Talk about your Outer Space cards...

My mother-in-law picked up a box of random stuff over the weekend. Inside was a plastic bag full of 1987 Garbage Pail Kids cards/stickers. Among those, however, a handful of ALF cards. And, some of those ALF cards included the Bouillabaseball subset.

There was one Garbage Pail kid related to baseball: Mouth Phil. I think Topps missed a golden opportunity with this one. Why not call him FOUL Mouth Phil?  I mean, it's garbage, it's baseball, it's funny!  Well, to me anyway.

The three ALF cars include: G. Hamilton Chickpea III, Ben "Ch--Choo" Tramer, and Ester "The Tomato" Dink.  The backs include goof stats and bios.

Come Get Some: 4-Buck Oddball Pack Break

This is a friendly reminder that I have plenty o' spots open in the 4-Buck Oddball Break.  Come on down and get in on this unusual break for just four bucks. That covers everything: cards, packaging, shipping.  It's a wild and wooly collection of packs to be opened on or about July 16, 2011.

4-Buck Oddball Pack Break

Anyone up for an oddball group break?  This one is about as oddball as it comes.  I've got 139 packs plus the bottom of a Fleer Star Stickers box (cards neatly cut up).  Like last time, just leave a comment to claim your team or teams then send a GIFT through Paypal for $4 each to davidinark@yahoo.com.  You get anything/everything with your team (see notes below regarding multi-team cards)!

I will do a live break (possibly stream it to UStream, otherwise post it "live" here like I did the other one) on or about July 16, 2011.  Please send your gift(s) by then.  You can also send me a check if you do not have Paypal (just email me). Your gift covers everything: cards, shipping, packaging!

So, what packs do I have?  Here is the breakdown:

Two (2) packs of 1986 Baseball Buttons Star Buttons
One (1) pack of 1987 Sportflics Rookie Packs (Pack 1)
One (1) pack of 1987 Sportflics Rookie Packs (Pack 2)
One (1) pack of 1989 Swell Baseball Greats
One (1) pack of 1989 Bowman (31 cards in the fat pack, okay not so oddball)
One (1) pack of 1985 Donruss Action All-Stars (Oversized)
One (1) pack of 1986 Donruss Pop-ups (1 card in pack)
One (1) pack Donruss Baseball All Stars (3 cards per pack)
Two (2) packs 1990 Topps Doubleheaders (2 mini cards in one plastic stand per pack)
Two (2) packs of 1989 Topps Doubleheaders All Stars (2 mini cards in one plastic stand per pack)
Two (2) packs of 1984 Fun Foods Baseball Pins
One (1) pack 1988 Topps Baseball Coins
Two (2) packs 1987 Topps Baseball Coins
Two (2) packs 1989 Topps Baseball Coins
Twenty-four (24) Packs of 1990 Topps Heads-up
Thirty-Six (36) packs 1986 Fleer Baseball Star Stickers
Thirty-Nine (39) packs 1985 Topps Rub Downs
Twenty (20) packs 1983 Topps Foldouts
Four (4) cards from bottom of Fleer Star Stickers Box

TEAMS IN THIS BREAK:
Atlanta Braves - Dayf (PAID)
Baltimore Orioles - BRNW (PAID)
Boston Red Sox - AdamE (PAID)
Chicago White Sox - Jeff L (PAID)
Chicago Cubs - Jon (PAID)
Cincinnati Reds - FanOfReds (PAID)
Cleveland Indians - Tribecards (HOST!)
Detroit Tigers
Houston Astros - Kiley B (PAID)
Kansas City Royals - Tim (PAID)
California Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers - Ernest (PAID)
Milwaukee Brewers - BRNW (PAID)
Minnesota Twins - BaseballDad (PAID)
New York Mets - BaseballDad (PAID)
New York Yankees - Ryan L (PAID)
Oakland Athletics
Philadelphia Phillies - Jim (PAID)
Pittsburgh Pirates - Hiflew (PAID)
San Diego Padres - Jon W (PAID)
San Francisco Giants - Matthew R (PAID)
Seattle Mariners - BRNW (PAID)
St. Louis Cardinals - Tim (PAID)
Texas Rangers - BRNW (PAID)
Toronto Blue Jays - Duane (PAID)
Montreal Expos

Notes: 
** Topps Rub-Downs feature multiple players on each "card." I will attempt to distribute the cards as equally as I can among the chosen teams. I will also try to keep duplicates to a minimum.

** Topps Foldouts feature an accordion-style package with each card featuring two players (one on each side of each card). I will carefully cut the foldouts in the "white space" between players.  As above, I will attempt to distribute the cards as equally as I can among chosen teams.
** Some teams may be "over-represented" while others may be lacking.  There isn't anything I can do about that. As in any group break, some folks rake it in and others aren't quite as lucky. As always, I will toss in some additional cards/items to anyone that I feel didn't quite come out "in the good."
** Unclaimed teams will have their cards placed in a pile. That pile will then be distributed among everyone.
** I am taking the Indians in this break.  Duplicates/owned cards will go into my "giveaway/prize" pool!
** Other notes/rules may be added as necessary.

Cards from... My Aunt!? (autographs? stamps? and wrestling edition)

This is the last of the ""cards from my aunt" series, and it contains a variety of collectible goodness...

My aunt said there was a 'cancelled Babe Ruth stamp' along with some other stamps. She didn't know if they were 'worth anything' but thought I might find a home for them or sell them on eBay. I don't know stamps from stumps, but where there is Babe Ruth, there is collecting fun:

I have no idea what the rocket-based ones are, but I recognize Marconi from my radio days and my Mass Media classes, so that was a nice touch. The Ruth is a 1983 and was cut from an envelope apparently. There is a small bit of the cancellation mark on it, but any more than that and you'll have to be your own stamp-collecting-type-person. Yes, I know there's a name for it, and I could Google it, but if you are one, then you know the word. If you aren't one, you probably don't care. Anyone collect stamps?

Next up are a handful (almost literally) of wrestling cards. I know all of these guys because these cards are just after (or are near) the days when my Dad would take me and my brother down to the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh to watch the matches. We also saw some matches in various High School gyms and some other athletic clubs. We had a well-rounded childhood...


Finally, scattered throughout the box were "autographed" cards. As you may notice, there is something 'familiar' about the signatures as you look from card to card...


I'm not a genius by any stretch, so of course I recognized the fact that the hand-writing was that of a youngster... But my question is: WHY? Why would my cousin (or whoever signed them) autograph them? Perhaps to pawn them off on some younger unsuspecting collector?


What's even more interesting are the SUBJECTS he chose to sign. No one of superstardom, but rather 'common' players... Perhaps that was part of the plan, though... Sign people that many folks wouldn't necessarily question, right?


All-in-all, I have to say that busting this shoebox full of various cards was a lot of fun! a HUGE thanks goes out to my aunt and my cousin!

Some of that Indians magnetism!

I recently bought a random assortment of Indians items, and these were among the finds:


These are "Jacobs Field Era Champs" magnets. They are not-quite baseball card sized, but they're close enough to put in 9-pocket pages!

Above, we see Omar Vizquel, Kenny Lofton, and Jaret Wright. They feature very colorful photos! I don't know who actually produced them, but they were distributed by Pepsi and its brands. I received the Mountain Dew ones above, and the Pepsi One magnets below:


There, we see Manny (before he was "Being Manny" and all that now may stand for) Ramirez, Roberto Alomar, and Charles Nagy.

As many of you know, I loves me some oddballs! And, this magnetically-charged six-pack fits the bill quite nicely!

What a bunch of oddballs!

I have to admit, I use the term "baseball card" very loosely when it comes to my collection. In reality, I collect Indians "items." Now, I generally do not collect bobble-heads, baseballs, etc. Most of my collection entails "flat" items, such as my most recent addition - a 1944 press photo (complete with credentials on the back) of Jim "Mudcat" Grant (not pictured, sorry). Another unique item I have is a record which has an interview with Frank Robinson getting his first home run as an Indian. Other "oddball" items I have include things like "Baseball Bucks," Crane Potato Chips discs, stand-ups, punch-outs, rub-offs, stickers, etc.
When trying to organize my collection, I began to run into the issue of "defining" exactly what an 'oddball' item really is. Well, I suppose I could have forgone the whole mess by simply including my 'oddballs' with their respective year folders (thus, the 1977 discs would appear in the 1977 folder instead of the 'oddballs' folder). But, I wanted to have a separate folder for some of my more 'unique' items.
The problem I ran into was deciding what was an oddball and what was more-or-less an extension of an existing set, and what should be considered a set period! So, I picked a number out of the air. That number is 4. If I have a collection of items of the same year and type (1977 Pepsi Cap Liners, for example), then I look at how MANY I have. If I have less than four (or if there is a pre-existing checklist in my database or I find a team-based checklist in a book or online), then those "fewer than four" sets go into the 'oddball' binder for its corresponding year. If there are four or more cards, then I put them into the binder for that year with the "regular" cards.
My plan worked for about 10 minutes. Soon, I found myself putting off-brand, weird items in with "regular" issues ("regular" being defined by me as Topps, Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss, Score, etc - major players). And, I found myself torn between placing things like a 1986 Topps Glossy Send-in. There are only 1 or two in the Indians "set," so is that an oddball item or do I put it with the regular issue cards because it *IS* Topps, after all?
Since the organization of my collection is mainly for my own benefit, I figured I would just do what I felt like doing. I made the rules, I can choose to follow them, break them, or bend them as needed. So far, it has worked out fairly well. The only time I have a problem is when I discover a card have to file that fits into the "break/bend the rule" category. Because then I have to look in the "oddball" binder AND the year-specific binder. Granted, it is not a big deal, but has led to some interesting placements of cards (not to mention a few strange conversations with myself).
Ultimately, the way I see it is that if a company took the time to make more than 3 Indians in a particular set, then that set is worthy of a place in the binder with its year marked on it.

No matter where an oddball item ends up, as long as it's in my collection, I'm happy to have it!