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Hall of Famer Johnny Mize was a ten-time All-star who played for the Cardinals, Giants and Yankees winning five consecutive World Series titles with the latter. He was a monster known as "The Big Cat". He was a smooth fielding first-baseman who played through the 1940s and was a bit overshadowed by other sluggers of the day such as DiMaggio, Musial and Ted Williams but he finished his career with a batting average over .300 and more than 1000 RBI and 2000 hits despite losing three prime seasons to military service. I currently have 165 different Beckett recognized cards of Mr. Mize including these nine from my collection.

       
1953 Topps #77 Johnny Mize DP
1960 Fleer #38 Johnny Mize
1991 Topps Archives '53 #77 Johnny Mize Autographed (In person auto not obtained by me.)


2002 Topps Chrome '52 Reprints Refractors #52R5 Johnny Mize
2005 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Emerald #145 Johnny Mize Giants HDR
2005 Upper Deck Hall of Fame Green #42 Johnny Mize

       
2006 SP Legendary Cuts Baseball Chronology Materials #JM Johnny Mize Pants
2010 Topps #354B Johnny Mize SP
2011 Topps #425B Johnny Mize SP

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Moving up another year through my collection brings me to 2006 today. Here are nine cards from that year that I've scanned from my collection.

       
2006 Artifacts AL/NL Artifacts Blue #DJA Derek Jeter Jsy/325
2006 Artifacts Auto-Facts Signatures #KG Ken Griffey Jr./800 (Back in 2001 I stopped by the local K-Mart and bought one pack of 2001 Topps cards. I remember ripping it open at a red light and pulling a 1991 Bowman "Shot Heard Around the World" card of Bobby Thomson's famous home run. It appeared to be signed in gold ink by both Thomson and pitcher Ralph Branca. It took me a while to realize it was actually an autographed card, the first auto I'd ever pulled. Years later I sent it to greekgooney in Canada straight up for this Griffey auto. Griffey was my favorite player and this remains one of my favorite cards in my collection. I think it's cool that it's serial numbered exactly halfway through the print run.)
2006 Greats of the Game Autographs #38 Fred McGriff T3


2006 SP Authentic Chirography #CB Craig Biggio/75 (Another pickup from former member dbrookard.)
2006 SP Legendary Cuts Baseball Chronology Materials #NR3 Nolan Ryan 7th NH Jsy
2006 SP Legendary Cuts Place in History Autographs #RY Robin Yount/99


2006 SP Legendary Cuts Place in History Autographs #SC2 Steve Carlton/99
2006 Topps Allen and Ginter Relics #BB Barry Bonds Uni G
2006 Topps Mantle Home Run History Bat Relics #R493 Mickey Mantle (I traded 10 Red Sox game-used cards for this one with my friend over in Scotland who is a Red Sox fan thanks to the TV show Cheers. It took a lot for this Red Sox fan to give up that many Red Sox game-used cards but it's Mickey "Freakin" Mantle and it's numbered 3/7.)

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Ty Cobb was one of the best known and greatest players from the early 1900s. When he retired after a 22-year career, he held 90 MLB records. It was Cobb's record for the highest vote total for induction into the Hall that Tom Seaver eventually broke. It was Cobb's record for career stolen bases that Lou Brock broke and his record for career hits that Pete Rose broke. It was Cobb's record for runs scored that Rickey Henderson broke. Even today he is in the top five on the career lists of games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, stolen bases and still leads everyone in lifetime batting average and no one has topped his record of 11 Batting Championships. Cobb gained a reputation as a dirty player and although he did have some violent incidents during his career, it has recently come to light that a lot of those stories were sensationalized and fictional.  As of this posting I have 334 unique Beckett recognized cards of the Georgia Peach. Here are nine from my collection.

       
1960 Fleer #42 Ty Cobb
1961 Fleer #14 Ty Cobb
1961 Golden Press #25 Ty Cobb

          
1961 Nu-Card Scoops #443 Ty Cobb
1968 Sports Memorabilia All-Time Greats #10 Ty Cobb
1973 Topps #475 Ty Cobb/All-Time Batting Leader

          
2001 Donruss Classics Stadium Stars #SS5 Ty Cobb
2005 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Emerald #197 Ty Cobb Tigers
2010 Topps #650B Ty Cobb SP

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Not all baseball cards are rectangular. Today I am posting up scans of nine discs from my collection.


1981 MSA Mini Discs #28 Mike Schmidt (Also known as "Peter Pan" discs, these were issued by MSA and look like many of their previously issued food discs although these are smaller.)
1989 King B Discs #10 Nolan Ryan (These discs, also produced by MSA, came one per container of King B beef jerky.)
1993 Cadaco Discs #16 Andre Dawson (This disc came from a Cadaco All-Star Baseball game.)

       
1993 MSA Ben's Super Pitchers Discs #4 Greg Maddux (Ben's Bakery has been in business since 1907 and caters to Atlantic Canadians. This disc came in a loaf of bread.)
2003 Fleer Hardball Round Numbers Game Used #MS Mike Schmidt Jsy (This entire set produced by Fleer is designed after the discs of the 1980s including the inserts and memorabilia cards. My weightlifting partner would often pick up a pack or two of cards for me at his local Irving convenience store and we would go through them over the course of our lift. This baby blue jersey swatch from Mike Schmidt came from one of those packs.)
2003 Upper Deck Standing O Die Cuts #54 Derek Jeter (This is a die cut insert that parallels the base set produced by Upper Deck. I believe they were inserted one per pack.)

       
2013 Hometown Heroes Sport Discs #6 Derek Jeter (Utilizing 3-D technology which is extremely hard to scan, this Panini insert from the Hometown Heroes set really does depict Derek Jeter.)
2013 Panini Cooperstown Colgan's Chips #127 Nolan Ryan (Panini designed these discs in homage to the 1909-11 Colgan's Chips "Stars of the Diamond" set that was originally distributed over a three-year period in five-cent Colgan’s Mint and Violet Chips gum.)
2016 Topps Heritage Discs #67TDCMT Mike Trout (I've been diligently scanning cards from my collection and posting them on this thread for 16 months now and this is Mike Trout's first appearance. Oddly it is on a square disc card. Mimicking the discs from 1967, I pulled this from a free bonus pack that the leader of my online trading group included with one of our trades. I was standing in the kitchen and when I pulled the wrapper open, this one immediately fell to the floor. The lower right corner has the smallest ding not noticeable in this scan.)

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Last year I read The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams on the recommendation of DrMitchJ. It was more than 800 pages but I learned a lot about Ted Williams as a person and not just as a ballplayer. Man, was he surly. He came across as a narcissistic jerk to the press and many of his own admirers but then again he would sneak into children's hospitals and spent hours with sick children and slip out unnoticed, discreetly paying their entire medical expenses in the process. His son, who I actually met on one occasion related here in an earlier post on this thread, was a bit of a jerk too and took full advantage of Ted in his later years all in an effort to pad his own inheritance. All that set aside, "The Splendid Splinter" was Boston's baseball hero and self-proclaimed greatest hitter who ever lived. A two-time MVP, two-time Triple Crown winner and six-time Batting Champion, Ted finished his career with a .344 batting average and 521 home runs even though he lost several prime years to military duty. I've got 383 Beckett recognized cards of Ted in my collection and I've already posted up scans of a lot of my vintage Ted cards but I went through my collection and here are nine more.


1958 Topps #321 Sluggers Supreme/Ted Kluszewski/Ted Williams (Ted shares this card with fellow slugger, Cincy's Ted Kluszewski.)
1958 Topps #485 Ted Williams AS
1959 Fleer Ted Williams #70 T.Williams/J.Thorpe (Here his is pictured with the great athlete Jim Thorpe.)

 
1959 Fleer Ted Williams #75 Williams' Value to Sox (Here he's pictured with Hall of Famers Eddie Collins and Babe Ruth.)
1959 Fleer Ted Williams #79 Where Ted Stands (He's in Bangor, Maine standing next to Paul Bunyan. Bunyan is a legend here in Maine due to our lumbering history. There is a huge statue of Paul Bunyan in Bangor that you can find photos of online. My brother, a friend and I sat on Paul's foot one night watching a parade of blue lights on Main Street until the police came and questioned us until they were convinced that we had no clue what was going on and were just watching.)
1961 Nu-Card Scoops #439 Ted Williams/(Hits .406)

       
1970 Topps #211 Ted Williams MG UER
1971 Topps #380 Ted Williams MG (The next year Ted became the first manager in Texas Rangers history.)
2005 Zenith Epix Purple Moment #20 Ted Williams

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Today I'm stepping into 2007 and showing nine cards from that year.


2007 SPx Winning Trios Bronze #WT8 Miguel Cabrera/Ryan Zimmerman/B.J. Upton
2007 Sweet Spot Classic Classic Memorabilia #CMMO1 Mel Ott
2007 Topps Alex Rodriguez Road to 500 #ARHR85 Alex Rodriguez (500 cards in this insert set. This is a rarer short print.)

         
2007 Topps Moments and Milestones Red #15-74 Greg Maddux/SO 74 (The first 1/1 to make it's way into my collection courtesy of a fellow trader in Louisiana.)
2007 Topps Triple Threads Relics #18 Ryan Howard (Got this from a fellow trader in Colorado.)
2007 Topps Update All-Star Stitches #AP Albert Pujols


2007 Ultimate Collection America's Pastime Memorabilia Gold #RW Rickie Weeks/25
2007 Ultimate Collection America's Pastime Signatures #BM Bill Mazeroski (This one came in from Virginia.)
2007 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Star Materials #DJ Derek Jeter

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Joe Morgan popped up next on the randomizer and is another Hall of Famer that we lost within the past year. Morgan was a cog in the Big Red Machine of the mid-1970s and was known for flapping his back arm like a chicken while in his batting stance. Morgan was Rookie of the Year and then a 10-time All-star with two MVP Awards and two World Championships to his credit. I currently have 332 different Beckett recognized cards of Joe including these nine.

          
1966 Topps #195 Joe Morgan
1967 Topps #337 Joe Morgan
1969 Topps #35 Joe Morgan

       
1970 Topps #537 Joe Morgan
1971 Topps #264 Joe Morgan
1972 Topps #752 Joe Morgan TR (Another of Topps first Traded cards.)


1973 Topps #230 Joe Morgan
2002 Topps Archives Bat Relics #TBRJM Joe Morgan 76 B
2003 SP Legendary Cuts Historic Swatches Green #JM Joe Morgan Jsy/250

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I think one of the most common and consistent inserts throughout the years, or at least since the early 60s, has been stickers. They are meant to be affixed to different surfaces but of course they remain more valuable if they are kept intact. I've got tons of stickers in my collection and today I am showing you nine of them.


1983 O-Pee-Chee Stickers #3 Willie Mays FOIL (These stickers were manufactured by Panini in Modena, Italy and were released under the O-Pee-Chee name out of London, Ontario and were only sold across Canada. They were originally released in packs of six with 100 packs per box and were meant to be stuck in a sticker album that featured Reggie Jackson on the cover. O-Pee-Chee was a Canadian candy company founded in 1911 and was eventually sold to Nestle in 1996. This set mirrors the American version released by Topps and this Mays is one of only four foil stickers in the set and the back is printed in both English and French.)
1983 Topps Stickers #328 Ryne Sandberg (This Sandberg rookie year sticker was also made by Panini and produced for Topps and O-Pee-Chee. This is a Topps sticker.)
1985 Fleer Star Stickers #37 Don Mattingly (This is from a 126 sticker set produced by Fleer and meant to be affixed into a Fleer sticker album.)


1987 Hostess Stickers #28 Jose Canseco (The 1987 Hostess Sticker set consists of 30 stickers produced in Canada by Hostess Potato Chips and distributed in bags of potato chips. Each sticker was loosely wrapped in cellophane to protect against potato chip stains.)
1987 Red Foley Sticker Book #118 Cal Ripken (Arthur "Red" Foley was a sportswriter who began his career as an official MLB scorer in 1966. Red Foley's Best Baseball Book Ever was published by Simon and Schuster and  included 130 stickers, puzzles, quizzes, and other trivia features.)
1989 HOF Sticker Book #54 Roy Campanella (This set of 100 stickers honored members of baseball Hall of Fame.)

    
1989 Panini Stickers #111 Randy Johnson (Probably the most sought after sticker in this 480 sticker set is this rookie of Randy Johnson. Stickers were meant to be affixed into an album featuring Jose Canseco on the cover.)
1990 Publications International Stickers #584 Cal Ripken Jr. (This set was produced by Publications International and contained 648 stickers  bound in a book. The set was licensed by Major League Baseball and the MLBPA. The stickers were to be put into the album over a question which pertains to each player pictured as a clue for where the sticker went.)
2004 Bazooka 4 on 1 Sticker #2 Duncan/Jeter/A.Soriano/Giambi (This is an insert from Topps' Bazooka set and includes four mini stickers of then current Yankees.)

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There were 16 Major League teams when Hoyt Wilhelm began his career and he played for nine different teams by the time he was done. "Old Sarge" threw his knuckleball for 20 seasons, was the first pitcher to record 200 saves and the first to appear in 1,000 games and his 120 wins in relief is still a Major League record. He was almost 30 years old in his rookie season and pitched until he was nearly 50. In one of his rare starts, he no-hit the New York Yankees. As of this posting, I only have 90 Beckett recognized cards of Hoyt. Here are nine from my collection.

       
1953 Topps #151 Hoyt Wilhelm
1954 Bowman #57 Hoyt Wilhelm
1954 Topps #36 Hoyt Wilhelm (Interesting that he has blue eyes on this card.)

       
1957 Topps #203 Hoyt Wilhelm
1958 Topps #324 Hoyt Wilhelm
1960 Topps #395 Hoyt Wilhelm

       
1965 Topps #276 Hoyt Wilhelm
1972 Topps #777 Hoyt Wilhelm
2005 Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade Swatch Triple Prime Red #127 Hoyt Wilhelm J-J-J/75

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Here are nine cards from my collection all from 2008.

       
2008 Donruss Sports Legends Materials Mirror Red #150 Pete Rose Jsy/250
2008 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Memorabilia 25 #JM Juan Marichal
2008 Topps Moments and Milestones Red #12-66 Albert Pujols (This is the only 1/1 card I have ever pulled. Pujols was my favorite player to collect at the time so that made it extra special. I bought the pack at a store in the Bangor Mall that was there such a short time that I can't even remember the name of it. It specialized in sports memorabilia, jerseys, hats, helmets, posters, many autographed. They gave away a free pack of 2008 Topps Trading Card History cards with the purchase of any pack of cards and over the course of a week, I bought about 30 packs and got a free pack with each pack.)

       
2008 Topps Update #UH240 Clayton Kershaw RC
2008 Topps Update #UH280 Max Scherzer RC
2008 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection #231 Don Mattingly/Derek Jeter/Manny Ramirez/David Ortiz

       
2008 Upper Deck Premier Swatches Jersey Number #GM Greg Maddux/31 (This was a freebie from a member here on Beckett.)
2008 Upper Deck Spectrum Spectrum Swatches Dual #VR Justin Verlander/Ivan Rodriguez
2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy Collection Memorabilia #DM Don Mattingly