I Need Your Help to Celebrate A Friends Birthday

Over there to the right is one of my best friends, Robert Jones.  He took me to the Mariners vs. Padres series in Seattle earlier this year and we have attended many baseball games together.  I have known Robert for 45 years and he has helped me through for a few rough spots and is a constant source of encouragement.  On February 13, 2023 he will be turning 70 years old.  For his 60th birthday back in 2013 I got him every Topps flagship card numbered 60 from 1953-2013.  So for his 70th birthday decided to do something different but still involving Topps cards.  I want to get him the card number that matches his age from each year, so for example I want to get card #1 from 1954 and so on up to card #70 from 2023.  I figure you guys can help me.  I know some of the early years would be expensive, so I am looking for reprints or cards in really bad condition.  I don't expect any one to just give me cards so up above you will see a page labeled TRADE ITEMS, on it are 64 items that I am willing to trade for the cards.  You propose the trade and I will send you the item.  Also there is a page labeled ROBERTS 70th Birthday List.  It lists each card and who is on it and what team they are pictured with.  On that page I will keep track of who sent each card and what they received. I have also put the list below. I would really appreciate your help, I am trying to get ahead of this because 10 years ago it took me awhile  to get all the cards. Also I would appreciate it if you could pass the word, I am not sure not how many people still read Padrographs. Thank you in advance.  Updated 12/13

1954 1 Ted Williams Red Sox

1955 2 Ted Williams Red Sox

1956 3 Elmer Valo KC A's

1957 4 Johnny Logan Braves

1958 5 Willie Mays Giants

1959 6 Alex Grammas Cardinals The Diamond King

1960 7 Master & Mentor Giants

1961 8 Dick Williams KC A's

1962 9 Jim Davenport Giants

1963 10 AL Strikeout Ldrs The Diamond King

1964 11 NL RBI ldrs

1965 12 NL SO Ldrs

1966 13 Lou Johnson Dodgers gcrl

1967 14 Joe Sparma Tigers

1968 15 Ron Hunt Dodgers

1969 16 Giants Rookies Stars Giants gcrl

1970 17 Hoyt Wilhem Braves Gavin

1971 18 Norm Miller Astros The Diamond King/gcrl

1972 19 Billy Cowan Angels gcrl

1973 20 Stan Bahnsen White Sox Baseball Cards Come to Life

1974 21 Bob Gallagher Astros gcrl

1975 22 Dave Cash Phillies

1976 23 Brian Downing White Sox Baseball Cards Come to Life

1977 24 Carl Morton Braves Baseball Cards Come to Life

1978 25 Jon Matlack Mets

1979 26 Jamie Quirk Royals

1980 27 Del Unser Phillies

1981 28 Enrique Romo Pirates Angels in Order

1982 29 Dwayne Murphy

1983 30 Jim Rice Red Sox The Diamond King

1984 31 Andy McCaffigan Giants Angels in Order

1985 32 Chuck Porter Brewers Baseball Cards Come to Life

1986 33 Jeff Lahti Cardinals Angels in Order

1987 34 Jose Rijo A's Angels in Order

1988 35 Harold Baines White Sox Baseball Cards Come to Life/The Cooperstown Advocate

1989 36 Mitch Webster Cubs Baseball Cards Come to Life

1990 37 Domingo Ramos Cubs Baseball Cards Come to Life/The Cooperstown Advocate

1991 38 Scott Bradley Seattle Baseball Cards Come to Life

1992 39 Greg Olson Braves

1993 40 Ozzie Smith Cardinals

1994 41 Kevin Wickander Reds Baseball Cards Come to Life

1995 42 Jose Batista Cubs

1996 43 Troy Percival Angels Angels in Order

1997 44 Hal Morris Reds Baseball Cards Come to Life

1998 45 Pat Hentgen Toronto Baseball Cards Come to Life

1999 46 Armando Benitez Baltimore

2000 47 Shannon Stewart Toronto

2001 48 Dan Plesac Arizona

2002 49 Ben Petrick Colorado

2003 50 Sammy Sosa Cubs The Diamond King

2004 51 Danny Graves Reds Baseball Cards Come to Life

2005 52 Danny Graves Reds

2006 53 Tomo Okha Brewers Baseball Cards Come to Life

2007 54 Daniel Cabrera Baltimore Baseball Cards Come to Life

2008 55 Chris Young San Diego Baseball Cards Come to Life

2009 56 Edwin Encarcion Reds Baseball Cards Come to Life

2010 57 CC Sabithia Yankees Baseball Cards Come to Life

2011 58 Josh Johnson Miami Baseball Cards Come to Life

2012 59 Texas Rangers

2013 60 Jon Rauch Mets Baseball Cards Come to Life

2014 61 Nick Markakis Baltimore

2015 62 Nolan Arrenado Colorado Baseball Cards Come to Life

2016 63 Zach Britton Baltimore

2017 64 Adam Eaton White Sox

2018 65 Alex Wood Dodgers Angels in Order

2019 66 Stephen Piscotty Yankees

2020 67 Tyler Beede Giants

2021 68 Charlie Blackmon

2022 69 Corey Kluber Yankees

2023 70

Thanks to Fuji and eBay

 Thanks to Fuji and eBay my 19 pages of Tony Gwynn cards are now full.  Here they are in all there glory.  And of course they in reverse order.  I am happy with the cards I have chosen.

I cut down my Padrographs to just nine cards from each year.  I also kept one card of each manager and a few odds and ends.  I will share those with you at some point.  

I work retail at a mall so our busy time of the year is beginning.  

It's Been Awhile, Y'all

I have been deliberating over the past 5 months what to do with my cards.  I have come to two decisions and have been in the process of implementing those decisions.  

I decided that I was only going to collect (at this time) two players, Tim Flannery and Tony Gwynn.  Flannery I was going to try and get all of his cards.  Right now all I have are a few cards other than all his Topps cards.  I will be starting chasing those remaining cards soon.  
I decided that I was only going to keep 19 pages of Tony Gwynn cards, that is 171 cards.  So I went through all my Tony Gwynn, Sr. cards and eventually pared it down to that number.  I split the rest of my Gwynn cards and other Padres cards between Gavin and Fuji.  I dropped off Gavin's cards to him a week or so ago and I mailed Fuji's to him yesterday.  When I decided to page my Gwynn cards I realized there were still 10 cards I needed to complete my task. I have listed the 10 cards I still need on the Top Ten Most Wanted.  

Group Break

 I have accumulated a fair number of cards of many teams and have made over six hundred custom cards.  I am downsizing my collection and will be offering team lots of all teams except the Padres. There are custom cards, inserts and even a few autographs.  Not every team has autographs. The custom cards are of players that never had a card or a card with the team on the card. I have priced each lot at 25¢ a card.  Below is a list of the teams and the number of cards and the total price for each team. I will update the post as people sign up and pay for their cards.  Shipping will depend on the number of cards you get.

Team              #of cards          Price          Paid for 

Rockies                  4                 $1.00   

Senators                14                $3.50

Twins                     42               $10.50 

Braves                    35              $8.75

A's                          100             $25.00      San Jose Fuji

Mariners                 25              $6.25

Royals                     25               $6.25

Cleveland                30              $7.50

Dodgers                   39              $9.75

Miami                       4               $1.00

Pilots/Brewers        19               $4.75

Phillies                     32               $8.00

Houston                   18                $4.50

Yankees                   46               $11.50

Tampa Bay             7                 $1.75

Diamondbacks       1                      25¢   

Blue Jays               19                 $4.75 

Rangers                 10                 $2.50

Orioles                   24                $6.00

Cardinals              53                 $13.25

Red Sox                43                 $10.75    Matt

Angels                   32                 $8.00

Pirates                   48                 $12.00

White Sox              44                $11.00

Mets                        17               $4.25          Brett

Expos/Nationals     13               $3.25

Reds                         47               $11.75

Cubs                         57              $14.25

Tigers                       64              $16.00

Giants                     103              $25.75         San Jose Fuji

Negro League         34                $8.50

Umpires/Executives  14             $3.50

Padrographs 1262-1264 and my current state of mind about the hobby.

 

 Hey, long time no see.  I got frustrated with what Padrographs were selling for and cards in general.  

First lets talk about these three cards then we will move onto other things.  

Edward Olivares, is Padrograph #1262.  He played in 13 games for the Padres in 2020 before being traded to the Royals for Trevor Rosenthal.  He has played in 15 games for the Royals so far this year.

Jarlin Susana, is Padrograph #1263.  The 18 year old was signed by the Padres as a free agent.  He is currently playing in the DSL.

Joe Goddard,  is Padrograph #1264.  He was signed by the Padres in 1971 and played in 12 games for the Padres in 1972.  He played in the Padres system through 1976.  I have made custom cards of him and sent them to him and never heard from him.  I found  this Beckett autograph cut on eBay and then an overlay for it.  I designed it and my wife cut it out for me.  She has a much steadier hand than I.  I got this card back in January.  

With all the prices going up I have made a few decisions about my collection.  Also I am not getting any younger, I will be signing up for Medicare in September.  I have decided that I am just going to concentrate on my Padrographs and Tim Flannery cards.  I am going to curtail my Padrographs and only get cards of players who have actually played for the Padres not just in their system and all the managers.  There goes my Joe Pepitone autograph.  I will be selling many things that don't meet that criteria.  

I will be hosting a group break soon that will consists of commons, inserts, autographs and custom cards.  I am sorting all my non Padres by teams and when I get them all sorted I will be posting the details of the break.  The price will be determined by the number of cards for the team.  I am looking at making each card between 25-50.  

Right now I am looking for Tim Flannery cards that are not from Topps.  I think I have all of them.   

Once I get down with the group break I will be figuring out what to do with all my non-auto Padres cards. 

Thank you for stopping by and good night.

Padrographs 1250-1261

 Bowman Chrome came out and had five Padrographs in it.  I managed to snag three of them for under $10 apiece, but the other two are ridiculously priced, Victor Acosta and Reginald Preciado.  Acosta is an 18 year who has only played in the DSL and Preciado is now in the Cubs system as part of the Darvish trade.  I also picked up some custom autos through an acquaintance in San Diego.  

  I made the cards and Josh Harrison in San Diego got them signed for me.  This is actually the second Jordy Barley autograph I have.  I made a set of the 2019 Tri Cities Dust Devils, the Padres short season rookie team and had the players sign them and Jordy was among them. He is actually in the Washington Nationals minor league system, he was sent to them in the trade for Daniel Hudson.  Adam Kerner was an undrafted free agent signed by the Padres in 2020 who played in Ft Wayne in 2021.  Eguy was signed by the Padres in 2016 and played at AA San Antonio last year.  All the rest of the cards are customs and played for the Padres last year.  

I am going to be cutting back on my Padrographs this year.  I am only going to try for players who have been on the active roster and coaches.  

I have sorted all my extra Padres by player.  If you have a particular card you are looking for of someone who has played for the Padres let me know and I will see if I have it.

Legends of Cardboard a 4-fer

This post is in response to Night Owl's post from today.  Lowell Palmer didn't have a Padres card when I found out he played for the Padres in 1974.  I made the Padres card for a dealer friend of mine and he asked about the other teams. I found the Yankees and Cleveland photos online and Lowell provided the Cardinals picture, I believe.  Palmer was traded from Cleveland to New York for Mike Kekich but played all of 1973 in the minors for both Cleveland and the Yankees.  

Checking in and updating and wondering

 It has been a heck of a summer.  On June 2, we finally were able to have the Military Honors Service for my Dad, who passed away on March 10, 2020 at age eighty-eight.  

Just a couple of weeks later on June 19, which would have been my parents sixty-seventh Wedding Anniversary, my Mom passed away at age ninety-one.  The picture in the upper right was taken at my Dad's Honors Service.

I have been exercising and eating better, so I managed to lose about thirty-five pounds.  I was walking about four miles a day, not quickly, but I was doing it.  I started experiencing intense pain in my right leg, so on June 22 I went to see a doctor.  I had walked my self into a case of patellar tendonitis.  I was told to stay off it and ice the heck out of it.  So I took four days off work and just laid around. 

Shortly after that we had a Memorial Service for my Mom.  I did the sound and did a video of her life for that.

On July 28 I went to Seattle to see the Mariners play the Astro's.  The highlight of the game was the kid dressed as a trash can who stood up every time the Astro's were up to bat. 

On the way to the game I tripped over some uneven sidewalk and bruised my knee pretty good.  Luckily there are lots of escalators at whatever stadium that is.  On August 3 I went to see the doctor again because I had extreme pain in my left leg.  The doctor said the bruising had caused an infection in my leg and I needed to stay off it and ice it heavily to reduce the swelling and put me on antibiotics for a week.  I took another four days off of work.  

I hope that is it for this summer.  

I have picked up a few Padrographs this summer.  It seems like I need to save up to get them this year.  I have picked up seven this summer.  

Wayne Kirby went to somebody else and then came to me.  Aaron Rakers was a private signing.  Peter Summerville came back in the mail.  Ismael Means and Zayed Salinas are minor leaguers I have never heard of.  Jake Cronenworth seemingly can play anywhere on the field and do it well.  He has lobbied Jayce Tingler to play all nine positions in one game.  It was one of the more expensive ($49.99) Padrographs I have purchased.  Ha-Seong Kim was surprisingly cheap only $20.  That gives me 1,246 Padrographs.

I have been selling a bunch of stuff on eBay that doesn't fit into the mainstream of my collection.  It is a wide variety of stuff, captainamerica57 is my Ebay handle.  

I have been wondering what the future holds for card collecting.  But it is beyond my control so I will just live in the present. 

I don't know how often I will be posting, I have been reading all of your blogs.  I have seen some very interesting stuff. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Don't call it a comeback to quote Fuji and the Music Challenge A-Z

 So after I posted these yesterday here, I also posted them in a couple of TTM groups I belong to on facebook.  Someone there got my Padres custom and I got his 1993 Flair.  So we are swapping to get our cards back.  

I also decided to participate in the A-Z Music challenge.

A- Andrae Crouch and the Disciples, my favorite song is My Tribute

B-This was the most difficult letter for me.  I chose the Beach Boys but could have gone with Billy Preston, the Blues Brothers or Blue Oyster Cult.  The Beach Boys have more songs I like.

C-Chicago, one of the first albums I bought was their 4 disc Live at Carnegie Hall

D-Daniel Amos, one of the bands I have seen the most.  From country to new wave.  Shotgun Angel to the Alarma Chronicles

E-Edgar Winter, I love listening to Frankenstein with headphones on

F-for King and Country

G-George Strait, saw him in concert once and love almost anything he sings

H-Huey Lewis and the News, love everything they do and saw them in concert once

I- The Imperials, love their harmonies.  You will notice that there are several trios and quartets on my list, I love the sound of several voices melding together

J-Johnny Cash and Jimmy Buffett, I couldn't choose between them

K-Keith Green, some songs that really minister to me

L-Larry Norman, songs that showed me that rock and roll can be used to express Christian themes.  Many songs that make me think about things.  Six O'Clock News in particular.  Saw Larry in Concert many times.  Lynryd Skynryd I love the fifteen minute version of Freebird.  I saw them in concert in 1977.  You can see that concert in the movie Freebird

M-Mercy Me, I Can Only Imagine will always remind of my late mother in law

N-Newsboys, love My Fathers House in Particular

O-The Oak Ridge Boys, Elvira among many other favorites

P-Phillips, Craig and Dean, a trio of amazing voices with some amazing songs, Mercy Came Running, Concert of the Age and Favorite Song of All

Q-Queen, love News of the World

R-Reba McEntire, love her voice and her wide variety of songs.

S-Steven Curtis Chapman, love The Great Adventure, Burn the Ships and Be Still and Know

T- Tim Flannery, the dude is awesome, singer, songwriter and humanitarian.  My favorite song is a hymn he wrote called Foot of the Cross

U-U2, my younger brother introduced me to them when they were first hitting the U.S.  Joshua Tree is still a favorite album

V-Van Halen, I and a friend used to listen to their first albums in the church parking lot while we played frisbee in the late 70's

W-War, Wings.  I couldn't decide and I don't have an X

X- nothing y'all

Y-Yes, I saw them in concert at Oakland, they were the headliners after Donovan played.  Just him and his guitar then Yes with their arsenal of instruments.  

Z-ZZ Top, Eliminator is one of my favorites, but I also like their early blues.

A little bit of everything

The other day I got a PWE from Adam at Infield Fly Rule, that contained this Jack Youngblood card and another card of a Los Angeles Ram.  All I remember about him is thinking that he had a really cool name.  I don't remember him as a player at all.  Doing research for this post I found out that he was an actor starring in two made for TV movies in 1986 and 1988.  He was a member of the C.A.T. Squad in the movies.  I did not realize that he was in the HOF, but I did not pay much attention to football at the time. 

Somehow though I knew about the Rams Fearsome Foursome, consisting of Lamar Lundy, Deacon Jones, Rosey Grier and Merlin Olsen.  I don't know why but I remember watching Little House on the Prairie and seeing Merlin as Johnathan Garvey.  But I remember him even more as Father Murphy, a show that ran for three seasons between 1981-1983.  He confronted a mining boss and that confrontation caused some children to be orphaned.  He posed as a priest to help care for the children and circumvent authority that would have split up family.  

That team of Rams had some actors on it, Fred Dryer went on to star in Hunter and Rosey Grier starred in several things before starring in The Thing with Two Heads, where he played an inmate who had a bigoted surgeons head grafted onto his body.  Not a comedy.  

Does anyone know where I send the cards next?

I had sent some Padres cards out to get autographed, bought one on ebay and got disappointed with a return.  

I  made contact with former Padres pitcher Randy Keisler on the web and sent him an email asking I could send him a card to sign and he said yes.  So I made the card and sent it to a wide spot in the road, called Richards, TX and just thirty-eight days it came back to me. 

It is Padrograph #1239, I used the only photo I could find of him with San Diego and modeled the card after one of the Fleer box sets from the eighties.  He pitched in two games for the Padres in 2003.

As I was working on the Padres Phrankenset (which is on a temporary hiatus)  I came across a card that I needed a signed copy of and when I looked on ebay there was a signed copy so I bought.

Steve Watkins is Padrograph #1238, he pitched in eleven games for the Padres in 2004.

I had sent custom cards to most of the Padres coaches for them to sign and the other day I received an envelop back that I knew was coming from first base coach Wayne Kirby.  I was disappointed when I opened the envelope though.  Instead of my Padres card I found these.  

I have added some more 1963 Astronauts cards to my set.

I am taking a hiatus from writing for awhile.  I will be reading your blogs and commenting some.  
Thank you for stopping by.