1991 Fleer Andre Dawson

The other day I hinted at another card thrown into the package by Marcus from over at All the Way to the Backstop. Or maybe I should say from Marcus over at Yellow Cardboard? He runs two blogs, the first revolving mostly around the Padres while the second one, as you may have guessed, the 1991 Fleer set.

At first glance, the card is nothing really to get excited about. I've seen this card a hundred times as 1991 was right in my heyday of card collecting as a kid. You can barely see Andre Dawson's face, although I'd recognized the batting stance even if I'd never seen the card and his face was fully obscured.

Unlike the cards of today, where Topps culls their photos from the Getty Images files, I have no idea where this photo originated. But I thought I saw enough clues within that I could use to try to figure it out.

Starting with Dawson's uniform, this design was exclusive to the 1990 season. In 1989, the Cubs were still using the pullover, V-neck blue jerseys on the road and in 1991, the font changed to a taller version. See below.




Imge courtesy of Sportslogos.net

 

You'll also note that you can see the patch on Dawson's right arm. In 1990, the Cubs hosted the All-Star game at Wrigley Field.



Image courtesy of Patchcollection.com



So, Cubs road game in 1990. That narrows it down from 162 to 81. Dawson probably played in most of them so I'm going to have to look for other clues. I don't know stadiums very well so the outfield wall wasn't any help to me. But the glimpse of the catcher led me to believe that he was from the Padres. My limited Padres knowledge from the early 1990's put Benito Santiago behind the plate. But with the little bit of the last name that we can see, I'm able to rule him out. So I headed over to Baseball-Reference.com to see the Padres roster from that year and they list three catchers that season, Santiago, Tom Lampkin and Ronn Reynolds. I was thinking the last two letters on the back of the jersey was an "OS" but between LampkIN and ReynolDS, "DS" it is.

Now, Ronn Reynolds only played 8 games that season for the Padres. Hopefully, only one against the Cubs!

No such luck. Not only did Reynolds appear in two games against the Cubs, both games were two of his three complete games on the season. Dawson played in both of the games Reynolds played in, so unfortunately that is as far as I can narrow it down.

Dawson had 4 plate appearances on June 29, going 0-2 with two walks. He was credited with an RBI in one of his at-bats when he reached on an error with the bases loaded. The Cubs would go on to win 3-2.

On July 1, Dawson went 2-3 with two more walks in an 11-10 win. So either day at the plate was pretty good for the Hawk.

Thanks, Marcus, for throwing in this extra card. It gave me a chance to take a deeper look. And it may be the only appearance for Reynolds on a card as a member of the Padres so you might have to pick up another for yourself if you don't already have one!

2013 Gypsy Queen Blaster

I know I'm about six months late breaking one of these open but its been sitting in my house just as long because it was one of the prizes in my Fantasy Baseball Blaster League. Everybody should have their prizes by now so I thought I'd go ahead and post one of mine.

Before this blaster, I opened exactly zero Gypsy Queen this year. I barely even remembered the inserts from blog posts all those months ago. And after double checking, I didn't even pick up a Cubs team set this year. I have a couple through trades but I'm going to have to find the checklist to see who I'm missing.

Anyway, I didn't scan the base cards because you've probably seen them all. If you want me to check out your want lists, let me know. I won't be collecting this set aside from Cubbies so I don't need them. But I will show the inserts because I don't need these either. Some may be earmarked for some of my regular trade partners but by now, they may already have picked them up. So if you want them, let me know.

First up, we have the minis. These were one per pack. A couple big names.

Overall, I probably would have been much more impressed with this box back in April or whenever it came out. Now, at the end of the season, when the Cubs have long been eliminated and MLB is about to show reruns of the 2007 World Series, I might just be ready for winter. How long until pitchers and catchers report?

Almost for got the highlights from the box, the Cubbies!

I don't think Brett Jackson would have made the cut for set inclusion in hindsight but still two nice additions to the collection. I still have another blaster to open and post about as part of my winnings. Here's hoping the other winners had a little better luck.

Five More 1991 Topps Desert Shield

Sorry about the missing posts the last two days. I neglected to hit "Publish" and have been away from the computer to check. Oh well. This post was meant for Thursday.

With the end of the year coming up, I need to make some headway on some of my Resolutions from the beginning of the year. I'm not doing very well...

A quick eBay search a week or two ago brought up a seller who was breaking his 1991 Topps Desert Shield set up. The seller must have put in a lot of time and effort into this set and all of his cards seemed to be in great shape, including centering. He had a bunch of Cubs listed, seven of which I needed. I lost out on two of them to higher bidders but if you read the title, you'll know I came away with five, all for the minimum bid.

I don't think I'll complete this set by the end of the year with a few big names left out there, but I'm really glad to knock these two out for quite a bit less than what I thought I would pay. Especially for their condition.

These other three put me over the half way hump as I now have 18 of the 32 cards from the set (not including the Keith Comstock error).

I was a little concerned when I started to scan the cards as I noticed something about the backs. On some, the Topps 40th Anniversary logo is faded into the background and others were much bolder. I know there have been forgeries for this set, but I thought it had more to do with the foil stamping on the front. But after looking at a bunch of other cards from the 1991 set and getting an opinion from someone who is collecting the set, I'm more comfortable with the purchase. This seems to be a pretty common thing within this set. Hopefully...

First Pitch Friday - Andre Dawson

Short post today but in my best wrestler impersonation voice...

FINALLY. The HAWK. has come BACK. to WRIIIIGLEY!

Yes, I'm sure that Andre Dawson probably comes back to Wrigley Field quite often but I couldn't resist. After all, Kerry Wood just fished him out of the ivy just last year, right?

Even though Dawson works in the front offices with the Florida Miami Marlins, he still donned a Cubs jersey and threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field on September 2, 2013. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the Cubs fell to the Marlins 4-3 that day.

The Official SignaChip Sportstar Jigsaw Puzzles

Sometime in the early 1990's, a company put out puzzles of several All-Star baseball players. The puzzles were 250 pieces and measured 15 1/2" wide by 18" tall. They featured a large player photo with a smaller inset photo in one of the corners.

One of the pieces was roughly the size of a standard baseball card and served as the exclusive "SignaChip" piece and was meant to be autographed by the player featured. Kind of a neat collectible. I had the Ryne Sandberg puzzle as a kid and last year, when Ryno was still with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, I sent the piece to someone from SCN who offered some help.

I put together and took apart this puzzle probably a couple dozen times when it was new to me so when I came across it again, it looked a little dog-eared. You can see some wear around the edges in the photo above and the line in the middle top prong is actually a bend.

Despite its condition, I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I was curious to see if I could find an upgrade at a reasonable price. It seems to me, this is the kind of item you could find at a flea market for a quarter and/or could be the kind of oddball that rarely shows up on eBay thereby going for double digits plus crazy shipping.

Searching for "Sandberg puzzle" didn't necessarily help because apparently there is a wooden toy company called Sandberg that made puzzle. So after typing in varitions of "SignaChip" and" Sportstar" I found a decent selection. Anybody who was anybody 20-25 years ago had one. Ryne Sandberg. Bo Jackson. Brett. Canseco. Strawberry. Gooden. Ozzie Smith. Clemens. Griffey Jr. I believe I also saw some hockey and wrestling puzzles too.

I watched a few for a while, never pulling the trigger because with shipping they always ended being around $20-30. Unsold. Then one day a seller showed up with a Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace and Andre Dawson all listed separately. Starting bid was, I think, $5.99 for each of them plus $7-8 shipping. Reasonable, but still a little too pricey. All were unopened but the Grace had puncture holes in the box and the Dawson had a side that was shredded.

After they didn't sell, I sent a note to the seller asking if he'd do $20 shipped for all three. Depending on his combined shipping rate, he was probably looking at $30-35 if they all sold originally. I expected a counter offer of maybe $25-30 but he accepted, said he'd list a $20 Buy It Now with free shipping on just the Sandberg (so nobody else would bid on it) but throw in the Grace and Sandberg. Nice!

As I mentioned, the Grace and Dawson were damaged but I intend to open them up and try to get the pieces signed anyway. The hole is small enough on the Grace that no pieces should have fallen out. And the Dawson is pretty worn on the right side but no holes.

But the Sandberg was darn near perfect! Now I have to decide whether to open it or keep this one intact to sit on the shelf display and frame up the older one.

Either way, I think these three will look pretty snazzy/cheesy signed and all framed up in the man-cave. Dawson and Grace have pretty nice signatures but Sandberg's has deteriorated over the years. Might have to pay for a nice sit-down, public signing signature rather than settle for a rushed in-person hustle and bustle autograph. 

Andre Dawson

These aren't the first Andre Dawson autographs I've added to my collection but they're definitely my new favorites. When a private signing was posted on Sportscollectors.net, I jumped at the chance to add a third Hall of Famer to my ATCRCS collection. I've been waiting on these for a while now but only because I was too cheap to pay for separate return shipping on other signings the promoter was running. Yes, that means I have other players to show off as well!

Dawson was the right fielder I grew up with and has not yet been supplanted in my mind, not even by the once beloved Sammy Sosa. I know Sammy helped save baseball and saw the Cubs to a couple of playoff runs. But it just so happens that was smack dab in the middle of a couple-season-baseball-hiatus. Not because of the strike like most people, but because I was getting married, having kids, etc.

I also sent in the above custom card. Dawson has such a clear, fine signature that showed up fantastically on these cards. I may have to keep these display rather than tuck them away in a binder. At least for a little while. These are definitely going in to the digital photo frame that hasn't been updated in a while!

Pseudo-Surprise from 2 by 3 Heroes

Jeff from 2 by 3 Heroes sent me an email about a month ago dangling a fantastic bit of trade bait in front of me. Unfortunately, I had nothing in return at the time but was going to look at that card show that I never made it to earlier this month. I have something cooking but nothing just yet.

Fast forward to this past weekend and I pulled out a yellow padded envelope that I assumed was an eBay pickup I had forgotten about. Nope, it was even better. While I was expecting it to come eventually, I didn't know it was already on the way, hence the pseudo-surprise.

 I'll start oldest to newest, since the newest card in the package was the original piece of bait offered. The rest is all bonus!



1989 Cap'n Crunch Andre Dawson



If you had asked me if I had this, I would have said yes. But I couldn't find it and this one is in incredible shape. Not even for its age. Incredible shape. Period.

 

1994 Collector's Choice Ryne Sandberg (Team Checklist)

I had this card in my Ryne Sandberg PC but it's nice to have one for my Cubs team sets I'm putting together too. Great horizontal card.

A pair of young aces in the form of 2002 Donruss Originals. Oh what could have been. I didn't have either of these, nice!

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects Green X-Fractors Justin Bour

Jeff probably didn't think twice about this "throw in" card but I'm pretty excited to have it. Justin Bour is a local guy (along with current Cub Shawn Camp) so it has a little bit of sentimental value to it. Justin is currently in Double-A with the Tennessee Smokies.

2012 Opening Day Geovany Soto (Walmart Blue Parallel)

This Geovany Soto card is serial numbered out of 2012. I've got to get a master list of all these parallels together so I can figure out which ones I still need/want.

2012 Topps Archives Keystone Connection Ryne Sandberg & Starlin Castro

To be honest, when I saw this card I thought it was a bit of a stretch. Ryno would have been better paired with Darwin Barney (although to be fair, nobody could have predicted Barney's Gold Glove season) and Castro probably would have been better paired with another Shortstop like Ernie Banks. But after reading the back, I guess I can kind of, sort of, see the "connection" that Topps made:

And last, but definitely not least:

2013 Heritage Clubhouse Collection Starlin Castro

The prices on Castro items have cooled a little now that Anthony Rizzo is the hot commodity but are still not always quite to where I'd be comfortable picking them up. So to be able to trade for one is a no-brainer. I believe Matt Garza is the only other Cub in this set so aside from that and maybe picking up some of the autographs, 201 Heritage is pretty much in the books for me!

Thanks for the cards, Jeff!

Spring Fever!

With Spring Training fully underway and games starting for all the clubs either yesterday or today, I thought I'd throw a friendly reminder out to those interested in joining my Fantasy Baseball League. The entry fee is reasonable and the prizes aren't too shabby, if I do say so myself. Click the tab up above for more details and sign up now!

With that out of the way, I thought I'd show off the latest additions to the collection. These Spring Fever cards are part of a 50 card set that was/is available in 5 card packs from your local card shop from 2/20-2/27 if you managed to pull this card from a pack:

I like to support local card shops when I can but my nearest participating one is about 45 minutes away. So I headed over to ebay to see what Cubs were featured instead. I managed to find one seller who had all 3 Cubs and therefore got a pretty good deal on them. They showed up in Friday's mail after having my best offer accepted on Tuesday so not too shabby.

I did manage to pull one of the redemption cards from my box a few weeks ago but thought it was just a pack filler and didn't pay much attention to it then. I may call the store and make the drive if they still have any of the packs available. I need to pick up some supplies anyway as I've been on a pretty big organizing kick this year. Don't want to lose any momentum!

In hand, the cards look somewhere in between what Collecting the Cubs showed off on Thursday and the scans I have below. The background is more blue like his photos, but they are refractory, hence the rainbow striping on my scans.

I like that each of the three players selected have their own story that ties into Spring Training. Josh Vitters is vying for a spot on the team at a pretty wide open third base. Anthony Rizzo had a great spring last year and after a little more Triple-A work was brought up mid-season and was one of the bigger highlights on an otherwise dismal season. And Andre Dawson joined the Cubs during Spring Training in 1987, the season he would go on to win the MVP award.

I'd like to pick up the signed versions as well but demand is high right now and the prices are on the overpriced side. Either it cools off and I'll grab them later or they dry up and I live without. I have autographs from all three of these guys already on other cards so it's not too big a deal if I don't.

Photo Selection

One thing I've learned from making my own cards is that photo selection can be crucial to whether I pursue one of my designs any further or not. On multiple occasions I have created a card design around one particular photo I really like, only to find that none of my other photos will work very well with it.

Even cards I've made large runs of (ATCRCS, 2012 team set) can sometimes be hard to work with on certain photos. But I consider those amateur problems! Not something the professional card companies with much more means than I have should worry about...right?

On a related note (don't worry it'll tie in), it's my birthday month so I went out and bought myself something pretty. I've been lurking on eBay a little lately, mostly trying to find the remaining Tony Campana printing plates. But every once in a while, I'll expand my searches looking for a deal. I picked up a lot featuring a couple thousand Cubs cards trying to make a dent into my non-Topps Cubs collection. I'll go into more details in later post(s) this week but for now, I just wanted to feature a couple of cards that caught my attention in the span of one short stack. And not necessarily in a good way. Which brings me back to photo selection...

1989 Fleer Andre Dawson

I'm not sure if the intent was for Andre Dawson to come off looking like a badass here or what. But to me, he just looks disgusted with something. Reminds me of the McKayla Maroney meme from the summer. Maybe the Hawk is not impressed.

On the other hand, Kevin Roberson here likes what he sees. This may not be the last you see of these two cards. I'm thinking Once a Cub memes...

1994 Upper Deck Kevin Roberson 

Back to the bad/questionable photo selections. I very clearly remember this Ed Lynch card from growing up. In fact, it's the only card I would picture if asked to think of an Ed Lynch card. (As if someone would do that!) Lynch went on to become the Cubs GM from 1994-2000 which funnily enough, is the time when I followed the Cubs the least since becoming a fan. I'm sure it is just a coincidence though because it was high school and college years for me. Other things on my mind and all that. But seriously, why pose like this? And then why as a card company select it. THIS was the best option???

1987 Topps Ed Lynch

This card of Dan Plesac is something that I think was a good idea but poorly executed. Or maybe just a poor idea? At first glance I was wondering why the bad crop job and why there was so much black space at the top. But a closer look showed me that there is another ghostly Plesac over his left shoulder, probably at the beginning of his pitching motion. I don't know the technical photography terminology but it looks like something to do with the exposure?

1994 Topps Stadium Club Dan Pesac

It just reminds me of those pictures all the kids had done that was recreated by Will Ferrell below:

Last, but not least, is this gem of Jeff Pico. I remember Upper Deck being heralded as a groundbreaking set in terms of photography. But after going through this stack of cards, 20+ years later, I'm not sure it holds up. Why oh why would you crop this photo in such a manner? Why cut off his head/hat? Why are we getting a Mark Grace cameo when Pico (you know, the subject of the card) could be front and center, not off to the side?

1989 Upper Deck Jeff Pico

 This is probably not something I would have noticed in more than a passing glance prior to making my own cards but they stick out like a sore thumb now. Luckily, all of these guys had multiple year careers and cards, but imagine if one of these was your only cardboard representation?!?!