Cards On Display

When I was growing up and growing up into the hobby, for some reason or another, my father and I liked to display our cards in the oddest places and take pictures of them. Not even good pictures. They were mostly a-bit-blur Polaroids. But, it was the best we had.

Most of the time these pictures focused on Ken Griffey Jr but sometimes we would focus on other cards as well.  Our favorites.

The pictures I have on display today are ones we took of my Ken Griffey Jr collection at the time. The first one here was taken on my rusty-ole display stand for my Pinnacle Inside baseball cards. I think the one Griffey that shines is the '89 UD.

 

Griffey Starting Lineups with their cards were always on my wall among other Ken Griffey Jr items. I no longer have most of these in this picture. Just the pennant.

I can't even tell where we took these.

These however were taken on a hot summer day on my dad's beat-up old car.

 And they may have had more value than the actual car. They at least were in better condition.

So with so many mail days coming in a row, I was wondering to myself which cards my father and I would have chosen to go in our "masterpiece" photo.

There would be a couple here in my mail day from P-Town sent me from Waiting 'til Next Year blog who recently mailed me some Hamptons.

A 1996 Topps Throwback and 1995 Topps Finest Boosters insert.

 

1996 Pinnacle Xpress that sadly only lasted a year despite it's great look.

 

1992 Stadium Club that I didn't realize I was missing til P-Town sent them along.

 

1997 Goudey. The mini cards. I was glad to finally have this one knocked off the needs list.

 

Here is one that may have made the cut for our display. 1997 Pacific Revolution Proteges with Tiki Barber. Sharp looking card.

 

And one that definitely would have made the cut. Hologram, shiny. Nothing better in a photo and on display than a card like this. This is actually also the die cut version I have been needing.

 

 

Thanks again P-Town for the excellent selection of Rodney's! Thanks to you I have reached the 530 different card mark! I will get more Cubs out to you soon!

My next mail day, this one from my friend @APetrelak on Twitter and I pulled off another small trade. He posted some basketball cards that caught my eye so I inquired and sent some hockey his way.

He also threw in couple bonuses being the good guy he is. Some Yanks here,

 

and a Gary Sanchez rookie I didn't have

 

The main part of trade was around some rookies that later transpired to some hits as well. I wanted this Ingram for my NBA rookie PC

 

And these Simmons because he is pretty solid player. These cards would have made the display as we liked top rookies.

 

And to end the mail day, we worked in a couple relics. Brown is having a decent season and the Payton I liked because of the two-color swatch.

 

 

Thanks again Alec for the trade. Looking forward to our next. 

 

I also found a couple of cards in my mail day from Tracy on Twitter @batcavelv.

A few Yanks cards I didn't have including a shiny Clint Frazier

 

Robert Refsnyder who I wished could have panned out more. Still a nice relic from one of my favorite underrated products.

 

One of the cards that would have been in our display from Tracy, this 50/50 autograph of Travis Rudolph. This guy blew it up in the preseason but failed to make much of an impact in the regular season. However the Giants really like his upside so he may stay around and I hope he does. I loved watching him in the preseason. Either way just glad to have my first Gmen autograph of him.

 

And then was this bag. Inside of the bag was an item guaranteed to have been on my father's rusty-old car.

 

Boom! Jumbo card, jumbo bat swatch. Love it!

 

Card is numbered to 500 and actually has the digits 24 in the 124/500. Works for me!

 

 

Big thanks to Tracy! I hope to get your return out soon that has been sitting on my desk forever.

 

I no longer display cards like that or take pictures of them, other than on here, in weird spots. I actually don't display cards at all. They are all tucked away. I feel like the more exposure the more of a chance an autograph fades, a card bends or something will happen to them. I know it sounds weird and odd that I don't want to display my hobby, but I just don't.

 

However, I am wondering, what card or cards you would have displayed on my father's car, my rusty shelf, the lawn and other places we did to take pictures of? Let me hear them in comments and why!

Dr. Strange And Gang

I have mentioned before in the past how a lot of my trades begin. It always starts out with one card or two I really want, then it blossoms to so much more. Once again, this was the case in my latest trade with @APetrelak.

First up, some NY Rangers he tossed in for me. I really dig the UD Ice.

 

Some Young Guns and rookie cards I am always willing to add. My hockey rookie PC the last few years has been sparse, this should help fill in a bit more.

 

This was not only a rookie, but a sick looking parallel I was into.

 

Up next, I have been needing a Carmelo rookie, now I have one. Gotta find myself a D.Wade next. And a Benchwarmer addition. No reason for it, just because.

 

My first Pinnacle Mint hockey coin. I know many think this was a crazy idea, but I liked it.

 

Unopened pack for my new series coming up in January.

 

Some shiny soccer adds.

 

This was a really cool card. A Marvel Gems Crystal Clear card. It's printed on a very thick acetate. Nice addition to my non sports PC.

 

Speaking of nice additions to my Non Sport PC, this card is the one that started this trade. As soon as I saw it, I wanted it. Great design as well.

 

 

A big thanks goes out to Alec again for the mail day. I hope we can make more trades down the road. 

Mail Day Saturday:Matches Made In Heaven Part 2

Hope you took my advice and have your napkin handy as you may drool as I am again.

Before I continue on with Part 2 of my trade gallery, I must note that I don't always do huge trades like this with just anyone. Normally, these trades I keep between myself and Project Pedro Blog or 90's Niche Football Card Blog as they are my top 2 trusted traders, but having known @APetrelak for awhile, I knew it was safe and the cards he had up for offer I really wanted.

Up first, an Albert Almora red crusade /99

 

Some may call this a Christmas Card or maybe that's just Breakdown Cards, a nice sweet parallel of future star Michael Conforto

 

A nice Lindor swatch

 

Trea Turner who may turn heads this season auto. I think it's my second one of his

 

And one amazing patch of Yankees first rounder Blake Rutherford. This was one of the two cards I really wanted....

 

The second and one I wanted the most.......

 

That's right! A stinkin Kris Bryant autograph! The auto is done on-card too you could say, but on an acetate swatch. So stoked to finally nailed one down and now it can be taken off my want list. Which coincidentally, I had just updated my want list, HERE.

A huge thanks goes out to @APetrelak for this amazing trade and the help to make a Kris Bryant auto possible for me. I don't think I would have been able to ever get one any other way.

Thoughts on today's mail day are welcomed in comments!

Mail Day Saturday:Matches Made In Heaven Part 1

(I do understand today is not Saturday and I have not been drinking, I have actually never had a drink in my life, but these posts couldn't wait to be shown off with all of my excitement)

You ever just scroll through someones blog or your timeline on Twitter or Facebook and fall in love with a card or two someone is selling? I did. But, for me right now, buying anything isn't really an option and trading I usually only do within my circle.

However, something about these cards spoke to me. I couldn't just let them slip by, I had to inquire if a trade at all was possible even though I know the individual was trying to sell them.

So I began the conversation with @APetrelak on Twitter knowing he was a huge hockey fan and told informed him I had a good amount of hockey items I was looking to trade away. They were 6 pucks and a mini stick all signed by different players with some being top rookies and all being Upper Deck authenticated.

Why did I have all of that available? Well, I have begun trying to condense my collection down to just cards at this point as I feel memorabilia items take up a lot of space and for the most part have spent their time just sitting in totes. No point in having them if you're not enjoying them.

He seemed interested and kept inquiring more info on the items as he didn't usually trade much. The conversations continued and it actually wasn't long til we agreed to a trade. I was so ecstatic I almost dropped my phone when I read his yes response. I knew we had just accomplished a match made in heaven for both of us. He got hockey items he collected and I got a couple of drool worthy baseball cards along with quite a few others.

Before I show the main showcase tomorrow, I am going to show off the rest and build you up. All of the cards I traded for came from 2015 Panini USA Stars And Stripes baseball which I am a big fan of all USA products. The other cards featured in today's post are the freebies he nicely tossed in.

So here we go!

There was a good helping stack of base including these stars:

Some Longevity parallels

Inserts with some big names like Seager and Russell

More inserts and more Seager:

Diamond Kings. Love the design and can't go wrong adding another Swanson.

If you have read my blog, you know I love shiny and chromed things. The fact these are also the sickly designed Crusades, is a bonus. 12 new ones here. Maybe I should look to see how many I actually have in this set since I have busted a few boxes of the product myself. Some good names in here including Frank Thomas.

Believe me, there is more USA to show but you will have to wait til tomorrow to see my home run of an add.

But here are the freebies he nicely tossed in. Some Opening Day including a Servino rookie. Some NYG and some NYR.

Finishing this off is a Joc Pederson rookie from Bowman.

And a pretty cool looking promo card from Leaf. Not something I have ever seen but am happy to add to my 90's PC.

  Part 2 coming up tomorrow. Keep a napkin handy or put on a bib, cause you may drool.

Hockey Card Contest Mail Day From @APetrelak

@APetrelak on Twitter was hosting another one of his challenging contests of guessing the score. This time it was NCAA style. Up for grabs, a card lot from each sport for you to choose one of.

Once again, I chose a pretty spot on score from one of his contests and won my choice of lot. I chose the hockey one.

Yesterday, I received my prize lot in the mail and was surprised by the many, many bonuses!

Here is my prize....

Oooooooooo SHINY AND DIE CUT!!!

And a sweet rookie jersey card. Not to mention, Game Worn. Those words mean a lot!

A big thanks goes out to @APetrelak for the prize lot. If you are not yet following him, do so! The NHL Playoffs are upon us and I bet he will have something up his sleeve for them. Not to mention, great hobby guy as well.