[zeprock]

Rich Gossage was originally known as "Goss", short for his last name until a friend said he looked more like a goose when he extended his neck out to read the signs put down by his catcher. I wasn't sure "Goose" would be elected to the Hall of Fame so I didn't make collecting his cards a priority until he was enshrined. He played for nine different MLB teams as well as spending the 1990 season playing in Japan. He was a dominant closer throughout the 1970s and I currently have exactly 200 Beckett recognized cards of him in my collection including these nine.

        
1995 Collector's Choice SE Gold Signature #126 Goose Gossage
2005 Upper Deck Classics League Leaders #GG Goose Gossage
2007 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Materials #GG Goose Gossage/199

        
2008 Topps Triple Threads Emerald #105 Goose Gossage
2012 Panini Cooperstown Signatures #14 Goose Gossage/499
2013 Hometown Heroes Zip Code #230 Goose Gossage

        
2013 Topps Archives Day Glow #156 Goose Gossage
2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini Black #51 Goose Gossage
2015 Panini Cooperstown Golf Classic #9 Goose Gossage

[zeprock]

In 1979 I was living in Florida in the Orlando area. When I left Maine for Florida, I did not take my card collection with me. My cousin and I drove down together taking turns driving my 1973 Plymouth Duster and we drove straight through getting there in about 24 hours. My first day there I got a part time job at a Handy Way convenience store. My second day I was made full-time. By the end of the month, I was assistant manager and by the end of the year, I had my own store. I didn't give a thought to cards that year as I found so many other things to occupy my interests. I didn't even have a television set and didn't realize it for a year and a half until I was in someone else's home and they had a tv set on. I would write back and forth with my Mom and at one point during the summer she asked if she should sell my cards in a yard sale. I told her no and when I flew back to Maine for Christmas, after a week I brought my card collection back to Florida with me. I didn't see or buy any cards that year but eventually put the entire set together. Wrapping up another decade, here are nine 1979 cards from my collection.

       
1979 Hostess #9 Mike Schmidt
1979 Hostess #120 Reggie Jackson
1979 O-Pee-Chee #167 George Brett

       
1979 O-Pee-Chee #343 Pete Rose/Free Agent 12-5-79
1979 TCMA 50'S #7 Mickey Mantle
1979 Topps #24 Paul Molitor

       
1979 Topps #115 Nolan Ryan
1979 Topps #116 Ozzie Smith RC
1979 Topps #640 Eddie Murray

[zeprock]

Another retired player that I collect that is not in the Hall of Fame is Don Mattingly.  When Don began his MLB career, who didn't think he would end up being another Yankee in the Hall? His career exploded out of the gate winning a Batting Championship in his first year and a MVP Award in his second. No one has ever won more Gold Glove Awards in the AL at first base than Don's nine. He's ambidextrous and would throw with either arm when he started out. He's now the only member of the Yankees to have his number retired and not have won a World Championship with them. Injuries kept the former Yankee captain out of the Hall but I still collect him. I currently have 853 Beckett recognized cards of "Donnie Baseball" of which here are nine from my collection.

       
1993 Score Franchise #10 Don Mattingly
1994 SP Previews #ER4 Don Mattingly
1995 Fleer Team Leaders #10 D.Mattingly/J.Key (Toronto ace Jimmy Key is pictured on the flip side of this card.)

1995 Pacific Gold Prisms #10 Don Mattingly (Pacific cards just got more innovative and beautiful every year.)
2001 Upper Deck Legends of NY Game Bat #LYBDM Don Mattingly
2002 Sweet Spot Classics Game Jersey #JDM Don Mattingly DP

       
2005 Donruss Greats Souvenirs Material Bat #8 Don Mattingly T5
2006 Upper Deck Epic Materials Orange #DM1 Don Mattingly Jsy/185
2017 Topps Museum Collection Red #80 Don Mattingly

[zeprock]

It's another "oddball" day. Back in May I had a post on this thread where I featured nine Coca-Cola cards from my collection. Today is Pepsi's turn. Pepsi Cola was just as much a player when it came to baseball cards as Coke. Here are nine Pepsi-related cards from my collection.

       
1977 Pepsi Glove Discs #43 Pete Rose (This is one of two of these that I have intact, the other being Mike Schmidt. This was inserted into a carton of Pepsi-Cola. I don't normally collect oversize items but somewhere along the lines I accumulated this and still have it because it's Rose and because it's cool.)
1990 Pepsi Canseco #7 Jose Canseco/(Sitting on/Dugout Steps) (This is from a 10-card set of Canseco cards issued in conjunction with Pepsi.)
1990 Red Sox Pepsi #6 Roger Clemens (These cards were affixed to specially marked 12-packs of Pepsi. They were attached in a manner that made them difficult to remove so near mint cards from this set are difficult to find.)

          
1991 Pepsi Griffeys #4 Ken Griffey Jr./Posing with bat on shoulder (Part of an 8-card set sponsored by Pepsi and inserted one per special 12-pack of Pepsi. Some cards feature just Senior and some feature both Senior and Junior and others like this one just feature Junior.)
1991 Pepsi Rickey Henderson Discs #4 Rickey Henderson/Warming up/Follow through (In 1991 Pepsi issued a four disc 3D set in honor of Henderson.)
1991 Pepsi Superstar #8 Cal Ripken (Pepsi-Cola issued this 17-card set in Florida as part of it's "Flavor of Baseball" promotion. Cards were glued inside specially marked 12-packs of Pepsi in Miami, Orlando and Tampa.)

       
1992 Pepsi Diet MSA #29 Barry Bonds (This set was produced by MSA and distributed in three-card packs in Canada. Packs were given away free with the purchase of Diet Pepsi or Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi and cards are printed in both English and French.)
1997 Mariners Upper Deck Pepsi Game #P4 Alex Rodriguez (These cards were given away at a Mariners game and look very similar to the basic 1997 Upper Deck cards although obviously blue on the bottom instead of copper.)
2003 Pepsi #25 Albert Pujols (This card is from a 30-card Fleer produced set which featured one player from each team. Pujols got the Cardinals' card. They were inserted one per 24 count case of Pepsi.)

[zeprock]

Growing up in Maine was growing up in Red Sox Nation and 1975 was an exciting year for us with the emergence of Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. Lynn went on to be the first player to ever win Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in the same year but it was Rice who went on to have a Hall of Fame career. Of course the Sox went to the World Series that year and despite Carlton Fisk's iconic home run in game 6, the Big Red Machine ended up victorious after game 7. Rice was one of the most feared hitters throughout the late 70s and early 80s taking three Batting Championships, two RBI titles and a MVP Award himself. He was the third consecutive power hitting left fielder to play his entire career with the Red Sox and go to the Hall of Fame following Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski. I currently have 298 different Beckett recognized cards of Jim. Here are nine from my collection including some relics and autographs.


2001 Fleer Red Sox 100th Splendid Splinters Game Bat #5 Jim Rice
2004 Greats of the Game Autographs #JR Jim Rice F1
2004 SP Legendary Cuts Historic Swatches #JR Jim Rice Jsy

       
2004 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Swatches #JR Jim Rice Jsy
2004 Throwback Threads Century Collection Signature Material #38 Jim Rice Jsy/50
2005 Artifacts MLB Apparel #JR Jim Rice Jsy/325

       
2011 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Autographs #JR Jim Rice D
2014 Topps Tribute Autographs #TAJR Jim Rice
2017 Diamond Kings DK Materials Holo Silver #DKMJR Jim Rice/49

[zeprock]

Moving up into a new decade today. 1980 was the last year Topps was the sole company that issued baseball cards and by most accounts is the last of the "vintage" years. I was managing my own convenience store in central Florida and one of my responsibilities was ordering stock to sell in the store. When I saw baseball cards on the list of potential things to order, I ordered two boxes, one for me and one to sell in the store. After minimal sales on them, I ended up buying most of the second box too. I put together the entire set that summer. Here are nine "1980" cards from my collection.

       
1980 Burger King Pitch/Hit/Run #13 George Brett
1980 Kellogg's #20 Nolan Ryan
1980 O-Pee-Chee #55 Johnny Bench

       
1980 O-Pee-Chee #141 Mike Schmidt DP
1980 O-Pee-Chee #235 George Brett
1980 Topps #393 Ozzie Smith

   
1980 Topps #482 Rickey Henderson RC/UER
1980 Topps #540 Pete Rose
1980 Topps #580 Nolan Ryan

[zeprock]

Manny Ramirez was a carefree monster on the baseball diamond. When he came to Boston in 2001 he contributed mightily in turning around the franchise. I loved to watch him step up to the plate because he could flat out hit. Fielding was a different adventure though. His cutoff of Damon's throw was a classic example of "Manny being Manny". Unfortunately Manny couldn't refrain from his HGH and even though he probably didn't really need it, it will more than likely keep him out of the Hall. He is one of several players that I collected throughout their career who got caught up in that scenario but I haven't been able to bring myself to abandon my collections of them. Manny is a member of my 1000 card club as I currently have 1728 unique Beckett recognized cards of him of which here are nine from my collection.

       
1994 Leaf Limited Rookies Phenoms #9 Manny Ramirez
2001 Fleer Legacy Tailor Made #18 Manny Ramirez Sox
2001 SP Game Bat Milestone Piece of Action International #IMR Manny Ramirez Sox (I love the look of these cards and they are some of my favorites in my collection.)


2002 Fleer Box Score Press Clippings Game Used #14 Manny Ramirez Jsy
2002 Fleer Focus JE Intl Diamond Co. Game Used #8 Manny Ramirez Jsy
2002 Upper Deck Global Swatch Game Jersey #GSMR Manny Ramirez

        
2007 Topps Sterling Framed White Suede #227 Manny Ramirez
2007 Upper Deck Goudey Immortals Memorabilia #IMR Manny Ramirez
2018 Diamond Kings Bat Kings Holo Gold #4 Manny Ramirez

[jack pfiester]

Do you have the corked bat card that led to Pacific getting their license pulled by MLB?

[zeprock]

Do you have the corked bat card that led to Pacific getting their license pulled by MLB?

I do not have that one. I do have a Topps Unique Patch card with the patch missing.

[zeprock]

It's Oddball Day so today I am posting nine cards from my collection that each came with a figurine of some sort. I don't collect the figurines but am always on the lookout for the cards.

       
1969 Transogram Statues Cards #23 Ken Harrelson (A precursor to the Starting Lineup cards of the '80s and '90s, this card of "Hawk" Harrelson was cut from the back of the box that the figurine came in. The photos are the same as each player's 1969 Topps card. This design was revisited in 2018 as an insert in Topps Heritage called '69 Collector Cards.)
1989 Kenner Starting Lineup Greats Cards #19 Carl Yastrzemski (From Kenner's first Starting Lineup set, figurines were sold two per package along with the corresponding cards of each player. This smiling Yaz shared his package with Hank Aaron and is actually a short print. You could not buy one player and not the other.)
1994 Ashton Drake Legends Series #1 Babe Ruth (Ashton Drake was famous for their porcelain dolls. In 1994 they produced a fourteen inch tall statue of Babe Ruth to commemorate his 60 home run season. This card pictures the statue which came in four pieces, Ruth, his bat, his hat and the base.)

       
1997 Kenner Starting Lineup Classic Doubles Cards #2 Barry Bonds (Kenner released the first of their Classic Doubles line in 1997 again featuring two players per package. Bonds was teamed up with his father, Bobby in the same package.)
1998 Kenner Starting Lineup Cooperstown Collection Cards #1 Yogi Berra (Berra was one of the popular Cooperstown Collection figurines in 1998. His figurine depicts him squatting on home plate prepared to receive a throw with his face mask behind him.)
1999 Topps Action Flats #7 Alex Rodriguez (In 1999 Topps jumped into the statue market with their line of Action Flats. They were issued in a custom box featuring detailed miniature replicas of leading players. Also included in the box is a card showing the photography which was duplicated in the statue.)

        
2000 Hasbro Starting Lineup Cards #20 Mark McGwire (Produced by Hasbro, this card came in a blister package along with a McGwire figurine and a display stand designed to hold both the statue and the card.)
2000 Pacific Starting Lineup #1 Ken Griffey Jr. (This card came as part of the Baseball Elite line of Starting Lineups and was produced by Pacific Trading Cards.)
2001 Upper Deck Play Makers Cards #8 Nomar Garciaparra (Cards from this set produced by Upper Deck came in blister packs along with a bobble head.)