Happens to every guy sometimes this does

I recently completed a trade with JediJeff from 2 x 3 Heroes.  I had written a blog seeing if there was anyone out there who was interested in trading for some 2015 Topps to help me complete my set.  JediJeff contacted me and offered me some of the cards I needed. 

 

To work the trade, I sent cards to JediJeff from his White Sox team want list.  He wrote about those cards on his 2 x 3 Heroes blog entry titled "That Which I Covet"  He did a great job describing the cards I sent to him.  I was happy to trade these cards with JediJeff to help him get closer to completing his White Sox team sets.

JediJeff sent me a package of cards that I received this past week.   JediJeff passed on some of the Topps 2015 cards I needed plus some great A's cards.  

Yoda, as one of the most renowned and powerful Jedi Masters in galactic history says "Happens to every guy sometimes this does." 

Though I am no Jedi, Yodi's words have shown me, through my blog that I have happened to find sometimes, trades and have acquired new cards for my collection.

Some of the cards JediJeff sent to me include:

Topps 2015 Needs

These were the cards JediJeff sent me from my Topps 2015 want list.
  

Giancarlo Stanton Card #150

James Jones Card #494

Brandon Finnegan Card #154

Derek Holland Card #357

Michael Saunders Card #424

Albert Pujols Card #600

 

Giancarlo Stanton hit some long home run this pass season before his year ended on June 26 when he broke the hamate bone in his left hand on a swing and miss.   One of his long home runs was hit on May 12th, when a 467-foot blast cleared the left field stands at Dodger Stadium.   It was the fifth time that a ball had been hit out of Dodger Stadium.  On May 15th, 2015, Stanton hit a 474-foot home run to center field in Marlins Park. Then on May 30th, 2015, Stanton hit a 466-foot home run, the longest home run in the history of the Mets' home park, Citi Field.

 

A's Stars

 

JediJeff included cards of four players who, in 1989, helped the A's to their last World Series Championship.  

 

1997 Pinnacle Mark McGwire Card #188

1995 Emotion Rickey Henderson Card #71

1991 Fleer All Star Team Jose Canseco Card #6

1993 Leaf Rickey Henderson Card #291

1988 Topps UK Minis Dave Parker Card #55

1993 Topps Black Gold Mark McGwire Card #39

 

Jose Canceso, Rickey Henderson, Mark McGwire, and Dave Parker were members of the 1989 team that defeated the Giants during the 1989 World Series.  This series was postposed for ten day due to the Loma Prieta earthquake that struck the San Francisco/Oakland area. During the series, each of these players hit a home run during the four game sweep of the Giants.

 

Autograph Cards

 

JediJeff added a couple of autograph cards of A's pitchers who have pitched in the minor leagues for the A's.

 

2002 Select Rookie and Prospects Bert Snow Card #8

2014 Bowman Chrome Chris Kohler Card #BCAP-CK

 

Bert Snow was the A's 10th round draft pick in the 1998 MLB June Amateur Draft from Vanderbilt University.  The right handed pitcher spent six years in the minor leagues playing for affiliates of the A's.  Chris Kohler was the A's 3rd round selection in the 2013 MLB June Amateur Draft.  After sitting out 2014 due to an elbow injury, this season, Kohler pitched for the Vermont Lake Monsters of the New York-Pennsylvania League.  The 20 year-old left handed pitcher struck out 37 batters in 38.1 innings pitched. 

Home Town Heroes

 

JediJeff added a couple of cards from the 2013 Panini Home Town Heroes set.

2013 Panini Home Town Heroes Dwayne Murphy Card #110

2013 Panini Home Town Heroes Reggie Jackson Card #200

 



Reggie Jackson exploits on the baseball diamond are well documented and earned him a plaque in Cooperstown.  In 21 seasons, Jackson lead the American League in home runs on four different occasions.  He also was a four-time World Champion, winning the World Series twice with the A's and Yankees.  Dwayne Murphy played parts of nine season with the A's.  He was a Golden Glove center fielder, as he won the award six consecutive times, between 1980 through 1985.

 

Vintage Athletic

JediJeff included a Topps 1964 card of Jim Gentile.

Topps 1964 Jim Gentile Card #196

 

Jim Gentile was acquired by the Kansas City Athletics during November 1963 from the Orioles in a trade for Norm Siebern.  In the 1964 season, the A's finished in tenth place in the American League and Gentile was their regular first baseman.  Gentile had 28 home runs and 71 RBI during the season, second on the club in both categories to the A's starting right fielder, Rocky Colavito, who lead the team with 34 home runs and 102 RBI.  After being replaced at first base at the beginning of the 1965 season by Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson, Gentile was traded to the Astros in June.  Before leaving for Houston, Gentile played in 38 games for the A's and hit 10 home runs in 118 at bats.         



Golden Rainbow Cards Trade

Recently, Bryan from Golden Rainbow Cards saw my blog about Topps 2015 cards for trade.  There were a few cards that he needed and he had a card I needed.  I asked if there might be other cards he needed and he offered up his want list.  I sent a package of cards from cards from the 80s and the 90s with the cards he needed from the Topps 2015 set.  Bryan said that he would send me some A's cards. 

 

The cards that Bryan sent are a sweet package.  He sent me cards that were additions to my collection.

 

Topps 2015 Card

 

This was the card from the Topps 2015 set that I needed, Topps All-Star Rookie Nick Castellanos.  

Topps 2015 Nick Castellanos Card #521

 

Nick Castellanos was a first round draft pick (44th overall) of the Tigers in the 2010 amateur draft.  For the past two years, Castellanos has been the Tigers starting 3rd baseman.  In 2014, he finished the year with a .259 batting average with 11 home runs and 66 RBI.  For his 2015 season, Castellanos  batting average was .255 and he increased his home run output (with 15) and RBI total (to 73).

 

A couple of Southern California Infielders

 

Bryan added a couple of cards of infielders who played in the A's during the past decade.

 

Topps 2006 Bobby Crosby Card #448

Bobby Crosby was a first round draft pick (25th overall) of the A's in the 2000 amateur draft after attending college at California State University, Long Beach.  He is son of former Cardinal, Red, and Indian infielder, Ed Crosby.  In 2004, Bobby Crosby won the American League Rookie of the Year while playing shortstop for the A's.  He spent part of seven season playing for the A's and finished his time there with a .238 batting average (568 hits in 2391 at bats) and 61 home runs and 263 RBI.  In 2010, Crosby's final year in the major leagues, he spent time playing with the Pirates and the Diamondbacks.

Topps 2009 Wal-Mart Black Daric Barton Card #32

 

This is a 2009 Wal-Mart Black card of Daric Barton, who was a first round draft pick (28th overall) of the Cardinals in the 2003 amateur draft.  He signed with a the Cardinals as a 17 year old after attending high school in Huntington Beach, CA.  In 2004, Barton was traded to the A's in the trade that sent left handed pitcher Mark Mulder to the Cardinals.  Barton played first base in parts of eight seasons with the A's.  While with the A's, he batted .247 (431 hits in 1744 at bats) with 30 home runs and 184 RBI.  In 2010, he was the major league leader when he was issued 110 base on balls. 

 

A Golden Rainbow card

 

The next card was a 1994 Stadium Club Golden Rainbow of A's third baseman Scott Brosius, who played with the A's during the 1990's.

 

1994 Stadium Club Golden Rainbow Card #164 

Scott Brosius was a 20th round draft pick of the A's in the 1987 amateur draft after attending college at Linfield College in McMinnville OR.   Brosius made his major league debut with A's in 1991 and played part of seven seasons with them.    While playing with the A's, he batted .248 (494 hits in 2085 at bats) with 76 home runs and 249 RBI.  In November 1997, Brosius was traded to the Yankees for left handed pitcher, Kenny (The Gambler) Rogers.  Brosius played four season for the Yankees, and was an All Star in 1998 and won a Gold Glove for his play at third base during the 1999 season.  Brosius was a part of three Yankees World Championship teams, (1998, 1999, & 2000), winning the World Series Most Valuable Player in 1998.  

 

1992 Stadium Club

 

Bryan added some 1992 Stadium Club cards.

 

1992 Stadium Club Harold Baines Card #536

1992 Stadium Club Mark McGwire Card #475

1992 Stadium Club Willie Wilson Card #343

1992 Stadium Club Joe Klink Card #326

1992 Stadium Club Steve Chitren Card #518

 

All five of these players were members of the 1991 A's team.  Mark McGwire started at first base for the team and finished with 22 home runs (3rd highest total on the team behind Jose Canseco and Dave Henderson).  Harold Baines was the club's designated hitter. Baines' 90 RBIs was second highest on the team and trailed only Jose Canceso's 122 RBI.  Willie Wilson was signed as a free agent prior to the beginning of the 1991 season and he was a backup in the A's outfield as he played 41 games in leftfield, 33 in centerfield, and 19 in right field.  Joe Klink and Steve Chitren were joined in the A's bullpen that year with Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley as Klink appeared in 62 games and Chitren appeared in 56 games. 

 

Athletic Hall of Famers

 

Finally, there were three Topps insert cards from Hall of Fame Athletic outfielders.

 

Topps 2009 Legends of the Game Jimmie Foxx Card #LG10

 

Here is the Topps 2009 Legends of the Game card of Jimmie Foxx.  Foxx played 20 years in the major leagues and was a member of the Philadelphia A's from 1925, when he broke in as a seventeen year old, to 1935.  In 1932, Foxx was the American League Most Valuable Player when he lead the league His 302 home runs as an Athletic is second only to Mark McGwire's 363 home runs that he hit as an A's. 

  

Topps 2015 Series Two 1st Home Run Gold Reggie Jackson Card #FHR-13

 

Here is a Topps 1st Home Run card of Mr. October, Reggie Jackson.  Jackson had two different stints with the A's.  He made his debut with he Kansas City A's in June 1967 when he was 21 years old.  He played with the A's in Oakland from 1968 through 1975 and was a member of the A's three World Championship teams during the 1970s although he didn't play in the 1972 because he injury his leg in game five of the American League Championship Series against the Tigers.  Jackson return to Oakland to play with the A's in 1987, his final season in the major leagues.  In 1975, Jackson was named American League Most Valuable Player and he lead the American League in home runs four times, twice while he played with the A's  His 269 home run as an Athletic is third all-time behind only Mark McGwire and Jimmie Foxx. 

 

Topps 2013 Chasing History Holofoil Gold Rickey Henderson Card #CH8

 

Rickey Henderson, played for nine Major League nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four stints with the A's.  Henderson was a 4th round draft pick of the A's in the 1976 amateur draft after attending Technical High School in Oakland.  In June 1979, as a twenty year old, Henderson made his major league debut.  Then in 1990, while playing for the A's, Henderson was named the American League Most Valuable Player. He was 12-time American League stolen base champion, and lead the American League in runs scored five times.   Henderson holds the single-season record for stolen bases (130 in 1982) and his 1,406 career steals is 50% higher than the previous record of 938 held by Cardinal outfielder, Lou Brock.  His 167 home runs hit as an Athletic ranks twelfth on the team's all time home run list.  

Topps 2015 for Trade

Recently I sorted my singles for the Topps 2015 base set.  I had bought a box of jumbo packs for both the first and second series and then a couple of weeks ago, I got some repacks of singles from the set. 

After sorting the cards I created a want list of the cards I need to complete the set.  I am wondering if anyone out there is interested in making a trade.  I've also listed my doubles so you can review the list to see if there are any cards you would like to get in a trade.

When I was sorting these cards, I was amazed with the photography.  I've be collecting since the late 60s and can track the evolution of the pictures used on cardboard.  In the late 60s, when I first started to collect, there were no action cards.  In the 2015 set, it seems every card is an action shot.

With cards from the 60s, what you got were posed or head shots.  Sometimes I think I had a connection with the players from those sets, as I became familiar with the player's face, compared to today's cards where there is much more emphasis on the photography of action shots. 

Topps 1968 Ron Willis Card #68

Topps 1968 Dan Schneider Card #57

Come on Topps, who decided to use these pictures.  Is this the best you could do? 

 

The current Heritage product brings back the head shots.  After thumbing through Heritage cards and sorting the Topps 2015 Series One and Series Two base set cards, I am really starting to appreciate the photos that are used on cards today.  

Topps Heritage 2011 Derek Lowe Card #278

But then there are some of those beautiful vintage cards that can't match the cropped action shots from today.  

Topps 1966 Hank Aaron Card #500

 

Topps 1968 Card #50

I know that most of these vintage cards are way out of my price range, but I always have enjoyed looking through boxes of them at my local card shop or at shows.

Here are some cards from the 2015 set that I like and an attempt to show similar actions shots from Topps 1970 sets.

  

You're Safe

Some nice pics of players sliding.

Topps 2015 Gregor Blanco Card #611 

Topps 2015 Yoenis Cespedes Card #120 

Topps 2015 Andre Ethier Card #93 

 

Then a flying, head first slide.

 

Topps 2015 Jason Kipnis Card #221

 

Here are couple cards from 1970 sets of players sliding.  

 

Topps 1973 Oscar Gamble Card #372

Topps 1974 Gary Matthews Card #386

 

 Look how small Gamble and Matthews are compared to the size of the players portrayed in the 2015 cards.  They are taking up somewhere between maybe five to ten percent of the card as with the 2015 cards, it seems that the players are taking up almost the entire card.

 

The play at the plate

 

Here are a couple of cards from this year of plays at the plate.

 

Topps 2015 Mike Trout Award Winner Card #510

Topps 2015 J.J. Hardy Card 563

 

 

Here are couple plays at the plate from 1970 sets. 

 

Topps 1971 Thurman Munson Card #5

Topps 1974 Chris Speier Card #392

 

The Munson card has always been a favorite of mine, as it is sweet shot plus its got a All Star Rookie trophy.  The Speier card isn't cropped as close as the 2015 cards so it shows all the empty seats behind the Phillies bullpen at Candlestick Park.

 

Diving catches 

 

Here are some Royal outfielders making diving catches from this year's set.

 

Topps 2015 Jarrod Dyson Card #570 

Topps 2015 Lorenzo Cain Card #516 

Topps 2015 Alex Gordon Card #456

 

The issuance of cards of players making diving catches is a new to Topps.  It has been a photo that they have been using more during this century.

 

Here is a card from the 70s of an outfielder attempting to make a catch.  Not quite a diving catch. 

Topps 1974 Tommie Agee Card #420

 

This picture from the Topps 1974 set is where Hank Aaron is about to make a catch.  He is probably closer to the infield, about ready to catch a pop up, as he played first base during his last years with the Braves.

 

Topps 1974 Hank Aaron Card #100

 

Snow cone catches

 

Here are a couple sweet snow cone catches from the 2015 set.

 

Topps 2015 Jackie Bradley Jr. Card #314

Topps 2015 Andrelton Simmons Card #651



  

 

Here is an almost snow cone catch from the 1974 set.

Topps 1974 Dave Concepcion Card #435

  

Great World Series defense

 

A card from this year's set of Giants Joe Panik starting a double play, while laying on his stomach, during game seven of the 2014 World Series.

 

Topps 2015 Joe Panik Checklist Card #449

 

 

And a card from the Topps 1971 set of Brooks Robinson making another clutch play he made during the 1970 World Series.

Topps 1971 Game 5 from 1970 World Series Card #331

 

A short video about the 1970 World Series (The Brooks Robinson Series) that the Orioles beat the Reds four games to one.  Robinson, who was the Series MVP, batted .429 (9 hits in 21 at bats) with two homers and six RBI. 

 

 

Turning Two

 

Here is the 2015 Topps card of Gold Glove second baseman DJ LaMahieu turning a double play. 

 

 

 

From the 1974 set, here is Dick Green's card turning a double play.  The LaMahieu card is chopped closer so that he and Alex Gordon take up the entire card

 

 

Air Brush Specials

 

Here are a few air brushed cards from this year's set

 

Topps 2015 Tyler Clippard Card #546

Topps 2015 Dave Robertson Card #368

Topps 2015 Marcus Semien Card #356

These are three air brush cards from the 70s. 

Topps 1973 Frank Robinson Card #175

 

Frank Robinson spent only one year playing with the Dodgers, during 1972 and he was traded to the Angels during the winter prior to the 1973 season.   Note that all Topps did on Frank Robinson's Topps 1973 card was air brush out the Dodgers team name on the front of his uniform.  

 

 



Topps 1977 Dave Robertson Card #254

 

As I remember, this Doyle Alexander card was one of Topps first attempt to air brush a player into his team's new uniform.  Topps has come along ways in the last 40 years.

 

 

Topps 1977 Tommy Helms Card #402

 

On this Tommy Helms air brush job from the 1977 set, you can see that the color doesn't really match the A's caps actual color. 

 

The caps on the Clippard and Semien cards from the 2015 set is not really the kelly green used on A's caps, but Topps got closer than the green used on the Helms card.  And the front of the Robertson card shows his new White Sox uniform and it kinda looks like an actual photo, as Topps attempt with this card is better than just air brushing out the team name, like they did with the Robinson card.

 

If anyone out there is interested in trading to help me complete my Topps 2015 set, then let's make a deal.