Part II: Return Of The Nick

Picking up where I left off with Part I, here are the other twenty-some cards sent by Nick from Dime Boxes. Of the ones above I'm especially fond of, uh, well, they're all pretty cool in their own right. Ruben Rivera cards always make me smile because I think of "the worst baserunning in the history of the game". Seriously, stop reading this and take 1:15 to watch that.
...
Okay, you're back. That Perry card is pretty great, too. It's the only Ted Williams Card Co. card I have now; I had a bunch back when they came out but you know how that goes. Another company whose cards I was always a fan of is Pacific. This design is a pretty good representation of the sort of thing they brought to the table every year back then. I have the Joey and a couple of others from this set but that great sliding shot makes this one bonus-nice. I probably should have taken a better picture of that Interleague Showdown card but if making you squint is the worst thing I do today I'm going to call it a success. Sorry I'm lazy.

Ed Whitson and Bruce Hurst are two guys I don't go out of my way to collect but manage to have about a trillion cards apiece anyway. I actually didn't have either of these though so... nice! As for the Ausmus, that is some quality photography. Timing. It's everything. Also, it's weird seeing Joey Hamilton naked-faced. I always remember him with a big, round, David Wells-ish goatee on his big, round, David Wells-ish face.

In addition to the eight '84s I showed in Part I, Nick also sent along ten '83s. I'm pretty sure these are my first cards of Juan Bonilla and John "The Count" Montefusco. The Bonilla is my favorite of the batch because, well, you know how I feel about unsung second basemen.

Here are the other four of the aforementioned ten. I got really excited when I saw the Swisher. I have a card of him as a Cub but this is my first of him as a Friar. Not only is he Nick's dad, he is one of only four (hopefully soon to be five) West Virginia-born Padres. Can anybody name the other three? One's pretty obvious.

As luck would have it, very few of the cards he sent were ones I already had. In addition to one of the two Montefuscos above, only six cards are going on my ever-expanding doubles stack. I need to do an updated doubles post; it seems like the easiest way for Backstop and Underdog to let me know which ones I need to send their way. In addition to that OPC of Adrian Gonzalez, I have a bunch of non-double cards of him that I want rid of just because I don't collect people who say they "bleed Dodger blue".

These are the other three that will bring joy to another collector as I already have copies of them. And, yes, I still collect Mat Latos even though I assume he bleeds Reds red.

Wow, that was a lot of incredible cards! A huge thanks once again to Nick; I'm definitely going to have to package up my "Nick stack" and head to the post office in the very near future.

Nick Strikes Again, Pt. I

There are few things as great as pulling a bubble mailer out of the mailbox, looking at the return address, and seeing that it's from Nick of Dime Boxes fame. He has repeatedly mailed me nothing but awesomeness. Odd thing is, we've never made a formal trade. I won his first contest and he sent me a slew of great Padres and some other assorted gems; I sent him back some cards I thought he'd like and a casual pattern emerged. This "non-trade" method of trading is definitely my favorite. The surprised joy of unexpected new cards is what I imagine Christmas must be like for kids whose mom isn't in some cult that thinks it's a pagan holiday so you get screwed out of presents and everyone in school thinks you're a weirdo. But anyway, as I was saying... envelopes from Nick are great and this one was no different.

Up top are two of the first I saw and two of my favorites. I have very few A&G cards and this one is nice. Topps managed to photoshop the new uniform on him correctly- unlike Carlos Quentin and Huston Street's Heritage issues- but he hasn't had the dreads since he shaved them of in May, 2011. Details. It's a good look, though. I wonder if he misses his dreads as much as I miss mine? ...That McCovey is a thing of beauty.

Next up are some oddballs. That Chase is my first Padre from the 2012 Triple Play set. I got a pack of them as an impulse buy this summer and I'm a fan. They're cheap and fun, which seems to fit the Triple Play mold. I looked up both of the players on the Old Judge cards; neither made the majors but Randy Curtis did get to AAA briefly for two organizations.

Everyone likes O-Pee-Chee, right? I love that split second right as you're about to put a card on the doubles stack and then you notice that it's not a Topps logo. I'm going to assume that everybody else stores OPC cards side-to-side with their Topps counterparts also.

I feel like '84 Topps are underrated. For as much as I like them, I didn't have very many before now. Of these, all but the Kennedy are new to me. I also enjoy the logo in place of an extra face shot on the manager card. My favorite of the bunch is Gwosdz, though. It's pronounced "Goosh"; his teammates called him "Eye Chart".

Camouflage! Of all the camo jerseys the Padres have worn, the original ones as shown here on Mark Kotsay his first time around are my favorites. The camo jersey on Yefri Carvajal is of the Fort Wayne Wizards, before they became the TinCaps.

Here are a few randoms I didn't have. I'm sure everybody reading this knows that Rick Wise had the greatest individual game ever so I'm not going to bother you with the details.

This hasn't even been half of what he sent. I'm going to make this a two-parter just in the interest of anyone who might happen to be reading this. I've been neglecting this blog for a while so this will help get me on a roll. Thanks, Nick; not only did you send me incredible cards, you got me blogging here again!

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.