Cake or gum? 1977 Ray Burris

Last time was a 6-2 victory for gum. Who will win here?

Looks like two photos that were taken in the same shoot at spring training. 

Burris had some decent seasons with some bad Cubs teams in mid-70s, winning 44 games between 1975 and 1977. He pitched badly in 1978 and by 1979 he'd lost his place in the rotation. That year the Yankees traded popular reliever Dirt Tidrow for Burris, and Burris was awful for the Yankees, who released him before the season was over. He signed with the Mets and wasn't much better. He hung around the majors for a few more years, and had a brief resurgence with the A's in 1984. Overall he pitched for seven teams over 15 seasons. In 480 games (302 starts) he went 108-134 with a 4.17 ERA. He has since had a long career in coach, and for the past decade has been the rehabilitation pitching coach for the Phillies.
 

1981 Topps Dave Roberts (#431)

The front: The second Dave Roberts in the set, this Dave is captured pregame at Tiger Stadium.

The back: Roberts was the #1 overall pick in the 1972 draft, and the sixth player to go straight from the draft to the major leagues. He came into the game in the 12th inning, and went 0-for-3 as the game went on for 18 innings.

The player: Roberts never lived up to the hype of being the #1 pick. By mid-1973 he was in the minor leagues, and he bounced around for four teams over 10 seasons as a utilityman. Overall in 709 games he hit .239 with 49 HR and 208 RBI.

The man: Roberts seems to have kept a low profile since his career ended, and a brief stint coaching and managing in the minor leagues in the 1980s. He now lives in Texas.

My collection: I have 17 of his cards, from 1973 to 1983. I would be interested in trading for 1977 O-Pee-Chee #193.
 

1976 SSPC Derrel Thomas

 

The card, in brief: Not a whole lot to say about this card, but it's interesting that the photographer lined up the shot so the camera flash reflected off the bridge of Thomas's aviator glasses.

Playing career, in brief: A true utilityman, Thomas played in 1,630 games over 15 major league seasons, including over 300 games each at 2B, CF and SS. He played for six different teams, primarily the Dodgers, Padres and Giants, hitting .249 with 43 HR, 370 RBI and 140 SB.

Post playing career, in brief: Thomas had a lot of personal problems before and after his career, including cocaine-related arrests in 1989 and 1997. He seems to have turned his life around, and his Derrel Thomas Foundation provides mentorship programs to challenged youth. 

My collection: I have 29 of his cards, from 1972 to 1986. I would be interested in trading for 1984 Stuart Expos #28.

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly #19

Too bad we don't get to see who's sitting next to Mattingly here. Winfield? Randolph? Henderson? Who knows.

Nice job fitting three cliches into an answer of less than 40 words.

Braving a big street trade

Al texted me a few days ago saying he had a guy who wanted all of the Braves cards he could get. I organize my dupes by set, so to fill a box quickly I went through sets that are sorted by team, like 80s Fleer and 90s Upper Deck. I filled up a 200-count box and grabbed a big pile of cards from one of his boxes (we didn't have a lot of time). It was another one of those deals where I'd take what I needed and return what I didn't. I evaded junk wax and Topps base sets while still snagging a sizable pile of cards.

Starting off with this rather gray collection of '01 UD MVP and '00 Bowman. I wasn't sure how much of these sets I would need, but it turned out I needed plenty. 

Some 2014 Topps Traded, I've built most of this set from Al over the years. Plus one '88 OPC snuck in there.

Some shiny silver pack cards! Also there was what appeared to be the contents of a single opened pack of '25 Topps, with a parallel and an insert (a Brave, no less) that I needed.

Like last time, I'm offering up the dupes for trade before I give them back to Al. Starting off with some '00 Bowmans (some of them got cut off and I'm not taking the photo again. If you know you have common needs from this set, or an '88 Alvin Davis Fleer Star Sticker, let me know).

Some '14 Topps Traded, plus on '08 Traded and a Chance Sisco silver pack.

Ending with a few '00 UD MVP and the base cards of that '25 pack.

 

Trouttrader: Vintagetrader

Lots of fun vintage in a recent trade with TCDB's Trouttrader. Starting off with some 1963 Fleer. They really put out a nice set the one chance they got back then.

On to Topps, starting with some solid '50s portraits.

Six cards from 1958 with some real character.

Finally, some particularly interesting 1961s. The Joe Cunningham is a nice card but ordinary enough. The Dropo card is very interesting. As you can see it is very misshapen, looking like it was cut with kid's scissors, while still having a border at least as large, if not slightly larger, than the normal card next to it. It is also a little thinner stock, almost reminiscent of a magazine cover, though the back is still the regular standard back, even down to the regular texture. I almost wonder if it was some kind of promo card of some time, though it's probably just a miscut. I didn't see anything online about thinner stock 1961s.

 

 

 

Posterized

Two PWEs in two days, with vintage posters given away by generous bloggers. 

Crocodile was giving away this 1971 Topps poster. It's my first in the set. I don't usually think pink when I think of the Steelers, but this is a delightfully early-70s design. 

This '67 Topps baseball poster was given away by Too Many Verlanders. Far from my first from this set, I'm actually close to completing it. This great photo of the Capitol Punisher leaves me needing just four more '67 posters - Roberto Clemente, Bobby Knoop, Matty Alou and Willie McCovey.

 

1988 Domino's Darryl Patterson

 

A very simple photo of Patterson.

Daryl Patterson came up with the Tigers in '68 and was a very good reliever for the team. In 38 games he went 2-3 with 7 saves and a 2.12 ERA. He also pitched three scoreless innings in two World Series games. He was never nearly that good again, bouncing around with the Tigers and three other teams. The most notable event for the rest of his career was in 1974, his last major league season, when as a member of the Pirates he was bitten by the Reds' Pedro Borbon in a brawl, requiring Patterson to get a tetanus shot. Overall in 142 games, Patterson went 11-9 with 11 saves and a 4.09 ERA. After his playing career he was an inspector for Pacific Gas & Electric. He died in 2025.

I have five of his cards, from 1968 to 1971. I would be interested in trading for 1971 Dell Today's Team Stamps #NNO