Would You Buy This Card?

Last week this 2007 SP Sign of the Times Griffey/Dunn dual autograph sold for $36, which is a deal with a Griffey autograph. But if you look, both Griffey’s and Dunn’s autographs are faded.

Would you buy this card knowing that in a few years that the signatures will be illegible?

Griffey Printer Scrap

I picked up a Griffey card that was being sold as an error, but it really isn’t an error. The card is a test card that was a printer’s scrap. The card began life as a 1995 Stadium Club Super Skills #SS11 but ended up being used by Topps to practice die-cuts that would later be used in both 1996 Laser Baseball and 1996 Laser Football.

While I am not certain who the football player is, I believe it to be Troy Aikman because it looks like a star on the helmet. I also think the image on the back of the Griffey card is the "front" of the Aikman card.

Wallet Card #6- Diamondbacks Game

Last night my daughter’s choir was part of a group of middle school choirs who sung the national anthem at the Diamondback’s game. She got in free and parents got tickets at half price (first level outfield bleachers) through the school.

The game was a barn burner of a game and ended with the Diamondbacks winning 13-11 and it seemed like everyone hit a homerun except for the one guy I wanted to see hit a homer, Giancarlo Stanton. There were 7 homeruns (3 Miami and 4 Arizona) with Miami’s Marcell Ozuna knocking two and Arizona’s Chris Iannetta also knocking two with one of those being a grand slam in the 6^th that put the D-Backs ahead 12-9. It was definitely an entertaining game that I got to enjoy with my baby girl.

Wallet card Griffey made a couple of appearances but because we were sitting in the outfield I didn't get the best pictures, here he is with Stanton at bat.

Here he is with Goldschmidt at bat

Another Cavalcade Of Griffey Cards VI

My son has taken an interest in hitting up swap meets, flea markets and thrift shops because his friends have come up with some insane deals on clothing and it drew him in and occasionally on the weekends I will go with him. This past weekend I had to do some errands and we stopped by a local thrift shop and I came across a kid’s board game from 2000 that included a Ken Griffey Jr game piece.

The box was sealed so I took a chance that the Griffey piece wasn’t in there but at $2 it wasn’t really a big risk of losing out if anything was missing. When I got home and ripped the plastic wrap off it turned out that everything was included plus one of the player cards is a Griffey card in addition to the game piece. The game is called APBA Superstars Baseball and there is a kids version of football as well as ones for adults where the cards are just information so no pictures.

Another Cavalcade Of Griffey Cards V

I have not been spending much money on cards this year and because I am catching up with medical bills I have decided to make a couple of cheap purchases to add to my Griffey collection. These two set me back just around $1 shipped and are just the second and third Griffey cards that I purchased this year.

Both cards are from 2017 Topps and the first card is the Topps Rediscovered promo card

 

The second card is the Topps 30^th Anniversary card

It's Gotta Be The Glasses

I posted a single card this week and that was part of Monday’s question so today I will make my complete focus on my Ken Griffey Jr. Gargoyles card.

In 1995 Griffey signed a one-year contract with Gargoyles sunglasses, he was included in magazine and in-store advertisements and if you purchased a pair of his signature sunglasses there was a card included in the box. There were base cards that are #/5000 and there were also autographed versions but those cards are not numbered.

Another Cavalcade Of Griffey Cards IV

One of my final Ken Griffey Jr. cards of 2016 was from a unique three card set that was connected to MTV’s 3^rd Annual Rock N’ Jock” Softball Challenge in 1992. The set was just three cards and I am not even certain how they were handed out, I would think they were given out at the event. The other two cards in the set are MC Hammer and Frank Thomas.

For those who may not remember, the MTV Rock N’ Jock challenges were an annual sporting events put on by MTV beginning in 1990 and teams with names like Bricklayers, Violators, Homeboys and Awayboys were made up of athletes, actors, comedians and musicians. Over the next 11 years MTV rotated the sports with basketball and softball both being played each year but they did toss in football twice, baseball twice and bowling once.

The card is on my Top 10 Want List and even though I picked it up in 2016 I am listing it as a 2017 pickup. I don't think I will be picking up many cards from my list this year so this may be my only chance to add to the 2017 added list. The card's spot on the Want List will be replaced a Jay Buhner card: 1997 Columbus Clippers 20th Anniversary Team Issue #5

A Trade Package From Chris The Collector

Two weeks ago Chris from The Collector put out a call for custom card designers to help him create cards of some of his female athletes who normally would not have a card, or at least a card in the sets he was interested in collecting. When I saw that he included University of Arizona alumni Jennie Finch and Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart I was happy to help him out.

I was not able to make all of the cards, not yet, that he is interested in and currently the designs are just digital images he offered to send me some Griffey cards off of my Want List as a thank you for the work.

I got the Griffey cards the other day and I am happy to share them. Thank you, Chris, for your generosity. I will need to set aside some time to create the backs for the cards so the cards can be printed out.

Here are the cards he sent me:

2000 Topps Chrome #400

2005 Fleer National Packtime #13

2000 Topps #85

2013 Topps Cut to the Chase #CTC-2

2013 Topps Tribute #29

Griffey Is Permanently At Home

Yesterday the Mariners unveiled the new statue of Ken Griffey Jr outside of SafeCo Field. The statue is located on the corner of Edgar Martinez Dr. and Dave Niehaus Way, a location that is now being referred to as the Mariners Triangle.

After the unveiling Griffey took his famous “swing” pose next to the statue, which is now my phone’s background. After the ceremony Snoop Dogg showed up, he said that he couldn’t make it to the unveiling but wanted to get his picture with the statue. He actually posted a video of his visit to the statue on his Twitter feed.

I do not know when I will head up to Seattle again but you can be sure that when I do I will be taking my picture with the statue and make sure to include some of my Griffey wallet card.

Why Yes, They Do Have An Elegant Appearance

I like when find a card and you look at it and think “That design really works nicely”. I found two cards from 2016 Hit Memorabilia releases, one from their Fission release and one from their Cornerstone Collection release.  

Now when I talk about the design I do not include the lack of a MLB licensing so the Mattingly and Griffey cards do not have team names or logos, which would definitely add to the appeal. I am just talking about the actual design with background image/designs, player location and the layout of the die-cut windows. This is the kind of design I could see Upper Deck coming up with but Hits Memorabilia did a wonderful job here and I really appreciate the look of both cards, of course I would prefer the Griffey card but that is a bit biased of me.

Opening Weekend

Opening weekend for baseball and all baseball fans are excited. I normally do not watch much baseball because I don’t get a many Mariners games here but yesterday I watched the Diamondbacks-Giants game and it was pretty amazing to see Bumgarner become the first pitcher to knock two homeruns on Opening Day. The second homer was almost on cue while the announcers were talking about it how it has never been done.

The Mariners opening game just started so I will take this time to post the first card I bought this year. Nothing special, it is a 2017 Topps Series 1 Salute Ken Griffey Jr and I finally gave in and bought it because it was a 99 cent BIN with free shipping.

Wallet Card #2

Kind of an odd Wallet Card but it comes with a story. This morning the alarm on my truck went off so my son came in to my room and grabbed my keys to go turn it off. When he got outside there was dove sitting on the ground stunned. The neighbor across the street was out in his front yard and when he saw my son he came over to tell him what he witnessed.

A hawk was hunting the dove and chased it right in to the side of my door. When the alarm went off the hawk flew away. The dove did eventually settle down and took off so it appeared that it was not hurt.

Griffey was interested in the impression that the dove left on the door. There were actually feathers stuck to the door that I removed right before I took the picture.

A Trade Package From Twitch Part 2 of 2

I decided to split this trade package post up in to two different posts to keep it from becoming a “TL;DR” type post. Today is the Mariners included in the package.

1987 Donruss MVP Alan Davis and 1990 Donruss Harold Davis. Both had a stable career in Seattle but nothing to write home about.

Who doesn't like shiny cards? A 2002 Topps Chrome Mike Cameron Refractor and 2015 Prizm Randy Johnson. Mike Cameron spent three seasons in Seattle but he never flourished and is probably best known for knocking 4 homers in a game in 2002. The Big Unit does not require any commentary, his HoF career speaks for itself.

Nothing special with Endy Chavez and Michael Saunders but these are some Griffey-esque type catches.

2015 Panini Prizm Purple Prizm #63/99. Seager has become a solid piece of the Mariners youth movement.

There were a number of Robinson Cano cards but I kept the scans to these four cards because they are my favorites; 2014 Panini Donruss DK and 2016 Panini Donruss

2014 Topps Finest Refractor #134/199 and 2014 Topps Triple Threads Amber parallel #100/125

There were also a number of Felix Hernandez so I selected just five of them to highlight today. 2012 Bowman Platinum Green parallel, 2013 Topps Archives, 2014 Panini Donruss Dominators #240/999 and 2015 Panini Prizm Red, White and Blue Prizm.

A King Felix relic card, this is form the 2009 SP Legendary Cuts release.

As always, I end with Ken Griffey Jr:

2012 Prizm and 2015 Donruss All-Time DK

A Couple Of Plaques

On Following Griffey’s induction in to the Hall of Fame the Mariners did a number of stadium giveaways related to Griffey including bobble heads and replica jerseys but the one that caught my eye at the beginning of the season when the SGAs were announced was the replica Hall of Fame plaque given away at the August 6^th game against the Angels.

 

I finally found one in the price range I was willing to spend right before Christmas and I just received it. The plaque is solid and is a little larger than a graded card and is an exact replica of his Hall of Fame plaque. The box has his stats and records on it and the stand was included.

When the plaque first showed up there were pre-sell from some sellers where they were asking up to $100 so I figured I would never get one so instead I turned my attention to finding one of the Griffey’s First Hit plaques that the Everett Aquasox, Mariners Class A short season team, gave away on June 25^th.

 

It is a replica of the plaque that is locate on the sidewalk outside of the Everett Memorial Stadium on 38^th Street where the ball landed. I worked in Everett for years, roughly 2 miles away from the stadium, but never saw the plaque in person but now I have the replica plaque which makes a nice addition to my collection. The plaque has a bronzed look and is weathered, which can be seen in the close up image, to look like the original plaque.

 

It was 1987 and at the time Griffey was a 17-year old playing for the Bellingham Mariners and they were visiting the Everett Giants when he got his first professional hit, a 367-ft homer, in his second game.

Prior to the 1995 season the Mariners and Giants switched Class A teams with the Mariners taking over Everett and renaming them the Everett Aqua Sox. The Giants took over the Bellingham team and renamed them the Bellingham Giants but they remained in Bellingham for just two seasons before being moved to Salem where they are still a Giants Class A team but have been renamed the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes

The Top Griffey Pickups Of 2016

This year I decided to split my favorite Griffey 2016 pickups from the other cards because it really would be too difficult to try and combine all of the cards and come up with only a Top 10 list.

This year was a big year for my Griffey collection, I entered 2016 with 552 unique Griffey cards and I am currently at 1,255 unique cards, an increase of 703 total cards. I would like to thank the fellow collectors and bloggers who have helped me with my endeavor.

Because it is so difficult to pick out one Griffey card over another as which are my favorites I will instead just post them in release order.

1.      1987 Bellingham Mariners Team Issue

2.      1988 Best San Bernardino Spirit Team Issue

3.      1991 Topps w/ Jim Arnold NFL Back Error

4.      2001 Topps Employee Exclusives

5.      Upper Deck Authentics Reverse Negative Image

6.      2003 Topps Kanebo Japan issue

7.      2005 Upper Deck Reflections Dual Signature Sr/Jr

8.      2006 Konami base and Konami foil parallel Japan issue

9.      2010 Sega CardGen Japan issue

10.  2013 Topps mini Game-Used White Sox relic

Honorable Mention:

This 2003 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection relic is my first birthday card. I got it very cheap because of the border chipping along the left side.