1993 Studio Jay Bell

Hobbies are golf and fishing: These seem to be the two most popular hobbies so far.

Favorite sports announcer is Bob Costas: Bell and Costas both serve on the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.) Board of Advisors.

Favorite player as a kid was Steve Garvey: Garvey is also active with B.A.T., on the Board of Directors.

Might have been an Air Force pilot if he hadn’t been an athlete: Bell’s father was in the Air Force. When he was going through some struggles with the Pirates in 1996 he considered quitting baseball to join the military.

Pet peeve is mental mistakes: Bell had a reputation as a smart ballplayer.

Where he is now: Manager of the Tampa Yankees.

National Baseball Card Day reminder

I turned a few old Reggie Jackson cards into these cards from my street vendor Al. These are all shiny 2017 cards in the style of 1987 Topps. I know its fashionable these days to express disdain for the design but it was the first set I ever collected and it's a design I will always love. The backs all say "Congratulations! You have received a 1987 Topps Baseball Card from the 2017 Topps Baseball Hobby Continuity Program."

You will see there were also a couple of filler cards mixed in as well. They must have come from 2017 packs but are very interesting to me - it notes that the date of National Baseball Card Day is Saturday, August 12. I never hear about NBCD until it is too late so I'm glad to be finding out ahead of time this year!

Cards from Baseball Every Night

In exchange for a few Strawberrys and Kruks, the ever-generous Peter of Baseball Every Night sent a whole bunch of '17s my way.

There were Archives . . .

 . . . Heritages . . .

 . . . and Bunts.

Interestingly, I've accumulated quite a few of these three sets in recent trades but have almost nothing from the base set - just seven cards so far, but fortunately one of the was Aaron Judge, acquired before the season started and he catapulted into stardom.

1993 Studio Wes Chamberlain

Hobbies are jazz music, movies, jogging, basketball and video games: Chamberlain often posts to Twitter what he is listening to on Pandora.

 

Favorite sports announcer is Harry Caray: Chamberlain grew up in the Chicago area. Caray was an announcer for both the Cubs and White Sox. So which did Chamberlain root for?

 

Favorite player as a kid was Dick Allen: Guess it was the White Sox. Allen had some of his best seasons with the Sox.

 

Most prized possession is his baseball card collection: Always nice to see players who collect.

 

Pet peeve is disrespect: Chamberlain does not appear to have any issues with respect during his career.

 

Where he is now: A youth baseball coach and motivational speaker.

Trade with Condition Sensitive

Got some cool cards in a trade with Condition Sensitive. The bulk of the package was the complete 2016 Topps Opening Day set:

 But there were lots of other fun random cards as well. Funny to see Topps putting Chrome on a vintage design - seems to miss the point of being vintagey in the first place.

 1997 Leaf is an underrated design. Don't see a lot of these cards.

 There were a whole lot of cards from this set in the package. Junk wax?

 No! It's O-Pee-Chee!

Aaron Judge autograph, '55 Bowman, random awesomeness - and an a**hole

Matt of Summer of '74 had an Aaron Judge autograph burning a hole in his pocket, so I traded him a few thousand Topps base cards to jump start that part of his collection. Who knows how long Judge can keep this up, but he's the most fun Yankee to watch in a long, long time.

 Matt was also going to throw in a few extra cards. I wasn't expecting - or asking for - much, so boy was I surprised by the hundreds of cards he sent me. Some highlights:
A 1955 Bowman! Danny O'Connell played twelve seasons in the major leagues.

 A Gary Sheffield uniform card!

 Another autograph! Chris Smith played two seasons in the Yankees organization.

 A complete set of 1988 Fleer World Series.

 Finally, most of the 1990 Pacific Senior League set! There is one card in that set that is very famous and I am very happy to get in my collection. Not familiar with it?

 Take a closer look at the bat handle. Here's an interview with Nettles from Freedom Cardboard where he claims the bat was his and he was unaware of the profanity.

This is not junk wax

I often get cards from my want list in trades. However almost nobody gets to the very bottom of the list - variations from junk-wax era sets that I have otherwise completed. So I was pleasantly surprised to get a package from Corky of Pack War that knocked out a bunch of those needs. Here are some highlights:

The red border around Robin Ventura is gray on the left.

 It's pretty hard to manage an upside-down SS, but Upper Deck managed to do so in the position box on Gary Sheffield's card.

 Meanwhile, on Brian Downing's card, they omitted the position completely!

 #48 is Rich Thompson, not Andy McGaffigan.

 Here Upper Deck saw the H on the back of the card and thought it was Holton. It's actually Hillegas. At least they knew it wasn't Hershiser.

 Corky also saw that I needed just three more 1979 Burger King Yankees, and sent me them all! It's always a thrill to get a playing-days card of Thurman Munson.

 Finally, this great Don Mattingly/Simpsons custom. Thanks Corky!

1993 Studio Derek Bell

Hobby is fishing: Bell lived on a 58-foot yacht when he joined the Mets in 2000, and would often fish from the yacht.

Favorite sports announcer is Chris Berman: Bell did not get a Chris Berman nickname.

Favorite player as a kid was Dwight Gooden: Bell was best friends with Gooden’s nephew Gary Sheffield growing up, and referred to Dr. K as his “big brother”.

Most prized possession is his World Series ring: Bell put it up for auction on eBay in 2009, but pulled it when it did not reach the $17,000 buy-it-now price.

Pet peeve is Kool Aid without sugar: Doesn’t sound appealing.

Where he is now: Bell was arrested for drug use a couple of times in the late 2000s. Not sure what he is doing now.

1993 Studio Brady Anderson

Hobby is running track: Anderson was a well-known workout freak and running was an important part of his routine.

Favorite sports announcer is Chris Berman: Berman called him Brady “Bunch” Anderson.

Favorite player as a kid was Carl Yastrzemski: Anderson grew up a Red Sox and Dodgers fan.

Pet peeve is reading other people’s pet peeves: The Orioles must have decided to have some fun with the questionnaire; Cal Ripken also had a snarky comment for this question.

Where he is now: VP, Baseball Operations for the Orioles.