Sunday Best: 2015 Topps Triple Threads

Showcasing some of the best things in my collection.

I've had my eyes on this card, or a version of this card for a while now. It's a 2015 Triple Threads patch card featuring Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Owings, and Yasmany Tomas. Like I mentioned there are a few versions of this card, but this version has patches and is numbered 7/9.

Paul Goldschmidt is the face of the D-Backs franchise and the Yasmany Tomas is owed so much that I don't think he's going anywhere soon, but Chris Owings' name has been mentioned a lot this off season. He might end up getting moved before the season starts.

I recently joined a Facebook group called Kgsportscards and someone put this card up for sale for $20 shipped. I offered $15 and he accepted. I added $1 to cover the PayPal fees, so it cost me $16 shipped and think I got a pretty good deal. I was a little nervous purchasing it outside of ebay, but the seller was great. I bought on a Friday and got it on Monday.

Anyone else out there a part of any sports card Facebook groups?

2015 Topps Update Paul Goldschmidt All-Star Stitches

I like relic cards that feature a relic from a specific game or event. So the All-Star Stitches cards that Topps puts out every year in their Update set are right up my alley.

I'm working on the 2011 Topps Update All-Star Stitches set because I attended that All-Star Game. For the other years I try to pick up the Diamondbacks players.

I've wanted to pick up the Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock from the 2015 set for a while, but the prices on ebay were just higher than I wanted to pay.But my patience paid off, literally.

I picked up this 2015 Topps Update Paul Goldschmidt All-Star Stitches card off ebay for $3.85 shipped.

I still need to pick up the A.J. Pollock. Let me know if anyone has it for trade.

Anyone else out there a fan of the All-Star Stitches jersey cards?

TTM Success: Marcus Hamilton (Dennis the Menace)

Debuting on March 12, 1951, Dennis the Menace comic strip follows the well intention-ed, but mischievous five year-old Dennis Mitchell. Created by Hank Ketcham, the cartoon is still drawn daily by Marcus Hamilton and Ron Ferdinand and is distributed in at least 10,000 newspapers in 48 countries.

The comic has spawned several tv shows, both live action and animated, as well as movies and even a U.S. postage stamp.

I sent four blank index cards to Marcus Hamilton sometime late last year. Mr. Hamilton draws the Dennis the Menace daily cartoons. I gave him the names of my three boys and asked for a drawing and autograph for each of us. I couldn't have been more pleased with how they all turned out!

Anyone else a Dennis the Menace fan? How about other comic strips? Have you ever sent an autograph request to Mr. Hamilton or any other cartoonists? Let me know!

Sunday Best: 2013 Triple Threads Paul Goldschmidt Patch Auto 2/10

Sunday Best will be a new blog feature where I will showcase some of the best items in my collection!

I got this card in this week from ebay. The price? $8.99 shipped. You read that correctly. I didn't forget to add a number. $8.99 with free shipping was the Buy-It-Now price!

I couldn't believe it when I saw the price and was fumbling on my phone to purchase it as quickly as possible. Then I played the waiting game, wondering if I was actually going to get it. I thought the seller was going to cancel the order or I'd get the package and it would be empty or something like that.

I was extremely excited when it arrived safe and sound. Even with the sticker auto it's one of my favorite Goldschmidt cards!

What is the best deal you've ever gotten on ebay?

TTM Success from The Penguin

Anyone out there watch Gotham? I'm a big fan. Just in case you aren't familiar with the show, it follows a young Bruce Wayne after his parents are murdered. Detective Jim Gordon is assigned to the case and at the same time is trying to clean up Gotham.

Season 2 is deemed the Rise of the Villains and we learn the origin stories of Catwoman, the Joker, the Riddler, Poison Ivy, and the Penguin; among others.

Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. the Penguin, is a huge part of the show and is played superbly by Robin Lord Taylor.

While I would love to have gotten Taylor's autograph, this post is about another Penguin. 

I sent these two dime box pick-ups to Ron Cey, nicknamed The Penguin, on 1/4/16 and got them back signed just 1 week later, 1/11/16. 

Cey made 6 straight All-Star teams from 1974-79 and was a co-MVP (along with Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager) of the 1981 World Series.

So there you have it, A Tale of Two Penguins. 

What other sports - super hero related nicknames are out there. I haven't given it much thought because I want to have you answer, but off the top of my head, Shaq; among his many, mostly self-imposed nicknames, is Superman. Who else? 

TTM Success: Carrie Fisher

I thought about saving this to post on May 4th, but was too excited to wait. I sent this playing card and an index card on January 4th and got them back signed just 1 week later; January 11th.

Carrie Fisher is best know for playing Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy and she was in the newest film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as General Leia.

From what I gather, most people involved in the Star Wars films aren't very good ttm signers because they make decent money at Star Wars conventions signing autographs, so when I saw that Carrie Fisher was signing through the mail I had to give it a shot.

The autographs turned out great! Couldn't be happier!

The Force Awakens is now the highest grossing film of all-time, at least in the US. I've seen it twice. Every once in a while though I will run into someone that has never seen any of the Star Wars movies.

Please comment below if you're never seen any of the Star Wars movies.

For those of you that are Star Wars fans, how many times have you seen The Force Awakens?

2015 Topps Tribute Paul Goldschmidt Printing Plate

I picked up this 2015 Topps Tribute Paul Goldschmidt Printing Plate off eBay recently.

Most printing plates are just the printing plate with a sticker on the back. I've noticed that the Tribute printing plates have the regular card back. Which back do you prefer or do you shy away from printing plates? 

TTM Success: Alan young

I saw a fellow YouTuber get a ttm autograph back from Alan Young a while back and so I got some photos printed off and sent to him.

For those of you not familiar with Alan Young, he is an actor. He is probably most recognized for his role of Wilber on the TV show Mr. Ed, which paired him with Mr. Ed, the talking horse.



I've see Mr. Ed before and it's a good show, but that's not the reason I wanted to write to Mr. young for his autograph. You see, Alan Young is also a voice actor and as such he played the part of Scrooge McDuck in all the Disney cartoons and movies, including Duck Tales.

Duck Tales was probably my favorite cartoon as a kid! Huey, Dewey, and Louie were always getting into trouble, there was plenty of adventure with Launchpad and Gadget around, and there was a constant threat of the Beagle Boys stealing all of Scrooge's money from his money bin.

So I sent him four of the same pictures and asked him to personalize one to me and one to each of my boys who I have introduced to Duck Tales as well.

Anyone else out there a fan of Duck Tales? Anyone ever got a voice actors autograph before? If so, who?

Don Mossi

Born this day in 1930, Donald Louis Mossi turns 86 years old today. Not sure when it started, but I think I started a Don Mossi collection.

Mossi had a nice career, playing from 1954 to 1965 for the Indians, Tigers, White Sox, and Athletics. He was an All-Star in 1957 while with the Cleveland Indians.


Here is a 1956 Topps card that I picked up recently.

Anyone else ever accidentally start a collection of someone?

2009 Bowman Chrome Brandon Webb Gold Parallel

I picked up this 2009 Bowman Chrome Brandon Webb Gold Parallel card off ebay early in December, but haven't gotten a chance to show it until now.

I collect Brandon Webb and am close to 300 different cards. This card is my 296th and I think I may be missing a few that came in via trades and care packages late last year.

I really like gold parallels and most are numbered to 50, so that makes them even better. I like red parallels as well because how they pair with the D-Backs uniforms. Does anyone else have a favorite parallel color?

Secret Contest - Check to see if you won!

Up for grabs is this 2015 Topps Chrome Edwin Escobar autographed rookie card.

So what do you have to do to enter to win. Nothing. You've already done it. Everyone that has commented on one of my posts from 2016 gets a spot. More than one comment, equals more than one spot.

With that said, here are those that got spots.

Sports Card Collector - II
Fuji - IIII
Uncle Moe
Jeff Jones
Tony Burbs
Hackenbush
Lifetime Topps
Night Owl
John Miller
LoneStar - II
Nick

Thank you to everyone that reads my blog and especially to those that comment! I looked it up and I believe Escobar's number is 51. I'm not going to randomize it 51 times, but I added the 5 + 1 and so I randomized it 6 times. Here is the winner:

Congrats Hackenbush! Please send me your address. Since Fuji had the most comments I'm also going to reward you as well. So send me your address as well Fuji. Thanks again to everyone that participated without even knowing it!

TTM Success: Dick Perez

I didn't do a great job keeping track of my ttm requests near the end of last year. I got this card back from artist Dick Perez sometime in December, but I'm not sure of the specific date and I also don't know when I sent it, but my guess is that it took about a month.

Dick Perez is probably most well known for his work for Donruss and the Diamond Kings cards. You can see that he was honored with a card of his own. I know of at least one other Diamond King card that features him, but it's a checklist and the picture of him is really small.

Baseball cards featuring someone, or something, other than a baseball player are fairly common these days, especially with Allen & Ginter, but this 1994 card is an early example of a card in a baseball set featuring a non baseball player.

Can you think of an earlier card in a baseball set that features someone other than a baseball player or official (I know there are cards that have featured league presidents and the commissioner)?

An unexpected case hit!

Last Saturday I went to my LCS for an auction and before checking out I had my son pick us out two packs of 2015 Topps Chrome.

We each opened a pack when we got to the car. I didn't think I got anything good, but on Sunday I checked the odds of the insert card I got and was surprised to see that the Chrome Culminations card I got was 1:288 packs. That made it a case hit!

It's Yadier Molina so it's not the biggest name in the set, but with 20 cards in the set at 1 in every 288 packs it makes the odds of pulling any one player 1 in 5,760 packs.

I put it on eBay.I haven't sold anything on eBay in a while so I know I'm going to be sickened by all the fees, but at least it will cover the cost of the two packs. By the time this is posted I'm guessing that it will already be sold because I've already had 3 offers. 

Here is the rest of the pack, including a nice Jorge Soler RC. 

1950 Bowman Eddy Fitzgerald

I purchased a 5 card lot of 1950 Bowman cards last Saturday at an auction at my local card shop and I already showed a Vic Raschi RC and a Larry Jansen card.

That means that there are three remaining cards. You'll only see one card below and that is because the other two are already on there way to another blogger.

This Eddy Fitgerald card is all that remains and it will end up in my World War II collection since Ed spent time in Europe in the Army during World War II.

1950 Bowman Larry Jansen

This 1950 Bowman Larry Jansen card was part of the lot that I recently won at an auction at my local card shop.

Jansen won 21 games as a rookie in 1947 and was the runner up to Jackie Robinson for the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award.

His best season was probably 1951 when he led the National League in victories with 23 wins. This included winning the October 3, 1951 game between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers which featured "the shot heard 'round the world" home run by Bobby Thompson which resulted in the Giants winning the pennant and advancing to the World Series.

1950 Bowman Vic Raschi RC

Most of you reading this are probably not familiar with Vic Raschi. I know I wasn't familiar with Vic Raschi until last month when I read about him in a book called 1954: The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever.  

Vic made his major league debut in 1946 for the Yankees and pitched for them during the next 8 seasons. He finished his career with 2 seasons split between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Athletics. His time with the Cardinals and the Athletics is somewhat forgettable, although he did give up Hank Aaron's first career home run while pitching for St. Louis.

During his time in New York; however, Vic was a star pitcher for a team that won five straight World Championships. Raschi averaged more than 20 victories between 1948 and 1951 and was a 4 time All-Star (1948, 1949, 1950, and 1952). In 1951 Raschi didn't make the All-Star team, but he did lead the American League in strikeouts that season.

I picked up this 1950 Bowman rookie card of Vic Raschi as part of a 5 card lot in an auction at my local card shop, The Batter's Box, on Saturday, January 2nd.

For the 5 card lot I paid $5.50. This card was the main reason I purchased the lot. 

Let me know, prior to reading this had you ever heard of Vic Raschi?

500 Home Run Club Bat Card of David Ortiz

David Ortiz joined the 500 Home Run Club during the 2015 season. Shortly after he joined the club I picked up a bat card of his to add to my 500 Home Run Club Bat Card Collection.

I'm trying to organize some things and realized that I never added this to my 500 Home Run Club Bat Card Collection post and never put it with the rest of that part of my collection.

It will probably be several years before another player joins the 500 Home Run Club. Adrian Beltre is the closest active player to 500 home runs and he's at 413 homers. The only other active player with more than 400 home runs is Miguel Cabrera with 408. Mark Teixeria and Carlos Beltran are both in the 390's but the next closest after that is Ryan Howard at 357.

Who do you think will be the next player to reach the 500 Home Run Club. My guess is Miguel Cabrera.

Prize Package from Sport Card Collectors

Sport Card Collectors recently held a few contests and I was one of the winners. If you aren't familiar with Sport Card Collectors then be sure to check it out. In addition to sports cards, they post a variety of non-sports cards as well.

In fact, the contest was for some Cryptozoic cards featuring the tv show Arrow. I'm a fan of Arrow, so this was a cool little prize pack. Thank you very much Sport Card Collectors!

These cards are from season 2 and I think the first 3 cards are inserts.

I think this card featuring Oliver vs Slade is a base card, but it's my favorite of the 4. 

Over the years I've bought a few non-sports cards. I think that the only box I've ever bought was for the show 24. Anyone else out there collect non-sports cards? 

Happy New Year!

For the past several years I've always taken two weeks off work around Christmas and New Years which allows me plenty of time to post about the previous year hobby wise and think about hobby related goals for the upcoming year.

But I took a week off in October for a family vacation and then another week earlier in December for a trip to Disneyland, so I didn't want to use up the majority of the rest of my vacation so early into the fiscal year (my vacation time is from September 1 - August 31).

Anyways, I didn't have any extra time to reminisce about the previous year until today. I had a lot of hobby related goals for 2015 and looking back I actually think I did pretty good. I won't go over all of them, but I did send out close to 100 ttm requests, finished my 3000 Hit Club Bat Card Collection and Diamondbacks Bobblehead Collection. I also added some nice vintage to my collection including a 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie card and a 1968 Topps Johnny Bench rookie card!

When I picked up the Hank Aaron rookie card I decided that I would go after all of Aaron's Topps base cards from his playing days. This is from last year, but I haven't showed it off yet on my blog, so here is Hank Aaron's 1956 Topps card.

Hoping to add many more Hank Aaron cards to my collection in 2016!