Mets vintage travel overseas : a Mark Hoyle trade package

Mark and I have been exchanging a lot of cards in the past year, as I'll be sending him some modern Red Sox and Celtics, and he'll reply with some nice vintage baseball and basketball. But since there are no pre-1977 Blue Jays cards (obviously), I asked him if he wouldn't have any Mets laying around (at least, if the Blue Jays are eliminated tonight or tomorrow, I'll still have some hope for my second favorite team - sorry Night Owl).

And of course, he did.

But not before he sent some modern cards by his standards, and those are much needed :

You'll notice an Aaron Sanchez mini 2015 A&G. It so happens that it's my first card from that set.

I love that '71 Agee, and I'm also a big fan of the In Action subset.

More 72s !

First time I've ever run into that set, so I had to do a little research, as the backs don't tell much (it appears to be some kind of game). Turns out that those are 72 Milton Bradley cards, and that you play the game with a couple of dice.

 One day, when I'm really deep into my Blue Jays collection and there are no commons (or 90s) cards left to chase, I might tackle 1973 Topps. Maybe. I'll add this to the list entitled 'Yeah right'. Always nice to add a Yogi card, even as a manager.

And finally, we round this out with some 74 Topps !

Thanks a lot Mark for that very nice selection of 70s cardboard ! You gave my vintage Mets collection a nice kickstart.

Como se dice vintage, in Spanish ?

Yeah, it's going to be another one of those 'hey look I got new cards' kind of post. Then again, it's pretty much all I've got in stock, I'm afraid. But I still try to make them somewhat entertaining. Sometimes.

I've been posting a little less lately, mainly because I haven't been adding that many cards to my collection (but I've been very active on ebay for the past couple of weeks, plus I've finally pulled the trigger on my justcommons order that's been waiting patiently in the online cart for 5 months), but also because of something else I wanted to share with you guys : I'm trying to write a novel. Yup, absolutely, everybody and their grand-mothers have written novels in their lives (how can so many people have so much to write about and think that others want to read them ?), but what can I say, I think I'm special. Anyway, I've been on and off about it for 3 or 4 years now, and this time I'm fully committed. I have the idea, and all it's really about is hard work and trying to find a few hours each day to write. So far I have 20 000 words written in a month, and I'll use the energy  and perseverance of Nanowrimo to write 50 000 more by the end of November.

So woohoo, I'm excited about that. And of course, I'm writing in French, rest assured, I won't be botching your lovely language.

Anyway, here are some nice cards I received today :

This one should help for the playoff push

When I left the hobby, Jose Cruz Jr was a major star, with cards carrying a premium. I got this one for .99cts.

I bought those 3 cards as fillers for the one right underneath. Because you pay $2 fees minimum with Comc no matter how many cards you have shipped to your mailbox. And it's .50 ct per card. So the math wizz that I am figured he might as well try and get at least 4 cards shipped. Quite the smart guy, Mr Papoy. I got Pirates and Twins because of my trade partners, but it's still a great looking set.

I paid $17 for that card, and I'm very happy I did. The overall condition isn't that bad (of course, there's a mark and a slight crease on the top right), but I've always said it's not really a factor. All I wanted was to be able to say that yes, absolutely, I do have a 65 Clemente in my collection, sure, oh ok, my place or your place ?

But maybe I'm just daydreaming...

3 x 2 x 3 PWE

It's not everyday that I receive PWEs. Mainly because you can't really trust a feeble envelope to make it safely across the ocean. But one thing's for sure, it's a great way to save a few precious dollars on shipping, as the USPS is clearly brutal with their international fees. A couple of forever (international) stamps later, and here I am with an envelope filled with goodies (you can send about 25 cards that way) sent over by Jeff, at 2x3 heroes. Jeff is one of the funniest guys out there and it's always a treat to read his blog. Especially when he was offering to send that card out to me :

I suppose you need to be a Blue Jays fan to know who Devon Travis is, especially since he's been injured since the end of July. He was named Rookie of the month for April and was having a very solid year. Let's hope his shoulder surgery goes well. It's still a very nice chrome on card auto, so thanks for thinking of me Jeff !


As a White Sox collector, he also has some Big Hurt extras for my collection :

One less card to find for my 93 UD master set project. And one of the better inserts, too.

The Spirit of the game insert is also a favorite of mine. And yes, this is (former Blue Jay great) George Bell...but lookie here :

Ooooooooh. There he iiiiiiiiiiis !

I opened a box of 93 Leaf recently, so I have a few of those. But I didn't have INTENSE Frank. Great looking insert too (ah, the 90s...).

The greatest invention since French bread : holograms !

I only have something like 100 Frank Thomas cards, which means I'm missing a ton of base cards. Including those. You know I haven't been collecting someone very seriously when I'm missing Upper Deck base cards of his.

I love that Fleer card !

Jeff noticed that I added pre 1977 Mets cards to my PC, so he included that 1964 topps card. I love vintage. As a matter of fact, I've just won a major significant card on Ebay. I'll be showing it in a month or so, the time for it to make it to COMC and then to me. But I am psyched !

And finally, some Gold Glovers

Thanks a lot Jeff, I needed the vast majority of what you sent. A return package will be headed your way soon !

Finally !

Woohoo !

In 1993, I missed the World Series because, well, I was living in France. I couldn't even see a single footage, a single video, hardly even photos. There were no broadcasts, and forget about hearing it on the news.

Here we are, 22 years later, and I can finally watch meaningful baseball in September. I won't even have to sweat through a Wild card game, and that's a major plus ! I've watched as many Blue Jays games as I could thanks to MLB.tv, including yesterday's clincher, even though it was a blowout.

Man am I psyched !

So psyched I'm not even planning on showing a single baseball card to illustrate it.

I'm going rogue !

Cracking me up : a trade with Julie

I have a very good friend in Julie (now now, don't be jealous, I love some of you too), and it's always a real treat to get one of her boxes in the mail, as I know it'll always be filled with fun stuff and great cards.

And a great (big) box it was, one that traveled across the ocean in just four days, and one that turned a crappy day (my Saturday was NOT going well) into a day filled with stars and fireworks.

Look at those beauties ! A paperback that was on my list of books to read (someone told me about it, but I can't remember who...maybe Tony ?), a George Bell plaque that was on no list of mine whatsoever and that may be one of the ugliest memorabilia ever made (which of course makes it awesome) - the joys of the 80s - , a very cool Joe Carter Starting Lineup that will soon be unsealed so I can display it on my desk (sorry George, you won't be making the cut) and finally, if you look closely, you'll see a Minion....dog tag ! Yup, absolutely. It isn't Kevin but hey, close enough.

Julie was afraid there would be a lot of cards I already had, but it turns out that she hardly sent any duplicates, and all the cards I'll be showing here are ones I needed for my collection.

Yup, I did not own Delgado's Bowman RC. Shame on me. Not sure I need a graded copy, but it's still a nice addition ! (oooooh, 9 !!)

One of a handful of Topps Chrome Blue Jays autos (the Devon Travis is on its way thanks to Jeff). This one is numbered out of 499.

When you're a team collector, you also collect purple 91 classic cards. It's part of the process.

Some old 86 mini cards (and complete Blue Jays set), and some new. And Dickey isn't blurry, he's just 3Dish.

Shiny Delgados !

A little bit of everything. The Wells is clear acetate and looks great, I love those Fan Favorites cards, it's always great to add new Carter cards, along with 90s inserts !

I love those oddball sets. Quaker Chewy granola bars. Quaker CHewy cards. Can't beat that. We do have Quaker Oats, here. Nobody buys it, but we have it.

 Those cards don't really fit my collection, but they must've been sent for a reason. I'm assuming the Buchholz one looks like a Blue Jays jersey (it's not) and 90s Alomar usually wears a Blue JAys uniform. I've added Mets cards to my general collecting needs, so I guess that's why they're included (and again, love those Fan Favorites)

Julie always includes cards that make me chuckle. To kill a mockingjay...now that's not very nice ! Chocolate covered sticks for beavers. Now that's a candybar filled with Canadian promise ! A couple of French boats, and one flag for my mom (she's from Toronto) and one for my dad (he's 100% French)

Whenever Julie sees basketball cards somewhere in her LCS, she picks them up for me. And I needed that Marbury for my very slow to grow Knicks collection.

Despite the huge box TJ sent me, I still (amazingly) need 18 000 Griffeys. Including those. And the 93 SC is one of my all time favorites (for sentimental reasons), so I'm happy to add that members only copy.

I really need to add more Bo Jackson football cards, I don't nearly have enough. And that Bo Breaker just may be one of the greatest cards ever made. I never could find a copy at what I deemed a reasonable price (IE less than .25 cts), so I was psyched to see it included !

Plenty of PC (nice Big Hurt in a football uni), including oddballs !

Julie collects Tigers, so it means a lot that she'd pass those along

Keith Hernandez cannot look bad on cardboard. Must be the mustache. "Chef Boyardee, 1988 1st annual Collector's edition". Wow.

I never get to scan Bieber cards, as I'm the one sending them out. But I Biebered P Town Tom, who re-Biebered Julie, who re-re-Biebered it, return to sender style. But you won't get rid of them that easy !

Thanks a lot, Julie, you brought a lot of joy in my little heart. I'll find a way to keep the ball rolling...

Box Break : 97 Stadium Club

I have a lot of catching up to do with the collecting world, having left it in the mid 90s. The task of keeping up with today's products is way less daunting than trying to learn about what's been going on in the past 20 years, but I always seem to come back to the 90s.

I left Stadium Club in 94/95 with 600 to 700 card sets, and here we are in 97 with a 390 set. I found a series II box at a reasonable price (ie less than $25), so of course I jumped on it.

Those are parallels. Inserted 2 per box (24 packs and 9 cards per pack). I'm quite happy with the players I got, as Big Hurt is PC, and Nomo is definitely mid-90s baseball card collecting. NOMOMANIA

Not many inserts in 97 Stadium Club, but at least it's a sweet hologram. So yay. Plus, Andruw Jones is on my list on the right. Seeded one per box.

Another one per box insert, and another Andruw Jones . I guess it's a Jones hot box. That would've been really cool in...well, in 97.

This here is a subset/insert. It's included with the base cards, but they are SP. I like the design and its simplicity. Plus, there's a Griffey in there.

Walt ! (the runner's out)

Those four cards were needed for my collection (another Andruw Jones), and it's insane that I was missing a Joe Carter Stadium Club card.

And of course, as always with Stadium club, you get stellar photography, this time on 20 pt card stock, with full bleed pics and plenty of foil and gloss.

Now, I need to find a series 1 box....