Three weeks ago, I showed off Gio's 70s Baseball Series One release. These are some of my favorite cards from 2020. It's been a tough year for baseball in general. Retail shelves have remained mostly empty. Hobby boxes are scooped up too, almost as quickly. But these! They may be somewhat limited but not impossible to score. And maybe this series should be called Score but for the fact Score didn't give us baseball cards in the 70s.
Feast upon these 15 beauties and what could have been:
Gio included another 'super' star with young Bench. It's my favorite card in the pack, with Mantle and Munson vying for second place.
As you well know by now, there is no second place in the Ballot Box contest. There is only one winner. Round four was hard on the Junk Candidates. At times, they seemed to muster some love but 1993 Donruss wasn't having any of that. Pushing Elite-ism, voters bought into its better-than-junk platform. But is it really any better? Sixteen voters said yes while eight had pity on the Topps/Score ticket.
Round four winner: Candidate B
If you read my first Gio 70s Series post, then you know I added a few cards to Pick Pockets. This time I'm parting with them here to my trade pals. Six cards are available -one per person. You will see seven but the Dodgers card is already set aside for Night Owl. If he declines, then it's up for grabs. Night Owl, let us know if you want to keep or pass on this card.
Please, only choose a card if you will keep it in your collection. These little fellas belong in a caring home. Thank you for supporting this blog! Without further delay...
I don't trade often with Strigiformes but when I do, it's Night Owl. Most owls are nocturnal raptors. Our writer/collector friend is likely not descended from a feathered family but I haven't seen him. My guess is no. If he were, I wouldn't cast judgement. I loved the movie "Ladyhawke" as a teen. Mr. Owl sent a fine cardboard assortment this summer, clearing cards off my wantlist. Set help, vintage and wax cartoons; all are equally appreciated!
Chipping away at 2010 History of the World Series:
This could be blasphemy to some hardcore A&G collectors - I am not a Ginter fan. Collective gasp. I haven't purchased more than a few blasters ever, never a hobby box and nothing in the past three years. There is however, an insert set most every year that appeals to me and I always enjoy player minis. These were all on my list: 2010 Cobb gold mini, 2017 What-a-Days and 2019 Ginter Greats.
Hey kiddos! Which one doesn't belong? Not that he wasn't great in his day, Orel was needed to fill a binder spot in my 1995 SP Championship October Legends subset. Greats has bats which sucked me right in. The WADs checklist is broad and design uber colorful. I likes 'em! I like vintage too - hoot doesn't?
1967, 1975 and 1956. The team card is outstanding!! Mickey and A-Rod are clean and colorful! Purple and pink are my fave color combo from 75 Topps.
1979 Cartoons! Is it any wonder LeFlore stole 68 bases? Ron's led a difficult life. It would appear his struggles continue. When I read the first cartoon, the horrible person in me said "the ball is dead and so is Rusty." Rusty owned a couple of Manhattan restaurants later in life. The 73rd Street location held an annual rib-eating contest won in 1980 by this young actress.
I was a shy, naive young teen in 79. Collecting then would have soothed my troubled soul. Introverted and afraid of the world, I had no idea baseball cards existed. This may be difficult for any lifetime collector to believe. It's never too late to have fun so here I am!
Who among you loves 80s nostalgia? Who among you ever said their favorite sets of 1989 were Topps and Score? WHO? I'm honestly not sure where these sets land in popular majority. Candidate A is a shared ticket. Each suffers poor self-esteem, all these years later. Together, running mates Topps and Score hope to win your vote. They bring you warm memories of the Bash Brothers and Nolan Ryan. Topps' checklist is 792 cards long. Score 660 cards! Who wouldn't want to own a Nelson Santovenia rookie card?
CANDIDATE A two boxes of wax pack glory:
TOPPS BOX BOTTOM
Before you allow thoughts of sweet-smelling Topps gum to take over your senses and sweep you back to 1989, you may want to stop in 1993 for a look around. Donruss came to the game with white borders and sweet inserts. As years passed, base cards were buried in nickel boxes and inserts forgotten; replaced with shiny, prizm-y, refractory, fancy colored foils. Well people, 1993 is back. If the simply designed base cards don't tickle you in the right places, maybe a look at the inserts will. Diamond Kings, Spirit of the Game and Elites are all possibilities.
CANDIDATE B needs no running mate. Series One:
One tough card! I no longer own Alomar but it took a full case to pull!
WHAT??? I'm parting with the Jones boy? Could be a dump. Perhaps a lessening of sorts. The 90s shout duplication. So what's your best guess?
Larry Wayne Jones Jr. is joining Cooperstown this summer. How is this even possible? Were the 90s so long ago? Larry's MLB debut with the Braves happened in September 1993, just as I'd begun collecting. Thanks to TBS, I was able to enjoy the Braves in some of their best years. He was a hot prospect so naturally, I collected Chipper Jones.
There's 93 Donruss, rubbing itself in my face once more. A very clean 94 Collector's Choice!
Initially, Larry was a shortstop. Throwing errors pushed the Braves to move him to third base. Even then his defense was only average. He owns no Gold Glove awards. Among switch-hitters however, only Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray have more home runs. Chipper will enter the Hall as an eight-time All-Star with 468 dingers, 2726 hits and a career .303 batting average.
96 Fleer featured a gorgeous matte finish. Otherworldly 97 Pinnacle Aura subset...different.
Chipper had a reputation for being cocky. The young girls loved him. Young women did too which would account for his three marriages. [Insert launch angle joke here.] His first marriage ended when his 18 month extramarital affair with a Hooters' waitress produced a son. I left him in 2002 when the hobby became for me, confusing and expensive.
Ten years passed as Chipper continued to rack up the numbers. Playing all 19 years with the Braves, he called it career in 2012. In 2013, the Braves retired number 10.
These cards are moving out but to where? Time for someone to step up to the plate!
2016 GQ Power Alley - an insert set I should've assembled.
THE FINE PRINT
I’ve culled several hundred cards from my collection but what to do with them? Well that’s where you come into play. Literally. It’s game time!
Do you want these cards? If so, you must be a regular reader with a USA mailing address, be the Card Papoy or a regular Canadian reader. No contest hounds. The rules are simple: determine why I’m giving away these cards. You must comment with a correct response to have a chance via Randomizer. Your only response choices are:
DUPE(duplicates)
DUMP (player booted from my collection)
DWINDLE (player collection thinned, only select cards kept)
The next edition of Dupe, Dump or Dwindle will reveal the reason for the removal of these cards from my collection, and our randomized winner. Remember, only correct responses will be randomized.
The twist? You can win only ONCE every three rounds. Cards that go unclaimed won’t be offered here again. There will be many players listed in the coming weeks but you have no way to know who’s up next. Do you need any of these cards? Leave one of the only three correct responses for a chance to win Chipper - or pass.
I'll wait at least a week to close out this edition's commentary with my own response noting the end of this round.
Of the responses left for Donnie, only six readers were interested in these cards. Of eight Dwindles, four were officially entered as guesses. Only two Dump guesses, both entered as well. No one guessed DUPE which would have been incorrect. John Miller ventured 'dwindle' as I'd mentioned two of these cards as favorites. Perhaps that was a bit misleading. They are favorite Donnies but not favorites in the sense of keepers. There may be some disappointed folks here when they read Mattingly was a dump. Forgive me Bo. It's not that Mattingly was undeserving of my collection. He just doesn't fit. I didn't have all that many Donnie's but that's not necessarily a reflection of my player collections. I do have many smaller PCs.
Our two dump guessers are defgav and The Card Papoy. Randomized by the number of correct guesses leaves us with our winner:
Kevin - Donnie is moving to France! You were first place both times. I'll hang on to these for a bit in order to fill a trade package for you. You'll have to sit out the next two rounds which includes Chipper. Gavin, thanks for making the final round!
Thanks to all of you who took time to read, comment and participate!
