Sportlots Order

Sportlots Order

Other than the cards generously sent to me by readers in the mail, Sportlots.com is my primary source of adding new cards to my collection.  I pick up a good number of "high dollar" cards on ebay (which for my penny-pinching fingers is anything over about $5), but for sheer volume, it's Sportlots.

 Anyone that reads this blog even occasionally, knows that beyond hoarding Wallach cards, set building is the other focus of my collection.  For set building, there's really nothing that compares to Sportlots.com and it's selection of vintage cards at 18¢ a card.  If there is, and I'm unaware of it, please tell me.

A few years (maybe more/less?) ago, Sportlots dramatically changed the shipping options for their site.  You used add cards from an individual sellers, who then set their own shipping prices.  My habit was to find a seller or two with reasonable shipping, then filter my results by those sellers.  Then they introduced "Box Shipping," which gave you the option of having the seller ship the cards to Sportslots, who then held all your orders until you were ready to have them shipped.  I think it's phenomenal, as many sellers now offer "free shipping" with this option.  You still have to pay Sportlots to ship you a box full of your orders  and their rate isn't exactly cheap (I also tend to put off having my box shipped for months at a time), but in the end it's a great deal.  There's a link to the site below.

The end result of this new procedure for shipping, is that a couple of times a year I have a box like the one above delivered to my house stuffed full of smaller individual orders from a few dozen different sellers.  Here's a break down of what was inside this one, beginining with a nice batch of 1973 Topps needs.  I have a long way to go before '73 is complete, but I wouldn't mind hammering out the first two series of the set while I focus on completing '72.

I'm still on the fence as to how I feel about the 1973 Topps set.  For years I dismissed it as ugly with poor photo quality (not selection, but the actual exposure of the photos).  As I've added more of them to my collection I've come around a bit and it's grown on me to a degree.  However, I don't know if it's the black ink Topps used on the backs, or the card stock itself, but I feel like these cards are consistently of poorer quality than any other Topps set ever printed going back to '52.  They often seem to sort of erode/deteriorate along the edges.  I still have a very long way to go to complete this set, so much so that I haven't even bothered to post the high numbers I'm missing on my needs page.

A couple of years back I completed the 1970 set.  It was as satisfying an accomplishment that I've ever felt in my nearly forty years of buying these silly little cardboard photos of ball players.  At the time I was pretty focused on knocking off the 1974-79 sets (or what was left of them, as I had already completed a couple of them).  After the finishing '70 though, working on any single series set after '73 lost a lot of it's appeal.  As such, '74, '76, and '77 have been limping into the finish.  I did knock off a few more needs here though.

A pair of stray '74, that I'm not sure how they ended up in my order, but I'll take them.  Here's what I'm missing from 1974:

1974: 3, 29, 43, 50, 53, 80, 95, 130, 153, 179, 229, 265, 280, 297, 323, 331, 333, 337, 470, 473, 482, 500, 582, 596, 598, 600, 604, 605, 622, 637

Seven more 1976 needs to hammer out, including a nice little of quartet of stars with Boog, Cecil, Oliver and Louie.  Any one care to guess how many hits and home runs Powell, Cooper, and Oliver combined for?  I didn't think so, but I'll tell you anyways, the three combined for 6,711 hits, 799 home runs, 16 All-Star game appearances, and nine Top 5 MVP vote finishes.  Powell had the fewest hits and ASG appearances of the trio, but won the AL MVP award in 1970 with the Orioles.  It's little difficult to look at Al Oliver's baseball-reference page and come up with reasons why he isn't in the Hall of Fame.  Here's what I'm still missing form the 1976 set:

1976: 17, 24, 48, 55, 73, 104, 118, 119, 128, 147, 150, 160, 169, 179, 192, 202, 205, 230, 300, 330, 341, 344, 345, 347, 348, 420, 421, 435, 480, 504, 531, 550, 581, 589, 590, 596, 606, 643, 650

The 1977 Dawson was the first real vintage card I ever owned.  As an Expos fan in the 1980's Dawson along with Raines were my favorite players after Wallach.  As a kid in 1986, the 1977 Topps  set may have well as been printed in the 1920's, so the Dawson felt like an ancient relic when I received along with an '81 Donruss Raines for my birthday.  That card made me the envy of the neighborhood when Dawson went to the Cubs a year later (The Cubs were easily the most popular team in my Phoenix neighborhood back then) and promptly won the MVP award (Though both SI and the Sporting News named Tim Wallach as their choice for MVP in '87).  As such the 1977 set used to fascinate me.  Sadly, I've grown a little bored with it, and my progress (or lack there of) towards completing it shows.

1977: 6, 8, 10, 34, 74, 100, 113, 183, 208, 231, 232, 234, 265, 277, 285, 287, 320, 327, 355, 256, 387, 390, 412, 418, 430, 434, 445, 450, 467, 473, 476, 494, 504, 518, 546, 547, 560, 580, 597, 615, 621, 630, 632, 634, 650, 655, 656

I also knocked off a few more recent needs with the cards above.  With the three 2008 Topps, that set is now complete.  2008 was the first year I bought cards after an over 20 year hiatus, so it feels nice to finally be able to put it in the books.  The pair of 2009's also represent the final needs of that set, it's complete as well.  

The lone 2015 brings my need list to that year to one, with 616 Kris Bryant still not in the binder.  But before anyone gets feeling all generous, I've already ordered one on eBay, at a very annoying $8 shipped price tag.  No card from the 2015 Topps base set should cost more than a buck or two shipped.  Worse yet, I know I had multiple copies of that card back in 2015.  I don't know if I gave them all away (I know of Cubs fans with kids), or out smarted myself by sticking them someplace "safe" and not with the other 2015 cards.  In any event, I'm calling it "complete" with another Bryant now in the mail.  The 2017 pick up, reminds me just how historically ugly 2016 and 2017 Topps were (they should thank 2020 Topps for helping people forget), and brings my need list for the set down to one card.  If anyone has a spare #596 laying around I'll be happy to take it off your hands.  Those four 2018 Topps complete the set.  So I can sleeve them and never think about it again.  Nice.

The final set building additions in this order were a few 1987 and '88 Fleer Basketball needs pictured above.  Mike Gminski is guy I've heard entirely too much of lately.  As anyone who hasn't been living under a rock the last ten years knows, one of the great tragedies in the history of sports occurred when Syracuse left The Big East Conference for the lowly ACC.  A painful wound to sport fans everywhere that we were all reminded of recently with passing of The Great John Thompson.  Gminski was one of those easy to hate Duke kids in college, and now he's an easy to hate broadcaster for the poorly produced, and hard to find on tv "ACC Network."  He's ended up calling a lot of Syracuse games the last few years (when you can actually find them on tv and not just the internet, a problem The Big East never had).  His numbers prove he was very basketball player, however he is very poor at calling games on tv.  To his credit, he's every bit as upset about Syracuse being in the ACC as the rest of us are.  I guess even an ACC-hack like Gminski can't deny the greatness that was the old Big East.

But back to the cards.   I've been working on the '86-88 Fleer Basketball sets for awhile now.  I keep all three sets in the same binder, and it's really become one of my favorite projects.  I'm down to just the Jordan and Bird in the '86 set, and probably won't complete it anytime soon given the Jordan's price tag, but I swear the Bird as tripled in price the last year or so.  Is it just me, or has "vintage" (I have hard time from calling a card from '86 "vintage) across the board really spiked in price the last year or so?  In any event, here's what's left of these three sets:

1986-87: 9, 57

1987-88: 1,  9, 11, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 42, 48, 49, 54, 56, 59, 61, 68, 69, 75, 76, 77, 79, 80, 85, 92, 95, 97, 98, 99, 106, 109, 118, 123

1988-89: 9, 16, 21, 25, 43, 57, 64, 85, 115, 124

I also added seven more copies of the 2020 Chad Wallach rookie card.  I'm not going to go out of my way to pick up any more of these, but I'll still take any that fall into my lap.  And of course, it wouldn't be a Sportlots order without adding some "Tim" Wallach's as well.  I'm not going to deny that I enjoy that fact that one of the Wallach kids finally has a Topps card and that distinction needs to be made.  This order was flush with early 1980's Fleer, one of my favorite runs of Wallach cards.

Here are the updated Totals for those Wallachs:

1982 Fleer x23: 450

1983 Fleer x24: 196

1983 O-Pee-Chee x2: 43

1984 Fleer x33: 169

1985 Topps Tiffany: 12

1986 Fleer x25: 155

Also worth pointing out that these 108 Wallach's pushed my collection over the 26,000 card mark.

Grand Rapids, MI

These three cards were sent by Matt of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  By my count this is the 3rd time Matt has sent cards.  It's a nice little mix arrived.  That '92 is of the O-Pee-Chee variety, and was the last year O-Pee-Chee mimicked the Topps design.  Then in 1993 OPC went with it's own unique design, also included by Matt, and then introduced "O-Pee-Chee Premier" as well.  The 1993 OPC is just the second copy of that card to cross my desk in the last six years.

Thanks for the cards Matt.

Updated Totals:

1992 O-Pee-Chee: 23

1993 O-Pee-Chee: 9

1995 Bazooka Joe: 33

Sunday Edition

Trade with a Reader

This massive assortment of cards was sent by Ken of Lee's Summit, Missouri.  There's not one Wallach to be found in the bunch.  Ken reached out with a trade offer via email after reading my set builds "Need List," and sent these sight unseen.  I was expecting a handful, maybe even a couple dozen, of 2013 Topps.  What arrived was much more substantial.

The vintage was an extremely nice surprise.  There were five '68 Topps (including a Lou Pinella), a pair of '73 Topps needs, and 23 1972 Topps needs.  The 72's even included a few from the 5th series.  There was also an unexpected stack of a couple of 2014 needs and of course a few 2013 needs...a few hundred of my 2013 needs.  2013 somehow ended up being a year I just didn't' buy much of, even though I've always sort of liked the design, at least compared to the designs of the last 10 years or so, I think it compares favorably.

I've got my work cut out for me finding something to send in return.  Thanks Ken.

Here's a run down of where I stand of these sets:

1968 Topps:  This set build is still very much in it's infancy and I'm not sure it'll even end up being the first 60's set I try to tackle once I finish off the decade for 1970's sets.

1968: (1st Ser.) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 40, 41, 45, 55, 56, 61, 65, 67, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 80, 82, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95 , 97, 100, 101, 107, 110, 115, 118, 120, 124, 130, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 144, 145, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 157, 158, 160, 162, 164, 165, 170, 175, 178, 179, 189, 190, 195, 200, 201, 205, 209, 213, 215, 220, 221, 225, 228, 230, 235, 236, 240, 243, 247, 248, 250, 255, 256, 257, 259, 261, 263, 265, 273, 275, 277, 280, 281, 282, 284, 285, 287, 288, 289, 290, 292, 293, 295, 296, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 308, 309, 310, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 326, 330, 331, 332, 333, 335, 337, 338, 340, 341, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 355, 358, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 381, 383, 384, 385, 288, 290, 391, 393, 394, 396, 398, 399, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422,  424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 439, 440, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456 (Ser. 2) Most of them 458-598

1972 Topps:  This is currently my primary focus (along with '53 Topps) for my vintage set builds.  I'm hoping if I finish it off in the next few months that Gio from twitter will still be in the mood to print off another membership card.  I've already knocked off most of the stars in the high numbers, but even the commons are pinch on the wallet. (#448 is in hand but missing it's back, which is too much even for my laid back standards as far as condition)

1972: (1st Ser) 86  (2nd Ser.) 141, 164, 181, 226, 228, 253, 255 (3rd Ser.) 299, 325, 347 (4th Ser.) 401, 405, 408, 410, 411, 413, 423, 424, 426, 428, 434, 435, 437, 439, 440, 448, 454, 455, 456, 465, 476, 484, 489, 490, 494, 502, 503, 506, 512, 513, 516, 520, 522, 523 (5th Ser.) 526, 530, 533, 535, 536, 537, 539, 540, 544, 545, 546, 550, 552, 553, 555, 556, 559, 560, 562, 564, 567, 569, 570, 572, 573, 574, 574, 576, 577, 579, 580, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 588, 589, 590, 591, 593, 594, 595, 596, 597, 598, 599, 600, 606, 607, 610, 619, 620, 621, 624, 625, 626, 628, 629, 632, 633, 635, 636, 637, 638, 640, 643, 644, 645, 648, 650, 651, 653, 654, 655, 656 (High #'s) 658 660, 663, 664, 666, 669, 670, 673, 674, 676, 678, 682, 683, 686, 687, 688, 690, 692, 693, 699, 700, 702, 704, 705, 706, 708, 709, 710, 711, 714, 715, 716, 719, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 726, 728, 729, 730, 732, 733, 735, 737, 738, 739, 742, 743, 744, 746, 747, 748, 751, 753, 755, 757, 758, 761, 764, 767, 768, 770, 771, 772, 779, 783, 784, 787

1973 Topps:  I don't plan to run down this set until after I knock of '71 & '72, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy to take them as the come.  

1973: (1st Ser.) 1, 30, 59, 61, 80, 82, 97, 100, 116, 136, 153, 160, 166, 172, 175, 190, 191, 200, 205, 208, 215, 220, 224, 225, 230, 240, 245,  258, (2nd Ser.) 270, 273, 277, 280, 281, 283, 286, 290, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 304, 305, 306, 309, 311, 312, 314, 315, 317, 325, 326, 328, 348, 349, 350, 353, 355, 356, 357, 359, 361, 362, 363, 365, 266, 367, 368, 371, 377, 378, 380, 381, 387, 389, 393, 395, 396 (3rd Ser)... lots of them

2013 Topps:  This list just got a lot smaller.

2013: 2, 7?, 27, 142, 207, 213, 227, 294, 338, 345, 346, 350, 362, 369, 373, 374, 410, 418, 454, 455, 499, 500, 519, 522, 527, 536, 543, 571, 572, 586, 589, 594, 604, 622, 639, 650, 655, 661

2014 Topps:  I just can't muster the excitement to finish off these modern sets the way I can for the vintage.  I've gone the Factory Set route three of the last four years, and really don't feel like I'm missing anything.  Actually, that's not true.  I'm missing the inserts, but not in the sense that "I miss them," they're missing from the factory sets and in my book, that's a good thing.  Inserts are cheesy.  Good riddance.

2014: 11, 34, 36, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 60, 62, 63, 68, 75, 83, 115, 133, 137, 157, 162, 251, 256, 265, 286, 293, 299, 328, 335, 337, 345, 347, 348,354, 357, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 366, 367, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 377, 382, 384, 385, 386, 387, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 404, 405, 406, 408, 409, 412, 413, 415, 420, 423, 424, 426, 427, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 448, 451, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 461, 462, 465, 466, 467, 469, 470, 472, 473, 475, 476, 477, 479, 480, 481, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 490, 491, 492, 493, 495, 496, 498, 499, 500, 503, 505, 506, 508, 510-16, 518, 519, 520, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 528, 529, 530, 532, 535, 538, 540, 541, 542, 543, 544, 546, 548, 551-57, 559, 561, 566, 467, 469-77, 580, 581, 583, 584, 586-94, 597, 598, 600, 602, 603, 604, 607, 608, 609, 610, 612, 614, 615, 616, 617, 618, 619, 621, 623, 624, 625, 626, 627, 629, 630, 631, 635, 636, 637, 639, 643, 644, 645, 647, 649, 650

Cinnaminson, NJ

These 8 cards were sent by Carl (@Ceemx97) of Cinnaminson, New Jersey.  He sent them way back in July, but I'm only getting them posted now.  I'm trying hard to catch up on my back log of mail, and hopefully will be before Christmas, just in time for the Year in Review Post with all the annual numbers.

Thanks for the cards Carl.

Updated Totals:

1988 Score: 295
1988 Topps: 768
1989 Donruss: 463
1989 Topps x2: 826
1990 Donruss: 524
1990 Fleer: 474
1991 Topps: 309

eBay Pickup

I picked up this lot of 107 cards on eBay awhile back.  I'm pretty sure the 52 copies of 1989 Upper Deck is the most I've ever acquired at once of that card.  You may also notice (the photo isn't the best), but those three 1993 Topps are all of the "Marlins Inaugural" variety.  One final note, the 1987 Topps brings that tally to exactly 1,000 copies.  It joins the 1982 Topps as the only two cards I've reached that milestone with.

Updated Totals:

1982 Topps: 1,229
1983 Topps: 368

1984 Topps: 416

1985 Topps: 362

1986 Topps: 428

1986 Topps All-Star: 699

1987 Topps: 1,000

1988 Topps x8: 767

1988 Topps All-Star x10: 792

1989 Donruss x3: 462

1989 Fleer x6: 414

1989 Topps x5: 824

1989 Upper Deck x52: 268

1990 Topps x9: 574

1990 Upper Deck: 348

1991 Upper Deck: 342

1991 Upper Deck Checklist: 282

1993 Topps Marlins Inaugural x3: 9

1995 Topps: 80

Alexandria, VA

 David of Alexandria, Virginia was kind enough to send this card along with a nice note over the summer.  I'm just posting it now.  While I was adding this mailing to my map of where cards have come from, I couldn't help but notice that it was sent less than a mile away from where another reader had previously sent cards from.  Alexandria must be some sort of hot spot for collectors.

Thanks for the card David.

Updated Total:

1987 Donruss: 447

Citrus Heights, CA

 

These 13 cards were sent by regular contributor "Big Shep" of Citrus Heights, California (his contact info is posted at the bottom of this post).  The Dream Team and Revco Wallach's have always been two of my favorite Wallach cards, not just odd-ball cards, any card.  Thanks for the cards Shep.

Updated Totals:

1987 Donruss Opening Day: 57
1987 Topps: 999
1988 Donruss: 934

1988 Revco: 44

1989 Donruss x2: 459

1989 K-Mart: 61

1990 Donruss: 523

1991 Topps: 308

1992 Donruss: 246

1992 Score Super Star: 8

1992 Upper Deck: 312

1994 Fleer: 45

Chalfont, PA

 These two cards were sent by Peter of Chalfont, Pennsylvania.  Chalfont is a new addition to the map.  The '82 Donruss Wallach is one of the first cards I ever obtained over a 100 copies of.  Back in the very early days of eBay I picked up a 100 card lot, it was probably one of my first ever eBay purchases.  Since then though, it's been a little tough to come by.  So it's nice to see it when it shows up like this.  It's a card that's grown on me a lot.  The back drop of pre-lights Wrigley on what appears to be an overcast day in Chicago makes for an interesting baseball card.

If any of you are still checking this blog given the complete dearth of post the last few months, thanks, and hopefully I'll be catching up on the enormous back log of cards I've been sent over the next 2-3 weeks.

Updated Totals:

1982 Donruss: 230
1986 Topps: 427

You can check out Peter's blog by clicking the logo below or this link:

Chad Wallach 2020 Topps #658

Card Review: Awesome

It took longer than it should have, but one of the Wallach kids finally has his own Topps Baseball card.  Before I get into critiquing this card, I feel the need to point out how exciting it is to finally see this happen.  Any of the nitpicking that is about to follow is just that, nitpicking.  Hopefully this won't be Chad's last appearance in the base set.

That said, and do love the fact that this card now exists, here are my issues with it.  First off, what in the world is going on with this stat line?

That'd be a fine way to handle Chad's stats, had 2020 been in a normal season, and Chad had made the roster coming out of Spring Training and made his Major League debut this year, earning himself a spot in the 2nd series of the Topps flagship set.  That happens every year.  However, this isn't Chad's first MLB rodeo.  When he checks into a game this season, it'll be the fourth Major League season he's played in.  This is is what is baseball reference shows for Wallach:

 Chad already had three seasons worth of MLB stats coming into the 2020 season.  Just because Topps was asleep at the wheel and didn't include him in the base set until now, doesn't mean those seasons didn't happen.  And sure, they don't reflect a ton of playing time, but as any kid who ever picked up a glove and didn't make it to the majors can attest to, every one of those 117 plate appearances counts.  He actually played five times as many games in the Majors last season as he did the minors, but some how Topps felt the need to show us a split minor league line of 4 games between two different farm clubs.  It's ridiculous.

My next issue is with the bio.  For one, it's wrong.  Take a look:

2019 wasn't Chad's first Opening Day roster.  Not only was he on the Opening Day roster in 2018, he was the Opening Day starter for the Marlins in an 8-4 loss to the Cubs.  Again, this just feels like someone at Topps trying to cover up the fact that they screwed up by not including Wallach in the set the last three years.  He certainly warranted inclusion in the Update sets.

The other odd thing about the bio is what's not there.  It's certainly nice to see a young players college listed on the back, or an extra stat like how many base runners they threw out, at least it is when there isn't anything more interesting to say about the guy.  Maybe I'm biased, but if a kid gets his first Topps card, and his father happened to be a 5x All-Star, or even just a coach on the team the kid plays for (let alone both), that's something I would have been interested in.

That said, I'm very happy this card finally exists.

Ebay Purchase

This is a lot of 27 1992 Diet Pepsi cards I recently purchased on eBay.  I'm not shy about my enthusiasm for "food product" cards, typical of the ones found in cereal boxes.  That said, I also don't mind acknowledging that this Diet Pepsi card isn't my favorite.  The design is fine, I just don't think the colors work well with the Expos white uniforms.  It'd probably be a better looking card if it was a photo using the road blues.  In any event, I went ahead and picked these up at a very reasonable price. 

Another common point I make on this blog is pointing out the occasions when I acquire more copies of a card than I previously had.  Such was the case here, as I previously only had 9 copies of this card.  On one hand, it's nice to pick up a large number of copies at once, on the other, it's evidence that someone was sitting around with more copies of a card than I had.  I will say that it rarely happens twice with the same card, but who knows.  Some Pepsi employee maybe sitting on a 1,000 sets of these stupid things.

Finally, I don't normally show the envelopes for purchases, I save that for cards sent by readers, but the Canadian postage stamp of NHL Hall of Famer and 3x Norris Trophy winner Pierre Pilote deserves to be seen, so here it is:

The photo may not show it, but the stamp is a solid 2 inches tall, it's about the size of the Topps Mini Leader cards.

Updated Total:

1992 Diet Pepsi: 36

eBay Pickup

This is a lot of forty-three 1982 Fleer Wallach's that I recently picked up on eBay.  They arrived shipped for less than 14 cents per card.  Typically I like to keep eBay lots at under 10 cents per card, but I'll occasionally make an exception for the right card, and in this case, '82 Fleer felt like the right card.

Updated Total:

1982 Fleer: 427

Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada)

These cards were sent by regular contributor Ryan, of "Nova Scotia."  Normally, Ryan's cards come in his signature brown envelope and have a return address of Dartmouth, NS.  These came in a padded envelope and had a return address of Halifax, NS.  Granted, the addresses appear to be less than five miles apart, but I'm not one to miss an opportunity to add a new city to my map, so Halifax has been added to the board.  So, it was a bit of an irregular mail day from a regular contributor.

Included in the 15 cards sent were two O-Pee-Chee's and a Leaf.  They just feel more authentic when they arrive from Canada.  Don't try to argue this point with me, I won't be swayed or reasonable about it.

Thanks for the cards Ryan.

Updated Totals:

1984 O-Pee-Chee: 43
1984 Topps: 415
1986 Leaf: 32
1986 Topps: 426
1986 Topps All-Star x2: 698
1987 O-Pee-Chee: 22
1987 Topps: 998
1988 Topps x2: 759
1988 Topps All-Star x3: 782
1989 Score: 205
1990 Score: 334

Farmington, NM

If the title of this post, Farmington, NM, sounds vaguely familiar to you, then there is probably a decent chance that you have sent Tim Wallach cards to this blog at some point in the past.  The above assortment of 38 Wallach cards represent a first for this blog, as they were the first group of cards to ever be hand delivered to my office.  A young local collector by the name of "Boston" was nice enough to bring them by.

Thank you for the cards.

Here are the updated Totals:

1982 Topps: 1,228
1987 Sportflic Tri-Stars: 16
1987 Topps: 997
1988 Donruss Baseball's Best: 54
1988 Revco: 43
1988 Topps Big: 70
1989 Fleer: 408
1990 Donruss: 522
1990 Fleer: 473
1990 Topps: 565
1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier x3: 85
1991 Score: 268
1991 Score The Franchise x2: 232
1991 Stadium Club: 143
1991 Upper Deck x8: 341
1991 Upper Deck Checklist x13: 281

Boston was also nice enough to drop off the hefty stack of 1970's Topps pictured above.  Hopefully there will be a couple of set build needs in there.  With parental consent, Boston asked to be pictured in this post, so if any other Farmington area kids are looking to trade baseball cards with some one in the area, this is the guy you should be looking for.

McKinney, Texas

These 194 cards were sent by regular contributor, and fellow Wallach collector, Nick of McKinney, Texas.  At this point the number of cards Nick has sent my way is well into the 1,000's.  Probably in the 3-5K range.  Thankfully Nick is happy simply having one of each Wallach card, an effort I try to help him out on the rare occasion he doesn't have something.

Not much of anything I'd call "exotic" in this batch of cards, though there was a '93 Mother's Cookies and '95 Pacific, only my 3rd copies for each of those cards.  There was also a healthy does of 82-85's, my favorite period of Wallach cards.

As always, thanks for the cards Nick.

Updated Totals:

1982 Donruss x4: 229
1982 Fleer x2: 384
1983 Fleer x3: 172
1983 Topps x6: 367
1984 Topps: 414
1985 Fleer: 122
1985 Topps x2: 361
1986 Topps All-Star x2: 696
1987 Donruss: 446
1987 Sportflics Tr-Stars: 15
1987 Topps x2: 996
1988 Donruss x3: 933
1988 Fleer: 309
1988 Topps: 757
1988 Topps All-Star x2: 779
1988 Topps UK Mini: 94
1989 Donruss x2: 457
1989 Fleer: 407
1989 Topps: 819
1990 Donruss x2: 521
1990 Fleer x4: 472
1990 Score: 333
1990 Topps x3: 564
1990 Upper Deck x2: 347
1991 Donruss x2: 315
1991 Fleer: 205
1991 Fleer Ultra x5: 99
1991 Stadium Club x3: 142
1991 Studio: 84
1991 Topps x6: 307
1991 Upper Deck x8: 333
1991 Upper Deck Checklist x6: 268
1992 Donruss x8: 245
1992 Fleer x5: 184
1992 Fleer Ultra x2: 149

1992 Leaf x2: 122
1992 Stadium Club x11: 84
1992 Studio: 79
1992 Topps: 256
1992 Topps Gold Winner: 25
1992 Topps Kids: 45
1992 Triple Play: 110
1992 Upper Deck x5: 311
1993 Donruss x2: 129
1993 Flair x3: 43
1993 Fleer Final Edition: 17
1993 Fleer Ultra: 49
1993 Mother's Cookies: 3
1993 O-Pee-Chee Premier x2: 33
1993 Pinnacle: 45
1993 Stadium Club: 76
1993 Stadium Club Dodgers: 9
1993 Studio x2: 57
1993 Topps x6: 260
1993 Topps Gold: 38
1993 Upper Deck x5: 165
1994 Donruss x2: 43
1994 Flair: 14
1994 Fleer x2: 44
1994 Fleer Ultra: 42
1994 Leaf Limited: 21
1994 Pacific: 18
1994 Pinnacle: 39
1994 Score: 69
1994 Score Select x3: 33
1994 Topps: 134
1994 Topps Gold: 27
1994 Upper Deck: 81
1995 Collector's Choice: 40
1995 Collector's Choice SE: 49
1995 Donruss x3: 51
1995 Flair x2: 20
1995 Fleer: 21
1995 Pacific: 3
1995 Pinnacle: 33
1995 Score x2: 47
1995 Stadium Club: 28
1995 Topps x6: 79
1995 Topps D3 x3: 24
1995 Topps Finest: 15
1995 Upper Deck: 40
1996 Collector's Choice: 26
1996 Collector's Choice Silver: 8
1996 Collector's Choice Ser.II x2: 34
1996 Fleer Ultra: 12
1997 Collector's Choice: 29

Canada, parts unknown

"PD" sent me this card several months back but I'm just posting it now,...I was "busy?"  I believe it was sent from Canada given the postage, but there is no return address or cancellation mark to confirm that.  "PD" included a nice note that referenced joining other Expos fans in Montreal for Opening Day when baseball finally returns there, so I don't feel I'm going too far out on a limb to label this as a card from Canada.

As it stands, this is only my second copy of this card.  I acquired my first one as a kid, buying the three pack with the Wallach that these were packaged in at the same time I bought the player to play them on.  For those of you unfamiliar with this set, the back of the card has what amounts to a little vynal record attached to it that plays an interview with the player.  The original post for this card has the audio embeded from youtube so you can listen to it there if you're interested.  To my knowledge this is the second of three cards Topps has produced using the 1989 design, and I don't have any hesitation in saying this is my favorite of the three, as far as photo selection.  Obviously the size is an issue.  Here's a side by side:

There's nothing wrong with the other two, and the '89 base set card has the distinction of being the first time Topps ever used a photo of Wallach fielding, but I like the colors on this baseball talk one the best.

Thanks for the card "PD."

Updated Total:

1989 Topps Baseball Talk: 2

Sarasota, FL

It may not look like it but there are 430 Tim Wallach cards in the photo above.  They were all sent by Joe of Sarasota, Florida,...way back in January.  Sorry for the delay Joe.  325 of those cards above are 1987 Indiana Blue Sox cards.  That marks a significant increase in the number of that card in my collection, as I previously had one copy.

Thats what 325 copies of a 1987 Indiana Blue Sox card looks like when they're sorted in groups of 25 and put in team bags.  I haven't gone back and looked, but I'm willing to bet 325 is the most copies of a single card I've ever been sent by a reader.

Believe it or not, 325 copies of an obscure card that I previously only had one copy of was not the most interesting thing about this box sent by Joe.  It was these 11 1989 Topps Stickers.  Don't roll your eyes, Joe included math with his package. 

Try to follow along, if your currently home schooling kids it should be easy for you.  Joe opened three cases of 1989 Topps stickers.  Each case contained 24 boxes of stickers.  Each box contained 48 packs of stickers, and each pack contained 5 stickers.  That's 5,760 stickers per case, times three cases, equals 17,280 stickers.  There are 189 Stickers in the set (two players or "cards" to a sticker).  Statistically Joe should have pulled 91 or 92 copies of the Wallach sticker.  He pulled 11.  In his note he informed me that it was the only sticker in the set that appeared to be a short-print.  The other 188 stickers in the set all showed up in similar numbers.  So thank you Joe for sending all 11 my way.

Also included in the box were 22 copies of 1984 Topps.  That's a pretty good number of that card to receive at once, and not something that happens very often.

Finally I just wanted to highlight a few of the less commonly seen cards in the box.  Those are two copies of the 1988 Fleer Box Bottom, one of my favorite cards from the 1980's.  Also a 1988 and 1990 Sportfilcs, which may not sound that exciting, but I just don't come across very many of them.  Finally there's a 1995 Stadium Club "Virtual Reality" variation and a 1995 APBA Baseball game card.

Thanks for the cards Joe, and I'll see what I can dig up as far as Chris Speier and Jorge Orta cards.  And if any of you readers have Chris Speier or Jorge Orta cards you want to send Joe's way he asked me to post his address (he can probably find some 1989 Topps Stickers to send in trade, just a guess).

Joe D.
4762 Woodward Place
Sarasota, Florida 34233

Updated Totals:

1984 Topps x22: 413
1986 Topps: 425
1987 Donruss Opening Day: 56
1987 Indiana Blue Sox x325: 326
1987 Topps x27: 994
1988 Donruss Baseball's Best: 53
1988 Fleer: 308
1988 Fleer Box Bottoms: 17
1988 Sportflics: 10
1988 Topps x7: 756
1988 Topps All-Star x8: 777
1988 Topps Big x2: 69
1988 Topps U.K. mini x3: 93
1989 Score: 204
1989 Topps x4: 818
1989 Topps Stickers x11: 16
1990 Donruss x2: 519
1990 Score: 332
1990 Sportflics: 11
1990 U.S. Playing Cards: 35
1991 Leaf: 180
1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier: 82
1991 Stadium Club: 139
1991 Topps x2: 301
1991 Upper Deck Checklist x3: 262
1992 Stadium Club: 73
1992 Topps x3: 255
1993 Leaf: 105
1993 Stadium Club: 75
1995 APBA: 1
1995 Stadium Club: 27
1995 Stadium Club Virtual Reality: 6

Kitchener, Ontario (Canada)

Douglas sent these four cards from Kitchener, Ontario.  It's not the first time he's sent cards and they're always appreciated.  There's something sort of cool about receiving Leaf or O-Pee-Chee cards from Canada, like it makes them more "authentic" or something.  Douglas (I believe) runs the blog "Sportscards from the Dollar Store," which has to be one of the oldest card blogs around.

Included in this assortment of cards was one of those Topps Archives Signature Series autographed cards in the silly case sealed with a fancy sticker.  I'm going to be honest, I really have no idea how to classify the card and haven't looked into it yet.  At some point I'll do a post for it, and will make the effort to do so then.  That's not to say it wasn't really cool to find it in the envelope.  I've never bought one (they're readily available on eBay), but it's still cool to own one.  My inclination is to crack the case and put it in the binder where I keep one of each different Wallach card I own.  On the other hand, the only thing that makes the card even remotely interesting to me is the silly case.  Which is all to say, I don't know what I'm going to do with it.  At the end of the day, its a Topps Tim Wallach card that was printed in 1993, and then goosed up with some stamping and an autograph 25 years later and repackaged in an attempt to rip off collector's.  Still, I'm happy to have a sample in my collection.

Thanks for the cards Douglas.

Updated Totals:

1988 Leaf: 39
1989 Upper Deck: 216
1990 Upper Deck 345
2020/1993 Topps Thing: 1

Peoria, IL

There are two different Tom's from Peoria, Illinois that both regularly send me cards.  A few post back I showed off some cards that Tom with the Saints Prison Ministry sent my way from Peoria.  Not to be out done, "Tom O." of Peoria sent these eleven cards my way.  Thanks for the cards "Tom O."

There are three cards in this group that I feel like mentioning.  The 1992 Score has always been one of my favorite cards from that era.  Some people don't like the amount of dead space on the design, but it doesn't bother me, I think it works.  Unfortunately the color scheme on the back is just a horrific black and green.  The 1992 Topps Kids is another card that I've always really liked.  I'd probably build that set if Topps were to do something similar today.  Finally, 1989 Bowman merits some attention.  For decades I've more or less ignored that set.  But it's actually a really great looking card, with a very nice, clean, simple design.  It's just a shame they're so oddly sized.

Also, if you sent cards in the last 4-6 months, I probably have them and will be getting a post up soon.  I apologize for getting so far behind.

Updated Totals:

1986 Topps: 424
1989 Bowman: 173
1989 Topps x2: 814
1990 Donruss: 517
1990 Topps x2: 561
1991 Fleer Ultra: 94
1991 Topps: 299
1992 Score: 106
1992 Topps Kids: 44