4 More Hall of Famers Down

I recently acquired cards of four Hall of Famers.  4 less to go in trying to attain at least one card of every player. I have a total of 130 different Hall of Fame players. My new ones are:

Grover Cleveland Alexander.  2001 Topps Before There Was Topps insert

Ted Williams.  1994 Upper Deck All Time Heroes

Tris Speaker.  2009 Topps Turkey Red insert

John Henry "Pop" Lloyd.  2001 Topps What Could Have Been insert.  And Lloyd is also one more Negro League player added to my collection.

Now Batting....#2 Derek Jeter.

Here is my obligatory Derek Jeter post retirement announcement post.   I have two of his rookie cards:

1993 Upper Deck

and 1993 Topps

One Card Closer

I am one step closer to finishing the 1996 Denny's set thanks to http://thelostcollector.blogspot.com/ . I now have the Kevin Seitzer.  Probably the most excited I have been over a Seitzer card.

I now need two for the complete set. #1 Greg Maddux and #28 Jay Bell.  Well, I actually have the Bell already, but is terribly creased in one corner. So I am looking to replace it.  Any of my fellow bloggers have either of these to spare?  If so, let's work out a deal.
Well, it is time for me to go through some boxes and find a couple Yankees to reciprocate the Kevin Seitzer.  

Black History Month

It is February, which means it is also Black History Month.  I have always been a fan of the players from the Negro Leagues.  The players who didn't get a chance to play in the Majors only because of the color of their skin.
I am working on a collection of players from the Negro Leagues. Here is the ones I have (outside of a few I have as a part of a complete set elsewhere):

 

2005 Upper Deck Classics of Ray Dandridge

 2005 Helmar's of Turkey Stearnes

 

1999 UD Century Legends Josh Gibson

1994 Ted Willams Co. of Willard Brown

2013 Panini Cooperstown of Satchel Paige

By the way all the above players are members of the Hall of Fame.  I am missing some of other Hall of Famers and other promiment players.  I am also working on the 2001 Fleer Tradition Stitches in Time insert set.  My wantlist is on the right hand column.

More Dime Box Treasures

Got back from the local card shop today found some total treasures in the dime boxes.  I am not sure if the owner really pays attention what he has in these boxes.  I never thought I would pick the following cards up for a dime apiece:

Yep, I picked up each for 10 cents each. Including 2 of the Reyes and Posada Bowman's Best rookies each.  The dupes will become either trade bait or Ebay fodder. 
I also picked up junk wax rookies of Juan Gonzalez (Bowman), Kenny Lofton (1991 UD Final Edition), Jeff Kent (92 Pinnacle) and Tony Fernandez (Fleer). Which is more than I would expect to be in the dime boxes.
Also picked up 1986 Donruss Highlights card of Steve Carlton (one of a very few Giants card of him) and 1994 Upper Deck All Time Heroes of Yogi Berra for my Hall of Fame collection.  The Berra comes from a set I have always liked. Love the black border vintage look of it.  The card well also be a filler until I get a Berra card from his playing days.

Hall of Famer Hideo Nomo

1991 BBM #379

Yes, you are correct in thinking that Nomo did not get elected into baseball's hall of fame along with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas.  But he his a hall of famer.  He was elected into the 2014 class of Japan's hall of fame even though he only played five years in Nippon Professional Baseball.
If you combine his stats between MLB and NPB, he passed both the 200 win and 3,000 strikeout marks.  I know the two leagues aren't really equal, but it is still quite an accomplishment.
The above card is my only Japanese card.  It is his base card from the 1991 BBM set and is widely considered to be his Japanese rookie card.  I have always been a fan of Nomo and found this card relatively cheap on Ebay, so I snagged it.  I am glad he was honored in Japan for their hall. 
Congratulations Nomo san.

2014 Topps

Bought my first few packs of 2014 Topps.  I always looked forward to the new Topps sets each year.  As it is a sign that spring is near and overall I do like the base Topps set.  Good player selection. Stats on the back and some nice photos on occasion as well.  They have gone overboard on the colored parallels though.

Speaking of stats, Topps included the WAR stat on the back of the cards.  I have written my distaste about this stat before on my baseball blog.
I have included two cards from 2014 Topps packs so far to my collection.  A couple last year cards, one of a future Hall of Famer and a borderline Hall of Famer.

The greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees.  Pictured coming  in the ninth for an attempt of another one of his record breaking saves.  I have Metallica's "Enter Sandman" playing in my head as I look at this card.

The other is Colorado Rockies' veteran Todd Helton.
One side note on the Rivera and Helton cards is the card numbers.  The Helton card is #17 and Rivera, #42.  Each player's uniform number.

From Common Boxes to Collection

As a part of my baseball card collection, I collect a player's final card.  But I have a couple caveats though. The card must show his entire career stats on the back.  From his 1st season to his last.  I like having the convenience in it when I go through my collection.   Who do I want?  He doesn't have to be a Hall of Famer, he could be an All Star or just someone who I was just a fan of.
I went through my common boxes and found three to add:

1989 Topps #11

Hall of Fame closer Bruce Sutter.  His heyday was mostly with St. Louis Cardinals and ended his career with an injury marred stint in Atlanta.    I think Sutter should have used ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down" for his entrance music, then again maybe it's not good idea.

1989 Score #277

Former All Star 3B Graig Nettles played for the Expos? Guess so.. I was never a fan of  him, mostly because he played for the hated New York Yankees.  I included him because my brother was named after him.

1982 Fleer #532

Former closer and Cy Young winner Mike Marshall is the last one this time. 2 relievers added?! ugh! Will not try to that again. I added him because during his Cy Young season, he pitched 206 innings pitched in 106 games, all in relief. I don't think that record will be broken.  Then again, pitching has become so specialized nowadays, a lefty specialist could come in a pitch to one batter 107 times in a season.
Another note on Marshall, I almost added him to MSU collection.  He is alum but was only a student. He never played or was on the Spartan roster, so I excluded him from my MSU collection.

Happy Birthday Hank Aaron

Today is Hammerin' Hank Aaron's 80th birthday.  One can argue he is the greatest living baseball player right now.
Here is my two Aaron cards from his playing days. One from the Braves and one from the Brewers:

An Exception to the Rule

2013 Panini Cooperstown

In my attempt to attain at least one card of each member of the baseball Hall of Fame, I concentrate on the former players only.  I am not really interested in owners, executives, announcers and managers.  But I made an exception with Vin Scully.
Not because of my fond memories of listening to him do NBC's Game of the Week with Joe Garagolia during my childhood, but mostly because he was the Grand Marshall of the 100th Tournament of Roses Parade this past January.
This is significant to me because this Rose Bowl pitted my alma mater, Michigan State against the Cardinal of Stanford University.  One of the duties of being the Grand Marshall is that he/she flips the opening coin toss prior to the game.  When I was watching this, it gave me a hunch that MSU would win the game.  Scully called many Dodger games that involved former MSU greats Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey and Ron Perranoski and felt this is all meant to be.  When MSU won the coin toss, it reaffirmed my feeling for the outcome.
On the back of the each card in the set, it gives the line score of a game he participated in.  For the Scully card, Game 1 of the 1988 World Series is featured.  Of course, it quotes Scully's famous call on Gibson's dramatic walk off home run.
MSU did end up winning the game.  Now whenever I look at this 2013 card of Vin Scully, I automatically think of MSU's 2013 Big Ten Championship season and 2014 Rose Bowl victory.