Mini Fun Game

I got some nice mini cards in the latest Johnny's Trading Spot Big Fun Game. Fun cards to get for free. For some of these years I didn't have any A&G minis, so it's a nice addition to my collection.

A wonder-ful trade

Here are some more cards I got from Wax Pack Wonders. This is from an actual trade, not a giveaway.

Some hits to my 1990 Leaf setbuild. Pretty cool.

 Some hits to my 1984 Fleer Star Stickers setbuild. Very cool!

 Always got to check out the stamps when you get an envelope from Jeff. A 1994 love stamp and a 1986 Statue of Liberty Stamp.

Vintage backgrounds: Chain of Lakes Park

Hitting the popular 1975 set now. From 1966 to 1992, the Red Sox trained at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, FL. The area around the park is somewhat hilly, which explains why there is this grassy knoll behind pitcher Bill Lee.

You can see some of those hills on this Winter Haven postcard. Looks like they were largely artificial to keep the park from sinking into the water.

What you do not see anywhere in this photo is a high rise hotel. That makes this card of fellow Boston star Carlton Fisk in a spring training photo in his home uniform rather puzzling. I am guessing this was taken at another park (St. Petersburg?) but for some reason the Red Sox were wearing their home uniforms. Or maybe it's a gray uniform and the color in the photo got washed out?

1981 Topps Ron Guidry

The front: Nice simple photo of Gator, with the Yankee Stadium grandstand, façade and scoreboard all visible in the background.

The back: Guidry turned down track-and-field scholarships before accepting a baseball scholarship from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. The 18-strikeout game was a record at the time, and is considered the first occurrence of the Yankee Stadium tradition of the fans getting up and clapping to root for a third strike.

The player: Ron Guidry was one of the greatest pitchers in Yankees history. Despite being hampered with injuries throughout his career, Guidry went 170-91 (a .651 winning percentage) with 1,778 strikeouts and a 3.29 ERA. He is best known for his 1978 season when he went 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA.

The man: Guidry has been a long-time spring training instructor for the Yankees, as well as the team’s pitching coach in 2006 and 2007.

My collection: I have 59 of his cards, from 1977 to 1989. I would be interested in trading for 1976 Topps #599.

Cardboard cousins: 1959/2008

I don't have as much 2008 Heritage and didn't find much in the way of parallels to the '59 set. I did like this pairing though. #16 Joe Pignatano vs. #16 Ichiro Suzuki. Two similar-looking cards, two classic baseball characters.

Pignatano was a Braves coach in 1983 and 1984. One of the young players on that team, Gerald Perry, would go on to be Ichiro's first US hitting coach with the Mariners in 2001 and 2002.

Cards and vintage things: Pepsi ruler

A while back I had purchased a small cheap lot of 1960s/1970s pocket calendars. They didn't quite scratch the itch I had to have an old calendar on my desk. I've since found something I like better. It's a Pepsi/Diet Pepsi ruler with a calendar that stretches from September 1969 to December 1970. I keep it in my pen cup on my desk. I like the graphics, and can look at the calendar when I want to "mentally time travel".

 For this post I decided to pair it with cards from people who starred on the first day on the calendar, September 1, 1969.  Fortunately the Yankees won a game that day - Mel Stottlemyre beat the Pilots 6-1, with Bobby Murcer hitting two home runs.

The Yankees did lose a game that day too - they lost the second game of the double header, 5-1 in thirteen innings, after Lindy McDaniel blew a 1-0 lead in the ninth inning.

Vintage backgrounds: Joker Marchant Stadium

First off - a new contest at Chavez Ravining - check it out!

I was intrigued by what looked like a house behind Tigers third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez..

The Tigers have trained in Lakeland, FL since 1934. In 1966 they moved into their current spring home. Joker Marchant Stadium was named after Marcus "Joker" Marchant, Lakeland's head of parks and recreation. It is now known as Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Judging from this photo, looks like the "house" is just an equipment shed.

Yanks Walk the Plank

A while back I sent Bob Walk the Plank some Pittsburgh Penguins cards. He recently sent me back a mostly-Yankees themed return package.

Heavy on the Jeter here. Some really nice cards, especially the shiny Home Run Legends.

 He also included this vintage basketball card of Willis Reed. I don't collect basketball so this is up for trade. Ordinarily this would have been something great to trade with Al but I probably won't be back in the city before next year, and who knows if he will even be back. Too bad. . . .

Even more from Cards on Cards

Kerry of Cards on Cards has been an enthusiastic recent addition to the "free cards" craze. I think this is the third package I've gotten from him this month. One was a trade package but the other two were giveaways. This was a Free Card Friday where he broke up some traded sets. I needed eight cards to complete the set. I claimed seven of my needs, now the only one I need is the Barry Bonds rookie.

Thanks Kerry!

Golden superstars and other wonders

There are a lot of new blogs out there lately which is great. I'll be honest, I don't read all of them. When I scroll down and see nothing but "look what I got" posts I lose interest. Some of them have fun content though, and one of the best new ones is Wax Pack Wonders. This one calls back to the roots of the early blogs with it's fun take on the funny photos, players, etc on junkwax-era cards.

Jeff and I have a trade in progress but I also participated in a recent giveaway he held. There were Hall-of-Famers, recent stars, and modern stars. I picked Pete Rose as the Hall-of-Famer to be funny, and David Cone and Starlin Castro because I liked them on the Yankees.

Not often I'd say this but my favorite card here is a Mets card. I love Broders and this one I had never seen before. Some Broders say "Super Stars" on the back. This one has an orange border, maybe could be called "gold" if you squint enough. On the back it is called "Golden Superstars".

Other highlights include the two '86 Rose cards - I thought they were Donruss at first - but they're Leaf!

I almost threw out the empty envelope when I noticed the stamps. Now that I am doing my own PWEs I'm paying attention to them. Those two 29 cent stamps are from 1991, and the 13 cent stamp was issued in 1976! Very cool!