Friday Five: Top 5 Curt Flood Cards

I do not fully understand how Curt Flood is not in the Hall of Fame. He had a very good playing career, which by itself is probably not Hall worthy, but his contributions to the game should make him a slam dunk. In fact, every modern player who is enjoying a league minimum salary of almost $800K with the possibility of making millions of dollars through arbitration and free agency should be name-dropping Curt Flood for the Hall on a daily basis. 

That's not going to happen, but I can dream.  

I have long enjoyed Curt Flood baseball cards and decided it would be a fun exercise to put together a list of my five favorite cards of the long-time Cardinals outfielder.  

5. 1960 Topps 

I love the contrasts on this card with the black and white photo paired with the color photo, along with the bright yellow letters with the black background. That red background behind the black and white photo really pops. I also love the old-style Cardinals bats-on-the-bat logo, really sweet. Overall, this is one of my favorite early 1960s Cardinals cards based simply on aesthetics. Great looking card.  

4. 1967 Topps 

I am not sure Clubbers is the right word to describe the combination of Lou Brock and Curt Flood in the Cardinals lineup, but I love this dual card.  The two were fixtures in the Cardinals outfield for the latter half of the 1960s helping the team win a World Series in 1967 and a National League pennant in 1968. I love the look of the old, wool 1960s Cardinals uniforms on this card. The off-white jerseys with the shortened sleeves and bright red accents and hats looked great together. The Cardinals also have some of the better socks in the league.  

3. 1971 Topps 

I love that Topps gave Curt Flood a card in 1971. After the Phillies traded him to the Senators, Flood only played in a handful of games and retired before the first month of the 1971 season ended. It would have been easy to skip over Flood. This was his final baseball card.  

2. 1964 Topps 

A bit of a sentimental choice for me to rank the 1964 Topps card second on my list. This was one of the first good vintage cards in my collection and my first Curt Flood. Wasn't there a collector who hoarded this card by the thousands? Yes.   Anyway, I love the green text on the white background, the photo of Flood standing with his glove, and who could miss that his name is spelled out on the fingers.  Classic.  

1. 1958 Topps 

My scan is pretty terrible, but this is a great card.  I love all the bright colors here with the bright green background, yellow logo box...err...triangle, and the red name box on the bottom of the card. Love the blue Cardinals cap and that Curt Flood is smiling on his rookie card.  

Two Terrific Tajs

The Taj Bradley collection has crossed into double digits, but the blogger posts are still not numbered. At least, not for the moment. At what point should I start numbering them? I think I am getting close. Anyway, I picked up two more terrific Taj Bradley autographs for the collection during the past week.  

First up, an autograph out of the $425 per box Topps Museum Collection. Cost of this card was north of $10 making it one of the more expensive Taj Bradley cards in my collection. I appreciate all the people who open up boxes, so very much.  

I couldn't do it without you.  

I was somewhat hopeful that the orange patches were connected to the Durham Bulls when I first bid on this card, but after doing a little research, it appears this is likely from Bradly's appearance at the Futures Game a few year's back at Dodger Stadium. The orange seems slightly muted compared to photographs from the game, but there are patch cards that match this jersey.  

 

What I would do to get a Durham Bulls patch card......

One day. 

Last card for a quick post.......

Bradley signed for the 2024 Topps product, but was a short-printed autograph with just /199 serial numbered copies.  Seems like a player who would not be on the short-print list, but here we are.  The serial number is on the back of the card and this is a quick post, so you can imagine it's there.  It says "087/199". 

This is one of the first autographed cards I have purchased out of 2024 Topps, and while I have not been rah-rah about the product this year, this is a really well-blended sticker autograph. You can barely tell on the scan.  

105.

This is the 105th Blake Snell autograph in my collection.  

I have actually been waiting to add this card from the 2024 Topps Series 1 to my collection for a few months, but the price has always been outside of my comfort zone for Blake Snell autographs. Almost immediately after Series 1 hit the shelves, this card was north of $50, that includes the base (non-red) variations too. 

I waited patiently, also lost a few auctions on Ebay, but I finally found a copy at a comfortable price.  

Love that brown and gold patch-piece on the front of the card. This is a sticker autograph, but very well blended by Topps.  Serial number is in the bottom right-hand of the card, just two off his jersey number with the Giants.  

Back of the card.  

The typical "CONGRATULATIONS!" message with the usual small print.  

Still Bullish

My Taj Bradley collection started two years back after the impressive right-handed pitching prospect appeared on the Durham Bulls roster. I have quietly posted a few of his cards on here during that time, two to be exact, but stayed relatively under the radar with my Taj fandom.  However, with his performance with the Rays this season, I am going to be a little more aggressive with collecting his cards.  

In case you have been sleeping on the Rays mediocre season, I will admit they're not very exciting, Taj is posting more than a strikeout an inning and had a first-half ERA under 3. He's run into a bit of a rough patch after the All-Star Break, but at just 23 years old, I think the future is really bright for this pitcher.  

I have added 4 new Taj Bradley autographed cards in the past month and not spent more than $10 on any single signature. Quite the bargain for an All-Star caliber pitcher.  

Here are the four cards: 

This is a 2023 Donruss card. Yes, it's unlicensed and seems rather self-explanatory why nobody would spend much money on this card. However, if you look closely, this is actually a picture of Bradley in a Durham Bulls uniform.  Note the orange sleeve trim and the Rawlings patch on the sleeve. While the Major League Uniforms are made by Nike, the Minor Leagues jersey tops are made by an assortment of different manufacturers. The Bulls jersey tops are Rawlings.  

Love this card and was happy to see Bradley on what is essentially a Durham Bulls card.

Next.   

Another "2023" card, even though these were released in 2024.

This is from the Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary set.  It's another rehash, but it's got on-card autographs, so I am going to spare you the snarky comments about Topps reusing their previous card designs excessively.  I will just tell you that I like the card and was happy to add it to the collection of Taj Bradley cards.  

Next.  

Tier One is a $300 box of cards.  Imagine opening a box and getting a Taj Bradley autograph.  You know I am always here to soften collector's financial missteps by purchasing their $10 autographed cards. Now, someone is only out $290 and I have a high-end card with a Taj Bradley autograph.  

Print run of 99, that's a lot of buyers regret.  

Last one.  

This is from last year's Topps update set. I had to get the rookie autographed card before working on his cards in this year's set, but that's next.  

More Taj cards coming soon.  

It Was A Card Shop Kind of Day

I have tried to explain my teaching schedule before in previous posts, so I am not going to completely rehash the whole thing. I am currently in one of those windows where I do not teach for a few weeks. Most teachers have summer vacation. I have "track out" a few times a year. Earlier in the week, I did a bunch of stuff around the house, so I decided to treat my productivity with a trip to the card shop on Friday afternoon.  

Besides, I needed some supplies to help me put away some cards. I really need to make a sorting post one of these days. Maybe next week.  

Beyond the supplies, I also went home with a few new baseball cards. I hope you're in the mood to look at pictures of cards, because I am not in the mood to do a ton of typing today.  

Did I mention there are basketball cards too.  

I will start out with the basketball cards. I found these McDonald's All-American cards in a quarter bin. I found two cards of Zoe Brooks, who goes to NC State, and a Hannah Hidalgo, who goes to Notre Dame.  I saw Zoe Brooks record a triple-double earlier in the season. 

Big showing for the 𝙍𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙚𝙚𝙠 - Zoe Brooks, @PackWomensBball ‼️

🏀 Recorded 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in the win over Liberty, earning the first triple-double by an ACC player this season

📰 https://t.co/81akC4qRWi pic.twitter.com/YcLOmQFYMs

— ACC Women's Basketball (@accwbb) December 11, 2023

It's March. Go Pack!!! 

Both Hidalgo and Brooks are freshman, so they are going to be around for awhile.  

Onto baseball. There were no new Blake Snell cards at the shop, but I did find two new cards of former Durham Bulls star, Jake Cronenworth. It's been a minute since I added a new Cronenworth card, but these two looked pretty sweet. They were also just fifty cents. Pretty good deal.  

I also found a pair of Pujols and Goldschmidt cards.  

 

An Adley Rutschman rookie card.  Big fan, you should be too.  

A cheap copy of the 1987 Topps Barry Bonds rookie card.  I can't believe these are a few dollars.  

Which brings us to the vintage portion of the post.  All of these are former Cardinals, former Durham Bulls, or in the case of Vada Pinson and Robin Roberts, older players I like.  

One final card for the post.  

I also picked up a Bowman Platinum autograph of Orioles pitcher Grayson Rodriguez.  

I have been really impressed with him in the Minors and his work in the Majors at the end of last season. I think he is going to have a really good season and his autographs are really inexpensive given his talent. I do not often advocate for people to spend money on autographs of prospects, but this is one of those moments.  

Hello, 2024.

A recent trip to Target yielded my first packs of 2024 Topps. 

I kind of dig this year's design, so I was somewhat excited that they were in stock and not completely picked over. In my opinion, the cards look like a cross between the 1986 Topps cards and the neon "DOUGHNUTS" sign at Krispy Kreme Doughnut shops.  

I really like the 1986 Topps set and I also like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, as long as they are being sold at their restaurant and not a grocery store. Krispy Kremes have to be hot or they're no good.  

Here are my firsts from my packs.

First card was Ronald Acuna.  

I also included a scan of the back of the card, because Acuna is card number 1. Convinient for set building purposes. Unfortunately, my second card was not card number 2, but I do like these card backs. 

I love how stolen bases happened last year. I miss the high totals of my childhood, which is probably another reason why I like the back of this Acuna card.  

First Cardinals card was Nolan Arenado.  

First former Durham Bulls player was Merill Kelly.  

He's turned into a really good pitcher. See the Diamondbacks in the World Series last year.  

A few other cards that were in my packs.....

Topps is doing holiday themed backgrounds this year. They were also in the Update set last year. I got three out of a blaster box. Springer is the best player in this group, but DeLuca was traded to the Rays and is a candidate to start the season in Durham. Seems like he might be a fun player to follow this year.  

We also have the 35th Anniversary reprints. Not sure why we have a Topps Heritage set at this point. I like the 1989 design, but the font is off on the player name. There is a Jim Edmonds autograph in this set, so I am sure I will go find that card at some point in the coming weeks.  

Best card I pulled was an Evan Carter blue framed parallel. He is the favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year this season.  The card is serial numbered out of 800, but several copies have sold for north of $100 already. 

Here is the card......

I am going to file Evan Carter away for safe keeping.  Might have to revisit this card later this summer depending on how the Rookie of the Year chasr is going.  

I also got two yellow parallels. These used to be in the packs at Walgreens, but I am guessing that they are now in all retail packs seeing how I bought these cards at Target. Nice looking cards, love the Corbin Carroll.  

Last card for today. I also landed a Matt Olson Home Run Challenge card.  

Does anyone actually play these cards? I feel like I have a stack of them from the past few years that went unused.  I am sure you win something for playing, but I am not sure if it is worth my time and effort.  

Anyway, I like the 2024 Topps set, so I will be writing more about it throughout the summer.  

2024 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 3

This is the 93rd Blake Snell autograph in my collection. I am closing in on 100 and am really excited about crossing that barrier later in the year. At this point, I am left trying to track down autographs with really low print-runs. Some very unique looking autographs, although they are also more expensive and the bidding can be more competitive on Ebay.  

The newest Blake Snell autograph was not on my radar until I saw it on Ebay.  

Front of the card.......

This is from the 2020 Topps set and is apart of the Commemorative Sleeve Patch insert set. It's not an actual sleeve patch, just a manufactured one with a sticker autograph. It's a nice looking patch, but it's also not really from Snell's jersey. This card also has a sticker autograph that is not very well blended with the rest of the card. I guess the important thing here is that the card is serial numbered to 10, which is why I did not own a copy until now. 

Back of the card.  

We've got the standard "CONGRATULATIONS!" back from Topps. I love the small print. We've got one small print font for the "THE SIGNING OF ALL TOPPS AUTOGRAPH CARDS IS WITNESSED" and a different font for "THE PATCH ON THE FRONT IS NOT REAL".  Topps should have written "CONGRATULATIONS" in an even larger font size.  

Random Ray - 1994 Topps Gold

Last week, I spent some time sorting out some 1990s sets and ran across a stack of 1994 Topps Gold cards. These per-pack-parallels were so much better than the one-per-box Topps Gold cards that current populate the Topps flagship product. 

Let's take a look at the 1994 Topps Gold Ray Lankford card.  

 

The difference between the Topps Gold and base cards in the 1994 flagship set are simple. There is the logo on the top left corner of the card and the player name in the bottom left. On the base card, both are white, while they are Gold Foil on the Topps Gold card. Simple changes, but they make for a nice looking baseball card.  

I don't want to take away from this great looking Ray Lankford card, so I am not going to post a modern Topps Gold card, but if you have never seen one, the border of the card is gold foil. It's a bit much. 

Beyond the gold foil, I love the action photograph of Ray Lankford on the front of this card. Almost positive that this is in Wrigley based on the dark green background. I wish it were a little less blurry, but I cannot think of another mid 1990s baseball stadium with dark green walls and grass.  

Back of the card.  

Standard Topps baseball card stats and biographical information. I like the little photo on the side and the little write-up on the bottom. Any time you get a write-up that compares Ray Lankford to one of the all-time franchise greats, or a Hall of Famer, I am going to be a fan. Lou Brock and Ray Lankford sound good in the same sentence.  

I know this is one of the Topps least popular base sets of all-time, but I honestly don't mind. It's not the 1983 or 1984 Topps set, but it's also not 2001.  

2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 15

Sunday afternoon was relaxing. My son and I attended our first NC State basketball game of the year. The women's team defeated two-time Missouri Valley Champions Illinois State by roughly 20 points. 

 

We spent a little time walking around campus after the game. Went by the College of Education, which has the worst building on campus. The building is currently closed due to high levels of metals and toxins found in the building.  

I blame the smokestack in the neighboring parking lot.  

Sunday evening also marked the end of an Ebay auction on my latest Blake Snell autograph.  I am really excited this card. I honestly did not expect to land this autograph when it came up for auction on Ebay during the past week. There have been several copies that have been listed as "Buy It Now" for prices north of $50. I was not willing to spend north of $50 for this card and I figured that number would be the ceiling used as people were bidding for the auction this past Sunday. 

I was wrong.   

The card landed well short of $50, not even half that amount for a 2023 Topps Update 1988 Topps Silver Pack Autograph of the former Padres and Rays pitcher. 

Here is the front of the card......

  

I love the Silver Pack cards, so shiny. I also love the 1988 Topps design. The photo leaves a little to be desired. However, I am really interested in the placement of the sticker autograph on this card. Typically, the sticker autographs run parallel to the top and bottom of the card. Someone at Topps decided to place this sticker autograph at an angle where it is parallel to the name plate.  

I really like the change here and it looks like Topps made this change on all the Silver Pack autographs in Topps Update.  The regular 1988 Topps autograph inserts have the typical sticker alignment.  

Back of the card.  

We've got the 1988 Topps back with the serial number in the top right-hand corner of the card. 

Where do you think Blake Snell will play next year?