My Second Secret Santa

I joined in two Secret Santas this year and the second one was just as nice as the first.  This one was featured on Weston's blog, Fantastic Catch.  I was paired up with Daniel from the blog "It's Like Having My Own Card Shop."  I sent Daniel a couple Brandon Webb cards (a relic and an auto) and he sent me an assortment of Nolan Reimold cards to help with my wishlist and a little something extra (see below).  I had already purchased the above Wal Mart blue parallel from COMC recently, and subsequently buried it under a bunch of mail and other posts.  That's not to say I won't enjoy both of them.  I just regret that I spent the store credit on it.

I'm not going to hide the fact that the highlight (for me) was the above factory set orange parallel.  I have been searching for this card for some time now and have always come up empty handed.  Add on the fact that my good friend Ryan owned a copy before me and let it be known, well, I really wanted one.  I finally have it.  This card is numbered 141/230.

Also, I finally was able to add the Toys R Us purple parallel.  By my unofficial count, I still need quite a few of Nolan's 2013 offerings in order to complete my rainbow.  If only I could land a platinum parallel, I would have an actual chance at completing one.  Oh, if only.

Among the other cards Daniel knocked off of my wishlist was the above 2009 Topps Heritage high numbered chrome rookie card of Nolan.  This one is numbered 928/1,960.  He also included the 2009 Bowman chrome refractor, but Weston had already sent me one for Christmas (so now I have 2).

The surpsise Daniel sent was this 2012 Bowman Sterling Kevin Gausman auto that I had completely forgotten that I had on my wishlist.  The Bowman Sterling autos are not numbered.

Thanks for the package, Daniel and thank you Weston for hosting the Secret Santa.  I fully intend on signing up for some of these this year.

Top 10 Wishlist Pickup - 1948 Bowman Yogi Berra RC

Wow.  I'm only 6 days into the New Year and I have already knocked off 30% of my Top 10 wishlist.  I picked up this 1948 Bowman Yogi Berra RC off of Ebay on the same day that I got my 1953 Topps Satchel Paige.  The Berra came in the mail today.

Getting this Yogi Berra RC is a huge deal for me.  He marks the last of the high-end rookie cards that I needed for the 1948 set I've slowly been piecing together since 2010.  I was able to land the Feller and Musial rookies very cheaply (with a lot of luck) and I got the Kiner and Schoendienst cards at reasonable prices as well.  Getting the Berra at a reasonable price has been an issue for a while, not only because he is a Hall of Famer, but his status as Yankee Legend makes his cards carry an extra premium.

I'm ecstatic that I now own this card.  As you all know, I'm no Yankee fan, but I am a baseball fan and Yogi is a National Treasure.  He is a great ambassador for all that was and is right in baseball.  He is well up there in years now and won't be around much longer, but it really is nice to wind up with one of his rookie cards and be able to reflect on his life and career while he is still around.

I now need only 24 more cards to complete the 1948 Bowman set.  This Yogi Berra RC has officially put me at the halfway point and I have already gotten the toughest cards out of the way.  As they say, it's downhill from here.

Top 10 Wishlist Pickup - 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson

I hadn't intended to knock this card off of my wishlist this early into the year, but Wendell (the proprietor of my LCS) made me an offer I couldn't refuse on it.  This 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson rookie card is a really nice card.  It is terribly off-centered, as you can see from the scan.  Also, as you may be able to tell from the scan below, the back of the card is faded just a bit.

Otherwise, the card is in great shape and will fit nicely into my 1969 set.  I wasn't aiming for a NRMT/MT set anyway, so there was no way I was going to pay full book for this card.  That's just too expensive.  Book value on the '69 Reggie is $300.00 and I got this card for a fraction of that.  Wendell really hooked me up.

Now that I have that card out of the way, I can concentrate on the Nolan Ryan second-year card or the Mickey Mantle final year card as the two tougher cards to get for the set.

Christmas From Drew

My good friend, Drew, always sends great stuff for birthdays and Christmas.  This year was no exception.  He had already warned me that my Christmas package wasn't going to include a ball, but would still be pretty awesome.  I wasn't worried about the awesome part, because, really, it's the thought that counts.

That being said, when I opened my package, I was very happy with the cards that were inside.  Drew took the time to read my wishlist and knocked two Bob Feller cards off that I needed for my PC.

The top card is Feller's 1954 Bowman.  It's a really cool card, with a smiling Feller posing in the dugout.  A really good shot of him.  I like the old school uniform and patches on his sleeves.  the card is in great shape, too.  There are a couple of creases across the middle of the card, but you have to really look for them.  I like it, that's for sure.

The other card comes out of one of my favorite sets, 1955 Bowman.  This card is in really good shape.  Feller is shown here gripping the ball across the seams.

I really liked the cards that Drew sent.  It's a shame that he has been so busy lately preparing for college because regular posts on his blog have become a thing of the past.  Once a stalwart in the blogosphere, Drew has kind of taken a few steps back into the shadows.  I'm hoping when things calm down for him, he will find his blogging voice again and we will see more posts.

Ok, enough of my shameless plugging.  I spent yesterday's post talking about one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game and was able to follow it up today with who I have always believed was the greatest.  He is definitely my favorite pitcher of all-time (of which I have many).  One regret I do have, however, is that I was never able to meet Feller in person.  I do want to go to his museum in Iowa one day.  Maybe I'll be able to convince Drew to go on a road trip in the future.  Who knows.

So, thanks for the awesome Christmas present, Drew.  You've always been a class act and I am glad we have been able to collaborate on our blogs for the past 5 years together.  Thanks so much!

Top 10 Wishlist Pickup - 1953 Topps Satchel Paige

Today, I knocked a card off of my want list that has resided there since I got back into collecting cards in 2005.  I finally own a 1953 Topps Satchel Paige card.  To me, this was an ultimate pickup; a dream blog post, if you will.  Now that I have the card in my possession, I am at a loss as to what to say.  The card is in really good shape considering what I paid for it vs its book value.  There is a crease in the bottom left corner, around the Brownie's ear.  Otherwise, the card is pretty sharp.  There is still some gloss on the face of the card.

The back looks pretty awesome as well.  If you take a look at the text on the back, you can see that Paige, at approximately 44 years of age had pitched a 12-inning 1-0 shutout against the Tigers in 1952.  I'd like to see another 44-year old accomplish that feat.  According to his baseball-reference page, which you can access here, it says he was actually born in 1906.

Paige (b. 1906 - d. 1982) played in the majors during the 1948-1949 (with the Indians), 1951-1953 (with the Browns) and 1965 (with the Kansas City A's) seasons.  During the 1965 season, he pitched in one game (3 innings), allowing one hit and no runs, all at the age of 58.

Paige's career MLB numbers aren't overly impressive with a record of 28-31, 288 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.29.  It's Paige's career as a whole that tells the true story.  Paige pitched professionally, either via the Negro Leagues, MLB or Barnstorming Teams from 1926 to 1966.  Many times pitching two or three complete games in a day, especially when he was barnstorming.  Many folks regard Paige as the greatest pitcher ever to have played the game.  I'm partial to Bob Feller, but I think they may be right about Paige.

Paige was a member of the 1948 World Series Champion Indians and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971 at the first player to be elected solely on his exploits in the Negro Leagues.

I truly love this card.  In my collection, this will rank very close to the top, alongside my 1957 Topps Brooks Robinson, 1948 Leaf Virgil Trucks, my 1995 Leaf Statistical Standouts Cal Ripken and others.  I really am excited I got this card.  I hope you all like seeing it as well.

TTM Success - Ed Mierkowicz

I had my next few days worth of blog posts planned out before I get some big pieces in the mail later on this week.  I had it all planned out until I got a nice surprise in my mailbox today.  One of my brown padded mailers, with ball inside, was in my mailbox.  I hadn't sent off any TTM requests in a while, so I had no idea who it could be.  I had kept the delivery confirmation slips (from when the USPS used to use those) from the balls I hadn't yet received.

Much to my surprise, the ball was that of former Tiger, Ed Mierkowicz.  I had sent to him on January 7, 2012 as an attempt to get all of the living members of the 1945 World Series Champion Tigers on baseballs.  At that time, there were 5 living members of the team, Virgil Trucks, Billy Pierce, Les Mueller, Milt Welch and Ed Mierkowicz.  Since that time, Mueller and Trucks passed away, leaving only Welch, Pierce and Mierkowicz as the last living members of that team.

Mierkowicz (b. 1924), played in the majors for the Tigers for the 1945, 1947 and 1948 seasons and wrapped up his career with the 1950 Cardinals when he had one plate appearance in one game.  He appeared in the 1945 World Series as a 21-year old but didn't have a plate appearance.

He had 11 hits, one home run and a .175 batting average in his career.  He was a left fielder.

Mierkowicz is my 76th TTM success. I mailed to him on January 7, 2012 and got the ball back today, January 2, 2014, an almost 2-year TAT.  I now have, obviously, all of the living members of the 1945 Tigers team and 7 of the overall.  Along with the 5 guys I mentioned above, I also have Hall of Famers Charlie Gehringer and Hal Newhouser.

Along with my ball, I got back my note that I wrote with answers to the questions that I had asked.  The answers were written by Mierkowicz's granddaughter.  Here are the questions and answers:

What was Hank Greenberg like in person?
He was a great guy.

What do you remember most about playing on those Tiger teams?
That I was a "Tiger"!

Were you sad to see Tiger Stadium torn down?
Not really, you can't stop progress.

His granddaughter also wrote a little note on the back apologizing for how long it took to get the ball back to me.  She said that he had lost his wife this year and has been down + slowing down.  I feel really bad for him.  I know that he is 89 years old, but here's to hoping that things pick up for him and that 2014 is better for him.     

A Look Back at 2013 and My Collecting Goals for 2014

2013 was a pretty good year over here at foul bunt.  There were lots of good things that happened, but there were quite a few low points as well.

• On March 24, we lost Virgil Trucks.  That was a really sad day for me.  You can read that blog post here.
• On January 19, we lost both Earl Weaver and Stan Musial.  Both personal favorites of mine.  It was a surreal experience for me because I was in Baltimore at Fan Fest when the news broke about Earl.  Read that blog post here.
• Continuing with the depressing news, as of my count, 11 guys I got TTM over the course of this blog passed away in 2013.  That's really sad,  I guess it goes with the territory, though, since I get my names off of Wikipedia's list of oldest living baseball players.
• Some awesome stuff happened this year as well.  I facilitated my first guest post on this blog, which can be read here, when I met up with my longtime friend, Drew and visited the Hall of Fame with him, his dad, my son Chris and my brother Adam.
• During that Hall of Fame trip, my son got to meet, in no particular order: Ralph Kiner, Roberto Alomar, Johnny Bench, Rickey Henderson, Rusty Staub, Andre Dawson and of course, Pete Rose.
• I had two meet-ups with another good friend and fellow blogger, Scott.  I'm not done with showing my card show haul with him.

I took a look back at my 2013 Collecting Goals and I feel pretty good about what I achieved this year.  I started 2013 with 82 Hall of Fame signed baseballs and my goal was to add 10, which would have put me at 92.  I exceeded that goal by 4.

I completed one of the sets on my want list (1971).  I started working harder on my 1959 and 1969 sets in the year as well, once 1971 was taken off of the books.

I'm not too sure I added 2 new players to my PCs, unless you want to count new Oriole draft pick, Hunter Harvey.  I actually took 2 players off of my PC in Brian Roberts (which was foreshadowed in that January 2013 post) and Tim Lincecum.  I have transferred most of my Lincecums to Chris's collection, since he is starting to get old enough to keep up with and take care of his own cards.  Roberts will be re-visited after he retires.

I still haven't figured out what to do with my TTMs.  I haven't noticed any fading on any of the TTM balls I got after I started using a different pen and the non-synthetic baseballs.  So, I guess I slowed that process down.  Speaking of things slowing down, my TTM pursuits have slowed to almost a complete stop.  That's more of not having enough time to sit and research the player, write a letter, package a ball up and go to the post office, than anything.  I want to get more out soon, so we'll see about that.

I didn't really branch out with my set collecting, with the exception of taking on the daunting task of trying to complete the 2013 Emerald set (Series 1 and 2; Im not interested in doing Update).  I also finally sat down and wrote out my needs for Topps sets 1993 through 1997.

I'm not too sure if I added 5 new blogs to my sidebar, but it should be close.  With the addition of Matthew's blog and my son's, there's two right there.  I'm thinking I added a couple more last year as well.

Finally, on 2013, I was very active with trades.  I sent out a ton of packages.  Lots were to regular trade partners, but I did complete several trades with other guys that I hadn't traded with before.

Now, onto my 2014 goals:

1. I want to try to add 10 more Hall of Famers to my collection.  That would put me at 106 and yes, it would put me past #100.
2. I want ball #100 to be special.  You know, a BIG name.  Depending on who it ends up being, will determine whether or not I can reach my goal of 10 more baseballs in the year.  There is a possibility that a large Hall of Fame class will have me surpass 100 anyway, since I already have baseballs of Greg Maddux, Jack Morris, Jeff Bagwell and Frank Thomas.  I see a few of those guys getting in, but not all.  We'll see, though.  If all get in and I get to 100 that way, then #101 will be the special one.  Trust me, its coming regardless.
3. I intend to complete at least one of the Topps sets from 1993 to 1997.  In a perfect world, I can complete two.
4. I need to add the 1993 to 1997 needs to my wishlist.
5. I want to make significant progress in my 1948 Bowman, 1959 Topps, 1969 Topps and 2013 Topps Emerald sets.  I'm not saying that I'll be able to complete those, but I want to make some progress.  Either by knocking out a bunch of commons or taking a couple heavy hitters off of the list. (such as the 1969 Reggie Jackson RC)
6. I want to knock off at least 5 of the cards on my Top 10 list.
7. I want to continue the trades and relationships I started or maintained in 2013.  I had to take a couple guys off of my regular trading list, but I was able to add a few in their places.
8. Finally, I want to continue to provide you guys with a good place to go and read about Orioles happenings, card pickups, TTMs (maybe), Hall of Fame information and general baseball discussions.  I want to continue to be a standard bearer (from what I was told recently by a couple guys) in the blogging community.  I really appreciate all of the page views (I set records this year for daily, monthly and views for the year for my blog) and I really hope I continue to get feedback from you all.

Thank you everyone for a successful 2013 and I look forward to spending 2014 with you all as well!