Wednesday, July 17, 2024

1988 Topps Rack Pack

I recently added this unopend rack pack of 1988 Topps with the Wallach All-Star in the center spot by way of eBay.  Over the years I acquired a few other unopened packs with Wallach, but this is the first rack I've been able to get my hands on.  

I'd be hard pressed to come up with a better one.  The Wallach All-Star is in the prime center spot, flanked by a Dave Winfield All-Star insert and Alan Trammell.  As an extra bonus, there is a Tony Gwynn showing on the back.  Short of a the Wallach base card being in the Trammell spot, trying to improve this with say a Mattingly or Raines is really just nit-picking.  I may end up trying to frame this some how, but it's not a huge priority at the moment.  I'm just very happy to add it to the collection for now.  Below are some more photos of the pack.


             










Monday, July 15, 2024

Rookie Card Lot



A couple months ago, some one on Twitter pointed me in the direction of a lot of 463 Wallach rookie cards that were for sale at a very reasonable price.  Recently that seller reached out to me with an offer for another 58 Wallach's they had available.  The end result is the photo above.  

Here's an update on the new totals:



Monday, July 8, 2024

Mesa, Arizona

 

This card was sent by Peter in Mesa, Arizona.  It's the first time Peter has sent my anything from Mesa, but he has credits from Brooklyn, Long Island, Phoenix, and Tempe under his name already.  He gets around like a utility infielder.

I can't say for certain, but this may be the first time I've ever been sent a 1996 Donruss as a stand alone card.  I don't have very many of them to being with, especially relative to other base set Wallach's put out by Donruss, Fleer, and Topps.  Also making this mailing unique, is the lovely cancellation stamp in the corner of the envelope.  

Thanks for the card Peter!

Updated Total:

1996 Donruss: 24




Friday, July 5, 2024

Bedford, Nova Scotia

This trio of Wallach's arrived from Bedford, Nova Scotia, shortly after the envelope posted earlier this week from Bedford, Nova Scotia.  Once again from regular, if not all-time most frequent contributor (or at least in the running, there are few others who have been incredibly generous over the years) Ryan.

Thanks (again) for the cards Ryan!

Updated Totals:

1989 Donruss: 609

1990 Donruss: 624

1990 Fleer: 702




Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Merritt Island, Florida

This card was sent by Daniel from Merritt Island, Florida.  I had never heard of Merritt Island, but it's outside of Orlando, and it looks like you would drive across it to get to the Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach.  For those of you old enough to remember, in the late 80's and early 90's, the New York Department of Motor Vehicles mandated that every third car have a Ron Jon Surf Shop bumper sticker, or so I believe, how else to explain why there were so many of them?

Thanks for the card Daniel, this Revco set has been one of my favorite Wallach's since its release.

Updated Total:

1988 Revco: 48




Monday, July 1, 2024

Bedford, Nova Scotia

This pair of '91 Upper Deck arrived from Bedford, Nova Scotia, thanks to regular contributor Ryan.  I'm embarrassed to acknowledge this, but I don't have an accurate count as to how many times Ryan has sent me cards.  I do know that Bedford is the 3rd town in Nova Scotia that he has sent them from, and it's not because he moves all that much.  Ryan is one of the early contributors to this blog and has been sending cards since 2013.

I didn't really expect people to send cards when I started this blog.   I intended it to be more of my own deluxe, personal trading card data base for my Wallach collection.  When cards actually started arriving I started the map (click the mail box on the right) and also kept a hand written tally.  Initially I didn't update the map more than once for a particular sender (it wasn't really a common issue at the time), I only updated my notes.  I believe somewhere I have my original sheet of cards sent, but I've never dug it up to fill in the few gaps that I know exists.

So thank Ryan, I'm not sure how times you've generously sent my cards for over a decade now, but I know it's north of ten, and probably quite a bit higher (and will be one higher later this week when I get around to posting the cards that arrived shorty after these).

Updated Totals:

1991 Upper Deck: 575

1991 Upper Deck Checklist: 368





Friday, June 28, 2024

McKinney, TX



Thiese 150 cards were sent by regular contributor, and fellow Wallach collector, Nick of McKinney, Texas.  For a 150 cards, there were a lot of different cards, making for a long list below.  The most unusual of the bunch was a 1990 Publication's International Sticker.  There was also a 1990 MVP Collector Pin.  I don't count these as cards, but I don't have very many of them and am always happy to add more.  Below is a better look at all the cards and updated totals.






Thanks for the cards Nick!

Updated Totals:


Monday, May 27, 2024

1982 Topps Lot



That's 463 copies of the 1982 Topps Tim Wallach card spread out above.  I came upon them after a friend on twitter altered me to their being posted for a sale in a facebook collector's group that they're in. The asking price was more than reasonable, so I asked him to put me in touch with the seller, and now here they are.

For the most part they were all in great shape.  When I get lots this large I don't scour for "Gem Mint Tens" (that means "near mint" to collector's over the age of 40 who haven't learned the new figure skating grading scale younger collector's favor).  I look for off-centered cards, and cards with out of whack ink levels.  To me, those are the unique and exciting ones.  The color on all of these was more or less the same, but there were a few nice mis-cut ones that I posted pictures of below.



This lot of 463 makes the 1982 Topps Wallach the most abundant in my collection by a margin of several 100.  At last count 1984 Topps, 1987 Topps and 1988 Donruss were it's nearest competitors, and it was pretty close.  It isn't that close at the moment.

Updated Total:



Also mixed in for good measure, was one stray Andre Thorton.







Friday, April 19, 2024

Suffolk, Virginia

 

These 64 cards were sent by Tim of Suffolk, Virginia.  Tim has what must be a neighbor very near by named Russel who sent me cards back in 2022.

Tim's offering was a nice mix spanning Wallach's entire career that included seven rookie cards.  I typically don't see a lot of rookie cards in the mail, which I understand.  When you start going back to 1982, you're going back far enough that sending cards to a stranger might start to feel like less of a good idea, and if the most recent price guide I have (from about 2008) is to be believed, an '82 Wallach still demands 60¢ to a $1.  So I'm extremely greatful when someone sends me seven of them.

I'd be remiss not to point out that the two 1983 Fleer's were both autographed.  Very cool.

Also included in the lot were 3 cards of Wallach's former Alaska Goldpanners teammate and fellow Golden Spikes Award winner (University of Arizona, 1980) Terry Francona.  Very cool.  Here's a look at the cards.




In the mix were a few rarities.  Just my 3rd copy of 1995 Stadium Club 1st Day of Issue variant, and only my 7th copies of the 1991 Classic and 1994 Collector's Choice Silver Signature.

Thanks for the cards Tim!

Updated Totals:


Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Moorestown, NJ



These five cards were sent by Tom, with the "Saints Prison Ministry."  Tom has been sending me cards going back to 2014, but the return address has always been Peoria, Illinois.  It appears the organization has relocated.

You can learn more about the "Saints Prison Ministry" by clicking the image below:


Thanks for the cards Tom, hope the ankle is feeling better.

Updated Totals:



Friday, April 5, 2024

Lutherville, Maryland



This box sent by Bill from Lutherville, Maryland, arrived with 165 cards inside.  Bill previously sent cards back in 2020.  Included in the mix was a 1990 Topps Double Header.  It's only the third one in my collection.  I don't remember seeing these back in 1990, but they're out there.  Bill also included 6 copies of the 1990 Topps Super Star sticker back.  While it's not what I would call "rare," it is the most copies I've ever been sent at once.  As far as other lesser seen cards included, there were two 1993 Pacific (only my 10th and 11th copies) and a 1995 Score Hall of Gold (14th).

Finally, Bill also included a complete run of Chad Wallach's Topps base cards, which currently (criminally if you ask me) consists of two cards.

Below are some pictures of all the cards and updated totals.





Thanks for the cards Bill!

Updated Totals:










Thursday, April 4, 2024

Saugus, CA


These 17 cards were sent by "Meatball" of Saugus, California.  That's a suburb of Santa Clarita outside of Los Angeles.  Also one of the more unique names I've seen used on a return address.  Thanks for the cards "Meatball."

Updated Totals:

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Ramsey, NJ



These 12 cards were sent by "Dan" of Ramsey, New Jersey.  "Max" who runs the card blog "The Starting 9" is also from Ramsey New Jersey.  Dan, if you and "Max" are the same person, let me know, and I'll correct this post, the map, and may stats as to who has sent what over the years.  If not, you have a neighbor who has also been generous enough to sent me Wallach cards.

In any event, thank you for the cards Dan, they are very much appreciated.

Updated Totals:




Saturday, March 30, 2024

Escondido, CA



This box, stuffed with 863 Wallach cards, was sent to by Mike of Escondidio, California.  Mike is a long time collector who stumbled onto my blog and in an act of incredible generosity, sent these cards my way.  It's one of the larger mailings I've ever received and took no small amount of time to sort.  I can't imagine how much time it took Mike to pull these from what sounds like a rather large collection of cards.  Below are photos of all the cards inside and updated totals for each.


I opted to sort these by brand before taking pictures of them this time instead of my normal method of sorting them by year/brand.  It takes a little longer, as I have to sort them by year again when I'm done as that's how I store them, but I felt like it was time for a change.


Other than 1990, Wallach had a pretty good run of nice looking Fleer cards from 1982-92.  The blurry, sun bleached photo has always bugged me as 1990 Fleer is one of my favorite sets.  It's full of great photos and fun color ribbons that often match well with the photos.  The blue ribbon with the Expos road blues being an exception, the colors clash and look terrible together.


That 1990 Topps Sticker  (center left) is the first one I've added since 2016,  and only my 3rd copy total. 


I think someone at Upper Deck was a bit of an Expos fan.  Wallach always had great photos on his UD cards, front and back.  Additionally, in 1997, Upper Deck was the only company to produce a card of Wallach, including him in the 1997 Collector's Choice set and adding a little banner that said "Career Tribute," it was the only card at the time to show Wallach's full career stats.  Topps, in contrast, stopped including Wallach after the 1995 set and I'm still salty about it.


I really like the backs of the Score sets from 1988-92, and the sets as a whole are underrated.



Wallach never had a Diamond King in the regular set (a truly egregious omission), but he at least found his way into the Leaf Canadian Greats counterpart.


The 1991 Jumbo Seeds is the first one I've added since 2017.  It's probably my all-time favorite Wallach "food product" insert card.  It was an annual (if not unsurprising) disappointment growing up to see Wallach not on the Captain Crunch, or Raisin Brand, or Purina checklist of insert cards.  This Jumbo Seeds though is done in the same style and makes up for a lot of those omissions.

That stack of 21 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites nearly doubled my total number from 23 up to 44.

Thanks for the cards Mike, they are very much appreciated.

Updated Totals:




Saturday, February 24, 2024

Watertown, NY



These 15 cards were sent by regular contributor The Nightowl, of "Night Owl Cards."  As always, it was a Dodger heavy offering.  It's a nice batch of cards with a good number of inserts and what I would loosely describe as "odd-ball" sets from the mid-90's.  My apologies to the Leaf Limited and Flair enthusiasts who may still be out there.  Somehow it's the first copies of '94 Score Select and '94 Studio I've added in four years.  That's a bit of an anomaly.

Thanks for the cards Greg!

Updated Totals:





Visit Night Owl Cards by clicking the image below:



Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Eden Prairie, Minnesota


These 10 Wallach cards, 1988 Topps Sticker Book and Sega Genesis RBI Baseball '93 instruction manual were sent by Dan of Eden Prairie, Minnesota.  It's at least the fourth time Dan has sent cards in the last three years.  The Sticker Book is blank, but Dan was nice enough to tab what pages Wallach is mentioned on, same with the RBI Baseball instruction book.  The wrappers were what the cards were packed in, which is always a nice touch that a few readers make a point to do.

Also mentioned was that a few of the Topps were "Glow Backs."  I've probably have about 3,000 1991 Topps cards, and I'd say half of them are glow backs.  I'm more inclined to consider the "Bold" logo on the back a scarcity, but as I know, I count all of the "variations" as the same in my official tally.

Thanks for the cards Dan!

Updated Totals:




 

Monday, January 29, 2024

Eldersburg, Maryland



These 5 cards were sent by "KB" of Eldersburg, Maryland.  Eldersburg is located a little west of Baltimore and it's the first time I've received cards from there.  Included was a '92 Bowman base card.  That's one I don't see very many of.  Oddly, I do receive a good number of the gold foil Team USA '92 Bowman's in the mail from readers, far more than I do of the base card.  I'm not sure why it works out that way, as far I know they were printed in equal numbers.  1992 Bowman and 1984 Donruss are two sets that I think still carry the reputation of scarcity, though in my experience, they don't seem to be any harder to find than 1991 Bowman or '85 Donruss.  Probably just residual rookie card and Mattingly frenzy that hasn't quite worn off.  

Thanks for the cards "KB!"  

Updated Totals: