Baseball America - March 25th, 1992

Year: 1992

Collectible Type: Periodical

Periodical name: Baseball America

Date: March 25- April 9, 1992

If you're a Yount collector like myself and you buy from eBay like I do from time to time, chances are you've run across the seller wfbookman.  He or they sell all sorts of stuff, but specialize in large collections of Robin Yount cards and memorabilia.  They usually have quite a large selection of high quality and high dollar cards and memorabilia, but they also have some lower end stuff.  And while I would love to add low number rare relics and autographs to my collection, I would much rather added a few low cost oddballs.  I ended up picking up a couple oddballs this past go around.  One area that I've decided to start focusing on is my periodical collection.  I have a few magazines and newspapers that I bought way back in the day off the newsstand, but there are quite a few out there I don't have.

One of the things that caught my eye was this March - April 1992 issue of Baseball America.  Baseball America is still around in print form and in digital.  But back before the internet age this was how you got your indepth sports analysis.  Baseball America collected writing from around the country.  Robin's article is written by Brewer's beat writer Tom Haudricourt.  Tom's still the beat writer for the team at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. (My old man voice is yelling, "I can remember when those were separate newspapers")

I ended up picking this up for a whole dollar plus shipping which was combined with my other win I'll feature later.  Although it's not by any means close to pristine I didn't expect it to be.  But it's still fully intact and readable and that's really all I can ask for a newspaper that's almost 25 years old.

2003 Fleer Doubleheader with Ozzie Smith

Year: 2003

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Double Header

Card Number 269-270 w Ozzie Smith

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Bifold

I'm an oddball lover.  If you read this blog regularly or my main blog Collector's Crack you that.  This oddball comes for the 2003 Fleer Double Headers set.  The first 180 cards are normal, smaller but just regular cards, the last 120 cards are flip cards.  After Topps' success with it's vintage 206 brand the other companies were looking to cash in.  Fleer decided to take an old Topps design, the 1955 Topps Double Header, which was a knock off of the 1911 Mecca Double Folders.  And while Topps used cartoons for it's cards instead of photos the idea is the same.  

We only get Robin's upper torso on the card.  Fleer did a decent job of lining up his body with Smith's on the bottom of the card, but it still looks a little off.

Open it up and we have a very tall photo featuring the Wizard.  The pairing isn't arbiraty. These two stars faced each other in the 1982 World Series and I really do enjoy it when the share cardboard together even if the Brewers would end up on the losing side.

To complicate things more Fleer decided to keep the double card numbering like the 1955 Topps set.

2002 Topps 206 Mini Carolina Bright Back Blue Jersey

Year: 2002

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: 206, or Topps 206

Card Number: 289, Blue Jersey variation

Card Type: Mini Parallel

Parallel Type: Carolina Brights Back

Something else fresh from the mailbox.  If you had the joy of collecting back in 2002 and opened any of the three series of Topps 206 you remember all the great mini back variations.  Topps wasn't the first to bring back the tobacco sized mini cards, but they were the one to cement them back into the collecting world.  2002 marks a return for me back into the collecting world, or rather a point were I focused for a time on it.  And this set, specifically series 2, because that's the series Robin was in, was part of that.  Each series had a different collection of back parallels.  For Series 2 there were the common Polar Bear backs, the Black and Red Piedmont, and then the rarest of the backs these Carolina Brights.

I have literally been looking to add this card and the variation to my collection for 13 years.  It just so happens I had an eBay alert set for these cards and luck would have it that a seller listed not one, but both of the variations recently.  Not only that but listed them at a reasonable price.  I ended up picking up both cards for under $4 a piece.  That's a steal when you consider the last time I saw one of these up for auction it went for over $12. The Standard Catalog lists these at 6 to 12 times the base cards for rarity and worth.

 I'm still missing one Black Piedmont and one Red Piedmont back for the set, but it's always nice to close out a couple cards from your most wanted list.

2003 Fleer Hardball - Round Numbers insert

Year: 2003 

Card Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: Hardball

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Round Numbers

Card Number 14RN

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered, Round

Serial Number: 0469/1000

An interesting set from 2003.  Like I mentioned in earlier posts 2003 is close to the pinnacle, if not the pinnacle, of set production ever.  You had multiple companies putting out a couple new products every week.  But with all the competition and just overwhelming number of card sets we did get some neat concepts and innovations. 

Fleer Hardball was an all round card set.  Kind of like the old Allen and Ginter round cards from the late 1800's.  The base set was a decent size of 280 cards and there were multiple inserts, relics, and even autographed cards in this set.

Robin is featured in the Round Numbers insert set which featured all retired players and I think they were all HOFers too.  Cards are serial numbered to 1000.  There were a couple of the subjects that also had a relic version of this card, but Robin isn't one of them.

A very neat oddball in the collection.

1984 Gardner's Bakeries

Year: 1984

Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Gardner's Bakeries Baseball Series II

Card Number: 22

Card Type: Base - Food Issue/Oddball

I can remember back in the 80's my grandmother giving me the baseball cards that came out of Gardner's loafs.  She didn't give me this one, but it's still a nice memory, especially since she threw out my dad's baseball card collection.

Gardner's is a Wisconsin Bakery that has outlets all over the state and sells in pretty much every supermarket, or they did, I haven't gone bread shopping in Wisconsin in a long time.  Gardner's put out 3 sets in the mid 80's starting in 1983 with Series 1, then this set in 1984 Series II and a set in 1985.  Gardner's also put out a set in 1989.

I really like the Gardner sets from this time.  They look nothing like the regular Topps issues, except for the backs which are pretty indistinguishable from the 1984 baseball set, save for the numbering.  The fronts are designed well and are really bold and colorful. It's cards like this that make me long for the return of these oddball food issues that'll never happen.

1993 Score - 1992 Season Highlight

Year: 1993

Manufacturer: Score

Card Set: Baseball

Card Number 519

Card Type: Base (sub-set)

Subset: 1992 Season Highlight

Last post I featured Robin's newest card in the collecting world honoring one of his greatest playing achievements. So lets take a time warp about to 1993 and feature a card celebrating the same feat.  Score's early baseball sets were huge and the reason they were so huge was sub-sets like this one.  Insert sets were just starting to gain popularity, but not at Score.  And while most of Scores designs from the late 80's and early 90's were fairly boring, they did have some great sub-sets.

At the time Robin would become the 17th player to reach the 3000 hit milestone.  Since then 12 other players have joined the club.  Most recently Derek Jeter in 2011 and Alex Rodriguez this year. 

2015 Topps Update Highlight of the Year insert

Year: 2015

Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Update Baseball

Card Number: H-81

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Highlight of the Year

Fresh out of the mailbox!  I've been seeing these cards go for as much as $4, which seems crazy to me given it's just a base insert.  My card comes much cheaper.  I picked up a lot of 5 of these bad boys off of justcommons.com for a whole thirty five cents a piece.  It was part of a larger order  filling some Brewers team set needs from recent releases.  

The insert comes from Topps' big continuation insert from Series 1 and 2.  The complete set has 90 cards, 30 from each series.  I featured this card and it's autograph variation in a post when Update came out, but this is the collection post.  

The card celebrates Robin joining the 3000 hits club, a stat that pretty much made him a first ballot shoe in.  I really like the overall design and look of the set, but I'm just not into trying to put together monster insert sets anymore, so the only cards I keep are for my team and player collections.

A great cheap addition to the collection.

2003 Fleer Rookies and Greats - Through the Years dual relic with Scott Podsednik

Year: 2003

Card Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: Rookies and Greats

Card Number: TY-RY/SP

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set:  Through the Years

Card Attributes: Relics, Serial Numbered

Relic Type: Jersey and Bat

Serial Number: 050/360

Wow that's quite a header.  I didn't open a ton of cards in 2003.  That was mainly due to my lifestyle at the time and where and how I was working.  That also happens to be close to the pinnacle of product production for sports cards.  I'm not talking about the billions of cards produced in the junk wax era, I'm talking about the fact that in 2003 there were over 100 different baseball products produced alone.  Think about that.  That's at least 2 new products a week, sometimes more of just baseball.  Now factor in that most card companies had multiple licenses if not all 4 and the shelves were packed with products.  The nice thing was most of those products were affordable, but there were just so many.  

Anyways the one thing we got out of the 2000's was dawn of the guaranteed hit! Autographed and relic cards had been around since the 90's.  And they were and are great for the hobby and they were a big hit with collectors.  With anything that's popular you can bet that the companies take notice and will run it into the ground.

What does that have to do with this card?  Nothing.  Other than it's from a set I never rip a single pack of.  Robin has three cards in this set, all relics.  Besides this great dual relic with Scott Podsednik, he has a patch version of this card and a relic card in the Boyhood Idols set. 

Over all the card isn't all that exciting in the layout, but I do enjoy the multiple relic cards that feature players from my team exclusively.  Scott only played for the Brewers two years 2003 and 2004 before moving on to the White Sox where he would help them win the World Series in 2005 and then married a Playboy Playmate.

Leaf Executive Collection Masterpiece card making service

While looking for any information on Leaf's upcoming 25th Anniversary Baseball set I stumbled across their Executive Cut Signature card making service. It's an interesting idea and I can definately see why Leaf has taking advantage of the niche market.  And to be honest the costs aren't that astronomical.  I also found their lone Yount creation that had recently sold on eBay for $95.00.  

Basically you submit a certified autograph, or you can get it certified for an additional fee by PSA, to the company and they created a beautiful 1 of 1 card slabbed. The example below is a 1978 Hostess card.  An interesting idea for any super fan.  

I'm torn whether or not to include this card in the 2015 checklist.  Since it is a custom made card.  But on the other hand it is listed by Leaf on their production sheet and I also have a visual record of the cards existance.  What do you guys think?  Should I include this card in the checklist?  I'm not bothered by it being a 1 of 1, as I include printing plates and other 1 of 1's in the checklist.

What do you think of on demand custom card making?

Back of card example from  Leaftradingcards.com

1990 Fleer

Year: 1990

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Baseball (Flagship)

Card Type: Base

Card Number: 340

If I had to pick the most boring set of the 90's it would probably be 1990 Fleer.  It's so simple and sleek that it just kind of lulls you to sleep.  It's quite a contrast from 1990 Topps which was really colorful and Donruss which looked like a pile of vomit.   I bought a lot of this in 1990.  I still have a monster box full of commons buried in my parents basement somewhere. 

An interesting shot of Robin bunting.  Not much room on the back for anything else but 17 years worth of stats.  And even for it's blandness it's printed on brilliant white stock and I've seen examples of this card autographed and it looks pretty good.

2015 Leaf 25th Anniversary Pre-Production Proof Checklist

I try to be on top of stuff, but every now and then stuff falls though the cracks. This is especially true with the smaller non-licensed card makers like Leaf and Hits.  But recently Leaf sold a bunch of it's pre-production proofs for it's upcoming 25th Anniversary? product.  I guess it's just called 25th, but I'll assume it celebrates the 25th anniversary of 1990 Leaf, the first full fledged Leaf set not a Canadian version of Donruss.  And the design pays homage to the 1990 set.  Other than a tweet and finished eBay listing I can't find anymore information on the set.  Not even Leaf's website has it listed and neither Blowoutcards.com and DAcardworld.com have anything listed about the set.  The tweet from Leaf says this is due out in December so I guess we'll just have wait and see.  But I was able to find all the old listings on eBay and piece together a checklist of what was offered and save the images for posterity.  These cards were offered as a buy it now and the Metal cards were priced at $29.99, the Acetate proofs were priced at $24.99 and the Metal Prismatic Gold card was priced at $79.99.  Not bad prices for 1/1 cards.  A couple of these cards are already back on the market.  

Here is the checklist, which will be added to my 2015 checklist and images follow.  All cards are 1 of 1's and I'm not sure if they have anything on the backs or a card number associated with them.  I have asked a current seller and I'm waiting on an answer.  If I find anything out I'll update this post.

Update:  Well I heard back from the eBay seller that has a couple of these up right now and they are indeed blank backed.  The other news is that Leaf has finally released information on the 2015 Leaf 25th set.  Looks like that set will be all autos.  4 cards per pack, 1 pack per box deal.  No checklist yet, but I guess we can assume since Robin has pre-production cards he will also be featured in the set, so that means more autos to chase.  And from what I can tell all autos will be on card!

2015 Leaf 25th 

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof Prismatic  #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof Clear #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof Prismatic Blue #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof Prismatic Green #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof Prismatic Gold  #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof Prismatic Purple #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof  Prismatic Red #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof  Prismatic Opaque Blue #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof  Prismatic Opaque Green #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof  Prismatic Opaque Purple #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Metal Pre-Production Proof  Prismatic Opaque Red #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Acetate Pre-Production Proof  Blue #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Acetate Pre-Production Proof  Green #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Acetate Pre-Production Proof  Purple #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Acetate Pre-Production Proof  Red #/1

2015 Leaf 25th Acetate Pre-Production Proof  Silver #/1

2002 Topps Gold Label MLB Award Ceremony relic

Year: 2002

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Topps Gold Label

Card Number: ACR-RY (Class 1, Gold)

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: MLB Awards Ceremony Relic

Relic Type: Bat

It's been a while since I posted a relic card.  Here's a nice bat relic from the 2002 Gold Label set.  2002 would be the last year for the Gold Label brand.  Back in 2013/14 Topps asked for suggestions on what collector's would like to see.  One of my suggestions was to bring back Gold Label, Tek, Laser, etc, but not as sets, as inserts.  And in the 2014 Topps did in the Update set.  Gold Label started back in 1998 and at the time was very high end.  

It might be hard to see from the scans, but the card is super shiny and looks like a brick of gold.  It's also cool that the relic window is on both sides of the card.  This was also a time when Topps and other companies boldly stated that the relic was game-used.  Not event used, not from any specific game, event, or year - Game Used!  Well for what that's worth.  A little odd the back of the card wasn't designed better as the relic cut out covers up some of the wording.

Taking the plunge, well sort of, with The Trading Card Database

There are lots of websites out there for the card collector today.  It wasn't so long ago that there really wasn't such a great resource.  Now you have checklist sites, Beckett, Zistle, various forums, user groups, Facebook groups, and my favorite The Trading Card Database. 

 I've been using the database since it pretty much started back in 2008.  If you've never checked out the site, I'd give it a go.  I won't say it's the best site for inventorying your collection, but you could and since 2008 the site has been and continues to be a work in progress that is updated and corrected mostly by the users.

I've made it one of my personal goals to try and update, correct,  add information and add as many images I can find for Robin Yount on the site.  The website is free and it's checklists are printable, so if you're looking for a full set checklist, a team checklist, or a player checklist it's a great resource. Since the website is free the site is maintained by ad revenue, member contributions, and page sponsorships.  That being said The Yount Collector is now the proud sponsor of Robin Yount's player page on the website. 

I'm not shilling for the website, but sponsorship is only $5 a year.  So if you use the Database and have a team or player or even a set you love you can sponsor it.  And you get a link to your blog or website.

I'd also like to ask if you are a fellow Yount collector and have cards, especially rare ones, squirreled away somewhere to maybe think about scanning them and submitting images to the database.

The Highs and the Lows - COMC style - November 2015

I'm not a huge buyer on COMC, at least not anymore.  But I do check in periodically to see if I can find a challenge to earn me some free store credit.  And while I lament that great deals are few and far between I still find one every now and then.  That being said I thought it would be fun to see what COMC.com has to offer on the high end and low end for Robin.

Currently COMC has 886 cards that feature Robin Yount, either solo or as an ensemble.

Right now the cheapest card on the site for Robin is this one.

All images courtesy of COMC.com

Robin's 2013 Topps Chasing History insert can be yours for the low low price of 37 cents.  That's not bad at all really for this insert.  Especially since it's cheaper than all his junk wax cards on the site.

On the high end are these pair of graded rookie cards.

This PSA 8 card has an asking price of $280.25.

Followed closely by this BVG 8.5 for $250.99.

Both very nice looking cards.

The most expensive non-rookie card on the site is this 2002 Topps Tribute Pastime Patches card for $149.25, but is currently on sale for half off $74.75.  Even at half off this card seems really expensive for a non-autographed card, even if it is rare.

And if we don't count the asking price in the mix the highest card is this one

2004 SP Prospects Draft Generations Triple Autographs numbered to just 25.  Seems a little steep at $128.45.  Sure it's a triple auto that's very low numbered, but you can pick up Ben Sheets and Mark Rogers autos for a couple bucks so the premium, as it should be, is for Robin's auto.  But it's a sticker auto.  A nice card and I like the theme, just way overpriced.  I could see this card in the $50 range, but for almost triple that I expect it'll sit on the site forever.  

1990 Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds

Year: 1990

Card Manufacturer: MSA

Card Set: Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds Food Issue

Card Number: 6

Card Type: Food Issue 

Ah nothing I like better than a great oddball food issue card.  According to the Standard Catalog these cards came in specially marked packages of Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds and each pack had 3 cards.  The set consists of 24 players.  MSA (Michael Schecter Associates) made the cards for Stagi and Scriver Farms Inc the producers of the Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds brand.  1990 would be the first year the set and the company would put out two more sets in 1991 and 1992. Sadly Robin in is only found in this set.   The 2011 Standard Catalog lists this card value at about a buck, for what that's worth.

Pretty basic food issue with the air brushed hat. But the back does have full stats and nice little write up and even a facsimile autograph.  Called the Autograph Series, I guess you were suppose to get these autographed at the ball park?  I'm not sure if this brand was sold at stadiums or not.  That's not a bad idea though.

1993 Fleer

Year: 1993

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Fleer Baseball (Flagship)

Card Number: 260

Card Type: Base

Oh Fleer... The 1993 set isn't much to right home to mom about.  I think the gray borders were suppose to look like silver and give the set a touch of class.  As it is it just looks like a plain one color border.  It's a nice candid picture of Robin sitting in the dugout.  What's he doing there?  Signing autographs, telling the rookie to get out of his way, pointing at the squirrel running across the field? 

Who knows?

It's kind of sad the back of the card is more interesting than the front though.  If you had any question what Robin's last name was.. well here you go.  I do like the action shot on the back and the horizontal layout.  I'm not a big fan of the card number being in the bottom right hand corner, simply because I'm a collator and that makes collating your set in a box difficult.  It's also interesting how Fleer decided to display the stats.  Fleer only put 12 years of stats on the back and then divided those states by 5 years, 4 years, and then the 3 most recent years.  Why?  I'm sure only the graphic designer knows.

This would be Robin's last year in baseball before he retired, but Fleer would issue a 1994 card for him as well.