You Have Been Served

When you receive mail from an attorney, generally the enclosed message is not friendly in nature.  You are being sued or perhaps, served an ugly notice.  Fortunately the two pieces of mail I received a couple weeks apart were nothing to send me into hiding.

Our favorite Off Hiatus attorney, Tony, took time to send a trade package and a #supertrader special, shortly afterwards.  What a haul of oddity!  Let's start with some familiar cards:

 

2014 Donruss looks pretty good in comparison to 2016!  I'll be sharing some of these via PYE soon so you can make your own judgments there.  2016 = ugly.  I actually like the 2014 design.  No doubt I needed some of these to complete my team set!

2012 Topps Minis: to have and to hold.  I do love the size of these cards which fit so nicely in my hand.  A clean design from Topps; something more rare with every passing year.

A dosing of Kaline on 93 Spectrum Diamond Club - cards which I've seen little of with these being a bit more rare since they are promotional copies.

2015 Panini Contenders with a Texas theme.  Some of you may be unaware that I moved from Dallas this past Summer.  I'm currently in the midst of severe Tex-Mex withdrawals. It's been a struggle to say the least.   GIMME SOME ENCHILADAS WITH REAL CHILI ON TOP!!!   Wow, that was an ugly moment. Thanks for listening.   These cards feature Dallas Baptist University and  TCU Horned Frog prospects.   I never formed an allegiance to any of the Texas colleges but would've chosen the Horned Frogs simply for the mascot.

Three familiar brands in Topps, Conlon and Pacific.  Top left, the Ty Cobb is one of four cards included with The 1988 Baseball Card Engagement Book by Michael Gershman.  The card's picture is from an oil painting which appeared in a 1948 edition of SPORT magazine. 

Fun oddball selections here with one featuring Rick Greene's badly deformed right hand. Cecil's the right man for the job when it comes to promoting Jimmy Dean.  I noticed a couple buttons were airbrushed right off his jersey but overall, I love these cards.  Food issues are some of my favorites. 

I believe most, if not all of the following cards are Dover reprints.  I am super grateful for these because I have a couple of Dover booklets with no intentions of tearing them apart.

Cracker Jack dreams!  Most of us will never own original copies of these cards.  Tony, it was more than cool of you to send these cards across the blog-o-sphere!  I know other collectors are enjoying them too!

To finish our show and tell, this last group of cards features HOFer Hal Newhouser on 1993 Front Row Premium.  Hal passed in 1998 which makes the auto a bit more rare.  We all know how autos are becoming a dime a dozen, many will never reach more than a few dollars in high book value - if you pay attention to price guides.  Whether this card has any particular value matters not to me.  The hobby is not flooded with Hal Newhouser autographs.  I enjoy the Front Row series of all HOF players but am partial to those Tigers. 

If you want an attorney who is on your side, Tony is the man.  I appreciate the effort that goes into putting a package like this together.  His posts are well-researched gems, usually set to music.  I thought briefly about pulling a like-themed post together for these cards but knew I couldn't pull it off Tony-style.

Thank you Tony for serving up a couple of fantastic packages!

Ordered by the Angels

Tom is the host of Angels...in Order.  Tom began blogging in 2009, posting regularly. It took me several months to come across his blog!  Seems his Angels were hiding.  If you haven't traded with him, check out his want lists.  The one I found most interesting is a checklist collection.  I think of all those I tossed over the years.  You too, eh?  

We recently completed our first trade.  He sent a generous helping of Conlon Collection which I'll share another time.  Tom also included Tigers and favorite players from my list.


70s Topps Vintage
                                                           1979                                            1976

                                                          1973                                                  1976


                                                                          1976 Checklist

                                                                       2012 Topps Mini

I like holding these Minis.  The size of the card is comfortable in my hand. Reminds me of 50s Bowman I think.  Great card!

                                                                  2006 SP Legendary Cuts

A favorite card issue!  Two time Cy Young winner Denny McLain won 31 games in 1968.  Over 10 years, he racked up 131 wins against 91 losses.  Career ERA 3.39

                                                                  2009 Goodwin Champions

Nice looking Ripken - which is surprising to me. Blue sky reminds me of early Bowman.  I'm only familiar with Champions of the last two years.  Most of the images I've seen aren't too good...and I'm being polite. For instance:

This may not be too  awful.  How about Pete Rose:

 Nolan and Pete appear courtesy of Google Images.  I do NOT own these cards.  How does Goodwin compare to A&G and GQ?  How many of you like Goodwin, and why?  Hits?  Design?  I'm interested in your responses.

                                                                           1993 Ted Williams

                                                                             1994 Ted Williams

Did you know Bob Gibson played with the Harlem Globetrotters before beginning his baseball career?  Apparently he had quite the back-handed dunk.   

Rube Foster 1879-1930; known as the father of Black Baseball; founder and manager of the Chicago American Giants. He organized the Negro National League, the first professional league for African American players. An outstanding pitcher in his own right, Rube was elected to the HOF in 1981.

Elston Howard  1929-1980; began his baseball career in the Negro Leagues,  playing for Buck O'Neil's Kansas City Monarchs.  As baseball finally welcomed the Negro League stars, he became the first African American to play for the Yankees.
 
Willie Mays: say hey, he began his career in 1947 with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos.  Mays moved back home to Alabama to play with the Birmingham Black Barons, winning the pennant and advancing to the Negro League World Series where they lost to the Homestead Grays.

An oddball, Tigers style!  A 1999 Ballpark Franks giveaway celebrating 75 years of Tiger Stadium.  A ten card set, passed out two cards per game over five games from May thru September. These two cards were still in the giveaway envelope, from Sept 25 1999 set #5 :

Tom, how awesome, totally!  In my best valley girl voice...  Thank you for these cards and the beautiful Conlons!  I hope we can trade again.  I'm stocking up on Angels, but you'll have to put them in order.