i'll be interested to see what target stocks for me next...

here's the third of three repacks that target made me buy recently.  after pulling the first two off the hanger, i saw some more needed/wanted cards displayed in this repack.  let's see what else was inside.

2010 topps factory set limited edition ichiro

this card intrigued me, as it's got a foil imprint on the front and it's numbered rs2 on the back
1991 topps 1990 rookies robin ventura - four times now!
1991 topps 1990 rookies pat combs
1991 topps 1990 rookies larry walker - at least those two are different
1991 topps 1990 rookies todd zeile
1991 topps 1990 rookies john olerud - those two are not
1989 donruss terry leach
1990 score alvaro espinoza
1987 topps jamie quirk
1991 fleer jeff kunkel
1987 topps mike brown
1989 topps otis nixon
1990 fleer chad kreuter
1989 donruss rick mahler
1986 topps luis aguayo
1989 upper deck scott sanderson
1988 donruss checklist
1990 donruss lee mazzilli
1988 topps jay tibbs
1991 topps rich rodriguez
1992 pinnacle chili davis
1993 upper deck jose uribe
1988 donruss checklist - at least it's not the same as the first one in the repack
1993 topps luis salazar
1988 topps charlie puleo
1992 score jeff ballard
1989 fleer oddibe mcdowell
1991 score randy johnson
1990 fleer curt wilkerson
1991 upper deck mike scioscia
1987 topps omar moreno

omar doesn't care for this repack
1987 donruss jim presley diamond king
1986 topps andy hawkins
1991 score mark parent
1992 score steve buechele
1990 topps devon white
1988 donruss todd benzinger
1988 topps barry lyons
1994 classic minor league all-star edition trot nixon cream of the crop shiny insert

1989 score chris james
1999 upper deck encore jason kendall
1989 donruss cameron drew rated rookie
1988 pacific online eddie guardado

1988 pacific online eddie guardado - a double of a twin, so here's the back

not sure who 'rm' is that the new twins bullpen coach is memoralizing. raul mondesi? randy moss? any ideas?

1998 pinnacle tom candiotti

2009 upper deck first edition carlos beltran

2009 upper deck first edition akinori iwamura

2009 upper deck first edition daniel cabrera

2009 upper deck first edition stephen drew

2009 upper deck first edition tom glavine

1998 fleer ultra kevin millwood

now for part 2...

2004 fleer greats carlton fisk

pudge looks pissed

1992 topps bobby cox

1991 leaf kent mercker

1987 fleer rick sutcliffe

1989 score john kruk

1992 donruss rosario rodriguez

1992 pinnacle carlos baerga

1989 topps les lancaster

1989 donruss mike fitzgerald

1991 upper deck kirby puckett

puck looks happy

1987 topps randy o'neal

1993 pinnacle ken ryan

1992 topps stadium club chris james

1991 leaf ernest riles

1991 donruss gregg jefferies

1990 fleer tom herr

1991 donruss scott erickson

1989 topps bob dernier

1989 fleer todd benzinger

1987 topps bill dawley

1994 upper deck collector's choice pat rapp

1989 donruss bob kipper

1989 fleer dale sveum

1992 topps mike jackson

1990 donruss joe oliver

1987 donruss highlights tim raines

rock is in dodger stadium

1989 score rookies & traded bob geren

1988 topps denny walling

2000 fleer tradition update rafael furcal

1987 topps tom brunansky

2012 topps edwin jackson

2012 topps taylor green

2012 topps kyle hudson

2012 topps raul ibanez

2012 topps jay bruce

2012 topps james darnell

2012 topps brandon mccarthy

2012 topps mark melancon

2012 topps luke hughes

2012 topps brett wallace

wallace is in dodger stadium on father's day, 2011. i've been in dodger stadium on father's day a couple of times, but not for a while.

2011 topps gaby sanchez

2011 topps scott hairston

2011 topps ricky romero

2011 topps brian roberts

2011 topps mike fontenot

2011 topps jhonny peralta

2011 topps matt thornton

2011 topps mike pelfrey

2011 topps john jaso

2013 topps chrome paco rodriguez orange refractor

this was the main reason i bought this one.

let me know if you want/need any of these cards…

double plays don't turn themselves

i recently considered putting a moratorium on picking up new double play cards.  i really didn't know just how many there were until i started to more seriously collect them a few years ago.  now i am behind on adding them to my have list and the binder(s).

but, when i come across a card as cool as billy ripken's 1991 topps stadium club issue, i am not going to pass on it.

that ripken is the rare double play card that shows the first baseman.  i like it very much.

double play master brent gates is back on his 1993 upper deck sp card

as well as his 1997 upper deck card

the opposing player seems to be kneeling at the altar of the double play turn.

master leaper jose lind shows his skills on this 1994 score select card

while royce clayton returns for some dp action on the back of his 1994 upper deck card

chris snopek turns two on a 1997 pinnacle new card

while derek jeter gets parallel to the ground on his 1998 fleer tradition card

pirate time - kevin polcovich looks like he has made the turn at dodger stadium on his 1998 pacific crown collection card

i would guess that brett butler is the guy sliding in, by the way; and tony womack introduces his knee to ray lankford's back on his card from that same set

womack is at it again on his 1998 pinnacle card

with slammin' sammy trying to break things up

from pirates to braves, here is a 2002 upper deck keith lockhart card

and a 2008 upper deck first edition edgar renteria card

for the purposes of this post, i will ignore the fact that the card says 'detroit tigers' on the bottom.

more double play cards to come!  stay tuned!

pre-emptive strikes on the nefarious 9

sometimes i see cards that i didn't know existed but feel that i must have.  it's funny how i can go from blissful ignorance to stressful want in the few moments it takes me to read a blog post.  nick at dime boxes showed off a 2003 mlb showdown hoyt wilhelm foil card a long time ago and i was smitten.  

i had to pack my patience, however, because they don't show up too often - especially at a price i am willing to pay.  so i waited.  i thought about adding the card to the nefarious 9, but figured that there probably weren't too many folks with one of these sitting around wondering who to send it to.  if there were, i would guess that they would already have sent it off to any of the other dodger bloggers out there.  finally, somebody listed one on ebay with a low opening price and i was able to bring it home.  it's only the third wilhelm item i have showing him wearing the dodger blue.

jeff at 2x3 heroes took a proactive approach and actually sent me a couple of cards under the guise of making a 'pre-emptive strike on the nefarious 9' which served as the inspiration for this post.  as a reward, jeff gets to see the cards he sent me next

2013 topps gypsy queen josh beckett white framed

and 2013 topps gypsy queen matt kemp

thanks jeff!

i also found a card that i had pondered adding to the list while perusing the wares at one of the twin cities' lcs locations.  it's the 2013 topps gypsy queen adrian gonzalez mini short print photo variation.

i was supposed to have received that card through a group break i participated in, but it was lost or otherwise misplaced so i threw down 4 bits and brought it home.

i've also used ebay to grab some cards that likely would have eventually hit the nefarious 9, like this 1995 upper deck top prospects paul konerko card

sportlots has come in handy too, as i picked up a couple of gas station cards.

on the surface, this looks like an ordinary 1994 fleer mike piazza card, right?

it's a nice dodger stadium play at the plate with the tim crews memorial patch showing.  nice card.

the back tells the full story, however, as we see that this was part of a set apparently available at sunoco stations

same deal, i believe, with this 2004 upper deck chevron shawn green card

except that it doesn't look like a 2004 upper deck card.  more like what a 2010 upper deck card should have looked like.

to end the post on a high note, here's a 1998 pinnacle epix emerald eddie murray card that i got for a steal on ebay recently

i already had the purple and orange versions, and had been looking for the rarer emerald version for a while.  like the wilhelm card, i thought about adding it to the nefarious 9 but didn't for the same reasons.

i will need to add a few cards to that list soon, however, as you might notice it currently sits at less than its full capacity.  stay tuned.

one good turn deserves a few more

yes, it's double play time.  here's troy tulowitzki's 2013 topps archives card.

if it looks familiar, i might have shown it in one of my archives posts from a few weeks back, as well as my series two post since it's the same photo that was used for his 1972 mini insert.

going back in time to 2004 fleer tradition with omar vizquel

and further back to 1997 fleer ultra with delino deshields

it wasn't until recently that i realized that, in 1997 at least, the ultra gold medallion cards weren't just parallels of the base set - they had completely different photos.

now on to the jimmy rollins portion of the post.  rollins turns two on his 2003 bowman card

his 2005 upper deck card

and his 2005 fleer ultra card

and teammate placido polanco does the turn on his 2005 topps opening day card

back to 1998 with pinnacle and craig biggio

and carlos baerga (plus a sliding ryne sandberg)

here's a 2007 upper deck david eckstein

a 2008 upper deck first edition rickie weeks

and a 2008 topps stadium club dustin pedroia

i have picked up a number of new-to-me double play cards over the past few months.  once i get my posts and lists up to date, i will commence with the greatest double play card of all-time tournament.  for reals.

what the epix?

while working towards the eddie murray final tribute post from a while back, i looked to see how many cards were made of the hall of fame switch hitter in 1998.  i found a few that i didn't know about before, and still couldn't believe that topps didn't bother with a card commemorating his great career.  one of the issues that i didn't realize existed was put out by pinnacle.  i am assuming it was an insert set to another set, but i could be wrong.  it was called 'epix' and there were a number of versions/parallels.  ok, it's more crazy than i thought - here's the baseballcardpedia article on these cards. here's a purple card of steady eddie.

this one focuses on a specific play (hence the 'play' text).  turning the card over, we see that murray was an indian

when he got his 3000th career hit.  both the dodger and the indian logos are displayed, and the photo on the back shows murray in his tribe gear.  very nicely done, pinnacle, although i would question why murray was in dodger blue on this card if i weren't a dodger collector.

here's an orange version (that article linked above confirmed my suspicion that orange is the most common version) of the same card

same front, same back.

i like the purple better.

now, here's another orange version of the card, only this one focuses on a game.

specifically, a game in which murray hits three home runs in the first five innings, and, well, you can read the back.

again, pinnacle shows murray in the correct uniform (although i would suspect that the photos are from his second go around in baltimore) and we see the o's logo on the back.

here's yet another orange version of the card, with this one celebrating a moment.

it's kind of the same as the 'play' version, except this one celebrates his 500th career home run.  the photos and the text correctly identify murray as an oriole, except

there's a dodger logo on the back.  say what?  especially since murray not only hit his 500th home run with the orioles, he didn't hit any homers during his second tenure with the dodgers at the end of the 1997 season.  so, what's a team collector supposed to do with that card?