Friday, May 31, 2019

Now With: 1992 OPC Edition

While doing The Great Sort, I noticed a couple new additions to the Jays list on TCDB that weren't there previously.. Turns out there were two new players added, Eric Plunk and Dave Winfield. 

Of course, I'm talking about cards with the "Now with..." tags on them.. I'm probably going to break this into a couple posts, since in the first 200 cards, I found 21 instances.. 


How: Traded with Bll Pecota to the Mets for Gregg Jefferies, Kevin McReynolds, and Keith Miller.

As an aside, I really do like some of the photography in the 1992 Topps set. Since I have the OPC set, I don't want to collect the full thing twice, though there are differences between the sets. 


How: Signed as a Free Agent in January 1992.

I miss the powder blue uniforms. Realistically, the two teams that could and should have them are the Jays and Royals. 


How: Free Agent Signing December 1991. 

Candiotti was a Postseason Mercenary pickup by the Jays. What I mean is a pitcher picked up for the stretch drive/Postseason. 



How: Traded with Jack Aromstrong and Joe Turek for Greg Swindell




How: Signed as a Free Agent

Kipper was gone from the Twins by August of 1992. 


How: Traded with Dave Rohde for Ed Taubensee and Willie Blair

I miss these Astros uniforms. 


How: With Scott Scudder.

He spent one season with Cleveland before being drafted by the Marlins in the expansion draft


How: Sent to Milwaukee as part of a conditional deal. 

He ended up re-signing with the Brewers. 


How: Signed as a Free Agent

He traded his stripes.. 


How: Traded for Kyle Abbott and Ruben Amaro 

He was released by the Angels in August of 1992. 

How: Traded with Dave Burba and Mike Jackson for Kevin Mitchell and Mike Remlinger

I didn't realize Bill Swift started in 1985.


How: Part of the Saberhagen Deal. 

One thing about some of the cards is this:
There is too much dead space to me.. This could have been a vertical card and been fine.. 


How: Traded with cash for Barry Jones

A Stealth Expo!


How: Free Agent signing (and we still joke about the Mets paying him to this day) 


How: Traded for Glenn Carter and Mike Fetters

I don't know about in hand, but the card looks like it was lit oddly when the photo was taken. 


How: Free Agent Signing

Oddly enough, the only thing I can say is Gladden looks a little like the mechanic helper in our office. 


How: Part of the Swift Deal

Is it me, or does it look like Mitchell doesn't have time for our foolishness?



How: Signed as a Free Agent

He didn't make the season as a Jay.. He was released in Spring Training and ended up in Cleveland. 
Until today, I didn't realize he was part of the Jays 

How: Signed as a Free Agent.

It was odd to see though really.. Doesn't this look like it could be in a current Panini product?


How: Traded with Craig Pueschner for Randy Myers

I still remember a baseball card commerical with Bip and Tony Gwynn. Can't remember what company, but they were talking about rookie cards and Bip was looking at Robin Roberts' card value saying it was his.. lol 

How: See above

Well, I'm going to do another one of these, probably tomorrow. I always find these interesting. 

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Trade Comes In

I recently made a trade with TCDB member Akenyon1

I just want to show what I received. 


A 1986 Topps Traded card and a bunch of 1990 Score. Nice to see these. 


A few 1992 Triple Play. I really liked that set, but I honestly like the 1993 set more.. But I never see it anywhere.. 
1992 Fleer Ultra.
And a couple Jays to round out.
Scrabble Upper Deck and a couple Big League cards from last year.. 

Thanks! 

Thursday, May 23, 2019

A One Card Post

While I've been working on getting my Great Sort for a while now.. At the same time I've picked up a few cards online. 

One person was from a guy on Twitter Flying V Cards and Breaks. 

He had a Charlie Simmer card available, so I bought it. 


 I guess you could say I'm a Simmer Super Collector, since I have a binder full of his cards. 

I have a couple things in line for this weekend. See you then!

Monday, May 20, 2019

Indianapolis Indians

At some point, I don't quite remember who from, I received a bunch of 1991 Line Drive cardsfor Jays and Expos. 
Oddly enough, I ended up with a complete team set of the Indians. So I want to take a look at them today


Bret Barberie made his Major League debut in 1991, playing in 57 games with the parent club. 
He ended up playing for the Expos, Marlins, Orioles, and Cubs. He finished his career in the Texas system, playing 1998 in Oklahoma City.



Kevin Bearse split 1991 between the Indianapolis Indians and the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Red Barons. 
1991 was Bearse's final year in professional baseball. 
According to Wikipedia, he's a physical education teacher now.


Kent Bottenfield spent the entirety of 1991 in Indianapolis. Looking through his player page, I didn't realize he spent so little time with the Expos. He was signed in 1986 and worked his way through the minors. 
He was with the Expos in 1992 and 1993. In 1993, he was traded from the Expos to the Rockies. He then played for the Rockies, Cubs, Cardinals, Angels, Phillies, and Astros. 
He currently is head coach at Palm Beach Atlantic.


Cordero made his major league debut in 1992. After playing with the Expos until 1995, he bounced around the league, playing for Boston, Chicago Sox, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, a second time in Montreal, Florida, and Washington. 
According to Wikipedia, he works as a baseball coach at an academy in Massachucetts. 



Now.. This is an interesting one.. 
I was going though using The Baseball Cube and they have a different Mike Davis listed. 
The one we want is the former MLB player who had played in Oakland and Los Angeles. 
1991 was his final season in baseball. 


Alex Diaz played a little in the Majors from 1992-1999 for the Brewers, Mariners, Rangers, Giants and Astros. 
He played in Mexico and in Winter Leagues right up till 2007. 



Eddie Dixon didn't make it out of the Minors. He played until 1994, the majority of that time in the Expos system.



Jeff Fassero made his Major League Debut for the Expos in 1991. As a left-handed pitcher, he bounced around a lot. 
He played for the Expos, Mariners, Rangers, Red Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Giants. 
He's currently the pitching coach for the Louisville Bats. 


Goff spent 1990-1992 with the Expos. His MLB Debut was actually with the Expos in 1990. He also played for Pittsburgh and Houston in the Majors. 


Haney made his Major League Debut in 1992 with the Expos. He spent time with the Cubs and Mets. 
He now works as an instructor for a select team in Waco Texas. 


Steve Hecht never made the Majors. He spent time in the Giants (before and after his time in Montreal) Texas, and Detroit systems. 
According to Wikipedia, he has a degree in psychology, and is a Performance Coach for the Mariners. 


Coaches.. I'm just going to make a comment that I really like the Indians took the colour scheme of the Expos with these uniforms. 


Mel Houston is another who didn't make it. He spent the entirety of his minor league career in the Expos system, his final season being 1991. 




The entirety of Piatt's MLB career was his 1991 season with the Expos. 
He was traded from the Indians to the Expos (and stuck on the Indians... ) and after the 1992 season, he was traded to the Royals. 
He played in the minors until 1997. 


Kremers' MLB experience consists of 1990 in Atlanta. 
Kremers was part of a trade to get the Braves Otis Nixon. 
He played in the minors until 1995. 



Quinn Mack made his Major League Debut in 1994 for the Seattle Mariners. 
Shane Mack's brother played for the Expos system from  1987-1993. He played in the Seattle system and the Padres system until 1995. He spent his final seasons playing in the Mexican League. 






Dave Masters never made the Majoe Leagues. 
He played in the Cubs, Expos, Giants, and Mariners systems. 



Marlin McPhail never made it out of the minor leagues. 
He played from 1982-1991 in the Mets, White Sox, and Expos systems. 
He works as a regional cross checker for the Mets. 


Dana Ridenour didn't make it out of the minors. 
He spent 1991 and 1992 with the Expos system. 
Overall he played from 1986-1994 for the Yankees, Expos, Mariners, Angels, Marlins, and Rockies. 
Doing a Google search brings me to an ex-CIA agent turned author.. 


Scott Service made his MLB debut for the Phillies in 1988. 
He also spent time in Colorado, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Kansas City, Oakland, Arizona, and Toronto. 



Razor Shines made his MLB debut in 1983 as an Expo. 
Overall, his playing career stretched from 1978-1993. 
He spent the majority of his career in the Expos organization. Other teams played for are Buffalo (PIT) and Indianapolis (CIN) 


Tito Stewart didn't make it out of the minors. 
He played in the Boston system from 1983-1990
1991 was spent between Wichita (SD) and Indianapolis (MON)
1991 was his final season


Vander Wal made his MLB debut for the Expos in 1991
He kind of bounced around a lot.
Montreal 1991-1993
Colorado 1994-1998
San Diego 1998-1999
Pittsburgh 2000-2001
San Francisco 2001
Yankees 2002
Milwaukee 2003
Cincinnati 2004
He's the hitting coach for the West Michigan Whitecaps 


Darrin Winston made his MLB debut for the Phillies in 1997 
He played in the Expos system from 1988-1994
Calgary (PIT) in 1995
and the Phillies system in 1997-1998
He finished his career in 2002 in the Atlantic League

Darrin Winston passed away in 2008 after being diagnosed with leukemia. 

I thought this would be an interesting diversion today. 

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

COMC Spring Purchases

I took advantage of the Spring Cleaning sale on COMC recently.. 
I got the cards in today. One of them, while very boring, I'm very excited over.. 


First a few 1969s. The League Leader card was picked up for Fergie. John Hiller again, Canadian. 
Bobby Wine, for whatever reason, is insanely priced on COMC. An Ungraded 1969 starts at $6.25. 
A PSA 9 is selling for $81.. 
The one I got here I picked up from JoelsHitShow at $3.98
The 1984 OPC Bryan Little puts my 84 OPC fully to rest. I thought I had this card but I didn't.. So I ordered it.. 
The Gary Lavelle is interesting, actually.. I thought I was getting the base Topps Traded... I ended up picking up the Tiffany by accident.. 
Dave Shipanoff is from Edmonton Alberta. 
The Grissom was an oops as well.. I was trying to get the Jacksonville Expos one like the DeShields.. I ended up getting the Jamestown Expos one..


Some cards I needed for 1990 Donruss.. The Score Rising Stars mini set was missing the Griffey when I got it.. So I decided to pick one up for completion.. 
A single 1990 Topps here, with a Nolan Ryan. 


Some Topps Debut as well. Again, the Griffey was missing from the set, so I bought one. 
These Young Superstars ones are annoying to find on the TCDB.. They're listed as an insert set for the base set. But I went and picked up the extra ones I needed. 


The Walker is indeed not a mistake.. I got two. One for my Expos binder, one for my Canadians binder. 
Steve Wilson also slides into the Canadians binder 
I need one Fleer action series four sticker card to finish those. I picked up an extra one because Expos. 
The one I need is the O's/Red Sox/White Sox/Angels where the first question is about Babe Ruth. 

Finally.. That checklist... That glorious annoying little checklist.. 

That was the final card I needed to finish the base 1992 Donruss.. I still need to do the Diamond Kings (since they were an insert starting that year) and Update. But base Donruss is finished (aside from cards I need for binders.. Hopefully I have them and just haven't marked them)

So that's what came in the mail today..