Cards from a Team Collector

I recently received a box of cards from Tony G, a member of the Team Collectors forum. 

It was full of Jays and Expos

I gapped half way through scanning everything though.. I received a bunch of 2001 Topps from him that I didn't scan.. 

But I'm ready to show what I did scan!

It was nice because a lot of the cards in here were of the late 90s and earliy 2000s where I don't really have much of.. 

Lots of Joe Carter to fill the holes. 

Lots of Pedro Martinez as an Expo as well. 

Moises Alou also makes a number of appearances.. 

That Collector's Choice Best of the 90s card has me hearing Tom Cheek's Home run call from the 1993 Series. 

Some 1995 Fleer. 

The NL East design kind of reminds me of Heat Mapping.. 

I like the fact that I was able to get an OPC card I didn't have as well.. 

Some early 80s here as well. Two 1978 Jays make a showing as well. 

The first Members Only sets, from what I can tell, were multi-sport.. But here we have Gary Carter and Jack Morris. 

More Carter, Alou, and Martinez.. 

I'm really appreciative of the cards received, Tony! Thanks!

I have cards to send out to members of the Team Collectors Forum.. Just have to get them bagged and enveloped.. 

I'm into 2004 of the Great Sort and cataloguing my Expos.. 

I now have 8446 towards the Million.. 

The Early 2000s

One thing I'm enjoying about the Great Sort is finding cards I either didn't know I had, or finding players I forgot played for a certain team.. 

Obviously most of my focus is Jays and Expos. But I forgot Greg Vaughn played for the Devil Rays. I forgot Kent Bottenfield was an Angel.. 

But of course, this one deals with cards of Expos players.. 

Ben Washburn. 

One of the things I like about this era of cards is seeing guys who either never made it, or if they did, were so forgettable you have to look them up every time you come across the card... 

Ben never made it to the Majors. He was done by 24. According to some information I found he had an arm injury. 

Brandon Phillips

Obviously, Phillips is better known as a member of the Reds.. But how did he get from Montreal to Cincinnati? 

In 2002, he was traded with Cliff Lee, Lee Stevens, and Grady Sizemore to Cleveland for Tim Drew and Bartolo Colon. 

In 2006 he was traded to Cincinnati for Jeff Stevens. 

Now, we all know that had the Expos been able to keep Lee, Phillips, and Sizemore, they would have been gone as soon as they got expensive.. They were traded as part of the playoff push for the Expos in 2002.. 

Donnie Bridges

He also never made the Majors. He spent the majority of his time in the Expos system, with a couple seasons in Florida and one with Washington

Grady Sizemore. 

I mentioned above in the Brandon Phillips writeup that he was part of the Colon Trade. 

Josh Girdley

Another player who didn't get out of the minors.. And another player whose career was cut short by injury. He's currently an instructor at a baseball academy. 

Luke Lockwood

He also never made the Majors. 

He played from 1999-2007

Milton Bradley

Bradley was drafted by the Expos in 1996. He actually played part of 2000 and 2001 in Montreal. 

2001 he was traded to Cleveland for Zach Day.

Now, obviously we all know his anger management issues.. Doing to research, it's still affecting him post career..

I may do a few more of these as I find cards of players.. We are getting into the 40-man and Topps Total era.... 

Check Out My Cards, Man!

I put in an order on COMC recently and received it today. 

The Fergie Jenkins and Claude Raymond clear up my 1969 Topps want list. 

The Gary Lavelle 1985 Traded is the actual traded card, not the glossy version I bought previously. 

The McGriff puts me one card from finishing the 1991 Score set completely aside from the Update..

I just need the Scott Chiamparino error card, where it says he bats left. 

I cleared up the want list for the 1991 Score Superstars oddball set. When I received it, it was missing Griffey. I got that and the Jays/Expos I needed for the binder. 

And there's Raines and Stieb. 

George Selkirk is Canadian. One of the only ways a Yankee player will be collected by me. 

Finally, YOUPPI! 1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack had a mascot insert set of 5 cards. Fredbird, Youppi, BJ Birdie, Pirate Parrot, and Phillie Phanatic. There's a Fredbird card where the hologram shows BJ Birdy as well. 

I'm almost through 1999 on my Great Sort. I'm rather happy with how quickly things have been going for me lately.. It will grind for a bit though, since I'm out of pages and then sorting the cards from 2000-present will take time as well. I may use that time to put cards that need to be put into sets into their sets... 

Anyway.. Enough rambling. 

They Were Expos?

One thing that I'm finding interesting with this sort is that I'm finding cards I've never seen before.. 

Case in point, 1998 Pacific Online. 

I'm not sure where I got them, but there are a few Jays and a few Expos. More than a few of them made me scratch my head.. 

Miguel Batista.. 

I actually remembered he was an Expo. He's one of those who played for both the Jays and Expos. By time he joined the Jays he had something like 60 different pitches. But here he is as an Expo. 

Mike Mordecai... I remember him as a Brave.. Only.. But apparently, he spent from 1998-2002 as an Expo. He finished his career in Florida.. So this surprised me.. 

Derrick May kind of didn't surprise me, if only because by 1998 he was bouncing around as a fourth outfielder. 

The last one in this foursome is the most strange out of these.. Rick DeHart. 

Apparently he spent 1997-1999 with Montreal before going to Japan. He played 2003 with Kansas City.. 

Now.. I think there's some form of Mandela Effect going on with me, because I thought he was a Cardinal.. I don't know why.. It could have been a video game or something from that era.. Or I could be thinking of someone completely different.. But I swear Rick DeHart was a Cardinal. But I'm wrong. 

March 24, 1992: Signed by the Montreal Expos as an amateur free agent.

June 11, 1999: Purchased by Hiroshima Toyo Carp (Japan Central) from the Montreal Expos.

December 17, 1999: Signed as a Free Agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

October 15, 2000: Granted Free Agency.

January 13, 2001: Signed as a Free Agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

March 28, 2001: Released by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

June 22, 2001: Signed as a Free Agent with the Kansas City Royals.

October 15, 2002: Granted Free Agency.

December 5, 2002: Signed as a Free Agent with the Kansas City Royals.

That is his transactions page from Baseball Reference. No Cardinals there.. 

Anyway. I hope this was a fun little walk into the insanity that is my mind, and the randomness of collections. 

Incidentally, I just finished 1998.. 

7702 Expos Cards.. 

1997 Topps Chrome

I just finished 1997 in the Great Sort.. 

I wanted to talk briefly about the 1997 Chrome cards.. 

I'll admit, for the longest time, I didn't see the appeal of Chrome cards. To me they were shiny for shiny sake. 

I've changed my mind on some years.. 

1997 is one of those years... I think some designs work well with the chrome.. 

I find that, with this design, the players really pop. Some cards I've seen it looks like the player kind of blends into the card. The 1998 set also works well with Chrome. 

Speaking of 1997

After 1997, I have 7635 Expos cards. 

Until Next time!

A Bit of a Baseball Rant...

Yes, I know this is a baseball card blog.. And there will likely be Topps Now cards made of what I'm going to talk about in this.. 

This will not be a card post.. 

This is an Expos post.. 

Or more specifically, the Washington Nationals wearing Expos uniforms celebrating the 50th anniversary of the team.. 

The problem is... The Expos ceased to exist in 2004.. So... 

How are the Nationals celebrating the 50th anniversary of a team that ceased to exist when they moved? Did the Twins do this? Have the Rangers done this? I don't remember hearing those teams ever wearing the Senators uniforms after they moved.. So why are the Nationals celebrating the Expos? Is it because of the groundswell to get the Expos back?? 

Is it because, unlike Washington, there are people who actually want the team back? I mean, there's a reason the Nationals are the third team in modern era MLB 

So yeah.. I'm not happy about the uniforms.. I mean, they were well done.. I will show pictures from today's game below.. But in my, and a lot of others online's opinions, this is a slap to the face of Expos fans. 

The Nationals beat the Royals 6-0

A Side Project For the Million Expos

Well. Since I've set the goal to collect one million Expos cards, I thought why not add a little fun to it.. 

So while my internet was down tonight, I finished a sorting of Expos to go into a Frankenset. 

Now, these are my rules:

Any brand, any year. I excluded most food issues or insert sets (IE: 14 of 50) though I did use the 25th Anniversary Expos Donruss set a fair bit. 

In cases where I had more than one card with the same number, I based on a quick gut feeling. Some were easy, like Gary Carter vs Gary Lucas, or Andre Dawson vs Floyd Youmans. Some were sentimental. Some I based solely on the photo used. It was all over the place.. 

Once I get it Sleeved and Bindered, I'll probably show some of the sheets on here. 

Speaking of the Million Expos Project... 

I finished 1994.. 

I am at 7246 Expos cards, including a fair number of Ted Williams Cliff Floyd cards. 

Just wanted to give a quick update here. 

Beginning of July

Yesterday was Canada Day.. I wanted to do a post yesterday but I woke up with a migraine and was away from the computer all day.. 

I would have basically done a similar post to this one I did in 2017 

I am feeling better today though so I wanted to come on and say I haven't disappeared. Just been dealing with a lot of mental health issues again.. Suicidal thoughts are never fun.. 

Anyway.. Even through that I've been plugging away at my sorting and have a trade to talk about. 

Fellow Canadian blogger CrazieJoe and I made a small trade. I received the cards today..

Rhoden for the 1986 set. Grissom and Jones fill some Expos.. 

The Joyner and Davis MVP cards will help with the 89 Donruss set.. 

I've mentioned before I love minor league cards.. So I have a few here. Garret Anderson, Mike Kelly, and Scott Tedder.. 

Tedder never made the majors.. He actually played in the minor league systems of both Chicago teams. Kelly and Anderson did both make it.. 

Thank you for the trade!