Monday, May 30, 2016

Memorial Day

I know Memorial Day is as much about the start of summer, an extra day off of work, and cookouts as it is about fallen soldiers.  I find nothing wrong with that.  Hope you could enjoy the day.  On a more serious note the origins of the holiday go back to the end of our Civil War. From the History Channel.
Here are the Civil War cards from one of my favorite modern non-sports sets, The History of the United States issued by Upper Deck in 2004.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Help? Anyone Have Details on These?

I was doing a little late night Ebay searching recently and came across these two postcards.  I may be just a second tier Ron Santo supercollector so they may be more common than I know but I haven't seen them before.  The listings were about to end and the price was reasonable so I snatched them up.  My observations:
The first photograph is mostly likely from the mid-1960's.  The second looks more like 72-73.
The photographs are a matt finish.
They look as if they could have been printed at the same time.
 The listing called the cards "RPPC".  That stands for "real photo postcard".  This means that the image is developed onto postcard sized paper with with a postcard back.  The Kodak backs date from 1950-present.

That's about all I know.  Any additional information would be appreciated.  Do you have any of these?  Seen others?  Common? Rare?

Below with a little help from Picassa


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

I Bought A Pack of Cards

I had a 50 cents off coupon from a pack of 2016 Series 1 my wife bought me (that wasn't worth posting).  The other day I needed to go to Target so I picked up the cheapest pack there is, 2016 Topps Opening Day.  So for 50 cents here's what I got in the only pack I've purchased this year
This pack design is a bit garish but it does feature a great group of players.

Does anyone else think of the Italian cookie when this guy comes up to bat?
Two guys, same expression.
Have you noticed that the newer the franchise is the more times they change their uniform design.  I'm glad the Blue Jays already went retro.
Horrible execution on this one (I think I've seen it said before).  It could almost be a Panini card. 
 
There's always room in baseball for a guy nicknamed "Moose"