Heritage Can be Strange

Hello Friends! It's July 3, so first I want to say Early Happy 'Murica Day to my friends south of the border. 

I recently went to Shopper's Drug Mart (think Walgreen's, CVS, etc) and saw some packs of Heritage hanging in the sports cards section. Generally there's football, basketball, and hockey. Sometimes I luck out and a few stray packs of baseball show up 

I saw the packs and decided to get one. I generally like the idea of Heritage and Archives, but I feel one of them is redundant. Really the only difference is Heritage also pays homage to cultural events in inserts.  

The pictures are a little wonky because I was holding the cards to my phone camera. 

Strikeout leaders in the NL were pretty close, weren't they?

Not to be confused with the Max Muncy playing for Oaklamento. Saw he had a pretty horrific injury last night. 

The surprise of the pack. I never go into opening packs thinking I'll get anything. Generally if I get a Jay or a Canadian I'm happy. Tony is probably the biggest auto pull I've had.. Of course, I'll be passing this on to a Twins collector who would appreciate it more than I can.. 

When I first heard his name, I was wondering if it was like Doug Dascenzo or not.. Turns out not. 

All time all stars. Interesting way to get a Mel Ott.. 

I did get a Jay in the pack. Though it was the odd chromified version of the cards. I think a set paying tribute to the older designs doesn't need modern bells and whistles like chrome.. But what do I know? I'm just a collector.. 

Other cards in the pack were 

Robert Suarez - Padres

Lucas Erceg - Royals

Masataka Yoshida - Red Sox

Porter Hodge - Cubs

Heliot Ramos - Giants

Dansby Swanson - Cubs

Blake Snell - Dodgers

Jack Flaherty - Dodgers

Isaac Paredes - Astros

Victor Robles - Mariners

Kerry Carpenter - Tigers

Reynoldo Lopez - Braves

Ian Happ - Cubs

Because it was the first pack I opened of the product, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I do like the cards, it's just whether or not I want to work on another set..

Canada Day

 Hello Friends!

It's July 1, or as we like to call it up here, Canada Day. 

In what seems to be a tradition for me, I have to post this video.. 

Also, another tradition that seems to be holding is the Jays playing at home on Canada Day. Really that's how it should be.. It was a win for the Jays today. 

I did find something interesting though. July 1st has only been known as Canada Day since 1982. Prior to that it was known as Dominion Day. This is due to Canada being under the British Monarchy until 1982 when Canada produced its own Constitution. 

If I forget to, I'd like to preemptively wish my American readers a Happy Independence Day. 

RIP Ron Taylor

 Hello friends!

Today I found out that former Major League and Doctor Ron Taylor passed away. 

Taylor was born in Toronto. He played for 10 seasons, winning two World Series, one with the Cardinals and one with the Mets.

After his playing days, he went to medical school and became a doctor. While having a practice he also became team doctor for the Blue Jays. 

While team doctor he was part of the staff in 1992-1993. 

He was 87.

An update with me.

I've been in and out of the hospital. Infections and interactions kicked my ass for a while. I'm starting to get better but it's a slow road. 

I'm still wanting to write. I just need the energy to do so. 

EBay Find

 Hello Friends!

As you may or may not know, I have a couple projects on the go.. 

The main one being the One Million Expos Project. The other being trying to gather an autograph of as many Canadian born players as possible. Some have been fairly easy. Some are difficult. Some are outright impossible without financing a torso.. 

The one I bught on eBay recently is one of those more difficult ones. If only because he didn't play long in the majors. Dave Shipanoff pitched 26 games in the Majors in 1985. 

He was signed by the Jays as an amateur free agent in 1980, and was traded to the Phillies in 1985 with two other players for Len Matuszek. 

His final season was 1987 when he played for his hometown Edmonton Trappers. 

Guys who didn't play very long like Shipanoff can go either way I think. Either people can get the auto cheaply because it's a guy nobody really remembers, or because of his short time in the Show, they'll inflate the price to capitalize on people like me who collect autographs of a certain type. 

Now the ones I mention about needing to finance a torso to get are guys like Larry Walker, Joey Votto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

I'm glad to have added this one.

A New Addition

Hello Friends!

It's halfway through the month and while I'm struggling personally, the Jays are doing pretty decent this season so far. I know it's early, so we'll see.. 

I wanted to show a card I received in the mail from the wonderful Kevin Glew, who does Cooperstown in Canada on Twitter and BlueSky. If you're interested in Canadian baseball and other connections, check him out online. BlueSky Twitter

Now, I don't know if I've mentioned it here or not, but one of my ambitions is to get autographed cards of as many Canadian born players as possible. 

While the market has been flooded for a few guys in recent years like Vlad Jr, Joey Votto, Larry Walker, etc, the prices are still too high for my affordability.

Other guys, like Andy Stewart, Stubby Clapp, Ryan Z Braun, Rob Ducey, and Steve Wilson, I feel will be more difficult to get. Others, like Ted Bowsfield, I know I need to send sooner than later due to age, but being in Canada and sending a SASE to the States, I don't know if it'll work. 

Anyway, that long winded ramble is there because one of the difficult ones I felt would be Rob Butler. He's been on and off Twitter a few times, runs a baseball academy in Toronto area, and is the manager of the Intercounty Maple Leafs. I reached out a couple times asking if it would be ok to send and I got no response. Kevin saw my note and sent me this card below. 

The funny thing is.. If I had received the ok from Rob, this would have been the card I sent. 

I guess two other white whales for me for this auto project would be Nigel Wilson and Scott Richmond. Though I could get a signed one on ebay for $20 I guess.. Unsure about Wilson.. 

Anyway. Thank you Kevin! You're awesome!

 

The Blue Jays Are In Flight

 Hello Friends!

Earlier this month I wrote about 1984 Fleer and one of the comments was from Derek who mentioned they would be able to get me a copy of the Roy Lee Jackson anthem card. 

Well, today I got the mail and to my pleasant surprise, there was an envelope with that and some other Blue Jays cards. 

The star of the show, obviously. I can't recall if it's been revealed where he sang the anthem. I'm wondering if it was a day he wasn't pitching. I somehow imagine so because it would be quite the disruption right before needing to compete.. 

Now, the other cards that were included are from the 1989 Fire Safety set. The earlier sets were usually sponsored by the province, A&P, Dominion, and Oh Henry!.

I believe once Dominion went bankrupt, Becker's/Mac's took over sponsoring. 

What's an 80s team set without Jesse Barfield? 

The interesting thing about the set is the "On the Move" tagline. It could refer to running the basepaths, moving in the standings, or, as the case was in mid 1989, the move from Exhibition Stadium into the SkyDome. 

Sil Campusano was seen as a star of the future that just didn't pan out. After the 1989 season he was taken by the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft. 

After his playing days, Cerutti did commentary for the Jays on CBC. He was found dead in his hotel room before a game 

CanCon alert! Always enjoy seeing Rob Ducey in the Jays uniforms. 

Mike Flanagan as a Jay is a jarring sight. Kind of like how Jack Morris as a Jay was in 1992. By time I was a fan of the game I believe he had transitioned from the field to the front office or the broadcast booth. 

Terminator!

In a way, it's kind of interesting that a couple closers from the 80s had that nickname. Jeff Reardon and Tom Henke both had that nickname. Of course, Henke had a song written about him (The Ballad of Tom Henke) 

Liriano was one of those in the void between Damaso Garcia and Roberto Alomar. He spent a little time in Toronto before going to Minnesota and Colorado. I just took a look at his stats and I didn't realize he spent two years with the Pirates

The Spring Training team shot.. 

There are a few cards I'm missing from the set. Obviously the big names like Stieb and McGriff, but also Borders, Myers, Wells, Whitt, Key.. I have some ideas. 

Thank you for the cards! He's also on TCDB as CollecterTBNL

Blog Bat Around: Number Matching Birthday Edition

 Hello Friends!

Blog Bat arounds are generally fun to do, plus they're really easy for content ;)

Today, since it's a week since my birthday (April 1) I figured I'd take part. Finding the cards for this one was a slog. They didn't have a filter/search on TCDB for the particular way I wanted to search. (Collection, sort by number or filter to show only card number 401) 

All told, in my collection, there are 32 cards numbered at 401. (April 1, 04/01)

So let's pick out my favourite 10 and show them, shall we?

1973 Topps Clyde Mashore

The first one is also the earliest 401 in my collection. Fitting it's an Expo. I will admit, it does look rather plain, but it has a charm to it. 

My question is: Spring Training photo or Jarry Park photo?

1978 Topps Sparky Anderson

It's kind of fitting that I would have a card of a guy who played and managed a fair bit in the International League for teams in Canada. 

1990 Topps Kevin Mitchell AS

The All Star cards this year were a little better than the previous couple years where it was basically a disembodied head on a background. 

1991 Donruss MVP Danny Darwin

I liked these cards for some reason. 

1992 Score Bobby Thigpen AS

The caricature cards were fun. 

1992 Pinnacle Rickey Henderson

Classic card

1994 Flair Jeff Fassero

This one is interesting. I just like it. 

1995 Score Gold Rush Cliff Floyd

After a couple blah efforts from Score, the 1995 set was a departure. I actually really like this set but I've never been able to get to a point where I feel comfortable collecting it. I also find it interesting how they really started using this design in the 1994 Traded set.

2013 Topps Ryan Dempster

Got to sneak a Canuck on here.. 

2015 Topps Chris Coghlan

A beautiful card.. Really that's it.. 

Overall, I found 32, as I mentioned. I'm glad I was able to find 10 I really liked out of those to show. 

Some Cards Being Shipped

 Hello Friends!

I decided that for my birthday I was going to use some of the money I got and request the shipment from COMC that's been sitting there for a while.. (I need to do the same to Sportlots, likely later this month) 

Since I *just* put the request in, I just wanted to show what's going to be coming my way.. 

Bo Naylor. He's one of three brothers in Professional Baseball. Josh was his teammate until he was moved. His younger brother was drafted this last draft.

A Tacoma Twins Dave McKay

A couple Dave Pagan cards. Both SSPC

Had to get an Expos auto. 

Joey Votto! I looked at some of his autos and they're insanely priced. 

Kevin Reimer. I found a couple Canadians in the Keebler Rangers set.. I might have missed one 

I'm down with OPC. 

A Shawn Hill auto. Dual purpose, as an Expo and a Canadian.

Ducey!!

Building the 1983 OPC set means I'd eventually need this card anyway. Got it for $12.. I still have the Topps version that I'm looking to trade if someone needs it. 

Finally a shiny Guerrero! Again, his autos are insane... 

So according to the timeline, I should get these mid May..