A Big Mac With Mayo

Pretty gross sounding combination.  Big Macs are bad enough with Thousand Island Dressing.  Luckily, I am not talking about hamburgers, but a few new baseball cards that came into the collection a few weeks back.  

First up, the Big Mac.  

I was not specifically going after this card, but it was being sold by the same seller as the other cards in this post and was dirt cheap.  I like that the wood border from the original 1987 Topps version of this card is minimized.  A lot go people are fans of that border.  Me?  Not so much.  The picture is a little busy, but like all Topps 2020 artists, this is the signature style of the artist.  Actually feel like I could zoom in on all the different sections of the card to show off all the little details.  

You can see the 1985 Topps Olympic card of Big Mac on his front jersey sleeve, the photo from his 1988 Topps card is behind him, and numerous other pictures all around the card.

Here is the back of the card.  

The artist's bio is on the back of the card.  Meh.  Not really my cup of tea, but everyone has there own likes and dislikes with art.  

Let's talk about Mayo.  

I've done a few Mayo Smith cards before in the past.  He was a career Minor Leaguer outside of a brief appearance with the Philadelphia A's in 1945.  Most of his Minor League career was spent with the Buffalo Bisons, but he was also player for the Durham Bulls during the 1936 season.  

After his playing career fizzled out, he went into managing, and eventually got a job with the Phillies during the 1950s managing the "Whiz Kids" Phillies teams.  He did not last long in Philadelphia, but did manage to appear on a few cards with the team.  

A few centering and surface issues, but I always love finding vintage cards.  

Mayo Smith was probably better known for his time managing the Tigers.  He was in Detroit for roughly a decade, and helped the team take home the World Series crown in 1968.  I did not have any Tigers cards of Mayo Smith in my collection, so these are new cards.  

First up is the 1970 Topps.  Nice card, but I like the second card better.  

This is from a small set that the Detroit News put out in 1981.  There are two versions of this set, the red border, and another one with white borders.  Not sure about all the details, but seemed like it might be the only modernish card of Mayo Smith.  He has literally appeared in nothing since this card was made.  

Interesting that they put his playing stats on the back considering he was a manager for the Tigers, and his playing time was with another team.  Odd choice.  

Great Art. Well, Mostly Great.

Virtual school is wearing me down.  I didn't think I was that tired on Friday night, but I spent all of yesterday sitting around resting.  Maybe it was the combination of virtual school and the fact that my own children required a trip to the emergency room (dislocated elbow) and we had a pet pass away (Rita The Betta Fish) this week.  

Elbow is back in place.  We now own Alexander (Hamilton) the Betta Fish.  

Anyway, I am well-rested and ready to do more school work today.  Also write about some baseball cards.  

This is my second Project 2020 post in a row.  These cards have gotten to be pretty inexpensive.  I spent a little time the other week circling back and trying to pick up a few more cards that weren't Mark McGwire or Bob Gibson.  I think I did pretty well here, until you get to the McGwire card.  

First, is a Roberto Clemente card from Sophia Chang.  

She definitely has a similar pattern on her cards with the bubble letters, quotes, and backgrounds made up of small baseball/player related items.  I like that she keeps some of the elements from the original card, like the player photo of Clemente.  

The home run quote at the bottom is a little suspect, but I like the overall appearance of the card.  Clemente was not really a home run hitter, more of a line drive/slash hitter with speed.  Great defender.  Maybe a quote about those skills would fit better.  

"I Was Born To Play Baseball" is a good, but I would have considered using the quote that the Pirates have hanging in the tunnel in between their locker room and dugout.  I like this one better..... 

That's a little thing.  I am being picky.  

Overall, really good looking card.  

This is the back of the card, which has the artist bio on Sophia Chang.  I really like her baseball cards, I would put her second behind Efdot with the artist on the Project 2020 cards.  

Speaking of Efdot, here is my second card for the post.  This is really good art work.  

The small circle in the corner and border are trademarks of all his cards.  I like that he blended in the football, basketball, baseball, tennis, and golf ball on the lower right side of the border.  Those were the other sports he played at different points.  You've also got a Kansas City Monarchs logo in his name, which is done in UCLA colors.  There is also a faint Army color pin on the right side of jersey. 

There is a lot here.  It feels like one of those Highlights magazines hidden picture pages, but you can step back and appreciate the entire picture if you don't want to find all the little hidden things inside.  Those Highlights pages are garbage if you ignore the small pictures hidden inside.  

Back of the card.  Overall, this is very well done.  

Which brings me to my last card. Mr. Cartoon's recreation of the 1987 Topps Mark McGwire rookie card.  How did we get here?  I was buying two cards, and the seller told me he'd throw in a McGwire card for next to nothing.  I said sure without even searching the card.  I appreciate the generosity, but I am here for the art this morning.  So, I will just say that I see why this was practically a give-away.    

If you don't know what the 1987 Topps McGwire rookie card looks like, this isn't it.  

I see there is an A's logo, kind of.  You've also got a picture of McGwire.  Those are the two similarities between the two cards.  

How bad is this card?

My 10 year old has a small collection of cards.  He's picky about who he puts into his box of cards.  I was recently given an Andrew Knizner card because he's a back-up catcher.   I was also given an Edwin Diaz card because everyone knows he's terrible.  Tyler Chatwood.  Nobody says anything nice about him.  

I offered him this McGwire card.  His first reaction?  "Is this a team checklist?  I don't collect those"  

Vernon Wells has better artwork, but seems fair.  

Artist bio.  Sigh.  I see.  

Mr. Padre

 It's been a few weeks since I have posted a Project 2020 card.  Nothing has caught my eye recently, but I got a card in the mail that I ordered earlier in the summer.  Just took a little while for it to show up in the mail.  I think some of the Project 2020 "investment" guys are dragging their feet on mailing at cards from razor thin profit.  Still thousandaires.  

Big fan of the art of this card though.  

Mr. Padre.  

I am not sure that this scan even does the card justice.  It pains me to scan cards in one-touch cases sometimes.  Looks really scratchy.  Love the art work combined with the two pictures off of the original Topps Tony Gwynn rookie card. 

A picture of the original card.  

The color scheme with the dark brown and orange is probably the most eye-catching and appealing aspect of my newest Project 2020 card.  I also like the palm trees and the border design.   The patterned border seems to be a feature on a lot of the cards from this artist.  More on him in a minute.  The "Mr. Padre" title at the top is also nice, I just wish the color of the font matched the rest of the card a little better.  

Back of the card.  

Love that old Padres logo in the corner.  Feels like that might be older than the 1983 Topps card.  There is also a biography for the artist, who has a background in painting murals.  He's got some nice looking art up in a few different places online.  

Not Really My Style, But Happy You Came Along

I have been working on the Project 2020 cards, mostly sticking with the Bob Gibson and Mark McGwire cards.  Not buying all of them, just sticking with the art work and artists that I enjoy.  Not really been into the "investment" resale and flip thing that has made them popular with some people.  I have posted a few of the cards here over the summer, but I am happy that the prices and insanity around Project 2020 has settled down.  

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the high prices for awhile.  I was able to trade out a Project 2020 Bob Gibson card for an actual Bob Gibson rookie card.  Not sure I could make that trade anymore, which is actually probably a good thing the baseball card hobby.  

Baseball cards are fun, not investments.  

The card that seems to have burst the Project 2020 price bubble was the Ken Griffey card by artist Keith Shore.  You could see it coming a mile away.  The card has an enormous print run.  I am certain there were people who bought hundreds hoping to flip them for a good margin of profit.  They're not quite free on Ebay, but selling at a large discount.  

I figure at this point, the card is at least notable, so I bought one off of Ebay.  I think of this Griffey like a prospect card that was expensive at some point, but is now selling for a dollar because the player has been stuck in A Ball for 6 years.  It felt like I was getting it for free, but not quite.  Some actual money was involved.  

The art is not really my style, but to each their own.  I am just happy this card came along to burst the bubble.  I am sure there are people who really like this card for the art.  The pirate hat people in background are pretty cool.  Seems to be a staple in this guy's art.  

After reading the artist bio on the back, I was curious about the designs he has created for the beer labels.  I had to go check them out.  Similar style art as the cards down to the people with the pirate hats, but it feels like it works better on cans and bottles than cardboard.  

The crashing prices and interest in the Project 2020 cards has helped me go back and add a few cards that I was not sure about at the time they were released, but since several of them are now selling for roughly half of what it would have cost me to originally purchase them, the decision is now much easier.  

The first card I picked up was a remake of the 1987 Topps Mark McGwire rookie card by Blake Jamieson.  One of the criticisms of the Mark McGwire cards in Project 2020 has been that Topps is using the 1987 Topps card with the A's rather than his 1985 Topps rookie card featuring him on the 1984 Olympic team.  

This card combined the two with the wood border from the 1987 card, and the picture of McGwire in a USA Baseball uniform from the 1985 rookie.  I still have issues with the card I will address in a second, but for a discounted price I was willing to add this card to my collection.  

Personally, I would have rather seen the 1985 Topps card used for this set for McGwire.  This seems like a solid attempt to marge the two cards.  My lone fault with this card is McGwire's uniform number.  The artist made McGwire with a 25 jersey, which he wore in both Oakland and St. Louis.  However, he did not wear that number while playing for USA Baseball.  

If you're a long time reader, you know the USA Baseball facility is a few minutes away from my house, and I usually go to games there during the summer.  There is a McGwire plaque inside the stadium that recognizes his play during the 1984 Olympics and commemorates his jersey number being retired a few years back.  I currently cannot find my picture of it.  

McGwire wore 41 while playing in the Olympics Games.  I know, it's a small detail.  I can be picky.  There actually is a card of a player wearing the uniform number 25 for the 1984 Olympic team if you flip through your 1985 Topps set.  That number belonged to......

long time Indians, Giants, and Dodgers outfielder Cory Snyder, who was a shortstop at BYU during college.  His jersey is not retired.  

Here is the back of the McGwire card.  

Blake Jamieson is one of the artists who seems to be a natural fit for the Project 2020 cards since he already did sports art.  I know I posted a card a few weeks back and mentioned that the artists gallery of work online was not kid/work friendly.  Blake Jamieson is fine.  Go ahead and look at his Instagram, nobody from HR will be talking to you.  

One last quick card.  

I believe this card was available the same day as the Griffey show above, or they were at least relatively close.  While I have stuck to McGwire and Gibson cards up to this point, this is the first card that I have bought of a non-Cardinal because of the art work.  

I own the McGwire card by this artist.  The majority of the card is made out of triangles.  The writing on the bottom is the most obvious set of triangles, but you can also find them on the portrait drawing of Koufax's face and hat, along with the picture on the side with him standing on the stairs.  

I also like the original card, but as a collector with a budget, it's not like I am going to be springing for 1 1955 Sandy Koufax card.  Go ahead and assume I won the lottery if the real version of this ever appears on my blog.  

Back of the card.  

Here is the full explanation of the artist and his style.  When I said triangles, I meant to say Pop and Cubism with a surrealist vision. 

Love That Instagram Account

Do I have social media accounts that I use in conjunction with my blog? 

Yes.  

Am I good at using social media accounts to promote your blog?  

No.  

It really boils down to a matter of consistency.  Blogging is not super high on the priority list of my life, so it usually happens late at night when I am trying to wind down, or early in the morning before other people in my house are up for the day. Don't get me wrong, I like doing this, but life has its priorities. I guess if I had more time for blogging, I would probably do a little better with posting links and picture are social media.  I am not much for self-promotion.  

I actually do a decent job of using Twitter.  I am there frequently, which is not true of other social media.  I talk about baseball cards on there, but I also know that I do not stay in my lane all the time.  Beyond baseball and baseball cards, I have also tweeted this past week about school calendars, people getting thrown out of my local grocery store, the number of miles I walked on Wednesday (it was 9), and how King George is the best character in Hamilton.  

Not always on brand.  I am also fine drifting onto other topics.    

This is the best King George song, if you want music for the rest of the post.  

On Facebook, I spend no time promoting my page.  I am almost sure I have been on the same number of likes for the past five or six years. The page is there. I will post links to whatever I write on here, but it does not go much beyond that.  I am not begging people to look at my page.  

I also have an Instagram page too, the feed is on the side of this blog, but I am not really good about posting pictures consistently.  Sounds like a theme of sorts.  I know a lot of collectors hang out there.  I try.  

Which reminds me, once I won an award for my Instagram account.  

Long ago, when I first started blogging, there were organized awards amongst card bloggers.  I got tagged in a tweet at some point saying that I got nominated for having "The Best Instagram Account".  I was a little surprised, and I am not sure what I did to even be considered.  I voted for myself.  Being me, I spent approximately zero tweets promoting people to vote for my account.  That's what I do, or what I don't do.  

The results?  

I am glad that every liked the 2014 version of my Instagram account and took time to vote for me.  I was more consistent about posting at that point, but still not great.  I was surprised to win to say the least.  

My social media accounts have won other things along the way beyond awards.  

A few years back I won a Joe Montana autographed 8x10.  Apparently, I just followed an account who was giving away an item that was pulled out of a Heroes of Sport box.  I did not even know what I had won until it showed up in my mailbox.  

In fact, I did not even know I followed this account.  I do not follow very many breakers, the ones I do are usually very deliberately picked.  Again, a little surprised to win something.  Especially because I did not retweet, favorite, or tag two friends.  None of that.  I am not a "retweet to win" type of person.  

Well....

Unless its basketball tickets.  I will retweet to win those.  

Which brings me to this past week.  

The last time I time I posted on Instagram was a roughly a month ago.  The post was a picture of a 1994 Upper Deck Bernard Gilkey card.  I also got a DM around the same time from some one offering to sell me an Austin Meadows autograph.  There are no Austin Meadows posts in the works.  

I had a notification on my Instagram account the other day.  I was half way debating whether or not it was worth my time to even look.  I eventually went and checked it out fully expecting it to be someone who looked at all my cards from five years ago and alternated the comments "want", "fs?", or "trade?"  Apparently, I followed some case breaker and won a baseball card.  It felt similar to the situation from above with Twitter.  I can be a little skeptical about dealing with people on Instagram.  Not my favorite place to buy, sell, and trade.  Free card sounded pretty low risk though.  

Here is what I got.....

I am not collecting Project 2020 Trout cards, but I do not turn down free.  In fact, now that we have finely reached the point where people aren't flipping the cards for huge amounts of money, or trading them for other really expensive cards (I regret nothing), these are a little bit more enjoyable to talk about with other collectors.  

Beyond not collecting Trout, I have also not done anything with the artist of this card, Jacob Rochester.  It looks like he does all types of art, but also makes music.  He describes himself as an artist's artists on the back of the card.  

I have never heard the term "artist's artist", but sure.  I am more a rapper's favorite rapper type of person.  

I am sure that I will enjoy the new card, and love that Instagram account.  

Where Have You Gone Sam Perkins? Our Lonely Nation Turns Its Eyes To You.

I have been posting some old Skybox NBA basketball cards here for the past month.  Something a little different just to mix it up.  I did not post any cards last week, and I am not going to post any this week either.  Why?  It's a long story, and at the end I am posting a baseball card.  

I have two children.  My son just turned 10 on Wednesday, my daughter is 3, turning 4 later in the summer.  They are completely different kids with completely different personalities.  When my son was younger, he generally left my cards alone and did not touch them.  As he has gotten older and taken an interest in them, he has no problem going in my card closet and taking out a box to look through. He puts the cards back in the box and the box back in the closet.  No problems.  

The youngest is a different story.  

Since the moment she was mobile, cards have been fair game.  

We have lost a few along the way, the best card being a Jose Cruz Sr. autograph that was bent in half and scribbled on.  I have been saved numerous times by top loaders, one touches, and boxes that she was unable to get open.  She still has her moments.  Most recently, she used a stack of my boxes to build some sort of tower.  I picked up most of the boxes, but I have two that are missing.   

Where are they?  She forgot, but she did put them away.   Somewhere.   

One of the missing boxes is my Skybox basketball card set.  I was really looking forward to this week's post too.  It was a lot of Dallas Mavericks cards, including Sam Perkins.  He jumped an inch off the ground to shoot the ball.  Not quite an old school set shot, but really close.  

So, one day in the near future I will stumble across my box of basketball cards and post some more of that Skybox set.  I am sure they are still in my house, just a matter of where.  At least, that's what I am hoping.  Maybe next week.  

In the meantime, since I cannot give you a Sam Perkins card, I will have to post a new baseball card.  I actually just got a new Project 2020 card.  They are suddenly cheap.  

Never saw that coming.  Eye roll.  

I have been sticking with the Gibson cards.  This is my latest one....

The artist for this card is Ermsy.  He always has the little clouds/bubbles on his artwork.  I liked the play on the Birds on the Bat with the "Robert" going in place of the word "Cardinals".  He still kept the pink frame around the card, the old Cardinals logo in the bottom, and the picture of Gibson in the middle.  

Considering they are selling for less than what Topps sold them for originally, why not.  

The artist bio is on the back.  Yes, Ermsy does work with popular cartoons.  No, you should not look at his art on your work computer, or in front of your kids.  

Let's go find that box of basketball cards.  

The Cost of Child Labor

My last two posts have focused on the sorting I have been working on over my summer break.  I mentioned in my first post that I have had some quality help out of my oldest, who is 9 years old.  Before this summer, he had a little interest in baseball, but it mainly revolved around going to Durham Bulls games. This summer the little man has become really good at sorting, and it has given him something to do while he is stuck home for summer break.  

Saying he just sorts the cards is probably not going far enough.  He also puts together all the boxes for the sets we are building, takes pictures of cards that we are listing for sale, and puts the completed sets away in the correct place after the cards are boxed up.  

There are days where we get a little less done, usually because he gets interested in a player or card set.  It's fun to have someone to talk cards with in the house. There are definitely sets and players that have caught his eye.  

So, last week I ended up paying for some for some of the extra help that I have had with the cards over the last few weeks.  He has liked some of the Topps Project 2020 cards that I have been picking up over the past few weeks.  With the prices continuing to drop, I picked up a Mike Trout as payment for all the help.   

I was not entirely sure of why he decided to pick this card, but after it arrived I got the full run down on why this is a great card. 

Beyond sorting cards, my son is also spent time this summer reading books.  Not any of the ones on the school district's summer reading program, more into the different baseball books that I have in my card room.  One of the books is Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, which goes all the way up to the Marlins and Rockies expansion.  It's out of print, but it's still easy enough to find online with book resellers.  I sort of wish they would do an update edition, but I also know there is a Hall of Fame related website with all the uniform information.  

He also likes several of the different ballpark and stadium books that I own, along with the SportsLogos website.  It's all sort of a normal pattern for him where he goes all in on a topic, and he does not forget things.  His rote memory is really good.  We have been through the same thing with dinosaurs, various animals, Presidents, Star Wars characters, Harry Pottter, and I am probably missing a few in there.  

That brings me back to the Trout.  

He likes Mike Trout as a player, so I thought maybe that was the lone reason.  

Nope.  

He actually liked the card because it has a lot of different uniform pieces and logos on it.  I was confused at first, but here is the run down.  

+There is a modern Angels logo in the top left corner, which is the Anaheim Angels version.  

+Trout is wearing a 1970s California Angels uniform.  

+The batting helmet in the picture has a capital A with the halo, so it is actually from the 1980s version of the California Angels.  

+The side script is something the artist made up.  

One Mike Trout card is a small price to pay for all the help and company with the cards.  I am also glad it fits with his reading interests right now.   

Baseball Cover Songs Part 4

I picked up a few baseball card "covers" last week.  Both were direct sale cards from Topps, with one card coming from the Throwback Thursday set, and the other from the Project 2020 set.  Both are good looking cards.  I think I actually like the Throwback Thursday card a little more, so I am going to start there.  

The Throwback Thursday card is an on-going set that borrows the card designs from previous Topps products.  The designs for Throwback Thursday come from old baseball cards, football cards, hockey cards, and other pop culture sets that Topps has made over the years.  The design on this Gibson card comes the 1959 Topps Football set.  No, I do not have a 1959 Topps Football card.  

I love the bright background and alternating colored letters on his name.  It's a really simple design, but comes together well.  I think this might be my favorite Throwback Thursday card that I have picked up during the last few months.  I wish the logo in the corner matched the era of the card and player, but I can live with the STL logo being there.  Great looking card.  

Back of the card.  

I kind of wish that Topps did something more with the backs of these cards outside of just putting a "Topps TBT" stamp on the back.  Since I do not own a 1959 Topps Football card, I went on COMC to find one.  It's a nice looking card back.  

I love the front of the card, and I do not regret buying this for a second, but maybe they should try duplicating the back design too. I am sure a creative person at Topps could do something catchy with transitioning this over to a baseball card, and still squeeze in the 'TBT Thursday" stamp on there too.  

Next.  

I liked this design, which is why I decided to purchase this Project 2020 card.  It's a 1987 Topps Mark McGwire rookie card made out of a bunch of triangles.  How much did I pay for this card? A crisp $20 bill, but you know that someone spent a ridiculous amount of money on this card at some point during the last month.  I think finding the high auction sale on Ebay might be a feature of all my future Project 2020 cards.  

I guarantee this person returned this item.  

I like the parts of the picture that are made out of triangles.  There are a lot of really obvious triangles in the picture, but there are also some really subtle ones too.  The writing, numbers, and A's logo made out of triangles kind of bothered me at first, but they are better than I expected after seeing the card in person.  

The artist of this card is Naturel.  Biography is at the bottom of the card.  You can find his artwork online, and this card is very true to his style.  Overall, I am happy to own this McGwire Project 2020 card.  This is my third one overall, but my first non-Bob Gibson.  

An Obsolete Post

Baseball Card Cover Songs Part #1

I have spent a lot of time during my "work day" listening to music lately.  My wife and I are still fortunate enough to have jobs, but we are also teaching a third grader and pre-schooler while we are working.  The house is busy, and the music helps me drown out all the background noise while I am doing whatever it is that I have to do for the day.

My two sources of music are the music I have burned off of CDs into my ITunes account, as well as all of the songs and albums that I have purchased over the years from the ITunes store.  I also have found some really good playlists on YouTube.

One of the surprising finds along the way is a set of covers by Radiohead performing songs that you probably wouldn't put in their genre of music.  Glenn Campbell?  Not half bad.  Carly Simon? They pull that off too.  Probably my favorite are their covers of The Smiths.

The unfortunate part of listening to music on YouTube is that the second you pick out one song, they start recommending all sorts of different things they think you should be listening to while you are visiting their website.  Since I listened to all of those cover songs by Radiohead, I get all sorts of other cover songs in my feed.  

Like this one, don't listen for long.  

I don't actually mind Weezer, Pinkerton is really under appreciated, but this is not even close to as good as the original.  This is one of my favorite 1980s songs, but this is just something that I cannot listen to from start to finish.  

Which brings me to some baseball cards.  If you could go back and redo the way an old baseball card looks, what would you do?  Topps has been doing something along these lines with their Project 2020, which is taking 20 different rookie cards and having artists remake them in their vision.  Sort of like musicians redoing other musicians music.

Unfortunately, the cards are a direct buy from Topps.  

We all know I don't usually buy from them after they mangled my Aledmys Diaz rookie card a few years back, and they figuratively shrugged their shoulders.  It's been a few years, but I have not forgotten.  

So, the Project 2020 cards come in a case.  How bad can they mess them up?  I rolled the dice.  

They even used bubble wrap this time, along with a protective cardboard box.  The shipping department at Topps is stepping up their game.  

The packaging is actually really nice.  

I have ended up with two of these cards.  I am going to share one card in this post, and the other in a second post.  I am likely stopping there.  The first card I bought is a recreation of the 1959 Topps Bob Gibson rookie card.  It is one iconic Cardinals card that has alluded me over the years.  Here's what the original looks like.....

Obviously not mine.  Thanks internet.  

Here is the "cover" version.  

Obviously I like this card, or I would not have spent money on buying it.  Good 1950s vibe to it, and I like that the artist kept the pink coloring around the picture of Gibson.  I wish the picture of Gibson were slightly larger, but the design makes up for that minor detail.  

The back of the card.....

A quick description of the Project 2020 cards, and an artist bio.  The artist's name is Grotesk.  I am speechless.  I like the old fashioned Cardinals logo down in the bottom right hand corner.  Another Project 2020 card later in the week.