Meet Three

The COVID lot today asks me to get to know three baseball players a little better. First up, Dean Palmer. I remember Dean as a Ranger in the early 90s. Nothing spectacular, but an alright player offensively 

I do not remember him for his home runs, but he had 4 seasons with over 30. I also don't remember him for his poor defense, but he lead the league in errors twice, and was in the top 5 for errors by a 3td baseman eight times.

He had a short stint in KC after his time in Texas and then ended his career in Detroit. He only made the playoffs once, which was with Texas, and never made it to the World Series.

I am not one who puts a lot into the WAR Stat, but the fact that in his career he was offensively a +22.8 but defensively a -8.4 will tell you the type of player he was.

Donovan played 9 seasons in the MLB over a 13 year period from 1992 through 2004. Most of this time was with St. Louis, with a season each with the Cubs and Yanks at the tail end of his career.

His best record came with St. Louis in 1996 when the starting pitcher went 13-9 with a 3.53 ERA, the lowest for a season in his career.

I remember Raul for his couple years in Toronto, but also his long tenure with the Dodgers. I definitely do NOT remember his stints of less than 50 game appearance in each Arizona, Anaheim, Pittsburgh or Atlanta.

He wasn't a Hall of Famer by any means but was good offensively - a but better or more consistent than Dean, and less of a detriment on the field. A shame that all three post season appearance years he had were losses in the first round.

An interesting trio nonetheless.

Last Leafs?

 With the days winding down with the COVID lot, each Leaf could be the last from the lot...

Sweet! I'll take the 2012-13 Score base set helper...oh and the new to me Leaf card is nice too. Heck, the 1996-97 Pinnacle cards are in great shape too...

A shame I didn't see more Ice cards in the lot - I could see going after one of those sets with enough of a head start, especially the acetate.

A solid Mats Leaf pick up too.

Jeremy on a motorcycle....yeah, doesn't scream hockey card, but there it is. Lots of Paul Kariya today too - not a bad guy to see a lot of.

Failed Adventure

 From the random pack pile, a one off of Magic cards, the D&D inspired set...just hunting for wabbits....I mean artifacts.

Well, a disappointing start with the common cards. I swear, the Beholder cards seem to be in every pack.

Even with the uncommon and rare...not a single artifact. Heck, not even a keeper land. Last hope - was the rare at least worth something?

Well, I could pick it up for $2.50 at 401games. At least it isn't a bulk rare, but nothing to light the world on fire.

Not a winning back for me, and I know I have other packs of Magic which will guaranteed, be much better.

Still Liking Studio

 I wish I had more time to cheer on Toronto in their up hill battle with Boston. I can't believe how many times in recent years, this has been the match up, and hoping they can come out ahead this time - at least they had a decent second game bounce back compared to the first. No hockey cards today, just baseball....

A solid bunch of baseball from the COVID lot today, with some nice keepers for me...

The 2009 Topps are nice but the rest seem to be the stars pulled for sections of the lot I went through a good while ago. The Studio sets were added to a lot early in the COVID lot, but at least some of the stars which seemed to have been pulled have shown up later like this.

One new to me Jays card and one printing error...that doesn't scan like it's a printing error. The Ozzie card actually is double printed on the back and looks much worse in hand than the scan shows. Interest as the scanning seems to have cleaned it up.

Binds is a polarizing figure. Still very nice cards from the 90s if you get some Bonds cards, so not complaining.

Steve Karsay I remember most for his Jays 1991 Score card, but he did fine with his time after Toronto as he ended up with the A's as seen here.

Random Hockey

 Looks like the COVID lot will be finished this month, but I have things lined up for May. Will need a few days to catch up on trades to share, but lots of fun card stuffs to open after that, and might just bring back something (I found) fun.

Just the one keeper today with a rookie insert from 1993-94 O Pee Chee Premier. Hamrlik was a great player so thumbs up on that pick for the insert set.

As you can see, a couple more copies of Roman, but one does it for me.

Leaf Limited as a product, has grown on me a bit through this lot. Not sets I ever saw as a kid, and generally not ticking boxes I like on cards like full pictures and full stats, but they aren't that bad...

Thought I might need the Player's Club parallel Chelios, but go figure, I actually now have over 100 cards from that parallel set, including this one.

Pastime Baseball

 A break from COVID lot cards as we look at the two baseball grab bags I picked up from pastinesports.ca.

Just 10 cards in each. The saving frame is at least they are from a set I am collecting. There were a few cards I already had but 14 keepers out of 20 is okay by me, though for base cards, I'd like to pay less than 20 cents a card, but that is why I am drawn to local lot buys.

Not sure how the single heritage card ended up in one of the packages, but so be it. Another case of, neat to open, but not going to repeat the grab bag experience based on these.

More Hull

 I guess after seeing a bit of him yesterday, the card gods decided to show me more Hull today 

At least the retro 1992-93 O Pee Chee insert for the 25th anniversary, which uses the retro design, one card for each year, is really nice. At least they make it obvious the card is different from the original with the strip at the front bottom.

McDonalds cards I unfortunately already have, but a Leaf Limited Kenny I did need for my Leaf collection.

Wow, a couple more Leaf cards makes this my best Toronto day in a while from this lot.

My real question is...why do I like Black Diamond cards so much, and Metal cards so little. I mean, they aren't THAT different really, but they are complete opposite sides of the spectrum as far as my liking them goes? Any agree or disagree with that? Any other similar sets that rub you in completely different directions?

Continued Hockey Heroes

 More assorted hockey cards from the COVID lot today.

I was never a big Brett Hull fan. I don't know exactly why. Could be rooted in his being American versus the Canadian stars of the time. Definitely a great hall of famer, but just not one I got behind and cheered. 

Not going to complain about Leaf pick ups, even dupes, but otherwise not a bunch for me here.

A nice pick up with the new to me Gilmour sticker. As we wind down the lot, still getting a few nice cards, but not big numbers like we did earlier in the lot.

Taking A Chance

 A quick pack to share today. I had one extra pack I hadn't opened from a box of cards which gave me a signature and a full 50 card base set from this 2012 release...

However, I wasn't able to sell it at a garage sale for a buck, so let's just open it and get some trade fodder out of it. Whether you like him or hate him, Pete Rose can be a polarizing figure.

The set isn't something that really makes me go wow, and is much like the Babe Ruth set Leaf did. 

The simple write ups on the back don't do much for me, but some of the photos are pretty darn good.

Whether you agree or disagree with his legacy, it is hard to argue he was a great player during the game.

Clean Designs

 So some baseball from the COVID lot today, and just two sets, but decent enough designs. Topps used something very similar in the late 90s.

The designs were quite similar from 1999 and 2000. Even 2000 Opening Day which I am collecting is a simple silver border and oversized set logo, but at least the designs were simple and straight forward. Not overly exciting and was like the exit of the flashy multicolour designs that made much of the mid to late 90s.

Fine enough photyography for a flagship set, but the second set is the one I actually like much more...

Sure, two new for me Jays cards are a great outcome, but the Victory set here...I really like it. Good use of team colour on a simple design which doesn't take away from the photography. Not much more to ask for on the fronts.

By 2001 Carlos Delgado had finished his fourth season in a row of 30 or more home runs with the Jays.

Nick Johnson wasn't a bad rookie. He had a solid career exceeding 10 years, with stints in New York, Washington, Baltimore and with the Marlins.

Hockey Happenings

 As we continue to wind down with cards from the COVID lot, we get a nice variety of cards, but not a whole lot to keep.

Solid star power in the cards today. Roenick, Gaborik, Koivu - not too shabby at all.

Always appreciate a good newer card of an older star, but still nothing for keepers until...

A short print Peca and Bobby Hull being a need for 2006-07 Parkhurst.

Nice and good, but my favourite part of the cards today - seeing Teemu and Kariya together in cards. They were a great duo and their time really made the Ducks something to watch early on in the franchise.

Not sure we are going to get any more big accomplishments before finishing through the lot, but still a couple weeks of cards to go - should be through at the end of April....getting close though, just like getting close to the end of busy season, thankfully!

Some Mo ProMo

 A bunch of 401games Magic card pick ups today. I went on a quick Promo related search on the site and just picked up a bunch of them, as I know I didn't have many, and figured I would need most if not all I saw. THose along with a few core 2019 and 2020 sets, and let's take a look.

Noticed I was still missing some cheap core set artifact cards, so those were easy additions. I don't really pick up anything this way for more than fifty cents a card - just gets too expensive.

We then get into the promo cards. Some are prerelease cards (ones with the foil stamp date). These would be given out at pre-release events, and eventually get back to stores to sell for those who trade them in or their collection as a whole, so not unusual to see them come up, just not something I had focused on since the card itself is in many cases no different, save the foil stamp.

The cards with the planeswalker symbol silver foil stamp in the bottom right corner of the picture are other promos usually released in promo packs and again, in most cases, are no different from the actual card except the stamp.

All in, there are a few one and done cards that were the only artifact or land card in the promo set, so those are nice pick ups, and in general, like them for being the bit more unusual than a simple base card. Does make it harder to double check and make sure I catalog things right and ensure my want list is correctly updated, but I'm good for that challenge any time!