[seniordiamonte]

Vladimir Guerrero scared the hell out of me when he came to bat against the Red Sox. He would swing at anything and get a hit. I loved his old school, no batting gloves approach at the plate and in the field he had a cannon for an arm. A nine-time All-star and a MVP, I was happy to see him go into the Hall of Fame. His son, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a highly touted phenom for the Blue Jays but despite all the hype, he has a long way to go to live up to his father's accomplishments. A current member of my 1000 Card Club, I have 1669 different Beckett recognized cards of Vlady. Here are nine from my collection including some parallels, an auto and a bunch of game-used pieces.


1998 Pinnacle Artist's Proofs #PP55 Vladimir Guerrero
1999 Pacific Omega Copper #145 Vladimir Guerrero
2001 Fleer Platinum Lumberjacks #13 Vladimir Guerrero


2001 Studio Diamond Collection #DC1 Vladimir Guerrero
2003 Bowman Heritage Diamond Cuts Red Relics #VG Vladimir Guererro Bat
2003 Donruss Signature Autographs #54 Vladimir Guerrero

   
2003 Fleer Authentix Game Bat #VG Vladimir Guerrero
2003 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Blue Materials #109 Vladimir Guerrero Jsy
2006 Topps Turkey Red Relics #VG Vladimir Guerrero Jsy D

That 2001 Studio Diamond Vlad is beautiful. The blue is crisp and bright. Great Vlad collection

[zeprock]

In 1972 my parents had sold our home in Glenburn, Maine and we went "camping" for the summer and lived in a truck camper and tent in a gravel pit in Franklin, Maine. Eight of us! My Dad and Mom, myself, younger brother, three younger sisters, one of which was an infant and my cousin who lived with us after his parents had passed as well as our dog and two or three cats. We three boys slept in the tent while my parents and sisters shared the camper. We were within walking distance of a pond where we swam and bathed daily and some nearby railroad tracks where my brother and I would put pennies on the track and watch the train go by. The engineer would blow his whistle for us and wave each morning as he passed. I had my card collection with me in the tent and spent hours organizing them, dividing them by teams and reading the backs. A couple of times the tent began to take on water and I had to rescue them and get them in a drier place. It wasn't until I was much older that I came to the realization that we were homeless that summer.

Topps mixed it up again with a colorful set of cards. The high numbers were hard to come by as football season approached, baseball cards became harder to find in the stores. I had a childhood friend in Cooper, Maine who had a collection of cards too. He bought his cards in Calais which borders St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada and most of the cards he got were O-Pee-Chee. At one point I traded some marbles or something for his collection. Unfortunately he had pasted a lot of them into a scrapbook. Once we moved into another house when school started up, I cut around the cards in the scrapbook and soaked them in warm water to detach them from the paper, a trick I had learned from collecting postage stamps. Most of the cards came off without residue. I would then lay them between two towels on my Mom's ironing board and iron them with my Mom's iron and then set them aside to dry. I still have some of those cards in my collection. They look a little different but I can read them and unless you study them very closely, you'd never know the story behind them. Here are nine cards from my collection all released in 1972.


1972 O-Pee-Chee #433 Johnny Bench (This is one of the cards I got from my friend in Cooper. This card had yet to be pasted into his scrapbook. Whew!)
1972 Topps #49 Willie Mays
1972 Topps #79 Rookie Stars/Mike Garman/Cecil Cooper RC/Carlton Fisk RC


1972 Topps #299 Hank Aaron
1972 Topps #309 Roberto Clemente
1972 Topps #559 Pete Rose

   
1972 Topps #595 Nolan Ryan (Nolan is in his Mets uni with an Angels logo airbrushed onto his cap.)
1972 Topps #695 Rod Carew
1972 Topps #761 Rookie Stars/Ben Oglivie RC/Ron Cey RC/Bernie Williams

[zeprock]

Todd Helton was the face of the Colorado Rockies for 17 seasons and spent his entire MLB career with them. He is not yet in the Hall of Fame but he would have my vote. At one point he was a star quarterback for the University of Tennessee and was backed up by Peyton Manning. I've collected his cards throughout his career. Another member of my 1000 Card Club, I currently have 1161 unique Beckett recognized cards of Todd. Here are nine from my collection.

       
1998 Revolution Rookies and Hardball Heroes Gold #6 Todd Helton
1998 SP Authentic Chirography #TH Todd Helton
1999 Finest Gold Refractors #130 Todd Helton SENS

       
2001 Absolute Memorabilia Home Opener Souvenirs Double #OD10 Todd Helton
2001 SP Game Bat Milestone Piece of Action Milestone #TH Todd Helton
2002 Stadium Club All-Star Relics #SCASTH Todd Helton Jsy G3

       
2002 Upper Deck 40-Man Lumber Yard #LY18 Todd Helton (This card is made of wood.)
2003 Upper Deck Vintage Capping the Action #TH Todd Helton/99 (Serial numbered 1/99.)
2007 SPx Winning Materials Patches Bronze #HE Todd Helton/50

[zeprock]

For today's post I'm showing off some more food issues. Here are nine dairy related cards from my collection.

       
1973 TCMA Reprints Ruth Fro Joy #1 Babe Ruth (This is one of many reprints of the original 1928 set designed to showcase the advertising potential of Babe Ruth. Each of the six cards explained a baseball technique in addition to advertising Fro Joy ice cream and ice cream cones.)
1976 Buckman Discs #44 Jim Palmer (The reverse of this disc is an advertisement for Buckman's Ice Cream Shop in Rochester, New York. Produced by MSA, it is nearly identical on the front to the Crane Potato Chips discs.)
1982 Red Sox Coke #22 Carl Yastrzemski (This set was issued locally in the Boston area as a joint promotion by Brigham's Ice Cream Stores and Coca-Cola. The cards were initially distributed in three-card cello packs with an ice cream or Coca-Cola purchase.)

       
1988 Mets Fan Club #8 Gary Carter (Cards in this set were produced by Topps for the New York Mets and were distributed in perforated sheets as a membership for joining the Junior Mets Fan Club. The set was sponsored by Farmland Dairies Milk whose logo appears on the back.)
1992 MooTown Snackers #20 Nolan Ryan (Also produced by MSA, these cards were inserted inside packages of cheese snacks. My friend's fiancee gave me the first one I ever saw and there was a mail-away offer on it to send away for the complete set, which I did. Cards included in the packages were fold-outs with the send-away info attached. Cards from the mail-away set did not have that attached and are therefore single cards.)
1993 Kraft #12 Cal Ripken (Each of these Kraft Singles Superstars were pop-up cards that were inserted in specially marked packages of cheese slices. I collected enough proof-of-purchase points to send away for the complete sets of AL and NL players. The AL set has blue borders and the NL set has green borders and each card pictures the same player on each side.)

       
1994 Griffey Dairy Queen Gold #1 Ken Griffey Jr./The Spider Man Catch (This 10-card set, authorized by Griffey, was distributed in 5-card packs at Dairy Queen. This card is a gold parallel that was randomly inserted in the packs.)
2002 Nestle #6 Ichiro Suzuki (Topps produced this 6-card set that was inserted in various Nestle's Ice Cream products.)
2014 Panini Golden Age Mini Croft's Swiss Milk Cocoa #32 Zack Wheat (In 1909 the Croft & Allen Company of Philadelphia issued tobacco size cards with purchases of their jars of Croft's Swiss Milk Cocoa. This card, produced by Panini is in homage to that rare set.)

[zeprock]

Bruce Sutter was recognized as one of the first dominant relievers pitching in the late 1970s through the '80s. A six-time All-star and four-time Fireman of the Year, he also won a Cy Young Award and was a World Champion. I didn't think Bruce would be a Hall of Famer so I didn't actively collect his cards until he was eventually enshrined. As of this posting, I have 154 different Beckett recognized cards of Bruce. Here are nine from my collection.

       
1977 Topps #144 Bruce Sutter RC
1978 Topps #325 Bruce Sutter
1979 Topps #457 Bruce Sutter


1981 Perma-Graphic Credit Cards #24 Bruce Sutter
2006 Greats of the Game Cubs Greats Memorabilia #BS Bruce Sutter Pants
2009 Topps Tribute #26 Bruce Sutter

       
2013 Panini Cooperstown Green Crystal #88 Bruce Sutter
2013 Topps Gypsy Queen #162 Bruce Sutter SP
2014 Topps Archives Gold #2 Bruce Sutter

[zeprock]

Here are nine cards from my collection, all from 1973.

       
1973 Kellogg's #16 Nolan Ryan (The only year that Kellogg's didn't use their 3-D technology. This was also the first year that I noticed that I could send away for the complete set, which I did.)
1973 Topps #1 Babe Ruth/Hank Aaron/Willie Mays/All-Time Home Run Leaders (Remember when Babe Ruth was the All-time Home Run King and it didn't seem like anyone would ever break his record?)
1973 Topps #50 Roberto Clemente (Clemente's last regular Topps card released after he'd passed.)

        
1973 Topps #100 Hank Aaron
1973 Topps #130 Pete Rose
1973 Topps #174 Goose Gossage RC

       
1973 Topps #220 Nolan Ryan
1973 Topps #305 Willie Mays (Mays came "home" to New York where he'd starred for so many years with the NY Giants.)
1973 Topps #615 Rookie Third Basemen/Ron Cey/John Hilton RC/Mike Schmidt RC (This is Ron Cey's second appearance in this thread as his true rookie card appeared a few posts ago when I showcased nine 1972 cards. Schmidt, of course is a HOFer. Poor John Hilton didn't even get his name right on his rookie card as he went by his middle name of Dave. He played bits of four seasons for the Padres then three in Japan before he was done.)

[elberson]

1973 topps........mike Schmidt’s RC year. Pretty set. I just finished it last week. Nothing too expensive in there. No high number sp’s or commons. Now just working on the blue team checklist with 3 more to go. Thanks for sharing

[jack pfiester]

For today's post I'm showing off some more food issues. Here are nine dairy related cards from my collection.

       
1973 TCMA Reprints Ruth Fro Joy #1 Babe Ruth (This is one of many reprints of the original 1928 set designed to showcase the advertising potential of Babe Ruth. Each of the six cards explained a baseball technique in addition to advertising Fro Joy ice cream and ice cream cones.)
1976 Buckman Discs #44 Jim Palmer (The reverse of this disc is an advertisement for Buckman's Ice Cream Shop in Rochester, New York. Produced by MSA, it is nearly identical on the front to the Crane Potato Chips discs.)
1982 Red Sox Coke #22 Carl Yastrzemski (This set was issued locally in the Boston area as a joint promotion by Brigham's Ice Cream Stores and Coca-Cola. The cards were initially distributed in three-card cello packs with an ice cream or Coca-Cola purchase.)

       
1988 Mets Fan Club #8 Gary Carter (Cards in this set were produced by Topps for the New York Mets and were distributed in perforated sheets as a membership for joining the Junior Mets Fan Club. The set was sponsored by Farmland Dairies Milk whose logo appears on the back.)
1992 MooTown Snackers #20 Nolan Ryan (Also produced by MSA, these cards were inserted inside packages of cheese snacks. My friend's fiancee gave me the first one I ever saw and there was a mail-away offer on it to send away for the complete set, which I did. Cards included in the packages were fold-outs with the send-away info attached. Cards from the mail-away set did not have that attached and are therefore single cards.)
1993 Kraft #12 Cal Ripken (Each of these Kraft Singles Superstars were pop-up cards that were inserted in specially marked packages of cheese slices. I collected enough proof-of-purchase points to send away for the complete sets of AL and NL players. The AL set has blue borders and the NL set has green borders and each card pictures the same player on each side.)

       
1994 Griffey Dairy Queen Gold #1 Ken Griffey Jr./The Spider Man Catch (This 10-card set, authorized by Griffey, was distributed in 5-card packs at Dairy Queen. This card is a gold parallel that was randomly inserted in the packs.)
2002 Nestle #6 Ichiro Suzuki (Topps produced this 6-card set that was inserted in various Nestle's Ice Cream products.)
2014 Panini Golden Age Mini Croft's Swiss Milk Cocoa #32 Zack Wheat (In 1909 the Croft & Allen Company of Philadelphia issued tobacco size cards with purchases of their jars of Croft's Swiss Milk Cocoa. This card, produced by Panini is in homage to that rare set.)

I love food cards.  They definitely need to bring them back in some capacity!

[zeprock]

Mookie Betts. Finally a bonafide homegrown Red Sox star who appeared to play for the love of the game and constantly wore a huge smile across his beaming face. It didn't take me long to decide to collect his cards. I hadn't been this passionate about collecting a Sox player since Pedroia came up to the bigs and as aggressive in accumulating his cards since Nomar. Four All-star selections, four Gold Glove Awards, a MVP and a World Championship already. Hopefully he can sustain his career unlike Nomar and Pedey before him and make it to the Hall. A couple of weeks ago I pulled one his cards out of a pack of 2020 Topps Stickers and he's wearing Dodger blue. Oh man! I'm still collecting him but not as feverishly as I was. I currently have 259 different Beckett recognized cards of Mookie. Here are nine from my collection.

       
2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP109 Mookie Betts
2014 Donruss The Rookies #50 Mookie Betts
2015 Topps Throwback Variations #389 Mookie Betts FS

       
2016 Donruss Bat Kings Green #BKMB Mookie Betts/99
2016 Topps Toys R Us Purple #84 Mookie Betts
2016 Topps Tribute Stamp of Approval Relics Green #SOAMB Mookie Betts


2017 Topps Triple Threads Relics Silver #TTRMB1 Mookie Betts
2018 Topps Allen and Ginter Relics #FSRBMB Mookie Betts B
2019 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Relics #CCRMB Mookie Betts

[zeprock]

Here's something a little different today. My brother, one year younger than me, is a missionary in Nanao, Japan. He's been over there for nearly 30 years. When he first went over I asked him if he could find some Japanese baseball cards for me. He was successful for a few years and sent me boxes of them for my collection as well as some VHS tapes of Japanese baseball games. They definitely do things different there. I already showed you my oldest Japanese card (Sadaharu Oh) in my 1967 post. Today I am showing nine of the many Japanese cards I have in my collection.

       
1991 Kalifornia Kardz Japanese Free Agent Draft #NNO Jose Canseco (This is kind of like a Broder card. The back speculates that Japan would be very interested in signing Jose when he hit free agency.)
1992 BBM Japan #  Hideo Nomo (I pulled this from a pack that my brother had sent me back in 1992. I didn't know who any of the players were at the time but once Nomo came stateside and was a rookie sensation, I went through my Japanese cards to see if I had any of him. I found half a dozen or so.)
2000 BBM Japan #326 Ichiro Suzuki (This one I also pulled from a pack that my brother had sent me.)

       
2000 Upper Deck Victory Japan #40 Shigeo Nagashima (Nagashima is a legend in the Japanese leagues second only to Oh. It is the same format UD used on their stateside Victory set although the cards are a fraction smaller.)
2003 Topps Kanebo Japan 2 #5 Derek Jeter (I got this card from Ziveus101. Kenny sent me several cards from this Japanese set that looked similar to the base Topps set on the front although the backs are all in Japanese. Half the set looks like 2002 Topps base cards and the other half of the set looks like 2003 Topps base cards although the borders are green instead of blue.)
2006 Konami Japan Foil Refractors #138 Manny Ramirez (This card also came from Kenny (Ziveus101). It has a checkerboard sparkling foil refractor look to it that unfortunately isn't very apparent in this scan.)

        
2007 Konami MLB Power Pros #NNO Alex Rodriguez (In an issue of Entertainment Weekly back in 2007 I found a page containing nine of these "cards". It was an advertisement but I carefully cut the cards out with a paper cutter and saved them. The backs have player info on them. Definitely unusual and they are on a thicker stock than the rest of the pages. I'm guessing there aren't a lot of these around.)
2009 Konami Japan World Baseball Classic #12 Miguel Cabrera (Another one that I got from Kenny. I also have an IRod card like this. It came in it's own protective sleeve.)
2012 Sega-Card-Gen #86 Albert Pujols (Yup. Kenny again. He was very generous trading me several of these in exchange for Yankees cards. Most of them have white borders but some of the stars like Jeter and Pujols have black borders. I'm not sure if they are a parallel or not. I think they just did different colors for the bigger star players.)