Partial Christmas Gift From Max

I have made a lot of friends in this hobby, from the day in October 2006 when I started helping out at the former card shop in Winston-Salem, to when I started this blog in November 2008 to when I joined the Instagram card community in November of 2013.  One of the friends that count among the best of the best is my good friend, Max.  He and I have been trading for a long time now, and hung out at the National this past summer.  We text and skype almost every day.  He is an amazing person, whom I can't imagine being without.

Max sent me what he says was half of my Christmas gift.  The above Fergie Jenkis ball was something he picked up in person about a month ago for me, so I used it as an opportunity to upgrade the ball that I had.  Mine was one of my original TTM successes, but was on a China ball with a bad pen, so it has faded quite a bit.

This one looks so much better and is on an OMLB ball.  Definitely an upgrade!

Max knew someone who was doing some "graphing" recently, and was able to take every Bob Milacki card that I could find and turned them into autos.  Max and I 50/50'ed the cards and here are a few of the notable ones.

I love 1989 Topps's design, so I had to show this one.  It looks really cool signed.  I need to get myself into more TTMs on cards, because I feel like TTM autos give some of the 80s-90s cards new life, so to speak.

Speaking of 80s-90s cards, here is a nice signed 1989 Donruss, followed by the below 1990 Donruss.

In all, Max sent me 9 Milacki signed cards.  Not bad at all!  I'm really happy with them, and they will go into my TTM binder.

Max also included some signed cards by other former Orioles.  This 2012 Robert Andino is a nice one.

I was surprised last year to see that Adam Loewen popped back up in the majors in the Phillies pitching staff.  I guess his left arm is feeling better now after taking a few years off from pitching and playing as a position player.

Finally, this really cool Xavier Avery auto on a 2012 Topps.  Avery is back with the Orioles as a minor league signing.  He will try to break camp with the O's in Spring Training.  I feel like he is outfield depth at AAA, but not a bad deal on a milb contract.

So, thank you so much for the awesome package, Max.  As always, I appreciate it!

Ebay Pickup - 1969 Topps Rollie Fingers Rookie Card

With the little bit of Christmas money that I had left over following my purchase of the three Hall of Fame balls that I added, I was able to knock a key piece off of my 1969 set.

This Rollie Fingers rookie card was one of the higher profile cards that I needed.  To be honest, I had no idea that Fingers's rookie card was in this set, until I looked at a checklist to see what big name cards remained.

I was able to knock it out for $9.95 shipped on Ebay, which is a steal, I think.  I have seen these go for around $25 or so, so I made sure to not let this deal pass me by.

The 1969 set is a goal of mine for this year.  I have been working on it long enough, and it is time to close it out.  Here's to hoping I can meet that goal this year.

Welcome The Two Newest Members of the Hall of Fame

Today is one of my favorite days of the year, the day when the BBWAA announces the newest members to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

While I had hoped that four names would be announced, only two made it this year.  It was a foregone conclusion that Ken Griffey, Jr. would make it on his first try.  He will be joined in Cooperstown by former slugger, Mike Piazza.

Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines narrowly missed the cut, so it is highly likely that those two will be among the group called next year.

I had hoped that Bagwell would make it, since I already have a baseball signed by him; it would have made my HOF total go up.  I had a chance to pick up a Griffey at the National for a ridiculous price, but I passed because I felt it was too good to be true.

With tonight's announcement, that gives me two more guys I can pursue for my collection, which is nice.  This beats the Veterans Committee (or whatever they are calling it these days) because those guys are a lot harder to find.

Griffey received the highest voting percentage in history, with 99.3% after being named on all but 3 ballots.  He breaks the record that was held by Tom Seaver who had 98.84% in 1992.  I want to know who the three idiots are that felt that Griffey wasn't a Hall of Famer.

Next year, Bagwell and Raines will be on the ballot along with newcomers Vladimir Guerrero, Ivan Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez.  I'm interested in seeing what happens with Ramirez, since he was pegged twice for PED use.  Ivan Rodriguez is a Hall of Famer in my mind, but he was named in Jose Canseco's book as a user and deflated once MLB started testing.  I would like to see him get in, but we shall see.

Overall, I am please with how the vote turned out today.  I'm glad the BBWAA took votes away from folks (about 100).  I think they should continue to do so to the people who use the voting process as a means for attention.  I think the changes made to the process, though, have worked.  You're still seeing the right guys get in, I feel.  There are a few over the last several years that I kind of question (Larkin being the most obvious one), but in the end, I like the process.

Christmas Gift From Drew

Wow.  Take a look at the above card.  Yeah, Drew gave this to me for Christmas.  A card that he has had in his collection for a few years now.  A card that he once told me that would end up in my collection, once he felt the time was right.  I guess the time was right, because this 2005 Donruss INKCrdible Cal/Bill Ripken dual auto was in the Christmas package from him that arrived yesterday.

This card is amazing.  I actually had no Bill Ripken autos in my collection, one that I have been building since 1990.  No Bill Ripken autos at all.  I still don't have him on a ball.  I'm not sure why, except for maybe that he doesn't sign a lot; he doesn't seem to have too many certified autos in any products either.  Getting this card into my collection is a huge deal for me.

This card was also in the package, and while it seemed like I kind of overlooked it with my excitement over the Ripken dual auto, this triple relic from 2014 Panini Classics is a really nice card as well.  Numbered 3/99, it is really cool.  This is going right into the Chris Davis PC and spreadsheet.

Drew has been the longest tenured friend that I have made since I started this blog and joined the online card community.  I have seen him grow up from a 12-year old kid to a college student about to embark on a huge journey in his life.  His blog has undergone huge changes recently, including a change in URL.  I recommend that you check it out.  The link can be found here.  I have also updated it on my sidebar.

Thank you so much for the awesome Christmas gifts, Drew!  Good luck on your journey, and I will be here in a completely different time zone waiting to hear from you!

Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Ron Santo

The last of the baseballs that I picked up with my Christmas money came in the form of this Ron Santo signed baseball.  I was able to pick it up with the Christmas money that I got from my grandma, and the ball turned out to be quite a steal.  It is a William White ONL baseball with a PSA auction letter.  I got the ball from Ebay, but the seller picked it up from a frequent shopping destination of mine, Collectauctions.  I actually looked at the lot that this ball was included in, but I declined to bid on it.  I ended up with one of the balls anyway!!

Santo (b. 1940 - d. 2010) played in the majors from 1960 to 1974 for the Cubs and White Sox.  He was Chicago through and through, following up his playing career with a longtime place in the Cubs' broadcast booth.

In his playing career, he had 2,254 hits, 342 home runs and a .277 batting average.  He was on 9 All Star teams and finished as high as 4th in the NL MVP voting (1967).

Santo was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2012 (posthumously) by the Veterans Committee.  He probably should have been elected a long time ago, especially since he passed away due to diabetes complications in 2010.

Santo is the 121st Hall of Fame signed baseball in my collection.  Hopefully, based on the voting results to be announced Wednesday, I will be able to count ball number 122 soon!

Thank you for the Christmas money, Grandma!

Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Dick Williams

I picked up my 120th Hall of Fame signed baseball when I got this Dick Williams off of Ebay.  I paired this with another ball and the seller gave me a discount since I saved him on shipping.  The ball is a Selig OMLB with PSA/DNA authentication and was surprisingly cheap.

Williams (b. 1929 - d. 2011) played in the majors from 1951 to 1954 and 1956 to 1964 for the Dodgers, Orioles, Indians, A's and Red Sox.  He had 768 hits, 70 home runs and a lifetime batting average of .260.  Obviously, he isn't a Hall of Famer because of his playing career.  He was elected to the Hall via the Veterans Committee in 2008 based on the merits of his managerial career.

He managed in the majors from 1967 to 1969 with the Red Sox, taking them to the World Series in '67; 1971 to 1973 with the A's where he won the Series in '72 and '73; 1974 to 1976 with the Angels; 1977 to 1981 with the Expos; 1982 to 1985 with the Padres where he took them to the 1984 World Series; and 1986 to 1988 with the Mariners.

He owns a career won/loss record of 1,571-1,451 (.520 pct.).  His 1,571 wins rank 21st all-time.

Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Edd Roush

I used the Christmas money that I got this year on some Hall of Fame baseballs that I probably wouldn't have normally bought.  One of which was a ball that I had my eye on for a long time, and was finally able to knock it off of the list.  Presenting my Hall of Fame signed baseball number 119, Edd Roush.

Roush (b. 1893 - d. 1988) played in the majors from 1913 to 1929 and 1931 for the White Sox, Hoosiers (Indianapolis - Federal League), Pepper (Newark - Federal League), Giants and Reds.  He had 2,376 hits, 68 home runs and a lifetime batting average of .323.  He finished as high as 10th in the NL MVP voting (1924 and 1925).  He was also a two-time batting champ (1917 and 1919).

Roush won the World Series in 1919 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, who were on the other side of the infamous Black Sox scandal.  Roush was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1962 by the Veterans Committee and is the only representative of that 1919 Reds team who has been inducted into the Hall.

As far as Hall of Famers go, Roush is the "oldest" Hall of Famer that I have, now.  He was born in 1893, which surpasses Joe Sewell (born in 1898).  He also passes Sewell in that his career started earlier than anyone else that I have, 1913.  That really blows my mind, to be honest.  Roush's career started over 100 years ago.  He also represents the only player I have (that I know of) who played in the Federal League.  I had never heard of the Indianapolis Hoosiers nor the Newark Pepper.  Those teams also boasted Hall of Famer Bill McKechnie.  The Hoosiers actually won the Federal League Championship in 1915.  Roush also is the earliest World Series winner (1919) that I have.

Roush never struck out more than 25 times in a season and, according to his Wikipedia page, he swung a massive 48-ounce bat and said that he never broke a bat in his career.