Anyone Out There A Chuck Knoblauch Fan?

We've all heard the horror stories of mothers throwing away their kids card collections when they leave the house for college or elsewhere. This is the story of my Dad's collection and his near complete Harmon Killebrew collection when he went to college in 1970. Thankfully, I have a mother who appreciated my love of my baseball card and comic collection and she was certainly an "enabler" in my collection as she kept an eye out for interesting finds at thrift sales or the Goodwill. Which leads me to the subject of today's post, this framed item in honor of Chuck Knoblauch.

Here's a closer look at what we've got here. First we have a large artist rendering of Knoblauch swinging which looks pretty similar to Chuck's 1992 Classic card. 

....a little back story on Chuck winning Rookie of the Year as well as a World Series Championship in his rookie season. I'm not sure exactly how many of these were made but it looks like I have #3310.

And lastly we have a mysterious baseball card with what looks like a "KR" in the upper left corner. I did a light search on what this card is exactly and if it was made specifically for these frames but I didn't find anything on. Does anyone have an idea of who made this card?

Also, are there any Knobby fans that would be interested in it. You can have it for just the cost of shipping to you if you are interested. It is a very well put together piece and I would certainly keep it if it had been Kirby or Kent Hrbek...or if Chuck had ended up playing for for anyone other than the Yankees. But if that's not a problem for you, just let me know.

Two Offensive Cards

That's "offensive" as in a type of attack and not "offensive" as in causing displeasure. These are cards of the "offensive" variety as in the offensive line and the Packers offensive line to be even more specific. This first one comes as a surprise from Commishbob from the recently completed '59 Topps Blog and The Five Tool Collector. In an e-mail he told me not to get my hopes up as to which card he was sending me and yet after opening the envelope [which I received on my birthday, actually] I was very happy to find an Upper Deck manufactured helmet card of Packers long time player Mark Tauscher. He protected Aaron Rodgers on the Super Bowl run and has only appeared on a handful of cards. This is the first Tauscher in my Packers collection and thanks again Bob for the great card!

2009 Upper Deck Green Bay Gamers #9 Mark Tauscher

Another recent addition to the Packers collection is this Bryan Bulaga Rated Rookie autograph from 2010 Donruss Football. Hopefully Bulaga will be able to have a productive season in 2014 as he missed half of the 2012 season and all of 2013 with two separate injuries to his hip and knee.

2010 Donruss Football #14 Bryan Bulaga Rated Rookie Autograph

Taking A Look At The Packer Schedule

Last week I was eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Packers new schedule and before I got a chance to see the entire thing the announcement went out that the Packers will be playing the Seahawks in the opening game of the 2014 seasons. This continues of very rough trend of the Packers having to start the season against one of the top teams in the league.

2014 Seahawks [after winning the Super Bowl]
2013 49ers [after losing in the Super Bowl]
2012 49ers [after beating the Packers in the Divisional Playoffs]

It would be nice to start the season with a mid level to easy game but looking at this year's schedule I'm not too upset. We have several tough games this year that I'm glad we get at home...Panthers in Week 7, Eagles Week 11, and Patriots Week 13. Unlike in previous years there aren't a lot of inter-divisional games at the end of the schedule. In the last five weeks we only play the Lions the last week of the season.

Here's a look at the schedule:

Week 1 [Thursday Game] @ Seattle Seahawks 9/4/14

Week 2 New York Jets

Week 3 @ Detroit Lions

Week 4 @ Chicago Bears

Week 5 [Thursday Game] Minnesota Vikings

Week 6 @ Miami Dolphins

Week 7 Carolina Panthers

Week 8 @New Orleans Saints

Week 9 Bye

Week 10 Chicago Bears

Week 11 Philadelphia Eagles

Week 12 @ Minnesota Vikings

Week 13 New England Patriots

Week 14 [Monday Night] Atlanta Falcons

Week 15 @ Buffalo Bills

Week 16 @Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 17 Detroit Lions

I also can't complain about the bye placement which is more than halfway through the season and we only have one Thursday game [other than the first game of the season which doesn't really hurt the Packers by giving them a short week to prepare] and one Monday night game so there don't seems to be too many difficult stretches during the season.

I can't very well have a Packers post without posting a Packers card...so here's a Marc Tyler autograph from 2012 Panini Crown Royale.  Marc was a USC running back in college and was an un-drafted free agent during the 2012 season and never actually played in a game for the Packers making this a sort of odd Packers prospect card.

2012 Panini Crown Royale #60 Marc Tyler Autograph #093/245

Possibly the Worst Cut Signature Ever?

We've all seen some rough cut signature cards in which the cut is jammed into a new card or sometimes the autograph is cut off or it's maybe obviously a part of a check or even a signed TTM card. But before it gets to that stage the potential cut autograph has to be found. Take a look at this auction and then just try to imagine pulling a cut autograph card this that signature used. I do appreciate the effort to make your own Andy Pafko but damn what happened cutting that signature.

Here's a closer look at that signature...and looking at that tape hearts my heart.

Easter Basket Cards

Easter has always been an important holiday in my personal card collecting story. My Easter basket would often look something like this but instead of a box of cards I would typically have some packs of the Topps and Upper Deck flagship products. Those packs would typically be my first taste of the new cards of that given year and this was back when the new packs typically came out around opening day of the season and not at the beginning of February. 

So because it's Easter lets rip a pack...I don't have any baseball on hand so we'll try something a bit non-traditional, a pack of Impel Star Trek The Next Generation from 1992. Having been out of the blogging game full time for a while I really have no memory where I picked these up from...a discount bin somewhere.

First up we have card #94...this emergency maneuver is when the primary hull is separated from the secondary hull of the ship...you might remember this happening in Star Trek Generations.

#94 Emergency Landing of Saucer Module

Sela is Tasha Yar's daughter from an alternate timeline and is one of the major antagonists of the Federation in the later seasons of The Next Generation.

#28 Sela

The Ferengi Alliance is the governing body of the Ferengi people and advancing in the governmenet was based on bribery.

#81 Symbol of the Ferengi Alliance

Some of these cards have some really great designs...

#45 Ship Schematic Dorsal Plan View

...just check out the reverse side with the high level of detail. 

#45 Ship Schematic Dorsal Plan View Back

The Klingons were always my favorite villains in the Star Trek universe and so when The Next Generation made them essentially Federation allies I was a little disappointed.

#33 Klingon Vor'cha Class Attack Cruiser

Okay, we can just toss this card in the trash.

#90 Principal Photography

For the uninitiated, Data was essentially the Spock of the Next Generation series...as an android he was very analytical and typically each season of the series, for one reason or another, Data would acquire emotions for a short period of time.

#6 Lieutenant Commander Data

Here's what the reverse side look like on typical cards. 

#6 Lieutenant Commander Data Reverse

Lieutenant Reginald Barclay was an engineer on the Enterprise who would appear from time to time as comic relief. He also appeared on several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.  

#15 Lieutenant Reginald Barclay

These last two cards are only for the hardcore Star Trek fan who want to have a card representing every possible ship or part of the Enterprise.

#58 Shuttlepods

#106 Navigational Deflector Systems

Why Not Post Some Secret Santa Cards In April?

We are approaching the end of April so why not finally get around to posting the rest of my Crackin' Wax Secret Santa gifts! I ask for Packers autographs or relics, Milwaukee Braves, and of course Andy Pafko stuff. I've shown a Packers patch I received earlier and here are the rest of the package. 

My Secret Santa certainly came through with a great looking Andy Pafko autograph on a Wilson baseball signature card. Sure, my name's not Tony but what can you do?

The rest of my cards are some are of some Milwaukee Braves including three multi-player cards featuring Warren Spahn, the best Braves pitcher ever...and maybe the best left handed pitcher of the modern era. And before you start screaming about Sandy Koufax, remember that Spahn lost three seasons to World War II service. 

1960 Topps #230 Warren Spahn/Lou Burdette/Bob Buhl Mound Magicians

1962 Topps #58 National League Win Leaders

1962 Topps #56 National Leage E.R.A. Leaders

Howie Bedell didn't quite live up to his Star Rookie label as he played only in 58 games for the Braves. Frank Bolling was a two-time All-Star and an excellent second baseman winning the Gold Glove in 1958.

1962 Topps #76 Howie Bedell

1962 Post #146 Frank Bolling

Plus who doesn't love a Hank Aaron card? His 1976 card was Hank's in the flagship set has a player.

1976 Topps #550 Hank Aaron

Packer Pickups: Benson and Jones Autographs And A Franklin Patch

In this series I show off my latest Green Bay Packers pickups. 

Cedric Benson doesn't have too many Packers cards and I believe there are just autographs from the Valor, Five Star, and Magic sets but seeing as how he ended up playing in only five games in his one season with the Packers, that's not too surprising. This one was $6.00 shipped on eBay.

2012 Topps Valor #CA-CB Cedric Benson Autograph #161/200

I thought James Jones signing with the Raiders would mean that some cheap Jones cards would hit eBay and sure enough I found this one for $3.00. Jones is certainly in the running for "laziest signature" but at least the two J's together has some artistic flair. I wonder if he isn't partially responsible for the worst Packer autographs ever. I wonder if one day in the locker room Alex Green mentioned that he had to sign 500 cards for Topps and Jones said "I just sign two letters and I can get those done in an hour!"

2010 Topps Magic #134 James Jones Autograph

I'm a big fan of patch cards no matter who the player is and this three color path Johnathan Franklin RC for $5.00 was worth it.

2013 Topps #RP-JF Johnathan Franklin Patch Relic

Ripping A Pack Of DC Comics Justice League Chibis

I was torn between getting this pack of Justice League minis or a pack of the Hobbit themed ones. As you can see Justice League won out and I'm hopping for a Flash and Batman. So what did I end up pulling?

Well, the pack offered me the happy couple of Superman and Wonder Woman with Wonder Woman going to my wife. It was fun to pull a Green Arrow in the pack as he is one of the few people to have defeated Superman...kryptonite arrows didn't hurt either.

Topps 75th Anniversary Buy Backs

A few weeks ago I received a friendly e-mail from Adam over at Thoughts On Sox letting me know about an eBay auction that I might be interested in.  It was a lot of four vintage Topps cards that have been foil stamped to honor Topps 75th Anniversary. These came out of packs of 2014 Topps and are inserted one per box. One mildly interesting fact is that these first three cards were all cards that I won through the 1,000,000 Card Giveaway Topps had a few years ago.

1968 Topps #336 John Purdin 75th Anniversary Buy Back

1966 Topps #48 Paul Blair 75th Anniversary Buy Back

1973 Topps #315 John Odom 75th Anniversary Buy Back

The fourth card was the reason for the auction being brought to my attention, a 1958 Topps Andy Pafko buy back card. This might be one of the few Pafko cards you can pull from 2014 products.  

1958 Topps #223 Andy Pafko 75th Anniversary Buy Back

The card is a little rough on the back with some added pen marks but it's still fun to come across some "new" Pafko cards.

1958 Topps #223 Andy Pafko 75th Anniversary Buy Back Reverse

My Expanding Kole Calhoun Collection

Along with Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, Angels outfielder Kole Calhoun is the most famous player to have ever played for the collegiate summer league team from my home town, the Eau Claire Express. Kole played for the Express each summer from 2007 to 2009 and was drafted by the Angels in 2010. He had the lucky role of replacing Albert Pujols in the Angels lineup after Pujols injured his foot. With Kole's connection to my hometown I've started collecting his cards and here are some recent arrivals from trades I've done with my renowned baseball card blog trader Mike D. 

2012 Bowman Platinum #AP-KC Kole Calhoun Autograph

Kole's 2012 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects card is my favorite of his cards.

2012 Bowman DP&P #47 Kole Calhoun Blue Ice RC

2012 Bowman DP&P #47 Kole Calhoun RC

2012 Bowman DP&P #47 Kole Calhoun RC

2012 Bowman DP&P #47 Kole Calhoun Refractor #267/300

2012 Bowman Chrome #188 Kole Calhoun RC

He made his Topps flagship debut in the Update Series of 2013 set.

2013 Topps Update #US-110 Kole Calhoun

2013 Topps Update #US-110 Kole Calhoun Gold #1570/2013

George Brett Inspired Lorde's "Royals"

The man who famously told this story...


went on to inspire this...


Apparently George Brett inspired "Royals" by Lorde...which really should read George Brett inspired the Grammy's 2013 Song of the Year. Here's the story and the photo that sparked the song.  

Another Day, Another Repackage

Much like my post from yesterday about my blind Packers box, this box of random cards was repackaged by Uncommon Sports Cards in Minneapolis. This $5 box was full of random baseball cards and it also guaranteed an autograph or relic card.

I'll spare you the random cards and just show you the autograph which I was surprised/excited to see was a Twin. Alex Wimmers was the Twins 1st round pick in the 2010 draft but had Tommy John surgery in 2012. He's currently on the road back towards the Majors and is pitching in Fort Myers with the Twins A+ team....so with a little luck this card might turn out to be a nice pull for me.

2011 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects  #BPA-AW Alex Wimmers Autograph