Blog Bat Around: Junk Wax Favourites

 Hello friends!

It seems with the ebb and flow the blogging community has, a proper Blog Bat Aound hasn't been done in a while. From what I saw on San Jose Fuji's page, this was started by Night Owl 20 months ago. 

It's taking a look at your favourite sets of the Junk Wax Era, defined by Night Owl as 1987-1993. 

I have seven choices. Some of my favourites aren't here because they might be less favoured than the ones listed.. 

#7 1988 Score. 

The first set put out by Score was a fine effort. I think after the 1990 set they went downhill fast. 

#6 1991 Stadium Club

Stadium Club was famous for the full bleed photos and the quirky photos in general. I loved the sets but always found them hard to collect, even now.. They also suffer from Same-ness.. Years blend together. 

#5 1992 Donruss

The first set I started collecting I think I finally have a way of describing it.. It's a sterile, almost industrial looking set.. A big departure from the previous efforts by Donruss, but just as frustrating to collect if doing the master set because of those variations.. 

#4 1987 O Pee Chee

The same design as Topps, but Canadian.. The OPC set was 396 cards instead of 792. 

#3 1989 O Pee Chee

I wasn't a fan of 1988 Topps/OPC design, but I did like 1989. And doesn't Kelly look a little like Dave Coulier here?

#2 1990 O Pee Chee

The 1990 and 1991 OPC were tougher to tell from the Topps counterpart because they had the Topps logo rather than the OPC. Once you flipped the card over, you saw the difference. 

#1 1993 O Pee Chee

This was the first time OPC made their own set rather than licensing Topps' design. I think it was very well done. 

A few honourable mentions:

1989 Score. 

1988 Donruss

1987 Leaf

1993 Upper Deck. 

What say you, dear reader?

Ballparks of the IBL: Fergie Jenkins Field

 Hello Friends!

Spring Training has begun. Games are on TV and radio. Baseball is coming!

Today I want to share another park used in the Intercounty Baseball League here in Southern/Central Ontario. 

Today is Fergie Jenkins Field in Chatham, Ontario. 

Fergie Jenkins Field is a Rotary Club ballpark in Chatham Ontario used by the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers of the IBL. They have a very short history, coming into existence last year as an expansion team. 

The field has been around since the 1960s. It was the field where big league dreams started for players like Fergie Jenkins, Bill Atkinson, and Doug Melvin. (He played in the minors for the Yankees and Pirates before becoming an executive) 

In the 70s, the turf was ripped out and became more of a softball field. Years of neglect on the park took its toll, causing the old grandstand to be condemned, then torn down in 1984. Since then they have reinstalled the turf infield, and improved the park. 

This is an aerial view of the park. I have a screenshot from Google Maps to show more of where it is in the city. 

It is on Tweedsmuir Avenue in Chatham. There's a soccer field in Centre and Right and houses over the wall in Left Field. 

Originally the team name was going to be the Blackbirds, but it was soon changed due to racial connotations.. 

Apparently, Blackbirding is the coercion or kidnapping of people to work as slaves. As a result, they changed the name to reflect the old baseball custom of barnstorming.

Here is the current grandstand. I'm not sure how comfy those aluminum bench seats are, but it's better than nothing, right?

The outer facade of the grandstand. On the middle of the backstop section, is the name of the park and the Rotary Club symbol. 

From what I remember reading on the features for the place, they have space for wheelchairs as well. 

The dugouts are in ground. 

There's really not much to say about the place or the team, really. If I was going to make a card of this place, I'd almost be tempted to use the top image. Unless I could find something better elsewhere. 

New Arrivals

Hello Friends!

Another day to post random things. 

First, I got a few wax panels from a person I talk with on Discord and I believe in the Team Collector's forum. 

I grabbed them with the intention of cutting them out. 

I completed the 1986 set, so I figured why not go for it all and also get the box bottom cards. I have half of them now. I just need the first two panels, A-D and E-H. Eventually maybe even try to get a second Jorge Bell 

Now, this one I got for the Reardon Expos card.. I will most likely see if anyone would like the other three cards once they're separated. 

The other cards I received recently were from Tom at Angels In Order. He recently offered some cards up for free.. I was able to grab a few Expos. He added a few more. 

I think I really like the first few years of Studio. Once it started becoming just another set, it got boring. 

Bazooka was a weird set for me.. I think it was supposed to be for kids

The steel cards were always odd.. 

Stadium Club has generally been a set I love, but never get the chance to even sniff more than a few cards of.. Between cost and the fact people snap it up so quickly, I almost forget about it as soon as it comes out. 

I kind of have a love hate relationship with Pacific. There were some sets in the late 90s and early 2000s that I just don't know about. I didn't see them enough to have an opinion, but I also don't really know about bindering them either.. 

A very familiar card for me. 

This Action Packed card is rather cool. I like it

I was just talking to the group on Discord about how this is my all time favourite parallel.. This parallel is the only one I've ever really liked. There are way too many now. 

I'd even go as far to say I prefer the parallel over the base set for 1992 Leaf. 

Incidentally, I see Vander Wal and I get the line "You're my Vander Wal" to the tune of the line from Wonder Wall.. 

My brain goes all over the place.. 

Anyway, thank you to both for the cards! I do plan on sending something back at some point since I think I'm finally at a place where I can start cataloguing and feel a little comfortable. 

 

Multiple EXPOSure

 Hello Friends!

Another day here in the Great White North. Today I believe is snowing. But, it's February. In the not too distant future pitchers and catchers will be reporting for Spring Training, and baseball will return..

Today I want to show some cards from Fellow Blogger and Canadian CrazieJoe. Joe and I have been trading partners for a while now. I got some Expos from him and I wanted to show a few of them off.. 

A nice 1975 OPC card. I always find the 70s cards interesting for some reason. 

Another 75 OPC! 

A 1988 Donruss MVP. Obviously I have the full set, but this helps with the Million Expos project that I am still working on. 

A Classic Best Billy Koch auto. Now, he isn't an Expo, but it's nice to get a MiLB auto. While Joe collects Jays, he doesn't much care for the Minor League Cards. I love them, however.. 

Another Minor League Auto. This time Paul Spoljaric. This fits into my Canadians Auto Project. 

Andre Dawson Archives. The 1991 design was an interesting one. I'm not sure if I like this one more than the original design though. 

Pedro Expos showing the 1977 design. I think I prefer the 1978 design over the 1977.. 

Finally, for the cards I'm going to show today is a 1972 OPC dual card. 

I also received cards from 1986 Topps Traded, 1990 Upper Deck, and Fleer.. 

Thank you Joe! I'll be working on sending something to you soonish. 

Cards From An Offseason Break

 Hello Friends!

I'm back with a new post. I had some small health issues between posts but I'm ready to post something tonight. 

Over the holiday season, just after the World Series ended, a group of people I trade and interact with held a break for our little group. Well, when the break happened, Canada Post went on strike and it took a bit for the backlog at the border to clear to have USPS accept mail to Canada again. 

So, while others got their cards, logged, put away, and likely forgot about the cards from the break, mine got here last week. I'm not complaining. In fact, I was the one who was updating the group on the status of Canada Post. 

Anyway, I wanted to show some of the cards from that break. I believe there were a few extras thrown in. We broke 2024 Update, 2024 Holiday, and I think Stadium Club and maybe Prism from 2023.. I may be wrong. Anyway...

First card is one of the extras I mentioned. A Leaf Ed Sprague. 

It seems so long ago that Alek Manoah was considered anything but a walking injury. I hope he can recover enough to return.. 

A couple nice Vlads. 

Canadian Content always welcome. Bo Naylor!

It's kind of odd seeing Pat Gillick on a card. I checked TCDB and there's apparently 172 cards available. Mind you, it's Leaf and Panini with their endless parallels. I know for sure I have two, but may have three.. One looks very familiar. 

More Vlads!

Possibly the only time the Canada Day unis look good.. On a black card...

Davis Schneider! 

An image that, while I was intrigued of his signing, also feel shouldn't exist. 

I wanted so badly for Joey to be able to play in Toronto, but I'm kind of glad it ended in Buffalo, so he stays a Red in the Majors. 

The Mystical insert is.. Interesting? I guess??

I love these Allen and Ginter cards. 

Another Joey. I believe this one is either from Spring Training or a photoshopped uni again..

Vlad and Vlad and Davis round out the cards I wanted to show. I'm not quite sure what the play was on that Schneider card. I just like the photo. The angle on the Jr card reminds me of some cards from the Astrodome with that same perspective. 

I didn't show anything from the Holiday set because well.. I've never been a fan of Holiday. It's a set that shouldn't exist and has gotten progressively worse to me since it started. This year it was like someone just vomited Christmas onto a design software, created a card and hit print. 

Anyway, that was the break. I didn't show everything. I don't want to take up that much time. Thanks to the Team Collectors Forum for the break!