKYK)

Eddie Murray. I think because of the time I started, I remember Murray more for his bouncing around years.. 

Some players I know started somewhere then there's almost a brain gap.. Murray and Fernando Valenzuela are like that for me. I didn't realize they were with their respective teams for as long as they were. 

Feeling Fisky today.. 

Always love getting CanCon... 

Tom Seaver in his bounce around time.. I kind of feel bad for him and Steve Carlton for bouncing around the league, trying to hang on for one more bit of glory.. 

1987 O-Pee-Chee Baseball

5 Rick Leach

5 Rick Leach

7 Rickey Henderson

118 Cliff Johnson

126 George Brett

143 Ryne Sandberg

146 Jim Rice

150 Wade Boggs

153 Duane Ward RC

178 Cecil Fielder

178 Cecil Fielder

191 Kelly Gruber

200 Pete Rose P/MGR

210 Lloyd Moseby

277 Tom Henke

306 Bill Buckner

312 Cal Ripken

340 Roger Clemens

345 Andre Dawson

361 Will Clark RC

366 Randy St. Claire

Those are the ones left to find.. 

Quick and Easy Trade

 Hello Friends!

Today I'm going to talk about a small trade I made with jomer442002 on TCDB. 

He wanted two cards and I got these in exchange:

Slowly working on Pinnacle 92. While I like 93 more than 92, I had access to more 92.. 

I might be in the minority here, but I kind of like these uniforms. I know a lot of people hate them.. I also know that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim California have had some pretty decent looks before. I will say this was a major departure when it first came out, like the Brewers rebrand in the 90s that pretty much everyone hated.. 

Anyway... Tangent finished. I got this because Jason Dickson is Canadian. 

Finally two Canadians from Topps Attax. I can't say I ever saw what Topps Attax was or ever learned that those numbers meant. I just like them for the photos.. 

Now just something non-baseball related I want to say before I end this post.. 

From what I'm gathering, it's both Pride Month and Men's Mental Health Month. I have nothing to say on the first part. What people do in their bedrooms affects me about as much as a gorge is affected by a teaspoon of water.. 

No dear reader, mine is the second part. I've mentioned it here and elsewhere before I've struggled with my mental health for years. I still struggle with it. In fact as I'm typing this post I'm feeling a loneliness that makes zero sense because I was around people and puppers most of the day.. 

Many carry this with them daily until it gets to the  point where carrying it feels so burdensome that they crack under the weight. 

I know a lot of us have issues talking about what's going on.. What's *really* going on under the surface. My issue is being able to articulate it. 

Just... Check on your friends.. It could make the difference.. 

Card Show Days

 Hello Friends!

Yesterday was the end of May, and as a result, the card show in town. Every time I've gone in it's been more and more packed. I could hardly move around in there. It took me three passes just to see certain tables. I did have to exit the room a few times because anxiety ramped up. The next one looks to be in August. 

So before the show, a couple weeks ago, actually, I got a message from one of the vendors that they weren't going to be there since they would still be in the US. This was the vendor that had the OPCs from last show. So he offered to search the 87s for my wantlist and mail them to me. So I have a stack of 87 OPC to enter. 

One of the usual vendors had a few things I wanted, so I pick them up. In talking with the guy, I mentioned I got the last card a friend needs for his WHA build. Jacques Plante as an Oiler. The vendor said "Thanks for reminding me.. I've decided to build that set and I know I have one for sale here.. I have to pick out that WHA card" lol I mean if you're going to build the set it doesn't make sense to sell a card you need for it, right? 

Anyway.. I hear you tapping your finger on the mouse saying "Well.... We're Waiting.... "

Donruss 85 Jimmy Key RC. I saw it and immediately was drawn to it. I was about 90% sure I didn't have it.. 

I just wanted to highlight a couple cards from this set.. I got the 1993 Dempsters Toronto Blue Jays set. I had 11 so far but now I have all 25. 

So tell me, dear reader... Does the front remind you more of a horizontal 89 Fleer but with blue, or a stretched out 86 Donruss? 

The back is definitely OPC Premier.. 

Otto Lopez. Yes he was born in the DR, but he was raised in Montreal and is considered Canadian.. 

I didn't realize this was a DK of Max with the Mets. Oh well, the card looks close enough to the current Jays light blues for it to mascarade as a Jays card

I'm not really one for gimmicky cards, but I couldn't really pass this one up. I like the silhouette of the skyline. 

Cam Eden..... Uhhhh... He was a Jay for a minute I guess?? I looked up his stats.. He played 6 games for the Jays in 2023. He was then released in 2024 and signed with the Yankees.. He's now floating in the baseball ether.. 

I saw these Stadium Club cards and figured that this would be the only way I'd get them.. It's still odd to think both Scherzer and Biebs are Jays.. 

Finally, Jonah Tong. He's a Canadian born pitcher playing on the Mets (poor guy) 

Now.. I don't want to go off on a rant here but.... 

It took me close to 45 minutes to try to find this card on TCDB.. You'd think it'd be easy. But no.. It's not a parallel set, it's not one of those numbered manufactured scarcity BS situations either. I finally found it by looking alllll the way down at the promotional set portion of the gigantic list for 2026 Topps. 

Now, there may be people who like the endless parallels and funky colours and all that but for some of us it's too hard to tell what in the FiretrUCK we're holding in our hands. Oh and forget it if they stretch the inserts and parallels through multiple sets... You have a better chance of pulling your hair out one by one with tweezers than keepign your sanity trying to find the card and where it's supposed to be listed. 

I have the added fun of being Red/Green colour blind. Reds and greens look exactly alike to me. So if you have multiple border parallels that are red and green, forget it.. I'm just going to torch the damned card and be done with it. 

I miss the days where you had the base set and maybe one or two insert sets. One or two parallels.. Trying to sift through all the crap is part why I'm looking for vintage lately, but at the same time it means I miss out on a time when there's more Canadians in the league than ever before. 

It's a tightrope that I really don't like walking. But I will because my collector brain says so... 

COMC Stuffs

 Hello Friends!

I wanted to show some cards I received in the mail from COMC after a couple months of waiting. 

It's not much, but it fills some holes.. 

First we have a couple 2007 Topps Ryan Braun. Now I know what you're thinking.. "When did Ryan Braun play for the Royals??" Well, dear reader, there were two Ryan Brauns in the league for a brief while. This one, Ryan Z Braun, played for the Royals and was a pitcher. He's also Canadian, so he goes into my collection. A number of the 2007 cards had the wrong Braun sig on them. I think only the flagship one was corrected. 

Another Braun, this one an Upper Deck. 

Now, you're probably wondering why I'd pick up a 1976 SSPC Clay Kirby.. Well, that's because he's listed as an Expo on the back of the card.. There were a few cards missing from the team set I got from Fritsch. Those were the ones like this where Kirby is shown as a Red, but listed on the back as an Expo. 

That's the same story with this Rodney Scott. 

Of course, Fergie goes into my Canadians collection. 

Gene Mauch was also not in the team set.. I think it's because he's listed as "Montreal Expos/Minnesota Twins" So what I can tell is he was relieved of his duties in 75 from the Expos and got hired by the Twins for 76.. 

Oh hey... Another Ryan Braun.. This one autographed. 

Now as mentioned before, there have been cards printed with the wrong fascimile auto on them.. There have also been cards with the wrong sticker auto on them.. 

Really I wanted to get the card that had *both* Brauns on it.. But it was too expensive at the time. 

1990 Score McDonald's.. George Bell and Kelly Gruber. There's a third one, John Olerud, that seems tougher to find. 

Denzel Clarke is a cousin of the Naylors. I hope his career doesn't fizzle out like so many seem to.. 

Finally, the MiLB Legends from Pro Debut of Jackie Robinson. I picked it up because it's a Montreal Royals card. I was going back and forth on going for Royals/Maple Leafs cards, but if I'm able to find something not too bad/expensive, why not?