Another Joey Cora (And 23 Less Important Cards)

As I've mentioned before, I don't just collect Joey Cora cards like I collect, say, Tony Gwynn or someone. I'm out to accrue as many copies of each issue as possible. I recently came across a batch of 24 Padres from the 1990 Donruss set on Listia. While I already had all of the cards, I still bid on the lot just to get another copy of that Joey. Sure, it's a little ridiculous and doesn't hold up to the sanity test if I think about it very much but I suppose I could say the same about collecting in general.

More From The Mailbox

As I mentioned the other day, I still have a backlog of pictures of cards from Listia that I never got around to posting so here's another couple dozen or so. 

I know people have mixed feelings about it but I love the design of the '72 set, as pictured above. Those uniforms are understated classics as well.

Aki! All four of these were new to me but that Otsuka is my favorite of the bunch; probably because I only had one other card of him before this one. Shame on me. Also, every time I see or hear his name, I think of this.

Here's another '72 and a '74 of the Padres' first real star, Nate Colbert. Atop my list of dream cards is the "Washington, Nat'l" version of that '74.

The 1973 design is such a 180 from the '72s. So... restrained. I can't say I'm a fan of the yellow jersey over yellow pants look but thankfully that didn't last long. Also, note the terrible airbrush job on Dave Marshall; they didn't even bother getting rid of the blue pinstripes.

No, Randy Hundley isn't related to Nick Hundley... but he is Todd Hundley's dad. Something about that last name just makes people want to wear a chest protector for some reason.

Numbered cards have never really been my thing but a good deal is a good deal and you can never have enough Trevors. Or at least I can't.

The future and the past. I just hope Cory Luebke doesn't scurry off to New York first chance he gets.

I finally got a '69 Topps of a Padre! It seems like I already should have but I never stumbled across any or actively sought them out until I found this one. Selma started and won the Padres' first game in franchise history- do with that bit of knowledge whatever you will. Jose Arcia didn't do much beside looking totally serious business. Never let 'em see you smile.

Lastly for purposes of this post, here are two of my favorites. RJ and '75 Topps are both awesome so it only makes sense that this card would be double awesome. That 1980 Topps team checklist was my first card of Jerry Coleman.

That puts a ribbon on today's edition. I still have probably another post's worth of Listia picks before I can declare myself caught up in that regard. I also have pictures of what I picked up on my last trip to a card store which was about a month and a half ago so that says... something... about me. I'll try to get to those soon; enjoy your Tuesday!

Speaking Of '57 Topps...

Here's another Alexi Archive card I threw together. If it looks like it took approximately one minute that's because it did.

All Kinds Of Goodness (A Listia MegaPost)

Man, I have gotten soooo many cards from Listia. Not the past few weeks but that's a whole other story. I always- well, nearly always- would tend to take pictures of them almost right when I got them with the intent of posting them but we see how that turned out. So, I might as well show and tell about a slew of them so I can delete a bunch of pictures off of my lappy. Try not to get bored because I saved the best for last- and, trust me, it's worth the wait. It was worth the years of waiting it took me to get it.

First things first, up top are a few 2012 Topps I hadn't gotten yet. I already had the regular Logan but the Target Red Border was a nice addition.

Here are a couple of Geese. I didn't realize I already had the '88 Fleer when I bid for it but, as I recall, it was only 40 credits which equates to roughly one thin dime so I'm not complaining.

I had seen the card on the left before but never stumbled across it. On a side note, Mark Davis has got to be one of the most obscure Cy Young winners. Wait, that didn't sound right but I'm pretty sure you know what I mean. In other words, your casual fan would likely have never heard of him. On the right is a '95 Fleer. Dime Boxes' Nick always refers to it as the LSD set and for good reason. I remember at the time, the big deal was that they used a different design for each division. Amazingly, the NL West template was probably the tamest of the bunch. Eddie Williams is pictured here in his second of three tours of duty with the Padres.

I really like this Heritage issue of cult favorite Will Venable. Great smile, great card. I pictured it with a couple of actual '61 Topps cards. I actually got those on Listia as well; I've scored some pretty sweet vintage there and have started to post some of it over at NotPadres.

I've written about that Strom card before- well, kinda. Gotta love R.J.'s fro and that jersey. Don't gotta love Bobby V... Bleh.

Roberto Petagine had a long, successful career in Japan and even came back stateside in the mid-zeros but, again, that's a story for another time. It was hard to get a good picture of that Hermanson but you get the idea of what it does.

I have always really liked the '78 Topps design. A couple of these are doubles but they're all great. I spy with my little eye so much cool stuff in these eight cards. Two number one overall picks (Ivie and Almon), three mustaches, and two pairs of nice sideburns. There's a future Friars hitting coach in Merv Rettenmund and an early fan favorite in Gene Richards along with one of the most awesome names ever, Mike Champion. Also, why in the world is Richards choking up like that?

Here are a few of the many, many, many Gwynns I've picked up on Listia. I could, and very well may, do a megapost on just those. Or get back in the habit of doing "Tuesday's Tony Gwynn", "This Thursday's Gwynn" and stuff like that. I need to revive "Mustache Monday" too.

Wow, I'm not even halfway through my backlog of Listia picks so this officially just became Part I. But, I promised you a grand finale and this card won't disappoint. It's one I've wanted for yeeeeears and was beyond thrilled to get. It was part of a vintage bundle along with a 1970 Hoyt Wilhelm, a '73 Al Kaline, and others but was the only one I cared about.

IT'S THE COLONEL!!! Can you hang a star on that baby or what?!?! It's actually in remarkable condition for a 55 year old card. This is one I will absolutely not part with. Unless Jerry himself wants it but I don't see that happening. I already had a couple of '57 Topps cards but this was always the one I wanted to have. And now I do!

Well, that's that for now. There will be an inevitable Part II of this; I won't guarantee when but I'll try to make it soon. As always, thanks for reading; have a great Sunday!

...Part IV

(This is the third in a series of post about a slew of cards I recently got from Marcus from all the way to the backstop...)

 Here are a 1970 and '72 Topps he sent along. Leron Lee, if I recall correctly is Derrek Lee's uncle and did well in Japan. I already had a couple of '72s but this one was new to me as was the '70 Dick Kelley card. It was my oldest Padres card for a day until my '69 Dick Selma arrived the next day. Life's weird.

 You can never go wrong with '75 Topps or Mother's Cookies cards. These were actually issued by Keebler in 2000; I'm assuming they bought Mother's because the design, front and back, is the same.

 Also in the mix were numerous recent Topps Chrome cards- more than just the ones pictured- in various parallels. Ryan Ludwick may not have had the greatest year in San Diego but I never hated him like most seemed to- plus, that's one snazzy card. Yes, I just said 'snazzy'. Apparently I'm 60 now. The Zawadzki cards are a nice add, too. He's one of the handful of Aztec alumni who went on to play for the Padres. In fact, as noted on the backs of these cards, he had Petco Park's first hit back in his SDSU days... but you already knew that.

Here's a nice little add-on he threw in. I'm a big fan of destroying cards of Dodgers. I passed these along in another package I recently mailed out.

Coming up later today or tomorrow or sometime eventually: Part V

More Coras!

 

(This is the third in a series of post about a slew of cards I recently got from Marcus from all the way to the backstop...) 

Marcus also included these seven Joey Cora cards (along with another of him as a Mariner). He apparently remembered that I had remarked in my writeup of our last trade that "I can never have enough Joey Cora cards. Duplicates, I don't care; I want them all. Marcus knows the way to my heart and included four- one I didn't have a copy of." I had to blink a few times; that got a little meta and deja vu-y.

But anyway, for anybody who's reading this, I was and am dead serious. If you have some Joey Cora cards, I'm your guy. Like I said, I want as many copies as possible of every single issue he's been on. Padres, White Sox, Mariners, Indians, whatever. I'll accommodate all reasonable trade requests- in other words, I won't trade a '57 Jerry Coleman for a '94 Joey but yeah...

Tuesday's Ten Gwynns

These ten (well, technically eleven total) Tony Gwynn cards were part of the aforementioned package from Marcus. A few went on the doubles stack but the majority were sorted in with my other couple hundred Gwynns in chronological order. I especially like the Bowman in the middle of the bottom row and the 2005 Topps issue to its right commemorating his 1995 batting title.

...I'll be back tomorrow or later tonight with the rest of the massive score of cards he sent my way.

Four Finleys From A Fellow Friar Fan

I got these from Marcus of all the way to the backstop.... I had recently sent him a few Finleys and oddly we both got our cards from the other on the same day. He sent waaaaay more, though. I already posted some of the non-Padres cards he sent over at NotPadres and I'll do a follow-up to this here later today or tomorrow. I'll also probably profile all of the Dave Staton cards he sent over at Gaslamp Ball because Staton and GLB go together like three and four.

Kyle Blanks Autograph

I just won this on Listia. Sorry I haven't posted here in a while; I've been doing most of my card blogging as my Cardboard Corner feature over at Gaslamp Ball- here's my most recent post. But while I'll be doing posts on specific players and cards over there, I'll still keep FoC around for broader stuff such as trades, auction pickups, pack rips and stuff like that. And scoring a new autograph for my small but growing auto collection definitely falls into that category.

Finleys For A Friend

I think I've made it abundantly clear that Marcus, the man behind all the way to the backstop... is one of my very favorite card bloggers. I almost said favorite but that wouldn't have been fair to Kevin of Orioles Card "O" The Day or Nick from Dime Boxes. Let's just call it a three-way tie for first since that's the trifecta of card blogs I absolutely check every day. Props-giving aside, the reason I mention that is because I usually try to keep an eye out for cards of players who people I know are collectors of and Marcus is a Finley guy. I got the three pictured at top with him in mind. If he doesn't have them, awesome. If he does, well, that's awesome too because then I'll have some sweet Steve Finley cards I didn't have before. It's about as win-win as any scenario could be. The '92 OPC is pretty much the same story. I just bid on it on Listia as part of a five card lot; none of the other cards are of any interest. I thought there was a chance he might not have it since O-Pee-Chee cards are a good bit more scarce than their Topps brethren down here south of the Great White North.  So, Marcus, just let me know which ones of these, if any, you don't have and I'll get 'em Texas-bound.

Another Giles Autograph

So, a week after I got my first Brian Giles autographed card, I got another one. Oddly, it came from the same person as the first one, although this time it was through Listia, not a trade. I really didn't think that I'd win it when I bid on it but, hey, I'll take it.

Cards From Sam, Pt. II

These are those other two autographed cards I mentioned yesterday. I was a fan of both of these guys during their playing days. Of course, that pretty much goes without saying because there have been very few Padres who I've actively disliked while they were part of the team. Now, though, I have an active disdain toward Giles and I think we all know why.

Cards From Sam, Pt. I

Recently I gathered up a bunch of my Padres doubles, some other cool Padres cards and some Yankees cards and mailed them off my pal and yours Sam. In return, he sent me a whole slew of cards, including a ton of Padres and some non-Padres cards of favorite players of mine such as Joey Cora, John Kruk, Jay Buhner and Scott Radinsky along with some one-time Padres pictured with other teams. [side note: Sheesh, I have used the word "some" so much already.] Also included were four autographed cards, two of which are pictured above and the other two which will lead of tomorrow's Pt. II.

That's the whole batch. On the left are the Padres and the others are on the right. We'll dig a little deeper into the left stack tomorrow and I guess I'll write about the ones on the right over at NotPadres.

Oh, You Know...

How rad is that card? I usually just collect turdy, bottom-of-the-barrel base cards from cheap sets because, yeah, I'm not going to bother finishing that sentence. You get it, I'm poor. But, you know, because this post follows the same theme as the three-or-I-don't-even-care-enough-to-count before it; it was a Listia pick. As for Sampson himself- well, you know the axiom that there is no such thing as a pitching prospect. I mean, he doesn't look lost like Steve Blass or anything but he did get dinged up and is still a work in progress. I think he'll be a productive Major Leaguer but that's just because I'm a blind optimist- only when it comes to the Padres, though. Life in general is a different story...

Another Score Santiago

Another day, another card of Benito Santiago by Score that I got from Listia. This one is a 1988 issue and it commemorates Santiago's rookie record 34 game hitting streak. From the back: "He's a rookie catcher whose mind isn't on hitting all the time," said teammate Tony Gwynn. "He's got catching duties, he's calling pitches and he's trying to throw out runners. That's what makes it so amazing."

Dream Team

Here's another recent Listia pickup of a card I used to have but lost somewhere along the line; it's nice to welcome a new copy. Back when they came out, I thought all of the shots in the Dream Team sets were pretty awesome but this one was a personal favorite for obvious reasons.

On a side note, I'll try to start posting more frequently again- even if it is just a few sentences like this one.

Quick Turnover

These four cards aren't in my collection anymore. Last week I was putting together a return package for All The Way To The Backstop and had just sent all of my Padres doubles to my friend Sam but I had to include some Friars so I grabbed these off the top of a stack of cards I had recently gotten. They seemed like a better inclusion than a bunch of random commons and I thought there was a better chance of him not having these. I also tossed in a Rizzo he needed, an old Rollie Fingers card and some other Padres I can't recall off the top of my head to go along with some Nolan Ryans, Rangers and a slew of catchers pictured in their gear that he probably has most of anyway. At any rate, I hopes he liked what he got.

More Of The Same

Here's another card I got off of Listia. It's a classic and one I'd lost somewhere along the way so it was nice to get a new copy. It arrived in stellar condition; of course it wouldn't have mattered if it was beat up since it was free. I also picked up a couple new Joey Cora cards and the coolest keychain ever.

Free Card!

Sorry if that title was misleading. I'm not giving away a free card; I just got one. I recently made a Listia account after reading about Marcus's success with it. Basically, it's an auction site using credits rather than actual cash money and you get a slew of credits just for signing up. I've won quite a few cards on there in the past week and posted some doubles so I can turn them into new cards...

On a side note, I did a card-related piece for Gaslamp Ball today in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Tony Gwynn's debut. I had never let my baseball card nerding filter into my "work" over there since they issued me my Intern hat but this idea seemed like it'd go over well there- plus, I liked it well enough that I wanted more than FoC's three regulars to read it...

Another Trade With All The Way To The Backstop

I just got done putting together a return package for Marcus of All The Way To The Backstop so I thought it was about time to do a post about the cards I got from him last weekend. There were so many good cards. Above is what appears to be the entire '86 Fleer team set- minus the Tony, the Garvey and the Hoyt, which I already had and sent the doubles of to Sam. If it isn't the entire team set, it's close enough.
I can never have enough Joey Cora cards. Duplicates, I don't care; I want them all. Marcus knows the way to my heart and included four- one I didn't have a copy of.
Speaking of him being in the know about who I'm all about, he sent these two Jedd Gyorko cards. Jedd, for those of you who don't know, is batting .355 in AAA and making the concept of trading Chase Headley a distinct possibility. I've been a fan of his since before the Padres drafted him in 2010- he was born and raised in West Virginia and played for WVU.
Yes, another Dave Staton card! I've added a few to the collection since the Sisterhood project began. On a side note, I've always liked those BP pullovers Lolich and Dade are shown rocking.
As much as I dislike Boch and his current employer, I still collect his cards as a Padre and that's a nice one I didn't have. I've always liked that 'Dream Team' Robbie Alomar card; I'm glad to get a new copy.
Lastly, here are a couple of current Padres. It's always good to pick up newer cards through trades as I rarely buy new packs. Thanks again to Marcus for the new Friars cards; I hope he likes what he's getting back.