Goodwill hunting

In a store which once seemed so improbable, the impossible happened: I actually found cards at my local Goodwill.

The funny thing was that while I'd made many a trip to Goodwill specifically in search of baseball cards (all to no avail), cardboard was barely on my mind when I found these a couple weeks ago (I was actually looking for jeans and a belt). But on my way to the cash register I took a haphazard stroll past the randoms section and looked down and HOLY HELL IS THAT A BIG BOX OF CARDS?!

Truth be told, this isn't the first time I've found cards at a thrift store. It is, however, the first time I've stumbled upon anything this substantial and also the only time I've purchased such a thing from a local Goodwill (it's generally acknowledged around the Chicago area that you usually have to travel into the thrift stores in the deeper suburbs to find anything worthwhile).

I certainly had no qualms about the price tag on the big white box: $14.99?! GIMME!

My other fear was assuaged when I took a peek inside: a good 90 percent of the cards inside were baseball.

And that sealed it: this thing was coming home with me. I lugged the big white box to the register, plopped it on the counter, handed over the money, and went on my merry way, my car not seeming to go fast enough to get me home to the moment when I could crack open the lid and bathe in all that cardboard.

One thing immediately became apparent after the first couple handfuls I pulled: whoever owned these in the past really liked Score. A good 75 percent of the cards inside were Score-brand cardboard.

And while Score's first four releases came during the height of the overproduction era, they remain my four favorites in the brand's history (look at all those colors!).

In the end, my Goodwill box offered a nice little timeline of Score's history, starting with the vivid colors of 1988-91 to the relative dullness of 1992-95.

Granted, I do like the dirt borders of '95 quite a bit more than most people (I mean, when else has dirt been used as a color scheme?!), but it still pales in comparison to anything from those first four years.

You could say 1996-97 represented somewhat of a dead period in Score's history, which, in a backwards way, made them the most fun to see considering I owned less from these sets than any other year of Score (ee cummings would be proud of the all-lowercase '97s).

Score retired from the hobby in 1998, and while there weren't a ton of those Final Goodbyes in my box, this one did make for a fine addition to my "tip of the cap" mini-collection.

But my Goodwill goods weren't all Score: I dug up a small run of these awesome red-bordered Action Packed oddballs at one point, many of which I needed (and believe me, they look much better in-person than they do in this ghostly scan).

Also: vintage Topps!

There wasn't anything huge in there (no Brett or Molitor rookies or anything), but it wasn't a complete bust. In an odd way, vintage Topps is so common at card shows that I don't even flip through them. And while I have most of what I need for my player collections by now, some fun randoms have managed to slip by me all these years, like these four.

And how did I not already own a card of Pete LaCock?!

I knew there was a reason I decided to start collecting Mo Vaughn.

It seems to be that '97 Score is especially hard to find these days, which means that I still needed all these for various player collections of mine.

Two short-term-stop/sunset cards from '90 Score I somehow didn't already own.

Both of these men were AL Rookies of the Year -- only one of them routinely shows up on lists of all-time busts, however.

Catchers always get the best baseball cards.

More fun from mid '90s Score (and only now did I learn that I share a birthday with Alvaro Espinoza).

My Goodwill box was easily worth the $14.99 I paid for it well before I stumbled upon this Bobby Higginson, a card which, I kid you not, was the very next card I was set to add to my Dime Box Dozen list.

These name-card shots were somewhat of a thing for a short while in the mid '90s -- I can think of at least two other examples off the top of my head -- but this one was high up on my want list because I'd owned the Dugout Collection parallel for years...without the base card. 

And after many years of searching this dime box and that, there it was in the unlikeliest of places: inside a plain white box sitting on the bottom shelf of my local Goodwill, underneath golf balls and power tools and trophies with the names of others emblazoned in faux-gold.

Insecurity

I don't know if I'm like other bloggers, in that I often feel insecure about this little blog of mine.

I've been caught in that web of insecurity lately. I haven't felt much connection with the blogging world. I haven't had many incoming or outgoing packages. I haven't had a ton of reaction to my last few posts. I haven't felt much of that joy I usually get on my off nights when I run to the computer and whip up a post with a Diet Coke at my side.

Of course, I've been doing this long enough to know that most of this is all in my head. Believe me: it's not you, it's me. I've also been doing this long enough to know that blogging has its natural ebbs and flows. But in the ebbs I sometimes feel insecure. The thoughts come: Do I still enjoy blogging? Have I said all there is to say? Does anyone even care anymore?

I'll admit, there is an urge, however faint, to simply pack it all in during times like these: sometimes I consider the possibility of retiring to the ranch and joining the glorious world of Blog Readers out there.

This, of course, is nothing more than an urge: after the ebb usually comes a flow that wipes out any thought of shutting down the blog (and the brief period in which I did retire the blog a couple years ago was an unhappy time).

But should I ever decide to join the rank of Blog Readers, I know one thing won't be lost: the ability to assemble masterful trade packages. Readers in the past have been some of my favorite trading partners, and that trend continued with some packages I received from a couple new members of their ranks.

The first comes from Reader David who, in addition to crossing off a longtime Dime Box Dozen need with the Cowboy Nolan Ryan at the top of this post, also provided a nice mix of oddballs and recent wants alike with this quartet.

I always, always, always enjoy receiving boxed sets in trades -- doubly so if I've never heard of the box set in question, as was the case with this compendium of 1997 UD Home Team Heroes.

These oversized oddities feature pairs of teammates on a silver backdrop of said players' home ballpark (or at least their home ballparks as they were in 1997, many of which have since been renamed or no longer exist).

All these years of reading and writing later, there's still nothing quite like the discovery of a new oddball set I never knew existed -- and thanks to David, I was able to feel that thrill once more.

Reader Robb also reached out to me recently saying he had some cards to send me (and as a blogger, is there any better email to get than an I'm-sending-you-some-cards email?).

First up was this terrific Mr. Cub SP from last year's Update which features some of the greenest grass I've ever seen on a baseball card.

There's no way you'd be able to tell from the scan, but these are actually Berger's Best reprints.

The cards they reprint these days seem to be getting newer and newer which, in turn, makes me feel older and older.

More ticks off the ol' want lists from Robb.

One of the finest insert sets of 2017.

Two of my favorite baseball writers in the media today from last year's MLB Network insert series, a set build which was at one time a high priority but has since turned into somewhat of an I'll complete it when I complete it kind of thing.

A page of 2017 A&G -- and somehow that centerpiece is just one of two cards William Shatner received last year.

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude.

I'm quite shocked by how hard it's been to find these Dudes at card shows and the like. I almost never see them, and when I do they're priced way above what I want to pay. Which makes it all the more exciting when people like Robb send me Dudes like German Cyclist Dude here out of the blue.

Maybe readers like David and Robb continue to put together such excellent trade packages because, unlike me, their minds aren't preoccupied with such silly and mindless insecurities of blogging life. And maybe, in some backwards way, a post about insecurity helps shed some of the insecurity, because here I am, eager to write, excited to show off some great cards I've received, all with a Diet Coke at my side.

Perhaps this is why I've chosen the life of a Blog Writer: the ability to vocalize thoughts about something as trivial as baseball cards to a select group of select people who enjoy the trivialities as much as I do.

Top Five: Rusty Staub

Daniel Joseph "Rusty" Staub passed away earlier this week at the age of 73.

It's always sad when a member of the baseball brethren leaves us, but it hits me especially hard when it's a guy I've followed for much of my life as a baseball fan. Like a lot of other fan favorites of the '70s, Rusty has been near the top of my collecting hierarchy for as long as I can remember, and sadly, he joins a growing list of players from that era who have since left us.

It's in tribute to the late Rusty Staub that I've decided to focus on him in this week's Top Five.

#5 -- 1976 Topps #120 Rusty Staub

Staub was a man of nicknames -- in addition to "Rusty," he was widely known as "Le Grand Orange" during his days in French-speaking Montreal for his dirty-blonde hair, which is shown better here than on any other card I own of his.

Staub has so many nicknames, in fact, that despite my longtime fandom of his, I actually had to look up what his real name was before I started this post (Daniel Staub doesn't have the same ring to it).

#4 -- 1977 Topps #420 Rusty Staub

Few All-Star players have looked more like All-Stars than Rusty Staub does on his 1977 Topps card.

#3 -- 2005 Sweet Spot Classic "Classic Signatures" #ST Rusty Stuab AU

I don't talk a lot about my game-used/autograph collecting days now -- it's somewhat of a skeleton in the closet of my collecting history.

But fact is I still have a lot of the cards I acquired from those years, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a small amount of remaining affection for a handful of them. Rusty here is one of the kings of my meager autograph collection, and from what I can remember, I got it on the cheap during my forum days.

I'm not much in favor of slicing up baseballs and inserting them between pieces of cardboard, but they do make for impressive cards (and unlike a lot of other Sweet Spot horror stories, the autograph hasn't faded...yet).

#2 -- 1971 Bazooka #34 Rusty Staub

This is the one and only vintage Bazooka card in my collection, and it will always stand as one of the greatest items I've ever found at my local flea market (and for only a dollar!).

#1 -- 1964 Topps #109 Rusty Staub

But my favorite Rusty Staub card is the first one I ever owned.

Not long after I returned to the baseball side of the hobby, I set out to acquire a few "big" pieces for my collection. I immediately fell in love with this '64 Rusty and, within minutes, went out and bought a well-loved copy for my archives. That was over a decade ago now, but my affection for this card hasn't waned since.

First off, it's one of the extreme few Colt .45s cards I own, and it's Rusty's first solo Topps issue (after his multi-player high-number rookie in '63 Topps which, if that description doesn't give it away, goes for infinities out of my price range). It's also a terrific rare look at a young Rusty, and OH MY GOD THOSE VINTAGE ROOKIE CUPS. Add that all up and you have what is -- and will always be -- one of the kings of my collection.

RIP, Rusty.

Happy Opening Day!

First off: Happy Opening Day!

It's a time of great excitement in the baseball world, and while the cliches are plenty, they're all true. Every team is in first place, every team has a chance, every player is at the top of the leaderboard, etc. This is part of the allure of Opening Day. It's one of the extreme few days you can consistently check on the calendar, year-in and year-out.

I've long wanted to document the day in some form on my blog, the way a lot of other bloggers already do. I thought about doing predictions, but you probably don't want to read those and they always make me look like an idiot by the end of the year, anyways.

So in the meantime, I went through each team's 40-man roster as it stood on 2018 Opening Day, as well as the number of my "binder guys" each franchise currently employs -- and I'm particularly interested to see how/if these lists change down the line.

Angels -- Mike Trout, OF (Team "binder guys:" 6)

The best player in today's game also happens to be one of my favorites, and I love when it happens that way, because wow was it painful when asshats like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds ruled the baseball world.

A's -- Jonathan Lucroy, C (BGs: 4)

Astros -- Jose Altuve, 2B (BGs: 9)

The defending World Champs have what looks to be the makings of a team that will be dominant for a long, long time.

I'll be rooting for them along the way, because between guys like Justin Verlander, Carlos Correa, and George Springer, they also happen to employ a lot of dudes I like -- none more, however, than Jose Altuve.

Braves -- Brandon McCarthy, P (BGs: 4)
Blue Jays -- Curtis Granderson, OF (BGs: 6)
Brewers -- Eric Thames, 1B (BGs: 3)

Cubs -- Anthony Rizzo, 1B (BGs: 13)

Not surprisingly, the Cubs have the most binder guys of any team in the bigs right now.

I fervently admire and collect most of the Cubs' roster. Javier Baez. Kris Bryant. Kyle Schwarber -- right on down the list. You name them, I probably collect them. It's a likeable team, and I like to think I'm not just saying that because I'm a bit of a biased hometown fan.

But Anthony Rizzo, a man who first won me over by suiting up for Team Italia in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, remains my personal favorite piece of the Cubs' ultra-talented core (and he's currently tied for the league lead in homers!).

Cardinals -- Adam Wainwright, P (BGs: 5)

Dodgers -- Clayton Kershaw, P (BGs: 12)

The Dodgers are second in the league in binder guys, and at the top of that list is Clayton Kershaw, a fun, affable guy who might well go down as the best pitcher of my lifetime.

Diamondbacks -- Paul Goldschmidt. 1B (BGs: 4)

Giants -- Andrew McCutchen, OF (BGs: 9)

With Andrew McCutchen in San Francisco, I have absolutely no reason to pay attention to the Pirates this year, and not to mention a major reason to watch a few more Giants games in 2018.

Indians -- Francisco Lindor, SS (BGs: 5)
Mets -- Noah Syndergaard, P (BGs: 11)

Mariners -- Ichiro Suzuki, OF/DH (BGs: 5)

Ichiro is a Mariner again(!!!) -- need I say more?

Marlins -- Starlin Castro, 2B (BGs: 2)
Nationals -- Adam Eaton, OF (BGs: 6)
Orioles -- Adam Jones, OF (BGs: 4)
Padres -- Eric Hosmer, 1B (BGs: 4)
Pirates -- David Freese, 3B (BGs: 1)
Phillies -- Pat Neshek, P (BGs: 3)

Rangers -- Tim Lincecum, P (BGs: 7)

The Rangers have an awful lot of binder guys for a team I don't claim to much care about -- and it's going to be even harder to maintain that indifference given that Tim Lincecum's now on their roster.

You may have noticed that I've shown exclusively 2018 cards in this post. Lincecum is the lone exception, given that he hasn't appeared in any 2018 sets yet (or any in 2017, for that matter). He's been out of the game since his brief, unmemorable, and wildly unfamiliar stint with the 2016 Angels, and he'll pitch out of the bullpen for the Rangers this year.

While he's starting the year on the DL, I think (or hope) that Timmy can be a valuable arm out of the bullpen in Texas here in 2018.

Rays -- Chris Archer, P (BGs: Zero!)
Reds -- Joey Votto, 1B (BGs: 4)

Red Sox -- Mookie Betts, OF (BGs: 10)

Mookie Betts is an All-Star, bowls perfect games, plays ping-pong, and chats with announcers during games: how could he not be my favorite guy on the Red Sox?

Rockies -- Nolan Arenado (BGs: 3)

Royals -- Salvador Perez, C (BGs: 5)

It hurts when one of my favorite players is forced to miss the first weeks of the season with an injury -- it's even more painful when said injury was sustained whilst tripping over luggage.

Tigers -- Miguel Cabrera, 1B/DH (BGs: 5)
Twins -- Joe Mauer, 1B (BGs: 6)
White Sox -- Jose Abreu, 1B (BGs: 3)

Yankees -- Giancarlo Stanton, OF (BGs: 7)

Perhaps the biggest offseason shakeup was Giancarlo Stanton's trade to the Yankees, which means I'm forced to cope with the fact that two of my current favorite big leaguers (with Aaron Judge) now play for the Evil Empire.

So, does that actually make me a Yankees fan? Don't make me answer that right now -- in the meantime, let's just enjoy the comfort of knowing that baseball is back!

Happy Opening Day, everyone!

It's my dad's birthday, but somehow I got cards

Today's my dad's birthday, yet somehow the afternoon coalesced into him giving me cards over lunch.

Someone should really tell him that birthdays don't work that way. In reality, Dad's had these cards for me for about a week now -- he picked them up during one of his vendor gigs at Target when he stocked the shelves with the newest card releases: Gypsy Queen and Donruss, highlights of the current time of year which Night Owl perfectly deemed "The Dead Zone."

And while I'm not hugely excited for this portion of card calendar, I still think the fact that my dad gets to stock cards at Target is one of the coolest things ever.

Like pretty much all past years of Gypsy Queen, I still remain almost perfectly apathetic about 2018 GQ.

Really, as I sit here before my keyboard, I can't will any words from my fingertips. I have almost nothing to say about GQ other than that the rack pack and couple loose packs my dad gifted me did come with a couple firsts: my first card of Evan Longoria as a Giant and my first card period of Daniel Mendgen, a young handlebar-'stached A's pitcher who happens to share my birthday (I'm a year older than he is).

With qualifications like those, I have to collect the guy, don't I?

This was the only insert I got from my GQ packs and by far the best pull of the lot.

Seriously, why can't all Gypsy Queen cards look like this?

Next up from Dad were a couple hanger packs of Donruss, or as I've taken to calling it lately: The Accumulation Set.

I don't really collect Donruss, I accumulate it. Each year's checklist is filled with guys I collect, and while their designs are usually yawners, they do help me pad the binders a bit. And maybe that's not the greatest reason to buy packs of a set, it'll have to do, because this ain't Stadium Club or Archives.

For that, I'm always good for at least a few packs of Donruss each year.

But while it's become the cool thing to hate on Donruss (and god knows I've done a lot of that in the past), I must admit: the designs of the past couple years have started to give me a tiny amount of hope.

This year's look is about on par with 2017's surprisingly attention-getting design, in that it pays obvious tribute to a past edition of Original Donruss with the shooting stars of '84 (and even includes some guys like Rod Carew who were in the actual '84 set).

Because of that, I don't think it's mere coincidence that this year's inserts are an homage to the '84s, my personal favorite in the long (and often tepid) history of Donruss designs.

And while I don't usually support new brands tinkering with old templates, I have to say that blue borders look pretty darn cool with the shooting stars.

Nothing to say about these, really, but figured they deserved a look.

We seem to be entering an age of endless variations in today's hobby, and Donruss appears to have fallen victim to the madness as well.

But unlike the variations-for-variations'-sake chase cards Topps tries to foist upon us (like the five pages' worth in GQ alone), the Donruss variants at least keep things fun. Donruss is different from most Topps brands in that I don't really buy it for the base cards -- I buy them for the variety they offer (and you certainly get a lot of it, which is more than I can say for the one insert I pulled in five packs of GQ).

So if Nickname variants and Milestone variants add to that variety (including a nod to Mookie Betts's prodigal bowling career), then I'm all for that.

And while I don't judge retail value on sheer quantity, this photo might explain why I feel ripped off every time I open Gypsy Queen.

On the left in this photo is a hanger pack and two loose packs' worth of GQ (retail value: about $16). On the right are two rack packs of Donruss (retail: $10). Which would you rather have? I never thought I'd say this a few years ago when I despised Donruss more than any other collector I knew, but: I'll take Donruss.

Happy birthday, Dad, and thanks for these cards and the thousands of others you've added to my collection over my many years in this hobby -- but really, I'm supposed to give you stuff on your birthday, you hear?