Night Owl Cards Moves

Recently I sent some Topps Archive, Gypsy Queen and Stadium Clubs cards to Greg of Night Owl Cards. 

 

Earlier this month, he wrote about those cards on his blog.

 

night owl cards blog

Night Owl blog is always an amusing read and I like to try to find time to read it and really enjoy it.  So I was happy to help him out with these cards.

 

This week, I received a package of cards from Night Owl.  I remember that last year, Greg and I completed a trade when I sent him a Topps 1972 Maury Wills In Action card that was on his Nebulous 9 list.  He wrote a great blog about his dealings in acquiring this card.

night owl cards blog for Maury Wills In Action card

With this current package received from Greg, he had remembered that I collected A's cards and sent many different cards that are additions to my collection.

 

Some of the cards he sent included:

A's Hall of Fame Pitchers

Night Owl sent a couple of Hall of Famers from the Upper Deck That's 70's set.

2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970's Catfish Hunter Card #5 and Rollie Fingers Card #7 

A Topps error card

Night Owl included a 2007 Topps Update card of Chris Denorfia.  Greg pointed out that this was an uncorrected error card as the name on the front of the card is Carlos Carrasco.

Front of 2007 Topps Update Chris Denorfia Card #40 (note listed as Carlos Carrasco)  

 

Back of 2007 Topps Update Chris Denorfia 

Topps Heritage cards

Night Owl also sent a couple 2008 Topps Heritage cards.  Ryan Sweeney and Sean Gallagher were new to the A's in the 2008 season as they both came from Chicago.  Sweeney was traded by the White Sox in a winter deal that sent outfielder Nick Swisher to Chicago and Gallagher was acquired in a July trade with the Cubs in a deal that the A's also received minor league catcher Josh Donaldson. 

2008 Topps Heritage Ryan Sweeney Card #512 and Sean Gallagher Card #544

Hall of Famer, Dennis Eckersley

Night Owl sent a couple cards of A's relief ace, Dennis Eckersley.

1995 Bazooka Dennis Eckersley Card #21 and 2016 Stadium Club Card #70 

Scratch Off Game card of Mark McGwire

A 1993 Triple Play Action Mark McGwire card was included in the package.  This card is an unused scratch off three inning game with Mark McGwire's pictured on the front of the card.

1993 Triple Play Action Mark McGwire Card #23

 

Inside the 1993 Triple Play Action Mark McGwire

First baseman, Dave Revering

The pack also had a 1981 Donruss Dave Revering Card #117.

Dave Revering was a top prospect for the Reds, when in 1977, he hit 29 home runs with 110 RBI for the Reds' Triple A affiliate Indianapolis Indians. In December 1977, the Reds announced a deal in which they would acquire pitcher Vida Blue from the A's for Revering and $1.75 million. However, commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the deal as he felt that the trade wasn’t in the best, competitive interest of baseball.  The A's and Reds later work out a deal for Revering when in February 1978 he and cash was sent to Oakland for reliever Doug Bair.   The original trade was mentioned on the back of this card but says that only one million dollars was to be exchanged. 

1981 Donruss Dave Revering Card #117

 

Back of 1981 Donruss Dave Revering Card

1st Draft Pick, Rick Monday

I was happy to get the 2016 Topps Archives Rick Monday #1 Draft Pick card.  I have some of the Archive cards from this year but was bummed that I didn't have this Monday card.  Monday was the starting centerfielder for the A's during their first three seasons in Oakland (1968-70).  I liked this card as it pictured him in a Kansas City A's uniform, as he played parts of the 1966 and 1967 there.

 

Monday was the 1st player ever selected in the baseball amateur draft.  In 1965, Major League Baseball initiated an amateur player draft.  The Kansas City A's had the first pick of the draft and selected Monday, who was an Arizona State Sun Devil outfielder.

 

It looks like the picture used on the Archive card was taken at the same time as the photo that was used on Monday's Topps 1968 card. 

2016 Topps Archives #1 Draft Pick Rick Monday Card #85DP-RM  

1968 Topps Rick Monday Card #282  

Reusing photos

When determining which photograph to use on a baseball card, I would believe that the best picture available depicting the player would be selected.  At times, the same photograph has been used on more than one card.

Deron Johnson

Previous blogs have mentioned that Topps use of the same photograph on three different Deron Johnson rookie cards, in their 1959, 1960, and 1961 sets.

1959 Topps Deron Johnson Card #131

 

1960 Topps Deron Johnson Card #134

 1961 Topps Deron Johnson Card #68

Deron Johnson played 16 seasons in the Major Leagues as an infielder, outfielder, and designated hitter for the Yankees, Kansas City & Oakland Athletics, Phillies, Red Sox, Reds, White Sox, Braves, and Brewers.  He finished his career with a .244 batting average (1447 hits in 5941 at bats) and 245 home runs and 923 RBI.  In 1965, as a member of the Reds, Johnson topped the National League with 130 RBI.

Earl Wilson

Topps used the same photo for Earl Wilson's 1968, 1969, and 1970 cards.

1968 Topps Earl Wilson Card #305

 

1969 Topps Earl Wilson Card #160

 

1970 Topps Earl Wilson Card #95

Earl Wilson was a right-handed pitcher who played eleven seasons in the Major Leagues with the Red Sox, Tigers, and Padres.  On June 26, 1962, Wilson no hit the Los Angeles Angels, winning the game 2-0. He helped his own cause with a home run off Angel starting pitcher, Bo Belinsky.  Wilson finished his career with 121 wins and 109 losses and a 3.69 ERA with 1,452 strikeouts.  In 1967, while pitching for the Tigers, Wilson lead the American League with 22 victories.

Stan Musial 

The same photography that Topps used on Stan Musial's 1962 card was used as an insert photo on his 1963 card.  It also appears that Topps reused that same picture on their 1999 Hall of Fame Collection Insert card and their 2001 Topps Stars card.

1962 Topps Stan Musial Card #50

1963 Topps Stan Musial Card #250

 

1999 Topps Hall of Fame Collection Stan Musial Card #HOF3

2001 Topps Star Stan Musial Card #142

Stan Musial, nicknamed "Stan the Man", spent 22 seasons as an outfielder and first baseman for the Cardinals. He played from 1941 to 1944 and 1946 to 1963. He was a three-time National League Most Valuable Player and was named to 24 All-Star teams.  Widely considered as one of the games greatest hitters, Musial was inducted in to the Hall of Fame in 1969.

 

For his career, Musial batted .331 and when he retired he set National League records for career hits (3,630), RBI (1,951), games played (3,026), at bats (10,972), run scored (1,949) and doubles (725).  Most of these records where later broken by Pete Rose.  At his retirement, Musial's 475 home runs ranked second in National League history behind Mel Ott's 511.

Cole Hamels

This year, it appears that Topps has used the same photograph on Cole Hamels regular issued card and his Topps Finest card.

2016 Topps Cole Hamels Card #588

 

2016 Topps Finest Cole Hamels Card #23

 

You've gotta believe that today, Topps has many different photos to choose from when issuing cards.  I am kinda surprised to see that they reused what appears to be the same Hamels photograph.

 

Cole Hamels, a left-handed pitcher, is currently a member of the Texas Rangers.  He is in his 11th Major League season and a four-time All Star.  He previously pitched for the Phillies and as a member of the Phillies, they won the 2008 World Series, and Hamels was the Most Valuable Player of the series.  As of August 20, for the 2016 season, Hamels has 13 wins and four losses for the first-place Rangers. 

Cesar Geronimo

I have found where a same photograph of Cesar Geronimo was used on his Topps 1975 card and his 1976 Hostess card.  This is one time that I remember where the same picture was used by two different companies.  

 

1975 Topps Cesar Geronimo Card #41

 1976 Hostess Cesar Geronimo Card #150

Cesar Geronimo played 15 seasons in the Major Leagues for the Astros, Reds, and Royals.  While playing with the Reds in the 1970s, he was the starting centerfielder of the "Big Red Machine".  Geronimo was a four-time Gold Gloves winner (1974-1977) and was a member of two World Series Championship teams, in 1975 and 1976, while playing with the Reds. 

 

Geronimo finished his career with a .258 batting average (977 hits in 3780 at bats) with 51 home runs and 392 RBI.  In July 2008, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.

ebay buys

Recently I was looking at baseball cards on ebay.  I came across a 1985 Topps Circle K Home Run Kings card of Lee May.  The bid on the card was at a penny, shipping included.
 

I liked the card so I figured I make a offer.  I upped the bid to six cents and then ended up winning the auction.  I have added the card to my Lee May collection.

 

 

So I figured I'd look on ebay and bid 25 cents for any card, with shipping included, if I felt that I would buy that card if I found it in a quarter box. 

 

So here are some of the cards I won.

 

1991 Sportflics 3D Kellogg's Corn Flakes Baseball Greats Ralph Kiner (Card #15, 24 cents).

 

 

I have a few of these Kellogg's Corn Flakes Baseball Greats and add this Kiner card to my collection.

 

 

 

2015 Topps Gold Brandon Crawford  (Numbered 1250 of 2015, Card #159, 22 cents)

 

 

I liked this 2015 Topps Brandon Crawford numbered gold card.  Crawford was an all-star, Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger shortstop with the Giants last year.

 

2016 Panini Donruss Optic Diamond Kings Billy Burns (Card #20, 21 cents)

 

 

Billy Burns had a good rookie season for the A's last year, when he finished the season with 26 stolen bases, a total which tied him for third in the American League .  However, he struggled with the team early this season and was optioned to the minors in July and then was sent to the Royals in a trading deadline deal.  As Panini is unable to show team insignias, this card reminded me of the Topps 1968 set, the season the A's moved from Kansas City to Oakland, as some cards in that set blacked the KC lettering on player's caps.

 

Topps 1968 Jack Aker Card #224 

(This card always made me think that Aker was pitching in the yard of my childhood home)

 

Topps 1968 John Donaldson Card #244

Topps 1968 Dave Duncan Card #261   

 

1999 Upper Deck Challengers for 70 Mark in History Mark McGwire (Card #M9, 22 cents)

 

 

I added this Mark McGwire Mark In History card with eight other cards from the set that I had picked out of dime box at a card show earlier this spring.

 



 

2007 Topps 52 Chrome Joba Chamberlain (Card #TCRC95, 25 cents)

 

 

Although Chamberlain never lived up to the hype he garnered when he first came to the majors with the Yankees, I still nabbed this card for a quarter.

 

2005 Upper Deck Bound For Glory Albert Pujols (Card #451, 15 cents)

 

 

This card is from 2005, when Pujols won the first of his three Most Valuable Player awards while he played with the Cardinals.  Pujols' next home run will be his 583, which will tie him with Mark McGwire for tenth on the all-time career home run list.  

 

2016 Stadium Club Greg Maddux (Card #122, 23 cents)

 

 

 

This 2016 Stadium Club Greg Maddux joins another former Braves' Hall of Famer hurler, Phil Niekro, as part of my collection of Stadium Cards from this year. 

 



 

1999 Upper Deck Decade Dominators Roberto Alomar (Card #X3, 10 cents)

 

 

2006 Bowman Chrome Howie Kendrick (Card #BDP40, 15 cents)

 

 

2009 Topps Ticket To Stardom Dustin Pedroia (Card #118, 10 cents) 

  

 

These cards are of second basemen including Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, Howie Kendrick, who is currently playing for the Dodgers, and Red Sox 2008 Most Valuable Player, Dustin Pedroia.

 

I was able to snag these 11 cards for less than two bucks.