Saturday, December 31, 2022

Signature Saturdays

 It's the final day of 2022. It's also a Saturday. So it's the final Signature Saturday of 2022.. I'll continue it in 2023 as long as I have autographed cards to show off. 

Now, with it being the year end, I know people either look back or make goals for their blogging future. Looking back, I've been hit and miss on here for a few years now.. A lot of it has been health. Physical and mental. I can't promise a major uptick in posts.. I admit there will be days where getting my sorry carcas out of bed is a major victory.. But I can say I want to add more posts than what I've been doing.. 


I want to thank the people who read and comment for all their support.. I'll even thank the ghost readers 


Anyway.... You're here for an autographed card, not my ramblings.. 


Here it is.. 



Tim Raines.. Isn't that Expos uniform beautiful? I can't recall where I got this from. I know it was a trade or a random package from someone, as the Triple Threads or whatever this high end brand of Topps is would never surface in the 'Borough..

I'm curious.. Do you readers enjoy these Signature Saturday posts? 


Saturday, December 24, 2022

Signature Saturdays

 It's Christmas Eve... Or as it feels for me... December 24th... 

Anyway.. 

Today's Saturday.. Time for another autographed card in my collection. 


The recently traded Lourdes Gurriel Jr. It was fun to watch him in Toronto, but I get why the trade was made and wish him the best in the desert..

I also don't get the thought process some people have of getting rid of cards of a player after they've been traded. If you collect that team, you can still keep the cards of that player that are on the team you collect.. It doesn't suddenly turn them into lava.. 

Anyway.. Merry Christmas and all that jazz...


Saturday, December 17, 2022

Signature Saturdays

 It's a Saturday. It's time to look at an autographed card in my collection.. 



Today is a 2011 ITG Canadiana Fergie Jenkins. 
I have a few Jenkins autos. I think he's one of those I'd never tire getting. 


Saturday, December 10, 2022

Signature Saturdays

 It's another Saturday. It's another day to show an autographed card in my collection. 


It's a rookie Prizm auto of Alejandro Kirk. 
Kirk was an all star this year and also won a Silver Slugger award. He also was the fourth Blue Jays catcher to be selected to an All Star team.. The others are Ernie Whitt, John Buck, and Russell Martin. 
This now has me thinking about an All Time Blue Jays All Star Team.. 
I can't recall if I've ever done that. Maybe "Best at each position" deal, but I'd do up a full roster of just players who made the All Star team as a Jay..

Anyway.. 


Saturday, December 3, 2022

Signature Saturdays

 It's Saturday..

It's December.

It's the time of year people write...

People write names on baseball cards...

Long winded way of saying it's Signature Saturday!


Today is a Kelly Gruber from the 1992 Studio set. I have to say the auto is better in scan than in hand. In hand the Sharpie is hard to read on the blue of the uni. 

Now of course... Have to mention the Kelly Gruber auto I just got from my Twitter #HobbyTwitter friend Matt in the month we have the yearly "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" debate.. (psst.. Bruce says no...) 

It's weird how Kelly's career fell off a cliff like the antagonist Hans fell out of the building in the movie..

Speaking of which....


This is one of a few different advent calendars that exist showing Hans' attempt to fly and failing... 




Tuesday, November 29, 2022

A Small Trade

 Today I received a bunch of mail. I'm going to show one trade I received today from TCDB member 49ants. 

I still have to send my half out, but that will come after I have money (I have communicated this with the trade partner) 

That said, any ideas on how to securely send a 5X7 card so it doesn't get banged up or warped?


Anyway...


An Ultra All Star Larry Walker.. Got to love any Walker, especially as Expos..
Also, three Hostess Canada cards of Jays. Carter, Alomar, and Molitor. 
AMC of WAMCO. 

The other cards I got in the mail today were all 1978 O Pee Chee, working on my Other birth year set. I'll show those next time. 


Saturday, November 26, 2022

Signature Saturdays

 I'll admit, this week has been a rough one for me. It's kind of a push to get this up today. But here we are. 

Signature Saturdays... 

Who's in the box today?



It's a Topps Pro Debut Trent Palmer. 
So Trent was drafted by the Jays in 2020. In 2021, he spent time in the minors with Dunedin. 
This past season, he split between Vancouver and New Hampshire. 


Saturday, November 19, 2022

Signture Saturdays

 Well what do you know?? It's Saturday... 

Today's is a Danny Jansen Prizm auto. 
I think these types of cards are perfect for Panini.. Catcher cards... All in action on defense so they don't need to cut the logos and make the poor MLB players look like generic teams from a Sporting Goods Catalogue.. 

I know people have strong opinions on Panini both good and bad. What do you think? 


Thursday, November 17, 2022

1994 OPC

 I decided to get myself an early Christmas gift.. I bought a box of 1994 O Pee Chee baseball. 

So some general information on the set first. 

It's a set of 270 cards that was released in one series. In each pack there was an insert card of some sort. 

Most commonly was an OPC All Star card which also doubled as a redemption form. 

Other cards that were inserted were World Champion cards celebrating the 1993 Blue Jays win, Hot Rookies, and Diamond Dynamos. These would take the place of the OPC All Star card.

Here's the wrapper these sweet bastards were in.. 
The Blue Jays listed in the baseball are the World Champions set

So this is the OPC All Stars insert/redemption I mentioned. If you sent in 5 cards and $20 CDN to the address they provided on the back, you'd get a set of Jumbo All Stars Foil Stamped. They were 5*7 as opposed to the regular card but had the same image on the front. 
Just to throw a little more confusion in.. There's also a jumbo box topper that comes with each box. They're like the redemption cards in that there's no foil, but they're 5*7 as well. 
The Box Topper I got was Barry Bonds. Someone already claimed it on TCDB.. lol

This was one of the alternate inserts. This was a set of 9 cards. Conveniently enough I have Carlos Delgado and Alex Gonzalez. 
Other names in the set are Cliff Floyd, James Mouton, Solomon Torres, Raul Mondesi, Manny Ramirez, Ryan Klesko, and Javy Lopez. 

This is the back of the card, just in case anyone's curious. 


Another insert was the World Champions insert set. This set is a set of 9 cards. 
The people in the set are the members of WAMCO, Henderson, Borders, Sprague, and Fernandez

Here's the back of the card. 

The last insert set is the Diamond Dynamos. I got two cards, both the same guy. Neither I'm keeping..


That card, of course, is Aaron Sele. 
There are 18 cards in this insert set. There's also a Diamond Dynamos set that was distributed without foil stamping. 

So now that all the insert nonsense is out of the way, I hear you shaking your head and asking "What do the regular cards look like already?" Or I guess more Bender-like, "Let's Go already!!"


The fronts have a nice borderless photo with the team name along the side. Depending on the photo, though, the team name can be tough to read. We also have the player name and position. The position being in French and English because OPC. We also have the logo in the corner. 
Overall, I really like the way these cards look. I like the way they feel. It's a shame the company finished working on cards. This was their final baseball issue.  

The backs are a little different. We have the player name on the top of the card alone with a picture of the player. We have the player's record on the bottom of the card and the pertinent contract information, etc on the side. 
My one quibble is the card number. Having the OPC logo over the card number makes it very difficult to read and understand the card number. 


They had two orientations for the card backs.. I almost prefer the Landscape style and wished they did it for all of them to be consistent. 
As you can see, on these ones, the name is just over the player photo, the information on the top beside it and the player record beside the photo. 
I have a theory that they did it this way for players who had longer player records. Again, the logo is over the card number. 

I do like the fact they used team colours for the names on the front and back. Some of them look very sharp. The Pirates look especially nice. 

Out of one box, I got 240/270 for the set, and 17/25 of the All Stars. The others I'd just be looking to get the Jays and Expos for.. (And obviously the World Champions insert set) 

Definitely a set I'm looking to complete. 


Saturday, November 12, 2022

Signature Saturdays

 Today is Saturday. We all know what that means..


Today is Mark Eichhorn. He had two separate times with the Jays. 
82, 86-88 and 92-93. 
He burst on the scene in 86  and 87, in those two seasons combined a 24-12 in 158 games. He pitched 284.2IP between the two seasons. 
He was purchased by the Braves in 1989, and was signed by the Angels after the 89 season. in 1992 he was traded back to the Jays for Rob Ducey and Greg Myers


Wednesday, November 9, 2022

One of the Few times...

 While I was going through boxes searching for a few cards I needed to pull for trades, I came across something I never noticed before.. 

Now.. The reason for the title is this is one of the few times I'll feature the Washington Nationals on my blog.. 

Here we have a couple Ryan Zimmerman rookie cards.. 
Obviously because I was only doing a quick flip through previously, I never noticed the fact they actually used two different photos for the cards.. One is from the National Baseball Card Day set and one is from the Flagship set. 

Here are the backs of the cards.. I kind of like the NBCD card better than the flagship card. But because they're Nationals cards, I'm not planning on keeping either of them.. 


Saturday, November 5, 2022

Signture Saturday

 Another Saturday has arrived.. 

Let's see who the signature pile unearths today



Balor Moore. A man who, aside from one single season in California, played every season of his MLB career on a Canadian team. Started out with the Expos. Was on the Angels in 77.. Spent the last three years of his career with Toronto. 


Thursday, November 3, 2022

Cards from Twitter

 I've been talking with a person on Twitter for a while now who goes by the handle Garth Iorgy. Obviously, a play on the Jays' infielder from the 80s. 

From time to time he puts together "packs" of cards and sells them.. I expressed interest and the last time he did it he decided to give a few out free.. He sent me one. 


I received it today..


So a Reds Heritage card, a Line Drive Clippers Manager card.. (I kind of like the old logo from that period) 
A Steve Carlton Phillies card, logoless obviously.. And a Dave Lopes 1980 OPC. 

To show how far he's fallen since he was the face of the Rays... I forgot Evan Longoria was still playing.. Steve Carter and Chris Gomez round out the hitters and Terry Leach is the last one here.. I didn't know Leach pitched for the Sox.. I only really remember him as a Met or a Twin..

And finally... We have three cards I need.. John Wetteland and Larry Walker add to my Expos Project and Mike Soroka adds  to my Canadians collection. The Dave Winfield is a 1985 OPC sticker. 

So if you happen to see anything you want, let me know.. 


Saturday, October 29, 2022

Signature Saturday

 Saturday.. 

On the Blog

I think it's time for signed auto cards



As you can see today's Signature Saturday is Buck Martinez. 
Former catcher, former and current broadcaster, and former manager. 
This is a rather nice card to get signed. 


Thursday, October 27, 2022

Cards From a Trade

 So today I want to show a few cards I got as a result of a couple trades from a member on TCDB. 

That member is Mccammon44.




I just realized that I mixed in another trade as well. Three cards are from Reiss on TCDB. 
Anyway.. I have a Leaf 87, an OPC 87, a Freddie Freeman and a Freddie Benavides for the 92 Ultra set. 
Next some 93 Triple Play.. Love those cards more than 92.. Never saw many of them. I think the 93 and 94 sets were better than the 92.. But the 92 is still miles ahead of the Panini Triple Play hot garbage. 

Finally.. A Wil Cordero Expos card.

I have a bit of a morbid topic as well. Collectors.. .
What will you do with your collection when you pass on? Do you have kids/grandkids who will take up the mantle? Or are you like me with nobody to hand them off to? 
My counselor and I got to talking about it today during our session. It's something that hadn't crossed my mind, even with my near death experience. So, I'm interested to hear from the community..



Saturday, October 22, 2022

Signature Saturday

 This week has been a little trying.. But here I am with another installment of Signature Saturday!

Today is another card I received from a member of the Team Collectors forum.. Sideshow. 

Today is 


Liam Hendriks.. Obviously from his days as a Jay. He's currently on the White Sox. 


Saturday, October 15, 2022

Signature Saturday

 It's Saturday.. You know what that means....


This week's card is another I received from sideshow. He sent me an envelope with a few Jays from the 80s.

Today's is a guy who always seemed to end up on a knee in the batters box... 



Michigan born but so closely tied to Canada and the Jays he might as well be Canadian, Ernie Whitt. He was born in Detroit... I wonder if *he* was born and raised in South Detroit.. 😜

Of course, "South Detroit" would put him in Windsor, Ontario

Anyway, by a stroke of luck, I was actually sent two copies of this card. If someone else needs an Ernie Whitt for their collection, let me know.. Maybe we can work something out. 

As always, my email is matson67 at hotmail dot com. 


Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Some Oddities

 Today I wanted to show some oddballs and duplicates that are taking up space. 

If you happen to see anything here, let me know.. We can work something out..

Here we have two Nabisco Tradition Jays. Otto Velez and Cliff Johnson. These were part of a set that came in cereals like Shredded Wheat. 

These three are OPCs. None of them fit my collections. 

Topps Magazine Nolan Ryan cards. 

A random Japanese Tanaka card...

A couple Shawn Green Dodgers. The left one is a Post cereal issue.

SI Kids. Don't know where or how I got these...

Finally, some logoless Jays. Diet Pepsi and Post.

As I mentioned.. If you see something you want let me know



Saturday, October 8, 2022

Signature Saturday

 This week's card is a 1986 Topps Dennis Lamp. 

I received this card from Team Collectors member sideshow. 



He piched for the Cubs White Sox, Jays, Athletics, Red Sox, and Pirates. 
1985 was probably one of his best seasons. 


Monday, October 3, 2022

And Now, Back in the Studio

 Today I want to write about 1992 Studio. I found out that I actually have the set completed, but just need two cards to finish my team sets. I need Spike Owen and Devon White. 


1992 Studio was a 264 card set that, instead of showing the normal action shots on the front you have a picture-day style portrait with a black and white grainy shot in the background. 

On the back had biographical information


 
Here is the information on the back. Stats lovers would hate this set, as traditional stats are nowhere to be found. Instead, it has some personal and career biographical information including hobbies and a player they love and hate to face. 

There was an insert set called the Heritage Series. 

The series showed some stars of the day such as Ryne Sandberg wearing throwback uniforms of the team they were on. So a very nice old Cubs uniform. 

Boggs looks like he'd fit right in with the old Red Sox. 

I don't know if Canseco would have fit in with the Philadelphia A's.. 

Mattingly really makes and Yankees uniform look good.. And I hate the Yankees.. 

Strawberry wearing the Brooklyn Dodgers uni

Will Clark with a New York Giants, though it doesn't look too different from the one they used around that time.

Dawson showing a different Cubs uniform.

Van Slyke with a different Pirates uniform.. Maybe 60s style? 

Pilot Sighting! Molly wearing the short lived Seattle Pilots uni.

Bagwell wearing the Colt 45s uniform. 

Daulton wearing an older Phillies uni.

Kirby with an old Washington Senators uni.

Fisk wearing an old Sox uniform. I think it's from the 20s. 

Finally, Cal wearing a Browns uniform.